Jason Rosenhouse received his PhD in mathematics from Dartmouth College in 2000. He subsequently spent three years as a post-doc at Kansas State University. Currently he is Associate Professor of Mathematics at James Madison University in Harrisonburg, VA. This blog is about science, religion, math, politics and chess, roughly in that order.
Writing in National Review Online, John Derbyshire provides a nice characterization of what it's like to argue with creationists:
I'll also say that I write the following with some reluctance. It's a wearying business, arguing with Creationists. Basically, it is a game of Whack-a-Mole. They make…
I have written previously that the current mainstream of modern American conservatism lies with the religious, anti-science, fanatically pro-Bush folks. More evidence of that is provided by a recent spat between the National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru and Time's Andrew Sullivan. Writing at NR's blog…
Michael Kinsley has an excellent column up at Slate about the inconsistency of the anti stem-cell crowd:
Against this, you have the fact that embryonic stem cells are extracted from human embryos, killing them in the process. If you believe that embryos a few days after conception have the same…
Also while I was away, Nature published its list of the top blogs by scientists. EvolutionBlog was listed in a tie for the twentieth spot, based on my Technorati rank (whatever that is). Cool. All such lists have to be taken with a grain of salt, of course, but it's always nice to be noticed.
It…
I managed to find time during my break to catch the new Superman movie. It mostly holds your interest, though it could certainly have been thirty minutes shorter without losing anything. The action sequences are impressive, and the acting is good (especially Kevin Spacey, whose even better than…
The World Open went well. I managed six points out of a possible nine. Sadly, you needed six and a half to win any money. Did manage to pick up a handful of rating points, however. My final tally was four wins, three draws, one loss, and one half-point bye, which I will explain in a moment.…
The annual chess extravaganza known as The World Open will be taking place in Philadelphia this weekend. I will be participating, of course. That means I will be out of town for the next week or so. Regular blogging will resume upon my return.
A few people have sent me e-mail to tell me that certain comments, rather than being posted immediately as they should be, are getting placed in a queue waiting for my approval. I now make it part of my daily routine to clear out such comments, so there is no need to write to tell me about them.…
Shortly after finishing Monday's post, I discovered that the new issue of the Reports of the National Center for Science Education had turned up in my mailbox. It contained the following item:
Arthur Shapiro is a professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at the University of California…
The latest attempt to pass a constitutional amendment allowing Congress to pass laws against flag “desecration” failed by one vote in the Senate. It had already passed the House. Had it passed the Senate, it would surely have gotten the approval of the necessary three-fourths of the states.
Here'…
My new essay for CSICOP's Creation and Intelligent Design Watch site is now available. This time: My take on the old tautology argument, inspired by Ann Coulter and Tom Bethell. I argue - surprise! - that natural selection is not a meaningless tautology. Enjoy!
An interview with historian of science Ronald Numbers has been posted. It has already attracted some blog attention. P. Z. Myers rightly criticizes Numbers for some rather bizarre statements about the relationship between science and religion. Over at Telic Thoughts, Krauze offers this typically…
The latest Ask a Science Blogger Question is:
What makes a good science teacher?
My fellow SB'ers have already unloaded a wealth of good answers.
In one of his essays for Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine, Isaac Asimov relates the story of the famous chemist who was discussing the nature of…
Polymathematics has posted another excellent essay on the subject of whether .9999...repeating equals one. This time he is responding, very effectively, to various counter arguments raised by commenters.
One small comment of my own, though: The name of the blog is “EvolutionBlog.” One word.…
I rented The Aristocrats the other day. This was the documentary (for lack of a better description) by Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette in which numerous comedians and comedy writers were asked about a particular joke, called “The Aristocrats.” As Jon Stewart says in the movie, I'm not going to…
Paul Gross has written this useful review of John Brockman's recent anti-ID anthology Intelligent Thought: Science Versus the Intelligent Design Movement. I intend to do some posts relating to specific essays in the book, but Gross' overall assessment is the same as mine:
This collection is…
There's an interesting blog discussion going on about the age-old question of whether .99999..., where the nines go on forever, is actually equal to one. The answer is: Yes, it does, and if you think it does not then you are mistaken. Polymathematics got the ball rolling with several arguments…
As a counterpoint to yesterday's post about Ann Coulter's place within modern conservatism, check out this post from the blog Conservatives Against Intelligent Design. (Hat tip to Gene Expression for the link.
It's nice to see that at least some conservatives are willing to take on the…
If you're wondering why only a small handful of prominent conservatives and Republicans have publicly criticized Ann Coulter, the answer is simple: Most of them agree with her, and the ones who don't are still happy to have her on their side.
Coulter is what right-wingers are all about, you see.…
The detailed responses to Ann Coulter's silliness about evolution are now coming in. P.Z Myers illustrates the insanity of claiming that there is no evidence for evolution. See also this post for further examples of Coulterian insanity.
Over at the Panda's Thumb, Ian Musgrave deals with the…
With all the other things going on, I never got around to acknowledging the fine performance by the United States team at the recently completed chess olympiad in Turin, Italy. Armenia took the gold medal, while China took silver. That Russia finished out of the medals is one of the major news…
Here's the latest question from HQ:
How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?
Good question. I often wonder about it myself.
In my case, a big part of the answer is…
My old sparring partner Salvador Cordova recently posted this essay over at Uncommon Descent. Salvador describes his intent as follows:
Intelligent design will open doors to scientific exploration which Darwinism is too blind to perceive. The ID perspective allows us to find designed…
MSNBC is reporting the discovery of yet another transitional form, this time linking ancient and modern birds:
Dozens of fossils of an ancient loonlike creature that some say is the missing link in bird evolution have been discovered in northwest China.
The remains of 40 of the nearly modern…
The current issue of The New York Review of Books features this article by physicist Freeman Dyson. The subject is Daniel Dennett's recent book Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon. Dyson begins as follows:
Breaking the spell of religion is a game that many people can play. The…
P. Z. Myers says all the right things on the subject of replying to Ann Coulter. She's loathsome, dishonest and ignorant. But we can't simply pretend she doesn't exist. I haven't managed to get a copy of her book yet, but when I do I expect to have some things to say about her evolution chapter…
While I was away I managed to find time to play in the U.S. Amateur East chess tournament. You can find the full details here. I managed 4 points out of 6, which was good enough to pick up some rating points but not good enough to win any money.
I did, however, manage to wrap up the tournament…
The latest Ask a Science Blogger question is:
Assuming that time and money were not obstacles, what area of scientific research, outside of your own discipline, would you most like to explore? Why?
I had to smile a bit when I saw this question. You see, one of the main reasons I went into…
Well, let's just roll up the old sleeves, sit down at the computer, see what's up in the blogosphere. Start with Science Blogs, of course. Ah, yes, there's the link over on the left. Just give it a little click there and....Holy Crap! What's this? Who are all these people? So.....many.....…
