WAHAHA

HUBERT: “No. The reality is that teens are resonating with the message of abstinence education in increasing numbers. There’s trends data to show that more and more teens are abstaining.”

ABRAMS: “That’s not what the studies show! You’re losing on the studies.”

HUBER: “No, that’s not true. In fact, a recent study just released –“

ABRAMS: “From who?”

HUBER: “Virginia’s abstinence education program.”

and later...

MADDOW: “Whenever I evaluate myself, I turn out to be doing awesome.”

Anti-Science has gone meta!!!!

Abstinence Clearinghouse is Sad That Science is Being Misrepresented and Taken Selectively to Thwart Abstinence Only Education

Awwwwwww. Cry me a river, abstinence-only educationalists. Now, it would be one thing if the research ACTUALLY proved that abstinence-only education worked (although that probably wouldn't bode well for the continuance of humankind). But the vast majority of the literature seems to show conclusively that it doesn't work. Abstinence education proponents aren't even bothering to mess with the literature now, as the "global warming is a hoax" and "smoking doesn't kill you" folks have been doing; instead, they are whining that scientists have done so to them. Aw, how unfair!

Thanks to Pandagon for the link.

Ah, the Y Chromosome

Interesting how some people attribute so much by ways of intelligence to the lilliputian Y chromosome. That poor guy must be packed with all sorts of good shit... the math genes, abstract thinking, self-reliance, ability to be more than sort of a semi-autonomous incubator on legs... my goodness.

Except WAIT... the Y chromosome is almost entirely composed of second copies of genes needed in two copies also found on the X chromosome, with the majority of its length consisting of non-coding DNA*. There is essentially only one gene, the SRY gene, which is involved in the determination of masculinity and all it entails.

That means the difference between men and women is determined by one gene, and then what? The ENVIRONMENT, you say? What a naughty word. Surely how we are brought up has no influence on our behaviors or our psyche. This would be tantamount to saying that society influences how men and women feel they need to behave. Never, I say. I am programmed by my genes to want to shave my legs and wear dresses, as well as to be bad at chess. No conditioning or lack thereof has caused these behaviors. No siree.



*Ridley, Matt. Genome. Figure out the rest of the citation yourself.

I don't understand Republicans

Here's why:

I was talking to some the other evening, and they seem to have such contradictory beliefs:

1. GPS watches and Ipod trackers are bad - some skeez could potentially hack his way onto the internet and find exactly where you were running - how bad is that????

2. I fully support the Patriot act. Umm, so it's ok if people in the government are all up in your business? But the moment it's an individual, that's a bad thing.

First Rebuttals:
a. There are individuals in the government. Like the ones that leaked the identity of the CIA agent in the Middle East and essentially forced her into early retirement.
b. This point is just me shaking my head in dismay. I don't know. Are Republicans just not private people? Do they not care if their private business remains their own private business? Myself, I don't think it's anyone's business at all what I do in my spare time. What I spend money on. What I do in my own home. Is this distrust in big government something that separates Democrats from Republicans? Because I thought it was the other way around, that Democrats trusted in big government. I don't know.

"He still believes in his heart that people are honest and good," the former manager said about Kenny. "And he's wrong."

Proving Smart People Wrong

There's nothing I like more than proving someone very intelligent to be wrong, at least in my own estimation of what is "right" and "wrong". Which is pure opinion, of course.

So: Someone said "Biology is based on Chemistry. Chemistry is based on Physics. Physics is based on Math. So everything can be explained in terms of math - so math is the most interesting thing."

Any guesses who might have said that? :-P

Rebuttal: Saying that Biology, that life, all comes down to Chemistry is true but boring, equivalent to saying that all soccer is physics. True, life is and Biology concerns itself with what boils down to the chemistry between carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen atoms (98% of the atoms in people). However, it is the emergent properties of these atoms, such as DNA, AIDS, and terriers, which are interesting, not the constituent parts. Once you can use physics to describe amino acids and chemistry to describe the human brain and 'free will', well, then I still won't concede that physics is better; rather, that will be the day which all the many and varied scientific disciplines will be one and the same. Until then, Bio will still be the most fascinating.


Whew, that only took... what, three years? See what an amazing fiend I am at debate?