The Eternal Gaijin

To start with a cliche: you won't believe the week I've just had. Unless you've ever moved. My wife and I are on our way to New York to board the Queen Mary 2 on Saturday. We're overnighting in Syracuse and will be driving to NYC tomorrow. So far the trip is uneventful. One thing that is noticable is the types of cars that Americans drive.There are almost no compact cars on the road in northern New York state. And very few foreign (i.e. Japanese) cars. The majority of vehicles are domestic (i.e. American) which surprises me because I've driven American cars, and I'm surprised people would do it a second time.

EducationGuardian.co.uk | Schools | We believe in ET, not ID Seth Shostak is a name that I wouldn't really know if it wasn't for iTunes and the SETI podcast. His liking of painful puns and intelligent but folksy way of dealing with scientific issues appeals to me. (No math.) It will always make me happy to say that Shostak is slamming the ID movement. Unlike many Europeans, who find this whole debate faintly farcical, I am not amused. Teaching ID in biology class muddles science with metaphysics. In a country that rides high on technical proficiency, that's serious business. Support the man.

British scientists reject 'intelligent design' theory Hooray, good news in the papers... Let's hope the American malaise doesn't spread to the UK. Christ I'll be there in 3 weeks.

Unscientific biases The Ottawa Citizen is often hit and miss about their coverage of a lot of issues. I thought they were getting a bit better with their coverage of several science related stories recently. Then along came this article I found at the online site dated 8 Apr 06. The opening starts out okay. Canadian agency that funds university research made international headlines this week because it challenged a professor's assumption that evolution theory is incontrovertible. Good start. I mean we all seem to agree with this and thankfully they haven't decided to argue the facts. But what the hell is this supposed to mean? But the agency wasn't being backward, it was defending objective scholarship. Hunh? Isn't reality objective? Brian Alters, a professor of education at McGill University, had applied for a $40,000 grant to study "Detrimental effects of popularizing anti-evolution's intelligent design theory on Canadian students, teachers, parents, administ...

Why the Gospel of Judas makes sense. By Christopher Hitchens I don't always agree with Christopher Hitchens, but apparently he agrees with me about the Judas Gospel

Thermodynamics There are a lot of people who only have a pop-science knowledge of evilution (can't resist), and I happen to be one of them. I read a lot of Gould and Dawkins (and feel qualified to comment whether or not they're actually at odds), and follow a lot of the issues in the States surrounding the 'controversy.' It's so good to see a post like this one smacking down an argument that needs it.

Thoughts from Kansas: Lying liars Wow, there's just no stopping those folks in the States. There are defenders of these peoples? Via Thoughts From Kansas

Up early today. We had to go up to the hospital to talk to my grandfather's doctor, Dr F., before he spoke to Grampy about what decisions to take in the event of his condition, mobility and prospects taking a downturn, but we were a bit late. My grandfather is already DNR; having died once already, he only wants one last shot at it. In the event of him needing full-time care, needing to leave my grandmother and the others at the home, he just wants to be made comfortable. Treatment should be withheld, pain managed and family called. Somewhere in the stress of all this, Mum mentally edited out the middle step of treat, evaluate, release, repeat until release isn't an option, discuss and carry out wishes; she got to treat then wishes. Our conversations managed to take a load off her mind. Still, the idea of making him comfortable as he waits to die feels like killing him. I'm my typically conflicted self. I believe in dignity and quality of life as self-evident; I don't w...

There are days when you have to make decisions. Some of them are affect other people. Some of them are about other people. Some of them you make around other people about them. Today, a bit of all of them happened in one. My Mum, speaking to the doctor treating my grandfather worried that he wouldn't be able to do this sort of thing much longer.This sort of stress and recovery is just too hard on a 90-year old, no matter how stubborn or robust he was in his youth. The doctor knows the stress that he's been having adjusting to his weakened state. He knows how independent my grandfather was, is and wishes he still were. He knows that the move from a retirement home to a nursing home would kill him, as my father says, as sure as a bullet. Based on his assessment, the doctor felt that when he could no longer be cared for at the retirement home and would have to make the move to the next level of care, he would need to speak to my grandfather about options. Options would mean contin...

The Ottawa Citizen had an article on the Gospel when I got up on Friday. The Halifax Chronicle Herald ran a similar article. I didn't really read it too hard, but the basics were: * A manuscript that had bounced around for about 30 years was subjected to analysis, scrutiny and translation. * It was a Coptic script written early Gnostic text * It was dated to the 4th century * Judas was depicted as heroic and following Jesus' directions. He didn't betray; he obeyed. The thing with it is that I don't really know what new, philosophically or theologically, this brings to the table. First of all, Judas' role in the crucifixion is well known, but the idea that it's vital and indispensible has also been teased out of the canon and hashed over pretty well. That an all powerful being's earthly incarnation would have seen it coming is pretty obvious. That Judas might have been dispatched isn't canon to my memory, but it's hardly ne...

