Reverend Ted's Personal Blog

Bayer Sells batch of HIV-Infected Hemophilia Drug on International Market?

2006-05-30T09:19:00.000-07:00

Holy fuck.

Now, to de-sensationalize from American media: South Africa's Department of Health's announcement on this.

Which still leaves me with an exasperated "holy fuck!"

Lay turns to God and family after guilty verdict

2006-05-25T12:09:00.000-07:00

Before the verdict:

Lay then bowed his head, eyes closed, and appeared to pray as the eight-woman, four-man jury entered the courtroom to deliver the verdicts that could send him to prison for the rest of his life.

After the verdict:

God's got another plan right now," Lay could be heard telling each of his five children and other family members.

Perhaps, the notion of having a personal relationship with God lead Mr. Lay into this. I mean, when you believe in a interventionist supernatural being who actually listens to you, doesn't it become dangerously easy to justify good fortune as rewards from God.

The professional American athlete who defers the crowd's applause to God by pointing to the sky from the end zone after scoring a touchdown--isn't he actually claiming that his actions were preferential treatment from God, as though God really likes certain NFL teams and players over others? Seen that way, it's not at all the act of humility and deference that a player might believe it to be.

It's difficult to be objective about oneself already. Believing that there is a God who gets involved with your personal events easily lends itself to believing that your privileges in life show how God perhaps sees you as a little bit better. From there, it becomes a slippery slope to rationalizing one's own transgressions.

Perhaps God doesn't have any plan for you at all, Mr. Lay. Perhaps you are just another one of the rest of us who happened to be in an extremely fortunate position that allowed you to justify your deeply aggregious transgressions.

My Superbowl email to CareerBuilder.com

2006-02-05T18:47:00.000-08:00

I'm a marketing professional and a football fan, and your superbowl commercial not only does not appeal to me--I find it seriously offensive. I am also a director at a 5000+ employee software company. As a result of your commercial, I will never use careerbuilder to find a candidate. Furthermore, I will encourage my HR department to blacklist Careerbuilder companywide.

Your use of chimpanzees as a comedic gimmick is reprehensible. It plays upon and promotes ignorance. Not only are chimpanzees not monkeys--they are apes--but they are humanity's closet relatives. They are, in fact, more closely related to humans than they are to gorillas. More importantly, they are emotional and intelligent, and like all great apes, they are gravely endangered in the wild.

Please redeem yourselves first by abandoning such idiotic abuse of intelligent animals, and second by making some kind of generous contribution to an ape conservation organization.

Hrab's Legal Department Responds

2005-11-14T12:37:00.000-08:00

Ah, the plot thickens...Mr. George Hrab's legal department is now in the fray. Fortunately, they effectively bolster my case against CDBaby, and even hint that perhaps the distributor may not even be an actual baby.

With Mr. Hrab wisely choosing to align with my side of the case, things appear to bode badly regarding CDBaby's ability to deliver on the still unfulfilled special request I made.

Dear Rev. Ted-

Greetings from the land of all things Geologic. In response to your
current class action suit, the legal department here at the Geologic
Headquarters for World Domination (GHWD) has been advised to clear up
a few details regarding the exchange betwixt you and the disc
distribution company currently called "CDBABY" (CDBABY).

Whereas the REQUEST for a signed, in drag photo with accompanying
note was sent to CD BABY, the sent card announcing the release of
Mssr.Hrab's latest and mostest disc entitled INTERROBANG was MAILED
from Geologic records and NOT from CDBABY. One of our hundreds of
chained indentured interns who troll the internet found the Very
Reverend's blog and decided to act on his request of their own
volition, and NOT after a prompt from CDBABY.

We feel that this is an important detail that ought not to be looked
over when considering the "facts" in the "case" against CD "Baby".

Far be it from us to shill for the corporate yuch machine that is
CDBABY. Screw those guys. Screw 'em with a big black nozzle.

We do recommend however, that you buy Mr. Hrab's latest and besterest
disc entitled INTERROBANG from CDBABY as soon as it is available.

Hey a buck's a buck.

Thanks, and keep on suin'.

Legally yours*

Prof. Whizzo J. Wollsocket, Esq.

*this is not a guarantee or offer, but a colloquial closing.
--

George Hrab
www.geologicrecords.net

Sadly, CDBaby could have avoided all of this if they had at least attempted the happy face stickers. But that ship has set sail.

From the Secret Email Files...

2005-11-11T18:28:00.000-08:00

Dear Mr. Hrab:

Thank you for the nice note on your recent announcement card for the Interrobang CD release concert. As you probably are aware, I have launched a consumer whistleblower campaign against CDBaby.com on my widely read blog. (I have over six regular readers.)

While I cannot make it to the CD release event (due to geographic issues, and the intermittent nature of my ability to astrally project myself--especially in the presence of skeptics), I appreciate your offer and will be enjoying your two previous CD's in lieu of attending your soiree.

However, I advise you that my campaign on CDBaby is quite likely to slow or stall sales, which could result in your becoming collateral damage in this cold war of words.

Sincerely thine,
--
--Rev

Ted Haeger
http://edgarvanpeebles.blogspot.com

Note to My 6+ Readers: This could all go south into an inadvertant harrassment case if I'm not careful.... If the blogs stop for 6-24 months, you'll know why.

Slowly the Goods Come In

2005-11-11T17:42:00.000-08:00

The saga continues...

CDBaby records sent me the CD's. Nevermind the music...did they match the special requests?!

Here are CDBaby's initial grades:

Request: Please put a couple stickers with crudely drawn smiley faces on the back of each jewel case. The stickers can be on the cellophane, but please make sure the smiley faces are only one the back. Extra credit for work done in color.
Grade: F. They didn't even try.

Request: Note that says: "Dear Reverend Ted: It's about damn time that you bought these. Way to keep a girl waiting. I mean, really! --George Hrab" Extra credit for having Mssr Hrab actually sign the note.
Grade: C+. Along with the CD's, CDBaby included a large card with the requested text. The card looked like something that CDBaby uses for thankyou notes and the like. The text was laserprinted on a stick=on label. So, while CDBaby did in fact meet the requirements, the rather obviously re-purposed card retrofit with a label onto which my requested text had been cut and pasted demonstrates a lack of creativity not deserving of a higher grade.

Request: Include a picture of Mssr Hrab dressed in drag and standing on a street corner holding his thumb out as though he were hitching a ride, it would be totally hot. I mean H-O-T. Hot. Thanks.
Grade: F. Even in the face of extreme hotness, they didn't even try.

Update:
A postcard announcing George Hrab's CD release party for Interrobang came in the mail today. On it, signed by Mr. Hrab, was the note I had requested. It was small print in all capitals, but it meets the order well. Therefore, I upgrade CDBaby's evaluation on the second request to B+. However, the extra credit for the signature bumps CDBaby up to a solid A.
For what it's worth, the picture on the postcard was of Mr. Hrab completely naked, except for a pair of red, low-top Converse and a white disk bearing an interrobang (?!) covering his naughty bits. While Mr. Hrab appears to have plenty of time to spend in the gym, CDBaby does not get to count this toward the "Hrab in Drag" request. I'll settle for nothing less than the real deal.

Is a U.S. Scientific Renaissance Coming?

2005-11-09T15:34:00.000-08:00

It's time to check in on how the most anti-science U.S. presidential administration in history is doing in the polls:

Certainly the President's decline in popularity is not primarily due to his attacks on science, but perhaps we can soon reverse the exodus of scientific talent from the United States.

See also:

Bush administration distorts objective scientific knowledge for political ends; top scientists are leaving the U.S.
Bush administration propagates lies to combat scientific findings on global warming
Leading scientific journals question whether political and ideological agenda compromises scientific integrity at federal agencies (PDF link summarizes the full scope of the damage being wrought)

CDBaby Responds (sort of)

2005-11-02T13:38:00.000-08:00

Well, CDBaby responded in kind, although I'm not so sure it was really anything other than their standard message for all orders. Whether they fulfill the special requests I put on my order remains to be seen, but I think we're at least well aligned in humor.

Reverend -
Thanks for your order with CD Baby!

Qty Description Price Total
=== =========== ===== =====
1 GEORGE HRAB: coelacanth $10.00 $10.00
1 GEORGE HRAB: vitriol $10.00 $10.00

Sub Total $20.00
Shipping $3.85
Grand Total $23.85

Your CDs have been gently taken from our CD Baby shelves with sterilized contamination-free gloves and placed onto a satin pillow.

