SeattleLiberal, Author at Progress Pond

[UPDATE] This is Booman Tribune – not Kos Anonymous

This started as a comment, but it got so long I decided to post it as a diary. It probably won’t be too popular, but here goes.

I’m sorry this is a rant – I hope you all can forgive me. I am just getting a wee bit frustrated.

Look

I understand why many of you are upset.

But . . .

What is this place to you? Is Booman a blog where like minded people can get together and discuss issues in a more supportive environment . . . or a place to “complain about Kos” 24/7?
Booman has worked hard to make a place for a balance of the sexes, a respectful place to hang out and try to be politically active and thoughtful. He has offered a place where your voice matters. So use your voice – HERE. Can’t you hear him subtly begging for you all to use this place for its intended purpose? He is too kind and polite to come right out and say it – because he is caring. I feel, frankly, many of you are taking advantage of his kindness and walking all over him. I don’t like seeing friends treated this way.

If you don’t like it over at Kos – fine. Come over here. Enjoy it. Find the voice of Booman. I can’t hear it any more under the cacophony of complaints about Kos. This place used to be a second home for me as well. But now every time I come here there are multiple diaries about how horrible it is at “the other place”.

I feel like this is the friend that had a bad breakup . . . a long time ago . . . that you eventually have a hard time being around – because all they can talk about is how horrible their significant other was (even though the “other” is also a friend of yours). And you have to agree with everything they say, and claim your hatred of the other person . . . or you are viewed as uncaring and it amplifies the complaints even more as they attempt to garner your 100% support. Eventually, you don’t even want to answer your phone any more because they constantly call at odd hours of the night with some remembered grievance that popped into their head while they were dozing.

Some grieving over loss of what you thought was something close is necessary, but there comes a point where it is unhealthy to go over it again and again and again. You become unable to move forward and are unable to recognize what life has given you. So use this place for what it can be on its own – not a second rate blog to bitch about what is wrong with another one. It really is unbecoming.

And as many problems as there are with Kos, wouldn’t energy be better spent fighting the real enemy? The Conservative side thrives on finding where we fight amongst ourselves, because then all they do is sit back and let us do their dirty work. We will not all agree on all issues – ever. We are too diverse. I won’t pretend many horrible things were not said at Kos, because they were. But we are all going to be supporting the same group of Candidates – whether you like it or not, we will be working toward that same ’06 goal. You do see that, don’t you?

If Kos wants a place where rational thought supplied with evidence and support of your main position is important . . . and you don’t like it . . . don’t go there. It will be easier on everyone involved. If it frustrates you don’t.go.there. Then you can be here and be constructive instead of stuck complaining about someplace else.

I waited for awhile after the Pie fights because time was needed for everyone to settle into a new home. But I am starting to wonder if that is what many view this environment as. Move in, fluff the pillows, buy some fuzzy rugs in a color you like – but move in. Do you need to check every move Kos makes? Or is it time to move on with your life and make your unique contributions?

There is so much potential here . . . Please, please, please . . . can I have my Booman Tribune back now? Please.

Update [2005-7-13 18:11:42 by SeattleLiberal]:: Well, I was not expecting this response from a diary I posted at 3 in the morning.

My intention was not to insult any member here and I apologize if any took it that way. Any overgeneralizations are my own – and I did use some. This is one of the drawbacks of a format like this one. This is still how I was feeling early this morning. This has been a place I have frequented since April, and as you all know there have been many changes since then.

I appreciated the responses below. And many comments pointing out errors have been noted. I may not agree with everything disputing my little morning rant, but I see your point of view. I thank you for the dialog.

The Ongoing GOP attack on Congressman Jim McDermott

[Cross-posted at Daily Kos]

As many of you know, last Saturday the Seattle Kossacks had a BBQ. You may not know a well known Daily Kos member – our Congressman, Jim McDermott, attended. He had lots of questions about “Blogs” and Daily Kos. We also had an opportunity to discuss quite a few issues with him:

His visit to Darfur which was covered in an interview by Armando.
The HIV/AIDS situation in Africa.
The current atmosphere in Washington D.C.
The ongoing frivolous lawsuit involving Congressman McDermott and Ohio Rep. John Boehner. This is not breaking news, but there are some upcoming events that could affect our Representatives and increase the already hostile political environment.

(Pictures of the BBQ are here)

[Congressman McDermott responds in the Kos diary to clarify some points about what is at stake here.]
This diary is about the last issue. This case is important because it is part of the ongoing efforts of the Republicans to silence the Democratic minority. If the attack is successful on one of the most outspoken members of the House of Representatives – other attacks will follow. We need to let the elected officials that stand up to this Administration know that we have their backs. Below is a brief outline of the ongoing proceedings for those of you unfamiliar with the case.

Please visit Congressman McDermott’s site (directly below) to see what you can do to help defend the members of our Party that actually speak out.

If we don’t stand up for those that represent our position, they may be successfully silenced. Then they can’t stand up for us.

From the McDermott for Congress website (I’ve made some editing changes to make it brief and all emphasis is mine)

In 1997 Republicans were caught on tape defying a mandate from the House Ethics panel to not conspire against any ruling regarding Newt Gingrich.

<snip>

For over 8 years Ohio Rep. John Boehner has been engaged in a frivolous lawsuit against Washington Rep. Jim McDermott for releasing this tape. The lawsuit pits the First Amendment against the Right to Privacy. (Tale of the Tapes)

<snip>

In 1995 . . . the [new] House Ethics . . . received a flurry of complaints against the new House Speaker, Mr. Gingrich . . . Despite repeated Republican efforts to dismiss all charges against Speaker . . . McDermott insisted that the Committee proceed with the Gingrich investigation in a thorough fashion . . . investigators worked in secrecy for nearly a year, found merit in various charges, and imposed upon the Speaker a fine of $300,000. A further condition accepted by the Speaker was agreement that he would not orchestrate a media response to downplay the penalties imposed for his ethics violations.

Speaker Gingrich then did what any good Republican does when told not to “spin” something in a deal with an Ethics Committee – he calls his friends to spin it for him. The parties to the conference call included Representative John Boehner of Ohio, as well as attorneys and staff personnel. Tom DeLay and Dick Armey also participated in the call.

This is where it begins to get complicated. In a bizarre twist, the phone call was accidentally intercepted and recorded. The couple recognized Gingrich’s voice and wanted to get it to Congress. After passing through a series of steps, Congressman McDermott was given a tape of the phone call. McDermott realized the importance of the call and released it to the media.

This was the beginning of the end for Speaker Gingrich. He resigned on November 7, 1998. Republicans pushed the Justice Department to take action against McDermott. The Justice Department said, “No.”

Then the Republicans persuaded Boehner to file a civil suit against McDermott. This was the first time in the history of our Country that one member of Congress sued another member.

Federal District Court Judge Thomas Hogan granted a motion for immediate dismissal. The Republicans appealed. The Appeals Court determined that Congressman McDermott was not protected under the First Amendment.

US Supreme Court Sides with McDermott

The case was immediately appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court where it was accepted for review, although a very similar case, Vopper v. Bartnicki, was accepted for oral argument. The Court ruled 6-3 in the Bartnicki case in favor of the First Amendment argument. The Supreme Court then reversed the ruling of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals in McDermott’s case, and sent it back to the Circuit Court of Appeals for reconsideration.

When the case was sent back to the lower court, the plantiffs changed the language of the suit to bypass the ruling of the Bartnicki case.

Congressman McDermott has made three attempts to settle this with Congressman Boehner to put the matter behind them. There was a GOP press release stating that Congressman Boehner attempted to settle the issue, but there has been no written offer ever presented. They want McDermott to admit to wrongdoing and “refused to preclude a future ethics complaint against McDermott”. Many feel the Republicans will be interested in settling the case when it is “no longer politically useful” for them to continue.

The Case Continues

The amended case continued at the District Court level, Chief Judge Thomas Hogan presiding. Depositions were taken, then both parties filed for a Summary judgment in the case, Boehner seeking award of damages, and McDermott seeking dismissal. Judge Hogan’s ruling this time was a reversal of his earlier decision: he denied McDermott’s claim of First Amendment protection of his actions. Further, he awarded Mr. Boehner $10,000 in statutory damages and $50,000 in punitive damages. An additional award of attorneys’ fees was withheld until a pending appeal of Judge Hogan’s ruling is argued and decided. Nonetheless, Mr. Boehner has submitted an affidavit seeking $530,000 in attorneys’ fees.

Delay Joins Fray

On December 28, 2004, in a move orchestrated by House Majority Leader Tom Delay, (currently under investigation for money laundering and in danger of being indicted as a felon), a ethics complaint arising from the tape case was filed against Congressman McDermott with the House Ethics Committee. In the November 22, 2004, issue of Roll Call, Mr. Delay remarked that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Representative Jim McDermott are, “the only Members who I know have been found guilty of violating federal law.” Many suspect Delay’s move is an effort to barter his own ethics case for McDermott’s. Donate

This issue does not just affect those of us in Washington State. Now that the Texas court has found the DeLay group violated the law, the resolution of the McDermott issue will help clear the way for the Ethics Committee to investigate DeLay.

Science Friday – A Selection from Natural Selection

[crossposted at Daily Kos]

As the attack on Darwin continues this week, I thought I would round up some of the recent news from the front lines.

I am listening to the Kansas “trial.” It has to be in small doses because my neighbors wonder who I am arguing with and they like me to keep the yelling to a minimum.

One thing that strikes me is the ID/Creationists say they want there to be a debate. Well . . . science is a debate. This is how progress is made. One hypothesis is put forward, then another, maybe another and the debate rolls from there. Then the one that best explains the evidence is the winner . . . until a better explanation comes along.
This weeks debates from Science Daily:

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Great White Shark Evolution Debate :

A significant debate is currently underway in the scientific community over the evolution of the Great White shark, and Chuck Ciampaglio, Ph.D., an assistant professor of geology at the Wright State University Lake Campus, is right in the middle of it.

The issue is if the Great White, one of the most feared predators of the sea, evolved from the huge prehistoric megalodon shark or if its ancestry rests with the mako shark.

“Most scientists would probably say the Great Whites evolved from the megalodon line, which existed from two million to twenty million years ago. They were huge sharks, approximately the length of a Greyhound bus and possessing teeth that were up to six inches long,” explains Ciampaglio. “However, our research, which is based on analyzing fossils of several hundred shark teeth, shows that the Great White shares more similarities with the mako shark.” He added that because sharks regularly replace their teeth, it is relatively easy to obtain tooth samples through fossil field work along the Atlantic seaboard.

