tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-168004202011-12-13T19:57:22.861-08:00Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comBlogger311100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138071710393996682006-01-23T18:54:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:47:36.343-08:00

A follow up to my last post, further hunting for worthy news stories led me to http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v438/n7067/full/438422c.html page on Nature. This quote-This hypothesis proposes that the ID movement is motivated by an 'intelligent deceiver'. Individuals who understand how to debate alternative scientific hypotheses would never intentionally promote religious dogma as science.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138070605999882362006-01-23T18:27:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:49:57.237-08:00

Was looking through Google news for something interesting to read and came across a 'news' (I don't really see this as news) report titled Creationism in US schools from the Evangelical Times (UK). The report (which is short to say the least) is http://www.evangelical-times.org/ETNews/Oct05/Oct05n15.htm.I've read statistics that 50% of Americans believe in God which isn't hard to believe is true,

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138045452157399582002-04-03T11:43:00.000-08:002006-01-23T11:44:12.156-08:00

I must have been away from USENET for too long because I forgot one of the cardinal rules: don't debate with crackpots. There's not only no way to "win", but you're liable to look just as dumb as the person you're arguing with.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138045399793897112002-04-03T11:40:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:50:35.841-08:00

Apparently some creationists would rather be descended from a bullfrog http://members.aol.com/dwise1/cre_ev/bullfrog.html than a primate. Pretty hilarious stuff, and it shows the downright dishonest tactics that many (most?) creationists use to promote their cause.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138066623652409712002-04-02T17:32:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:42:52.663-08:00

The Shape of Life starts on PBS tonight.I already ordered the DVD set.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138046136219024822002-04-02T11:44:00.000-08:002006-01-23T11:55:36.236-08:00

I meant to blog a lot here on evolutionary biology topics today, but I ended up doing a lot of blogging at MeFi. More than I should have, really; it's bad form to post so much in a comment you posted yourself. Still, the subject inflames me so much I have trouble staying silent: I am aghast at how little (and how badly) people understand science and the scientific method.I'll have more to say

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138044265320898642002-03-29T11:12:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:38:47.112-08:00

Charles Darwin is my hero. It's mind-boggling to think of the incredible genius it took for him to overcome centuries of bias and ignorance to come up with the theory of evolution. Doubly so, really, since he didn't really know what caused the "modification" part of "descent with modification". (It was genes.)I just picked up PBS Evolution Boxed Set DVD, which I've so far watched two episodes of.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138044570374282242002-03-29T09:34:00.000-08:002006-01-23T11:29:30.376-08:00

So I'm surfing over at Doc's site, and I see a link to an essay by Tommy Williams which purports to be some interesting thoughts about working for Microsoft. So I click on over, and Lo! the document has been pulled. Tommy says it was at the request of his wife (is she also a Microsoftie?).Of course this gives the conspiracy-minded among us uncomfortable feelings -- did Microsoft apply pressure to

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138044986703995722002-03-27T11:33:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:52:06.535-08:00

Let's all say it together: http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=020326001610&query=eisner#docAnchor020326001610 Eisner is a dimwit. Abe Lincoln? Ye gods and little fishes. This man is not competent to run a major corporation. This man is not competent to take a piss by himself.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138044785785916832002-03-27T11:29:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:53:52.014-08:00

I don't normally blog "current events" stuff -- it's easy enough to get your newsfix from almost any other site -- but the http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&u=/ap/20020327/ap_on_re_mi_ea/israel_explosion continuing ballet of death between the Palestinians and the Israelis jus entered a new phase. Can anyone doubt that this latest attack will lead to vicious reprisals by the

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138045187265430072002-03-26T11:36:00.000-08:002006-01-23T11:39:47.266-08:00

It's hard not to feel somewhat apocalyptic about the state of life in the USA these days. It feels more and more that we are moving to an ultimate something that bodes ill for all of us. That something may very well be a de facto police-state.Since I am both a writer and a computer programmer, my concerns lately have centered on the execrable DMCA and the equally noxious CBDTPA (espoused by none

