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Short Stories: WHERE IS DANIEL?
The time was an early morning in the winter of 1941. Falling snow packed onto the hard labourers of Gulag 10 WLA as they begin setting off into the mines and factories somewhere in the far east. Malnourished, mistreated and muddy, the inhabitors of this typical Gulag were kept under strict control of General Victor, who gave harsh punishments to any prisoner who dared riot or worse, insult the government. It was a normal evening. The prisoners were escorted back to the Gulag through the freezing taiga by cattle carriages. They waited in line for their daily rations: Rubbery potatoes, dried bread and lime water. If one behaved well and boasted high production, he/she would sometimes be rewarded with a small knob of fresh corn, a snack the guards would gladly feast on. General Victor was feasting on a large chicken when Archie, or formally, Guard Number One burst into his room reporting misbehaviour between two prisoners. Ben (Guard Number Two) and Mile...
Book Review - I Am Malala
This book - I Am Malala - is about Malala Yousafzai, who fought for the right of girl's education, when the Taliban took over Pakistan, Malala's home country. It was an autobiography novel, written by Malala herself with help from Patricia Mccormick and was written for teens. Malala was an ordinary girl living in Pakistan with her family and friends and thoroughly enjoyed school, which she did very well at. However, in Pakistan, women were restricted in what they could do and be seen doing and these worsened when the Taliban came when Malala was 10 years old. Even at this age, Malala did not like that women were treated so horribly. So she spoke out, but the Taliban did not like this. They took action and shot Malala on her school bus, she never got to and probably never will get to make that journey back home. The bullet was shot into Malala's head and narrowly avoided her brain, it took Malala several surgeries, physical therapy sessions and a flight halfway across the...
Short Story - Man From the South
The short story, Man From the South, written by Roald Dahl is about a short little, old man in a resort in Jamaica who likes to bet a lot. In this story it shows how an American Sailor is lured into his devious plot. While in Jamaica an American Sailor who was there having fun and on a training course sat next to the little man after coming out of a pool, he offered to light the little man's cigar with his lighter, that he claimed "never failed". After hearing this the little man couldn't resist betting against this, offering his car as his bet, if the sailor could light his lighter ten times without failing, if not the sailor owed him his left pinky. Despite being warned not to proceed the sailor still decided to go through. The little man then lead the sailor and the narrator, (who in this case was acting as a referee) to his room in the hotel/resort, in this room he then requests a chopping knife from the woman attending him. As the little man receives the choppin...
Wow this book looks absolutely amazing!
ReplyDeleteHello, The Logic Demon. How is it hanging?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSomebody interested in biology should compare the following:
ReplyDeleteWhy Evolution is True, by Jerry A. Coyne
The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, by Richard Dawkins
Evolution for Everyone, by David Sloan Wilson
The Lie: Evolution, by Ken Ham
Evolution: a Theory in Crisis, by Michael Denton
Evolution: Still a Theory in Crisis, by Michael Denton
I am baffled by Ken Ham's stupidity. As you and I have mentioned previously, couldn't you believe in design via evolution? The fact that there still exists a large group of evolution deniers in America is very worrying.
DeleteWhile I agree "evolution deniers in America" generally are uninformed, I believe we should be careful in defining evolution in order to avoid confusion. Francisco J. Ayala provides several possible definitions of evolution:
Delete(1) the thesis "that organisms are related by common descent"
(2) "evolutionary history—the details of when lineages split from one another and of the changes that occurred in each lineage"
(3) "the mechanisms or processes by which evolutionary change occurs"
According to Ayala, definitions (2) and (3) are controversial issues and certainly not established facts, contrary to popular opinion, while Ayala accords definition (1) with the status of fact. When describing evolution as fact, we are implicitly invoking definition (1).
Furthermore, it is technically incorrect to speak of "the theory of evolution," as there are a variety of different interpretations of the evolutionary paradigm: Darwinian natural selection, Lamarckian evolution, neo-Darwinian evolution, process structuralism and so forth. Therefore, strictly speaking, we should refer to "the theories of evolution" instead.
Thanks, comrade.
DeleteNo problem Aldous!
DeleteOkay, I must apologise for being misleading in my grouping of Denton's two books alongside the embarrassing Ken Ham's pastiche of usual pseudoscience The Lie: Evolution. Unlike Ham's hillbilly fundamentalist creationist blithe dismissal of evolutionary theory, Denton is an eminently qualified biochemist who challenges the orthodox neo-Darwinian interpretation of evolutionary theory. I very much agree with his overarching thesis, as I hold to a non-Darwinian process structuralist interpretation of evolution similar to Denton. So, his work is a lot more akin to something like Simon Conway Morris's Life's Solutions: Inevitable Humans in a Lonely Universe rather than Ken Ham's young-Earth-creationist propaganda.
DeleteHowever, the response of the scientific community to Denton's original book Evolution: a Theory in Crisis has still been pretty negative, with the famous Niles Eldredge describing it as "fraught with distortions." Denton is sort of like Michael J. Behe, who, while definitely having prestige qualifications, is rejected by the overwhelming consensus of scientists. Of course, both Denton and Behe are totally unlike Ken Ham, who regularly spoon-feeds patent nonsense to his peanut gallery of gullible fans. Poor fellow.
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ReplyDeleteyee am i part of book club now?
ReplyDelete