Monday, October 23, 2006

Creationalism and Science: Clarity, finally

While many people wish not to tread on issues of science and truth, reality and ID/creationalism, I would suggest the majority of them wish to but are weary of the scorn of religion (especially if you are a witch and a scientist, in which case you are in deep trouble...). Now, some others like to take it to heart and speak their mind, and in this case it is a great mind indeed. This is a re-print of a post P.Plait had on his website, www.badastronomy.com (October 23, 2006) that I give to you, humbled by his thoughts, enlightened by his insight.

Bolded text added by me for emphasis...please visit his site. New posts everyday...
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I generally don’t talk too much about religion, unless I’m handing creationists their head as they so richly deserve. But sometimes an official religious figure says something so dumb and so ironic that I have to speak up.

I have always felt that of all the religions in the world, Catholicism is one of the ones that is more supportive of science (barring that whole 400 years to pardon Galileo thing). However, that is rapidly changing. If you’re Catholic, and you think the Pope is infallible, then you may want to stop reading this now. I’d prefer that you don’t, though, since really that’s the whole point of what I’m writing.

Pope Benedict (neĆ© Ratzinger), who has single-handedly reversed many a stance of the previous infallible Pope, has decided that science is too arrogant. Basically, it seems to me that he’s a little ticked that so much science (that is, reality) tends to conflict with dogma. This has prompted him to compare scientists with Icarus, the tragic Greek figure whose curiosity led him to build wings so he could fly. But he made his wings from wax, and when he got too close to the Sun they melted, and he fell to his death.

I infer this from a recent statement he made:

“Letting yourself be seduced by discovery without paying attention to the criteria of a deeper vision could lead to the drama the [Icarus] myth speaks of,” he told the Pontifical Lateranense University at the inauguration of a new academic year.

What he is really saying is that scientists should be mindful of god. We should not poke our nose into places where we might be on touchy ethical ground, like when life begins, or what happens after you die, or, I suppose, whether Intelligent Design is garbage or not. We might find out the truth!

Heaven forbid.

But it’s funny, actually. I’ve known the Icarus myth my whole life, and I’ve always thought Icarus the fool, as the Pope so clearly does. But my reasons are vastly different: Icarus didn’t test his wings first. He had so much arrogance, so much faith that he was right, that he didn’t bother to apply any sound scientific or engineering principles to his work.

Icarus died because he was blind to reality, blind to his own weakness, and blinded by the idea that he was right, no matter what. He wasn’t infallible. So he fell.


Philip Plait, The Bad Astronomer
www.badastronomy.com

Saturday, October 21, 2006

Iapetus versus Tornquist: Oceans of Demise

"Granite eschews the quiet, uneventful regions of (the) Earth. For the source of heat is subduction: Granites are the sweat of earth movements."
-Richard Fortey


"Granites are the sweat of Earth movements...." Peoetic prose for a most poetic reality. This makes my heart smile.

"In the end, forces of erosion will win: they always do."
-Richard Fortey

(Of Scotish landscape)"Somehow, the landscape feels ancient, worn down, as if it had seen it all before, and could only now manage a hilly shudder when once it might have drawn itself up into great mountains".
- Yes, Richard Fortey

Prose so bravely giving life to an entity clearly without life; prose so dauntingly showing that there, however, might just be life...in some manner.

Reckless Servitude - it is all I request...

Here is yet another pause in the chronological process of the past few months, years (eventually, it will all be here, eventually). I pause the discourse for a brie encounter with solitude and myriad emotions. I posit that the creaking voice of a shuddering artist is enough to create a bastion, a foundation, of prolific and muted sensational music. There are many voices which cause me to listen twice, thrice, ..., and here is one. NQ Arbuckle. In my years of listening I have seldom been let down. Now that I have a chance to share it, I am pleased. Below is a link to apparently their blog, with four sedated yet passionate songs. One cover, three original. Test them out, give each a listen twice, at least, and see where it takes you.

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=24009152


...I took 'restless servitude from one of their songs. I didnt assemble that one myself.






