Sitemap - 2023 - Words For the Wise

Hillary Clinton is back, in force. That’s not a good thing.

Okay, boomer!

A letter to readers...

An Israel-Gaza reading list

Poetry corner: Cancel my subscription!

It's not just the crime, it's the coverup. Tell the whole truth about #MeToo abusers or say nothing at all.

Living in Gaza is a nightmare. Now it's Israel's nightmare, too.

Another #MeToo victory, this time in Brazil. Paleontologists and other scientists and students are celebrating.

Once more around on the "presumption of innocence." The concept is much abused.

Don’t bet money on the market spillover hypothesis for Covid-19 origins. Bayesian analysis concludes the odds are heavy you will lose. [Updated]

Rules for the wise.

Is Russell Brand "innocent until proven guilty"? In a court of law, yes; in the court of public opinion, probably not. Sometimes that's how justice must be done.

Sinéad O'Connor, we hardly knew ye

Is the wet market hypothesis for Covid origins a house of cards? A new report prepared for WHO finds the data it relies on is biased and incomplete.

Stand by!

The defamation case by serial sexual harasser Luis Jaime Castillo Butters against Peruvian anthropologist Marcela Poirier is dismissed

Sexual harassment in wildlife ecology: The case of Max Allen, University of Illinois

More bad journalism from the New York Times. It's Covid origins, again (an exegesis)

Please help make "Words for the Wise" even wiser and maybe even a bit wordier.

Lost at sea... our human values?

Yes, Anthony Fauci and other major research officials tried to suppress the lab origin hypothesis for Covid origins; and yes, a conflicted group of scientists tried to help them [Updated July 19]

Biden approves cluster bombs for Ukraine: A moral failure on multiple counts.

Drag Queen Story Hour Comes to Small Town America [Updated June 27]

Chasing the raccoon dog's tail, once again

Requiem for BuzzFeed News: A pioneer in #MeToo reporting that gave voice to survivors of abuse

The pandemic isn't over, the next one is waiting in the wings, and other bad news.

Spirit of Place: In the Land of the Lotus Eaters [Updated May 10, 2023 with news of another terrorist attack on the island's synagogue]

Raccoon dogs exonerated

The New York Times plays catchup on Covid-19 origins, but still has a long way to go.

Are "conspiracy theories" always wrong?

A Phantom at the Paris Opera

Of toxic labs and (maybe) leaky labs

Anatomy of a toxic lab: Global Biodiversity, Ecology & Conservation at Yale University [With critical update Apr 5, 2023 about Yale's long prior knowledge of the abuses]

Dispirited Place: Donald J. Trump State Park

It's déjà vu all over again on Covid origins. This time, the much-maligned raccoon dog takes the rap. Was it framed?

Spirit of Place: Houston, its rodeo, its cuisine.

Book Review -- The patriarchy: who wants it, who needs it?

Lab origins hypothesis has its day in the sun

Putin is engaging in nuclear blackmail over Ukraine. Do we secretly appreciate it?

Is it lying if you say you know something you don't really know (and then admit minutes later that you really don't know)?

A biosecurity advisory board has recommended the NIH adopt much stricter regulations on potentially risky pathogen research. It's way overdue.

Coming soon: "Anthony Fauci is a devil to the right and an angel to the left. In reality, he is neither, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions."

Will a new president sort out the American Museum of Natural History's chronic #MeToo issues and make it a fair place to work?