Imagine the following situation:

You’re a student in high school or junior high when suddenly an announcement comes over the PA system saying that all students must immediately evacuate the school. The announcement states that all classes should avoid the science lab section of the school and take exit routes that won’t take them through that area, using alternate exit routes and moving away from the school building after exiting.  Your teacher begins to lead the class to the nearest exit.

As you wait outside, the police and fire department arrive.   They rope off the school and stand in front, but do not enter.

Finally a group or emergency response personal slowly open the door and begin to enter, wearing coveralls and respirators as others set up a decontamination shower outside.

A group of students is kept away from everyone else and is hurried onto ambulances to be taken to the hospital for evaluation.

You hear talk of a parents meeting to be held at the auditorium of another local school, to discuss the situation and address the concerns of parents and students.   One of the teachers says something about hoping that they will be able to open the school again by the end of the week. The local news arrives to report on the situation.

This is when you find out the cause of this panic:  Someone in one of the science classrooms has broken a thermometer and in doing so, they’ve let out a about a drop and a half of mercury metal.

Believe it or not, this situation is not fictional.  It’s a generic version of a story that happens all the time.  The illustrations seen to the side are all from news accounts of this kind of thing happening:  An emergency response to a small mercury spill caused by a broken thermometer, blood pressure monitor, tilt switch or some other kind of mercury containing device.   It happens most commonly in schools where mercury thermometers are still commonly used in science classrooms.

Some Recent Examples:

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Autism is a real condition, and I’m certainly not questioning the fact that it exists and that it can be difficult for a person to live with, even debilitating.   That being said, I’m starting to wonder if maybe some are taking things a bit too far with their desperation for a “cure” for the condition.   For one thing, it seems like the current culture is to treat even mild cases as being tragic, insurmountable and disastrous.   I’ve seen several sites dedicated to a kid who has shown signs of an Autism Spectrum Disorder with titles like “Hope for Jimmy” or “Pray for Johnny’s Future” – as if these (often mild) cases are somehow equivalent to having an aggressively matastrosizing cancer of multiple organs.

More than this, lets not forget that this is a condition which is social in nature and is characterized by a child not being able to communicate well with others, having inappropriate emotions and difficulty establishing bonds with others.   Now, I’m not a doctor or anything, but somehow it just doesn’t seem to me that the best way to cultivate healthy social and emotion development of a kid is going to involve things like sticking them full of pins, putting them in a metal chamber, sticking tubes in various orafaces and things like that.  Hell, if my parents had raised me like that, I doubt I’d be in any kind of stable condition right now!

Yet here are some of the common “therapies” which have used for autism treatment.   Of course, all are totally unproven, carry risks and have no valid scientific basis for the claims that they treat what has been established as a hereditary condition.

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I’ve been asked this many many times before but I recently got a long email which basically asked one question:   How can you always dismiss wind and solar?   How can you know it will not improve?   How can you be so sure?  How do you know before you even review a new system?

Okay, that’s four questions, but they amount to the same thing.   I’ve tried to explain this before, but I’ll try to make this as simple as possible.   There are two reasons I can reject wind and two I can reject solar as ever being able to be a major power source for more than some special applications.

Wind:
1.   Air does not weigh very much
2.   Air does not move very fast (aside from in a tornado)

Solar:

1.   There is a finite amount of energy per a given area under a given amount of illumination for a given period of time.
2.   On the surface of the earth, it’s not very much.

That’s it.  That’s all you need to know.   That is enough to be absolutely certain that no scheme for wind or solar energy will be anything more than a niche source of energy… EVER.

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Videos for all the elements are avaliable at www.periodicvideos.com.   Some are a lot of fun, but some are less so.   In general, I found the ones on short-lived radioactive elements to be pretty disappointing, but I guess that’s to be expected because they don’t have samples of those to play with so they just talk about them.   Here’s a little teaser:

Well, according to them and this publicity video they aren’t at all religious.

I bet he’d like church and state to be about as separated as his eyebrows…

The very claim that it’s secular at all is quite blatantly bogus, because despite claiming to have numerous programs ranging from “technology and democracy” to “bioethics,” the institute seems to be a bit less of a broadly-focused science/culture think tank than they make themselves out to be. Actually they have an unnatural obsession with promoting “freedom” in the science classroom – as long as freedom means teaching Intelligent Design, and generally opposing all things relating to evolution, the fact that the earth is five billion years old and anything else that conflicts with literalist interpretation of the Bible. (more…)

While at “The Amazing Meeting” I had the chance to see part of the pilot episode for a television show which is currently being pitched called “The Skeptologists.” The show features a group of skeptics, (most of whom I actually know) who go out and investigate and debunk various claims of paranormal activity, alternative science, conspiracy theories and alike. Some of those on the show include my friend Dr. Steven Novella, Phil Plait (The Bad Astronomer), Michael Shermer along with others whom I am not actually acquainted with, Yau-Man Chan, Mark Edward, Dr. Kirsten Sanford and Brian Dunning.

I had really hoped I could post the trailer, because that was what I wanted to discuss, but it is apparently not up on the internet or public as of yet, so while I relish the opportunity of having seen something that others can’t, I really wish I had the video to talk about. However, I found this trailer/teaser, which at least gives some background.

