Daily Archives: February 4, 2009
Child abuse
A most diabolical plot
This is why all religion should simply not be allowed. Even if the basic tenets of a religion are not too objectionable, its pieces … which consist of brainwashed people and the powerful ideas making up the framework of a culture … can be knitted together like household items into a pipe bomb or personal greed and gullibility into a felonious scam.
Samira Jassam of Iraq arranged for the rape of about 80 different women. She then convinced these women that, since they were raped, the best life they could hope for would involve strapping a bomb onto themselves, making themselves into human weapons.
Details here.
Hat tip Pharyngula.
The Voyage of the Beagle
Of his time on the Beagle (1832 – 1836), Darwin wrote, “The voyage of the Beagle has been by far the most important event in my life and has determined my whole career.” Of the manuscript describing that voyage, he wrote, “The success of this my first literary child always tickles my vanity more than that of any of my other books.”
Taking a cue from these reflections, I’d like to spend some time with this book, in celebration of Darwin’s 200th birthday, coming up in just a few days.
Continue reading The Voyage of the Beagle
Ben Stein Shunned by Academy
And by “academy” I mean THE academy.
Comedian, economist, speechwriter and game show host Ben Stein withdrew as speaker at the University of Vermont’s spring commencement ceremonies Monday after concerns arose about his opinions on evolutionary theory, intelligent design and the role of science in the Holocaust.
UVM President Dan Fogel said people on and off campus were unhappy with the university giving Stein an honorary degree and when Fogel expressed those concerns to Stein, he immediately declined the invitation to speak.
The most important part of this story is the following: It turns out that Stein’s speaking fee was to be $7,500. That makes him pretty small time for a guy who’s been in so many films. He’d already lost his grip. Now, he’s losing his status.
Good bye, ben:
Neanderthal Genome Will Be Released
The complete genome of a Neanderthal dating to about 38,000 years ago has been sequenced by the team lead by Svante Paabo. The genome will be announced on Darwin’s Birthay, Feb 12.
“We are working like crazy at the moment,” says Pääbo, adding that his Max Planck colleague, computational biologist Richard Green, is coordinating the analysis of the genome’s 3 billion base pairs.
Comparisons with the human genome may uncover evidence of interbreeding between Neanderthals and humans, the genomes of which overlap by more than 99%. They certainly had enough time for fraternization — Homo sapiens emerged as a separate species by about 400,000 years ago, and Neanderthals became extinct just 30,000 years ago. Their last common ancestor lived about 660,000 years ago, give or take 140,000 years.
Despite the remarks made in the Nature coverage about interbreeding, Svante has indicated in previous discussions about this genome that there is nothing to indicate this in the present analysis.
School Prayer Case Being Heard in Federal Court
A Texas Law makes it easy for religious teachers and school administers to force kids to pray in public schools. Although this is said to be a “moment of silence” it is known that some school employees are explicit about this event being for prayer. One child was told to be quite and pray a couple years back, and this case was taken into the courts, where last year a federal district judge upheld the law.
That ruling is now being appealed, and yesterday a panel of judges from the fifth Circuit (New Orleans) heard arguments regarding the case. There has as yet not been a ruling.
US News and World Reports Screws The Pooch
With an absurd opinion piece by Henry Morris III.
You can’t comment on the piece, so I’ll just tel lyou that it is in the current web edition of the paper and you can go dig it up if you want. (Blog policy: No logic, no links. Unless I feel like it.)
Henry Morris is the guy from the Institute for Creation Research (ICR). The publication of this opinion piece by USNWR is roughly like, say, the New York Times Science Section publishing a piece on Large Mammal Conservation by those guys who sold the frozen bigfoot last year. Utterly stupid and irresponsible editorial policy on the part of USNWR.
Who’s editors can be contacted here.
NCSE’s Branch on ID
Glenn Branch, of the NCSE, has written a wonderful piece in US News and World Report on Intelligent Design. It is here.
I don’t know about you, but I’m writing a note to the editors of USNWR praising this piece.
Religious Cult Uses Secret Weapon Against Government
Teenager told to act like teenager when confronting government agents!
A 14-year-old thought to be the youngest bride of jailed polygamist leader Warren Jeffs was advised through text messages to “please stay angry” and to “keep crying, pout, sleep in” in an attempt to manipulate Texas caseworkers, according to a report filed with a San Angelo court.
Surly, this is against the Geneva Convention! Why, I don’t think they are even using the Teenager Torture gambit at Gitmo!
It turns out she was armed as well!
