Author: Josh Witten

http://www.thefinchandpea.com

REPOST: Do as You Say, Do as You Do – Fixing Science Communication

Carl Sagan with Viking lander
Before I tell you how to fix science journalism (super glue, duh), let’s get everyone on the same page. The science journalism problem is really a science communication problem. Science journalism is just a portion of the science communication problem. It just happens to be an especially visible portion because journalists already have a forum and an audience. If we can solve the science communication problem, the science journalism problem becomes irrelevant, although the science journalists might not be happy with the solution.

I’ve actually been listening to a lot of advice from people older, wiser, and more successful than I on this topic. In doing so, I have a learned that the solution to our science communication problem is very simple. All we need to do is exactly what they did. Continue reading “REPOST: Do as You Say, Do as You Do – Fixing Science Communication”

Brilliant Beyond Words

Adapted from "Five Minute Comics: Part 3" by Randall Munroe (Creative Commons 2.5)

Randall Munroe can blow your mind in under five minutes. Not fair. Here’s hoping his family illness concerns are resolved quickly and happily.

 

Just Bit My Lip

So much for being made in the image of God according to the Second O’Briainian Disproof of Creationism (disproofs start at 3:50).

 

#IAmSpartacus

I’m wondering if the folks participating in the #IAmSpartacus protest of the “Twitter Joke Trial” remember that the original* “I am Spartacus” protesters were all crucified for their trouble.

*Incidentally, for similar reasons, I have no interest in running a marathon, as the original Marathon-er (Pheidippides) died after running a “marathon” from the battlefield (at Marathon) to Athens.

My Untestable Velociraptor Hypothesis

Photo: Heather Haupt Enos, taken on North Campus at Cornell University

I don’t really understand how this “guerrilla” bike lane art promotes bicycle riding or bicycle friendly driving behavior.

But, it did get me thinking about velociraptors on bicycles. Which, naturally, led to me wondering what I would do if bicycle riding velociraptors were overrunning my city (the most likely scenario leading to such regulation of velociraptor velocipeding). In particular, what if one of said pedaling raptors decided it had a taste for Josh, on the bone.

Could I kick a velociraptor’s ass? Continue reading “My Untestable Velociraptor Hypothesis”