evolution

sometimes i listen to am radio. late at night there’s a show hosted by this character named george noory, who is supposedly some kind of advocate or researcher for organizations looking for ufos. his callers are a “diverse group”… okay, they’re a bunch of freakin’ whackos. some of them are fairly reasonable folks. others make outlandish claims, such as having been abducted by aliens, or having travelled through time. stephen hawking claims quite convincingly in his book a brief history of time that those two ideas may be essentially equivalent, since the aliens would probably need to travel faster than light in order to get here in a reasonable amount of time.

he then writes. “if they [the aliens] are going to reveal themselves at all, why do so to those who are not regarded as reliable witnesses?” he also wonders: if it were ever possible for humanity to travel through time, wouldn’t some enterprising soul come back to our time to tell us how to do it? his words again: “… unless human nature changes radically, it is difficult to believe some visitor from the future wouldn’t come and spill the beans.”

any visit from aliens would probably result in worldwide disaster. (it’s that human nature thing again.) assuming they survived the automatic air defenses of the world’s nuclear powers, most notably those of russia, china, and my own country’s, there would probably be worldwide panic once they stepped off the saucers. what effect would knowing for certain that other life exists in the universe, and that it has come to visit, have on society? what name would cnn come up with for earth’s first interstellar war?

all these questions are interesting philosophical debate topics. unfortunately, most of george noory’s callers are of the “i got beamed up by the aliens and they poked stuff up my butt” variety.

i had a long story to tell you all, maybe a rambling piece about something that pissed me off earlier today, but i’m just going to say “life is precious”. that’s it.

life is precious.

bid adieu to america’s second favorite religious terrorist. eric rudolph was captured today in rural north carolina, where he was believed to be hiding since 1996, when he “allegedly” bombed an abortion clinic in atlanta, a gay nightclub, and of course the 1996 olympic games in atlanta.

i laid in bed awake last night until 6:00 this morning. naturally when i do this i have a lot of time to think about things. i thought about various issues of mathematical pedagogy, and i thought about the vast array of information that can now be on the web thanks to sites like blogger. it has its advantages and disadvantages, i suppose. on the one hand, we will be exposed to ideas that we may not have been otherwise. on the other, the overall quality of it all goes down (as evidenced by the whiny idiots that sites like blogger have attracted in droves).

i’m not professing to be some deep thinker looking down his nose at everyone else. what i am doing is making judgements on whether i think something is worth the time it takes to consider it. we tell each other reproachfully, “thou shalt not make value judgements”. i submit that this is precisely what we should be doing more of. too many people today are willing to put up with behavior and situations that make them utterly miserable - all in the name of political correctness. when will it ever end?

the democrats have a real chance to put forth fresh ideas and change this country, but all they have is “let’s unseat bush and take the white house back”. all they have is a shameless power grab. i don’t agree with some of the decisions that george w. bush has made, i don’t like some of his choices for cabinet administrators, and i supported clinton for president (both times). but george w. has done more for this country than any democrat since kennedy (john, not that fat drunk ted) and he will do more than any of the stiffs the dems have now. it’s a party i’d like to support, but won’t.

the royals are 26-21 and a game and a half behind the minnesota twins for first place in the al central. they have been struggling lately but beat the oakland a’s today 3-1 with homers by joe randa and mike sweeney.

mike mccready of pearl jam has announced that he has crohn’s disease (link), a nasty chronic stomach ailment for which there is no cure. people with this disease must keep careful tabs on their diet and take a variety of drugs - or never venture far from a bathroom.

dealing with this must have been quite difficult given the extensive touring that pearl jam does - with a world tour in 2000 and another one ongoing currently (which stops in kansas city, mo on june 6).

by the way, here’s a sampling of my new place in west lafayette.

while we’re all waiting (with bated breath, i’m sure) to see how my master’s oral exams will turn out, let’s talk about the death penalty. i wrote some time ago that the death penalty ought to be abolished (original) . if it cannot be applied fairly - and evidence exists that it has not - then the ultimate sanction should not be applied at all.

having said that, here are two men that the state of utah plans to execute by firing squad (condemned are allowed a choice between this or lethal injection) on june 27. they are roberto arguelles, a serial killer and rapist who counted among his victims girls of 13, 15, and 16; and troy kell, who was caught on a prison videotape (while serving time for a previous murder) stabbing a black inmate 67 times with a shiv while screaming “white power!”

personally, i am not going to miss them one bit. they are ideal candidates for my “prison work program” - manual labor, 14 hours a day, 6 days a week, year-round, with no possibility of release, parole, cable tv, weight machines, porno magazines, college credit, or any other such rubbish - but i am not going to protest or cry when the state of utah shoots them dead.

i’m not proposing that we work to exhaustion everyone who is convicted of even a serious crime - even notorious individuals can become good seeds and contribute to the community. however, there can be no other use for unredeemable villains such as these .

i still haven’t told you about my master’s exams. i will give you all the details during the week of june 9, when they will all be over.