In a report to state District Judge Barbara Walther, filed Jan. 27 in San Angelo, the girl’s guardian ad-litem reported that a prepaid cell phone was given to the girl by her biological mother, Barbara Jessop.
Holy crap!!!
Read the rest here.
Has the Octuplet Mom Cuckolded The White Folk?
I’ve always been annoyed at women giving birth to seven, eight kids at once. There are too many freakin’ people in the world, who do they think they are? But my annoyances is limited.
Other people in the past seem to have been less annoyed, and instead of being miffed they reward these baby factories. The family that has six or seven kids (or more) because of over-done fertility treatments (or some other mojo) gets free diapers, college funds are set up, and so on. They become heroes and society steps up to take care of their children.
I suppose that make sense for the sake of the innocent bystanders … the kids … but again, we are rewarding, at least to some extent, excess. Right?
Well, I was fascinated and even a bit shocked to read today that society is not stepping up to help the family that just bred a litter of octuplets. Here is an example of one of these stories, and an explanation (which I think is wrong) for this new phenomenon of shunning the litter bearers:
Where is the unlimited supply of diapers, formula and baby wipes? The free van? The brand-new house?
Women who give birth to six, seven or eight babies are often showered with dazzling gifts from big corporations, local businesses and strangers. But that is not happening with the Southern California mother who delivered octuplets last week.
The news that she is a single mother with six other children — and that all 14 were conceived by having embryos implanted — seems to have turned off many people, and companies are not exactly rushing to get publicity by piling on the freebies.
When I first heard about this without knowing any details at all, I figured that the recent downturn in the economy (The Bush Depression) had caused a shift in people’s opinions. Then I read the story further and discovered, as implied above and as demonstrated by other evidence, that this is probably a case of someone who is unhealthily obsessed with the act of popping out babies, and who may have inappropriately used fertility resources to produce a very large number of baby-popping experiences.
Then, I noticed the woman’s name and looked at pictures of her babies and discovered yet another reason why people might be mad at her: She, and/or one or more of the fathers, and certainly a sprinkling of the offspring, are NOT WHITE.
If this is a factor, then this situation is an example of the same kind of phenomenon we see with welfare stigma and similar social phenomena. We can celebrate the birth of babies, as long as they are more of us. But if someone is sprinkling the Fertility Mojo on a non-white woman to produce non-white babies, then that is cuckoldry, and there is nothing more infuriating than being cuckolded. In some legal systems of the recent past (and possibly present), if you killed someone who attempted to cuckold you, that would be a minor crime. Certainly, withholding a lifetime supply of free diapers is more sociall acceptable and not as severe, but similar.
So, which is it …
1) The economy, stupid?
2) OTT birthing is annoying?
3) The usual suspects feel cuckolded so they are mad at this mom and her hoard?
Car bomb in Arkansas?
The chairman of the Arkansas State Medical Board was critically injured Wednesday when his car exploded as the family physician was leaving his home for work, the board attorney said.
Board attorney William Trice said he believed Pierce drives a hybrid, but Trice had no information on what caused the explosion. He said he knew of no heated disputes the chairman was a party to and said that even in board decisions, the chairman does not often vote.
“This is just off the wall,” Trice said. “It’s just such bizarre circumstances.”
Did Triceratops fight with their faces?
Or, more accurately, did these dinosaurs either engage in intraspecific combat (such as territorial or mating contests among males) or fight predators such as Tyrannosaurs, like in the movies?
Well, one thing we know for sure: If any folklore, belief, or ‘fact’ related to a fossil species sits around long enough, eventually someone will come along and study it. This usually involves reformulating the idea as one or more testable hypotheses, then attacking the hypotheses … much like Tyrannosaurus might or might not have attacked Triceratops, to see if it can be killed, or alternatively, has the mettle to survive for a while longer.
And thus, science progresses.
So now we have a paper entitled “Evidence of Combat in Triceratops” by Farke et al, just out in PLoS ONE.
Continue reading Did Triceratops fight with their faces?
How much is the world spending on neglected disease research and development?
How much are we actually spending on the development of pharmaceutical tools to treat HIV/AIDS, TB, leichmaniasis, malaria and sleeping sickness?
Today, PLoS Medicine Policy Forum asks this question. According to a press release from PLoS:
The first comprehensive survey of global spending on neglected disease R&D, published in this week’s PLoS Medicine, finds that just over $US 2.5 billion was invested into R&D of new products in 2007, with three diseases–HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria–receiving nearly 80% of the total.
However, the survey finds that many neglected diseases, responsible for killing millions of people in developing countries, are significantly underfunded.
Continue reading How much is the world spending on neglected disease research and development?