It's already Friday.

I generally don't think that I am a person with a lot of pet peeves, but today, I discovered one capable of bringing about an immediate and fiery response. While in a political discussion (which I generally try to avoid, being the only Socialist in the office), one of my coworkers said "Ah, you're never going to change."

Seems simple enough, right? He said this because I made a statement about how I would never vote Republican (again). I've had a two friends say this about me before as well, and it always gets under my skin. While I would normally think that maybe this is a good indication to look at one's self and wonder if, perhaps, they're right about you, I'm just calling bullshit.

First off, what they really mean is "You should agree with me, and I'm unable to convince you to." Your inability to make a concrete case for your position actually says nothing about my inability to change mine. I think it's an even more ridiculous thing to say about me when I think about how much changing I've done over the years and how many people I know that I've never known to change their position on anything.
2000- I was a fundamentalist Christian. I thought it was wrong to intermarry races. I thought homosexuality was a choice and a sin. I thought George W. Bush would be a great president. I thought evolution was a lie. I was convinced that Michael Jackson was a pedophile. Militantly pro-life.
2003- I became a liberal Christian. Realized how ridiculous racism is. Began to understand homosexuality. Thought George Bush mishandled war. Realized there is probably no scientific conspiracy regarding origins of life. Remained convinced of Michael Jackson's guilt. Still pro-life, but not militant.
2009- Realized I could not find a good reason to consider myself Christian at all. Joined Socialist Party. Proponent of equal marriage rights. Evolutionist. Think's Michael Jackson was probably innocent. Not a fan of abortion, but pro-choice.

Those all seem like pretty big changes to me. So when I say I'm never voting Republican again, it's because I have before. If I don't switch to your side, it doesn't mean I'm stubborn, it just means I don't agree with you. I'm very capable of change and before you accuse me of being hard headed, perhaps you should wonder if your case is as solid as you think it is.

Anyway, that's annoying.

Side note: I think it's weird that more Christians aren't Socialists.

It's hard to be proud of Texas sometimes...

The dog discussion goes on. I remain on the fence. Leah has convinced me that we can afford it and that our schedules are probably about as conducive to dog ownership as they are ever likely to get. So now the question is "do I really want to deal with it at this juncture in my life?" I don't know. A large part of me also feels like I don't want anything to divert my attention away from Harper when I'm home.

On the other hand, everyone's telling us how great it is to have a dog that Harper could grow up with, we have a great neighborhood with two parks and a few trails and a fenced in back yard, and if it's admirable to try and become the kind of adults we always wanted to be when we were children, then dog ownership is paramount. Also, I can see having a dog as a source of physical activity and exercise and that might just make exercise less excruciating.

I'll keep thinking.

Rehearsal last night was good, though I don't care for starting that late, and these new songs require more from my voice than our previous material. When you're on tour, your voice gets used to it, but when you're not, it just hurts after 2 hours of pushing it.

I took a half day today for a doctor's appointment and so that I could get a few things done that I've been unable to find time to do. Alas, I was thwarted yet again, by the ridiculously slow and often understaffed Jiffy Lube. I've never had a "Ten Minute Oil Change" take ten minutes, but I've rarely had it take an hour. Well, at least my driver's license is current and valid. My old one still has the address of my first apartment in Austin from 7 years and who knows how many addresses ago. Now, I'm a permanent resident, even the state of TX thinks so.

Speaking of TX, has anyone else read about how our genius lawmakers are filing suit against the EPA to fight regulation of green house gasses? "NO, YOU CAN'T MAKE US WORK TOWARDS A CLEANER, HEALTHIER WORLD! WE DON'T GIVE A SHIT IF 97% OF ALL CLIMATE SCIENTISTS SEE A CORRELATION BETWEEN THOSE GASSES AND CLIMATE CHANGE, WE'RE SIDING WITH THE 2-3% WHO WON'T MAKE US CHANGE ANYTHING ABOUT OUR LIVES! PLUS IT SNOWED HERE SO OBVIOUSLY, AL GORE'S FULL OF SHIT!"

I've said before, and it's obvious here, people don't care what the truth is, they just don't want to have to change. "Whatever don't make me change sounds the truthiest to me! Guffaw! Guffaw!"

Also, I think Lent started or ended or something. I wonder if, for Lent, anyone gave up the idea that, if there is a god, he's so cosmically bored that he really needs to see if you can go 40 days without chocolate or Coca Cola?

