Operative RKB Writes regarding Dr. J’s recent post: Dear Dr. J.: False premise: substantial numbers of government documents are printed with inkjets False minor premise: Of those documents printed on inkjet printers, the text to graphic ratio amounts for a … Continue reading →
Nothing is random, you know. Not even randomness: computers are pretty good at generating random numbers, but in fact, the computer uses rules to generate random numbers. Once you understand how that works, you can get pretty good at detecting … Continue reading →
Q. What do you call a liberal who can do math? A. An ex-liberal. This old saw is still true for some very basic reasons: if the country pulls in x revenue, and spends 2x on programs, pretty soon you … Continue reading →
Ah, pediatrics, Dr. J.’s worst grade in medical school… Just as Dr. J. sent off his missive earlier today, his Medical Economics weekly email showed up in his inbox. He, of course, clicked on this lead article. The headline states … Continue reading →
Insert images of sad puppies in the sweltering heat of teh globul warmyngzes! The Czar and GorT have called a spade a spade with regard to the willful ignorance of liberals when it comes to science. Dr. J. had to … Continue reading →
The Czar has read and consumed your publication since the April 1979 issue. He has subscribed without fail since 2000, but is compelled to conclude he will not be renewing his subscription. In that time, he has seen the publication … Continue reading →
The mighty Borepatch pulled a chair up by the lobby bar, took a sip of his freshly made Yoo Hoo mojito, and told the Czar: About your latest missive, I couldn’t help but think that while large parts of the … Continue reading →
Long-time reader BG let us know via Twitter that HuffPo is reporting “Scientists Create Zombies in Lab,” and adds that this should be like shooting fish in a barrel for us. This story is not at all limited to HuffPo, … Continue reading →
The MSM is at it again. Or rather, still. A physics guy familiar with the recently discovered (?) Higg boson said that the mass of the particle is about 126GeV, which potentially leads to instability in its mass. As a … Continue reading →
It takes a special gift to write a scientific news story about something so unscientific that the author, Joel N. Shurkin, clearly thinks is stupid as well. And he has a model example for you to read. A professor—what is … Continue reading →
Know who really had a bad week? “Today, Mitt Romney admitted to ThoughtCrime against our great and glorious supreme leader, who forgave Romney in all his benevolence. Also, we’re getting the poop sued out of us.” Not Barack Obama, who … Continue reading →
Seen this story from Gizmodo that the TSA is rolling out a secret new scanner that can completely detail everything about you from 164 feet away??!!!Eleven+y one111?? Not coming soon to every airport or street corner you can think of. … Continue reading →
In a landmark pop psychology study that took over 10 minutes, “researchers” have concluded that pre-teen girls like Justin Bieber, which will surprise no one who has even remotely heard of children. Hey, Beliebers: ask your mom if she loved … Continue reading →
The great and wonderous Borepatch writes into the Czar (and jeez, we hope we had his permission to reprint this; ah well, not much we can do about it now) to say: Your outstanding post covered the subject of Dr. … Continue reading →
For the record, and right up front, the Czar is a significant proponent of evolutionary theory. For him, the evidence is overwhelming and consistent. But when Richard Leakey says that the debate will soon be over, the Czar rolls his … Continue reading →
Are you ready for SuperMoon? Oh, you gotta be ready for SuperMoon! “Supermoon alert: Biggest full moon of 2012 due Sat.” screams FoxNews! “Weekend ‘Supermoon’ Will be 2012’s Largest” promises KSEE, Fresno. “That’s not just a full moon this week, … Continue reading →
If the Czar could wish anything for your survival, it would be the gift of skepticism. When someone runs up to you with a stunning claim (“I just saw Bigfoot! And eleventy!”), your first response really should be “How good … Continue reading →
The Czar has already received questions about an extraordinary claim that there are signs of life on Venus. Specifically, a Russian scientist says he has photographic evidence of a disk, a black “flap,” and a scorpion-like creature. The scientist is … Continue reading →
Your Mandarin would like to take a moment to provide an important public service announcement and award the coveted Boot in the Gut™ award. Apparently water does not provide the health benefits that we have all been led to believe … Continue reading →
In today’s Washington Post, columnist Eugene Robinson attempts to discredit those of us who are skeptical of the Left’s religiously raputrous embrace of The Holy Mother Church of Anthropogenic Global Warming. In his weak attempt, Mr. Robinson manages to increase … Continue reading →
More science news. Which is good news, because ‘Puter can sleep a little later knowing he can skip anything with learnin’ in it. This NPR headline caught our eye: Messenger Reveals Mercury Is Not What Scientists Theorized. It’s not a … Continue reading →
There is an article in the New Atlantis Times that Matt Drudge linked to the other day. Dr. J. didn’t pick this up before Matt because he doesn’t get the daily New Atlantis Times, and because he was winging his … Continue reading →
Dr. J. has finally gotten around to this news item that is near and hear to his heart (no pun intended), an item which just goes to show, you can’t predict the logic (or lack thereof) of the FDA. You … Continue reading →
Thanks to the magic that is Twitter, we have seen some retweeting of our post on Dr. Oz’s inability to understand science, despite the fact he somehow functions as a freaking heart surgeon or something. Evidently, lots of you have … Continue reading →
Uh-huh. So Dr. Oz warns that certain brands of apple juice contain dangerously high levels of arsenic. FDA sends him a nasty note back that his researchers evidently do not know that organic arsenic is safe, and that no apple … Continue reading →
So let us see if we understand this correctly. Michele Bachmann is against vaccinations, maybe, because some random stranger went up to her and claimed one caused mental retardation. The Czar is pained to say it, but this is not … Continue reading →
A NASA astrobiologist claims that he has found fossilized evidence of alien life on a microbe. So why hasn’t the press been busting into your regularly scheduled viewing? Perhaps it is because the scientist, Richard Hoover, has done this before, … Continue reading →
Now hold on a minute. I thought there was evidence that when the poles switch, the field is “disorganized” or non-existent for some period of time. Not to take issue with your overall point, but rather to ask you to … Continue reading →
Journalists, in an effort to infuriate the Czar ever more with incredible laziness, are playing a telephone game with a story about a planet way, way, way out around the Sun larger than Jupiter and quietly circling our sun. Not … Continue reading →
Well, you always wondered whether cell phones were really all that dangerous to use on planes, have you not? And CNN, digging deep, comes up with no answers at all, but instead puts together a godawful mess of a story. … Continue reading →
The Czar has an idea for GorT. Take a current Time magazine story back to the year 1936, and let the editors of that era read and comment accordingly. Bet that will be entertaining. In case you did not know, … Continue reading →
Three quick scientific updates. Remember the Czar going on about being careful with a claim about what the universe was like prior to the Big Bang? Fortunately, even the legendary Dr. Penrose is not above being lectured to. Evidently, other … Continue reading →
Where are the most woo-woo places in the US? You know, the place where you get all funky with crystal healing, spiritual chakras, and so on? Los Angeles, right? San Francisco? Seattle, maybe? The Czar will shock and delight. His … Continue reading →
Global-warming J’accuse?Read the whole thing. Seriously. Confucius, Œc. Vol.Don’t ask impertinent questions like that jackass Adept Lu. www.gormogons.com
Continue reading →This chaps the Czar’s buttocks. Sorry, but it does. For eight years, the Czar (and millions of others) endured continual critical comments about President George Bush, and how he ignored science when it disagreed with his policies, and how he … Continue reading →
Solar scientists that montior the Sun’s activity levels are predicting that by 2016, there may be no sunspots and it may remaint hat way for a few decades. Ok, so what, you ask? The last time this happened was in … Continue reading →
Carbie the Climate Clown, Emmett K. Bozo Distinguished Professor of Climate Pantomimology, University of East Anglia; EU Regional President, Union of Concerned Climate Scientists and Street Performers writes: These conclusions were not only endorsed by the scientific and clown communities, … Continue reading →
Without wading into the philosophical weeds, Karl Popper’s famous principle that a theory, hypothesis, or principle is metaphysical, not scientific if it is not, in some way, falsifiable (i.e., testable), seems to apply here. Whether it’s a Kuhnian paradigm or … Continue reading →
In a textbook example of Solomon-like judicial reasoning, a New York Supreme Court (county level trial court) justice granted an injunction to petitioning nurses preventing enforcement of the state-mandated swine flu vaccinations for all health care workers. ‘Puter would like … Continue reading →
A week of surprises from the New York Times. First, there was the confession from the public editor that they screwed up the ACORN coverage because they acted like jackasses. Now, comes word that the New York Times is revealing … Continue reading →
Maybe it’s the ultra-competitive nature of the society we currently live in or the desire to be the first for personal recognition sake, but it’s a sad day when good scientific processes are abandoned and squelched in favor of political … Continue reading →
Anthropogenic Continental Drift! Check out the graphs and charts. H/T to the mighty Borepatch. The Czar reads him every day. The Czar of MuscovyБожію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in … Continue reading →
Yeah, so the Volgi sends the Czar a link to a New York Times blog post by Nicholas Wade; within Mr. Wade repeats a comment by a psychologist who claims that scientists are humans, and therefore are subject to GroupThink; … Continue reading →
In these days of instant gratification, the general public is led about by the nose by a twisted pairing of professions. On one side we have the media, starved for ratings and competing for attention in the 24-hour news cycles … Continue reading →
And this passes as legitimate science? I don’t have to have psychic abilities to know that this is a waste of time. Maybe we can use facebook to bend spoons, or myspace to levitate a bus. The MandarinThe Mandarin, whose … Continue reading →
