This is a post that will give free reign to some probably ludicrous speculations about LOST. Feel free to read and to critique them. Who is Ben’s man on the freighter? And why have they come here on a freighter rather than some other kind of ship? Michael, some have observed, could well be Ben’s man on the freighter. Walt is another option, since Michael genuinely seemed doubtful when Ben told him to follow a particular course and he’d “find... Read more

Someone on the forum After The Bar Closes has drawn attention to the “Comment Policy” at Uncommon Descent. It is in fact the comment moderation policy, and I find it fascinating. This is how the moderators there understand their role: “The main thing to remember is that moderators are editors and it’s their job to make people’s words disappear before anyone else sees them.” There is then a list of three categories into which commenters are placed, the first two... Read more

I’m wondering if I should just rename these regular posts sharing other interesting items from other blogs should be permanently renamed “Lost in the Blogosphere”. For the next several weeks at least, it is unlikely that any of these posts will fail to mention LOST. At any rate, I have no particular speculations about tonight’s episode, except that all the recent references to the finding of Oceanic Flight 815 at the bottom of the ocean may suggest that the newcomers... Read more

“All I’m asking is for evangelicals in the Republican Party to give James Dobson the same kind attention we would give to our senile and increasingly erratic grandfathers. Love them. Listen to them. Laugh with them. Then make sure they take their medicine” (SBC Outpost blog entry “Focus on the Folly”) (HT Bene Diction Blogs On) Read more

The blog All Too Common Dissent has a blog entry about the Discovery Institute setting up The Biologic Institute to undertake real, serious scientific research. The institute was established in 2005. It is now 2007. What have they accomplished thus far? Apparently not even setting up their web page… Who needs parody, then the reality is so hilarious? Read more

For those who love a good cartoon on a topic of interest, there is no longer a need to either wait for one to appear in the paper, or wish you were a better artist. Now there is Toonlet, which facilitates making short comic strips. I haven’t tried it yet, but I plan to. If you use it, please do leave a comment pointing to the results! (HT Bryan Hayes) Read more

“I can’t imagine how this could possibly have happened. Therefore, it didn’t happen”. The argument from incredulity is a classic used by young-earth creationists, and more recently by cdesign proponentsists. Dave Scot at Uncommon Descent begins by posing the question “which came first, the caterpillar or the butterfly” and then goes on to present this as evidence against evolution. The question itself is obviously wrong-headed to begin with – even a religion professor with no degree in biology can see... Read more

Mystical Seeker has drawn attention to the e-mail which a pastor received after announcing his participation in Evolution Weekend. The gist of it is “If evolution is true then these various beliefs of mine and other Christians are wrong; therefore, evolution cannot be true”. This is doubly problematic. First, just because something else being true would have the implication that you are wrong does not mean that that other thing is not in fact true. Any time we cease to... Read more

After a student mentioned seeing Exodus Decoded to me after class today, I found myself thinking about one positive aspect of scholarly blogging, and of web-based scholarly publications and sites in general. When a documentary, a book, an article or an interview appears making sensational claims, the response is immediate in a way that was not possible even a few years ago. Once upon a time, a sensational claim would be made on TV or in a book, and then... Read more