03.29.10
Posted in Evolution at 12:16 pm by nemo
None so blind
A curious thing about creationists. I try to study the minds of these strange people, who still, 150 years after Alfred Wallace, retain the primitive mindset of the eighteenth century when people thought that animal species, including the naked ape, had been created, each in its own place, by a finger-pointing white-bearded figure in the sky. It is as if we still had, living among us, people who believed in phlogiston, or humors, or the heart as the seat of emotions; a glimpse back into a distant past of primitive ideas about the world around us.
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Posted in Evolution at 12:08 pm by nemo
Intelligent Design & idiocy
I am consciously aware that the “Idiot’s Guide” series are not parodies. But when Josh Roseneau introduced me to The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Intelligent Design I simply assumed that this was a parody or gag-gift. This illustrates the lack of unity of cognitive process. On the one hand as I note above I was aware of the reality that this was a well-known brand of introductory books, but my prejudice against Creationists and Intelligent Design folk, and my perception that they’re stupid, led to me infer reflexively that this was an ironic parody. After all, it seemed mean to point out that those looking to understand Intelligent Design may be somewhat duller, on average, than those who would find the enterprise laughable.
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Posted in Evolution at 12:07 pm by nemo
THE CASE FOR TEACHING INTELLIGENT DESIGN IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Part One
Published 03/29/2010 – 6:42 a.m. CST by John Mark Burleigh
One of the most controversial questions facing American educators today is “Should Intelligent Design be taught as an alternative to the theory of evolution?” The principal argument employed by many educators is that the teaching of Intelligent Design is religion, not science. The purpose of this article is to present scientific evidence that the case for Intelligent Design is at least as plausible as the case for Evolution. Consequently, we will suggest that Intelligent Design and Evolution should be given equal consideration by educators and students in their search for the origin of life in the universe.
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Posted in General at 12:04 pm by nemo
Compulsive Eating Shares Addictive Biochemical Mechanism With Cocaine, Heroin Abuse, Study Shows
ScienceDaily (Mar. 29, 2010) — In a newly published study, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have shown for the first time that the same molecular mechanisms that drive people into drug addiction are behind the compulsion to overeat, pushing people into obesity.
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Posted in environment at 12:02 pm by nemo
Commercial Cooking Elevates Hazardous Pollutants in the Environment, Study Finds
ScienceDaily (Mar. 29, 2010) — As you stroll down restaurant row and catch the wonderful aroma of food — steaks, burgers, and grilled veggies — keep this in mind: You may be in an air pollution zone.
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Posted in global warming at 11:59 am by nemo
Fossil fuels are not really the cheapest energy. They are cheap because they are subsidised, because they do not pay for damage they cause to health and the planet
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Posted in you've got mail at 11:56 am by nemo
Published on Monday, March 29, 2010 by TruthDig.com
Is America ‘Yearning For Fascism?’
by Chris Hedges
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/29-2
The language of violence always presages violence. I watched it in war after war from Latin America to the Balkans. The impoverishment of a working class and the snuffing out of hope and opportunity always produce angry mobs ready to kill and be killed. A bankrupt, liberal elite, which proves ineffectual against the rich and the criminal, always gets swept aside, in times of economic collapse, before thugs and demagogues emerge to play to the passions of the crowd. I have seen this drama. I know each act. I know how it ends. I have heard it in other tongues in other lands. I recognize the same stock characters, the buffoons, charlatans and fools, the same confused crowds and the same impotent and despised liberal class that deserves the hatred it engenders.
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Posted in Booknotes, you've got mail at 11:52 am by nemo
mxmail
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703580904575132661270314770.html?mod=WSJ_Books_LS_Books_5
In a Fury Over Freedom
The lives of a black abolitionist and a fugitive slave show the
violent tensions of pre-Civil War America
By JOHN STAUFFER
David Ruggles
By Graham Russell Gao Hodges
University of North Carolina Press, 266 pages, $30
Read an excerpt from ‘David Ruggles.’
