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Creationism in Russia February 23, 2007

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The Baltimore Sun has an article here from January about a lawsuit against a school for teaching evolution.

(via The Panda’s Thumb and Johnson’s Russia List)

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Cold Snap February 22, 2007

Posted by ocmpoma in : politics , add a comment

I know that Iran and the DPRK are the big headline-makers nowadays, but Russia is still worth paying attention to. So, as yet another ‘worth a look’, last week’s Economist had a nice piece about Russia in its “International” section.

By the way, the speech at Munich is available at the Kremlin’s site in English and Russian.

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Weekly Photo #19: Bath February 21, 2007

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Bath
Yeah, I know, the title — “Bath” — isn’t very imaginative. But it is, well, a bath. I can’t remember exactly when I took it, unfortuantely. But I did say (quite some time ago, it seems) that I’d put it up shortly.Anyway, it’s an old Roman bath which is located right in the middle of Frankfurt (man, I miss Germany), near the Römerberg. In the background there is the big ol’ church, and if you look carefully, you can see two things that look like tables — those have a plaque describing the site and a small model of the bath and a smaller (still buried, I think) chapel at the site which dates from Charlemagne’s time.

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Crisis Situation February 20, 2007

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In one of my classes last week, there was a brief discussion about rationality in decision making during a crisis situation. The main point of the discussion was whether or not a crisis situation, which was defined as a situation with high stakes and a short time frame, makes decision makers more or less rational.

(more…)

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It’s the Content, Stupid! February 16, 2007

Posted by ocmpoma in : atheism , add a comment

A main line of assault in the “mean atheist” wars is the accusation of arrogance. Usually, a battle fought over this particular territory begins with the non-mean-atheists stating that a particular mean atheist is arrogant. The mean atheists then point out that it is not the accused who is arrogant, but rather those who are doing the accusing, especially theists.

As an example, PZ Myers over at Pharyngula has been so accused, and has recently made the counter-accusation. And Kevin Beck carries the battle forward as well. Kevin’s post has two points of main interest for me. The first is an admonition to “[c]onsider the word at face value.”

Very well:

ar-ro-gance
-noun: offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride

(more…)

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Rosé February 13, 2007

Posted by ocmpoma in : food & drink, language , add a comment

Over at Knowledge Problem, Lynne Kiesling has a great post up about language, metaphor, Steven Pinker, and wine flavor.

As she sums up, she writes, “it is in the nature of human language to use metaphor as hooks into our shared knowledge when we are describing a personal, potentially unknown experience to someone else.”

Which is the essence of what, to me, is the gulf between objective (quantitative) language and subjective (qualitative) language. We can’t describe, really, what wine tastes like — we can only attempt to convey our subjective reaction to the flavor via abstract, qualitative language.

The map, especially the map of subjective experience, is not the territory.

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Weekly Photo #18: Urban Center February 12, 2007

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Urban Center
This photo, “Urban Center”, is of the main entrance to the Meiji Shrine proper; I took it in 2004 in, of course, Tokyo.I was “passing through” on my way to eastern Russia. I had a great time in Japan, unfortunately, I only had a day, really, to get out and see some of the sights. The shrine is surrounded by a large park, by the time the shrine itself is reached, you can’t really tell that you’re in the middle of one of the world’s largest metropolises (metropili?).

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Bad Apples February 9, 2007

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If you haven’t seen this piece by a fromer US interrogator, I suggest you read it.

I myself have nothing really to say on the matter; although I must wonder about the role the US seems to see itself playing.

Good intentions may pave the road to Hell, but arrogance, short-sightedness, and an overly simplistic world view are certainly the mile markers.

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Two Things From FP Passport February 7, 2007

Posted by ocmpoma in : economics, other , add a comment

On FP Passport today, there are (at least) two posts worth a look:

First, this one which features a YouTube clip on Web 2.0.

Second, this one which links to a blog post about globalization, ecomnomics, and ‘true costs’ — tag line:

Based on my assumptions a bottle that holds 1 liter requires 25 liters of water in its manufacturing process (this includes power plant cooling water).

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