Warm fuzzies from Fermilab

A late V-day present for all the scientists out there: seventh-graders' impressions of scientists before and after a visit to Fermilab :-) I think the drawings tell the same story as the text, but more clearly.

Not the reality-based community

Via Pharyngula, Mooney excerpts 'Rebel-in-Chief', which by my understanding is attempting to present W. in a good light. Remember that when you read this paragraph:

The president later provoked worldwide protests when he formally withdrew the United States from the Kyoto global warming treaty. The environmental lobby in this country fumed, but Bush didn't flinch. The treaty had never been ratified and stood little chance of winning Senate approval. Though he didn't say so publicly, Bush is a dissenter on the theory of global warming. To the extent it's a problem, Bush believes it can be solved by technology. He avidly read Michael Crichton's 2004 novel State of Fear, whose villain falsifies scientific studies to justify draconian steps to curb global warming. Crichton himself has studied the issue extensively and concluded that global warming is an unproven theory and that the threat is vastly overstated. Early in 2005, political adviser Karl Rove arranged for Crichton to meet with Bush at the White House. They talked for an hour and were in near-total agreement. The visit was not made public for fear of outraging environmentalists all the more.

In case anybody's been fortunate enough to forget it, John Birmingham reviewed State of Fear here. (Yes, it's the one where loonie environmentalists kill people by pressing blue-ringed octopuses into their armpits.) Less favourable commentary on the book's scientific 'merits' here. (BTW, next time I have a theory too shoddy to survive peer-reviewed publication, I'm going to make it into a bestselling novel just like Crichton and Dan Brown.)

But hell, why stop with climate? Crichton's the guy who brought us Jurassic Park and ER. Just imagine how much more advice he could give George W... or perhaps he already has.