...in attempt to revive my carving aptitude that kept me so engrossed in the past I am trying to keep a record of progress of a new project - or rather the continuation of the last project. Here is mid way. Well, sort of. It started out as a jagged relic of a talc deposit, and I have brought it along this far. Next, well, my dear reader, when you see it it will smash your neurons, startle your myoglobin, fluster your olfactory system and make you think 'hey thats pretty neat'. It is months away from finality, thought, so lets not wait up nights to see the progress.

Good of you to drop by. I hope you do again. Take care.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

Orogenic Beauty Behind; Persistant Pulp Ahead


Last lunch on the road; roadside lunches became to be quite a joy because not only did it alow us to stretch our legs and get some exercise but it allowed us to sit and visually breate in the local atmosphere. You pass things so fast in a car that you never get to drink in the ambient pleasures of a place - the lunch breaks thus became a nice and limitless chance to know an area for more than the landscape. We got to smell the smells, see the sights, feel the soil, taste the air and discuss our mindful thoughts in the open air of Anywhere Canada.


Another shot of our last roadside lunch.




The third, and last, roadside lunch picture here. It was tempered with thoughts of 'getting there' and unknown expectations, but it still maintained a relaxing way to witness the world. Amazing how much you can take away from such a simple expense as stopping for a meal. Amazing...if only we could always take away such prominent feelings and understandings, maybe we could see our place in nature. Well within the plasmatic confines of life, of nature, but certainly nowhere near the top echelon - leave it to religion to describe an existance that is fake. Leave it to them...



Finally there. Here. Home. For now.


Well, dear reader and those who accidentally stumbled upon this site foro some un-apparent reason but decided to follow it through to this point, this is it. I am now here in Prince George, British Columbia. It took us a while to find a place to rest our wearily restive bones, but did come upon a wonderful lady with a greatly under recognized place to rent. So now we have a house, are set in our lives here, and are living a life desired to live. Prince GEorge will not be the ending stop on the lifelong adventure, it will only be a pause and a point when looked back upon. However, for now it is what it is, and it is home and it is life and it was worth the trip and the change. We have been able to explore a little bit of the area, from Smithers in the west, to Jasper in the South, to Fort St. James in the north...not really 'north', but more north than us at the moment. Prince George has opportunities extant nowhere else that I have lived so far, limitations, yes, but oportunities that are to be explored and enjoyed wiht the rest of the meal of life. Diving in rather than sideline gazing is needed, and if only a little effort is needed to explore a new facet of life then consider yourself lucky; the toil of life can be functionally amassed and considered not at all toil, but trial, and a trial can always be overcome with effort, acceptance and adventure. There is more to do in life than any of us will ever do, so why resist the urge to explore, why remain restive in our thoughts and our experiences - explore, educate and help others as much as you can along the way and it will be a toil, a trial, well spent. There is enough life out there to kep us all busy, so turn off your television, avoid church, read a book, get in a discussion, share ideas, share thoughts, make a change, force change, make life what you want. Or at very least do your best to make it so, that is all we can do.

You are more than welcome to visit. I await you...so do the pulp mills and mountians.

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Sign Time: Crossing a border of thought

Here are two pic's of signs. Yes, signs.


The point of elevation where you can no further ascend but descend only. Either way. Intuitive, yes. It is cold, but in the shredded rays of sun that made it to terra firma the heat did persist, so shorts were necessary.




Entering British Columbia: the journey from Ontario to BC is now complete, it is just details that await us now.

Walking up mountains, Crossing Borders

Here are some Rockies picks, and a little outside of the Rockies.


This is Crystal and I taking a break while hiking up Whistlers Mountain; quite the hike after having sat most of the last four/five days in a car.


Crystal looking over the scenery below.



