I'm away right now, and haven't had time to prepare new stuff. So, here's something from the archives again: by which I mean, something written in 2006. It's still pretty interesting (in my humble opinion), but I would definitely do some things differently were I to re-write it today [gliding sifaka below from Demes et al. (1991): read on]. Mention 'flying primate' and most zoologists will think you're referring to the well known, controversial theory of John Pettigrew of the University of Queensland. And if that sentence sounds familiar, it's because I used it previously to introduce a post all about Pettigrew's controversial theory that megabats are not close relatives of microbats, but are instead close relatives of us primates. As reviewed in that post, currently the data does not favour the idea that the two bat groups evolved independently, and the 'flying primate' theory has not won widespread acceptance. The term 'flying primate' might be better attached however to another group of mammals, and this time they really are undeniable primates. They are lemurs, and they fly. Well... fly sort of. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: Inside the Outbreaks on the ScienceBlogs Book Club

Here's a swami with his magic breathing advice for coping with throat cancer. How these guys can dispense bogus medical advice and not get lynched by angry cancer patients is a mystery. At least he looks really goofy when he curls his tongue and breathes. Now if only there were some yogic enchantment that could do something about his creepy squink eye… Read the comments on this post...

Roy Peter Clark wrote a book about language which was savaged viciously on Language Log — in other words, the poor guy was publicly ridiculed and his work rudely trashed. He couldn't possibly have learned anything from that, could he? He has a guest post now in which he describes his reaction. In brief, the criticism, some of it harsh and uninformed, helped me straighten out some crooked thinking about language, a process that resulted in the recent publication by Little, Brown of my book "The Glamour of Grammar: A Guide to the Magic and Mystery of Practical English." On August 22, Ammon Shea gave the book high marks in the New York Times Book Review, calling it "very much a manual for the 21st century." I write this on Language Log not to tell you that my success has proved some of your commentary off the mark. Quite the contrary, I have often said now to friends and colleagues that had I not been roughed up by the Language Loggers, I could not have developed the muscle tone to write the book. Hmm. Who would have thought that maybe the response to criticism was dependent on the attitude of the recipient? Oh, gosh. Me. Read the comments on this post...

The Institute for Creation Research had been trying to get approval from the state of Texas to offer graduate degrees in science education — they failed. Now they have actually publicly admitted defeat, which is gratifying to see. So we won't be seeing a wave of teachers with master's degrees in science ed and absolutely no science training emerging from the state. Instead, though, they'll be offering this: Replacing it, apparently, is the ICR's School of Biblical Apologetics, which offers a Master of Christian Education degree; Creation Research is one of four minors. The ICR explains, "Due to the nature of ICR's School of Biblical Apologetics — a predominantly religious education school — it is exempt from licensing by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Likewise, ICR's School of Biblical Apologetics is legally exempt from being required to be accredited by any secular or ecumenical or other type of accrediting association." This isn't a problem. Their lunacy will be clearly and accurately labeled, and that's all we should care about. Read the comments on this post...

I want to have a little talk with you about the Wii.  Specifically, the Wii Fit.
It’s a cool little thing, don’t get me wrong. Not only am I able to have a quick workout and do some fun hula hooping, but there are lots of games that are highly entertaining at parties. HOWEVER. We need to discuss the way in which your device ruthlessly hounds me about weight gain from day to day. I’m subjected to an interrogation about minor fluctuations in my weight. Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition in a video game. Frankly, your choices on this screen are crap. And if I give an honest answer to your machine’s third degree, which is that I DON’T FUCKING KNOW why I gained 2 pounds in one day, I get a lecture from your stupid animatronic Wii Fit board. I do not wish to be lectured about physiology by a bouncing white blob. In particular because said bouncing white blob does not seem to understand basic human biology. It’s highly unlikely I ate 7000 calories in just one day, which is what it would take to actually gain 2 pounds of tissue.  You seem to be missing an obvious reason why a large segment of the population might experience significant weight fluctuations over time, despite doing everything “correctly” in terms of the reasons you list on this screen. Maybe this is because there are no women on your development team. I don’t know, but I kind of suspect that’s the case. I find it difficult to believe a female designer would have let a game ship with such an obvious camel toe on the woman yoga instructor. But I digress. Anyway, in the interests of improving the usability of the game, I’ve taken the liberty of fixing this particular screen. No need to thank me.
Filed under: Food, Random, Ranting (feminist), Ranting (general) Tagged: annoying, fit, nintendo, weight, wii

