March 2005 Archives
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March 31, 2005
Meantime to First Response for President Bush
While it took five days for President Bush to respond to the killings in Wyoming, it took him less than half a day to issue his first remarks on Terri Schaivo's death. Of course, guns where used in Wyoming and...Read all of "Meantime to First Response for President Bush"
Posted by Duane Smith at 10:07 AM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
March 30, 2005
Team to Publish "The Gospel of Judas"
The Middle East Online reports that a team led by Rudolf Kasser of the University of Geneva plans to publish the Gospel of Judas and translate it into English, French and German. The papyrus manuscript of 62 pages is in a "bad state." The text is in Coptic. Coptic is a late version of Egyptian written in a modified Greek alphabet. Many early Egyptian Christians spoke and wrote Coptic. There is reason to believe that Greek was the original language of this work.Read all of "Team to Publish "The Gospel of Judas""
Posted by Duane Smith at 12:42 PM | TrackBack (0) | Abnormal Archive Link |
March 29, 2005
Two Abnormally Interesting Items
A few days ago, I posted a little study on "kinds" as used in the Hebrew Bible and "species" as used in science. Organic Matter reports on and discusses an article at Philosophy Now. This article, by Massimo Pigliucci, mentions...Read all of "Two Abnormally Interesting Items"
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March 28, 2005
More Free Marketing for Creationism
Jason Rosenhouse, writing at Panda's Thumb and more expansively at Evolutionblog, addresses an article by Paul McHugh in the Weekly Standard entitled Teaching Darwin: Why we're still fighting about biology textbook. The article is, as Rosenhouse says, ". . ....Read all of "More Free Marketing for Creationism"
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March 27, 2005
The Economics of Neanderthal Extinction
Last Friday I previewed an paper on Neanderthal extinction and human ascendancy. I was able to download a prepublication copy from Science Direct last night. You will need to register, if you haven't already, and pay a fee it you don't subscribe to the Journal of Economic Organization and Behavior to get the paper.Read all of "The Economics of Neanderthal Extinction"
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AP to Provide News and Fox News
According to a Los Angles Times editorial this morning, the Associated Press will begin offering two versions of mayor news stories one a traditional, straightforward, factual news lead and the other a more evocative, literary version using images, vivid description,...Read all of "AP to Provide News and Fox News"
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March 26, 2005
Mark Twain on the Bible
There is a raging email debate in the Mark Twain Forum over the reliability of the Bible. It is motivated by a reference a forum member made to the following quotation from Twain,It (the Bible) is full of interest. It has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.
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March 25, 2005
Did Free Trade Help Drive Neanderthal Extinction?
According to a press release from the University of Wyoming, economists Jason Shogren, Richard Horan of the Michigan State University and Erwin Bulte from Tilburg University have concluded that free trade economics contributed to the extinction of Neanderthals. A formal...Read all of "Did Free Trade Help Drive Neanderthal Extinction?"
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Bush on the Minnesota School Shootings
President Bush's immediate reaction;President Bush's reaction after time to reflect;
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March 24, 2005
Genesis "Kinds" - Leviticus "Kinds" and "Species"
This post has everything to do with religion and has nothing to do with evolution. In a comment to Carl Zimmer's recent post on HIV virus strains, a young earth creationist offered a ramble about the Bible and creationism that included a sub-ramble about "kinds." I wrote a post about it at the time. Until then, I had never thought much about the question of "kinds" in the Bible; so I decided to look up the relevant biblical passages and see if they added up to anything.Read all of "Genesis "Kinds" - Leviticus "Kinds" and "Species""
Posted by Duane Smith at 2:53 PM
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March 23, 2005
I Was Wrong. It Is Also About Demonizing the Judicial System
Yesterday I wrote that the Schiavo political sideshow was all about abortion. I was wrong. It is also about demonizing the judicial system. When words like "shocked" and "outraged" are used to describe legal opinions that follow on the heels of extensive and near unanimous legal review, one has to wonder what is going on. One can disagree with a ruling. One can think it wrong. But these rulings of the Federal Court and the Federal Appeals Court are hardly shocking or outrageous. They are exactly what reasonable people would expect given the history of the litigation. Any other outcome would have been shocking, perhaps outrageous. So what is going on?Read all of "I Was Wrong. It Is Also About Demonizing the Judicial System"
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March 22, 2005
It's All About Political Posturing on Abortion
The Daily Kos has it right; the Schiavo political sideshow is about abortion rights. Nothing more and nothing less. Don't get me wrong; I believe that Terry Schiavo's permanent vegetative state is an almost unbearable tragedy for her husband and...Read all of "It's All About Political Posturing on Abortion"
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March 21, 2005
Making Something Interesting, Well, Interesting
I've been working on something of Abnormal Interest to me. The major problem I'm facing is how not to make it abnormally boring to everyone else. In the mean time, check out the New York Public Library Digital Gallery. I...Read all of "Making Something Interesting, Well, Interesting"
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March 20, 2005
Creationists and Scientists Should Talk in Rings not Circles
Two pervasive issues are at the heart of the effort to bring reason to discussions about evolution and creationism. First, creationists and scientists dispute the issue of speciation. Young earth creationists want to talk about "kinds." Intelligent design creationists want...Read all of "Creationists and Scientists Should Talk in Rings not Circles"
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Just Follow Your Nose
Need a good laugh. Go over to Dispatches from the Cultural Wars and learn again that the truth is often funnier that any contrived joke....Read all of "Just Follow Your Nose"
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March 19, 2005
Where to Get Data on Iraq
A quick note on a source of military, casualty, and economic data on Iraq Think Progress has a very good summary of the available data on the war and recovery efforts in Iraq. The Think Progress Team draws on the following sources plus several others. Check out their site.Read all of "Where to Get Data on Iraq"
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March 18, 2005
Where is Herbert Spencer When You Need Him?
Again, Carl Zimmer has a great post on evolution, this time on the evolution of the AIDS virus. And once again, someone complains that Zimmer does not understand creationism and its supposed factual foundation. This time, that someone is one Jim Bendewald (his link, among other things, is broken) who types a comment to Zimmer's post.Read all of "Where is Herbert Spencer When You Need Him?"
Posted by Duane Smith at 8:23 PM
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Ship Remains from the Time of Hatshepsut of Egypt
Boston University reports the discovery of the remains of 18th dynasty (~ 1500 BCE) Egyptian ships. The discoverers base the date on associated pottery finds. These dates are in the range of the reign of Hatshepsut. Several stelae were also...Read all of "Ship Remains from the Time of Hatshepsut of Egypt"
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March 17, 2005
Mr. Bush, What Will Solve the Social Security Problem?
Mr. Bush told us in yesterday's press conference that personal accounts will not solve the problem with Social Security.Personal accounts do not solve the issue. Personal accounts will make sure that individual workers get a better deal with whatever emerges as a Social Security solution.And then he changed the subject. Well, if personal accounts don't solve whatever problems there may be, what will? On this, he refuses to offer even an opinion. He wants other to do that. There's leadership for you.
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March 16, 2005
Neanderthals May Have Sung Like Sopranos; But Could They Dance?
Before we get too deep in this, I am not convinced by what I've seen so far, but its not quite April fool's day so I guess I should pay some attention. News in Science, Discoverychannel.com and likely others are reporting a study by Stephen Mithen, a professor of archaeology at the University of Reading that claims that Neanderthals "had the physical ability to communicate with pitch and melody" in a form "that was half spoken and half sung."Read all of "Neanderthals May Have Sung Like Sopranos; But Could They Dance?"
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March 15, 2005
Judge Kramer and Conflicting Laws
AMERICABlog points us to the AP article in the San Jose Mercury News on the California gay marriage ruling. I don't know enough about the law in this area to have an informed opinion on the substance of the legal...Read all of "Judge Kramer and Conflicting Laws"
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March 14, 2005
Herbert Spencer and the Burden of Proof for Evolution
Five years before the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species, four years before the Darwin and Wallace joint paper on species and four years before the reading of their separate papers at the Linnean Society, Lord Herbert Spencer anonymously published The Development Hypothesis in the March 20, 1852 issue of The Leader. A passage from the 1891 version of this essay in a collection of Spencer essays is often quoted as a counter to creationists demands for more "facts" in support of evolution in the face of them having no facts. The passage famously reads,Those who cavalierly reject the Theory of Evolution, as not adequately supported by facts, seem quite to forget that their own theory is supported by no facts at all.
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March 13, 2005
Evangelicals, Religion and Secularism
There are two additional points in "For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility" that I would like to take up today. They both involve The National Association of Evangelicals' motivations for preparing the document. The first is imbedded in the following:Since the atrocities of September 11, 2001, the spiritual and religious dimensions of global conflict have been sharpened.This statement is no doubt true. The terrorists of 9/11 had strong spiritual and religious dimensions. They were religions fanatics. Whatever else may have motivated them; it was these spiritual and religious dimensions that sustained them through their training and attacks. In this regard, the authors of "For the Health of the Nation" are correct in pointing it out. This fact should motivate a lot of thought. My own reflection on this leads to the conclusion that thoughts and actions driven, even in part, by spirituality or religious should be a matter of grave concern. To be blunt, in the case of 9/11 the spiritual and religious dimension was completely negative. But this fact appears lost on our authors.
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March 12, 2005
Is Dogma an Ethical Position?
Thanks to In the Agora for pointing out The National Association of Evangelicals document "For the Health of the Nation: An Evangelical Call to Civic Responsibility" and the New York Times article that discusses it. The document is interesting for what it says, how it says it and what it doesn't say. This document is supposedly a compromise between evangelical liberals and conservatives on how to act in the public forum. It broadens evangelical political concerns beyond the dogmatic anti-abortion and dogmatic anti-gay focus to include a number of other equally dogmatic positions. I agree with many of these newly articulated positions, but I do have trouble with how they are defended.Read all of "Is Dogma an Ethical Position?"
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March 11, 2005
The CBS Evening News with Dan Rather Bob Schieffer
Well the Rather era ended and the Schieffer internship began last night on CBS. Will we be able to tell them apart? On the first very limited evidence, the answer is no. Both pander to the Bush plan to privatize social security as well as other neo-con agenda items. How either of these newsmen or their news programs came to be thought of as liberal is testimony to how far our country has moved to the right.
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March 10, 2005
Endangered Assets: Local Public Libraries
In a time with so many difficulties in our political life, it is hard to single out any one public institution for special treatment. However, libraries have always been a significant part of my life. I have spent many hours in university research libraries and public libraries. So today, I would like to address the not so humble public library. Public libraries are important assets that, like so many things in our complicated lives, are often forgotten until we need them. All public libraries are operating under increasing financial restraints as local money goes to other priories or money is simply withheld by state governments to meet their own growing financial burdens. Check out the endangered libraries at Library Dust: Salinas California Public Library, the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library system, the Washington, D.C. Library System, the Spokane Public Library and there are others.Read all of "Endangered Assets: Local Public Libraries"
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March 9, 2005
70,000 Year Old Neanderthal Protein Sequenced
Eurekalert reported yesterday that researchers at the Department of Human Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Liepzig, Germany and Washington University in St. Louis sequenced a protein from the ~70,000 old Neanderthal skeleton from Shanidar Cave in Iraq. The news report lacks details but the following offers a flavor of the results.Read all of "70,000 Year Old Neanderthal Protein Sequenced"
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March 8, 2005
The Ethics of Indifference
Albert Bigelow Paine in Mark Twain: a Biography (chapter 287) quotes a marginal note by Mark Twain from Twain's personal copy of the Duke of Saint-Simon, The Memoirs of Louis XIV and His Court and of the Regency which says;So much blood has been shed by the Church because of an omission from the Gospel: "Ye shall be indifferent as to what your neighbor's religion is." Not merely tolerant of it, but indifferent to it. Divinity is claimed for many religions; but no religion is great enough or divine enough to add that new law to its code.
