Wednesday Wednesday

Mademoiselle Minx

Absolutely

Interesting piece in today's Speigel called "Pastor Terry Jones and the Claim to Absolute Truth." The lede summarizes the article succinctly:

Twenty people have died in the protests triggered by Pastor Terry Jones' burning of the Koran in March and more violence is likely. But both his action, and the reaction in the Muslim world share the same problematic roots: Claims to absolute truth have little place in the modern world.

As a person who has spent quite a bit of time reading, discussing and teaching about the nature of science, I'm well aware that within the sciences, claims of absolute knowledge are, for practical purposes, forbidden. The word "truth" in a scientific context raises my hackles and sets off my BS alarm.

This does not mean there aren't bits of data which I choose to treat as if they are absolute truth; Stephen J. Gould defined "fact" as follows:

Moreover, "fact" doesn't mean "absolute certainty"; there ain't no such animal in an exciting and complex world. The final proofs of logic and mathematics flow deductively from stated premises and achieve certainty only because they are not about the empirical world. Evolutionists make no claim for perpetual truth, though creationists often do (and then attack us falsely for a style of argument that they themselves favor). In science "fact" can only mean "confirmed to such a degree that it would be perverse to withhold provisional consent." I suppose that apples might start to rise tomorrow, but the possibility does not merit equal time in physics classrooms.

In other words, I treat my knowledge as an absolute basis for decision-making in the vast majority of day-to-day situations. But I have a duty to acknowledge evidence against data I consider to be "facts." Furthermore, when the outcome of my fact-based decisions may be injury or even death to another, that is not a day-to-day situation, and I have a human duty to reconsider just how certain I am about my facts, and how important I think those facts are, in the grand scheme of things.

It's all about perspective.

Absolutes are comforting, and as human beings we desire them. Our desire for them can lead us to believe they exist. But they don't. In believing that absolute knowledge can exist, and in blindly acting on the basis of that knowledge, the outcome is inevitably injury and death.

This is the basis of religion, going hand-in-hand with the guilt-assuaging certainty that when others suffer as a result of our decisions, it is because of "God's will" or "God's plan."

And unfortunately, that perspective is not limited to religion. One of this country's political parties has a whole laundry list of absolute facts that trump human life, as we saw yesterday with Ryan's "serious" budget proposal. I would be so much more optimistic if I felt that the other party was honestly willing to fight for principles and people, rather than trying to be bipartisan. Because with absolute knowledge, there is no compromise, no middle ground, no negotiation.

You can bet your life on it.

Absolutely.

Unmixed Signals

Couple of articles in today's Oregon Live, here and here. I started to write these up earlier but I did something that turned quite a bit of text into a massive blob of html hamburger, and I'm not going to attempt to reconstruct it now. So, short version: The first article is mainly about Oregon coastal communities' preparedness or lack thereof, for large tsunamis, and some of the work underway to become better prepared. It contains the following quote which despite its sobering content is quite funny in its phrasing:

"The shaking will be so strong, you will most likely fall on the ground," said Nathan Wood, a geographer with the U.S. Geological Survey. "That's a sign you know this is not some little tremor. When you can stand up, that is the indication you should head for high land."

Got that? The shaking is the signal you should fall down, and standing up is the signal that you should run for high ground. Another quote highlights a fact about tsunamis that I didn't really comprehend until I'd seen some of the video clips of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami:

"It's a wall of water," said Witter. "It is a wave, but its wave length is kilometers long. They are so big they produce a sudden rise in ocean level and continue to flow at that level. If you raise sea level by 20 or 30 feet or even higher, where does it have to go? It flows downhill inland. There will be flooding in every place that is low. Where you have bluffs, the waves will hit the bluffs and go back out to sea. If the tsunami is higher than 50 feet, it will top the bluffs that are lower than 50 feet."

The other article is about a "buddy safehouse" program being developed at Cannon Beach- a community that is mostly at lower elevations. A point that I have mentioned in the past, and developed in much more detail in the earlier post I abandoned, is that many- I would say most- Oregon coastal communities are in large part on elevated terraces. There are a few, like Tillamook, Waldport, and Cannon Beach that are largely on dune, estuarine, and/or beach deposits, and which are vulnerable as a whole. But the heart of nearly all our coastal communities is a harbor and port, and even though most of the population and development might be out of inundation risk, these commercial centers are uniformly vulnerable to the inevitable large tsunami that will accompany a great Cascadia quake. And if it occurs during waking and working hours, these vulnerable area will be full of workers and tourists. In many cases, evacuation routes will be obvious and readily accessible, but in other cases, not so much.

