I watched some of the Republican debate this morning. One question that really shook me was when Huckabee was asked about Rush Limbaugh's comment that his candidacy would destroy the party. I understand that 'Republicanism' has merely been a pretext for 'Rush Limbaugh philosophy' in the last twenty years, but this is a little extreme. Is it just me or is the idea that Rush Limbaugh owns the Republican party embarrassing? There is no equivalent on the Democratic side. No single person controls the party.
I've registered with the Family Research Council (FRC) so that I get their kooky mailouts. Just recently they sent along their "voters guide" which showed how the candidates lined up on their issues. And what do you know, "Human/Animal Hybrids" was on their list. For the record, none of the candidates were in favor of human/animal hybrids (HAH). Strange, I know.
I thought talk of HAHs was gone since Bush's first reference to it in one of his state of the unions. I'm so glad it's back. It's one of those great shake your head in disbelief things that comes out of the extreme right wing.
What's been happening in the housing market, and the Feds reaction to it, is extremely trouble. A couple of months back the Fed said that it was reluctant to cut rates for fear or inflation. Now the Fed has cut rates twice by 1.25%, a staggering history setting cut, to try and stimulate the economy. All this to avoid what will surely be a complete collapse in the economy from home buyers who are way overextended getting pounded on mortages that they never should have signed.
My guess is that someone in the administration (but outside Bush's bubble) figured out that the economy was going to crash in weeks and not in the two years that they had been planning on. Two years would have had it crashing before the mid-terms of the Democratic President, which I'm sure they thought was perfect. But the housing market is rapidly collapsing as many home buyers can't pay their mortgages, period. So this short term stimulus and rate cut is primarily about giving the economy enough juice to limp over the 11 month deadline before it dies. Assuring Bush's place in Republican lore as a "President who was great for the economy", riiight.
I'm honestly at a loss as to how to legitimately get us out of the pump and dump mortgage mess we are in. Clearly we need more regulation and oversight on the mortgage industry, but that will help avoid the next crisis (unless a Republican is in office and de-funds the oversight.) The heart of the problem is that houses out in the deep suburbs in feeder communities for minor metro areas are just not worth that much money. Regardless of how big it is, a house that's a two hour commute from downtown Gainesville is not worth $300K. No amount of quick fix money or loan bailouts is going to fix that. And this is a story repeated in almost every community in the United States.
I used to shake my head as I would drive past these endless series of McMansions out in the boonies and wonder to myself; "I can't afford these. Who can afford these? And how can they live all the way out here?" The answer was, they couldn't, and they can't, and those chickens have come home to roost.
I'm really enjoying/scared by listening to the wacko conservative pundits go off on McCain. Hannity was 'unhinged', even (gasp) emotional. And Mark Levin was rambling on and on about how McCain was a traitor to conservatives because he had worked with Democrats in the past (oh, the horror). This is what's so wrong with our politics. These jackasses on the radio preach that it's their way or the highway. And their drooling fanboys pressure their representatives to continuously work to obstruct anything the hated Democrats want to pass. Republicans filibustered in the Congress three times more in the last session than in any previous session.
How do we end this crap? It's out of control. These radio guys won't be content until they either rule again or flush the country down the drain. They need to be reigned in. Fox News, Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, Levin, all them need to cool it. Their toxic rhetoric is literally destroying the country.
I've been mulling over the idea of getting a PS3 for a while. It has a browser in it, and that means I can write articles about developing for it, which means that I can write it off. But even so, I'm not jumping up and down to get it because there just aren't that many games I want to or can play. The count of hours that I have to play an adult game, like a shooter, where Megan is not around is very few. And even so, I'm not really into shooters right now since they are just so dull.
The sports games are good, but I don't really have any friends who are heavy into those at the moment. The Wii sports games play much more like games. Where the PS3 sports games are hyper-realistic. So you have to be a sports fan to really enjoy them. The only two sports games I think I could get some use out of would be golf and tennis. Golf for me, and Tennis for Mel and Lori. And I might be able to get Mel into the NHL game.
So there are only four titles I can think of that I would buy for it; Ratchet and Clank, Lemmings, Tiger Woods 08, Virtua Tennis. And looking at the preview of upcoming titles it's just more of the same. More shooters, more photo realistic sports games, etc. etc.
Blu-Ray playback is cool. But frankly I have HD DVD at the moment and I'm no huge rush to also support the Blu-Ray discs. Clearly Blu-Ray will win the format war, but that's likely to be a more gradual win.
Anywho, still teetering on the edge with the PS3. Anyone care to tip me one way or the other?
Recently Intelligent Design (ID) has been billing itself as a bold new form of science. That actually works for me and I wanted to know if they were really on to anything. So I went out and bought the reference work on ID, a textbook titled; "The Design of Life: Discovering Signs of Intelligence in Biological Systems".
Unfortunately, there was no exciting new form of science to be had. Seven of the eight chapters were spent pounding on macro-evolution, micro-evolution and science in general. The second two surprised me as ID's current stated position is that science is valuable, and that micro-evolution works. In fact, you really have to understand evolution to understand this textbook. Which is odd, since my understanding was that this book was meant to replace standard biology books.
I'm saddened by this book, actually, it's very lazy. I wanted a book that introduced biology from the ID perspective. This book didn't do that. I wanted a book that explained what ID was, even in vague terms. This book didn't do that.
