Geobloggers reveal their shameful secret

Posted on September 3, 2007 by Chris Rowan

The inaugural edition of the geoscience blog carnival The Accretionary Wedge over at Clastic Detritus reveals that It’s not just me – it seems.that we’re all refugees from other sciences. Of course, our late conversions seem to have only increased our enthusias, so this could be regarded as a good thing,
More personally annoying is the revelation that a significant proportion of us are called Chris. I encounter the two(or three, or four)-Chris problem so often that I’ve considered taking over the world just to force all the other Chris’s to change their name by deed poll.
Finally, for the more fossil minded, the latest Boneyard is also out.

Categories: geology, links

The Accidental Geologist

Posted on September 2, 2007 by Chris Rowan

It may surprise you to learn that I came late to the joys of Geology. Ten years ago, as I was preparing to start University, I had decided that life as a physicist was my scientific destiny, and I hadn’t given much thought to earth sciences since I dropped Geography at the age of 14; I had a fatal allergy to urban growth models and surveys of supermarket parking, which seemed to take up most of the syllabus.
However, my undergraduate degree was in Natural Sciences, which meant that it my first year, in addition to Physics and Maths, I had to take courses in two other experimental sciences, and in addition to Cell Biology, I opted to complete my set with Geology. I’d like to say that this was a decision made after long nights of serious deliberation, but I must confess that – not for the first or last time – what turned out to be one of the more important decisions in my life was pretty random and spur-of-the-moment. I thought that learning a bit more about earthquakes and volcanoes would be quite cool, and there was the additional attraction of field trips to satisfy my wanderlust.

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Categories: academic life

Brian has been a busy boy….

Posted on August 30, 2007 by Chris Rowan

Not content with kicking all of us geobloggers into shape for the first edition of The Accretionary Wedge, Brian has decided to rename and relocate his blog. …Or Something has now morphed into Clastic Detritus. Punning on geological terminology – wherever could he have got that idea?

Categories: links

Geology carnival coming soon

Posted on August 28, 2007 by Chris Rowan

PZ has been kind enough to send some more readers my way (even if it is to teach me the error of my ways). Since I mainly reposted to see what people thought now that I have more than two readers, your comments are appreciated, and I’ll try and respond when I’m next online and have had time to digest them. But while you’re here, I’ll give a brief plug for the geoblogosphere’s shiny new carnival, The Accretionary Wedge, which has just had it’s first call for submissions posted over at Brian’s. If you’re a geologically-minded blogger and you’re not already writing, you should get cracking.

Categories: bloggery, links

Phases of belief

Posted on August 28, 2007 by Chris Rowan

I don’t post much on the whole religion thing, but I thought (rather unwisely, perhaps – but I don’t see why Sheril should have all the fun) that the latest meany atheist appeaser agnostic blow-out (see here, here, here, here and, of course, here) was an opportunity to wheel out this analysis (slightly modified for relevance) from ye olde blog, which was inspired by the one before the one before the last one…
I’ve been puzzling over why what is a legitimate dispute between members of the pro-science camp, over emphasis and tone in the struggle against the forces of ignorance, always seems to break down into what could charitably be referred to as ‘arguing past each other’.
A common framing of different theological positions is to represent the continuum from theism through agnosticism to atheism as a change in the relative importance of empiricism and faith in a particular person’s worldview. An atheist places a high value on tangible evidence; a theist is more concerned with the greater truths that they feel exist outside of the world that we can subject to experimental verification (please note that this discussion is not addressing the existence (or not) of such truths…)

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Categories: antiscience, public science