Dan's Wild Wild Science Journal

Found this online today and it’s a must for Earth Science teachers everywhere. This is definitely my longest post ever!

Okay so click on it and download the full size image and then get a poster made!

kudos to Karl Tate at OurAmazingPlanet.com

I just heard today about a fabulous project to help get supplies to teachers in need. Donors Choose is a clearing house where teachers who need supplies can be matched with donors.

Teachers list exactly what they need equipment wise and you can chip in to help them get it! Any amount is excepted and it’s tax deductible!

I have made a special page on their site where readers of this blog can help out teachers of Math and Science.

Click the image above and you can see what classroom needs what. Even a dollar makes a difference! If you have a blog, please give this project some publicity!

Chris Mooney and Michael Specter along with others did a lecture at MIT last April. MIT has put the video up online and it is well worth a view.

The topic was denialism and disinformation. How can so many people believe things that someone tells them with no critical thinking. (My post on Authoritarians goes along with this quite well I suspect)

I regularly get asked if the world is going to end in 2012, and amazingly I am still getting comments from buyers defending their purchase of the iRenew and Q-Ray bracelets!

Frank Adams has a must read article on the NPR web site.

Click the image below to read it.

Click to read.

He is absolutely right. We are totally failing in America to educate our young people in science. Don’t believe me? Attend any college graduation, and look at the nationality of those who are getting the PhD’s.

Sign advertising the Power Balance Bracelets. (Pic taken by my wife)

So I go out to eat on my birthday Wednesday and what do I see?

This sign at a fitness store next to my fave tex-mex place.

Could it be another scam.

Yes indeedy!

I wonder how many thousands they have scammed??

Let’s take a look at their website and see what unscientific goodies we can find.

Here is what they claim on their web site:

•What is Power Balance?

Power Balance is Performance Technology designed to work with your body’s natural energy field. Founded by athletes, Power Balance is a favorite among elite athletes for whom balance, strength and flexibility are important.

•How Does the Hologram Work?

Power Balance is based on the idea of optimizing the body’s natural energy flow, similar to concepts behind many Eastern philosophies. The hologram in Power Balance is designed to resonate with and respond to the natural energy field of the body.

from plognark's blog- gotta love it.

Ok, I have just a few questions if I may.

1. What is the body’s “natural energy field”?? What is it composed of and how is it generated?

2. How is it measured?

3. Who discovered it? Has anyone taken a picture of it??

4. Have there been any papers published on it in a peer reviewed scientific/medical journal?

5. How is this natural energy field connected to the health of someone?

6. Is it radiation? Is it dangerous radiation? Do some people have an energy field while others do not?

7. Do fat people have a bigger field than skinny people? Does it get weaker as you age?

8. How does your little piece of plastic with a hologram printed on it resonate with this so called field?

9. If it does resonate with it, how could this affect the body?

10. How much money have you paid these athletes to claim a piece of plastic and silicone worn on the wrist can do anything other than make your wrist sweat??

The fact that thousands of people are buying this junk is proof positive of the lack of basic science literacy in America. If you are taking a class somewhere and you see one of these on your instructors wrist- run!