I have been grievously mum in response to the many comments that readers have been sending to the Loom. My silence is not hostile–it is the result of way too much traveling, too much magazine writing, and the standard sleep deprivation that comes with life with two young daughters. In fact, reading comments is one of the favorite things I like about this blog.
Category: Blog
Ohio’s Board of Education has taken a big step towards forcing its students to waste their time on creationist pseudo-objections to evolution. PZ Meyers has a good round-up of this sad situation.
When George Bush quietly dismissed two members of his Council on Bioethics on the last Friday in February, he probably assumed the news would get buried under the weekend’s distractions. But ten days later, it’s still hot—see, for example, two articles in Slate, and an editorial in the Washington Post, as well as Chris Mooney’s ongoing coverage at his blog. Bush failed to appreciate just how obvious the politics were behind the move. The two dismissed members (bioethicist William May and biochemist Elizabeth Blackburn) have been critical of the Administration. Their replacements (two political scientists and a surgeon) have spoken out before about abortion and stem cell research, in perfect alignment with the Administration. Bush also failed to appreciate just how exasperated scientists and non-scientists alike are becoming at the way his administration distorts science in the service of politics (see this report from the Union of Concerned Scientists, which came out shortly before the bioethics flap). And finally, Bush failed to appreciate that Blackburn would not discreetly slink away. Instead, she fired off a fierce attack on the council, accusing them of misrepresenting the science behind stem cell research and other hot-button issues in order to hype non-existent dangers.
Over on my web site I’ve posted an article I’ve just written for the Sunday Telegraph Magazine in England about an eerie brain disorder called musical hallucinosis. You’ve probably had a tune stuck in your head for an hour at least once in your life. Now imagine that the tune played all day and night–and imagine that it sounded as real as if a marching band was standing by your window.
Continue reading “Building and Breaking The Mental Juke-Box”
The Austin Chronicle has an interesting piece today on blogs, which marks the first time anyone’s ever interviewed me about the Loom. Conclusion: no money, uncertain future, but much fun.