How to talk about science

The Real Climate blog welcomes a new book which attempts to tell scientists how to sharpen up their presentational act on the subject of global warming and creationism. The lesssons sound simple enough:

What Randy has to say may be tough to hear, but its tough love. He provides some very important lessons on what works and what doesn’t, and they ring true to us in our own experience with public outreach. In short, says Randy: Tell a good story; Arouse expectations and then fulfill them; Don’t be so Cerebral; And, last but certainly not least: Don’t be so unlikeable (i.e. don’t play to the stereotype of the arrogant, dismissive academic or the nerdy absent-minded scientist).

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Notebook

"You don't mind, Henley," I said, crunching some pretzels and refusing the glass of Coke I hadn't asked for, "if I speak my mind."

The cat sat on an armchair, legs crossed, all laundry and hairdresser and dry-cleaner's, looking like a superior footman on his day off, but still horribly polite. “Not a bit,” he said. “That is, if Suzette doesn’t mind.”

“We may as well have it,” Suzette said, flopping on to some cushions and opening up a 2,000-page Yank mag.

“In the first place,” I said, beginning with the least obvious weapon, “Suzette is working-class, like me.”

“And me,” said Henley.

“Eh?”

“My father, who’s still living, was a butler,” the cat said.

“A butler,” I told him, is not working-class. No disrespect to your old Dad, but he’s a flunkey.”

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Marc Galasco, the collector

Well, is he a victim, or isn't he? This post, on the Index on Censorship blog, argues that the Human Rights Watch activist and self-styled "miltary nerd" is the victim of a political plot.  The allegations that he's a Nazi sympathizer certainly look implausible - Garlasco defends himself here -  but HRW can't feel comfortable employing someone who drools over the sight of an SS uniform:

His hobby, inspired he said by a German grandfather conscripted into Hitler’s army, was revealed on a pro-Israel blog,  Mere Rhetoric, which quoted his enthusiastic postings on collector sites under the pseudonym “Flak88” — including, “That is so cool! The leather SS jacket makes my blood go cold it is so COOL!”

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All about Dan Brown

TLS used to stand for The Times Literary Supplement, but it now means "The Lost Symbol". D.J. Taylor thinks the salesmen running the publishing industry are shooting themselves in the foot yet again. Mark Lawson hails the new blockbuster as a rollicking piece of tosh and a masterclass in Bad Writing, although the LA Times feels rather more indulgent ("But no one reads Brown for style, right?")  Englishman in New York - who's working on a book about the book - helps with the clue-cracking.

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Consumer blues

Or how the recession is biting in even the more affluent parts of Britain. Miles, Trane, Cannonball & Co supply the soundtrack.

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