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Comments by mmurray


51. Kerry O'Brien's exclusive interview with the Dalai Lama

Comment #193135 by mmurray on June 14, 2008 at 6:32 pm


You should be able to express the same points without resorting to clearly specifically subject related jargon or dumbing down.
Speaking plain English should be achievable,
whatever the subject matter. Jargon is the last refuge of the bullshitter.


Sometimes jargon is also a dramatic summary of a lot of knowledge. I just finished teaching a course in which some terms were defined in the last lecture that took the whole 24 lectures (and a good solid undergraduate degree) to get to. So the jargon can be removed but it might be at the expense of studying some years of the relevant subject area. Mind you mathematics is particularly painful in this respect but I imagine philosophy can be as well.

Michael

52. Divine Impulses: Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #192877 by mmurray on June 14, 2008 at 5:36 am

Being anti-Islam (and atheist) does not alone make her a right wing neo-con, or else we'd all share that label.

What many people here don't like (if previous AHA threads are anything to go by) is her job at the American Enterprise Institute.

Michael

53. Kerry O'Brien's exclusive interview with the Dalai Lama

Comment #192852 by mmurray on June 14, 2008 at 4:08 am

They don't seem to actively solicit new members, like the LDS and their annoying door-knocking campaign.


In fact the Dalai Lama is quite keen on people sticking with the religion of their cultural background.

I was amused during his visit though by the protests by a Tibetan Buddhist faction. I don't know anything about the background to this particular schism but it has to be one of humanities favourite pastimes. Peoples Front for the Liberation of Judea, Judean Peoples Front ...

Michael

54. Divine Impulses: Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #192815 by mmurray on June 14, 2008 at 2:23 am


Even the title of her new autobiography reflects her talent for reinvention.


WTF ? Is she the first writer to change the name of a book or have it changed by her publisher to suit different markets? Was JK Rowling showing her talent for reinvention when her American publisher changed Philosopher's Stone to Sorcerer's Stone ?

As for the neocon thing I agree with beyondbelief -- I have never heard her say anything particularly right wing. She is being paid by AEI. They wouldn't be my first choice of employer but I have the luxury of not being likely to end up with a knife in my chest when I go out in public. In any case removing religion from the world is not going to remove the dispute between the left and right of politics.

She gets my money.

Michael

55. Kerry O'Brien's exclusive interview with the Dalai Lama

Comment #192694 by mmurray on June 13, 2008 at 11:19 pm

If you follow the link you can see the whole interview. The transcript is just the edited down interview which appeared on the TV, the extended one is on the web site.

The Dalai Lama is going to be an interesting contrast to the Pope who comes to Sydney soon for World (Catholic) Youth Day. I will be very surprised if the Pope is interviewed on TV. They're also flying out some dead holy person in a coffin. Maybe he'll be available for interview.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/catholic-pinup-boys-body-heading-for-sydney/2008/04/18/1208025479559.html

Michael

56. Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'

Comment #192284 by mmurray on June 12, 2008 at 4:39 pm

I don't disagree with the basic premise here but I do think the whole idea of IQ is dodgy. There isn't something you can measure called intelligence like you can measure height, pulse rate, blood pressure etc. There are just a bunch of correlations between the number the IQ test measures and the things we usually associate with intelligence.

Stephen J Gould (not usually popular around here :-) ) wrote a great book on this.


Michael

57. New British Petition: Stop the Nightmares

Comment #191802 by mmurray on June 11, 2008 at 8:03 pm

If you outlaw corporal punishment, then they make threats.


Teaching children about hell wasn't a response to outlawing corporal punishment. They used to make threats and use corporal punishment. For a nice example have a look at James Joyce's Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext03/prtrt11.txt

search in this text file for `eternity' and read the surrounding text.

Michael

58. Hints of structure beyond the visible universe

Comment #191062 by mmurray on June 10, 2008 at 6:57 am


The entire "global" universe is about 10100 times as large as the universe we can see.


What is that 10100 ? Wikipedia gives 14x 10^9 light years for the radius of the visible universe and 78 x 10^9 light years as a lower bound on the radius on the whole universe based on the sphere occupied by the cosmic background radiation.

Michael

59. Holiday in Hellmouth

Comment #190951 by mmurray on June 10, 2008 at 1:43 am


I say go into business applying this skill to mens' privates...


It works. But it doesn't last.


