jlynch
Posts by this author
July 5, 2008
Regular browsers will note that things have gone very quiet here over the past few weeks. Truth be told, I'm a little burned out with the whole blogging thing and need time to re-evaluate and decide whether this is something I want to keep doing (either here at Scienceblogs or elsewhere). Hopefully…
June 29, 2008
Happy to see that Spain beat Germany today. Better team definitely won. Perhaps the Germans should have fielded the squad seen above?
June 26, 2008
Meet Kirstie Hartle, registered Democrat, Clinton supporter, and "a Republican all the way now":
She said she doesn't like Obama's name and thinks he has a questionable background. She also said she thought Obama was deceitful when he broke from his church after it hurt his campaign, and she doesn'…
June 24, 2008
(source; click for larger version)
So 60% of Republicans - versus 40% of Independents and 38% of Democrats - think that God created humans as is, 10,000 years ago. Let's get this clear - this isn't 60% accepting some form of "intelligent design" and allowing the archeological and fossil records to…
June 22, 2008
It is sad to note that George Carlin died Sunday at the age of 71. When he was funny, he was hilarious. His distillation of the Ten Commandments into two was a classic:
Thou shalt always be honest and faithful to the provider of thy nookie, and, Thou shalt try real hard not to kill anyone, unless…
June 21, 2008
A few months ago, I quoted George Sarton's low opinion of Plato's Timaeus. Jonathan Barnes has reviewed David Sedley's Creationism and Its Critics in Antiquity and has this to say about Timaeus:
Above all, Sedley lauds the Timaeus. It is a 'uniquely rich and seminal text'. It is 'the most…
June 21, 2008
Just finished watching the Dutch implode and get beaten 3-1 by Russia, making them the third group winner to lose.
I can now only hope that Spain beats the Italian Diving Squad tomorrow to avert any possibility of a Germany v Italy final.
Spain v Turkey would be more fun.
Thoughts?
June 20, 2008
I'm disappointed to note that both Harry Mitchell and Gabby Giffords joined the other 103 Democrats who voted for the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. (Ed Pastor and Raúl Grijalva voted against.) The 105 Dems have covered themselves in shame, granting immunity to telecom companies, while basically…
June 19, 2008
To quote the Lander: "Are you ready to celebrate? Well, get ready: We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day ever!!" More here.
June 19, 2008
From the Wall Street Journal:
If the bans were lifted tomorrow, it would be at least seven years -- and likely as long as a decade -- before the first oil began to flow off the coasts of Florida, California and the eastern seaboard.
"Is it going to happen overnight? No," said Dan Naatz, vice…
June 16, 2008
A WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 20 nations (nearly 20,000 respondents) around the world finds that, while none of the national leaders examined inspire wide confidence, our glorious leader is one of the least trusted leaders, to such a degree as to be less trusted than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and…
June 16, 2008
Apparently the McCain campaign sees Arizona as a "swing state" ... this despite the fact that Arizona has voted Republican in every election bar one (1996) since 1952. It says something about McCain that he can't even feel comfortable about carrying the state that he has "represented" (and I use…
June 11, 2008
Young male hippo in the surf, South Africa [source]
Courtesy of Phil Plait, I've stumbled across The Big Picture, a site run by the Boston Globe which features some wonderful photos arranged thematically. Do wander over and have a look.
June 10, 2008
Razib presents some interesting data on donations to the two main political parties by scientists. What struck me is that if you rank the professions from most Republican to most Democrat, you get the following:
Civil Engineering [0.75]
Chemical Engineering [0.79]
Geology [0.92]
Mechanical…
June 10, 2008
My mother - who lives five miles from the center of Dublin - has a red fox Vulpes vulpes living at the end of her garden (much to the delight of her grandchildren). On the day these photos were taken, the little blighter emerged from the hedges around 9 am and stayed out sunning himself until six…
June 10, 2008
It happens every two years ... a veritable orgy of high-quality soccer. In 2006 it was the World Cup, this time around it is the European Championship.
So far, the Germans look efficient, the French were underwhelming, the Italian Diving Squad choked (badly), and the Dutch ... well they just…
June 10, 2008
Two quick shots ...
Firstly, ASU is planning to install a 2 megawatt roof-top solar grid that will provide over 20% of the power to our campus. The installation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
That’s enough to run 4,600 computers and reduce carbon emissions by 2,825 tons per…
June 9, 2008
Someone may have noticed that I’ve been away for awhile. I was in Europe for a few weeks and am only now getting my feet under me. Highlight of the trip had to be five days spent in Athens, a city which I had never visited before. More of that later, no doubt. Anyway, I’ll be easing myself into…
May 20, 2008
A combination of work and travel means I’ll be out of circulation for the next few weeks. See you sometime around June 5th.
May 19, 2008
Yet another anti-evolution bill dies on the vine - in this case Missouri. The DI is batting 0-3 at the moment. That's gotta hurt.
May 16, 2008
Philosopher Robert Solomon in Waking Life:
The reason why I refuse to take existentialism as just another French fashion or historical curiosity is that I think it has something very important to offer us for the new century. I'm afraid we're losing the real virtues of living life passionately,…
May 16, 2008
And this guy is the current front-runner for McCain's running mate?
Republican Mike Huckabee responded to an offstage noise during his speech to the National Rifle Association by suggesting it was Barack Obama diving to the floor because someone had aimed a gun at him.
Hearing a loud noise and…
May 16, 2008
Ox Transcended
Whip, rope, self, ox - no traces left.
Thoughts cannot penetrate the vast blue sky,
Snowflakes cannot survive a red-hot stove.
Arriving here, meet the ancient teachers.
K’uo-an (trans. Stanley Lombardo)
[image source]