Suspended in a Sunbeam

Elephant in Space

2010-05-19T18:02:00.003-05:00

Found this while cleaning out my room. I wrote it sometime around second grade or so. An elephant named Andrew escaped from the zoo. He ran away when the zookeeper chased him. Then the zookeeper got tired and stopped. In a few seconds Andrew the elephant was out of sight. When Andrew stopped he found himself by a launch pad in a space center. He walked into a space ship. The

On Experience Awards

2009-04-06T00:21:00.006-05:00

The point of this post is just to discuss some issues I've been pondering regarding how to run a Dungeons and Dragons game. I'm going to start with a brief background which probably won't be necessary, but could be if anybody other than Mike ends up reading this.I played Dungeons & Dragons for several years in high school. Goes without saying that I loved the game and regretted never getting

Independent In Name Only

2008-06-29T14:30:00.006-05:00

Hey, all. I took some time today to look into who's running for offices other than the presidency, and here are the candidates I expect to vote for. A brief explanation is given in each case.U. S. President: Barack Obama (D)Obvious choice. I've talked enough about this one in the past, so I won't bother going over it again. I'm rooting for Wesley Clark for VP. GObama!U. S. Senate, MI:

The Science (Fiction) of The Happening

2008-06-19T20:53:00.008-05:00

M. Night Shyamalan has a new film in theaters right now, The Happening. Quite simply, people start killing themselves for no apparent reason. I'll not bother with most of the plot and simply focus on the event itself: Is it possible? How could it have happened? I don't actually think Shyamalan had a detailed explanation in mind; looking for one is simply my idea of fun.(A side note: As

How Atheists Argue

2008-05-20T02:11:00.002-05:00

In case you hadn't heard, Ellen Johnson was recently forced to resign from her position as president of American Atheists. Everything I know about the affair is either contained in or linked to from one of Hemant's posts. I don't actually care too much about it; I think Ellen was too reactionary and often antagonized believers over irrelevant issues, which somewhat gives us a bad rep. So it'd

Even in Academia?

2008-05-17T00:52:00.005-05:00

PZ Myers recently referred to a study from 2002 in which the sociologists concluded that men tend to be less religious than women for physiological reasons. Specifically, it's driven by the same propensity for risk-taking that leads to higher crime rates.*ahem*Yes, he does explicitely make the atheism-crime connection. Repeatedly. Yes, I'm offended. But in a case like this it's always the

GObama!

2008-05-09T19:21:00.000-05:00

As you're hopefully aware, Obama pulled out another sizable win Tuesday, and has an even firmer lock on the nomination than expected. I've been watching the primaries much more closely than I should be, but my thoughts on that showing are still limited to the obvious. (...except for one: I would love to see Obama triumphantly proclaim that he has slain the Hildebeest. In those words. Probably

Assassins

2008-05-07T19:42:00.001-05:00

This is the book six in the Left Behind series. There won't be full posts for books five and seven, since I simply didn't have much to say about them. I've only a few remarks this time around; a few will be hidden below the fold, since they contain spoilers.I finally figured out the significance of the number 216 (discussed previously). It's 6 to the third power, or just the digits of 666

The Obligatory Apology

2008-05-07T14:54:00.004-05:00

*ahem* I'm sorry for not writing anything substantial in over a month. Sometimes I think about just shutting the site down, but it's not like I have some compelling reason to, and sooner or later I'm sure to find something worth posting. This won't make for much of a blog if it almost never updates, but maybe that's just something I'll have to accept. In any case, there should be two new posts

The Greatest GIF Ever

2008-04-20T22:27:00.001-05:00

Sorry, it was linked from a fark thread, so I have no idea who made this one either.

I may be socially stunted...

2008-04-15T00:41:00.000-05:00

But on the plus side, I just finished the last of my homework for the week. So you should take advantage of these vast swaths of free time and drag me to some fun event later. You don't want me to spend all that time reading, (or worse, playing the Wii) do you?

