Free Republic

"The energy of the sun, captured by plants and passed on to animals, powers everything in our world---dolphins leaping out of the ocean, geese moving across the sky, people stirring their morning oatmeal." So says Elizabeth Sawin. Her article, published in Grist Magazine, was entitled "There Goes the Sun: humans are gobbling up too much of the sun’s energy." Now, if this strikes you as too stupid to deserve comment, you’re right. On the other hand, I will comment on it because it reflects what lots and lots and lots of people believe. These people have passed through our elementary...

"It is better for all the world, if instead of waiting to execute degenerate offspring for crime, or to let them starve for their imbecility, society can prevent those who are manifestly unfit from continuing their kind … Three generations of imbeciles are enough." (qtd. in Facing History 198) In the midst of the eugenics movement, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., voiced the opinion of most Americans. The eugenics movement was based on the science that contained within itself the possibility of improving the human race using selective breeding. Lisa Lindquist Dorr, professor of American History, contends that...

Background According to Paramount's official Star Trek web site, surveys show that the average child learns more science from Star Trek than from any other source. This is a source of considerable pride to Star Trek's fans and creators. However, if it is true, it should be a source of considerable consternation to actual scientists and engineers everywhere, as well as any rational person. Star Trek doesn't teach science; it teaches pseudoscience. Star Trek doesn't even promote science fiction; it only promotes Star Trek. Hardcore Star Trek fans tend to be distinguished not by a fascination with science fiction in...

IF THEY BELIEVE THAT II It is undesirable to believe a proposition when there is no ground whatever for supposing it true. ---Bertrand Russell This is the second in the series of articles about superstition. This one is about sceince. The previous one is about religion. The religion article was somewhat satirical, and therefore misunderstood by some. This article is more serious, and will therefor not be so much fun, but may be more interesting. You may wonder why the series is called, "If They Believe That." These articles demonstrate the dominant intellectual state of the majority of this world's...

The United Nations will throw its biggest environmental party in 10 years later this month in Johannesburg. In preparation, the UN has rushed to publication a preliminary report about a new environmental pestilence, the so-called Asian Brown Cloud (ABC). The UN says the Brown Cloud will kill millions and wreck the Asian monsoon, which is responsible for feeding about 2 billion people in one way or another. But, like many UN environmental reports, this one fails to mention some crucial points. Nightmarish reports like the one about the ABC have a way of appearing right before big UN environmental conferences...