It isn't that I'm not athletic, I am - but my strengths in the athletic zone were never speed and agility - more forceful forward motion and tough elbows in basketball games. I've never been the kind of person who makes that rolling catch to save the game. Until now. You see, I've got a new sport - the baby goat roundup. This is definitely a speed and agility event, and I am now the queen. You see, we let our goats roam loose. Believe it or not, they don't go wandering into the road, but stay in the pastures. We only do it when someone is around to keep an eye on them (the rest of the time they are fenced), but otherwise, we give them the run of the landscape. Most of the time someone is either outside, or half-watching from a nearby window, and they have several acres to roam and browse, plenty of overhanging woody stuff, and no real reason to go out of bounds. The goats are pretty domesticated - they want to be near you, so often they mostly just follow us around, browsing wherever we're working. The herd stays largely together, within close range, so you know where one is, they all pretty much are. This larger range reduces parasite exposure, and gives them easy access to shelter if a drop of rain should fall (goats melt when it rains, or so they think ;-)). It means less water hauling too. It will probably end next year, when we have more goats, but so far, it has worked well for us. The only problem with this is that there is a period between a few days after a baby goat's birth and about four weeks of age, where they don't really follow the herd. For the first few days they stay close to Mom and sleep a lot, just like human babies, and by around four weeks they start to follow the herd, nibble the grass and recognize that they belong as part of the group. But for the three weeks in the interim, they are kind of their own little daycare group, busy playing king of the hill and racing around, napping or playing with the chickens. They simply don't work in unity. Now when we need to put the goats somewhere we want them - say, we are going out and need to put everyone in the fenced pasture or perhaps it is bedtime and we want them in the barn (we have a den of coyotes across the road and baby goats are snack-sized), we must gather the goats together. Now this is incredibly easy with the adults and the babies over 4 weeks - we shake the grain or carry a flake of hay, and everyone comes following to get the goodies. But the babies in that interim place are oblivious to this. They don't care about grain or hay yet - food comes mostly from Mom. Right now we have 9 - yes, 9 cat-sized baby goats who don't yet follow the bucket. And every time we want them to go somewhere, instead of them following calmly along, we have to catch them. And they don't want to be caught. In many cases they do want to come in - and they want to be with their Moms, but they express this by racing around like maniacs, not by going where it would be useful, or allowing us to catch them. Thus, the baby goat roundup is my new sport, and it should definitely be shown on ESPN. At least once a day (bedtime) and often more than that, we go out and catch all the babies and dump them in the barn. Now catching nine moving baby goats that are faster than you, more agile and small enough to go under any obstacle that would trip you is, well, it is a challenge. The thing is, it is also kind of fun. So you hear the call "ok, I'm going to go round up the babies...who wants to help!" and off we all go with shouted instructions "Isaiah, you chase them out from under the wheelbarrow and I'll corner them behind the rainbarrel!" "Ok, babe, you chase that pair into the hay barn and I'll close the doors..." "Oh, crap, missed Basil." There's strategy. There's sheer exuberance. There's speed. There's flashy stuff - like when you scoop up two babies at once. There's teamwork, and showboating and sweat dripping off you. There's everything you want in a sport. Seriously, this should be in the olympics. It would get one bazillion viewer due to sheer cuteness and comic value. And I scored my first-ever touchdown! We'd managed to get everyone but Goldenrod after considerable effort. My aunt Luana was visiting and taking pictures and laughing hysterically at the sight of Eric, I and three of the four boys attempting to corner one goat - finally, he made around the edge of the pasture fence, and Simon chased him to back towards me - Eric tried missed him, and I dived and made a spectacular rolling catch, grabbed him just as he was leaping off, and lay on my back in the pasture holding the baby goat heroically above my head. Touchdown! I'm not sure if my aunt got a picture of this or not - she may have been laughing too hard to click the shutter, although I'll definitely post it here if she sends me one - after all, I've got few enough great sporting moments that this one is one to treasure. Olympics, here I come! Sharon Read the comments on this post... Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: Inside the Outbreaks on the ScienceBlogs Book Club

