Dr. Watson Thinks I'm Dumb!

One of my favorite "little" blogs has become "60 Second Science" from Scientific American (and, surprisingly, you can actually access it at school). One of their posts from yesterday gave details of comments made by Dr. James Watson (one of the discoverers of the double-helix structure of DNA) to the New York Academy of Sciences:

Last night in a room with a double helix woven in the carpet, the cantankerous geneticist James Watson, Nobel-Prize winner and provocateur – made clear his opinion of today's high school teachers: they're not too bright.
[...]
Watson said he believes there is a larger hole in the U.S. educational system that is sapping our lead in science. "Part of the problem is too many of our teachers are dumb," he said, balking that "Teachers' unions are corrupt." He said that the relatively low pay educators receive has prompted smart people to flee teaching for other careers – although he made a point of noting that he does not support giving them raises. Teachers like the "bright woman that taught me Latin are no where near our schools [now]," he crowed.

Watson continued to insist that educators are "not as bright" as they once were, before moderator and former TV reporter Garrick Utley politely cut him off. Despite being silenced, Watson continued to mutter snippily, prompting the audience to roar with laughter.

Other highlights of his discussion:

He went on to denounce failed Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain of Arizona as "nuts" and "dumb" for failing to see the importance of science
[...]
according to Watson, there's nothing worse than forcing young, ambitious scientists to be nice. "Christian values don't make any sense," he said, explaining that young people should be selfish and aim for success.
[...]
That's one reason he likes Russians...and would hire them in a heartbeat – presumably because they are more worried about surviving than about being nice.

While Dr. Watson's contributions to biology can't be overstated, he seems to be pretty good at making a fool of himself lately. Two years ago, he was criticized around the world for making comments that were widely viewed as racist:

The eminent biologist told the British newspaper he was "inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa" because "all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours -- whereas all the testing says not really."
[...]
In the newspaper interview, he said there was no reason to think that races which had grown up in separate geographical locations should have evolved identically. He went on to say that although he hoped everyone was equal, "people who have to deal with black employees find this not true".

And we wonder why there is a large portion of society that doesn't trust the motives of science.

WOOHOO!!!

After a long day full of clouds and wind, I expected to miss out on the chance to see Comet Lulin for another night. But since the good ol' Kansas weather is always changing, about an hour ago I decided to poke my head out and check to see how cold it was getting. Lo and behold, the clouds had blown away. So I quickly grabbed my binoculars and the telescope that I borrowed from the EMS science department, and set up shop on the back deck.

I wasn't sure how much luck I'd have, since the sky's not incredibly dark in the middle of town, but I thought I'd give it a try. As a warm-up, I pointed the scope towards Saturn...and was rewarded with a beautiful image of this creamy-yellow sphere encircled by a set of gorgeous rings. It wasn't quite what I was expecting, though since Saturn's ring's are edge-on towards Earth. But I guess this only happens every 29 years or so, so it's kind of a big deal.

Anyways, after doing a victory dance, warming myself up a little (it's cold and windy this evening) and chasing my dog around the yard,* I repositioned the scope and started searching for Lulin. I was surprised at how quickly I was able to find it...about 3/4 of the way between Saturn and Regulus, right where it was supposed to be.

*She had managed to get ahold of my glasses, and I'm pretty much blind without them. Sort of like that girl on Scoobie Doo. So if you can imagine Mr. Magette, in a heavy coat and house slippers, blindly chasing his dog around in the dark of his back yard, you'll get the picture. It's funnier now than it was at the time. Oh, and as an insult, she waited until I almost caught her and then dropped them right in front of me. Just in time for my foot to come down on them. Ah...the satisfying crunch of a pair of eyeglasses underfoot...

Anyways, the view of Comet Lulin from my back deck in the middle of town with amateur equipment and skills wasn't necessarily beautiful like these images. But it was still pretty darn cool. Just a fuzzy green little smudge-ball making its way across the sky.

Awesome...tomorrow night I'll try getting out of town where it's dark.

iPod Shuffle

It's a good day when, out of thousands of songs, the microchip randomly picks Dylan:

Here's a link to a video of him performing it live. Stupid record company won't allow people to imbed it (shame on them for wanting to get paid for what they do).

Before the PSP

I don't know if this will work on the school computers (which is fine since you shouldn't be playing games on them anyways). But I couldn't resist sharing this Old-School hand-held football game with you. Yet another little bit of happiness that Coke Zero has brought to my life.

Technical Issues

I'm having trouble posting from school (again). Until that issue gets resolved my posts may be short and spotty. Hopefully we can get this resolved soon.