I was recently asked by a Creationist:

"And if DNA is your proof of evolution, then do we have a common an ancester with the nematode which shares a 75% DNA compatibility with humans?

My response:

"Absolutely, we are related to nematodes. We are all from the animal kingdom. They are from a distant branch without backbones, we are from a branch where all the animals have gill slits, a post anal tail, a nerve cord and a notchord(backbone). Of course you can give reasoning that a creationist would disagree with, but that does not make it factual. We can all disagree about what monster is in my closet...vampire, werewolf, witch, devil etc. I'd rather open the door in a public forum and have everyone see what is actually there rather than debate what we all believe is there. Good science does that and the scientific community rewards those who can point out science's own errors which advances our understanding of what we know as fact. They are called Nobel Prizes. Many scienctists have been wrong...so we continue for quest for reality!

I am. I think. I will.

My hands . . . My spirit . . . My sky . . . My forest . . . This earth of mine. . . . What must I say besides? These are the words. This is the answer.

I stand here on the summit of the mountain. I lift my head and I spread my arms. This, my body and spirit, this is the end of the quest. I wished to know the meaning of things. I am the meaning. I wished to find a warrant for being. I need no warrant for being, and no word of sanction upon my being. I am the warrant and the sanction.

It is my eyes which see, and the sight of my eyes grants beauty to the earth. It is my ears which hear, and the hearing of my ears gives its song to the world. It is my mind which thinks, and the judgement of my mind is the only searchlight that can find the truth. It is my will which chooses, and the choice of my will is the only edict I must respect.

Many words have been granted me, and some are wise, and some are false, but only three are holy: "I will it!"

Whatever road I take, the guiding star is within me; the guiding star and the loadstone which point the way. They point in but one direction. They point to me.

I know not if this earth on which I stand is the core of the universe or if it is but a speck of dust lost in eternity. I know not and I care not. For I know what happiness is possible to me on earth. And my happiness needs no higher aim to vindicate it. My happiness is not the means to any end. It is the end. It is its own goal. It is its own purpose.

Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars.

I am a man. This miracle of me is mine to own and keep, and mine to guard, and mine to use, and mine to kneel before!

I do not surrender my treasures, nor do I share them. The fortune of my spirit is not to be blown into coins of brass and flung to the winds as alms for the poor of the spirit. I guard my treasures: my thought, my will, my freedom. And the greatest of these is freedom.

I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask none to live for me, nor do I live for any others. I covet no man's soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.

I am neither foe nor friend to my brothers, but such as each of them shall deserve of me. And to earn my love, my brothers must do more than to have been born. I do not grant my love without reason, nor to any chance passer-by who may wish to claim it. I honor men with my love. But honor is a thing to be earned.

I shall choose friends among men, but neither slaves nor masters. And I shall choose only such as please me, and them I shall love and respect, but neither command nor obey. And we shall join our hands when we wish, or walk alone when we so desire. For in the temple of his spirit, each man is alone. Let each man keep his temple untouched and undefiled. Then let him join hands with others if he wishes, but only beyond his holy threshold.

For the word "We" must never be spoken, save by one's choice and as a second thought. This word must never be placed first within man's soul, else it becomes a monster, the root of all the evils on earth, the root of man's torture by men, and of an unspeakable lie.

The word "We" is as lime poured over men, which sets and hardens to stone, and crushes all beneath it, and that which is white and that which is black are lost equally in the grey of it. It is the word by which the depraved steal the virtue of the good, by which the weak steal the might of the strong, by which the fools steal the wisdom of the sages.

What is my joy if all hands, even the unclean, can reach into it? What is my wisdom, if even the fools can dictate to me? What is my freedom, if all creatures, even the botched and the impotent, are my masters? What is my life, if I am but to bow, to agree and to obey?

But I am done with this creed of corruption.

I am done with the monster of "We," the word of serfdom, of plunder, of misery, falsehood and shame.

And now I see the face of god, and I raise this god over the earth, this god whom men have sought since men came into being, this god who will grant them joy and peace and pride.

This god, this one word:

"I."

Kony 2012 Invisible Children Video

"Is Kony 2012 A Fraud?" Video

This is MY favorite response to the issue.
I think David Childerly said it best.

 I really want to hear what you think so leave a comment!
(Please make appropriate and respectful comments)

Just getting good! Solar maximum coming soon!

Check out the details of this image.

EU bans claim that water prevents dehydration

Posted on November 19, 2011 by Steve Milloy

“A meeting of 21 scientists in Parma, Italy, concluded that reduced water content in the body was a symptom of dehydration and not something that drinking water could subsequently control.”

