jlynch
Posts by this author
February 11, 2007
The prefatory "Historical Sketch" to Darwin's Origin of Species has traditionally been taken as a later addition that sought to deflect claims by individuals such as mathematician Baden Powell that Darwin plagiarized his ideas. Now, a study by Curtis Johnson of Lewis and Clark College argues that…
February 11, 2007
In a thrilling game in Croke Park, Ireland rallied back from a ten point deficit to take the lead, only to be denied victory by a late French try. France won 20-17, destroying the Grand Slam hopes of the Irish and preventing a first victory over France since 2003.
February 11, 2007
February 11th
1626 - Death of Pietro Cataldi, Italian mathematician
1650 - Death of René Descartes, French philosopher
1657 - Birth of Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle, French scientist
1839 - Birth of Josiah Willard Gibbs, American physicist
1847 - Birth of Thomas Alva Edison, American inventor…
February 10, 2007
John McCain seems to think it is Europe's fault that things aren't going well in Afghanistan. He believes that Europe should follow Washington's lead and put more forces and resources into the country. Spake McCain:
"Failure in Afghanistan risks a reversion to its pre-9/11 role as a sanctuary for…
February 10, 2007
What Famous Leader Are You?
And apparently, I'm Dr Doom as well ("Blessed with smarts and power but burdened by vanity"). The possibilities are endless. (HT to GrrlScientist and Afarensis respectively)
February 10, 2007
February 10th
1785 - Birth of Claude-Louis Navier, French physicist
1846 - Birth of Ira Remsen, American chemist
1865 - Death of Heinrich Lenz, German physicist
1887 - Birth of John Franklin Enders, Nobel Prize Laureate
1891 - Death of Sofia Kovalevskaya, Russian mathematician
1902 - Birth of…
February 9, 2007
I have fond memories of watching PBS's Mystery Masterpiece Theatre in the mid to late 90's ... i.e. when the shows they broadcast were actually interesting. Some of the best shows were those that formed the three miniseries, "House of Cards", "To Play the King" and "The Final Cut" all featuring…
February 9, 2007
Long seeking it through others,
I was far from reaching it.
Now I go by myself;
I meet it everywhere.
It is just I myself,
And I am not itself.
Understanding this way,
I can be as I am.
Tung-Shan (806-869)
February 9, 2007
February 9th
1752 - Death of Fredric Hasselquist, Swedish naturalist
1775 - Birth of Farkas Bolyai, Hungarian mathematician
1880 - Brith of Lipót Fejér, Hungarian mathematician
1910 - Birth of Jacques Monod, French biochemist and Nobel laureate
1925 - Birth of Burkhard Heim, German physicist
1963…
February 8, 2007
Cardinal Cristoph Schönborn [fanboy site here] flew across the radar a few years back for a purile pro-ID op-ed in the New York Times that was egged-on by the Discovery Institute's Bruce Chapman,. Now Chapman - a relatively recent convert to Catholicism - is having a mini-orgasm about a lecture…
February 8, 2007
February 8th
1677 - Birth of Jacques Cassini, French astronomer
1700 - Birth of Daniel Bernoulli, Dutch-born mathematician
1807 - Birth of Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, English naturalist
1834 - Birth of Dmitri Mendeleyev, Russian chemist
1856 - Death of Agostino Bassi, Italian entomologist
1907…
February 7, 2007
The following post first appeared at my old blog on June 2nd 2005. I'm reposting it here, not just because PZ recently linked to it, but because it remains a relevant examination of the sorts of venues anti-evolutionists choose for their "scholarship".
