Bad Astronomy » Rant

Interview with Suicide Girls

Phil Plait — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 21:30:59 +0000

An interview I did with Keith Daniels of the counter-culture site Suicide Girls is now up on the SG website.

I’ll be clear: that page should be OK, but the site itself may be somewhat more than NSFW, in much the same way that standing a meter away from a supernova is somewhat more than Not Safe For Staying a Solid.

I’ve been a fan of SG for a while — it gives a strong, nerdy voice to decidedly non-mainstream thinking in a wide variety of topics, and the interview is like that. We covered a lot of ground: Hubble, NASA, skepticism, politics, life on other planets, the media, and of course Not Being a Dick (while still maintaining a motivating level of anger and passion).

Clearly, after ten years or more of doing interviews, I still haven’t learned how to make a succinct, pithy point. And while I do suffer a bit from verbal diarrhea, I’ll note that some topics deserve more subtlety and longer discussion. Sound bites tend to gloss over vital details, and not everything can be adequately covered by a bumper sticker.

To give you ...

Glenn Beck: wait a sec. Who’s the idiot again?

Phil Plait — Thu, 13 May 2010 18:00:38 +0000

I really, really don’t like using epithets. The worst you’ll almost ever hear me say is that someone is a goofball or a knucklehead. But sometimes, just sometimes, I have to call ‘em like I see ‘em. And when someone like Glenn Beck puts themselves out in the public eye pushing complete and utterly hypocritical malarkey under the guise of them knowing what they’re talking about, well, sometimes you just have to use an epithet. And since he decided to call the rest of us idiots…

So, besides being racist, wrong on climate change, wrong about taxes, and really pretty much everything else between here and the edge of the Universe, I want to point out something else Beck did.

His book, the über-ironically titled Arguing With Idiots, has blurbs on the back. The publisher decided to go with some, ah, negative comments. Here is a picture of the back of the book:

See the blurb right above my thumb? It says, "Glenn Beck is an idiot." True enough, but it’s the attribution I’m unhappy with: they say it’s from Discover Magazine. But it’s not really: I said it. ...

Repost: McCain’s planetariophobia

Phil Plait — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 16:11:10 +0000

Note: I originally posted this entry on October 8, but quite a few people are saying that it won’t load for them; they get errors or blank pages. The Hive Overmind has been notified, but in the meantime here is the post again. I hope you can see it! But if you’re reading this note, you can see it, and if you can’t read this note, then why am I sitting here talking to myself?

So a little while back, John McCain made an ill-advised crack about planetaria (that’s the plural of planetarium), calling them "foolishness". It was ill advised because it raised the hackles of lots of science-loving folks, including those who want to — gasp, horror! — educate kids about astronomy and science.

At the time I suspected it was just a wedge in which to attack Barack Obama, but his use of the word foolishness really caught my attention. I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, but does he really dislike such things?

Well, last night removed any doubt, when McCain — twice — used Obama’s requested earmark of three million dollars for Adler planetarium as a bludgeon, trying to pin Obama as ...

McCain’s planetariophobia

Phil Plait — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 22:21:30 +0000

Well, last night removed any doubt, when McCain — twice — used Obama’s requested earmark of three million dollars for Adler planetarium as a bludgeon, trying to pin Obama as another pork-barrel politician. He disdainfully said the money was for an "overhead projector". Those are his exact words. Here’s what he said:

While we were working to eliminate these pork barrel earmarks he [Senator Obama, or "that one"] voted for nearly $1 billion in pork barrel earmark projects. Including $3 million for an overhead projector at a planetarium in Chicago, Illinois. My friends, do we need to spend that kind of money?

Well, shock of shocks — ...

People unclear on the concept, Part II

Phil Plait — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:01:26 +0000

In a related note to my earlier post, I keep getting a MySpace friend request by someone who is shilling books about death and doom in 2012. I marked the request as spam, but this person has resent it twice. On the third try, he said (paraphrased) "I am a fan of your work and would like to be your friend here."