Me, Trevor, taking a break in the sunshine. Actually had a nap near here - imagine waking up cloaked with the pouring nuclear heat of the sun, accompanied by quips of a Pika looking for nest materials, nestled upon a boulder overlooking the vastness of the river valley below; not a person to see, not a whisper to hear, not a sign of humanity. Safety from the purveyed need to socialize and take part in the common slush of what we have created in social society.The dregs of tourism, crowds, commercialism, capitalism and ignorant culture washed away from your soul. Small 's' soul. Just you, an animal among other animals, needing not to speak a word, needing not to abide by a law; freedom, in this case, could not be any more free.

Tectonic Travels: Through the heart of the rockies and emerge (almost) unscathed

Ok, alright then. Enough of wine and bread (I should note that the bread loaf now has an offspring, quite as good as the first). Let's get back on the road. You know ther is a lot to show and a lot of memories to try to paste here, and I am sure that I am missing a lot of it by only addign photo's and a few poignient words to add clarity to the image. So, i have decided to write out my journals, and keep a better track of the events that way. So, when you come across an enrty for my journal, it may be a bit dry, like a journal usually is to anyone else, and it may be worth skipping. I am writing it out so I have a transcribed version, digital and official. It will come later. No need to scurry around and try to find it now, or try to find it so that you can avoid it....make sense?

Here are some more pictures and thoughts form around the mountain area...the bird pic is actually from Alberta pre-mountain period. Sorry.


So, a little chronologically reversed but without doubt a nice picture. At least I think so. Wo shi zou-lu zai shan. Poor chinese..poor...poor....I am walking around in the mountains...near the Athabaska Glacier.


This is the marker (there are not a lot of these across this fair Country) that tells you to make the suitable adjustment to your clock. It is always nice to gain an hour. Always nice.



Alas, after waiting and postponing my lunch I was able to get a good photograph of this bird. The patience of an ornithologist is not easily procured....nor should it be easily underestimated.



Gorgeous picture. Rockies, on a beautiful clear and warm day....




Elk. This one tried to trample me...scary moment where I was left wondering if I would survive this encounter. It backed off, thankfuly, as did I. Although it looks close...the zoom does wonders.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

BC Bread Break

I take a break from the Westward journey recap to share with you the delights of baking. Well, my delights, which may not transfer too much delight to you as a reader but nonetheless will share, at very least, the accomplishment.

I love to cook, and experiment while cooking, almost anything. Working without direction and ending up with delightful meals is a talent I have procured through my years.
But bread, it is the one elusive product I have yet to challenge myself with. I think growing up with homemade bread did two things - foster a love of 'that smell' and the true natural taste of home baked bread, making any bought bread seem inescapably horrid and tastless; and make me take for granted the effort and mess that it entails. However, having already mastered my own soups and granola bars out here, I today took on bread.
To make it official, I pronounced that I would have a loaf of bread and a tray of granola bars ready for our field research in Quesnel, and I had to produce. So I amassed all the necessities and went at it. And, sheepishly taking it out of the oven some time later, anticipating the inevitable loaf-deflation or a density unable to be thwarted by any cutting device, I slowly drew the serrated (damn, useless serrated knives....death to the serrated edge!) blade back and forth across it until a steaming slab of bread of perfect density and un-deflated fell upon the counter.

It was a success. Bread was made. Bread will be made again.

This, in its own honesty and naked truth, is the bread, the loaf, and the artist.



Me with fatherly hands holding my first loaf of bread.




How close can we get? Close enough to taste, feel and smell the bread....well not really but close enough. Mostly I am playing with the camera, but it seemingly will make a good background or picture.



The creation of my toils...




This, again, is the bread cradled in my loving arms.

Pause for a Wine Selection...

GRAY MONK Merlot - 2003
Okanagan Valley, BC

It is truely a spectacular wine, heavier than the regular merlot but fruity enough to compensate. Dry, dry and dry; thou must now try. That is my critique - take the time to try it if you are in the mood for some wine. Wouldn't it be delightful with locally baked Prarie Nation Bread? Hmm...




The bottle...




The bottle and the critic...

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

The Majesty of Rocks


A gorgeous view of the power of orogenic processes. This mountain was once flat and was of sedimentary origin; millions of years and countless energy later the flat bedded planes became folded and contorted, as seen in this picture. It was hard to drive through the rockies and not take a picture of each sub-range, or each mountain because of the amazing views, almost dissected views of mountains, that effortlessly show clues to mountain formation. Endless wonder, endless....



