The Earth Is Not Moving!
Read all about the Copernican and Darwinian Myths (and their many ramifications all the way to Big Bangism!) at http://www.fixedearth.com/.
I'm going to assume that this is a joke.
February 10, 2006
January 31, 2006
Depressing day
So today marks the completion of a twenty year radical turn towards a judicial theocracy. I don't know what makes me more upset: that soon scared teenage women will be turning to back alley abortions again or that smug, white conservative fatcat pukes are going to be celebrating their "success" now. I spent most of the 2004 election trying to remind people that the war in Iraq was important, but the bigger issue was that the winner was probably going to get to pick two Supremes. Mandate, indeed.
A co-worker in the art department does some really beautiful political posters and graphics. It feels appropriate to share today. I'll probably be buying one of those "Just Pretend It's Okay" stickers.
Above image from owwmyeye.com.
February 22, 2005
Bummer
Peace out. I think maybe I'll go re-read "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" again.
February 18, 2005
Controversial remarks
Having grown up in an academic environment, I've been watching with interest the recent brouhaha over Harvard President Lawrence Summers' remarks at a conference last month. It's an interesting controversy: he appears to have offended several attendees by suggesting that research should be done into whether there are biological reasons behind the fact that there are more men than women in math and science. While I'm sure he deliberatly chose controversial language, I wonder if the historical politicization of genetic differences is preventing an open scientific inquiry. Clearly there are some genetic differences between men and women (otherwise we'd have b00bs), but is it possible that there also differences in brain chemistry and structure? How about different genetic predispositions between people whose ancestors grew up in the Northen British Isles versus the Meditrranean basin? It's a shame that it's so hard to have conversations like that without cranking people off.
Of course, Summers raised the question using as proof (according to the transcript he released yesterday),“that Catholics are substantially underrepresented in investment banking, which is an enormously high-paying profession in our society; that white men are very substantially underrepresented in the national basketball Association; and that Jews are very substantially underrepresented in farming and agriculture.” That probably didn't do much to help his cause.
January 31, 2005
Evolution under attack
It scares the hell out of me to think that generations of American children are being taught (at best) that evolution is "controversial" and "not universally accepted". If nothing else, imagine how behind America will be in biotech-related fields when half the country is completely ign'ant of one of the core foundations of modern biology - to say nothing of the ethical corruptness we as a country will have when demagogues so absurdly force their agenda on the majority of the populace and that majority sits quietly by and says nothing.
This article in the New York Times brings up another disturbing trend in this attack on basic science: many teachers in the South and Midwest simply don't teach (or skirt around) evolution not because they don't believe in it but because they don't have the time or energy to deal with the uproar they fear from fundamentalist parents in their district. Where will this de facto censorship end? Will people finally say "enough" when fundamentalists, claiming that there is no evidence of it in the Bible, force the country to stop teaching trigonometry or algebra?
December 2, 2004
Hee hee
While the poster's statistics are somewhat flawed (you could, for instance, argue that the number of divorces per thousand people is less important than the rate of divorce per thousand marriages), I had to laugh nonetheless.
Update: I'm sorry too.
November 22, 2004
A little late for that...
"Americans Still Concerned About Bush Agenda, Poll Shows" [nytimes.com]
Y'all should have thought of that a few weeks ago.
November 5, 2004
Marriage
Really, this says volumes more than I could ever possibly say myself. The sanctity of marriage is best protected when two people take marriage for what it is: a solemn pledge before witnesses to be committed to each other forever.
"Keith and I didn't get married to commit a pioneering act of civil disobedience, to 'redefine marriage' as President Bush claimed during his campaign, or to outrage the religious right. We took our vows because getting hitched seemed like the sane next step of our commitment. We figured the best way to defend the sanctity of marriage was to have one and live up to the promises we made to one another."
November 3, 2004
Lift up your voice
It would seem that my voice wasn't loud enough. Neither, it would seem, was yours. While I am, at least, relieved that it doesn't look like we will have a lawsuit determine the President of the United States, the implications of last night's election results are simply too frightening for words. In Mississippi, some 86% of the voting population voted to officially make homosexuals second-class citizens. In Kentucky, a man was re-elected to the Senate despite using a teleprompter during a debate and joking that his opponent looked like one of Saddam Hussein's sons. Dubbya will get to name two, possibly three, justices to the Supreme Court and, in this political climate, he will have little difficulty putting another Scalia or Thomas on the bench. Can you say checks and balances? You may not be able to four years from now.
After the 2000 election, Karl Rove is reported to have been furious because he calculated there were 4 million more conservative Christian voters than had actually voted. If you look at the popular vote margin, it is just a little bit less than four million. Maybe he was right after all. The right did its job - it galvanized and got the vote out. To be fair, though, the left did its job too, just not as well.
Just not as well.
It boils down to that. We all owe it to ourselves and to our country to continue to build on how hard we worked to vote out Dubbya. Keep the level of dialog as intense as it has been. If you overhear a Republican talking politics, don't try to hit them with your car - histrionics and extremism only give them comfort that they're right - calmly debate them and talk to them. Continue to write polite but firm letters to the editor. Be heard. It won't get any better if we crawl into our shells and bemoan the reddening of middle America (as I was last night).
November 2, 2004
Ugh
I'm trying very hard to not spend the entire day today freaking out about the elections. Paul Krugman (who has become just a little too partisan for my taste in recent years) made me feel a little better with a column [nytimes.com - registration blah] about how he is humbled and encouraged by long lines to vote. In general, though, I read these reports about challengers in polling places and lawyers gearing up lawsuit arguments and I get depressed. Regardless of who "wins" today there will be endless recounts, challenges and biased judicial decisions. Is democracy dead in the United States?
October 3, 2004
Obituary
My aunt passed away recently after a long battle with cancer. She was a wonderful woman and I will take many great memories with me for the rest of my days. My point in telling you all of this is that my uncle wrote an obituary asking those who loved her to do all they can to elect John Kerry. It's attracting some media attention across the country, especially now that some crank called my uncle and told him that "hopefully on the day that Bush gets elected she'll burn in hell!"
It's amazing to me how much anger and hatred is flying around over this election. Vote against Bush (for the candidate of your choice), so that idiots like that will have to stew in their own self pity and hostility.