Michael

60. New Way To Think About Earth's First Cells

Comment #190433 by mmurray on June 9, 2008 at 5:09 am

12. Comment #190427 by Greyman

Thanks - Michael

61. New Way To Think About Earth's First Cells

Comment #190336 by mmurray on June 8, 2008 at 10:23 pm

Interesting. I had a quick look at the actual paper as my work has Nature. It's not my area but it looks like they haven't actually built a cell like in the picture just tested the constituent parts. Can anyone who knows this kind of stuff clarify

- Michael

62. Prayer to feed the hungry

Comment #190309 by mmurray on June 8, 2008 at 7:30 pm

Maybe when they are finished praying they could ask the US government to reverse its decision to not provide foreign aid to organisations who include abortion amongst their family planning advice. That would make a difference and the current US government would listen to the Christian Scientists.

Michael

63. Faith no more as World Youth Day fans flames of disbelief

Comment #190304 by mmurray on June 8, 2008 at 7:10 pm

This guy is doing his kids a disservice by trying to have his kids respect religion.


Geez mate he's a sheila. (Translation: He is a she.)

I don't think that is her point. I think she thinks peoples beliefs should be tolerated. Australia had a history of protestant / catholic intolerance which made religious tolerance a virtue for many.

Michael

64. Faith no more as World Youth Day fans flames of disbelief

Comment #189956 by mmurray on June 7, 2008 at 11:07 pm

I didn't quite believe this bit when I read it


When the dead body of Pier Giorgio Frassati, a sacred Catholic who died 83 years ago, arrives from Italy to lie in St Mary's Cathedral, I will be hard-pressed to explain the ghoulishness.



but sure enough they are moving the poor guys body over here

http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/catholic-pinup-boys-body-heading-for-sydney/2008/04/18/1208025479559.html

That is seriously weird even by catholic standards.

I like this comment from the article


PIER GIORGIO FRASSATI is coming to Sydney for World Youth Day. He has been dead since 1925 but that will not stop him playing an important role in the Catholic festival.


Michael

65. Faith no more as World Youth Day fans flames of disbelief

Comment #189936 by mmurray on June 7, 2008 at 6:41 pm

For all the concerns a lot of us have about our new god-bothering Prime Minister who likes to be photographed leaving church on Sundays I read recently that the next three most senior members of the Government: the deputy PM, the treasurer and the finance minister all affirmed an oath rather that swore on the bible when the took office. The Climate Change and Water minister is an atheist lesbian. I am hoping they can keep the PM under control.

Michael

66. Faith no more as World Youth Day fans flames of disbelief

Comment #189934 by mmurray on June 7, 2008 at 6:27 pm

Go for it KiwiInOz.

Michael

67. Faith no more as World Youth Day fans flames of disbelief

Comment #189928 by mmurray on June 7, 2008 at 6:02 pm

This article is by Adele Horin who is a woman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adele_Horin

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/adelehorin/

Michael

68. A moral test for true believers, Rudd style

Comment #189318 by mmurray on June 6, 2008 at 2:54 am

Hi Brian

Wikipedia suggests a sustainable world population means a reduction of 2/3's so around 2 billion.

Michael

69. A moral test for true believers, Rudd style

Comment #189312 by mmurray on June 6, 2008 at 2:32 am

Ramases -- click here

http://richarddawkins.net/commentNotes.html

It is the link above the comment box called
[Comment Posting Guidelines] where all will be revealed.

--------------------

Wikipedia has some projections of future global population numbers from the US Census Bureau:

Year Population
(in billions)
2010 6.8
2020 7.6
2030 8.3
2040 8.9
2050 9.4

Jarrod Diamond in his book Collapse estimates that giving all the current world population a first world lifestyle would require 12 earths.

Michael

70. A moral test for true believers, Rudd style

Comment #189306 by mmurray on June 6, 2008 at 2:23 am


Lol - we all know our president was assassinated last year by a lone sting ray, or was he???


Wasn't that Harold Holt ?

Michael

71. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #189291 by mmurray on June 6, 2008 at 12:56 am

Whatever your interests I would keep away from these little kitties.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/06/06/2267441.htm


Michael

72. A moral test for true believers, Rudd style

Comment #189180 by mmurray on June 5, 2008 at 4:29 pm

Further information on this can be found here

http://www.arha.org.au/index/AusAID_FP_Guides.pdf

In this case it wasn't so much theists exercising a disproportionate amount of power but one single theist who held the balance of power in the Senate -- Australia's upper house. I hope that in the future when historians look back on the ecological disasters that occurred in the early 21st century due to excessive population growth Senator Brian Harraddine gets a good billing along with George Bush and successive Popes. Assuming there are any historians of course.


