Ex Nihilo, Nihil Fit

2011 NFL Season Picks: Week 1

2011-09-01T21:21:00.001-07:00

As of right now the lines are as follows. I'll update them as the first day approaches.

Date & Time Favorite Spread Underdog 9/8 8:30 ET At Green Bay -4 New Orleans 9/11 1:00 ET At Baltimore -2.5 Pittsburgh 9/11 1:00 ET At Tampa Bay -2 Detroit 9/11 1:00 ET Atlanta -3 At Chicago 9/11 1:00 ET At Kansas City -6.5 Buffalo 9/11 1:00 ET At Houston -6 Indianapolis 9/11 1:00 ET Philadelphia -4.5 At St. Louis 9/11 1:00 ET At Cleveland -6.5 Cincinnati 9/11 1:00 ET At Jacksonville -3 Tennessee 9/11 4:15 ET NY Giants -3 At Washington 9/11 4:15 ET At Arizona -7 Carolina 9/11 4:15 ET At San Francisco -5.5 Seattle 9/11 4:15 ET At San Diego -8.5 Minnesota 9/11 8:25 ET At NY Jets -4.5 Dallas

Monday Night Football Point Spread 9/12 7:00 ET New England -7 At Miami 9/12 10:15 ET At Denver -3 Oakland

1st Day!

2010-08-09T19:39:00.000-07:00

Well, it started a bit rough, but it got better. I'm teaching 4 classes, but I only have one prep, so by 6th period I had it down. I need to reestablish my ethos, however, with my first class (2nd period). I'm afraid they think I'm a bit weird. {Melissa says, big surprise, you are weird.}

I, however, have already had the defining moment of my year. In my last class, one student suggested that a line was nothing more than an infinite collection of points. Almost immediately, another student raised his hand and said, "How can it be that a something with dimension could be built out of things which have no dimension?" It was spontaneous -- I had nothing to do with it. But it was the perfect question at the perfect moment. "There is a philosopher amongst us."

Could you pass this test?

2010-08-08T20:53:00.000-07:00

A math assessment for a intro science class at UW. I'm giving my 9th graders a modified version of it tomorrow.

Here's the grades, with the percentage breakdowns of correct responses per question. We math teachers aren't preparing our students for college very well, me thinks.

Phoenix

2010-08-07T22:12:00.000-07:00

I am now an Arizonan. And as the phoenix rises from the ashes to new life, so I begin again to recount my thoughts on this blog of inebriation.

Monday begins my first day of school, and most of my thoughts are occupied with the formation of lesson plans and structures of discipline. I am teaching geometry, and I will be beginning the year with the following poem, on which I welcome your comments.

Euclid alone has looked on Beauty bare.
Let all who prate of Beauty hold their peace,
And lay them prone upon the earth and cease
To ponder on themselves, the while they stare
At nothing, intricately drawn nowhere
In shapes of shifting lineage; let geese
Gabble and hiss, but heroes seek release
From dusty bondage into luminous air.
O blinding hour, O holy, terrible day,
When first the shaft into his vision shone
Of light anatomized! Euclid alone
Has looked on Beauty bare. Fortunate they
Who, though once only and then but far away,
Have heard her massive sandal set on stone.

I think my favorite part of this poem is the verb 'prate' and the immediate capitalization of the noun 'Beauty.' Many speak of 'Beauty,' as if they were on intimate terms with her, and knew her ways and her wiles. A gentle mockery. "Oh yesss. Beeeaaauty" says the teenage beatnik in the coffee shop. But it is Euclid who has seen her in her bedchamber, and knows her ways.

2001 Hyundai Elantra for Sale!!!

2010-06-24T13:00:00.000-07:00

Hi Friends. As you may or may not know, we're moving, and in the process have decided to sell one of our cars. It's a 2001 Hyundai Elantra, manual transmission. I've kept it in good running order. As you can see from the pictures below, it has a few cosmetic flaws: paint missing from the mirrors, a piece of side molding missing. The only emergency maintenance I ever had to do on this car was replace the spark-plug wires once. I have all the maintenance records if you're interested and want to have a look. The blue book value is $2045.00. We're looking to sell it asap, so make us an offer!

2009-11-09T20:42:00.001-08:00

2009 Week 7 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Result
11/8 1:00 ET	At Jacksonville	-6.5	Kansas City	Loss
11/8 1:00 ET	Baltimore	-3	At Cincinnati	Loss
11/8 1:00 ET	At Indianapolis	-9	Houston	Win
11/8 1:00 ET	At Atlanta	-10	Washington	Win
11/8 1:00 ET	Green Bay	-9.5	At Tampa Bay	Win
11/8 1:00 ET	At Chicago	-3	Arizona	Loss
11/8 1:00 ET	At New England	-10.5	Miami	Win
11/8 4:05 ET	At New Orleans	-13	Carolina	Loss
11/8 4:05 ET	At Seattle	-10	Detroit	Win
11/8 4:15 ET	At San Francisco	-4	Tennessee	Loss
11/8 4:15 ET	At NY Giants	-5	San Diego	Win
11/8 8:20 ET	At Philadelphia	-3	Dallas	Loss
11/9 8:35 ET	Pittsburgh	-3	At Denver	Loss

Results: 6-7
Cumulative Results: 63-65-1

All I can say is it's better than last week.

NFL 2009 Week 9 Picks

2009-11-06T10:48:00.001-08:00

Repeat after me: I will not make stupid picks, I will not make stupid picks ...

2009 Week 7 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
11/8 1:00 ET	At Jacksonville	-6.5	Kansas City
11/8 1:00 ET	Baltimore	-3	At Cincinnati
11/8 1:00 ET	At Indianapolis	-9	Houston
11/8 1:00 ET	At Atlanta	-10	Washington
11/8 1:00 ET	Green Bay	-9.5	At Tampa Bay
11/8 1:00 ET	At Chicago	-3	Arizona
11/8 1:00 ET	At New England	-10.5	Miami
11/8 4:05 ET	At New Orleans	-13	Carolina
11/8 4:05 ET	At Seattle	-10	Detroit
11/8 4:15 ET	At San Francisco	-4	Tennessee
11/8 4:15 ET	At NY Giants	-5	San Diego
11/8 8:20 ET	At Philadelphia	-3	Dallas
11/9 8:35 ET	Pittsburgh	-3	At Denver

