Angier on atheism
The Center for Inquiry reprints a speech by science writer Natalie Angier, in which she discusses how to raise a child as an atheist. Angier discusses, for lack of a better term, an atheist's world view, and she raises a few points that I think are worth mentioning. The first thing I want to mention is her belief that we have a duty to "understand the universe to the furthest extent that our brains can manage." I raise this as a way of explaining why I find good science writing so enjoyable, and why so much of my leisure reading is spent on non-fiction--and not just science, for I think I have just as much to learn from other fields as well. She then brings up Einstein's famous humility before the same universe he worked so hard to explain. But anyone who gazes up at the stars or out across the ocean can be humble before the grandeur of the universe. What distinguished Einstein was his life-long aim, as Angier puts it, "to honor that grandeur by seeking to understand it, bit by bit, with his weak little intellect." This, to me, is the call of human intellect, and it's one reason religionists upset me so much when they try to use ancient texts to beat down science. It's just too damn easy to stop thinking and learning and exploring when you believe that, beyond the veil, there's a god waiting who will explain to you all the mysteries of life. [via Arts and Letters Daily]LEDbling
Sniffin'
I saw a guy yesterday on the uptown 6 train, stretched out on a bench, passed out. In his mouth was the nozzle for an aerosol bottle of cleaning spray from Staples.
Iraqi gov't tortures prisoners
Why did we go into Iraq again? The Bushies, of course, sold us the war on WMDs, which we now know didn't exist. When that excuse began looking thin, they reminded us what a bad man Saddam was. Now, Human Rights Watch reports that the new Iraqi regime employs Saddam's torture mavens to abuse prisoners. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. Next up on Ayad Allawi's agenda: gassing the Kurds.Kids these days
Back in my day, happy slapping was something a boy did in the privacy of his bedroom.Sony admits screw-up
I've blogged before about the war within Sony between its consumer-electronics division and its entertainment unit. In a nutshell, electronics wanted to bring an iPod-like media player to market; entertainment whined, "But people will steal our movies and muuuuuuuuuuusic." Boing Boing points to a piece from the AP, in which a ranking Sony exec admits his company made a mistake. Huh. Guess what, Sony. The market's now three years ahead of you.Random iPod 11
In honor of the ShufflePlay Game, the next 15 shuffled songs on my iPod: Lalaland, Sea Ray Twist the Knife, Neko Case & Her Boyfriends El Camino, Goh Nakamura Let Me Get up on It, Tom Waits Glow Girl, The Who Teenage, Tribeca Names, Cat Power Like a Prayer, Junkie Brewster Just So (Pepito Remix), Dealership Havalina, Pixies Dream, Douglas Heart Allison, Pixies Slow Rollin' Low, Waylon Jennings Interzone, Joy Division Whip the Blankets, Neko Case & Her Boyfriends Barry Ritholtz, at the IPac blog, makes the case that shuffle is the new radio. From my own experiences, I can see what he's saying. I love loading up new music (from band sites, music blogs, or iTunes) onto my iPod and just playing them at random.More on 9's demise
I missed this first time around, but the Times has a piece on the end of the 9 train. The 1 and 9 offer so-called skip-stop service, in which each train leap-frogs past alternating stations. As the Times describes, it's common on 9-train stops to see three 1 trains in a row pass your station while you wait for the next 9. What killed the 9? Ironically, suggests the Times, the gentrification of West Harlem. The riders most inconvenienced by skip-stop service tend to be lower-income Blacks and Hispanics, but now that higher-income Whites are coming into the area and buying up homes, they don't want to stand around and wait for trains to carry them downtown. What the article doesn't mention, however, is that the 1 and 9 aren't the only skip-stop trains in the system. The J and Z run skip-stop along the Broadway-Brooklyn line.
New York City-State?
The Post reports today that the City Council is considering a bill to create a commission to study whether New York City should secede from the state. Given that I don't respect George Pataki as governor, I'd probably support this move. Go all the way, NYC! Secede from the Union as well!MacMorons
Leander Kahney's latest piece from the floor of Macworld is amusingly trite. Here are highlights:
And there are concerns about the changing face of the Mac tribe: Hordes of new iPod users may be sullying the Mac experience.