Another long standing debate has been the meaning of the “waggle dance” of honey bees. In the 60’s Karl von Frisch proposed the dance was a coded message. When bees find food, they fly back to the hive and get jiggy with it. Other bees watch the dance and know where the source of food is. Not everybody was on board with this idea, and the debate has gone on since the 60’s. A new paper shows von Frisch was probably correct.

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Photo from the Morguefile

Waggle Dance Controversy Resolved By Radar Records Of Bee Flight Paths :

A paper published in Nature on May 12th (1) provides new data that resolves a long-standing scientific controversy. In the 1960s, Nobel Prize winning zoologist, Karl von Frisch, proposed that honeybees use dance (the”waggle dance”) as a coded message to guide other bees to new food sources. However, some scientists did not accept von Frisch’s theory. Using harmonic radar, scientists, funded in part by the UK’s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have now tracked the flight of bees that had attended a “waggle dance” and found that they flew straight to the vicinity of the feeding site, as predicted by von Frisch. The tracks allowed the scientists to determine how accurately bees translate the dance code into successful navigation, and showed that they correct for wind drift even when en route to destinations they have never visited before.

<snip>

In another set of experiments, bee recruits leaving the hive were taken to release sites up to 250m away. These bees flew, not to the feeding site, but in the direction that would have taken them to the feeding site had they not been displaced from the hive. This result adds weight to von Frisch’s original theory and allows alternative hypotheses about bee behaviour to be firmly discounted.

(emphasis mine)

Notice the sentence in bold. Many hypothesis are put forward. After evidence is collected and analyzed, the ones that do not describe the event are discounted. The scientists that had the discounted hypotheses have two choices:

1. Accept that theirs did not describe the phenomena and they were incorrect.
2. Join Answers in Genesis. (I exaggerate, but not by much in my ever so humble opinion)

Another fascinating article is about lateral gene transfer in bacteria. This phenomena has very important implications for human health. Most antibiotic resistance is probably passed on this way. But if genes are passed like this – how can you classify different species of bacteria? It turns out that there are stable areas in the genome not passed on by lateral transfer. This is important when trying to identify which bacteria is the one causing an infection. This does not help much with antibiotic resistance however.

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Where Bacteria Get Their Genes :

Bacteria acquired up to 90 percent of their genetic material from distantly related bacteria species, according to new research from The University of Arizona in Tucson.

<snip>

“To maintain effective treatments and develop new antibiotics, it’s important to monitor the rates and patterns of lateral gene transfer,” said team member Howard Ochman, a UA professor of biochemistry and molecular biophysics and a member of UA’s BIO5 Institute.

<snip>

The research also solves a long-standing evolutionary puzzle. Many scientists have argued that drawing traditional family trees does not make sense for bacteria, because their genomes represent a mix of genetic material from their parental cells and from other species of bacteria.

Ochman and his colleagues’ work shows that bacterial lineages can still be traced by considering only the “traditional” forms of genetic inheritance. The widespread exchange of genes does not blur the line of descent because the acquired genes get lost from the genome at a later point or, if they do persist, the bacteria then transmit them to their offspring.

Being able to classify bacteria is crucial for medicine, Ochman said. “If you go to the doctor with strep throat he can be pretty certain that it’s the result of an infection with a species of Streptococcus and can therefore prescribe an appropriate antibiotic. If you couldn’t classify bacteria because they have genes from all over, doctors wouldn’t be able to do this.”

And my favorite:

In the world of mosquitofish size does matter. This addresses an issue brought up by creationists. They don’t like the thought of “random.” Well . . . neither does Natural Selection.

There is a randomness in gene mutations. There is no control over radiation, errors in making copies of DNA, and others. There are many places for random error.

But choice in mates . . . not so much. Each species has a trait that is selected for, usually by the female. And in the mosquitofish . . . it’s a big “penis.”

This article explains why the not-so-well endowed are still around. It turns out a big penis can be a drag.

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Certain Female Fish Have Special Mating Preference :

A biologist at Washington University in St. Louis has shown that for some fish species, females prefer males with larger sexual organs, and actually choose them for mating. That does not exclude males with an average-sized sex organ, called a gonopodium. These fish out-compete the larger-endowed males in a predator-laden environment because they have a faster burst speed than the males with larger genitalia, who lose out because the size of their organ slows them down, making them ripe for capture by larger fish.

<snip>

Brian Langerhans, Washington University biology graduate student in Arts & Sciences, has performed studies on mosquitofish (guppy-like fish, about an inch long) and found that female mosquitofish spend 80 percent more time with males who have a large gonopodium.

“A male with a larger gonopodium has a higher chance of mating, but in a predator environment he has a higher probability of dying,” Langerhans said. “That’s the cost, the tradeoff. On the other hand, we found that in predator-free environments gonopodia size was larger, as there is minimal cost for large genitalia in that environment. Bigger is better for mating, but smaller is better for avoiding predation.”

<snip>

Researchers have thought for about 20 years that the striking diversity of genital form results from post-mating sexual selection, such as sperm competition or cryptic female choice. That is, most evolutionists have believed that for animals with internal fertilization — like the livebearing fish Langerhans studies which don’t lay eggs– selection acting within the female’s body that biases fertilization toward males with a particular genital morphology has been largely responsible for the generation of genital diversity. Langerhans’s finding, however, contradicts that theory: he has shown that female mosquitofish make their choice before mating, and overwhelmingly that choice is made with size being the prize.

(emphasis mine)

So there is a debate. A constant and sometimes heated debate. What the creationist don’t understand is they need to have evidence to join this process.

If there were studies that would show their “scientific” ideas really were better at explaining the data they would be able to join in. If the data did look better – believe it or not, it would be accepted. There is no conspiracy of scientists. They love a good debate.

You can’t just say “because God did it” and expect everyone else to say, “well that is a good one . . . we’ll just stop what we’re doing . . . what fools we were getting all that evidence and stuff.” You can’t.

The problem is that the creationist’s ideas were the ones that got replaced. The world won’t re-flatten for you, and crystal spheres will not re-enclose the Earth just because it makes you more comfortable.

Seattle Get Togethers for May – Everybody is invited!

[Cross-posted at Daily Kos]

Seattle Kos and Booman Tribune members.

There are 2 events scheduled this month.
The first one is the “regular” monthly meeting at the Pike Brewery.

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We usually have the table in the back – up the stairs and near the mural.

These have been great fun. Except for the last one where I dropped the ball and didn’t post a diary or 3. Sorry N in Seattle! This time we will be joined by em dash, long time Kos member and the founder of the blog Unbossed. So come on out and meet her.

When:
Saturday, May 14, 2005 at 7:00 PM
Where:

Pike Brewery
1415 1st Avenue
Seattle, WA 98115
206-622-6044

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For this one there will be ethanol involved.
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The second event is a BBQ. Molly Pitcher reserved a spot for us in Golden Gardens Park.

When:

Saturday, May 21, 2005 at 11:00 AM (It will go until about 4:00 officially)

Where:

Golden Gardens Park
8498 Seaview Pl NW
Seattle,, WA 98117
(206) 684-4075

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It will be a potluck event so bring side dishes and something to put on the grill. Molly P will be kind enough to provide Hamburgers and Hot Dogs for 40. Thanks!

This is a family event so feel free to bring guests. And because it is a City Park there will be no ethanol involved.

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After the BBQ – DFW/DFA is hosting a fundraisier for DFA with Jim Dean later Saturday evening, and we want all our Kossacks there! More details of this to follow.

If you want to have your email added to the general Seattle list send me one at SeattleLiberal AT msn DOT com.

Why Evolution Matters (Or Creationism and Iraq)

[crossposted at Daily Kos]

O.K. the title is a little odd and this is a little long but bear with me.

Over the last couple of days I have been reading Against All Enemies: Inside America’s War on Terror by Richard A.Clarke. If you have not read it yet, I would highly recommend it.

I had an epiphany when I read this paragraph,

From the interactions I did have with Bush it was clear that the critique of him as a dumb, lazy rich kid were somewhat off the mark. When he focused, he asked the kind of questions that revealed a results-oriented mind, but he looked for the simple solution, the bumper sticker description of the problem. Once he had that, he could put energy behind a drive to achieve his goal. The problem was that many of the important issues, like terrorism, like Iraq, were laced with important subtlety and nuance. These issues needed analysis and Bush and his inner circle had no real interest in complicated analyses; on the issues that they cared about, they already knew the answers, it was received wisdom. (page 243 – emphasis mine)

With this paragraph came a sudden understanding of one reason why winning the Evolution battle in our schools is so important to me. This diary is not about Evolution or Creationism per se; rather it is about the thought process that perpetuates the Creationist’s side of the debate. Opposing this mindset is at the heart of almost every issue that is important to me, and I suspect – many of you as well.

I am going to approach both sides of this issue as two opposing methods of problem solving.

More over the jump.
The first method is the ever-debated “Scientific Method.” Many other dKos members have covered this debate so, briefly, the process goes like this.

Someone notices an event or structure and they want to know what causes it.
An educated guess (hypothesis) is formed about what is being observed.
Experiments are set up to study the hypothesis. It is very important that these experiments be formed to disprove the hypothesis.
If the experiments do not disprove the hypothesis, the experimenter must submit their data to others to be carefully critiqued.
If the data appears solid when others run experiments – it moves one step closer to being accepted as a Theory.

Notice the direction: Observation ⇒ Experimentation ⇒ Explanation.

Science isn’t perfect, but it is the best way we have now to insure we are moving toward knowing the “truth” in our description of the Natural World.

The minds of humans are incredibly good at seeing patterns. From the time we are born, pattern recognition helps us survive. Infants focus on the patterns that are their parent’s faces. Hunter/gatherers learn to see patterns in the tracks of game, edible plants, dangerous animals and situations. We wouldn’t be here if our ancestors didn’t see patterns.

But – our perceptions and senses can be tricked. Click this . (The main page with many other optical illusions is here)

Are you back? Now you would swear the image is moving, right? Until you do an experiment by holding an instrument such as a straight edge up to the picture. Then you see that it is your false perceptions that are creating the movement. To survive – none of this matters. If I “imagine” a bush is moving and avoid it – even if it is free of danger – I survive.

When we reached a time in history where we could move beyond just basic survival, the game changed but our perceptions didn’t. Science is a way of overcoming the weakness of our senses. You can’t trust what you believe to be true. This is Skepticism. Without it, science could not happen. Do not confuse Skepticism with Pessimism they are not even closely related. Skeptics do not reject everything as untrue; they just need evidence before they accept a claim.

