Bear's Journal

Skepticism Grant

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 01:37:57 GMT

The skepticism grant I wrote is done and will be submitted on Monday. It's a $2 million dollar grant over five years. Wish me luck!

The objective of this proposal is to develop a methodology and a set of Open Source tools that can be easily added to existing data pipelining and data mining systems in order to select and validate any arbitrary method that is used to process data. Rather than taking any method for granted, these tools will be used to reveal doubt or increase the relative certainty of any given method for a particular data set and a particular task. They are not designed to test whether some method is providing the "correct" answer; rather, these tools will enable one to determine the practicality, consistency and sensitivity of a method over a range of plausible conditions. These tools will provide an Automated Skepticism Framework for the analysis of data in computational biology. The software will be Open Source and free, thus enabling the Automated Skepticism Framework to assist in enhancing new developments in the biological sciences.

Through the use of design patterns these tools will allow for the automated analysis and implementation of data pipelining systems in computational biology. The user will use a visual interface to select a data analysis flow on a high level. For example, a user could choose to run normalization, noise filtering, ANOVA and clustering. The user could alternatively select patterns of high level analysis suggested by experts in the field. These tools will then automatically select which methods are appropriate for the given data flow. The system will then run through a finite set of analysis and provide all of the results to the user as a standard report. Additionally the system can automatically run an a posteriori analysis to empirically validate the analysis that was run and provide user a standard report that will allow then to asses a level of confidence in the analysis.

Building the system will also allow us to create an ontology of data analysis methodology. This ontology is a very simple and direct way of doing three very important things: 1) to directly assess what precautions one should account for in using a method, 2) it’s a very easy way to find related methods and 3) it provides a simple framework for open discussion and critiques of any given method by the data analysis community.

We will also validate the utility of the Automated Skepticism Framework using DNA microarray data as a model.

Deja Vu

Sat, 08 Oct 2005 20:27:24 GMT

Power Day 2 – Saturday - 5x7 Training @ 11 AM Wooden Center [5 sets of 7 reps at the weight in brackets]

flat bench [265 lbs], squat [465 lbs 5 sets of reps of 15], shrugs [405 lbs], military press [145 lbs], t-bar rows [225 lbs], good mornings, abs, back extension

For more training thoughts see
http://www.livejournal.com/users/balaramji/1344.html

Para minha filosofia de malhar
http://www.livejournal.com/users/balaramji/1344.html

http://www.phenomics.ucla.edu

Fri, 07 Oct 2005 04:22:06 GMT

The people at work want me to redesign http://www.phenomics.ucla.edu/

Here's my first stab at the redesign

http://www.nikbrown.com/wip/

Same ol' Same ol'

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 21:17:50 GMT

Serenity (2005)

Sat, 01 Oct 2005 04:49:01 GMT

Captain Malcolm Reynolds, a hardened veteran on the losing side of a galactic civil war, now ekes out a living pulling off small crimes and transport-for-hire aboard his ship, Serenity. He leads a small, eclectic crew who are the closest thing he has left to family - squabbling, insubordinate and undyingly loyal. When Mal takes on two new passengers - a young doctor and his unstable, telepathic sister - he gets much more than he bargained for. The pair are fugitives from the coalition dominating the universe, who will stop at nothing to reclaim the girl. The crew that was once used to skimming the outskirts of the galaxy unnoticed find themselves caught between the unstoppable military force of the Universal Alliance and the horrific, cannibalistic fury of the Reavers, savages who roam the very edge of space. Hunted by vastly different enemies, they begin to discover that the greatest danger to them may be on board Serenity herself. This is the feature film version of the late, lamented sci-fi cult TV series "Firefly."

Genres: Science Fiction/Fantasy
Running Time: 1 hr. 59 min.
Release Date: September 30th, 2005 (wide).
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense violence and action, and some sexual references.
Distributor: Universal Pictures

Stupid Banks

Fri, 30 Sep 2005 05:54:20 GMT

Somebody just stole all the money out of my checking and savings accounts and the bank doesn't have people to speak about these things until 7 AM tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!

Modern and Yoga class

Fri, 30 Sep 2005 01:53:44 GMT

Took a Modern and Yoga class .... both the classes want me to stay in them. We'll see.

Born without legs, still playing football

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 02:34:52 GMT

Born without legs, still playing football

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/multimedia/photo_gallery/2005/09/27/gallery.martin/content.1.html

Crowded

Thu, 29 Sep 2005 02:19:04 GMT

Really crowded Wooden center today ... sucks ... too many people ... many of them looking pretty clueless in a weight room.