This is Getting Out of Hand

2008-03-29T18:00:00.002-05:00

I've been a little lax in keeping up with the Scienceblogs Frame Wars, but earlier in the week Greg Laden posted a response to Mooney & Nisbet that goes right over the deep end. I'll take apart some of his post further down, with quotes from Laden in green.Here's the core of the issue, from Nisbet's post: "As long as Dawkins and PZ continue to be the representative voices from the pro-science

Innumeracy in the Media

2008-03-29T00:45:00.002-05:00

I've long bemoaned the scientific illiteracy of the mainstream media. Glaring errors are ubiquitous, but the Tampa Bay Newspapers definitely take the cake for this week. Their gaffe is mathematical rather than scientific: an article on sex offenders includes the claim that "One in 10 men has molested children. Most abusers are able to molest dozens of children before being caught and have

Race, Obama, and the Right-Wing Media

2008-03-23T17:57:00.003-05:00

Just a quick one now. John Wilkins at Evolving Thoughts has a post on Obama's recent speech on race. You can read that if you want; I just found it hilarious that he says the following: "Obama treats his hearers as intelligent adults, not to be swayed by the spin and public relations of the right leaning (leaning? OK, right-wing) mainstream media." I've heard it said that both our parties

Listen to the Framers

2008-03-23T15:11:00.006-05:00

As you've probably heard, PZ Myers was recently asked to sit out of a screening for Ben Stein's new documentary, Expelled. The blagotubes are abuzz with the hype, mainly because of the many levels of irony involved. Expelled is a creationist propaganda piece, whose main argument is that Intelligent Design theorists have been unfairly expelled from the academic community. It purports to be

Hopes and Fears for Election 2008

2008-03-05T01:24:00.005-06:00

So it looks like Hillary's set to win 3 of today's 4 primaries, but not by a big enough margin to make a huge difference. Obama's rapidly closing the gap in superdelegates, so this nomination's still up in the air. Of course, McCain's going to be the Republican nominee. No question there.I've been rooting for Obama, but I'm not wholly convinced he's the best candidate. There's plenty I don't

The Gospel of Thomas

2008-03-01T19:04:00.003-06:00

I read the Gospel of Thomas today on the way home. This post shall serve as a general repository for noteworthy quotations and speculative commentary. To summarize, the GoT is a collection of 114 brief proverbs, parables, and other sayings attributed to Jesus, with little to no connecting narrative. There are obvious parallels in some sections to the canonical gospels, but it’s Gnostic

The Heart of the Matter

2008-02-24T20:11:00.005-06:00

Earlier today, Hemant linked to a site with a list of 281 "You might be a fundamentalist atheist if..." jokes. I suggest you take a look at it; some of them are spot-on and point out things that annoy me as well. Others (particularly those in the antievolution section) are just stupid or demonstrate the extreme position of the writer. A few near the end made me wonder if they realize Jews,

I've been hacked!

2008-02-07T16:27:00.000-06:00

Not here, though. It was my Myspace page. Someone deleted the profile content itself and my entire friends list. A few thoughts:Who gets off on the senseless destruction of something so trivial? Why is it even worthwhile to antagonize complete strangers? It just seems so pathetic that I almost feel sorry for the guy. Bet he feels really smug about it too; totally owned me.How did he do it?

Random Text Archive

2008-02-02T10:42:00.009-06:00

You've probably noticed that the subtitle of this page changes each time it loads. There's also a random quote display in the sidebar. Here I'll collect all the entries for public perusal and, when appropriate, provide relevant context or citations.Sunbeam SubtitlesMoonbeam SubtitlesSunbeam Random QuotesSunbeam Subtitles"Nature itself is far more wonderful than any god of which humanity could

I get Googled

2008-02-02T09:46:00.007-06:00

One of my most-viewed posts is an old and completely self-indulgent piece on my pokémon teams. Suffice to say that there are still way too many people googling obscure details of that game.When I started reading the fictional Left Behind series, I gave passing mention to a resemblance between Senator Barack Obama and how Nicolae Carpathia (the antichrist) was portrayed early on. You know,

Rejoice!

2008-01-12T13:34:00.001-06:00

My computer's fixed! Apparently UPS won't send it on a weekend (or something), but I expect to have it back on Tuesday.

Soul Harvest

2008-01-05T14:27:00.000-06:00

Left Behind, book four. I also finished Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe a few days ago, having not touched it since reading the first half during the summer. Since I'm obviously not qualified to evaluate the scientific content and had little else to say on it, a full post seemed unnecessary. Suffice to say that sting theory is fascinating, and too elegant to be wrong.I don't think I've

Nicolae

2007-12-29T16:29:00.000-06:00

Book three in the Left Behind series.I'll refrain from commenting too much on the plot, as usual, to avoid spoilers. There were a number of very exciting scenes, the best yet in the series. On the other hand, several long passages only summarized what had happened before, and those were boring as hell. Presumably that'll be less of a problem if I don't read them in rapid succession and have time