Each chapter went something like this; vaguely introduce a field of scientific study, use it as a platform to blast evolution and demonize evolutionists, then say in general terms that ID solves all of these issues (i.e. God did it) but don't explain how. In fact the mechanism of ID is almost never discussed. It's saved for 'future research'.
One of the most basic questions I had about ID was; how do you decide what was designed and what was evolved. For example, by what standards do they claim that the bacterial flagellum was designed?
This designed/evolved formula is important because it's key to the 'watchmaker problem'. You've heard it before; you see a watch, it's complex so you know it's designed, so there must be a designer. The problem is that it's subjective. Sure, we almost all would agree a watch is designed, but how about geometric rock patterns, or the patterns in ice crystals? Are those designed? Some would say yes, others no. So you need a formula to say definitively.
The answer ID lies in 'specified complexity', but... "The full technical details for formulating specified complexity are complicated and best referred elsewhere." Seriously, 260 pages and they can't even be bothered to tell me the formulae they use to determine whether something is designed or evolved.
In fact, what's eluded to is that the designed/evolved formula takes into account (and I'm shaking my head as I write this) the complexity of the English paragraph used to describe to system. If it only takes a few words to describe it probably isn't designed (pgs. 168-170). The ID term for this is 'descriptive complexity'.
Sadly, I would consider this the Ann Coulter version of a science book; thick with attacks that are light on references, deeply ingrained in logical fallacies, heavy on the hyperbole and self aggrandizing to the extreme. And when trying to make the positive argument very light on specifics. One I found particularly funny was that actual geologic ages were only used once, instead preferring the age names (e.g. pre-Cambrian, Cambrian, etc.). That leaves open the possibility that the Earth could be only 6,000 years old.
I'll start to take ID seriously when they drop the logical fallacy; "If Darwin is wrong then ID is right". If Darmin is wrong then Darwin is wrong, period. Darwin being wrong does not prove there is a God.
Next up on my plate is Behe's latest book attacking evolution. I promised him I would buy it and read it and though I'm sure he couldn't care less I am a man of my word.
If you are a fan of funny liberal commentary be sure to have a listen to Stephanie Miller, streaming on Green 960. I listen to her all the time in the mornings. Recently she was cut back to just one hour in the morning. Apparently an outpouring of emails will have her back on for the full three hours. I just wanted to show my support.
Tiger is leading by four at -12 and it's only Friday. I'm not sure which course he is playing tomorrow (north or south) but he is eating this course alive. Yesterday he had one bogey, today he had none. Wow. Is there anything that can stop him other than himself at this point? No. Seriously though, can someone at least try to give him a run for his money tomorrow? Cink? Appleby? Bueler? Bueler?
Congrats to Tiger for an amazing performance right out of the gate. Sunday will be absolutely beautiful. But the only mystery at this point is who is going to accompany Tiger on Sunday. What's amazing is that the other golfers should be pointing at other people when it comes to playing with Tiger. Everyone who is paired with Tiger on the final day seems to drop three or four positions.
I had a listen to an interview with Michael Behe on Christian radio earlier this week. I was concerned that he was deliberately misrepresenting the position of evolutionary biologists to his advantage by exaggerating their expectation of what changes they should see in HIV cells. He said that evolutionists would expect that a bacterium would turn into a cat in a couple hundred years or so.
I figured I would go to the source so I emailed Dr. Behe and we have had a pleasant conversation about what he said and exactly what his position really is. I still don't agree with him since I don't think there is any stimulus on HIV to turn into a cat since a cat would not be as effective as HIV at replicating itself.
Long story short, I give Dr. Behe all the credit in the world for handling my questions with grace. I'm not persuaded, but I am impressed by his reasonable style.
I wish I could have a similar conversation with other ID believers who seem to look at any discussion of the topic an offense to their personal faith and religion (which reinforces the fact that ID is creationism).
Or people making light of Scientology that is. Here is a fun spoof on the infamous Tom Cruise video from Lori, and another from Jacqueline.
I'm totally being suppressive... and glib.
The market expects way too much of Apple. Apparently Steve Jobs has lost $219M in stock value after he only released the world thinnest subnotebook at MacWorld. Seriously now, you can't release an invention like the iPhone every year.
In fact, it's amazing that a company as big as Apple released a product as innovative as the iPhone. Pick your favorite innovation; DVR, Dyson, etc. etc. It's almost always small companies that lead the way. Big companies are risk averse. When was the last time that Microsoft released something really novel? IBM? Every dog has his day and yes these companies innovate now and again, but it's not all the time.
Apple innovates more than any big company I know. Their stock should still be soaring. The markets need to get some damn perspective and stop trying to kill the goose that laid the golden egg.
If you still aren't of the mind that we have been suffering under the worst administration ever then this chart should push you over the edge.
That being said, the formatting on the chart is awful. Black on blue text? What were they thinking? And that yellow background... sheesh. And that font! What the hell was this done on, a Linux box with The GIMP?
I've now spent enough time with Tiger Woods 08 on the Nintendo DS to have a few pointers for you.
Hope that helps anyone out there playing Tiger on the DS. It's a fun little game. I wish it had a few more courses though.
I had a fantastic half-waking half-dreaming dream last night where I ended up finishing it by literally shouting (in the real world) and waking up Lori and the dogs much to their dismay. Lori asked me what the dream was about, but it was so complex that I couldn't answer.
It was a sci-fi dream in the vein of soylent green or body snatchers. It's roughly based on this plant called the Titan Arum which is enormous and blooms this pod that emits an odor of death. Carrion eaters are then attracted to it and find themselves stuck and consumed by the plant.
