Would you Adam and Eve it!

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Jun 212010
 

Why Evolution Is True does a deconstruction of a flawed BioLogos article. Having read the rather desperate arguments in the BioLogos article I thought “Why did BioLogos even bother?”. Then I realised, BioLogos is nothing more than a religious forum, heavily slanted towards Judeo-Christianity, where people interpret scientific evidence with a God slant, where people cast doubt on scientific evidence that doesn’t suite their beliefs, where people believe in a God who interacts with us. I think Richard Dawkins blew these people right out of the water in his book “The God Delusion”. Knowing what BioLogos is provides insight into the question posed by Why Evolution Matters:

“isn’t BioLogos embarrassed to have this kind of stuff on its website, which purports to accept the findings of science?”

No, they’re not embarrassed; they’re a religious group, not a scientific group. That’s why they don’t matter.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2010

Idiot educators?

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May 152010
 

A Panda’s Thumb article “Why science literacy is in trouble” discusses how a Canadian Assistant Professor of Science Education (Katarin MacLeod, Assistant Professor in Science Education at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, NS) deliberately(?) misleads by, for example, stating that evolution is only a “theory” for which there is not much evidence otherwise it would be called a “law”. There is much strong scientific evidence for evolution and, in fact, such evidence has become increasing stronger with enhancements made to the original discussions put forward by Charles Darwin. Katarin MacLeod would perhaps apply her silly argument to the “Theory of Relativity” and argue that there isn’t much evidence for Relativity. Only those who are uncomfortable with evolution, such as creationists, make an effort to discredit evolution.

The Panda’s Thumb article “Why science literacy is in trouble” actually links to a Woo Fighters article “There Must Be an Idiom”. This article has a very good YouTube video of an interview with Genie Scott which I’ve included here…it explains what “theory” really means (go to 03:47 minutes):

   

It’s clear…Katarin MacLeod is dead wrong.

Other useful links:

  1. Evolution: Fact and Theory
    http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/lenski.html
  2. The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution – Richard Dawkins #1 Bestseller Available Now

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2010

Feynman, science, and chess

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Jun 282009
 

With news that Bill Gates has bought the rights from the BBC for some 1964 lectures given by Richard Feynman, in the discussions over at RichardDawkins.net a video clip was posted of Feynman explaining science through an analogy of observing a game of chess.

Nature of Science – Feynman’s analogy of science and chess

 

I remember this interview well, and I’m pretty sure that it was from the 1980s from the once great BBC "Horizon" science programmes.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2009

Ankara Shows Its Hand

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Apr 222009
 

Spotted this over at http://richarddawkins.net/article,3770,n,n with the full article at http://www.slate.com/id/2216518/

The article(s) and comments certainly raise some important questions. Many years ago I was in support of Turkey becoming a full member of the EU. But Turkey has not made any significant progress in terms of basic human rights such as freedom of speech. In fact, Turkey would seem to have regressed in many of these important areas.

If Turkey became a full member of the EU today, would that help to improve the situation in Turkey? No I don’t think so. I believe Turkey will extract whatever it can to improve their economy but refuse to allow progress in freedom of speech and other human rights. And Turkey have already demonstrated that they will interfere and meddle in the affairs of other countries and attempt to curtail human rights in those countries.

It’s clear that Turkey’s government is itself easily influenced by internal factors. There is a weakness in that constitution and they have a lot of reforms to undertake to fully adopt and guarantee human rights. So I’m all up for refusing Turkey entry into the EU for the time being.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2009

Richard Dawkins at American Atheists 09

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Apr 202009
 

An entertaining talk by Richard Dawkins. What I got out of it was his descriptions of "quote mining".

I was also most intrigued by what appears to be the misinformation and misleading actions of John Lennox and Melanie Phillips. Shame, shame, shame.

And Dawkins take on the Tony Blair Foundation was funny and very much in tune with my thoughts on "Tony".

I wasn’t too interested in all that stuff on regression, etc but others who are not familiar with that subject may get some benefit from it.

