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Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Vista blues: "In my view, we lost our way," Vista's manager, Jim Allchin, wrote in an e-mail (later posted online) to Microsoft founder Bill Gates and chief executive Steve Ballmer. "I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft."Ouch. Sunday, January 28, 2007
Well, whaddya know?
Friday, January 26, 2007
Charles Krauthammer: There is no free lunch. Producing energy is going to produce waste. You pick your poison and you find a way to manage it. Want to do something about global warming? How many global warming activists are willing to say the word nuclear?He nails it, as usual. Thursday, January 25, 2007
One of the reasons I can't get that worked up about so-called militant atheism is because I believe its major proponents are whistling past the graveyard. There is a threat out there...and it could destroy our way of life. But it isn't religious fundamentalism. As Victor Davis Hanson points out, it's something that should be much more obvious to rational people. Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Andrew Sullivan and (Sorry, couldn't resist. I mean, that's who the poor guy looks like...) Monday, January 22, 2007
Friday, January 12, 2007
Charles Krauthammer on the latest promising development in stem cell research:
Thursday, January 11, 2007
The God Allusion (or a modern interpretation of Aquinas’ Prime Mover argument) (Setting: Bookstore in which Richard Dawkins reads from his chapter on previous explanations for the existence of God) Dawkins (looking up from his book): …and so we see…it is simply ludicrous to terminate the infinite regression of causes in the invocation of God. Hundreds of years ago scientists might have terminated the explanation for the existence of Gold that way, but not today. Today we know that the ultimate explanation for Gold terminates with the atom. (Woman raises her hand) Woman: But…that doesn’t explain where atoms come from. Dawkins: (impatiently) Quarks, for f&%k’s sake (rolls his eyes). Woman: And quarks can be explained by— Dawkins: Haven’t you heard of string theory, you ignorant little twerp? Woman: Sure, but strings are highly theoretical at the moment, and no evidence-- Dawkins: Science is working on it—it’s only a matter of time before quarks and so forth and so on ARE broken down to strings. Woman: And what about the cause of str-- Dawkins: Shut up—just SHUT UP, you STUPID dumbass Christian! Science is working on it— Woman: (looking around) But, I’m not a Chr— Dawkins:--and whatever it turns out to be, we don’t quite know—but what WE DO KNOW is it won’t be God, you @#%hole! Q.E.D. Wednesday, January 10, 2007
The always fascinating Scott Carson is on a roll: One of my colleagues, who specializes in philosophy of science and who is a militant atheist, has said that you’d have to be a moron to be a realist about science these days (I wish he would say what he really thinks one of these days). In short, I don’t think that evolutionary theory, either in its Darwinian or neo-synthesis form, compels us to either nominalism or anti-essentialism unless we presuppose materialist reductionism. If you make that a priori assumption then, sure, lots of things will follow that are not very congenial to the view I’m defending. Like Aristotle, however, I am an anti-reductionist. Why I love Kevin Smith: “I’m not a visual person,” he admitted. “I like dialogue. I’m interested in character [development].”I met Smith briefly at a Los Angeles writer's seminar back in November 1997. He is truly an unassuming, funny guy. And I really admire his dedication to the word. Literally. No matter how off the cuff his screenplays sound--he makes his actors stick to what he wrote. Tuesday, January 09, 2007
This is so depressing. I wish the story ended here, but, unfortunately, it does not. Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, the Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops told Corrierre della Sera yesterday that “when Archbishop Wielgus was nominated, we did not know anything about his collaboration with the secret service.” This, of course, flatly contradicts Wielgus’ admission and apology, which expressly and repeatedly said that Wielgus had fully disclosed his past activities to the Holy Father and the appropriate Vatican dicasteries, which had to include the Congregation for Bishops. In light of the curious language used in the Vatican Press Office’s statement from December 21, which asserted that the Holy See knew all about Wielgus’ past and never actually denied the accusations against him, it would seem that Re’s statement to Corrierre della Sera is not correct.Why are we surprised to find that so many people think the Church is run by knaves? (And idiots, it goes without saying.) Monday, January 08, 2007
There Must Be Some Mistake Here! Dept. Fascinating discussion over at Maverick Philosopher, in which Richard Dawkins (inadvertently!) hearkens back to Thomas Aquinas. Thursday, January 04, 2007
Excellent interview with Heather MacDonald posted at Razib's... So in the American Conservative piece I wanted to offer some resistance to the assumption of conservative religious unanimity. I tried to point out that conservatism has no necessary relation to religious belief, and that rational thought, not revelation, is all that is required to arrive at the fundamental conservative principles of personal responsibility and the rule of law. I find it depressing that every organ of conservative opinion reflexively cheers on creationism and intelligent design, while delivering snide pot shots at the Enlightenment. Which of the astounding fruits of empiricism would these Enlightenment-bashers dispense with: the conquest of cholera and other infectious diseases, emergency room medicine, jet travel, or the internet, to name just a handful of the millions of human triumphs that we take for granted? Wednesday, January 03, 2007
New Year's resolution for 2007. In their own words, as Barbara Forrest makes plain in her excellent summary: The legal defeat of ID is forcing Wedge strategists to seek new markets for their creationism and to work their conservative Christian market more thoroughly. They are peddling ID abroad: DI has added international signatories to “A Scientific Dissent from Darwinism.” Even during the trial, they held an ID conference in Prague. Domestically, Dembski has been reduced to riding the coattails of conservative pundit Ann Coulter, who devoted four chapters of her latest book, Godless, to attacking evolution. These chapters contain the standard creationist canards, but with Coulter’s recognizable stylistic stamp: “Imagine a giant raccoon passed gas and perhaps the resulting gas might have created the vast variety of life we see on Earth. And if you don’t accept the giant raccoon flatulence theory for the origin of life, you must be a fundamentalist Christian nut who believes the Earth is flat. That’s basically how the argument for evolution goes.” Coulter credits her ability to write these chapters to “the generous tutoring of Michael Behe, David Berlinski, and William Dembski, all of whom are fabulous at translating complex ideas.” Dembski acknowledges his assistance: “I’m happy to report that I was in constant correspondence with Ann regarding her chapters on Darwinism —indeed, I take all responsibility for any errors in those chapters.” He has dubbed Coulter “the Wedge for the masses.”Here is my resolution: that IF the above antics are what conservatives approve of, encourage, and more importantly, plant into the brains of their children, THEN I am happy to declare that I no longer consider myself a conservative. Who, who has any respect for intellectual honesty, courtesy and dignity, really would? Tuesday, January 02, 2007
How about a little good news to start the New Year? For now, it's worth popping that leftover bottle of champagne. Somalia's homegrown fanatics and their al Qaeda allies are on the run; the Ethiopian military is hunting down wanted terrorists (including several implicated in the bombing of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania), and our enemies have lost a safe haven, a money-laundering capital, a smuggler's paradise and a launching pad for subversion. Copyright 2007 by Farrellmedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. |
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