Off Topic

Any of you that might be wondering what happened to John may get a glimpse of it at his new blog New Prescribed Evolution.

Climate of Fear Global-warming alarmists intimidate dissenting scientists into silence. BY RICHARD LINDZEN Wednesday, April 12, 2006 12:01 a.m. EDT There have been repeated claims that this past year’s hurricane activity was another sign of human-induced climate change. Everything from the heat wave in Paris to heavy snows in Buffalo has been blamed on people burning gasoline to fuel their cars, and coal and natural gas to heat, cool and electrify their homes. Yet how can a barely discernible, one-degree increase in the recorded global mean temperature since the late 19th century possibly gain public acceptance as the source of recent weather catastrophes? And how can it translate into unlikely claims about future catastrophes? The answer has much to do Read More ›

Our very own Bill Dembski has decided to resign his post at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville and has accepted the position of research professor of philosophy at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. On behalf of everyone at Uncommon Descent, I wish you the very best, Bill! To read more, go here. Welcome Back Home, Bill!

Was reading the new novel “Sunstorm” by Author C. Clarke and I noticed something “interesting”.

“Okay,” Toby said. “So a rogue planet fell into the sun. It’s an astonishing thing to happen, but not unprecedented. Remember Comet Shoemaker-Levy colliding with Jupiter in the 1990s? And–with respect–what does it have to do with Lieutenant Dutt and her theories about extraterrestrial intervention?”
Eugene snapped, “Are you such a fool that you can’t see it?”
Toby bit back, “Now look here–“
Siobhan grabbed his arm. “Just take us through it, Eugene. Step by step.”
Eugene visibly fought for patience. “Have you really no idea how unlikely this scenario is? Yes, there are rogue planets, formed independently of stars, or flung out of stellar systems. Yes, it may happen that such a planet could cross from one system to another. But it’s highly unlikely. The Galaxy is empty. To scale, the stars are like grains of sand, separated by kilometers. I estimate the change of a planet like this coming anywhere near our solar system as being one in a hundred thousand.
“And this Jovian didn’t just approach us–it didn’t just fall near the sun–it fell directly into the sun, on a trajectory that would take it directly toward the sun’s center of mass.” He laughed, disbelieving at their incomprehension. “The odds against such a thing are absurd. No naturalistic explanation is plausible.”
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http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8372603330420559198&q=spore If you ever felt the need to play the role of the Intelligent Designer here is the game for you! I think Spore could be more aptly titled “Intelligent Design: The Game”. After all, notice in the presentation that evolution is always via design by the player and not a mechanism like the modern synthesis. Of course, that game would take forever and would likely go nowhere. 😉 Now let’s just hope our own Intelligent Designer isn’t like Will Wright and decides to take his UFO and nuke our planet. 🙂

I started on a new hobby several months ago. I’m trying to grow Chinese Paddy Straw mushrooms (volvariella volvacea) in semi-sterile laboratory conditions. These mushrooms are delicious fresh in the button stage tasting like olive oil and cashews to me. For various reasons they are not available fresh in the United States and only a compatively tasteless canned mushroom is for sale here. Read More ›

Since we upgraded to WordPress 2.0 we’ve gotten a couple complaints about broken RSS feeds. Our admin says RSS was part of the upgrade but all the RSS readers he’s tried are working properly. If you have a reader not working properly could you post in the comments the reader you’re using? Thanks.

I created some new Pages with links in the right column of the blog. Under Comment Policy are Moderation which is the moderation policy statements made by Bill Dembski and continued by his appointed Blog Czar and Put a Sock In It which is a partial list of boring arguments that earn deletion and if repeated an invitation to leave Uncommon Descent. Please be aware of them.

Now I know why Wesley loses the plot on so very many things.
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Thanks to John Davison for tipping me off that they’re talking about me on the Panda’s Thumb “After The Bar Closes” forum.
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I’m a bit aghast that some people here and elsewhere are offended that I will moderate commenters based on their behavior outside the Uncommon Descent blog.

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