The Eternal Gaijin

Evolution is the science development of the year . Shortlist for next year includes Newton, Copernicus and Louis Pasteur.

I'm glad that Bush won in the States and would have none of that flip-flop crap going on in his party Money quote: Santorum said his statements are not contradictory, nor has his position changed. But this is a nice outline: Rick Santorum on Intelligent Design "Therefore, intelligent design is a legitimate scientific theory that should be taught in science classes." - 2002 Washington Times op-ed article • "I'm not comfortable with intelligent design being taught in the science classroom." - Interview in August on National Public Radio • "I do not believe it should be required teaching." - Interview yesterday with The Inquirer • "I thought the Thomas More Law Center made a huge mistake in taking this case and in pushing this case to the extent they did." - from Inquirer interview Addendum: someone else has noticed this.

This is just another quick summary . It's just nice to see someone user the word "lie" when discussing a liar.

Well, a day later and the shit is still storming. The National Centre for Science Education's post is short and sweet. Dembski's response is petulant and evasive with the usual blah, blah, Mt Rushmore, blah, Darwinists don't want to be put to the test, blah, blah... a bit of a joke really. PT has a go at that one. So does Pharyngula . The Discovery Institute dropped the activist bomb almost immediately. You don't have to win the JREF prize to see that one coming. So what the fuck does activist judge mean other than "I lost the case?" Slate got their article by Wm Saletan up pretty fast as well. Saletan has had a checkered past with some of his ID articles, but the majority of them were worth the read. This one is in the upper middle of the pack. The ending note is dead on tho'. The fear of modern culture displaced onto scientific findings is one that will continue to motivate the DI and the other fundie/creationist folks. Also, Canadian Cynic has a word o...

The Onion strikes again with this little blurb on the subject of torture.

And we didn't see it coming... Dispatches from the Culture War has a pretty good summary of the decision. It looks for all to see as if everybody could cut right through the obfuscation and peel it back like the belly of a frog in grade 9 bio. ID is Creationism. Once again, the latest Culture War to End all Wars has been won by the good guys. Until the next one. From Pharyngula we get this little tidbit from the decision: To be sure, Darwin's theory of evolution is imperfect. However, the fact that a scientific theory cannot yet render an explanation on every point should not be used as a pretext to thrust an untestable alternative hypothesis grounded in religion into the science classroom or to misrepresent well-established scientific propositions. The citizens of the Dover area were poorly served by the members of the Board who voted for the ID Policy. It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious conviction...

Frankly I don't know how they do it. They just keep talking about values and they don't seem to care about what people do that reflects them. The level of public discourse in the US has hit what I can only hope is its nadir. What makes the whole exercise in yank-watching so torturous is seeing the very people who exhibit the worst sort of behaviour and the lowest morality calling for an end to boor culture and a return to high morality and getting to set the terms of the debate by defining all these things. It's like letting W. define torture: since we don't torture, everything we do do is by definition not torture. QED. There's just no reaching bottom with some people. Pat Robertson: Bad behaviour comes little lower than the (ir)religious right. And amongst them, this grinning hommunculus sinks among the lowest. Check him out here , here , and here . Republicans What more can you say? George W. Bush Wiretapping . You need more said than that. Georgey-Porgey, I...

Yesterday on one of the yankee channels I saw a bit of The American President. There's a bit at the end where the President (played by the every un-likable Michael Douglas) give a maudlin, manipulative, oooh-aren't-I-rousing-and-presidential speech near the end. The intersting thing about that is in the middle the ACLU comes up. The president had been attacked for supporting the ACLU and turned the tables by asking his opponent why he wasn't a member of an organization dedicated to protecting American Freedoms. I've never understood the American obsession of hating most viscerally the one organization that seems to actually care about the constitution and it's content, the one group vigorously defending freedoms in the US. I mean does that sound hate-worthy? I also don't understand those donkey dong-rinsers who say that our Constitution was the biggest mistake that Trudeau ever made. Seriously, don't you want a line written down that says: "I don't...

Your Elf Name Is... Giggles Mc Flurry What's Your Elf Name?

Yesterday's episode of Da Ali G Show on Showcase was a repeat, but I hadn't seen the beginning. The roundtable discussion on science featured famed scientist, lecturer and paleontology expert Kent Hovind. His contribution was outstanding as always. On the other side, what really made it all work for me was Ali G accusing Hovind of leaving a floater in dressing rooms. Finally someone treats his arguments the way they need to be addressed. Can I say "make a monkey out of him" at this juncture? Semi-related: ScienceDaily has an article on running and its effect on the evolution of human beings. Worth a quick read. Personally I'm waiting for Dr Hovind to come back to the Ali G show and update us on this aspect of evolution. If he can get past the Homo part of Homo Sapiens, that is.

