Archive for January, 2009
Posted in Democracy, Evolution, Extended, Philosophy, ethics
January 31, 2009 at 11:59 am
I’ve written on how these human variations are reported in the US media time and again, and even given talks on it as it reveals our normative understanding of “normality” – simply because something doesn’t appear commonly in nature that implies it somehow shouldn’t appear.
This is the most amazing and wonderful commentary I’ve seen on this phenomena yet, and this quote echoes things I’ve said here time and again (like when XieXie was born with a functional third arm in China, and my bad-violin playing was jealous until they tore it off.)
But Hubbards case is so vanishingly rare according to doctors, and because the extra digits are functional, it’s not a deformity to be discarded.
“It’s merely an interesting and beautiful variation rather than a worrisome thing,” said Dr. Michael Treece and St. Luke’s Hospital Pediatrician. “I would be tempted to leave those fingers in place. I realize children would tease each other over the slightest things, and having extra digits on each hand is more than slight. But imagine what sort of a pianist a 12-fingered person would be imagine what sort of a flamenco guitarist, if nothing else think of their typing skills.”
….
This little guy may, at the very least, help others grasp the importance of embracing difference.
I feel like I should seek out the author of this article and hug him/her. I wish every one of these non-typical versions of embodiment was treated like this in the news media.
Link to article at KTVU.com
Posted in Atheism, Blurb, Critical Thinking?, Evolution, Science
January 27, 2009 at 5:30 am
Telling the magazine that he was asked why he did not give “credit” to God, Attenborough added: “They always mean beautiful things like hummingbirds. I always reply by saying that I think of a little child in east Africa with a worm burrowing through his eyeball. The worm cannot live in any other way, except by burrowing through eyeballs. I find that hard to reconcile with the notion of a divine and benevolent creator.” David Attenborough on hate mail in the Guardian.
Posted in Atheism, Blurb, Science, literature
January 26, 2009 at 11:18 am
Fans of Isaac Asimov still haunted by the film adaptation of “I, Robot” will get their chance to wipe it from their memory banks: a movie version of Asimov’s “Foundation” novels is in the works, Variety reported. On Thursday, Columbia Pictures won a three-way auction for film rights to Asimov’s science-fiction epic, whose first volume concerns a mathematician put on trial after predicting the collapse of his civilization. Link to article at NY Times.
Posted in Atheism, Blurb, Critical Thinking?, Science
January 25, 2009 at 11:23 am
More than 30 Tibetan monks, plus a handful of nuns, will be collaborating with a team from San Francisco’s Exploratorium (”the museum of art, science and human perception”) to build exotic machines to create patterns from sunlight using cardboard, dowels, reflective sheets of mylar and electronic components.
If all goes to plan, the monks will return to their monasteries and start spreading the joys of scientific exploration among other followers of their religion. Link to article in New Scientist
Posted in Digital Culture, Extended, literature
January 13, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Dan Curtis Johnson, via Warren Ellis:
Two weeks from today, Tuesday January 27th, is Lewis Carroll’s 177th birthday. Carroll, you’ll recall, wrote about a girl who fell down a rabbit hole and found herself in a place where all the rules had changed. In two weeks, on Lewis Carroll’s 177th birthday, you should do the same.
That’s right: the 5th Annual Rabbit Hole Day is coming.
When you wake up on the 27th, instead of writing about your usual work and school and politics and friends and news and stuff, experience life down the Rabbit Hole and write about the work, the school, the politics, the friends, the news, the stuff that you find there instead. Travel through time. Turn into an animal. Flee from assassins. Talk to your goldfish. Conquer Greenland. Sprout some extra limbs. Learn how to walk on water. Marry an insect.
Love this idea. I’m lucky enough to do any substantial blogging these days (either here or on Livejournal – although I do manage to spout 140 character blurbs about nothing on twitter all day long), but if I can swing it, I’m definitely going to take up this challenge. As should you. If you do, please post a link in the comments – I’d love to see what people do on a day of celebrating creativity.
Posted in Atheism, Blurb, Democracy
January 10, 2009 at 12:55 pm
“There’s probably no God,” the advertisements say. “Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.” Spotting one of the buses on display at a news conference in Kensington, passers-by were struck by the unusual message. Not always positively. “I think it’s dreadful,” said Sandra Lafaire, 76, a tourist from Los Angeles, who said she believed in God and still enjoyed her life, thank you very much. “Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I don’t like it in my face.” … Article in the NY Times about Atheist messages on British busses.
Posted in Books, Comics, Media
January 8, 2009 at 2:57 pm
“You’re not here. You’re not even the real Kathy. The Doctor explained it to me, once he’d examined the computer.” – Corner of the Eye, by Steven Moffat. (Early version of the story that became the Doctor Who episode “Blink.”)
Posted in Academic Life, Extended, Science
January 7, 2009 at 11:28 pm
This year’s American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting is in Chicago, from Feb. 12-16. Being so close to Chicago, I actually could manage to attend this for the first time ever. Most of my readers know that I’m a total conference junky – if I think there’s a chance to meet interesting people and hear interesting talks, I’ll go to almost any conference. (This is possibly related to why I keep spending all our vacation money on attending academic meetings instead of lying on a beach in Hawaii. Which is possibly also related to why I am overworked and desperately need a vacation in Hawaii.)
The theme is on the origins and futures of the planet, both topics near and dear to my heart. I would expect some good lectures on Darwin, especially this year, and some interesting technoprogressive discussion about the future of energy, but I’m only now browsing through the dozens of sessions and symposia, so I can’t say for sure. (At the very least, there seems to be a session on Embodied Language and Cognition. I’m sold.) If anyone knows of a particular talk I should be sure to attend, or if anyone else will be there, please leave a comment and let me know. As of right now, I’m making syllabi for the Spring and I’m about 90% sure I’m going to actually schedule classes around this conference. I have a hard time imagining it wouldn’t be worth it.
Posted in Blurb, Critical Thinking?, Science
January 6, 2009 at 11:00 am
There is no evidence that products widely promoted to help the body “detox” work, scientists warn. The charitable trust Sense About Science reviewed 15 products, from bottled water to face scrub, and found many detox claims were “meaningless”. The investigation, done by research members of the Voice of Young Science network, was kicked off by a campaign to unpick “dodgy” science claims – where companies use phrases that sound scientific but do not actually mean anything. … Link to article at BBC News.
Posted in Blurb, Critical Thinking?, Science
January 4, 2009 at 1:30 pm
Take heart, scientists have discovered that people can have a love that lasts a lifetime. “The findings go against the traditional view of romance — that it drops off sharply in the first decade — but we are sure it’s real,” said Arthur Aron, a psychologist at Stony Brook, told the Sunday Times… Link to unintentionally hilarious article on scientists and love at CNN.com.