Movies

I'm sick of grading - but it's mid-term and I have no choice...

Ah, but I can always watch a movie! I've been writing some reviews on Netflix - latest was on Baraka. Interesting movie, but not nearly as good as Koyaanisqatsi.

Movies I've seen recently that I found quite good: The Band's Visit. An Egyptian police band is scheduled to perform at an Arab settlement in Israel and gets lost. They wind up in a remote Jewish settlement and are forced to depend on the kindness of the residents. It's not what you think - you'll have to see it to find out. I'll just say that it opens with something like "This is a movie about a small incident - so small, it's not important" Well, we'll see.

I just bought a bunch of movies for my birthday - Juno and Atonement were a couple of recent ones that I felt moved to buy. Juno is just plain amazing! Atonement was much darker, but equally stunning. And don't miss Little Children.

Well, back to the grindstone... Thank goodness it's only a 4-day week!

Mike

Movies I've seen

Insanity reigned and we all got wet...

Ok - this week will be absolutely nuts! I've got to write 3 exams, give a lecture on the Viet Nam war, and drive to Joplin, Mo., to my brother-in-laws wedding. There will be no rest for Mikey!

So, the Viet Nam thing weighs heavy on my mind. Dr. Phelan was very complimentary in his email inviting folks to the lecture...but I've only got 50 minutes and there's a faculty meeting immediately following. Damn! The lecture is for his International Relations class, and I'd like to gear it to that class, but suspect I won't have time to do much with this.

Maybe it doesn't require much - after all, I think Pres. Truman screwed up on this (and I think Truman was perhaps the 2nd best president of the 20th century - FDR was the best). He followed what the European section of the State Department advised - support the French even though they're just trying to re-establish colonialism. The Asia desk of the State Department (the people who actually knew Ho Chi Minh) had recommended that he support Ho. If only he'd listened to them - but of course if he had everyone would have accused him of "losing" Viet Nam to the communists and he really would have lost in '48. Ah - hind sight. Anyway, that decision by Truman is what led us to the debacle I'm all too familiar with - 'Nam.

Here's the short version of my lecture - combat sucks. It'll hurt you in ways you never even imagined.

Well, my cat is falling asleep in my lap, and I think she's telling me it's time for bed. Cheers,
Mike

UC Berkeley and high school credit

Recently, the courts in California upheld the right of the University of California system to deny credit for courses taught at certain Christian high schools. The opinion included, but was not limited to, those biology courses which taught intelligent design and creationism as competing scientific theories - competing, of course, with evolution. I've posted the CNN report about this on my Facebook page, and you can probably get more information by visiting the Panda's Thumb or doing an internet search.

Intelligent Design and creationism (really, they're the same thing) have consistently done badly in the courts. Typically, they run afoul of the 1st amendment. I happen to agree with the courts on this one - to me it would be a violation of the spirit of the 1st amendment to require public schools to teach a particular (Christian) perspective on origins - especially in a science class.

However, the California courts really were supporting a different view - public universities can refuse to accept certain versions of history and science promoted by private schools. The implications of this are certainly interesting: a student would attend a private school at her own risk - risking rejection by public universities because of what she'd been taught in her private school. Perhaps some of you attended private schools - I wonder what your thoughts are....?

Evolution vs. creationism

I've been reading a lot of comments about Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, and comments on the Panda's Thumb and letters to the local papers: one thing is clear - respectful discourse about this is in short supply. Typically, the creationist side seems stubborn and ignorant to the evolution side, and the evolution side seems arrogant and dogmatic to the creationist side.

To me, this is very unfortunate. The issues are important (though many citizens don't care that much about this), and there will be no resolution as long as each side refuses to respect the other.

I think part of the reason there is so much animosity is that each side is coming at the issues from a different perspective. Creationists (and I include intelligent designers in this) view evolution as evil and responsible for much of the world's ills. Evolutionists view the attempts by creationists to discount evolution as anti-science and fear for our religious freedom and our technological progress.

I wonder, is it possible to have a respectful dialogue about this?

July 24, 2008

Welcome to my blog. I'll be posting thoughts about evolution, war, politics, movies, etc. as time permits.

Speaking of movies, just tried to watch "The Sheltering Sky". Nope, sorry - couldn't do it. "The Kite Runner" on the other hand was great.