Skepticism is important in politics. Do any of you accept all claims made by politicians at face value? If you do, you are accepting a Argumentum ad Verecundiam or an Argument from Authority. This is never wise in a flourishing democracy. Those in authority may be telling the truth . . . just ask for evidence. If they are unwilling to provide it, then you can bring to their attention the odor of “masculine bovine fecal matter” that has suddenly wafted over from their general direction.

Now the “Creationist” direction of problem solving is this: Explanation ⇒ Ignore evidence that contradicts the Explanation ⇒ Explanation. I am hoping this sound familiar to most of you.

If you decide what the explanation is first – you have nowhere to go. In order to maintain your explanation you must reject evidence. This can be very difficult to do as can be seen by the arguments used by Creationists.

For example Creationists:

Know the speed of light is always 299,792,458 meters per second (186,282 miles per second) in a vacuum (space). (O.K. they don’t know it, but they can look it up as a fact like I did)
Know that in one year, light travels 9.4605284 × 10<sup>15</sup&gt meters (5.87849981 × 10<sup>12</sup&gt miles – that is 5,878,499,810,000 miles!). This is a light year, notice this is a unit of distance and not speed.
Know that the most distant objects are about 13 billion light years away.

Creationists are not arguing these figures are wrong. They just have the “received wisdom” that the World is only around 6,000 years old and they don’t share any common DNA with any damn dirty ape. So when faced with the facts – you either must accept that the Universe is at least 13 Billion years old OR you could sidestep the issue by claiming something like, “God created the light “in transit” so it only took 6,000 years to get here”. This would allow you to maintain your “received wisdom.” And this is exactly what they do.

Spirituality is a very important part of our species. Science isn’t trying to get rid of that. We have had other conflicts where our Worldviews were shattered. We now know we are not the center of the Universe, on a flat Earth, with crystal spheres surrounding us. We all made it through these with our spirituality intact. We can make it through Evolution as well.

And this is where I finally get back to the point I was trying to make.

By teaching good science to our children – we increase their ability to face complex issues in other areas of their lives. They can find solutions that actually work. Learning how to think is not an automatic process. We need to be aware of where that process goes awry and consciously avoid errors and introducing muddled thinking into the classroom will not help. We need to teach them to ask for verification and not just accept something because someone in authority told them it was true.

Just looking back on one event – September 11, 2001 shows us where it is vitally important not to ignore evidence that goes against what you want to believe.

George Bush knew in his mind Iraq was involved in terrorist activities and the manufacture of WMD’s (that this was his main reason to invade is questionable) even though all evidence to the contrary said otherwise. This is the Creationist mindset.

If he had looked at the complexities of the issue by studying them, welcomed advice that questioned what he knew, demanded evidence instead of going on a “gut feeling” we would be in a very different place today. Osama bin Laden would probably not be free. We would not have squandered the goodwill of other countries to become one of the most hated Nations on the Earth with our “with us or against us” attitude.

Terrorist actions are increasing, and our military is spread thin. We will be hard pressed to respond to another threat. We are no longer taken seriously when we criticize other Nations for behaving badly – hypocrisy is never viewed well. And on, and on.

We owe it to the citizens of our Country and our children to be able to face complex issues. I know many here feel that one of our problems is we make things too complex. I also know that those that feel this way didn’t make it to this paragraph and hit the “back button” right after the optical illusion.

Having slogans, talking points, quick answers and responses that are easily remembered is important. But when people want to know why we support certain solutions we need to be able to back them up with answers that are complex. We need to learn how to walk and chew gum at the same time.

This is why we need to win the Evolution/Creation debate.

Another reason is given in this diary at Daily Kos: The Coming Christian Hate

Nerd Network News – Diaries from the Week of April 25 – May 1

[Crossposted at Daily Kos]

I started this series to highlight the week’s science diaries. Many political issues will require input from the scientific community to make sound policy decisions.

Some criteria for the diaries I will be including in Nerd Network News:

Diary must have verifiable sources.
Copyright standards must be followed. The sources must be quoted in part and referenced (no complete articles).
Writer must comment or show some analysis of the article (no “link only” diaries)

This is to try to keep the diaries as useful as possible. There may be exceptions if an important subject was brought up and there were no other diaries covering the subject.

The opinions expressed in the diaries are not necessarily my own and spelling errors in the gray boxes are intentionally left as written.

I’m including diaries from Booman Tribune if they were not crossposted here.

If I missed anyone, sorry.

More below

Science Diary Categories

Click on link to take you there.

Ecology and Global Climate Change
Biology/Evolution
Medicine & Healthcare
Energy
Technology
Other
Education
Other dKos Diary Lists or Series
dKos Writer’s
Science Blog Roll

Image of the Week

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Quote of the Week

If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos.
Edward O. Wilson

This Week in Science History

(from TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY)

April 25
DNA structure

In 1953, the Nature journal published the structure of DNA, as suggested in a one-page article by James Watson and Francis Crick. Their work earned the pair of scientists a Nobel Prize in 1962. The structure explained how DNA passed heriditary information from cell to cell, and from generation to generation. “This structure has two helical chains each coiled around the same axis… Both chains follow right-handed helices… The novel feature of the structure is the manner in which the two chains are held together by purine and pyrimidine bases… They are joined together in pairs, a single base from one chain being hydrogen-bonded to a single base from the other chain, so that the two lie side by side with identical z-co-ordinates.”

April 26
Amazon exploration

In 1848, Welsh botanist Alfred Russell Wallace and Henry Walter Bates sailed from Liverpool for the Amazon. Their expeditions yielded insights into natural history and evolution for the both of them. Bates spent 11 years in Amazonia amassing large collections of insects that were sent back to museums and collectors in Europe. Wallace left earlier and collected in the Malay Archipelago. Wallace independently reached the same conclusions as Darwin regarding natural selection and wrote a paper read to the Linnaen Society on 1st July 1858. Bates was quick to embrace Darwin’s and Wallace’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Bates’ own theory, Batesian mimicry, provided evidence for evolution by natural selection.

April 27
American Museum of Natural History

In 1871, the American Museum of Natural History opened to the public in New York City. With a series of exhibits, the Museum’s collection Went on view for the first time in the Central Park Arsenal, the Museum’s original home, on the eastern side of Central Park. The museum began from the efforts of Albert Smith Bickmore, one-time student of Harvard zoologist Louis Agassiz, who was successful in his proposal to create a natural history museum in New York City, with the support of William E. Dodge, Jr., Theodore Roosevelt, Sr., Joseph Choate, and J. Pierpont Morgan. The Governor of New York, John Thompson Hoffman, signed a bill officially creating the American Museum of Natural History on 6 Apr 1869.

April 28
Johannes Peter Müller
Died 28 Apr 1858 (born 14 Jul 1801)

German physiologist and anatomist, one of the greatest of 19th century who, with Magendie, is credited for establishing the science of physiology in its modern form. His famous discovery of the principle of specific nerve energies (1826) when he was able to show that sensory nerves impulses, however stimulated, will be interpreted in the same way. For example, any stimulation of the optic nerve results in a sensation of light, whether light is really involved or not. His major work, Handbuch der Physiologie des Menschen für Vorlesungen, (Elements of Physiology, in 2 vols.) was published in 1833-40. His broad pathology studies included hermaphroditism, embryology, echinoderms, fishes, lmph, chyle, the blood and the voice.

April 30
Pasteur’s germ theory

In 1878, Louis Pasteur lectured at the French Academy of Science in support of his germ theory of disease, in which he held that many diseases were caused by tiny organisms. Since he still met with opposition from some scientists, he called their contrary opinions “fatal to medical progress.” Pasteur also described ways to prevent infection, and provided the skeptics with an experiment with which to prove the theory to themselves.

Science Diary Categories

Ecology and Global Climate Change

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Paying for the science they want: ExxonMobile and the global climate change ‘hoax’ by Plutonium Page :

Melting Antarctic, Arctic, and Himalayan glaciers. Villages are being engulfed by the sea. The evidence of global climate changes is piling up… but what do a few graphs and studies mean? It’s all a “hoax”, right?

Airtight Case Against Depleted Uranium Ordnance by js7a :

Since last October, I have been petitioning the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission and other agencies to help with the problem of depleted uranium munitions, which produce fumes causing birth defects and other problems. There are now several examples of this effort in my diaries.

One Vote Away from Drilling in the Arctic Wildlife Refuge by candice :

I’m a member of the Santa Clara Valley Environmental Action Commitee. My representative Anna Escho (“why not CAFE standards”?) and my Senators Boxer and Feinstein are voting YEA, which is the anti-drilling vote. National Audubon is asking your help to protect the Arctic Refuge. Where do your Senators and representative stand on this issue?

The Brutal Toll of Oil Drilling in Alaska by MJB :

That’s right. ALL of Alaska. The GOP is pushing ahead right now with plans to trash ANWR —

A do-it-yourself guide to a new energy policy by RAST :

This diary really started a few weeks ago when I was thinking about our energy problems. I know that the present administration is in bed with the big oil companies and there’s about a snowballs chance of an honest, real energy policy coming from the top down. But I started thinking about what I can do – how can I make my own personal energy policy? The more I kicked around the idea the more it sounded like a good discussion point for the Kossaks. So here it goes.

Hawai’i’s Connection To Alaska Oil by jillian :

I mentioned this before…but worth repeating…because it keeps getting lost in comments and the questions keeps coming up…why Akaka? Why Inouye?…Perhaps this sheds a little light…

Schweitzer’s door open for enviros by renaissance grrrl :

Today’s Bozeman Daily Chronicle features, on its front page, a story regarding Gov. Brian Schweitzer’s increasing accessibility to environmental groups, in marked contrast to the pro-industry bias of his predecessor Judy Martz.

The oceans are warming up: more significant evidence, Dubya! by Plutonium Page :

While the oil industry is busy funding conservative groups who claim global warming is a “hoax”, the real scientific evidence of climate change mounts:

EPA downplayed benefits of controlling Mercury by Miss Jones :

An unreleased EPA report, written in January 2004, shows that the EPA greatly understated the benefits of mercury reduction for the nation, particularly for the Southeast. In contrast to a public projection of $50 million for the whole country, the unpublished report shows a different story: “reducing national mercury emissions by 30 percent to 100 percent would produce Southeast benefits of between $600 million to more than $2 billion. ,” according to SignonSanDiego.com.

Teaching our children to protect the earth. by Boppy :

Many of us care about the environment we live in and the planet we live on. We want to preserve it for future generations.

