All posts by Chris

because ‘budding’ sounds better

Education

As if we didn’t have enough to worry about, now it looks like “a bloc of southern school districts are successfully removing science from all textbooks”:http://www.ambiguous.org/archive.php3/2005/03/24#robin2005324.1. Sigh.

“But Chris,” you say, “They’re just calling for the removal of sex ed and evolution and the heliocentric model and other such blasphemies. Surely there’s still room for Newtonian physics and some of the less-witchy forms of alchemy.” In reply I just sigh again and continue stocking my remote mountain treehouse with food, water, and “Heinlein novels”:http://www.heinleinsociety.org/.

gal on the go

Travel

I don’t know how else to say it. You *must* read “Linda’s travelog of her journey through South America”:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Gal_on_the_Go_SA/. If it were a book on my shelf (which it should be, it really should), I would be pulling it down, opening it to “the most recent entry”:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Gal_on_the_Go_SA/message/28, and shoving it under your nose. Then I’d make you take it with you and read it from the beginning.

Go!

gov’t by the people

Politics

Here’s a follow-up to my earlier post on “this administration’s budget priorities”:http://www.globalspin.com/mt/archives/000499.html. A recent “PIPA study”:http://www.globalspin.com/mt/archives/000499.html shows that most Americans have similar budget priorities, but those priorities are very different from the budget proposed by the President and Congress.

_ìThe American public as a whole takes a fairly coherent position. They favor redirecting a portion of defense spending to deficit reduction and social spending and look for savings by cutting spending on large-scale Cold War style capabilities…î_

Fancy that. We all agree, red-staters and blue-staters alike. So why aren’t our representatives being representative?

13 things that do not make sense

Science

Want to become the next big name in science? It’s easy: “solve one of these nagging questions”:http://www.newscientist.com/channel/space/mg18524911.600 and you’re almost guaranteed a Nobel prize.

I particularly like number 4, the effects of homeopathy. I actually use homeopathic remedies, and some of them have worked well. I just try not to dwell on the official explanation of why they work. (Bonus points for answering both 1 and 4 with the same theory.)

he sure can pick ‘em

Politics

Does anyone else see a trend in the recent US nominations to world-facing positions? First Condi as Secretary of State, then John Bolton, “a guy who hates the UN”:http://www.workingforchange.com/article.cfm?ItemID=18728, as UN ambassador, and now “Wolfowitz as head of the World Bank”:http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,3604,1439192,00.html. Honestly, it’s like making David Duke the ambassador to Kenya.

Peter Bosshard (from the article) put it best:

_”In his career, Wolfowitz has so far not shown any interest in poverty reduction, environmental protection and human rights. His election as World Bank president would most likely exacerbate the current backlash against social and environmental concerns at the World Bank, and would initiate a new era of conflict between the Bank and civil society.”_