Tag Archives: Fleck

John Fleck, Science writer and neighbor

other voices

Around the ‘sphere

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Been catching up on some blog reading and, in the custom of our cohort, have some recommendations for you.

I feel for the sense of injustice over at ABQrising (http://abqrising.wordpress.com/). As one listed twice (in your face!) in the Alibi’s recent list of local blogs, I extend a welcoming hand to another local blog with potential. This, even though none of my blogs appear in its blogroll. (Is there a blogroll big enough for me and Mario Burgos?)

It says something that I enjoyed the cartoons more than anything else at irReligion.org (particularly, Jesus – Meet Prometheus from russellsteapot.com). Unlike Believers, atheists don’t seem to congregate, even virtually. This site looks like it gets a lot of visits, FWIW.

This one is just too cool and I wonder how long it can keep it up: strange maps (hat tip to my homie jfleck).

Harry Potter: Pronunciation Guide | Scholastic
http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/pronunciation.htm

GRE Vocabulary Word Scramble

National Novel Writing Month – National Novel Writing Month
http://www.nanowrimo.org/

Finally, via Albloggerque, a Sunday Poem. I was ready to forget this until I read the last 4 lines. Damn, that’s fine. mjh

Found Letter, by Joshua Weiner

What makes for a happier life, Josh, comes to this:
Gifts freely given, that you never earned;
Open affection with your wife and kids;
Clear pipes in winter, in summer screens that fit;
Few days in court, with little consequence;
A quiet mind, a strong body, short hours
In the office; close friends who speak the truth;
Good food, cooked simply; a memory that’s rich
Enough to build the future with; a bed
In which to love, read, dream, and re-imagine love;
A warm, dry field for laying down in sleep,
And sleep to trim the long night coming;
Knowledge of who you are, the wish to be
None other; freedom to forget the time;
To know the soul exceeds where it’s confined
Yet does not seek the terms of its release,
Like a child’s kite catching at the wind
That flies because the hand holds tight the line.

Uncategorized

Other Blogs

I have several blogs because I like to keep some topics separate. I also post photos on flickr (some call that a photo-blog). I appreciate you taking the time to look at these sites:

Wilderness and Chaco — www.mjhinton.com/wild/
Computers and the Web — www.mjhinton.com/help/
Photos by mjh — www.flickr.com/photos/mjhinton/

I also host several blogs and other websites. These can be reached by www.edgewiseblog.com.

I read a lot of blogs now and then, especially on computer topics. Here, I will identify just a few general blogs I think you’ll find interesting and thought-provoking (but that’s redundant, isn’t it). mjh

Albloggerque
http://albloggerque.blogspot.com/

Cocoposts
http://cocoposts.typepad.com/

Duke City Fix
http://www.dukecityfix.com/

jfleck at inkstain
http://inkstain.net/fleck/

Judy’s Jottings
http://judysjottings.wordpress.com/

media

Blog, Blog, Blog

My thanks to Genevieve Smith for including two of my blogs in a column on local blogs. I saw a spike in visitors that day. I am delighted to be called an “edgy old-school liberal.” mjh

PS: Follow the link to some great blogs, including many of my favorites, like johnny_mango, jfleck, coco and newmexiken.

alibi . august 17 – 23, 2006
Blog, Blog, Blog
A guide to your local online community
By Genevieve Smith

MJH’s blog – edgewiseblog.com/mjh

“Ignorance isn’t just bliss, it’s good business.” This edgy old-school liberal has a lot to say about what’s going on in the world.

Ah, Wilderness! – mjhinton.com/wild

A detailed account of wilderness issues here in New Mexico and the world, along with a comprehensive guide to events and places to go to enjoy Mama Nature.

Dump Duhbya

Safety does not erode

ABQjournal: Bomb Designer Questions U.S. Nuclear PolicyBy John Fleck, Journal Staff Writer

The history of U.S. nuclear weapons policy looks to Richard Garwin like an alcoholic for whom the answer to any problem is another drink: “More nuclear weapons, please.”

To Garwin, the latest effort to design a new generation of nukes— the “Reliable Replacement Warhead”— has the appearance of another binge coming on.

The Reliable Replacement Warhead, Garwin told a packed audience Friday at the University of New Mexico, “is not necessary.”

This is no peacenik talking. Garwin, a physicist who helped design the first U.S. H-bomb, has advised the federal government on nuclear policy and technology for much of the past five decades. …

While no decision has been made to go beyond paper design studies, the managers of the National Nuclear Security Administration have quickly made the Reliable Replacement Warhead the centerpiece of their plans for the future. …

“The Reliable Replacement Warhead is the rage this year,” Garwin said during his UNM talk. …

Garwin said there was also no reason to think aging weapons posed greater risks of accidental detonation.

“There’s no question of safety,” he said. “Safety does not erode.”

The Atheist's Pulpit

Today’s Sermon

Kids, stop reading now.

Tell me if any of this is news to

you. There is no Santa Claus. There is no Easter Bunny. There is no Tooth Fairy. There is no god.

Why is that last statement such

an unacceptable thought to so many people?

Generally, I believe in letting people believe what they will, especially in a matter

that is so deep in our kind and so entrenched in our culture. I really don’t need to PROVE there is no god, anymore than one with faith

needs to prove there is (and yet, the evangelicals really seem to need to prove something).

I’m writing about atheism today

having read an article about Christians finding common ground in the matter of evolution. One might not think that Christians agreeing on

something is terribly news-worthy, but, of course, it really is because religion divides as much as it unites.

Now, I don’t

expect atheism to get equal time — ever, anywhere. But, I chafe a bit at a quote that:

[Ideologies ‘laid on top of

science’] have ranged from “eugenics” … to atheism….

Much as a conservative chafes at “Great leaders

from Hitler to Duhbya” or a liberal at “Notions from genocide to public transportation.”

Again, I don’t expect equal time —

ever! Especially in an article that isn’t in any way about atheism, except in so far as Religionists agree it’s bad.

Bless you,

mjh

ABQjournal:

Scholars Say Science, Religion Can Co-Exist By John Fleck, Journal Staff Writer

ID, loco

ABQjournal: Intelligent Design Has Support

Note, in particular, how many people in this survey knew nothing about ID before the survey. If you actually know what’s going on, you’re less likely to support ID.

With 60% of Republicans in NM supporting ID, it’s no surprise you don’t hear much talk lately about them being the party of “deep

thinkers” (as they called themselves just a few years ago). mjh

NM ID poll

ABQjournal: Intelligent Design Has Support BY JOHN FLECK, Journal

Staff Writer
But poll suggests many don’t know much about issue
Copyright © 2005 Albuquerque Journal

The idea of teaching

“intelligent design” in New Mexico public school science classes has more support than opposition among the state’s registered voters,

according to a Journal poll.

But the support falls just short of a majority, and the poll also suggests that a lot of New

Mexicans don’t know much about the issue one way or another. …

53 percent said they had heard or read about intelligent design,

compared with 43 percent who said they had not. (The remainder didn’t know or wouldn’t say.) …

Intelligent

design opponent Marshall Berman, education director of the New Mexico Academy of Science, said he believes the willingness to allow

teaching of intelligent design alongside evolution was likely a result of “the American concept of fairness.” [mjh: what

a sweet and gracious thought.]

He said those people did not understand that intelligent design is not scientific and that, in

his view, belief in intelligent design tends to be equated with belief in a creator in contemporary society.

Pollster Brian

Sanderoff, whose Research and Polling Inc. conducted the survey, noted that support for teaching intelligent design in school was

lower among those who had already heard or read about the subject.

Among those who were already aware of the

issue, 48 percent opposed teaching it in school, compared with 46 percent in support.

Sanderoff also noted that the

more educated people were, the less likely they were to support teaching intelligent design in school. Among political parties, Democrats

were evenly split on the issue, with 44 percent supporting teaching intelligent design in school and 45 percent opposed.

Republicans strongly supported teaching intelligent design in schools, 60 percent to 32 percent.

Uncategorized

Human Uncertainty Principle

3 Comments

I’ve been mulling for some time a statement made by a friend. In an article about accusations

of bias against the media by both the right and the left, John Fleck wrote “they can’t both be right.” Sorry, John, but I disagree

and I’m surprised by your naivete. In matters of human belief, thought and behavior, it actually is possible for everyone in any

grouping from one to the entire world, to all be right or wrong at exactly the same time. Two conflicting views can both be right; a

billion conflicting views can all be wrong. Again: in matters of human belief, thought and behavior. Call it the Human Uncertainty

Principle. I’m not saying that there is no objective truth or fact. I’m saying that for all that can be measured in matters of human

belief, thought and behavior, there is a huge black box we don’t see because everyone of us depends on it.

You surely witness

this countless times a week. One person describes something one way, another in a completely different way, and yet they’re both right.

This room is cold (to me); no it’s not, it’s warm (to me). Don’t get out the thermometer — it can’t say what’s cold or warm — or

who is correct — just what’s colder or warmer than something else.

Someone who reads my blog surely must think I’m among the

lowest of communistic socialistic homosexual ecofeminist extremists. (If you don’t, read my “antagagnosticism” entry — that should make

95% shun me.) I think of myself as rather liberal and progressive. But a friend says most white people are more conservative than they

realize. Who’s correct? We all are.

So, you and I read an article. You come away feeling it is biased to the left, I come away

believing it is biased to the right. I honestly believe that even if the whole thing consists of a single word, we might both be

correct.

LCohen say something lovely in its poetry: one of us cannot be wrong. But he was. mjh