So that gives *some* impression of the show. I have to say that I really like the concept, and I think it has potential. The take of the show has to be at least somewhat unique, because there are already a few very good skeptically-oriented television shows out there. These include Mythbusters, Penn and Teller’s Bullshit, Is it Real, and also shows like Brainiac, which espouses to be skeptical but actually forges their results quite blatantly.That having been said, I’d also like to offer some constructive criticism for the show.It’s hard to really make this applicable to those who had not seen the pilot, but I was a little dismayed to see how scripted and artificial it turned out to be. It began with an introduction to the cast, one at a time, giving their own blurb on their backgrounds. It worked okay, but it didn’t really do a great job in providing a ‘natural’ character introduction – it came off more as giving a verbal résumé. (more…)

This time it’s Louisiana passing what is being called an “Academic Freedom” bill which is clearly an attempt to weasel their way through the federal prohibition of teaching religion in classrooms, which, when combined with the mandate to teach science, pretty much ties the hands of schools to teach the fact of evolution. (Yes, evolution is a theory, but it is also a fact. It happens. It’s real. It’s the way it is.) Of all the places to get this kind of legislation, Louisiana is one that needs it least. Still recovering from the worst natural disaster in US history, Hurricane Katrina, the last thing the state needs is an intellectual disaster sweeping in to undermine the educational system and insure a future of ignorance and confusion.

What is so absolutely disgusting about this bill is that it wraps itself in language which makes it sound like it’s trying to foster critical thinking and even teach kids to be skeptical of what they hear.

The preface of the legislation states:

“assist teachers, principals, and other school administrators to create and foster an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that promotes critical thinking skills, logical analysis, and open and objective discussion of scientific theories.” Unfortunately, it’s remarkably selective in its suggestion of topics that need critical thinking, as it cites scientific subjects “including, but not limited to, evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning.”

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Yep, he’s been fired…

You may remember not long ago there was a post about an Ohio teacher by the name of John Freshwater. Freshwater had gotten himself in trouble with the school board after several accusations that he had been using his science classroom to advance his religious views. The alligations are pretty serious to begin with, but one stands out as being especially disturbing: Freshwater was accused of burning a cross into the arm of a student using an electrostatic generator – it was stated that this may have been in some kind of repentance ceremony or other religious activity.

One of the headlines which is repeatedly associated with this story is that Freshwater was being prosecuted for “having a bible on his desk.” That sounds innocent enough, and if it were as simple as a teacher keeping a personal bible on his desk to read during lunch period, I would say the school was overreacting. However, Freshwater has been accused of taking things much further. His alleged activities go far beyond the bounds of a teacher’s right to freedom of speech and opinion. Apparently he had been openly opposing evolution and other basic tenants of modern science and had been frequently making religious statements and pushing religion onto his students.

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Well, this is my first full day back home on the East Coast of the United States, having returned from The Amazing Meeting 6 in Las Vegas Nevada. I had also attended The Amazing Meeting 5, about a year and a half ago. For those who might not know, the Amazing Meeting is an annual get together hosted by the James Randi Educational Foundation and featuring skeptics, critical thinkers, educators, scientists and generally those who promote skeptical and logical thinking and oppose superstitions, myth-driven policies, quackery, scamming, perpetuation of misinformation and that kind of thing.

This year saw a great turn out with over 900 attendees at the meeting. Many of them were people I had the pleasure of meeting before and others were new to me or new to the entire skeptical movement. There were also some excellent guests and speakers who attended the meeting. The presence of well known figures certainly makes the meeting special, especially for those new to the meeting, but the best part of the meeting is that the speakers are not only seen up on stage, but rather are part of the entire social experience of the event. Many of the attendees who are not there as speakers or presenters, but only as attendees have equally fascinating backgrounds to those on stage. Attendees come from around the world and from all walks of life. It is one of the few organizations where new members and long standing pillars of the community rub elbows and where senior citizens and college freshmen exchange ideas without concern for age or background. Nearly everyone had something interesting and worthwhile to add.

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Well, I’m on my way to Las Vegas.  I neglected to mention this, because I have had some issues with certain parties in the past, and thus I wasn’t 100% sure if I was going to even go, but I’ll be attending The Amazing Meeting, a great event where skeptics, scientists, entertainers and others gather for a meeting of the minds.   This year Adam Savage, Penn and Teller, Dr. Neil Tyson, Dr. Phil Plait and many many others will be in attendance and I’m hoping it turns out to be as much fun as it was last year.

I’ll try to post some updates from the meeting and I’ll definitely have stories, information and photos to share.   The meeting closes on Sunday, but I’ve added an extra day to my trip and I hope to be able to use it to pay a visit to a few sites, including the Yucca Mountain visitor information center.   I actually was hoping to get into a tour of the Nevada Test Site and see the complex first hand, but it looks like that’s not going to be possible as it has to be arranged far ahead of time and only certain dates are avaliable.

Ah consumerism…

And to think it was all made possible by the fact that a lot of people are really bad at math and willing to pour their money into random events which have a probability far out of their favor.

Too bad it’s also powered by this…