Week 8 Results

2009-11-06T10:38:00.000-08:00

2009 Week 8 Results
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Result
11/1 1:00 ET	At Baltimore	-3.5	Denver	Loss
11/1 1:00 ET	At Chicago	-13.5	Cleveland	Win
11/1 1:00 ET	Houston	-3.5	At Buffalo	Win
11/1 1:00 ET	NY Giants	-1	At Philadelphia	Loss
11/1 1:00 ET	At Indianapolis	-12.5	San Francisco	Loss
11/1 1:00 ET	At NY Jets	-3	Miami	Loss
11/1 1:00 ET	At Detroit	-4	St. Louis	Loss
11/1 1:00 ET	At Dallas	-9.5	Seattle	Win
11/1 4:05 ET	At San Diego	-16.5	Oakland	Loss
11/1 4:05 ET	At Tennessee	-3	Jacksonville	Loss
11/1 4:15 ET	At Arizona	-10	Carolina	Loss
11/1 4:15 ET	At Green Bay	-3	Minnesota	Win
11/2 8:35 ET	At New Orleans	-10.5	Atlanta	Loss

Results: 4-9
Cumulative Results: 57-58-1

Week 8 Picks UPDATED 10/30

2009-10-29T10:29:00.000-07:00

2009 Week 7 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
11/1 1:00 ET	At Baltimore	-3.5	Denver
11/1 1:00 ET	At Chicago	-13.5	Cleveland
11/1 1:00 ET	Houston	-3.5	At Buffalo
11/1 1:00 ET	NY Giants	-1	At Philadelphia
11/1 1:00 ET	At Indianapolis	-12.5	San Francisco
11/1 1:00 ET	At NY Jets	-3	Miami
11/1 1:00 ET	At Detroit	-4	St. Louis
11/1 1:00 ET	At Dallas	-9.5	Seattle
11/1 4:05 ET	At San Diego	-16.5	Oakland
11/1 4:05 ET	At Tennessee	-3	Jacksonville
11/1 4:15 ET	At Arizona	-10	Carolina
11/1 4:15 ET	At Green Bay	-3	Minnesota
11/2 8:35 ET	At New Orleans	-10.5	Atlanta

Update 10/30: Lines adjusted. Picks are unchanged.

Week 7 Results

2009-10-27T04:45:00.000-07:00

2009 Week 7 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Result
10/25 1:00 ET	San Diego	-5	At Kansas City	Loss
10/25 1:00 ET	Indianapolis	-13.5	At St. Louis	Win
10/25 1:00 ET	At Cincinnati	-1	Chicago	Loss
10/25 1:00 ET	Green Bay	-8.5	At Cleveland	Loss
10/25 1:00 ET	At Pittsburgh	-5.5	Minnesota	Loss
10/25 1:00 ET	New England	-15	Tampa Bay*	Win
10/25 1:00 ET	At Houston	-3	San Fransisco	Push
10/25 4:05 ET	NY Jets	-6	At Oakland	Win
10/25 4:05 ET	At Carolina	-7	Buffalo	Win
10/25 4:15 ET	New Orleans	-6.5	At Miami	Win
10/25 4:15 ET	At Dallas	-4	Atlanta	Loss
10/25 8:20 ET	At NY Giants	-4	Arizona	Loss
10/26 8:35 ET	Philadelphia	-7	At Washington	Win

*Game played in London

Result: 6-6-1
Cumulative Results: 53-49-1

Week 7 picks

2009-10-23T10:50:00.000-07:00

Well, after last week, I'd like to say I have no where to go but up, but I suppose that's not technically true. Here's to a .500 week!

2009 Week 7 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
10/25 1:00 ET	San Diego	-5	At Kansas City
10/25 1:00 ET	Indianapolis	-13.5	At St. Louis
10/25 1:00 ET	At Cincinnati	-1	Chicago
10/25 1:00 ET	Green Bay	-8.5	At Cleveland
10/25 1:00 ET	At Pittsburgh	-5.5	Minnesota
10/25 1:00 ET	New England	-15	Tampa Bay*
10/25 1:00 ET	At Houston	-3	San Fransisco
10/25 4:05 ET	NY Jets	-6	At Oakland
10/25 4:05 ET	At Carolina	-7	Buffalo
10/25 4:15 ET	New Orleans	-6.5	At Miami
10/25 4:15 ET	At Dallas	-4	Atlanta
10/25 8:20 ET	At NY Giants	-4	Arizona
10/26 8:35 ET	Philadelphia	-7	At Washington

*Game played in London

Week 6 Results

2009-10-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

I cannot think of a time when I've done worse than I did last week. Wow.

2009 Week 6 Results
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Result
10/18 1:00 ET	At Washington	-6.5	Kansas City	Win
10/18 1:00 ET	At Cincinnati	-5.5	Houston	Loss
10/18 1:00 ET	At Pittsburgh	-14	Cleveland	Loss
10/18 1:00 ET	At Minnesota	-3	Baltimore	Win
10/18 1:00 ET	At Jacksonville	-9.5	St. Louis	Loss
10/18 1:00 ET	At New Orleans	-3	NY Giants	Loss
10/18 1:00 ET	Carolina	-3	At Tampa Bay	Loss
10/18 1:00 ET	At Green Bay	-13.5	Detroit	Loss
10/18 4:05 ET	Philadelphia	-14	At Oakland	Loss
10/18 4:05 ET	At Seattle	-3	Arizona	Loss
10/18 4:15 ET	At NY Jets	-9.5	Buffalo	Loss
10/18 4:15 ET	At New England	-9	Tennessee	Loss
10/18 8:20 ET	At Atlanta	-3	Chicago	Win
10/19 8:35 ET	At San Diego	-3.5	Denver	Win

Results: 4-10
Cumulative Results: 47-43

2009 Week 6 Picks

2009-10-16T10:47:00.000-07:00

2009 Week 6 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
10/18 1:00 ET	At Washington	-6.5	Kansas City
10/18 1:00 ET	At Cincinnati	-5.5	Houston
10/18 1:00 ET	At Pittsburgh	-14	Cleveland
10/18 1:00 ET	At Minnesota	-3	Baltimore
10/18 1:00 ET	At Jacksonville	-9.5	St. Louis
10/18 1:00 ET	At New Orleans	-3	NY Giants
10/18 1:00 ET	Carolina	-3	At Tampa Bay
10/18 1:00 ET	At Green Bay	-13.5	Detroit
10/18 4:05 ET	Philadelphia	-14	At Oakland
10/18 4:05 ET	At Seattle	-3	Arizona
10/18 4:15 ET	At NY Jets	-9.5	Buffalo
10/18 4:15 ET	At New England	-9	Tennessee
10/18 8:20 ET	At Atlanta	-3	Chicago
10/19 8:35 ET	At San Diego	-3.5	Denver