In the case of my dream the base of the plant is represented by an evil starship that lands in a wooded canyon on Earth. It then spends a little time figuring out what's up with us before figuring out a way to get the most pain and death out of some human subjects, because it lives on that stuff. Then it extrudes, I kid you not, an office building shaped roughly like a baguette but kind of folded over a hill so that you can't really see that the base of the thing is the alien starship.
The office building is beautiful, all steel and glass, aeron chairs, the whole nine. It's initially populated by this evil minions who travel with the plant like parasites and who aid in it's evil mission. They can form themselves to look like the natives (handy).
Anyway, in this case the plant has decided to emulate a software company (sue me, it's my dream) that is building some VR game. So in the middle of the building is a corridor of VR suites where the user nestles into a mesh of nodes or something to connect into the world. Upside, the VR world is cool, downside, the nodes really hurt (thus the pain thing). And the user eventually gets drained of their life force and consumed by the aliens.
In my waking-dream I thought that was a pretty clever premise, as insane and implausible as it is. But then I started into a real dream, which brought in a plot where someone was stuck in the building and about to be consumed. I needed to save them and it involved an apple of some variety. I couldn't find one and that led me to yell, which woke Lori and the dogs, and there you have it.
There was a lot more to it, but that would make for a longer post and I know people hate reading so I won't do that to you.
Someone posted a thirty minute introduction to Scientology on Google Video. I'm scared to post to it since Scientology is so litigious and I really don't care that much about it. If you want the link just email me personally. Anywho, it's not particularly interesting, though it is oddly robotic. The people are either drugged up or have first-take-itis.
One segment that really stuck out was a meeting with the 'Orgs' (churches) 'Director of Processing'. Which is to say; the dude that gives you audits with the e-meter. Anyway, right from the get-go this guy just tears into psychology. I mean, he is off the hook about how psychology and drugs are just messing people up left and right. And how psychologists are deranged and evil, and should be given to other psychologists and then 'they would be finished'. If I was some random dude off the street who just came in to see what this was all about, I'd be like, "where is that door again?"
Serious PR problem there. If you asked people what was the number one problem in the world, my guess is that Psychology would be pretty damn low on that list. You have to kind of warm people up to hating psychologists. You know, put in some video of psychologists making coats out of puppy fur between sessions.
Oh, yeah, there was this thing about government mind control drugs at the beginning of the video. But, that's just the usual "I line the shopping cart that holds my belongings with tin foil" type of kookiness. The psychology stuff was what really struck me as batshit crazy.
Here are some fascinating statistics for the Rambo series, including the new one coming out this weekend.
Intelligent Design front-man Micheal Behe had an interview on Christian radio last week. One wonder's why an 'Intelligent Design' proponent would want to be on a Christian radio show, since it's a purely scientific idea. Riiight.
Around the end of the interview he says that Darwinists believe that bacteria turned into cats in just a couple hundred years. Care to site any examples on that Dr. Behe?
I just keep thinking back to the Dover ruling. Behe has never published any peer reviewed papers on his 'scientific' ID. Nor has anyone else. Behe says that some of his ideas are justified only by science fiction films. Behe has not tested ID in the lab. He has no data or proof for any of it. He also states on cross examination that the definition of 'science' would have to be changed in order to allow for ID such that Astrology would be a science.
Oh, and his critique of the Nova episode was beautiful; 'they got my words right'. Ok, and? What? Your words made you look like a fool.
Update: I emailed Behe for a clarification on his bacterium claim. We'll see if he responds.
Updated (11:52): Dr. Behe replied and said that it was an exaggeration. I asked him to provide a new version that was not an exaggeration.
I figured that once in my life it would be good to actually see something I actually joke about. In this case it would be to attend one of the events I hear about on the radio with the guy screaming; "Supercar nitro, funny car action!"
Actually, I only joke about the guy saying the line since it's so extreme. I watch drag racing on ESPN when it's on. It's amazing to see people tune their cars to the exact red-line. Only to watch the car literally explode. After which they are interviewed and inevitably give this 'who knew that would happen?' look.
Anyway, so I go online and find that, yes indeed, there is top fuel action to be had at the Infineon raceway. Oh, great. When? Right near my birthday. Ok, cool. How much are tickets. (Sound of jaw dropping to the floor.) $135? Are you out of your m&(^(^&ing mind?
The best part? They are sold fu(*&^&(&^ing out! Five months ahead of time!
I was thinking some more about ID this morning. I had a conversation a while back with someone who believes in ID and what I got was 'it's a matter of faith and personal belief' and that it was a 'sensitive topic' that they would 'rather not talk about'. Fair enough. But how do you teach 'sensitive topics' that people would 'rather not talk about'? The answer is you give a sermon.
I reckon there are two different forms of teaching; lectures and collaborative teaching. A sermon (or lecture) is where a trusted person gets up in front of the group and espouses on a particular topic and you, as the listener, have three choices; agree, silently disagree, or leave. Collaborative learning is often the same but adds a fourth option; disagree and debate.
I didn't know when I was a kid that debating wasn't an option at church, which is what got me in trouble there. And yes, I know that some churches are now more modern in their approach and allow debate. I think it's just a question of gradients. There is always a difference between a minor issue posed by a believer and fundamental flaws exposed by a non-believer.