As you know, I often write blog posts that are reviews or evaluations (or, often, just English translations) of Peer Reviewed Research. Those blog posts, and all the other ones written by dozens of bloggers around the world, are aggregated at Research Blogging Dot Org. It is a great place to get unfettered expert opinions and enlightened elaborations of current research in all fields of science. Anyway, every now and then Researchblogging.org, on their own blog site, makes "Editor's selections" of their favorite peer reviewed reviews. It is roughly like getting an Emmy or an Oscar. Very prestigious. Anyway, I was one of four recipients in this round, all of which you can find listed here. The winning blog post was my piece on "Natural Selection vs. Opportunity in Macroevolutionary Patterning of the Fossil Record," which was really a rant about how when a certain paper came out the press turned it into a "Darwin was Rong" media event. Which was wrong. Darwin was right, and the paper in question is also probably right. I'd like to thank Jarret Byrnes, the editor at Research Blogging, and Dave Munger for his help in setting up the site, and Bora for his encouragement by helping people get PLoS access (even though this wasn't a PLoS paper) and my parents for leaving me in the woods all those times so I would develop an interest in science, and my family for allowing me to express myself this way, and ... Oh, sorry, out of time, got to go to the store to pick up organisms. (Never mind ... those of you whoa are life science teachers or married to life science teachers will know exactly what I mean.)
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The Guardian has started a new science blogging network with a handful of carefully selected bloggers as part of it. This is on of several new networks to emerge after the exodus of several bloggers from Scienceblogs.com Apparently this is very important to the MSM. I'm checking on what the MSM is. Also, see Neuron Culture's post for a bit mre info and discussion. New Face-Palm Graphic Available for Bloggers, Here. OK, just heard: MSM is Main Stream Media. Google Reader now has a "full screen mode" Just hit the f key and it toggles on and off. I like full screen modes. Not that this is really a full screen mode, but it is a step in the right direction. (Just for kicks, try "f" and "f11" at the same time!) Details. Read the comments on this post...

Thanks St. Cloud State University for getting the word out about the USA Science and Engineering Festival at the Minnesota State Fair. Read more about it below! The first day of the Minnesota State Fair was designated as STEM Day. There were performances, demonstrations, displays by 20 STEM groups including St. Cloud State University at the opening day of the Fair. St. Cloud State representatives Dr. Carolyn Ruth Williams, Associate Dean for Multicultural Affairs and STEM Initiatives, Dr. Balsy Kasi, Professor Environmental /Technological Studies, Dr. Nancy Sundheim, Professor of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Wenjie Chen, graduate engineering student and Brian Mueller, student assistant staffed a tent. St. Cloud State's exhibit focused on promoting wind power as an alternative source of energy and to spreading the word about St. Cloud State's participation in the U.S. Science and Engineering Festival in Washington, D.C., in October. Over 1,500 fairgoers stopped by SCSU's exhibit and received a festival button, windmill kit and
information on St. Cloud State University . Read the comments on this post... Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: Inside the Outbreaks on the ScienceBlogs Book Club

It is less than six weeks until the start of the USA Science and Engineering Festival. The excitement is starting to build. Check this out! Host Sponsor Lockheed Martin's CTO Ray O Johnson is interviewed by EarthSky (another Festival Sponsor) about why we need to re-invorate interest in science in our schools here in the US or we will fall behind in new developments and technologies. He talks about the role of the USA Science and Engineering Festival in his interview. The mission statement for the USA Science and Engineering Festival is: is to re-invigorate the interest of our nation's youth in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) by producing and presenting the most compelling, exciting, educational and entertaining science gatherings in the United States. We are expecting over a million people over the two weeks of the Festival. Will you be there? Reposted from one of our sponsors EarthSky The USA Science and Engineering Festival will be held October 23rd and 24th, 2010 on the National Mall in Washington D.C. ra 90 Second interview with Ray O Johnson 8 minute interview with Ray O Johnson Ray Johnson: Science has been the cornerstone of our society. Science and engineering have been a strong economic driver for us. Dr. Ray Johnson is senior vice president and chief technology officer at Lockheed Martin. He sits on the board of the U.S.A. Science and Engineering Festival, expected to draw a million visitors to Washington's National Mall in October 2010. Ray Johnson: One of the things we know about interest in science and technology is that the decision to go into those fields occurs early in a person's life, in the grade school years. So the goal of the USA Science and Engineering Festival is to enable young students to be exposed to hands-on opportunities in science, for them to really see what it's like to get the feel of it. Johnson said he believes it's important to inspire more young people in the U.S. to choose careers in science and engineering. Ray Johnson: A Congressional report a few years ago found that the U.S. leadership is beginning to erode in many of the areas of science. Inside the corporation we actually view this as nothing short of a crisis. The national security environment is more than just military security. It's also economic security. It's that competitiveness globally. It's the ability to train a workforce that can work in the areas of energy and climate change, affordable health care, cybersecurity, some of the big challenges that we see for the world today, and the exciting opportunities that are being created in these fields. Dr. Johnson said that the USA Science and Engineering Festival will be the largest such festival ever held in the United States. Ray Johnson: We expect more than a million visitors over the period from the 10th to the 24th of October. On the 23rd and 24th of October, there'll hundreds of exhibits on the National Mall of Washington. It's an opportunity to witness the science and engineering, take it away from the textbook and the theoretical and into the practical, into the hands-on. The 'thrill of victory' in solving difficult problems, said Johnson, is one reason he first became interested in science and engineering. Ray Johnson: Engineering allows you to make things, it allows you to make a difference. I think the best analogy is a sports analogy. You may remember Wide World of Sports had a story on 'the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.' I think today's young people, when exposed to engineering, but especially the science and math that underpins it, can actually experience that same kind of thrill of victory through solving difficult problems and making a difference to the world. Dr. Johnson sees a bright future for young people considering a career in science and engineering. Ray Johnson: Science and engineering allows you to work on creating the future. If you think about the things we're doing inside our corporation, we're building the only two fifth-generation fighter aircraft. We're sending spacecraft to Mars to explore the planet and discover water. We're working in advanced technology areas like nanotechnology. And we're also working on some of the more challenging problems for the Earth today, including energy and climate change. Engineers of the future are going to develop clean and renewable energy sources. They're going to continue to battle international terrorism. They're going to continue to create new technologies to make our lives better. Our thanks today to the USA Science and Engineering Festival - October 23rd-24th 2010 - on the National Mall in Washington D.C. Written by Jorge Salazar Read the comments on this post... Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: Inside the Outbreaks on the ScienceBlogs Book Club

