Only really works when one writes the date in that teeth-itch-making USian way, but today, 3.14.15 9:26:53 captures the first ten digits of pi – which happens once a century (according to David Brin on FB).
science education
All those people giving Lego the benefit of the doubt?
The news has come in that the “female scientists” Lego set, produced after a huge grassroots campaign and petition from parents who wanted more variety in female minifigs, will only exist as a limited edition set. Despite selling out almost immediately, it will not be released as a standard line.
Science outreach and when glorifying heroes can alienate prospects
When science heroes have a documented history of treating some kinds of people badly, their glorification by science fans can be alienating for members of the groups those heroes treated badly.
[I]t is dangerous to rest your scientific outreach efforts on scientific heroes. […] Science outreach doesn’t just deliver messages about what science knows or about the processes by which that knowledge is built. Science outreach also delivers messages about what kind of people scientists are (and about what kinds of people can be scientists).
Cosmos Wars
Dana Hunter thoughtfully put together a links roundup (so I didn’t have to) on the many many creationists who are very cross with astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson right now because he’s talking science on TV.
“Post-secular”?
Secular is one of those words that theocratic propagandists have shifted the Overton Window on, to make it seem like secular is the opposite of pluralist when in fact it is only a secular stance that makes pluralism possible. Post-secular? Hm.
Happy Pi Day
Mmmm. Pie.
Happy Darwin Day, fellow mutants
Charles Darwin was born 204 years ago today, and the International Darwin Day Foundation uses February 12th each year to celebrate Darwin, Science and Humanity. In November it will be 154 years since the publication of his paradigm-shattering work, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
SIWOTI: Sagan’s ECREE maxim is NOT nonsense
Please pardon the acronyms in the title (expansions forthcoming in the post), I’m attempting to keep my post titles reasonably concise. Which is exactly what the final sentence in the quote below does in relation to the rest of the paragraph preceding it: it restates the whole argument of the paragraph pithily in just five words: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.
Happy Darwin Day
Charles Darwin was born 202 years ago today, and the International Darwin Day Foundation uses February 12th each year to celebrate Darwin, Science and Humanity. In November it will be 152 years since the publication of his paradigm-shattering work, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life.
You keep using that word – I do not think it means what you think it means
Pick either word: theory or evolution – creationists don’t have a clue what they mean. A theory in science is not a guess or speculation, despite how the word has been bastardised in sloppy general usage – a theory in… Read More ›
Hoyden About Town 