Power Day 1 – Wednesday - 7x5 Training @ 11 AM Wooden Center [5 sets of 7 reps at the weight in brackets]

incline bench [285 lbs], squat [485 lbs 5 sets of reps of 15], deadlifts [385 lbs], t-bar rows [225 lbs], triceps machine [150 lbs], preacher curls [120 lbs] good mornings, abs, back extension

For more training thoughts see
http://www.livejournal.com/users/balaramji/1344.html

Para minha filosofia de malhar
http://www.livejournal.com/users/balaramji/1344.html

Automated Skepticism

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 09:38:19 GMT

Automated Skepticism Abstract

Data pipelining systems and data mining systems are becoming increasingly sophisticated making it easy to do some very complicated analysis of data. These data analysis systems provide an enormous array of methods to filter data, smooth data, normalize data, visualize data, summarize data, and fill-in missing data. These systems also provide methods to find models and patterns in data and methods to validate those models and patterns.

A method can be thought of as some well-understood operation on some input data, and produces output data that may be used by some subsequent method. Data analysis from this standpoint can be thought as the flow of data through a graph or tree – where the nodes represent the methods and the vertices represent the sequencing of the processing. If even one method is selected that is inappropriate for that data or if a method gives bad results for any reason; then all subsequent methods can give misleading results as they were given poor data as input (the “garbage in, garbage out” principle).

The ‘art’ of data analysis – the crucial questions for using these systems – is the choice of methods and their sequencing. In computational biology, this is not a trivial task; even for experts. There can be many steps in a relatively simple analysis for some data set; any one of which may be chosen inappropriately due to ignorance of the biological domain, ignorance of the mathematics of the method, ignorance of the sensitivity of the method to certain structures in the data, or ignorance of the parameterization of the method. Further methods are rarely 100% good or bad; rather one needs to estimate degree of belief one has in the reliability of the output of every method in a data analysis task in order to get some overall confidence in the overall output.

We believe that current data analysis systems have plenty of tools and algorithms that are focused on the data itself – but could not find any tools designed to help select and validate those tools and algorithms for their appropriateness given a particular data set and a particular task.

The objective of this proposal is to develop a methodology and set of open source tools that can be easily added to existing data pipelining and data mining systems that help select and validate any arbitrary method that might be used to process data. Rather than taking any method for granted, these tools would advance some degree of doubt or increase the relative certainty of any given method for a particular data set and a particular task. These tools are not testing whether some procedure is getting the “correct” answer; rather it is checking the consistency and sensitivity of a procedure over a range of plausible conditions.

In epistemology, a methodology based on an assumption of doubt with the aim of acquiring approximate or relative certainty is called skepticism. Skepticism also espouses the view “truth” isn’t stable and that meaning emerges only provisionally, from an endless process of interpretation and re-interpretation based on the interaction between rational, and empirical knowledge. We think it’s therefore appropriate to call our methodology that helps select and validate procedures used in data analysis as skeptical tools. We intend the skeptical tools to be automatically invoked for a given method whenever that method is selected as part of some data analysis. As such, we are calling the overall process “Automated Skepticism.”

Back

Wed, 28 Sep 2005 01:38:24 GMT

Back is getting better ... don't think I be at full strength for tomorrow's workout but at 80-90%.

Will do yoga tonite.

Zetacap

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 04:55:35 GMT

Zetacap

http://www.zetacap.com ... These people are selling fiber (like Metamucil and calling it "an alternative to gastric bypass surgery."

Gastric bypass has been successfully used as one of many surgical treatments to achieve significant long term weight loss.
Gastric bypass surgery makes the stomach smaller and allows food to bypass part of the small intestine. The aim is to make you feel full quicker than when your stomach was its original size, which reduces the amount of food you eat and thus calories consumed. but there is a difficult recovery to a gastric bypass operation that can be very painful. Aside from the pain of surgery, patients may experience nausea or severe gastric distress and the recovery time is extremely long.

Most people do not know that gastric bypass surgery is potentially dangerous and can cost between 25,000 to $40,000 or more in out-of-pocket expenses, because most health insurance companies will not cover this type of surgery, and even if they do, co-payments and other costs can add up quickly.

But what if you had a non-surgical alternative to gastric bypass procedure? A much more affordable way to block your stomach?

Now there's Zetacap. It works the same way as gastric bypass surgery but instead of blocking the stomach with staples, Zetacap fills the stomach with a natural balloon that makes it virtually impossible to eat! You will feel full all the time. You just won't be able to eat!

Gastric bypass operations are a lot more dangerous than most people think. The International Bariatric Surgery Registry estimates 1 in 1,000 patients will die within four weeks of the surgery and 3 in 1,000 will die within three months.
After a Gastric Bypass the kidneys and other organs suffer more damage than previously believed and other risks include wound infections, stomach leaks and occasional life-threatening blood clots.