A team of 50 employees inspected your CDs and polished them to make sure they were in the best possible condition before mailing.

Our packing specialist from Japan lit a candle and a hush fell over the crowd as he put your CDs into the finest gold-lined box that money can buy.

We all had a wonderful celebration afterwards and the whole party marched down the street to the post office where the entire town of Portland waved 'Bon Voyage!' to your package, on its way to you, in our private CD Baby jet on this day, Tuesday, November 1st.

I hope you had a wonderful time shopping at CD Baby. We sure did. Your picture is on our wall as "Customer of the Year". We're all exhausted but can't wait for you to come back to CDBABY.COM!!

Thank you once again,

Derek Sivers, president, CD Baby
the little CD store with the best new independent music
phone: 1-800-448-6369
email: cdbaby@cdbaby.com

George Hrab CD's Available Online

2005-10-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

I discovered a tweaked-out musician named George Hrab from the skepticality podcast. His influences are some of my favorite artists, and his music generally has a scientific/skeptical angle, so how could I not get some of his work?

I found his disks are available online, then I noticed that the order process has the following step:

Any special instructions, comments, or questions? Gift-wrapping or a personal card? Tell us now!

So naturally, I made a request:

Please put a couple stickers with crudely drawn smiley faces on the back of each jewel case. The stickers can be on the cellophane, but please make sure the smiley faces are only one the back. Extra credit for work done in color.

Then I read this:

(There's almost no request we can't handle, so feel free to ask, OK?)

So I added:

Also, if you would include a note that says: "Dear Reverend Ted: It's about damn time that you bought these. Way to keep a girl waiting. I mean, really! --George Hrab" Extra credit for having Mssr Hrab actually sign the note.

Thinking about it further, I realized that these requests which I previously thought might seem absurd were actually not that challenging at all...

Finally, if you would include a picture of Mssr Hrab dressed in drag and standing on a street corner holding his thumb out as though he were hitching a ride, it would be totally hot. I mean H-O-T. Hot. Thanks.

I'll let you know outcome.

Kate Moss, Michael Jackson,

2005-09-28T07:51:00.000-07:00

Okay, the whole Kate Moss cocaine hullabaloo incites me to comment on how we make our heroes. Something of the shock over the incident seems very contrived. It smells the same to me as the outrage over the indiscretions for which Michael Jackson was accused. It's unfortunate that so many are as gullible as to accept simply and unquestioningly the personalities that are marketed to us.

Even though I'm still just a leaf on my family tree, I'll indulge in some hubris: here are some ideas for raising children.

Teach your kids how to question the world that well-funded marketing efforts push at them .
Teach them the concept of "hegemony" and how the ideas of the powerful few are manufactured into the ideas of the masses.
Teach them how to ask critical questions, like, "Who benefits from this?" and "Is this person/place/thing really as important as I am being told it is?"
Delineate a difference between "fame" and "greatness," and teach them to select heroes who selflessly instill inspiration rather than are just good at self-promotion.
Spread the meme of skepticism. But also be sure to show how being skeptical does not equal being cynical

At first, I was really disturbed about how much media attention was put on the Michael Jackson case. I saw it as pandering to ratings and media sensationalism about something that should be just another court case. But somewhere in the process, I think while it was being covered on NPR, I an epiphany that turned me around on it. The media coverage exposed how irrational people became in the presence of fame. ("Sure you can sleep over at a middle-aged man's house, son!") And maybe seeing that made some people see the larger picture: that our adulation of the famous is often misplaced, and sometimes can do genuine harm to regular people.

The LiveScience article to which I linked this entry questions whether people really look up to Kate Moss as a role model. On the basic level, I agree with their assertion that no one really does. But on a grander scale, a great many people do in fact weirdly translate "fame" to mean "superior." So this whole Kate Moss thing is just one small example of how engrossed we become in undue cults of personality.

Scientists Unravel Chimpanzee DNA Sequence

2005-08-31T21:05:00.000-07:00

Very cool article at livescience

“We hope that elaborating how few differences separate our species will broaden recognition of our duty to these extraordinary primates that stand as our siblings in the family of life.”

Nice.

Update: Joined the Skeptic Webring--Rejected

2005-08-29T16:41:00.000-07:00

Rejected [If you know the Rancid song, hum along]:
I tried to join the Skeptic Webring. Although I had browsed through some of its linked sites many times, it took a recent "well, duh!" moment for me to realize that I can be just as pompous as the next skeptic, so why not put this blog on it? Well, as you can see from the reply below, my content is apparently not abundantly skeptical, or the reviewer was skeptical about the abundance of skepticism. Personally, I think it's because I took Michael Shermer to task in my review of How We Believe. If I were him, I would have rejected the site more for being abusively tedious. But, what are you gonna do?

Here's a contribution:
For any skeptics that stumble across me through the ring, here is yet another way to find cool web content:

Get the Mozilla Firefox browser. You can use this button:
Get the StumbleUpon plugin. (Tools --> Extensions --> Get more Extensions) This requires you to restart your browser.
Set up a Stumbler account.
Set your preferences to include things like atheism, consciousness, etc
Enjoy stumbling upon new sites with the "Stumble!" button.

Et viola, you can now find cool stuff that the serious web surfers with your interests have already stumbled upon.

Afterthought:
Eventually, I may take off the webring link below. I leave it up for now, since I bear no hard feelings whatsoever about the heartless and cruelly cursory rejection I received. None at all.

Biology 101. Seriously, Biology 101

2005-08-29T10:26:00.000-07:00

Maybe someday I will get a postgraduate degree. Maybe.

Unfortunately, my undergraduate degree in Environmental Studies (B.A., UCSC, 1991) did not involve enough actual science classes. Nice at the time, but now I see that as a serious shortcoming. So, I enrolled in Biology 101 at Utah Valley State College's Wasatch campus. I start class tomorrow night.

Observations

I registerred for class on the web. I paid for registration through the same. I browsed and selected my one class online. It was so convenient, but that only scratches the surface of how information technology has improved higher education.
Multimedia and the Internet has totally changed education. I read the first couple sections of my textbook, then reviewed them through on line tutorials and quizzes.
Textbooks have changed almost as dramatically.

Recently, I visited my friends Phil and Jane Horn in Long Beach, CA. At their house, I perused a Biology 101 text book from the late '80's--a big hard-bound volume densely packed with text. (It remains on their bookshelf. It's hard to part with a book for which you paid so dearly, in both dollars and sweat.)
My textbook is soft-bound, with breathtakingly well done full color diagrams on every page. The text is very straightforward, explaining the concepts in a direct yet conversational voice. Best of all is that it provides relevancy and provokes critical thinking by tying to current biological science-related issues, such as engineered food, heart attacks in teenagers and cholesterol, and so on.
Many of the diagrams appear to have been made using a CAD (Computer-Aided Design) program. For that reason, production of graphics is probably a lot cheaper. More importantly, diagrams can be corrected an updated to the latest scientific findings. For that reason, the book is no longer produced as a huge tome that will stand the test of time on the bookshelves of so many graduates. The quality is still there, but the book feels ephemeral, which (to me) works much better with the spirit of science. Things change. We learn and discover. Scientific knowledge will grow and change. What need is there for a textbook that feels so cannonical, so much like "the final word?"

I will attend this class with the class of 2009--making 1987 birth year for most of this freshman class. 1987 is the year I graduated highschool and subsequently entered college.
I have talked a lot with Janice Patten, my stepmother, about how much students complained about the reading workloads in her literature clasess. (She specialized in literature for young adults.) I am eager to hear the first complaint, so that I can launch into my best "when I was your age" diatribe.

Bush and the Grand Obfuscation

2005-08-02T14:56:00.000-07:00

If God had meant for us to believe in Intelligent Design, he would have given us an actual theory to study for it. ID offers no theory other than "we don't know how it's possible, so only God could have done it."

Unfortunately, President Bush does not understand what a scientific theory is. Of course, the distinction is unimportant to the President. He got to where he is not by demonstrating worldly knowledge, but on being aligned with his voting constituency for his political support. Even if he knew the distinction, it would be politically unfavorable to clarify it. So, obfuscation it is.

Nevertheless, I think that we should teach Intelligent Design. It could be a great tool for teaching critical thinking. But to get this Darwinian's backing, we have to agree on these terms here.

--Rev

Modern Chinese Water Torture

2005-07-22T08:54:00.000-07:00

I lost my employee badge recently, so yeserday I finally went to get it replaced. The security office is out in one of the older 1980's era buildings, in a windowless room with several video monitors of cameras panning different sections of the Provo campus. When I got to the door (solid, no windows, of course), I could hear rock music of some sort playing inside.