Week 5 Results

2009-10-15T08:29:00.000-07:00

2009 Week 5 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Result
10/11 1:00 ET	Minnesota	-10	At St. Louis	Win
10/11 1:00 ET	Dallas	-8	At Kansas City	Win
10/11 1:00 ET	At Carolina	-3.5	Washington	Win
10/11 1:00 ET	At Philadelphia	-15	Tampa Bay	Loss
10/11 1:00 ET	At NY Giants	-15.5	Oakland	Win
10/11 1:00 ET	At Buffalo	-6	Cleveland	Loss
10/11 1:00 ET	At Baltimore	-8.5	Cincinnati	Win
10/11 1:00 ET	Pittsburgh	-10.5	At Detroit	Win
10/11 4:05 ET	At San Fransisco	-2.5	Atlanta	Loss
10/11 4:15 ET	New England	-3	At Denver	Loss
10/11 4:15 ET	At Arizona	-5.5	Houston	Loss
10/11 4:15 ET	At Seattle	-1	Jacksonville	Win
10/11 8:20 ET	Indianapolis	-3.5	At Tennessee	Win
10/12 8:35 ET	NY Jets	-1.5	At Miami	Loss

Results: 8-6
Cumulative Results: 43-33

Sanchez vs. Saints

2009-10-09T10:22:00.000-07:00

Well, I hate to post this, but here it is.

Thanks to jetsdaily.com.

2009 NFL Week 5 Picks

2009-10-08T08:19:00.000-07:00

2009 Week 5 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
10/11 1:00 ET	Minnesota	-10	At St. Louis
10/11 1:00 ET	Dallas	-8	At Kansas City
10/11 1:00 ET	At Carolina	-3.5	Washington
10/11 1:00 ET	At Philadelphia	-15	Tampa Bay
10/11 1:00 ET	At NY Giants	-15.5	Oakland
10/11 1:00 ET	At Buffalo	-6	Cleveland
10/11 1:00 ET	At Baltimore	-8.5	Cincinnati
10/11 1:00 ET	Pittsburgh	-10.5	At Detroit
10/11 4:05 ET	At San Fransisco	-2.5	Atlanta
10/11 4:15 ET	New England	-3	At Denver
10/11 4:15 ET	At Arizona	-5.5	Houston
10/11 4:15 ET	At Seattle	-1	Jacksonville
10/11 8:20 ET	Indianapolis	-3.5	At Tennessee
10/12 8:35 ET	NY Jets	-1.5	At Miami

Week 4 Results

2009-10-06T03:42:00.000-07:00

2009 Week 4 Results
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Results
10/4 1:00 ET	At Houston	-8.5	Oakland	Win
10/4 1:00 ET	Tennessee	-3	At Jacksonville	Loss
10/4 1:00 ET	At New England	-1	Baltimore	Loss
10/4 1:00 ET	Cincinnati	-6.5	At Cleveland	Loss
10/4 1:00 ET	NY Giants	-8.5	At Kansas City	Win
10/4 1:00 ET	At Chicago	-9.5	Detroit	Win
10/4 1:00 ET	At Washington	-8	Tampa Bay	Win
10/4 1:00 ET	At Indianapolis	-10	Seattle	Win
10/4 4:05 ET	At New Orleans	-7.5	NY Jets	Loss
10/4 4:05 ET	Buffalo	-1	At Miami	Loss
10/4 4:15 ET	At San Francisco	-9.5	St. Louis	Win
10/4 4:15 ET	Dallas	-3	At Denver	Win
10/4 8:20 ET	At Pittsburgh	-6.5	San Diego	Loss
10/5 8:35 ET	At Minnesota	-4	Green Bay	Win

Results: 8-6
Cumulative Results: 35-27

Some predictions

2009-10-05T14:15:00.000-07:00

I have a theory that in the NFL, the difference in talent between the very best teams and the very worst teams is tiny. Because a touchdown is worth 7 pts., scores are magnified, which makes blowouts look worse than they are. For example, this week the 49ers won 35-0. Total domination, right? But 35pts is really just 5 touchdowns. It's a 5-0 game in baseball. So my theory is that we intuitively overvalue blowouts in football, because they look larger than they really are.

Because the talent difference between teams is so small, other seemingly insignificant things become very important. For example, luck is a huge factor in football. The New England Patriots didn't make the playoffs in 2008 despite their 11-5 record because the Jets didn't beat the Dolphins that last week of the regular season. On the other hand, the 9-7 Arizona Cardinals, called the worst playoff team in NFL history by Chris Collinsworth, made the playoffs because play in a terrible division -- and they managed to win three more games and made the Superbowl. In this and million other ways luck radically changes the outlook of every NFL season.

But other "intangibles" are equally important. Having good team chemistry. Having good clock management; having a "winning culture." These things are unquantifiable, though that doesn't mean they can't be identified. It is not an accident that the most successful teams in the last decade, the Patriots, the Steelers, and the Giants, all have owners that demand what I will call "sports" virtue. I define "sports" virtue as including the following: a fanatical commitment to hard work and self-sacrifice; a team-first attitude; and a never-quit-no-matter-how-bad-the-odds desire to win. Every well run organization will instill these virtues in all parts of the organization, from the players to the coaches to the front office. This virtue does not guarantee a good team, but the absence of it guarantees a bad team.

So this week I watched the highlights of the various 0-3 teams who finished the weekend 0-4. And in every game, there was some play -- an interception, a running back breaking free -- where NOBODY even tried to run the streaking opponent down. And I thought, this team has given up. And that's because they haven't been taught sports virtue. And that, mostly, is the fault of the owner.

So I have some predictions. Oakland will never again finish with a winning record as long as Al Davis is the owner. The Dallas Cowboys will not win a Superbowl again as long as Jerry Jones cares more about getting his face on Sportscenter than about having a team which is accountable for its mistakes. The Tampa Bay Bucs, the Kansas City Chiefs, and the St. Louis Rams will all continue to have more losing seasons than winning seasons as long as their players believe that quitting on their team has no repercussions. And the Tennessee Titans will bounce back and be generally successful, because from the top down, they instill virtue.

Damn

2009-10-04T16:15:00.000-07:00

Damn Damn Damn Damn

24-10 New Orleans.

Damn

Sanchez against the Titans

2009-10-04T08:13:00.000-07:00

This game is confusing, because the Jets are pretending to be the Titans and the Titans are pretending to be the Oilers.

Thanks again to www.jetsdaily.com for the video.