Der Spiegel reports that it has obtained a German military think tank's analysis of peak oil's implicatons - and that the implications of the report are that the German government sees a peak oil scenario as potentially serious and likely enough to require attention: The issue is so politically explosive that it's remarkable when an institution like the Bundeswehr, the German military, uses the term "peak oil" at all. But a military study currently circulating on the German blogosphere goes further.

The study is a product of the Future Analysis department of the Bundeswehr Transformation Center, a think tank tasked with fixing a direction for the German military. The team of authors, led by Lieutenant Colonel Thomas Will, uses sometimes-dramatic language to depict the consequences of an irreversible depletion of raw materials. It warns of shifts in the global balance of power, of the formation of new relationships based on interdependency, of a decline in importance of the western industrial nations, of the "total collapse of the markets" and of serious political and economic crises.

The study, whose authenticity was confirmed to SPIEGEL ONLINE by sources in government circles, was not meant for publication. The document is said to be in draft stage and to consist solely of scientific opinion, which has not yet been edited by the Defense Ministry and other government bodies.

The lead author, Will, has declined to comment on the study. It remains doubtful that either the Bundeswehr or the German government would have consented to publish the document in its current form. But the study does show how intensively the German government has engaged with the question of peak oil. Spiegel also notes that this parallels recently released documents in Britain that indicate concern in the British government about an energy supply crisis - and indeed, this shouldn't be surprising as the IEA has been warning about an impending supply crisis for several years now. The Bundeswehr report places peak oil as possibly around 2010 and sees the following consequences: Oil will determine power: The Bundeswehr Transformation Center writes that oil will become one decisive factor in determining the new landscape of international relations: "The relative importance of the oil producing nations in the international system is growing. These nations are using the advantages resulting from this to expand the scope of their domestic and foreign policies and establish themselves as a new or resurgent regional, or in some cases even global leading power." Increasing importance of oil exporters: For importers of oil more competition for resources will mean an increase in the number of nations competing for favour with oil producing nations. For the latter this opens up a window of opportunity which can be used to implement political, economic or ideological aims. As this window of time will only be open for a limited period, "this could result in a more aggressive assertion of national interests on the part of the oil producing nations." Politics in place of the market: The Bundeswehr Transformation Center expects that a supply crisis would roll back the liberalization of the energy market. "The proportion of oil traded on the global, freely accessible oil market will diminish as more oil is traded through bi-national contracts," the study states. In the long run, the study goes on, the global oil market, will only be able to follow the laws of the free market in a restricted way. "Bilateral, conditioned supply agreements and privileged partnerships, such as those seen prior to the oil crises of the seventies, will once again come to the fore." Market failures: The authors paint a bleak picture of the consequences resulting from a shortage of petroleum. As the transportation of goods depends on crude oil, international trade could be subject to colossal tax hikes. "Shortages in the supply of vital goods could arise" as a result, for example in food supplies. Oil is used directly or indirectly in the production of 95% of all industrial goods. Price shocks could therefore be seen in almost any industry and throughout all stages of the industrial supply chain. "In the medium term the global economic system and every market-oriented national economy would collapse." Relapse into planned economy: Since virtually all economic sectors rely heavily on oil, peak oil could lead to a "partial or complete failure of markets," says the study. "A conceivable alternative would be government rationing and the allocation of important goods or the setting of production schedules and other short-term coercive measures to replace market-based mechanisms in times of crisis." Global chain reaction: "A restructuring of oil supplies will not be equally possible in all regions before the onset of peak oil," says the study. "It is likely that a large number of states