Computer trouble

2007-12-26T18:42:00.000-06:00

The hinge on my laptop's broken, so I'm going to have to send it in for repairs. As such, I won't be able to get on the internet frequently. (I can still use the family computer from time to time, though, as long as I'm here.) Don't be surprised if you don't hear from me much in the near future. What really sucks about this, though, is that I might not get it back until a week or two after

It's also D-licious

2007-12-26T05:02:00.000-06:00

It seems a number of recent studies have indicated that Vitamin D stimulates production of an antimicrobial protein called cathelicidin, thereby strengthening the immune system. Specifically, it appears to combat tuberculosis and influenza. You can read the full mechanistic details at Science News.I immediately noticed that this could explain my seemingly strong immune system. (For those out

Just Once More

2007-12-22T18:32:00.001-06:00

Steve Dutch has himself written a review of I Am Legend. It doesn't sound like he enjoyed it nearly as much as I did. *shrugs* Oh, well. (Beware, those who would click the link: It is riddled with spoilers.)

Tribulation Force

2007-12-20T03:06:00.000-06:00

I just finished book two of the Left Behind series. Throughout most of the reading, I didn't have much to comment on. Most of what I said about the first book still applies, although I've been paying less attention to the authors' perspective and just taking the story for what it is.My last review remarked that the treatment of scripture was shallow and uncritical; that much has gotten better.

More on I Am Legend

2007-12-20T01:13:00.001-06:00

PZ's found a review of Will Smith's latest film, and he thinks it sounds terrible. Seeing as how I've enthusiastically endorsed the movie already, I may as well respond to a few of the criticisms and explain my position.The first major complaint is that it doesn't closely follow the book. It's true; I've read a little bit about the original plot, and this diverges from it wildly. Apparently, in

Unchristian Evangelism?

2007-12-17T18:15:00.000-06:00

Somebody named John Gray has put out an op-ed in the Sydney Morning Herald titled, "The empty myths peddled by evangelists of unbelief." As you can imagine, I couldn't resist such an indictment. So I gave it a read-through, expecting some first class wingnuttery... but that's not what I got. The article actually seems reasoned through, but I dare call it specious. This one deserves a thorough

Neuromancer

2007-12-17T17:00:00.000-06:00

For those of you who don't recall, this is the book Mike gave me back in September. I started it a while ago, but wasn't able to make much progress until classes let out. 'swritten by William Gibson.A broad overview: Some unspecified time in the future, when virtually any illness or injury can be fixed and body modification is pervasive, an underground culture of hackers is thriving. This story

Ryan's Disappearing Act

2007-12-17T14:30:00.000-06:00

I'm back in Illinois now, but of course you know that. I have to share my internet connection with the rest of the family now, which is the main reason y'all haven't heard from me. I have no idea when I'll be able to get online. You can always call!I've spent most of my time either reading or playing Strikers. (I suck royally at that game; haven't even unlocked Diddy Kong yet. I did finish a book

Burning Hands!

2007-12-13T23:00:00.000-06:00

Jake found a comprehensive survey that will compile stats for you, as though you were a D&D character. Go! Take it! I command you! Here are my results:Elven Wizard, Level 3 - Can't say why it called me an elf. I'd have to guess that it was based upon my frame, but I would be ridiculously tall as an elf... *shrugs* Elves are pretty, so who cares. The wizard was no surprise at all. Monk

The Mystery of the Molecular Clock

2007-12-10T16:48:00.001-06:00

This is the News & Views style paper I wrote for Dr. Getty's Organismal Biology course last semester. If you found this page through Google, you'll probably be more interested in Robert Lanfear's own site or his article in PNAS, which I review below. Many researchers believe the molecular clock can be calibrated using metabolic rate—a notion Dr. Robert Lanfear believes he has thoroughly

Be careful what you wish for...

2007-12-01T12:48:00.000-06:00

I almost never remember my dreams, and I'm frequently jealous of those who do. For no obvious reason, I have been able to recall them for the last several nights. And let's just say... My subconscious disturbs me. : /

I love nerds.

2007-11-27T15:28:00.000-06:00

Found this on a random white board, fourth floor of the chemistry building. Artist unknown.

sigh

2007-11-22T19:11:00.000-06:00

Apparently, I've gone a whole month without posting. Not sure if I can blame the massive amounts of school anymore... (I did write one long post on morality around a week ago, but we'll see if I ever decide that it's worth posting.)Anyway, y'all know I'm in Illinois for Thanksgiving. AIM hasn't been working since I got here, so you'll have to contact me some other way if you want to talk.

Rethinking Morality

2007-11-17T13:19:00.000-06:00

My moral code is inconsistent. There's a page on here where I defined it, saying basically that anything which causes harm to another person is 'wrong,' while harming yourself is merely stupid. My hope was that all applicable moral virtues (that I agreed with) could be derived from this simple standard. And... for a while, it seemed to work. I even reevaluated a few things in light of it.

Misc. Academic Thoughts

2007-10-23T14:25:00.000-05:00

I'm thinking (again) of leaving Lyman Briggs. It seems almost cheap, because the program's helped me a good deal so far, what with the three-semester calc track and getting to live in Holmes. But some of those upper level HPS courses just do not look fun, and dropping them would free up lots of room in my schedule. And it's not like I'm doing this to avoid the subject altogether; there's a

I don't see what everyone's problem is...

2007-10-23T13:58:00.001-05:00

Charged things like to be close to things of opposite charge.Molecules are stabilized when their electrons and charges can spread out.Things tend to avoid getting too close to other things, except when rule 1 applies.There. I have just summarized everything we've covered in organic chemistry this semester. Sure, there are some naming conventions you just have to learn, and spectroscopy is a

Working on Existence, when I should be working on Biochem

2007-10-05T22:32:00.001-05:00

Hey there. I first drafted this post over a week ago, but it's been hidden since it was so incoherent. I've just finally gotten around to looking at it again today. I'll blame my crappy schedule; you can feel free to call me lazy. It contains my late night ramblings after one seemingly simple statement undercut my justification of atheism. So... here goes.This all started a couple hours ago

Woot!

2007-09-29T20:32:00.000-05:00

My transfer credit for the summer's courses finally came through! I'm eleven credits richer than I was last week! (That makes 44, boys and girls.) Apparently those grades won't be factored into my GPA, which kind of sucks as they'd strengthen my buffer, but... I can see why. Blah.

Two more days!

2007-09-23T22:25:00.001-05:00

The season 4 premiere of House is this Tuesday, at 9 p.m. on Fox. (So that's 8 for you Illini...) You'll be there, won't you? All of Ryan's real friends watch House. : P/I actually thought it was rather contrived how they eliminated all three underlings at the end of the last season. Would it have been that difficult to space it out a bit? Add in a smidge of verisimilitude? *sigh*

Get your priorities straight, guys!

2007-09-23T22:24:00.000-05:00

I finally got around to installing BioShock today. It's not working right. I think my graphics card isn't compatible, but I'm not quite sure yet. Bear in mind that I boug-- Well, my parents bought this computer one year ago, and it's already obsolete. *mindless cursing*I've long been annoyed by the excessive focus many people put on graphics in their video games. Normally all it meant was

Damned semantics...

2007-09-23T22:23:00.000-05:00

A bit of a primer: The term "fundamentalism" originated in the early 1900s with the publication of a series of books called, unsurprisingly, The Fundamentals. They discussed the most important tenets of the Christian faith (and literalism was not considered one of them for some time). So I am at a loss. How should I use the term, then? Technically, a "fundamentalist" is just someone who

Posting Flurry!

2007-09-08T17:40:00.000-05:00

This is just a temporary note that I haven't yet revised most of what went up today. You'll have to forgive any of the expected mistakes, and I'll get to fixing them... sometime.

On Cheating

2007-09-08T17:30:00.000-05:00

There were specific reasons for me to want to talk about this at the time, but that's none of your business. Damn, though, it's been nearly a month since I started the post. : /I'm going to start by talking about a peculiar teacher I had in high school. I'll not give his identity , although a devoted reader could probably figure it out. He was a devout Catholic, but accepting and considerate

And now for a musical interlude

2007-09-08T15:56:00.001-05:00

I love chemistry.

2007-09-08T14:42:00.000-05:00

I'm sure that's news to everyone. But I think I might love chemistry even more than I love physics and biology. And that's significant. (There are other factors to consider. For example, my current physics class hasn't been teaching me anything new, and thus has been boring. Will all the upper-level sciences be as much fun as orgo chem?)

"Jesus is Lord of All."

2007-09-08T14:23:00.000-05:00

I noticed an interesting dichotomy recently. While I don't really mind hearing about God, the ones who talk about Jesus creep me the hell out. I think I know why, though. There are serious epistemic issues with theism, to be sure. But the general idea of god is a vague and somewhat abstract concept; many of its manifestations are consistent with what's known of the world. But the divinity of

Which came first - the nucleic acid or the polypeptide?

