Monthly Archives: August 2011

Mathematician David Berlinski Doubts Whale Evolution by Random Variation and Natural Selection

Whales, obviously, evolved from land mammals. But did they achieve this feat via a blind process of random variation and natural selection? Mathematician David Berlinski doubts it:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         . To my mind, the jaw-dropping informational complexity of life is the strict Darwinian … Continue reading

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Ron Paul Rejects the Theory of Evolution

Very discouraging. I didn’t know that Ron Paul was on the anti-science dark side: . I think that this part of his comment is especially noxious and stupid: Well, first I thought it was a very inappropriate question, you know, … Continue reading

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Global Debt Slavery Watch: Economic Anthropologist David Graeber Thinks Slavery and Debt Slavery May Be a Distinction Without Much of a Difference

At Naked Capitalism, Dublin-based journalist Philip Pilkington asks economic anthropologist David Graeber an intriguing question: We know that in many Western countries over the past few years households have been running up enormous debts, from credit card debts to mortgages … Continue reading

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Evolution vs. Creation Rhetoric Watch: Cornelius Hunter Notices an Interesting Rhetorical Move That Charles Darwin Made in the Origin of Species

At his blog recently, Cornelius Hunter called attention to this statement of Charles Darwin’s from the Origin of Species: If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, … Continue reading

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Jeb Corliss Grinds the Crack: Insane Wingsuit Flyer Laughs at His Near Death Experience

Daedalus’s son Icarus famously flew too close to the sun. Ecstatic Jeb Corliss nearly flew too close to the rocks (which would have made him Dead-alus). Yes, this is real. He cuts it incredibly close. Then laughs.

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Christianism Watch: The Sign of the Fish Enlisted for War

A pretty darn ironic image: one of the Prince of Peace’s symbols enlisted for nationalist identification and war: . Of course, Constantine did something similar with the cross. But, if a contemporary Christian uses the sign of the fish in … Continue reading

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Why Not Getting a Flu Shot is Like Giving Your Keys to a Robber or Predator

This high quality National Public Radio (NPR) produced video on how viruses pick the lock on cells, then hijack them, ought to send every parent to the doctor for their kids’ shot updates. And, if you don’t get your own … Continue reading

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Blogging David Goodsell’s “The Machinery of Life” (Evolution, Scale, and the Counter-Intuitive Nano-Realm)

David Goodsell is a molecular biologist at The Scripps Research Institute in California, and he has written a hippie-beautiful introductory text to molecular biology, The Machinery of Life (2nd edition, Springer 2010), which Scientific American calls “an impressive and original book.” I call it “hippie-beautiful” because … Continue reading

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Blogging David Goodsell’s “The Machinery of Life” (Chapter 1)

David Goodsell is a molecular biologist at The Scripps Research Institute in California, and he has written a hippie-beautiful introductory text to molecular biology, The Machinery of Life (2nd edition, Springer 2010), which Scientific American calls “an impressive and original book.” I call it “hippie-beautiful” because … Continue reading

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Via Satellite, Tropical Storms Remind Me of Einstein’s Hair

Just an observation.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 . And:                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            . Source for images: Wikipedia Commons via NASA and the World-Telegram.

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Blogging David Goodsell’s “The Machinery of Life” (The Preface)

David Goodsell is a molecular biologist at The Scripps Research Institute in California, and he has written a hippie-beautiful introductory text to molecular biology, The Machinery of Life (2nd edition, Springer 2010), which Scientific American calls “an impressive and original book.”  … Continue reading

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A Just So Darwinian Story: How Giraffes Came To Be The Way They Are

Once upon a time, giraffes had shorter necks. They could eat leaves off medium and low-lying tree branches, but they had to compete for those leaves with elephants, and this caused the giraffes to be frustrated and hungry a lot of the time.  There was … Continue reading

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Two Contending Leaps of Faith Concerning Our Universe’s Origin: God Did It; the Multiverse Did It

My own best-guess of what we’re embedded in is by way of an analogy that Alan Watts once proffered: the universe is akin to an apple or cherry tree. Just as a cherry tree “branches” and “leaves” and “cherry blossoms” and “cherries” … Continue reading

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Did Jesus Refer to Evolution When He Said, “Many are Called, but Few are Chosen”?

Many are called, but few are chosen. This well-known saying of Jesus (Matthew 22:14) passed through my mind this afternoon, and, when it did, it occurred to me that, if Jesus really is God, then he might have been giving a … Continue reading

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Was the Cambrian Explosion Really an Explosion?

Donald Prothero, a paleontologist, knows his fossils. And, in 2007, Columbia University Press published his book, Evolution: What the Fossils Say and Why It Matters. For it’s scope, clarity of writing, and visual attractiveness (it has lots of illustrative drawings, … Continue reading

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The God of the Philosophers vs. The God of Revelation

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  . This past week, I read Peter Vardy and Julie Arliss’s The Thinker’s Guide to God (O Books 2003). The authors are Catholics, and it’s a really great read. Here, for example, is a wonderful distinction that they make with regard … Continue reading

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Rick Perry Doesn’t Have Any Idea How Old The Earth Is

A little child (with his mother’s promptings) shall lead him:

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Jon Huntsman Shocker: Plants And Animals Change Over Time And Carbon Dioxide Raises Atmospheric Temperatures!

This dude’s presidential aspirations, at least from within the Republican Party, are toast.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             . Actually, on a more serious note, I can’t help but wonder if Jon Huntsman is gunning for the Vice Presidency. As President Obama’s former ambassador … Continue reading

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Anti-American Leftism in Practice: Norman Podhoretz on Barack Obama’s (Failed) Presidency

Of Barack Obama’s apparent failure as president, Norman Podhoretz, writing in the Wall Street Journal, traces it to President Obama’s anti-Americanism, which he defines as follows: [H]is unshakable strategic objective . . . is to turn this country into a … Continue reading

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Atheist Eric MacDonald Equates Thomist Philosopher Edward Feser’s Ideas with Those of Nazi Heinrich Himmler

Eric MacDonald, a former Anglican priest turned atheist, recently quoted at his blog the following passage from Thomist philosopher Edward Feser’s book on atheism, The Last Superstition (St. Augustine’s Press 2008, pg. 153): This life, in both its good and bad … Continue reading

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