So here we are at the end of another day. I took a few notes at Duncan's Pub on Victoria Street, but still haven't gotten them out of my daypack. (Try the Seafood Chowder if you're in town) My grandfather is doing better, but still can't really stand on his own. We're not sure if he ever will. Bringing my grandmother up to see Grampy, we had to make sure that she sat looking at his left side. Yesterday she spent all her time commenitng on the razor cut on the right side of his chin. It seemed that she couldn't focus on anything else when she was up yesterday. At one point we started to giggle to ourselves about it. Today, we had to avoid it. We actually wanted her to focus on the fact that Grampy is sick. Later in the day, Mum had to discuss the inevitable with him: arrangements. Over supper we'd discussed it. And I'm glad she gritted her teeth and asked him about his wishes. On some level, it's got to be a worry for him as well, that his wishes migh...

Creekside: Uh oh, Toto, NaPo's gone to Kansas Last link of the day. I mentioned the 9 scientists who signed the Dissent from Darwin petition in a post on the SSHRC debacle yesterday (or the day before). Creekside takes down the National Post article in the link above. Search the Ottawa Citizen archieve for the article I found. No matter how thin you slice it it's still crap.

Study, in a First, Explains Evolution's Molecular Advance - New York Times Dear New York Times. Why would you take an article about anything scientific and quote Behe in it? Hat tip to Canadian Cynic

The Lancelet: Professor denied federal research funds for assuming evolution to be scientific fact! Maybe I'm being lazy by linking to another post on the SSHRC decision, but the more we kick up a stink about how this went down the better. Maybe. But it's late, so here we go.

We overslept this morning. And then the phone rang. My grandfather was unresponsive when they tried to wake him. The preliminary thought was he might have had a massive stroke during the night. If we were say anything to him, we'd want to get over to the hospital soonest. There were periods where he wasn't breathing for a few minutes at a time. We rushed over. My mother held his hand and he made a noise, gutteral and sub-linguistic, but it was an acknowledgement. There was still presence there. with advice from the doctor, he was moved to a private room. The doctor, who has an obviously forgettable name, felt that 2-3 days was all he had. We sat with him for a while, then I grabbed a cellphone and walked outside. I called my father (still looking after the wife back in O-town) and let him know what was going on. I just don't see how a 90-year old man can go to the hospital and nearly die 6 days out of 10 for a month and have anyone expect it to go on. Then I called my siste...

The Lancelet: More on the SSHRC fiasco It's not news anymore but I still think it's worth laughing at the SSHRC a bit more. Nod and hat tip to the Lancelet

CanJet seems to be a reasonable way to travel. As a cut rate airline it's decent. Let's face it Air Canada doesn't offer any more services but will charge full service price. My grandfather is ill again, or still, depending on how you view these things. Lately, he's been in hospital more than out. He's one of these old school guys who just doesn't seem to give up the fight, no matter how much he may want to nowadays. At 90, it's really not that hard to let go and decide to move on. Or is it? I don't know. I can think about it, but who knows anything until we're there ourselves. It's a sad time in the family as his health declines. My mother, travelling with me, is quite distraught. She's not sure what to do. As my wife and I prepare to leave Canada, this is one of the things I have to do. It's still tough to make the visit. We land easily enough and a rented Altima gets us to Amherst.

Skeptic: eSkeptic for Thursday, February 16th, 2006 SETI and Intelligent Design are not comparable. Continuing the theme that's already started up, I bumped into another article telling ID to go get bent when it want's to bask in the respectability of actual sciences. Hat Tip to Nightlight for leading me to this one.

And then the NCSE drops their opinion which is also good to hear. Name and shame, people.

Canadian Cynic: Canada, Intelligent Design and unintentional irony. And then Canadian Cynic drops his hat into the fray. His follow up post calls for Halliwell's resignation.

Page A8. That's where Brian Alters and the Evo-ID debate moves to after being front page news yesterday. Making up for it is the fact that new transition fossil hit front page. Yeah. ID gets another Reebok in the grapes. Under the headline 'Intelligent Design' debate crosses the border, the Ottawa Citizen actually sided with reason while exploring the background of the situation. ID is gaining some ground in Canada, that's undeniable. The Social Sciences and Humanitites Research Council rejected Alters' proposal for a study on the topic as his proposal hinged on the 'assumption that evolution is unassailable.' "If I was talking about gravity in an application," says Mr Alters, "I wouldn't have to justify the law of gravity. Evolution is not an assumption - it is a scientific fact." Which is pretty much what we're on about. The article gives some background on the development of the debate, including the 9 uni professors who recen...

