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| Friday, July 13th, 2007 | | 11:08 pm |
Random thoughts
Tomorrow we have our Bon Odori Festival at temple. I will help cook teriyaki chicken and Brenda and Kendra will dance. The boys will hang out and play games and eat food. All that good stuff. The next day I go off to Oregon for five days to work on our property. I have some nice and competent guys helping me clear the land and put in the septic and well. I have a lot of work to do just figuring out what they are talking about. I have never worked up land to make it livable before. I'm the type of guy that has a hard time figuring out how the sprinklers work. It's all an adventure.... I am trying to get a lot done organizing my classes for the fall and getting my model projects together. One project is going pretty well and the other is slowing down due to contract negotiations. It is pretty stressful to deal with money and it makes people crazy. Why do things potentially as great as money and sex make people so crazy! Anyway, both projects have amazing potential to both make money and help kids learn science. Does helping kids learn science make people crazy? I don't think so... so I guess it can't be so great. Current Mood:  amused | | Wednesday, July 11th, 2007 | | 9:50 am |
Making a come back?
Hi again! I'm back and hope to once again join the LJ world. Kendra has been after me to write things and has complimented me on my past posts. I didn't know she cared! Anyway, what's been up with me? I haven't been doing much fishing, but Kai and I went to the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska and caught some kings and sockeye salmon in late June. I now have replenished my smoked salmon supply and can last through the winter. I will try to remember to convey the details of this trip in the future. I have been busy trying to develop some models to help teach molecular science. One project is a set of molecular modeling kits and the other is a DNA model. Both can be used by educators to make the molecular world come to life. I am in the process of negotiating with the companies and it is slow going. The projects are mentally stimulating and I feel I am doing creative and important work. My teaching responsibilities will expand as I am working with the Discovery Center for Science and Technology to offer six classes in Fall 2007. These classes will be similar to the ones I taught for homeschoolers. The classes will be advertised by the Discovery Center soon and descriptions should be on their website in the near future. I call these classes "Molecular Mania"! www.discoverycntr.org One slight apprehension I have in going "public" with these classes and molecular manipulatives is that I will likely become a spokesman for these things. i.e. I will become "Dr. Steve" and take on a larger than life persona. I am not too worried, as I understand the need for a handle, or something that people can grab onto and relate to. Anyway, that's all for now. I have to get ready to take a picture of Cory driving off for the first time. A driving instructor will be here in 10 minutes for his first driving lesson! YIKES!   I am hoping someone will come up with a caricature of me from these photos. Good luck and may the cartooning force be with you. | | Friday, May 26th, 2006 | | 9:37 am |
The Feather River
The Feather River Trip I’m done brining and smoking the salmon from a fantastic trip to the Feather River above Sacramento. My friend and former colleague from my Amgen days, Marco, and I went out on the Feather with Dave the guide. Dave has been doing some great guiding over the past few weeks and he has found sturgeon, salmon, striper and shad milling about the Thermalito Outlet and around Yuba City. I've never fished with Dave before, and after this trip, I think I will be seeing more of Dave in the future. Marco and I met Dave and his deckhand, Sal, at the Outlet at 5 am(%*&^(*^*%$#@@!