2007-08-30T13:17:00.000-05:00

Just a quick notifier - Anyone who's been keeping in touch will know how busy I've been the past few days, buried in class responsibilities. Combine this with an attempt to maintain something resembling a social life and the eventual need to return to Jackson lab, and I don't expect to have much time to write here. I assure you, I have several posts that are "in the works" (and that's not

How things change...

2007-08-20T22:11:00.000-05:00

Just did some late-night shopping for depleted groceries, and made a depressing discovery. Sometime while I was gone, the local White Hen pantry was replaced by a 'food and liquor' store. Emphasis on the liquor. Enough emphasis that the guy at the counter instinctively asked for my I.D. before realizing I was only buying milk and bread. And put it all in an opaque black bag. I know you're

Just Once

2007-08-05T12:17:00.000-05:00

I would like to see someone argue for the legalization of drugs without completely ignoring the reasons they were banned in the first place. There are some pretty good arguments available for both sides, but every single person I see advocating legalization gives the distinct impression that they have no deeper thoughts than the desire to get high without cops breathing down their necks. Not

Need to Write Faster

2007-08-02T05:26:00.000-05:00

Tonight, I started two blog entries, only to get bored and never finish them. (These are in addition to the one you can see, of course.) Need to stop doing that! Just write it already!Ehh, lets make this quick.A quick bit of research on cardiovascular disease led me to an article discussing the results of a poll given to teenagers about what they thought were the most likely causes of death.

A Different Perspective

2007-08-02T04:06:00.001-05:00

I was on my perch in the bathroom a few minutes ago, when a little critter scurried out from behind. I didn't get a very close look, but I'm fairly certain it was a baby house centipede. Less than a centimeter long and somewhat translucent, it was...So... Freaking... CUTE!Unfortunately it found its way into the wall rather quickly, so I couldn't take any pictures. Also, I recently learned

How to Eliminate an Intruder

2007-07-30T02:54:00.000-05:00

Wander down stairs, USB drive in hand, intent on printing out Spanish composition. Spot intruder near face; shriek like a little girl.Deposit materials downstairs; retrieve camera.Acquire photographic evidence of intrusion. Retrieve shoe.Approach 'pede with intent to terminate by "squash" method.Size up enemy, position weapon.Wimp out; cower atop stairs. Hold self and whine impodently.Repeat

Horrible News!

2007-07-28T06:05:00.000-05:00

You know those vile pedes that hang around my house sometimes? These ones? Apparently they hunt down and eat other kinds of bugs, like cockroaches. And since they themselves aren't really dangerous to us large mammals, we're supposed to like them.What-ever, dude.

God Damn Ticks.

2007-07-28T02:17:00.000-05:00

Damn them to hell. Especially the ones with the gall to bite Ryan. Like that bastard above. *growls angrily* Ryan not want lyme disease. Not at all.Interesting tangent: Needless to say, I spent some time looking around for info on lyme disease. This way I'll know what to look for if any of the symptoms do show, and I can start treating. Only the most reliable sources for me! Wikipedia

Good and God, Redux

2007-07-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

What is good? Is it an objective, universal ideal? A sociological construct with no real value besides what we invest in it? Or does good derive from obedience to God?Does God, religion, or scripture inform you of what is right, or does it dictate it?Could God, for some hypothetical reason, choose to commit an evil act? Or would the mere fact that it was His will make that act good?I know,

Another Day Endured

2007-07-23T09:55:00.000-05:00

This is a short story I wrote a little over a year ago, for Doc Colman's lit class. I ran across it while looking for some old documents relevant to something I'm writing for Moonbeam. There are a few details I'd like to change, mostly with the wording, but overall I still really like it. Think I need to write fiction more often. (As will likely be obvious, I took Salinger as a major

Everything is Existential

2007-07-11T04:15:00.000-05:00

Get involved in any discussion of religion or human existence, and within five minutes someone will bring up the meaning of life. Why is that? What do they mean? What constitutes "meaning" with reference to a person's existence?The very concept of meaning is founded in symbolism, most relevant with respect to language. What is meaning besides our own appropriation of an abstract concept to an

Left Behind

2007-07-10T17:00:00.001-05:00

I finished reading Left Behind Sunday. Most of my comments on the text are rather critical, but I don't mean to give it a totally bad rap. I was constantly meta-analyzing the book for hints at the authors' perspective. The fact that they're fundies pretty much ensured that my observations would be largely negative. I still liked the book; they did a good job with much of the characterization (

Problem Solved!