All of this got me thinking about why someone would attend a sermon. I think the answer is that they want to 'opt-out' of thinking about the topic. They want to be told the answers. Thinking, real analytical thinking, is tough. So it's best that we spend it wisely. On any given topic we can either opt-in to doing the hard thinking work, or opt-out and let a trusted advisor do the thinking for us. Clearly opt-out has it's limits. Regardless of who it is we will likely not jump off a cliff on their advice, no matter how good it sounds.
No matter who you are there are areas where you opt-in to thinking, and those where you opt-out. Diet, for example, is one where a lot of people opt-out and let someone else tell them what to eat. Recipes are basically an opt-out on cooking. Coaching a sport is opt-in, playing the sport is generally opt-out.
Religion, and faith, are opt-out of life choices (e.g. what to believe about abortion, opinions on the origin of life, the meaning of life, what happens after death, etc. etc.) It makes sense to opt-out on these issues since they have little daily impact in comparison with work, paying bills, and raising kids, which is full of hard choices.
I'm not quite sure how to conclude this post. I suppose I could say that school should be about learning, which is actively opt-in, so if there is a course where kids can't debate, can't ask questions, even bad ones, then I think that topic should be left until Sunday.
Here are my opt-ins and outs:
| Mainly Opt-in | Mainly Opt-out |
Relationship/Romance Life choices Diet Exercise Parenting style Friends Pets Kids movies Pizza toppings |
Movie choices Dinner/lunch choices Car buying Career Travel Medical stuff Video games Reading material Music Home decor Recipes Commuting Poker strategy Coffee Dancing Camera choices |
|---|
It's funny, now that I think about it, there is far more that I choose not to think about then there is that I choose to think about.
Fred Thompson drops out. Did he ever really try? What a joke. Wasn't he supposed to be the great white hope of the party?
Best flop of the 2008 campaign, so far.
I expect a Packers/Pats super bowl, so that's who I'm picking for the weekend.
Obama's desk is dirty! Oh no! It's the end of the world as we know it!
Give me a break. The Clinton campaign is overreaching on this dirty desk comment by a mile. I love Obama's retort: "If I had gone last I would have known what the game was. And then I could have said, 'Well, ya know, I like to help old ladies across the street. Sometimes they don't want to be helped. It's terrible.'" Exactly. And what I like most about his retort is how completely human it is. It's as if we had one of those silly 'say something about yourself' games at work and the first person says something serious, only to have the last person say something funny and make the first person look like an ass.
Clearly Obama is smart enough of a guy to know the pat answer to 'What is the worst thing about yourself?' But I think he was having some fun and showing his human side when he gave the answer he did, and that's refreshing to me. I'd like a little honesty in my politicians for once. What I wouldn't pay for a candidate to walk up to a crowd and say; "You know what, you are the fifth crowd I've talked to today and I'm really tired. You would be too. Now I can give the same old speech you've heard me give a thousand times before, or we can just talk like regular people. Whaddy'a say?"
I tire of the Clinton campaign. These recent hijinks with the union stuff in Nevada is just more of the same down and dirty politics that we have seen for years. Can't we just debate the damn issues and let people vote their minds in peace?
One of my favorite movies is "Primary Colors". In it John Travolta, who is clearly playing Clinton, goes up in front of a bunch of steelworkers and tells them that their skills are completely irrelevant and they won't have jobs in a couple of years unless they retrain. Then he talks about how he knows how tough it is to work a full day, then take care of the kids, and that it's all you can do to just 'gork out in front of the tube'. I love that kind of honesty. I'm sorry to see that the Clinton camp we have now isn't like the Clinton's of old.
Speaking of which, Dennis Kucinich, I love you baby, but drop out of the freaking race already. You aren't going to win. And suing everything that moves just makes you look like an ass. Either get to freaking campaigning, or hit the bricks. This whining about your circumstances is nauseating. Your short, you've got big ears, your voice is nasally, and you constantly bitch about shit. That's enough to rule you out in 2008. You were on the ballot in Michigan where it didn't freaking matter and you still only got 3%. Go home. And tell your rabid fans to knock off the extremist shit. It makes us look bad.
I was clicking around last night before going to bed and I ended up finding the entire text of the decision in the ID vs. Evolution court case in Dover. Almost the entire read is fascinating, but the part I found particular engrossing was on the decision about whether ID is science.
The interesting subtext in the decision is that ID is just lazy. The plaintiffs, representing evolution, took the stand first and demonstrated the culmination of thousands of man years of scientific experimentation, testing, peer review, publication and so on. Then a few defendants, representing ID, appeared and presented their stuff, which really hadn't changed in years. For example, the judge points out that Behe, the primary ID defender, acknowledged a large logical flaw in one of his articles but hadn't fixed it in the four years following it's publication.
From the ruling:
... On cross-examination, Professor Behe admitted that: “There are no peer reviewed articles by anyone advocating for intelligent design supported by pertinent experiments or calculations which provide detailed rigorous accounts of how intelligent design of any biological system occurred.” ...
Oh my. In other words, they have done nothing.
If you read the whole ruling you will learn about this 'wedge' strategy for implementing ID. It's in three phases; build the scientific basis for ID, publicize it, and take it to court to get it in the schools. What's evident is that the first phase, building the science, is all but dead. Their is a book, Pandas, which provides an explanation for life; God did it. And that's it. In fact, the only thing that actually changes with ID is it's definition. And that changes only because court cases keep blocking parts of it, so like water it just changes path to try and find another way around legal barriers.