$%^*&??). Both Marco and I were ready to go, both of us were psyched at the possibilities of a combo trip. Marco is an experienced fisherman, but has never fished for salmon before. Dave said that he had seen shad and sturgeon jumping the previous day and he bought bait for the sturgeon. I had never seen a live sturgeon before, but I had heard of their monstrous size and appearance. The Outlet As Dave got the gear prepared, he warned us of the turbulence of the waters we were soon to fish. If you haven't seen the Thermalito Outlet, let me give you some idea of what we were dealing with. The Thermalito Afterbay is a reservoir that forms after Lake Oroville which, I suppose, is there to help regulate the flow of water into the Feather River. The Outlet is where the flow enters the Feather as thousands of cubic feet of water per second rushes out of a concrete water superhighway causing rapids and whitewater that would sink a 24 ft boat in seconds. Of course, Dave steered clear of the major turbulence, but after skirting around the main white water, he settled into a relatively calm pocket right next to the rushing water. The boat was rocking, but it wasn’t too bad, kind of like being on the ocean, and a relatively calm ocean at that. Dave warned us and hoped that others would not try this, as only very experienced boatsmen could do what he does here. Dave somehow kept us stationary and told us to drop our lines into a hole that he promised would be productive. Magic on the water, even without fish Dave’s confidence certainly calmed me, even after I lost the first two bites of the day. I was really surprised I lost the fish, because the Kwikfish lures we were using had these massive treble hooks and I thought I had set them. Oh well. I wasn’t too concerned, especially after Dave and Marco also lost fish. But the real reason I wasn’t concerned was that the sun was coming up and the beauty of the scene was startling. First, double rainbows started to form in the west. Then, the sun peeked through the clouds and its light glistened off the little bubbles that were popping on the surface of the water. I was so taken with the glistening bubbles, that I didn’t even stop to take pictures. I was almost feeling guilty that I was enjoying myself so much and I hadn’t yet caught a fish. In fact, I had lost two already, and I think in the ten trips I had made previously I had lost a total of two salmon. No worries this time. The sun, rainbows, glistening bubbles, river and jumping fish made all of this very magical. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, at this time I saw my first sturgeon. It surfaced like a whale and it’s big head, being prehistoric and all, looked like some smaller relative of Nessie. Whoa!!!!! What a fish. Salmon “R” Us Then, wham, I hooked and landed a beautiful 18-lb chrome salmon. It was gorgeous. Soon after, Marco landed another beautiful chrome Chinook and we jetted out of the mouth of the turbulence and into calmer waters. Sturgeon in the otherworld We rested a little and settled into some sturgeon fishing. As we sat in the very calm water, we saw a few of these monsters rise. It was otherworldly. One shot straight up out of the water, completely perpendicular to the surface, like some dolphin shooting up to catch a ring in a show at Seaworld. Shad City The sturgeon didn’t seem to want to bite, however, so after an hour, we moved to Shad City. All of these different holes were within eyesight from the Outlet. It took about 30 min, but we then started catching shad. The shad were small, 3-4 lbs, but they were full of fight. Shad are thought to be the best fighting fish, pound for pound, anywhere. We found this to be true. We both caught about five each as we figured out where the shad were hanging. There were times that, like a salmon, the shad would run and there wasn’t anything you could do about it. These little guys were lots of fun.....but our arms hurt from fight them!!!!! I didn’t want to admit it myself, but Marco actually complained about the soreness of his arm!!! 5-minutes a bite Since we had already caught Marco and my limit of salmon (which is one until July 16th, then it goes up to three), we went back to the salmon hole to get the deckhand, Sal, his salmon. Since we bagged two salmon earlier, a couple of boats tried the same hole after we were there, but found the waters too tough and bailed. Dave moseyed into the spot and as soon as Marco’s lure hit the right spot, BAM, he was hooked. marco graciously handed his pole to Sal and after a minute, the fish got loose. It wasn’t 5 min later when I hooked into another fish and handed the pole to Sal. This time Sal brought home the beauty and we had another 18+lb chrome chinook. The bank fishermen were stunned, as we must have been at the spot for less than 10 min and we hooked two chrome beauties. Later, we went back to the spot and I hooked another 18 pounder for Dave within five minutes! Dave sure had the spot down cold by this time. I found out later that Dave hooked a 36 lb king the next day in that same salmon hole. It has now been a week since that trip, and today I’m taking the boys back to the Feather River! Life is good! Tomorrow, Kendra and Brenda go to Washington DC for the National Spelling Bee!!! Good luck Kendra!