a simple prop

Things have been monumentally quiet here over the past year (only 38 posts, and most of those trivial), largely because I have been busy but also because I’ve been thinking about this whole blogging thing. At least for the short term, most of my blogging energy will be devoted to the group history and philosophy of science blog that I participate in, Whewell’s Ghost (also on Facebook and Twitter), and this blog will really only serve as an online notebook, primarily about creationist activity and more for my own benefit. I also may be on Twitter a little more (@jmlynch) with the stress on ‘a little’.

Given that there have been few posts in the past year, I found the following interesting:

By Ben Hillman.

NCSE announces the birth of Oklahoma SB 554 [rtf] and thus the third anti-evolution bill of the year. Today was the first day of my Origins, Evolution & Creation class and I was able to show this year’s Missouri and Kentucky bills.

The preamble of the OK legislation appears innocuous enough:

An Act relating to school curriculum; stating legislative intent; requiring the State Board of Education to adopt certain curricular standards; providing that schools shall not prohibit teachers from providing certain information to students; protecting teachers from retaliation for providing certain information; allowing students to be held accountable for information taught in a course; defining term; providing for codification; providing for noncodification; providing an effective date; and declaring an emergency.

But if you read on you see

The State Department of Education, or any school district or school district administrator, shall not prohibit any teacher from informing students about relevant scientific information regarding either the scientific strengths or scientific weaknesses of controversial topics in sciences, when being taught in accordance with adopted standards and curricula. Controversial topics in sciences include but are not limited to biological origins of life and biological evolution

Read the NCSE announcement for more information.

Apparently all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. I’ve decided to wander back here occasionally to blog. History and philosophy of science material will, however, remain over at Whewell’s Ghost while this site will largely be a brain-dump of shiny things that interest me.

(As an aside, while I was gone for the past four months, the blog received nearly 300,000 hits, mostly for the post that refuses to die.)

I have been blogging since January 2004 but of late my heart hasn’t been in it. So I’m taking the opportunity of a new school year to hang up my shield and move on. I may return someday, either here or elsewhere, but for the foreseeable future, you can consider me a non-blogger. Best wishes and good luck to all the readers and bloggers I have met over the years.

Onward!

Frankly, one of the up-sides of #SbFAIL is that a number of the people I care about are now blogging here on WordPress and it has actually become easier to track what they are posting and the comments I’ve made on their blogs. So that’s an up-side. As a reminder, here are the Sciblings who are now here. Hopefully, others will follow (I’m looking at you Mark Chu-Carroll and Mike Dunford!).

• Afarensis.
• Evolving Thoughts.
• Living the Scientific Life.
• A Blog Around The Clock
• Terra Sigillata
• Myrmecos

If you’ve never encountered these great bloggers before – perhaps because Scienceblogs overwhelmed you – wander over, read a little, and say “Hi”. These folks are good friends and the salt of the earth.

That said, I myself will probably go back to being quiet for awhile. I’ve four weeks before the start of the semester and have to put three papers (two science, one history) and at least one book review out the door.

semper scibling!

I take no pleasure in watching what is happening to Scienceblogs. The vast majority of my time there was pleasurable, tainted only by the actions of a minority who managed to poison the community (and were allowed do so by the notional management). Now the self-same management are watching the ship go down due to “PepsiGate” and #Sbfail highlighting their inability to treat the bloggers as co=partners in a business enterprise.

Scienceblogs started in January 2006 with 14 bloggers. Within a year, a further 39 bloggers had arrived. Less than half formed the core community of Scienceblogs (by this I mean, individuals who swam in the backchannels that existed and were members of the support community I valued). It’s worth noting what had happened to them:

1. Adventures in Ethics and Science – still going
2. Aetiology – still going
3. Deltoid – still going.
4. Pharyngula – still going but currently on strike
5. Mike the Mad Biologist – still going
6. Neurotopia (version 2.0) – still going
7. The World’s Fair – still going
8. Respectful Insolence – may be leaving but can always be found here.
9. Thoughts from Kansas – future unclear
10. Deep Sea News – left January 2007 September 2008, now here.
11. Evolgen – left Jan 2009, no longer blogging.
12. Dr. Joan Bushwell’s Chimpanzee Refuge – left May 2009, now here
13. Afarensis – left May 2009, now here.
14. Evolving Thoughts – left May 2009, now here.
15. Stranger Fruit – left May 2009, now here (literally).
16. Cognitive Daily – left January 2010, now here.
17. Gene Expression – left April 2010, now here.
18. Living the Scientific Life – left July 2010, now here.
19. A Blog Around The Clock – left July 2010, now here
20. Good Math, Bad Math – left July 2010, will continue blogging.
21. The Questionable Authority – left July 2010, will continue blogging.
22. Terra Sigillata – left July 2010, now here.

So, of these 22, twenty-one are still blogging, but only seven are remaining with Seed Media Group. (A further two have uncertain futures at the site.) And I think that tells you something about the ability of the Seed Media Group management to run a business.

Update: Here’s the Twitter feed – follow the fail as it happens.

Update (7/21): Abel Pharmboy (Terra Sigillata) had flown the coop. I have updated the count of those remaining. In addition, Dave Munger (formerly of CogDaily) has given his take on the whole debacle.

Source.

Been quiet here for a few weeks now, mainly because I just ain’t been feeling it regards writing online (and the World Cup has been a more compelling time-sink). In the past month – while I was essentially offline and not posting anything meaningful – there were still over 200,000 visits for the post that refuses to die, and somehow I find that somewhat dispiriting. Especially considering other posts garnered no comment or interest. Go figure.

That aside, I de-lurk to the sound of Scienceblogs perhaps circling the drain (at least in the form I knew it). Regular readers will know I was blogging there for a few years before coming here last summer. Now it appears that corporate indifference to the bloggers (which always was a vague problem and a factor in my leaving) and the bottom line has trumped all. Ex-sciblings Carl Zimmer and John Wilkins have more as we watch bloggers swim to freedom from the wreck.

(source)

Every country is #1 for something. Cocaine? That would be Columbia. Quality of life? That would be Ireland. Closed circuit surveillance? The UK. Serial Killers? Guess, just guess.

From here.

For what it’s worth, 47% of readers of this blog use Firefox, 21% use Chrome, 18% use IE, 12% use Safari, and less than 1% use Opera (n=86,995).

This is interesting. The authors of The Birds of the Dominican Republic and Haiti (Princeton University Press) have created a $5 iPhone app that features images and songs from 58 of the 300 birds from their guide. All proceeds from sales will be donated to Habitat for Humanity and Partners in Health to support the continued disaster relief efforts in Haiti. More details here. Now if only I had an iPhone …

Happy Towel Day.

And now I must go do some laundry …