“A Tidy Desk is a Sign of a Tidy Mind”

I guess it’s a common enough aphorism. It turned up yesterday in John Grisham’s “King of Torts” and it made me feel a bit queasy about my mental condition.

However, I have since realised that even if it were an absolute truth that wherever one finds a tidy desk, there is a Tidy Mind lurking behind its design, this doesn’t necessarily entail that a lack of desk tidiness (e.g. w.r.t. my desk) can be said, in even a single case, to be a result of mental chaos. As tempting as it might be to draw the conclusion, we simply wouldn’t know. Non-tidiness could in fact be another sign of a Tidy Mind, a sign of a Genius Mind, no sign whatsoever, or various other possibilities. I even checked it and can now assure you that denying the antecedent is a logical fallacy. So; boys and girls; don’t do it!

“Joy is more choice for less investment”

I don’t think so, BMW. Normally the Bayerische Motoren-Werke are pretty cool IMHO but they’ve followed the once trusty Toyota and gone and tarnished themselves in advertising. Joy is a lot of things, but not many of them are associated with German cars.
This reminds me of a time in Germany, in a French class to be exact (long story, but unfortunately, my French is not any better as a result) when it was asked “what is joy for you?” So, without too much more self-promotion (ok I’ll take that back – this whole post is pretty much all about ME), I’ll answer the question again:

Joy is an awesome conversation with whoever [Word tells me it should be “whomever”, but if we were going to be fancy, I’d say “whomsoever wills it”]
Joy is friends in the right proportions – the right mix – preferably with dessert
Joy is a hopefully awesome book like Nicholas Wolterstorff’s “Justice”
Joy, for that matter, is a tastefully filled bookshelf or CD-rack or blogsite
Joy is a splendid sermon lovely lecture terrific talk or an in-depth debate
Joy is a small group that works or a massive gathering of Jesus Freaks
Joy is worth having

with the exception of pride

"Once upon a time, there were seven deadly sins. … The seven sins were (and are): lust, gluttony, avarice, sloth, anger, envy and pride. Now, all of them, with the exception of pride, have become medical conditions. Pride has become a virtue."
-Frank Furedi, Humanist, Sociology Professor

Being edited, but here you go anyway

Disorientation

Welcome to an unhygienic, truth-anaemic student hole
Dedicated to the egos of the tenured
And the hopes of those who are not!

Where over-opinionated undergraduates
Fail to recognise their role as parrots
Sleep deprived student labourers
Deserve love or pity yet get blank faces & beer
In dark shadows preternatural postgraduates play pool

Oh, if only Orientation included such wise sureties
As the joys of un-fellowship in science class
Snobbery assumed supposedly for safety
And retained for sheer convenience

“Learn, damn-it! Or we shall remove you!”
“There you go; regurgitation isn’t that hard now, is it?”
“You’re moving up the non-existent ranks!”
“Relatively speaking, you are a veritable success!”
“You want to think critically? Child, what is wrong with you?”

Cheers, big ears! Another semester has passed us by
Soon we shall be middle class malcontents
And then, perhaps, we shall die
Once our money has all been carefully misspent

Arts students know how to have fun!
Yet have not quite decided why it even matters
Commerce is in people; for we are beautiful objects!
Maximise occasions for sex! At all costs minimise depth
Law is a sure categorisation of the whims of the strong

[ Something has gone badly wrong
The commercialisation and objectification
Of tertiary education
Or the human condition?

An answer lies in charity, faith and humility
Rather than growth in educational faculties
Yet do not distract us; for we; it is sure
Are the ones having fun! ]