NASA Confirms Global Warming is Real by grytpype :

What NASA has done is to directly measure the difference between the rate energy is being absorbed the the Earth and the rate it is radiated back into space.

It’s In The Water by route66 :

a few weeks back I posted a diary that described the frightful physical ailments befalling farmworkers in S. Florida and the liklihood that pesticide poisoning was the culprit

Cegelis Arbor Day Speech (IL-06) by michael in chicago :

Christine Cegelis held an Arbor Day event today at the Thornhill Education Center at The Morton Arboretum, located at the southern end of IL-06 between Glen Ellyn and Downers Grove and Lisle. After Cegelis was done with her speech, I was able to get a copy and wanted to post parts of it here in the Blogosphere. Since it was her event, it was well received by a supportive crowd, but I still felt it exemplifies why she deserves our support. In short: she gets it.

The Energy Crisis – Feeling Powerless? by OrangeClouds115 :

With every new bit of news about U.S. energy policy, I want to cry. I am not just saying that. Listening to Bobby Kennedy Jr frame the problem comes especially close to evoking tears.

House, Senate approve 2006 budget: is Arctic drilling inevitable? by Plutonium Page :

Now that the House and the Senate have confirmed the federal budget, it looks like oil drilling in the Arctic is closer to reality:

Ozone? Anyone? Anyone? by Steven D :

Spring is in the air. Unfortunately, not enough ozone is in the upper atmoshere. If, like me, you suffer from melanin deficiency syndrome (i.e., “fair” skin), you’d better lather up with extra strength sunblock:

Biology/Evolution

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Evolutionism vs. Creationism by allentownboy :

Behold the giant Galapagos tortoise…

Creationism & Geology Part 1: Come Sail Away by DarkSyde :

We are sailors each, one and all. The terrestrial stage may seem implacable, the epitome of stability and permanence; this is an illusion. You and I, and all we know, are castaways on grand luxury liners which ply an ancient sea. But our ship is no mere ephemeral mortal construct of wood and metal bobbing in a solution of salt. We journey through time on the backs of mighty rafts of granite and basalt, crafted over eons by relentless forces, each weighing trillions of tons, stretching for thousands of miles, adrift in a global ocean of roiling lava and white-hot liquid steel. Our earthen vessels are but fragile skiffs, paper thin, congealed skins of rock and mineral shielding us lovingly from the hellish inferno a scant few dozen miles beneath our feet. DevilsTower and I invite our fellow travelers to come sail away with us in a multipart series for Kossacks, as we review the story of how a host of maverick gentleman naturalists of the early 19th century came to understand our place in this planetary drama, shook off the last vestiges of Biblical Literalism before Darwin was in diapers, and created a new science.

Creationsm & Geology Part 2: Silent Majority by DarkSyde :

If we could travel back in time to the quaint English town of Lyme Regis early in the 19th century, we might meet some locals who spoke quietly and earnestly, at times disapprovingly, of an odd child seen roaming the beaches and cliffs, always poking around in the dirt, lugging around buckets of worthless rocks, a pick and shovel in hand. Yet despite the dire prognostications of neighbors, this burgeoning amateur geologist would make astounding discoveries, starting at the tender age of eleven! The youngster would go on to be one of the greatest pioneers of early paleontology. But few would recognize the name today. How could someone be called one of the greatest ‘fossilists’ of all time and remain so obscure? Well, she was just a girl …

Creationism & Geology Part 3: Shaking, Rocking, and Roll’n by DarkSyde :

Deep under the scenic, placid blue seas of southeast Asia, off the coast of Aceh Province, a geological horror is forming of gargantuan proportions. One which will leave its novel signature for eons in the rocky column. A new layer of strata has been laid down, but this deposit is uniquely macabre. It’s a hominid bone-bed. Mixed in with the newly forming sandstones, limestones, shales, and chalk, are the remains of a civilization. Homes, trees, crops, cars, factories. And the unthinkable human toll: 100,000 dead men, women, and children. At least now they lay peacefully, no longer wide eyed in fear, the final echo of their lives flickering through their oxygen deprived psyche. At least that tragic part is over, for them; back in the earth from which we all, ultimately, arise and then return.

Creationism & Geology Part 4: Sailing The Hadaen Ocean by DarkSyde :

If it hadn’t been recognized by the world before Hiroshima and Nagasaki, science now took the global stage by storm as the key to power and success. BUT it also revealed itself to be a devastating, double-edged sword. The sharpness of that blade is often determined by which end of the cutting edge one finds oneself on, and the winners of WW2 scrambled to secure the blunt hilt of the blade lest they perish by it’s keener side. For allied soldiers who were spared the gruesome task of storming Japan’s beaches, the Manhattan Project was a life saver. For those on the other side of the bombay doors of the Enola Gay and Bocks Car, it was a different story. But regardless of the carnage, in fact mostly because of it, the developed world now embraced science with renewed gusto. Americans from small town to big city prided themselves on having the best science and scientists in the world.

Creationists + Power = Braindeath by Grand Moff Texan :

I really couldn’t believe my eyes. There was pandasthumb saying the states of Texas and Alabama had filed amicis curiae briefs in the Cobb Country biology textbook sticker case.

Science Saturday: Geology, Creationism, and … Dinosaurs! by DarkSyde :

A cosmic visitor was hurtling towards the primeval earth at 50,000 mph. At this rate of travel it would cross the orbit of the moon a scant few hours before hitting the blue-green world below. The doomed creatures under the bulls-eye would see the entire sky dropping down like an anvil painted in angry unearthly fire and spectral plasma. On that final evening in North America, as the Mesozoic sun set in the West throwing fiery rays through layers of volcanic dust, the creatures of the Cretaceous had no idea that by dawn their forests and plains would be ablaze.

New Tactic by Scientists in the Evolution Wars by Unstable Isotope :

As the religious right (the American Taliban) are making their power felt in this country, Intelligent Design advocates are making another push in Kansas.

Science Friday: From Darwin to Dobson by Plutonium Page :

The Republican war on science is not always obvious. There is a subtle and disturbing trend toward the propagation of what I call “GOP pseudoscience”. One example is the claim that global warming is a hoax. Another example is the push toward teaching “intelligent design” as an alternative to evolution. Rick Santorum says that evolution is one of the “big social issues of our time,” along with abortion and gay marriage (as quoted in Newsweek).

The Bird … an Ivory-billed Woodpecker ¶ with VIDEO link by Oui :

Thought to be extinct, the last confirmed sighting was 60 years ago in the Big Woods.

Medicine & Healthcare

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EPA wants to allowing testing of toxins on humans. by Boppy :

This is absolutely unacceptable. Truly wrong.

Depression and the Environment by randym77 :

The May issue of the science magazine Discover has an article about using high doses of vitamins and minerals to cure psychiatric problems such as bipolar disorder, depression, and schizophrenia. You can read it on their Web site here.

Mercury in the food pyramid by cshardie :

I don’t know if you can access this article on Salon.com without a membership (or viewing an ad) but basically it says that some of the fish recommended on the new food pyramid for women of childbearing ages are the same fish other agencies have put on the watchlist because they contain way too much mercury for children, nursing moms, and moms to be.

DEA Attack on Chronic Pain Sufferers by RNinNC :

Just found this article in the Raleigh News & Observer and am disgusted (AGAIN!). It appears that the DEA is changing the way doctors are allowed to write prescriptions for narcotics in patients with chronic pain. This is a local take on the issue, and one doctor interviewed often shows up at my nurse’s station.

2006 BUDGET: $10 Billion Cut From Medicaid by Rimjob :

…There are reports that the Republicans are nearing a deal on next year’s budget, cutting $10 Billion from Medicaid over the next 5 years.

Health Care Crisis: State Figures on Uninsured Released by wobblie :

It’s “Cover the Uninsured Week” according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and the state-by-state breakdown has just been released over the AP wire (which I stumbled across reading The Guardian).

Abortion under fire in U.S. House by BobcatJH :

Let’s just get this out of the way: With rare exceptions, radical Republicans want to ban abortions. Interjecting themselves into everyone’s most private affairs, they’d love nothing more than reverse the trend toward safe, legal, available abortions dating back to the Roe v. Wade decision. Today, the U.S. House of Representatives takes up the Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act (CIANA), which would

HPV vaccine and the Christian Right by Mchll :

Human papilloma virus is the most commom STD in the country. About 20 million Americans currently have an infection, and at least 80% of women have had an infection by the age of 50 (numbers from the CDC). It causes genital warts and cervical cancer, and is not entirely prevented from spreading by condoms. In short, this is unpleasant stuff.

Jeb wants to cut 77,000 off Medicaid. by floridagal :

Florida is one of the few states with surplus revenues, billions of dollars. Why must they do this? Ironically cutting their Medicaid could send some to nursing homes instead of continuing at home care, and Medicaid would pay for that.

BREAKING: SB 840 PASSES CA HEALTH COMMITTEE by tiggers thotful spot :

Another step toward a progressive victory!

Cancer for oil: ChevronTexaco’s ‘Rainforest Chernobyl’ by Plutonium Page :

In 2003, George W. Bush had this to say about ChevronTexaco’s CEO:

Our healthcare system almost killed baby William by think2004 :

This is William. William was born five weeks ago to very, very dear friends of mine.

Yesterday, William almost died. When we got the phone call, it was questionable whether William would survive the night. Thank goodness, he is still alive. He’s improving. But he’s still in ICU, and we’re still quite worried and concerned.

What’s Right with Kansas? by mcjoan :

Tonight, it’s their legislature, having upheld Gov. Kathleen Sebelius’ veto of legislation that would have imposed stringent regulations on clinics that perform abortions.

Cause of death “no health insurance” by Arkydem :

He was 39 years old. For most of his adult life he made six figures, paid his taxes, Medicare, Medicaid and was a regular volunteer at the local shelter in his community, he was a good man. When he was 38 he decided that the Chicago life was just too much and headed down to Arkansas for a better quality of life with his family. Making that decision required him to leave his job and with that his health insurance.

Who besides Dick Cheney thinks that asbestos reform is really important to the US economy? by Big Time Patriot :

When our President was asked his view about the economy, part of his answer included this: ”I hope we can get an asbestos reform bill out of both the House and the Senate.

Some background on influenza and the potential for a flu pandemic by DrSpike :

There have been a number of posts on and off about influenza virus, especially the potential of a coming pandemic with a killer virus. This crosses into an area of interest for me, and I have kept up with the literature for some time. Since DemFromCT asked so nicedly I have prepared some informiaton for everyone. I am in the midst of writing a textbook and it just so happens that one section of it focuses on influenza virus. With the publishers permission, I have made the influenza section available on my website. This will hopefully give you a pretty good background on the illness. Go ahead and read it, I’ll wait.