If at this point in your life your only alternative for weightloss is expensive gastric bypass surgery that can be dangerous, not to mention costly, today there is a real alternative - Today there's Zetacap, the Stomach Blocker.

Crowded and easy

Tue, 27 Sep 2005 02:55:39 GMT

Wooden center is getting really crowded ... easy day today ... very light just wanted to move a little bit but not strain my back ... also did a 90 minute yoga class ... think by Wednesday I can go back to my regular routine.

Budget Charade?

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 08:23:16 GMT

Budget Charade?

By Howard Kurtz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, September 23, 2005; 8:12 AM

So what exactly constitutes "unnecessary spending," in Bush's spectacularly vague phrase?

Finally, we're easing our way into a real debate on the subject.

You want to spend a couple hundred billion dollars on Katrina and Rita and the damage done by any other killer storms this season? Great. What would you cut?

If you assume there's no way Congress is going to raise taxes-- though I suppose some of the Bush tax cuts might not be made permanent-- then this is the choice. Reduce spending on other programs-- and remember, every program in Washington has a constituency or it wouldn't be in the budget-- or borrow zillions from foreign note-buyers and stick our kids and grandkids with the bill.

The argument is fiercest in the Republican Party, which is supposed to preach the gospel of fiscal discipline but has really opened the cash registers under Bush.

Ever since Reagan vowed to eliminate "waste, fraud and abuse" in 1980, politicians have pretended that they could balance the budget by simply running a tighter ship. The deficit, that abstract concept, hasn't been a national issue since Ross Perot made his eccentric run in '92, but even congressmen who spend like drunken sailors are coming to realize that we're heading for a precarious fiscal situation. The Gingrich revolutionaries of '94 promised to blow up whole departments, like Education, but didn't. The Clinton surplus was wiped out by 9/11, tax cuts, pork-barrel spending and now Katrina.

Now the bill is coming due, and some House Republicans, to their credit, are proposing specific cuts, such as cutting out the Alaskan "bridge to nowhere" and other piggy provisions in that bloated highway bill. But Dennis Hastert says no way because "it is exactly the highway bill we need." Nor will the speaker consider delaying the Medicare prescription drug law because "something seniors across the county look forward to"-- leaving aside the fact that they've gotten by without it all these years.

The highway bill, with 6,000 member-designated projects worth $24 billion-- including, The Post reports, $500 million in Hastert earmarks for such vital projects as a bike path and a sidewalk-- is exactly what we need? So much for fiscal restraint.

How should the aid money be divvied up? Here's a radical proposal from Slate's Steven Landsburg :

"Before we spend $200 billion on New Orleans disaster relief, can we just pause for about three seconds, please? That should be long enough to divide one number by another. The numbers I have in mind are, on the one hand, $200 billion, and, on the other hand, 1 million people--the prestorm population of the New Orleans area, broadly defined.

"Two-hundred billion divided by 1 million is 200,000. For the cost of reconstructing New Orleans, the government could simply give $200,000 to every resident of the region--that's $800,000 for a family of four. Given a choice, which do you think the people down there would prefer?

"I'm guessing most of them would take the cash. I can't prove that, but I think I can make it plausible: If your city were demolished, would you prefer to have it rebuilt--with someone else making all the decisions about how it gets rebuilt--or would you prefer to collect $800,000 in cash and move your family elsewhere? I've asked a lot of people this question during the last week, and, according to my informal unscientific survey, pretty much everyone would take the money and run . . .

"There would still be some tidying up to do, like rebuilding the interstates--but that accounts for a small fraction of the projected $200 billion."

Noting that a group of House Republicans has put out a budgetary hit list (Amtrak, PBS, etc.), Washington Monthly blogger Kevin Drum makes a few additions:

"I note that farm subsidies somehow didn't make the short list from our hardy band of conservative Republicans. That could save about $20 billion per year or so. Of course, some of these brave fiscal warriors come from farm states . . .

"Delay the Medicare prescription drug bill for one year? Pish and tosh. The current bill is projected to cost about $100 billion per year, and as near as I can tell about half of that has nothing at all to do with providing prescription drugs to seniors. It's just a steaming pile of corporate welfare and handouts to pharmaceutical companies. So I tell you what: hand over the bill to some serious healthcare policy analysts--they'll have to be Democrats, I'm afraid, since Republicans don't have any left--and I'm pretty sure they can cut the cost of this legislation by a third and actually improve its coverage at the same time.

"Kill the F/A-22 Raptor. I think even President Bush agrees that the Raptor doesn't make much sense anymore. I don't have numbers off the top of my head, but this would probably save about $20 billion or so.