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   | | Wednesday, April 12th, 2006 | | 7:53 am |
Update
It's been awhile, but I haven't forgotten about LJ. Kai, Cory, and Harrison, one of Cory's friends, and i are in Bakersfield this morning, getting ready to fish the California Aqueduct! Yes, people fish there and today we will try it for the first time. I would be happy to hook a legal sized striped bass (stripers), and some people have caught stripers over 20 lbs in the past week. We checked out the scene yesterday, and it looked a llittle slow, but what the heck, we will try it soon. Cory and Harrison are out picking up some continental breakfast while I write and let Kai sleep in a little more. What is happening with me? Some of the things that have been keeping me busy are: 1. Home stuff, that is, lots of things to do around the house. Kind of banal, but definitely challenging, as I am not a home repair maven. 2. Kids. Of course, as always. 3. Science projects- a. Checked out the excitement for a summer camp focusing on the stuff in my science classes. It looks good, but may be lots of work for me to set up. b. I have started to work with Paul H. at Zometools to develop Zome molecular modeling kits, ones like I have been using in my science classes. I have the rough plans for an initial kit and one that is very inexpensive. I have been using the virtual Zome modeling program developed by Scott Vorthmann and I'm really having fun with it. Not fun fun, but fun feeling productive and original fun. Paul and I ran the molecular modeling ideas by the people at Star Education in Culver City and they loved it. Star Education is a school, store, after-school education program, summer program, outreach program. etc. http://www.starinc.org/about.html Paul and I had lunch with several of the teachers and administrators and enjoyed their enthusiasm and commitment to education. It was great to see their support for the modeling ideas. They really took to it, since they have been using Zome for years and love to see another application for it. That's all for now. Time to fish! Wish us luck! Current Mood:  must fish! | | Wednesday, February 15th, 2006 | | 10:34 am |
| | Tuesday, February 7th, 2006 | | 11:05 am |
Kendra's first spelling step
Kendra won her Conejo Valley Homeschool Bee yesterday. She won with the word "audit". That reminds me that I have to get our taxes together by next week. She was poised but almost was disqualified when her mother tried to tell her to ask for a sentence (from the audience). Just kidding, she didn't come close to being disqualified, but another mom did mention the communication to the Bee Coordinator and thought that there was signing going on. Oh brother. Luckily, the runner-up poo-pooed that allegation, since she had the best view of the situation. There were hardly any kids in the bee as they probably were intimidated by Kendra's spelling prowess. Understandable, but that's a shame, since others don't have nearly the pressure Kendra has put on herself. One speller did very well and pushed Kendra to 22 rounds before missing "misinterpret". I guess that's better than missing a previous word, i.e. "nervous". Anyway, kudos to the runner-up, Anna Barson, and to Kendra who did what she does so well and carefully. You know what they say, staying on top is harder than getting to the top. The next bee, the area bee, is on February 23rd at Chaparral Middle School. She will compete against school winners from Moorpark and Oak Park. There is not a private school area bee this year. Kendra is well prepared and Brenda has been working very well with her. Bee season begins with a small, careful step. ( Ooh look, a picture ) | | Thursday, January 19th, 2006 | | 2:37 pm |
Update????