I knocked. Then, I knocked a little louder. When the lone security guy opened and let me in. As he made my badge, I found the source of the music. The guy had Fox News on, playing perhaps only slightly louder than it needed to be. What I had heard had been the exciting music of some commercial.

Now, imagine being locked in a windowless room with Fox News for eight hours a day. If it didn't drive you mad, it would have to reconfigure how your mind works. Perhaps Steven Pinker should look into this.

Soon, the program was back on, with some terrorism expert being interviewed about yesterday's second bombing attempts in London. Most of the dialog centered around the Fox News guy asking many pressing questions about how extremely unsafe the world is and the need for a stronger police state. At the bottom of the screen in large letters was a simple segment title: "Terror in London." (As opposed to using a more emotionally-neutral "Terrorism in London.")

It took a while for the badge making machine to warm up, so I suffered through to the next commercial break. First commercial? WWE profressional wrestling. So I pointed out to the guy that perhaps if professional wrestling advertisments target the viewing audience of your news channel, then there could be a parallel between the two different media. He smiled and sort of acknowledged what I had said without taking any visible offense.

Maybe Fox News should have some kind of Sugeon General's warning. "Prolonged exposure can lead to unhealthy levels of credulity and destroy your natural defense systems that rely on healthy skepticism."

My First Book Review

2005-05-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

I have started blogging book reviews. To keep it from cluttering my regular blog, I have started yet another blogspot blog URL. My first review is of Harry G. Frankfurt's On Bullshit.

Dad's Birthday

2005-05-11T13:20:00.000-07:00

with my Dad
Originally uploaded by thaeger.

It's my Dad's birthday today. My dad is Jack Haeger, former Chair of the English Department at San Jose State University. He's now retired and spends his time playing bridge and goofing around in Baja, where he and his wife have a condo.
Happy birthday, Dad!

Ebu Gogo (again)

2005-05-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

This one continues to fascinate me: Is the Homo floresensis find actually a new species of human, or a merely a diminutive H. sapiens sapiens?

Carl Zimmer's blog entry on this sheds some light, with a translated article from the Indonesian press, and further enrichment provided in the reader comments.

Zimmer's blogs on this subject are very thorough, so I'll leave the rest to him.

Friends of the Evolution

2005-04-22T07:51:00.000-07:00

My friend Scott read a lengthy entry on my professional blog and sent me an email saying: "You saw a good National Geographic program on human evolution and you didn't tell me about it?!"

How cool is it to have friends that are offended when you don't tell them about something evolution-related!

Cave Tarantula, Madagascar

2005-04-20T10:25:00.000-07:00

Cave Spider, Madagascar

Originally uploaded by
thaeger
.

I took a trip to Madagascar in October of 2001. While there, I visited the Ankarana site, where a huge limestone massif rises from the landscape. The formation is riddled with caves and other formations, such as tsingy (a geologic term that comes directly from Malagasy). I snapped this photo while walking through an vast cave, on the floor of which was a gigantic dune of bat guano.

Not long ago, Nova ran an episode called "Secrets of the Crocodile Caves" showing the very same species. They referred briefly to spider as "this poisonous tarantula." (Which is a little disconcerting, since I tried to get a for-scale shot of it by putting my thumb next to it.)

I'm curious to see whether anyone knows more about this particular spider. Has it been studied at all?

Post Costa Rica

2005-04-09T13:09:00.000-07:00

Now on the return flight from Costa Rica. Kim and I had a great time at Drake Bay, and really did not want to leave when our time came up.

I got my first chance to use the PADI open water dive certification that I got a year ago. The dives were spectacular, and one of the experienced divers (divemaster with over 400 dives) told me that I was probably going to have inflated expectations going into my next dive. We saw Moray Eels in good number, and on each of the four dives we saw several white-tipped sharks calmly cruising the reef or idling on the sandy bottom. Fishes there numbered in the thousands per school and the variety was staggering. Best of all was that I got to swim with a Pacific Giant Manta on my first and second dive. It was absolutely amazing.

The Resplendent Quetzal

2005-03-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

Thirteen years ago, just after graduating from my university and still not very well employed, I decided to take a trip to Guatemala to learn to speak Spanish. I spent a month there, most of it in Antigua at a language school that purports to use it's proceeds for studying and preserving some of the native languages of the Maya's descendents.

On the final week there, I chose to travel and see the country. One of the places I briefly visited was the Biotope del Quetzal, a biological reserve specifically intended for the preservation of the Resplendent Quetzal, a rather fantastic looking bird that dwells exclusively in the highland cloudforests of Central America.

Prior to going to Guatemala, I read John Maslow's Bird of Life, Bird of Death, a naturalist's travelogue from the tumultuous nineteen eighties, when the Guatemalan people were suffering a reign of terror that resulted from the tensions between paranoid neofascism and socialist-leaning rebels, and fueled by the Reagan administration's big stick policy that tore apart the entire region. (This was a period during which the Spanish verb for "to disappear" became a noun used to refer to people abductedand murdered, sometimes en masse--by the army. Trials are finally being conducted to bring to justice some of these crimes, although many of the people are reluctant to bear witness, still haunted by the not-so-distant past.)

Anyway, Maslow's story of his quest to see the endangered Quetzal left me with an itch to see this beautiful bird, and my journey thirteen years ago left me unfulfilled. I saw no Quetzals. I did see a huge beetle that was nearly the size of my fist. And, I saw the cloudforest, albeit very briefly as my traveling companion, an intense Israeli from Tel Aviv, didn't really grasp what my fascination for the place was all about.

Today, in Costa Rica's Monteverde cloudforest reserve, I finally fulfilled this thirteen year yen to see the Resplendent Quetzal. (Not without some inconvenient false starts, such as accidentally getting on the wrong bus and starting out for the distant capitol city of San Jose insteadof getting the early start to the reserve that my wife and I had originally intended.) We saw a pair, a male and a female, low in the trees, not far from the trail. One of the guides told us that they were probably seeking a tree cavity to make into a nesting site.

My wife asked whether finally seeing the bird left me feeling fulfilled. I told her that I wanted to see a Three-wattled Bell Bird.

The Perfect Day

2005-03-26T05:49:00.000-08:00

Looking out my front windows across the I-80 corridor through the outskirts of Park City, after a fresh fall of spring snow, I see clear skies and bright sun over a white, crystalline world.

I just came off of the busiest work week my company has to offer, the Novell BrainShare conference in Salt Lake City.

This morning, at 7:00 am, the day before I go on a two-week vacation, I bathe in anticipation not for my vacation, but for a morning of nirvahna on the mountain slopes. Clear skies, fresh powder, my Neversummer, and no serious responsibilities on my mind.

Everything is oh-so-good.

Randall Terry is an Idiot

2005-03-19T09:20:00.000-08:00

Randall Terry is infected with a mental virus that has completely impaired his ability to make cognitive sense of the world.

In the name of an allegedly existent god, Terry has been campaigning against American rights to birth control for decades. Now, he has taken up a misguided campaign to save Terri Schiavo, a brain-damaged woman who has recently been taken off the life support systems that have sustained her since her heart failure 15 years ago.

This is religious zealotry at its worst. Terry is making a political issue out of our right to die with dignity.

If you truly consider yourself to be "pro-life," please start working on issues that can save hundreds of thousands rather than individuals. Consider joining the fight against HIV, or erradication polio once and for all. Consider helping to solve automobile safety issues--how many children each year die in automobile-related accidents?

If Terry were really interested in the lives of people, he would devote himself to a more effective and meaningful expression for his cause. Why doesn't he? Because he is mentally ill. He is infected with a severe mental virus that drastically affects his behavior. This virus is the Biblical literalism virus that has grabbed the minds and now controls the actions of conservative Christians.

To be clear, we are all infected with different mental viruses, and each of us are driven by these viruses in different ways. I am infected with the scientific rationalism virus--one I personally think is actually a benign virus. It allows people to look at other mental viruses--like extremist religious convictions--objectively.

Very few medical doctors would likely state that holding a religious perspective is a type of mental illness. Questioning a person's religious beliefs remains the last great taboo we have yet to overcome.

