jump to navigation

Weekly Photo #7: Kokyo November 29, 2006

Posted by ocmpoma in : other , add a comment

Kokyo
This week’s photo is titled (perhaps too simply) “Kokyo”. It’s one I took during my absolutely too-brief visit to Tokyo, which I had one day to poke around in on my way to Ulan-Ude. I believe it was in October of ‘04. Kokyo, of course, is the Imperial Palace, and it is surrounded by the sprawling city of Tokyo. Making matters worse for me (and my colleague who was traipsing about Tokyo with me that day), the Palace was closed to visitors — even the gardens. So, this is the best shot that I could get. We did get to poke around the Meiji Shrine, though — I’ve got a photo of that which will find it’s way up here eventually.

Tags for this article: , ,

[?]

God Does Not Play… November 29, 2006

Posted by ocmpoma in : atheism , 4comments

It’s shaping up to be a busy day for me, blog-wise. A few posts ago, I put something up about the growing debate among the godless between the “nice atheists” and the “mean atheists”. Before that, I had one up about a post on Evolving Thoughts. And, first of what seems to be becoming a trend, there was this one about an article in Wired Magazine.

So, you ask, why another? Why!?

Well, we’ve had a bit of a complaint session cum popularity contest cum debate over at the forums about this topic. But even more prompting was this post by Ickybod.

(more…)

Tags for this article:

[?]

Another Good One November 28, 2006

Posted by ocmpoma in : other , add a comment

ScienceBlogs’ Frontal Cortex has some commentary on an article from the NY Times Magazine about the achievement gap in school students. Interested as I am in education, I think both the post and the article make an interesting read.

Tags for this article: ,

[?]

A Pea Sized Pill? November 28, 2006

Posted by ocmpoma in : politics , add a comment

Arms Control Wonk has a nice post up regarding the Polonium used to kill Alexander Litvinenko.

They’ve got a quote up (source linked in the post): “Without nanotechnology you would be talking about a fairly big pill, a pea-sized pill.”

Tags for this article: ,

[?]

On the Merits of Intelligent Design November 27, 2006

Posted by ocmpoma in : supernaturalism , add a comment

I’ve been waiting for something to give me a reason to put this up, but I figured that I might as well just go ahead and post it.

One of the final things I wrote as an undergrad was a research paper, which I chose to write on the merits of intelligent design (ID). I’ll link to the paper (in .pdf format) below. The basic premise of the paper is that one need not be versed in biology, chemistry, statistics, mathematics, or in any kind of science at all to be able to judge intelligent design’s merits. Instead, one only needs to…. well, I’ll let the reader read the paper to see what my argument is.

The Merits of Intelligent Design

Tags for this article: ,

[?]

Re-plea November 25, 2006

Posted by ocmpoma in : open access , add a comment

I just received a reply email from Lund University, regarding the Directory of Open Access Journals and certain ID article, which I originally posted about here. I’d like to take this opportunity to ask once again that some more emails be sent to the DOAJ staff regarding this manner.

Tags for this article: , , ,

[?]

Of Course You Realize, Dis Means War! November 23, 2006

Posted by ocmpoma in : atheism , add a comment

PZ’s got a post up on Pharyngula which, I hope, is not the beginning of something that would be… shall we say, decidedly less than good. But, I fear that it is. If what PZ is talking about continues, the trend towards infighting and “side-choosing” will continue, and the secular movement will become a house divided (even more so than it already is). And Lincoln told us about that.

(more…)

Tags for this article:

[?]

Comparing Apples to Fanaticism November 22, 2006

Posted by ocmpoma in : atheism , add a comment

Jake Young over at Pure Pedantry has a post up adressing the old argument about atheistic tyrants (you know, the unholy trio), which was made in another article by Dinesh D’Souza.

Mr Young’s basic point is that “[t]he problem with religion and atheism isn’t that they exist or that they naturally push one towards violence. The world is much more complicated than that. The problem is fanaticism: the exultation of one creed to such a degree that every other creed becomes not only fundamentally wrong but a desecration. (emphasis in the original)”

But he’s missed a major point.

(more…)

Tags for this article:

[?]

Weekly Photo #6: Eternal Flame November 22, 2006

Posted by ocmpoma in : other , add a comment

EternalFlame
This week’s photo is titled, with a heap of originality, “Eternal Flame”. It’s the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, just outside of the Kremlin. This particular memorial was originally dedicated to those who died on the Eastern Front of the European Theater. That’s the red brick of the Kremlin wall in the back, there.There’s an old Soviet joke (or so I’ve been told) — Brezhnev was standing alone at the memorial one dark winter night, and he asked aloud, “How does it feel to lie there, although you are unknown, in one of the most honored spots in the Soviet Union?”

The answer came: “Sehr gut, Herr General!”

Soviet (and Russian) wit is not known for its soft, subtle shades.

Tags for this article: , ,

[?]