Bill reported earlier about a Global Warming/Hitler video which was released (10/3/2009) before the climategate scandal broke out:
More Global Warming Fraud Humor
A new improved video has been released to incorporate the climategate scandal. Version 2, is much better, imho.
A friend directs me to the following sketch:
Today’s Debate inside the Scientific Community
Darwinist: I.D. isn’t science. And if it’s not science, it isn’t true.
I.D. Proponent: Isn’t science the quest for truth about life and the universe?
Darwinist: Only if that quest is done within a materialist framework.
I.D. Proponent: But what if that quests needs to go OUTSIDE the materialist framework?
Darwinist: Then it’s not science. And thus, it’s not true.
Let’s take this debate into the private sector… Read More ›
British physicist David Tyler discusses the recent claims for the possibility of new species of finch developing on the famous Galapagos Islands – a possibility because the authors don’t think they are there yet, and they may never be. Tyler explains,
An ecological theory of speciation but no support for Darwinism
The Galapagos Islands have long been recognised as the home of numerous endemic species, stimulating questions about how such species came into being. Those responding with answers have supported their views more by theory than observation. But Peter and Rosemary Grant are different, because they have pioneered longitudinal studies of the Galapagos finches, particularly on the small (and relatively isolated) island of Daphne Major. A newly reported study of an immigrant male ground finch (Geospiza fortis) covers the period 1981 to the present. “We have followed the survival and reproduction of this individual and all of its known descendants, here termed the immigrant lineage, for seven generations (F0 to F6) spanning 28 years.”
The bird sings differently (maybe better, if you are a hen finch). Tyler goes on to note,
Science reports of stories relevant to evolutionary theory can degenerate to the level of cheer-leading for a favoured cause. One account of the Grants’ research refers to “a real-time record of evolution in action. In the PNAS paper, they describe something Darwin could only have dreamed of watching: the birth of a new species.” For more, please refer to Jonathan Wells’ comments here.
The problem is that speciation of this type is just as likely to reverse itself when the ecology changes. Go here for the rest.
Note: For that matter, too easy speciation can lead to extinction of species. Read More ›
The skinny: Discovery Institute filed the public documents request on October 9, 2009, following the Center’s October 6, 2009 cancellation of a contract with the American Freedom Alliance (AFA) to screen a pro-intelligent design video, Darwin’s Dilemma, at the California Science Center’s IMAX Theatre on October 25, 2009. Podcast here, media release below: Discovery Institute Sues California Science Center for Suppressing Public Documents Showing Viewpoint Discrimination Against Intelligent Design Go here to listen. This episode of ID the Future features a special news alert by Casey Luskin. Discovery Institute has filed a lawsuit against the California Science Center for unlawfully refusing to disclose public documents requested by Discovery Institute under the California Public Records Act. Now the media release. For Read More ›
“I know that most men, including those at ease with problems of the greatest complexity, can seldom accept even the simplest and most obvious truth if it be such as would oblige them to admit the falsity of conclusions which they have delighted in explaining to colleagues, which they have proudly taught to others, and which they have woven, thread by thread, into the fabric of their lives.” –Leo Tolstoy
Justin Roberti, for AccuWeather, advises in a media release (December 2, 2009),
Climategate Used to Settle ‘Vendetta,’ says Mann
State College, Pa. — 2 December 2009 — Michael Mann, Penn State University meteorology professor, said Climategate is an attack on man-made global warming scientists.
“I think it is unfortunate that some scientists out there are using this situation to settle personal scores, to settle a vendetta,” Mann said, in an exclusive interview with AccuWeather.com’s Katie Fehlinger.
Watch interview with Michael Mann
Mann said that the e-mail leak happened just in time for the Dec. 7, 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, where world leaders, including President Obama, hope to come to an agreement on a framework for future international climate change mitigation.
“It is not a coincidence… that this event happened in the weeks leading up to the summit in Copenhagen,” said Mann. “They’ve taken scientists’ words and phrases and quoted them out of context, completely misrepresenting what they were saying.”
We also learn that
Phil Jones, director of the Climate Research Unit (CRU) from which questionable global warming e-mails were leaked, temporarily stepped down from his position yesterday to allow for investigation to continue without disruption. Mann protected his work and the work of his peers as Penn State launched an investigation into what critics call a fabrication of global warming data.
I don’t think AccuWeather’s people get it.
No one is misrepresenting plans to manipulate journals and sideline peer reviewers. They said it themselves. Then there was the suggestion one would destroy data rather than let other scientists see it, via the Freedom of Information Act.
If that latter comment was just a joke, well, that guy is definitely not ready for his standup at Laff Riot Nite. So I wrote back to Roberti and said,
As many of us commence our holiday festivities toasting the year’s end while earnestly drawing up personal lists of events that have shaped our lives, I would like to take a brief look at three achievements in the biological sciences- two historical and one more recent- that have struck me as nothing short of momentous in their significance. The first is the publication of a book which today continues to be an outstanding and extremely readable overview of the state of research in the genetics of animal embryology. The second is a landmark study that has brought into sharp focus the molecular mechanisms through which specific epigenetic factors modulate animal behavior. The third is the functional characterization of recBCD- a DNA-unwinding protein complex that plays a crucial role in bacterial recombination. I consider the scientists involved in each of these achievements to be pioneers- ‘podium grabbers’ who have performed medal-winning science in their respective fields of expertise. Read More ›
It is almost axiomatic in our culture that the pronouncements of Science are synonymous with Truth. This received wisdom is so prevalent that whenever media reports begin with the words “Scientists have found that…[fill in the blank]”, whatever follows is widely believed by the public to be unassailable fact. So revered is Science and so respected its methods, that the mere suggestion that something might be amiss is considered ignorance or heresy. And so the statements of Science are defended vigorously while the critics are dismissed as quacks and uninformed idiots. The prevailing attitude seems to be (to slightly bend the well-known quote from Richard Dawkins) “It is absolutely safe to say that if you meet somebody who claims not to believe in the findings of Science [emphasis and edit mine], that person is ignorant, stupid or insane (or wicked, but I’d rather not consider that).”
For those of us who have long been engaged in the ongoing Evolution/Intelligent Design debate, we know that Read More ›