Understanding:
To get more of where I am coming from:

On "belief": read this interview with the great Douglas Adams, now dead, and certainly not in Heaven nor Hell, but simply dead (and missed by many of his adoring fans)
On "mental viruses":

read the excellent essay by Richard Dawkins, "Viruses of the Mind"
or innoculate your mind with beneficial viruses by reading Richard Brodie's book by a similar name

Return of the Cranes

2005-03-11T07:52:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, my local snowboarding buddyErin and I were bemoaning the warm weather and rapid deterioration of the Park City snow base. I hate the decline of winter.

On my commute to work this morning, as I was turning toward Midway, Utah on my way to Provo, I saw my first Sandhill Cranes of the year, three of them flying over the Provo River. For a few thrilling moments, I completely forgot about winter's end as spring's emergence eclipsed everything else.

More Blogger Woes: Trackbacks

2005-03-06T16:35:00.000-08:00

Having previously blogged my woe over Blogger making superstition compulsory (see "Astrology Sucks"), I am now faced with another Blogger shortfall: no trackbacks.

I'm not an extensive researcher when I get into a lot of things. This means that I often make misteps and muddle my way toward efficiency. When I started blogging, I began by signing onto a free blog site, thinking "What the heck! It's free!"

Since that time I have learned a lot more about blogging. Trackbacks took me a long time to figure out, and I finally figured out why they're so hard to figure out. I got the concept right away. The use was what counfounded me. It turns out that I could not figure it because Blogger has no support for them.

This might be the last straw. I want to start publishing some book reviews, but while I'm facing transition, I am holding back on writing things I really should write up. I suppose that I have to actually do the research to get a better site for my blog. I'm looking over an article, but with so many individual blogs, figuring out the search term to produce better comparative resources has been tough. Anyone got any suggestions?

Great Apes Under Pressure

2005-03-05T06:50:00.000-08:00

Two articles I read this morning regarding preservation or loss of our great ape evolutionary siblings.

The first focuses on how Orangutans may be gone by 2025.

The second is about United Nations appeals and efforts to save all the great apes.

Truth Cramps the Mind

2005-03-04T12:34:00.000-08:00

My colleague Tracy Thayne has a blog called "My True Words." I recently posted comments on the concept of "True." I did it anonymously because I want to see if he recognizes who published it.

Truth Cramps the Mind

Ultimately, the similar concepts of "truth" and "true" form a distraction from real understanding. The idea that something is "true" locks our minds from considering new information.

Newtonian physics was considered "true" for hundreds of years. Einstein's Relativity, which modified and expanded our understanding of Newtonian theory, met staunch resistance from the scientific community in part due to necessary scientific skepticism, but also in part because scientific minds, hardened by truth, would not accept the new theory. Progress was slowed due to a dogmatic adherence to truth.

On the extreme, Theistic worldviews persist without evidence of a supreme being because "it is written" as Truth.
The idea of "true" ends up functioning as a mental handicap, preventing people from rationally questioning the world's most popular superstition.

Scientific knowledge, or understanding, is predicated on evidence and counter-evidence. Evidence does not really lead to truth, despite that we are typically taught in school that what science has revealed to us is in fact "true." Science aggregates evidence to come up with understanding. However, any real scientific understanding is never proven as so "true" that it cannot be modified or, on rare occasions, even overturned.

When we take things as our best understanding, our minds are free to accept new ideas and evidence. This forms the difference between religious obstinacy and a healthy adaptable worldview.

President Bush Smoked Marijuana

2005-02-26T06:03:00.000-08:00

The evidence is pretty solid: George W. Bush was a pot smoker. Indeed, marijuana is a gateway drug leading straight to the Presidency.

The Founding Secularists

2005-02-26T05:18:00.000-08:00

Some months ago, I found myself in a debate with a couple Mormons who insisted that the Bill of Rights was a thinly disguised re-write of the Ten Commandments. (The whole of the conversation started somehow with gay rights in Canada and found its way to a now-well-known American courthouse controversy over housing the Ten Commandments.)

What was startling about the conversation is that these two guys really believed that the founding fathers were deeply Christian. The Net has a lot of debate on this, but ultimately it seems to me that we need to ask: How much God did the framers of our nation's founding documents put into those documents.

It turns out that the answer is: suspiciously little. I ran across an article from The Nation called "Our Godless Constitution" that calls out certain Orwellian techniques used by the Bush administration, and shows that the current administration has ascribed their own religious views to these men who were atheists, Deists and, yes, in some cases Christians.

But, really, there isn't much point in debating who or what the founding fathers were, is there? They provided us with a framework that, if taken seriously, alows us to adaptively self-govern. In one of his serious moments during an interview, Jon Stewart pointed out that the framers of the constitution put down what they thought was best for their time, with provisions for changing what they may not have gotten right. Yet, still we somehow raise these men to a legendary status, as though their intents were possibly even infallible.

In the conversation with the two Mormons, I got suckered into a false debate: were the founding fathers Christian. I think there is plenty of evidence that they were not. But, really, what does that matter? Unless we accept them as infallible--Gods themselves--shouldn't we look at their work as a monumental work-in-progress. Doesn't the other view--that their words and work is the final say in governance--elevate these mere men dangerously close to a violation of the First Commandment?

Celebrity Atheists

2005-02-25T19:48:00.000-08:00

Cool!

Intermission

2005-02-24T05:16:00.000-08:00

I haven't been posting throughout the month of February. I've been a more active in my professional blog lately. ("Professional" as in "work-related" as opposed to "professional" meaning "maintaining an air of polished professionalism.")

Ashcroft, Inauguration and Let the Eagle Soar

2005-01-28T22:16:00.000-08:00

At the presidential inauguration ceremony of 2005, John Ashcroft sang his song Let the Eagle Soar.

This is a new low in patriotic and God-invoking propaganda. Have we acheived National Socialism yet?

B-A-R-F!

Victoria Birds

2005-01-28T21:07:00.000-08:00

Well, it happened. Goal complete. Superb Fairy-wren found. Ahhhh.

I'm in Australia for the first time, and since I'm on a disappointingly short business trip here, I chose a small goal bird for this trip. Simply to see a Superb Fairy-wren. I had tried to see one near the Yarra river in Melbourne, but that didn't happen.

Now I am at Aitken Hill conference center, and they have some nice, landscaped grounds with a few small ponds and a little riparian-ish area. It's nice to walk around, with several bird species to see. (I also saw a kangaroo yesterday.) Several Fairy-wrens were in the area, males and females.

One thing I noticed is that there are several superlative Fairy-wrens in the Australian bird list: Splendid Fairy-wrens, Lovely Fairy-wrens. Makes one wonder about the other birds who don't get a nice descriptor. I mean, there's no "Mediocre" Fairy-wren. The Variegated Fairy-wren sure got dealt a lousy moniker.

Here's the some other birds I have seen at Aitken Hill. Photos are credited via html links back to their source pages.

Pacific Black Duck

Hardhead

Masked Lapwing

Eastern Rosella
"

Willie Wagtail
"

White-plumed Honeyeater
"

Crested Pigeon
"

Science is Taught Wrong

2005-01-28T20:55:00.000-08:00

I have reached a point where I realize that I was taught Science completely the wrong way. And, frankly, I'm a little bent about it.

My junior high science teacher, Mr. Hiroshi, taught us some basics on how protons and electrons always come in equal proportions in an atom, and how neutrons can make the atomic weight greater. But there was some symmetry in the math that was interesting, but overall, there was not much relevance to the topic. I now know that this is part of the Quantum theory, albeit hugely simplified. But what we learned was not deep. It was shallow. The curriculum was tired, and dumbed down. But far worse was that it was not relevant to the world of an eighth grader.

I don't think that Mr. Hiroshi was the problem; he was actually one of the more engaging teachers at Joseph George middle school. But I don't think he was provided a good curriculum, nor a way to connect this strange subject to its grand significance to our existence.

Now, my highschool biology teacher was miserable. And the way we learned biology was also miserable. That experience made me avoid taking science courses in college. While I took interest in the findings of science--something my parents instilled in me at an early age--public school curriculum established in my mind that science classes are tedious.

If I could design a high school biology curriculum, the first thing I would teach in the program would be about viruses. What these simple genetic programs do is amazing. They invade cells and hijack the DNA replicating machinery within to make copies of themselves. They hijack other cellular machinery to create protein casings for the replicants, and those casings provide the mechanism for invading yet other cells. The weirdest thing is that viruses are by and large considered to be inanimate: Scientific American recently ran a cover story called "Are viruses alive?"

