War on Abstractions 24 Aug 2007 As part of the “War on Drugs” an entire family of hydroponics sellers, selling legally available material, were sentenced to prison without parole. Gary Tucker has just been released after a ten year stretch and confiscation of all his goods and money. His brother Steve died of cancer in prison. Why? He refused to allow the DEA to install surveillance cameras in his store to identify his customers. “This isn’t Nazi Germany” he said. One wonders… read the rest. It’s harrowing. Hat tip to the Lippard Blog Politics
Ecology and Biodiversity Update on the Brazilian primate researcher case 8 Aug 200718 Sep 2017 Nature [subscription required] is reporting that Brazilian ecologists are threatening a strike if Marc van Roosmalen is not released. You’ll recall that I posted on his case before. Van Roosmalen is a maverick primate researcher who has effectively been imprisoned for 16 years for political reasons. Brazilian researchers are justifiably… Read More
Evolution Nationalism and evolution 3 Dec 2007 Way back in the 1910s, when human evolution was poorly known, some trickster, probably Charles Dawson, its discoverer, set up a hoax: Piltdown man. This was enthusiastically accepted by many British experts because it made Britain, and in particular, England, a leading locale in human evolution. This was the era… Read More
Politics Science and religion for individuals and organisations 25 Apr 2009 Suppose you have a religion and are interested in science. Do you a. Have to give up your religion b. Have to abandon your effort to find out about the natural world through science c. Try to find some accommodation? Now suppose you are a member of a scientific body,… Read More
In my area, I’m seeing more and more police crackdowns on just about everything, from DUI, to drugs, to parking tickets. The politicians “war on crime” slogan sells well here, and they’re getting better at finding things to convict you of.