Politicians in California and the federal Government have already begun their bickering over who is responsible for the poor response to the fires in southern California, with Ruben Grijalva, the head of California’s Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, blaming the Marines and the federal Forest Service’s poor leadership for grounding two dozen water dropping helicopters. To tell the truth, I’m not all that interested in this fight, since I already know where to put the blame.
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Archive for Science
Let’s Play the Forest Fire Blame Game!
Just Say No (To Drug Laws)
Turns out that punishment doesn’t decrease the number of people smoking marijuana. My source? No, not Cannabis Culture. Actually, the British Crime Survey (the equivalent of FBI crime statistics) released today found that the number of 16- to 24-year olds using marijuana has fallen 7 percent in the last decade, even though it was downgraded from a class B illegal drug (up to 5 years in prison) to a class C drug (up to 2 years) in 2004. In fact, since it was downgraded, it has fallen each year. Aside from being an ostrich-sized egg in the face of PM Brown, who’s taken up Reagan’s mantle, spreading urban myths about “super-weed” and trying to put marijuana back on the B list, it’s a bit of a blow to American drug policy, especially the “lock kids up ’til they have gray hair” part. Which is, of course, the only part of American drug policy.
How to Identify Different Types of Pseudoscience From Very Far Away
You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of diseased imagination. That’s the signpost up ahead— your next stop, the Pseudoscience Zone! (Intense apologies to Rod Sterling.)
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I’m Back (Re-Redux)
This is, if I haven’t lost count, the third time I’ve had to take an extended hiatus from blogging, and the second time for a surgery. I now have screws, pins, and pieces a dead guy’s hip in my back. So, once again, I apologize for my body’s noncooperation.
Yesterday, I woke up to the news that Al Gore had won the Nobel Prize. Since I can’t add anything to his speech and Stockholm’s decision other than “Yay!”, “Take that, Bush!”, and “Damn, I wish he’d run!”, this post is not about him. Instead, I’m ranting about something a little less time-sensitive.
She Invented. She Invented. She Invented.
There’s a lively discussion at Feministing over whether Google’s algorithm is sexist (it isn’t, everyone else is) and whether D&D fans are all misogynist teenage boys (all the ones I’ve known are). Turns out that if you search for “she invented” on Google you get as a recommendation “he invented.” Now, as a self-identifying geek, I’m fairly sure that it’s because people search more often for “he invented” than “she invented” more than for any other reason (certainly not because Google has some secret anti-woman-scientist agenda). But, I also think that’s sad. So, here are a few “she invented”s for you and Google.
- Hedy Lamar. She invented radio control for torpedoes that used frequency hopping.
- Madame C. J. Walker. She invented a special soap and brush used for straightening hair.
- Maria Telkes. She invented a solar heated house, a solar oven, and a distiller for life rafts.
- Hypatia. She invented the astrolabe and hydrometer, and was murdered by monks who believed math and science to be immoral.
- Ada Lovelace. She invented the binary system used in modern computers, and developed the programming code used in Charles Babbage’s computer.
- Mary Walton. She invented one of the first systems for scrubbing pollution out of exhaust (essentially an enormous bong).
- Beulah Louise Henry. She invented, among other things, a vacuum ice cream freezer, a typewriter that made four copies of whatever was typed on it, and the first bobbinless sewing machine.
- Gertrude B. Elion. She invented many different medicines, including Purinethol, the first leukemia treatment; Imuran, an immuno-supressent used in organ transplants; the antibiotic Septra; and Zovirax, a treatment for viral herpes.
- Erna Schneider Hoover. She invented a computerized telephone switching system that eliminated system overload.
- Stephanie Kwoek. She invented Kevlar.
- Katharine Blodgett. She invented, among other things, invisible glass, poison gas absorbents, the color gauge (an amazingly accurate ruler inspired by soap bubbles), and a method for deicing aircraft. She was also the first woman to get a Ph.D. from Cambridge.
- Mary Anderson. She invented the windshield wiper.
- Helen Blanchard. She invented several different sewing machines (including the first zigzag sewer) and different types of surgical needles.
And if you want to see more things that “she invented” go to this partial list of patents awarded to women in the US.
BTW, I’m going to be contacting Google, asking them to fix their algorithm so that it doesn’t suggest “he” for “she.” If you want to do the same, their contact info is:
Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043
phone: (650) 253-0000
fax: (650) 253-000
I’ve yet to find a support e-mail address, but if I find one, I’ll update this page.
Update: Due to the large numbers of searches for “she invented,” on Google, “she invented” no longer triggers a recommendation for “he invented.” I’ve been out of touch, but it doesn’t look like Google made any changes to their algorithm. Score one for the wisdom of the masses.
