Archive for April, 2008
An F/A-18F Super Hornet assigned to the “Bounty Hunters” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 2 performs a fly-by over the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53) and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Shoup (DDG 86) during an air show for the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) and her crew. Lincoln and Carrier Strike Group (CSG) 9 are on a scheduled seven-month deployment to the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Justin R. Blake
Click for bigger image.
Just got The Devil’s Delusion: Atheism and Its Scientific Pretensions by David Berlinski. Here’s the blurb:
Militant atheism is on the rise. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, and Christopher Hitchens have dominated bestseller lists with books denigrating religious belief as dangerous foolishness. And these authors are merely the leading edge of a far larger movement–one that now includes much of the scientific community.
–The attack on traditional religious thought,” writes David Berlinski in The Devil’s Delusion, –marks the consolidation in our time of science as the single system of belief in which rational men and women might place their faith, and if not their faith, then certainly their devotion.”
A secular Jew, Berlinski nonetheless delivers a biting defense of religious thought. An acclaimed author who has spent his career writing about mathematics and the sciences, he turns the scientific community’s cherished skepticism back on itself, daring to ask and answer some rather embarrassing questions.
Berlinski does not dismiss the achievements of western science. The great physical theories, he observes, are among the treasures of the human race. But they do nothing to answer the questions that religion asks, and they fail to offer a coherent description of the cosmos or the methods by which it might be investigated.
This brilliant, incisive, and funny book explores the limits of science and the pretensions of those who insist it can be–indeed must be–the ultimate touchstone for understanding our world and ourselves.
It looks decent. I’m going to try to make room for it on my reading list if I can get past my bitterness.
Protester’s sign in SanFranciscostan:
Would we allow Nazi Germany to host the Olympics?
That’s some funny, there. Though I’ll admit that I didn’t know that the torch run before the Olympics was first organized for the 1936 games. Link and more info at RNS.
Visit, board, search and seizure team members from the guided-missile frigate USS John L. Hall (FFG 32) take control of Landing Craft Utility (LCU 1661) after boarding the vessel by rigid hull inflatable boat. Phoenix Express (PE) 2008 is the third annual exercise in a long-term effort to improve regional cooperation and maritime security. The principal aim is to increase interoperability by developing individual and collective maritime proficiencies of participating nations, as well as promoting friendship, mutual understanding and cooperation. Exercises like PE-08 enable participants to advance information sharing which is crucial to maintaining a region free from transnational threats, as well as enhance capability to conduct multinational peacekeeping missions. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Amanda Clayton
Two shotguns and three four ARs. No cutlasses?
Jay Tea on Drafty Reasoning:
I find myself wondering if those who are pushing for the return of the draft are willing to say that it was a mistake to abolish it in the first place over 30 years ago, and those who fought — and won — to do so were terribly wrong.
Yah. Right.
Looks like the assault rifle shoot-off finally made the big media:
Last spring we had the opportunity to go to the Indianapolis 500 courtesy of some good friends with tickets for great seats that they couldn’t use. My wife was pulling for Danica Patrick, (probably) mostly due to the fact that she was a woman in a male-dominated sport. I asked just how “competitive” could she be if she had never won a race?
This, of course, led to all sorts of enjoyable discussion. I wasn’t really trying to knock Patrick. I just wanted a little honest perspective.
Yesterday in Japan, finally, Patrick won an Indy race. It was her 50th race start.
Predictably, if you’ll excuse the mixed metaphor, racing’s goal posts have suddenly shifted.
Bob Margolis writes:
Putting Patrick’s victory in perspective
Danica Patrick’s first IndyCar win in the Japan 300 was more a triumph in public relations than auto racing.
It didn’t happen as the result of a final lap, wheel-to-wheel battle, one that many close observers of the sport feel she will never win.
It instead was more a battle between the race engineer’s computers on the Andretti Green team and that of her rival Helio Castroneves’ Penske Racing team. It was a matter of who would get the best fuel mileage in the final handful of laps of the 200-lap race.
Whoa, there, Bob.
What a jackass. Suddenly it doesn’t really count if you only win because you out-mileaged the other driver? Is Bob ‘Jackass’ Margolis suggesting that everyone who’s won a race on fuel strategy didn’t really win a competitive race? Of course he isn’t. He’s only suggesting that the women who have done it didn’t really win a competitive race.
What a jackass. (Is there an echo in here? -Ed.)
It’s certainly fine to be critical of professional race car drivers. But this isn’t the way to do it.
Jackass Margolis needs to make a list of criteria for a ‘real’ win right now and put it on the record so that he can’t jackass his way around to discrediting any future wins. Make a list, check it twice, and stick to it.
I have no idea what his motivation is, and it’s not my responsibility to find out. He does sounds like a whining sexist, though, to be honest.
“I still don’t think Danica Patrick will ever win a race in the Indy car series.
She’s just not a good enough driver.”
So I guess he’s got to find a way to not have been wrong. What a guy.
Today he writes:
Patrick’s victory may temporarily quiet her critics
but apparently not the jackasses.
Six cities busted for shortening yellow light
So as to collect more fines. Not defending those who run red lights, but this is pretty low.
Warrior UAV likely to replace Predator
Air Force will likely transition during the next few years from its MQ-1B Predator unmanned aerial vehicle to the Army’s MQ-1C Sky Warrior.
UPDATE: How do you all like the two-entry Linkzookery for this week? Pathetic.
If I were you, I’d demand my money back.
Over at GunPndit, I’ve posted a great interview with Kyle Cassidy, photographer/author of Armed America: Portraits of Gun Owners in Their Homes. The book is a good one, and Kyle’s responses provide a lot of great food for thought.
Well, we’ve done it. We’ve suspended our DirecTV account for six months.
We haven’t totally cut the cord, as we will continue to watch DVDs, video on demand from Netflix (a pretty good deal) and a stockpile of TiVoed programs.
Still, canceling our service until October is a significant move, I think.
We’ll see how it goes. If nothing else, we’ll miss virtually all of the campaign commercials.