As an example, Newport is the town about an hour west of where I sit. The north shore of Yaquina Bay is a narrow strip of flat developed land that rises quickly to the newer parts of town- a person could get to safety in just two or three minutes of brisk walking. The south shore, on the other hand, is broad and low, and is becoming more and more built up. It is the home to The Oregon Coast Aquarium, Oregon State's Hatfield Marine Science Center, the Rogue Brewery, and NOAA's marine operations headquarters is being built there. Where would those people evacuate to? I'm not really sure.

So the point is, if you live or visit the coast of the spectacular Pacific Northwest- and you should: there's only one really bad day out of about 100,000 or so- take a moment to look at your surroundings and ask yourself, "What would I do?" Having even a sketch of a plan is better than none, and though unlikely, could save your life.

Tuesday Tits

The Daily What. We had two days last week when we broke 60, but the forecast for this week tops out in the mid fifties with rain and showers. I'm so ready for some warmer weather...

Three Weeks of News, One Small Victory

I've been oppressed by the news lately, but there's nothing for it: I'm a news junkie. But every now and then, I come across something that, for a few minutes at least, makes me feel warm and fuzzy. Hooray for rescued goggies!Crikey.

Followup, April 5: Here's a videoclip of Ban being reunited with his owner; it concludes with footage of the helicopter rescue, and a very bewildered, worried-looking goggie.

Sunday Funnies: Hellbound Edition

Bits and Pieces
Skull Swap
Reddit
A volcano on Wall Street? Hear, hear! Tree Lobsters
Savage Chickens
Sober in a Nightclub

see more Gifs
Sofa Pizza
I find this seriously creepy... Bits and Pieces

see more So Much Pun

see more Very Demotivational

see more Very Demotivational
My friend Doug sent me this earlier, but that link is apparently broken; above from Hacked IRL.
Skull Swap

The Internet is like a Penis.

It can be up or down. It's more fun when it's up, but it makes it hard to get any real work done.

Read the rest at Sober in a Nightclub... very funny and too true.
Surviving the The World

see more Lolcats and funny pictures.
BizarroBlog
Hacked IRL
xkcd

While it has been long known that the rotation of the Earth, combined with the Moon orbiting our blue marble, makes it appear that the Moon rises and sets, some have thought otherwise. As shown above, it looks like evidence is now falling to their side. Rumor has it that the Moon is brought down for repair about one day each month, but no photos support this claim. Thermal infrared film used to view the crane, which was nearly invisible to the unaided eye.

Earth Science Picture of the Day made a funny!
Cyanide and Happiness
Sober in a Nightclub
"Cat By Northwest," Savage Chickens
Sober in a Nightclub
The Far Left Side
The Daily What

see more Very Demotivational
Dr. Boli
My First Dictionary

Bits and Pieces

see more Hacked IRL - Truth in Sarcasm

see more Very Demotivational

see more dog and puppy pictures

see more Lol Celebs

see more Lol Celebs

see more Comixed

see more Gifs
Cyanide and Happiness
How's That for a Slice of Fried Gold? Click over for a nonpartisan collection of political lampoonage.
Bits and Pieces
Brilliant at Breakfast- click over for a hilariously snarky rundown of the "leading" Republican nominees for the presidential run.
From a collection of vintage April Fool's gags at Dark Roasted Blend
Blackadder
Sofa Pizza
The High Definite

Saturd80's: Shadowfax Edition

see more dog and puppy pictures

I was introduced to Shadowfax by a young woman on my first geology field trip to southern Oregon and northern California. Jad D'Alura from SOSC led the trip, and we spent the night with various geology students from that university. Many were the rocks beaten during the day, and many the beers who gave their lives that night. I nearly forgot the name of the group in the following years, but a later room mate had a couple of their albums, and I was happily reintroduced to their music. I've been in much need lately of plain and simple beauty, what with all the terrible news, and Shadowfax fits the bill. The name comes from Gandalf's horse.

Shadowdance:

Another Country:

New Electric India: