Category Archives: Uncategorized

New study shows that campus bigotry is concentrated in only a minority of students, rebutting the “dispersed discrimination” hypothesis of “implicit bias” theory

October 26, 2020 – 1:00 pm

We’ve heard often lately that colleges are afflicted with “structural racism”, and that every white person carries a degree of racism—of “implicit” bias—that is not even accessible to consciousness. These claims, at least those about the deep racism of American colleges, are never accompanied by systematic data, only by anecdotes. Are those claims true? A […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (24)

Declassified footage of the biggest nuclear explosion ever

October 23, 2020 – 2:30 pm

Here’s a rare video, previously classified but recently released, of the explosion of the “Tsar Bomba“, which the Soviet Union detonated on October 30, 1961. Wikipedia calls it “the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested”, and it “remains the most powerful human-made explosive ever detonated.” How powerful was this H-bomb? About 50 megatons of […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (32)

Cutting off your nose to spite your face: James Lindsay’s voting for Trump and the Republicans

October 22, 2020 – 11:00 am

UPDATE: Helen Pluckrose, Lindsay’s partner in crime, is more sensible. Here’s from a piece she wrote on Letter urging people to vote for Biden: The left cannot be made more liberal by people going right. If that were likely to happen, we would have seen the Social Justice movement diminish in power and influence during […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (256)

Discussion thread

October 21, 2020 – 12:00 pm

Exhausted from weeks—nay, months—with very little sleep, I’m gonna punt on any more substantive posts today and throw this one to the readers.  Here’s one possible topic that was inspired by the “atheist death column” I mentioned this morning, which included this old saw: [George] Yancy: I agree with you that atheists don’t have a […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (181)

Senior Palestinian official with Covid-19 treated at Israeli hospital, despite a recent ban on “regular” Palestinians being treated in Israel

October 20, 2020 – 11:15 am

You may not know this, but Palestinians regularly seek and get medical treatment in Israeli hospitals, and are rarely refused entry into Israel for that.  For a Palestinian to avail themselves of the world-class health care available in Israel, they have to meet three conditions: The illness cannot be treated in one of the several […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (18)

“Jet”

October 18, 2020 – 2:45 pm

The Beatles had an amazing synergy, for their individual songs declined markedly in quality after the band broke up. That doesn’t mean that all the post-Beatle songs were stinkers, but baby I’m amazed that although individual Beatles songs were often nearly solo compositions by Lennon, McCartney, or Harrison, none of the three produced music on […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (57)

The New Yorker bungles its science writing again

October 18, 2020 – 10:00 am

I’ve kvetched a lot about the science writing in The New Yorker, but, god help me, I’ve subscribed again for six months, just to get the bargain rate. And already after two issues I think I’ve made a mistake. It’s not just the science writing that continues to irk me, but also the wokeness of […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (53)

Amy Coney Barrett dodges the issue of climate change

October 16, 2020 – 1:00 pm

By the end of today, Amy Coney Barrett’s hearing will be over, and she’ll be on the fast track to confirmation as a Supreme Court Justice. Like most such candidates, she dodged questions about how she’d rule in various cases or in various circumstances. But she also dodged questions about scientific fact—in particular, about climate […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (78)

My university has a covid outbreak

October 15, 2020 – 1:15 pm

Every day for several weeks, when I walk home through the Quad, I’ve seen groups of students congregating in groups that violate the new pandemic regulations enacted by the University. If you’re in the open air, you have to wear a mask if you’re within six feet of people, or within any university building unless […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (48)

Two share Economics “Nobel Prize” (and a poll)

October 12, 2020 – 6:00 am

The Economics Nobel Prize isn’t really a Nobel Prize as originally established by Alfred Nobel (there were five of those: three science prizes, Literature, and Peace). Rather, it was established only in 1969, and is formally called “The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences”.  I don’t count it as a real Nobel Prize. Given that, […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (19)