31 October 2005

"What's in a name? That which we call a rose..."

I guess I do have one other thing to report for the weekend. My brother and his girlfriend have decided to get together and share a last name. But they haven't decided which name to share yet. So I thought it would be fun to use your collective creative abilities. Here is what they have thought of so far.

Bradley & Sunny Belle
Bradley & Sunny Turtledove
Bradley & Sunny Boots

Their names right now are Bradley Reynolds and Sunny Thomas. Bradley likes Boots best so far.

What do you think? Give me your ideas.

8 comments:

30 October 2005

Running for my life

I’m procrastinating, but it’s to your benefit because I am writing this post.

I don’t have much to report. Last week was mostly studying. My professor let me take the philosophy test even though I totally spaced out on taking it in the first place. I’m not sure how much he docked me but I got an 18/25 which makes it possible to get an A still.

I spent a lot of time running this weekend; 6 miles Friday, 3 on Saturday, and another 5 today. There is a new running club for LLU students which I think will be really nice. This old Korean doctor, that has already run 5 marathons this year, is coaching us for free. He says we can train with him if we promise to run for the rest of our lives. Maybe I will. I am thinking about running another marathon after the encouragement and the excitement of being part of the group. I bought some new insoles today. I hope to get another 100-200 miles out of my shoes.

Saturday night I went to Marie-Lys and Austin’s for a costume party. It was fun. There were some good costumes. I’m trying to get a picture of myself to post here.

I am mulling over buying a digital camera. I know I shouldn’t but I really want one. Film is just too expensive and I want to take pictures.

My friend Chelsea is coming tomorrow. She hasn't updated her blog in over 3 months. It's the end of rafting season in Moab so she is coming here to visit and climb some California mountains and cliffs before driving to Costa Rica for the winter, or some such thing. One never knows where she is at.

Maybe I’ll buy a camera and show you all the routes and beautiful California mountainsides. I have to get back to studying if I’m going to go climbing later in the week.

1 comments:

25 October 2005

Seven things

I caught Ellen's mind virus. I didn't think I would make it but I think I got 7 things for each.


SEVEN things:

7 things I plan to do before I die:


live in another country/learn another language
MS (?)
argue that there is a difference between a Cuban, a Cayman and a Bahamian Parrot
publish a scientific paper
build a house
do a bicycle tour (pacific coast, europe, or mexico)
Climb spaceboys in El Potrero Chico (15 pitches)

7 things I can (or once could) do:


jump onto a picnic table with my bike
climb a 5.10
build a campfire
tell the difference between a Cuban, Cayman and Bahamian parrot
play chess
get into grad school
rebuild a vw engine


Cuban




Cayman




Bahamian







See? Isn't it obvious?




7 things I cannot do:

read fast
focus with a computer in front of me
loose weight when I want to
convince Ceri to move to California
team sports
kill a bear with my bare hands
beat Ceri at the crossword, or scrabble

7 things that attract me to the same or opposite sex:

smiles and giggles
happiness
understanding/liberal
intelligent conversation
rides a bike
wastes time with me
that spot on the neck at the end of the jaw












7 things that I say most often:
I needed Ceri's help on this one.

i should be reading
i need to get away from my computer
yeah....
so, anyway
oh-kay
huh, i don't know
go away (I only say this in my head)

7 celebrity crushes:
Since I don’t actually know these people I probably only like the characters they play.

Sara Vowell
Jenna Elfman (Dharma)
Jessica Alba (Dark Angel)
Nina Persson (voice)
Tina Fey
Gwen Stefani (from the 90's, although she is still sort of cool)
Jared Diamond/Pierce Brosnan/Harrison Ford/Ernest Hemingway (that's who I want to be)

I tag Amy and Brett.

4 comments:

21 October 2005

The science and philosophy of Kansas

So, I’m taking Philosophy of Science this quarter. It’s a class I enjoy immensely but of which have the disturbing precognition to know, I will not be getting an “A” in. I neglected to take an online exam today. I was only fooling myself into thinking I could graduate with a 4.0 gpa when I know I am 3.0 student. I really like the class anyway. It’s one of my favorites and maybe the teacher will let me make it up.

As you may have guessed from the title of the class, it has given me the capacity of scientist qua philosopher and I have always had a deep desire to be this person. Ok, I don’t think that highly of myself, a 3.0 student after all. I’m going to ramble on anyway.