But why is that the science work on ID isn't being done? You'd think that proponents of ID would be doing research like mad to justify their claims. The problem is that you can't. The moment that you say "then a miracle happens" in your journal article it really can't be reviewed. How can you peer review "God did it". He either did or didn't I guess. But at the end of the day, once you bring an all-powerful super deity into the equation the other variables become kind of irrelevant.
Imagine this is your math homework: "Where a = sqrt( [God] ), solve for [God]". I'm not sure, maybe the correct answer is just '[God]' because I don't think you can square God. In fact, the whole thing is degrading to people's faith since God is beyond any understanding, and certainly not just a factor in some process.
Anyway, long story short. ID isn't going anywhere. The watchmaker argument used in Pandas is the same pro-God argument that's been used since the days of Plato. You can't research it because you already have the answer to every question, God did it.
I got some responses back from school board members about my emails. A few informed me that they do, in fact, teach Chinese, which impresses me. But overall the tone was; "All we are asking for is to say that evolution is not a fact. We shouldn't get sued for that." I beg to differ. On it's face what they are saying is true, evolution is not a fact. No scientific theory is a fact. The theory of gravity is not a fact. But I think we would all agree that testing the theory of gravity on ourselves would end badly. So on it's face, it's not only true, but redundant.
Which brings me to the intent. Why, if it's redundant, is it important to tell kids that evolution is not a fact? And that's where the legal problems start for these counties. Just like in Dover the courts can assess the intent behind the notification. And if the intent is, as it is in this case, to undermine the teaching of evolution in favor of a religiously based alternative, then they have a problem.
One of the things that ticks me off is that people who 'believe in ID' (whatever that means) still use pharmaceuticals developed in the last twenty five years. All of which were developed either using animal testing, which only works because we know we share large parts of our genome with other species, or genomic research. Like the Amish, people who don't believe in evolution should refrain from using medicines derived from that research. I'm not trying to be snide, I'm just trying to illustrate just how important and vital the role that evolution plays in science is.
Another example is Einstein's general theory of relativity. It will tell you that the age of this planet and the universe. It will also help you stay up in the sky when your in a plane. So if you believe that the Earth is 6,000 years old, which Einstein's theory directly contradicts, you shouldn't be flying in planes because they will most certainly crash.
That being said, I don't expect anyone to stop taking drugs or flying in planes. But unfortunately I do expect that people will keep spitting on the science that keeps this world running.
Here is what I have been sending around to the school boards in Florida.
Subject: Teach them real science or Chinese, your choiceIt appears that you are contemplating corrupting science education in your school by teaching 'Intelligent Design'. If that's the case you might as well teach kids Chinese at the same time. If we hamstring science education the only growth industry we will have in twenty years will be phone banks for Chinese companies. The same way India provides tech support outsourcing to us today.
In case you missed it, we don't manufacture anything anymore. We are an innovation based economy that depends on scientific leadership. Stop trying to hamstring the innovation economy. You need our innovation to pay for your retirement.
I think this gets right to the point. It's not about faith or God or whatever. It's about the economy. Twenty years from now, do you want to be working in high paying jobs in biotech, or welcoming Walmart shoppers, your choice.
Creationists offer an either-or scenario; either you believe in God, or you believe in Science. That's a false choice. I've worked with scientists and I have known many to be deeply religious.
The real question is not whether you believe in God or not. It's what you want the economy to look like in twenty years. Do you want to be in a service economy? Waiting tables of European, Chinese, Indian and Saudi tourists who snicker at our country which was once the world leader and economic superpower? Or do you want to remain the number one economy in the world, leading by innovation and curing disease? That's the choice.
Biotech and pharmaceuticals are the number one growth sector in the economy and the driving force in the 21st century marketplace. Already Europe is ahead of us in stem cell therapy and genomic research. India and China are closing the gap fast. If we don't teach our kids real science and inspire them to become innovators then we are done for.
That's why I'm so passionate about this supposed debate between Intelligent Design and Evolution. We shouldn't be letting anything get in the way of a real science education for our kids. In fact, we should be trying to make science sexy. We should have awards shows with red carpets for scientists. We should have reality shows about scientific innovation. We can't afford to take two steps backwards. We need to be making running leaps forwards.
This is why you need to stand up for our kids and for science right now. You need to mail or call the school boards in Florida and tell them that they are messing with the economy of this country when they try to hamstring the science education of our kids. Go to this page, read up on what they are trying to do in Florida, and take a stand. It's about our country, it's about our kids, it's about our future.
(Hat tip to Lori for the information on the Florida ID stuff.)
Just when you thought Bush was completely out of your mind, he finds a new way to make himself look like even more of an idiot. This latest time he went off on Iran for trying to provoke us into a war by sending speed boats at our ships and taunting us over the radio. Of course, those of us with brains were using them to try and figure out what actually happened since the official story made exactly zero sense. Bush, of course, has no time for trivialities like thinking.
Turns out that it was likely a prankster who has over the years had a lot of fun taunting ships in the gulf. Here is a beautiful video on Fox News reporting about the incident. Fox News being the Republican tool it is flew off the handle and talked about blowing the boats up and what not the first day, only to recant later without any acknowledgement of their warmongering.
Proving once again that both Bush and Fox News have hit the trifecta; they are idiots, with no memory and no conscience.
Is there anyone left who doesn't believe that Bush is the worst president in history? It will take years to recover from this nation embarrassment.
