For reference:
http://coop.www.uscourts.gov/pamd/kitzmiller_342.pdf
Most of the good stuff is in the middle 40 pages or so. Good reading! I got in a very annoying argument with some fundamentalists over ID. What made it worse was that a) I hadn't had a chance to prepare and was forced to think on my toes and b) no-one rose to argue with me. The latter was quite disheartening.
The worst thing were the negative arguments against evolution. I felt like I had to defend it, even though something bothered me. Reading this decision made me realize the false duality implicit in the attack.
Ironically I am more sympathetic than most to the ID argument, primarily as part of the question: if we are part of a virtual reality simulation, how would be find out? Messages from the container reality would be one way. But what sort of message would it look like? Could it be written in DNA? So in a way there *is* a test for Intelligent Design - do a SETI-like search on all DNA sequences!
So in a way the Christians have promoted the right thing for some very wrong reasons (I'm rather offended that creationists would stoop to a trojan horse tactic like ID, frankly - aren't they supose to be principled or something?).
Dear ancestors
It may be that in the far future my ancestors will have invented time travel. I would also assume that the Internet will evolve, and all of this data will be available for your perusal. Therefore if I post this request to the public internet, it will be available to humanity long after I am gone.
Travel back in time and give me a message. I'd like to hear from you.
Travel back in time and give me a message. I'd like to hear from you.
30 times a traitor
The New York times reveales that President George Bush is a power-mad maniac intent on destroying the very country he is sworn to protect.
He has illegaly authorized the NSA to spy on American citizens as part of his "war on terror". That is, wiretaps WITHOUT court approval.
There is no possible reason why this would be required. Is the concern that the US court system has been inflitrated by Al Queda? Spying on Americans is bad enough WITH a court's oversight. But this isn't just bordering on KGB practice, this IS KGB practice.
If being misled into war wasn't a problem. If botching Katrina wasn't a problem. How about this latest revelation of unchecked power in the whitehouse? Bill Clinton was almost impeached for getting fellated. Why is Bush not being impeached?
When will the American people stand up and say that the threat of terrorism does not give the executive branch of our government carte blanche in its dealings? Bush already went too far with Iraq - and now we can only hope it turns out well. But he has gone way beyond the pale with this latest.
He has illegaly authorized the NSA to spy on American citizens as part of his "war on terror". That is, wiretaps WITHOUT court approval.
There is no possible reason why this would be required. Is the concern that the US court system has been inflitrated by Al Queda? Spying on Americans is bad enough WITH a court's oversight. But this isn't just bordering on KGB practice, this IS KGB practice.
If being misled into war wasn't a problem. If botching Katrina wasn't a problem. How about this latest revelation of unchecked power in the whitehouse? Bill Clinton was almost impeached for getting fellated. Why is Bush not being impeached?
When will the American people stand up and say that the threat of terrorism does not give the executive branch of our government carte blanche in its dealings? Bush already went too far with Iraq - and now we can only hope it turns out well. But he has gone way beyond the pale with this latest.
Instant Messaging
I'm installing an instant messanger. I understand that all the cool kids are doing this. I have accounts with AIM, MSN, ICQ, and Yahoo. I may have a Jabber account. In fact, I've been doing this for so long I have a 7 digit ICQ id. :)
My concern about IM is that it's fairly annoying and intrusive when you are working.
My concern about IM is that it's fairly annoying and intrusive when you are working.
Ubuntu buzz - what is it?
It's yet another Linux distribution (YALD) - and like so many of them, is based on Debian.
So how does it differ from Debian? I mean, why would I install Ubuntu rather than Debian?
A partial answer lies here. Basically Ubuntu releases every 6 months, does some package manipulation. As far as I can tell that's it.
(The hype I heard was that there was an argument on the TV show "Veronica Mars" about Ubuntu - which only goes to show that people are aware of Linux, not necessarily adopting it.)
A related question arises: what is the difference between the various Linux distributions? I *think* the answer lies in their installation, configuration, and package management tools. But actually the real answer lies in the community, the contributers and package maintainers.
So how does it differ from Debian? I mean, why would I install Ubuntu rather than Debian?
A partial answer lies here. Basically Ubuntu releases every 6 months, does some package manipulation. As far as I can tell that's it.
(The hype I heard was that there was an argument on the TV show "Veronica Mars" about Ubuntu - which only goes to show that people are aware of Linux, not necessarily adopting it.)
A related question arises: what is the difference between the various Linux distributions? I *think* the answer lies in their installation, configuration, and package management tools. But actually the real answer lies in the community, the contributers and package maintainers.
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