In the E. coli of the beholder

This paper from Lenski et al (Lenski is famous for his long term study on evolution in the lab of populations of the bacteria Escherichia Coli) in the PNAS has been claimed, in one of those rather annoying internet discussions which I stumbled across, to show a “beneficial mutation”. The paper is a report on what the authors believe is the most significant event of the mega-tastic (my phrase) E. Coli study; i.e. a mutant able to use the compound citrate -pictured- in addition to glucose in respiration. I have no beef with the concept of a beneficial mutation as such; I do though, suspect this paper wasn’t the best example, as it only makes the ‘beneficial mutation’ point rather incidentally and (see point 3 below) a bit ambiguously. I also find it intriguing how people with different backgrounds can draw rather different conclusions from research such as this.
I’ve just flicked through it, but I’m inclined to see support for Michael Behe’s claim’s concerning the statistical difficulty of obtaining traits requiring multiple mutations, while another person brandishes the paper as a near-decisive H-bomb in their personal war against creationists.
Other interesting things:1) The “rapid improvements in fitness” witnessed decelerated over time – of course, we should not be surprised, but some people might be.
2) Simon Conway-Morris was cited favourably – always nice to see
3) The actual mutations involved aren’t yet known at the genetic level – hence it is not known whether the initial point mutation (it appears there were two of these) was selectively advantageous or not.
-There’s probably more stuff, but I’ve got over it for now.

New Product In: The Papyrus Scroll

"Traditional supernaturalistic Christian belief, [Bultmann] said, is "impossible in this age of electric light and the wireless." (One can perhaps imagine an earlier village skeptic taking a similar view of, say, the tallow candle and printing press, or perhaps the pine torch and the papyrus scroll.)”
-Alvin Plantinga

"Since Darwin, we know that we do not exist for any purpose."

Peter Singer.
Seems awfully certain about it all.

Suppose we don’t like mathematicians…

Suppose we don’t like mathematicians, assume there is something wrong with them, and demonstrate what’s going on in their brain when they do math[s].
Would that show that mathematics was false?
Would it show mathematics had no connection to objective reality?
We have independent reasons to think mathematics contains substantial truth.
Likewise, religious believers can provide independent reason to believe in God.
Neuroscience is being co-opted by materialists as a diversion from the truth issue.
- Angus Menuge

This had such a brilliant start I had to post it; thanks Angus. The brain is actually that of a chimp, but who's to know the dif?

Eulogia

I almost called this blog “Eulogia”, meaning “good words” or a “blessing”, but that was a bit too religious; can’t have the name scaring away the secular kiddies and in any case, I meant more “deep talk”, or maybe even “big talk” – here is an explanation of sorts. You don't have to read it if you don't want to!

Big Talk

at small talk I substantially fail
indeed I seldom try
at big talk perhaps
why, yes we shall succeed

so let us or me here span the gamut
run the gauntlet of God and man
and the cavern nay chasm between them
woman and politics and death

poverty and apparent wealth we can pursue
happiness near complete lack of health
sunsets and rises and cycles of life
alienation or alien nations fall and re-creation

life & wisdom and its love or lack of
evil, loathing and the burning of books
suffering, pain and other games demons play
angels and archangels break-dancing thru needle’s eye

design and two-by-fours in organs of sight
white robes harps chords of delight
pharisees and sadducees and you and me
who knows? It could even be fun

so, whaddaya know?

Philosophy is thinking things over.
-Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

mercy, grace and other mysteries

I was impressed with this, a genuine hymn, from a guy called William Cowper and written in 1774, when it turned up earlier in the week and had intended to copy it down; while I had, predictably, forgotten, someone posted a memo yesterday in the form of my finding of it elsewhere. Only a snippet was at first intended but I shall treat you, gentle and likely non-existent reader, to the thing in its entirety.

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants His footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works His sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

Oh, fatuosity! My nostrils flare in admiration

Anyone who can write for both VeggieTales and the New York Times, as well as enticing top Christian academics to share their thoughts is someone worth investigating. As far as I am aware, the sole honour goes to Eric Metaxas, of whom I am now even more of a fan than I was at a time prior to this one. Woody Allen has even called some of his pieces in the New York Times “quite funny.” The item that elicited (and was the actual source of) the admiration and other quotation was a slimmed-down version of an essay of his from awhile ago on the Da Vinci Code, from the perspective of C.S. Lewis’ character “Screwtape” – the less slim version is on the site along with other good stuff.

While Eric is also technically a competitor in the blogosphere,
this is good-in-a-relaxingly-real-way enough that I hardly care.