Today, the DI proudly
announced that "[f]or…
February 7, 2007
February 7th
1736 - Death of Stephen Gray, English astronomer
1870 - Birth of Alfred Adler, Austrian psychologist
1877 - Birth of Godfrey Harold Hardy, English mathematician
1889 - Birth of Harry Nyquist, important contributor to information theory
1897 - Death of Galileo Ferraris, Italian…
February 6, 2007
PZ has been dealing with the idiocy that is Scott Adams of Dilbert "fame". (The last word is in scare quotes because, frankly, I don't find Dilbert funny. At all. Never have. Never will.) And what is worse, PZ's had to deal with the apparent apostles of Adams who seem to think that a cartoonist…
February 6, 2007
This is Turkana boy (Homo ergaster), soon to go on display in Kenya's national museum. Bishop Boniface Adoyo, of Nairobi Pentecostal Church (NPC) and Christ is the Answer Ministries, claims:
"I did not evolve from Turkana Boy or anything like it. These sorts of silly views are killing our faith."…
February 6, 2007
February 6th
1617 - Death of Prospero Alpini, Italian scientist
1695 - Birth of Nicolaus II Bernoulli, Swiss mathematician
1744 - Birth of Pierre-Joseph Desault, French anatomist and surgeon
1833 - Death of Pierre André Latreille, French entomologist
1913 - Birth of Mary Leakey, British…
February 5, 2007
February 5th
1608 - Birth of Gaspar Schott, German mathematician
1790 - Death of William Cullen, Scottish physician and chemist
1795 - Birth of Wilhelm Karl Ritter von Haidinger, Austrian mineralogist
1914 - Birth of Alan Lloyd Hodgkin, Nobel Prize Laureate
1915 - Birth of Robert Hofstadter,…
February 4, 2007
Ireland kicked off its Six Nations Championship campaign with a 19-9 victory over Wales today in Cardiff. Next up are France (who shellacked Italy, 39 - 3).Since it is practically impossible to see any European rugby here in the US, I haven't a clue what transpired during either game.
On the other…
February 4, 2007
February 4th
1615 - Death of Giovanni Battista della Porta, Italian physicist
1725 - Birth of Dru Drury, English entomologist
1774 - Death of Charles Marie de La Condamine, French mathematician and geographer
1778 - Birth of A. P. de Candolle, Swiss botanist
1846 - Birth of Nikolay Umov, Russian…
February 3, 2007
February 3rd
1737 - Death of Tommaso Ceva, Italian Mathematician
1754 - Birth of George Crabbe, English naturalist
1817 - Birth of Achille Ernest Oscar Joseph Delesse, French geologist
1821 - Birth of Elizabeth Blackwell, American physician
1862 - Death of Jean-Baptiste Biot, French physicist…
February 2, 2007
A short while back I presented a quote by historian Peter Dear regarding Darwin's ideas about species. Of the quote I commented that it was "so wrong it is not even funny". Professor Dear took exception to that comment (especially after John Wilkins waded in with his view) and commented that "[i]f…
February 2, 2007
I hit my deadline a little early (hence the burst of posts today) only to be reminded that the next two weeks is going to be just as bad as the previous ones. Contrary to the impressions of some, academics have to justify their existence and the annual self-evaluations have to be read, judged, and…
February 2, 2007
This is a terrorist:
This is not:
Any questions?
[hat tip to boingboing]
February 2, 2007
A couple days back I passed a link on to Orac regarding the International Alchemy Conference to be held in Vegas this coming October. Now he's gone and devoted his Friday Dose of Woo to it, so wander on over and take a read.
February 2, 2007
Looking for "cutting-edge research that demonstrates the young earth model, the global Flood, the non-evolutionary origin of the species, and other evidences that correlate to the biblical accounts"? The ICR has launched the International Journal of Creation - "a professional peer-reviewed journal…
February 2, 2007
Buddha in Glory
Center of all centers, core of cores,
almond self-enclosed, and growing sweet--
all this universe, to the furthest stars
all beyond them, is your flesh, your fruit.
Now you feel how nothing clings to you;
your vast shell reaches into endless space,
and there the rich, thick fluids…
February 2, 2007
February 2nd
1522 - Birth of Lodovico Ferrari, Italian mathematician
1695 - Birth of William Borlase, English naturalist
1704 - Death of Guillaume François Antoine, Marquis de l'Hôpital, French mathematician
1712 - Death of Martin Lister, English naturalist and physician
1768 - Death of Robert…