With friends named "Boner" who needs enemies?

Do you remember Growing Pains? I loved Growing Pains. No one can deny that the show was largely carried by the talent and undeniable charm of one Kirk Cameron. Mike Seaver was the white Theo Huxtable.

That's why its so painful to watch Kirk Cameron's endeavors now. He and this Ray Comfort character have republished Darwin's Origin and are handing out their copies on college campuses all over the country on the 150 year anniversary of its publication. The problem is that they've added their own introduction trying the tired old (and baseless) strategy of connecting Evolution to eugenics and Hitler and, until they were called out on it, were publishing with 4 essential chapters suspiciously missing.

So I guess he was handing out these copies yesterday and a student decided to take him to task and as much as I hate myself for linking to TMZ, they're the ones with the video. Its a little hard to hear what Kirk says (headphones will help) but its pretty apparent that he doesn't know much about the Theory that he's so opposed to. They clearly think that if they can tarnish the name of Darwin, they're somehow striking a mighty blow against atheism. But no atheist (or any other non religious, critically minded person) believes Darwin to be a prophet or messiah or infallible at all. In fact, he got several things wrong and had ideas about genetics that would have made evolution impossible. But trying to somehow tie him to Hitler doesn't change the fact that he was right about a lot of things and made our understanding of biology today possible. He could've been a child molester, and while that would've certainly changed the way we celebrate him today, it wouldn't have made his ideas less brilliant or pioneering.

Science builds on ideas, like the girl in the video says, and our understanding of Evolution has grown tremendously since Origin was published. If you wanted to learn about Evolution, I don't think you'd even read Origin. Not for sheer understanding anyway. You'd want to read something that has the best and the most information possible so you'd probably read something written recently by a scientist who's currently working in the field.

I wonder what Alan Thicke thinks about Evolution...And by that I mean that I don't wonder what Alan Thicke thinks about Evolution. Not because I don't think he's smart, I'm sure he's a genius, I just mean he's an actor and not exactly a voice of authority on science. I'm not going to ask him to prescribe me medications either.

I still want to like Kirk Cameron even though the general internet consensus seems to be that he's a bit of a douche bag. I heard that even when he's acting he won't kiss any woman but his wife, and while some may think that trivial and stupid, I think its admirable. I'm also sure he loves his six kids and his friends and is probably a nice guy, he's just really, really wrong about Darwin and seems to be unreasonable about science. There are worse things a person can be.

So, Mr. Diabetic, you like insulin? Well, did you know THAT INSULIN TREATMENT IS CANADIAN?!?!

We have returned safely to our home, with the realization that vacation will never be like it used to be again, or at least not for a long time. Travelling with an infant in tow is a vastly different experience than the travelling we've done previously. That's probably obvious to everyone, but I guess we were overly optimistic, since Harper is so good at home. But vacation means she's off her schedule, and she really likes that schedule, it really works for her. I feel like she was perpetually tired for 9 days and somehow even when she slept it wasn't the quality of sleep that she gets in her own bed and didn't rejuvenate her the way it should've.

I'm making it sound worse than it was. She was still really good a lot of the time but I'm just not used to her being so moody. American Harper is far superior to Canadian Harper.

Other than the insane stress that comes with flying with an infant and a resident alien with a misplaced green card, and driving in Toronto (with their incredibly short left turn arrows and badly spaced turning lanes that make every left turn a game of Russian Roulette), we had a good time. We got to spend a lot of time with family and Leah's sister, Elana, and her fiance, Ian, came in from London for the week as well. Ian's a scientist doing stem cell research, which to me is like being somewhat of a rock star.

Sometimes its hard to see the differences between Canada and the U.S. But one huge difference is the way our patriotism is expressed. Both countries are incredibly patriotic with flags waving everywhere so let me give you an example of what I mean. Not too long ago, someone here in my office was expressing his discontent with Obama because Obama apologizes for the U.S. around the world. I said how I thought that we should apologize when we'd done wrong and that there's nothing weak about humility and why didn't he think America should have to apologize? "Because we're America!" was his answer, and apparently that truth is self evident, to him anyway. In Canada, patriotism most often materializes itself in endearingly innocent proclamations. Things like: "IMAX is amazing! DID YOU KNOW ITS CANADIAN?!?"

Toronto is great, but alas, Austin, you are my truest love (as cities go, of course).