Sorry I have been negligent updating my journal. Lots have happened in the past few weeks. Here is a brief account. I finished 3rd in my 10 team fantasy football league. I did pretty well overall, considering I lost 4 of my top 6 draft choices due to injury and one of the two I did have was the underachieving Randy Moss. Luckily, I had Steve Smith and picked up a few good free agents during the season. I scored the most points in the league during the final week, but unfortunately I was playing for third rather than first place. Oh well, there is always next year. I went fishing with brother Jay on Jan 7/8. It was rather slow, but we did bring in 3 beautiful steelhead on the Smith River near the OR border. One of them was a Smith River beauty of 16 lbs, I had some when we got back and it was marvelous. Much better than salmon. The Smith River is absolutely gorgeous, with beautiful rocky cliffs and majestic redwoods. Jedediah Smith State Park is a must for those of you that haven't yet visited this area. It is a little hard to get to, but it is well worth it. I have been slightly obsessing with the Alito nomination and have emailed my US senators about it. Something must be done before this administration gets to brand their image on the US for another 2-4 decades. That image, let me opine, is rather conservative and corrupt. I am presently visiting Auntie Genny and Uncle Sam in Honolulu. Auntie had respiratory failure and a heart problem. I am here for support and to help get the house ready for her to return. She was in the ICU for about two weeks!!! Then after they thought she was getting better, she had a relapse after her first day in rehab. Hopefully, after her final test today, she will be given the green light to go home tomorrow. If anyone has comments or suggestions about COPD, CHF, 70-80% blockage of her left carotid artery, or anything else relevant to a 60 year smoker (or I should now say, former smoker), let me know. The MRI she is having today will be to assess her carotid artery. If it is aproblem, they may want to have surgery. Hawaii is beautiful and has wonderful people. I've found the Aloha spirit to be alive and thriving, despite the recent negativity and selfcenteredness that has gripped our country. I think it all starts at the top and unfortunately our top looks like a bottom. In other words, our administration is run by asses. In any event, some Hawaiians think they are losing that wonderful Aloha spirit, but other parts of the country never had it and they are going downhill from there. I find myself anticipating drivers' needs and yielding to them. A couple of drivers have cut me off, but I noticed they were haoles (yes, haole is in Webster's 3rd!) that looked like they were right off the boat. Many haoles that live here (probably like davidd) embrace the Aloha spirit. There is much to embrace. Aloha!!!!!! Current Mood:  calm | | Sunday, January 1st, 2006 | | 8:19 am |
Happy New Year
I hope everyone has a Happy New Year and a good time relaxing with family and friends this vacation. We are taking it easy and I'm looking forward to fishing with Brother Jay next week on the Smith River. Kai had a belated birthday party the other day. The kids ran around the house enjoying air hockey pinball, dodgeball, handball and other activities. Cory helped with the kids and Kendra helped with keeping Yuki company. We had cake and ice cream and all was good. Last week, I took the boys to Kernville and we fished the Kern River for a couple of days. Cory caught 7 rainbow trout and Kai and I caught another 7 between us. We released most of them and gave away a few to a family that lived on the river. We brought home a few and Cory and I ate them. #14 treble hooks and salmon eggs were the ticket. We met a number of very nice people who were extremely helpful with information about the area and fishing techniques. We had a great time together. Happiness...... We ate New Yera's Eve dinner at Ali Babas and spent a little time at Terry Hinricher and Lori Jacob's. They were nice to have a little party. Thanks Terry and Lori, we appreciate your hospitality. Current Mood:  bouncy | | Saturday, December 24th, 2005 | | 5:41 am |
| | Thursday, December 22nd, 2005 | | 9:59 am |
True Truths
I remember in high school we had an underground newsletter called,"The True Truth". I loved the name. Anyway, this is a revised form of a comment to another letter in the Star today. I had to run off to cook breakfast so I didn't post it in this form, but it's close. "Sometimes faith has to give way to facts. At one point we thought the earth was the center of the universe, then scientists came out with facts that convinced us the earth revolved around the sun, and many didn't like it. Those who had faith persecuted those with the facts. Those with faith now push ID without facts, only guesses. Facts support evolution, and because of that, scientists are not guessing when in their support of evolution. People can believe what they want to believe, I respect that, I respect beliefs. Just don’t make those beliefs into science and force that on our kids. Just like the earth revolving around the sun was at one time a new truth. Our kids have the important job of teaching us new truths in the future. To discover these new truths, they must be armed with facts, not beliefs." | | Wednesday, December 21st, 2005 | | 5:44 pm |
Thanks Mr. Bush!
I saw in an article today that Judge Jones was appointed by our one and only GW Bush! And Judge Jones is a Republican! I love it. Current Mood:  happy | | 5:19 pm |
A scientist for ID?