Jasper, AB. Lunch, hummus and spinach. Sun, blazingly hot and piqued. Travellers, hungry and saturated with joy.



This is the climatic event of the trip...a very important event. Its mathematics really - one hawk, one car, one feeble bike rim, one collision. Hawk meets bike affixed to moving object, impact doubled. Hawk serves as unwilling device for bending bike rim. It all happened in a moments time. I have no idea how the Hawk hit us, the bike really, as it came form the side, swooping down for lunch most probably. It made no decision to hit the bike, and I am so very regretfull and hurt that a living creature died. Guilt filled me for some time, and still does in retrospect, and although it is of no fault of anyones it is a sober reminder of how much impact humans and technology have imparted. In the end, there was a dead bird and a dead rim. I would have given up the whole bike to save the little free spirited hawk, but alas there is nothing to remedy the situation. IT is what it is.
The bike now lives, but the memory lives stronger.



Jasper, AB. Beauty that cannot be confined to a cameras view. Endless beauty...



One of the last stops before we made it to Prince George. A beer on the roadside and a short lie in the sun as the minutes went by and the moments cherished...

Some Misplaced Pictures...



This one should have been in with the Prarie pictures. It is wheat. It is a field of wheat. There are many fields of wheat.



This one should have been in with the early AB pictures. It is me by my tent at a campsite in Canmore. Canmore. Hmm......I really loved Canmore - now the third time there - but I couldnt get beyond the extravagence of wealthy trendy people driving around and wearing hiking clothing (which is over priced as it is) and doing not much of anything. Prices were erroneously high for almost everything, and the town is heavily preying upon torists to ante up their savings. Not a place for the weakly walleted tourist or those thumbing around (as I was the first time, and also found it too expensive). The beauty is outweighed by the crass commercialism and fake atmosphere of designer-hikers spending their days gift-shopping. Seems curious to wear quick dry to shop. Maybe the stress brings out a lot of sweat and, being ever so unsightly, is quickly wicked away to the gods of evaporation....for a small price of $80 or thereabouts.Hmm....I really love being in the natural and geographical Canmore.Itis hard to be outdone. But it feels like a movie set where you can afford nothing. Let's leave this positive though - Canmore has a beauty that can mesmorize any person for any amount of time, and it is no wonder that people like planets, gravitate to a strong pull. Be it the Sun, Jupiter, or geological beauty millionsof years in the making.

"Across the prarie spine" and off to the Majesty of Rocks


Mount Robson - tallest peak in Canadian Rockies....some 3900+masl....perpetually decent views of the peak accompanied our drive for some time. The Fraser River, one of the most important areas of surface water in the West originates from this monster of rock and ice. Humbling, in a way.



Whistlers Mountain. Named after the vocalizations of Marmots which inhabit this mountain, almost impossible to see along the 3-4 hours up, but you can catch an earfull of them and Pika's on the way up as you emerge above the tree line. This view is spectacular, especially on clear days (that may, of course, seem obvious...but it had to be said).



The plentiful scenic views that make it hard to drive along the parkway.



The old marker between the border of AB and SK. Now there is a 'proper' sign tellling us that we are entering Wild Rose country, but this one seemed more poetic and historic than the newer version. I am in SK, Crystal is in AB....does that make it a long distance phone call? It originally served as the 4th Meridian Line for surveys, but in 1905 was the delineating line for the provincal boundary. If you can zoom in, you can read all this more offically.



Whistlers Mountain again, this time with us in it to add to the beauty (or lack thereof if you are looking at my mug). Energy was a bit low at this point, after about 4 hours of uphill...but we knew a view like this was better earned than given.

Quotes to Ponder:

"Better the hard truth, I say, than the comforting fantasy"

"Keeping an open mind is a virtue - but as the space engineer James Oberg once said, not so open that your brains fall out"

"'Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live (quote from the bible)'. Legions of women were burnt to death".

