Mike Dunford is a graduate student in the Department of Zoology at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, where he studies evolution. He's also a contributer to The Pandas Thumb. As is the case with everyone else here, his opinions are his own, and do not necessarily represent those of any organization he is affiliated with.
September 30, 2007
Category: Religion in Politics
It's hard to believe, but there was once a time when I had some respect - even admiration - for John McCain. Now, all I have is pity. The guy sold his soul to the Christian Right, but they...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 8:04 AM • 8 Comments •
September 29, 2007
Category: Humor
Those tricky Culture Warriors - they've gone and launched the latest assault in the War on Christmas early this year, denying the Evil Secularist Conspiracy the chance to properly prepare for battle. They didn't wait until Thanksgiving this year,...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 10:19 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Personal
A couple of weeks ago, I started making some changes to the blog. I had hoped to get all of them done that weekend, but the weather interfered with that plan. (It was nice; I went swimming.) This weekend,...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 5:07 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion in Schools
A couple of weeks ago, I posted two ridiculous quotes that are found in the Bob Jones textbook that's involved in the California Creationism lawsuit. I'm still wading through these texts and Behe's report explaining why it's really a...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:06 PM • 78 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 28, 2007
Category: Arthropods
A couple of weeks ago, I posted some pictures of some large spiders and asked for help in identifying one of them. Jerry Cates of Bugs In The News got back to me quite quickly, and identified the mystery...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 1:20 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 27, 2007
Category: Intelligent Design
Today's New York Times has a story up on the upcoming Ben Stein "documentary" on the alleged persecution that ID proponents face in the academic world. The NYT article quotes a number of scientists who were interviewed for the...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 11:59 AM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 25, 2007
Category: Intelligent Design
Most of the readers of this blog are intelligent, interested, scientifically literate individuals, but I'm guessing that at least a few of you aren't familiar with one of the nouns in the title. Those of you who do know...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:10 PM • 23 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 24, 2007
Category: An Incomplete Autobiography
The only problem was that I wasn't very good at baseball. That wasn't much of a handicap the first couple of years, but as games got more competitive I found myself spending less time playing, and more time sitting. And sitting takes a lot of the fun out of the game. Little league went from being something I loved to something I didn't care about. But then I wound up on Mr. Preda's team.
Posted by Mike Dunford at 6:28 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Moral Flexibility
If you love predictability, you've got to love the Discovery Institute. Whenever someone publishes a paper about human evolution, it's a pretty safe bet that someone there will soon take the time to explain how having learned something new...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 9:16 AM • 19 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 20, 2007
Category: Bipartisan
Gotta love it. The Senate today took a break from being paralyzed by Republican "No Up-Or-Down-Vote For You" obstructionists. They had to. You see, it's important for people to understand that the Senate isn't going to stand still when...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 5:43 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 19, 2007
Category: Religion in the Military
When a soldier enlists in the Army, he or she takes an oath: "I, _____, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 9:28 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Iraq and US Politics
Every time I read articles (like this one, this one, this one or this one) that talk about how the Democrats are having problems getting the 60 votes in the Senate that they need to move Iraq legislation forward, or how they won't be able to get the 2/3rds of both houses that they need to beat a veto, I get angrier. And not with the Republicans who are standing in the way.
Posted by Mike Dunford at 11:12 AM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 17, 2007
Category: From the Right
Once again, John "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" McCain went and said something stupid at a campaign stop. And, once again, he got caught on video doing it. This time, he went just slightly overboard in his criticism...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 10:34 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science and Politics
In "The Republican War on Science" Chris Mooney referred to the Newt Gingrich-led Congress' decision to eliminate the Office of Technology Assessment as "a stunning act of self-lobotomy." If anything, he was lowballing the effects. For those of you...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 9:26 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 16, 2007
Category: Religion in Schools
I've been continuing to put some time into criticizing Michael Behe's expert report on the creationist texts involved in the California Creationism Case. This is a slow process, partly because I'm also working on other projects and partly because...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 11:21 PM • 66 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 15, 2007
Category: Perception
Yet another round of the unholy wars has broken out again here at Scienceblogs. Matt Nisbet and PZ Myers are at each others' throats. Again. If you read the other blogs here, you know that this isn't anything that's...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 7:59 PM • 63 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 14, 2007
Category: The Blog
I'm making a few changes to the left-hand sidebar for the blog this weekend. One of them is already in place - if you look to the left, you'll see a presidential election poll. It's linked to Newsvine's ElectionVine...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 5:36 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 13, 2007
Category: Climate/Weather
I've been paying a little more attention to Hurricane Humburto than I do to most hurricanes, mostly because the thing came out of nowhere, and got really strong, really fast. I'm not a hurricane-pundit type, but I thought it...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 1:18 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 12, 2007
Category: Iraq and the Military
Staff Sergeant Yance T. Gray and Sergeant Omar Mora died on Monday in a vehicle crash in Baghdad on Monday, along with six other American soldiers and two "detainees." During their time in Iraq, both Gray and Mora displayed...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 11:31 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Iraq and US Politics
The New York Times/CBS News poll that was released on Monday got a fair bit of media attention. Most of the attention focused on the revelation that Americans, by an overwhelming margin, trust the military leadership to resolve the...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 5:48 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science and Public Safety
This is a continuation of a post I wrote (and updated a couple of times) earlier today. Since the tsunami is no longer a possibility - it's an actual event - I thought a new title was probably a...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 1:32 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science and Public Safety
A very large, shallow earthquake occurred at 11:10 UTC today. The earthquake epicenter is located in the Indian Ocean, about 375 miles from Jakarta, Indonesia, and is currently estimated at magnitude 7.9. The magnitude of the earthquake and the...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 7:57 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 11, 2007
We can never forget the pain, the terror, the anguish that a few twisted individuals were able to cause in just a few short hours. We must never forget the strength, the hope, and the love that thousands upon...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 12:11 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Arthropods
I was out walking yesterday morning when I saw several very large spiders sitting on webs. I had my camera with me, so I shot a bunch of pictures, and got a couple of really nice ones. I think...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 10:19 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 5, 2007
Category: Intelligent Design
From an article in the Baptist Press, linked from the Uncommon Descent homepage: "You have to understand, in the current academic climate, Intelligent Design is like leprosy or heresy in times past," [Dembski] said. "To be tagged as an...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 11:39 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Religion in Schools
Last week, I reposted four old articles that I wrote back in 2005, when a group representing a number of Christian schools in California filed a lawsuit against the University of California claiming that UC's rejection of several of...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 8:07 PM • 38 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 4, 2007
Category: Family
When it comes to teaching first and second graders about things, nothing beats the classroom pet. The little kids learn so many important things. They learn about animals. They learn about responsibility, and about the importance of taking care...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 5:04 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 3, 2007
Over the last few days, I reposted a series of four articles that I wrote two years ago. Those articles discuss a California lawsuit filed by a group of Christian schools against the University of California. They are suing...
Posted by Mike Dunford at 7:40 PM • 86 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
