Creation Museum visit update

PZ has posted an update concerning his trip to the Creation Museum. Apparently they have over 20 people signed up to attend and it is getting Answer in Genesis a bit worried about security. I don't blame them, that's a of of people. I'd like to think that in general, rational thinkers are well behaved people, but with such a large group who knows how every person is going to act?

If Marijuana is legal, Will Addiction Rise?

There is a nice discussion in the NY Times today on this topic.
The article includes several opinions. One of the nice things is that the article doesn't contain the usual comments by:
1 - A usually less well informed parent concerned about the drug menace to their children
2- A representative from a government agency whose budget is dependent on the war on drugs
... or
3- Someone with a religious argument against the use of drugs

Don't get me wrong. Like anything else that has psychotropic effects there are downsides to taking a drug like marijuana. Furthermore, there will likely be an initial rise in use, although my guess is a longer term return to current use levels or lower. Also, I am sure there are people who will get "addicted" to marijuana. I think the issue here is that we all have an addictive personality to a greater or lesser extent and those who would get addicted to marijuana would find something else otherwise. Most people in the article would agree, this is a drug that is much safer than our current legalized alternatives of tobacco and alcohol, and likely safer than many of the widely prescribed drugs such as ambien and prozac. As Norm Stamper (former Seattle police chief) points out, one of the problems with marijuana, is not it's current higher strength, but no standards such that the consumer knows what strength of drug they are smoking.

Peter Reuter (professor of public policy and criminology) states there were 750,000 arrests last year for marijuana possession. This is a ridiculous waste of time, money, instills a disrespect for the law. Clearly, the current system doesn't work and the laws need to be changed.
I could go on, but you can fill in the blanks yourself.
BTW, for the record, I don't smoke marijuana and am not planning on doing so.

Roy

The Amazing Meeting is streaming

Click here to watch The Amazing Meeting going on right now in Las Vegas.

PZ's visit to the Creation Museum

Here's some more information on PZ Myer's visit to the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky.

Looks like if you wish to join him on Aug 7th that you can register in advance and get $10 tickets as opposed to the full $22. Might be a good chance to go as they don't offer many free days.

Sea Level Rise: It's Worse Than We Thought

I just read an interesting on-line article from the New Scientist that discusses this. As the article states:

In its 2007 report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast a sea level rise of between 19 and 59 centimetres by 2100, but this excluded "future rapid dynamical changes in ice flow".

The rest of the fairly extensive article discusses the various types of modeling being done, much of it after the IPCC statement. As is often with such modeling, there is a great deal of uncertainty with complicated system such as the earth including how much greenhouse gas the world produces. However, the conclusion is that the sea level is likely to rise something between 0.8-2.0 meters by 2100 (and of course still increasing in subsequent years).


Sea level rise comes from a number of factors. To briefly mention a few from the article:
- Thermal expansion of water
- Glacier movement of ice into the sea from land
- Melting of surface water on the glacier tunneling beneath to lubricate the glacier movement.
- Surface melting on glaciers creating giant "ice cubes" which may tumble over increasing glacier flow rate
- Warmer sea water near the ice sheets melting from below releasing more dammed ice to increase flow off land

The author also points out that such a rise is consistent with geologic history. There have been instances where sea level has risen by 1.6 meters on average in a 100 year stretch during the last interglacial period and one report that suggests that sea level had risen by 3 meters in 50-100 years.

Roy

Paleontologists at the creation museum

The University of Cincinnati just hosted the North American Paleontological Convention and many of the scientists took a side trip to the creation museum in Northern Kentucky, itself created by the group Answers In Genesis.

Several of us have gotten the NY Times which had an article about this.

The article reported comments from the scientists such as:

Many of the paleontologists thought the museum misrepresented and ridiculed them and their work and unfairly blamed them for the ills of society.

“I think they should rename the museum — not the Creation Museum, but the Confusion Museum,” said Lisa E. Park, a professor of paleontology at the University of Akron.

However, there was a curious neutrality from the reporter, Kenneth Chang. He expressed the opinions of museum officials and a couple of non-scientist museum attendees as well as the paleontologists. It came across as much more "balanced" than I think the topic deserved.

