09.30.10
Confirmed prediction of the eonic model
The Great Divide, a confirmed prediction of the eonic model
The God gap?
The God gap? By YXALR
Added: Thursday, 30 September 2010 at 8:58 AM
http://richarddawkins.net/discussions/527131-the-god-gap
The common question asked by those who believe is “If we renounce our faith in God, what can we use to fill the gap that is left?”
A Bridge Way Too Far
Taking Darwinism a Bridge Way Too Far
Wednesday, September 29, 2010, 8:19 PM
Wesley J. Smith
Modesto teacher wants ID in class
Modesto teacher wants Intelligent Design taught in his science class
Monkeys Recognize Themselves in the Mirror
For the First Time, Monkeys Recognize Themselves in the Mirror, Indicating Self-Awareness
ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2010) — Typically, monkeys don’t know what to make of a mirror. They may ignore it or interpret their reflection as another, invading monkey, but they don’t recognize the reflection as their own image. Chimpanzees and people pass this “mark” test — they obviously recognize their own reflection and make funny faces, look at a temporary mark that the scientists have placed on their face or wonder how they got so old and grey.
ADHD a Genetic Disorder
First Direct Evidence That ADHD Is a Genetic Disorder: Children With ADHD More Likely to Have Missing or Duplicated Segments of DNA
Dancing Honeybees Use Democratic Process
Dancing Honeybees Use Democratic Process When Selecting a New Home
ScienceDaily (Sep. 30, 2010) — When honeybees seek a new home, they choose the best site through a democratic process that humans would do well to emulate, according to a Cornell biologist.
Key to Tissue Regeneration
New Key to Tissue Regeneration: Drug Treatment Triggers Sodium Ions to Regrow Nerves and Muscle
ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2010) — Sodium gets a bad rap for contributing to hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Now biologists at Tufts University’s School of Arts and Sciences have discovered that sodium also plays a key role in initiating a regenerative response after severe injury. The Tufts scientists have found a way to regenerate injured spinal cord and muscle by using small molecule drugs to trigger an influx of sodium ions into injured cells.
Artificial Spider Silk
Scientists Genetically Engineer Silkworms to Produce Artificial Spider Silk
ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2010) — A research and development effort by the University of Notre Dame, the University of Wyoming, and Kraig Biocraft Laboratories, Inc. has succeeded in producing transgenic silkworms capable of spinning artificial spider silks.
A Penguin’s Tale
Long Nights and Thin Ice: A Penguin’s Tale
A conversation with penguin expert Grant Ballard on the short-term wins and long-term losses facing one of the world’s most charismatic animals.
Peace Process to Nowhere
Sacrificing Substance for Process
Peace Process to Nowhere
By FRANKLIN C. SPINNEY
Carloforte, Sardinia.
http://www.counterpunch.org/spinney09302010.html
The Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot reports that President Obama begged Prime Minister Netanyahu to extend his settlement freeze in order to save the so-called peace talks.
As a quid pro quo, Obama is reported to have promised Netanyahu that (1) Israel could resume settlement construction if the peace negotiations failed to produce results and (2) that the United States would give Israel written assurances of its commitment to Israel’s security (suggesting a formal peace treaty perhaps?). Despite Obama’s desperation, Netanyahu blew Obama off and allowed the so-called freeze to expire.
If, as is likely, this report is true, Israel has humiliated the United States once again — a fact that will no doubt be deemed irrelevant by Israel’s shills on both sides of the aisle in Congress, not to mention the mainstream media.
The last president to stand up to Israel was Dwight Eisenhower, when he pulled the plug on the second Arab-Israeli war in 1956 and forced Israel to retreat from the east bank of the Suez Canal and to give up its conquest of the Sinai.
Cuba by the Numbers
Cuba by the Numbers
By Moshe Adler
Fidel Castro recently told The Atlantic that the Cuban model does not work anymore, not even for Cuba. But according to statistics collected by none other than the CIA, the Cuban model has actually worked very well. Read the rest of this entry »
Lives at risk
Earthjustice: Thousands of Lives at Risk from Efforts to Weaken and Delay Air Pollution Controls
http://act.commondreams.org/go/2524?akid=218.96588.MPvI1T&t=42
Big bad wolf
Chip Ward: The Big Bad Wolf Makes Good
http://act.commondreams.org/go/2518?akid=218.96588.MPvI1T&t=30
Reich on Obama
Robert Reich: The President’s Backyard Discussion of the Economy (as It Could Be)
http://act.commondreams.org/go/2516?akid=218.96588.MPvI1T&t=26
Broken food system
11-Year-Old Describes Broken Food System in Five Minutes
http://act.commondreams.org/go/2510?akid=218.96588.MPvI1T&t=14
US farm subsidies
WTO Calls On US to Cut Farm Subsidies
http://act.commondreams.org/go/2505?akid=218.96588.MPvI1T&t=4
Threat to water security
Human Impact on World’s Rivers ‘Threatens Water Security of 5 Billion’
http://act.commondreams.org/go/2504?akid=218.96588.MPvI1T&t=2
Chemical Danger
Chemical Danger: Industry’s Greed Is Putting Millions of Americans at Risk
When it comes to chemical safety, we’re more at risk of industry incompetence or greed than a terrorist attack. Safer alternatives exists, so why won’t industry use them?
