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Why drill offshore? Because they say so, right?

Ever notice when energy prices get high the same oilmen sing (to the tune of "Barbara Ann") "Drill drill drill drill drill Offshore?"

Of course. Because it works well for them. They get more money and power, and we get to keep them in charge and wealthy. (Exxon's second quarter 2008 profit was $1,485.55 per second). Big Oilmen aren't the average American's friends. They're your masters. And they want to keep it that way!

All the experts and both candidates for President agree that drilling offshore for more oil will NOT bring down the price of gasoline, and if it does, it won't happen for YEARS.

So what sense does it make to drill for more offshore, especially when the oil companies already have leases to drill elsewhere but refuse to do so? But, no, they want offshore, too. (Except it's not really offshore. It's onshore because America's beaches and coast line would feel negative effects, too.)

So what sense does it make to give Big Oil even more power now? (They finally even got to run The White House for the last 8 years, and look where that's gotten us!)

How did invaders finally beat The Great Wall of China? They went around it. In a way, we need to do the same thing: go around Big Oil, look past Big Oil, find a solution beyond Big Oil.

That means alternative energy like solar and wind.

It means better cars and more efficiency.
It means for once saying NO! to "Drill drill drill drill drill Offshore." It means for once not giving in. (The oil they drill up from the sea they'll probably just sell to China, India, and other growing markets anyway.)
It means a bold new energy program that all Americans can be a part of--working together on something instead of being at each others throats over things that don't even effect us on a daily basis like energy prices do.

The the reality: the time Big Oil's drilling offshore makes some little difference in energy prices--years from now--we need to be done with them! That's the real goal. And it needed to start a long time ago, so 2008 is as good of a time to push back as any.

"Drill drill drill drill drill Offshore" is an old, tired answer that's part of the problem, NOT part of the solution.

Pass it on!

"Darwinism" is about political power. Evolution is not.

Dr. Kate correctly pointed out recently on the Thoughts From Kansas blog:

Creationists insist on calling [evolution] "Darwinism." If they can get enough people to think that science is a religion, then they can argue that their religion ought to get as much time in the science classroom as "our" religion does.

Joshua Rosenau highlights Olivia Judson's argument that "Darwinism" is a "useless phrase," and that "no sensible person ought to call evolutionary biology Darwinism (and...no sensible person does)." Descent with modification, the closely related or single ancestry of all species, and natural selection were genius discoveries about evolution, by Charles Darwin (photo), yes. But they were not from the whole story. Much more--such as the role of genetics--would be and still is being discovered about evolution. Darwin was the first, best, greatest contributor to our understanding of evolution...but not the sum total of our understanding of evolution, and relative to numerous details of evolution that Darwin described, he's even been proven wrong.

So why do Creationists so doggedly insist on the "Darwinism" term to describe evolution? The real answer: political power.

Those who reject evolution as scientific fact often have political agendas relating to religion-based social conservatism. They aim to obtain power over the lives of others by attempting to make the Theory of Evolution sound like merely a cult--a Charles Darwin cult; spiteful, anti-religious adherence to some opinions Mr. Darwin penned in the 1800's. They often fear certain implications of evolution, many of them imagined--such as "social Darwinism," which is bunk and rejected by scientists far and wide--but not all of them imagined: for example, evolution's truth reveals the vacuousness of literalistic interpretations of creation myths such as those in the Book of Genesis. They fear how particular ideas of their religion-based worldview--for example, that homosexuality is a sinful choice, that political equality for women is a dangerous idea--may be complicated or even discredited by science's truths.

Of course, irrationally fearing the implications of evolution is a bit like irrationally fearing the implications of gravity. Fearing either one to the point that you'd basically deny the thing's reality is stupid; but, understanding them is empowering. Flight itself, though it might seem the opposite of gravity, is not possible without understanding gravity. Fear gravity, and you'll never invent the airplane. Similarly, fear evolution, and you'll never come to understand fundamental realities about life in the universe; you'll cure far, far fewer diseases; you'll languish in a comparatively retarded sense of wonderful constrained to an intellectual arena delineated by theology instead of an ever-expanding sense of wonder based on new discoveries about life--based on the scientific method of observation and verification.