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138043549698776232002-03-23T11:08:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:55:03.859-08:00

I updated another old machine in my basement to run Debian Linux. In fact, I'm blogging from that machine right now -- an old Pentium II 233MHz machine with 128MB of RAM. Works pretty well!Eventually I'd like to get all my machines (4 at last count, not including my laptop) tied together into a cluster, but I don't have much time for a project of that size right now.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138043280230044462002-03-20T11:04:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:55:50.575-08:00

I loathe the word "consumer". It turns the entire purchasing public into a gigantic organism that does nothing but eat and eat and eat. That's how the corporations see us: as a gigantic mouth into which any crap they produce is to be shoveled. We are not customers because customers must be respected, listened to, and accomodated. Consumers need only be fed.I like peering apps like Gnutella and

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138043097054747232002-03-20T07:02:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:56:30.671-08:00

It looks like TechTV is going the way of all media -- that is, giving up on interesting and topical content in favor of dull-as-dirt "consumer-oriented" programming.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138042753248385092002-03-19T22:53:00.000-08:002006-01-23T10:59:13.250-08:00

Every so often, I get the urge to reload Windows on my laptop. Generally it's because of some driver or codec that I don't have, and thus cannot do what I wish to do at that moment in time. It's a testament to how far Linux has come that these urges come at longer and longer intervals these days. About the only problems that crop up nowadays have to do with video codecs -- of the Big Three video

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138042951149121812002-03-19T20:59:00.000-08:002006-01-23T11:02:31.150-08:00

Writing for the web is not the same as blogging, which is why my site tends to be word-heavy. I am a writer first and foremost; my page-design knowhow is limited at best. That's why Blogger is such a wonderful tool -- it lets me focus on what I do well, and still get a decent-looking site for a minimum of layout effort on my part. When most people think of writing for the web, they envision the

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138042278916667792002-03-18T10:40:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:59:22.124-08:00

I found an article while I was surfing around this morning (courtesy of LinuxToday), and it got me thinking. Shawn Gordon of theKompany is probably not all that different from a lot of folks who are trying to straddle the open-source/commercial software world, and his frustrations are certainly not unique.There was a similar thread on Slashdot this morning where the discussion focused on getting

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138041476991560922002-03-15T10:35:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:58:12.946-08:00

Check out GStreamer. An actual, honest-to-goodness multimedia API for *nix systems! It appears to be pretty well-designed too, which is kind of rare for open-source efforts of this kind -- although the Ogg guys did a bang-up job on their codecs.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138041343955813192002-03-13T10:21:00.000-08:002010-02-15T20:03:52.050-08:00

I'm revisiting Ayn Rand's stuff this week: both The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. I can see why geeks like her stuff; the heroes of Rand's fiction are the kinds of people who say, "I'm the best at what I do, and if you don't like it, f**k off." In real life these people would be complete sociopaths, of course, which is why people who read Rand too literally scare me.WritingI haven't been doing

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138040514106221322002-03-12T10:15:00.000-08:002010-02-15T20:03:22.457-08:00

I live in two places: one is a house in a smallish town in Minnesota; the other is a place called the Internet. I don't spend as much time in my second residence as I would like to -- both work and marriage require me to be present in the non-virtual realm for the bulk of my time. But that doesn't mean that the Internet is any less real a place to me than my physical house.But it's clear that the

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138040096144666612002-03-10T18:12:00.000-08:002010-02-15T20:01:48.452-08:00

Larry Lessig's new endeavor, the Creative Commons, looks like a very interesting idea. It puts control of copyright back in the hands of the creators rather than the distributors. It lets creators select the right kind of license for them, which can only be a Good Thing.This is going to be a watershed year (both politically and historically) in the annals of intellectual property.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138039685676965382002-03-06T10:05:00.000-08:002010-02-15T20:01:20.316-08:00

Radio Paradise, that is. If you like music, and hate the endlessly-recycled crap that clogs the radio nowadays, give Radio Paradise a try. They need support, so throw a few bucks their way. And while you're at it, spend some time at KPIG, which reminds you of what eclectic really means. Oink!