All in all, well worth a look.

I liked the answer to the last questions in the Q&A!

 

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2009

The Tony Blair Foundation – hilarious!

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Apr 022009
 

Again, thank you Mr Richard Dawkins. Hilarious!

http://richarddawkins.net/article,3701,n,n

I admit that I have become very disappointed over the last few months with Tony Blair and the direction that he now seems to be headed. As more anecdotes of his term in office as British Prime Minister come out it is has become obvious to me that his government was without vision and substance and that people just muddled their way through…Blair dabbled dangerously with whatever messages he thought he was getting from his god. The word "delusional" comes to mind.

But thanks, Mr Dawkins, you have me a good laugh with your article.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2009

ERV, Dawkins, and Oklahoma!

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Mar 162009
 

SA Smith (of ERV fame) seems to be thoroughly enjoying herself after discovering that Richard Dawkins waived his fee for the recent talk that he gave at Oklahoma University. Check her blog at http://scienceblogs.com/erv/2009/03/dawkins_coup_de_grace_in_oklah.php

Clearly ERV is someone you don’t want to cheese-off!

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2009

Student facing 20 years in hell

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Mar 132009
 

Read the article at http://richarddawkins.net/article,3654,n,n which is a repost of http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/student-facing-20-years-in-hell-1643069.html.

Sayed Pervez Kambaksh (originally sentenced to death for blasphemy in Afghanistan after allegedly distributing a report that was critical of the treatment of woman under Islamic law) has been told he will now spend the next 20 years in jail.  It gets even worse. The Supreme Court "trial" was done in secret with no representation from the defence. What the hell kind of people are running Afghanistan?

More references at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sayed_Pervez_Kambaksh

Sayed Pervez Kambaksh

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sayed Pervez Kambaksh (also spelled Kambakhsh or Kaambaksh) is a 23 year old reporter for a local newspaper (Jahaan Naw) and a journalism student from Afghanistan who was sentenced to death for downloading and distributing a report criticising the treatment of women under Islamic Law. A religious court found him guilty of blasphemy. He was tried behind closed doors and without legal representation in Mazar-e-Sharif. His brother Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi is a journalist who wrote about human rights, exposing rights abuses.[1]

The Afghan Senate passed a motion confirming the death sentence on 30 January 2008.[2] The motion was later withdrawn due to international pressure, giving Kambaksh the right to appeal the sentence.[2] The British newspaper The Independent has now launched a campaign to support Kambaksh, and an online petition has also been started by the newspaper. However, if a journalist in Afghanistan were to support Kambaksh they would also be arrested.[3]

As of September 2008, he was still imprisoned and under threat of the death penalty.[4] In October 2008, his lawyer Mohamed Afzal Shormach Nuristani demanded that Kambaksh be freed as his detention since the appeal has exceeded legal limits because of court delays.[5]

In March 2009 he was sentenced to 20 years in prison.[6]

References

  1. ^ Death sentence for Afghan reporter CNN
  2. ^ a b Sengupta, Jerome; Starkey (2008-02-02), "LaLifeline for Pervez: Afghan Senate withdraws demand for death sentence", The Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/lifeline-for-pervez-afghan-senate-withdraws-demand-for-death-sentence-777188.html, retrieved on 2008-10-13
  3. ^ Zetter, Kim (2008-02-01). "Aghan Student Sentenced to Death after Downloading Report". Wired.com. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/afghan-student.html. Retrieved on 2008-10-13.
  4. ^ Leithead, Alastair (2008-09-09). "Blasphemy case shows Afghan divide". BBC News. http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/02/afghan-student.html. Retrieved on 2008-10-13.
  5. ^ "Lawyer demands release of reporter on death row", Gulf Times, 2008-10-10, http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=246871&version=1&template_id=41&parent_id=23, retrieved on 2008-10-13
  6. ^ Starkey, Jerome (March 12, 2009), "Student facing 20 years in hell", The Independent, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/student-facing-twenty-years-in-hell-1643069.html

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2009

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