In the South Park movie, the kids as what the hell is wrong with German people. Today, once again, the spotlight moves south to our American cousins. The faux War on Christmas is boiling over in the US and is one of the stupidest things I've heard of in my life. The idea the Bill O'Reilly is allowed to smudge up the screen of my TV with his bloviating and bullshit is reprehensible, but that he's allowed to market this crap of his own invention is insulting. The whole War on Christmas meme is based on a real war on respect and decorum and it's always the right wingers who seem to be behind it. So I want to know from Mr O'Reilly is this: why to you hate Hannukah? Why do you want to destroy it? You've been on record saying that non-Christians are not offended by Merry Christmas, but xtians are offended by Happy Holidays. How thin skinned are you people down there? (I'd like to say more about that, but the Daily Show as always got the best takedown in first). S...

Ah, Seth. I'm a fan of the Are We Alone? and Skeptical Sunday podcasts that Seth Shostak does for the SETI institute. When I discovered his article telling ID creationists to stop, stop I say, using SETI as a smoke screen for their pseudo-science, I loved it. Particularly salient are his points on experience and recognizing design by comparing to design. Do check out the SETI podcasts in iTunes. There's a lot of good stuff in it.

I've been waiting a long, long time for someone to tell any number of the blowhard public figures in the United States to sit down and shut the fuck up. And it finally happened. General Peter Pace basically told Donald Rumsfeld to sit down, shut the fuck up and listen 'cause he might learn something. If that wasn't enough that the topic was the obligation that American soldiers have to intervene and stop abuse if they see it. It's especially nice to see something like that happen when the Iraqis are reporting that abuse is worse now than under Saddam. WashingtonMonthly has the article. Extra Update: Crooks and Liars has the video.

There's a strange debate that's been starting up on between the Uncredible Halq and Pooflingers Anonymous . Over AD vs CE. As in 1968 AD or 1968 CE. Okay it's not a heated debate; more of a divergence of opinions. But it places the Halq on the same side as The Blue Site over the debate. And oddly it places me on the same side as a reality-dismissing paranoid on the issue. Now, keep in mind, I studied history and see the BC/AD thing as a bit of an artifact, but one that I don't really see the need to get rid of. I've never had any use for BCE/CE. For a couple of reasons. More on that in a minute. The Blue Sites point is the usual rant that any attempt to neutralize exclusive language or use some construction that is a bit more inclusive is an attack on Christianity. (apparently this is brought about as a reaction to this list at the Language Monitor ) The post then sort of devolves into the usual What-About-Our-Religion and the 10-Commandments-is-the-source-of-it-a...

I recently got 15/20 when recognizing fake smiles from real. I think I had hoped for better since I feel like I'm relatively sensitive to body language am fairly intuitive. You may find it interesting to try yourself. I find all of this interesting since reading How the Mind Works by Stephen Pinker as well as several books on management and such. The thing that's most interesting is the universality of it. All people recognize the same emotions the same way (despite what a lot of people will tell you)

Just trying to give any visitors a bit of an idea about what they're dealing with. Handholder You go out of your way to build bridges with people of different views and beliefs and have quite a few religious friends. You believe in the essential goodness of people , which means you’re always looking for common ground even if that entails compromises. You would defend Salman Rushdie’s right to criticise Islam but you’re sorry he attacked it so viciously, just as you feel uncomfortable with some of the more outspoken and unkind views of religion in the pages of this magazine. You prefer the inclusive approach of writers like Zadie Smith or the radical Christian values of Edward Said. Don’t fall into the same trap as super–naïve Lib Dem MP Jenny Tonge who declared it was okay for clerics like Yusuf al–Qaradawi to justify their monstrous prejudices as a legitimate interpr...