Toronto is by far the most multi-cultural city I've ever been to, more than NYC, more than San Francisco, more that Austin. We were staying in a really Russian area, so most of the people we encountered in the neighborhood sounded like Bond villains, but were friendly enough....I guess. Drivers in Toronto don't give "the Wave" which is a problem. That little gesture says so much. It can mean "thanks" or "I'm sorry" but when its not there its absence might as well mean "go to hell." Its just good manners, and I think I only saw one other driver give the wave the whole time we were there. And Canadians are usually so friendly.

The best perk of multi-culturalism is the food. They easily have 10 times the options that we have here when deciding what to have for dinner. But they also have Tim Horton's, which is an amazing restaurant that has perfected the apple fritter. I've been known to punish myself with an obscene amount of apple fritters when Tim Horton's is available. We also frequented Swiss Chalet and a few different Crepe places.

Another experience worth noting was when I got to sit in a room full of my Canadian family and listen to them all talk about how much they love their health care system, and though it isn't perfect, they would never, ever trade it for ours. And that's the extent of my political agenda for this post.

On our last night there, Leah and I went dancing with Ian and Elana and some friends of theirs at a club called Stone's Place, that plays all old Motown and early 60's rock and roll. I love watching Leah dance, she has a unique style that makes her joy infectious. The DJ was on his game and played ABC and then Signed, Sealed, Delivered back to back. We left on a high note, and the next day began our harrowing trip back to the colonies.

I was so happy to visit everyone in Canada but I hated to leave just when the recording was starting to really get going. All week, I was thinking of ideas for songs but there was nothing I could do with the ideas. I've been jonesing for the studio and missing my band brothers. I know we need a rehearsal this week for the show on Friday but I really, really hope that we get in a day of recording as well.

When we were in the Houston airport, somebody came up to me and said "Are you the lead singer of Quiet Company? I've been to like 5 of your shows." Totally made my day.

Next week is Thanksgiving and I'm really looking forward to seeing my family. I feel bad that they haven't gotten to spend more time with Harper but these past few months have been ridiculously busy and we're at least 3 1/2 hours away from everyone.

Elana & Ian gave me a copy of Richard Dawkins' new book, The Greatest Show On Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, which is an awesome gift that I will enjoy. It will probably be a while before I'm finished with it, as its one of those books that you have to actually put forth effort to absorb the content, and I'm still reading The Great Gatsby. Oh yeah, and I'm a slow-ass reader.

1.2.3. She's a real left winger because she's been down south and held peasants in her arms...

Our final rehearsal is tonight with our "orchestra" and it is supposed to rain, so I'm not looking forward to loading in and out of the Music Lab. Oh well, can't be helped. The grass has to drink, too.

I've mentioned the Talk Origins Archive a few times, and because, somehow, almost every discussion on here about Atheism/Religion turns, in part, to Evolutionary Theory, I spent some time on there today. It really is a great resource and very easy to use/understand. Its fascinating to me because my education on the subject was so depressingly incomplete. I remember my high school biology teacher only mentioning Evolution once, saying "I don't mind if they teach it as a theory but I'm big on Creationism." In my high school biology was like history, always taught by coaches who wanted a little extra cash. Then I got to college. I only attended college for 2 years at a Jr. college in East Texas but I took biology again there. My teacher was really good and actually had an interest in the topic but it was still East Texas and while she clearly understood and accepted Evolutionary Theory, I don't remember it being part of the curriculum. My geology teacher that year talked more about Evolution than my biology teacher, which is weird.

I love learning about how unpredictable and chaotic life can be, even at the tiniest levels. Its really beautiful. I read about a new study the other day that showed how from just one generation to the next there are 100-150 mutations on the genetic code. ONE HUNDRED & FIFTY MUTATIONS just from me to Harper! That's crazy!

I digress.

I've watched Serenity twice in the last week, I'm really pissed that the new Kingdom Hearts game is only on Nintendo DS, and everyone should love the Pixies.

I only wish that President Obama had said "Kanye West is a jackass. Quote me."

I love Amazon.com. I'll still frequent Half Price Books but for music or movies, it doesn't get much better than Amazon. I've ordered a lot of things from Amazon lately but I think the one I'm most excited about is the new They Might Be Giants record. I've never really listened to them before but I happened upon their new video for "Science is Real" and I thought it was so perfect. Its kids music so its really for Harper but I'm planning on getting quite a bit of use out of it, myself. The other day I showed Harper the videos for "Science is Real" and "Electric Car" and I think she was pretty into it. Least ways, it held her attention for a while.

