March 20, 2009
You've heard of those parasites that can invade other creatures and turn them into zombies, mindlessly doing the parasite's bidding? Well, if Ken Ham is is to be believed, that's pretty much what has happened to our own P.Z. Myers:
As you watch this intriguing video exchange, please note that Dr…
March 19, 2009
The recent war in Gaza, coupled with the rejection of Israel-critic Charles Freeman for an intelligence post in the Obama administration, has led to a renewed round of hand-wringing over America's relationship with Israel.
Let's kick things off with this delightful article from today's New York…
March 12, 2009
11:23 First commercial break in the big Jon Stewart -- Jim Cramer interview. So far it's Stewart in a rout. Cramer's making a fool of himself; I actually feel a bit bad for him. It's pure train wreck time. Hard to watch but impossible to turn away.
11:30 Colbert's coming on so I'll keep this…
March 12, 2009
We chess players have had to put up with taunts from our Go playing counterparts for quite some time. First there was the jibe that Go is so much easier to learn than chess. Then the dubious charge that Go is actually more complex than chess. Some have argued that the superiority of Go over…
March 10, 2009
As you have probably noticed, I haven't been blogging lately. This is largely because I have been working on some other writing projects, which involves many hours spent in frustrated contemplation of a blank computer screen, which leaves me decidedly unmotivated to then embark on lengthy blog…
February 27, 2009
Writing at Christian Today Tony Campolo has unleashed a stunningly stupid barrage of attacks against Charles Darwin.
Campolo is a bit of a celebrity among the evangelical left. He can thump his Bible with the best of them, but also defends progressive political positions. That he is usually a…
February 20, 2009
The general blog drought around here lately will, regrettably, continue a while longer as I dig out from under a big pile of work that isn't getting done on its own. But I just had to poke my head up for a minute to comment on this bit of silliness from the lunatics over at Uncommon Descent.
By…
February 12, 2009
After my last class tomorrow I will hop into the Jasonmobile, spend some quality time on I-81 and the Pennsy Turnpike, say hello to the 'rents in central New Jersey, and then wander up to Parsippany for the annual chess extravaganza known as the U.S. Amateur Team East. I first played in this event…
February 12, 2009
By now you have surely heard that Charles Darwin turns 200 today. Happy Birthday! In honor of that fact, Darwin articles in various media outlets are currently a dime a dozen. Some good, some pretty bad, many just standard boilerplate.
Here's one that caught my eye, from The Times of London. It…
February 6, 2009
From the San Jose Mercury News:
An evening that started with two friends playing chess and drinking beers ended with one man stabbed to death and another booked on murder charges Tuesday, Alameda police said.
Kelly Scott Kjersem, a 40-year-old Alameda man, arrived earlier in the evening at 1220…
February 5, 2009
Sorry for the lack of blogging. Such are the vicissitudes of academic life. Piles of free time one week, crazy busy the next.
The fallout over Jerry Coyne's recent article in TNR continues. Sam Harris and Steven Pinker have now contributed responses. Both are excellent. Click here and scroll…
January 30, 2009
We close the week's blogging by savoring an amusing example of just how bad things have gotten for the creationists.
For as long as there have been creationists there has been the argument from complex structures. You know the one I mean. Some erstwhile evolution critic points to some complex…
January 28, 2009
If you saw my post the other day about Jerry Coyne's review of the recent books by Ken Miller and Karl Giberson, then you might also be interested to know that Miller and Giberson have now replied. Click here for Miller's reply, and click here for Giberson's.
Let's look at Giberson, first:…
January 26, 2009
Writing in Slate Ron Rosenbaum has a very funny, but very mean, polemic against...Billy Joel. What the aging pop star did to deserve this I don't know, but for anyone who grew up in the eighties it's worth a look:
But let's go through the “greatest hits” chronologically and see how this “contempt…
January 26, 2009
Jerry Coyne returns to the pages of The New Republic with this review of Ken Miller's recent book Only a Theory and Karl Giberson's book Saving Darwin. I previously reviewed Giberson's book here and Miller's book here.
