Daniel Brooks has written a fascinating summary of a 2006 conference put together by intelligent design advocates as a retrospective of the famous 1966 Wistar conference on evolution that is often cited by creationists who haven’t bothered to understand what actually happened at that conference. (It was an example of what happens when you try to come up with models for phenomena you don’t understand well enough to formulate models for.) The ID advocates invited numerous prominent scientists to the conference, including Brooks, whose book with E.O. Wiley, Evolution as Entropy, is a classic on evolution, thermodynamics, and information theory of the sort that creationists ignore except to quote mine (e.g., as Duane Gish did in his Creation Scientists Answer Their Critics). My favorite part of the summary is this paragraph, which ends the summary of a talk by ID advocate Ann Gauger: She was then prompted by one of her colleagues to regale us with some new experimental finds. She gave what amounted to a second presentation, during which she discussed “leaky growth,” in microbial colonies at high densities, leading to horizontal transfer of genetic information, and announced that under such conditions she had actually found a novel variant that seemed to lead to enhanced colony growth. Gunther Wagner said, “So, a beneficial mutation happened right in your lab?” at which point the moderator halted questioning. We shuffled off for a coffee break with the admission hanging in the air that natural processes could not only produce new information, they could produce beneficial new information.Quick–time for an emergency coffee break, and let’s just forget that last question… The ID advocates repeatedly evaded tough questions from the scientists, and at the end of the conference… A few days after the meeting ended, we all received an email stating that the ID people considered the conference a private meeting, and did not want any of us to discuss it, blog it, or publish anything about it. They said they had no intention of posting anything from the conference on the Discovery Institute’s web site (the entire proceedings were recorded). They claimed they would have some announcement at the time of the publication of the edited volume of presentations, in about a year, and wanted all of us to wait until then to say anything.So it’s left to the real scientists, not the ID advocates, to publicly discuss their conference and its implications. Read the full summary at The Panda’s Thumb, as well as some revealing exchanges in the comments between ID advocate and young-earth creationist Paul Nelson, Dan Brooks, and Nick Matzke. John Lynch also has a nice brief summary. There is one notable error in Brooks’ summary, and that is his erroneous claim that Richard von Sternberg was fired as editor of the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. Sternberg is actually a false martyr who hasn’t actually lost any jobs, positions, or status as a result of his opinions.

I agree with most of the positions taken by the Institute for Justice, an organization that fights for economic rights of entrepreneurs (especially small businesses fighting ridiculous regulations designed as barriers to entry), for freedom of speech, against eminent domain abuse, and for school choice. But I don’t understand its argument against Arizona’s Clean Elections law, which strikes me as conflicting with some of its other arguments. Tim Keller, head of the Arizona chapter of the Institute for Justice, makes the following argument: ...