Idiots Run Our Country
Watermelons are vegetables, at least in Oklahoma. I am so not kidding. Oklahoma’s legislature voted to make the watermelon the official state vegetable because it is related to cucumbers. Sorry, but cukes are also fruits. But, what do you expect? It’s Oklahoma.
Okay, I Lied. Sue Me.
I’m really back this time, but posts may be sporadic until mid-May. Aside from finals, I get to go doctor-hopping again (yippee!). Long story short(er), I’ve been having back pain and numbness again, so I’ve been trying to get in to see my neurosurgeon. Unfortunately, he’s insanely busy, and I couldn’t get in for a month. I went to my family doctor, who said that I had very distinct chyphosis (hunching), which I didn’t have a month ago, and that a few spinous processes were missing. So, my grandpa, bless him, e-mailed his doctor, who e-mailed my surgeon, who phoned me and said to come in that night. So, I was up at OHSU Thursday and Friday, having tests run, and they’re stumped so they’re sending me to a metabolic specialist to figure out what’s wrong with my spine. So I’m sorry for the sudden dearth of intelligent commentary in the blogosphere. (No, the fiasco hasn’t popped my inflated ego.)
I’m Baaaaaack!
It took me a few days to recover from those horrible pre-spring break midterms my professors cooked up for us (I love my professors, really, I just wish there weren’t so many tests in one week). But, I’m rested and raring to go. So, a quick wrap up of the news I’ve missed: Read the rest of this entry »
Completely Useless Information
There’s an article in the Guardian debunking the myth that a lit cigarette can ignite a pool of gasoline. Lest you think the scientists that proved that it can’t are just closet pyros, one of them explained that arsonists often claim that gasoline fires were started on accident. He offers an interesting example: “The person claims, ‘I accidentally threw gasoline on my girlfriend, she was smoking and she burst into flames’.”
How, exactly, do you accidentally throw gasoline on someone? “Really, officer, I was trying to fill up my gas tank. I just have really bad aim!”
Our President. Sigh.
I forgot the academy awards were last night (not having a TV will do that to you), and just found out that our President the man who got the majority of the population to vote for him in 2000 but wasn’t actually elected because of our fucked up election system, some corrupt officials, and a conservative Supreme Court, won Best Documentary Feature, and Melissa Etheridge won Best Original Song for her piece in it!
In related news, some drunk from Texas President Bush got his picture taken with some scientists, what appears to be pickled eels, and a toy car. Because he’s so serious about alternative fuels.
Note that he’s the only one wearing lab goggles. Bill Nye he ain’t.
Apologia for Evolution
A departure from politics today. I’ve encountered a barrage of anti-evolution comments and websites recently, so I felt like I had to respond. The easiest way seems to be to debunk some of the worst and most common arguments against evolution. Just a note, I’m feeling snarky today, so edit out the snark if you’re actually arguing with a creationist.
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A Novel Idea
Lobbyists for the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), which is largely funded by ExxonMobil, have come up with a new way to dispute global warming: bribe the scientists. According to the Guardian, each scientist working on the IPCC report on global warming was offered $10,000 to “undermine” the report. Thankfully, the scientists have more scruples than most congressmen.
This Is So [expletive deleted] Wrong
In the category of “Wrong Response,” the winner is… a school district in New Jersey. When a teacher at Kearny High School made several, shall we say, unjustified comments to his class (we’ll get to what she said in a moment), a junior there decided enough was enough and he would go to the school board. However, since he was only a student, he thought they wouldn’t believe him, so he decided to record the class on audio tape.
What did he record? The teacher telling his class that the big bang and evolution were unscientific, that there were dinosaurs on Noah’s ark, and that if you did not accept Jesus Christ as your savior (hallelujah!) , you would burn in Hell for all eternity. So, what do you think the school board did when they heard the tape? Well, first they reprimanded (not fired) the teacher. Then, they banned taping classes without permission from the teacher.
Well, it turns out that the teacher has not learned his lesson. Apparently the same student that taped him in September now says that he compared the people who believe in global warming (aka scientists) to Hitler. What, exactly, does it take to fire a teacher?
**Correction**
The teacher in question is male, not female, as I stated before. (I’m not entirely sure how I missed that.)
The Weather Channel: A Nefarious Tool for Environmental Terrorists?
This is hilarious. Check out this link from Huffington Post. I wish environmentalists had a hold on some media outlet, but really, it’s just mainstream scientists in this case. A report is going to be released soon from an international consortium of scientists saying that sea levels will rise 20-something inches by 2050. It will be unanimous, and most members say that that is the most conservative estimate, and anything less than one meter is wishful thinking.
The Soggy Liberal 