Man Plays God and Wins…Again

In another startling instance of human beings doing a better job than god at creating stuff, Scientists at the might have unexpectedly created a new form of matter inside the Large Hadron Collider.

Happy Carl Sagan Day

Today is Carl Sagan’s birthday. He would be 78 if he were still alive, but he would also be clawing at the lid of his coffin, trying desperately to get out. Everyone’s posting their favorite quotes of his on Twitter, but mine is too long for that. So you will have to see it after the jump:

Bill Nye Says What We All Are Thinking

Bill Nye, who I admiringly refer to as Uncle Billy, pushed himself into the front lines in the war of Creationism vs. Science. In a video titled “Creationism Is Not Appropriate For Children”he rails against the notion that classrooms should teach Creationism alongside Evolution.

The EPA Will Turn Your Children Against You and Your Non-Lightswitch-Flipping Ways

I’d really like to be able to stop writing about crank websites like WorldNetDaily and Natural News, but they keep on being hilarious and so I can’t. For example, did you know that your kid might be a spy for the Russians Environmental Protection Agency? IT IS TRUE:

If your child suddenly starts marching around the house demanding that you turn off every light switch after leaving a room, or begins attaching hangers to door handles that grade your family’s energy use habits, he or she may have been recruited by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a spy in one of its so-called “energy patrols.”

Study Finds Doctors Distrust ‘Big Pharma’

One of the standard propaganda lines for the alternative medicine industry is that the typical physician is in the pocket of “big pharma.” Even if they’re not bought off with pens and pads of paper, then their good intentions can be subverted with biased studies that are funded by pharmaceutical companies. And since these doctors don’t take the possibly nefarious intentions of “big pharma” as seriously as the alties do, they end up as unwitting salespeople of unnecessary drugs, which serves to line the pockets of the CEOs of drug companies.

This sounds like a pretty testable hypothesis. Do physicians trust company-funded clinical trials too much? The New England Journal of Medicine decided to investigate. Here’s what they found (emphasis mine):

Why Don’t More Nobel Prize Winners Do This?

Half the fun of winning a Nobel Prize – at least one that hasn’t been made completely ridiculous – should be in how you can rub it in the noses of all of those who have wronged you in the past. And that’s what John Gurdon, who just won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, is doing to one of his schoolteachers. Good for him. Check out the excerpt from his 1949 report card after the jump:

Green Party Presidential Candidate Jill Stein on Alternative Medicine

Jill Stein is the Green Party’s Presidential candidate, having beaten Roseanne Barr for the nomination back in July. While the party might not ever regain the popularity lost from its perceived role in costing Al Gore the 2000 election, this is definitely a turn in the right direction. The last two GP Presidential candidates were extremely embarrassing for those of us in the party who aren’t deluded cranks or spineless wimps. Cynthia McKinney (2008) was a 9/11 truther conspiracy nut. David Cobb (2004) ran on a ‘safe states’ strategy designed to promote the party while allowing John Kerry to still win enough votes to beat George W Bush’s re-election bid. The strategy failed miserably at achieving both goals.

Libyan Attacks – Let’s Fight Violence with Science

Cross posted at JesusLovesBags.com

By now, you’ve probably heard about the terrorist attacks on the US consulate in Libya where four Americans were killed in protest of an anti-Muslim film that was recently released.

There are many facets of this development that merit discussion, but this comment from Obama caught my attention:

As we mourn their loss, we must also send a clear and resolute message to the world: those who attack our people will find no escape from justice. We will not waver in their pursuit. And we will never allow anyone to shake the resolve of the United States of America

The sentiment, that the US will do whatever is needed, where ever it is needed, as long as it is needed to bring those who committed these senseless acts to justice, is understandable. It represents a respect and to the families of those that were murdered and a commitment to Justice.

Yet, I can’t help but feel that this is a misguided approach, if it is truly intended to be implemented as Obama’s remarks make it sound.

Digi-friends, Coded Companions, and Internet Intimates

 

Do I miss having real friends?

Well, not really. I never had any friends. Yet these Internet Intimates, Coded Companions, and Digi-Friends seem strange and unfamiliar by comparison even though I don’t have anything to compare them to. Sometimes, I wonder what it would be like to meet up with one of them. Not in a freaky back alley orgy kind of way. You sick pervs should wash your minds out with soap! No, wait. Bad idea. That will probably do some sort of irreparable damage. Just stop thinking dirty thoughts. You’ll be better off. How would their witty banter translate to conversations made with the click of the tongue instead of the keyboard?

 

Gilbert, AZ Will Have None Of Your Commie Fluoridation

In the movie Dr. Strangelove, a high-ranking US military officer turns out to be a paranoid Bircher-type who believes in lots of conspiracy theories involving the Russians. The one he talks about the most is how the Russians were somehow forcing Americans to fluoridate their water, which then weakens their “precious bodily fluids,” which in turn makes them more susceptible to invasion. Or something. He acts in accordance with his beliefs and starts a pre-emptive war, which sets off a chain of events that ultimately leads (spoiler alert!) to the end of the world.