the Universe does not care about Ken Ham

Creationist huckster, Ken Ham, spent a good part of his recent debate with Bill Nye babbling about the made up terms “historical science” and “observational science” to lay the groundwork for his claim that the Bible's creation myth is the best explanation for the origins of the universe*. He claims that because we weren't there, we can't know. He admits the observable laws of physics still apply, but the universe only looks old because god wants it that way. So god is Ashton Kutcher, and he's trying to punk us. Great.

Put simply, science is the analysis of observations in order to answer questions about our environment. Without even knowing, each and every one of use uses science at a rudimentary level on a minute-to-minute basis every day to make decisions. From that arises the Scientific Method and from that arises all of the combined scientific knowledge of human kind. Pretty damn cool. None of that knowledge indicates any type of intelligence created the universe. Not one piece. This is why science doesn't bother with the supernatural. There ain't no evidence for it!

When asked from where everything ultimately arose, Bill Nye answered simply and honestly, “We don't know.” This answer prompted a smattering of triumphal scoffs from the creationists in the crowd. “Ha!” they must have thought, “The egghead scientist doesn't know! Therefore everything else he thinks he knows is wrong! Therefore god did it!”

The problem is, creationists of all religions (as well as spiritualists of all types of woo) conflate the term theory with the term hypothesis. The Theory of Evolution does not concern itself with the origins of life, but with the interpretation of the fossil record. Nothing more. The Big Bang Theory concerns itself with explaining the observable universe and doesn't even attempt to explain what came before. Because we can't see that yet.

Ham and other creationists wiggle themselves into this crack, plug their ears and holler “It's just a theory!” as if it was just a wild guess pulled out of science's ass. Gravity is a theory, too, folks. Science ain't like a revealed text; you don't get to ignore the parts that don't fit your world view. Just sayin'.

I can understand why primitive people believed a violent storm was the act of an angry deity. I can understand why Bronze Age tribesman looked up at the sky and thought the sun circled the Earth and that the moon was a source of light rather than a reflector of sunlight. I cannot, however, understand why three hundred freakin' years after the Enlightenment, people still cling to magical thinking like this. It's holding us back, ferchrissake! 

*This is ridiculous. The Bible's creation myth is certainly not the most plausible (and definitely not the most interesting!). If anything intelligent created this mess, all evidence points to it being a competing gaggle of petty, vicious narcissists.

 

chugga, chugga, chugga, chugga, woo! woo!

So, while dicking around on the Facebooks early this morning, I came across a post on this crackpot, Dr. Masaru Emoto, who stuck some wet grains of rice in jars and had people say positive things to one and negative things to another. According to his “results,” the rice in the negative jar rotted faster, “proving” that human thought can manipulate the physical world. This led me down a rabbit hole of comments and into chambers of the internets that just might have made me dumber for visiting.

Credulous people have passed this “scientific proof” of the power of positive thinking around the internets as if it were actually science, justifying their already woo-woo belief that their brains have special powers that just need to be unlocked. Worse, this charlatan sells “enchanced water” and other related crap to poor, unsuspecting people who just want to feel better about themselves. Their money could be better spent in Colorado or Washington. Or, you know, over at Joe's apartment over in Lowry Hill. Just sayin'.

That more than two hundred years after the publication of Thomas Paine's The Age of Reason, people still cling to this kind of woo is just depressing. Of all human impulses, credulity is second maybe only to violence in its negative impact on our societies. People want to believe, so they do. And it holds back progress.

In the 1960s, the Hippies rebelled against the stuffy, Calvinist nature of American spirituality (ferchrissake, even the Catholics in this country are kind of Calvinist). This, on its face was a good thing. Calvinism sucks. However, rather than embracing skepticism and reason, they turned to other forms of “spirituality.”

Some turned to Native American religions and gave up their given names for the names of “spirit animals.” Some turned to Eastern religions and mysticism; others to neo-paganism, and still others to new-age crackpot stuff like Scientology and whatever that crystal energy baloney is that seems peculiar to the American Southwest. They passed these notions of “spirituality” on to the next generation, and 50 odd years later, skepticism and reason still suffer. Me and Tom Paine need a fucking drink.