This first subject of viruses opens up several exploration paths. One of immediate interest for kicking off the course is that viruses are relevant. HIV is, in fact, very relevant to high school children. Influenza is, too, for that matter. The latter example is something they can connect to. And it could increase the impact of talking about the former. But, they also give a mechanism to talk about what biology is--the study of life--by introducing whether viruses are alive or not.

Viruses as an early subject also gets immediate practical examples of how evolution works, introducing the subject on the small-scale, where it is manageable, immediately evident, and proveable with real-world examples. Some call this "micro-evolution." So be it. Save the big implications of evolution for later. Get the fundamentals of the theory in place first.

Virus as an intro also sets you up to teach about sex very naturally. Through viruses, you've covered how cells work. From that point on, you can get into cellular reproduction at any time.

Viruses do present a problem as a first subject, though. How do you introduce the subject without having to explain a mass of other concepts. For examples, the concept of cells isn't necessarily known to students at that age. So, what are these "cell" things that viruses use? Nevertheless, I think this problem can easily be solved. Perhaps start with how computer viruses spread (they're short programs that tell machines to reproduce the short programs, and most first world students would get the concept).

You could devise some in-class excercises, too. You could start by giving every student a blank sheet of paper, except one, who gets a sheet that says, "Tell two people to write down this exact sentence on their sheet of paper." It would spread through the room, even though you never gave verbal instruction to do so. Example shown: It doesn't take much instruction to get machinery working for a virus. At the end of the copying, you could grab students' attention by telling them that you planted a virus on one of the sheets of paper. Subject begun; attention grabbed. There's probably even a clever teaching angle you could get with the couple of kids who try to thwart the activity by not cooperating or changing the sentence text. (Copying infidelities are mutations; non-cooperation is actually resistance to the infection!)

Why shouldn't learning science be made fun?

Perhaps a part of what holds back biology classes from really excelling is U.S. cultural resistance to evolution. You cannot discuss how biology really works without a grasp of evolutionary theory. [Aside: The implications to how we teach sex education would be enormous if we could just show how human behavior is part of such a larger system.]

I have not heard about how great biology (or any other sub-discipline of science) classes are in other countries, so maybe this is a worldwide phenomenon.

Fairy Wren Update from Down Under

2005-01-27T13:30:00.000-08:00

Okay...I went on a walk with Ed Anderson along the Yarra River in Melbourne yesterday. No Superb Fairy Wrens...

This Just in: Larry King is Satan*

2005-01-25T19:20:00.000-08:00

I'm waiting in an airport under the big CNN-o-vision, and Larry King is on. The guest is husband of a teacher who had sex with her 14-year-old student. Let's put aside how absurd it is that someone would go on a news program to talk openly about how his wife cheated on him with a 14-year-old so that we can get right to the matter.

How on earth does Larry King purport to be a newsman?

There are wars and genocides going on in the world. There are diseases to cure. We're landing exploring machines on other worlds. There is so much going on that is news. People's sick fascination with such trash is one thing, but dressing it up as news is absolutely immoral.

Can somebody please wake America up? We're turning into a culture of trash.

New rule: Being au courant doesn't count if your news source is anything on TV. Except The Daily Show with Jon Stewart cuz that shit's just funny.

*Larry King is Satan according to my personal belief system, and is probably not the real Lucifer, Judeo-Christian embodiment of pure evil.

Reverend Ted's Politics

2005-01-25T06:41:00.000-08:00

On Murky.org's blog I found a biographical entry for the Political Compass that was rather interesting to me. It tries to replace the over-simplified left-right political spectrum with a two-dimensional map.

I come out as this:

Economic Left/Right: -3.25
Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -4.82

I suppose that is to say that I lean toward a liberal/libertarian political view.

So, oversimplified political classifications still suck.

One thing that my test results indicate is that my political views will probably keep me out of politics; not authoritarian enough it appears. However, I've got Nelson Mandela and the Dalai Lama in the same quadrant as me...not sure if the latter is such a good thing, but Mandela's pretty cool.

Teach the Controversy? Hell yes!

2005-01-24T14:37:00.000-08:00

Fairly often I see pro-Darwinian evolution essays and articles railing against Intelligent Design being taught in our schools. These advocates for Evolution attempt to gun down the teaching of Intelligent Design in schools because it's bad science. Perhaps they're going about it backwards.

Under the banner of Intelligent Design, or ID, creationists assert that since there is disagreement about the veracity of Darwinian evolution, schools should "teach the controversy" about the subject. They claim that ID is shut out of the scientific dialog without due consideration.

While I agree with most the pro-evolution stance that the controversy is not actually a scientific controversy, and therefore the controversy should not be taught in schools, I think this may be worth considering a valid subject in the science classroom.

Of course, there would have to be some ground rules:

The controversy that the Intelligent Design band is actually trying to perpetuate is that the universe has features that are irreducibly complex. To them, it is the evidence for this argument that should be taught. We can grant that, as long as...
If we're going to bring in this counter-evidence, then the counter-evidence gets thorough examination. The dogmatic evidence against Darwinian evolution usually has fairly straightforward ways to discredit. (The eye remains one of the creationist's common counter-points, despite that it has long-since been shown to be an entirely vapid argument.) We should foster a healthy scientific framework that teaches children to have a skeptical worldview of all grandiose claims about how the universe exists. But that means...
Science must be defined to children as an ongoing human quest to completely understand how the universe works. That means that in science there are no taboo questions, including whether God exists or not. Subsequently...
Schools are required to get to the heart of the matter: It's not "Intelligent Design or Evolution." It's "God or no God." (And I assure you that the "no God" camp will have some pretty compelling points, given the skeptical framework that we would be teaching children...) What that means is...
"Is there a God?" specifically gets addressed, with scientific inquiry on how one could prove or disprove God's existence. (And I'm cool with an inconclusive answer, so long as we teach genuine critical thinking to our children.)

What I am saying is, yes, let's get the controversy into the classroom. Indeed, the majority of the world's people believe in some kind of god. Part of living in this world means that your life will have government-imposed laws based upon belief in one religious doctrine or another. Understanding the case for God is really a fundamental part of life. So, shouldn't we be educating children on this strange concept of God and whether it holds any water?

Back to Flores: Why "Hobbits?"

2005-01-23T21:21:00.000-08:00

My previous post gives more details on the discovery of Homo floresensis. One thing I did not mention was the ridiculous common name given to the creature discovered. The researchers are call their staggering H. floresensis find a "hobbit."

What a way to belittle what will perhaps be your life's greatest acheivement.

Ebu Gogo and the Giant Chimpanzees

2005-01-23T19:45:00.000-08:00

While searching for a name for an open source project that I working on with Nat Friedman, I got into some casual web reading on great apes--our closest relatives; the family of creatures to which we humans belong.

Homo floresensis, the recently discovered contemporary to our own species, Homo sapiens, fills me with wonder. As recently as 13,000 years ago, we had a tiny contemporary that--by our own taxonomic methods--shared our same genus and may have lived side by side with modern humans. Evidence excavated from Liang Bua on the island of Flores, Indonesia, lays out the case with at least one relatively complete skeleton and the remains of five others. The most recent Scientific American featured a summary of the find, as well as made it the cover subject.

Now, as it turns out, there is an outside chance that the species either existed up to even more recent times, or could even still exist. The people of the island of Flores have oral traditions of a small, human-like creature that they call "Ebu Gogo" that lives on the island. The Floresians' stories go so far as to recount recent interactions with the creatures. Certainly, I'm a strong believer that scientifically-minded skepticism is the best route when it comes to cryptozoological claims--especially those that involve of any mysterious human-like creatures. The likely case is that the people of Flores simply have Ebu Gogo as their own local skunk ape legend.

Of similar interest is a potentially new species of ape that was recently discovered in Africa. In the Democratic Republic of Congo (yes, the Congo still can play the clichéd role as deepest, darkest Africa), a giant chimpanzee has recently been discovered. They are enough unlike chimpanzees and gorillas to be considered possibly a new species of great ape.

In either case—whether a new species of great ape, or another human species somehow still living in our shadow—what would we do? Would there not be an incredible biological imperative to preserve them from destruction at our own hands? In the case of the potentially new ape turning out to be real, we might have some serious issues. The Congo is a war-torn country—natural preservation seldom fares well in the face of human strife. Also, our record for preserving species—even those most closely related to us—is not very good. The great apes seem to have no special preservation standing with us.

A new, living species of Homo suddenly turning up could create deep, deep challenges for us as a species, because Homo means intelligent. What would we do? How would religious fundamentalists (Christian, Muslim, or others of the monotheist creation myth) deal with the news? How would scientists manage to both study and preserve the dignity of such a species?

