Archive: February 07, 2002
Hey Dwight, I don't think it was any of the functionality in the site, it was something about the actual HTML that made the page load slowly. The page would apparently finish downloading, and then it would take a bunch more seconds to actually display, and my browser thrashed my disk and everything.
Also, I just have to say: the type of comments you made about the Bible are the same cop outs I commonly hear from people who don't want to have to take the Bible seriously. So often I hear people complain about "mistranslations", or "organized religion" (whatever that is) in general (though "personal touches" is a new one). It's one thing to just not believe in the Bible... but don't make lame excuses 
Sure, people use the Bible in any way they want. I've seen websites for Christian homosexual groups. Hitler, though obviously not a Christian, claimed publicly that he acted in the name of God. The point is that they distort the Bible because of their underlying presuppositions; they don't come to the Bible in a neutral way. Rather than letting the Bible speak for itself, they speak for it.
"mistranslations" (or textual errors, etc... actually look into the evidence sometime), and the fact that people distort God's Word for their agendas, in no way detracts from God's word itself. If someone chooses to make those things issues, it's just a rationalization for not having to actually deal with what the Bible says.
Cool, more evolution stuff from The Other Keith™ .
About my post getting zero... You can't get above zero as an Anonymous Coward? I didn't realize that. And don't worry, I didn't feel too bad. I really didn't post much of my comment on Slashdot itself, so I didn't expect them to like me for it
Anyway, I have some stuff to say about your "Principle of Falsification" idea... you have some misunderstandings about what science is, and what creationism is. (Also, have you ever heard of Logical Positivism?) I know my statement is very general, but I have much to do now, and I'm starving. I'll write more later.
Via MetaFilter, Slate: Make Mine Dvorak: "One writer's love affair with the other keyboard layout"
"Six weeks ago, worrying about my aching wrists and furious at my own keyboard, I decided to give the dead man's dream a try. I tweaked a preference in Microsoft Windows and used a black felt pen to convert my Qwerty keys into Dvorak keys. A week later, I permanently Dvorakized my keyboard, erasing the markings, popping all the keys off, and sticking them back on August's preferred way."
By the way, check out Slate's URLs: "http://slate.msn.com/?id=2061547" - Finally, a URL that makes sense for permanent links. That link won't have to break when they change content management systems, and they don't have to do any funky URL rewriting. Why don't more news sites get this?
One of the first things I thought while listening to the song I wanted on my new CD was that I can't share it with my mom. I frequently used to play music over dinner and I tried to play stuff she would like.
Pssst. Wanna See My Blog?. "I believe this is the first time in my life I've had something in common with RuPaul. The cross-dressing superstar and I have both started blogging, which is almost as much fun as it sounds. A blog, short for weblog, is a kind of spontaneous online public journal. Users typically add to a scrolling list of entries a couple of times a day with whatever ramblings come to mind--what they had for dinner, how their grandparents are getting along, their 10 favorite songs of the year--all sprinkled with links to cool Web pages they have discovered. Blogs are so easy to put together that new ones pop up every day."
I'M NUMBER ONE!... I'M NUMBER ONE! --- man, this does 404. Fix your archives!
Via Slashdot, Still More Evidence for Evolution... huh? Where? "Biologists at the University of California, San Diego have uncovered the first genetic evidence that explains how large-scale alterations to body plans were accomplished during the early evolution of animals".
This article is less of an explanation of the actual discovery than an attack against creationists. This pretty much sums up the actual info in this news release: they "showed in ... experiments that this could be accomplished with relatively simple mutations in a class of regulatory genes, known as Hox, that act as master switches by turning on and off other genes during embryonic development."
The point is that they turn on and off existing genes. One of the points Spetner makes is that these "switches" were designed in the first place, and that genes switching on and off like what they may be talking about actually appears to be non-random. I'll state here that I really want to see this article, because there isn't enough info in this news release really judge their discovery.
Most importantly, however, even if there are regulatory genes controlling which other genes get turned on and off, this really doesn't seem to offer any proof for macro-evolution at all. The point is, "how did these structures get there in the first place?" No one has ever shown that new structures, not just those that are "turned on" by a gene being switched, have been formed by mutation. Furthermore, to go on to say that "this is how this stuff happened 400 million years ago" seems to be pretty deep speculation, given the extent of their discovery.
I really like the Oklahoma State Textbook Committee's disclaimer mandated for the state's biology textbooks:
"The word evolution may refer to many types of change. Evolution describes changes that occur within a species. (White moths, for example, may evolve into gray moths). This process is microevolution, which can be observed and described as fact. Evolution may also refer to the change of one living thing into another, such as reptiles and birds. This process, called macroevolution, has never been observed and should be considered a theory." - emphasis mine.
Update, PingXao had the same ideas that I had about the article being very "anti-creationist". Quantaman makes well the point I made about these structures getting there in the first place. Finally, this doesn't make any sense. If an animal is to turn from one into another very different animal quickly by "flipping a switch", that other genetic information has to come from somewhere. There would be no reason for all these extra structures to be added to the genome, "silently", waiting to be switched on one day.
Update, my post got a score of zero. Good thing I don't believe in Karma ;-)
My English class is turning into the crap I expected it to be back when I listened to myself and didn't go to college. I won't go into too much detail about what my current assignment is, but it involves subjective "creative writing", a letter to persuade a fictional character.
I feel right now just like I did during high school, just a little different. Better in one way, worse in another. If I was in high school, I probably wouldn't do the assignment, but I'd feel bad about it. Though depending on when in high school we're talking about my actions and feelings might have been a little different... I might have at least tried to do the assignment at one point, and at others I probably wouldn't feel bad about not doing it.
Anyway, now it's not a question of feeling bad. I feel a little helpless, but that's not the issue. This assignment has to get done. "Failure is not an option". You can't just not do assignments, no matter how inane, and get away with it. Well, maybe I could get away with not doing this assignment, but probably not without sacrificing my 'A'.
What gets me is the stupidity of the assignment. It's insulting. The thing is, everyone says "Oh, why do I have to learn all this math, I'll never use it". I don't have that problem with math. Math is beautiful, and mathematical thinking is different than all other types of thought. Mathematical thinking is a useful thing to develop. Unfortunately, high school math doesn't teach you to think mathematically, but that's a different topic.
This is different. I'm writing a letter to a fictional character, for Christ's sake. This passes for higher education? I feel like I'm in second grade.
My friend Sean is going to be giving a 45 minute presentation this Saturday morning on "From Atheism to Theism". Should be real interesting. Anyone who's going to be around Fairlawn, NJ this Saturday morning should go!
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Thursday, February 7, 2002
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"IMDB for music"
IMDB for Music? It looks to be acouple of years old...http://MusicTell.co...
Ken Empie: May 14, 9:57pm