Open Parachute

Liability of scientific denialism to political conservativism

Ken Perrott • Jul 22, 2010

• climate change,
• climate change deniers,
• diversity,
• Environment,
• global warming,
• Jonathan Kay,
• National Post,
• New Zealand,
• politics,
• Sciblogs

I have often thought that political conservatives who promote climate change denial are cutting off their nose to spite their face. Sure, I can understand why conservatives may be opposed to collective action required to deal with the problem of global warming. Or at least some of the political and economic measures that have been [...] … Read More

Life on the building site

Ken Perrott • Jul 19, 2010

• culture,
• diversity,
• humour,
• Sciblogs

I am in a bit of a holding pattern at the moment. However, came across this recently so thought I would share it. If only! (Thanks to DrPetra) … Read More

Support John Abraham against Monckton’s bullying

Ken Perrott • Jul 15, 2010

• bullying,
• climate change,
• diversity,
• Environment,
• global warming,
• John Abraham,
• politics,
• Sciblogs,
• St. Thomas University

Six weeks ago I posted a slideshow of a talk by John Abrahm’s (see Don’t trust Monckton!). It was a calm and objective investigation into the claims made by Christopher Monckton in one of his lectures. If you didn’t watch it I highly recommend you do so. Trouble is, Monckton is not used to such [...] … Read More

Ways of not knowing

Ken Perrott • Jul 14, 2010

• agnostic,
• agnosticism,
• atheism,
• belief,
• philosophy,
• religion,
• Religion And Science,
• Sciblogs,
• Science in Society,
• theology

We are always hearing about how science can’t explain everything and that there are “other ways of knowing.” Problem is those promoting this idea are very vague about what these “other ways of knowing” are and what the evidence is for their effectiveness. Usually it’s just a way of supporting one’s own pet desires. So [...] … Read More

The changing face of science communication

Ken Perrott • Jul 12, 2010

• blogging,
• Carl Sagan,
• climate change,
• climategate,
• communication,
• global warming,
• Mass media,
• New Zealand,
• politics,
• Public space,
• Sciblogs,
• science blogging,
• Scientific journal

All the reports from the inquiries into the climategate issue are worth reading. It is the nature of thoughtful inquiries that not only are problems identified, claims checked and unjustified accusations refuted. There are also usually some suggestions for improvements. I think the attention that has been paid to issues like peer review, importance of [...] … Read More

Climategate — Journalist withdraws and apologises

Ken Perrott • Jul 08, 2010

• climate change,
• Climatic Research Unit,
• Climatic Research Unit hacking incident,
• George Monbiot,
• global warming,
• journalist,
• Muir Russell,
• Phil Jones,
• politics,
• Sciblogs,
• University of East Anglia

Hot Topic has an informative article covering the the Independent Climate Change Email Review chaired by Sir Muir Russell (see Climategate’s final fizzle). The report can be downloaded here (FINAL REPORT). It’s 160 pages and appears very thorough. But it will take a little time to read. Listen to the press conference where the report [...] … Read More

Getting straight on marriage

Ken Perrott • Jul 05, 2010

• Australia,
• Gay Lesbian and Bisexual,
• humour,
• Julia Gillard,
• Marriage,
• Peter Griffin,
• politics,
• Same-sex marriage,
• Sciblogs

Peter Griffin at the blog Griffin’s Gadgets runs an amusing series “Crazy science letter of the week.” You know – the cranks who write “Letters to the Editor” trying to put us straight about evolutionary and climate science. It’s worth checking them out. Sometimes (but more rarely) there can also be letters that are the [...] … Read More

’Climategate’ smears found false — Mann cleared

Ken Perrott • Jul 02, 2010

• climate change,
• climategate,
• Climatic Research Unit hacking incident,
• global warming,
• Michael E. Mann,
• news,
• Pennsylvania State University,
• politics,
• Sciblogs

The final investigation of Dr Michael Mann by the Pennsylvania State Unviersity has now reported. It has unanimously found that “after careful review of all available evidence, there is no substance to the allegation against Dr. Michael E. Mann, Professor, Department of Meteorology, The Pennsylvania State University.” (You can download the full report here – [...] … Read More

June ’10 — NZ blogs sitemeter ranking

Ken Perrott • Jul 01, 2010

• blog,
• blogging,
• New Zealand,
• NZ blog rankings,
• Sciblogs

I currently have just over 200 New Zealand blogs with publicly available statistics. One reason for the big increase is my discovery that I could access stats from Flag Counter. So, here is the monthly ranking of NZ blogs for June 2010. The 7 day rankings are still available any time at NZ blogs average [...] … Read More

Ridiculing ridiculous science commentary

Ken Perrott • Jun 30, 2010

• climate change,
• Large Hadron Collider,
• Martin Rees,
• Nuclear power,
• politics,
• Royal Society,
• Sciblogs,
• Simon Jenkins,
• The Guardian

Sometimes it’s pointless to debate rationally with critics. When their approach and arguments are ridiculous it may be better to ridicule them rather than treat them seriosuly. It seems some British scientists have decided to do this with one of The Guardian’s columnists, Simon Jenkins. The last straw was a silly article of his Martin [...] … Read More