It is unlikely that the Ebu Gogo legend will produce a living H. floresensis for us to ever find out the answers to these and many other questions. One thing is now fairly certain, though: we Homo sapiens have lived alongside at least two Homo contemporaries (H. erectus, H. neanderthalensis) and perhaps now one more (H. floresensis). Homo sapiens emerged dominant from the various types of Homo on which evolution was tinkering. Now we are the only species we know of that is stretching out to explore the laws of the universe that begat us. We can look now at the still-emerging evidence of our own evolutionary history, and also that of our generic contemporaries, and part of the wonder is necessarily sober and somber: At what cost have we succeeded as a species?

Hubble Trouble: Isn't this just what we as a species do?

2005-01-21T17:59:00.000-08:00

I just saw something on slashdot about a hubble service mission not happening because of funding. This is bizarre. How could we possibly not have money for servicing the Hubble?! Isn't this obviously a primary occupation of our species? In our priviledged role of being matter-lucky-enough-to-have-intelligent-consciousness, isn't it our duty to explore the universe and appreciate its wonders? I mean, I really don't get it.

It turns out that our President, George W. Bush, line-itemed it out of the budget. How can he claim to be a man of God when he spurns one of the great tools for studying Creation? I for one am deeply more devout than this man. I seriously don't get it.

Acts of God

2005-01-17T18:00:00.000-08:00

I heard this at the the Amazing Meeting 3:

~"The tsumani tragedies were NOT an act of God, but the terrorist attacks of 9/11 were."

Dawkins cites Sagan

2005-01-16T07:49:00.000-08:00

In his keynote address at JREF's Amazing Meeting 3, Richard Dawkins cited a quote that I really liked from Carl Sagan's Pale Blue Dot: A Vision Of The Human Future In Space:

In some respects, science has far surpassed religion in delivering awe. How is it that hardly any major religion has looked at science and concluded, “This is better than we thought! The universe is much bigger than our prophets said, grander, more subtle, more elegant. God must be even greater than we dreamed.” Instead they say, “No, no, no! My god is a little god, and I want him to stay that way.” A religion, old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths. Sooner or later such a religion will emerge.

This is the kind of stuff that attendees and presenters at this conference discuss. If you're like-minded or curious about the points-of-view of so-called free thinkers, delve into the links above.

So many Atheists

2005-01-14T17:40:00.000-08:00

Most surprising about the conference I'm at: so many people who are outspoken atheists here.

I guess I was expecting it to be a quietly-known subject. Now, thinking about it, having been here for a bit, I realize that the whole God thing is the biggest societal deliusion, and has the deepest impact on how people live their lives--even choose their politics and politicians--left. All the others, from cryptozoology to astrology to ufology, are pretty much the irrelevant fringe.

Julia Sweeney's "Letting Go of God" performance last night was brilliant.

Meeting Dr. Dawkins

2005-01-14T16:53:00.000-08:00

At the James Randi Educational Foundation's "The Amazing Meeting 3," Richard Dawkins--one of the most inspirational thinkers I know--is a headline speaker.

As it happens, I went out of the convention hall to take a call during a presentation. After the call, I noticed that Richard Dawkins was looking over an exhibit of optical illusary sculptures.

So, I sidled in when he was alone and looked possibly receptive to conversation, and with considerable trepidation I asked something like, "Would you be okay with one of your fans coming up and mobbing you?"

Dawkins replied to me something to the affect of: I'm not really sure if I have the right angle. Referring to how he was looking at one of the illusions. It was an awkward reply. Apparently, he had not understood what I had said to him at all.

So there I was, having had a complete collapse in the arc of communication with the man with whom I have most wanted to have a conversation for quite some time. It reminded me most of how it felt, in adolesence, to ask a girl to dance.

The Amazing Meeting

2005-01-12T20:36:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow I head to "the Amazing Meeting"--James Randi's conference for skeptical inquiry (of all paranormal, anti-scientific mental boogeymen).

Richard Dawkins is speaking. If you have not read anything by Dawkins, you're missing one of the most lucid big thinkers of our time. He's frequently compared in eloquence to Carl Sagan, but honestly, I think he's even better.

Australia Bound?

2005-01-05T16:00:00.000-08:00

I might get to take a short trip to Australia. Never been there before. It would be a business trip to Melbourne. Of course, the first question is: what birds are there.

It turns out that this little jewel, the Superb Fairy-wren is found right there in the city. This could be good.

Titan's Atmosphere

2005-01-04T10:19:00.000-08:00

This photo of Titan's atmosphere from from NASA's Cassini mission I find fascinating.

The text and image can be found here.

Update on the Snowboard Quest

2005-01-03T08:39:00.000-08:00

I got a sweet new snowboard.

It's a Never Summer Legacy. Looks a little like this:

But it's the performance I'm hooked on. New Years Day was an incredible day at the Canyons, and I got my first chance to take the board out in deep powder. My buddy Erin said that on that board I am finally fun to ride with.

My old board was a K2 "Fat Bob." Here's a comparison review from a boarder who made the same switch.

Hitchcock of Manchuria

2004-12-30T20:06:00.000-08:00

Dear Robyn Hitchcock:

Over the holiday break, my wife and I watched The Manchurian Candidate. You know, not the old one, but the new one, the one that you are in. Anyway, we rather liked the movie, but there was a problem. Whenever you showed up on screen in your quaint little cameo appearances, my wife had to bear through hearing me remark again and again that "that's Robyn Hitchcock!" in self-congratulatory, I-know-something-about-who's-who satisfaction.

Let's get this straightened out, shall we? You are perhaps my favorite singer/songwriter. Your songs have seen me through great and rough times. I faithfully purchase nearly every CD you have released--even those that we both know are pretty much just the filling in around your more exceptional works. I have been to two of your shows in San Francisco and one in Seattle. Fan I am. Okay?

But here's the thing: You're not in movies.

To be clear, it's not that there was anything wrong with your performance in the movie. It seemed to me that it went pretty well. But I cannot ightly tell because I was not thinking "is that guy playing the role well?" Instead I was thinking: "Is Robyn Hitchcock playing this role well?"

You see the problem. You're Robyn Hitchcock. Not an actor. When Willem Dafoe plays a cameo role, we can all see that it's Willem Dafoe, but it's kind of like just a little tiny background voice saying, "oh, there's Willem Dafoe." Like, that's supposed to happen. But when Robyn Hitchcock appears in any movie that is not directed by Jonathan Demme, it's distracting. Stay in your proper context.

Okay, then.

Your #1 fan,

--Ted Haeger

Update, 06 Jan 04: The Manchurian Candidate was directed by Jonathan Demme, thus confirming that I am indeed a complete ass.

Career Monkey

2004-12-22T20:31:00.000-08:00

I have a great job by most people's standards.

I often think I should change up careers...maybe go back into the National Park Service. This corporate world thing has a lot of bullshit burdens to it. Should I be doing something else? Maybe I should be teaching. I like to teach.

I have to remind myself pretty often that part of being human is that there is this constant mental tension created by the fact that we're all the result of a 3.5+ billion year long competition. Makes it hard to live a restful existence when we're all deeply programmed to be dissatisfied with what we have.

I like the Taoist view of this. Some Taoists characterize this tension as the Monkey, archetypal representation. The Monkey tugs at our attention, is constantly distracting us. The Monkey is one of the parts of all our personalities, at least in one metaphorical part. Once you understand the Monkey and his influence on you, you can more effectively ignore him by acknowledging his influence, and just being aware of its influence.

Getting in touch with the Monkey is easy. Whenever you have a thought that distracts you or seems to say "I'm bored," that's the Monkey acting up.

I now better understand the Monkey's origins in the fact that our minds result from forces of evolution on our genes, and by memetic competition for space in our minds. But I still find the Monkey a useful model for dealing with uncertainties. When these "what should I being doing instead?" thoughts start to gather, I look into the face of the Monkey to see how serious he is. So far, he's still just fucking around.

Grave Matters

2004-12-21T18:43:00.000-08:00

My blog entries so far seem so serious. Too serious. Suspiciously serious. This is not how I talk in real life. Something's gotta change.

MWM Seeks Snowboard for Clandestine Getaways

2004-12-21T18:24:00.000-08:00

When Kim and I moved to Park City a couple years ago, I decided that I should try out snowboarding. So like any good American, I went and laid out a couple thousand dollars on equipment for a new sport before I really knew what I needed.

