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The time has come for my annual short Thanksgiving/Christmas fund drive for Behind The Black. I must do this every year in order to make sure I have earned enough money to pay my bills.

 

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As I noted in July, the support of my readers through the years has given me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.

 

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Another psychologist has resigned amid questions over the validity of his research.

Another psychologist has resigned amid questions over the validity of his research.

This and other recent cases (here, here, here, here, here, here) are more evidence that the peer review process in some fields is badly broken, that the reviewers are too often not doing the reviewing they are supposed to, and in some cases might very well be participating in scientific fraud themselves.

Genesis cover

On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.

 

The print edition can be purchased at Amazon. from any other book seller, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.


The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
 

"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News

4 comments

  • I used to forbid my students from using Wikipedia as a source. However, recent scandals involving refereed journals of faked data and suppression of alternative viewpoints led me to conclude that Wikipedia may be just as trustworthy. Incidentally, if this “suspicious” research of the part of this social psychologist was supported by a federal grant, he may be subject to serious, legal consequences.

  • wodun

    It seems that being on a peer review board is a lot like being on the board of directors or a company.

  • Actually, peer review doesn’t work like that. A scientist submits a paper to a journal. The journal is supposed to remove his name from the paper and send it out to several comparable experts in the same field, who also remain anonymous. They review the paper and suggest changes or corrections. Since names are removed, the process is supposed to be more objective. If the reviewers reject the paper, giving their reasons, the scientist is expected to make the appropriate changes.

    In an ideal world, reviewers would only reject papers that have fundamental errors in fact.

    In truth, we have found that journal editors in some fields often collude with their reviewers to keep some papers from getting published, while in other fields the reviewers collude with the authors to get papers published without anyone checking the data.

  • wodun

    People on a board of directors are supposed to act as oversight for a company insureing the ceo and the rest of the company are making good decisions but all too often they are there merely for money or prestige and do little if any oversight. In other words they don’t always live up to their obligations which seems to be a lot like these peer reviewers :)

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