Are you kidding me?

Look, I’m a nice guy, and I like having friends. But let me be clear; people who write books only to scare people about nonsense doomsday predictions are among the lowest and worst forms of slime on this planet.* Scaring people to make a buck is just evil, plain and simple. Prosecuting someone like this bonehead who is writing antiscientific garbage about 2012 would be very difficult — fraud is hard to prove — but it’s too good for them. I have no doubt he’ll find a ton of folks all too willing to feed from the slop he’s swilling, but I’m not quite so gullible. And I certainly won’t befriend him. I don’t know which possibility I find more offensive — the idea that he is such a chucklehead that he thinks I ...

No transfat = teh suck

Phil Plait — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 21:38:26 +0000

OK, I’ve had enough.

I want my transfat back!

I was at Target recently picking up a few things, and saw that Ho Hos were on sale. Yes, the little chocolate-like log things; when I was a kid I loved them, and I still sometimes buy them so I can be a kid again for a little while (like I need an excuse). Plus, I’ve been a good boy: I finished my book, I’ve been working on the blog and the website, and doing other things that need to get done. I want to treat myself. So I buy a box.

In the car I opened the box, got out a Ho Ho, and took a big bite… and almost spat it back out. It was awful, like someone had injected it with pure suck. After a moment to overcome my shock, I reached for the box. With increasing dread, I looked over the ingredients, and there were the words I knew would be there:

"Trans fat 0g"

AIIIIIEEEEEEE!

What are companies thinking? Do they really honestly think that by removing all semblance of flavor and replacing it with — I’m guessing here — toe cheese, they’ll be able to keep customers, just because ...

Don’t forget to reset your clocks

Phil Plait — Sun, 09 Mar 2008 03:00:31 +0000

Daylight savings time, blah blah blah.

Spring forward, fall back, blah blah blah.

OK, fine. Tonight at 2:00 a.m. you’re supposed to set your clocks forward an hour and pretend like 2:00:00 to 02:59:59 never existed. Or you can do like me, forget all about it, stumble around in the morning without looking at the clocks, turn on the TV and realize you missed something you wanted to see, then stomp around the house resetting the clocks, then swear like a sailor when you accidentally set one three minutes ahead of the correct time and then have to hold down the "time" and the "fast" button for another 30 seconds while they cycle through an entire day, then realize ten minutes later you set yours but not your wife’s, and then swear again.

I’ve always disliked and distrusted Daylight Saving Time. At least now, according to Astroprof, I have a legitimate reason.

Congress. Setting back clocks for decades now.

Yes, Bush really does hate science

Phil Plait — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:30:15 +0000

I’ve been pointing out for months now that President Bush and his Administration have been waging a planned, protracted, and devious attack on science in almost every field across the board. I’ve been taken to task by some commenters on this, saying I am being unfair (implying I simply hate Bush and will disagree with everything he does — never mind that the more likely scenario for most folks is the other way around).

For those of you who think I am being unfair, U.S. Representative Henry Waxman would like a word with you.

Waxman is the chair of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. They have been studying Bush and his stance on global warming, and have just released their findings. Surprise! Bush is waging a planned, protracted, and devious attack on science. Check it (emphasis mine):

For the past 16 months, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has been investigating allegations of political interference with government climate change science under the Bush Administration. During the course of this investigation, the Committee obtained over 27,000 pages of documents from the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) and the Commerce Department, held two investigative hearings, and deposed ...

Texas creationists: the story that keeps on giving

Phil Plait — Fri, 30 Nov 2007 01:51:07 +0000

One thing most creationist promoters really abhor is publicity. Not all of them hate it, of course; the Discovery Institute craves it like an addict, but the irony is that when they get it, their lies, machinations, and political sleaziness get exposed.

Other creationist organizations want to avoid publicity for that very reason. So the Texans involved with forcing Chris Comer out of her job are probably taking blood pressure medicine at this point. Not only has their utter contempt for reality and decency been exposed, but the exposure is gaining momentum.

The group Texas Citizens for Science (go team!) has posted a very public evisceration of the Texas Education Agency. This essay really pounds home just how evil these people are:

The real reason she was forced to resign is because the top TEA administrators and some SBOE members wanted her out of the picture before the state science standards–the science TEKS–were reviewed, revised, and rewritten next year. Plans are underway by some SBOE members and TEA administrators to diminish the requirement to teach about evolutionary biology in the Biology TEKS and to require instead that biology instructors “Teach the Controversy” about the “weaknesses” of evolution, that is, teach the ...

Coffee critics’ cognitive collapse

Phil Plait — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 23:54:44 +0000

Heh. I found this post buried in my list of drafts. For some reason I didn’t post it when I wrote it months ago. It seems appropriate now given what happened in Texas, so enjoy.

A woman in Ohio has stopped drinking Starbucks (registration for that link may be required) because her takeout cup had a quotation on it that expressed a vague notion of possible agnosticism:

Printed on the cup was: “Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure.”

It is attributed to Bill Schell, a Starbucks customer from London, Ontario, and was included on the cup as part of an effort by the company to collect different viewpoints and spur discussion.

“As someone who loves God, I was so offended by that. I don’t think there needs to be religious dialogue on it. I just want coffee,” said Incanno, a married mother of three who is Catholic.

That’s her right, ...

Texas: so, so doomed

Phil Plait — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 17:02:33 +0000

Update: Welcome, readers of Crooks and Liars! You may want to read the next blog post in this series when you finish the one below. This story gets better and better.

What the heck is wrong with Texas?

First, they get a creationist governor. Then their creationist governor appoints a creationist to head the State Board of Education.

And now, when Chris Comer, the Texas Education Agency’s director of science curriculum, sends out an email announcing a talk by anti_creationism advocate Barbara Forrest, the TEA forces her to resign.

Why? Hold on to your seats here, folks, because you won’t believe this:

[Texas Education] Agency officials cited the e-mail in a memo recommending her termination. They said forwarding the e-mail not only violated a directive for her not to communicate in writing or otherwise with anyone outside the agency regarding an upcoming science curriculum review, “it directly conflicts with her responsibilities as the Director of Science.”

The memo adds, “Ms. Comer’s e-mail implies endorsement of the speaker and implies that TEA endorses the speaker’s position on a subject on which the agency must remain neutral.”

That’s right, the Texas Education Agency must remain neutral when it comes to science versus antiscience!

If ...

Glenn Beck: idiot

Phil Plait — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 18:22:06 +0000

Man, I hate being forced to insult someone. But he brings it on himself: Glenn Beck is an idiot.

He is a right-wing blowhard who talks endlessly about stuff he doesn’t have a clue about. A web search on him will yield endless idiotic rants where he is precisely wrong (his penultimate latest was claiming that people who hate America — meaning progressives — were getting their houses burnt in California. That dope doesn’t even know how conservative San Diego county is, let alone understand just how truly offensive such a statement is on its own merits).

So now he is pontificating on global warming and the SoCal fires. And what does this brain trust have to say?

BECK: We’ll tell you the truth. We’ll tell you the things that are politically incorrect. I’ll go on and I’ll tell you the fires have very little to do with global warming, if anything. The globe was the hottest in 19 — was it 1934, Stu [executive producer Steve "Stu" Burguiere], or ’37? — ’34, 1934 was the hottest year. A stat, by the way, that was, I believe, intentionally distorted by the guy the left holds up as the scientist on global ...

Time to saw South Carolina off from the US and set it free

Phil Plait — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 17:40:45 +0000

The South Carolina (motto: "First to Secede!") governing body is maybe not so much the bastion of science and reality-based thinking. But now, as reported in The Charleston Post & Courier, they join Texas in what I can only think of as utter stupidity:

State lawmakers shot down a request for extra financial help for low-income students who will attend South Carolina’s public colleges and universities next year.

