Notes and observations. Diversions and digressions. All done far too infrequently.
Monday, January 17, 2005
David Von Drehle of the Washington Post hits the road to find Red State America
David Von Drehle, the intrepid Washington Post writer, opens up the Red Sea for all of us to view.
This piece is must reading!
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
The Massachusetts exodus! Of course it has nothing to do with taxes!
The Boston Business Journal online says that the Massachusetts exodus is very real judging by a new report out today:
United Van Lines said its annual analysis of movement within the United States shows that 55.5 percent of all moves involved someone leaving the Bay State. That puts the Commonwealth in the "high outbound" category, which is dominated by other Northern states, including New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, North Dakota, Michigan, Ohio and Indiana
This is so serious that the Globe's Joan Vennochi asks: "What's the matter with Massachusetts? "
Thursday, January 06, 2005
First Antony Flew now other skeptics; scientists taking leaps of faith
Mine would be a fairly simple, straightforward case of an unjustifiable belief, namely that there is no god(s) or such a thing as a soul (whatever the religiously inclined of the right persuasion mean by that word). ...I'm taken with religious folks who argue that you not only can, but should believe without requiring proof. Mine is to not believe without requiring proof. Mind you, it would be perfectly fine with me if there were a proof that there is no god. Some might view this as a potential public health problem, given the number of people who would then run damagingly amok. But it's obvious that there's no shortage of folks running amok thanks to their belief. So that wouldn't be a problem and, all things considered, such a proof would be a relief - many physicists, especially astrophysicists, seem weirdly willing to go on about their communing with god about the Big Bang, but in my world of biologists, the god concept gets mighty infuriating when you spend your time thinking about, say, untreatably aggressive childhood leukemia.
Liberty Corner has additional comments on the "Limits of Science."