Scott Greenfield, font of so much that I can riff off of, has a complaint about gang experts who try to paint every action by the defendant as related to his membership in a gang: If a defendant has a tattoo, the expert will testify that tattoos are "brands" typically worn by gang members. If the tattoo happens to say "Tiffany", then the testimony is changed ever so … [Read more...] about Mathematics In Gangland
Science
Pluto and the Final Stage of Grief
I'll tell you, I didn't have much Love for the Pluto haters. But I've come to accept the truth of it. Pluto crosses the orbit of Neptune, it's tilted out of the ecliptic, there's other crap all around it, and it's small---almost as small as its moon, which doesn't even orbit a point inside Pluto. It's a rock. Just like all the other outer-system dwarf planets: Haumea, Makemake, … [Read more...] about Pluto and the Final Stage of Grief
Stupidity and Darwin and Liberals and Molotov Mitchell
In another post, I mentioned that I was worried that I might write something that was so bad it wasn't even wrong. I borrowed that phrase from Steven Pinker (who borrowed it from someone else), and since saying that, I've been concerned that people might not understand what I mean. I'm talking about a level of level of misunderstanding so profound that it's difficult to … [Read more...] about Stupidity and Darwin and Liberals and Molotov Mitchell
Mystery In Space
I think I've read about a dozen science fiction stories that start this way. It's usually not a good sign. In a paper to appear in the Astrophysical Journal, astronomers working on the Supernova Cosmology Project report finding a new kind of something that they cannot make any sense of. ... On February 21, 2006, in the direction of a far-away cluster in Bootes...Hubble began … [Read more...] about Mystery In Space
Something Fishy About DNA Fingerprinting ?
There's been some excitement among criminal defense bloggers such as Mr. Greenfield, Mr. Katz, and the Dude over a fascinating Los Angeles Times article about some strange search results in some of the major DNA databases. State crime lab analyst Kathryn Troyer was running tests on Arizona's DNA database when she stumbled across two felons with remarkably similar genetic … [Read more...] about Something Fishy About DNA Fingerprinting ?