The fallout from Judge Jones' decision on intelligent design is certain to be interesting as it unfolds over the next few months. The religious proponents of ID are certain to fight back. One counter argument from these proponents may be that there are scientists that support ID. That is true, one such scientist is Guillermo Gonzalez from Iowa State University. Dr. Gonzales has been called “The Wizard of ID”, among other things, and has written a book on it. He is tied closely with the Discovery Institute, the leading group behind ID. Dr. Gonzales is not a biologist, but an astronomer, so his background doesn’t include looking at the huge amount of biological phenomena that support evolution. I have not read his book, so this is a cursory impression and I will look into this more in the future. What I do know is that over 120 of his ISU colleagues have signed a statement “rejecting all attempts to represent Intelligent Design as a scientific endeavor”. Furthermore, similar statements have been circulated at two other leading Iowa universities. At least Iowa professors have some sense and are fighting the nonsense. One a personal note, when I was studying biology and biochemistry at San Francisco State University, there was a professor in the Biology Dept that was openly religious. This was a curiosity, as all the science professors I had known were not openly religious. Why was this? Maybe because science takes nothing on faith. Experiments and reproducible data are to be trusted, not words from people long ago or from an incorporeal being one speaks to at night. This religious biology professor was an oddity, as is Dr. Gonzales, and not the norm amongst scientists. In addition, San Francisco State is not a research institution per se, only one professor there I knew had a science grant. Therefore, the religious professor did not do science, he only taught science. Maybe a rebuttal will be that all big discoveries were first met with skepticism and ridicule. The earth is round, the earth revolves around the sun, and so on. This is very true. However, the difference here is that these great past discoveries were scientifically based. Religions were the chief opponents. I don’t even want to get into what they did to those heretical scientists, that is reserved for another day. Here and today, we have no real science behind ID, only religious faith, and legitimate scientists are the opponents. This is a big difference. My suggestion to my non-scientist friends is to not be swayed by the opinions of a few, odd, non-mainstream scientists. There are always outliers, or points that don’t fit the curve, in statistics. This is especially true when humanity is involved. Current Mood:  determined | | Tuesday, December 20th, 2005 | | 9:40 pm |
Colleges' need for job focus is cited
Today's Star has an article that describes a study made to help focus what our local colleges should be offering. Here is an except which details one of the recommendations: “The study also recommends that the district create a plan to better prepare students academically and make sure that they are learning what they need to know. Right now, one-third to nearly half of the students taking math either flunk or drop out of math classes, it said. "The other education tragedy is when community college students fail English, they often drop out of college and never return," the study states. The district needs to work more closely with students to ensure that they are completing English, math and other core courses.” I think much would be remedied if the core courses were stressed earlier in our students’ education. Current Mood: calm | | 8:49 pm |
Young Steve in an indivisible nation
As I sit here listening to Christmas music, yes Christmas music, I ponder the dire straits we are in here in this nation, a nation indivisible. I listen to Christmas music because I like it, both for the catchy tunes and the nice messages. I was bought up Baptist, and my favorite time of year was Christmas. Of course, getting presents was great, but I absolutely loved singing Christmas songs at church. I was into church, and even tried to read the Bible a couple of times. I stopped early in the book as I got caught up in what I thought were boring parts. You know the parts with someone who begat someone else, and then they begat another, and so on. I was too young to imagine what went on with all the begetting. Now I can fill in the blanks, but then, oh boy, was that boring. I was a very together kid, with God behind me. I remember thinking about the problems my parents were having and thinking they needed some sorting out. I wasn’t sure whether I thought God would solve their problems, but I certainly knew I wouldn’t have the same problems. Kids are funny how they think that. I think I was around 11 when I started to doubt the existence of God. He wasn’t listening to me, no matter how hard I prayed. I cried and he wouldn’t listen. I repeated myself many times, and he still