Looking for the Ideal Christmas Present?

 

Check out dnaPortraits(TM). For only a few hundred dollars they create artwork based on your personal DNA fingerprint. An ideal gift for any biochemist (hint, hint).

SEASON'S GREETINGS!

From M-LAW via Jim Lippard with one minor alteration.

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Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, our best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all. We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that Canada is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms: This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Disclaimer: No trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced.

10 Truths About Atheism

 
From yesterday's Los Angeles Times: 10 myths—and 10 truths—about atheism by Sam Harris.

I'd like to express my disagreement with #4 "Atheists think everything in the universe arose by chance." Harris says,

The notion that atheists believe that everything was created by chance is also regularly thrown up as a criticism of Darwinian evolution. As Richard Dawkins explains in his marvelous book, “The God Delusion,” this represents an utter misunderstanding of evolutionary theory. Although we don’t know precisely how the Earth’s early chemistry begat biology, we know that the diversity and complexity we see in the living world is not a product of mere chance. Evolution is a combination of chance mutation and natural selection. Darwin arrived at the phrase “natural selection” by analogy to the “artificial selection” performed by breeders of livestock. In both cases, selection exerts a highly non-random effect on the development of any species.

That's not quite right.

Nobody denies the power of natural selection and nobody claims that natural selection is random or accidental. However, the idea that everything is due to natural selection is the peculiar belief of a relatively small number of people, of whom Richard Dawkins is the most outspoken.

A great deal of evolution is the result of chance or accident, as is a great deal of the rest of the universe. It's perfectly okay to say, as a first approximation, that lots of evolution is random or accidental. This is a far closer approximation to the truth than saying it's the all the result of design by natural selection.

See Evolution by Accident. As far as I'm concerned, it's Harris and Dawkins who represent an "utter misunderstanding of evolutionary theory."

Closed on December 25th

Imagine, my Timmy's is closed on the one day you need it the most.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Will Santa be Affected by Solar Flares?

An article posted on the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) website has the answer [Santa Claus and Solar Flares]. Learn the size of Santa's sled and how he manages to deliver all the presents.

The Hypocrisy of Scientific American

 
The editors of Scientific American are worried about PLoS ONE, the new online journal of science [Peer Review Is Sooooo Old School. They claim this is a big step backwards since the PLoS ONE articles reportedly circumvent peer review. Scientific American set itself up as the protector of scientific integrity and they vow to uphold these high standards in spite of the fact that the scientific community is letting them down.

This is wrong on so many levels that I hardly know where to begin. The real problem with science education is Scientific American, not PLoS ONE.


Here's what the Scientific American editors say,

With the burden of proof off of the reviewers, we in the science press will have to be more vigilant than ever. We can't rush to put stories out until we've focus- grouped findings with a number of experts in a study's particular field. It will force us to become better reporters and to resist the urge to sensationalize and invoke hyperbole--which, while it may not move magazine units or generate hits, will make our service more noble. We'll put in contingencies in order to avoid situations like the false alarm that plagued Lehigh mathematician Penny Smith--the poor woman who posted a flawed proof of the Navier-Stokes equations this fall on arXiv.

SciAm has already started on this path, by the way, as evidenced by JR Minkel's write-up of this morsel from the journal's inaugural issue: Rest easy, creationists, turns out we're a little less like chimps than we previously thought.

PLoS ONE is opening a possible Pandora's box into a brave new world of publishing that's as terrifying as it is exciting. From this point forth, information going from the lab to the journalist's wire (and then onto the public) will be less and less scrutinized and fact-checked. It's the dissemination of scientific information sped up to the breakneck velocity of the 21st century. Here we go...

Bullshit! This is not the end of peer review. The review of PLoS ONE articles is no different than that of many other scientific journals. I will be very surprised if the quality of papers ends up being any different than those published in Cell, Journal of Biological Chemistry, or Nature. All of these journals publish unadulterated rubbish from time to time and brilliant papers as well. The quality of papers in the leading "peer-reviewed" journals ranges from embarrassing to excellent.

PLoS ONE won't be any different.