First Microsoft and now Magellan Health by BLOGActive :

57 million Americans receive mental health services and employee assistance from Mageellan Heath Services.

Despite statements to the contrary, Magellan, the largest company of it’s kind in the country, has put dangerous reparative therapist Dr. Warren E. Throckmorton on it’s National Professional Adviory Commttee. Throckmorton works with Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America and other right wing anti-gay groups, in supporting conversion from ebing gay to straight. Ugh.

Uganda’s ABC AIDS success: New Report says it was the “C” by tlaura :

Yesterday, the Globe and Mail reported on the recent slew of research reports to come out on Uganda. Unfortunately, the article buries the lede, going on at silly lengths about the “dark” fact that Ugandan HIV prevalance rates have fallen because HIV positive citizens have died of AIDS (how else would they do down? Nobody gets cured of HIV. The point is to slow the rate of incidence) but the nugget is this:

No More Cures in America? by maven98 :

For the first time in 20 years, the National Institutes of Health is receiving budget increases that are below current inflation levels. It is true that the NIH receives a large amount of money for research and medical science, but that amount is spread over multitudes of scientists. The administration will use this amount of funding to say, “look, science is receiving LOTS of money.” The administration reports things in this purposefully dishonest way, as we well know. So don’t believe it when they say that science funding is sufficient. The medical research discoveries being reported right now are coming from PREVIOUS investment dollars.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month by Mrs Pastor :

My interest in mental health is twofold. Professionally, my background is in Child Development and Counseling Psychology and I am currently an administrator for a children’s mental health treatment program. As a Licensed Professional Counselor and member of several professional organizations dedicated to mental health, I feel an obligation to speak out about mental health issues, hopefully to educate the public.

Healthcare News Round-up: 4/25/05 – 5/1/05 by the holy handgrenade :

Welcome to the Holy Handgrenade’s Healthcare News Round-up. I had originally intended for this to be a daily feature, but unfortunately, time and energy have not been on my side lately. I will try to highlight a number of items that have been in the news over the past week or so.

HealthCare News Round-up – Thursday 4/21/05 & Friday 4/22/05 by the holy handgrenade :

Today’s column will focus on a proposed increase to Iowa’s Medicaid roles, a Connecticut health benefit bill, Baltimore’s prescription plan and the ongoing Wisconsin Medicaid funding problem.

Energy

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Reframing Vehicle MPG by grndrush :

Environmentals, not Industrialists, should be the ones `framing’ vehicle fuel efficiency!

American Farmers, American Energy by dhonig :

In that diary I posted a comment that a move to biodiesel hybrids could be THE key campaign platform for a Democrat to win in 2008. I decided to expand on that thought a little bit here:

Bush On Cnn about energy by NeverSummer :

CNN was carrying coverage of Bush’s energy plan speech. Bush talks very little about conservation. He only talked about light bulbs and barely calls upon Americans to “tighten their belts”.

Bush’s Energy Plan: National Security Flaw by arynos :

One of Bush’s new energy proposals seeks to expand U.S. energy by further developing nuclear power. To do so places U.S. citizens in a direct line-of-fire of terrorists seeking innovative ways to cause destruction with little effort. There is no need to bring ones own bomb when theres one with a hub of powerlines waiting for trouble.

The Left’s Biggest Blind Spot – NUCLEAR POWER by Swampfoot :

Now, I know that since The Chimperor brought this issue to the fore yesterday, many of you who do not have the time or inclination to research the particulars are simply going to assume that if it’s good enough for 85, then it must be a looming disaster for the country. I am here to instead remind you that even a stopped clock is right by coincidence twice a day (once a day if you’re in Europe and use a 24hr clock), and that the sole fact of Dubya’s support of nuclear power is not a good enough reason to oppose it. George probably supports the wearing of pants, and while I oppose some of his policies I don’t think that particular policy is unreasonable (at least in my case).

Towards a More Progressive World: Energy Policy by ellisande :

One of the most important differences between progressives and the modern Republican party is the degree of visible and audible unity. While this is starting to change as the progressive wing of the Democratic Party makes its presence increasingly felt, particularly as represented by Harry Reid and the dKos community among others, with an increasing emphasis on party solidarity, and cracks between the Neocons and Theocons beginning to appear on the other side of the aisle, Democrats are still perceived as being a party in chaos and opposed to the simplicity of classic Republican values. Part of this apparent disunity is the inevitable result of our willingness to see the complexities of the real world and the inevitably differing prioritization of our goals by individuals, but in the important world of public opinion it is largely the result of our failure to control and organize our message.

Our car is on 50% Biodiesel by Miss Jones :

Today we went for a typical Sunday drive… stopped off at the sushi bar for a nice lunch. Drove through bumper-to-bumper holiday traffic to a computer shop to buy our son a new hard drive since his self-destructed a couple of days ago, and ended up detouring to a second computer store some distance away. We covered about 50 km. on this drive, and noticed nothing unusual. Nothing strange. Except the exhaust didn’t smell so bad like it used to when we first bought the car! And it ran smoother, more quietly. Is that our imagination?

Your Daily Share of ANWR: One Cup, One Mile by ColoRambler :

In a recent diary about the recent energy bill, lots of people noted that oil from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would be little more than a drop in the bucket. Even if it all entered the U.S., rather than being sold overseas, it’s a tiny amount compared to current U.S. consumption.

Shrinking BigOil – The Economist on oil (I) – the smart stuff by Jerome a Paris :

The Economist has published in its most recent edition a survey of oil, which I promised to review here. As it is behind a subscription wall, the links (below the jump) are unlikely to be accessible to most of you, so I have tried to summarise its content before critiquing it.

The Economist on oil (II) – rosy corporate view of peak oil by Jerome a Paris :

In a earlier diary, I commented on the first half of the recent survey of oil which came out in the last edition of The Economist. I described that half as a very well informed take the oil market and the biggest players, the oil majors. In this second part , I will critique the other half, i.e. their views on peak oil and the future of alternative energies, which reflects the deliberately rosy official view of corporate America, which still encourages monstruosities like the one in the picture.

Technology

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The Desktop PC is dead by Expo :

Dallas Mavericks owner and blogger Mark Cuban says, that the desktop PC is boring and all the fun is on the portable side of the pc world.

Hubble mission in the works, w/poll by Nicholas Phillips :

As for my opinion on the matter, the Hubble Space Telescope [HST] is one of the greatest scientific instruments ever assembled and put into use. Its observations have increased our understanding of everything from our solar system up to the details of our Universe. In between, it has helped us understand how galaxies and clusters of galaxies form, along with how plantery systems form (see above image).

Other

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Conclusion: Geology, Myth, & the Good Mother Earth by DarkSyde :

It is a loosely guarded secret in astronomy: The earth should be a lifeless snowball. Our planet lies just outside the habitable zone. Despite what creationists may say about the privileged position of our world with respect to the life giving star we orbit, we’re too far out, a little too distant, a bit too cool. By the rights of thermal science our oceans should be frozen solid, our air crisp and free of humidity, and life as we know it should only huddle furtively in small pockets of melt water preserved underneath tons of ice by hot thermal vents; if at all. There are two factors preventing our lovely mother earth from descending into a grim, permanent ice age with no hope of escape. One is the sun; it’s slowly heating up. The other is greenhouses gases. They’re no myth. They are in fact, the breath of life itself, keeping our world twenty to thirty degrees warmer than it would otherwise be. But mythology is rife with both legendary heroes and terrible monsters. And often the two are hard to tell apart.

SciFri: ‘Eyes of Nye’ by lapin :

Bill Nye (who started his illustrious TV career on a Seattle produced show called Almost Live) has a new television series that is broadcast on PBS stations through American Public Television (PBS won’t distribute his show; it wasn’t serious enough for them, whatever). If you’re like me and feel that the scientific method has been taken to the woodshed one too many times lately, then you need to watch this show. And tell everyone you know to watch it as well. If the two episodes I saw are representative of the series, then reasoned discussion of scientific issues on American television is not dead.

Nerd Alert : Organic Materials Spotted High Above Titan’s Surface
by SeattleLiberal :

The Cassini-Huygens team has discovered complex organic molecules in the atmosphere of Titan.

This discovery raises some interesting questions about how these organics may have formed here on Earth. This gives us an opportunity to study formation of these complex molecules in an atmosphere that is not so influenced by the biological processes occurring in our own.

Looking for Leads on an Environmental Story by susanhbu :

This sounds like a great opportunity for a lot of you talented, smart people. The contact info you’ll need is at the end.

Education

While this is not necessarily a science category, you can not have good scientists without good education. So I will highlight education issues here.

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Alabama Bill Could Limit What I Can Teach! by smileypv :

Currently pending in the Education Committee in the Alabama State Legislature is a bill called HB30 submitted by Representative Gerald Allen of the 62nd District. The bill requires that “no state funds should be used to pay for materials that foster homosexuality” among other prohibitions, including that no state employee of any library, university, or public school “shall require or encourage the entity’s members or employees to provide information or materials or engage in any activities that, directly or indirectly, sanction, recognize, foster, or promote a lifestyle or actions prohibited by the sodomy and sexual misconduct laws of the state of Alabama.” (sources: HB30 and Gay book ban goal of state lawmaker)

LEAKED: Union-Busting memo at Columbia University & the Academic Freedom case there by Nate Roberts :

An internal memo from the Provost, Alan Brinkley, to top administrators outlines his plans to implement union-busting tactics that would have the university not merely emulate the strategies of private corporations, but in fact go far beyond them. What Brinkley has proposed calls for retaliatory actions against union supporters that would be illegal under the National Labor Relations Act.

Don’t let my critics in !!! by teacherken :

One thing that is characteristic about the current administration is its unwillingness to have meaningful dialog with those of opposing views. We have seen this in the staged “town hall meetings” on Social Security in recent months. That pattern is unfortunately apparently widespread among all elements of the political right, including in education.

Burn Books! Alabama wants to censor school library books by blueohio :

According to CBS news correspondent Mark Strassman, Alabama Republican lawmaker Gerald Allen thinks he knows what’s best for everyone and has proposed a bill that would ban public school libraries from buying new copies of books or plays by gay authors or about gay characters.

Healthcare, Education, and National Defense by mrboma :

After reading Maryscott’s excellent diary (and all the great comments it elicited) here it got me thinking about how to get more funding for education. What argument could we use that might convince some conservatives?

