Archives for February, 2008
Some Blogging Philosophy
Posted by jrosenhouse on February 29, 2008 As usual, I’m late to this particular party. Over at BayBlab, a blogger calling himself “Anonymous Coward” offers up some choice words for the all-powerful, all-consuming, resistance-is-futile ScienceBlogs combine: If you examine the elephant in the room, ScienceBlogs, the trend is maintained: politics, religion books, technology, education and music are tagged more often than biology…
Pot / Kettle Alert
Posted by jrosenhouse on February 26, 2008 From last night’s Tucker: CARLSON: This was my 20th–literally, I think it was my 20th Oscar night in a row where I didn’t watch any of it. WOLFF: It was really bad. I don’t know if it’s stagflation or bad weather or whatever, but I was just not in the mood, friend. I blame stagflation.…
Amateur Atheists?
Posted by jrosenhouse on February 24, 2008 That, minus the question mark, is the title of a new article by theologian John Haught in the current issue of The Christian Century. The subtitle is “Why the New Atheism isn’t Serious.” Sadly, the article does not seem to be available online. After reading that headline, I was expecting Haught to offer a variation…
Evolution and Christianity, Revisited
Posted by jrosenhouse on February 24, 2008 The Christian Century has this interesting article about the relationship between evolution and Christianity, written by Amy Frykholm. Interesting not because it actually resolves the question in any satisfactory way, but rather because it states the problem in a more forthright manner than is typical for writing in this genre:
Byassee on the Creation Museum
Posted by jrosenhouse on February 11, 2008 Finally, The Christian Century has published this lengthy report of a visit to the Creation Museum. It was written by Jason Byassee. Most of the article is a bemused and slightly cynical account of the exhibits you find at the museum. It was the last paragraph that really caught my eye, however: Reconciling Christian claims…
Harries on Evolution and Religion
Posted by jrosenhouse on February 11, 2008 The Guardian series also contains this article from theology professor Richard Harries, arguing — surprise! — that evolution and Christian faith are compatible. Let’s have a look. Here’s paragraph two: As the Victorian novelist Charles Kingsley put it, God does not just make the world, he does something much more wonderful, he makes the world…
Darwin in the Guardian
Posted by jrosenhouse on February 11, 2008 In other news, the Guardian newspaper has posted a series of articles about various evolution related topics. First up is this characteristically lucid entry from Richard Dawkins. I especially like this:
Liar, Lunatic, Lord
Posted by jrosenhouse on February 11, 2008 Meanwhile, over at Town Hall Dinesh D’Souza serves up yet another steaming pile of religious idiocy. His subject is an exchange between Rabbi Jacob Neusner and Pope Benedict. He opens with a gratuitous slap at Richard Dawkins:
Krugman, Again
Posted by jrosenhouse on February 11, 2008 It will be a little while yet before I can get back to blogging regularly. But as a way of flexing my atrophying blogging muscles, let me direct your attention to another superlative column from Paul Krugman: What’s particularly saddening is the way many Obama supporters seem happy with the application of “Clinton rules” —…
The Lost Luggage Problem
Posted by jrosenhouse on February 2, 2008 Here’s a little brainteaser to think about if the Super Bowl ends up being a bit dull. Imagine that you are standing at the baggage carousel at an airport waiting for your bag. A percentage x of the bags from your flight have already appeared on the carousel and yours is not among them. How…
Are Fractions Obsolete?
Posted by jrosenhouse on February 1, 2008 Via Mark Chu-Carroll I just read this article, from the USA Today, about a mathematician at the University of Pennsylvania who believes that fractions have no place in the elementary and middle school mathematics curriculum: A few years ago, Dennis DeTurck, an award-winning professor of mathematics at the University of Pennsylvania, stood at an outdoor…