Plan 8 from Doubter Space

I Believe In Evolution, Except For The Whole Triassic Period

2007-05-31T08:33:00.000+05:30

I Believe In Evolution, Except For The Whole Triassic Period
(The Onion)

Don’t get me wrong: I’m not one of those religious nut cases who denies that evolution is real. Of course evolution is real, just not during the “Triassic period.”

This so-called Triassic period saw the formation of scleractinian corals and a slight changeover from warm-blooded therapsids to cold-blooded archosauromorphs. Clearly, such breathtakingly subtle modifications could only have been achieved by an active intelligence.

The secular Triassicists would have you believe that these changes were just the result of millions of years of nature favoring certain genes over others in order to adapt, the same way evolution worked prior to the Triassic. Obviously, that doesn’t make any sense.

Yeah, I’ve had niggling doubts about those archosauromorphs myself.

Darwin’s God

2007-03-05T17:17:00.000+05:30

Darwin’s God
(New York Times)

A second mental module that primes us for religion is causal reasoning. The human brain has evolved the capacity to impose a narrative, complete with chronology and cause-and-effect logic, on whatever it encounters, no matter how apparently random. “We automatically, and often unconsciously, look for an explanation of why things happen to us,” Barrett wrote, “and ‘stuff just happens’ is no explanation. Gods, by virtue of their strange physical properties and their mysterious superpowers, make fine candidates for causes of many of these unusual events.” The ancient Greeks believed thunder was the sound of Zeus’s thunderbolt. Similarly, a contemporary woman whose cancer treatment works despite 10-to-1 odds might look for a story to explain her survival. It fits better with her causal-reasoning tool for her recovery to be a miracle, or a reward for prayer, than for it to be just a lucky roll of the dice.

Menstrual Mood Swings May Have a Use After All

2007-01-30T19:32:00.000+05:30

Menstrual Mood Swings May Have a Use After All
(New Scientist)

Indeed, previous experiments have shown that women report getting more pleasure from cocaine and amphetamine use during the follicular phase compared to the luteal phase, says Dreher. He believes his findings may therefore help treat women with drug abuse problems, or those with mood disorders.

Dreher also speculates that increased feelings of reward during the follicular phase—when a woman is ovulating and therefore most likely to get pregnant—may have an evolutionary benefit. “It is interesting to note that, from an evolutionary perspective, the increased availability, receptivity and desire that may occur during the ovulatory period has been thought to facilitate procreation,” he says.

Really? That goes against everything I know of the phenomenon.

“Hobbit” human “is a new species”

2007-01-30T18:59:00.000+05:30

“Hobbit” human “is a new species”
(BBC)

In the new study, Dean Falk, of Florida State University, and her colleagues say the remains are those of a completely separate human species: Homo floresiensis.

They have published their findings in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The remains at the centre of the Hobbit controversy were discovered at Liang Bua, a limestone cave on the Indonesian island of Flores, in 2003.

Hooray for Bilbo!

Condoms “too big” for Indian men

2006-12-09T10:42:00.000+05:30

Condoms “too big” for Indian men
(BBC)

The two-year study was carried out by the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Over 1,200 volunteers from the length and breadth of the country had their penises measured precisely, down to the last millimeter.

The scientists even checked their sample was representative of India as a whole in terms of class, religion and urban and rural dwellers.

The conclusion of all this scientific endeavor is that about 60% of Indian men have penises which are between three and five centimeters shorter than international standards used in condom manufacture.

So this may just be what the doctor ordered.

Afghans’ growing appetite for porn

2006-11-14T20:39:00.000+05:30

Afghans’ growing appetite for porn
(Scotsman)

At least one satellite operator offers foreign channels such as eurotictv, allsex, 247Sex and transex, along with the God Channel and the Church, Miracle and Hope channels. In a country where converting to Christianity from Islam carries the death penalty, the Christian channels are just as offensive to some as the pornography, although not as popular.

“Pornography is a problem,” admits new provincial police chief General Asmatullah Alizai. “According to our Islamic rules and beliefs, people cannot accept this kind of thing. I don’t want people to see this kind of film.”

Dubai Swats Pests Ogling Beach Beauties

2006-11-13T10:44:00.001+05:30

Dubai Swats Pests Ogling Beach Beauties
(The New York Times)

Indeed, for the estimated 500,000 foreign workers here, most from the Indian subcontinent, the chance to spot a woman in a bikini may be hard to pass up.

They typically live in a Dickensian world of squalor, working 12-hour shifts six days a week, often denied their wages of about $150 per month for months at a time. Most of them secure work by taking out loans from recruiting agencies at home to get here, forcing most to stay on for years without seeing their families and loved ones. The workmen have become prevalent in Dubai’s public parks and beaches as their numbers have swelled, and because of the lechery-on-the-beach factor, they are especially noticeable at this time of year.

A Dissent: The Case Against Faith

2006-11-06T20:14:00.000+05:30

A Dissent: The Case Against Faith
Sam Harris (Newsweek)

It is, of course, taboo to criticize a person’s religious beliefs. The problem, however, is that much of what people believe in the name of religion is intrinsically divisive, unreasonable and incompatible with genuine morality. One of the worst things about religion is that it tends to separate questions of right and wrong from the living reality of human and animal suffering. Consequently, religious people will devote immense energy to so-called moral problems—such as gay marriage—where no real suffering is at issue, and they will happily contribute to the surplus of human misery if it serves their religious beliefs.

Cleric blames women’s attire for attacks

2006-10-26T17:47:00.000+05:30

Cleric blames women’s attire for attacks
(Sydney Morning Herald)

“If you take out uncovered meat and place it outside on the street, or in the garden or in the park, or in the backyard without a cover, and the cats come and eat it ... whose fault is it, the cats or the uncovered meat?” the sheik asked.

“The uncovered meat is the problem.”

“If she was in her room, in her home, in her hijab (islamic headdress), no problem would have occurred.”

Hear, hear!

Marketing and Mind Control

2006-10-25T18:33:00.000+05:30

Marketing and Mind Control
(Newsweek)

Psychologists have demonstrated this in the laboratory, time and time again. It’s known as the Ultimatum Game, and its counterintuitive findings are part of a broad new understanding of how the human brain and mind work. As it turns out, we are not very reasonable creatures much of the time, nor are we very aware. Indeed, we are under constant sway of our emotions and intuitions, and most of the time we are not even aware of just how quirky and emotional our everyday decisions are.

You don’t say!

Subliminal Nude Pictures Focus Attention

2006-10-25T15:44:00.000+05:30

Subliminal Nude Pictures Focus Attention
(Scientific American)

Nothing focuses the mind’s eye like an erotic picture, according to the results of a new study. Even when such pictures were actively canceled out, subliminal images of female nudes helped heterosexual men find the orientation of a briefly shown abstract shape. Such nudity-driven focusing worked almost as well for women, as long as the image accorded with their sexual preference.

In other news, liminal nude pictures are very distracting.

From today’s Bizarro

2006-10-24T11:45:00.000+05:30

Just to break the textual monotony on the page.