will not be in a position to make the necessary investments in time," or with "sufficient magnitude." If there were economic crashes in some regions of the world, Germany could be affected. Germany would not escape the crises of other countries, because it's so tightly integrated into the global economy. Crisis of political legitimacy: The Bundeswehr study also raises fears for the survival of democracy itself. Parts of the population could comprehend the upheaval trigged by peak oil "as a general systemic crisis." This would create "room for ideological and extremist alternatives to existing forms of government." Fragmentation of the affected population is likely and could "in extreme cases lead to open conflict." None of this is a real surprise if you've been paying attention - these are the logical consequences of an impending oil peak for the world and for individual nations. But what is important is that these issues are finally being taken seriously at national levels. It is almost certainly too late to make any kind of a smooth transition, but it is also the case that almost any kind of functional, non-destructive preparation to protect ordinary people could have enormous effect. It is simply about time. Sharon Read the comments on this post... Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: Inside the Outbreaks on the ScienceBlogs Book Club

Yesterday I was on the phone with my Rabbi, who was asking me for data bout the BP oil spill and wanted to know whether there was any connection to peak oil. I told him that there certainly is - the BP oil spill is in many measures a consequence of a society under deep pressure to develop every conceivable source of oil, at great monetary, energy and ecological cost. The connection to peak oil is obvious - once upon a time, one dug a well in the ground and oil came spurting up - the version of oil prospecting one can still see in Bugs Bunny Cartoons today. Now increasingly, the world's discoveries, which are coming at a rate that in no way compensates for the drastically higher rate of consumption, are often deepwater sites that are enormously costly to develop, politically contested or ecologically sensitive sites we wouldn't have considered before. Now instead of spurting out, we use ever more expensive technologies to extract oil deep in rock or to pump seawater to keep up pressure in aging oil fields. In the end, the Deepwater Horizon disaster, for all of the regulatory failures and failures of BP itself, is most of all a consequence of our desperation to keep the oil flowing - and the fact that we are living with the consequences of being nearly 50 years past the peak of discovery, almost 40 years past the peak of US production, and probably five years past world conventional oil production peak. And the reality is that unless we learn to use vastly less oil, the pursuit of compensatory resources from ever-more-sensitive and ever-harder-to-get-to sites will result in more disasters - period. I admit, I didn't expect to see one quite so quickly though - and we don't know whether what just happened in the Gulf is an equivalent event, or whether this too is a result primarily of our drive for more, more. But here's what we do know, via the
AP and the New York Times:
An offshore petroleum platform exploded and was burning Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico about 80 miles off the Louisiana coast, west of the site where BP's undersea well spilled after a rig explosion. The Coast Guard says no one was killed in the blast, which was reported by a commercial helicopter flying over the area Thursday morning. All 13 people aboard the rig have been accounted for, with one injury. The extent of the injury was not known. Seven Coast Guard helicopters, two airplanes and three cutters were dispatched to the scene from New Orleans, Houston and Mobile, Ala., Ben-Iesau said. She said authorities do not know whether oil was leaking from the site. The Department of Homeland Security said the platform was in about 2,500 feet of water and owned by Mariner Energy of Houston. DHS said it was not producing oil and gas. It is too early to know what the results of this explosion will be, and I'm just grateful that this time the workers have survived. But again, I think it bears reiteration - you can tighten regulations, you can certainly reduce the number of accidents, but the danger to us and our planet is a consequence of the way we consume resources. The problem cannot in any way be outsourced. I hope we dodge the bullet this time, and there is no spill - but we won't dodge it forever. Read the comments on this post... Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: Inside the Outbreaks on the ScienceBlogs Book Club

At this very moment, PLoS Currents is expanding. Here is the information from PLoS: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...

