Letters to the Editor
DanS
Published Letters: 8 Editor's Choice: 2
-
text of message?
[Read the article: Al-Jazeera shows another Jill Carroll video]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]In reading accounts of these videos, it is always reported that she is speaking but there's no audio on the tape. Why can't someone who can read lips decipher what she's saying? Just curious. I am wondering what she's really saying.
Dan Sheehy
-
not a logical fallacy
[Read the article: The believer]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It is not a logical fallacy to say that there is no evidence for God. By that reasoning, it is also a logical fallacy to say I do not believe in Santa Claus or the Easter bunny. One cannot prove that something does not exist, one can only say that it seems pretty clear that certain entities are mythological.
What I find interesting about this article is that Dr. Collins seems to use very general arguments (e.g., the mystery of the big bang and the anthropic principle) to lend support for his belief in a very specific Christian belief system. I think he decided he wanted to believe in Christianity, and then worked out the "proof" afterwards.
Dan Sheehy
-
Examples of groundbreaking science outside of academia?
[Read the article: Craig Venter is the future]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The other examples of groundbreaking science outside of academia discussed in this article are not valid. Mathematica is an amazing computer program, but Wolfram is no longer a credible physicist. He has produced no groundbreaking science outside of academia.
The theory by Lisi is one of hundreds of attempts at unification that are all probably wrong; he only made the news because he was a surfer guy working outside of academics on his own (impressive, but which doesn't make it more likely his theory is correct).
The author doesn't really say what is wrong with science in adacemia -- in my experience, it gives scientists independence, people to talk to (and collaborate with) and students to help do the work.
-
Peaceful resolution?!
[Read the article: My ex-con neighbor owes me money]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Great advice! Additionally, why not tell the letter writer to pay the man who threatened him $100 as an additional token? Or just give the guy his credit card? I'm sure they'll be on "friendly terms" after that....
-
global warming denial
[Read the article: The cold truth about climate change]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]A previous poster mentioned that even supercomputers can't track weather patterns, so therefore global warming theories are in question. This is incorrect: While local weather is very complicated and unpredictable, global quantities (such as the average temperature of the earth) are relatively simple.
I have a phd in a different field of physics but have been in some seminars on global warming. The scientists I have seen are very careful and sober people, and show very striking data showing climate change in recent years.
Another poster mentioned some famous scientists that our counterexamples; one of them is Freeman Dyson who is a genius but not an expert in this field.
The consensus among actual climatologists (not including crackpots or people in other fields of science) is that global warming is real and that it is going to strongly affect our lives (in a bad way) in the short term. The earth will survive, and life will adapt, but _we_ will have a hard time.
-
system is broken
[Read the article: It ain't over yet]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It should be one person, one vote. If the eventual Democratic nominee doesn't reflect this, then I think we should change the system by which candidates are selected. I understand the political reasons why Florida and Michigan got excluded from the process, but from a more general perspective the notion that noone in these states gets to vote is absurd.
-
who has more votes?
[Read the article: Why Hillary Clinton should be winning]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]This article is kind of a rant, and I don't really care about whether Clinton would be ahead in a winner-take-all system.
But the article also claims that Clinton would be ahead in the popular vote. Is this true? If so, she should get the nomination, simple as that. The whole system is rubbish anyway: inherently undemocratic and favoring early states like Iowa and New Hampshire for no good reason. The candidates should be decided by a vote, and it should be one vote per person.
Dan Sheehy
-
why is this guy a hero?
[Read the article: Che anything]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't have any romantic notions about Che Guevara. He was a tyrant, and the country he helped create, Cuba, is an economic disaster.