All-in-all, they leapt from the frying pan and straight into the fire. I know it's difficult for humans to accept that we aren't special; that the universe is boundless, cold, and uncaring and that our souls are nothing more than a collection of electrochemical impulses in our nervous systems. But when you do accept this, it is enormously liberating. The universe becomes an even more wonderful and mysterious place. And you're less likely to fall prey to charlatans like Dr. Emoto.

open letter to the greens, libertarians, and young people who voted for obama

I’m with you. Our federal government is mostly a puppet show orchestrated by wealthy oligarchs in the top one percent of the One Percent. Barack Obama isn’t the progressive ass kicker a lot of very hopeful people thought he was in 2008. Afghanistan. Guantanamo. Kill Lists. The sad compromise of a health bill . . . Yeah, I’m with you.

But if Romneybot 2012 is sworn in next January, Justices Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy, both Ronald Reagan appointees in their seventies, are likely to retire. Scalia will probably throw off his robes and run from the stage howling “See ya, suckers!” as soon Chief Justice John Roberts finishes administering the oath.

Two Bill Clinton appointees also in their seventies, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer are also likely candidates to leave the bench, especially if Romney wins a second term. Romney could have as many as four appointees to the Supreme Court. Think about it. 

Assuming they don’t simply create nominees for Romney in an underground lab using DNA from Scalia, Thomas, and Roberts, any judges nominated will be severely vetted by the oligarchs. They will not allow another Sandra Day O’Connor or Anthony Kennedy to sneak past them.

A Romney win in November likely means a solid 5-4 majority of oligarch-friendly Justices. A second term means a possible 7-2 majority. The worst elements of the Democratic Party will choke out whatever progressivism remains there, while the Supreme Court ensures that third party ambitions (left and right) dry up faster than a keg on the Fourth of July.  Democracy would not recover in our lifetimes.

Obama won’t remove the grip the oligarchs have on our government if reelected.  He probably won’t even loosen it.  But Romney will tighten it if elected. I have no doubt about that.

mere mortals

After winning 19 straight dating back 364 days, Aaron Rodgers and the Packers were reminded by the Kansas City Chiefs that it's hard to win football games in the NFL. Pressure on Rodgers and no takeaways were the key factors in the loss, and injuries on the offensive line look to make things difficult for Rodgers down the stretch.

Much of this season, Rodgers has had the luxury of time in the pocket to wait for a receiver to get open or for a running lane to develop to scoot through. On Sunday, the Chiefs were able to pressure Rodgers, due in some part to injuries to tackle Bryan Bulaga, followed by Bulaga's backup, Derrick Sherrod. Bulaga is out for Sunday against the Bears, and Sherrod for the season with a broken leg.

Against the Bears this weekend, Rodgers will likely face more pressure than he's used to, and he'll be forced to get rid of the ball sooner. If he does, the receivers need to catch them. Drops against Kansas City might have lost the game. Jermichael Finley, with four drops, especially did himself no favors in his quest to open contract talks with the Packers. Hopefully he turns it around on Sunday.

The injuries on the OL will probably limit the rushing game, as well. Though the Packers are definitely a pass-first team, the run game has been productive enough to keep defenses committed to stopping it. If the running game totally stalls, the play-action won't work, and the Packers' big-play offense becomes limited. Maybe the “next man up” mantra will work some kind of magic, and third-year pro Evan Dietrich-Smith plays like a man possessed, but don't count on it.

The defense failed to take away the ball from an opponent for the first time this season against Kansas City. Just one turnover could have been the difference. This is probably a fluke. The Packers defense will continue to give up yards, but they should continue to take the ball away, too. If they do, the Packers will continue to win.

Even after this loss, the Packers are the team to beat in the NFL. They can lock up home field through the playoffs on Sunday at home against the Bears. After that, the starters probably come out of the game early at home against the Lions in a game that should bear no weight on the standings. Then, it's a measly three game winning streak to their second Super Bowl Championship.

quickie wins the super bowl

The Packers' 31-25 victory over the Steelers in Super Bowl XLV was truly a microcosm of their 2010 season:

The team battled through injuries to key players. When Donald Driver limped off the field, my heart sank because Quickie is the man, and he deserves a championship. When Charles Woodson and Sam Shields went out, my heart sank because Jarrett Bush and Pat Lee aren't that good. Bush's excellent play on punt coverage and impressive interception don't change the fact that Hines Ward juked him out of his cleats, then his jock, then pantsed him in the end zone in front of 111 million people, all on the same play.

The defense played great in the first half, intercepting Ben Roethlisberger twice and keeping Rashard Mendenhall in check, but allowed the Steelers to score late in the second quarter and allowed them to make a game of it in the second half. It didn't help that kickoff coverage was weak, giving the Steelers good starting position most of the game. Once again, Clay "Bloodline" Matthews III bailed the defense out by knocking the ball loose from Mendenhall, ending a Steelers' drive that was making Packers' fans nervous. If Woodson is the spiritual leader of the defense, Bloodline is its enforcer.