Meanwhile, they approved $2.5 million to help low-income students attend Bob Jones University, a private school in Greenville.

Yes, that BJU, where it is was* school policy to forbid interracial dating (I guess Thomas Jefferson wouldn’t be allowed to attend), and where, more to the point, they teach creationism instead of, y’know, reality.

That’s right. In South Carolina, if you are poor or middle class and want to be educated, you can either do without, or go to a private school like BJU where you’ll learn the Earth is 6000 years old!

Hooray!

If you go there, you can take a Life Science class where you can learn that:

Christians must reject any evolutionary ideas that people try to include in the classification system… God commanded all living things to reproduce "after their kind". You ...

What Would Newton Do?

Phil Plait — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 03:34:22 +0000

Monday, the Boston Globe ran an editorial that I found very irritating. The writer, Jeff Jacoby, points out that perhaps the greatest scientific mind of all time, Isaac Newton, was not only very religious, but was a young-Earth creationist. For Jacoby, this shows that science and religion can work hand in hand:

For Newton, it was axiomatic that religious inquiry and scientific investigation complemented each other. There were truths to be found in both of the “books” authored by God, the Book of Scripture and the Book of Nature — or as Francis Bacon called them, the “book of God’s word” and the “book of God’s works.” To study the world empirically did not mean abandoning religious faith. On the contrary: The more deeply the workings of Creation were understood, the closer one might come to the Creator. In the language of the 19th Psalm, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork.”

Jacoby also has some fun with the idea that Newton today would never get a position at a University, let alone Cambridge, and in fact Jacoby spends much of his editorial on that subject:

When Genesis 1:1 says “In the beginning,” [Newton] ...

Politics, science, me and thee

Phil Plait — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 17:33:51 +0000

Whenever I write about politics, religion, or something that is not 100% straight-up science, I get a handful of protests in the comments, usually along the lines of "I came here because this is supposed to be an astronomy blog…"*.

Well, for the nth time, I’ll let y’all know: this is primarily a science blog, but not exclusively so. I think people like what I write about astronomy because I add a dimension of humanity to it, since I’m personally involved with some of it, and I know some of the fun back story. But that same humanity means I’m human, and I have other things on my mind too.

This may sound crass, but it’s true: it’s my blog, and I’ll write what I want to. If you don’t like it, there are lots of other sites about astronomy on the web. Spare me the lectures, the drama, and the grandstanding in the comments. If you don’t want to read my blog, that’s fine. I can’t please everyone, and by its very nature a scientific and skeptical blog will make some people upset. But I am not going to change my style, my topics, or my behavior (unless there is some ...

Where were these people when they should have spoken up?

Phil Plait — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:03:04 +0000

So now we have an ex-Surgeon General saying the Bush White House pressured him not to talk about stem cell research and other topics not deemed palatable by this troglodyte Administration that is so routinely antiscience that if they said the Sun rises in the West we’d have a hundred slavering "journalists" saying they have been saying that for years, and hardly anyone would notice.

Here’s what the former SG had to say about Bush’s White House:

“Anything that doesn’t fit into the political appointees’ ideological, theological or political agenda is ignored, marginalized or simply buried,” Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as the nation’s top doctor from 2002 until 2006, told a House of Representatives committee.

Shocker.

I’m glad he spoke up. But hey, maybe this would have helped a bit more five years ago. He was the frackin’ Surgeon General, the top doctor in this country and in charge of this nation’s health! a spokesman for health in this country!

What makes this worse is that I remember quite well a Surgeon General who spoke her mind, and to heck with the repercussions. Can you imagine any person in this current Administration, let alone the Surgeon General, saying "Condoms will break, but ...

NASA Administrator Griffin: saying global warming is bad is “arrogant”

Phil Plait — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 19:49:37 +0000

So I’m coming home from a quick trip to the store, and I’m scanning the radio stations. I hear NASA Administrator Mike Griffin’s voice, so I stop. He’s talking about global warming on NPR.