Fortunately I shop at Recreation Equipment Incorporated, which has about the most approachable and knowledgable employees to help with any of your most common outdoor activities for the true nature-lover. They got me into a beginning0-to-intermediate set-up that I have used for a couple winters and have now started to outgrow.

Next on the list is a good board for powder days. (If you live in Utah, having specific-use boards makes sense.) So I'm looking at the K2 Ambush, the Burton Malolo, or a similar Burton board whose name escapes me. I'll probably get this one at Salty Peaks in Salt Lake City. They have demo boards for rent, and at the going rate, I'm now thinking that try before you buy is a good policy.

Pat Buchanan and Wal-Mart

2004-12-19T14:40:00.000-08:00

I recently listened to Pat Buchanan's audiobook Where the Right Went Wrong. I'm not a conservative seeking validation of my beliefs and positions, but neither am I a liberal who believes that conservatives are flatly wrong. So, I thought this would be a great way to see the conservative voice of dissent from Bush's presidency.

I have never had a high opinion of Buchanan, knowing that he advocates xenophobia as part of national policy, and I feel it is careful inclusion that brought the United States to such prominence. I came away from listening to his book with a richer understanding of his views on conservatism. He's still a xenophobe, but I respect him in that he has perfect clarity on what he believes and why. Buchanan's beliefs are out on the table. I think him to be honest in his convictions.

I also agree with him on some issues. I'm coming to understand more and more that globalization has some serious down-sides. Where I would counter Buchanan is that a laissez-faire policy for business is what has allowed corporations to take over personal freedoms. Time and again, Buchanan points to centralized power in Washington, particularly in the hands of the Supreme Court, as being the root of America's problems. Buchanan also points out that the neo-conservatives are as much or more to blame for this as the liberals are. But Buchanan misses the mark a little as he lets big corporations off the hook in his analysis.

The PBS investigative media journal Frontline recently ran an edition called "Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" that covered how Wal-Mart bullies its suppliers into ever lower prices, sometimes forcing their closure or move to overseas production in China. As I watched this I started to think about Pat Buchanan's words about how globalization indeed brings in lower price products but export jobs from the U.S., driving down wages until those inexpensive Chinese goods don't seem so inexpensive any more. In a free world market, Wal-Mart is single-handedly demonstrating that this process is well underway. Wal-Mart may lead, but it is only a leader in a multi-industry phenomenon that is drives U.S. manufacturing jobs to China.

But I did not get much of an impression that Buchanan faults business for this. He seems to lay it entirely on the government. Is it so simple as that governement trade policy sets the arena in which corporations exist, sets the tone for their behavior? I think it's more than that. Corporations can push their trade agendas because corporations are not merely economic entities. They are political entities. We have allowed them to become so, and we do little to curb their political power. It would take a mass movement of people to unseat the corporate hegemony that now controls the national political dialog. Where are you with that, Mr. Buchanan?

Buchanan is now out on the conservative fringe, his party having been hijacked and radicalized by weird neo-conservatives and Christian fundamentalists. He comes at the Wal-Marting of America from a clear and definitive angle, so I like the integrity of his approach. But he overlooks the obvious thing that his near antithesis, Ralph Nader, seeems to see clearly. Government is in the hands of corporations--big business--both directly (Cheny/Halliburton?) and indirectly (corporate lobbyists pushing business agendas).

New Birds

2004-12-19T05:24:00.000-08:00

I volunteer on weekends at the Tracy Aviary in Salt Lake City, cleaning out the cages and mews of birds used in the aviary's educational programs.

Handling the birds is part of the job, and I am working my way to become familiar with several of the birds. I regularly handle a Green-winged Macaw, a Red-crested Turaco, a Barn Owl and an American Kestrel. I have also had a little experience with a Peregrine Falcon. It's a fascinating way to learn more about some amazing birds.

Yesterday I got to help with two birds I had not handled before. One was a barred owl (we call her "Cypress") that looks similar to this:

The other was a dark morph Swainson's Hawk, known as "Babero," who looks somewhat like this:

Nonsense

2004-12-18T19:58:00.000-08:00

Holy smokes and artichokes and writing on the wall
Camel's fleas' pajama knees and smarties in the hall
An end sigh, a note too high, the harder it will fall
Liquor rum, panda thumb pin a little ball

Another Divide

2004-12-11T17:33:00.000-08:00

My dad recently told me about how he's about to start Lakoff's Moral Politics, which analyzes political views and boils Liberal versus Conservative to their fundaments.

I may need to read this, too. I really enjoyed watching Bill Maher get scolded by Wyoming's Senator Alan Simpson. As a spectator, you could see one valuing wry logic, where a certain level of facetiousness adds agility to reasoning; the other valuing respect and more tradtional values as a way to simplify the problem of how we can all get along better. The senator, firmly in the latter position did not see any sincerity in Bill Maher even though Maher thought he was being deferential to the Senator.

So I'm interested to see what Lakoff has to say. I'm burrowed into several other books at the moment, each equally importantly-pressing and urgent. I think I see this one drifting past my window of awareness, from which it will quickly disappear, despite my keen interest to read it.

Neurons are so slow. Damn this fleshware.

[Okay, I think I found a short work that may be a functional synposis.]

The Divide

2004-12-10T21:11:00.000-08:00

Religion states, "We are unique."

Science asks, "Are we unique?"

Sub-consciousness

2004-12-10T15:48:00.000-08:00

I watched a great National Geographic Explorer that my TiVo caught for me and saw something my friend Erin often points to as being inspirationally cool.

There was a scientist who had a worked on proving a hypothesis about the origins of civilization for some fifteen years of his life. It was his life's work, and in the Peruvian desert, a recently discovered site of an early civilization, the oldest known evidence of a civilization in the Americas, his hypothesis totally collapsed. The evidence was convincing to him, and he not only graciously accepted it, but seemd truly excited by finding out that he was wrong.

I have seen this happen a few times, where a scientist, upon seeing convincing evidence, changes his position not with bitterness or resistance, but with zeal. How wonderful! I was wrong.

This is the spirit of scientific discovery. Many seem to get the idea that science is about cold facts, but it's so different. Discoveries are not won easily, and researchers in the field and in the lab both do a lot of raw number crunching and arduously slow exploration of minutiae. But ultimately, it is adventure and discovery that science is about, not being wrong or right.

I have thought many times about what is wrong with science as it is taught in lower education. None of the public teachers who taught me ever taught us about remaining skeptical until enough evidence can provide some kind of conclusions. I would guess that this is because skepticism, summarized by it's two word maxim "prove it"--is a dangerous thing to have as part of your worldview.

Dangerous? How could skepticism be considered dangerous? Simply because it is the antithesis of Faith, the basis for almost all religions. Teaching optimistic skepticism presents a threat to faith-based religions. (Zen Buddhism comes out unscathed in this area--no faith required.) As soon as "prove it" comes into play, faith in God is on the table for inspection. That's still a taboo subject for public academia. Religion is off limits, protected by broad societal agreements that we don't talk about it.

But being truly conscious requires us to be able to look at our beliefs--personal or societal--and re-arrange them. When we do, we have breakthroughs that allow us to better understand our place in the universe. The Copernican view of the universe, where Earth is not at the universe's center, is now almost completely accepted, and it broadened the consciousness of our species by showing us more about how we exist. Darwin's theory of evolution has done the same (for those who accept it), just as Watson and Crick's discovery of the double-helix codestring of DNA has lead to the eventual realization that evolution is not even about individual species evolving but selfish genes competing to replicate themselves. Relativity has done some of the same, for those who understand it. And Quantum Theory has, too, but for even smaller intellectual circles.

None of these great discoveries, each expanding our understanding of how we and the universe exist, would have been possible without questioning our assumptions and giving up some of our convictions. To not be able to lay down our beliefs and consider evidence that goes contrary to what we currently "know" is to live life not as a conscious being, but a partially-conscious being. To have subjects that are untouchable and unquestionable, whether enforced by strict taboos or by smug stubborness, is to surrender a fully conscious existence.

I postulate that humanity comes in two species, defined by their dominant memes instead of their genes. There are those who are locked into unassailable ways of thought or simply bask in the simplicity of relative ignorance. And there are those who strive to understand more and relish in humanity's growing base of scientific knowledge. The divide between merely existing and behaving as humans have since the descent of our species and participating in scientific intellectualism is significant.