The running game showed some sparks, but never caught fire. It really only served to keep Troy Polamalu guessing. Thankfully, Aaron Rodgers again played lights out football. If his receivers hold on to a few more of those perfect passes, the babbling heads on ESPN and NFL Network wouldn't be talking about one of the best performances by a quarterback in Super Bowl history. I'm talking 400+ yards and four or five touchdowns; maybe one on foot. They wouldn't have given him the MVP award, they would have named it after him. And he still had to answer stupid questions about the hillbilly from Kiln with the bad judgment. Ridiculous.

This is a team that was favored to win the Super Bowl before the season started, but lost numerous starters to injury, and struggled to find an offensive rhythm without running back Ryan Grant and tight end Jermichael Finley. It got so bad that they couldn't score a touchdown against the lowly Lions in week 14, and had to win their last two games to even make the playoffs (with some help from DeSean Jackson and the Giants' punt coverage team). That's five straight elimination games to get to the Super Bowl. They became the first #6 seed from the NFC to even make it to the Super Bowl, let alone win (the Steelers won it for the AFC in Super Bowl XL).

And while it's nice to bask in this win, Packers fans have reason to be excited for next season (if there is one). This is still the second youngest team in the NFL, and the way the young unkowns stepped in to play when starters went down makes Ted Thompson look clairvoyant. Driver indicated that he's coming back (go Quickie!), and Woodson will be back if he has to put screws in his broken clavicle himself. With Grant back, the backfield should be a little more worrisome for opponents, if not altogether formidable. Most importantly, Finley will be back, giving Rodgers another dangerous weapon in the passing game, and that's frightening. Defensive coordinators on the schedule next season are already having nightmares.

how far the mighty have fallen

After returning the Green Bay Packers to glory in the 90s and riding his gunslinger style and youthful exuberance to almost Olympian status, it appears Brett Favre has hit bottom, his cock and his Crocs aside. And he has brought the Minnesota Vikings head coach, and possibly the entire franchise, along for the fall.

I didn't get to watch (or even listen to) the Packers' dismantling of the Vikings yesterday, but by all accounts Favre and company hardly bothered to play the game. In post-game comments, Visanthe Shiancoe, Jared Allen, and Adrian Peterson couldn't definitively state otherwise. Tight end Shiancoe* was the most emphatic. When asked if he felt like his team is putting forth the necessary effort, he replied pointedly, "Nope. Nope. Nope." No players were named, but one can't help but assume that Favre, who famously skipped yet another training camp this season, was at least one target of those comments.

With the firing of head coach Brad Childress by the Vikings today, Favre's status as the starter is in question, and one wonders if he would continue with the team if benched, or if he would slink off to Hattiesburg in ignominy. My guess is ignominy. And for a man who could have been the hero of the greatest football story ever told, that's sad.

*With the spate of injuries to Packers tight ends this season, I would be thrilled to see Shiancoe in the Green and Gold. At least when his junk gets in the media, it's an hilarious accident, not a creepy incident.

a moot point

Charles Woodson made an MVP statement on Monday night against Baltimore when he knifed through the offensive line on first and goal to drop Willis McGahee for a loss. Tramon Williams intercepted a Favre-like pass by Joe Flacco on the next play to preserve Green Bay's lead at 10 points. On a defense that has steadily improved since switching to a 3-4 base, Woodson is the clear-cut leader. But on this play, he really stole the show in an already stellar team performance.

Check out the slow motion video at Cheesehead TV.

Ryan Pickett shoves the center into the path of the pulling right guard, which allows A.J. Hawk to beat the guard to the hole, and forces McGahee to bounce outside. Woodson never lets him get there.

But if Woodson misses that tackle, Collins has already shed the block of the fullback and is in good position to make a tackle himself. Which he probably would have.

If he didn't, B.J. Raji, who had previously engaged two offensive lineman on his own, and Brad Jones, who had crawled under the right end on the far side of the play, were both closing on the ballcarrier. Clay Matthews looked like he was held, otherwise he might have been in pursuit, too. Barring some kind of Keystone Kops routine, I don't see anything better for McGahee than sneaking out of bounds at the two or three yard line.

But Charles Woodson is a god. He made the tackle. The point is sort of moot.