February 10, 2014
Blogging is likely to be light for the next week or so. I'm gearing up for some traveling, starting at the end of the week. On Thursday I'll leave for Chicago, to participate in the annual AAAS Conference. Over the weekend I will be in Parsippany, New Jersey to participate in the annual chess…
February 9, 2014
Some chess problems are the equivalent of a big, Thanksgiving dinner. They have numerous variations and complex strategy. And that's fine, if a big dinner is what you want.
Sometimes, though, you just want a pleasant little amuse bouche. And that's what we have today. The problem below was…
February 7, 2014
Philosopher John Wilkins has responded to yesterday's post about conflicts between evolution and religion. Sadly, he so grossly distorts what I said that I don't think he has replied very effectively.
John quotes only a single short excerpt from my lengthy post:
So, after all, that, let us return…
February 6, 2014
Writing at Slate, Phil Plait has a post up about the big Ham vs. Nye debate. He gets off to a good start:
Last night, science advocate Bill Nye “debated” with creationist Ken Ham, the man who runs the Creation Museum in Kentucky. I was torn about the event; I think it's important that science get…
February 5, 2014
In yesterday's post, I remarked that the clear loser in yesterday's debate was the intelligent design crowd. They've been trying for years to persuade people that anti-evolutionism has nothing--nothing--to do with blinkered religious obscurantism. And in one widely viewed, widely covered, debate…
February 5, 2014
Among the people unimpressed with Ken Ham's performance yesterday is televangelist, and former Republican Presidential candidate, Pat Robertson:
In a video of his appearance on the 700 Club TV program, captured by Right Wing Watch, Robertson reacted to the debate between Ham and Nye by reiterating…
February 4, 2014
The big debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham was tonight. Click here for the video. The whole thing is close to three hours, so get comfortable if you want to watch it all.
I was watching it live, but about two-thirds of the way through I kept losing the signal. I would reload the page, but then…
February 3, 2014
I had not intended to do another post on this topic so soon after the last one. But I have just readan astonishingly bad post over at Uncommon Descent that discusses this issue, and I cannot resist responding.
The post is called, “Where Do We Get the Probabilities?” It was written by Winston Ewert…
February 1, 2014
This week's problem was composed by Mircea Manolescu in 1956. In the position below, it is white to move and mate in two.
Remember that white is always moving up the board, while black is always moving down. Vertical files are labeled as a--h from left to right, while the horizontal ranks are…
January 30, 2014
California is running out of water:
California is dry as a bone, and the effects are like something out of an apocalyptic film.
Cities are running out of water. Communities are fighting over what little water there is. Local governments are imposing rationing coupled with steep fines. Fires are…
January 28, 2014
Here's a trailer for the HBO documentary about evolution and religion that I mentioned a while back:
The film was made by Antony Thomas, who is a very prominent documentary filmmaker from England. I was one of the talking heads interviewed for the film, and Antony wrote to tell me that some of…
January 27, 2014
When I finished graduate school in 2000, I interviewed with a large number of schools. One of them was Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. They are a pretty strong liberal arts school which, its name notwithstanding, has never had a religious affiliation. I was interviewed by the chair of…
January 26, 2014
Having devoted the last three problems to exploring the exotic world of selfmates, I think it's time for a return to the real world. So let us now consider a genre that has not yet been featured in this series: The two-move direct-mate.
In the position below, it is white to move and mate in two:…
January 24, 2014
In a lengthy comment to my post on probability and evolution, I pointed out that for scientists engaged in biological research, natural selection is not an abstract principle. It is not something that is invoked casually as a catch-all explanation for whatever complex biological system crosses…
January 23, 2014
Returning now to my radio debate with Sean Pitman, another issue that arose involved the use of probability theory in understanding evolution. Sean argued, indeed, it was really his only argument, that natural selection was incapable in principle of crafting complex adaptations. He chided me for…
January 22, 2014
Writing in The New Statesman, Cristina Odone laments what she sees as liberal intolerance of religion. The article is quite long, but here's the opening:
I couldn't believe it. I was trying to discuss traditional marriage – and the state was trying to stop me.
