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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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In physics terms, creation ex nihilo appears to violate both the first and second laws of thermodynamics. The first law of thermodynamics is equivalent to the principle of conservation of energy: the total energy of a closed system is constant; any energy change must be compensated by a corresponding inflow or outflow from the system. Einstein showed that mass and energy are equivalent, by E = mc^2. So, if the universe started from 'nothing,' energy conservation would seem to have been violated by the creation of matter. Some energy from outside is apparently required.

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Call for submissions!

Category: CarnivalsPoliticsTangled Bank
Posted on: April 6, 2006 8:26 PM, by PZ Myers

Two carnivals under my purview are coming up next week, both on Wednesday, 12 April, so let's get rolling on bringing in exciting links.

The Tangled Bank

The Tangled Bank will be held at Discovering Biology in a Digital World, under the care of Sandra Porter. Send links to interesting science writing to her, to me, or to host@tangledbank.net by Tuesday.


cotl_badge.gif

For the first time, I'm going to be hosting the Carnival of the Liberals. The hosting guidelines for this one are interesting: it's competitive. I'm only going to post what I think are the ten best submissions. You can guess what I like: uncompromising liberalism. Strong words. No apologies. Secularism (Steven Waldman and Amy Sullivan need not bother sending me anything, but that does not preclude Christian contributors). I'll look especially favorably on anything about science and science policy. Send the links to me by Tuesday to make me happy.

Comments

#1

Posted by: coturnix | April 6, 2006 8:37 PM

Also, I am hosting carnival of Education on April 12th. Send your entries - and I reaaly hope for a good showing of science teachers - by 5pm EST on April 11th at:
Coturnix1 AT aol DOT com

#2

Posted by: coturnix | April 6, 2006 9:11 PM

Forgot to say, I will be hosting it on The Magic School Bus

#3

Posted by: Max | April 6, 2006 9:55 PM

I was as offended as you by Amy Sullivan's comment (and ended up personally annoying Kevin Drum complaining about it), but she did in fact apologize. That in mind, your post above is probably gratuitous.

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2006_03/008438.php

I'm on deadline, so don't have time to respond in full to the feverish debate that has been taking place over the past few weeks about religion and politics. But since my name has been invoked/cursed in many of those conversations, I do want to address the reaction to an offhand comment I made about "the knee-jerk left." Like Ed Kilgore, I have the most respect for those who can admit when they are wrong and re-engage in the debate having learned from their mistakes. So I'm here to say that I used that phrase intemperately and inaccurately. I knew as I typed it that I was reacting out of anger (and here I hear Bill Murray's voice in my head: "Don't blog angry, don't blog angry"...).

...

#4

Posted by: Paul -V- | April 6, 2006 10:02 PM

I am looking forward to the Carnival of the Liberals (CotL) here. I have hosted two CotL thus far, and it was very tough to select the top ten.

#5

Posted by: MtMan900 | April 6, 2006 10:08 PM

PZ Meyers:

I had a question, really off topic. Today is the first day I ran into this T-Rex "red blood cell" thing, and I wanted your opinion on this topic. Have you discussed it before somewhere I could read about it? Thanks.

#6

Posted by: Ebonmuse | April 7, 2006 1:50 AM

Today is the first day I ran into this T-Rex "red blood cell" thing, and I wanted your opinion on this topic. Have you discussed it before somewhere I could read about it?

I don't know if PZ has, but Talk.Origins certainly has:

http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/dinosaur/blood.html

#7

Posted by: tjswift | April 7, 2006 7:41 AM

"You can guess what I like: uncompromising liberalism. Strong words. No apologies."

I'm sure that the third graders at Cherokee Elementary will make your cup runneth over.

#8

Posted by: Barry | April 7, 2006 11:04 AM

Max, Amy Sullivan's first paragraph was an apology; her second was a continuation of her earlier insult.

I could accept her apology, but when she immediately continues the insult, I doubt her sincerity.

#9

Posted by: Russ | April 7, 2006 2:11 PM

Hey, I'm new to this Carnival of the Liberals, but it sounds like one of my rants could be appropriate. Are there rules, prohibitions, guidelines of any sort? Restrictions on length, language, political (in)correctness? I this a regular thing? Fill me in. Thanks.

#10

Posted by: Alon Levy | April 7, 2006 7:07 PM

I second Russ's questions - it's definitely a carnival I'd like to try to participate in, but I want to know just what's considered acceptable.

Plus, what timeframe of posts is acceptable? For example, do posts have to be from the two weeks after the previous CotL deadline?

#11

Posted by: charlie wagner | April 7, 2006 7:53 PM

On September 14, 1960 I was a junior in High School and I was just beginning to become politically active. Some of my friends and I went over to the Commodore Hotel in New York where John F. Kennedy was accepting the Liberal Party nomination. After the speech, I got to shake JFK's hand.
That night I heard the best explanation of what it means to be a Liberal. A defining moment in my life, as it were:

"if by a "Liberal" they mean someone who looks ahead and not behind, someone who welcomes new ideas without rigid reactions, someone who cares about the welfare of the people -- their health, their housing, their schools, their jobs, their civil rights, and their civil liberties -- someone who believes we can break through the stalemate and suspicions that grip us in our policies abroad, if that is what they mean by a "Liberal," then I'm proud to say I'm a "Liberal...
I believe in human dignity as the source of national purpose, in human liberty as the source of national action, in the human heart as the source of national compassion, and in the human mind as the source of our invention and our ideas. It is, I believe, the faith in our fellow citizens as individuals and as people that lies at the heart of the liberal faith. For liberalism is not so much a party creed or set of fixed platform promises as it is an attitude of mind and heart, a faith in man's ability through the experiences of his reason and judgment to increase for himself and his fellow men the amount of justice and freedom and brotherhood which all human life deserves."

Read the whole speech here:

http://www.jfklink.com/speeches/jfk/sept60/jfk140960_ny04.html

#12

Posted by: tng | April 7, 2006 8:39 PM

Russ, please see the Carnival of the Liberals site for all your answers. In short, yes we're a regular blog carnival, every other Wednesday. This will be the 10th edition. Charlie's excerpt of JFK's speech sums up what we're about perfectly. Since we are a biweekly carnival, the timeframe is basically the immediate 2 weeks prior to the current edition.

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