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138039759010843442002-03-05T08:08:00.000-08:002006-01-23T10:09:19.010-08:00

...at the end of the tunnel, I mean. The project at work is within a couple of months of being finished. Well, not finished; this project will never really be finished. However, we will finally produce a feature-complete package, so that's a good thing. I plan on taking some time off once that milestone is reached so I can rest my brain.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138039908000069302002-03-04T10:09:00.000-08:002006-01-23T10:11:48.000-08:00

I just finished Richard Rhodes' The Making Of The Atomic Bomb, and am now reading the next book called Dark Sun which is about the making of the H-Bomb. Scary stuff, but Rhodes is an excellent writer and makes it all seem very interesting and vital. Highly recommended.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138039528631790672002-02-27T10:00:00.000-08:002010-02-15T20:07:34.873-08:00

One of my not-so-secret fears is that many people now are losing the ability to not just read and write effectively, but to deal with metaphor in any meaningful way. In many ways, our ability to interpret metaphor dictates how well we succeed in life. It's the whole signifier-signified thing: if I can make lots of rich connections between people, places, and things in my life, I can more readily

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138039219204792712002-02-27T09:56:00.000-08:002010-02-15T20:06:58.890-08:00

I haven't been blogging enough lately. It's not so much that I have nothing to say; it's that I have so much to say that there's no time to just sit down and write it out in a thorough and thoughtful way. I don't want to become another one of those whiny, self-absorbed twentysomething bloggers who can do nothing but vent bitterness in every line they write.When I first heard about blogs and

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138038028890244462002-02-21T11:35:00.000-08:002010-02-15T20:06:26.116-08:00

It turns out that the problem I was having with Linux on my laptop was (as usual) caused by my own stupid self. Part of the problem was that I wasn't running the apmd daemon, which can help to conserve battery power. Also, I hadn't tuned my kernel correctly for APM stuff.Laptop working correctly now, so XP is now relegated to a distant shelf, where it can rot for all of me.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138038910730276932002-02-19T16:56:00.000-08:002010-02-15T20:06:10.375-08:00

Sigh. I hate to admit this (really), but I had to put XP back on my laptop. Linux runs the laptop's battery down way too fast, and I don't want to be tethered to a power socket all the time. XP can drive the box for about 2 hours 30 mins on a full charge; Linux sucks the box dry in about 45 minutes. (And I have to confess -- those ClearType fonts sure are nice.)Thank God for Cygwin -- I've still

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138038688729277262002-02-19T15:46:00.000-08:002010-02-15T20:05:56.904-08:00

http://archives.cnn.com/2002/US/02/19/crematory.bodies/index.html is like something from a bad horror movie. What the hell is wrong with this guy? Ugh.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1138037655152045262002-02-10T09:33:00.000-08:002010-02-15T20:05:26.824-08:00

Okay, I gave it an honest shot. I got a new Gateway Laptop about a month ago, and it came preloaded with Windows XP. In the spirit of scientific investigation, I decided to give it a whirl for a while and see how it stacked up against not only Linux, but also Windows 2000. The upshot -- avoid Windows XP as if all the hounds of hell from The Hound of the Baskervilles were after you. Why?First,

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16800420.post-1126875192242012852002-01-30T05:52:00.000-08:002010-02-15T20:08:02.234-08:00

You know, one the first Geek Commandments is "Thou Shalt Always Keep Backups of Critical Data". I have broken this Commandment, and I am heartily sorry. Three head-knocks and a good swift kick in the ass is my penance.My 20GB hard disk died a few days ago (a Quantum drive, which in me experience is a pretty reliable brand); I came in to work and saw my Windows NT machine sitting on a blue screen.

Blog Usernoreply@blogger.com