Another fact hardcore AGW deniers probably won't get

Courtesy David Biello in Scientific American:

More frigid temperatures may be exactly what northern Europe and Asia get thanks to global warming. A study published November 5 in the Journal of Geophysical Research suggests that the melting of the Arctic sea ice thanks to warmer air in the far north is changing weather patterns. And that means more bitterly cold air will settle in over Britain while Greenland may actually come closer to being green (or, at least, balmier in winter).

Unfortunately, I'm sure that some "AGW 1s a c0nsp1racy!!1!!" woo merchant will still not understand the idea that global - or continental - climate change is capable of occurring despite conditions somewhere else. Polar caps are quite capable of receding due to melting even if the weather is absolutely frigid that week in Minnesota, thank you very much.

Cretin of the moment

Dr. Rolando Arafiles Jr., twice: both for his efforts to get two nurses prosecuted (with the help of an equally suspect friend in law enforcement) who reported him to the Texas Medical Board, and again for engaging in the same behavior he tried to have his two accusers nailed for.

Cretin(s) of the moment

Many, many members of the upcoming 112th US Congress.

CERN may extend supercollider research phase

I'm not particularly surprised that would do this, especially considering the possibilities of Higgs boson reseach. Read on.

Worh reading: From A-bomb fallout to epidemiology

From the Journal of Exposure Science and Exposure Epidemiology study cited in Nature:

The scientific development of dosimetry underlies the credibility of health-effects studies that quantify risk of cancer and other late health effects of ionizing radiation. Such studies are summarized in the recommendations of major international advisory bodies and are the basis for risk estimation, not only for occupational exposures but also for exposures such as those from medical procedures and nuclear power plant accidents.

Although stemming from great tragedy, the ABCC/RERF studies represent a triumph of exposure science in which “true” doses were pinned down with greater and greater accuracy by integrated application of increasingly sophisticated questionnaire, physical, statistical, chemical, spatial, and biological methods.

Cretin of the moment

William Dembski, who seems typically confused as to what discipline he's supposedly studying.

I have a bad feeling about this

Policy talks on climate change policy are about to be held in Cancun in a couple of days, but my guess is that the successor treaty to Kyoto will be a toothless shambles due to political developments in the US and the usual intransigence on the issue from China. Fred Pearce lays out some of the details at New Scientist, none of which seem reasons for insane optimism or run-for-the-hills pessimism - yet.

Worth Reading

The blogger known as chaospet has put together a valuable guide to people in the running for Cretin of the moment called the Encyclopedia of American Loons, and you should continue to read it until one of his appropriate targets of derision threatens to sue him for quoting their own stupidity in public.

CERN succeeds in trapping antimatter...

...and contrary to some of the alarmist rhetoric I saw previously (which is a nice way of saying that I saw it on the comments section of a web site I'll save from the embarrassment of naming because of actual adults posting the drivel they did), we're not all dead. Details here, although you've probably seen them hither and yon over the last couple of days elsewhere.

Cretin of the moment

Richard Weikart.

A good start to an essential idea

Readers of this still-young blog might remember the inane attack ad that inspired the title for this blog; it also took a swing at stem cell research in addition to all the other supposed ghastlies that Pam Tebow and the rest of her band of soi-disant "Christians" were so worried about. That's why this idea should gain traction quickly in the SC research community:

The Stem Cell Action campaign supports attempts to enact "comprehensive legislation" that protects and funds federal research, according to Bernard Siegel, the executive director of the Genetics Policy Institute, which leads the coalition.

Siegel said the coalition, which comprises 30 foundations and state-based groups, is coming at a "critical time" to fight state and federal challenges to public funding, he said.

"Stem Cell Action is designed to give a voice to the broad majority of Americans that support this issue," Siegel said. "We can share resources and information so we're not operating in silence."

Further details are available through the Genetics Policy Institute page on this campaign here. 

Cretin of the moment

John Shimkus.

Cretin of the moment

Ray Comfort, not that you shouldn't kick his usual running mate Kirk Cameron in the pants for good measure.

Why this is here

Some of might know me from Wait 'till the fire turns green on LiveJournal, which I originally intended as a catch-all page/blog for whatever I felt like writing about. While I still intend to publish WTTFTG, I'm going to use this page as a more in-depth source for information and commentary on skepticism, science and science policy, especially since there are a number of people out there who use science as a gigantic pinata that they can bash whenever they need a scapegoat. Some of them (the ones who inspired the title of this blog, as a matter of fact) are mentioned here, and my thanks go out to them for providing such a fine example of why irrationality in politics intersects so well with irrationality concerning science.

(NOTE: I finally decided to change the name from Another Lurker From The Depths) to Wttftg due to the common content of the two pages as of July 2015. Hopefully, no one is suffering massive attacks of bookmark confusion due to this fact...)