Viking landers may have missed Martian life

2006-10-24T10:51:00.000+05:30

Viking landers may have missed Martian life
(New Scientist Space)

The results from Vikings’ onboard experiments are confusing because some tests suggested the presence of organisms capable of digesting organic molecules. But heating the soil with a gas-chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS) to release these organic molecules found nothing, causing most scientists to rule out life. Instead they put the soil reactivity down to the presence of peroxides or other reactive substances.

Now, a paper by Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez of the University of Mexico and others demonstrates that the GCMS instrument was incapable of detecting organic compounds even in Mars-like soils from various locations on Earth. This includes Chile’s Atacama Desert, where other tests prove that living microbes are indeed present.

How Borat hoaxed America

2006-10-23T19:10:00.000+05:30

How Borat hoaxed America
(BBC)

The British comedian has perfected his act as the apparently naive reporter whose enthusiastic offensiveness either leaves his interviewees in shock or persuades them to reveal a little too much of their own prejudices.

And the result is set to be one of the year’s most popular films.

Jagshemash! I’m an unabashed Borat fan.

Reviews on Rotten Tomatoes.

Kids hang on to dad’s every word

2006-10-21T14:22:00.000+05:30

Kids hang on to dad’s every word
(New Scientist)

Children whose father’s vocabulary was more varied when they were 2 years old had more advanced language skills at age 3. Surprisingly, the dads spoke less and asked fewer questions than the mothers, suggesting it was not how much they spoke but what they said and how they said it that resonated with their children.

Uh-oh!

Indian Web Sites Go With the Flow

2006-06-27T15:12:00.000+05:30

Indian Web Sites Go With the Flow
(CNN)

Firms in India are now turning to the ancient philosophies of vaastu shastra and Chinese feng shui, used for centuries to bring balance and harmony between man and the environment, in a bid to boost their businesses through “balanced” Web pages.

Believers in vaastu shastra say the Indian science, which seeks to create harmony between nature’s five elements—earth, fire, water, air and space—man and objects, can be directly applied to the Web, just as it is to home design.

Welcome to Web −2.0.

I’ll Have What She’s Having

2006-06-22T20:54:00.000+05:30

I’ll Have What She’s Having
(Sydney Morning Herald)

Rather, her fortuitous discovery—that the high doses of fish oil she took in preparation for pregnancy and the Kegel exercises she practiced afterwards to restore lost vaginal muscle strength led her to easily achieve vaginal orgasm—was simply an unexpected boon.

“I noticed that something was different,” Lindberg says over the phone from her Boston home.

That’s an understatement. When the computer programmer had fine-tuned her recipe (see breakout), she claimed a whopping personal best of 52 vaginal orgasms in one session.

“It gives a certain confidence to a woman,” she says. “Now when I walk around, I get noticed.”

Guess I’d walk funny too, after a few dozen.

Company Sells “Islamic Jeans” Made For Praying Muslims

2006-05-26T22:16:00.000+05:30

Company Sells “Islamic Jeans” Made For Praying Muslims
(Local 6)

The Italian company, based in the city of Udine, has been marketing the trousers as “the jeans of choice for Islam,” according to the Al Quds Web site.

Al Quds Jeans, manufactured in Pakistan, are baggy and have a high waist to allow freedom of movement during the repeated kneeling for Islamic worship.

Be sure to color-coordinate with these.

Chicken and Egg Question Answered

2006-05-26T20:31:00.000+05:30

Chicken and Egg Question Answered
(Guardian)

It is a question that has vexed philosophers since the Greeks. But it seems we may now have the answer to the beguilingly simple question: “Which came first?” It’s the egg.

This reassuring conclusion was the work of an expert panel including a philosopher, geneticist and chicken farmer.

Huh? This was such a conundrum? Even Cecil answered this 22 years ago.

Feared Saudi Religious Police Reined In

2006-05-26T03:53:00.000+05:30

Feared Saudi Religious Police Reined In
(Yahoo News)

The Interior Ministry said it is taking measures to restrict the powers of the agency that runs the religious police, a force resented by many Saudis for interfering in their personal lives.

[…]

The morality squad has long enjoyed wide and unchallenged powers. Its members roam public places, such as malls, markets and universities, looking for such infractions as unrelated men and women mingling in public, men skipping the five daily prayers and women with strands of hair showing from under their veil.

They’ve scolded salesmen for dressing elegantly, waiters for serving food with a smile and young women for carrying pictures of heartthrobs, such as actor Leonardo di Caprio.

Sex Theme Park to Open in London

2006-05-25T14:50:00.000+05:30

Sex Theme Park to Open in London
(BBC)

The theme park will include life-sized silicone-made models which visitors can touch to discover erogenous zones.

People will also be able to build their ideal partner from a series of body parts and there will be instructions on how best to kiss and how to talk more sexily.

Not related: No Sex Please: We’re British

Exercise a Challenge for Saudi Women

2006-05-20T01:47:00.000+05:30

Exercise a Challenge for Saudi Women
(Yahoo News)

At a clinic that treats obesity-related diseases, a booklet left by a writer named Muhammad al-Habdan, warned that if girls' schools began P.E., Saudi girls would have to change into workout gear—and good girls should not disrobe outside their homes. Changing in a locker room might cause them to lose the shyness that is the hallmark of good morals, the booklet warned.

It went on to say that the girls might become attracted to each other after seeing their classmates in tight leotards and tops.

I have not the words.

Fetus’ Feet Show Fish, Reptile Vestiges

2006-05-19T20:12:00.000+05:30

Fetus’ Feet Show Fish, Reptile Vestiges
(Discovery Channel)

Human feet may not look reptilian once babies emerge from the womb, but during development the appendages appear similar to prehistoric fish and reptiles. The finding supports the theory that mammalian feet evolved from ancient mammal-like reptiles that, in turn, evolved from fish.

It also suggests that evolution—whether that of a species over time or the developmental course of a single organism—follows distinct patterns.

Well, better than feet of clay.

The Simpsons as Philosophy

2006-05-19T19:44:00.000+05:30

The Simpsons as Philosophy
(BBC)

We now know we’re just a bunch of naked apes trying to get on as best we can, usually messing things up, but somehow finding life can be sweet all the same. All delusions of a significance that we do not really have need to be stripped away, and nothing can do this better that the great deflator: comedy.

The Simpsons does this brilliantly, especially when it comes to religion. It’s not that the Simpsons is atheist propaganda; its main target is not belief in God or the supernatural, but the arrogance of particular organized religions that they, amazingly, know the will of the creator.

Evolution in the Light of Islam

2006-05-19T11:32:00.000+05:30

Evolution in the Light of Islam
(Islam Online)

Chance describes; chance does not cause. Even in normal linguistic definitions, when we say that two persons meet by chance, we do not mean that they are acting haphazardly in life. Given this understanding of chance, it is possible to consider evolution as the divine way of creating life on Earth, as we already accept the known law of gravity as a model for the way the cosmic order is held together.

[…]

The Qur’an says in (38:75) about Prophet Adam, ﴾whom I created with My two hands?﴿ Though this verse is sometimes used as an argument against evolution, it does not categorically negate the possibility of the emergence of humans via some evolutionary process.

Let’s wait and see if there are more of these fancy Stanford-educated science-types who want to overturn everything we hold dear.
Earlier: Faith, Science and Nature’s Mysteries

Neanderthal Yields Nuclear DNA

2006-05-18T04:12:00.000+05:30

Neanderthal Yields Nuclear DNA
(BBC)

Preliminary analysis shows the bundle of DNA responsible for maleness in the Neanderthal—its Y chromosome—is very different from modern human and chimpanzee Y chromosomes; more so than for the other chromosomes in the genome.

This might suggest that little interbreeding occurred between our own species and the Neanderthals.

Chimpanzee and Human Ancestors May Have Interbred

2006-05-18T03:17:00.000+05:30

Chimpanzee and Human Ancestors May Have Interbred
(Nature)

The evolutionary split between humans and our nearest evolutionary cousins, chimpanzees, may have occurred more recently than we thought, according to a new comparison of the respective genetic sequences. What’s more, it might have been a messy divorce rather than a clean break—leading to the controversial theory that our two sets of ancestors may have interbred many thousands of years after first parting company.

Saudis Nix Pictures of Women in Newspapers

2006-05-17T04:07:00.000+05:30

Saudis Nix Pictures of Women in Newspapers

(Yahoo News)

The king told editors on Monday night that publishing a woman’s picture for the world to see was inappropriate.

“One must think, do they want their daughter, their sister, or their wife to appear in this way. Of course, no one would accept this,” the newspaper Okaz quoted Abdullah as saying.

“The youth are driven by emotion … and sometimes they can be led astray. So, please, try to cut down on this,” he said.

OMG, I need a cold shower.

Update:
‘Abdullah Did Not Ban Women’s Pictures’
(Arab News)

King Abdullah was referring to pictures which are used for the sake of sensationalism. At no point during his meeting with the editors did the king warn local media against publishing pictures of Saudi women, as reported by the news agencies. The wire agencies completely misinterpreted and misrepresented the king’s views.

Whew!

Muslims Join Da Vinci Criticism

2006-05-17T03:45:00.000+05:30

Muslims Join Da Vinci Criticism
(BBC)

“The Holy Koran recognizes Jesus as a prophet. What the book says is an insult to both Christians and Muslims,” Maulana Mansoor Ali Khan, general secretary of the All-India Sunni Jamiyat-ul-Ulema, told the Reuters news agency.

“Muslims in India will help their Christian brothers protest this attack on our common religious belief,” he said.

Aww … the solidarity brings tears to my eyes.

The Evolution of Clots

2006-04-19T18:51:00.000+05:30

The Evolution of Clots
(Telegraph)

The ID crew, to use Darwin’s own phrase, “look at an organic being as a savage looks at a ship, as at something wholly beyond [their] comprehension.” The first Hawaiians to cast eyes on Europeans were so astonished by their great vessels that they thought their builders to be gods. The ID argument is just the same. It is the logic of ignorance, idleness and incuriosity: I am very smart, even I do not understand this, so why bother to explain it except by bringing in God (if necessary under an alias)?

Scientists, unlike creationists, do not know everything, but as they learn more, every such claim has been rubbished. Evolution is not mocked but glorified by life’s intricacy. ID is a bad idea, but has generated lots of good research, all of which shows how inane it is.

Girls Gone Wild Released Back Into Civilization

2006-04-09T02:26:00.000+05:30

Girls Gone Wild Released Back Into Civilization
(The Onion)

The 11 girls were captured nearly one month ago during their annual spring migration to the area and then put through an intensive rehabilitation program. “They have come a very long way,” Ottley said. “When we first brought them into our clinic, they could barely function beyond baring their breasts, and they communicated solely through loud, sustained hoots.”

Eatery Owner Faces Flogging for Hiring Women

2006-04-09T02:19:00.000+05:30

Eatery Owner Faces Flogging for Hiring Women
(Arab News)

When Al-Ramadan arrived in the court, the judge informed him that he had been sentenced in absentia to 90 lashes to be administered in clusters of 30 apiece. The charge against him was violating dignity and decorum.

After further inquiries, Al-Ramadan found out that his crime was employing two young women at his restaurant “Ranoosh” to take orders by phone. That was a year and a half ago when locals reported this supposed infraction to authorities.

Clusters of 30. How considerate.

Beauty and the Fattened Wallet

2006-04-07T14:28:00.000+05:30

Beauty and the Fattened Wallet
(The New York Times)

Armed with the data from these experiments and surveys, the economists found several interesting results. It turned out that beautiful people were no better than ordinary people in solving mazes. But despite having the same productivity as others in this task, beautiful people were a lot more confident about their own abilities. Being good looking seems to be strongly associated with self-confidence, a trait that is apparently attractive to employers.

When employers evaluated employees only on the basis of résumés, physical appearance had no impact on their estimates, as one would expect. But all of the other treatments showed higher productivity estimates for beautiful people, with the face-to-face interviews yielding the largest numbers.

It’s a curse, I tell you.

The Other Intelligent Design Theories

2006-03-31T05:26:00.000+05:30

The Other Intelligent Design Theories
David Brin (Skeptic Magazine)

By basing their offensive on core notions of fair play and completeness, ID promoters have employed a clever short-term tactic, but have incurred a long-term strategic liability. Because, their grand conceptual error is in believing that their incantation of Intelligent Design is the only alternative to Darwinian evolution.

Study: Prayer Doesn’t Affect Heart Patients

2006-03-31T04:25:00.000+05:30

Study: Prayer Doesn’t Affect Heart Patients
(CNN)

The study looked for any complications within 30 days of the surgery. Results showed no effect of prayer on complication-free recovery. But 59 percent of the patients who knew they were being prayed for developed a complication, versus 52 percent of those who were told it was just a possibility.

Ha, my earnest desires are more powerful than three whole Christian groups. It’s so much fun to mess with these silly Templeton studies from the comfort of your living room.

Muslims Flock to See “Miracle” Fish

2006-03-29T17:13:00.000+05:30

Muslims Flock to See “Miracle” Fish
(icLiverpool)

He spotted a squiggle on the side of one fish that mirrored the Arabic word for God—Allah.

Then he noticed another fish, in a different tank, that seemed to bear the Arabic spelling of Mohammed, known by Muslims as Islam’s last Messenger.

Ali said: “This is a message from Allah to me, a reminder, and now my faith is stronger. Everyone is so excited by the discovery.”

Yet another in a long series of such reminders. Hallahlujah!

Take that, Underpass Mary!

Prime Numbers Get Hitched

2006-03-28T14:21:00.000+05:30

Prime Numbers Get Hitched
(Seed Magazine)

There is an important sequence of numbers called “the moments of the Riemann zeta function.” Although we know abstractly how to define it, mathematicians have had great difficulty explicitly calculating the numbers in the sequence. We have known since the 1920s that the first two numbers are 1 and 2, but it wasn’t until a few years ago that mathematicians conjectured that the third number in the sequence may be 42—a figure greatly significant to those well-versed in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Hospital Asks Jesus to Change Name

2006-03-23T23:46:00.000+05:30

Hospital Asks Jesus to Change Name
(The Local, Sweden)

According to Jesus, an auxiliary nurse at Huddinge hospital, his superiors were worried that patients told “Jesus will be coming soon,” might get the wrong idea.

”If they thought that Jesus was coming they might believe that they were already dead,” the nurse told The Local.

Fear the Reaper.

Secret To A Long Life—Get Even More Often

2006-03-23T10:58:00.000+05:30

Secret To A Long Life—Get Even More Often
(Sydney Morning Herald)

The study tested students working in an imaginary call centre who were subject to abuse from clients.

Some of the participants were allowed to answer back, while others had to be polite and friendly all the time.

Those who stood up to clients had a rapid heartbeat for a brief period, but for those who had to remain friendly their heart was still racing long after the client had hung up.

The conclusion reached by the psychologists was that “being friendly against one’s will causes nothing but stress.”

My sole bet at longevity.

via ELI.

Afghan Man Faces Execution after Converting to Christianity

2006-03-20T03:44:00.000+05:30

Afghan Man Faces Execution after Converting to Christianity
(Voice of America)

He says he still believes in the almighty Allah, but cannot say for sure who God really is. “I am,” he says, “a Christian and I believe in Jesus Christ.”

Rahman reportedly converted more than 16 years ago after spending time working in Germany.

Officials say his family, who remain observant Muslims, turned him over to the authorities.

Earlier instance of familial love.

“Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city.” –George Burns.

The God Fossil

2006-03-17T21:48:00.000+05:30

The God Fossil
(New Times)

To Bjorklund and Bering, the findings were clear: children come into the world with a strong tendency to believe in a soul that survives death. The children responded, in other words, exactly the way they would if there were systems already in their brains that prevented them from thinking that intentions, thoughts, and feelings ceased after death.

“This is precisely the opposite of the pattern that one would expect to find if the origins of such beliefs could be traced exclusively to cultural indoctrination,” Bering wrote recently.

How Islamic Inventors Changed the World

2006-03-14T10:01:00.000+05:30

How Islamic Inventors Changed the World
(The Independent)

From coffee to cheques and the three-course meal, the Muslim world has given us many innovations that we take for granted in daily life. As a new exhibition opens, Paul Vallely nominates 20 of the most influential, and identifies the men of genius behind them.

1. The story goes that an Arab named Khalid was tending his goats in the Kaffa region of southern Ethiopia, when he noticed his animals became livelier after eating a certain berry. He boiled the berries to make the first coffee.

Let’s also celebrate the Christian theory of evolution, the Jewish theory of relativity, and the Hindu theory of stellar mass limits.

The article has gone behind a subscription wall (damn you tarrying Blogger bots), but mail me for a PDF.

On eBay, Atheist Puts Own Soul on Auction Block

2006-03-14T09:40:00.000+05:30

On eBay, Atheist Puts Own Soul on Auction Block
(AOL News)

The DePaul University graduate student promised the winner that for each $10 of the final bid, he would attend an hour of church services. The 23-year-old Mr. Mehta is an atheist, but he says he suspected he had been missing out on something.

“Perhaps being around a group of people who will show me ‘the way’ could do what no one else has done before,” Mr. Mehta wrote in his eBay sales pitch. “This is possibly the best chance anyone has of changing me.”

[…]

Mr. Henderson wasn’t looking for a convert. He wanted Mr. Mehta to embark with him on an eccentric experiment in spiritual bridge-building.

They’re all such good sports, it feels like watching a wholesome family serial. But, $504? Is that the going rate for eternal souls these days? Tch tch. That Dr. Faustus sure got a killer bargain.

(via Amy’s LinksAlertWire)

A Minor Hiccup (a.k.a. A Run-In with the Blogger Bot)

2006-03-14T09:25:00.000+05:30

One fine morning, as I was about to post something:

WARNING

This blog has been locked by Blogger’s spam-prevention robots. You will not be able to publish your posts, but you will be able to save them as drafts.

Save your post as a draft or click here for more about what’s going on and how to get your blog unlocked.

I sent a support request and waited four days, muttering to myself, “Of all the spam blogs in all the world, they walk into mine … and it’s not even a spam blog.”

I got this in the mail today:

Hello,

Your blog has been reviewed, verified, and whitelisted so that it will no longer appear as potential spam. If you sign out of Blogger and sign back in again, you should be able to post as normal. Thanks for your patience, and we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Sincerely,
Blogger Support

Whew. So it’s not the government, it’s just artificial stupidity. Back to our regularly scheduled intermittence, then.

Update: Blogger Buzz: On Spam Removals

Sudan man forced to ‘marry’ goat

2006-03-04T12:17:00.000+05:30

Sudan man forced to ‘marry’ goat
(BBC)

The goat’s owner, Mr Alifi, said he surprised the man with his goat and took him to a council of elders.

They ordered the man, Mr Tombe, to pay a dowry of 15,000 Sudanese dinars ($50) to Mr Alifi.

“We have given him the goat, and as far as we know they are still together,” Mr Alifi said.

Charming. Maybe they’ll honeymoon in Capri.

Of course, and I repeat myself, this is all old hat for the Indians.

Girl weds dog to break ‘evil spell’

“Members of the village jury asked us to get her married to a dog or to face the bad omen,” the girl’s father was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

The tribe elders said the marriage would not affect the girl’s life, and that she would be free to marry again later and did not need to divorce the dog.

Bow wow! And then there are those who hate humans marrying each other. Sheesh! Get some sensible elders, yo!

Stick Michelangelo’s “David” on Your Blog

2006-02-28T14:53:00.000+05:30

Stick Michelangelo’s “David” on Your Blog to Protest Censorware
(BoingBoing.net)

What happens when the blogosphere uses so much tasteful nudity that the web is unusable for SmartFilter users? What happens when SmartFilter blocks so much content that the web is crippled for its users?

Behold the power of the Alpha Blockers.

Boing Boing blocked
Flickr Photos blocked
LiveJournal Users blocked
Blogger Photos blocked

It’s all redundant, but still.
Verbose image titles for the benefit of search bots.

Update: Look Ma, I’m on Boing Boing.

The Divine Irony of ‘Intelligent Design’

2006-02-25T13:40:00.000+05:30

The Divine Irony of ‘Intelligent Design’
(Los Angeles Times)

For the advocates of intelligent design, the loveliness of nature is a second-class road to truth. It is “merely” aesthetic. In that regard, one notices that there is no campaign afoot to teach “divine inspiration” as the basis for the sacred works of Fra Angelico and Bach. “That’s next,” you say, and maybe it is next. The point here is that it wasn’t first, and it wasn’t first for a very good reason.

Once you have made intelligence supreme, you have elevated science to the highest form of knowing. And with that move, the self-appointed champions of religious tradition paint themselves into the same corner that they would like to lead us out of. Using intelligent design as a buttress against scientific hegemony is, to borrow from a Yiddish proverb, as outrageously self-defeating as murdering your parents and then pleading for leniency on the grounds that you’re an orphan.

Hindu Group Offers Rs 51 Crore For Hussain’s Head

2006-02-23T12:34:00.000+05:30

Hindu Group Offers Rs 51 Crore For Hussain’s Head
(Express India)

“Anyone who kills Hussain for making obscene paintings of Goddess Sarswati and Bharat Mata, the Danish cartoonist, those in the German company printing pictures of Ram and Krishna on tissue paper and the French filmmaker desecrating Lord Shiva will be given Rs 51 crore in cash by the board,” its president Ashok Pandey said in a statement in Lucknow.

Yeah, and about time too. That’s $11.4 million, not something to pass up.
Am off to find Hussain’s nude paintings of the Danish cartoonist. Hey, wait a minute …

Why Muslims Should Support Intelligent Design

2006-02-22T10:57:00.000+05:30

Why Muslims Should Support Intelligent Design
(Islam Online)

Muslims should also note the great similarity between the arguments of the Intelligent Design Movement and Islamic sources. Hundreds of verses in the Qur’an call people to examine the natural world and see in it the evidence of God. Great Islamic scholars like Ghazali wrote large volumes about design in animals, plants, and the human body. What Intelligent Design theorists like Behe or Dembski do today is to refine the same argument with the findings of modern science.

In short, Intelligent Design is not alien to Islam. It is very much our cause, and we should do everything we can to support it.

A bit old, but still funny.

Well, if it ain’t the “God of the Bible or Yoda or Yahweh,” what are you left with? It’s obvious. No, not Him.

Besides, the flagella(tion) has always been a common theme.

Psychics Join Search for Missing Show Dog

2006-02-22T02:00:00.000+05:30

Psychics Join Search for Missing Show Dog
(Yahoo! News)

“They are telling us that she is alive and they are telling us she is warm,” said Honi Reisman, a friend of the dog’s owners. “They are saying she’s in a building—but there are hundreds of buildings.”

There’s a whole dozen of them involved. Any moment now.

Muslim Fury at Sex Toy

2006-02-09T15:44:00.000+05:30

Muslim Fury at Sex Toy
(The Sun)

Furious Muslims have blasted adult shop Ann Summers for selling a blow-up male doll called Mustafa Shag.

[…]

In a letter to the store, the Association said: “You have no idea how much hurt, anguish and disgust this obnoxious phrase has caused to Muslims. We are asking you to have our Most Revered Prophet’s name ‘Mustafa’ and the afflicted word ‘shag’ removed.”

Don’t worry, there’s plenty to pick and choose from.

The Saintly Sinner

2006-02-08T14:30:00.000+05:30

The Saintly Sinner
Joan Acocella (The New Yorker)

One wonders, at first, how it would help the Church’s new chastity campaign for the first witness of the Resurrection to be a prostitute. But, as noted, the Church was pretty much stuck with the Magdalene. Furthermore, the keynote of Jesus’ ministry was humility. A god who chose to be born in a stable might also decide to announce his Resurrection to a prostitute. And Luke’s sinner was not just a prostitute; she was a repentant prostitute, shedding tears so copious that they sufficed to clean the feet of a man who had just walked the dusty road to the Pharisee’s house. But the crucial gain of grafting this woman onto the Magdalene was that it gave the Magdalene some fullness as a character while also lowering her standing. The conflation was already being made by the third or fourth century, and in the sixth century it was ratified in a sermon by Pope Gregory the Great. Mary Magdalene, one of the few independent women in the New Testament, became a whore.

All Placebos Not Created Alike

2006-02-08T14:00:00.000+05:30

All Placebos Not Created Alike
(Harvard Medical School)

In the second phase of the study, patients receiving sham acupuncture reported a more significant decrease in pain and symptom severity than those receiving placebo pills for the duration of the trials. The results of this study show that the placebo effect varies by type of placebo used.

“These findings suggest that the medical ritual of a device can deliver an enhanced placebo effect beyond that of a placebo pill. There are many conditions in which ritual is irrelevant when compared with drugs, such as in treatment of a bacterial infection,” said Kaptchuk, “but the other extreme may also be true. In some cases, the ritual may be the critical component.”

In other news, people using shampoo reported significant decrease in hair odor than ones using the real thing. *groan*

Depression May Be Lifelong Parent Trap

2006-02-08T13:43:00.000+05:30

Depression May Be Lifelong Parent Trap
(Florida State University)

A study by Florida State University professor Robin Simon and Vanderbilt University’s Ranae Evenson found that parents have significantly higher levels of depression than adults who do not have children. Even more surprising, the symptoms of depression do not go away when the kids grow up and move out of the house.

The price you pay for warding off extinction.

Lost World Found In New Guinea

2006-02-07T16:20:00.000+05:30

Lost World Found In New Guinea
(Science a Go Go)

New Guinea’s Foja Mountains were “as close to the Garden of Eden as you’re going to find on Earth,” said the co-leader of the expedition, CI’s Bruce Beehler. “The first bird we saw at our camp was a new species. Large mammals that have been hunted to near extinction elsewhere were here in abundance. We were able to simply pick up two Long-Beaked Echidnas, a primitive egg-laying mammal that is little known,” he added.

Awesomeness.

Iranian Paper Runs Holocaust Contest

2006-02-07T11:56:00.000+05:30

Iranian Paper Runs Holocaust Contest
(The Jerusalem Post)

Farid Mortazavi, graphics editor for Tehran’s Hamshahri newspaper, said that the deliberately inflammatory contest would test out how committed Europeans were to the concept freedom of expression.

“The Western papers printed these sacrilegious cartoons on the pretext of freedom of expression, so let’s see if they mean what they say and also print these Holocaust cartoons,” he said.

Gee, what fun!

Intelligent Design belittles God, Vatican director says

2006-01-31T12:08:00.000+05:30

Intelligent Design belittles God, Vatican director says
(Catholic Online)

In his remarks, he also criticizes the cardinal archbishop of Vienna’s support for Intelligent Design and notes that Pope John Paul’s declaration that “evolution is no longer a mere hypothesis” is “a fundamental church teaching” which advances the evolutionary debate.

[…]

He stresses that the theory of Intelligent Design diminishes God into “an engineer who designs systems rather than a lover.”

A systems engineer can’t be a lover? Gosh darn! No wonder Hedy Lamarr was married six times.

Big Brain Means Small Testes, Finds Bat Study

2005-12-08T18:08:00.000+05:30

Big Brain Means Small Testes, Finds Bat Study
(New Scientist)

The analysis of 334 species of bat found that in species where the females were promiscuous, the males had evolved larger testes but had relatively small brains. In species, where the females were monogamous, the situation was reversed. Male fidelity appeared to have no influence over testes or brain size.

The God Gaps

2005-12-02T17:31:00.000+05:30

The God Gaps
John Walsh, M.D. (Counter Punch)

We now stand on the threshold of the 21st century where enormous challenges face us: staggering poverty, continuing racism, raging wars, pandemics, and the possibility of nuclear annihilation or of the irreversible despoliation of the planet. We cannot afford to approach these problems based on myths, religious or otherwise, however comforting. Religion cannot be our guide. And the alternative is not so metaphysically bleak as some would have us believe. Darwin himself said that there was a “grandeur” in his view of the unity of life. And there is hope in it too, since the scientific view of the world can lead us to a life that might be the envy of the gods, were there any.

SETI and Intelligent Design

2005-12-02T12:23:00.000+05:30

SETI and Intelligent Design
Seth Shostak (Space.com)

Well, it’s because the credibility of the evidence is not predicated on its complexity. If SETI were to announce that we’re not alone because it had detected a signal, it would be on the basis of artificiality. An endless, sinusoidal signal—a dead simple tone—is not complex; it’s artificial. Such a tone just doesn’t seem to be generated by natural astrophysical processes. In addition, and unlike other radio emissions produced by the cosmos, such a signal is devoid of the appendages and inefficiencies nature always seems to add—for example, DNA’s junk and redundancy.

Intelligent Design Finds Few Sympathizers at HDS

2005-11-30T02:53:00.000+05:30

Intelligent Design Finds Few Sympathizers at HDS
(The Harvard Crimson)

And while scientists—who have long been outspoken critics of alternatives to evolution—find themselves again embroiled in a defense of evolution, they have found an unlikely ally in this battle: divinity faculty.

Leading scholars on the issue at Harvard Divinity School (HDS) and other divinity schools say their faculties have almost no proponents of intelligent design.

Longer Needles Needed For Fatter Buttocks—Study

2005-11-29T04:26:00.000+05:30

Longer Needles Needed For Fatter Buttocks—Study
(Yahoo! News)

Standard-sized needles failed to reach the buttock muscle in 23 out of 25 women whose rears were examined after what was supposed to be an intramuscular injection of a drug.

Earlier: For Advertisers, It’s Bottoms Up

‘Theory’ Backs Evolution

2005-11-25T13:30:00.000+05:30

‘Theory’ Backs Evolution
(RedOrbit)

“Just a Theory” also covers the broad arena of science to provide perspective. For example, it discusses how creationism fits with other pseudosciences, such as astrology and homeopathy, showing why none deserves to be called science. While battles continue in the political arena and letters to the editor, the progress of science is guided by specific rules—evolution meets the requirements of those rules; intelligent design and other pseudosciences do not.

‘Intelligent Design’ Equal to Giving Up

2005-11-21T20:04:00.000+05:30

‘Intelligent Design’ Equal to Giving Up
(The Independent Florida Alligator)

Good science does not move forward via political lobbying. Einstein did not insist that relativity be taught in physics class. He argued his case before his peers through scientific publication and through scientific presentations to those peers. He provided testable hypotheses, and when those hypotheses were confirmed by experimentation and observation, his ideas made it into high school physics textbooks. Einstein did not take out a large advertisement in The New York Times stating, “We the undersigned have serious problems with Newtonian gravity.” He did not hire a lawyer to have relativity inserted in high school textbooks. He did not insist on a disclaimer in textbooks that said, “Newtonian gravity is a controversial theory.”

I have serious problems with Newtonian gravity … that’s directly proportional to my circumference in centimeters.

The Darwin Exhibition Frightening Off Corporate Sponsors

2005-11-20T11:48:00.000+05:30

The Darwin Exhibition Frightening Off Corporate Sponsors
(Telegraph)

While the Darwin exhibition has been unable to find a business backer—unlike previous exhibitions at the museum—the Creationist Museum near Cincinnati, Ohio, which takes literally the Bible’s account of creation, has recently raised $7 million in donations.

I have not the words.

Evolution Debate Hits the Beer Aisle

2005-11-19T14:23:00.000+05:30

Evolution Debate Hits the Beer Aisle
(Deseret News)

The company says the change is inspired by Utah legislators and the debate here and nationally over whether public school evolution lessons should be balanced with “intelligent design,” or the idea that life is too complex to be explained by Darwin’s theory of evolution alone.

*burp*

Is the World Ready for Libido in a Nasal Spray?

2005-11-17T04:46:00.000+05:30

Is the World Ready for Libido in a Nasal Spray?
(New York Magazine)

The precise mechanisms by which PT-141 does its job remain unclear, but the rough idea is this: Where Viagra acts on the circulatory system, helping blood flow into the penis, PT-141 goes straight to the brain itself. And there it goes to work, switching on the same neural circuitry that lights up when a person actually, you know, wants to.

So, what’s left now—aural sex?

The ‘Hostages’ That Sailed With Darwin

2005-11-15T16:54:00.000+05:30

The ‘Hostages’ That Sailed With Darwin
(BBC News Magazine)

On that initial journey Fitzroy had taken four local “savages” from the southernmost tip of the continent, known as Tierra del Fuego, as retribution for the stealing of one of his whaling boats.

[…]

Were it not for the folly of the well-meaning but ultimately misguided Captain Fitzroy, says Mr Nichols, we might today be talking about Wallacism rather than Darwinism.

Big Portions Influence Overeating

2005-11-15T15:48:00.000+05:30

Big Portions Influence Overeating
(Cornell Chronicle Online)

According to a new Cornell University study, when moviegoers were served stale popcorn in big buckets, they ate 34 percent more than those given the same stale popcorn in medium-sized containers. Tasty food created even larger appetites: Fresh popcorn in large tubs resulted in people eating 45 percent more than those given fresh popcorn in medium-sized containers.

A convenient way to get rid of excess leftovers.

What Kind of Humanist are you?

2005-11-15T15:24:00.000+05:30

Haymaker

You are one of life’s enjoyers, determined to get the most you can out of your brief spell on Earth. Probably what first attracted you to atheism was the prospect of liberation from the Ten Commandments, few of which are compatible with a life of pleasure. You play hard and work quite hard, have a strong sense of loyalty and a relaxed but consistent approach to your philosophy.

You can’t see the point of abstract principles and probably wouldn’t lay down your life for a concept though you might for a friend. Something of a champagne humanist, you admire George Bernard Shaw for his cheerful agnosticism and pursuit of sensual rewards and your Hollywood hero is Marlon Brando, who was beautiful, irascible and aimed for goodness in his own tortured way.

Sometimes you might be tempted to allow your own pleasures to take precedence over your ethics. But everyone is striving for that elusive balance between the good and the happy life. You’d probably open another bottle and say there’s no contest.

What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out.

Oh, the humanisty!

Are We Making A Beastly Mistake?

2005-11-15T13:52:00.000+05:30

Are We Making A Beastly Mistake?
(The Herald)

“Imagine if we never knew the chimp and knew only the bonobo,” suggests de Waal. “There are never any killing reports by bonobos. Their inter-community relations are very relaxed and they resolve issues with sex. If we knew only bonobos we would have come up with a completely different story about our evolution.”

The God of Small Things

2005-11-14T17:57:00.000+05:30

The God of Small Things
(The Sydney Morning Herald)

The Melbourne physiologist Professor Derek Denton pointed out recently that the “knowledge of gravity has not been a strong point in the repertoire of the intelligent designer.”

The drainage holes at the top of our sinuses and the way our guts are attached by a membrane to the backbone are good examples. Both designs are fine for four-legged creatures, but now we have evolved to walk upright, they lead to clogged sinuses and hernias, he says.

Hey, nobody asked you to evolve or walk upright. Why blame the Designer?

The God of Eth

2005-11-12T19:54:00.000+05:30

The God of Eth
(Skeptical Inquirer)

Many believe that these and other similar arguments largely take the sting out of the problem of evil. Some think they dispose of the problem altogether. I find them utterly inadequate. The following dialogue is my attempt to convey why.

The Rock Snob

2005-11-12T00:36:00.000+05:30

The Rock Snob
(Slate)

Snobbery is as woven into the human fabric as the sexual and aggressive impulses it seeks to refine. It’s no accident, then, that Rock Snobbery emerged just as young people started dressing in blue jeans and pretending that social class didn’t matter. Adolescents simply found novel ways—ways more acceptable to their newly egalitarian pretenses—to marginally differentiate themselves from one another. Musical taste was one such method, and for a small but increasingly demented subset of the population (interestingly, almost exclusively boys), having good taste in, and encyclopedic knowledge about, rock music became an almost Ahab-like obsession.

Scratch that Metaphor

2005-11-12T00:33:00.000+05:30

Scratch that Metaphor
(Smithsonian Magazine)

Businesspeople have a lot to learn from the animal world. But there are at least two problems here: one is that they trot out the same tired analogies over and over.

Scratch 800-pound gorilla, insert 1200-pound ape.

Chance Encounters

2005-11-11T15:38:00.000+05:30

Chance Encounters
(SmartMoney.com)

Information is bad for us is because of overcausation. You like the word “because.” You want to know why. When you read a report you always have “because” attached to it. Your brain cannot ingest information unless you stick “because” in it; people won’t pay attention otherwise. That’s why journalists use it. When you read The Wall Street Journal or The New York Times, they say the market went up on whatever reason. Oil prices went down, so the market went up. People like that because it gives them some form of story, you see a link between these two events. The thing is, it may work that way, it may not.

Interview with Nassim Taleb.

Behind the Controversy: How Evolution Works

2005-11-10T04:45:00.000+05:30

Behind the Controversy: How Evolution Works
Ker Than (LiveScience)

The story of the origin of whales is one of evolution’s most fascinating tales and one of the best examples scientists have of natural selection.

I’m Very Interested in Hearing Some Half-Baked Theories

2005-11-10T04:43:00.000+05:30

I’m Very Interested in Hearing Some Half-Baked Theories
(The Onion)

As important as research is, it’s all about common sense in the end. If you can’t cool your apartment by leaving the refrigerator open, how’s it keeping all that produce fresh? Think about it. If you can’t really read the world’s great works of literature in only five minutes using a system peddled on TV, how do you explain that gentleman on the infomercial who aces those tests? Would extraterrestrials travel millions of light years just to abduct a non-trustworthy human for their series of intrusive tests? Yes.

Down for the Count

2005-11-08T16:58:00.000+05:30

Down for the Count
Carl Zimmer (New York Times)

Other mammals also experience a mix of REM and non-REM sleep, as do birds. Sleep researchers would like to know whether this pattern existed in the common ancestors of birds and mammals, reptilian animals that lived 310 million years ago. It is also possible that birds and mammals independently evolved this sleep pattern, just as birds and bats independently evolved wings.

Related: Nature Supplement on Sleep

Soothsayer Orders New Capital

2005-11-08T16:25:00.000+05:30

Soothsayer Orders New Capital
(Times Online)

A senior soothsayer may also have advised building a new centre of power, as Burma’s kings frequently did in the past. Astrologers play a key role in Burmese life and have prompted some of the strangest and most disastrous episodes in the country’s recent past.

Wonder how long it takes a junior soothsayer to get promoted.

Women Enjoy Humor More

2005-11-08T15:03:00.000+05:30

Women Enjoy Humor More, Study Suggests
(LiveScience)

“Women appeared to have less expectation of a reward, which in this case was the punch line of the cartoon,” said Reiss. “So when they got to the joke’s punch line, they were more pleased about it.”

Found at Sea

2005-11-08T14:49:00.000+05:30

Found at Sea
(The Guardian)

Egede’s animal had a serpent-like tail that appeared out of the water when the rest of the beast had disappeared. But rather than a tail, Paxton et al say, this was most likely a penis. They present photographs of well-endowed male whales, and also a drawing from Egede’s book, in which we see the sea monster’s serpent-like tail. The latter is remarkably similar to what we see in the photographs.

Herman Melville, you da man.

The $80,000 Pasta Bible

2005-11-08T00:39:00.000+05:30

The $80,000 Pasta Bible
(New York Metro)

Villard is paying an $80,000 advance to the creator of a religion designed to make fun of intelligent design.

[…]

The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, which will codify Pastafarianism, is set to come out on Valentine’s Day.

In other news, the author of The Hadith of the Flying Shawarma Monster was awarded 80,000 lashes.

Did Life Come from Another World?

2005-11-06T06:12:00.000+05:30

Did Life Come from Another World?
(Scientific American)

In the chaotic early history of the solar system, our planet was subject to intense bombardment by meteorites containing simple organic compounds. The young Earth could have also received more complex molecules with enzymatic functions, molecules that were prebiotic but part of a system that was already well on its way to biology. After landing in a suitable habitat on our planet, these molecules could have continued their evolution to living cells. In other words, an intermediate scenario is possible: life could have roots both on Earth and in space.

Fuel’s Paradise?

2005-11-06T03:36:00.000+05:30

Fuel’s Paradise? Power Source That Turns Physics on Its Head
(The Guardian)

Randell Mills, a Harvard University medic who also studied electrical engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, claims to have built a prototype power source that generates up to 1,000 times more heat than conventional fuel. Independent scientists claim to have verified the experiments and Dr Mills says that his company, Blacklight Power, has tens of millions of dollars in investment lined up to bring the idea to market. And he claims to be just months away from unveiling his creation.

If it weren’t for the numerous times we’ve been disappointed, I’d be more excited. Let’s wait and watch.

Cow-Tipping Myth Hasn’t Got a Leg to Stand On

2005-11-06T01:04:00.000+05:30

Cow-Tipping Myth Hasn’t Got a Leg to Stand On
(Times Online)

Ms Boechler, now a trainee forensics analyst for the Royal Canadian Mounted Corps, concluded in her initial report that a cow standing with its legs straight would require five people to exert the required force to bowl it over.

Ballet-dancing bovines were unavailable for comment.

Where Did Jesus Get His DNA?

2005-11-05T04:57:00.000+05:30

Some Ask: Where Did Jesus Get His DNA?
(Philadelphia Inquirer)

But there’s a problem with arguing that Jesus came about through cloning or parthenogenesis—he would have been born a girl. In the last few decades science revealed that to be male you need a Y chromosome and the only place you can get one is from a man.

Who’s your daddy?

“Darwin” Defends Evolution

2005-11-04T03:41:00.000+05:30

“Darwin” Defends Evolution
(University at Buffalo Reporter)

He interspersed humor with examples of basic evidence that support evolution. He noted that numerous vestigial organs and other extraneous features in the human body, such as some muscles, serve no discernible purpose. There are at least 100 vestigial parts in the body, he said. In addition to such well-known examples as the appendix or tonsils, Herreid cited goose bumps and muscles that wiggle the ears or move the scalp, the last of which he wryly demonstrated.

Sounds like a good way to work on those poll numbers.

Beam Me Up, Godly Being

2005-11-04T03:27:00.000+05:30

Beam Me Up, Godly Being
(Slate)

Speculation about extraterrestrial beings is ancient, but “alien abduction” as we know it originated in the 1960s, after a New Hampshire couple named Betty and Barney Hill claimed to have been kidnapped by extraterrestrials. Betty was a fan of movies like Invaders From Mars. Her story inspired a best-selling book, a TV movie, and Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Many more people began to report abductions, which in turn led to more books and movies, which led to more people claiming to have been abducted—in a sense, it was Hollywood that had abducted them.

Can Biology Do Better Than Faith?

2005-11-03T15:05:00.000+05:30

Can Biology Do Better Than Faith?
Edward O. Wilson (New Scientist)

So, will science and religion find common ground, or at least agree to divide the fundamentals into mutually exclusive domains? A great many well-meaning scholars believe that such rapprochement is both possible and desirable. A few disagree, and I am one of them. I think Darwin would have held to the same position. The battle line is, as it has ever been, in biology. The inexorable growth of this science continues to widen, not to close, the tectonic gap between science and faith-based religion.

Biology certainly does better, for those who have faith in it.

Weird Science

2005-11-01T09:52:00.000+05:30

Weird Science
(Salon.com)

It’s well known that much of the organic material from outer space to reach the prebiotic Earth came in the form of flat, sturdy molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs. Platts began to see how PAHs could have been energized by solar radiation and self-assembled into stacks in the ancient ocean. Small, flat amino-acid molecules would begin to stick to the outside of this “stack of plates,” and the whole array would begin to look “for all the world like the information-rich genetic sequence of DNA or RNA.” This would have been nothing more than an intriguing, left-field notion if not for the fact that the space between these PAH layers is 0.34 billionths of a meter, which just happens to be precisely the distance between the ladder-like rungs of a DNA or RNA molecule. Somehow—and Platts doesn’t propose exactly how—this interesting but haphazard assemblage of molecules became a coherent vector of biochemical information, broke free of its PAH host and folded over on itself to become a “true pre-RNA genetic molecule.”

Andrew O’Hehir writes about Robert M. Hazen’s book Genesis: The Scientific Quest for Life’s Origins.

Communicating

2005-11-01T00:50:00.000+05:30

Forbes Special Report on Communicating
(Forbes)

Plenty of easily digestible snippets—interviews, excerpts, slideshows, audio, video, polls, etc. Worth your while.

Picky Female Frogs Drive Evolution

2005-10-30T12:27:00.000+05:30

Picky Female Frogs Drive Evolution of New Species in Less Than 8,000 Years
(UC Berkeley News)

The yet-to-be-named species arose after two isolated populations of the green-eyed tree frog reestablished contact less than 8,000 years ago and found that their hybrid offspring were less viable. To avoid hybridizing with the wrong frogs and ensure healthy offspring, one group of females preferentially chose mates from their own lineage. Over several thousand years, this behavior created a reproductively isolated population—essentially a new species—that is unable to mate with either of the original frog populations.

Things were purportedly easier (and faster) when these amphibians could turn into bipedal mammals on contact with human saliva, but that’s just another fanciful, discredited tale of divine intervention.

Biology Teachers: As Low As Lab Rats?

2005-10-30T11:55:00.000+05:30

Biology Teachers: As Low As Lab Rats?
(Kansas City Star)

In the magazine’s third annual take on the 10 worst jobs in science, those trying to teach evolution in Kansas classrooms come in at No. 3 on the list, topped only by “human lab rat” test subjects dosed with pesticides and manure inspectors.

The Brontosaurus

2005-10-28T12:20:00.000+05:30

The Brontosaurus
Monty Python’s flying creationism.
William Saletan (Slate)

Can ID make testable predictions? Not really. If we posit that a given biological system was designed, Rothschild asks, what can we infer about the designer’s abilities? Just “that the designer had the ability to make the design that is under consideration,” says Behe. “Beyond that, we would be extrapolating beyond the evidence.” Does Behe not understand that extrapolating beyond initial evidence is exactly the job of a hypothesis? Does he not grasp the meaninglessness of saying a designer designed things that were designed?

No more meaningless than saying natural selection selected things that were selected? Not so fast.

Related: A review of Michael Behe’s Darwin’s Black Box by the only practicing empiricist in the design/evolution playoff and the leading theorist of evolutions on the internets.

Moral Courage

2005-10-27T14:53:00.000+05:30

Moral Courage
Stephen Metcalf (Slate)

By the rules of our language game, however, the motives of people who distrust (or, frankly, revile) The Bell Curve are instantly suspect, while the motives of people who spend their entire professional lives trying to prove black people are dumber than white people escape all scrutiny. Said researchers often refer to themselves as “race realists,” and, in addition to the Orwellian moniker, they have mastered a host of rhetorical maneuvers meant to clear themselves of the charge of out-and-out racism: They carefully insist that East Asians are smarter even than whites; that estimating any individual’s intelligence by noting his race is impossible; and above all, that the data are the data no matter where they lead, even if into the frenzy of a politically correct backlash.

Earlier: The Inequality Taboo

Exposed: TV’s bogus ‘psychics’

2005-10-27T12:44:00.000+05:30

Exposed: TV’s bogus ‘psychics’
(Mail on Sunday)

When The Mail on Sunday put a series of scenarios to Psychic Interactive that were all entirely made up, its psychics were happy to give elaborate responses to each one.

There must be some real pranksters in the spirit world.

Education, Weight Seen To Affect Women's Sex Life

2005-10-26T21:28:00.000+05:30

Education, Weight Seen To Affect Women's Sex Life
(Globe and Mail)

Contrary to the researchers’ expectations, university-educated women are more apt to have low sex drives—48 per cent compared to 31 per cent among high-school graduates. They are also less likely to have orgasms during intercourse.

“It may well be that highly educated women are different from less-educated women in many respects. Maybe they have higher standards … higher expectations and legitimately lower evaluations. They may be living much busier, much more stressful lives,” said William Fisher, a professor of psychology and obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Western Ontario who is a co-author of the paper.

He’s just projecting.

God Save the Heretic

2005-10-26T14:35:00.000+05:30

God Save the Heretic
(Times Online)

The difficulty, at least for the scientifically educated but spiritually malnourished, is not the idea of religion itself, meaning some system of ritualized worship that helps us to make sense, if only symbolically, of the human, natural and supernatural worlds. The difficulty is rather that all the religions on offer are so patently preposterous, if not downright unpleasant.

This piece, unlike an earlier one, doesn’t leave out Hindus or Buddhists.

To Shoot or Not to Shoot

2005-10-25T15:21:00.000+05:30

To Shoot or Not to Shoot
(Arab News)

The textbook used in the ninth grade, for example, says that photography is a form of idolatry. On page 100, it states, “Depicting living creatures, animal or human, whether life-size or on paper or walls is prohibited because it imitates God’s creation.”

[…]

Mohammed Al-Ghannam, an Islamic teacher in an intermediate school, said: “In our school we don’t allow students to draw a whole living creature. They normally draw landscapes of natural scenery without any bird or animal. For example, if one wants to draw a falcon, he draws only the body without the head. Alternatively, he could draw a line between the body and the neck. Drawing a complete bird is not permissible in Islam.”