Is it just me, or is this Washington Post “article on the intelligent design trial”:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/17/AR2005101701579.html completely lacking in journalistic rigor? It sounds more like a press release for Michael J. Behe, the pseudoscientist who testified yesterday. It’s not so much bias as an apathy toward really determining how the scientific community views intelligent design.
All posts by Chris
rights down the tubes
I have no response to this. A high-school kid makes a protest poster as a civics project (to illustrate our right to dissent), and he gets visited by the Secret Service after being turned in by… Wal-Mart. Made up? Laughable? Something out of 1984 or Brazil? Nope, it’s the truth.
black holes help stars form
According to recent observations by the Chandra Observatory, the black hole at the center of our galaxy has been shown to “provide a safe and even nurturing environment”:http://www.physorg.com/news7225.html for the formation of stars. This may indicate that black holes play more than just a destructive role in the evolution of the universe.
craft blog with a geeky twist
I know Karen will like this: Make, the blog/zine about making keen stuff, has just started up a “craft sub-blog”:http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/crafts/ to focus on craft projects with a geeky edge.
big is back (out)
It looks like the pendulum of automotive excess is starting to swing back toward smaller, more efficient cars. The Washington Post notes that “SUV sales have dropped by up to half”:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/03/AR2005100301657.html this year over last, while small car sales have gone up, probably due to higher gas prices. Predictably, Detroit got caught with its pants down because it doesn’t have any efficient cars (read: hybrids) to offer. Too bad they didn’t pay attention back when it was made plain that fuel efficiency was going to get really important Real Soon Now.
My take on this is that the gas-price tipping point has finally been reached, so it’s a great time for cities to propose transit alternatives (read: trolleys) and actually get them funded. If I ran a city, I’d make all existing transit free for the next 6 months to get ridership numbers up, then use that period to convince people that transit is worthwhile (or at least figure out why they think it isn’t) while drumming up new funds to make it even better. Of course I don’t run a city, but I hope that folks who do start to see that transit is going to get really important Real Soon Now.