Mac tribe? How might members of such a tribe distinguish themselves from the sullying hordes? Let's ask this Dutch fellow:Koen Van Tongeren, a student at the University of Amsterdam who is writing a thesis on Mac fan culture, said he was disappointed by the lack of Apple haircuts and tattoos.
Goddammit. I guess the Mac tribe will just have to wear T-shirts like everyone else. What about the Mac Mini, though? Let's ask Tim Allen:Kevin Krank, head of the service department at Texas A&M University at Corpus Christi, said he wasn't impressed with the Mac mini.... "Anything small enough to put in a backpack doesn't belong on a college campus," he said.
So I guess this means no laptops or handhelds in Aggie-land, eh, Mr. Krank?Testing
Affordable Host "upgraded" the server on which this site resides, and I've noticed that some stuff has broken. (Not to mention, they removed the only webmail program with a decent interface.) I'm probably following Pirate Merry's hordes over to Liquid Web soon.... But that requires migrating all these Movable Type files over to a different hosting company. Pain. In. The. Ass. Anyway, this entry is here in part to bitch about AH and in part to make sure I can still post to this website.
Stress freakos
I saw these freakos yesterday. On my way home from work, I stopped at Grand Central for a few cooking items from the market, a copy of Atlantic Monthly, and a bottle of wine. Since the market didn't have what I needed AND since I'd forgotten to deposit a check, I had to then go to Union Square to hit up my bank and stop at Food Emporium. So after finishing up in Union Square, I went back down into the subway and saw tables set up for these stress tests. I didn't know they were Scientologists, but I also didn't need them to tell me I was stressed. Dodging tourists and random fuckheads was enough.G'wan
Kick the tires. Lemme know what you think. I've already figured out that certain actions (like clicking the Archives link) cause IE (for Windows 2000, at least) to crash. This is bad since, like, 195% of web surfers use IE. UPDATE: I appear to have fixed the Archive problem. When I ran the code through the HTML validator, I realized that I forgot to close off an H1. I had <h1>dietsch<h1>, where I should have had <h1>dietsch</h1>. And, that simple error, friends, caused IE to crash. Why do so many people still use that browser? I guess the same reason so many people think the sun revolves around the earth.Older than dirt
Ben Hammersley notes that he's older than Superman. Perhaps Ben will take some comfort from knowing that Superman is older than Superman.Hell mind virus
Lyrics courtesy the (unofficial) Elvis Costello Home Page. CHORUS: This is hell, this is hell I am sorry to tell you It never gets better or worse But you get used to it after a spell For heaven is hell in reverse The bruiser spun a hula hoop As all the barmen preen and pout The neon "i" of nightclub flickers on and off And finally blew out The irritating jingle Of the belly-dancing phoney Turkish girls The eerie glare of ultra violet Perfect dental work CHORUS Continue reading "Hell mind virus"The Romans were right
Feed them to the lions: Jen forwarded me a piece from the Detroit Free Press columnist Susan Ager, who writes:I heard from Lori Stuit of Royal Oak, who wrote: "God did not cause the recent tsunami to occur. Satan did. While there is an all-good, all-powerful God, there is also a god of this world, a god who is all evil: Satan. I am always surprised at how many people don't take the time to think about this. I feel bad for people who are lost and confused."
Lori, I'm surprised you didn't take the time to think about this: Under this form of theodicy, your God is either impotent to contain Satan or indifferent to Satan's machinations. Either way, your God is a douchebag.Another reader who did not sign his or her name wrote: "The Bible tells us that countries who forget God will pay a price. These countries that just got hit are almost exclusively Muslim, Buddhist and Hindu, religions that worship pagan gods and ignore the one true God. ... It won't be long until this country pays a price as well, and we will have people like you to thank.
Good one, anonymous coward, blame the victim. If your children contract leukemia, as I hope they will, will you have the moral conviction to stand up and say, "God hates me, too." I don't mean to imply that all Christians are ignorant, compassionless bigots, because I certainly know that such isn't the case. I do think, however, it's time for those Christians who do try to practice the humility and love of Jesus to stand up and tell their self-righteous brethren to shut the fuck up. Otherwise, it'll be the lions for the lot of you.