wouldn’t listen. Finally, I said to myself, what’s with this guy (I certainly thought he was a guy, and one that looked somewhat like Charlton Heston with a long beard), he won’t listen. Then I thought, how can he hear me? How can he hear all the people that were praying to him? These and many more questions made me turn away from religion. I didn’t buy it, I didn’t buy this all-powerful, omnipresent god, but I still liked many of the messages in that book. Many of the messages are still good, and I still like Christmas music. How can people who read and purportedly follow the messages of Christ, be so intolerant? How can they try to force their religion down our throats? How can they repackage creationism and try to teach it in schools to further indoctrinate our kids? From what I see lately, we are headed towards bad times in this nation. There are those, like me, who needs to have evidence to believe. Those that are religious only need faith. Maybe that's why they are such strong supporters of Bush. Bush just tells them to have faith in his methods and intelligence and they "believe". We are indeed a nation that is being divided “under God” and under Bush. One nation////under God////indivisible? It’s strange how they put “under God” there. Joe McCarthy et al played a cruel joke on the nation. McCarthy had the communists to fight. Bush/Cheney has the terrorists. In both cases, fear played a large part in building their support. In both cases, God helped make them stronger. I know I cannot convince those that need convincing with my rants, but until I figure out how to do it with more finesse, I rant. Current Mood:  peaceful | | 6:44 pm |
“one nation indivisible” is divided “under God”
Here is another comment to some letters in the Star today. Jack, you seem to forget that many of the first settlers in what has now become the USA, came here because they were being persecuted for their religious beliefs in their home country. We are all immigrants in country of religious diversity. Sure, I think the majority of US citizens are Christians, but that doesn't mean we all have to be. The Christians feel they are under attack, but they should just realize, they were ignoring millions of non-Christians for decades. Can't you take a little heat, a little TRUTH? We do not suggest we get rid of Christian lawmakers, just don't force us to be Christian, and please show others just a little respect for their beliefs. Jean Leighton of Simi Valley shows her intolerance and ignorance in a Star letter today by stating, "Go back to your own country and let us be." Does that mean this is her country and not others who aren't Christians. Didn't her ancestors come from Europe, or does she have Native American blood? Native Americans weren't God fearing until they were massacred into believing in God. In fact, they were living just as happy as can be before the Europeans came and brought them “salvation” and introduced the fear of GOD. That fear, of course, was brought about through people. Please show some tolerance for those that aren't like you. The hypocrisy does not go unnoticed. It is extremely ironic that our “one nation indivisible” is divided “under God”. Current Mood:  yet again | | 9:02 am |
TRUTH wins over delusion!!!!!
Just when things look bleak, TRUTH wins out. Let me clarify. The truth that I refer to is the truth that can be verified. It is not the truth that cannot be verified and requires faith, belief and delusion (which seems to be a contradiction in the definition). In other words, it is not the truth fish that eats Darwin on bumper stickers. Excerpts from U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III's ruling that struck down a school board's decision to require biology students in Dover, Pa., to hear about the concept of "intelligent design": "We find that the secular purposes claimed by the Board amount to a pretext for the Board's real purpose, which was to promote religion in the public school classroom, in violation of the Establishment Clause." --- "Repeatedly in this trial, Plaintiffs' scientific experts testified that the theory of evolution represents good science, is overwhelmingly accepted by the scientific community, and that it in no way conflicts with, nor does it deny, the existence of a divine creator." --- "Those who disagree with our holding will likely mark it as the product of an activist judge. If so, they will have erred as this is manifestly not an activist Court. Rather, this case came to us as the result of the activism of an ill-informed faction on a school board, aided by a national public interest law firm eager to find a constitutional test case on ID, who in combination drove the Board to adopt an imprudent and ultimately unconstitutional policy. The breathtaking inanity of the Board's decision is evident when considered against the factual backdrop which has not been fully revealed through this trial. The students, parents, and teachers of the Dover Area School District