Life inside

Mobile performance venue by Various Architects. Hat-tip to MUG.

Oslo-based studio Various Architects have designed a mobile venue for a five-screen cinematic performance, to be set up in different locations around the world.

Mid-year revisit of The Edge's Annual Question for '08

The Edge's Annual Question for 2008 was: "What have you changed your mind about? Why?" 165 experts answered. A great read. When thinking changes your mind, that's philosophy. When God changes your mind, that's faith. When facts change your mind, that's science.

Common (tired) misconceptions about evolution

The list of common misconceptions about evolution is pathetically long. Here are some of them courtesy of Michael Le Page of NewScientist.

Self-assured anti-intellectuals: could you please stop with the willful ignorance now? Read a little science. It won't kill you. But you sure act as if it could!

There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved. - Charles Darwin, On the Origin of Species by the Means of Natural Selection (1859).

Please enjoy "Thoughts From Kansas"

I recently discovered Joshua Rosenau's blog, Thoughts From Kansas, another great contribution to Scienceblogs. As Joshua's profile says, "When not modeling species distributions or battling creationists, he writes about developments in progressive politics and the sciences." Enjoy!

Free presentation of Hunter College November 2007 LGB study

"Findings from the Hunter College Poll of Lesbians, Gays and Bisexuals: New Discoveries about Identity, Political Attitudes, and Civic Engagement"
presented by: Patrick J. Egan, New York University; Murray S. Edelman, Rutgers University; Kenneth Sherrill, Hunter College-CUNY

Egan, Edelman and Sherrill will discuss their path-breaking study of the political attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of LGB Americans they conducted in November 2007. The complete study may be found here:
http://www.nyu.edu/public.affairs/pdf/hunter_college_poll_report_complete.pdf

Date and Time: Wednesday, June 18 2008, 7:00pm
Location: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center
208 W. 13th Street, NYC

Admission is free and open to the public.

"Does science make belief in God obsolete?"

"Does science make belief in God obsolete?" is a booklet published by the Templeton Foundation and edited by Michael Shermer containing 13 essays of varying answers to the title's question.

Shermer notes:

Since I am aware of the reputation that the Templeton Foundation has within the skeptical, atheist, and humanist communities for harboring a right-wing Christian agenda, I would like to note that, in fact, they invited me to select the commentators and edit their essays, and insisted that I include skeptics, atheists, and humanists, which you will see that I did. There was never any hint to me that I should edit the commentaries to come out a certain way to match the alleged agenda; to the contrary, they seemed most eager to give everyone a fair shake … to the tune of over a million dollars spent in a national advertising campaign that included advertorials place in Scientific American, American Scientist, Nature, The New Scientist, The Atlantic Monthly, Commentary, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Economist, The Financial Times, The New Republic, Prospect, and the Sunday edition of The New York Times. Oh, and Skeptic magazine!

Answers to the question range from “yes” to “no” to “it depends” to “no, but it should.”

All the essays are available online.

(Photo: a Hubble image of Supernova 1994D in Galaxy NGC 4526; NASA, ESA, The Hubble Key Project Team, and The High-Z Supernova Search Team; click to enlarge.)

The Phoenix has landed successfully on Mars!

Yesterday's entry, descent, and landing were beautiful! Congrats, NASA! (The shuttle Discovery launches in 5 days. Countdown here.)

NYCers fall behind on paying energy bills

From Crain's New York Business:

[T]he number of Consolidated Edison and National Grid customers who were behind on their payments went up by 5% last month compared with April 2007. They are also falling further behind than before, as the amount city residents owe on their utility bill has gone up by 19%.

Con Ed alone says more than 187,756 people were behind on their bills last month, a 9% increase over the year-ago month. The company turned off service to over 9,321 customers last month....

Current trends in the price of oil heat do not bode well for the winter heating season, either.... [T]he price of home heating oil has gone up nearly 6% since the end of April....

Heating oil prices typically stay flat or go down as temperatures go up. But that seasonal dip won’t occur this year because of the sharp increase in crude oil prices....