Michael

73. A moral test for true believers, Rudd style

Comment #189156 by mmurray on June 5, 2008 at 2:55 pm

The more I read about Australia on this site, the more it sounds like the U.S. And that is not a good thing most of the time.


Except that in cases like this our influence internationally is minor, thankfully.

Michael

74. When two worlds collide: threat of class warfare over faith-based schooling

Comment #188304 by mmurray on June 3, 2008 at 8:24 pm

Comment #188294 by R5T2_Nate

As Dr Spock would say `These are religious schools Jim but not as we know it.'

The issue isn't the older established moderate religious schools you (and I) went to it is the newer christian ones which are run by more fundamentalist and born-again type christians. Have a look at

http://www.csa.edu.au/

Of course they will try and hide behind the banner of the older moderate schools.


Michael

75. When two worlds collide: threat of class warfare over faith-based schooling

Comment #187977 by mmurray on June 3, 2008 at 5:17 am

But although people and cultures are diverse, the truth isn't. The origins of the universe and of life are not something that vary from person to person or culture to culture.


I take it you are not a post-modernist Cartomancer ? A few years back in Australia we nearly got a national physics curriculum written by post-modernists. It was going to allow all creation stories to be equally valid.

Michael

76. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187939 by mmurray on June 3, 2008 at 4:25 am


Comment #187932 by mmurray

It *was* raised, but ignored. It's okay when *they* do it, you see.


Sorry I was busy editing my comment when you replied. I thought it was getting a bit long winded.

Michael

77. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187932 by mmurray on June 3, 2008 at 4:18 am

Of course instead of all this hypothetical stuff one could look at the evidence

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_parenting




The American Psychological Association states in its Resolution on Sexual Orientation, Parents, and Children (adopted July 2004):
there is no scientific evidence that parenting effectiveness is related to parental sexual orientation: lesbian and gay parents are as likely as heterosexual parents to provide supportive and healthy environments for their children"; and "research has shown that the adjustment, development, and psychological well-being of children is unrelated to parental sexual orientation and that the children of lesbian and gay parents are as likely as those of heterosexual parents to flourish."[1]



So end of story IMHO unless you are homophobic and clutching at straws to attack homosexuals.

Michael

EDIT: Just so the thread makes sense (??) let me put back the bit I had removed while people where replying. Briefly I was making the point that I thought that when gay couples first started raising children it was reasonable to ask the question of whether the lack of two parents of opposite genders was an issue. It would seem it was unlikely as we knew single parent families worked OK. However the evidence, such as the quote above, show this question has been settled.

78. When two worlds collide: threat of class warfare over faith-based schooling

Comment #187891 by mmurray on June 3, 2008 at 2:01 am

you have to choose from religious based private schools


That's true but there is the occasional `non-denominational' one like I send my kids too. You can also avoid the fundie ones which the guy in this article represents.

http://www.csa.edu.au/


He is being disingenuous by confusing his type of school with the mainstream religious private schools. The latter are usually not too bad in terms of overt religion. I learnt all my school biology in a Marist Brother's College in Melbourne. They had many issues but they would have laughed at creationism.

Michael

79. When two worlds collide: threat of class warfare over faith-based schooling

Comment #187868 by mmurray on June 2, 2008 at 11:26 pm

This article seems to me to be a little haphazardly written. Also, it feels like the narrator changes stances at the end. Am I supposed to be revolted by the earlier statements? They make perfect sense to me.


I think you missed the : signs. This is two people talking with different opinions.

JOHN KAYE Greens NSW MP and education spokesman:

STEPHEN O'DOHERTY Chief executive, Christian Schools Australia:


Michael

80. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187786 by mmurray on June 2, 2008 at 4:38 pm

This thread takes me back to the mid 80's when HIV/AIDS was just being discovered.

Michael

81. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187257 by mmurray on June 1, 2008 at 4:44 pm


Don't ask others to do something you're not willing to do yourself.


I'd be willing to clean out my own drains if I had the machine and the experience but I'm also willing to pay someone else to do it :-)

While on the topic of septic tanks I live in an area where there are lots of lanes behind the houses. These are regarded as desirable -- in real estate terms `valuable rear access' (no gay pun intended). No-one seems to remember when the toilet was against the back fence and the `night cart' came past and some poor sod had the job of pulling out the bucket and emptying it into the truck.

