jrosenhouse | November 10, 2008One of the great frustrations in responding to creationist literature is their penchant for using technical sounding jargon in ways no scientist would recognize. A good example is their use of the word “information.” This word has a variety of meanings within mathematics, but creationists usually do not intend any of them when they say, “Natural selection can not lead to information increase in the genome.” Instead they mean something like, “I find it hard to believe that evolution can lead to organisms becoming more complex over time.” That is why they are generally unmoved when you ask…
jrosenhouse | November 9, 2008I just had an interesting weekend.
On Thursday I found out that one of my favorite political organizations, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, was having a little meet-up for bloggers in Washington D.C. Washington? Gosh, that's just a short ride from my digs in Harrisonburg.
So on Saturday afternoon I hopped into the Jasonmobile and made tracks for Vienna, VA. Got through one more CD of the audiobook version of John Grisham's The Appeal, which I had started during a recent long drive to Kentucky. One of Grisham's better efforts, I must say. I look forward to…
jrosenhouse | November 6, 2008Now that the big election is over, it's time to get away from political blogging for a while and return to what this blog was created to do: bash creationists. So have a look at this article from The New Scientist:
“You cannot overestimate,” thundered psychiatrist Jeffrey Schwartz, “how threatened the scientific establishment is by the fact that it now looks like the materialist paradigm is genuinely breaking down. You're gonna hear a lot in the next calendar year about... how Darwin's explanation of how human intelligence arose is the only scientific way of doing it... I'm asking us as a…
jrosenhouse | November 5, 2008From The Onion, of course:
Although polls going into the final weeks of October showed Sen. Obama in the lead, it remained unclear whether the failing economy, dilapidated housing market, crumbling national infrastructure, health care crisis, energy crisis, and five-year-long disastrous war in Iraq had made the nation crappy enough to rise above 300 years of racial prejudice and make lasting change.
“Today the American people have made their voices heard, and they have said, 'Things are finally as terrible as we're willing to tolerate,” said Obama, addressing a crowd of unemployed,…
jrosenhouse | November 5, 2008President Obama it is. Cool. I wanted Hillary Clinton, but I'll take what I can get. And even though I'm one of those people who says things like, “If you're not cynical, you're not paying attention,” I confess to being moved by Obama's victory speech.
Can he lead? Who knows? The braying nincompoops from the National Review notwithstanding, I see little evidence that Obama is some sort of left-wing ideologue (not that I hold that against a candidate). In fact, my great fear is that he values compromise and pragmatism so greatly that he will bend over backward to placate the right-…
jrosenhouse | November 4, 2008Now that Obama has scored a very convincing win in the big election, I am reminded of a column written by Michael Kinsley in 1992, celebrating the victory of Bill Clinton. It's eerie how much of it is still relevant today. Couldn't find it online, so here are a few excerpts. Alas, just as with Clinton, no doubt Kinsley's first sentence must give everyone pause.
No doubt it will all end in tears. But for the moment, I FEEL GREAT! It's like the lifting of a terrible headache, or like coming up for air after swimming underwater.
Yes, the euphoria is not entirely rational. I think I speak…
jrosenhouse | November 4, 2008Earlier today I puttered on down to the delightfuly named W. H. Kiester Elementary School, conveninetly located right along the shortest route between my house and the big JMU Parking Deck, and cast my vote for Barack Obama. Fearing long lines I brought with me the new issue of Magic magazine, expecting to have some time to read.
As it turned out, I was pretty much the only one there. Presumably things will liven up after work, but I coasted right through. Felt cheated. Now I am sitting in my office, killing time until my 3:30 calculus class, and looking forward to watching the returns…
jrosenhouse | October 30, 2008Not really, of course. But I like his zombie analogy:
When the distinguished philosopher Philip Kitcher recently addressed the creationist movement in his Living With Darwin, he judiciously assessed creationism in its latest incarnation as historically respectable but currently bankrupt, and proposed to describe it as “dead” science. “In light of its shambling tenacity,” I replied, “'zombie science' is perhaps a preferable label.” (I was writing in a scholarly journal, so I resisted the temptation to add a reference to “Romero 1968” or “Wright 2004”.)
