Thursday, December 11, 2008

Steve Blow; Madonna; Nature of science

The Nightly Build...

Self Parody

I admit I didn't get past the headline. Steve Blow columns have a way of doing that. He descends further into self parody with a The Dallas Morning News column today titled, "Lost Dog's Tale Has A Happy Ending."


Madonna Not Welcome by Church in Chile

In another story where the headline says all you need to know, Bruce Tomaso tells us on the The Dallas Morning News Religion blog that "Catholic cardinal says Madonna provokes 'lustful thoughts'".

Busted. Madonna should quit trying to be subtle about it. The cardinal is on to her.

I suppose it would be out of line for me to suggest that the cardinal's musical tastes probably lean to boy bands. OK, so I won't.


Science in a Nutshell

The Dallas Morning News Religion blog has a habit of posting a daily quote first thing in the morning. I've always suspected it's the lazy journalist's means to pushing copy without having to, you know, write anything. But sometimes you get get pure gems, like today.

"We know life only by its symptoms."

Albert Szent-Györgyi (1893 - 1986), the Hungarian physiologist and Nobel Prize winner who discovered Vitamin C

Only seven words, but they capture in a nutshell the nature of science (and science of nature). Science focuses on behavior, reactions, responses. In other words, the symptoms. "What happens to this if I do that?" is a scientific question. Science can't answer "Why do we exist?" It does't even have a good answer to the seemingly simple question "What is life?" But it's very good at describing the aggregate of responses that living organisms have to external stimuli. What it all means is left to philosophy or religion.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Blow column was actually kind of sweet. And I'm no fan of his. But I am a sucker for animal stories that have happy endings. With so much gloom around, this made me feel better.

Ed Cognoski said...

I know what you mean. And that's why the DMN keeps him around. There's a market for schmaltz, too, not just snark.

Anonymous said...

Ed,

If Sam, Jeff and I were "lazy journalists," we'd probably abandon the Religion blog, a labor of love that we sustain -- seven days a week, and over holidays -- without anyone's asking or ordering us to.

The purpose of the daily quote is to do precisely what it did in this instance: It's intended to give our readers something to think about.

Ed Cognoski said...

Bruce Tomaso, point taken. Thanks for commenting. I know for sure that your bosses don't pay you to straighten out what other bloggers are saying about you, so the extra effort is appreciated.