The danger of snark

Quoth the Rocketboom: Nevermore:
[Via Bad Astronomy]

Rocketboom was one of the original video blogs, taking current geek news and making fun of it.

Sometimes though they’re the victim of their own snark. On April 29th they posted this video:

The thing is, that whole thing I posted about the Shuttle image being faked? Yeah, Rocketboom, oops. So …

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As mentioned Poe’s Law states “Without a winking smiley or other blatant display of humor, it is impossible to create a parody of Fundamentalism that SOMEONE won’t mistake for the real thing.”

Of course the goal of the first piece was to pull in someone who would agree with it, not disparage it, but I guess that still fulfills Poe’s Law.

Now , just make sure you know what snark is ;-) Smiley face added to make sure we are clear that Poe’s law is not applicable <grin>

Technorati Tags: Education, General, Science

Ken Layne said it best

Just Keep Calling It Fact-Checking And Someday They’ll Believe You:
[Via The Loom]

Zachary Smith at Talking Points Memo, among others, notes that the Washington Post editorial page editor is still claiming that George Will’s many misrepresentations about global warming were subject to “careful fact-checking,” some two months after many people showed they were anything but–including some who explained the errors in the …

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In 2001, Ken Layne famously said ” We can fact-check your ass!” In fact, people on the web just hate it when information, which is easily checked, is wrong. And when an organizations continually tries to claim that they did careful fact-checking, when it is so obviously proved that they did not.. well, let’s just say their credibility takes a big hit.

For the Washington Post editor to still claim how careful their were when the online fact-checkers have demonstrated otherwise simply displays for all their ignorance.

This is how a newspaper falls. By its inability to keep up with the world around them. It is part of the reason why I stopped buying dead-tree newspapers several years ago. They were several years behind the times, especially when it came to the ability for the readers to be a part of the conversation.

Many papers really do not relish the idea that its readers could push back hard when the editors are wrong. Many like to deal with a readership mostly through the letters section.

That is why I am glad washingtonpost.com is a different entity. They may still screw up but they appear to have more up to date sensibilities on checking facts.

UPDATE (12:30) – Apparently washingtonpost.com will be merging with the daily. I hope they do not screw that up.

Technorati Tags: Science, Social media

How can they call it science?

by Pirate_J

AIG Creation AntiScience Fair:

[Via The Panda's Thumb]

Last month I was a judge at a regional science fair for middle- and high-school students, and it was great to see aisle after aisle of smart and hard-working kids doing interesting and careful science. A few weeks later, at a Science Cafe where I was presenting, I had the chance to talk with (and coach a little) two of them who are going to nationals. Those kids are bright shining examples of what we want public education to produce.

On the other hand, there’s the creation science fair. PZ has recently posted on a creation science fair in Minnesota, but now they’re going big time: Ken Ham’s Creation Museum is hosting one next year. (Added in edit: I see PZ has posted on this one already this morning, too.)

A Creation Science Fair? Since when do they care about science? They care about the ‘factual’ basis of the Bible. If sceince fits that, fine. If not, ignore it or fight it.

In fact, they are quite blatant about this:

There’s a catch, however: In order to enter, kids have to agree with AIG’s Statement of Faith.

Among other things, that requires that kids sign on to these principles:

“The account of origins presented in Genesis is a simple but factual presentation of actual events and therefore provides a reliable framework for scientific research into the question of the origin and history of life, mankind, the Earth and the universe.”

and

“The great Flood of Genesis was an actual historic event, worldwide (global) in its extent and effect.”

and

“By definition, no apparent, perceived, or claimed evidence in any field, including history and chronology, can be valid if it contradicts the Scriptural record. Of primary importance is the fact that evidence is always subject to interpretation by fallible people who do not possess all information.”

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So, anything resembling geology, biology, cosmology and most other -ologies will be absent. I’d love to see what wins and just how far removed from reality it really is.

We have so much work to do actually educating those who eschew education. I imagine many of these people would be much happier in a world where they only had to hunt wooly mammoths, gather nuts and sacrifice animals (or sometimes humans) to God. Life was so simple then.

Technorati Tags: Education, Science