Michael Flynn's Blog, page 113
April 13, 2009
m_francis @ 2009-04-13T10:15:00
The Feast of St. Hermenegild
Good News for Captain Kirk and All Fans of Space Princesses
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/thermodynamino.html
I've been contending for a while that physics and chemistry set strict boundary conditions on the solution space, and so many of the "calculations" of probabilities are based on a false denominator. There are only about a thousand possible protein folds. Now it seems that certain amino acids are more probable (and hence more common). So Capta
Good News for Captain Kirk and All Fans of Space Princesses
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/04/thermodynamino.html
I've been contending for a while that physics and chemistry set strict boundary conditions on the solution space, and so many of the "calculations" of probabilities are based on a false denominator. There are only about a thousand possible protein folds. Now it seems that certain amino acids are more probable (and hence more common). So Capta
m_francis @ 2009-04-13T10:15:00
An Unfortunate Letter to the Editor
A profile on Freeman Dyson in the New York Times has elicited the usual spate of letters questioning Dyson's sudden and inexplicable loss of intelligence. The interested reader can read the profile here: www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html and the letters to the editor here: www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/magazine/12letters-t-THECIVILHERE_LETTERS.html
The gist of many of the letters can be found in their choice of words: dire practical consequences
A profile on Freeman Dyson in the New York Times has elicited the usual spate of letters questioning Dyson's sudden and inexplicable loss of intelligence. The interested reader can read the profile here: www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html and the letters to the editor here: www.nytimes.com/2009/04/12/magazine/12letters-t-THECIVILHERE_LETTERS.html
The gist of many of the letters can be found in their choice of words: dire practical consequences
m_francis @ 2009-04-13T08:40:00
The Nature of Magic
In the Middle Ages, "magic" meant employing some nature of a material body to achieve an effect without knowing the nature that achieved it. Thus, chewing willow bark would relieve a headache somehow. It was the "somehow" that made it magic. Had they known the nature of willow bark and how it influenced bodily humours, it would not have been magic. The causes would have been "manifest" (apparent) rather than "occult" (hidden). This was quite different from sorcery, althou
In the Middle Ages, "magic" meant employing some nature of a material body to achieve an effect without knowing the nature that achieved it. Thus, chewing willow bark would relieve a headache somehow. It was the "somehow" that made it magic. Had they known the nature of willow bark and how it influenced bodily humours, it would not have been magic. The causes would have been "manifest" (apparent) rather than "occult" (hidden). This was quite different from sorcery, althou
April 12, 2009
m_francis @ 2009-04-12T16:26:00
Easter Sunday
The assistant pastor, Fr. Constantine Oduori, gave a sermon in which three men died and went to heaven and St. Peter asked each one what Easter was.
The first said, "It's the day when the whole family comes back home and we cook lots of food, especially turkey, and we all give thanks.
St. Peter says, "No, that's Thanksgiving."
The second says, "It's the day when we take an evergreen tree and decorate it and wrap gifts and give them to each other."
St. Peter says, "No, that's C
The assistant pastor, Fr. Constantine Oduori, gave a sermon in which three men died and went to heaven and St. Peter asked each one what Easter was.
The first said, "It's the day when the whole family comes back home and we cook lots of food, especially turkey, and we all give thanks.
St. Peter says, "No, that's Thanksgiving."
The second says, "It's the day when we take an evergreen tree and decorate it and wrap gifts and give them to each other."
St. Peter says, "No, that's C
April 11, 2009
m_francis @ 2009-04-11T11:15:00
The Triumph of Science!
Dilbert for 11 April 2009
+ + +
Walker Percy on the Triumph of Science
Twenty years ago, novelist and philosopher Walker Percy had this to say in an acceptance speech at Notre Dame when he was given the Laetare Medal :
The motto of the Laetare Medal is, I understand, ‘Magna est veritas et prevalebit,’ ‘Truth is mighty and shall prevail.’ I like to think that it applies even to the humble vocation of a novelist.