Reason needs work. A great post over at Pharyngula points makes that clear near the end. I've been watching the quality of public debate in the US decline since the Reagan years; I'm not old enough to remember Nixon. Some of the selections in the post highlight that everyone is trying to claim reason and right for themselves without realizing that with reason comes the acceptance that right has a chance of not being on your side. I wonder sometimes what this portends for us. In some ways the tone of political debate is declining, but I thinks there's still more room for middleground here. I hope.

but, hey, I'm not actually a scientist. Perhaps a physics course or two would help. You fit in with: Humanism Your ideals mostly resemble that of a Humanist. Although you do not have a lot of faith, you are devoted to making this world better, in the short time that you have to live. Humanists do not generally believe in an afterlife, and therefore, are committed to making the world a better place for themselves and future generations. 30% scientific. 100% reason-oriented. Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

I've got the feeling that I have to get off my duff and get out there more often. The worst part is I know that I haven't seen all of any of the countries I have visited. create your own visited countries map or vertaling Duits Nederlands Try the Visited Countries Project for yourself.

I do not know the most offensive art project extant, although I'm sure Piss Christ is somewhere in the top 75. Friend DEG suggested one to me a while ago. He said, "Did I ever tell you about my idea for the most offensive art installation in history?" "No." "Imagine this." "Okay." "It's called ' Jesus fucking Christ .'" "That's a verb, isn't it." "Yup." So there you have it. An image to keep you going, brought to you by the guy who gave local band The Inflatable Jesus Love Dolls the name for their song ' Big Penis Truck .' But the question is: should we be allowed to suggest it? In a day and time when people worry about a political correctness that never was there is a strong, strong fence around criticism of religion and patriotism. We can't probe belief, investigate it nor ridicule it. Anything can be defended by the words "Well, that's what I believe." The very peo...

I'm a movie nut. I watch everything I can get my hands on; the worse the movie, the more likely I have to watch it when my wife is out of town. Recently we've watched a couple that are worth sharing with people. Ray If you don't know it's about Ray Charles, then I am not going to contribute. Much like Rain Man, that extremely ordinary buddy movie with the outstanding performance by Hoffman, Ray follows the very familiar story arc: Poverty - Trauma - Beginnings of Talent - Early years - Drugs - Drugs and Success go hand in hand - Eventual Triumph/Early Death. Ray is flatly directed and has a pretty standard style, but Jamie Foxx is well beyond outstanding as Charles. A word of advice, when you watch the DVD learn from our mistake. Watch the theatrical version. Although the extended version has some interesting recuts of scenes, the producers didn't actually produce a second version of the film, instead they leveraged the technology buy giving the DVD two different ch...

I'm not a friend, nor am I connected. I'm just a listener. I discovered Skepticality when I was looking for anything skeptical or science news related when I downloaded iTunes 4.9. Given the range of guests, Monkey News and overall charm of the podcast, I was turned to a regular listener in a single show. Checking out the updates, I found the message from co-host Swoopy giving a tear-filled explanation of Derek's collapse into a coma. Drop by them and leave a message of good will and support. Every bit helps.

As many have said around the blogosphere (a term I actually detest but seem to have adopted at an alarming rate): I couldn't have said it better. I know I couldn't, and didn't. Found it here Evolutionblog or the original at http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/9/8/183216/1039

Behold the awsome power of God! He shall smite thee for thy ways. Make straight the way of the Lord! Also: New Orleans is sinking, man, and I don't want to swim. To hear some folk weighing in on the disaster in New Orleans, you'd think they brought it on themselves. With all the whoring and flashing and drinking and Godlessness. To wit: Now New Orleans is under water, bathing in sewage and devastation rather than providing downtown fountains for homosexual capers aplenty. All of this has prompted Repent America to conclude that the biblical God had a heavy hand in the Katrina swing along. It’s an "‘act of God,’" they claim to media. United States-based, Repent America goes to the streets to preach repentance of sin, conversion to Christ as personal Savior, and thereby living the holy lifestyle according to the biblical message. As far as Repent America is concerned, divine judgment has come upon a metropolis that was bent...

I typically don't avoid the topic but rather don't actively bring it up. We all have to live in this world after all. Watching the histrionics of late and seeing the veil being pulled over educational eyes in Kansas and elsewhere is too important to remain completely silent. As a friend of mine recently said, the rational have to start saying that it's not okay to believe everything. Some opinions are actually worth more than others. Some beliefs are not valid. To paraphrase Stephen Pinker, cargo planes built by science fly; ones built by cargo cults don't. Most of the attempts to sneak religion back into the classroom are based on the idea of teaching the controversy. But The debate between Intelligent Design Creationism and Evolution is a non-starter. The actual debate between the upstart theory and the then-orthodoxy was over before any living person was born. Orthodoxy ceded its place to the upstart. Since that time, evolution has only become more refined and more s...