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704094104575143804175532856.html
Freeing Charles
By Scott Christianson
University of Illinois Press, 214 pages, $65
Read an excerpt from ‘Freeing Charles.’
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704094104575143861533173430.html
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Posted in you've got mail at 11:48 am by nemo
gnxp
Too much fatty food raises the threshold for feelings of satisfaction, just like addictive drugs, sparking a cycle of compulsive overeating
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18706-junkfed-rats-have-drug-addict-brains.html
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Posted in you've got mail at 11:47 am by nemo
gnxp
Research delayed by court battles
http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100327/full/news.2010.155.html
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Posted in you've got mail at 11:47 am by nemo
gnxp
Mothers who use baby talk help their child’s brain develop better, experts have claimed
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/science-news/7513696/Talking-to-your-baby-boosts-its-brainpower.html
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Posted in you've got mail at 11:46 am by nemo
gnxp
A mutation in a single gene can turn hybrid tomato plants into super producers capable of generating more and much sweeter fruit without genetic engineering, scientists said in a study released on Sunday
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100328/sc_nm/us_tomatoes_genes
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Posted in you've got mail at 11:45 am by nemo
gnxp
Carl Zimmer: We take visual imagination for granted. But the blank inner world of a patient called MX demonstrates the rich neural processes needed to create the images in our heads
http://discovermagazine.com/2010/mar/23-the-brain-look-deep-into-mind.s-eye
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Posted in you've got mail at 11:43 am by nemo
RG mail
How is it that reducing *military *spending is never discussed when the
topic of reducing *government *spending is raised?
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/03/26/comparing-military-spending/
March 26, 2010
Comparing Military Spending
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Posted in you've got mail at 11:41 am by nemo
RG mail
http://en.trend.az/regions/iran/1659035.html
26.03.2010
*Lula plans Iran visit to prevent a repeat of Iraq war*
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Posted in you've got mail at 11:40 am by nemo
RG mail
*Helen Thomas On Her one Question for Obama
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article25089.htm*
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Posted in you've got mail at 11:39 am by nemo
RG mail
http://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2010/03/pilger-israel-rami-nurit
New Statesman 25 February 2010
John Pilger
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Posted in you've got mail at 11:37 am by nemo
RG mail
… in tackling global warming.
Bjorn Lomborg interviewed
by Tom Levitt
theecologist.org (March 16 2010)
Sceptic or realist? Bjorn Lomborg speaks to Tom Levitt about why his ideas
on tackling climate change will actually help to solve the crisis
Tom Levitt: Are you convinced that climate change is both happening and
man-made?
Bjorn Lomborg: Definitely it is happening. I don’t think anyone would say
it is completely man-made – the UN says it is somewhere between fifty to
100 per cent man-made and I see no reason to disagree or not to accept
that.
http://www.theecologist.org/Interviews/437969/bjorn_lomborg_carbon_cuts_have_got_us_nowhere_in_tackling_global_warming.html
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03.28.10
Posted in Evolution at 5:38 pm by nemo
Comment on the Greatest Hoax on Earth
Andy said,
March 28, 2010 at 5:23 am ·
Human Genomics: Vestiges of Eden or Skeletons in the Closet? – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqsvEwByKU0
Dennis Venema – Human Genomics: Vestiges of Eden or Skeletons in the Closet? – Part 1
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Posted in Science & Religion at 3:30 pm by nemo
Dawkins changes mind for Harris’ objective moral truth
According to a quote on Sam Harris’ website, Richard Dawkins says he is no longer “one of those who had unthinkingly bought into the hectoring myth that science can say nothing about morals” as a result of Sam Harris’ forthcoming book “The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values.”
I can’t really discuss Harris’ new claims til I have read his book, but the outlook here is not good.
In principle, the Kantian attempt to explicate ethics via reason (which has frequently been critiqued) suggests that a rational approach to ethics is not necessarily to be rejected, but I don’t feel confident here of Harris’ approach.
This scientists can’t even get science right, eg. the myth of Darwinism, what to say of the question of facts and values.
