Coppedge vs JPL- Witness and Exhibit List

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The NCSE has some new stuff posted on their website:

The amended joint trial exhibit list- the two DVDs are on it

The amended joint trial witness list


IOW "Are you ready!?"--- "Are you ready?!"--- "Let's get it on!"

Oleg Tchernyshyov Earns Himself a New Nickname

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Yup good ole oleg was running his mouth again and it has earned him a new nickname:

A loss of a characteristic does not imply the breaking of a hierarchy. Apes don't have tails, whereas monkeys do. They nonetheless belong to the same clade.

Ladies and gentlemen- I give you "monkey clade"-

Frustrated magnets got you down, oleg monkey clade?

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Not so fast sez oleg monkey clade. We haz the Haplorhini clade-

Oh geez mr wizard that would mean we have the primate clade and the mammalia clade and the chordata clade and the animalia clade and the living organisms clade.

Coppedge vs JPL- Trial Starts March 7th

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Yup, that's in two weeks-> Coppedge vs JPL- the pre-trial conference is on February 24th. That is when it should be made public what will and won't be allowed at the trial.

That said, seeing that 2 DVDs are at the heart of the matter those have to be allowed although I bet JPL doesn't want that because viewing those DVDs will prove to teh jury that the DVDs have nothing to do with religion which means Mr Chin, et al., will be shown be ignorant atheists on an agenda. And that won't bode well for the JPL.

"Oh but Joe if ID doesn't have anyting to do wit religion then how can he claim religious discrimination?"

That has everything to do with what I just said- Mr Chin, et al., are the assholes whining about religion. THEY are the assholes saying that Coppedge is pushing religion with those two DVDs. So they will have to answer for that once it is proven that the DVDs do not discuss any religion but do discuss scientific evidence.

And that is the big issue- the false and ignorant claim that ID = religion.

So hopefully Chin will get on the stand, be thoroughly grilled and come off looking like an ignorant chump.

But OK, Friday we find out more and then onto the trial.

Stay tuned for more...

What is Intelligent Design and What is it Challenging

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What is Intelligent Design and What is it Challenging?- a short video featuring Stephen C. Meyer on Intelligent Design.

He also makes it clear that ID is not anti-evolution.


see also Blind and undiected chemical processes

Front-Loaded Evolution via Genetic/ Evolutionary Algorithms- What gets Front-Loaded"?

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In Genetic/ Evolutionary Algorithms and My Front-Loaded Evolution I stated the case for front-loaded evolution via genetic/ evolutionary algorithms.

Today I will expand on that by telling you what gets front-loaded- well I will be telling those who are not up to the task of putting that together from what I had posted in that blog:

So with my idea of front-loaded evolution we would have the initial conditions, the required resources, the specified result (ie what you are trying to accomplish) and then the algorithms to make it all happen.

So what gets front-loaded?

1- You need a target-> the goal-> what it is you are trying to achieve. No need to write an algorithm if there isn't a problem to solve-

"I wrote an algorithm"

"What does it do?"

"It's an algorithm, stupid."

"How do you know when its done?"

So the specifications of what you are trying to achieve are front-loaded. As the algorithm chugs along it keeps checking for any match to those specs.

2- You need to figure out a valid starting point- those initial conditions- one way is to determine what it is minimal you can do, without any algorithm, to get as close to the target.

The initial condition(s) is(are) front-loaded

3- You need the proper resources that the algorithm can use to get from starting point to the target.

Those resources are front-loaded.

4- Then there is that algorithm or algorithms that, from the initial conditions and the provided resources, some of which can be by-products of the algorthim(s), can produce the desired solution.

The algorithm(s) is(are) front-loaded.

That should be it- once you do all of that and hit "go" it is hand's off for the designer(s).

What did Dawkins do for "weasel"- He had a specified sentence in mind. He set the initial conditions as a sequence of letters. He had the resource of the alphabet to call upon and then wrote an algorithm that would make it so.

What Does the "Theory" of Evolution Actually Say?

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David Berlinski once said that the "theory" of evolution is too vague to be considered a theory. Why would he say such a thing?

Well, when you get down to it, all the "theory" says is:

Somehow, some things happened at some point in time, kept happening and keep happening to make things the way they are now.

Sure, it has a nice narrative- "Long ago, in a warm pond not so far away, the first living organisms were busy trying to survive the violent, early earth." But that is about it.

What else would you expect from a "theory" that would be falsified by finding a pre-cambrian rabbit- meaning not by any actual scientific research program?

High Protein Pizza Dough

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If you like to eat pizza but are worried it is mostly empty calories, think again.

Recently I have been checking out "specialty" flours- "Bob's Red Mill" flours.

I found a "Vital Wheat Gluten Flour" that has 23 grams of protein per 1/4 cup. And seeing my recipe calls for over 1 cup per 16" pizza crust (about 1.2 lbs of dough), well the math says that the crust alone will have over 100 grams of protein*.

The trick with this high-protein flour is you have to beat it to death-> put it in a Kitchen-Aid blender using the dough hook and let it run for about twenty minutes (speed 4-6).




*the dough is a 50/50 mix of Vital Wheat Gluten and King Arthur Bread Flour @ 16 grams/ cup

1/4 oz yeast
4 tablespoons natural sugar
1.5+ cups hot water (~110 degrees)
1 tablespoon Olive oil
2 tablespoons melted butter (or olive oil)
2.25 cups vital wheat gluten
2.25 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt


Put hot water, yeast and sugar into a mixing bowl- gently stir and wait about 10 minutes for the yeast to "do its thing"

Add salt, olive oil and butter

Slowly add the flour and start the machine on the lowest setting- hand mixers won't work, you need a solid mixer like a KitchenAid or Viking.

Once all the flour is in bowl and mixed in that is when you crank up the speed and beat the heck out of the dough to break down all of that vital wheat gluten.

When you are finished you should have a nice "rubbery" 2+ lb ball that you can split into 2 balls for two high protein pizzas!

Don't forget to let the dough rise- the dough of today should be for the pizza of tomorrow- leave one out for the next day and put one in the fridge for some other day of the week. Have pizza one day and calzone on the other.

UFOs in the UK- More Official Documents Released

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Yeah it was 5+ months ago but interest and doubt about the existence of ETs has been a topic of discussion over on Uncommon Descent.

I am pro-ETs and in a design scenario we would expect other habitable and inhabited planets-> even "The Privileged Planet" admits that.

But anyway-

Newly released UFO files from the UK government

More UK UFO files

No telling what the US Government has.

Does anyone think that it would cause a panic if the world governments came out and said that yes we have been and are being visited by space travelers- ETs?