Monthly Archives: September 2008
How angry is the Brit god of science? – pretty angry, it seems …
| September 30, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Following up on the USA Today fantasy: “All is well in Britain between faith and science … scientists holler for Jesus in pulpits … ” In case anyone wonders how angry the angry god of British science is – against anyone who believes in the existence of another God – read on: In “Blinded by […]
USA Today fantasy: All is well in Britain between faith and science … scientists holler for Jesus in pulpits …
| September 30, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Here’s a textbook example of spin in the legacy media: We are told on the USA Today blog that in Britain all is well in “faith and science” due to “theistic evolution”: While impossible to quantify, a surprising number of prominent British researchers at the pinnacle of their fields, with worldwide reputations in the physical […]
Science and society: The assured results of modern forensic science …
| September 30, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
We’ve all seen the detective films where the forensic scientist is always a source of useful information about the crime, right? I’m a great fan of such films myself, Brit lit P.D. James being one of my favourite mystery stars. For psychological insight, she is rarely matched. However, in real life, if you are accused […]
Coffee break, courtesy of Poe’s Law …
| September 30, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Poe's Law |
When I read this, I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it’s their snowy whiteness or their bigness […]
Intellectual freedom as freedom from criticism or challenge …
| September 30, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
One question: When Brit cleric Michael Reiss, the sinner in the hands of an angry god, got the boot from his Royal Society job for accidental blasphemy against Darwin*, some expressed regret. I wonder how many of those same people would feel anything other than satisfaction at the fate of the Expelled scientists? Few probably, […]
Tree of Life Gets Stung by Jellyfish
| September 29, 2008 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
In yet another unexpected finding from the world of comparative genomics a gene that gives a jellyfish its sting is found all over the place. All sorts of explanations are flung at it. Horizontal gene transfer, vertical gene transfer, and convergent evolution were all run up the flagpole to see which garners more salutes. 🙄 […]
Public Interest in Global Warming Evaporates
| September 29, 2008 | Posted by Dave S. under Global Warming, Off Topic |
Source: Google Trends
New York Times Science Section on Boltzmann Brains
| September 29, 2008 | Posted by Dave S. under Poe's Law, Science |
This NYT article came out just this past January 18th. It’s worth reading the whole thing which is much longer than the choice quotes below the fold. I hadn’t been aware there was greatly increased support for the Boltzmann Brain due to the discovery of dark energy. Big Brain Theory: Have Cosmologists Lost Theirs? Snippage:
Evolution and Falsification
| September 29, 2008 | Posted by Clive Hayden under Intelligent Design |
The following essay was originally Antony Flew’s “Theology and Falsification” that Flew read before the Socratic Club in 1950 in Oxford. C.S. Lewis was the president of the Socratic Club at that time. I replaced all of the “theological” language with “evolutionary” language. It seems very relevant in modern discussions of evolution. By the way, Flew is now a theist, […]
Possibilities – theoretical and practical
| September 29, 2008 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
In a private forum I recently stated: “It is possible for Darwinian processes to generate life of any order of complexity.” In response I was asked: Where is the demonstration that “It’s possible for Darwinian processes to generate life of any order of complexity”? I composed the following in reply:
That was a review? “A protein called reflexin…”
| September 29, 2008 | Posted by Paul Nelson under Intelligent Design |
Science writer and biologist John Timmer recently published an online review of the textbook Explore Evolution, a review which has picked up some play around the web. To gain a sense of the review’s accuracy, consider this: Another PhD the authors found is Christian Schwabe, who apparently has established a career studying a protein called […]
Brand new finding in evolutionary psychology!: When the Selfish Gene is apparently on holiday, the Unselfish Gene kicks in …
| September 29, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Culture, Evolution, Off Topic |
Recently, commentator Dinesh D’Souza came up with an aid package for a most unlikely – though doubtless deserving – recipient. He considered it a scandal that George Obama, half-brother to the American Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama, lives in Third World poverty in a shack in Kenya:
Krauss looking for signs of intelligence?
| September 27, 2008 | Posted by idnet.com.au under Intelligent Design |
In a visit down under, Lawrence Krauss is busy convincing people that there is no evidence for design in the universe. Notice in this quote he says that if he were able to see organised matter conveying symbolic meaning, then this would, for him, constitute evidence. “At a time when religion and science are going […]
ID is not science because…
| September 27, 2008 | Posted by Dave S. under Intelligent Design |
ID is ineligible for consideration as science because theories that allow for the possibility of forces outside of nature can’t be tested or falsified. In light of that let’s look at what Ernst Mayr had to say in the introduction that appears in “Origin of Species”, Harvard University Press edition, 1964, p. xii: In Darwin’s […]
Burning Down the House
| September 27, 2008 | Posted by Dave S. under Culture, Media, Off Topic |
The YouTube of the this video was shut down by Unversal and Warner music groups. You can still see it at Liveleak.com. Click here to see it. Make it viral. Link to email to everyone you know, post everywhere you go: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f67_1222761495
Forgot About Global Warming?
| September 25, 2008 | Posted by Dave S. under Global Warming, Off Topic |
Don’t blame ya. It’s easy to forget things that aren’t happening. Not much to report but here goes: Solar Activity Lowest in 100 Years. Sunspots still MIA. NAS reports 50 million year cooling trend.
Britain’s Royal Society is considering casting out God … so who is surprised?
| September 24, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
Zoë Corbyn reports (25 September 2008) that in the wake of he uproar over the firing of Michael Reiss: All references to “God” would be removed from the founding charter of the Royal Society under an idea mooted by some of its senior figures, Times Higher Education understands. The society has three charters, drafted between […]
In Obama’s Own Words
| September 24, 2008 | Posted by Barry Arrington under Intelligent Design |
From the responses to a Q&A sent out by Nature here. Do you believe that evolution by means of natural selection is a sufficient explanation for the variety and complexity of life on Earth? Should intelligent design, or some derivative thereof, be taught in science class in public schools? Obama: I believe in evolution, and I […]
Canadian Earth Scientists “extremely concerned” about creationism/ID
| September 23, 2008 | Posted by O'Leary under Intelligent Design |
I have been alerted by a reader to the fact that the Canadian Federation of Earth Sciences has recently (September 19, 2008) warned: Canadian media report growing public pressure to introduce Creationism and its equivalent Intelligent Design (ID) in school curricula, hinting that Creationism/ID is a ‘theory’, thus suggesting that it shares common ground with […]
Traditionalists More Rational Than Others
| September 23, 2008 | Posted by Barry Arrington under Intelligent Design |
With the media swooning over Dicky Dawkins’ fulminations against all things religious, who would have thought that the Dickster actually belongs to the less rational (statistically speaking) group: Check out the report at the WSJ. Here’s an excerpt: The reality is that the New Atheist campaign, by discouraging religion, won’t create a new group of […]