This kind of thing can be dangerous because it will give license to idiots in the same way that Darwin’s theory does/did.
I have a bad feeling Harris is saying that our knowledge of neuroscience will enable us to answer all these issues. This is another version of the mad scientist.
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Posted in Evolution, Science & Religion at 2:19 pm by nemo
Massimo Says It’s Become a Religion
There’s nothing especially novel in saying that evolutionary theory can function as a secular religion, which is Piattelli-Palmarini’s main point in his new article. Michael Ruse has said as much for years.
What has changed within the past couple of years, however, is the rapid growth in the overtly religious (anti-religious, but that anti doesn’t really matter) content of the writings of prominent neo-Darwinian biologists, such as Jerry Coyne and Richard Dawkins. The Accomodationist Wars, which show no signs of slacking, illustrate that for many, the whole point of evolutionary theory is Getting Rid of God.
I am sure these Bible Belt Christians will be as intolerant of non-Christian religions as Darwin fanatics.
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Posted in Science & Religion at 2:12 pm by nemo
A matter of mind-sets? Religion and science
Natasha Mitchell – ABC Radio Ntional
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5338
Do science and religion represent fundamentally different mind-sets? Physicist Richard Feynman said, ‘Science is what we do to keep us from lying to ourselves’. From the Global Atheist Convention held in Australia this month, philosopher Peter Singer, biologist and popular science blogger PZ Myers, and evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins weigh in on matters of minds and faith. Next week, renowned philosopher A.C Grayling.
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Posted in General at 2:10 pm by nemo
Authors@Google: Sam Harris
Sam Harris – AtGoogleTalks – YouTube
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5340
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Posted in Science & Religion at 2:09 pm by nemo
Ratzinger is the Perfect Pope
by Richard Dawkins – The Washington Post
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5341
“Should Pope Benedict XVI be held responsible for the escalating scandals over clerical sexual abuse in Europe?” Yes he should, and it’s going to escalate a lot further, as more and more victims break through the guilt of their childhood indoctrination and come forward.
“Should he be investigated for how cases of abuse were handled under his watch as archbishop of Munich or as the Vatican’s chief doctrinal enforcer?” Yes, of course he should. This former head of the Inquisition should be arrested the moment he dares to set foot outside his tinpot fiefdom of the Vatican, and he should be tried in an appropriate civil – not ecclesiastical – court. That’s what should happen. Sadly, we all know our faith-befuddled governments will be too craven to do it.
“Should the pope resign?” No. As the College of Cardinals must have recognized when they elected him, he is perfectly – ideally – qualified to lead the Roman Catholic Church. A leering old villain in a frock, who spent decades conspiring behind closed doors for the position he now holds; a man who believes he is infallible and acts the part; a man whose preaching of scientific falsehood is responsible for the deaths of countless AIDS victims in Africa; a man whose first instinct when his priests are caught with their pants down is to cover up the scandal and damn the young victims to silence: in short, exactly the right man for the job. He should not resign, moreover, because he is perfectly positioned to accelerate the downfall of the evil, corrupt organization whose character he fits like a glove, and of which he is the absolute and historically appropriate monarch.
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Posted in Evolution at 12:48 pm by nemo
Berlinski’s Dismantlement of Darwinism “A Virtuoso Recital”
David Berlinski’s collection of essays, The Deniable Darwin, garnered a favorable review over at Hot Air, where CK Macleod had this to say:
The Deniable Darwin collects essays written from 1996 to 2009 mostly on the same general theme: That the insufferable pretensions and aggressive self-certainty of science ideologues prevent us from justly appreciating how much we actually have learned about the natural world, and how wonderfully little that is. He applies his dauntingly well-informed, remorselessly cogent skepticism to several fields of study – theoretical physics, mathematics, linguistics, molecular biology – but it’s his dismantlement of Darwinism that he takes to center stage for a virtuoso recital.
Macleod understands that critics of Berlinski are wrong to accuse him “of the thought-crime of religious faith”:
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