At first he says some adequate stuff. When the interviewer asks him about what NASA should do about global warming, Griffin responds that NASA is not charged with doing anything about warming, which is true, but weak. I would have been happier had he said, however, that this is a serious issue and NASA’s charge is to examine it scientifically with every tool they can bring to bear.

But then he said something that really shocked me. I’m glad I was already pulled over at my house when I heard it, because had I been driving I would have veered off the road.

I have no doubt that â€¦ a trend of global warming exists. I am not sure that it is fair to say that it is a problem we must wrestle with. To assume that it is a problem is to assume that the state of Earth’s climate today is the optimal climate, the best climate that we could have or ever have had and that ...

Calling all Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky scientists!

Phil Plait — Tue, 22 May 2007 05:12:11 +0000

And I mean all of you!

As you may know the creationist liar Ken Ham is opening a mortuary of science museum of creation in Kentucky. Needless to say, this museum will have all sorts of lies, twisted reason (twisted into a Klein bottle), and misrepresentation of reality.

A peaceful protest is planned, as I wrote about recently. But we need more than that. Eugenie Scott, who is the head of the National Center for Science Education, has organized a Statement of Concern, and it needs signatures. They’re looking for scientists, and specifically physical scientists, to sign the statement.

Are you a postdoc or faculty-level astronomer, chemist, physicist, engineer, or geologist in Ohio, Indiana, or Kentucky? Do you care that science is being horribly abused by the likes of Ham? Then sign the Statement!

It’s not a miracle!

Phil Plait — Sat, 12 May 2007 20:33:31 +0000

Update 2: an article in the news said a fund has been set up for Ms. Malloy by Wells Fargo bank. As I write this it’s evening and they are closed, but I’ll check tomorrow to see if there is a way to donate to this fund online. I didn’t see anything at their website.

Update (Monday, May 14): This blog entry has incited quite a reaction. I expected some, given that I am poking at what is essentially a religious viewpoint about miracles, and a superstitious viewpoint on luck. However, somewhere along the line while writing it I lost track of my ultimate goal which was to simply point out how we tend to ascribe causes to random events, and how this leads to uncritical thinking. Where I blew it was jumping right into this discussion before acknowledging where it comes from: a real human who has suffered a horrible accident. I know it’s hard to tell tone from words, but I am being very honest when I say I wish nothing but good for Ms. Malloy on her road to recovery, and I apologize for any grief she’s had about this. While I disagree with many (if not ...

Patrick Moore blows it, big time

Phil Plait — Tue, 08 May 2007 22:12:17 +0000

In England, there is a long, long tradition of public outreach in astronomy. The leader of this is beyond a doubt Sir Patrick Moore, a man who is the UK version of Carl Sagan. His show, "The Sky at Night", has been running for decades, and he has made the skies accessible to everyone.

So I am very disappointed by comments he made today:

British TV standards are deteriorating because the BBC is “run by women”, astronomer Sir Patrick Moore has said.

[...]

The presenter said: “The trouble is the BBC now is run by women and it shows soap operas, cooking, quizzes, kitchen-sink plays. You wouldn’t have had that in the golden days.”

[...]

“I used to watch Doctor Who and Star Trek, but they went PC – making women commanders, that kind of thing. I stopped watching.”

This kind of misogynism is truly shocking to read, especially from such a distinguished and respected gentleman. I won’t even bother debunking this kind of trash; if it isn’t self-evident to you, then I won’t waste my breath.

A couple of years ago I was invited to go on the show as a guest of Sir Patrick’s — he is a Moon hoax debunker as well ...

Antiscience kills, part n

Phil Plait — Mon, 07 May 2007 04:00:11 +0000

Why do I fight bad thinking?

Because of things like this:

HYDERABAD, India (Reuters) – An elderly husband and wife were burnt to death in Andhra Pradesh after villagers accused them of practising black magic, tied them together on a pyre and set them on fire, police said on Thursday.

“The aged couple died screaming for help,” said police superintendent P.V. Sunil Kumar.