I’ve seen some speculation (at sites of dubious credibility) that the recent subsea cable cuts, which have apparently reduced Internet connectivity to Iran (though the impact to India has been more prominent), are a prelude to a U.S. attack of Iran. I don’t think so. First of all, subsea cable cuts (and the word “cut” is unfortunately overused to mean a non-functional cable even when it’s not actually severed) occur on a regular basis, and every company that owns subsea cables (such as employer, Global Crossing) contracts with a cable-laying company such as Global Marine (which Global Crossing used to own) to do repairs. Second, in December 2006, there were nine cable breaks in east Asia as a result of earthquakes. In this instance, we are up to only three cable breaks–the first two were FLAG Telecom’s Europe-Asia link and SeaMeWe-4, which were broken by a tanker in the Mediterranean between Alexandria, Egypt and Palermo, Sicily, causing disruption to Internet access in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and India. Those cables follow pretty much the same path, from Mumbai, India, to Djibouti, and from there into the Red Sea, past Egypt, through the Suez Canal, and into the Mediterranean to Sicily. It’s not surprising that both were cut simultaneously by the same tanker dragging its anchor, they are perhaps a quarter mile apart. An offshoot from those cables goes north from just off the coast of India into the Persian Gulf, past Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Bahrain, and lands in Kuwait. In the other direction, it goes to Sri Lanka. The third cable cut was on this offshoot, FLAG Telecom’s FALCON cable, off the coast of Dubai, between Oman and the United Arab Emirates. Some have erroneously claimed that four cables were cut, on the basis of a report that a cable was cut between Sri Lanka and the Suez Canal–that’s the FALCON cable off the coast of Dubai, not yet another cut. None of these cables land in Iran or Iraq, at least on my cable map, though there is apparently a Kuwait-Iran subsea cable, so any impact from these cable breaks to Iran is incidental. I don’t see any evidence that these are anything other than normal accidental subsea cable breaks. (Correction: FLAG FALCON has a segment from Kuwait to Bandar Abbas, Iran, that was built in 2005 and isn’t on my map, which was printed in May 2004.) You can see Telegeography’s submarine cable map of the world for yourself here. UPDATE (February 3, 2008): I didn’t check earlier, but I note that at the moment I have no problem reaching hosts in Iran, such as Mahmoud Ahamdinejad’s official blog, or pinging the primary mail server of the Datacommunications Company of Iran (mail.dci.co.ir). Others have previously noted the continuing availability of Ahamdinejad’s blog, which is hosted by DCI (AS 12880) and gets upstream connectivity from Singapore Telecom and TTNet (a Turkish ISP). I would hazard a guess that Iran’s TTNet connectivity is via terrestrial cable from Turkey. UPDATE: Egypt claims no ships were in the vicinity in the Mediterranean when the cable cuts there occurred. There is now a report of a fourth cable cut, in the Persian Gulf between the Qatari island of Haloul and the United Arab Emirates island of Das. This outage is now being attributed to a power system problem. UPDATE (February 4, 2008): The Renesys Blog has analyzed the breaks from a routing perspective, showing which countries have been affected, in a series of posts. In part one, they look at the first two breaks in the Mediterranean, and show that the most impacted countries were Pakistan and Egypt. In part two, they look at the impact by ISP. In part three, they look at how providers addressed their connectivity before and after the breaks. You’ll notice one country conspicuously absent from the list of impacted countries–Iran. This is because while Iran has had some impact, it has not been significant. In a fourth post, The Renesys Blog discusses the Iran impact and the misinformation about it that has appeared in places like Slashdot and the blog of the first commenter on this post. In a fifth post, they look at how Indian providers weathered the problems. And in a sixth post, they sum up lessons learned. UPDATE: These cuts are all associated with bad weather in the region, which is also delaying repairs. Here’s a report from FLAG Telecom posted by a commenter at the Renesys Blog: Update on Submarine Cable Cut - Daily Bulletin @ 0900 GMT February 4 2008 Bulletin will be updated Daily with Progress. Cut # 1: − FLAG Europe-Asia cable was reported cut at 0800 hrs GMT on January 30 2008. − Location of cut is at 8.3 kms from Alexandria, Egypt on segment between Egypt and Italy. − The Repair ship loaded with spares is expected to reach the repair ground by February 5 2008. − We have received the necessary permits to commence work from the Egyptian Authorities. − FLAG has restored circuits of customers covered under Pre-planned Restoration service. − FLAG has restoration on alternative routes for customers who have requested Ad hoc Restoration service. Cut # 2: − FALCON cable was reported cut at 0559 hrs GMT on February 1 2008. − Location of cut is reported at 56 kms from Dubai, UAE on segment between UAE and Oman. − The repair Ship is loaded with all spares and ready to sail. Awaiting clearance from Port Authorities due to 36 knots winds. − FLAG is executing restoration on alternative routes for customers who have requested Ad hoc Restoration service.UPDATE (February 7, 2008): There have been some additional cable faults on FLAG’s cable systems, to a total of four or five. In addition to the two listed above (FLAG Europe-Asia, 8.3 km from Alexandria and FLAG FALCON 56 km from Dubai), there has been another on FLAG Europe-Asia 28 km from Penang, Malaysia scheduled for repair on February 11, and possibly two faults on FLAG FALCON near Bandar Abbas, Iran, on a segment that runs from Iran to Kuwait, which will be visited by a repair ship around February 19. The current list is this: 1. Consortium cable SeaMeWe-4, 12.334 km from Alexandria, in the Mediterranean. Currently under repair, should be fixed by this weekend. 2. Qtel’s cable from Haloul (Qatar) to Das (UAE), in the Persian Gulf. Probably not a cut, but damaged power system due to weather. 3. FLAG’s Europe-Asia (FEA Segment D), 8.3 km from Alexandria, in the Mediterranean. Currently under repair, should be fixed by this weekend by cable ship CS Certamen. 4. FLAG’s FALCON (FALCON Segment 2), 56 km from Dubai, UAE in the Persian Gulf, on the route to Al Seeb, Oman. Currently under repair, should be fixed by this weekend. This cut was due to a ship’s anchor–an abandoned 5-6 ton anchor was recovered by FLAG at the site (see photo in FLAG’s update, PDF) 5. FLAG’s Europe-Asia (FEA Segment M), 28 km from Penang, Malaysia. Scheduled for repair on February 11 by cable ship CS Asean Restorer. 6. FLAG’s FALCON (FALCON Segments 7a and 7b), two faults on the cable between Kuwait and Bandar Abbas, Iran, scheduled for repair on February 19. There’s an article in Technology Review about the cable breaks. Alex at the Yorkshire Ranter is a breath of fresh air on this subject, his commentary presents some common sense opinions with a factual basis and accompanied by lots of good links. UPDATE (February 11, 2008): The Economist also has an excellent summary. UPDATE (April 16, 2008): Two ships have been identified as the cause of damage to undersea cables in the Persian Gulf. An Indian officer a Syrian chief engineer of an impounded Iraqi ship are being held for trial in Dubai, and the ship owner will have to pay $350,000 in compensation. Another Korean ship was impounded and then released after its owners paid $60,000 in compensation to Flag Telecom. The two ships, the MV Hounslow and the MV Ann, were identified by satellite photos. ...

