jlynch | June 10, 2008Two quick shots ...
Firstly, ASU is planning to install a 2 megawatt roof-top solar grid that will provide over 20% of the power to our campus. The installation is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
That’s enough to run 4,600 computers and reduce carbon emissions by 2,825 tons per year, or the equivalent of taking 530 cars off the road for a year. Long-term plans call for up to 7 megawatts of solar-generating capacity to be built at ASU in Tempe, with additional solar installations at its campuses in downtown Phoenix and other locations.
Secondly, Lawrence Krauss (of The…
jlynch | June 9, 2008
Someone may have noticed that I’ve been away for awhile. I was in Europe for a few weeks and am only now getting my feet under me. Highlight of the trip had to be five days spent in Athens, a city which I had never visited before. More of that later, no doubt. Anyway, I’ll be easing myself into the blog again.
jlynch | May 20, 2008A combination of work and travel means I’ll be out of circulation for the next few weeks. See you sometime around June 5th.
jlynch | May 19, 2008Yet another anti-evolution bill dies on the vine - in this case Missouri. The DI is batting 0-3 at the moment. That's gotta hurt.
jlynch | May 16, 2008Philosopher Robert Solomon in Waking Life:
The reason why I refuse to take existentialism as just another French fashion or historical curiosity is that I think it has something very important to offer us for the new century. I'm afraid we're losing the real virtues of living life passionately, sense of taking responsibility for who you are, the ability to make something of yourself and feeling good about life.
Existentialism is often discussed as if it's a philosophy of despair. But I think the truth is just the opposite. Sartre once interviewed said he never really felt a day of despair…
jlynch | May 16, 2008And this guy is the current front-runner for McCain's running mate?
Republican Mike Huckabee responded to an offstage noise during his speech to the National Rifle Association by suggesting it was Barack Obama diving to the floor because someone had aimed a gun at him.
Hearing a loud noise and interrupting his speech, Huckabee said: "That was Barack Obama. He just tripped off a chair. He's getting ready to speak and somebody aimed a gun at him and he -- he dove for the floor." [source]
What makes this all the more jaw-droppingly stupid is when you consider what happened to another Democratic…
jlynch | May 16, 2008
Ox Transcended
Whip, rope, self, ox - no traces left.
Thoughts cannot penetrate the vast blue sky,
Snowflakes cannot survive a red-hot stove.
Arriving here, meet the ancient teachers.
K’uo-an (trans. Stanley Lombardo)
[image source]
jlynch | May 15, 2008It's been a few years (2002, probably) since I used a Linux box regularly. Yesterday I dual-booted my laptop with Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron" and everything works flawlessly. So now I'm asking - what are the essential software packages I should install? Utilities, games, whatever ... make a recommendation. I'd be particularly interested in hearing about a good blogging client.
jlynch | May 15, 2008No sooner had I read this today:
There is by now an entire book to be written about the way that "Munich," "appeasement," and "Churchill" have been ritually invoked, from Suez to Vietnam to Iraq, so often in false analogy, and so often with calamitous results.
than I saw this:
U.S. President George W. Bush stirred up the campaign to replace him on Thursday, suggesting Democratic front-runner Barack Obama’s pledge to meet Iran’s leader was akin to U.S. appeasement of Nazi Germany before World War Two.
Imagine that.
jlynch | May 14, 2008Keith Olberman on Bush’s sacrifice of his golf game:
"Mr. President," he was asked, "you haven’t been golfing in recent years. Is that related to Iraq? "Yes," began perhaps the most startling reply of this nightmarish blight on our lives as Americans - on our history. "It really is. I don’t want some mom whose son may have recently died to see the Commander-in-Chief playing golf. I feel I owe it to the families to be as - to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal."
Golf, Sir? Golf sends the wrong signal to the grieving…
jlynch | May 13, 2008
Some conservative nimrod by the name of Mike Norman in Marietta, Georgia is selling these t-shirts and what is more is claiming that he’s "not a racist". Quoth the nimrod: "Look at [Obama] . . . the hairline, the ears, he looks just like Curious George". There’s a poll over at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution which has 6,509 people (51.27%) claiming that the t-shirt is "fine". No it’s not, you racist idiots, and irrespective of your party affiliation you should realize it’s not.
And I'm sure Houghton Mifflin's lawyers will want to have a word with someone ...
DrugMonkey and Kevin weigh in.
jlynch | May 13, 2008A new letter has surfaced from Einstein which would appear to once and for all clarify his views on theism. Writing to Eric Gutkind (Jan 3rd 1954), Einstein states:
The word god is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weaknesses, the Bible a collection of honourable, but still primitive legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this.
Later in the letter he describes religions as "an incarnation of the most childish superstitions." So once again, I think we can classify Einstein’s "God" as the God of…
jlynch | May 12, 2008It seems Stuart Kauffman has come out as a pantheist. Discussing his new book Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion for New Scientist, he writes:
The unfolding of the universe - biotic, and perhaps abiotic too - appears to be partially beyond natural law. In its place is a ceaseless creativity, with no supernatural creator ...
Shall we use the "God" word? We do not have to, yet it is still our most powerful invented symbol. Our sense of God has evolved from Yahweh in the desert some 4500 years ago, a jealous, law-giving warrior God, to the God of love that Jesus…
jlynch | May 12, 2008MartinC (who gave us the wonderful Bensteinian Rapsody) has been busy uncovering secret artifacts that further demonstrate the ambitions of the cdesign proponentsists. First there is some deleted scenes from Expelled! featuring such dialog as:
VINCENT: You’ll dig it the most. But you know what the funniest thing about Intelligent Design is?
JULES: Casey Luskin?
and then there is the Wedgewood Document:
What these infuriating atheists failed to realize is that if Russell’s Teapot could be disproved then the final defence of atheistic materialism will fall.Far from being a logical deathblow to…
jlynch | May 11, 2008
Myrmekiaphila neilyoungi, a trapdoor spider recently discovered in Alabama and named after Neil Young. Arachnophiles can click to enlarge - arachnophobes probably don’t want to.