I guess that Halloween came early to…
jrosenhouse | October 29, 2008I know, I know. The candidates can't be held responsible for the acts of a few crazy supporters. But does anyone doubt that this sort of thing is far more common among McCain supporters than among Obama supporters? Can anyone deny that this sort of thing arises naturally when you run a campaign centered on flinging the nastiest possible smears at your opponent?
After the rally, we witnessed a near-street riot involving the exiting McCain crowd and two Cuban-American Obama supporters. Tony Garcia, 63, and Raul Sorando, 31, were suddenly surrounded by an angry mob. There is a moment in a…
jrosenhouse | October 29, 2008The big chess match is over. Anand is the victor. He won three games to Kramnik's one, with seven draws.
The final game saw Anand, playing white, opening with his e-pawn. This is Anand's usual choice, but he had avoided it in this match. This is likely owing to the success Kramnik has had in making easy draws with the Petroff Defense. Given the match situation, however, Anand would have been happy with an easy draw.
Since the Petroff is not what you play when you need a win with black, Kramnik tried the Sicilian instead. The always exciting Najdorf variation appeared, though it quickly…
jrosenhouse | October 29, 2008The 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, and bounded by the constraints of a self-critical and rigorous method. Science is a lens through which we can and should visualize and solve complex problems, organize government and multilateral bodies, establish international alliances, inspire national pride, restore positive feelings about…
jrosenhouse | October 29, 2008Last 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 the Book of Revelation. It begins with the Rapture of the church, in which millions of believers disappear from the face of the Earth. This is a bit awkward for those folks driving cars or flying planes at the time. The story then meanders its way through eleven subsequent volumes, documenting…
jrosenhouse | October 28, 2008Vladimir 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 Game Nine, Kramnik played the Semi-Slav with black. And why not? It's been working for Anand.
The first critical moment came a mere five moves in:
Position After 5. ... h7-h6
Black's last move introduced the solid Moscow Variation. Even needing a win with black it was probably asking too much…
jrosenhouse | October 22, 2008Anand 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 Nimzo-Indian Defense appeared. But instead of the sharp line with 4. f3, Anand understandably went for the more conservative 4. Qc2. Once again Anand got in the first novelty:
V. Anand - V. Kramnik
World Championship 2008
Position After 8. ... 0-0
The usual move here is the natural 9.e3,…
jrosenhouse | October 21, 2008In 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.)
As a cold political calculation, I could not be more pleased. She has excited and energized our base. She is a direct counterpoint to the liberal feminist agenda for America.
She has a wonderful family. She's a reformer. She's a conservative. She's the best thing that could have happened to my…
jrosenhouse | October 21, 2008Browsing 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 big Maddow fan, I decided to read on. The post was by James Kirchick, and was a response to this piece about Maddow, which appeared in the NYT Magazine.
It was a standard puff piece made up of Maddow's short responses to items like “Worst Part of Job” and “Hobby.” Along the way she was asked about…
jrosenhouse | October 21, 2008Over 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 down to business.
Creationists have to “explain away” a gigantic mountain range of evidence that the scientific community has accumulated in the past century. Neither the scientific community nor the scientific data is is on their side. They have to believe that God created a profoundly deceptive…
jrosenhouse | October 20, 2008After 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 - V. Anand
World Championship 2008
Position After 15. ... Rh8-g8
Kramnik allowed Anand to play his novelty, 14. ... Bc8-b7 a second time. Anand accepted the invitation, but after 15. Bxb5 he varied with 15. ... Rg8. In Friday's game Anand played 15. ... Bd6 instead.
Anand has gotten himself…
jrosenhouse | October 17, 2008Remember 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 again Kramnik opened with his queen pawn, and Anand replied with the Slav. But whereas game one saw Kramnik employ the insomnia-curing Exchange Variation, this time we had the ultra-sharp Meran Variation. After fourteen moves of well-known theory, Anand, playing black, bashed out a novelty:
V.…
jrosenhouse | October 15, 2008Huffington 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 McCain.
Earlier this week, when Wurzelbacher got a chance to speak with Obama when the candidate visited Toledo, he told Obama that his tax plan would keep him from buying the business that currently employs him.
Judging from the Huff Post article, Joe seems more comfortable with McCain. But I don't…