2007-07-06T21:03:00.000-05:00

Right, remember how I was trying to figure out a way to protect certain posts, so that I could write really emo/personal/embaressing things again without worrying about distribution? Course ya do. So I've given up on trying to find a code that'll allow it, and encryption just seems so wasteful... One idea will work, though: Create another blag!For whatever reason, Blogger allows

Thoughts on presentation...

2007-06-19T00:14:00.000-05:00

The more I think about it, the more I think that when I'm writing about certain (serious) topics, I'd like to leave my own position completely ambiguous (the way Steve Dutch does). But of course simply writing as objectively as possible won't do. The point is to keep people ignorant of my own view, and the existing content of this blog makes my perspective very clear. I'd most likely need to

KILL THE MESSENGER!

2007-06-18T15:21:00.000-05:00

Just thought I'd whore this article which, however old, showed up on the Fark voting page today.Some commentary may come later, if I have time. (Getting behind on homework...)

I think I have too much time on my hands.

2007-06-17T17:22:00.001-05:00

I just used my fingers to count to 1023.

Symptoms

2007-06-16T01:47:00.000-05:00

I think I have congenital hyposmia. (That's a diminished ability to smell, guys.) I'd always known my nose was relatively weak, but never quite realized the extent. Today, I was talking to Jeanette, and she said... i have a pretty good sense of smell, which can be both good and bad. like yesterday... i was in the orchard, and i could smell mike's aftershave 2 rows away and renee's sunblock

Margins. Not. Justified.

2007-06-10T14:18:00.000-05:00

I started reading Left Behind today. No, I'm not quite done with The Elegant Universe yet, but fiction's usually a bit easier to commit myself to, and I'm pretty sure I can read two books on completely different topics concurrently without getting mixed up. Normal, competent readers do that all the time, don't they?Oh, and I just noticed that the right margin isn't lined up. This is a major

Good hair day.

2007-06-07T00:01:00.000-05:00

My hair came out really well today for no apparent reason, so of course I couldn't just keep it to myself:As long as I'm posting photos, may as well put up some of PRETTY PRETTY PUPPIES!Oh, and another shot of me, apparently. What?! I'm usually not very photogenic... let me have my moment...

Hey, Creationist!

2007-06-06T00:48:00.000-05:00

In light of the recent opening of Ken Ham's Creation Museum, I've been kind of stooped in Creation/Evolution arguments once again. This seems like a good opportunity to clear up some major scientific and evolutionary misconceptions that are common among, although not limited to, Creationists. It'll be very similar in function to Steve Dutch's Ten Myths post, with some overlap of material (but

Random Speculation of the Day: Consciousness

2007-06-05T20:38:00.000-05:00

I always laugh when I hear someone assert that consciousness is separate from the material brain. While it is rather difficult to grasp how it could result purely from chemical interactions, the claim that they’re mutually exclusive is absurd beyond reason. If consciousness was not grounded in the physical brain, then it wouldn’t be affected by physical agents. The mere fact that LSD can

Much Better

2007-06-04T20:50:00.000-05:00

Someone's written up a new Decalogue to replace those awful Abrahamic commandments. The new and improved list is by atheists, and for modern secular humanity. My only reservation is the wish that it would put more emphasis on learning what constitutes proof (as opposed to persuasion, as Abelard taught). I'll recommend you check the whole article, which has a good bit of commentary. Now for

Random Speculation of the Day: Scripture in Context

2007-06-04T20:36:00.000-05:00

Were it not for sola scriptura, would we need to deal with all the baseless manipulation of scripture through ignorance of context so common in Christian literature?I can't help but wonder. What harm could a Christian version of the Talmud possibly do? It's not as though your average person knows enough about Biblical history to form a realistic interpretation just by reading it.Is this the

Just stating the obvious...

2007-06-04T19:11:00.000-05:00

--Many religious people regard their faith as literally true. The legends of their chosen texts really happened, and all other religions are objectively wrong, maybe even evil. "Imposing their faith" is morally necessary, as everything in it is true.--Many religious people regard their faith as little more than philosophy. The metaphysical God probably exists, but we can't be 100% sure (at

And they criticize the Catholics for past indulgences...

2007-05-27T15:22:00.000-05:00

Skimming over what's on TV just now, I stumbled across some religious program and decided on a lark to watch. Should I be at all surprised to find parasitic scum? That is, they're begging for donations, 'seed,' and promising that God will provide personal fortune to those who give. I was expecting an annoying, superficial preacher, slightly startled by the (entirely black) chorus, and prepared

Let's Talk Politics

2007-05-22T05:42:00.003-05:00

I've been thinking about doing a broad (read: long) post on politics for some time now. Originally it was because I'd noticed that I've been drifting a bit more toward some conservative (or at least moderate) views. The last couple days I've been looking over some of the presidential candidates and thinking about discussing their platforms, which would require giving my own to compare.I've

Let no one accuse them of being too perceptive.