This sounds like an elitist view of the world, at least to me. Since I try to be part of the latter group, I have defined the parameters above to favor that which I value. But I think there is an cogent argument that having a world view that can adapt to the revelations of empirical evidence is a higher type of consciousness; a deeper way of understanding how we exist. To say that those who share this live more consciously indeed sounds elitist, but it's only elitist if you actually value consciousness. Being more conscious isn't better relative to any kind of absolute. It's just better to me.

More on Astrology

2004-12-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

I was thinking more about Astrology, and thought about how some religions treat Astrology. To many Christian sects, for example, astrology is lumped into a broad category of things called "the Occult," and that makes it part of a set of reviled and feared taboos. Why would religions treat such things with such a strong reaction?

Such Christians state that they are tools of the devil intended to lead us astray. No, not that they are whimsical superstitions. Nor that they are mere empty pursuits that waste people's time and energy. They are reviled.

It's an interesting phenomenon that such religions would not simply state that they are simply an empty waste of time. Instead they are associated with evil. Why would religions want to cast them to the dark side when they could simply lay them aside as meaningless? The reason is that to do so would require debunking the superstitions. Debunking things is a problem, as skepticism is not merely a tool, but a world view that ultimately conflicts with religion. Once you learn to debunk ESP and astrology, you're on the path to debunking just about anything. So it's a short step to debunking religion.

Belief dries up quickly when skepticism takes ahold of people's minds. Religions that encourage skepticism, if there are any at all, are few because they produce their own end. Therefore, there are only two routes for competing worldviews: incorporation or intolerance. Incorporation melds separate world views together and you get The Protestant Work Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism, for example. Intolerance is the other route, which we see in the presence of having a much-tabooed world known as The Occult.

I encourage anyone who is deeply religious not to cower from the occult, but to shout at the devil--learn the science behind disproving how anything from Tarot cards to telekinesis can be disproved. In the name of the Lord, become a practiced skeptic.

Astrology Sucks

2004-12-06T19:02:00.000-08:00

There are twelve kinds of people in this world...

Okay, I have to say something disparaging about Blogger.com, the people who host my blog free of charge, and to whom I owe great debt and gratitude, yet only reward them by posting a blog covering what sucks about them. I feel rude for doing it, and that makes me feel kind of bad. So, I can be persuaded to take this post offline and post an apology for it as soon as the situation is corrected. Here it is.

Why in the hell would any self-respecting company force upon their patrons astrological signs as a required part of their profile? It's not strictly required. I mean, I could elect not to put my birthdate in the profile. But I do like to get the occasional happy birthday greeting (despite that it's just arbitrarily the day I was born on our Gregorian system for tracking days of the year). The thing is, if you enable your birthdate, you're stuck with your zodiac sign showing up on your profile.
Now. you might ask, what's the big deal? Why would somebody care so much about their astrological sign showing up on their profile? Well, it's this. I strive to be an honest and direct person. That means I need to try to be true to myself as much as I can. I see astrology as bad superstition, and any superstition by which people think they can steer their lives perpetuates distractions from genuine learning and improving the experience of being truly conscious beings. Astrology is one of the petty fascinations that distract people from discovering and marveling in the real observable universe. It's ridiculous to believe that somehow distant stars influence our daily existences and cause events in any predictable way. And it's been categorically disproven many times by every kind of logical tests. Inserting in my profile, when everything else about me I share is optional, makes it look like I chose to put my astrological sign in my profile. As if I believe that astrology has merit. If someone were to find my writings inspirational, or helpful, I would never want them to then see I also endorse astrology, and perhaps they feel that it gives more credibility to the whole field. (Or, less important on the grand scale, but certainly important to me: that someone think less of me for believing in such rubbish.) So, when I look at my blog profile and see this, I feel like I'm not representing myself truly; like I'm not being authentic.

[Aside: Again I ask: why on earth would a company think that people would so overwhelmingly desire to share their sign that it would be automatically inserted?

IM monologue with Jonathan Rondon

2004-12-02T09:08:00.000-08:00

(10:02:23) Ted Haeger: J--let's chat about your previous IM's this PM
(10:02:34) Ted Haeger: PM=afternoon
(10:02:39) Ted Haeger: not Product Manager
(10:02:48) Ted Haeger: or Prime Minister
(10:02:55) Ted Haeger: or Prime Meridian
(10:03:02) Ted Haeger: or Post Mortem
(10:03:24) Ted Haeger: or Parlimentary Member
(10:03:32) Ted Haeger: because that's usually MP
(10:03:39) Ted Haeger: as in Member Parliament
(10:04:17) Ted Haeger: which I believe the Brits designed specifically to differentiate from PM
(10:04:39) Ted Haeger: Because you can't have a single PM and several MP's getting crosswired.
(10:05:14) Ted Haeger: Incidentally, MP in the US us generally thought to signify Military Police
(10:05:35) Ted Haeger: In Japan, it refers to Mount Pinatubo
(10:05:56) Ted Haeger: In ancient italy and spain, it was a code name
(10:06:13) Ted Haeger: referring to foreign invaders/occupiers
(10:06:17) Ted Haeger: Moore Problem
(10:06:26) Ted Haeger: Or Moor Problem

Who is this guy?

2004-11-22T04:52:00.000-08:00

[This was moved from my Open Source Marketing blog on Jan 6, 2004.]

Before I get to far along in blogging my adventures in marketing open source software, I should probably share a bit of my background, lest people get the idea that I speak from some kind of authoritative position that I don't actually have.

First, I'm not really a reverend as most people would understand the term. Yes, I am ordained. (And you can be, too, by going to www.ulc.org and signing up a few clicks with the Universal Life Church. Their tenet is pretty straightforward: do that which is right.) So, intellectual honesty: I am an atheist. That does not mean I hate God. It means that I put God in the same category as Santa Claus, Sasquatch, and leprachauns. Humanity has a wealth of rich evidence of how the universe works, and we continue to learn more. Learning about the universe--string theory, quantum theory, relativity, and evolution--provides a much rich story of our creation that makes the gods of so many creation myths look like characters in quaint stories we used to comfort ourselves before we had better answers to some of our greatest questions. Stating that you are an atheist can drive away a lot of people because it creates such a fundamental difference to deep believers in one religion or another. I risk losing readership (or worse, inviting debate) just by stating my position on the matter.

So. where from then does the "Reverend" epitaph arise? I guess I get a bit passionate about the things I discuss in my presentations. At some point, people just started calling me that. (And, I may have had a role in promoting the name, just because I find humor in it.)

Second, I'm not a trained marketeer. I have not taken formal classes in marketing, nor have I done so much reading or gained so much experience that I speak from some kind of learned authority. I'm far more in the by-the-seat-of-the-pants classification. I have a bachelor's degree in Environmental Studies from the University of California at Santa Cruz, and after a (very) short career as a ranger in the U.S. National Park Service, I transitioned into Information Technology. I've been a technical teacher, a technical sales expert, a product manager, and a marketing manager in the IT field over the past 10 to 12 years. The marketing part only in the last 4 or so.

I lay out these two facts about me to make sure people don't get the wrong impression about who I am. I'm not religious, nor am I trained in marketing. I'm just some guy going through a learning process about marketing in the relatively new intellectual frontier that is open source software.

Random Question: What's the most amount of sand you've ever had in your swimming trunks?

2004-11-03T06:41:00.000-08:00

I used to actually find a weird thrill in having sand in my swimming trunks. I couldn't get enough sand. Arriving at the beach I'd feverishly scoop handfuls of sand into my shorts.
As I walked on the beach, people would stare in alarm at my swim trunks, which looked like a conspicously overloaded diaper. In time I found myself buying ever larger swim trunks in order to increase the capacity of sand I could have in them.
This of course eventually lead to impede my mobility. One particularly clear day, as I stood immobilized in my small mountain of sand, I became aware that I had forgotten my SPF65 sunblock, and soon the smell of my own searing flesh overpowered the bliss of so much sand. Through the sunstroked haze, I became aware that I was encircled by small sea creatures--crabs, sand fleas and and various other aquatic arthropods--all creeping toward me while gulls of all kinds were swooping down to feed, probably hoping for my consciousness to fade so they could start with the tender eyeballs, as scavengers are wont to do.
I fled screaming, an imperiled man, lobster red on top and pasty white waist down from being buried in the sand that now seemed so abhorrent.
To this day my sand phobia is such that I cannot bear to even have a grain in my shoe without resorting to a compulsive foot washing ritual that lasts for hours, puntuated by needing periodic hits off of my calming inhaler.

(That would be my best possible Martin Sargeant.)