"Raise taxes? Whoa, Nelly! But we could at least repeal a tax cut aimed exclusively at wealthy families that's scheduled to take effect in January. That would save about $200 billion over ten years.

"Yes, the Moon-Mars mission could be scrubbed, and the highway bill earmarks could be repealed en masse. And while we're at it we might as well repeal the horrendous energy bill enacted a couple of months ago. That should add up to $100 billion or so.

"Let's see . . . that totals up to roughly $800 billion or so over ten years. See how easy this is?"

Blogging up a list: easy. Getting Congress to act: not so much.

Many conservatives have abandoned the argument that Bush is in favor of smaller government, a la Peggy Noonan :

"George W. Bush, after five years in the presidency, does not intend to get sucker-punched by the Democrats over race and poverty. That was the driving force behind his Katrina speech last week. He is not going to play the part of the cranky accountant--'But where's the money going to come from?'-- while the Democrats, in the middle of a national tragedy, swan around saying 'Republicans don't care about black people,' and 'They're always tightwads with the poor.' . . .

"George W. Bush is a big spender. He has never vetoed a spending bill. When Congress serves up a big slab of fat, crackling pork, Mr. Bush responds with one big question: Got any barbecue sauce ?"

Noonan tells Republicans that "if we are going to spend like the romantics and operators of Lyndon Johnson's Great Society;

"If we are going to thereby change the very meaning and nature of conservatism;

"If we are going to increase spending and the debt every year;

"If we are going to become a movement that supports big government and a party whose unspoken motto is 'Whatever it takes';

"If all these things, shouldn't we perhaps at least discuss it? Shouldn't we be talking about it? Shouldn't our senators, congressmen and governors who wish to lead in the future come forward to take a stand?

"And shouldn't the Bush administration seriously address these questions, share more of their thinking, assumptions and philosophy?"

David Brooks, now hidden behind the NYT's columnist firewall, contrasts this week's criticism by John Kerry and John Edward:

"Kerry began his speech by making the point that Bush and his crew are rotten. He then went on to make the point that Bush and his crew are loathsome. In the third section of the speech, Kerry left the impression that Bush and his crew are evil.

"Now we all know people so consumed by hatred for George Bush that they haven't had an unpredictable thought in five years, but in Kerry's speech one sees this anger in almost clinical form.

"In the first place, not even Karl Rove's worldview is so obsessively Bush-centric as John Kerry's. There are many interesting issues raised by Katrina, but for Senator Ahab it all goes back to the great white monster, Bush. Bush and his crew should have known the levees were weak. Bush and his crew should have known thousands in New Orleans would be trapped. (Did I miss Kerry's own warnings on these subjects?)"

Brooks was much more upbeat about Edwards: "While the old welfare policies allowed people to evade the world of work and enabled people to drop out of school and have children, Edwards proposed a series of policies designed to encourage work, to encourage responsibility, to help the poor build assets."

Slate Editor Jacob Weisberg tells his fellow libs to chill:

"The reaction from liberals to Bush's proposed War on Bayou Poverty has been outrage that Republicans would take advantage of the tragedy to advance their ideological agenda. Democratic leaders are upset about the suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act, sacred to unions, which requires the federal government to pay prevailing wages to workers. They've also denounced Bush's proposal to provide school vouchers to students displaced by the storm and the suggestion that Karl Rove might run the rebuilding show.

"This is precisely the wrong response. Liberals, who have failed to muster any kind of social consensus for a major federal assault on poverty since LBJ's day, should welcome conservatives as converts to the cause. They should hold back on their specific objections--some of which are valid, some of which are not--and let Bush have his way with the reconstruction. Making New Orleans a test site for conservative social policy ideas could shake out any number of ways politically. But all of us have a stake in an experiment that tells us whether conservative anti-poverty ideas, uh, work . If the conservative war on poverty succeeds, even in partial fashion, we will all be better for its success. And if it fails, we will have learned something important about how not to fight poverty."

Andrew Sullivan keeps blogging about his deep disappointment with Bush:

"We all have to make judgments and I know few people who wouldn't have preferred a better choice last November. But I think we had also learned by last November that Bush never listens to criticism (except, perhaps, from his wife); that his re-election would confirm him in all the worst judgment calls of his presidency; that his administration was slowly killing off conservatism as we had known it; it was manifestly incompetent and immune to correction; and that the only responsible thing was therefore to back Kerry as the lesser of two evils. I think Kerry would have made a pretty poor president. But Bush was already clearly on course for disaster (and had already made a basket case of Iraq). I wish I was being proven wrong. At least now I feel a little less lonely."

Air America host Randi Rhodes is comparing Katrina's victims to those killed in the Holocaust, says the site Newsbusters . Ack.

CBS correspondent John Roberts responds to a viewer who complained that the network should have used its resources to deliver food and water to the needy:

"We were dispatched to the hurricane in such a rush that I brought with me only a few changes of clothing and a handful of breakfast bars. Our camera crews-- some of whom drove in-- brought little more than that, as no one thought this was going to be much more than a three day assignment. By Thursday, we were out of food and down to our last bottle of water. Our situation was becoming quite dire.

"Even so, when we came across people on the Interstate, and in the neighborhoods, we gave them what we could to help out. And when we finally got re-supplied (Friday morning), we freely shared water and snacks with people who were left high and dry with nothing. On more than one occasion, we gave away everything we had in our crew vehicle-- even though we still had hours of work in the hot sun ahead of us.

"Perhaps what you are complaining about is that we didn't make a point of telling our viewers that. It's not appropriate for us to blow our own horns. We helped people out of concern for their well-being, not to showboat. By Friday, the National Guard had set up a food distribution site near the convention center and was delivering food and water to people on the interstate, so the need for us to help folks out became quite diminished. But whenever we went out in our boat, we made sure that we took along enough supplies to do what we could for people who were still out in their flooded homes.

"I'm sorry if I'm on a bit of a tirade here, but questions like yours are posited by people who have absolutely no understanding of the situation in New Orleans during those days . . . And, yes, we did rescue several people-- and a lot of pets. Again, we just didn't make a point of it. We were there to report the news, not grandstand.

"And to those reporters (all on cable, of course) who did grandstand, well, you know who you are."

As for the Other John Roberts, he sails in committee:

"Three Democrats joined with Republicans as the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13 to 5 today to send the nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. to be chief justice of the United States to the full Senate, where his confirmation is a virtual certainty," says the Los Angeles Times .

"The split among the committee's eight Democrats reflected division among Senate Democrats as a whole. Several Democratic senators predicted that Roberts could get the support of a majority of Democrats when the full Senate takes up his confirmation next week."

The Dem yes votes: Leahy, Kohl and Feingold.

The Nation's David Corn analyzes the Dem division:

"Once again, the Democrats are splitting on an issue that its most ardent supporters care much about. Just like Iraq. Ted Kennedy (no surprise) is voting against Roberts. So is John Kerry. Max Baucus, a Montana Democrat, is voting for Bush's pick. Some progressive bloggers have tried to target Baucus, depicting him as a Democratic turncoat. Are they now going to do the same with Leahy, an otherwise reliable liberal? And can any Democrat who wants to run in 2008 vote to confirm Roberts?"

Perhaps not. Hillary said yesterday she'll vote against Roberts.

"Imagine the debate during the Democratic presidential primaries of 2008 if Roberts reaches the court and then weakens abortion rights. Candidates who voted for Roberts could expect to face harsh questions from candidates who opposed Roberts as well as from potential supporters and voters."

Ladies and gentlemen, the Useless Speculation about the next high court nominee is officially under way. And the same GOP "sources" who said Bush would pick Edith Clement last time are playing the game again. So here is the New York Times quoting Republican strategists in reporting that "President Bush is focused on Hispanics, African-Americans and women to succeed Justice Sandra Day O'Connor." And here is The Washington Post quoting "three Republicans close to the president" as saying his short list "includes men and women, whites and minorities."

Well, that really narrows it down.

Finally, Jay Rosen is troubled by the NYT's $49.95 online fee for columnists and archives:

"My own questions start with this sentence in the corporate side's press release, describing TimesSelect as 'a new product offering subscribers exclusive online access to the distinctive voices of the Op-Ed, Business, Metro and Sports columnists of The New York Times and the International Herald Tribune (IHT).'

"The phrase 'exclusive online access' advertises two different goods. The first good is the work of the Times columnists themselves. The proposition that some will pay for that is hard to prove until you try, but it's simple to understand. The second good being advertised is exclusivity. You, the lucky TimesSelect subscriber, have access to these voices. Others do not. The value proposition there is muddled. If we prize up-to-date information about petroleum markets, we might value it more--and pay a premium--if the news is exclusively available to paying customers; but do we value Nicholas D. Kristof's column more if he's an 'exclusive?'

"We don't. In fact, it's probably the reverse. If everyone is reading a columnist, that makes the columnist more of a must have. If 'everyone' isn't, less of a must. 'Exclusive online access' attacks the perception of ubiquity that is part and parcel of a great columnist's power. In his prime Walter Lippmann was called 'the name that opened every door.' Nick Kristof's brand of human rights journalism, which depends on the mobilization of outrage, is simply less potent if it can't reach widely around the world, and pass by every door."

Back Spasms

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 02:49:10 GMT

Had back spasms these past couple days ... can barely walk ... usually this only happens if I make a mistake lifting heavy weights .... this last week I haven't worked out - just at the computer 14 hours a day .... thinking now that even when this is triggered by weights the underlying cause is the time I spend at the computer???

New evolution spat in schools goes to court

Sat, 24 Sep 2005 22:02:23 GMT

New evolution spat in schools goes to court

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (Reuters) -- A new battle over teaching about man's origins in U.S. schools goes to court for the first time next week, pitting Christian conservatives against educators and scientists in a trial viewed as the biggest test of the issue since the late 1980s.

Eleven parents of students at a Pennsylvania high school are suing over the school district's decision to include "intelligent design" -- an alternative to evolution that involves a God-like creator -- in the curriculum of ninth-grade biology classes.

The parents and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) say the policy of the Dover Area School District in south-central Pennsylvania violates the constitutional separation of church and state, which forbids teaching religion in public schools.

They also argue that intelligent design is unscientific and has no place in a science curriculum.

Intelligent design holds that nature is so complex it must have been the work of an God-like creator rather than the result of natural selection, as argued by Charles Darwin in his 1859 Theory of Evolution.

The school board says there are "gaps" in evolution, which it emphasizes is a theory rather than established fact, and that students have a right to consider other views on the origins of life. In their camp is President George W. Bush, who has said schools should teach evolution and intelligent design.

The Dover school board says it does not teach intelligent design but simply makes students aware of its existence as an alternative to evolution. It denies intelligent design is "religion in disguise" and says it is a scientific theory.

The board is being represented by The Thomas More Law Center, a Michigan-based nonprofit which says it uses litigation to promote "the religious freedom of Christians and time-honored family values."

The center did not return phone calls seeking comment.

The trial begins on Monday in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and is expected to last about five weeks.

'Orwellian' efforts
Dr. John West of the Discovery Institute, which sponsors research on intelligent design, said the case displayed the ACLU's "Orwellian" effort to stifle scientific discourse and objected to the issue being decided in court.

"It's a disturbing prospect that the outcome of this lawsuit could be that the court will try to tell scientists what is legitimate scientific inquiry and what is not," West said. "That is a flagrant assault on free speech."

Opponents including the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the National Association of Biology Teachers say intelligent design is an attempt by the Christian right to teach creationism -- the belief that God created the world -- in public schools under the guise of a theory that does not explicitly mention God. The Supreme Court banned the teaching of creationism in public schools in a 1987 ruling.

"Intelligent design is ultimately a science stopper," said Dr. Eugenie Scott of the National Council for Science Education, a pro-evolution group backing the Dover parents.

"It's a political and religious movement that's trying to insinuate itself into the public schools," she said.

But the American public appears to back the school district.

At least 31 states are taking steps to teach alternatives to evolution. A CBS poll last November found 65 percent of Americans favor teaching creationism as well as evolution while 37 percent want creationism taught instead of evolution.

Fifty-five percent of Americans believe God created humans in their present form, the poll found.

Earlier this month a top Roman Catholic cardinal critical of evolution branded scientific opponents of intelligent design intolerant and said there need not be a conflict between Darwin's and Christian views of life's origins.

Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn, a top Church doctrinal expert and close associate of Pope Benedict, said Darwin's theory did not clash with a belief in God so long as scientists did not assert that pure chance accounted for everything from "the Big Bang to Beethoven's Ninth Symphony."

Firefly Disc 4

Sat, 24 Sep 2005 02:15:08 GMT

Firefly Disc 4 came today!!!!!!

Dearest Partner

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 11:31:53 GMT

Dearest Partner,
I am Mrs.Nenita Ahmed from Ivory Coast. I am a widow being that I lost my husband a couple of months ago. My husband was a serving director of the Cocoa exporting board until his death .
He was assassinated last january by the rebels following the political uprising. Before his death he deposited some money in one bank here in Abidjan the amount is to the tune of $5.5M.
According to my late husband, the money is meant for unward transfer to
his partner for the importation of cocoa processing machine.
I have plans to do investment in your country, like real estate and industrial production.
This is my reason for writing to you. Please if you are willing to assist me and my only son Ibrahim, indicate your interest in replying soonest.
N/B:Please contact me immediately with the above E-mail address.
Thanks and best regards.
Mrs.Nenita Ahmed

Trivia for "Firefly" (2002/I)

Fri, 23 Sep 2005 10:39:47 GMT

Trivia for "Firefly" (2002/I) ( from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0303461/ )

Joss Whedon originally cast Rebecca Gayheart as Inara.

