The NRA & Parker v. District of Columbia

WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Could the National Rifle Association and its allies in Congress be undermining the best pro-gun case ever likely to be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court?

That's the question one of the attorneys (Robert A. Levy) involved in Parker v. District of Columbia is asking. Note that if the Supreme Court were to uphold the Circuit's opinion in Parker it could do so on grounds which specifically recognize the individual right to bear arms.

Kicking Up Some Dust

ABOARD TRAIN V150, France: Roaring like a jet plane, spitting sparks and trailing dust, a French train with a souped-up engine and special wheels broke the world speed record Tuesday for conventional rail trains, reaching 574.8 kph (357.2 mph).

Sounds like that was a fun ride. Still, it is much slower than the trains that have been proposed to cross the Atlantic.

More on the TGV here.

Florida Repeats

Congratulations to the Gators.

Movie Scripts

So, as some of you may know we're considering writing a screenplay. Well it seemed that one good place to start that process would be to read movie scripts. So I started looking for scripts online and I came across this site; it has a large selection of scripts for free.

Creationism

Some of you may already know who Ken Ham is; if not you can read about him here.

One of the videos Ken Ham has produced to defend the account of creation in Genesis has been critiqued here.

Of the things I've read of Ken Ham's his "Were You There?" article is probably the piece that has provoked the most thought.

My initial reaction to the article is this. Say I wake up some morning and I look outside and there is snow on the ground. Well, I didn't actually see the snow fall, just as I have never witnessed the billions of years of stellar, biological, etc. evolution, however, I have seen snow fall in the past, just as scientists have witnessed various acts of geological, etc. change since the 19th century. So, why would I assume this particular snowfall was any different in its creation than past snowfalls I've witnessed? This prompts an allied question - why would the way that snow is created long ago be different than that it is today? And of course why would the geological, etc. processes we see today be different in the past?

So yeah, I wasn't there. But the clues that exist in current patterns of change in combination with the historical record (e.g., rock strata, the genome of a particular animal, fossils, etc.) allow us to make powerful and convincing inferences based on that data.

Addendum: In the critique of Ham's video I found the bit about the advent of nylon metabolism to be a major "wow" point. Namely that nylon did not exist prior to 1935 and yet bacteria which eat nylon have come into existance. Sounds like evolution to me.

Sappho

In the grey olive-grove a small brown bird
Had built her nest and waited for the spring.
But who could tell the happy thought that came.
To lodge beneath my scarlet tunic's fold?

All day long now is the green earth renewed
With the bright sea-wind and the yellow blossoms.
From the cool shade I hear the silver plash.
Of the blown fountain at the garden's end.

Sappho, XV (trans. Bliss Carman)

This is the old fashioned way to render Sappho's work. More recent translations are far less amorphous in tone.

New Book

Bruce Smith, Politics and Remembrance: Republican Themes in Machiavelli, Burke, and Tocqueville

Can Passersby Nibble?

An artist has created a nude chocolate Jesus just in time for "holy week." Apparently he's all there. Anyway, this development has been met by telephone calls and e-mails from those upset with this particular depiction.

The sculpture is as far as I can tell is in a private gallery.

Here's a question - was Jesus wearing a loincloth when he was crucified?

Addendum: I suspect not, since humiliating people via the public display of genitals (or worse) has been a common practice in human societies. Anyway, being crucified by itself was a humiliating, degrading practice in the ancient world; indeed so much so that early Christians had to explain why they adopted as a savior an individual who had gone through that process.

Addendum II: If I recall correctly, there are passages in the Old Testament which state that those who are crucified are "unclean" or "cursed."

The British Hostages

One of the things that Britain seemed to be doing by co-operating with the U.S. was punching above its weight. I think the Iranian hostage situation has brought Britain back to reality, at least for a while.

Sophists

Meno: I often wonder, Socrates, that Gorgias is never heard promising to teach virtue: and when he hears others promising he only laughs at them; but he thinks that men should be taught to speak.

-- Plato, Meno (trans. Benjamin Jowett)

One of the main criticisms of the Sophists was that they would teach individuals to argue without absolute reference to the "moral" nature of the argument. The problem of course is that the Sophists were partly right - choices, political or otherwise, are often difficult to make and in part this is because choices don't as often as as we would like present clear alternatives. Furthermore, the basis of these alternatives are never going to be as concrete as we would like. That doesn't mean that one should be a radical skeptic (though if that is what floats your boat, go for it - from my experience it leads to yawning nihilism, a state which has its definite costs as well as benefits), but it should make moderate skepticism seem at least attractive.

Waterfire - Providence, Rhode Island (2003)

Above are some modified shots taken at WaterFire. Yes, they do look like impressionist paintings. If you are ever in Rhode Island you should definitely check WaterFire out. Indeed, the event by itself is enough reason to visit the state.

Word Up

Today's word is metempsychosis.

Quebec Election

In Quebec's provinicial elections women who were wearing a veil had to remove it in order to vote. More here. This to me seems like a fairly defensible, religion-neutral requirement.

As for the elections results, the Liberal Party of Quebec will have to form a minority government, while the Parti Québécois (which advocates seperation) came in third. As the New York Times notes, "The outcome means Quebec will avoid another divisive referendum on whether the French-speaking province should separate from the rest of Canada."

UNC Mascot Update

Unfortunately UNC's mascot, Jason Ray, who was hit by an SUV Friday, has died. My sincere condolences to the family. From what I can tell from the article your son was an outstanding young man.

Children At Play

Eternity is a child at play, playing draughts: the kingdom is a child's.

-- Heraclitus, quoted in Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies
(trans. Jonathan Barnes, Early Greek Philosophy (2001), pg. 52)

Yesterday I was watching a large group of children at play. About ten or fifteen of them. They were playing tag. As the game progressed they amended the rules as various contingent "facts" arose. Though my thoughts are hardly original, I believe that this is the sort thing that Heraclitus was getting at with regards to the "kingdom" - that is with regard to the nature of human existance and perhaps metaphysics generally.