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03 November 2004
Now is the autumn of our discontent
Well, well. Despite my words introducing Tangled Bank Nr. 15, I imagine the countless millions are more likely to be awaiting something else, and that many of them are having to resign themselves to the fact that they probably won't like it. Given the timing, I would understand if this edition were the least visited TTB ever.
My condolences to those of you who need condolence; and to everybody else as well. It's small comfort, no doubt, but it may cheer you up to see that PZ Myers has done something very cool to the design of Pharyngula. (If you don't notice it, click Refresh a few times.) Very snappy, even if I must note that afoe has been doing this for a while.
Posted by Mrs Tilton at 01:40 PM | Permalink
Comments
Ah, but there's no point to refreshing too often: the image is cached, and only updated every ten minutes.
And yeah, it's just one of the idle games we play to pass the time when we're crying inside.
Posted by: PZ Myers at 3 Nov 2004 13:48:30
No need for condolences, Mrs. T., in a lifetime of being wrong about almost everything, I got this one right! The faces of the shell-shocked Dems on my screen looked like Man U supporters after Portsmouth trounced them 2-0. Rejoice, rejoice!
More pertinently, and apropos your comments on the longest heavyweight fight in the world, Darwinism v. Creationism, I can only write as a puzzled agnostic. Why do neo-Darwinists become quite so mouth-foamingly furious when inexplicable gaps in their theory are pointed out.
I, too, being a simple fellow, swallowed the preposterous Dawkins whole when I first read him, but it niggled at the back of mind for years that no scientific theory (so far) explains everything. To believe that, moves science back into religious dogma. Indeed, the shocked expressions of outrage emanating from Dawkins et al, at any suggestion that Darwinism is not a full explanation, reminds me of, er, well, 19th century Bishops.
The fact that inconsistencies can be shown up, and compelling arguements made against certain aspects of Darwinism, actually, and paradoxically, *increased* my acceptance that the theory did stand, in general, as a good explanation for much of the way living organisms are, the way they are. But it does not explain everything, and it seems reasonable to allow others to put up their hypotheses for testing.
Yes, silly, naive lad that I am, but I never went to university and experienced at first hand the self-important viciousness of 'The Professer Contradicted' - I'm sure Bateman must have done a cartoon of that, don't you think?
Posted by: David Duff at 3 Nov 2004 23:11:26