Education Meta Diary #3 by teacherken :

This weekend is Pascha (Easter) for those following the Eastern Church Calendar, the Orthodox (Russina, Greek, Rumanion, OCA, Atniocnian, etc), and the Oriental (Coptic, Armenian, etc). My wife is Orthodox, so our weekend is very full and I will not have time for a thoughtful NEW education diary. For those with time to read, I therefore offer the third of my meta-diaries.

Christian Schools: Do they teach children to be mean? by SanJoseLady :

As I diaried last week, we have put our son in a private school for the remainder of this 8th grade year, and since this new school is 30 miles away, we asked the school if there were any students near us who were also taking the train to school.

No Cuspid Left Behind by Toddlerbob :

I just recently discovered, via the ordinary circulating e-mail grapevine, this astute essay by John S. Taylor, former superintendent of the Lancaster County School District in South Carolina. Since I sort-of remember reading something that said he didn’t mind people passing it on, I printed the whole thing below the fold.

LINKED: Marla Ruzicka Attack & Academic Freedom at Columbia University by Nate Roberts :

The slander of slain peace activist Marla Ruzicka by David Horowitz of the David Project has already been written about here .

But what has been missing from the discussion, so far, is any mention of David Horowitz and the David Project’s central role in the intimidation campaign at Columbia University.

Other dKos Diary Lists or Series

These are great lists to help you catch up with easily missed diaries every week.

Newsie8200’s “Newsie’s Week In Reviewsies”
jotter’s “High Impact Diaries”
social democrat “17 best-rated comments”

These series offer help for everything from saving money to saving your soul.

Newsie8200’s “Newsie’s Media News Monday”
bonddad “Today’s Economic News”
dhonig “Daily Pulse”
advisorjim. “Confessions of a Former Dittohead”
pamindurham “LGBT news roundup”
catnip “Daily Kos Diary Series: A Compilation”
Our Man In Redmond “Sunday Griot”
the holy handgrenade “Healthcare News Round-up”
Frankenoid “Saturday Morning Garden Blogging”
Ptolemy “Weekly Torah”
Soj “PDB”
Bill in Portland Maine “Cheers and Jeers”
Carnacki “Carnacki’s Chiller Theater” (Booman)
pyrrho “MetaDkos”
JK Minnesota “Kossack in Courage”

A series of photos from Iraq

RubDMC “Iraq War Grief Daily Witness”

Previous Nerd Network News Lists
Nerd Network News – Week of December 20-26
Nerd Network News – Week of December 27 – January 2
Nerd Network News or “N cubed” – Week of January 2 – 8
Nerd Network News – Week of January 9 – 15
Nerd Network News (Science Diaries) – Week of January 16-22
[Science] Nerd Network News – Diaries from the Week of January 23-29
[Science] Nerd Network News – Diaries from the Week of Jan 30 – Feb 5
[Science] Nerd Network News – Diaries from the Week of February 6-12
[Science] Nerd Network News – Diaries from the Week of March 21 – 27
[Science] Nerd Network News – Diaries from the Week of April 11 – 17
[Science] Nerd Network News – Diaries from the Week of April 18 – 24

dKos Writer’s

(listed by id#)
This is a list of dKos members that frequently focus on science. If you know of others that should be added please add their names in a comment below.

Devilstower
coturnix
mcjoan
Paul Rosenberg
Plutonium Page
meanandgreen
peeder
Toktora
azindy
ColoRambler
DarkSyde

Science Blog Roll

greenState A new blog on Environmental issues by fellow Kossians.
Science And Politics and circadiana by our own coturnix
Pharyngula
Chris C Mooney
Deltoid
The Panda’s Thumb
blog.bioethics.net
Preposterous Universe
RealClimate

Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting

Nerd Network News – Diaries from the Week of April 18 – 24

[Crossposted at Daily Kos]

As some of you know, this is a weekly series I do at Daily Kos. I was not sure this would be O.K. to post here. If it is – then next week I will add Booman Tribune diaries as well (If they are not crossposted).

I started this series to highlight the week’s science diaries. Many political issues will require input from the scientific community to make sound policy decisions.

Some criteria for the diaries I will be including in Nerd Network News:

Diary must have verifiable sources.
Copyright standards must be followed. The sources must be quoted in part and referenced (no complete articles).
Writer must comment or show some analysis of the article (no “link only” diaries)

This is to try to keep the diaries as useful as possible. There may be exceptions if an important subject was brought up and there were no other diaries covering the subject.

The opinions expressed in the diaries are not necessarily my own and spelling errors in the gray boxes are intentionally left as written.

If I missed anyone, sorry.

More below

Science Diary Categories

Click on link to take you there.

Ecology and Global Climate Change
Biology/Evolution
Medicine & Healthcare
Energy
Technology
Other
Education
Other dKos Diary Lists or Series
dKos Writer’s
Science Blog Roll

This Week in Science History

(from TODAY IN SCIENCE HISTORY)

April 20
Radium

In 1902, Marie and Pierre Curie isolated one gram of radium, the first sample of the radioactive element. They had refined it from eight tons of pitchblende ore.

April 21
Revolving restaurant

In 1962, the first revolving restaurant in the U.S., the Top of the Needle, Seattle, Washington, was opened by remote control by President John F. Kennedy from Palm Beach, Florida.

April 22
Roller skates

In 1823, roller skates were patented by Robert John Tyers, a fruiterer in Picadilly, London. His Volitos were an “apparatus to be attached to boots … for the purpose of travelling or pleasure.” They used five small wheels in a single line. Tyers demonstrated them at the tennis court in windmill Street. The first use of roller skates is believed to be by Joseph Merlin in Belgium (1760). The first four-wheeled skates, using small boxwood wheels in pairs, were patented in 1863 by James L. Plimpton of New York

April 23
Max Planck
Born 23 Apr 1858; died 4 Oct 1947.

Max (Karl Ernst Ludwig) Planck was a German theoretical physicist. He studied at Munich and Berlin, where he studied under Helmholz, Clausius and Kirchoff and subsequently joined the faculty.he became professor of theoretical physics (1889-1926). His work on the law of thermodynamics and the distribution of radiation from a black body led him to abandon classical Newtonian principles and introduce the quantum theory (1900), for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1918. This assumes that energy is not infinitely subdivisible, but ultimately exists as discrete amounts he called quanta (Latin, “how much”). Further, the energy carried by a quantum depends in direct proportion to the frequency of its source radiation.

April 24
Scopes Monkey Trial

In 1925, Darwin’s theory of evolution was taught on this day in Dayton, Tenn. The high school textbook used was George Hunter’s Civic Biology, that promoted Charles Darwin’s The Descent of Man. For this, teacher John Scopes, 24, was prosecuted under a 21 Mar 1925 state law, the Butler Act, against the teaching of evolution in public schools. At the trial (10-21 Jul 1925) both sides desired only one legal outcome – a conviction! The defense intended to make an appeal that might overturn the Tennessee statute. He was convicted and fined $100. On appeal, the state supreme court upheld the constitutionality of the 1925 law but acquitted Scopes on the technicality that he had been fined excessively. The law was repealed 17 May 1967.

Science Diary Categories

Ecology and Global Climate Change

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Death of Environmentalism v2.0 by NeverSummer :

What are these unforseen payoffs I speak of? Looking to the past, and what it means for the future, I can see the animosity created toward the “liberal left” which includes many Environmental movements and groups. The Sierra Club, ELF, PETA, Greenpeace and more are grouped and dissected for examples of how they represent the “Left gone wrong”. If we do not tread lightly, we will lose the fence-sitting people who once cared about the environment, but will now be conviced nothing is wrong, and America may continue with its destructive and irresponsible policies.

Order 81 – It’s the WHEAT Seeds by gimbal :

I will leave it to the reader, crtainly, to determine what The Ecologist (UK periodical) has reported, in their frank wisdom, and what the Pentagon’s Centcom had to say, on its part, about wheat … and, well, seeds — and what more and broader depth and what details exists, of that famed Order 81, an expression of whom did derive it — that non-fiction, as a law, put to the people of Iraq, — that work, present and as long as it stays, “future”.

Happy Earth Day To You: Antarctic Glaciers Retreating by ColoRambler :

About the only good news here is that the glaciers in question represent a fairly small portion of the Antarctic ice sheet — the Antarctic Peninsula in the northernmost part of the continent. Even there, the process is a little disturbing, because this is an area of Antarctica that is uniquely susceptible to ice melting as a result of local climate change. More below:

Abolish This Day by philinmaine :

Heavens to Murcatroy, it’s Earth Day again, well, officially it’s Friday April 22nd (I think). Earth Day used to be a big deal a few decades ago complete with rallies, legislation, personal commitment to daily improvement but that was then, this is now. Now it’s all about consumerism, it’s about the stuff.

It’s A Sad Earth Day For Me by Patriot for Al Gore :

I wrote this diary a week ago and I poured my heart out about the love I feel for this Earth. Today, I weep for this planet. Today, I mourn for the loss of the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge. Today, Earth Day, a day when we should celebrate Mother Earth and reflect on what we have accomplished and what we still need to do, we have the most corrupt and environmentally destructive administration in the history of this country sucking her dry. I cannot feel happy today when I look at the blatant disrespect so many people have for this planet, and the level of acrimony those who say they love this country carry for her in their hearts based on their actions.

Good News! Uranium mining banned on Navajo rez! by navajo :

I reported in January that Canadian uranium companies wanted to start mining uranium again on the Navajo reservation. The mining in the 1920’s through the 80’s left Navajo’s with radiation sickness, contaminated tailings and contaminated water.

Earth Day 35. Are We Getting Anywhere? by Meteor Blades :

Although that first Earth Day focused needed attention on the world’s environmental troubles, it was also a diversion. Just a week after Earth Day, on April 29, the U.S. sent troops into Cambodia and, within three weeks, six students had been killed during protests at Kent State and Jackson State universities. Then, too, while millions joined in Earth Day activities, the event was peppered with corporate sponsors, many of whom were more interested in making a public relations coup than anything substantively ecological. Indeed, some corporate participants took a downright hostile tone when it was pointed out that something engaged in by them might be environmentally destructive.

Happy Earth Day; here’s your gas mask. by BobcatJH :

Happy Earth Day, everyone. I guess everyone celebrates in different ways; for instance, the radical Republicans in the House of Representatives started the party a little early, writing a love letter to Big Energy yesterday.

Global Warming: Glacier Losses Accelerating by Unstable Isotope :

A new report using satellite images to track the glaciers has found that they are melting, and that the melting has accelerated in the last decade.