deserved better than to be dragged into this legal maelstrom, with its resulting utter waste of monetary and personal resources." --- "The citizens of the Dover area were poorly served by the members of the Board who voted for the ID Policy. It is ironic that several of these individuals, who so staunchly and proudly touted their religious convictions in public, would time and again lie to cover their tracks and disguise the real purpose behind the ID Policy." I guess Judge Jones will be watching his rear view mirror more frequently now. He should not make the mistake of pulling over and getting out of his car. He may meet angry bailiffs of the professed "Ultimate Judge". I can't wait to see what Pat Robertson has to say about Jones and Dover now. I want to be a judge! They get to rant and it becomes law. I love to use terms like "breathtaking inanity, maelstrom, ill-informed, and utter waste of monetary and personal resources" when it comes to this "debate". Last thing, if Alito gets on the Supreme Court, things may change so that the truth fish may move from the bumper to the driver's seat. Write your Senator!!!!!!!!! Current Mood:  hopeful | | Sunday, December 18th, 2005 | | 6:40 am |
Predictions for 2006
I think I will start my predictions for 2006. You are welcome to join me with your predictions. 1. The targets of Bush's domestic spying will be found to include his political critics. 2. There will be new Yoshinaga family records for size of both steelhead and salmon. 3. The Colts will handily win the Superbowl over the Seahawks, but only after a very close battle with the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. 4. Cory will make honors the final two semesters at Redwood Middle School and start at LB on the TO High Freshman Football team. 5. Kendra will win the VC Spelling Bee and place high at the National Bee. 6. Kai will catch a plus 5 lb fish somewhere and continue to flourish in school and karate (no brainer there). 7. Brenda will have her biggest year ever in SKYBAY Scientific Editing. 8. I will continue my science teaching in a different arena. 9. Yuki will not get fat (this is more of a hope). 10. Sadly, Jon Stewart will be funnier than ever because of the great material provided by the Bush administration. Current Mood: awake | | Thursday, December 15th, 2005 | | 8:54 pm |
I am, therefore I rant
There was another letter to the VC Star that I just had to comment on. As Bernie Taupin said, "it's hard, but it's harder to ignore it". Follows is the letter of 12/14/05 and my reply. Scientists know better Re: Nicholas D. Kristof's Dec. 10 essay, "Hubris of the humanities": Kristof argues that the lack of science and math education results in only 40 percent of Americans believing in evolution. Intelligent design, he implies, arises out of our collective ignorance. More science and math education is needed to elevate the other 60 percent of us into accord with evolutionists. The truth may be the opposite. Perhaps science and math have prepared us to properly evaluate evolution and find the theory incomplete and wanting. When mathematicians work out the probability that random mutations, those that subsequently survive the natural selection contest, could account for organisms as complex as a human, the odds against such a scenario are so great, a good mathematician might begin considering other scenarios. Most adults who have passed high school requirements in the sciences understand the scientific method. They know science involves continual assessment and reassessment of hypotheses. They are sufficiently educated to know that, when one works with inferences based upon an incomplete data base (i.e., evolution), the scientific method demands exploration of all alternative explanations. They cannot understand why an optional theory, such as intelligent design, should not be considered. If it is wrong, it will be proved wrong. These same educated folks realize statistics can be misread and misrepresented. Some affix blame for widespread disbelief in evolution on widespread belief in God; others look at statistics and declare the opposite. Kristof's argument that a 40 percent disbelief in evolution is equivalent to science illiteracy is flawed. The real hubris of the humanities is presenting flawed or incomplete science as fact. When the dogma of evolution is presented as science, we find hubris. When a journalist asks the public to dismiss valid options, such as intelligent design, that's hubris. -- Gregory Stone, Westlake Village My online comment: This is a reply to Gregory Stone's comments about intelligent design as a valid option. Mr. Stone seems to not realize that the flaws in evolution are nothing compared to the complete lack of scientific foundation in his "valid" option of ID. If we were to weigh the facts, evolution would have thousands of tons of support, while ID would have zero. I wonder if Mr. Stone knows what zero means, it means nada, none whatsoever, zilch. Faith and hope do not weigh