Jets-Saints

2009-10-04T07:07:00.000-07:00

NFL 2009 Week 4 Picks UPDATED

2009-09-30T13:16:00.001-07:00

2009 Week 4 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
10/4 1:00 ET	At Houston	-8.5	Oakland
10/4 1:00 ET	Tennessee	-3	At Jacksonville
10/4 1:00 ET	At New England	-1	Baltimore
10/4 1:00 ET	Cincinnati	-6.5	At Cleveland
10/4 1:00 ET	NY Giants	-8.5	At Kansas City
10/4 1:00 ET	At Chicago	-9.5	Detroit
10/4 1:00 ET	At Washington	-8	Tampa Bay
10/4 1:00 ET	At Indianapolis	-10	Seattle
10/4 4:05 ET	At New Orleans	-7.5	NY Jets
10/4 4:05 ET	Buffalo	-1	At Miami
10/4 4:15 ET	At San Francisco	-9.5	St. Louis
10/4 4:15 ET	Dallas	-3	At Denver
10/4 8:20 ET	At Pittsburgh	-6.5	San Diego
10/5 8:35 ET	At Minnesota	-4	Green Bay

UPDATE: Point Spreads updated at 11:01 AM, Sunday 10/4. Picks have not changed.

Sanchez against New England

2009-09-30T12:46:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of Jets Daily

2009 Week 3 Results

2009-09-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

2009 Week 3 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Result
9/27 1:00 ET	At NY Jets	-1.5	Tennessee	Win
9/27 1:00 ET	At Houston	-4	Jacksonville	Loss
9/27 1:00 ET	At Philadelphia	-7.5	Kansas City	Loss
9/27 1:00 ET	At Baltimore	-13.5	Cleveland	Win
9/27 1:00 ET	NY Giants	-6.5	At Tampa Bay	Win
9/27 1:00 ET	Washington	-6.5	At Detroit	Win
9/27 1:00 ET	Green Bay	-6.5	At St. Louis	Win
9/27 1:00 ET	At Minnesota	-6.5	San Francisco	Win
9/27 1:00 ET	At New England	-4.5	Atlanta	Loss
9/27 4:05 ET	Chicago	-2.5	At Seattle	Loss
9/27 4:05 ET	New Orleans	-6	At Buffalo	Win
9/27 4:15 ET	At San Diego	-5	Miami	Loss
9/27 4:15 ET	Pittsburgh	-3.5	At Cincinnati	Loss
9/27 4:15 ET	Denver	-2.5	At Oakland	Loss
9/27 8:20 ET	At Arizona	-3	Indianapolis	Loss
9/28 8:35 ET	At Dallas	-8.5	Carolina	Win

Results: 8-8
Cumulative Results: 27-21

NFL 2009 Week 3 Picks UPDATED

2009-09-24T10:57:00.000-07:00

2009 Week 3 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
9/27 1:00 ET	At NY Jets	-1.5	Tennessee
9/27 1:00 ET	At Houston	-4	Jacksonville
9/27 1:00 ET	At Philadelphia	-7.5	Kansas City
9/27 1:00 ET	At Baltimore	-13.5	Cleveland
9/27 1:00 ET	NY Giants	-6.5	At Tampa Bay
9/27 1:00 ET	Washington	-6.5	At Detroit
9/27 1:00 ET	Green Bay	-6.5	At St. Louis
9/27 1:00 ET	At Minnesota	-6.5	San Francisco
9/27 1:00 ET	At New England	-4.5	Atlanta
9/27 4:05 ET	Chicago	-2.5	At Seattle
9/27 4:05 ET	New Orleans	-6	At Buffalo
9/27 4:15 ET	At San Diego	-5	Miami
9/27 4:15 ET	Pittsburgh	-3.5	At Cincinnati
9/27 4:15 ET	Denver	-2.5	At Oakland
9/27 8:20 ET	At Arizona	-3	Indianapolis
9/28 8:35 ET	At Dallas	-8.5	Carolina

UPDATE (Sun, 11:45 AM): I just checked the lines on footballlocks.com, where I get my lines each week, and some had changed, so I've updated this post to reflect that. I haven't changed any picks, however.

J E T S Jets Jets Jets

2009-09-22T09:39:00.001-07:00

Week 2 Results

2009-09-22T07:20:00.000-07:00

2009 Week 2 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Result
9/20 1:00 ET	At Kansas City	-3	Oakland	Loss
9/20 1:00 ET	At Tennessee	-7	Houston	Loss
9/20 1:00 ET	New England	-3.5	At NY Jets	Win
9/20 1:00 ET	At Green Bay	-9	Cincinnati	Win
9/20 1:00 ET	Minnesota	-10	At Detroit	Win
9/20 1:00 ET	New Orleans	-1	At Philadelphia	Loss
9/20 1:00 ET	At Atlanta	-6	Carolina	Win
9/20 1:00 ET	At Washington	-9.5	St. Louis	Win
9/20 1:00 ET	At Jacksonville	-3	Arizona	Win
9/20 4:05 ET	At San Francisco	-1	Seattle	Win
9/20 4:05 ET	At Buffalo	-4.5	Tampa Bay	Loss
9/20 4:15 ET	At Denver	-3	Cleavland	Win
9/20 4:15 ET	At San Diego	-3	Baltimore	Win
9/20 4:15 ET	Pittsburgh	-3	At Chicago	Loss
9/20 8:20 ET	At Dallas	-3	NY Giants	Win
9/21 8:35 ET	Indianapolis	-3	At Miami	Win

Weekly results: 11-5
Cumulative results: 19-13

Damn it...

2009-09-17T07:55:00.000-07:00

People are going to die because of this. PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DIE!

To all appearances, Mr. Obama just traded the safety of our friends in Poland and Czechoslovakia for friendship with Putin. Tell me why this is not the case.

We have a coward for a president.

2009 NFL Week 2 Picks

2009-09-16T14:09:00.000-07:00

2009 Week 2 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
9/20 1:00 ET	At Kansas City	-3	Oakland
9/20 1:00 ET	At Tennessee	-7	Houston
9/20 1:00 ET	New England	-3.5	At NY Jets
9/20 1:00 ET	At Green Bay	-9	Cincinnati
9/20 1:00 ET	Minnesota	-10	At Detroit
9/20 1:00 ET	New Orleans	-1	At Philadelphia
9/20 1:00 ET	At Atlanta	-6	Carolina
9/20 1:00 ET	At Washington	-9.5	St. Louis
9/20 1:00 ET	At Jacksonville	-3	Arizona
9/20 4:05 ET	At San Francisco	-1	Seattle
9/20 4:05 ET	At Buffalo	-4.5	Tampa Bay
9/20 4:15 ET	At Denver	-3	Cleavland
9/20 4:15 ET	At San Diego	-3	Baltimore
9/20 4:15 ET	Pittsburgh	-3	At Chicago
9/20 8:20 ET	At Dallas	-3	NY Giants
9/21 8:35 ET	Indianapolis	-3	At Miami

Week 1 Results

2009-09-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

2009 Week 1 Results
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Result
9/10 8:30 ET	At Pittsburgh	-6.5	Tennessee	Win
9/13 1:00 ET	At Atlanta	-4	Miami	Loss
9/13 1:00 ET	At Baltimore	-13	Kansas City	Win
9/13 1:00 ET	Philadelphia	-2.5	At Carolina	Win
9/13 1:00 ET	At Cincinnati	-4	Denver	Win
9/13 1:00 ET	Minnesota	-4	At Cleveland	Win
9/13 1:00 ET	At Houston	-4.5	NY Jets	Win
9/13 1:00 ET	At Indianapolis	-7	Jacksonville	Loss
9/13 1:00 ET	At New Orleans	-13	Detroit	Loss
9/13 1:00 ET	Dallas	-6	At Tampa Bay	Loss
9/13 4:15 ET	At Arizona	-6.5	San Francisco	Loss
9/13 4:15 ET	At NY Giants	-6.5	Washington	Loss
9/13 4:15 ET	At Seattle	-8.5	St. Louis	Win
9/13 8:20 ET	At Green Bay	-3.5	Chicago	Loss
9/14 7:00 ET	At New England	-11.5	Buffalo	Win
9/14 10:15 ET	San Diego	-10	At Oakland	Loss

Results: 8-8

Well, average is better than sub .500, I guess.

Don't try this at home.

2009-09-16T13:59:00.001-07:00

I remember ...

2009-09-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

I was in California; it was the beginning of my senior year at Thomas Aquinas College. I had gotten up early to serve mass, and a friend came in and said that a plane has crashed into the twin towers, and would Father keep them in his intentions for the mass. I passed the news on to Father, and remember being distracted all through mass, wondering what had happened. At the time I imagined it was just a small private plane; I had no sense of the scope of what was happening.

When mass was over I had a quick breakfast and hurried over to Fr. Borden's place (we weren't allowed to have TVs, but we could always watch TV at Father's). I got there in time to see the 1st tower fall. It was horrid. I was sick to my stomach. I don't ever remember experiencing anything like that before or since. It's corny, but in the first Star Wars, when Alderan is destroyed, Obi Wan says it was like a million voices screamed, and then were all silenced. That's what I felt. I felt their death.

God have mercy on us all. God, forgive us our trespasses, and help us to forgive those who have trespassed against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

From the Evil one. From the evil ones who hate us. From the evil within us.

For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever and ever.
Amen.

It's that time again ... (UPDATED)

2009-09-10T11:25:00.000-07:00

The 2009/2010 Football season is upon us. Here are my picks sure to go wrong for week 1.

2009 Week 1 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
9/10 8:30 ET	At Pittsburgh	-6.5	Tennessee
9/13 1:00 ET	At Atlanta	-4	Miami
9/13 1:00 ET	At Baltimore	-13	Kansas City
9/13 1:00 ET	Philadelphia	-2.5	At Carolina
9/13 1:00 ET	At Cincinnati	-4	Denver
9/13 1:00 ET	Minnesota	-4	At Cleveland
9/13 1:00 ET	At Houston	-4.5	NY Jets
9/13 1:00 ET	At Indianapolis	-7	Jacksonville
9/13 1:00 ET	At New Orleans	-13	Detroit
9/13 1:00 ET	Dallas	-6	At Tampa Bay
9/13 4:15 ET	At Arizona	-6.5	San Francisco
9/13 4:15 ET	At NY Giants	-6.5	Washington
9/13 4:15 ET	At Seattle	-8.5	St. Louis
9/13 8:20 ET	At Green Bay	-3.5	Chicago
9/14 7:00 ET	At New England	-11.5	Buffalo
9/14 10:15 ET	San Diego	-10	At Oakland

UPDATE: Tennessee Covers! 1-0 so far, baby!

Value and History

2009-07-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

So my question for all you poetry lovers out there is whether the value any particular thing has is a state function. By value, here, I mean some good. So, for example, there is value in a shovel because it can move dirt. The expression “state function” derives from modern physics, in which a given property of an object (its energy, for example) can be determined completely by knowing its state, independent of knowing how it came to be in that state. So, in our example, kinetic energy is a state function because it can be completely determined by knowing the object’s mass and velocity (KE=1/2 m*v^2). We don’t care how our object came to that speed or mass, just that is has them. If kinetic energy were not a state function, one would need to know, not just the velocity the object has, but also the previous changes in velocity that produce our current velocity in … ok, too much explanation. But the question remains: is every value something has a state function? I suppose everyone will say no, but I am interested to know your reasons.

You might be a right wing extremist if …

2009-04-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

You might be a right wing extremist if …

Patterico

2009-02-19T11:40:00.000-08:00

Patterico's blog is an interesting, if somewhat libertarian view of conservative politics, with a focus on issues in California. I enjoy it quite much on occasion, and I think you will find it interesting. Check it out, especially his Year in Review, a summary of the posts he put up last year. I particularly enjoyed his dissection of the libelous LA Times. Enjoy!

I'm a dad!

2009-01-27T14:26:00.001-08:00

Roe v. Wade

2009-01-12T12:14:00.000-08:00

I found this over at Feministing.com I leave it to the reader to uncover the insane absurdity.

To be said at abortion mills across the country on the anniversary of Roe.

Service of Blessing
January 22, 2009

We stand here today as people of different faith traditions, but one in the presence of the Holy, surrounded by the love and goodness of the Divine. We understand that bricks and mortar, steel and glass are but temporary things, but that day by day, by our presence and the presence of the living God, they become infused with the spirit of all who walk through these doors.

May God bless these doors and all who pass through them.

May these doors offer a welcome passage to all who seek to understand the miracles of their own bodies, to all who strive to make healthy lifestyle and medical decisions, to all who look for honest answers to complex questions.

May these doors be for the professionals who work here a place of opportunity and challenge, a place to use their talents and develop new skills, a place to satisfy their innermost desires to be of holy service to others.

May these doors be held in safety against the evil desires of any forces that wish to do harm; may all who walk through these doors be filled with strength for overcoming whatever malevolence they face.

May these doors present to this community a symbol of care for the needs that are present in every human life, and may the community grow in its appreciation of and commitment to that care.

May these doors be to us all a vision of hope for our future and our children’s futures. As we celebrate 36 years of women having the right to make their own choices regarding motherhood, we pray for sound decisions throughout our nation that will continue to protect women’s choices.