Where Lord of the Rings is concerned, I'm not a HUGE fan. I like the movies a lot, and I've read all the books once but on the whole, I prefer to put all my nerdy energy into knowing more about Harry Potter and Star Wars than most people know about their immediate family. Well, I've owned the first 2 movies for a while but never got around to buying Return of the King, so I ordered the theatrical version off of Amazon the other day. I really wanted the extended version but it was $7 and the theatrical version was only $0.01 so I couldn't really justify the price difference. I got it in the mail and was pretty pumped to watch it because I recently watched the other two. I started the movie and thought, "I don't remember the third movie starting just like the first one." Right case, wrong disc. Long story short, I contacted the seller on Amazon and she offered to send me the extended version in exchange and she even refunded my shipping costs. So I got the movie I really wanted for $0.01. What a beautiful world we live in!

You can see a very tiny portion of the footage from the video for "On Modern Men" by going to our Twitter and clicking the link. Looks pretty awesome so far.
We've got some really great shows coming up. This Friday, we're playing with What Made Milwaukee Famous at Antone's and that shit's going to be off the chain or off the hook or whatever the kids say these days. In October, through strange coincidence or strange fate we've got direct support for the Los Lonely Boys at an ACL after-party at Momo's. How weird is that? Awesome, because it will probably sell out, but...weird.

The Fox says that everything that is essential is invisible to the eye. Do you think he means "Dark Energy?"

I've been reading about "Dark Energy" at Scientific American. Its crazy how much we know about stuff. It really is.

I'm looking forward to work next week. Everyone else in my office has to go to a convention for 3 days, so I'll be the sole inhabitant of the office. Needless to say, I'll be doing whatever I damn well please. I'll probably watch the entire Harry Potter series and who knows what else. I don't know. What I do know is that I'll be getting paid for it.

Perhaps, I'll finally catch up on my napping.

As always, I'm anxious to get home and hang out with my wife and child, cook and eat dinner and watch True Blood. Leah and I saw District 9 last night. We both thought it was awesome and would recommend it.

OK but this is seriously the last one...

PZ Meyers posted this and I just thought it was so appropriate that I decided to repost it here. Enjoy.

A new name for everything

There are a new set of polls going around on Facebook, and I love sharing my worthless opinion with people who care as little for it as I care for theirs, so I joined in.

The first one was simple enough. Do you approve of President Obama?
Yes, I do. I saw that a friend of mine, Jubal, had put that he approved and had come under some fire from people who I can only assume are conservative and more likely, militantly conservative. Jubal had said that Obama's diplomacy, and pledge to end American torture were two of the reasons he approves of the president, and one of his detractors posted something like "I only need one reason to disapprove of Obama and that's his stance on abortion." And then this crusader posted again saying "how about we stop American torture of innocent babies." So of course, I (in all my maturity) commented and said "How about we stop reducing complex issues to bumper sticker slogans?" I just hate that. The world is almost never black and white, as sensationalist talking heads like Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reily would like you to believe.

I'm not impressed with the bailouts, but I'm very proud of Obama, largely because of his foreign policy. We voted for change and it seems that that is exactly what he's giving us, particularly in the case of Israel. I don't have anything against Israel that I don't have against Palestine, I just don't understand why we've decided that they're right no matter what. Maybe someone can explain it to me.

The second poll was about another one of my favorite discussions, Evolution vs. Creationism. I know people that say Creationism or Intelligent Design (which is the same thing at the end of the day) are the only way this world could possibly have occurred. I know people that say Evolution is the only way this world could have occurred. I also know people that say maybe God used Evolution to make this world occur. I can understand the last two, but in the year 2009 I don't understand how anyone can still cling to the first one, unless they simply don't care, which is the most viable reason I can think of. Most Christians I know have dropped the idea that the book of Genesis is to be taken literally, since they know that a) the things in it are illogical and impossible and b)science has disproved a lot of it. Anyway, these Facebook polls have room for people to comment after they've voted and in the comments you see the same argument repeating that we had here a few weeks ago. "Evolution is just a theory."

Why doesn't the scientific community come up with a new word for the scientific definition of "theory?" Its confusing that a word can have two almost polar opposite meanings. I remember in my high school biology class the teacher told us it was "just a theory." He didn't understand the difference either and if this is the kind of understanding of the subject matter that our biology teachers have, what hope can the students have of grasping the concept? Hopefully, schools like mine that teach misunderstanding of the topic are the exception and not the rule.

