May 2005
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Crackpots
The Smithsonian is taking money from crackpot creationists (there is no other kind of creationist) to let them screen a movie propounding their crackpot (I am trying to make a point here) views. In their report on this, The New York Times manages the relatively nuanced “Although Charles Darwin’s theory is widely viewed as having…
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Update: Academic Union – Israeli boycotts revoked
Update — AUT – Israeli boycotts revoked: AUT’s special council … voted to revoke all existing boycotts of Israeli institutions. AUT council has decided to base its policy on providing practical solidarity to Palestinian and Israeli trade unionists and academics, by agreeing a motion committing the union to having a full review of international policy,…
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Feynman: the collapse of society and the rise of cosmology
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The Guardian has run excerpts from a new collection of Richard Feynman’s writings, Don’t You Have Time to Think?. In this, written in 1961, he talks about the future of human society and what could happen to physics. First, he’s pessimistic: The future of physics depends on the circumstances of the rest of the world…
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Travelling ten
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I’ve been a bit quiet the past week, so here’s a very random top ten from my just-completed trip to North America (New Jersey/New York and Toronto). In no particular order, except for number one: My sister’s wedding — Congratulations and Mazel Tov to Allison and Chris! The skeleton of the new Daniel Libeskind extension…
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More wrongs from the right
From the Wall Street Journal, James Taranto on “Why I’m Rooting for the Religious Right“: One can disagree with religious conservatives on abortion, gay rights, school prayer, creationism and any number of other issues, and still recognize that they have good reason to feel disfranchised…. In the past three elections, the religious right has helped…
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UK Election Day – Ballots, not Bombs
Dateline: New York. As a briefly-repatriated expat, I expected to be largely spared the onslaught of election coverage here in the UK. However, I woke up this morning to hear about a small explosion outside the British Consulate in New York. This hits home — the consulate is on Third Avenue and 52d Street, about…
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First we take Manhattan
I grew up with this view over the Hudson River from my family’s apartment in Fort Lee, New Jersey. The George Washington Bridge is on the left; the Empire State Building is a tiny speck toward the right. Update: a better version of the montage, and an even bigger one is available by clicking on…
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Belief vs. Understanding
From a fine dissection of the (religious) right’s view of evolution over at Science And Politics: I do not believe in evolution. It is not something you believe in or not: it is something you understand or not…. Evolutionary biology is sitting on such large mountains of strong evidence collected over the past 150 years…
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