Apple just released it first sub-notebook. It's ridiculously thin and light. There are no optical drives in it and all of the big connectors like ethernet are gone. I'm sure it's sexier in person but I find that the real machine doesn't look nearly as sexy as some of the mockups I've seen.
I'll probably never get one of these unless work gets me one. I use laptops to develop so they need more horsepower and that usually comes in larger sizes. Plus I'm pretty hard on the hardware so I tend to like machines that are larger and have bigger joints that can take more wear and tear. This new AIR machine is one of those beauties that you give to the sales people and to the CEO and CTO to do slideshows. It makes customers drool.
Once in a while Ben Stein comes up with something I actually agree with, but other times he's just completely off the rails. He's a kind of conservative in slightly liberal sheepy clothing. Or at least he was, until he created "Expelled." Expelled is his new documentary on Intelligent Design. Watch the trailer, it's an interesting take on pitching ID. Instead of trying to present facts he is saying the ID believers are unfairly persecuted (complete with Holocaust imagery no less). So we should put ID into the classroom because we feel sorry for them.
I wonder how the ID leadership feels about the movie. If you listen to the leadership all you hear is, "ID is not creationism" and "ID is not Christianity or even religion". Which is really for legal reasons since the Supreme Court has made it clear that creationism and religion have no place in the science classroom. The ID relabeling is bullshit, but it's an important facade for them to maintain.
With that in mind the have a look at the message board where people post their experiences with those horrible scientists trying to keep their beliefs down. It's all about creation and Christianity. Ooops. Could ID really be about Creationism? That's just crazy talk.
On the ID note I kinda get why people have picked up on it. It's great marketing. When someone asks you "Do you think some intelligent agency was involved in building life on earth?" it's very easy to say yes. I get that. The problem is in the details of what ID is actually trying to do.
First, to get ID into the classroom the ID scientists have to prove that God actively made some adjustment to evolution somewhere along the line. They started with the evolution of the eye, but they couldn't defend that. So now they are down to the 'flagellum', which is a little tail on a bacteria. Seriously, they are saying God's impact on the genesis of man was to put a tail on bacteria. Seriously. It's offensive. If you believe in an all powerful God this has to offend you.
Second, in order to accept ID as science we would actually have to change the definition of the scientific method to allow for 'supernatural influence'. Which means that science would actually have to teach astrology, numerology, parapsychology, tarot cards, all that stuff. They become, literally, scientific? Tired of using an equation to figure out how much fuel to put in the 747 to get to New York? Use Tarot Cards! Too lazy to do the experiments to figure out which receptors to target in a cancer drug? Just look at the tea leaves in the bottom of your mug.
You think I'm joking? Behe, the number one proponent of ID was asked on the stand in Dover whether his definition of science would include Astrology. His answer was yes.
Oh, and one last thing. If you abandon evolution and go with ID then you can no longer test drugs on cats, dogs, monkeys, mice or whatever. Unless you are developing a drug for the cat, dog or whatever. Why? Because according to ID we aren't related to cats, dogs, or anything like that. So drugs that work on them won't work on us. So we have to test drugs for humans on humans only. Good luck with that.
A good weekend for football. Which certainly helped since I was recovering from getting all of my wisdom teeth pulled. I was three for four and the Colts/Bolts game I missed was a close one. I don't think San Diego can take New England. So my guess at this point is that it's a Packers/Patriots Super Bowl with the Pats winning.
Alright, here we go. It's game time.
This week I'm going with Green Bay over Seattle. I know Seattle is on a run, but I think Green Bay is having it's best season in years and they want to go all the way. I'm taking New England over Jacksonville, though I think it will be a very tight game.
On Sunday I'm going with the Mannings, I'm taking Indi to win over the Chargers. And, God only knows why, I'm taking the Giants over Dallas. I would like to see Dallas win there. But something is just off with them right now, and TO not starting would pretty much finish them off.
It's going to be a great football weekend. I'm really jazzed. I wouldn't say that this is the best football season I have seen. It's a quarterback driven league and the QBs this year have either been phenomenal or horrible. But it's been interesting, that's for sure.
I've never seen anything like Super Mario Galaxy. It's easily one of the best video games ever written. Certainly the best that I have ever seen. It's 3D but with a whole new physics that make it as easy to play as a 2D game. And the levels are incredibly inventive and fun. Megan loves watching me playing, and has taken to playing it herself. The only problem is that it makes Lori instantly sick when she sees it.
I highly, highly recommend getting Super Mario Galaxy if you are a Wii owner. And I would recommend getting a Wii just to play it. It is really novel. You have never played anything like it. Believe me.
Now that this version of the conservative movement is all but dead it's interesting to see how the big conservative players are aligning themselves for ten years down the road when they can whip it up again. The FRC sent around an email a couple of days ago that was very interesting. Their top two priorities were safeguarding right wing talk radio, and ensuring that preachers could talk politics from the pulpit. Thus ensuring six days a week coverage for the white middle class heartland.
Ten years Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter and those will be laughed at and considered fringe, just as we laugh at what people in the McCarthy era said. I wonder who the next big talk radio right wing pundit will be. My guess is that he (or she) will start as a moderate to appeal to a wide audience then just chip away at the edges of the democratic side until they can just pound on the democrats at will like Limbaugh does today.