2007-05-16T01:08:00.000-05:00

Sorry; I'm trying to limit my rants on Creationism to strict analysis regarding science and honesty, but once in a while they blurt something just too funny to pass up... A broadcast called Creation Moments, which I've discussed before, put out one such audio piece last week. Near the end of it, they say the following: "When evolution uses the same explanation for opposite activities, it shows

Grades are in.

2007-05-09T17:54:00.000-05:00

Straight 4.0, confirmed. Cool, I guess...

Sometimes a picture says it best

2007-05-09T00:22:00.000-05:00

It came in handy during an online discussion today. I'd been having some trouble...Edit: Apparently some people think that "pelvic bone thing" is a euphemism for "male genitalia," so allow me to clarify. It isn't. I was referring to a part of my pelvis - I think the iliac crest, but I'm not looking it up. I'm skinny enough that it sticks out and was using it to prop up my computer... but it

Characters

2007-05-08T18:21:00.000-05:00

This post is just meant to provide a quick description of the people I might reference from time to time, since I don't always give sufficient context each time. Anyway...Steve Dutch is a professor of geology at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay. I haven't actually met him in person, but he maintains a site called Science, Pseudoscience, and Irrationalism with an extensive collection of

An Execution on 24

2007-05-07T21:02:00.000-05:00

A brief summary for those who don't watch the show regularly:A group of soldiers working with Chinese agent Cheng Zhi - they appear to be mercenaries - prepare for a major assault. Their goal is to retrieve a "package" from the CTU Los Angeles facility. (We don't learn what the package is until later.) Someone hacks into the CTU computer system and cuts all their communication as the team

Gonna catch 'em all!

2007-05-06T22:30:00.000-05:00

So I found my old game boy, and I've been playing Pokémon (silver) pretty much non-stop for the last couple days. I was further away than I'd thought - had 21 left when I started. That number's been cut down to four: Politoed, Cloyster, Slowking, and Kingdra. I already have everything I'll need in-game to get them, but trading's required. So once I track down my link cable I'll be

School's out, or something.

2007-05-05T15:30:00.000-05:00

So I'm finally back in Illinois, and I haven't posted in forever. I found out summer school doesn't start for a whole month. I don't know what I'm going to do... besides die of full-body atrophy. I was thinking of finishing Pokémon Silver (about a dozen to go), but I can't find my game boy. I started a couple blag entries, but got bored halfway through and just stopped. I should read a few

Not... not worthy!

2007-04-30T13:38:00.000-05:00

Over at Pharyngula, PZ's instituted another blogroll open enrollment day. So if I wanted to, I could get on my (current) favorite scienceblogger's blogroll, inevitably sending lots of traffic this way and occasionally getting a read from PeeZed himself.Oh, noes... I shudder at the thought. I'll hold on to my obscurity, thankyouverymuch.

See if you can follow this train of thought

2007-04-28T21:09:00.000-05:00

Anthropologist Yoel Rak: "The presence of the morphology in both the latter and Australopithecus afarensis and its absence in modern humans cast doubt on the role of [Lucy] as a common ancestor."Journalist Judy Siegel-Itzkovich: "'Lucy' is not a direct ancestor of humans."Creationist IDiot DaveScot: "Icon of Evolution 'Lucy' Bites the Dust."The above comes from a recent Uncommon Descent post.

NOOOOOO!!!

2007-04-23T23:04:00.000-05:00

Roy's dead! This is awesome terrible!...The strip make more sense if you start here... or better yet, here. In any case, OotS remains the best webcomic ever./So... it is D&D, so you can pretty well bet he'll be resurrected... eventually. Hell, Durkon might be strong enough to revive him... if Durkon doesn't also die before the battle's end.//To be honest, I wouldn't mind seeing an undead Roy

That was unexpected.

2007-04-23T03:18:00.000-05:00

Three (sort of) comments arose very quickly after a recent post. That's not something we get around here often. I think, however, I'm going to have to invoke a new rule: Comments are in a language I speak, or they get deleted. (I'm guessing those two were spam anyway.)/Dr. Lector was indeed creepy, but at least he never tried to claim the moral high ground (of which I'm aware).

