Thursday, December 22, 2005

how do we get them to buy in to this

the following 2 posts outline my proposed solution to the problem of
religious fundamentalism in this country. if they buy one argument, they
might buy the other, and then it's just like lemmings!

my backup plan is that doctors and other scientifically-trained service
providers are just plain too nice. the fundies want doctors and
pharmacists to have the right to "conscientious objection" to not treat
lesbians for fertility or dispense birth control. why not let the sane
doctors exercise their conscience as well.

if you come in for a service or a treatment and you deny the fundamental
principles of the science on which your treatment is based, why not make
you use homeopathy or some other faith-based treatment, rather than modern
medicine. broken arm? shot in the chest? no problem, i've got this really
dilute solution here for you... what, this trauma center? that's only
for people who can understand the boundary between their religion and
their science.

same
with tvs and computers and cars and all the other things developed by
science. the doctors would really get them though...

gravity is just a _theory_

newtonian gravity is only a _theory_, not a _fact_. there is, in fact, active debate on the subject of gravity within the physics community.


scientists like einstein, hawking, and witten have shown that newton was wrong. we shouldn't rely on unproven, debated theories to understand the world, only facts.


i am pretty sure that i can fly, and there is only this hotly debated (within the scientific community) theory to stop me from believing that the earth can't hold me down. gravity
schmavity, _i'm going to jump off of a cliff_.

evolution is just a _theory_


darwinian evolution is only a _theory_, not a _fact_. there is, in fact, active debate on the subject of evolution within the biology community.

scientists like watson, crick and gould have shown that darwin
was wrong. we shouldn't rely on unproved, debated theories to understand the world, only facts.

i am pretty sure that i did not come from a damn dirty ape, and there is only this hotly debated (within the scientific community) theory to stop me from believing that apes have nothing to do with me. evolution schmevolution, _we did not come from apes_.

Wednesday, December 21, 2005

24

taska and i are addicted to 24 now. we have gone through about 12 hours
of the first season and cant stop yet. i didn't think it was good when it
came out and never tried it, but now that ive seen the first taste, i'm
hooked. i think i may not get the second season though, because i'm not
sure i can handle it anymore, the suspense between dvd rentals is too
much. I cant believe anybody watched this live, i.e. with a week or more
between episodes.

Good Documentary

taska and i saw an excellent, though scary, file last night called "the
end of suburbia"

i highly recommend it to anyone, but especially those of you interested in
suburban sprawl, the end of cheap oil and the changing social and economic
fabrics that will result from 5 or 10 dollar /gal gasoline.

basically the worlds oil production, while not dry, has probably reached
(or will soon reach) its peak output. we can get more oil, but it will be
more expensive, and we won't sustain current levels of production. the
commentators in the film discussed the fact that the last 50 years of
american life have depended crucially on cheap oil, and it will become
scarce very quickly now. americans don't know what they're in for. not
just our suburban development model will collapse, but huge sectors of our
economy will be erased as transportation suddenly becomes a major expense.
think local food, local shopping, local manufacturing, and imagine how
much your life might change if you had to make a living by conducting
transactions only with people within, say 25 miles of your home.

my complaint was that they didn't provide a game plan for people who might
believe their warnings and want to protect themselves. its easy to know
what to do in terms of saving "the earth" or the rest of society (i.e.
drive less, more fule efficiency, insulation, etc, etc.) however, what if
i am selfishly motivated. i know now what the future holds. how do i
make sound financial decisions? i.e. is my house close enough to rail,
and town centers to be a valuable property 20 years from now, or should i
sell while i can and get a condo in s.f. should i change careers now, or
will i be relatively safe. while i am not overly concerned for myself, i
think folks pushing this agenda very hard would do well to give people
some selfish motivations and plans, rather than speaking of general
solutions.

Welcome

Hi friends and family. I decided to try blogging for work on this site, so I thought I'd set up a more personal blog here as well. I don't yet know how much I will comment on things, but this should be fun for a while.

Feel free to ignore this, or check in from time to time. You can always post a comment by clicking on "comments" below, and I'll read them as will others.