And they both appear to be pretty accurate, informed about the dishonesty of the movie’s producers. One is by Dan Whipple in Colorado Confidential, the other by Roger Moore in the Orlando Sentinel. Historical Comments olvlzl (2008-02-03): Sounds sleazy, using Myers under false pretenses. Sort of like Francis Collins got used a while back, not that the neo-atheists were all that willing to be understanding when it happened to him. A better way to fight ID might be the one that some materialists had trouble thinking their way through when I proposed it last week, science can't deal with "a designer" since it is made to only deal with the material universe and can't address the supernatural. Of course,though they would gain a logically strong arguement for keeping religion out of science, they would lose the entire basis of popular neo-atheism. I guess that could indicate which one is more important for them to keep. Anthony McCarthy formerly styling himself as olvlzl ...

Police are investigating mailings of suspicious white powder, which proved to be a hoax (apparently cornstarch and wheat germ), to nineteen Church of Scientology addresses today, which led to evacuations and closures. The LAPD and FBI are both investigating. The LA Times says that “there was no evidence that Wednesday’s mailings were connected to the hacking” (“a cyber attack last week”), though I suspect the mailings were from somebody participating in the “Anonymous” “war” on Scientology. If they happen to catch the people behind the hoax, I won’t have sympathy for them. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a married couple in Stockton were incorrectly targeted for harrassment on the belief they were pro-Scientology hackers. The Scientology main website has been moved to Prolexic Technologies, a company that sells a service to filter denial of service traffic. “Google bombing” has been used to make the Church of Scientology’s website the top Google search result for “dangerous cult” and Xenu.net the third result for “Scientology." The Economist has now reported on the battle, under the title “Fair game." The Wikipedia page on “Project Chanology” is a good place to keep up-to-date on the events of the latest Internet battles involving Scientology. ...

From Scott Horton, “The Illustrated President," Harper’s, January 24, 2008: George W. Bush is famous for his attachment to a painting which he acquired after becoming a “born again Christian.” It’s by W.H.D. Koerner and is entitled “A Charge to Keep.” Bush was so taken by it, that he took the painting’s name for his own official autobiography. And here’s what he says about it: ...