In many cases, it’s pretty easy to connect uncritical thinking to murdering innocent people.

Ironically, the article goes on:

Belief in black magic is common in some parts of rural India, despite the country’s robust economic growth and cutting-edge high-technology industries.

Why is that ironic? Because I know a lot of Americans will read that and think, "stupid bumpkins" or some such derogatory term, and they forget that just a few nights ago, three out of ten people on stage vying to become President of these United States raised their hands to affirm that they, too, have no qualms dumping centuries of scientific reasoning to embrace fantasy. And the consequences are just as grave.

We are all savage animals, and thinking clearly is hard, very hard. But not thinking clearly comes with a very dear price. Let’s hope soon that everyone gets tired ...

6000 years of Republican debates

Phil Plait — Fri, 04 May 2007 17:54:36 +0000

If you read my blog, you probably read other blogs that promote science and try to stamp out antiscience. If so, you’ve probably seen or heard of this incident last night in the Republican presidential debates, where the moderator asked the candidates who "does not .. agree/believe in evolution". Three candidates raised their hands.

I am not sure how to feel about this. As familiar as I am with antiscience in this country, I’m still appalled that anyone who would run for office would state that they think evolution is wrong. Even after six years of this White House, I am still shocked to see such a flagrant attitude against reality.

Maybe I should be happy that it was only three of them. Given that anti-evolution is a platform in some states’ Republican parties, a 30% disavowal rate of reality maybe isn’t so bad.

I’m certainly not surprised at the three who did raise their hands: Brownback (Kansas, natch), Tancredo (from Colorado; my work will be cut out for me when I move, certainly– though he’s not from my district), and Huckabee (Arkansas). McCain equivocated, saying he thinks evolution is real, but then pandered a bit to the young-Earth base by ...

Why fighting antiscience is important

Phil Plait — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 17:12:59 +0000

In the UK, some schools are dropping teaching about the Holocaust, for fear that it might offend Muslim students.

No, I am not kidding.

This is precisely why we must not waver, must not slow, and must not lower our gaze. The forces of antiscience, antithought, antirationalism… they lurk around every corner, hide in every dark spot. But now they walk around in the daylight, and have so slowly and perniciously built themselves up in our society that we hardly notice. They have successfully boiled a live frog.

But I see them. You should too.

Thanks to PZ for finding this.

Deutsch testified before Congress

Phil Plait — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 04:49:10 +0000

Remember poor George Deutsch, the NASA PR guy who tried to, what was it again? Oh yes, suppress climate scientist Jim Hansen? And what was the other thing he did…? Oh yeah, he tried to make sure the word "theory" was put after every mention of Big Bang on a NASA site, specifically because of his religious leanings.

Yeah, that George Deutsch.

Well, he testified in front of Congress today. I would give a million bazillion dollars to have been there for that, but unfortunately my real life intervenes. Maybe I’ll catch it on a CSPAN rerun, or it’ll show up on YouTube sometime.

This oughta be very interesting.

Nuke of Earl

Phil Plait — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 23:13:33 +0000

I just watched a show on the Military Channel called "Futureweapons", and it was about nuclear weapons. it was an interesting show, though a little short on details (watch "Trinity and Beyond" for a fantastic review of the American nuclear program — and the music is phenomenal too).

But I bring this up, because the narrator, who was also the host, kept saying "nuke you lur".

The first time I heard it, I thought I was mistaken. By the fifth time, I realized it was the producers who were mistaken. They let a guy narrate a documentary who couldn’t pronounce a word? And not just any word, but the word, the one the whole show was about?

Mispronouncing the word nuclear does not make you stupid; I know an astronomer who pronounces it that way (as another prof once told me, he’s the smartest guy you’ll ever hear say it that way). I can certainly think of some not-so-smart people who mispronounce it, too.

But why oh why didn’t they train the guy to say it the right way? Maybe they did, and he refused, or couldn’t get it right, or they just let it slide. The world of documentary making is a weird ...