Sunday, May 27, 2012
Palate Cleanser of the Day...
Sit down in a nice, comfortable chair with a box of Kleenex at hand. If your smile wrinkles are underused, grease 'em up with a little ointment. Then just watch...
Religion and Population Growth...
Here's an excellent TED talk about the influence of religions on population growth. It's an excellent counterpoint to the theories of Mark Steyn et al, and also a great example of the intellectual dangers of trying to establish causation by correlation. By that last comment, I don't mean that I think either this talk or Mark Steyn's theories are either right or wrong – I'm just observing that starting with essentially the same data, both parties have arrived at very different conclusions. This is true even though both of them are inferring causes by observing correlations in basically the same data set. This stuff is complicated and hard. But even if one ignores their stated conclusions, their observations are very interesting indeed...
Hide the Decline...
Steve McIntyre, despite his earlier claims that he'd be slowing down his blogging, is back in force. This post of his is a classic takedown of the hypocritical defenders of the “consensus science”. You'd think they'd have figured out by now that it's a bad idea to keep digging their intellectual hole when Steve is on their track...
Haunting Memorial Day Images...
I think of our fallen soldiers often; it's an occupational hazard of anyone with a keen interest in history. This weekend I will remember them in order to honor them; I hope you'll join me...
Back in the USA...
Your blogger is back in the USA, and even had a day of rest (at my parents' home in Virginia). I'm not sure what time zone my body is occupying; I'm still a little fuzzy even after my morning cup of tea.
As always, it's very good to be back home...
As always, it's very good to be back home...