I’m still working on the top 100 prospects package, although at least I’ve got enough done that I’m not coiled up like a spring any more. The organization rankings piece will run on Wednesday, and the top 100 itself will run on Thursday, when I will also chat. The current plan is for one league’s top tens to run Thursday and the other Friday, but my editors haven’t finalized that.
And now, this week’s links…
- Longform piece from Vulture/NY Mag: Baohaus founder/chef Eddie Huang’s foul-mouthed tract on watching his memoir (and life) become a bowdlerized sitcom.
- From the increasingly indispensable British paper The Guardian why the modern world is bad for your brain. We think we can multitask, but we can’t.
- The Senate passed an amendment 98-1 affirming that climate change is not a hoax. What a world that we have to do this.
- Scientists slowed the speed of light. Of course, the particle theory of light is just a theory anyway.
- Munchies (at VICE) tackles the question of the California attempt to ban foie gras in a 41-minute video documentary. It’s remarkably calm and rational for a look at an issue that inspires more emotion than reason. I come down on the side of allowing foie gras production, because I don’t want any government body making choices about what I should and shouldn’t eat when I’m better capable of making those choices myself. Asking the government to stop antibioitic use in livestock is a matter of global health and safety; asking the government to protect ducks and geese who may not be suffering any harm imposes someone else’s views of animal rights on my plate.
John Burton, now the Chairman of the California Democratic Party, comes off worse than the ducks in this documentary, swearing at the interviewer at least twice, dismissing a very reasonable question as “stupid,” appearing to have little familiarity with the issue at hand, even proudly defending the fact that he never visited the farm that his bill put out of business. I’m not a Californian, but if I were a Democrat and lived there I’d be livid that this was the man at least nominally in charge of the state’s party. - Just because evolution is settled science doesn’t mean we’re no longer learning more about how it works. This week’s discovery: Evolution may be able to reverse itself, according to one study of the evolutionary process in birds.
- I tweeted this yesterday but it’s worth reposting – one chart that shows how effective and dangerous vaccine deniers’ efforts have been. And don’t believe them when they say it’s not a big deal, because getting the measles is horrible.
- Goofiness: How people in the small Swedish town of Ůmea say “yes.”
Long time fan Keith and love the website. Have you watched Best New Restaurant? If so, what are your thoughts on the show?
I’m not here to klaw bait, troll, or otherwiss shill, but as you mention about the particle theory of light, isn’t evolution just a theory as well and subject to changes as opposed to settled science (law). I appreciate your work and the content you share.
I think you are confused about law vs theory in science. It doesn’t work like you are claiming. A scientific law is specific in application, and centers around narrow predictions based on experimentation and/or observation. . (Think Newton’s laws of motion.) Laws may be called principles.
Compare that to the Theory of General Relativity or the Theory of Evolution. These are, to paraphrase Wikipedia, explanations of phenomena., general things about the world.
There isn’t a hierarchy between theory and law like there is between hypothesis and theory.
Not sure you saw this article from ESPN about how the mayor of Glendale, AZ isn’t all that happy at the city hosting the Super Bowl this year and the expense it puts on the city to host it. Predictably, the owner of the Cardinals disagrees with the figures and says all is wonderful. Economists have said for years that hosting major events, like a Super Bowl, Final Four, World Cup, or Olympics, doesn’t bring the economic value that politicians tout beforehand. Of course, Glendale is also the city that threw $20+ million annually to the NHL for 3-4 years to keep a franchise there, but the current mayor wasn’t on the city board then.
http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/12176404/glendale-mayor-not-thankful-host-super-bowl
I suspect Keith was being a bit snarky with the theory comment. But in scientific terms, a theory is about as good as it gets, and can often describe what is “settled science.” For instance, gravity is a scientific theory, but I think we’d consider the science there to be fairly well settled. Like many things in science, the scientific usage doesn’t perfectly align with our common usage.
Correct, that bit was sarcasm. A theory is proven through experimentation, whereas a law is proven through direct observation.
I have a friend who runs a foie gras in France, and is baffled at how Americans can oppose its sale without knowing much about its production, while having no issues eating chicken that have their beaks cut off and spend their entire 12 week lives in tiny cages. We do like to pick and choose what we find appalling when it comes to the treatment of animals, but it usually boils down to “What I do is fine, but what you do is barbaric”.
I will say as a hunter, I have had more enlightened conversations with many vegetarians and vegans regarding hunting. While they may oppose it, and think I’m a monster, they are on average much more well informed about what goes into much of the process of raising livestock in this country.
I agree, Chris, although there’s a hint of the two wrongs fallacy in the argument. Debeaking is horrible, and feeding cows anything but grass does rather awful things to their guts too. But doping up our meat with antibiotics solely for prophylactic reasons puts our own health at risk while also allowing factory farms to keep animals in ever tighter quarters. Why isn’t THAT a problem for more people?
Part of the glendale problem is that there isn’t anything in glendale. Few hotels, few restaurants, and zero to do except hockey and football. Everyone stays in other cities, eats elsewhere and spends money in other areas. Being as the bidwells live in another city entirely they feel it’s great. As do many hotels and restaurants.
I’m not arguing that it’s a good thing in the valley as a whole more that it is especially bad for Glendale. Also, those poor people pay so much in taxes to subsidize USA basketball, hockey and NFL football. Absurd.