Incredible, in a 21st-century…
January 20, 2014
One frustration I had in my radio debate with Sean Pitman was that the topic kept changing in such a rapid-fire way that it was not really possible to discuss anything properly. Happily, I have no such restrictions here at the blog! So let's devote a post or two to clarifying some of the issues…
January 20, 2014
The start of the spring semester brings with it a new round of Problem of the Week! This term's theme is “Knights, Knaves, Normals, Werewolves and Other Fanciful Creatures.” That's right! A whole term dedicated to the most endearing characters ever to populate fictional islands in logical…
January 19, 2014
Out of respect for my recent travels, “Sunday Chess Problem” has the week off. However, my new friends at the Center for Inquiry in Long Island have now posted the video of my talk. And here it is:
Alas, the question and answer period is not included in the video, which is a pity, since it was…
January 17, 2014
You always remember your first! I have now participated in my very first debate about evolution and creationism. Earlier today I was a guest on Harry Allen's radio show, where I discussed things with Sean Pitman, who maintains this pro-ID website. “Discussed” is a polite term for what transpired…
January 16, 2014
I am on the road! Tomorrow I will be in New York, as I have previously discussed. Today I was in Baltimore to hang out at the big math party known as the Joint Mathematics Meetings. I also managed to write a guest post over at the Oxford University Press blog. Enjoy!
January 12, 2014
Time to get back to the classroom! Our spring semester starts tomorrow. This term I'll be teaching Calculus I and History of Math. I have a relatively light teaching load this term, as my reward for accepting a relatively heavy teaching load last term.
Things are going to be a bit hectic for me…
January 12, 2014
Last week's problem, though undoubtedly clever and imaginative, was not really typical of modern selfmates. So, let us spend one more week with this genre, this time considering a real heavy-duty, barn-burner of a composition. It comes from Uri Avner, a prominent composer from Israel, and was…
January 8, 2014
So, have you heard what's going on in New Jersey?
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) denied any involvement in a political payback scheme carried out by some of his top aides on Wednesday, saying the whole thing was “inappropriate and unsanctioned.”
“What I've seen today for the first time is…
January 4, 2014
Last week we introduced selfmates with a straightforward example that I composed in the late 1980s. This week we feature another representative of this genre. It was created by an American composer named Mark Kirtley, in 1986. In the position below, white is to play and force selfmate in eight…
January 4, 2014
Here's a little brainteaser for you. What do these four fractions have in common?
$latex \dfrac{16}{64} \phantom{xxxx} \dfrac{19}{95} \phantom{xxxx} \dfrac{26}{65} \phantom{xxxx} \dfrac{49}{98}$
As it happens, these are the only four fractions where the top and bottom are both two-digit numbers…
January 2, 2014
Jeffrey Shallit has an interesting post up about The Southern Confederacy Arithmetic, a mathematics textbook published in 1864. Some of its idiosyncratic examples make for amusing reading.
Reading Jeffrey's post reminded me of a textbook I picked up at home-schoolers convention a while back. The…
January 2, 2014
Just in case you are still wondering why college professors tend to be politically liberal, the last few days have provided three examples that make my point perfectly.
First up, we have this piece from Bret Stephens, writing at The Wall Street Journal. Stephens's piece is behind a pay-wall, but…
December 29, 2013
Over at Talking Philosophy, Mike LaBossiere takes up that question. Unfortunately, I think his answer is mostly wrong.
Here's his introduction:
One common conservative talking point is that academics is dominated by professors who are, if not outright communists, at least devout liberals. While…
December 28, 2013
To this point in our Sunday Chess Problem series, we have considered one endgame study and two “direct mates.” While the diagram positions we have considered may have seemed a bit fanciful, we have not yet fiddled with the basic logic of the game itself. Which is to say that even if the position…