God bless these doors and all who pass through them. Amen.

By Rev. Rebecca Turner, Executive Director, Faith Aloud

NFL 2008 Week 8 Picks

2008-10-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

2008 Week 8 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
10/26 1:00 ET	At Baltimore	-7	Oakland
10/26 1:00 ET	San Diego	-3	New Orleans
10/26 1:00 ET	At NY Jets	-13.5	Kansas City
10/26 1:00 ET	Buffalo	-1.5	At Miami
10/26 1:00 ET	At Dallas	-2	Tampa Bay
10/26 1:00 ET	At Philadelphia	-9	Atlanta
10/26 1:00 ET	At New England	-7.5	St. Louis
10/26 1:00 ET	At Carolina	-4	Arizona
10/26 1:00 ET	Washington	-8	At Detroit
10/26 4:05 ET	At Jacksonville	-7	Cleveland
10/26 4:15 ET	At Pittsburgh	-3	NY Giants
10/26 4:15 ET	At San Francisco	-5	Seattle
10/26 4:05 ET	At Houston	-9.5	Cincinnati

NFL 2008 Week 7 Results

2008-10-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

2008 Week 7 Picks
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Result
Tennessee	-9	At Kansas City	Tenn 34, KC 10	Win
At Buffalo	-1	San Diego	Buf 23, SD 14	Loss
Pittsburgh	-9.5	At Cincinnati	Pit 38 Cin 10	Loss
At Miami	-3	Baltimore	Bal 27, Mia 13	Loss
Dallas	-7	At St. Louis	St.L 34, Dal 14	Win
At Chicago	-3	Minnesota	Chi 48, Min 41	Win
At Carolina	-3	New Orleans	Car 30, NO 7	Loss
At NY Giants	-10.5	San Francisco	NY 29, SF 17	Win
At Houston	-9.5	Detroit	Hou 28, Det 21	Win
NY Jets	-3	At Oakland	Oak 16, NY 13	Loss
At Washington	-7.5	Cleveland	Was 14, Cle 11	Loss
Indianapolis	-1	At Green Bay	GB 34, Ind 14	Win
At Tampa Bay	-10.5	Seattle	TB 20, Sea 10	Loss
At New England	-3	Denver	NE 41, Den 7	Loss

Result: 6-8 Cumulative: 56-45-3

Sarah Palin

2008-10-24T08:56:00.000-07:00

Heh.

So, Sarah Palin's advisors decide that it is time for her to meet a bunch of serious world leaders. They head to Europe, where, first up, she has an appointment with the Pope. The Pope and some of his Cardinals invite her for a boat ride on the Tiber. As they are sitting in the gondola talking, a wind starts up and blows the Pope's hat into the water. Palin looks around and realizes that no one is going to do anything about it, so she calmy rises, takes off her her high heels, and steps off the side of the boat. Instead of diving into the water, however, she walks across it, to the hat, picks it up and walks back across the water to the boat. She climbs in, hands the Pope his hat and continues discussing whatever it was they had been talking about. The Cardinals are open mouthed in astonishment at what they have just seen. The news media, in nearby boats are busy discussing among themselves how to report it. Headlines the next day at the New York Times, The Washington Post and the networks all blare: "New Revelation: Sarah Palin Can't Swim."

H/T Al Hurley

I found it at the Corner

NFL 2008 Week 7 Picks

2008-10-17T13:26:00.000-07:00

My goal is to not get every pick wrong. My other goal is to set the bar so low for my goals that I never fail in succeeding. This way lies ... OK, that's a dumb goal. Here's to perfection.

2008 Week 7 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
10/19 1:00 ET	Tennessee	-9	At Kansas City
10/19 1:00 ET	At Buffalo	-1	San Diego
10/19 1:00 ET	Pittsburgh	-9.5	At Cincinnati
10/19 1:00 ET	At Miami	-3	Baltimore
10/19 1:00 ET	Dallas	-7	At St. Louis
10/19 1:00 ET	At Chicago	-3	Minnesota
10/19 1:00 ET	At Carolina	-3	New Orleans
10/19 1:00 ET	At NY Giants	-10.5	San Francisco
10/19 4:05 ET	At Houston	-9.5	Detroit
10/19 4:15 ET	NY Jets	-3	At Oakland
10/19 4:15 ET	At Washington	-7.5	Cleveland
10/19 4:15 ET	Indianapolis	-1	At Green Bay
10/19 8:15 ET	At Tampa Bay	-10.5	Seattle
10/20 8:35 ET	At New England	-3	Denver

NFL 2008 Week 6 Results

2008-10-14T10:07:00.000-07:00

2008 Week 6 Picks
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Result
At New Orleans	-7	Oakland	NO 34, Oak 3	Win
At Indianapolis	-4.5	Baltimore	Indy 31, Bal 3	Loss
At NY Jets	-6	Cincinnati	NY 26, Cin 14	Win
At Tampa Bay	-1.5	Carolina	TB 27, Car 3	Loss
At Minnesota	-13	Detroit	Min 12, Det 10	Win
Chicago	-3	At Atlanta	Atl 22 Chi 20	Loss
At Houston	-3	Miami	Hou 29, Mia 28	Win
At Washington	-13.5	St. Louis	St. L 19, Was 17	Loss
At Denver	-3.5	Jacksonville	Jac 24, Den 17	Loss
Philadelphia	-5	At San Francisco	Phi 40, SF 26	Win
Dallas	-5	At Arizona	Ari 30, Dal 24	Loss
At Seattle	-1.5	Green Bay	GB 27, Sea 17	Win
At San Diego	-5	New England	SD 30, NE 10	Loss
NY Giants	-8	At Cleveland	Cle 35, NY 14	Loss

Results: 6-8
Cumulative: 50-37-3

Well, it could be worse.

NFL 2008 Week 6 Picks

2008-10-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

Hey, still over .500. Not bad. Here's to another good week. My picks in bold.