Environmental News to give you the Blues by jillian :

A loophole in the fine print of the Bush Administration’s `Clear Skies’ bill would exempt many of the nation’s power plant units from ever having to reduce their mercury emissions. A loophole in the bill could exempt 39% of the nation’s mercury-emitting power plant units from regulation. These 441 units collectively emitted 4,971 pounds of mercury into the air in 1999. In some cases, the loophole could let entire plants off the hook for cleaning up their mercury emissions. The fine print: how a loophole in the `Clear Skies’ bill lets power plants off the hook for their Mercury emissions. Published by Michigan Public Interest Research Group.

My Earth Day speech Columbia Missouri by Keith Brekhus :

Got to give a 7-8 minute speech between bands today at Columbia, Missouri’s Earth Day celebration. Here is what I had to say (almost verbatim, but since I didn’t read as I spoke it was slightly different and probably included some “umms” and other imperfections :-). The speech is below. Feedback is welcome even though its already been spoken….

Biology/Evolution

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Know Your Creationists: DR Jonathan Witt by DarkSyde :

Jonathan Witt holds a Ph.D. in Literary Studies from the University of Kansas. Before joining the Discovery Institute as Writer in Residence, Witt served for nine years as the head of creative writing at Lubbock Christian University, and has published fiction and creative non-fiction in addition to his scholarly articles. He is curently writing a book to be called The Meaning-full Universe.

Evolution: Common Descent Primer by DarkSyde :

Evolution: 1) From the point of view of genetics ‘a change in the frequency of alleles within a population over time’ 2) Diversification/speciation from common ancestors. Most folks who object to evolution are not rejecting the theoretical mechanisms by which species are thought to change over time, but rather the idea of common descent; specifically common descent of man and other forms of life. But the theoretical mechanisms by which species diverge from common ancestors could be dead wrong, and the evidence for common descent would be unaffected. The best resource which reviews all these is the Talk Origins FAQ called 29 Evidences for Macroevolution: The Scientific case for Common Descent. I usually group the evidence for common descent into six categories, and I’ll ramble on a bit about each of them below the jump (And I could use all the help I can get from anyone who wants to chime in because I’m sicker than a dog).

Third Anti-evolution Bill of ’05 Introduced in Alabama by DarkSyde :

A third antievolution bill was introduced to the Alabama State Legislature late in the 2005 legislative session. On April 5, 2005, Rep. Scott Beason (R-St. Clair, Shelby) introduced House Bill 716. The bill is dubbed the “Academic Freedom Act” and is a near-copy of a previous pair of antievolution bills (HB352, SB240) introduced in February 2005. Those bills were themselves copies of antievolution legislation introduced in 2004. The 2004 bills were passed out of committee in both houses, but they died on the floor when the 2004 legislative session expired. … more

Fun New Creationist Law Suit! by SeattleLiberal :

In an article at worldnetdaily there is now another attempt at making the evolution/creationism debate into a “free speech” issue.

MSNBC HardBall and Those Colorful Young Earth Creationists by DarkSyde :

Having been primed by promos all day from the MSNBC News Show Hardball shouting out “Adam and Eve or evolution?”, I tuned in at 7 PM EST Thursday evening to see if the program would live up to the advertisment. Sad to say the portion of the program discussing creationism was woefully short, but all in all I was satisfied with the way what little was presented played out. Host Chris Matthews opened the segment by relating to creationist representative Terry Fox (Not sure if I have the name right) that as a young man in his Catholic Private School, Matthews had been taught evolutionary biology and he saw no conflict between evolution and Christian theology.

Medicine & Healthcare

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Universal Healthcare – A Way to Level the Playing Field by vtrob77 :

I was reading an article on CNN.com, Safeway CEO: No choice on health care, about how safeway had to stop paying the entire cost of healthcare and shift the burden to some of their employees. (this is what lead to the strikes in SoCal).

HealthCare News Round-up – Tuesday 4/19/05 by the holy handgrenade :

Due to time and work constraints, today’s column will focus on only two topics: possible reductions to the possible Florida Medicaid reforms and rising California Blue Cross premiums.

The New Food Pyramid is Dead On Arrival by peeder :

With a big build-up and much fanfare, the USDA’s new Food Guide Pyramid is a classic exercise in a well-meaning waste of taxpayer time and money.

Behind the Curtain: Fundamental Pharmacists by mad ramblings of a sane woman :

Last week a friend, who is in healthcare, and I were discussing pharmacists, the pill and religion. She stated that there are many more pharmacists out there who would refuse to fill birth control prescriptions than we even realize. I wondered, with that intellectual curiosity that the current President lacks, where are these pharmacists coming from? What colleges are they going to? How are they paying for 5-6 years of college? Are there scholarships available only to Christians to attend universities and get a Pharmacology degree? So in e pluribus media style, I googled, and below the jump is what I found. What frightens me the most is that I am sure there are many more organizations like Christian Pharmacists Fellowship International.

HealthCare News Round-up – Wednesday 4/20/05 by the holy handgrenade :

Today’s column will focus on issues in the Wisconsin Medicaid program, the ongoing TennCare saga, foreign prescription drugs and updates in the estimated annual obesity related deaths.

Who cares if women die? by lorraine :

Yesterday, I posted a diary about the Guardian’s report that the US Dept of Health and Human Services was applying pressure to the World Health Organization to prevent it from moving two drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, on to an “essential drugs list” that would constitute advice to governments about which drugs their country’s doctors should have on hand at all times. These two drugs, used in combination,induce abortion, much more safely than surgical abortion.

Canada on Plan B: No Prescription Necessary by catnip :

Health Canada has decided that women needing the “morning after pill” Plan B (levonorgestrel) will no longer need a doctor’s prescription in order to obtain it. It will sit behind the pharmacists’ counters, as many other drugs do, so that they can warn women of the side effects. Provinces are also able to decide if they would like to free all restrictions to the drug by moving it from behind the pharmacists’ counters altogethr.

an uncomfortable place for sex by seesdifferent :

Hatch is one of the lead sponsors of a bill which would allow federal funding for stem cell research. He also said that embryonic cell research is vital to medical research against a variety of diseases. “One of the best ways to be pro-life is to help take care of the living,” Hatch says. He and Arlen Spector stated further rationale for change: the cell lines existing when Bush made his edict are all contaminated with non-human cells (this results in the presence of sialic acid, which, shall we say, confuses the stem cells). Spector, of course, has lost his hair from treatment for Hodgkins Disease, a cancer of the lymphatic system. It is widely hoped that stem cell research could produce cures for cancer. In another appeal for bipartisan support, Spector pointed out that stem cell research was needed to fulfill Nixon’s commitment for a “war on cancer.” Dianne Feinstein D-Cal is the lead Democratic sponsor of the legislation.

Putting a Human Face on the Travesty that is our National Health Care System by MAlibdem :

Up here in Hanover, New Hampshire, a picturesque New England college town with a beautiful green, classic academic buildings, and a charming, thriving Main Street, there doesn’t seem to be too much suffering. People seem well off, educated, a slice of small town America.

Bush Depression leads to increase in Suicide & Murder in some states by tiberius :

The rising murder & suicide rate in several states are just another snapshot of George W. Bush’s America. While the study below was only based on data from the first 6 states, it appears to be part of a national trend- probably because crime tends to increase as the economy falters

Good News On Contraception: NYC Begins Sane Policy by JaneKnowles :

Are you getting tired of bad news regarding contraception? If so, you will appreciate this story. Recently NYC Mayor Bloomberg announced that starting in June, doctors in city health facilities would offer prescriptions for emergency contraceptives — commonly known as “EC” — to any woman of childbearing age who wants it.

HealthCare News Round-up – Thursday 4/21/05 & Friday 4/22/05 by the holy handgrenade :

Today’s column will focus on a proposed increase to Iowa’s Medicaid roles, a Connecticut health benefit bill, Baltimore’s prescription plan and the ongoing Wisconsin Medicaid funding problem.

Energy

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Disability Rights (and Wrongs) by therealcervantes :

I was fortunate to be a student of the late Irving Kenneth Zola. Irv was one of the founders of the sociological study of disability, and of the very non-academic disability rights movement. He had multiple disabilities himself, but as a young scholar it hadn’t occurred to him that his disabilities constituted a social status or that they suggested a field of study. This awareness really grew out of his much broader work in the sociology of health and illness.

HealthCare News Round-up – Monday 4/18/05 by the holy handgrenade :

Today’s column will focus on pediatric vaccination shortages, another TennCare issue and North Carolina’s voiding of the current Medicaid contract. There isn’t much going on today, as the weekend was light on healthcare news.

What’s so bad about nuclear power? by Jensequitur :

I feel bad for these countries that are trying to build nuclear power plants. All they really want to do is get out from under the yoke of OPEC and the Carlyle Group. They need power for industrialization. But our current administration’s knee jerk reaction is to accuse them of building bombs.

Congress Asked to Boost Ethanol Production by doink :

Of course, the oil industry opposes this; every drop of ethanol we put in our tanks helps keep prices of oil down by reducing demand. Wouldn’t want to interfere with the industry’s current record profits.

Energy Bill Passes the House. by environmentalist :

The Republican-crafted bill was approved by a margin of 249-183.

They’ve passed it, what, four times before but it cant seem to get past the Senate. Thank God. This year could be different though. So, what’s in the Energy Bill of 2005?

Economy/Energy/Environment – How Dems Can Win by Dem in Knoxville :

My background is in environmental chemistry, and so I tend to visualize the shifting prices and other measures of the economy in terms of a web of equilibria, like the incredibly complex web of equilibria in our bodies. And like a web, you pull on one thread and everything else is affected to a greater or lesser degree.

Texas: Want green energy? Here’s how by Neverknowsbest :

Several years ago, Texas deregulated the power industry in certain areas. And for once, deregulation might actually work in our favor. If you live near Houston, Dallas, or in south or west Texas, you might have the option to switch your electricity provider to an environmentally conscious, green energy provider.

This Diary Could Cost Me My Job by Devilstower :

I don’t know whether I want this to be widely read, or to sink into the tar. I know it’s a bad idea to write this.

Not only am I risking my job to address this issue so directly, I’m also risking any credibility I have here at dailyKos. Many of you are going to hate parts of this just as much as my employers hate the rest.

I’m not even sure what I hope to get out of it. A bit of catharsis, maybe. Or the chance to do something about a problem that I’ve had a very real hand in creating. I guess I’m hoping for both those things.

Ladies and gentlemen, I want to talk to you about coal.