EI update
_______________________________
UPDATE FROM THE
ELECTRONIC INTIFADA
Read the rest of this entry »
FBI raids activists
by Paul Craig Roberts
Countercurrents.org (September 26 2010)
On September 24, Jason Ditz reported on Antiwar.com that “the FBI is
confirming that this morning they began a number of raids against the
homes of antiwar activists in Illinois, Minneapolis, Michigan, and
North Carolina, claiming that they are ‘seeking evidence relating to
activities concerning the material support of terrorism’”.
Read the rest of this entry »
Comment on ‘quantum buddhism’
graham smetham
quantumbuddhsim.com
graham@quantumbuddhism.com
212.183.140.21 2010/09/29 at 7:28 am
I am the author of a book exploring the interconnections between quantum physics and Buddhist philosophy (www.quantumbuddhism.com). It took 10 years to research and write so is detailed and extensive. In the last chapter I give some elucidation to the implications of quantum theory for theology. The publication of Hawking and Mlodinow’s book has prompted me to start work on my next book – The Grand Designer: Discovering the Quantum Mind Matrix of the Universe. I have written an introductory essay which shows that ‘The Grand Design’ actually proves the necessity of a primordial awareness which some theologians identify with God. The Grand Designer essay is available at http://www.quantumbuddhism.com/GrandDesigner.pdfI am the author of a book exploring the interconnections between quantum physics and Buddhist philosophy (www.quantumbuddhism.com). It took 10 years to research and write so is detailed and extensive. In the last chapter I give some elucidation to the implications of quantum theory for theology. The publication of Hawking and Mlodinow’s book has prompted me to start work on my next book – The Grand Designer: Discovering the Quantum Mind Matrix of the Universe. I have written an introductory essay which shows that ‘The Grand Design’ actually proves the necessity of a primordial awareness which some theologians identify with God. The Grand Designer essay is available at http://www.quantumbuddhism.com/GrandDesigner.pdf
graham@quantumbuddhism.com
graham smethamhttp://www.quantumbuddhsim.com
1
Modernity, an evolutionary irony. But will Darwin’s theory destroy secularism?
Chapter 7 coming soon!
Meanwhile the issue of history, evolution, and the enigma of modernity is nicely handled by the ‘eonic model’:
Transition and Modernity
The eonic effect and modernity is one of the most spectacular of theoretical claims/discoveries. The connection of the modern transition to evolutionary issues is ironic.
Will Darwin’s theory destroy modernity?
Religious ignorance of New Atheists
Theories on the Religious Expertise of Atheists
Already this test by Pew Forum is being misinterpreted. It shows that atheists, not suprisingly, are good at answering quiz questions, based on factual issues.
That has almost nothing to do with knowledge of religion, and we must suspect the Pew test was rigged by someone who was being polemical in disguise.
Ask these atheists some questions about real religious issues and their ignorance will stand out dramatically, a point clear from the New Atheist bestsellers of Hitchens and Dennett, what to say of Dawkins.
Hitchens made the all time blunder of negating the basic idea of Buddhist enlightenment as pseudoscience.
Why is Bill Maher more confused than O’Donell on evolution?
On Maher’s show in 1998, O’Donnell stated, “Evolution is a myth.” She followed the laughter and Maher’s response, “Have you ever looked at a monkey?” with a question of her own, “Why aren’t monkeys still evolving into humans?” This is someone who either blatantly rejects the science of evolution or is incapable of comprehending it – both options leave much to be leery of. Plenty of people reject evolution, which is another debate altogether that I do not wish to broach. But, what I am drawing attention to is that O’Donnell has taken a stance without fully understanding what “evolution” is to begin with. What does that say about her decision-making skills? Is that someone you would like representing you in the U.S. Senate?
It is unbelievable that O’Donell could score points here, and it shows how the public is misled about evolution.
O’Donell’s take is confused, but she raises a perfectly good point: why are monkeys still evolving? Now maybe that are evolving, in some sense, viz. microevolution, but it is not clear that the basic species are really dynamic.
The issue of punctuated equilibrium raises its head here, and in general, despite here confusion, O’Donell scores a bull’s eye against Darwin propaganda. Her mistake is to doubt evolution, when her roughly correct objection is to Darwinism, or should be
Galapagos and Mainland Frigatebirds
Researchers Find Differences Between Galapagos and Mainland Frigatebirds
ScienceDaily (Sep. 29, 2010) — Although the magnificent frigatebird may be the least likely animal on the Galapagos Islands to be unique to the area, it turns out the Galapagos population of this tropical seabird may be its own genetically distinct species warranting a new conservation status
Single Electron Reader
Single Electron Reader Opens Path for Quantum Computing
ScienceDaily (Sep. 26, 2010) — A team led by engineers and physicists at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, have developed one of the key building blocks needed to make a quantum computer using silicon: a “single electron reader.”