2008 Week 6 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
10/12 1:00 ET	At New Orleans	-7	Oakland
10/12 1:00 ET	At Indianapolis	-4.5	Baltimore
10/12 1:00 ET	At NY Jets	-6	Cincinnati
10/12 1:00 ET	At Tampa Bay	-1.5	Carolina
10/12 1:00 ET	At Minnesota	-13	Detroit
10/12 1:00 ET	Chicago	-3	At Atlanta
10/12 1:00 ET	At Houston	-3	Miami
10/12 1:00 ET	At Washington	-13.5	St. Louis
10/12 4:05 ET	At Denver	-3.5	Jacksonville
10/12 4:05 ET	Philadelphia	-5	At San Francisco
10/12 4:15 ET	Dallas	-5	At Arizona
10/12 4:15 ET	At Seattle	-1.5	Green Bay
10/12 8:15 ET	At San Diego	-5	New England
10/13 8:35 ET	NY Giants	-8	At Cleveland

NFL 2008 Week 5 Results

2008-10-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

2008 Week 5 Picks
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Results
Indianapolis	-3	At Houston	Indy 31, Hou 27	Win
Tennessee	-3	At Baltimore	Tenn 13, Balt 10	Push
San Diego	-6.5	At Miami	Mia 17, SD 10	Loss
At Carolina	-9.5	Kansas City	Car 34, KC 0	Loss
At Philadelphia	-6	Washington	Was 23 Phil 17	Win
Chicago	-3.5	At Detroit	Chi 34, Det 7	Win
At Green Bay	-7	Atlanta	Atl 27, GB 24	Win
At NY Giants	-7	Seattle	NY 44, Sea 6	Win
At Denver	-3	Tampa Bay	Den 16, TB 13	Push
New England	-3	At San Francisco	NE 30, SF 21	Win
At Arizona	-1	Buffalo	Ari 41, Buf 17	Loss
At Dallas	-16.5	Cincinnati	Dal 31, Cinci 22	Win
At Jacksonville	-4	Pittsburgh	Pitt 26, Jac 21	Win
At New Orleans	-3	Minnesota	Min 30, NO 27	Loss

Results: 8-4-2
Cumulative: 44-29-3 (60%)

Billy and Barney

2008-10-03T10:03:00.001-07:00

There's something cathartic about this.

NFL 2008 Week 5 Picks

2008-10-03T09:31:00.000-07:00

Well. Another week, another bunch of impossible games to pick. Hmph. My picks in bold.

2008 Week 5 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
10/5 1:00 ET	Indianapolis	-3	At Houston
10/5 1:00 ET	Tennessee	-3	At Baltimore
10/5 1:00 ET	San Diego	-6.5	At Miami
10/5 1:00 ET	At Carolina	-9.5	Kansas City
10/5 1:00 ET	At Philadelphia	-6	Washington
10/5 1:00 ET	Chicago	-3.5	At Detroit
10/5 1:00 ET	At Green Bay	-7	Atlanta
10/5 1:00 ET	At NY Giants	-7	Seattle
10/5 4:05 ET	At Denver	-3	Tampa Bay
10/5 4:05 ET	New England	-3	At San Francisco
10/5 4:15 ET	At Arizona	-1	Buffalo
10/5 4:15 ET	At Dallas	-16.5	Cincinnati
10/5 8:15 ET	At Jacksonville	-4	Pittsburgh
10/6 8:35 ET	At New Orleans	-3	Minnesota

The Campaign Spot

2008-09-30T16:15:00.000-07:00

I don't agree with this post, but this is funny:

"In the fine print of this bill, it brings back the practice of primae noctus, which allows any Wall Street trader or corporate CEO to sleep with your daughter on her wedding night. Folks, we just can't let this kind of a bailout pass."

United States House of Representatives

2008-09-30T13:21:00.001-07:00

We crashed their website.

Write Your Representative

The House of Representatives is currently experiencing an extraordinarily high amount of email traffic. The Write Your Representative function is therefore intermittently available. While we realize communicating to your Members of Congress is critical, we suggest attempting to do so at a later time, when demand is not so high. System engineers are working to resolve this issue and we appreciate your patience.

Poetry and Metaphor and Aquinas (or, which of these things is not like the other)

2008-09-30T09:08:00.000-07:00

Dwight and I have been having an email conversation about this topic which he has kindly allowed me to share. Enjoy!

From: Whiskey
To: Dwight

not necessarily, and anyhow, not germane to my essential point, which is that everything which is objective can be said non-metaphorically, but (at least sometimes) what is personal and subjective cannot be said except metaphorically. [that was my initial and hasty response to D's comment on the blog.]

From: Dwight
To: Whiskey

Sorry. I was cut off (had to go to class) half way through my answer online. I think I agree with you that everything objective can be said non-metaphorically. I would simply say that, in practice, the subjective and objective are right there together, and "the height of the tomato season" will always trigger echoes, distant or otherwise, in the mind, of other things that have "height." So yes, objectively, "height" has a 1-to-1 relation to object in that sentence, but lived experience is not always (or even usually, I would say) a matter of 1-1 sign/signified relationships. I suppose that was what I was thinking of in our original conversation.

To push further: why don't you want to say that a poem communicates something in a way that no other words would communicate it? I guess I think that, in a poem, the subjective and objective meanings are not divisible to the same extent they are in, say, dialectic, and this is part of why we hate to see them brutally parsed--"we murder to dissect." No?

From: Whiskey
To: Dwight

I think you're right that in practice the subjective and the objective are right there together. It bothers me for different reasons, some personal and stupid, and some more grounded. On the one hand, I often get frustrated when I sense a lack of understanding in poets of the value of discursive knowledge. That's the personal and stupid reason. But more substantially, I think there is a real danger in making the poetic act normatively good, rather than subjecting it to an external measure of goodness. In other words, if the poem is the only way that something can be expressed, then there is no way beyond itself to measure it against what is; hence, the poem itself is seen as either immediately true or false through a sort of poetic intuition which is self-justifying. And on the basis of this, I think, people can be lead to think things about the world which are false. What do you think?

From: Dwight
To: Whiskey
First, I'm with you on this: I too am weary of people claiming that one or another poem is somehow beyond judgment in discursive speech, and consequently, I've been putting a lot of thought into what makes a poem good/true/beautiful or bad/false/ugly, and, among recognized good poems, what makes one or another of them "great." I too suspect any man-made thing taken to be normatively good on unknown grounds. This kind of presentation can be misleading, and, even more often, can be a way of simply avoiding the rationality of God's creation.

About judging a poem discursively: I think you can, to some extent, enunciate what the poem is "about" in prose. Usually it will be about some sort of important, multi-faceted experience, and in a good or great poem that experience will be universal, i.e. recognizable and important to all or most. If the poem is "about" an argument or rational assertion, then it's probably not a poem, strictly-speaking, but verse (i.e. prose put into verse, which can be a wonderful thing).

So what does the true/false question mean in this context? I guess that, if the experience at the heart of the poem is true for most people, then it's true.

Telling whether it's good is harder, but still answerable: is the frame of the poem moral, i.e. corresponding to the objective norms of good and evil in the world? If not, the poem may not be good, in the sense that it presents a view from beyond morality, or from another morality--this is to say, it's unreal to us. Nonetheless, the poem may be good as the presentation of a certain persona and his view of the world, a view from which we have something to learn. If, for instance, the poem is told from amoral point-of-view that is nonetheless common--e.g. nihilism--it may be good as a presentation of this, but not universally good. But you know this.