Back onto gender differences these graphs are interesting.


Michael

82. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187239 by mmurray on June 1, 2008 at 3:28 pm

I live in a house built about 1750 with drains to match. A couple of weeks back they blocked up and I had to rod them, about 6m of shit. Nasty job, I needed several baths afterwards to clean the smell off me.


Yuck. Don't they have plumbers in your part of the UK epeeist ? :-)

Michael

83. Probe lands on Mars, NASA says

Comment #187028 by mmurray on June 1, 2008 at 6:00 am

Thanks mesomodel,

I'm sure a manned missioned would be better but for us oldies in our 50's sooner is better than later :-) It would be nice to see the life on mars question settled. Of course I would like to see people walking on Mars and on the moons of the Jupiter and Saturn but I think these things might be receding into my children's lifetimes.

Nice pictures of what looks very much like ice

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/main/

Michael

84. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #186943 by mmurray on May 31, 2008 at 11:05 pm

Hi Keith

Ah sorry. I should have put a smiley on that -- I've fixed it now. It was supposed to be a facetious alternative to the idea that women could be regarded as `damaged goods' which I find pretty offensive. Actually I think the idea of women being goods is pretty offensive. But I guess that's just my left-wing, dogmatic atheism coming to the fore :-)

Michael

85. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #186920 by mmurray on May 31, 2008 at 8:02 pm

I don't understand this virginity thing. Surely you want your partner to have had lots of experience so they know how much better it is with you ? Otherwise they are always going to be wondering ... :-)

Michael

86. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #186556 by mmurray on May 30, 2008 at 3:17 pm

I think that anyone who is going to get divorced the first time they discover their partner has deceived them should give marriage a pass. People are more complicated than that.

"I don't think I'd divorce over it, just mope for a while and get out of doing dishes. "

This a more realistic point of view :-)

Michael

87. Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings

Comment #186290 by mmurray on May 30, 2008 at 4:37 am

Hi Quetzalcoatl


Electrical Hypersensitivity.
Hypochondria.
Stupidity.


I suspect the first two are the same but not the same as the last. There might be some people who are stupid and as a result believe in silly things but hypochondria can also be a nasty obsessive type psychological disorder.

Michael

88. Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings

Comment #186280 by mmurray on May 30, 2008 at 4:00 am

There is a lot of this about not just Glastonbury

http://www.electrosensitivity.org/

I like the definition


What is ElectroSensitivity?
A unhealthy sensitivity (or sensitivities) to a particular source of electricity, for example mobile phones, computers, power lines or even minor electrical equipment. Symptoms are wide-ranging and can include skin problems, headaches, fatigue, fainting, light sensitivity, heart problems and much more. Electrical HyperSensitivity is a name given to those who are severely affected.


Classic anxiety symptoms except for the light sensitivity.

It is possible you could treat electrosensitivity by exposing a glass of distilled water to wifi and then put a single drop into another glass and repeating say 30 times and then taking a small amount daily.

Michael

89. Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings

Comment #186255 by mmurray on May 30, 2008 at 2:48 am

Wikipedia has some good stuff on electro-sensitivity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_sensitivity

in particular:


It is a matter of controversy whether electromagnetic field exposure causes sufferers' symptoms, and the balance of evidence from provocation studies so far indicates that the link is false. In a recent review of the literature regarding whether sufferers are genuinely affected by electromagnetic fields, seven studies were found which did report an association, while 24 could not find any association with electromagnetic fields. However, of the seven 'positive' studies, two could not be replicated even by the original authors, three had serious methodological shortcomings, and the final two presented contradictory results.[9]


The best evidence for treatments suggests that cognitive behaviour therapy if effective.

Oh and this article from a prestigious :-) UK newspaper is interesting.


Michael

90. Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings

Comment #186241 by mmurray on May 30, 2008 at 2:28 am

If I understand Bonzai's broader point, it is that whether the injury is organic or psychiatric, the appropriate response might be to press on anyway. That is a potentially viable moral approach - sometimes the public good does demand that a few individuals take their own countermeasures. But it would be very difficult to sell, let alone get through the courts, in our current society. So I'd support the double blind test, regardless of the problems mentioned.


I don't see why this is a viable moral approach if what is being suggested is to not bother to find out what the problem is. What if it turns out we can modify the WiFi signal in some way that eliminates the problem without diminishing the usefulness of the technology? Shouldn't we do that ?

If there is an effect don't we need to know who is going to be affected? Maybe it is worse for children below a certain age or pregnant women or people with certain diseases or taking a particular medication.