I'm very upset by the fact that Scientific American editors see themselves as the guardians of scientific integrity, and I'm flabbergasted that they think they can recognize good science from bad science. Their record over the past few years proves them wrong. They have published all kinds of trash in my field, and probably other fields as well. They have hyped stories that don't deserve to be featured in Scientific American proving that their editors are suckers for press releases and self-promotion [The Alternative Genome, Why Are Some Animals So Smart?, The Real Life of Pseudogenes].

In the recent past, the "vigilance" of Scientific American editors and staff writers has left a great deal to be desired. If this crazy false alarm over PLoS ONE makes them pull up their socks and consult more widely before publishing then that's going to be good for science education.

I'm not holding my breath.

(RPM at Evolgen is also upset with Scientific American: Science Reporters Lament the Advent of PLoS ONE.)

E-Z Answer Squirrel

The E-Z Answer Squirrel will answer your most profound questions about religion, like "Does God hate me because I'm gay?"

Brought to you by the United Church of Canada, a church that understands sarcasm.

You Can Call Me Pope Larry !

Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.

In the UK, 63% Are Not Religious

According to a Guardian/ICM poll 63% of the people in Briton are non-religious compared to 33% who describe themselves as religious. The non-religious group includes many who call themselves Christian but presumably don't practice the religion. Most people think that Religion does more harm than good - poll.

It's important for North Americans to understand the differences between us and Europeans. While religion still seems to be a powerful force in America, it is on the wane in most other western industrialized nations. That's a reason for optimism. It's possible that North America will soon abandon religion as well.

Breaking News: the IDiots Don't Understand Neutral Theory

 
DaveScot reveals his ignorance in: The Sound of The Neutral Theory Exploding.

Poor Dave, he doesn't know that there are many examples of synonymous mutations having an effect on protein expression. They've been known for decades. Look up "codon bias" for one such example.

As usual, the IDiots get confused about the difference between exceptions and generalities. They think that every little exception to a general rule invalidates the rule and overturns all of biology. This is why we call them IDiots.

Jason Rosenhouse Reviews Orr's Review of Dawkins

Read it at Orr on Dawkins. Good job, Jason. Orr looks like one of them appeaser scientists who have to bend over backwards to defend religion against atheism. I especially like the argument that it's okay to believe in magic and superstition as long as you couch it in sophisticated, intellectual language.

Don't Forget Somalia

As we ponder what to do in Iraq and Afghanistan we do well to remember our failed attempt to impose democray in Somalia. The fighting is still going on and the United Nations is still making noises about it [UN urges end to Somalia fighting].

Would it have been any better if 50,000 western troops have tried to establish law and order? Was cut-and-run a good strategy for Somalia? I think so, and I think it might be the best strategy for Afghanistan and Iraq as well. Let them sort out their own problems and stop complicating things by giving the people a reason to unite against a common enemy (foreign invaders).

They Closed My Timmy's!

It was three weeks ago today and it was only for one day, but it's taken me this long to get over it.

I got up one Saturday morning and went off to my local Tim Horton's to get coffee and a donut. The store was closed and there were strange looking trucks parked on the road. What was going on? Timmy's are supposed to be open 24/7—they're not allowed to close Tim Horton's, are they?

There were famous-looking people living in the white trailers. Cameras were everywhere. There was even a hearse parked in the drive-through. (Look closely in the photo on the left.

The manager (below right) needed a police escort because of the rioting customers. He gave us all gift certificates but that was small compensation for our tragic loss. They opened up the next day but the damage had been done. I'm told we can see what they were up to by going to the movie theatre next summer. As if I'm going to believe that!

Excellent!

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is: His Excellency Laurence the Incomplete of Midhoop St Giggleswich Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

The White House

 
Friday's Urban Legend

The Canadians soundly trounced the Americans in the War of 1812. One of the goals of the campaign was to demonstrate the ability of the mighty British Empire to deliver shock and awe to the enemy capital. To this end, Washington was invaded and looted in 1814 and the White House was set on fire. The Americans were so intimidated that President Monroe soon surrendered.

This is all well-known historical fact. Something that Canadian and British schoolchildren learn in history classes when they are 10 years old.

The name "White House" is thought to be derived from the whitewash that Americans put on the house when the fire damage was repaired. It seemed to have been part of a larger campaign to whitewash everything that had to do with losing of the War of 1812.

That part is urban myth according to snopes.com [White House Wash]. The President's house was known as the White House before the War of 1812 and the original house, built in 1798, was whitewashed.