William Saletan, somebody who has been pretty hit and miss on his coverage of the Dover trial, has this article summarizing takes on the study of prayer and heart patients. He ends with 17 possible answers to why patients prayed for were slightly worse off. 1. God doesn't exist. 2. God doesn't intervene. 3. God is highly selective. 4. God ignores form letters. 5. God requires a personal reference. 6. God is unmoved by the size of your lobbying team. 7. God ignores third parties. 8. God takes His time. 9. God has a backlog. 10. God ignores you if you don't pray hard enough. 11. God ignores you if you're wicked. 12. God helps those who help themselves. 13. God does not hear the prayer of a Christian. 14. God chooses His own outcome measures. 15. God doesn't participate in studies. 16. God hates being told what to do. 17. God is malevolent. Good list. I favour reason 1 though if you assume a god, the others make sense (in an assumed Christian God kind of way)

McGill challenges denial of funding for evolution research Spectacular Arctic fossil shows how creatures first came ashore Two, count 'em two, stories in the Citizen today. Normally, I'd worry about what they might say, but both of them assume the veracity of evolution. If you recall yesterday, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council turned down an application for $40,000 in grant money to look at the effects of popularizing pseudo-science (ID in particular) on the acceptance of evolution in Canadian society. Among the reasons cited was the fact that the proposal didn't convincingly prove that evolution was correct and Intelligent Design was not. McGill University in Montreal has decided to chalenge the decision, and I say more power to them for it. The council reacted as such: Eva Schacherl, a spokeswoman for the council, said Wednesday the multidisciplinary committee was not convinced the proposal's scholarly approach was sound or that it would provide obj...

Northstate Science: Archaeology and Creationism This Blogger Bar extension for Firefox is pretty great, but I seem to be having trouble with the computer tonight. So I'll do this post over again. I've been running into post and articles recently where actual experts in fields loved by the Creationist (sorry, I forgot the tuxedo...ID) crowd have been telling the IDers to get out of their sandbox. A while back SETI astronomer Seth Shostak wrote an article for Space.com (previously posted on) telling the ID crowd and get bent. He didn't see the connection between Intelligent Design and SETI. Now, new to me, I've found a good post telling these guys to stop trying to paddle in the archaeological pool. It's always nice to hear someone saying that. Give it a read.

Pharyngula: Sorry, Canada. We didn't know it was that contagious. PZ Myers (Pee Zed, to flaunt my Frostback side) picked up on the story of Brian Alters as well. On behalf of Canada, I'll say it's not your fault, PZ, so no apology needed. On the other hand, there are a lot of whack-a-doodles on your side of 49 who need to cough up a couple of mea culpas. There was a reference to this week's Nature covering this as well, but the story is premium content and I don't have a subscription. If you do, let us know what it says.

Professor denied federal research funds for assuming evolution to be scientific fact Yesterday I think I mentioned that what happens with our American cousins affects us all. Today's front page of the Ottawa Citizen confirmed that for me. Staring me in the face was the above headline. (Weblink to the online version of the story) The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council decided that McGill professor Brian Alters couldn't get a $40k grant The planned project, submitted last year to the research council, is titled: "Detrimental effects of popularizing anti-evolution's intelligent design theory on Canadian students, teachers, parents, administrators and policymakers." Why you may ask did they deny the grant? In denying his request, the research council's peer-review committee recently sent Mr. Alters a letter explaining he'd failed to "substantiate the premise" of his study. It said he hadn't provided "adequate justification for t...

Why Won't God Heal Amputees? This is about the 3rd time I've bumped into links to this site. Fags, shrimp, amputees: What is it about God hating things these days? Unlike God hates fags (no link, I won't pollute the TFT screen with that shit), this site actually asks and pretty much wraps up the main question that can be asked about God and prayer. And it asks it in a pretty indisputable way. A worthy site to check out for a profound question.

In the Arkansas Times there's an article about teachers self-censoring to avoid the dreaded "e-word". I originally found it about a week back through the NCSE website listing Jason Wiles as the author of work on the topic. And then I screwed up the posting. (A prouder person would probably say that Blogger screwed up, but I'm not that proud and I think it was me...) Probably as big a screw up was the fact that I wrote the post around a whole squodge of stuff I was doing at work and just sort of tacked a segue into Stephen Harper on the end. I'm not even sure it made sense to me. Anyway, cut to the end, I went to edit the post and lost it. Since that time, the article has come to the front with Aetiology , The Education Wonks , and others. (none had much to say about the connection to Stephen Harper) There is a real threat here, though. While it is the States, what happens to our American cousins affects us all. And it's not like we're immune here, as evid...