"I meet many people offended by evolution, who passionately prefer to be the personal handicraft of god than to arise by blind physical and chemical fores over aeons from slime...evidence has little to do with it; what they wish to be true, they believe is true...(I began to see how easy it is tobe fooled by your desire to believe - Susan Blackmore)...if you accept the literal truth of every word of the bible, then Earth must be flat. The same is true for the Qu'ran. Pronouncing the Earth round then means you're an atheist".


-Carl Sagan

Copernicus gave us an idea to think about, science gave us the ability to see the truth, religion maintained ignorance and predisposition to rely on a fary tale than to accept knowledge. With belief comes power, and if power comes then why curb belief, no matter how false? Every culture had its myths, greek, roman, Mayan, ..., and in retrospect those myths were seen as mere stories depicting what they noticed in nature - they are seen as fictional premises to lull children to sleep. How long before we realize that current beliefs are but a fictional story, on which was created a megacoporation of unjust persecution and strife. Burnign witches, condemnation of science, persecution of intellectuals, warfare to protect fictional beings, cultural elimination and conformation, sexually and racially hierarchical systems...where do we as musing species limit our proliferation of belief and focus on truth?
Why are astrology, homeopathy and religion allowed more public awareness than simple truths and investigations of nature? Of health? Of culture? Of geopolitics? Of geological history? Of evolution? Why do most people know their astrological sign but few know what a star actually is - or that Sun is a star for that matter and that it is only our perspective of the 'other' stars that give us 'our' constellations? Or that humans did not evolve from Monkeys, nor apes, but share a common proto species? Why is this not common knowledge? Why are people continuously purchasing token belief systems and rebellng from knowledge, from research, from investigation...why do so few pick up a telescope, a microscope or a textbook, yet subscribe to set beliefs against without any primary experience?
Belief, over investigation, will never allow a culture to surpass our follies and disseminate truth and knowledge.

The beauty of nature, of life, all life, is in the details. The details are worth looking for. So gaze away...

That is all, for now.

Breadbasket Travels


Not atypical anywhere in Canda, really, but certainly rating 'typical' along the drive from the Ontario-Manitoba border to, well, almost Prince George and beyond.


Me sitting along the trans-canada near the Alberta border with the rolling hills beyond and the wheat and fields in the foreground. Yet another glorious day along the way...



Praries....simply the praries. It is a beautiful place, plagued with endless monotony of fields but bettered by the endless view of geological intrigue. Yes, flat land can set a geologists heart ablaze with contemplation. that is our car, with our bikes (pre-rim death) on the back. The rest is all Praries.


Many of these around (whenever you cross a watershed boundary of such grandiose importance) but interesting nonetheless. This does demarcate the geographical apex of two watersheds, whereas a drop of water, under influence of Chaos and prevailing winds will randomly choose a path towards the Arctic Ocean or the Atlantic Ocean. It does not, does NOT demarcate any boundary between moose and polar bears - just to make that apparent because signs can be confusing (look for the mostconfusing sign ever seen to appear shortly - apparently sign clarity is not a construct that many hold dear!). Bears and moose are cognitively free from the roaming force of Chaos, water, as it were, is not. Well, sort of.

To be honest, I believe this picture was actually taken in BC. But, its my show here so it stays. :)


The longitudinal middle of Canada. Not the geographic mid point, but the long. mid point. It took us a while to get here, and humbling to see that the mid point was just upon us as we considered our progress to be a bit more than 1/2 way. Well, not exaclty half way for us...


AND NOW SOME THOUGHTS FROM A RANDOM PLACE...

