October 29, 2008
The editors of SEED magazine have endorsed Barack Obama for President. A fine choice, in my opinion.
Far more important is this: Science is a way of governing, not just something to be governed. Science offers a methodology and philosophy rooted in evidence, kept in check by persistent inquiry,…
October 29, 2008
Last night I completed one of the least ambitious reading projects I have ever undertaken. I have now read all sixteen volumes of the Left Behind series.
As I am sure you are aware, this is a series of novels written by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins, describing the Earth's last days as foretold in…
October 28, 2008
Vladimir Kramnik has announced his intention to fight to the end of the big chess match, and games nine and ten have certainly been his best efforts yet.
When last we checked in (pun intended), Kramnik was down three points with four games to go in the big chess match. Playing black in Sunday's…
October 22, 2008
Anand won game six of the big chess match. He has now won three out of the six games played (the other three ended in draws.) Kramnik will have to repeat that feat just to tie the match. Not too likely, but who knows?
Playing white, Anand once again opened with the d-pawn, and as in game two the…
October 21, 2008
In an interview this past Sunday with Fox News' Chris Wallace, John McCain said the following. Wallace had asked him whether Governor Palin had turned out to be a drag on the ticket. (The phrase “cold political calculation” cam from Wallace, but I didn't notice McCain being reticent to use it.)…
October 21, 2008
Browsing through the blog of The New Republic I came across this post, entitled “The Not-So-Soft Bigotry of Rachel Maddow's Low Expectations.”
I was puzzled by the title (and remain puzzled even after reading the post), but I was fairly certain it was not flattering towards Maddow. Since I am a…
October 21, 2008
Over at BeliefNet, Ken Ham and Karl Giberson are mixing it up on the subject of evolution and creationism. One post each so far.
Giberson got the ball rolling. After presenting a bit of his biography (grew up fundamentalist, lost confidence in YEC after studying college-level science) he gets…
October 20, 2008
After a quick draw in game four of the big chess match, Anand and Kramnik got back to business today. Kramnik went into the same line of the Meran as on Friday, surely having some improvement ready over Friday's game. What he had in mind we'll never know, since Anand varied first:
V. Kramnik…
October 17, 2008
Remember at the end of my last chess post when I wrote:
But no need to despair! This is just the feeling out period. I suspect the real match will begin shortly.
Oh baby! Was I more right than I knew! Vishy Anand drew first blood in the big chess match today, and did so in fine style. Once…
October 15, 2008
Huffington Post has the details:
Who is Joe the Plumber?
He is Joe Wurzelbacher, an Ohio man looking to buy a plumbing business who came to symbolize the notion of "spreading the wealth" in Wednesday night's third and final presidential debate between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John…
October 15, 2008
Tough one to call. At the beginning I was a bit glum, since I thought McCain had the better of the early exchanges. The Joe the Plumber stuff was pretty effective (the first time). I felt McCain seemed forceful and confident, and he was pretty successful at fitting his criticisms into his…
October 15, 2008
Two games down in the big chess match. The results?
Two draws.
And not the exciting type of draw with lots of thrust and parry and two lone, bruised kings remaining on the board at the end. I'm talking about boring draws.
But no need to despair! This is just the feeling out period. I…
October 15, 2008
Damon Linker reviews Religulous for The New Republic.
Let's see, TNR is a left-leaning publication, so they will tend to be sympathetic to Maher's message. But they also fancy themselves very high-brow, which means they have to be turned off by Maher's in-your-face tactics.
The review…
October 14, 2008
A few days ago I linked to this essay by Christopher Buckley, announcing his intention to vote for Barack Obama.
Buckley seems not to have realized that modern Republicans politics has nothing to do with arguments and ideas. It has to do with extreme stupidity and mindless hate for dissenters.…
October 13, 2008
Ohmigod ohmigod ohmigod! Just try to guess why I am so excited right now. I dare you, just try.
I'll even give you some time...