The Sunday Telegraph reports, Brussels bureaucrats were ridiculed yesterday after banning drink manufacturers from claiming that water can prevent dehydration.  EU officials concluded that, following a three-year investigation, there was no evidence to prove the previously undisputed fact.  Producers of bottled water are now forbidden by law from making the claim and will face a two-year jail sentence if they defy the edict, which comes into force in the UK next month.  Last night, critics claimed the EU was at odds with both science and common sense. Conservative MEP Roger Helmer said: “This is stupidity at large".

Read the Telegraph article.

Roll The Bones: Karma and Probability


Posted on October 1, 2010 by theobjectivistobserver

Probability and randomness are tough things to wrap your head around.We are used to logic and order in the physical world.If you throw a stone from some height, the only direction it is going is down (unless you are in a Zero-G chamber or really really drunk). That’s order in the universe for you-things are predictable like that.We don’t have to worry about probability with things like this-because we assume it will always happen.

It will always happen-until it doesn’t.The black swan is a case in point.But that is a topic for another day.We can more or less assume the predictability of the physical world that we live in for all practical purposes

.

When everything seems to make sense in the physical world, we try to extend the same to our actions and the things that happen to us as a result. But it gets really dicey there. You do good. Because of your inherent love for symmetry and what you have been taught all your life,the only thing you expect to happen to you in return is “good”. The theory of Karma.

But wait. How can you expect immediate returns from the universe? So,you believe it will come back to you. You do good, the universe will reward you for it. You do bad and the universe will get you for it.If not now,in the future. So far,so good.Nice enough theory.But then you ask:what about the people who are born with deformities. People who are born into poverty. How does your theory explain this. Bad happened out of nothing. What now?Hmmmmm. We have to get this to work somehow. We can’t leave our lives unexplained. All right, they didn’t do bad in this life, they did bad in their previous birth. Enter reincarnation. Awesome. It’s not enough to be born with a disability.You also now have to carry guilt from some other life.

Does this really make sense? But it happens. This is because the philosophy that most people follow in their day to day life is in most cases derived from religion. The problem is that religion thrives on uncertainty. If you take the unknown out of the equation,religion ceases to exist.Religion takes advantage of this uncertainty and wields its power over people by giving them answers-something to hold on to.The problem is that those answers do not have a shred of logic in them-yet most of the population falls for them. In trying to tie up all the loose ends in our life,we delve into theories that rely on faith and mysticism as opposed to logic.The only reason why people believe in karma is because it is comforting-it is comforting to feel that there is some sense-some order.That the forces of the universe are not random but respond to your actions.

It’s comforting-but it’s also complete bullshit. When we believe in Karma, we are essentially questioning the very lives we are living.

The only thing that is true is the way things happen is randomness.The only defense that one has against what happens is to play the probability of things happening-to minimize the probability of bad happening and to maximize your exposure to good things happening by serendipity.

Objective reality should guide a person’s beliefs about life and the universe.That is not to say that one should not do good ,thinking that if the theory of Karma is not true, doing good is pointless. Whatever action one takes should be a product of the values that one believes in and the principles of the fundamental philosophy which one follows in their life.Do good because it is what you believe in and it is what is right by your beliefs and principles-not because of things what the thoroughly corrupting “The Secret” and “The Alchemist” teach you.

Only accept the cause-effect that is rational and logical and thus real.

Randomness is real.Enjoy it.

The Peter Principle (over 40 years old) Still a great read!
I wonder if this principle holds true in public education?
Were most administrators highly competent teachers once?
Do most highly competent teachers become adnimistrators?
The following is from the WHAKATE website:
 http://www.whakate.com/lead-articles/the-peter-principle-reaching-our-own-level-of-incompetence/

 In Peter’s Principle, our level of incompetence demonstrates the place where we cease to be promoted, because we are no longer doing our jobs well enough to merit promotion. But since we will not be demoted from a post unless we are ragingly incompetent, according to the Principle, the average worker is not working the job for which they are most qualified; but the job they can perform just well enough to not get fired.

Case in point: Take the career of a school principal. He would start out as a student, and if he demonstrated competence, move on to become a teacher. If he was only an average teacher, he would most likely never receive any significant promotions, but a highly competent teacher may eventually become the school principal. Being a good principal and a good teacher are relatively unrelated though and so there is high chance that the extraordinary teacher (the role he was most competent in) would now only be a mediocre principal. If, however, he proved to be an outstanding one, he would advance in Peter’s Principle to assistant superintendent or superintendent—until he reached the job where he was no longer outstanding enough to reach promotion.

The stage he bogs down in due to mediocrity would then be his defining “level of incompetence.”