The stickiness of so-called “reverse racism”
When an idea is “intuitive” but also steeped in a culture war we have a heightened duty to examine it.
Epistemology
Epistemology is the philosophy of knowledge. How do we know things? By what methods? What is merely belief, and what is warranted, justified, and rational.
Music, music history, and generational waves of white supremacy
The more generations that pass by, the more obscured women’s lives are, by waves of patriarchal interests. It’s a kind of entropy fuelled by misogyny and whiteness.
The look, and the social nature of knowledge
When I was growing up I was bad with context. Super bad. My young logic-oriented self just did not understand humans and their social “nuance.” I’m still trying. Perhaps I’m practical-intelligence deficient. But, luckily, I’ve had a fleet of friends and colleagues who’ve helped me and I am grateful. They’ve held my hand tight, so…
Map of earthquake liquefaction risks around Victoria
My father recently sent me these amazing resources about various risks due to earthquake around Victoria. I immediately had to look at one, because the thought of the ground turning to liquid is terrifying to me…
Scientists on Twitter: Preaching to the choir or singing from the rooftops?
I tend to think that comms advice for scientists is also comms advice for everyone. Here’s an interest look at some social graphs and reach by scientists on Twitter. Communication has always been an integral part of the scientific endeavour. In Victorian times, for example, prominent scientists such as Thomas H. Huxley and Louis Agassiz…
The GI Joe Fallacy: knowing is not half the battle
When it comes to the cognitive biases that shape human and nonhuman animal behaviour, knowing about the fallacy is not always enough …
Can we have infinite, exponential growth with finite resources? Andrew Leach says Yes.
The thing about economics is that it’s a real scientific discipline. Like many sciences, there’s some more theoretical branches and also some more applied branches. And the application of economic modeling to real life society …
Social norming, agenda setting and discourse about climate change
I am fascinated by what constitutes the limits of “respectable” public discourse. This phenomenon is related, in part, to the Overton window, which is the set of concepts that are considered politically acceptable by the dominant culture. But I am equally fascinated by the social limits …
Grappling with climate change, politics and the Alberta floods
It’s no small chore trying to understand climate change. We live in a society that is lacking in scientific literacy. Even those of us that have some, have little time to read and understand so many complex issues of our day, including climate change…
My first bottle rocket!
I never had a bottle rocket growing up. At least, not that I remember. And a couple of weeks ago, a few friends and I put Mentos in a bottle of diet coke and that was really exciting and it got me…
Five historical misconceptions, demisconceptualized
I grew up in a subtly, vaguely, self identifying Norwegian household. We ate lefse and told stories about lutefisk and had a Norwegian version of the lord’s prayer installed in our kitchen. But, most poignantly, we believed Vikings had horns on their helmets. Turns out that’s probably bullshit. We were also pretty much wrong about…
The use and abuse of science in editorial
I approve of science. I approve of evidence and research. By and large and in the long run, science reveals the facts or transparently fails to do so. Along the way we make mistakes, get things wrong, get our hands dirty and learn that stuff is often really complicated. And I also approve of journalists…
What was right about “See the veil for what it is”
This post is part of a series of reflections on Dan Gardner’s Ottawa Citizen editorial, “See the veil for what it is.” There are some things that Dan Gardner got right and I thought it would be good to make note of them, before examining his many errors.
See the veil for what it is: further reflections
I read Dan Gardner’s column in the Ottawa Citizen on Wednesday and, dissatisfied with his analysis, wrote a blog post reviewing some of his errors in judgement. During that time I had some opportunity to engage directly with Gardner via Twitter as well as with some others on the issues surrounding his column…
Santa Claus and the orbital model of the atom
I was recently asked on Twitter what the difference is between Santa Claus and the orbital model of the atom. It was asked in a way, that suggested there was no difference, so I thought it must be humour. But now I think it wasn’t.
Questions for Michael Shermer
I’ve been a big fan of Skeptic Magazine for many years. And I am a big fan of science. My thesis was about, in part, science and the philosophy of science. I have some science training and I have some understanding for the way various institutions of science operate.1 I say all of this because…
The odds of picking of 1st, 2nd and 3rd
I was recently watching a television show, The Mentalist, in which the protagonist, Patrick Jane, pulled a slick trick of picking the first, second and third place horses at a race track. He told a guy he would do it. Of course it was a trick. I love math!
Is Christmas a myth?
Is Christmas a myth? Is Christmas essentially Christian? If so, is Christianity essentially a myth? Does Jesus or Santa Claus want us to keep killing civilians in Afghanistan? All good questions…
Twelve eggs every day
I knew this guy in Nelson. He ate twelve eggs every day. He said that everything we had ever heard about eggs being bad for us, was published by the meat and dairy…
Can humans echolocate?
A few years ago I was at a dinner party at a cabin on Vancouver Island. The host, and my good friend, Dalton, told a story. He told us a story about riding his bike home on a tar black night on Vancouver Island. As the story goes, it was too dark to see the…
90,000 barrels is roughly one third of the Exxon Valdez
If the rate of flow in the gulf of Mexico is 90,000 barrels a day, then we’ve had ourselves an Exxon Valdez every three days. Recent estimates, put the rate of flow between 50,000 and 150,000 barrels a day (BPD). In EVUs (Exxon Valdez Units), this is between .2 and .6 EVUs per day. That…
How much oil is it? A challenge for science
I am a huge fan of science. I even believe in objectivity. Not absolute objectivity, mind you. But I believe in kinds and degrees of objectivity – dimensions of objectivity, if you will. For example, if someone makes a claim to knowing something, and another person is able to reproduce this something in the lab…
Dispersant is a cover up and a toxic pollutant
Turns out the Gulf of Mexico is the breeding ground for North Atlantic Tuna. Carl Safina has argues that the dispersant that BP is using to disperse the oil is part of the problem. The dispersant they’re using is actually banned in Europe. He argues that the dispersant is part of a pattern of cover…
Remembering what not to do
With a variety of global environmental crises upon us, this old newscast casts doubt on our ability to deal with messes effectively. Sometimes, our attempt to manage a scenario results in another, more dangerous, scenario. I appreciate the reporter’s final remarks that, roughly, “should this happen again, the authorities will remember what to do… and…