If any of you ever read the news, or go to church, you will have heard about the controversy in Kansas over the whether Intelligent Design (henceforth id) or Evolution will be taught in high-school science classrooms. If by some impossible chance you have not heard of this hit next blog. Now, I know I am not going to say anything new here, but since the topic is education, and blogging is public media, I am going to take the opportunity to educate the public. For another insightful and intelligent abstraction of the enormous topic please visit the Doldrums.

Here is the question; should id be taught as an alternative to evolution in science classrooms? I will add my vote to the NO camp and let me explain why. First, id is not science and neither is any theory of the origin of life. It is in the realm of philosophy. Second, evolution is science. I believe it should be taught in the science classrooms. Why is one science and other not? Because science is based on empirical data. There is a plethora of data available to support the theory of evolution. There is no data available about the origin of life. To qualify as a scientific theory it must be testable and repeatable. Any theory on the origin of life is not testable or repeatable so it does not qualify.

Ok, having said that and I don’t know if I said it well, I do think there is a place for id in schools. Id should be taught in philosophy. The fact that this is such a huge issue really does say something about the quality of our education system. I don’t know if philosophy is a required class for public high-school students but it should be. I am a graduate student and I am only in my second philosophy class. I think every high-school educated person should have a philosophy class in which they teach the following; philosophy of science, critical thinking, and ethics.

Pope John Paul II once said (1996), invoking an earlier Pope Louis XIII (1893), “Truth cannot contradict truth.” Though they were over 100 years apart and had vastly different understandings of truth, they shared a similar dilemma, the apparent contradiction between the Scriptures and scientific theories. I always liked John Paul, I’m not familiar with Louis, but I have a lot of respect for their steadfastness in their beliefs. Their conclusions were the same then and now, either our interpretation of the Bible was incorrect or of the scientific data. They called for open discussion and acknowledgment of “hostile arguments” so mistakes in understanding could corrected. And if no mistakes were found, then judgment should be suspended until such time as these discrepancies could be reconciled. John Paul recognized that evolution is more than just a “serious hypothesis, worthy of investigation and in-depth study” and acknowledge it as a theory. But he also recognized that it was at heart, a philosophical question.

Science is a great and powerful tool for the acquisition of truth, but it has limits. Science can not tell us why things happen only that they do. It can’t assign value to things and it has little to say about relationships.
It is a cold machine that requires the human capacity to ponder. I am a scientist in training but I think of it as only one tool in the toolbox which guides our lives. In our search for truth and wellbeing, science is a tool for observation, but there are also feelings, beliefs and logic. When choosing what to believe in or when making life decisions one should consider all the tools and use the ones that are right for the task.

I want to keep going with analogies but I know I’ve lost some of you already. Sorry, it’s kind of long and wandering. I might have more to say on this later.

4 comments:

15 October 2005

War, Peace and Rattlesnakes

Last night I went with my advisor to Joshua Tree National Park for a lecture he was giving. I had contemplated staying the night out there with Ceri’s parents but he only called me an half hour before we left so I didn’t really have time to warn them I was coming. I recognized it as an opportunity to talk about my research and get out of Loma Linda so I said I would go.

It was good to get to talk to him, sort of encouraging and discouraging at the same time. It was encouraging because it’s good to talk about my project with someone that knows a lot more than me and work things out. But it was kind of discouraging because he didn’t seem optimistic that things were going to work out. We are waiting to here back from some people about acquiring some data. He is worried that we won’t be able to get the data and kept talking about other projects that might be fun. I would just get the data myself but there might not be money for that. I’ve got to get my proposal done.

After the lecture we went to a restaurant in 29 Palms where Drew Berrymore likes to go. The lady, who had invited my advisor to do the lecture, paid for dinner. She was very nice and always smiling, an alumnus of Walla Walla. At the beginning of the night we learned that her husband is in Faluja and I kept telling myself all night, “Don’t say anything.” At the end of dinner we started talking about the war and I was curious so I kept asking questions. I finally let a comment slip about how aggressive Americans are toward peace lovers. She started to get red and defensive. I feel bad. I could tell she is perpetually on the verge of tears. I wish he could come back and stay here with his wife.

Bill’s lecture was entertaining. After his talk he pulled some snakes out to show people. At one point he dropped one and everyone jumped back, some onto their seats. One lady had to move to the other side of the room and hide behind her daughter. It was funny. They are kind of scary. They were all in Rubbermaid containers in the back seat and I would think once in a while about getting into an accident and having rattlesnakes all over the car.

