"A speckled bird, humbly inspired, ran across the road when it could've flown and it made me smile."

Sarah Palin has signed on with Fox "news" as a contributor. Earlier today my co-worker filled an apple juice bottle with piss and I put a sticky note on it that says "FREE JUICE!! NOT PEE!!!" and we put it in the refrigerator. I'm sure there's a profound analogy to be made between the two, I'm just not sure what it is yet.

We're finishing up mixing on "Songs For Staying In" this week or next and we've set a date for mastering (Feb 3rd). So this hurdle is almost jumped and we're going to start learning new songs now. My goals for 2010 include the Quiet Company musical and the 3rd record. They both need to be started and at least one of them needs to be finished by the end of the year. I don't care which one.

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.

Bless this mess

I just got back from another meeting about the video for "On Modern Men." I think this is going to be pretty badass. We worked out a way to slide an Ishmael reference into it that I think is pretty awesome. At the beginning of the video there will be someone wearing a sandwich sign that, on one side, says "WITH MAN GONE, WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR GORILLA?" and on the other side says, "WITH GORILLA GONE, WILL THERE BE HOPE FOR MAN?" I realise that no one will understand that who hasn't read the book but who knows, maybe it will get people to look it up and discover the book. It would be amazing if we could get Daniel Quinn to come and be the guy wearing the sign. Maybe I'll look into that, I think he lives in Houston.

I just spent some time discussing Evolution on another blog, which is one of the more interesting things to discuss to me. I still can't really wrap my head around the ideas and fears that people have about Evolution or why some fight so hard to deny it. Its always a religious defense, of course. Here in the states, its the Christians that give us the most grief, but apparently in the UK its the Muslims, which I did not know. You would think that because most of the Vatican, Pope included, accept Evolution as a fact that that understanding would trickle down but I guess it doesn't work that way. Richard Dawkins has a new book coming out that is supposed to be a very elegant explanation of Evolution and how we know what we know. Its called The Greatest Show On Earth, and I'm sure it will be great but I probably won't read it, honestly. I spend quite a bit of my time at work reading science blogs and publications and I feel like I have a decent grasp on the concept already.

Maybe something in Islam can explain why I have an appendix and a tailbone or why some whales still have hind leg bones.

Deuteronomy 25:11-12

So today, I am feeling patriotic again. I just got off the phone with my senator's office and now I want you to pick up your phone and call yours. If you don't know who your senator is then go here and find out. There's a "find my senator" widget at the bottom of the page.

Remember a while back when Rick Perry nominated Don McLeroy, an ultra Conservative dentist, for chairman of the board of education? Well, luckily, he was defeated. But, remember how I said that I was concerned that Perry would just nominate someone worse? Well, its not official yet but its looking like he's going to. Her name is Cynthia Dunbar and she's very open about her disdain for public education, which to me is a giant red flag when you're looking for someone to be chairperson of the Board of Education.

In a book published last year, Dunbar argued the country’s founding fathers created “an emphatically Christian government” and that government should be guided by a “biblical litmus test.” She endorses a belief system that requires “any person desiring to govern have a sincere knowledge and appreciation for the Word of God in order to rightly govern.”

Also in the book, she calls public education a “subtly deceptive tool of perversion.”

The Establishment of public schools is unconstitutional and even “tyrannical,” she wrote, because it threatens the authority of families, granted by God through Scripture, to direct the instruction of their children.

Dunbar home-schooled her own children.

First off, there are few things more annoying than when right wingers imply that our founding fathers were saintly men who wore their devout faith in Christianity on their sleeves. It takes about 10 minutes of research to figure out that most of our founding fathers were Deists, and had quite a bit of disdain for religion. Take the George Washington approved Treaty of Tripoli, for instance. "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion;..."
Here's a quote from Ben Franklin's autobiography, "But I was scarce fifteen, when, after doubting by turns several points as I found them disputed in the different books I read, I began to doubt of the Revelation itself. Some books against Deism fell into my hands; they were said to be the substance of the sermons which had been preached at Boyle’s Lectures. It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them. For the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to be much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist."
And then there's Jefferson who called himself a Christian from time to time but only because he got down with the moral philosophy of Jesus. However, he took a pair of scissors to his bible and hacked out all the things he considered to be superstitious, miraculous or mystic. When speaking of god he was known to, more often than not, use the popular Deist term, "Nature's God."

I digress. If you want to get a clear view of our founding fathers religion and skepticism, its pretty easy to find.

The real problem at hand is this Dunbar lady. Can we not, honestly, find someone better for this job? Someone who doesn't already think the very idea of public education is morally wrong? Someone who isn't, very clearly, intending to use the position to push their ideals into the education system?

It doesn't matter if you have kids now or not, because this is a fight that will affect how our nation's future leaders are educated. The biggest, most important thing that parents and schools can teach children is how to think, not what to think.

ps. Here is some more crazy shit Cynthia Dunbar said. Apparently, Obama is plotting with terrorists to attack the U.S. and he's going to institute martial law. Yeah...that sounds reasonable.

Who do you like better, Belle or Sebastian?

I've heard a lot of people say that the birth of their children solidified their belief that humankind is so beautiful that it could only have been intentionally designed by some higher power, i.e. god. I certainly understand the sentiment when I think about how amazing and beautiful my daughter is. That being said, since she's been born, its only served to further convince me of our evolution from the same family that produced the ape. She's adorable as hell, and sometimes, especially when she's sitting up kind of slumped over, I think she looks very monkey-esque.

Once, when we were on tour in Washington, D.C., Leah and I visited the zoo there and spent the lion's share of our time at the gorilla exhibit. Everything about them, from their facial expressions to the way they move and interact with one another, is so "human" and amazing. I don't understand people who are, essentially, insulted by the idea that we could possibly share almost all of our genes with them (incidentally, their indignity doesn't stop it being true). I guess they would rather believe that god instantaneously created us in his image, because we're arrogant and that belief elevates us above nature. That's one of the biggest problems in the world, if not the single biggest problem. Here's the god's honest truth: if god exists, then you are no more important to him/her/it/them than the mice in the field or the termite in the wall. He/she/it/they don't care if your basketball team beats someone else's basketball team, and it doesn't matter how much you pray for that victory. There's probably someone on the other team, who may or may not have more faith than you, praying for the same thing. When you get badly injured in an accident and seemingly miraculously pull through, its the doctors that worked tirelessly on putting you back together that are the heroes. God's not hanging out above the hospital bed, impressed with himself about how dramatic its about to be when he saves your ass.

The flip side of that, of course, is that while we're no more important, we're certainly no less beautiful.

Our culture has made us so insecure that we have worked diligently to convince ourselves that we exist outside or above nature, but in actuality, we most certainly do not. For some people, the idea that god isn't particularly interested in your day to day is disheartening and they might say that religion is good because at the very least it gives us purpose. Well, I say that I've got no religion and oodles of purpose. For instance, tonight my purpose will be to have a nice dinner with a beautiful lady. As my personal hero, Kurt Vonnegut, so elegantly put it, "We are here on Earth to fart around. Don't let anyone tell you different."

Also, I haven't heard it yet, but our friends Jets Under Fire released their second free EP and its available for download here. As I said, I haven't heard it yet but I'll be downloading it as soon as I get home. Their last one was fantastic and was a notable improvement from their impressive debut record.

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.