Mud Bowl

Quote of the Day

Heard recently:

I mean, you can either think of, lets say the creeds of the great traditions as it were, as telling you what you ought to think. Or you can say they are in some some sense comparable to the theories of science. They are the best distillations of where we’ve been. But we don’t approach reality treating those models as if they are the last word. We treat them as operational hypotheses.

-- Geneticist and Anglican priest Lindon Eaves

Report from Southern Maryland

Old news but still noteworthy.  The Bard's 'Much Ado' Is Something.

(well, you can see the back of John's head)

Thankful for the most perfect food

With the advent of Thanksgiving and the culinary delights it brings (especially after a trying Mud Bowl game…What is it this year? MMMCMXCIX?), but even more importantly, an attempt to revive this blog from a vanity publisher back to an interactive communicative medium, I'd like pose a question to which you may respond in your own imaginative way.

What do you consider the most perfect food?

Me:
Wonderfully packaged, easily transportable, needs no refrigeration, healthy per doctors daily orders, initiated life as we know it, biodegradable, the perfect snack, juicy but no sticky fingers, fits in a batman lunch box, tastes as good as all heavenly knowledge could, initiates practically all alphabet picture books, and unlike money it grows on trees, I choose the apple. And I do, practically once a day. It's that good. I put stock in it.

(I'm sure you can do better.)

Misjudged Risk Assessment

Here's another topic we've seen before: misjudging risk. (I hope no one went out with their kid(s) on Halloween, but, if you did, I hope it was to make sure they weren't hit by a car, not because of some insane idea that neighbors harm kids.) It turns out we should fear easy access to guns not necessarily because it leads to increased homicides, but, more importantly, increased suicides. Suicides by guns are three times more likely than homicides. Additionally, a new study by Alex Tabarrok and Justin Biggs estimates "that a 1% increase in gun ownership leads to a .5 to .9% increase in suicides."

The Rise of Women?

As women remake our society, the jury is still out on the direction and impact of those changes. It has been 40 years since Title IX, and the changes have been significant. Women get better grades, attend college at a 40% greater rate than men, and graduate at a 25% greater rate than men. We can only hope for better times ahead as women widen the gap in education and influence.

Here is a snap shot for education levels of 24-25 year olds in 2009:

I know everything must have a Darwinian explanation. I also know that evolution is not survival of the fittest but, rather, survival of the un-fittest in the previous environment—as it changes. The environment changed from benefiting the strong and quick to the smart and cooperative. Some men, of course, have adapted, namely, the nerds.

However, sometimes I fear that women, as smart as they are, may not be as smart as we have hoped. Will they set new and exciting standards of behavior beyond those of current society, leading us to new heights of civilization… or not. 

A brawl at the end of Friday's women's hockey game between Ohio State and Bemidji State led to 19 players being disqualified and set an NCAA record for penalty minutes in a game. Ohio State had 10 players disqualified and Bemidji State nine after an altercation at the final whistle brought the game's total penalty minutes to 303. That total set a record for men's and women's games in either Division I or Division III.

Will women take civilization to a new level or will they be led by the out-dated but powerful influence of men?

The Ohio State women's hockey coach, Nate Handrahan (a man) said, "What happened at the end of the game doesn't happen often in women's hockey. But I can tell you this: We're happy to at least see our girls show some fight and some spirit."