Here is a quote from the car ride home. “Wow. I keep veering left. I never veer left.”

3 comments:

Bush vs Bush

This is hilarious. Bush vs Bush.

1 comments:

13 October 2005

“The leaves are falling back east….”

Ok, I’m back to driving my SUV to the coffee shop. I went running this morning and had to step out of the bike lane onto the curb 4 times to avoid becoming a red spot on someone’s windshield. In the spirit of Ceri's vindictive post, I’ve been thinking about taping nails to the white line that separates the bike lane from the car lanes.

After running this morning, I have been antsy for the rest of the day. I can't really concentrate on class.

It was cold this morning and I had to wear a sweat shirt on my run. This afternoon it was 97 degrees and sunny.

3 comments:

12 October 2005

Consumerism

I was just looking at Strovska’s blog this morning and wishing she would update it. Then I looked at my own and realized her last post was two days newer than mine, I have been adding links as I discover them though. Now she has updated and I guess I should do the same. Maybe posting doesn’t have the same therapeutic value for me as it does for others. I tend to be a net consumer in the blogosphere with less in the way of production. I wonder if that is fair.

I wonder if I am the same way at the coffee shop sometimes. I pay my $1.75 for a cup of coffee and then proceed to use about $1.75 worth of toilet paper for my nose over the course of the evening. Thank you Boise-Cascade. Some environmentalist I am. At least I bring my own cup and that saves them a penny for the plastic one they would have given me. I’m feeling better about this coffee shop now that they split from their franchise and started offering free wifi. It’s a lot closer so I can ride my bike and be a good patriot by following the lead of our favorite politicians and not driving my SUV. Although, I was almost run over twice on the way here today, seriously. There might be something to the SUV’s are safer campaign.

My proposal is now 5 semi-solid pages long. It’s getting there.

That’s all I can write for now.

1 comments:

03 October 2005

Fall Quarter

I've been back in California for a week now. I had started writing a post about that time but it ended up just sitting in my draft box and now is out dated. So I'll try again.

Ohio was very pleasant. I’m glad I was able to bring some things back to California for Ceri because that means she is coming out here. I was 12 pounds over the limit for checked bags but the ticket guy let me through.


In my draft I started talking about the nastiness of Southern California and it's resemblance to an armpit. I still believe that but the business of the last week has diluted the effect. At the time, the contrast between where I had been and where I had come too was depressing and almost intolerable. In reality there are many parts of California that are beautiful and can be fun. Those places just happen to be to far from where I live to be accessible. I already spend about 25-30% of my income on gas. The penalty for being poor I guess.


“Being poor is a crime and the punishment is death.” If you haven’t listened to This American Life in the last month I highly recommend episodes 296 and 297.


I worked on Camp Pendleton again this weekend. At $10/hour it actually pays less than staying at school and studying for my assistantship. But it is extra money on top of my assistantship and it is about the only time I can afford to see the ocean.

School started out pretty well. My classes are interesting; Philosophy of Science, Biodiversity and Conservation, and Research Methods and Design. There will be a lot of reading and required work. At first I was concerned about the amount of religion slipping into my science classes. But I think it will be tolerable and even interesting. It certainly has a place in the philosophy class, western science having been born from a desire to understand God and the laws of nature that allowed creation. I’ll keep you posted about that and if you aren’t not interested than you don’t have to read it.


I finally finished and developed a roll of film, the contents of which, I discovered, span an entire year. I think I can almost afford one roll of film per year in my budget although, at $26 for development and $4 for a roll of film, it is still an open question. I’ve decided to renew my search for a digital camera, motivated more by economics than the immediate gratification which images stored as electrons can supply.


How is my research going? Yeah, well, my proposal isn’t done yet and I don’t really want to measure more birds until it is. I still have the 7 pages of garbled words that I did when I left Ohio. It might come to a point were I need to just write it and let people read it to get more feedback. Actually, that might be the only way to get my advisor’s attention. He doesn’t seem to respond to verbal communication all that well.
“Hey Bill, I have a question”
“Can you email that to me?”


Ok, I told you I had developed some pictures and I’m running out of time for tonight. So, here they are in a totally random order. Briefly, they are pictures from the Alcazar in Segovia in December; Sunny, Bradley, and Ma in a grassy park in Madrid; Bryant and Ceri last August sometime, somewhere we don't know; some pictures from Salton Sea birding with Stacy Davis and my advisor Bill in January; and Bradley and Sunny at the Getty in Santa Monica this August.













1 comments: