Comments on: The Year in Science, 2009

By: Lance

Lance — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 08:09:40 +0000

“With “ClimateGate,” a smear against climate researchers…”

So that’s your spin on it eh, a smear campaign? Part of your imaginary “war on science” (Christ are you still selling that crap?)

Have you no journalistic integrity? To dismiss the whole thing as a “smear” shows that you are either egregiously negligent in your duty as a journalist or so politically motivated as to be actively engaged in deceit.

So are both Penn State University and the University of East Anglia engaged in a “smear” by conducting investigations and having Phil Jones step down?

You are becoming more and more irrelevant.

By: Gaythia

Gaythia — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:05:53 +0000

Wading through “head count” in the Washington Post, I read that David Michaels was finally confirmed for his post at OSHA on Dec 3rd. Paul Anastas, nominated for Assistant Administrator for Research and Development at the Environmental Protection Agency, has apparently not yet been confirmed.

Obama can’t be said to have succeded in turning 180 degrees from Bush on science policy as long as we have a Senate that is able to bottle up these sorts nominations and thereby attempt to prevent the effective implementation of the ideals of the new administration. I don’t believe that it could be argued that Paul Anastas is not qualified.

I’d like to see a spotlight on these sorts of nominations focused on getting them confirmed.

By: toasterhead

toasterhead — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 15:03:07 +0000

1. Read the Code Says:
December 23rd, 2009 at 11:46 am

a skeptical scientist.
__________

As opposed to a non-skeptical scientist? What kind of ridiculous doublespeak is that? All scientists are skeptical, by definition.

Unfortunately, as Read the Code’s comment attests, I fear 2009 will be remembered more for the swifthack attacks on science than any advances that have been made.

By: sHx

sHx — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:49:07 +0000

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”

By: Eric the Leaf

Eric the Leaf — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 04:20:32 +0000

My nomination for the best science book of 2009: “Blackout: Coal, Climate and the Last Energy Crisis” by Richard Heinberg.

By: Lab Lemming

Lab Lemming — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 22:28:33 +0000

Chris was just covering for me.

By: Read the Code

Read the Code — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:46:44 +0000

It was also a year in which our very own Chris Mooney got mentioned in a Climategate email! Apparently, one of the warm-mongers suggests that “someone like Chris Mooney” should be informed of a particular issue they were having with a skeptical scientist. What do you suppose he meant by that phrase?