1. The End of Theory: The Data Deluge Makes the Scientific Method Obsolete

Comment #199900 by kwhitefoot on June 26, 2008 at 1:29 pm

Statistics help generate theories by revealing correlations and certainly help validate them.

But surely the single most important feature of a model or a theory is its predictive ability. How does a statistical correlation engine do that without a model?

2. Ore. Court: Boy Has Say in Circumcision

Comment #116381 by kwhitefoot on January 26, 2008 at 11:12 am

When the boy comes of age he can convert to Judaism himself and then consent have it cut off. Until then the cutting off of functional body parts should count as assault and battery. It isn't a question of health or pain, the point is the autonomy of the individual concerned.

3. Violence fear over Islam film

Comment #114200 by kwhitefoot on January 21, 2008 at 2:17 pm

#113941 by Nighttripper "As for the Micheal Jackson - Muhammed comparison, In the case of MJ we can assume that he is fully aware of the fact that peadophilia is a crime in our modern times, and if he isn't he damn wel should, whilst in Muhammed's time peadophilia was not a crime.

It was probably even common practice, however despicable that might seem nowadays. "

Do you have any evidence for what seems to be a suggestion that sex with nine year old would have been considered normal in 7th century AD? In Arabia, in Europe?

"Around AD 530, and at least as far back as the reign of Augustus, the legal minimum age of marriage for girls was 12 and for boys 14 (Hopkins, p313n22)" from: http://www2.hu-berlin.de/sexology/GESUND/ARCHIV/GUS/EUROPEHIST.HTM#_Toc86594229

Cultural relativism is fine as an aid to understanding but it must be backed by some evidence.

It is a mistake to think that the ancients were _necessarily_ different from us. They lived in different circumstances but had similar intellects and raw abilities.

4. A question of belief

Comment #80184 by kwhitefoot on October 20, 2007 at 1:37 pm

LoneStarTravis wrote ..." it says something like "There is no religious test when running for office, provided you admit the existence of a Supreme Being."

Would the FSM do?

5. 'Flying Spaghetti Monster' Religious Group Turning Heads at MSU

Comment #76646 by kwhitefoot on October 6, 2007 at 3:09 pm

13. Comment #76327 by Matt7895 ... it is quite weird that theists such as Christians and Muslims are joining it. They seem to have missed the point.

Not at all, I'm a lifelong atheist but I was a member of CathSoc at uni. (Exeter 1974-1977, Physics). Cheapest cider on campus.

6. The Science Of Collective Decision-making

Comment #73070 by kwhitefoot on September 24, 2007 at 3:25 am

scooternyc on September 23, 2007 at 9:02 am
This shows how stupid people can be. It was recently said about one of the jurors on the original O.J. trial that the juror came out and said, "well, everyone has the same DNA so that wasn't useful information in my decision".

It doesn't show anything of the kind. It simply shows that the prosecution (or defence) failed to properly explain what DNA evidence actually is and the judge failed to make up this deficiency. Being educated is not a solution to that particular problem, being knowledgeable is; and unless you are going to insist on having only expert juries it is the responsibility of the court (that includes all of the officials on both sides and those in the middle) to ensure that the jury is in possession of the facts. Of course an adversarial legal system doesn't help.

7. Islamic creationist group launches glitzy, global blitz

Comment #62070 by kwhitefoot on August 8, 2007 at 5:05 am

I'm not sure that Arab News page is as sensible as you think. At least as expressed in English it is downright contradictory.

Take this quotation for instance:
-quote
A. A married couple are not allowed to have sexual intercourse when the woman is in her period, or during postnatal discharge. What is not allowed is the actual intercourse. The reader asks about physical relations, but it should be clear that physical relations are allowed during these restricted times as long as they remain short of sexual intercourse. Hugging, kissing, cuddling and foreplay are all allowed.
-end quote
Sounds like they are paraphrasing some official doctrine but then they quote an English translation of the Koran:

-quote
"They ask you about menstruation. Say: 'It is an unclean condition; so keep aloof from women during menstruation, and do not draw near to them until they are cleansed. ... (2: 222)
-end quote
If you are enjoined to be aloof from women you would hardly be expected to kiss or cuddle them. AskOxford (http://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/aloof?view=uk)says:
aloof
• adjective cool and distant.
Even if distant is interpreted metaphorically rather than physically it would surely not include foreplay! And anyway the Koran goes on to say "do not draw near them". How is that to be construed as allowing any physical contact?

8. Christopher Hitchens at Politics and Prose

Comment #45953 by kwhitefoot on May 29, 2007 at 7:13 pm

Yorker: the legal nicety of him being a citizen doesn't make him any less foreign. And I very much doubt that his decision to become an American citizen had anything to do with what others might think (whether the others are American or not). I suspect that he was equally renouncing his British citizenship. Much more Orwellian crap from the UK and I might do the same myself (although not in order to become a US citizen; as I am a resident of Norway that would be my first choice.)

9. Christopher Hitchens at Politics and Prose

Comment #45945 by kwhitefoot on May 29, 2007 at 5:52 pm

NMcC: I think what annoyed people about the born again atheist woman was that they had come to hear Christopher Hitchens answer questions and she simply wasn't asking one. And why do you put quotation marks around the word beautiful? Anyway an audience in a bookstore listening to a foreign atheist is hardly an American audience in the widest sense, they simply happen to be (mostly?) American citizens.

An almost unrelated point: Christopher Hitchens describes himself as no longer a socialist but note his use of the word solidarity. Americans would do well to ponder the apparent conflict.

10. Vote for the Time 100 - Are They Worthy?

Comment #34738 by kwhitefoot on April 25, 2007 at 3:23 am

Don't vote it only encourages specious comparisons. Besides I'm pretty sure that most will vote not for the most influential but instead either for the one they want to be most influential or the one whose music or 'acting' they like most.

11. Street Evangelist Saves 300 Souls From Enjoying Park

Comment #34078 by kwhitefoot on April 23, 2007 at 6:32 am

In my dictionary harlot is a synonym for prostitute. That sounds like a rather strong insult to me. If he had been a kerb crawler who made the same assumption he could have been arrested. Why should he get away with such insulting language just because it is in a sort of cod Old English.