If it really is an issue then I think we need to know to avoid making it worse and what we can do to ameliorate it. Once we have the facts we can decide on the morality of the possible trade-offs we need to make.

Michael

91. Group wants Wi-Fi banned from public buildings

Comment #186154 by mmurray on May 29, 2008 at 6:07 pm

This concern has been around for awhile

http://www.indxependent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-wellbeing/health-news/wifi-children-at-risk-from-electronic-smog-445725.html

I think we need to be careful not to dismiss these people as delusional without doing the research although the advice from WHO above would suggest that some research has been done.

Michael

92. Probe lands on Mars, NASA says

Comment #185565 by mmurray on May 28, 2008 at 4:47 am

Are there any robot missions planned to bring back samples or are we just going to wait until people get there?

Michael

93. Probe lands on Mars, NASA says

Comment #185032 by mmurray on May 26, 2008 at 6:24 pm

Even though it has landed the video on the NASA site of the minutes between atmosphere entry and confimation of landing are still fun to watch (IMHO)

It is in the archive here

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/multimedia/video_archive_1.html

They also have a nice photo of phoenix hanging under the parachute taken from orbit

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/images/press/9227-PHX_Lander.html


Michael

EDIT: Sorry I missed the fact that these had been posted on the previous page. Good enough to repeat though. :-)

94. Town moves against Islamic school

Comment #185029 by mmurray on May 26, 2008 at 6:15 pm


And those destroyed or threatened our civilization exactly how?


Obviously they haven't destroyed it but they have changed it deeply in the level of security we are increasingly getting used to putting up with. `Terrorist risk' is being used to justify a level of policing (at least in Australia) we wouldn't have put up with in the past. The lock down of Sydney during the recent APEC conference is one example as is the overkill response in Canberra to the Olympic Torch relay.

I think the threat comes from the way the terrorists and these internal changes we make to combat them feed off each other. There is also the danger that terrorists will find some serious biological or nuclear weapons and use them. I agree that even in a scenario where a US or Europe city was destroyed with appalling loss of life civilization would go on but I think the political response to it might make it hard to recognise and very unpleasant to live in.

Michael

95. Town moves against Islamic school

Comment #184969 by mmurray on May 26, 2008 at 3:13 pm

To simplify the matter, muslims are the more nutty and less equipped religious group and the christians are the less nutty and more equipped religious group. For the former group, they probability that they'll do something idiotic and violent is pretty high but the damage they do is about a couple of embassies and for the latter so far the probability of them being able to do something idiotic is small but if they get the chance they might really wreck havoc in the globe.


A couple of embassies ? Are you forgetting 9/11, the London bombings, the Bali bombings, the Madrid train station ?

Michael

96. Mail-boat record 'proves Darwin stole his original ideas from a Welsh scientist'

Comment #184687 by mmurray on May 26, 2008 at 1:18 am

Would a group of TRUE scientists get really upity about who got there first? What matters is what's discovered. Richard Feynman said something like that in the book I'm reading.


Yes of course. The one who gets there first gets the fame, the Nobel Prize, the money, the offers of jobs are the best Universities etc.

Michael

97. Tribute to a Beloved Mentor

Comment #184386 by mmurray on May 25, 2008 at 12:21 am

Hi ghost9,

Welcome. Have you tried the forums ?

http://richarddawkins.net/forum/

Which ones are the other Big 3 by the way ??

Michael

98. Does Time Run Backward in Other Universes?

Comment #184344 by mmurray on May 24, 2008 at 5:58 pm

qomak:

The problem with the article is that for the average person it is indistinguishable from a crackpot article putting forward hypotheses for a pseudoscience.


Except they can check the source and see it is Scientific American which is reasonably reputable.

Michael

99. Tribute to a Beloved Mentor

Comment #184184 by mmurray on May 23, 2008 at 8:53 pm

Many bright lights of Wadham College have been going out in recent years. Michael Cullen, John Fleming, Stuart Hampshire, my own dear tutor Peter Derow, and only this year our dean Robin McCleery. Alas the current generations are not a patch on what once was...


Ah but they produced some excellent graduates :-)

Michael

(DPhil 1983)

100. Tribute to a Beloved Mentor

Comment #184093 by mmurray on May 23, 2008 at 3:08 pm

There is only a very short entry in Wikipedia for Mike Cullen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Michael_Cullen

Maybe someone should add Richard's eulogy and the photo.

Michael

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