Indianapolis Marion County Public Library’s new Central Library building will be having its grand opening to the public in a little over an hour from now. I got to see it Friday at a reception for friends and family of employees, donors and friends of the library. It is spectacular and gives any public library anywhere in the world a run for its money, with its resources for children of all ages, its atmosphere, and even the technology used by… Read more

A recent post at Uncommon Descent offered a prediction about what ought to be the case regarding E. coli, with an invitation to ‘anyone’ that might be interested in running the experiment. As I read the post, it struck me that the study of this hypothesis would neither support nor disprove anything about ID, as it is unclear what about the independent development of E. coli in humans and baboons would provide support for ‘intelligent design’.A genuine prediction, in the… Read more

Some keyword searches that have led people to my blog. Others have shared theirs and I’ve found them amusing. Mine can scarcely compete, but at least they illustrate the range of interests our fellow human beings have. The words in parentheses are my comments.deja vu god has made up his mindstudy on dihydrogen monoxidedeath by a black hole dihydrogen monoxideguillermo gonzalez astrologerchristmas in mark’s gospeli want seminar on practice makes man perfectlost bentham hedonic calculus jacktim lahaye quotes (which led… Read more

I did not, in actual fact, receive an e-mail from Christopher Hitchens. I had presumed that, if nothing else, the “P.S. Please don’t tell anyone” added at the end of the message which I posted on my blog would give it away.That anyone could take it seriously indicates that what FTK does is precisely what one would expect an atheist to do in order to undermine Christianity by pretending to be one, yet behaving in profoundly unchristian ways. FTK censors… Read more

A large house has been discovered adjacent to the temple mount in Jerusalem, dating from the second temple period. The Jerusalem Post also has a story about this, and a video clip.See Biblical Archaeology for all the latest news! Read more

There are lots of discussions of tenure and peer review, particularly as relates to evolution, intelligent design and such topics. Here’s what I wrote in a comment responding to someone who suggested that peer review, rather than intelligent design, is the career-killer:Peer review prevents the academy from being hijacked by people-pleasers who say what a certain constituent wants to hear, untroubled by facts and other such nuisances. Please do propose an alternative. Perhaps you prefer the media’s approach, which is… Read more

“I suppose it is only to be expected in a place famous for watch making” (John Pieret, about the Swiss creationist movement). Read more

For those not boycotting Christmas because it is either too Christian, or not Christian enough, or too commercialized, or not commercialized enough, let me recommend the Star Wars Miniatures Game. It is nowhere near as complex as your typical role playing game, but a lot more flexible and imaginative than the typical constraints of the average board game. One plays the role of individuals from the Star Wars universe, and you can either reenact battles and scenes from the movies,… Read more

FTK (or “For The Kids”) is the name of a blogger who engages in antiscientific tirades using unchristian rhetoric allegedly for the benefit of Christ and her own children.In a top secret memo leaked today, anonymous blogger FTK has acknowledged being none other than atheist author Chris Hitchens.Dear Prof. McGrath,Okay, I admit it. I’m really Christopher Hitchens. To be honest this was a joke that went too far. I didn’t think anyone would actually believe I was a Christian opposing… Read more

I’ve posted a poll in the right hand column to let you decide. I want to coin a new term for something that baffles you so much that you feel you must blog about it. Should we say such things are “mind blogging” or “mind bloggling”? Read more