This is interesting: Drupal has released a new code of conduct for their community. It has five points: * Be considerate
* Be respectful
* When we disagree, we consult others
* When we are unsure, we ask for help
* Step down considerately The fucker stole the whole thing from Ubuntu, as it turns out. How dare they!!!!111eleventy!!! Gmail just got like skype, sort of. Five days after the announcement of Voice and Video Chat service in Gmail for Debian-based Linux distributions, Google unveiled a Gmail phone call service for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Rather than having both parties tied to their computers and logged into their Gmail accounts, one user can now call anyone in the US and Canada with telephone service. Google states that rates will remain free for the rest of the year and very low for international calls. source
Aircraft Flight Recorder technology is hardly ever upgraded, and thus, will always be stagnant. Why is that? Why are the designers of something so important so conservative? Maybe they should be. But really, there is no reason that when an airplane crashes, all the flight data has not already been downloaded as part of a continuous process using high speed networks and satellites. That would have been nice for Flight 447, oui? Anyway, here's a story about black box upgrades. Read the comments on this post...

If you teach biology, you probably get to hydrogen bonding pretty early in the term. Here's an inspirational video for you: hat tip: Bora Hydrogen bonding explains everything!!!! Why does water hold so much heat? Why does ice float? How does a water bug not sink? Why does a dog smell everyone's butt? Read the comments on this post...

An offshore oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, west of the site of the April blast that caused the massive oil spill. A commercial helicopter company reported the blast around 9:30 a.m. CDT Thursday, Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel said. Seven helicopters, two airplanes and four boats were en route to the site, about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast. The Coast Guard said initial reports indicated all 13 crew members from the rig were in the water. One was injured, but there were no deaths. details Read the comments on this post...

"Hey, dude, whatcha doin'?" "Signing these contracts. I'm not sure why they need four copies, but they do." "Contracts for what?" "The new book. Remmeber, the one we've been talking about these last few weeks? Sequel-of-sorts to How to Teach Physics to Your Dog? About relativity?" "Oh, yeah, that's right! We're doing another book! Where do I sign?" "What do you mean, 'Where do I sign?' You're a dog." "I could, you know, put a paw print on the line, or something." "I suppose you could, but it wouldn't be legally binding. Dogs aren't allowed to sign contracts." "You know that's horribly species-ist, right? I suppose you're going to get all the money, too." "Well, yeah, since dogs can't open bank accounts, either. But don't worry, you'll get your share." "In the form of steak?" "Absolutely." "Yippee! I love steak!" Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... Also check out the featured ScienceBlog of the week: Inside the Outbreaks on the ScienceBlogs Book Club

Some good news: the online 'debate' between Dawkins and the religion editors of the Times can be read for free. It's a terrible format: it's just a chat window with people throwing questions at Dawkins, which he deftly slices out of the air with a samurai sword of reason. Here's one of the more coherent questions the pro-faith gummi bears tossed at him, which will give you an idea of the quality of the interrogation. I just interviewed David Wilkinson, principal of St John's Durham and astrophysicist, and this is what he said (full interview at my Times blog Articles of Faith): The science Stephen Hawking uses raises a number of questions which for many opens the door to the possibility of an existence of a creator and for many points to the existence of a creator. 'One would be the the purpose of the universe. Although science might discover the mechanism, we are still left with the question of what is the purpose. 'Second is where the laws of physics come from. Science subsumes the laws but we are still left with the question of where the laws come from. 'Third is the intelligibility of the universe. It strikes me as interesting that Stephen Hawking can make it intelligible. Albert Einstein once said that the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible. For many of us who are struck by the intelligibility of the physical laws, the explanation is that the creator is the force of rationality both for the universe and for our minds. To summarize Dawkins' three answers: Why even propose a cosmic purpose? That question isn't answered by postulating a mysterious intelligent being, either. Why assume a godless universe would have to be unintelligible? Stupid questions do not warrant our concern or need to answer. Questions that do not bring us closer to understanding are nothing but the posturings of people who substitute noise for reason. Read the comments on this post...

I have a love of innovative clocks and this is no exception. The catena wall clock was designed by Andreas Dober for anthologie quartett. Yours for just $2,338. Read the comments on this post...

I lifted this from the fourth in a series on "why we vaccinate" from Elyse the Skepchick's blog. The first one is here. Read the comments on this post...