I am a finance person by trade. I am a mediocre student of science and engineering at best and never progressed very far in my disciplines (relative to those in my circles), but I am curious about many things, and I love internet debates. Internet debates aren’t science, I don’t represent that anything I write on blogs is worth the reader’s time, but I write them anyway because blogs are an extension of my thought process as I try to understand the world around me. These blogs and discussions are a public diary of my quest to understand the world around me. Many engineers near where I live are hired to construct satellites and space probes, and in order to Read More ›

The late Carl Sagan is credited with popularizing the phrase “extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence”. (hereinafter this will be referred to as the “EC-EE” claim) While the phrase has become the skeptic’s mantra, its original roots probably trace back to the French mathematician and astronomer Pierre –Simon LaPlace (1749-1827) who once wrote: “the weight of evidence for an extraordinary claim must be proportioned to its strangeness”. Regardless of its origins, the sentiment expressed in the quote has, over the last few years, become one of the bedrock critiques against ID. The notion seems to be along the lines that ID’s core claim is that only an unembodied supernatural intelligence can account for the specified complexity exhibited in biological systems, and Read More ›

UPDATE: Sometimes, it is needful to drive home a point, even when it is on an unpleasant matter and deals with uncivil conduct. For, unchecked incivility, willful disregard for the truth and fairness, and associated enabling behaviour are patently destructive. [For those who need help here, methinks the ghost of Pilate has somewhat to say to you, here.] In this case, slander by unjustified invidious comparison and enabling thereof on the pretence that nothing wrong has been done. A cross check at TSZ this evening has revealed a doubling down by the owner there, in response to my further corrective that the owner of that blog is denying patent reality, when she earlier posted a bland denial of unpleasant reality Read More ›

A new curriculum (textbook and workbook), the first of its kind, has just been published by Discovery Institute Press, co-authored by Gary Kemper, Hallie Kemper, and Casey Luskin. Check out the book’s official website here, as well as Discovery Institute’s announcement of the curriculum at Evolution News & Views, and this interview featuring Casey Luskin.