aesmael

Here is a video demonstrating yet again that mutation and selection can produce complexity without design.

I find evolutionary algorithms fascinating and hope someday to play around with and write some myself.

    Here is an article at the Guardian about the closeness of the Australian election. Suggested correction: Howard is the Prime Minister, not the Premier. Premiers run states.
    Are the Guardian not known as the Grauniad for their frequent errors?

    Here is a video found at Pharyngula in which Roy Zimmerman makes light of Jerry Falwell's God. The video apparently was snagged from God is for Suckers, which site I discovered today still mocks Ann Coulter by calling her transsexual even though I asked them to knock it off back in June.

    On the lighter side of things, this delightful post by Rebecca at Skepchicks. Make sure you watch the video; I was laughing pretty hard by the end of it. The cold reading bingo card Skeptico (the first blog I started following) made is pretty great too.

    Aaand all the way back at Pharyngula, this post about a poll asking how Baylor University ought to approach Intelligent Design. I am torn on this. Would it be better to pursue fruitless research in order to allow it to demonstrate its hollowness, or give it up now for the philosophical vapour it is?

    Lastly I leave you with Memories from Larvatus Prodeo (in exile), in which interesting things are said about one John Howard, Prime Minister.

    Unicorn Museum!

    Something else from class. We were being shown the way some items were catalogued in the TAFE library and looking at The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. One of the copies had listed under 'other titles' The Chronicles of Narnia bk. 2, but no series title. It struck me as very odd that someone could read that on a book cover and conclude it to be a title of the book rather than an indication that this book is in fact the second volume of a series. Odd, but also familiar.

    ( Cut for Doctor Who series three (and the finale of series two) spoilers )

    So, yes. It puzzles me that some people, no matter how strong the evidence, seem to flat out refuse to make connections between what they see and instead treat each case as a separate, entirely unrelated entity.
    Yep, that catalogue entry reminded me of Creationism. Somehow, someone took the words 'The Chronicles of Narnia, book 2' from the cover of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and concluded that this was an alternate title for the book, not the series name and volume number. In fact it is an alternate title for the book. It is also a very clear indication that this volume does not stand alone, but has continuity with what came before and after.
    Of course, closer examination reveals that the Narnia books are not a simple ordered series. They were not published in the chronological order they are presented in, and were written in yet a different order. But, one needs to investigate to discover this - the manner of connection is less obvious than the fact.