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March 7, 2005
Goodbye Hans Bethe
Cornell University announces death of Hans Bethe; Nobel laureate Hans Bethe, titan of physics and conscience of science, emeritus professor of physics at Cornell University, died yesterday at his home in Ithaca, N.Y Bethe was among the last of the...Read all of "Goodbye Hans Bethe"
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An Interesting Take on Creationism and Culture
Go over to Spiked on Line and read Joe Kaplinsky's essay on "Creationism, pluralism and the compromising of science. - 'The trouble with 'teaching the controversy'." Good Stuff. Among his many interesting points, he notes the success of Dan Brown's...Read all of "An Interesting Take on Creationism and Culture"
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March 6, 2005
Rendition as a Cost Reduction Program
What do you do if simulated drowning, forced masturbation and threats of eternal damnation are not good enough? And what if you are holding someone that you think our courts might set free? How about sending the rascals to a county that is not encumbered by scruples about torture or civil rights. At least this is what I thought was the motive for sending them to other countries. But it seems I was wrong.Read all of "Rendition as a Cost Reduction Program"
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March 5, 2005
Ward Churchill and the "New McCarthyism"
Boston.com reports the following:University of Colorado President Betsy Hoffman said a professor who compared Sept. 11 victims to Nazis will not be fired if a review turns up only inflammatory comments, not misconduct. If we find it is just about speech, there will be no action," Hoffman told the school's faculty assembly Thursday, adding that she feared a "new McCarthyism" was responsible for the uproar over Ward Churchill's essay.
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More on the Hobbit's Femur
My post the other day entitled The Hobbits Brain Revealed but Don't Forget the Hobbit's Femur didn't say much about the Hobbit's femur. It did allude to it in the discussion of LB1's (the Hobbits) body mass and that was just the point. When all that remains is parts of a skeleton, body mass must be estimated and there are really two ways of doing this. One way is to calculate stature based on long bone (i.e. the femur) comparisons with reference populations. The other is based the girth of the load bearing bones (i.e. the femur) again comparing it with reference populations of modern humans and apes. And that is why the femur is so important.Read all of "More on the Hobbit's Femur"
Posted by Duane Smith at 11:38 AM
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March 4, 2005
Never Underestimate the Importance of Marketing in Politics
When does -63 - 58 = 49 and "same sex partners" ≠ "gay partners?" Yesterday, the New York Times published the results of a new poll taken between February 24th and 28th of this year. I find two sets of...Read all of "Never Underestimate the Importance of Marketing in Politics"
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March 3, 2005
The Hobbit's Brain Revealed but Don't Forget the Hobbit's Femur
Carl Zimmer at The Loom has a summary of a new study by Dean Falk, a Florida State University paleoanthropologist, and colleagues on Homo floresiensis brain using CT-scan. The bottom line: the "Hobbits" brain is closest to a Homo erectus...Read all of "The Hobbit's Brain Revealed but Don't Forget the Hobbit's Femur"
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March 2, 2005
Arizona Bill Would Allow Weapons in Schools - No Joke
The Phoenix Daily Star article begins;PHOENIX - The House of Representatives voted Tuesday to let people carry weapons - including guns, grenades, rockets, mines and sawed-off shotguns - into schools, polling places and nuclear plants if they claim they're only trying to protect themselves.
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Mark Twain in Bermuda
I've been looking for something to post about Mark Twain and just such a thing arrived in my email from the Mark Twain Forum. Most people know that Mark Twain spent a good deal of his adult life in Europe...Read all of "Mark Twain in Bermuda"
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March 1, 2005
Members of Congress and Social Security
We often hear strange things about members of Congress and Social Security. These claims have become part of the mythology surrounding the current Social Security debate. Members of Congress do not pay into Social Security. Members of Congress get extravagant...Read all of "Members of Congress and Social Security"
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