These are some of the pictures we took between Ontario and random stops in Alberta pre-mountain physiographical border. I tried to keep them in order, but it is a formidable feat to remembe exact locations and such. However, most of these are in order, although next post I will post one or two from Manitoba so there goes my challenge of chronologically posting pictures to 'drive you through Canada'. I think at this point I was very pleased and impressed with the Praries. So many voices have perorated to me about the mental challenge of makig it 'through' the Praries; so few have made mention of the glory of the breadbasket of Canada. It was a pleasing experience, and were I to do it again I would look forward to being there again. I would bring my own bread though - the worst bread ever exists apparently in the Praries. Imagine a context where the farming nation of Canada expunged reliance on export driven incomes and Draconian levels of control on thier product and way of life from (to be unnamed) companies, and created a niche market, akin to that of countless other nations (nations or Nations) - Belgium (Chocolate), Okanagan (wine), Germany (Beer), France (Cheese), Quebec (Maple Syrup) ... . They could create their own bread culture, their own bread-food culture where the country over, then Country over, then world over would recognize an identity of Prarie nation with bread. The worlds best bread (we would have to compete well with german bread, perhaps, but we could support each other...hypothetical, folks, hypothetical thinking here...). Imagine coining a homogeneity with praries and baked products. Travel to the praries to get 'real' bread...they live, work, evolve, subside in the breadiest place in the Country yet they have the least bread-resembling prosucts to eat. Why this disparity? Why rely on a global market and defy local interests? If the Prarie Provinces (which I onsider Prarie nation here....sorry for explaining this so late)could coalesce their efforts and within Canada, self-sufficing their needs, I believe that the image and prosperity of Prarie nation could emerge beyond 'the flat part of canada' to most minds, and environmental and economic interests, to that of a specialty market that took a step forward, made integrity a goal, and obliterated the mega-corporate effluent grain market. Why grow the best Canada has to offer, and give it all away? Now, I am not condemmign sharing resources and satiating supply/demand needs of Countries worldwide, but what I am considering is that this nation could take an active, proactive, role among economic self-sufficiency and relegating corporate control of family farms, towns and livlihoods to that of the distant and soon to be forgotten past.
Hmm...these are some thoughts that formed in my head as I ate stale bread, stale white bread, and could find nothing other to eat while in the Praries. All I eagerly awaited was a bag of "Prarie Breadbasket Bread: Organically and Family Grown in the Heartland of Canada" ... and then some french cheese and Okanagan wine to go with it as I watched the sun set on the prosperous land, waiting to crawl to and hunker down in my cozy tent for the night.

All told, this idea coalesced within beginning and ending my Prarie lunch....and this is the first time I elucidated them with written words. So, it may not make total sense, and it may seem arcane to imagine a structure like this, but I feel an opportunity arising. Why choose terminator seeds nd grain control contracts over community development and family industry as strong as that of already mentioned niche markets.

Kudos to you for reading all of that. I mean it. Thank you. Any thoughts? Click on that little pencil and write me your thoughts.

Monday, October 09, 2006

Slingshot past Superior and on to flatter things...


Ouimet Canyon...


Summer snow...salt deposits along the praries forming an industry to provide, yes, salt. Fascinating scenery and geological perculiarity among the vastness of wheat and cows to finally come across something so dramatically altered from the common landscape. What a lesson this could be...


A glorious departing sun casting a final glow on a land less travelled; sending a shimmering shadow of a truck making its way across Canada.


Eating one of the many creations of vegetable delight along the road. Lunch breaks allowed for arbitrary respite from the drive, which although at times was monotextured and labourous in length, mostly kept us sedate and curious at the same time. It was nice to stop and sit on the ground and contemplate just where you were sitting...millions of years of history locked up in the rocks and sediments, and we give most of them but a passing glance as we whisk by on our way. Lunch, the momentary lack of movement, allowed thoughts of more grandeur. Time well spent.


A serene drive along the spinal flats of Canada

From Ontario...Westward



Me and my tent, a few days from home.



Somewhere, not long ago; the beauty explained of north Ontario



Ouimet Canyon, Ontario




Ouimet Canyon, again. Opposite direction I believe.




Again, along the way; the vista of yet another day...



This is the sign that tells you where to go afer you dislodge yourself from the main slog to search in earnest for a place to refill your inner coffee desire

Drive Across Canada


Saying goodbye as I leave for another journey, another experience, another tangent of life...




This is us (Crystal and I) leaving home...