Okay, so maybe the title gave it away.
The long awaited (among chess fans anyway) match between Viswanathan Anand of India and Vladimir Kramnik of Russia begins today.…
October 13, 2008
Following on the heels of Christopher Buckley's surprising endorsement of Obama, now Hitchens comes on board:
On “the issues” in these closing weeks, there really isn't a very sharp or highly noticeable distinction to be made between the two nominees, and their “debates” have been cramped and…
October 13, 2008
With Obama in the Naples role, of course:
The Estero High football staff gathered in head coach Rich Dombroski's office late Friday, almost in stunned silence.
Earlier that night, Estero lost to Naples High by 13.
Not by 13 points. By 13 touchdowns. That's right: Naples 91, Estero 0.
The rout…
October 10, 2008
Sorry for the sporadic blogging lately. I have a really good excuse though: haven't felt like blogging.
But this article got me thinking. It seems that Christopher Buckley, son of William F., is voting for Obama:
John McCain has changed. He said, famously, apropos the Republican debacle post-…
October 7, 2008
In the first debate I thought McCain had slightly the better of it. Basically a draw, but McCain seemed a bit more forceful and confident. Then the polling over the next few days showed that most people thought Obama was the clear winner. Yay!
I hope, though, that I am not similarly out of touch…
October 3, 2008
Granted, I'm hardly an unbiased source. But come on folks! I know these debates are decided far more on style than substance, but surely at some point you have to say something. The country just can't be so far gone that ninety minutes of contentless babbling that stops just short of utter…
October 1, 2008
News first: The New York Times has reached dizzying new heights with today's magnificent crossword puzzle. Sadly, finding a New York Times here in Harrisonburg is rather like finding two identical snowflakes. Hard to do. So I haven't actually seen the puzzle yet. But I know it is excellent…
September 25, 2008
My friends, I have just read one of the dopiest essays I have ever seen in my life (and regular readers of this blog know that's really saying something.) It is called “The Disadvantages of an Elite Education: Our Best Universities Have Forgotten that the Reason They Exist is to Make Minds, Not…
September 23, 2008
Over at Discover's blog, Melissa Lafsky has an interesting account of a debate between Christopher Hitchens and Lorenzo Albecete, on the subject of -- what else? -- God. Lafsky writes:
Are you there God, and if so, will you please provide an emissary that can go head-to-head with Christopher…
September 23, 2008
Be sure to have a look at Sam Harris' excellent editorial about Sarah Palin in the current issue of Newsweek magazine:
We have endured eight years of an administration that seemed touched by religious ideology. Bush's claim to Bob Woodward that he consulted a “higher Father” before going to war in…
September 22, 2008
As a near-perfect corroboration of my assertion, in the previous post, that religion has been pushed straight out of the back seat and into the trunk as a respectable intellectual enterprise, check out the line-up of speakers at a forthcoming apologetics conference in Charlotte, NC this November.…
September 22, 2008
Steven Weinberg has a characteristically insightful essay in The New York Review of Books on the conflict between science and religion. He writes, with respect to people who insist there is no conflict between them:
Some scientists take this line because they want to protect science education…
September 16, 2008
Yesterday, John McCain said this:
We know there has been tremendous turmoil in our financial markets and Wall Street. And people are frightened by these events. Our economy still, the fundamentals of our economy are strong.
“The fundamentals of our economy are strong,” is a standard cliche…
September 16, 2008
So far I'm really liking Rachel Maddow's new MSNBC show. She reminds me a lot of what Keith Olbermann used to be (and sometimes still is). On last night's edition she had a nice summary of precisely how pathetic the McCain campaign has been recently:
See, saying “It's not fair the way I'm…
September 15, 2008
Update (9/16/08) : I forgot to include the link to the evolution carnival mothership! Please go here for more information.
Its carnival time! Thanks to everyone who sent me submissions for the big party. There were too many, alas, to respond to each one individually, but I appreciate the…