After Fox canceled the series, Joss Whedon cast Adam Baldwin, and Gina Torres on "Angel" (1999/I) and Nathan Fillion on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (1997). All three played villains.

Chinese phrases are often inserted into the English dialogue (sometimes to get away with saying things that the censors wouldn't allow them to say), and the ship has some signs in Chinese.

The two-hour episode "Serenity" was originally intended as the pilot for the show. The network (FOX) however, decided not to air it, citing that they wanted an episode with a more action-packed feel to it. With exactly one weekend to write a new pilot, executive producers Joss Whedon and Tim Minear wrote "The Train Job", which did appear as the first episode of the show. A slightly retooled version of "Serenity" was later showed as an 'origins' episode after Firefly had been canceled.

On the DVD Commentary on "War Stories", Alan Tudyk pointed out that despite the way Zoe and Wash were constantly portrayed, with Zoe being taller than her husband, Wash, Alan is in fact taller than Gina Torres. He is 6', she is 5'10''.

In the episode "Trash" when Saffron looks out the window of her husband's estate , Jubal Early's ship can be seen flying past (he had been following Serentiy since Ariel.)

Joss Whedon had cast Summer Glau before Firefly - she originally appeared as a Prima Ballerina on the "Angel" (1999/I) episode "Waiting in the Wings". Whedon remembered her from this and contacted her about the part of River.

In the original conception of the show, Joss Whedon was only going to have five main characters on the ship. Throughout the development process, the character list got upped to nine.

The part of recurring character Badger, who appeared in several episodes of Firefly including "Serenity" and "Shindig", was originally intended to be played by creator and executive producer Joss Whedon himself (according to Joss's DVD commentary for the episode "Serenity.") In the end, actor 'Mark Sheppard' was cast in the part instead.

In one episode, Inara asks whether a carved wooden statuette in a trading post is supposed to be a duck, and Kaylee replies that it's a swan. There is a Chinese proverb that says, "A badly painted tiger looks like a dog; a badly carved swan looks like a duck." (The meaning of the proverb is that it's better not to do certain things than to do them badly.)

The Alliance's full title is the "Anglo-Sino Alliance". Joss Whedon intended the Alliance to be the merger of the USA and China, the last of the world's superpowers. (This is why many characters on the show sometimes speak Chinese.) The Alliance flag, seen in the original pilot episode, is a blending of the US and Chinese flags.

The entire interior of Serenity (and some of its exterior) was built full-scale and almost completely contiguous, split across two soundstages - one stage for the upper deck and one for the lower deck, shuttle docks and hold. No "stock" corridors or redressed sets were ever used for Serenity's interiors.

The cast preferred to use the ship's lounge instead of a green room or other accommodations when waiting between shots.

"Firefly" was the first production to make extensive - almost exclusive - use of CGI sequences designed to look like footage filmed with handheld cameras, with effects such as shake, pans, zooms, manual focusing and so on.

Fans of "Firefly" and "Enterprise" (2001) once helped each other out: Firefly fans helped petition UPN to renew Enterprise for a 4th season, and Enterprise fans did the same for Serenity (2005), the Firefly motion picture. Both petitions were a success.

The character 'Captain Malcolm "Mal" Reynolds' was ranked #18 in TV Guide's list of the "25 Greatest Sci-Fi Legends" (1 August 2004 issue).

At the very beginning of the actual pilot episode ("Serenity"), the Alliance ship that comes upon the Serenity is named the "Dortmunder". In several of Donald Westlake's comic crime novels, the leader and planner of the group is named Dortmunder. The captain of the Serenity is referred to as a "genius planner," as is Dortmunder. And, as in Westlake's novels, the best-laid plans nearly always go astray.

In the episode "Shindig", as the crew begin to wander through the streets of Persephone, a ship with an oval front section followed by two square sections lands in the background. This ship is the Starlight Intruder from the Star Wars graphic novel series "Dark Empire".

The episode "Bushwhacked", a passenger log on a computer screen is seen briefly. The entry on the screen reads as: "Passenger 4352 - Schultz, Sharon I received a communication regarding the shipment and have been apprised of the situation awaiting us upon arrival at the docking bay as well. I have been assured that every precaution has been taken to insure the safe arrival and expedient dispersion of said materials. All is under control. Will contact representative upon arrival. Passenger 4399 - Robinson, Johann Today, my darling, for the first time I regret embarking on this journey"

The garbled line Mal speaks to Simon in the episode "Safe" as they are about to burned at the stake is "Your talent for alienating folks is near miraculous," to which he responds "Yes, I'm very proud."