Interesting question for you to mull over today. Spin back the clock to six years ago. Bush is running high on "mission accomplished". Conservative pundits are out of their minds with power talking about fusing church and state, nuking Iran, North Korea, banning the French and on and on. My question is, at that time, who is more powerful Rush Limbaugh or George Bush? On it's face it would be George Bush because he has his hand on the button. But Limbaugh has a lot going for him; he has a huge captive audience who listens to him daily and repeats everything he says as gospel, he can say whatever he wants, he isn't term limited, and he isn't held accountable for anything he says (not that Bush is either.)
Ok, I was sorta wrong about Obama getting the nod last night. Though losing by three points is not a blowout by a long shot. What it has done for me is get me off the sidelines. I'm not content to let the media pick for me. I want Obama to win and I'm going to get into his camp to volunteer to make that happen. I think Barack is the best chance we have for a fresh start in American politics. I'll vote for Hillary if she gets the nomination, but I think the result will be four more years of Republican obstructionism.
People in this country need to get sick and tired of the drivel coming out of Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter and Fox News. If they see a guy like Barack stand up and talk about a positive vision for America. Something that's optimistic and lifts us all up. I think they will get pissed off when it's stomped on by the nay-sayers on the right. Bill Clinton had a 70% approval rating during the impeachment. People all over the country knew he was a good President who was being treated unfairly. I know the right will attack Barack the same way, I just think his positive message will shine through and show the shrill cowards on the right for who they are.
I don't see the same thing in Hillary's camp. When she was down the fangs really came out of both her and Bill. I like that they are scrappy fighters but Barack has been doing well in the polls without all of the negative campaigning.
An interesting spin has come out of last night, the notion that white people will say they will pull the lever for a black man to the exit poll person but really pull the lever for the white person when they are in the booth. I think that's wrong. It's certainly not the case for me. My hunch is that last night people really were undecided to the last and that in the end they decided to 'kick the can down the road'. To give Hillary another chance at it.
In the end I think it would be great if either of these folks ended up in the White House.
Turns out Glenn Beck's medical nightmare was him having adverse reactions to the painkillers he received after having outpatient hemorrhoid surgery. I've had similar outpatient surgery for an anal fissure and I can tell you that the recovery is not fun. But it was never life threatening. In addition the strongest thing I was given was Tylenol with Codeine. I certainly was not given liquid morphine or tordol as Glenn Beck claims to have. That kind of stuff is given to cancer patients who are on their way out.
The guy is a pussy. Seriously. I'm glad that he now has empathy for people struggling with medical care. That's a good start. But I find it sad that it took it biting him personally in the ass ( ;-) ) to get his attention. Part of growing up is learning how to put yourself in someone else's shoes. Apparently he skipped that step.
If Barack wins New Hampshire it's all but done for Hillary, and Edwards will likely be the VP nominee. Plus, since polls overwhelmingly favor Democrats in the upcoming elections it looks like at 2 PM PST today we will learn that Barack Obama will be the next President of the United States. Way to go Barack!
The Pentagon has decided not to investigate charges of gang rap against KBR. Have these people no sense of shame?
There are a lot of sci-fi series to like; Star Trek, Star Wars, Alien, Atlantis. There are even folks who can turn off their cerebral cortexes long enough to enjoy Stargate Atlantis. Though I like them all (or most of them), I only love Aliens. Aliens is the sci-fi for people who like their beef tar-tar. And this is why I found Alien vs. Predator Requiem (AVPR) so sadly distressing.
You see, each of these sci-fi franchises has a lexicon. The bigger the series, the bigger the lexicon. Star Trek fans can debate endlessly about Klingon ridges. Aliens lexicon is not so big. But there are a couple of commandments, and AVPR broke all of them.
1) Though shalt not face hug and chest burst the kiddies: In Aliens they spent the entire movie trying to save a seven year old. In AVPR they chest burst a ten year old on screen in the first five minutes.
2) Though needest a queen to reproduce: In AVPR the Predator/Alien hybrid could 'inject' aliens into pregnant human women and have them give birth to octuplets. Besides being just sick and nasty, it's just dumb and wrong. Plus, the Predator/Alien 'babies' were human/aliens, which makes no sense. But nobody in the audience had the IQ to see that so who the hell cares. (More on the moronic audience later).
3) Though shalt make a reasonably acceptable film: Suspense? Not here. Twists? Nowhere to be found. Plot coherence? Say what? I love the Alien movies because they were simple, effective, had great memorable characters, wonderful sequences, good suspense and dialogue we could repeat for years; "They come out at night, mostly", "Micro changes in air density, my ass.", "Hey Vasquez, have you ever been mistaken for a man? No. Have you?"
I'd list the few times that the film tried to pay homage to the originals. But that's a waste and frankly those few times just left me wanting to see the originals again. I could talk about how they have a new Ripley lookalike who has kind of a latin flavor. But really, who cares? I could talk about how the script was did a towering inferno style start up with introducing all these characters and what not. But really, what's the point. There is only one scene in the movie worth watching and that when the cheerleader hottie unexpectedly gets splattered/stuck into the wall by a Predator throwing star gone awry.
So, yeah, this one is going in the rubbish bin. AVPR doesn't exist in the Alien line. Even AVP was better. Hell, even Resurrection was better and I have to be the only person on the planet who liked that movie.
I just find it sad that we have this illustrious series of films that is tarnished with this super-gory Saw like thing. There are so many chest poppings and head crushings that it almost becomes routine by the end. This was way, way over the top in gore and violence and it really didn't need to be. I guess we have just become a more bloodthirsty audience. Which leads me to the audience...