Perhaps someone in the other camp would think the liberal NY Times has portrayed the creation side unfairly, something like the old Ronald Reagan line: "There you go again."

From my biased point of view, there is no other reasonable position and I would hope reporters would call these things honestly instead of with a false neutrality.

Roy

Rome Burns while Nero Fiddles

I was struck by the appropriateness of this phrase to our government today. First, a couple of words about the phrase itself:

There were no fiddles we know of during Roman times although they had other stringed instrument, the best known of these, the lyre. Nero loved to perform and had aspirations to be as good as professional performers and commissioned the making of lyres by the best in Rome. Suetonius, who viciously attacked Nero (with good reason in general), claimed that Nero had the fires set that burned down a substantial part of Rome in 64 AD as a means to forward his aim of urban renewal. He also claimed that Nero sang "The Fall of Llium" as he watched the flames engulf the city. Others saw Nero's actions as moderate and even a help in the catastrophe. In any case, the meaning of the phrase as it comes to us is clear, an act of purposely ignoring a catastrophe as it happens around us.

Such is the case with our government today. In an excellent editorial by Paul Krugman in the NY Times he points out the acts of congress concerning global warming with statements like:

And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn’t help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet.

and:

But if you watched the debate on Friday, you didn’t see people who’ve thought hard about a crucial issue, and are trying to do the right thing. What you saw, instead, were people who show no sign of being interested in the truth. They don’t like the political and policy implications of climate change, so they’ve decided not to believe in it — and they’ll grab any argument, no matter how disreputable, that feeds their denial.

This exactly captures the sense I get from the opposition to this problem. I couldn't have put it any better.

See It to Believe It

One of the things you learn as a skeptic is that sometimes seeing it isn't believing it.
Our group logo was meant to symbolize this idea with an apparent figure visible even if it really isn't there. (the symbol would probably be better if we could have slightly curved the line ends in the punctuated triangle).

Anyway, I came across a great optical illusion, by way of onegoodmove.org from Phil Plaits blog on bad astronomy at:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2009/06/24/the-blue-and-the-green/

The color illusion is so striking, it is hard to believe.

Check it out.

Roy

Symbols of Science

The University of Nottingham in England has been creating fun websites for teaching science.

Previously, they created a web site giving information about the elements:
http://www.periodicvideos.com/#

There is a similar site, also from England and the University of Sheffield that includes much more information and some amusing touches:
http://www.webelements.com/

For instance, under Iridium, they have the following cartoon:



Anyway, Nottingham has also started up a web site with nice little videos about various symbols of science. Here you can learn about symbols as diverse as Jupiter to the fine structure constant to Feiganbaum's constant:
http://www.sixtysymbols.com/#

PZ Myers to attend Creation Museum

Apparently PZ Myers will be taking a trip to the Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky this August. No details, yet. PZ has been arguing with Ken Ham recently and challenged him to invite actual scientists to tour the museum for an official review. Could be interesting.

Are Humans Evolving Faster

An interesting story I got from Onegoodmove.org.
I had always wondered whether humans were still evolving through a biological level of natural selection. The argument against would be that society supersedes selection. For instance, a society with remedies for genetic ailments may not naturally select for evolutionary improvements.
This article suggests the opposite with some genomic and observational evidence. They make the point that evolution is faster in larger populations, such as humans today.
http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2009/06/the-past-40000-years-are-human-evolving-faster-a-galaxy-classic.html#more

North American Paleontological Convention

The North American Paleontological Convention will be held in Cincinnati this week. Check The Panda's Thumb for more details. Lots of movers and shakers in the battle against Creationists will be here including Genie Scott and Ken Miller.

113th Skeptic's Circle

The Skeptic's Circle is a roundup of some of the recent skeptical blogging in (usually) the past two weeks. A different blog hosts the circle for each edition and some get quite creative in how they link to the various blogs who participate in the circle. It is a good way to catch up on the issues that have been discussed recently in the news or behind the scenes in the skeptical blogosphere.

The 113th edition is hosted at The Uncredible Hallq. Enjoy.