The Most Unpleasant Character in All Fiction

2007-04-22T20:18:00.000-05:00

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.You'll most likely recognize the above as a quote

Nonsensical Ramblings on Induction

2007-04-22T19:12:00.000-05:00

This post is all based upon the following video. You don't need to watch the whole thing to understand my post. (Hehe, you may not understand my post no matter what you do!) PZ has a pretty thorough criticism of it. (Although, in this unique case, I came across the video a few hours before he brought it up. Yay!)In this video, Kelly Tripplehorn asserts the problem of induction, but in the

Old news... (Sexism and Shallow reading)

2007-04-21T13:58:00.000-05:00

I've just come across an article on fark that brings to mind a rather old issue I hadn't commented on. Surely you'll recall how much of a field day the popular media had with this, despite an astounding lack of reason in their analysis. (The linked article claims to have found scientific evidence that men are smarter than women. I don't care to analyze it in detail. Read it yourself if you're

Rage...

2007-04-18T11:26:00.000-05:00

When will people get it through their heads? Stop performing invasive and irreversible surgery for non-therapeutic reasons. There is no justification. Especially against the subject's (express) will. *shakes head*/via Pharyngula//Also, further righteous rage against one of my suitemates for clogging the toilet, and leaving me to clean it up. *shaking of the fist*

The science...

2007-04-17T01:44:00.000-05:00

One more quick note, and then sleep. Lately (and by that I mean 'for the past several years') I've been putting off some electives I've really wanted to take in favor of more science. The justification usually runs along the lines of needing to, or else I won't be able to take some more advanced course for a-whole-nother year, and then my whole schedule gets out of whack... So I'll take the

Ahh...

2007-04-17T01:37:00.000-05:00

Are you satisfied now, little white box? /The real point of this post is to refer you to an interview with the great PZ Myers. Some of what he says near the end is pretty darned inspiring (for me, as a fellow blogger). There are certain things about this that need to be kept in perspective, and he's done a pretty good job of putting 'em there.

An Atheist's Declaration (No, not mine, silly!)

2007-04-17T01:30:00.000-05:00

A few days ago, John Wilkins reposted an 'Atheist's declaration of rights' over at Evolving Thoughts. I have a few problems with it, and think this could make for some good... (Oh, that's right, we don't get discussion here. Ah, well. It's an interesting piece, anyway.) Nonreligious Declaration of Rights1. Freedom from Fear and Hate:In every part of a secular society, the nonreligious have

Blogorrhea

2007-04-16T16:30:00.000-05:00

What's up with this? For nearly two weeks I had absolutely nothing to say, and now all of the sudden I'm just brimming with blogs that need to be written. Augh! Learn to be consistent, Ryan! I guess I'm lucky, though, not having much (any) responsibility tonight. Expect a few more soon. Right now I'm off to dinner.Edit: That is, you know, if I don't suddenly and inexplicably lose all

How stupid do they think I am?

2007-04-16T16:00:00.000-05:00

Today I received an e-mail with the subject, "GET BACK TO ME URGENTLY," a contemptible attempt at fraud. I'll repost it below the fold: Dear Friend,I am captain James Brian in the US Marine Corps on Monitoring and Peace-keeping mission in Baghdad-Iraq.The reason why I'm explaining my finding to you is to seek for your assistance to enable you contribute immensely to the actualization of my

So I really love seeing connections in different fields

2007-04-15T03:55:00.000-05:00

This comes to mind because I read two different chapters for two different classes, and they both talked about 'ligands.' As it happens, one was explaining crystal field theory and the other cell signaling, so this wasn't really even the same topic. Nonetheless, it takes me back to the days of 'squesi's philosophy club. We'd always get really excited whenever we'd see some previously discussed

I've just had the most beautiful idea!

2007-04-07T23:23:00.000-05:00

You'll find out about it eventually... probably in a month or so. Not yet.

Two thousand... what?

2007-04-02T19:09:00.000-05:00

Someone just came to my door with a petition for the MSU administration. They're trying to get support for the advancement of alternative energy use on campus. Alternative energy's pretty cool, so I figured I'd sign. I get right on that... and upon dating it, see that the few preceeding me all dated it 4/2/06. Oh, how silly, I must have set them straight!No, I stared blankly for a few

Arguing God

2007-04-01T13:07:00.000-05:00

As anyone who knows me well can say, I've taken a decent bit of interest in the question of God's (in)existence and spent some time looking into it. I would by no means claim to be an expert; most likely my general illiteracy will have isolated me from some of the best arguments both for and against. Nonetheless, I feel the desire to summarize and analyze those that pop up a lot. In part this