In keeping with the idea of fusion between the American and Chinese cultures, during the funeral in the episode "Heart of Gold", the predominant color is not black, but white; the Chinese color of mourning.

In the pilot episode "Serenity" the gun that Mal is seen manning in the opening flashback, sports the very distinctive Weyland-Yutani logo at the top of its display. Weyland Yutani is the "Company" from the Alien movies, and is also, like the Alliance, a Sino-American operation.

Joss Whedon originally thought up the premise of the show with his friend Tyler Lovelly, who was not interested in pitching the show, so only Whedon was involved in production.

In the episode "Ariel", the emergency vehicle that the crew refurbishes and uses to smuggle Simon and River into the hospital is a Russian Mil Mi-24 Hind helicopter without the rotor blades.

In the episode "Shindig" the cows in the cargo hold are actually computer generated because, among other reasons, cows would not walk on the grating on the floor of the cargo bay. In the episode "Trash" as the shuttle lands on the city platform a SR-71 jet flies by clearly in the background. The SR-71 was a high altitude US spy plane in use from the Vietnam war to the end of the Cold War.

In the episode "Objects in Space," Jubal Early is named for a Confederate general, known as irascible, eccentric and foul-mouthed. The real Early never surrendered to the Union, and after being pardoned by President Andrew Johnson, he never took the oath.

Someone has a crush on you

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 03:47:24 GMT

I get this e-mail today:

Someone has a crush on you

Hiya !
Somebody on XuQa.com has added you to their crush list.
Click on the link to learn more.

.....

I figured it was spam. Somehow XuQa.com got my UCLA e-mail.

But since XuQa.com already had my e-mail I clicked on the link and the site tells me that I have a "secret admirer" but won't tell me anything beyind that .... and that "Well if we simply told you, he or she wouldn't be secret anymore :)"

What the hell am I suppossed to do with that????

So now I'm pretty sure it's spam.

No workout

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 00:31:56 GMT

No workout today .. again meetings ... will make it up tomorrow thurs and go to yoga tonite.

GRAND SUMO LAS VEGAS

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 00:31:11 GMT

GRAND SUMO LAS VEGAS is just over two weeks away! Get your tickets now
while there are still some good seats!

GRAND SUMO LAS VEGAS
October 7, 8, 9
Mandalay Bay

Check http://www.usasumo.com/whats_new/index.html to get the best seats
at the best prices:

** FREE shipping, certified mail (other services charge for shipping or
don't ship at all)
** FREE order processing (Ticketmaster and others charge a hefty fee)
** FREE handling (Ticketmaster and others charge)

Please request a Seating Chart and Order Form from director@usasumo.com.
Call (310) 472-5862 with questions.

This is a very rare chance to see the best pro sumo wrestlers from Japan
compete in an authentic sumo tournament, with pro ring announcers,
referees, rituals, real sumo stage, and more. About 120 Japan Sumo
Association members are attending from Japan. The last time they held a
sanctioned tournament in the US was in 1985.

Opt-Out: If you no longer wish to receive sumo updates, just send an
e-mail with title "UNSUBSCRIBE" to director@usasumo.com

Mo Meetings

Wed, 21 Sep 2005 06:38:21 GMT

Mo Meetings ... all day ... no yoga or workout = ( .... productive meetings though = )

No Workout today

Tue, 20 Sep 2005 03:18:37 GMT

Had meetings all day today so I couldn't work out - but I did a yoga class and the meetings were really useful.

Terra w/ live music

Mon, 19 Sep 2005 05:36:43 GMT

I took a gander at the SMPY West schedule. One of my fav teachers teaches there Sunday nite.

http://www.poweryoga.com/class/smpy_studio.php

Terra w/ live music

Terra Green Gold has been teaching in the Los Angeles area for nine years. Her instruction blends elements of Iyengar, Ashtanga, Anusara, and yoga therapeutics creating a balance of vinyasa flow and energy cultivation techniques. Terra has had extensive teacher training with John Friend, Shiva Rea, Erich Schiffman, Judith Lasater, Maty Ezraty, and Chuck Miller. Her unique style includes her knowledge of Sound and Vibrational Healing Tools, Dance Movement Therapy, Traditional Chinese Medicine Practices, and Integrational Body Work. Each class is taught with the intention to help people empower themselves back to balance through their own body awareness, in a sacred and celebratory environment.

Scott Roewe is an award winning composer, and a founding member of the “Wild Colonials” (Geffen Records). He hopes people will have a healing experience in our Sunday gatherings and come together in a community spirit, with the possibility of change for the better.

Randall Reel has played music since age 13, and studied Indian music in Rishikesh, India. He has performed in numerous kirtans at yoga studios and retreats over the last several years.