anything Mr. Stone. It is ironic that some feel their "TRUTH" will win in the end, when their truth cannot be verified at all. Science reveals real and verifiable truth, a truth that can be repeated and built upon. Has Mr. Stone noticed how the US is holding its scientific leadership in the world, which is, not very well? Our scientists are doing well, but there are fewer and fewer of us. Our general lack of scientific realism in the mainstream and disregard to the world community are undermining our credibility. We are becoming a joke to the rest of the civilized world. I know I cannot change the mind of someone like Mr. Stone. He appears to discredit ways of thinking that do not agree with his with the statement “statistics can be misread and misrepresented”. When he is armed with that, there is nothing I can say to change his mind. So let me say this to the other readers; the scientific community, especially those with a background in biology, is in 99.9% agreement with evolution as a fact. When it comes to humans, that’s as close to complete agreement as you can get. Furthermore, we scientists know, not believe, that ID is fancy. Until someone provides a scientific experiment or discovery that supports ID, it shall remain fancy. That’s how science works, Mr. Stone. No one is required to prove it wrong, you must prove it right. Then someone else has to prove it again in another way. It does not stop there either. No one writes a book and says this is the final word. No one goes back to the word of Darwin and says this is it. Darwin just opened our minds to what was right in front of us. The rest of us took it from there. The experiments went on. Now, with all the data behind evolution, it is not a theory anymore, it is a fact. ID is more along the lines of a belief, like believing in leprechauns and Santa Claus. You can believe in ID, but what if I say that aliens, in fact little green ones, have more of a chance of being this “intelligent designer” than the unstated, all powerful, being that listens to you tonight. Kristof is not completely right. Science illiteracy is not the whole story, delusion also plays a part in this madness. Please pardon my frankness, but something has to be said. Steven K. Yoshinaga, Ph.D. Molecular Biology UCLA Current Mood:  again | | Sunday, December 11th, 2005 | | 6:18 am |
Santa and me
The other day I told my youngster that Santa Claus doesn't exist. He couldn't believe that there was a conspiracy of parents, merchants, advertisers, writers, TV producers and more, that promoted this myth. I asked him, have you ever seen Santa, the real Santa? He said he did many times, in books, TV, movies, and in real life at malls. I asked him how could Santa deliver presents to billions of people around the world, all on the same night? He replied that Santa has his ways and a lot of help from his flying reindeer. I started getting nervous as his friends started to gather and listen to what I was reporting. I continued and asked whether Santa delivers presents to those that don’t even know he exists, for instance, people who are in very remote areas of China, Africa, or parts of Indonesia? What if some of those kids are really, really, good, but don’t have a clue about Santa because of their culture? He paused, but seemed to think if they were good, presents still came. I finally snapped and said, "Look, Mommy and I are your Santa, and Kevin’s parents are his, etc. There is no Santa Claus that flies with reindeer and has lists of naughty and nice, we were all making it up. “ That was a mistake, I should be out of the hospital early next week. For those that believe everything they read, this is a fictional story. I made up this story, and I only went along with the Santa thing when it worked for me. Current Mood:  naughty | | Saturday, December 10th, 2005 | | 6:41 pm |
Casualty in the war on truth
A professor at the University of Kansas lost his job as the Head of the Religious Studies Dept. over the controversial email he send to friends regarding the new class he was to offer called, "Special Topics in Religion: Intelligent Design, Creationism and other Religious Mythologies." His personal email, sent via his university computer, incited many by his reference to "fundies" or religious fundamentalists and his intention to designate intelligent design as myth. Paul Mirecki had since apologized over his email remarks and was beaten up last week when he pulled over after being tailgated by two people who took exception to his email remarks and stance on ID. Now he lost his job as Head of the Religious Studies Dept. It appears a religious war has been declared. Perhaps a new truth can be beaten into him and others who refuse to believe in myths. I’m wearing my football helmet from now on. But in all seriousness, I fear for Dr. Mirecki's life, because with God on the IDers side, all can be forgiven.......even murder. Current Mood:  aggravated |
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