{"id":66126,"date":"2018-10-08T21:23:42","date_gmt":"2018-10-09T03:23:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=66126"},"modified":"2018-10-08T21:23:42","modified_gmt":"2018-10-09T03:23:42","slug":"of-europan-spiky-ice-spires-and-related-matters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2018\/10\/of-europan-spiky-ice-spires-and-related-matters.html","title":{"rendered":"Of Europan spiky ice spires and related matters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Jupiter,<\/a>
A NASA\/ESA artist\u2019s conception of a water-vapor plume on the Jovian moon Europa, with the planet Jupiter itself in the background.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

My recent debate adversary, Dr. Michael Shermer<\/a>, has a useful piece in the October issue of Scientific American<\/em>:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy Do People Kill Themselves? \u00a0Why do people die by suicide?\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This coming Friday, 12 October 2018, there will be a planetarium show at BYU under the title of \u201cOctober Sky and Our Creator\u2019s Cosmos.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

It will be presented at 7 PM and then, again, at 8 PM.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cOctober Sky and Our Creator\u2019s Cosmos\u201d is open to the general public. \u00a0I\u2019m not sure that I can make it, but I intend to try.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

In other science news:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMillions of Americans take vitamin D. Most should just stop. \u00a0Outside of rare cases, rigorous studies of the supplement don\u2019t find any health benefit.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSpiky ice spires may stud the equator of Jupiter\u2019s moon Europa: The tall structures could make it hard for probes to land along the Jovian moon\u2019s equator\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

This article is more generally interesting, even politically relevant, than its title might suggest at first glance:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Problem with Ice Age Overkill:\u00a0A new study highlights a communication breakdown in sciences concerned with ice age extinction\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Dang. \u00a0I would have given my eyeteeth to have pulled this stunt off:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Grievance Studies Scandal: Five Academics Respond\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Just yesterday, somebody on the internet of whom I\u2019ve never heard confidently and sneeringly observed that, as a certified religious fanatic and fundamentalist loon, I reject evolution. \u00a0When I gently replied with the question \u201cI do<\/em>?\u201d he immediately suggested that nothing that I might say about my beliefs on the topic should be trusted. \u00a0I reject evolution, and that\u2019s that. \u00a0No matter what I say or what I claim to believe. \u00a0I\u2019m too dishonest to be permitted to speak for myself.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I wonder if the internet\u2019s many crazy and unreasonable people are, on the whole, like that in real life, or whether they are able to control their crazy unreasonableness when they know that people who know them are watching.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Incidentally, for a recent specimen of my frequent emotional and angry denunciations of evolution, see this:<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDirected Evolution\u201d and the 2018 Nobel Prize in Chemistry<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

***<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

I believe God did intend, in giving us intelligence, to give us the opportunity to investigate and appreciate the wonders of His creation. He is not threatened by our scientific adventures.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Francis Collins M.D., Ph.D., former leader of the Human Genome Project and current director of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 \u00a0 My recent debate adversary, Dr. Michael Shermer, has a useful piece in the October issue of Scientific American: \u00a0 \u201cWhy Do People Kill Themselves? \u00a0Why do people die by suicide?\u201d \u00a0 *** \u00a0 This coming Friday, 12 October 2018, there will be a planetarium show at BYU under the title of \u201cOctober Sky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1019,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nOf Europan spiky ice spires and related matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"    My recent debate adversary, Dr. Michael Shermer, has a useful piece in the October issue of Scientific American:   "Why Do People Kill\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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