In my last novel, The Thanatos Syndrome, I tried to show how, wh
April 10, 2009
m_francis @ 2009-04-09T23:25:00
Maundy Thursday
On the medieval track, I ran across this on a site called "religioustolerance.org" which claims a kind of ecumenism because the group consists of an atheist, an agnostic, a Christian, a Wiccan, and a Zen Buddhist.
www.religioustolerance.org/end_wrl2.htm
One of their features has to do with failed predictions of the end of the world. They C-their-A's by admitting that they have not actually checked any of these out; they've only cut-and-pasted on faith the pronouncements of others
On the medieval track, I ran across this on a site called "religioustolerance.org" which claims a kind of ecumenism because the group consists of an atheist, an agnostic, a Christian, a Wiccan, and a Zen Buddhist.
www.religioustolerance.org/end_wrl2.htm
One of their features has to do with failed predictions of the end of the world. They C-their-A's by admitting that they have not actually checked any of these out; they've only cut-and-pasted on faith the pronouncements of others
April 8, 2009
m_francis @ 2009-04-07T17:11:00
You Have to Read to the Seventh Paragraph...
BBC: Bone-repairing stem cell jab hopenews.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7985142.stm
...before you find out that these are adult stem cells from bone marrow.
So, score another for non-embryonic stem cells. I suppose everyone reading that far into the article will understand that this is not evidence that the new administration has suspended some sort of war on science. Does anyone doubt which paragraph would have heralded the success of an embryonic stem cel
BBC: Bone-repairing stem cell jab hopenews.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7985142.stm
...before you find out that these are adult stem cells from bone marrow.
So, score another for non-embryonic stem cells. I suppose everyone reading that far into the article will understand that this is not evidence that the new administration has suspended some sort of war on science. Does anyone doubt which paragraph would have heralded the success of an embryonic stem cel
April 7, 2009
m_francis @ 2009-04-06T21:57:00
Sometimes You Run Across Things Like This
And most falsely do these Christians claim that the Jews have secretly and furtively carried away these children and killed them, and that the Jews offer sacrifice from the heart and blood of these children, since their law in this matter precisely and expressly forbids Jews to sacrifice, eat, or drink the blood, or to eat the flesh of animals having claws. This has been demonstrated many times at our court by Jews converted to the Christian faith: nevert
And most falsely do these Christians claim that the Jews have secretly and furtively carried away these children and killed them, and that the Jews offer sacrifice from the heart and blood of these children, since their law in this matter precisely and expressly forbids Jews to sacrifice, eat, or drink the blood, or to eat the flesh of animals having claws. This has been demonstrated many times at our court by Jews converted to the Christian faith: nevert
m_francis @ 2009-04-06T17:00:00
Odds and Ends
The City Control Board is Saved!
"Mesiah Is Appointed to City Control Board"--headline, Buffalo News, April 4
Luca Brasi Sleeps With the Herrings
"Suspected Swedish Mafia Member Back in Custody"--headline, Desert Sun (Palm Springs, Calif.), April 5
News of the Tautological
"Adult ADD Gets Too Little Attention"--headline, Enquirer (Cincinnati), April 5
Where Do You Suppose They Learned Austrian?
"It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that differ
The City Control Board is Saved!
"Mesiah Is Appointed to City Control Board"--headline, Buffalo News, April 4
Luca Brasi Sleeps With the Herrings
"Suspected Swedish Mafia Member Back in Custody"--headline, Desert Sun (Palm Springs, Calif.), April 5
News of the Tautological
"Adult ADD Gets Too Little Attention"--headline, Enquirer (Cincinnati), April 5
Where Do You Suppose They Learned Austrian?
"It was also interesting to see that political interaction in Europe is not that differ
April 5, 2009
m_francis @ 2009-04-05T18:57:00
Okay, I did it. So sue me.
Our intrepid band has boarded the trade-ship Blankets and Beads on their way into the Wild.
Like all tradeships, Blankets and Beads little resembled the traditional image of ship. It was more like a small town in orbit. Domes, spheres, apses, barrels, tubes, and the like were joined in a complexity of angles, connections, and fusions, so that the whole rather resembled a mass of merged soap bubbles. The resemblance to a town was heightened by the whimsical outer st
Our intrepid band has boarded the trade-ship Blankets and Beads on their way into the Wild.
Like all tradeships, Blankets and Beads little resembled the traditional image of ship. It was more like a small town in orbit. Domes, spheres, apses, barrels, tubes, and the like were joined in a complexity of angles, connections, and fusions, so that the whole rather resembled a mass of merged soap bubbles. The resemblance to a town was heightened by the whimsical outer st
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