Do you know what politicians and priests are? Middlemen. Do you know what really efficient organizations do? Get rid of middlemen or give them a chance to do real work. For us, that would mean reading our social contracts and holy books and figuring out their contents ourselves without the aid of some phony who offers to advocate on our behalf. That would be real revolution, with the minimum requirements of honesty and basic reading comprehension.

Please donate to my DonorsChoose campaign to raise funds for low-income science classrooms. Please help keep critical thinking and real revolution alive. A hearty Thank You to all who have given so far.

It’s still Earth Science Week, folks!

In my attempts to raise $money$ for science classrooms, I completely neglected to inform you that the public radio show Science Friday may go off the air for lack of funding.

We at SciFri are facing severe financial difficulties, i.e. raising money. NSF [National Science Foundation] has turned us down for continuing funding, saying they love what we do, we are sorely needed, but it’s not their job to fund us. At the same time, NPR has said the same thing, telling us that if we want to stay on the air, etc, we now have to raise all our own money. Despite what listeners may think, NPR only gives us about 10 percent of our funding.

If it isn’t the National Science Foundation’s job to fund a radio show that promotes science, then what is? The scientists of tomorrow will simply spring forth from the ether and flat earth with no nurturing along the way. Between this and hearing that the local, nationally-acclaimed high school now allegedly employs a biology teacher who believes in intelligent design, I can only hope that the FSM‘s noodly appendage strikes me unconscious.

Only you can prevent mass brain implosion. You know what to do here and here. Following is some food for along the way:

* Why Science Matters: A Scientist’s Apology. I agreed with some parts of this article and disagreed with others. What’s fascinating to me as a technologist is the language and discussion surrounding science as pure discovery versus invention/engineering and the ethical consequences of this distinction.

* Carbon sequestration could help to neutralize Hungary’s red bauxite sludge. Is there anything industrial waste cannot do?

* Xavier University of New Orleans celebrates the opening of the College of Pharmacy“s new Qatar Pavilion. “This provides a good antidote to a couple of pernicious myths. The first myth is that the USA doesn’t receive foreign aid. Yes, we do. I recall after Katrina even poor nations like Jamaica and Bangladesh were helping us out. The second myth is, of course, the idea that Islam is at war with Christianity. I’d just like to point out that Qatar is a Muslim country and our school is Catholic. ‘Nuff said.”

I love taking pictures of this painting. Talk about recursion. Heh.

Last night, someone tweeted, “Thanks to the two The View hosts walking off the set because of Bill O’Reilly’s comment, the Democrats just took two steps backward.” I winced at the stupidity buttered with more stupidity. Later, I snickered on hearing accounts of Sharron Angle’s and Christine O’Donnell’s comments at their respective debates. And then I stopped. We would rather watch our opponents, however legitimately ludicrous they are, take steps backward than move ourselves forward? Is this what being American and winning have come to? Where’s the value? This reminds me of the driver who impatiently and rashly passes your car only to be found waiting at the red light when you slowly pull up alongside. Congratulations, United States of Bucko! You’re the first to a steaming pile of shit!

Where is the generation of value in mid-recession, 21st-century America? Besides on the Buzzword Bingo, that is. I’d like to know.