Stewart Gets It Right, Again

As usual, the best commentary on this weekend’s shootings comes from Jon Stewart: The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon – Thurs 11p / 10c The Daily Show on Facebook If you prefer your sensible commentary in convenient HTML form, John Scalzi’s got you covered. Comments closed, because I don’t want to host a discussion […]

Solidarity in Egypt

A story to improve your opinion of humanity: Egypt’s majority Muslim population stuck to its word Thursday night. What had been a promise of solidarity to the weary Coptic community, was honoured, when thousands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light vigils held […]

Journalists Unclear on the Concept

No, this isn’t another “How dare those journalists muddle the explanation of some scientific topic” post. The concept here is journalism itself, as seen in Ed Yong’s discussion of different modes of science journalism. Writing about the recent World Conference of Science Journalists, he talks about some controversy over what “science journalism” actually means: Certainly, […]

Working for the Working Class Vote

the New York Times Magazine has a cover story this week about Barack Obama’s efforts to reach working-class voters. The headline writers did it no favors by tagging it “Will gun-toting, churchgoing white guys pull the lever for Obama?,” which makes it sound like the worst sort of demographic electoral college nonsense. The actual article, […]

Help the Red Cross Out

As noted at Making Light, the recent disasters in Iowa have depleted the American Red Cross’s disaster relief fund, and they’re borrowing money in order to keep running: “The disaster relief fund today is completely depleted. The balance is zero,” Jeffrey Towers, chief development officer, said in a conference call with reporters. Towers added that […]

Cyclone Relief

There’s been a lot said and written about Cyclone Nargis recently, and reading the coverage by Chris Mooney and others makes me feel a little like a Bad Person for not saying anything myself. But, really, what is there to say? It’s a gigantic disaster, and the deplorable political situation in that part of the […]