Peak Oil Is Here by randym77 :

Dr. Kenneth S. Deffeyes, oil worker turned Princeton professor, wrote a book about peak oil, called Hubbert’s Peak. In the first chapter, he talks about how he knew peak oil had arrived for the U.S.:

A Peak Oil Night’s Mare by DarkSyde :

I put this up a few weeks ago. Laziness, sickness, and a recent surge of interest in Peak Oil, gives me the excuse to repost. Stimulated by Randym77’s insightful diary and observation, consider this the Edgar Allen Poe version of a Peak Oil primer for those who like the allegorical horror tale format.

Technology

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Blog Revolution: jScoop Is Alive! by pacified :

After only 3 weeks of blood, sweat, and beer, a little side project of mine I like to call jScoop is up and running on the Internets.

Challenging America – The Next Space Age by rkolker :

While it received scant attention in the campaign, we urge you to accelerate and elevate the attention given to changing the direction of civilian spaceflight in general and human spaceflight in specific. That the dollars spent on human spaceflight are spent badly is obvious to anyone who has observed the program’s glacial progress. Why changing that direction is urgent is not. May we take a moment to explain why.

Other

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Santorum to Control Weather by pyrrho :

Santorum has submitted a bill to force NOAA to remove the weather information feed it currently provides for free via the internet. By “free” I mean “already paid for by our taxes”. Well, Santorum thinks, on behalf of “AccuWeather and The Weather Channel”, et al, we should not have this information.

Science Friday: Early, Weird, and Cool Edition by Devilstower :

You may think it’s corny (and it is), but so many people bought into the punchline, that a significant number of folks think Disney put his body on ice. But bodies that are frozen aren’t in suspended animation. They’re just plain dead.

Science Friday: Potpourri by Devilstower :

This is one of those days when the science news comes nearly as fast as the action in a Bolton hearing. It’s hard to even pick the most important story of the day.

Is it that Antarctic Glaciers are melting faster than expected, giving us yet another sign of global warming (and prodding me to look for possible beachfront land in Arkansas)?

Super Nova, Creationism, and the Fate of the Universe by DarkSyde :

Often lost in the cynicism of politics, it’s all too easy to grow frustrated. This fine Saturday morning can I interest you in taking stock of some of the hopeful qualities in mankind? This story begins a long time ago, when a few clans of homo sapiens barely a few thousand strong living in Africa still shared their blue planet with Neandertals in ice-age Europe. The tale starts in a galaxy far, far, away, from those savannas, where a brash young star was paying the price for a life led too fast and too furious. The mighty sun had burned it’s precious nuclear fuel with reckless abandon, shining more brightly than a thousand less well endowed stars, but the glory was fleeting. Working down the familiar hierarchy of increasingly heavier elements, the ruthless force of gravity finally conspired with atomic physics to put an end to the giant’s gluttonous ways in a final cataclysm that would serve as both gravestone and funeral pyre.

Education

While this is not necessarily a science category, you can not have good scientists without good education. So I will highlight education issues here.

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Battle Growing Over College for Immigrant Kids by ProgressiveSouth :

One of the sharpest political debates erupting in statehouses this year — and a key battle between progressive and anti-immigrant forces nationwide — is over proposals to give the children of undocumented immigrants in-state tuition at state colleges and universities.

NCLB & Private School Vouchers.. a destructive mix for education. by Scoopster :

This diary is the reply to a short comment I found on another blog. It’s more a stream of logical events that is now happening on a daily basis throughout our country. Please let me know what you think below, as this is something I wrote myself while researching and thinking about the basic ideas and facts. The original comment is:

Be More Philosophical by pyrrho :

In the history of mankind, lets say the last 10,000 years, Western Civilization (that Gandhi is such a kidder) we have long periods of religious neurosis, oppressive dogmatic regimes symbolized by animosity toward inquiry and change, marked with relatively short philosophical periods of a century or three.

warning about a new “report” on teachers by teacherken :

from the Progressive Policy Institute which for those who don’t know is the ‘think tank” for the DLC — Al From is the head of the parent Third Way Foundation. They combined DLC/PPI has sent out an email broadcast about their new report on teacher quality. Not surprisingly, they find that quality lacking.

Three States and Teacher’s Union Fights No Child Left Behind Law by bhlogger :

We’ve long been reading about the negative consequences the No Child Left Behind program is having on school districts nationwide. It looks like a few states and the larges teacher’s union in the nation is finally stepping up to the plate.

teachers and the law by teacherken :

in keeping with my practice of making available resources and information that I think may be of value to people on this list, I want to call your attention to a resource. It is dsigned primarily for teachers, of which clearly there are many on this blog. But the information covered will be of interest and perhaps even of use for many others.

Education Secretary fined Texas $444,282 for defying NCLB by Eloy :

The Texan Margaret Spellings now Education Secretary fined Texas for noncompliance of No Child Left Behind Act. Margaret Spellings helped draft the original NCLB Act in Texas when she advised then-Gov. George W. Bush from 1994 to 2000.

Should federal scientists have to raise funds for their projects? by Boppy :

No. Scientists are not fundraisers. Hello!! Knock, Knock! We can afford tax cuts for the the weatlhy and for a needless war. We can afford to support our federal scientists. This following is from PEER.

Other dKos Diary Lists or Series

These are great lists to help you catch up with easily missed diaries every week.

Newsie8200’s “Newsie’s Week In Reviewsies”
jotter’s “Most Recommended Diaries”
social democrat “17 best-rated comments”

These series offer help for everything from saving money to saving your soul.

A series of photos from Iraq

RubDMC “Iraq War Grief Daily Witness”

dKos Writer’s

(listed by id#)
This is a list of dKos members that frequently focus on science. If you know of others that should be added please add their names in a comment below.

Devilstower
coturnix
mcjoan
Paul Rosenberg
Plutonium Page
meanandgreen
peeder
Toktora
azindy
ColoRambler
DarkSyde

Science Blog Roll

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Nerd Alert : Organic Materials Spotted High Above Titan’s Surface

[crossposted at Daily Kos]

First saw this at talk.origins

The Cassini-Huygens team has discovered complex organic molecules in the atmosphere of Titan.

Exciting stuff.
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saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

Organic Materials Spotted High Above Titan’s Surface
April 25, 2005
(Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

Cassini’s Views of Titan
During its closest flyby of Saturn’s moon Titan on April 16, the Cassini spacecraft came within 1,027 kilometers (638 miles) of the moon’s surface and found that the outer layer of the thick, hazy atmosphere is brimming with complex hydrocarbons.

Scientists believe that Titan’s atmosphere may be a laboratory for studying the organic chemistry that preceded life and provided the building blocks for life on Earth. The role of the upper atmosphere in this organic “factory” of hydrocarbons is very intriguing to scientists, especially given the large number of different hydrocarbons detected by Cassini during the flyby.

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Hydrocarbons containing as many as seven carbon atoms were observed, as well as nitrogen- containing hydrocarbons (nitriles). Titan’s atmosphere is composed primarily of nitrogen, followed by methane, the simplest hydrocarbon. The nitrogen and methane are expected to form complex hydrocarbons in a process induced by sunlight or energetic particles from Saturn’s magnetosphere. However, it is surprising to find the plethora of complex hydrocarbon molecules in the upper reaches of the atmosphere. Titan is very cold, and complex hydrocarbons would be expected to condense and rain down to the surface.

“Biology on Earth is the primary source of organic production we are familiar with, but the key question is: what is the ultimate source of the organics in the solar system?” added Waite.

Fun New Creationist Law Suit!

[cross posted at Daily Kos]

In an article at worldnetdaily there is now another attempt at making the evolution/creationism debate into a “free speech” issue.

www.worldnetdaily.com :

Darwin-only challenger claims libel

Parent says ‘evolution spokeswoman’ trying to discredit effort

Posted: April 23, 2005

1:00 a.m. Eastern

A parent suing a school district over its teaching of evolution says he was libeled by the education establishment’s chief spokeswoman on Darwin, Eugenie Scott, in an attempt to discredit his efforts.

As WorldNetDaily reported, Larry Caldwell filed a civil-rights lawsuit in federal court against the Roseville Joint Union High School District and school officials in Sacramento, Calif., alleging his constitutional rights to free speech, equal protection and religious freedom were violated when he was prevented from introducing a curriculum that changes how the theory of evolution is taught, without introducing religious content.

(emphasis mine)

Now if you can’t convince someone that creationism is science you can try for a libel suit.

“It just shows that even after they’ve been told in detail the specific facts, they are not willing to rely on the truth in this debate,” Caldwell said. “It just confirms to me they have a strategy of using misinformation.”

<snip>

Scott’s article, Caldwell says “is typical of how the Darwinists ‘debate’ this issue – they tell lies about our side and try to discredit and marginalize everyone on our side by stereotyping us as ‘religious nut cases’ who are trying to inject Genesis into science classes, or to “ban evolution” from science classes.

According to Caldwell’s new debate rules, a call for creationists to supply evidence following the Scientific Method – before allowing biblical teaching in a SCIENCE class – is equivalent to “lying”. Supplying overwhelming evidence that discredits the limited Biblical world view is just trying to discredit “everyone on our side.” You know . . . just to be mean.

“What does that say about the strength of their argument on the merits of how Darwinism should be taught in our public schools?” he asked

<snip>

The lawsuit asks the court to reform the district’s practices to “ensure that citizens of all political viewpoints and religious beliefs will be able to enjoy their constitutional right to bring education policy proposals before the school board and other school officials on an equal basis, without illegal discrimination.”

Obviously, they are not actually familiar with any of the “arguments” from the scientific side.

I’ve written a few proposals for my local School Board to follow Caldwell’s lead:

I want a section that teaches that the planets are just dots printed on a series of 7 crystal spheres. These spheres surround our flat Earth, which is, indeed, the center of the Universe. Planets are no longer allowed to have moons either.
Magma is actually fire and brimstone. The Earth is hollow and is inhabited by Satan.
Our chemistry classes no longer have a good lab with Alchemy. I feel in our new economy the creation of the “Philosopher’s Stone” would do wonders – both in health care and the creation of gold bullion.
I want Astrology – including the teaching of making charts (both Western and Chinese star signs included) to be taught in all Astronomy classes. This will allow our students a better chance of being employed by the “Psychic Friends Network.”
Diseases such as Schizophrenia are truly possession by demons and can only be cured by an exorcism. I want medical schools to teach this forthwith because I know my Constitutional Rights.

Until these classes are accepted by my lying, libelous and mean-spirited school boards I will hold my breath until blue.

Or if someone has a big bucket of sand – I’ll just stick my head into it.

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