Turns out I went to "Aliens for Tots" night at the centroplex. Seated right below me was a woman bottle feeding a baby. Up in the front row was a couple with a stroller and a four year old. And to my left was a family with a five year old boy and a seven year old girl. The girl was trying to shield her eyes around the five minute mark and begging to leave. About half way through she left, only to come back and ask her parents if she could go in to 'Alvin and the Chipmunks' which was playing across the hall. Her Mom's answer; "Shut up." Nice.
I weep for our species.
BTW, on the football tip, I was going for the Bucs who lost and the Chargers who one which makes me 75% over the weekend. Both of the late games were great. But the best game of the weekend was by far the Jags/Steelers game which was just amazing in the fourth quarter. The Pats/Jags will be amazing next weekend.
Update: I should point out just a few of the enormous plot holes and unanswered questions in AVPR if only to illustrate just how many of them there were.
Anyway, you get the point. Almost every scene in the movie raises more questions than it answers.
I'll take the favorites, the Seahawks and the Jaqs. Though I think the Jags game will be a lot more interesting than people are counting on.
The rise of conservatism has hurt the America I love in so many ways. The Bush administration and it's follies are certainly the most direct part. But the other nastiness is the rise of angry self-centered ignorant white men as pundits. Take as an example Glenn Beck:
Shown here being a complete pussy about his recent surgery and the conditions in the hospital.
Glenn, I've seen people running triathlons with no legs. Your brain still works, or at least your neurons still fire. You appear to be conscious, lucid and mobile. How bad can it be? Man up.
What I love about this clip is that it shows clearly that Glenn cannot empathize with anyone who has had troubles with our medical system unless he's had those exact troubles himself. That self-centered nature is so core to conservatism. "Why should we have affirmative action, I don't need it." "It's fine if the government taps all our phones, they won't tap my phone because I'm a loyal American." "Why should we all get universal health care, I'm not sick." "We don't need welfare because I've never been on it."
What a self-centered prick this guy is. Makes me sick. Why should I care about you Glenn? Or any of your angry white buddies like Tucker, O'Reilly, Limbaugh or Hannity. What makes you guys special? That you are close-minded racist fools who could care less about anyone other than yourselves? That's not so special.
Thirty years ago we had one Archie Bunker and we used to laugh at him. Now we have a swarm of Archie Bunkers who all spout jibberish and half the country agrees with them. People, seriously, Archie Bunker was a fool, not a role model.
This is going to be a really fun weekend. We are in the first of three storms, and apparently the lightest of the storms at that, and things are already going crazy. Around the Bay Area the power is out. And it's not just in the boonies, it's in the metro areas. There is flooding in Mountain View. A power pole fell over onto the San Mateo bridge last night. The ferries have been shut down.
I'm actually enjoying this weather. I'm not a huge fan of raw cold. I like stormy weather. I like the feel of the wind and to watch the leaves swirl around. I like the patterns the rain makes in the puddles. I like the sounds and the look of the sky. It's interesting to watch. It's something that I missed about the northeast when I went to Miami and on from there. In Miami we never got anything but the occasional mega storm. We didn't get pleasant little sqawls like this one.
We need the rain though, so come rain come! We need all of this and a lot more. L.A. needs rain too.
This Huckabee win in Iowa is a thing of beauty. It will scare the shit out of the Hannity/Limbaugh Republicans and give old-school fascists like Bill Kristol major heartburn. I love, love, love it. Go Huckabee go! Go on with your gastric bypassing "no gays in my family" self! Take the old Republican conservative coalition and rip it apart with your old white evangelicals. Your base may need walkers to get to the polls, but don't let that stop you! Your all white message will play great in the big cities! You go girl!
I can't wait until South Carolina. That will be a hoot. Huckabee has a big base there. I wonder if it will be McCain's camp making crank calls to voters this time.
Can someone remind me again why Iowa gets to take lead in deciding who runs the country? What does Iowa do for this country? What do they produce? Corn? Ethanol? What? If Republicans want to run this country like a business then let's do that. Let's let the people who bring the most money into the business have the biggest voice in who manages that money. Just like in any other business. And that would make the primary season; California, Texas, New York, and then on down the line.
Sometimes this disparity really grates on me. California is the 8th largest economy in the world, and by far the biggest powerhouse in the economy of the US. In fact most all of the other states live off Federal pork provided by California, Texas and New York.
I'm always reminded of this when I drive around South Carolina on miles and miles of beautifully paved highways with nothing on them but, well, nothing. Maybe a shack or two and a church. And I ask myself, how can they afford this? There is no economic base in South Carolina. Answer, they can't. They take pork from the Federal government provided by me and the companies in Califonria and they pave the roads. Then I drive around my roads on potholes and uneven pavement and I think, wow, that really sucks.
It's more than just choosing the next President. California should be the lead on almost every policy decision. Rest of the country likes driving around in their subsidized 10MPG super tanks? No, no, thanks for playing. 45 MPG should be the standard. Rest of the country think that stem cells are to be protected? Yeah, not so much, the biotech industry in California needs stem cells to be competitive in the global economy so it gets to make that choice.
One man one vote made sense when this country was a completely agrarian society. That's no longer fitting. My vote should be weighted by my impact on the economy. If I work in a growth sector that's fueling the Federal budget then I should have the lion's share of the say on how it's spent. And if someone else is just living off the pork, well, they better start looking to upgrade their skills and join the real economy otherwise their not going to have a voice in how money is spent.