After massive election fraud in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia, and other countries, it’s nice to see that we know how to follow standard procedures and use mechanisms to ensure that our voting is fair and properly secured… Or perhaps not. The video and the lengthier description at the link are from Beverly Davis’ Black Box Voting project’s coverage of the New Hampshire recount process.

This should be considered old news, but the Center for Public Integrity has done an extensive analysis of statements made by the president, the vice president, and five other senior members of the Bush Administration between September 11, 2001 and September 2003 and identified 935 specific false statements made. These statements are now part of a searchable database, and they’ve put together a graph that shows how the frequency and number of false statements dramatically increased during the run up to the invasion of Iraq, and then declined as the truth became known in the course of the war: ...

In a press release yesterday that cites an article I co-authored in Skeptic magazine, a group referring to itself as “Anonymous” has announced that it has declared war against Scientology. The stated justification for the “war” is the Church of Scientology’s attempts to keep a video of Tom Cruise off the net. That video, which is still viewable at Gawker.com, was made for a Scientology awards ceremony. The longer video from which it was taken is also now viewable there. Gawker.com responded to a cease and desist letter with a refusal to remove the video, which it considers to be fair use for news and comment, but I’m not so sure that it has a good legal case for putting up more than short excerpts. (In case you’re wondering about all the Scientology jargon in the Tom Cruise video, MTV has done a good job of explaining it. Actor Jerry O’Connell has also put out a good parody.) The “war,” which is described at another site under the name “Project Chanology” (a reference to 4chan, a popular message board, where most posts are made by people who don’t login and are thus attributed to “Anonymous”), calls for denial of service attacks over the Internet, prank phone calls, spam emails, and personal visits involving vandalism and harassment. Apparently Scientology’s main website was down due to denial of service for at least part of the day yesterday. The press release cites a number of web pages for further information about Scientology, the second of which is the article “Scientology v. the Internet: Free Speech & Copyright Infringement on the Information Super-Highway” which Jeff Jacobsen and I wrote for Skeptic magazine in 1995 after Scientology effectively declared war on the Internet. (A much lesser-known sequel to that article, published only on the web, is “Scientology v. the Internet: An Update and Response to Leisa Goodman.") I completely disagree with the tactics being used here–Scientology has as much right to free speech and protection of their copyrights as anyone else, though I also condemn Scientology’s habitual misuse of copyright to try to suppress fair use of information. To the extent this is a prank designed to get media attention, well done. To the extent it gets taken seriously, though, it’s something that may not end well. Read the material, watch the videos, have a laugh, and tell others about the absurdity and abuses of Scientology. But please, don’t launch attacks on their websites, harass individuals, or engage in vandalism. “Anonymous” previously received coverage for attacks on MySpace accounts on Fox 11 in Los Angeles on July 26, 2007. BTW, the press release gets its facts wrong when it claims that the alt.religion.scientology Usenet newsgroup was “shut down.” Scientology attorney Helena Kobrin issued an rmgroup message, but almost all news servers ignored it. The accurate facts may be found in Jeff’s and my Skeptic article. UPDATE: Wikinews and Xenu.net have more. ...

Back in 1999, a bunch of billboards popped up around Phoenix that had white letters on a black background and were signed by God. One I took a bad photo of said “You think it’s hot here? –God.” They’re back. There’s now one near Kat’s workplace that says “Life is short. Eternity isn’t. –God.” These come from a group that calls itself GodSpeaks, which doesn’t actually pay for or put up the billboards, they just help interested groups in doing it locally. I’d like to see someone make one of those sign generators for these billboards, so I can make some parodies, which these are just asking for. These billboards aren’t as lighthearted as some of the church marquee signs (like this one, for example, which suggests a God who has mellowed considerably from the one who sent the plagues of the Exodus). Here are some ideas for better content: Stop putting words in my mouth. –God If I existed, I’d communicate directly to all people in their own languages in a miraculous manner rather than through billboards put up by people pretending to be me, just as parents pretend to be Santa Claus. – God Please post further suggestions in the comments. (And if somebody writes or finds a billboard photo generator, please let me know.) ...