The Middle Path

I had a friend ask me what the 'middle path' was. For those of you who know me well, you know that I am a Buddhist. The middle path is one of the main teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. The middle path is the practice of non-extremism, moderation, avoiding self-indulgence, and opposing self-mortification. The idea is to live a balanced life.

So now you know.

Beware the Believers

This video is hilarious!

You may notice Dawkins, PZ Myers, among others. Whoever made this has some talent.

Public Education

I have been discussing this idea with a few of the faculty here at the university, let me know what you think.

Much of the public is quite ignorant about science; it is not bad, they just don't know the ins-and-outs. My plan is to have monthly seminars on general biology subjects. We have Cafe Scientifique, but that is on current topics on science, which is nice....but the main difficulty is not with current science....it is with the basics.

'meh'

There appear to be a few words that have an abundance of meanings; most of these depend on context or expression. Pretty much it is an expression of indifference. Since 'meh' is such a more than a word, and closer to an expression it is more fluid and dynamic when using it in speech. In fact, you can use it in almost every context.

Coming Soon!

Blogs on:

Expressive Words [such as "meh"]
Graduate School
My new gardening project

Creationism Lecture

I just got back from a 'creation science' lecture. I am disappointed, there is no other word for it. It was billed as a scientific look at 'creation science,' however it was merely 1 hour and 45 minutes of a hodgepodge of out of context quotes plus another 15 minutes of misrepresented, incorrect, outdated, or poor science. The idea that evolutionists are somehow purposely misleading the public (while still holding beliefs contrary to what they say) is ridiculous. I have never seen such twisting of words from great scientific minds like Dawkins, Crick, and Gould.

The science that was present was very old. The most recent experiment covered was 1980. Just plain sad. For those who are non-science people reading this, rarely does a scientist use material from almost 3 decades ago unless there is no other alternative and if they do use that information, it is backed up by more recent publications. [Normal scientists often have a cut off of 5 years old, serious scientists in vigorous fields have a cut off of approximately 2 years.] When questioned on his lack of recent research and blatant oversight of advances in genetics with the discovery of Hox genes, transposons, gene inversion, genetic transfer between chromosomes, and all of the other intro-level biology concepts....he had nothing to do but dance around.

The speaker had a PhD in Education, but was speaking as an authority on science as a geologist. If you are going to speak as an authority on a topic, it is vital that you have some sort of proper credentials. A doctorate in education is not the same as a doctorate in the sciences. The rigor is not the same as that found in science. True he did have memberships in several geological organizations, but it is completely valid to have membership in something and still not be accepted in the field.

The final nail in the coffin was that the science presented was completely false, and has been proven false as it has been used over and over by creationists yet they have not adapted their scientific arguments. The same faulty arguments on the bacterial flagellum, the peppered moth, and the lack of transitional forms was the only 'science' that the speaker could muster. When questioned on it, and proven incorrect with not only basic logic but also scientific studies....he merely skirted the topic as 'science mantra.' Sad, just sad. If you are going to claim proof of your position by scientific means, then use sound science.

There is far too many points that need to be covered here, so when I get a little more time to update this, I will add it on here. Time to go read a new science paper. :-)

Things have been quite hectic this past week. Went to a conference this past week and had to present two research posters. One was on Mycobacterium smegmatis [a species similar to tuberculosis] and the other was on fish biomechanics. I was extremely tired afterward but couldn't sleep as I had a grant proposal due the next day on the metabolic costs of maneuverability in fish. Finally this weekend I was able to sleep.

I spent Friday night going to the movies with the girlfriend. "Forbidden Kingdom" was okay, nothing special. The fight scenes were good, but it was not really worth the $10 a ticket. I would pay $3 to rent it, but would not spend the money to go to the theater again.

Last Lecture

I just saw the interview with Randy Pausch on ABC. I had seen his 'Last Lecture' about six months ago, and even now his words are just as inspiring as they had been then.

If you haven't seen it yet, then try this link.

And although I doubt he will ever read this blog, "Thank you."

This weekend

I must say that I really just wasted this entire weekend. I did absolutely nothing, even though I have so much still to do. The girlfriend was gone all weekend, preoccupied with an upcoming interview. I spent all of Sunday watching the entire 'Lord of the Rings' series that came on tv.

What a waste of a weekend.

I really want to do this.

It would be quite awesome to have my entire bedroom filled with those playpen balls.

You have to love xkcd. There is actually now a website called Wet Riffs

I just found out that they posted my friend's picture up too!!

Check this out, it made me laugh for quite some time.

Without patriotism

Recently I had a wonderful discussion on patriotism. Patriotism is not necessary freedom and peace. It is more likely that identification and celebration of belonging to a group is going to lead to a reduction of freedom and peace.