Do you think they teach evolution at Hogwarts?

Yesterday, I felt like a real patriot. I called my state senator to voice my opinion on an upcoming issue. The seating of Don McLeroy as Chairman on the Board of Education has come under some controversy and I told my senator to vote against him. I doubt he will because the senator for our area is Republican like McLeroy and I would imagine they would have each others backs.

If you haven't heard of McLeroy, he's the guy who fights tooth and nail for keeping evolution out of biology text books and putting Creationism in. Now, I'm a Deist, which to me just means that if I had to bet on it, I'd probably say there's a "god" who may or may not have sparked the big bang. Whether or not there was a plan or design that he/she/it/they guided, I have no idea. So that being said, the idea of a Divine involvement in the how and why we're here isn't entirely foreign to me. But that's philosophy, not science. Science is the study of things we know, not the things that some people in the class may or may not believe. Science is falsifiable or can be tested. Creationism and Intelligent Design (which is essentially the same thing) don't qualify, and therefore don't belong in biology text books. I'm not picking on believers, I have no problem with them discussing it in philosophy class, but saying its science is a falsehood. Its not a political issue, its just a matter of one thing not being another. Religion isn't science, doesn't try to be, has never been, possibly never will be.

(Please don't mistake me for qualifying religion and science as Non-Overlapping Magisteria. I don't. I agree with Dawkins that god's existence is a scientific matter and just because we currently have no way of testing it, doesn't mean that we never will.)

I was thinking about school this morning, as well, because I was listening to the Bobby Bones show on the way to work and Bobby was talking about how he gave a speech at a graduation ceremony yesterday. It got me thinking about what I would say if I were to be asked to give such a speech, for some unforeseeable reason. What would I want/need to hear? I don't know, honestly, other than to tell them that life is short and better spent filled with love and lived to the fullest. What I think I really needed to hear (assuming that Young Taylor would've listened), I needed to hear much earlier than graduation. I would've told me that education is less about learning facts and formulas(though they are immensely important) and more about learning how to think. Logic, reason, and creativity are the most important things being developed in our schools. Hopefully, those things are being taught in school, while at home kids learn kindness, humility, and responsibility. I wish I'd taken my education more seriously, now. I hope I can convince Harper how important it is, and how lucky she is to be able to go to the schools she'll go to. About a year of substituting in these schools has left me impressed. Compared to the school I went to, these are like Hogwarts.

So, personal rants aside, I just want my daughter to have as thorough an education as possible without anyone pushing their agendas on her. Our forefathers understood the need for separation of Church and State, so what could be more patriotic or American, than insisting that we keep the science in science class and the theology in church?

When and if I ever die, I hope that its in some way that allows me to become a fossil

If you've been watching or reading the news, you're probably aware of the recent discovery of Darwinius Marsillae, or Ida, as she's been nicknamed. All of the science blogs I've been able to find are really frustrated with the media's handling of this find, and they all generally say, "yes, this is a tremendous find, and yes, it does support and inform what we know about evolution, but it doesn't 'change everything'" The news hype around this fossil is making it look like Ida is the veritable saviour of the fossil record.

I think the most interesting thing about it is how incredibly old she is. 47 million years old. That's ludicrously old, and we can still tell what her last meal was. How crazy is science?!?

I hope that one day, when I'm really old, preferably, I get caught in a toxic gas cloud and sink to the bottom of a lake and neatly covered in sediment so that my last meal can be noted by scientists 47 million years from now. I hope its Buffalo wings.

Recently in Canada they discovered another fossil that was really interesting and shows us how seals went from land to sea animals called Puijila darwini. Its interesting to me, at least. I'm wondering if we're going to name every fossil we find after Darwin from now on. If I found a fossil I'd probably name it something a little more fun. I would probably call Puijila darwini "Lazer Seal," and that's just off the top of my head.

The new mewithoutYou is fantastic and in constant play here at my desk. I highly recommend it.

natural selection at its...best?

I'll probably post again today especially since this is probably the last day I won't be a father, but I've been looking at pictures all day and I saw pictures of my brother's family at the Dallas zoo. I guess that put me in the mood to look at animals. So feast your eyes upon the smallest of the nocturnal primates...The Aye Aye.


Also, deep deep in the ocean where the water pressure is intense, nature has formed the Blob Fish.


Yeah...these are real.