Miller and Giberson, recall, were both rying to carve out space for a…
January 23, 2009
If you have some time this weekend, be sure to read this magnificent article from Vanity Fair. It presents excerpts from intervies conducted withhundreds of Bush administration officials and other politically important individuals, going through the entire eight years of the presidency. If a…
January 22, 2009
Recently, ScienceBlogs own Abbie Smith made some trenchant remarks about the problems with science journalism. The combination of sensationalism with writers who frequently do not understand the work about which they are writing leads to some serious difficulties for scientists wishing to…
January 21, 2009
Writing in The New Criterion, the always excellent Martin Gardner reviews Bart Ehramnn's new book God's Problem: how the Bible Fails to Answer Our Most Important Question -- Why We Suffer. Since I am among those who think the problem of evil and suffering in its various forms is a real crackerjack…
January 16, 2009
And let us conclude the week's blogging with some wise words from the Financial Times:
Yet at the beginning of the 21st century, evolution is under sustained attack from creationist theories inspired by fundamentalist religion -- sometimes dressed in scientific clothing as “intelligent design”.…
January 16, 2009
Over at the New Republic Issac Chotiner offers up the following worthy thought:
As a respite from all the talk on cable television yesterday (and today) that the New York plane rescue was in fact a “miracle,” it is nice to see more coverage of the atheist ad campaign currently centered on London…
January 15, 2009
By now I am sure you have heard that Ricardo Mantalban and Patrick McGoohan have died.
Mantalban is being remembered primarily for playing Khan in Star Trek and Mr. Rourke in the godawful-but-strangely-watchable Fantasy Island. For me, though, his best role was as a murdering bullfighter in a…
January 14, 2009
Today's New York TImes features two op-eds essential to clear thinking about the situation in Gaza. The first comes from journalist Jeffrey Goldberg. He paints a grim picture of the enemy Israel faces. It is a useful corrective to those who think Hamas is a leigitmate negotiating partner…
January 13, 2009
This particular problem is a bit too applied for my taste, but it's always nice to see mathematicians in the news:
For decades, math and computer science have played a profound role in the drawing of legislative districts. And it's hard to argue that they've improved the process. As the amount of…
January 13, 2009
We militant atheist types often wonder, with exasperation, how people manage to persuade themselves of God's existence. Former conservative MSNBC pundit Tucker Carlson gives us his answer:
Yet for Carlson, who was baptized as an Episcopalian but didn't attend church growing up, the question of…
January 12, 2009
Since I am still getting caught up on my blog reading after my trip to the big conference, I have only just noticed Jeffrey Shallit's interesting post on information theory. He writes:
Creationists think information theory poses a serious challenge to modern evolutionary biology -- but that only…
January 11, 2009
Now that the big ScienceBlogs software upgrade is complete, I can tell you about the big conference in Washington D.C. Lucky you!
According to careercast.com, mathematicians have the most wonderful job there is. I am inclined to agree, of course. I don't understand why everyone doesn't get a…
January 3, 2009
I will be leaving town tomorrow to spend most of this coming week in Washington D.C., participating in the annual extravaganza known as the Joint Mathematics Meetings. This is quite simply the place to be if you have any interest in mathematics.
Of course, this means I will only have limited…
January 3, 2009
In the Washington Post, Israeli writer Yossi Klein Halevi has a moving take on the conflict in Gaza. His nineteen year old son is in the Israeli army, you see.
A majority of Israelis emerged from the first intifada convinced that we need to do everything possible to end the occupation and ensure…
January 3, 2009
As a companion piece to the last post, I recommend the sledgehammer vs. the fly exchange between Ken Miller and Casey Luskin. Miller is a biologist at Brown University, and is the author of Finding Darwin's God and Only a Theory, two of the most important popular-level evolution books of recent…
January 3, 2009
Continuing with the recent book review theme, allow me to say a few words about The Accidental Mind: How Brain Evolution Has Given Us Love, Memory, Dreams and God, by David J. Linden. Linden is a professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
If you have been paying attention…