The hardest one is beauty, but I think there are still a few helpful criteria, some of which you've heard: does the form fit the content? And is the music of the poem a kind of song that everyone would want to sing? I.e. would you repeat it to your child going to bed, even though she doesn't understand it?

But you either know all this, or have heard it from me before. More to the point is the question, is the above judging process everything? No, of course not: Even once you've qualified and quantified whatever you can about the poem, there will still be its life remaining--the dynamic relation of its whole to its parts, and this, I think, really is beyond simple judgment. That's not to say that the poem is self-justifying: you can strike it out for any of the above reasons, but you can't express in prose its essential life, or force.

Two explanations, one theological, one from authority. My own view is that good and great poems are subincarnations insomuch as they more or less embody the paradoxical, beautiful image of the Triune God in nature and human life. That is, they participate in the truth-telling of Christ, the Eternal Word, who told the most complete truth about the most perfect Being. Obviously we can't talk of the Trinity outside analogy. So, there comes a point at which anything alive (and I want to say that good poems have some kind of life of their own) is ineffable, in the sense that it's whole and parts are united in a truly marvelous way. You can say many things about them, but there will always be something unexplained because the image of God is, at bottom, inexplicable.

Second, I think it was St. Isidore of Seville, the great encyclopedist, who laid out the following categories as a way of thinking about knowledge: Given the categories of scientific (i.e. yes/no, black/white, etc.), dialectical, rhetorical, and poetic knowledge, we can say that they grow less precise as you proceed down the list (from scientific to poetic), and yet more profound. They're all valid, but the terms of their availability and definition differ.

OK. I've gone on long enough. What say you?

From: Whiskey
To: Dwight

This is fun.
So, you are right that we've talked about these things before, and in a sense, it's these discussion which has prompted my thinking about this. My question is regarding the last thing you say here.

Even once you've qualified and quantified whatever you can about the poem, there will still be its life remaining--the dynamic relation of its whole to its parts, and this, I think, really is beyond simple judgment.

My question is, what is the status of the "remainder." To use a mathematical metaphor, what do you get when you divide a poem by its prosaic expression? So, to go back. In speech, there is the one intending and the one intended. Is there something lost on the side of the one intended? And if so, why can't it be expressed prosaically? That's essentially my question. I admit that lots is lost on the side of the one intending.

Let me talk about this for a moment from a different point of view. Aquinas says in De Veritate 1.9 that the intellect knows truth only insofar as it knows that it is the sort of thing able to know truth, but this requires that the intellect know its own nature. Now, commentators have pointed out that this would result in an absurd position if Aquinas meant that the judgment could only be known as true if and only if it were preceded by a judgment about the nature of the intellect (that is to say, there are two judgments: first, for example, "Trees are rather large plants" and then, "The intellect is adequate to make that judgment"). For if judgment does not give truth necessarily, then it doesn't give truth even if the judgment is about the intellect itself.

So, Charles Boyer says that Aquinas means that in one and the same act, the intellect knows something as true (the tree one) and knows its own nature (the intellect is adequate ...). Not two judgments, but one. So, in my dissertation, I'm arguing that the object of the judgment is the formal content judgment, but that simultaneously the subject is present to itself as the subject of that judgment and hence as adequate to it. This subjective self-presence is what moderns would call consciousness (though I think that the moderns are nutty about what counsciousness really is). And this subject is not known in the same way that the object is known. It is present it itself as the subject of an act. The object is present as the object of the act. These are two modes of presence which are radically different.

So, on the side of the subject are the acts of meaning which constitute for us the world in which we live, along which all the other parts of lived experience: emotion, desire, and so on. All these are involved in any act of the subject, but the subject as subject remains forever divided from the object. The subject intends, but the object is intended. I don't by any means deny that we frame the object differently when it is intended in different ways, but we are still intending an object.

So, poetry (I think) captures concretely in speech the experience of what I have just described abstractly. Prosaic expressions do not capture that. In a prosaic expression, the intending subject is masked and the intended object is revealed.
Way too much, but that's where I'm coming from.

NFL 2008 Week 4 Results

2008-09-30T08:47:00.000-07:00

Well, I was right about being wrong! Hmmm...

2008 Week 4 Picks
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Results
Denver	-9.5	At Kansas City	KC 33, Den 19	Loss
At Cincinnati	-3.5	Cleveland	Cle 20, Cinc 12	Loss
At Jacksonville	-7.5	Houston	Jac 30, Hou 27	Win
At NY Jets	-1.5	Arizona	NY 56, Ari 35	Win
At New Orleans	-5.5	San Francisco	NO 31, SF 17	Win
At Carolina	-7	Atlanta	Car 24, Atl 9	Loss
At Tennessee	-3	Minnesota	Tenn 30, Minn 17	Loss
At Tampa Bay	-1	Green Bay	TB 30, GB 21	Loss
Buffalo	-8	At St. Louis	Buf 31, ST.L 14	Win
San Diego	-7.5	At Oakland	SD 28, Oak 18	Win
At Dallas	-11	Washington	Wash 26, Dal 24	Loss
Philadelphia	-3	At Chicago	Chi 24, Phil 20	Loss
At Pittsburgh	-5.5	Baltimore	Pitt 23, Bal 20	Win

Results: 6-7
Cumulative: 36-25-1
More weeks like this, and I'm giving up my career as a bookie.

Russia

2008-09-27T09:53:00.000-07:00

Has anyone else noticed that the practical consequence of Putin's anger at the US, and his repeated comments about American policies and actions not being in Russia's interest, is that Russia constantly cozies up to and enables dictators and tyrants, like Chavez?

Debate Bingo (a drinking game)

2008-09-27T09:17:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm not going to make it through any more debates without some serious heavy drinking and gambling. So, for next Thursday: debate bingo (the drinking game). The bingo card will have five categories for buzzwords (like countries, financial terms, etc), which will correspond to the five columns on your bingo card. Everyone gets the middle spot for free (as usual). If a word (or its gramatical equivalent) on your board is said, you get the spot. To buy a board will cost $2 (max 2 boards per person). The first winner gets 60% of the pot, the 2nd 30%, and the 3rd 10%. Also, whenever you get a word, you have to take a swig of that fine lager you've got close by. This is just so you don't become apoplectic at the inanity of the debates. Anyhow, that's the format. Now go try this at your next debate party.

NFL 2008 Week 4 Picks

2008-09-25T09:54:00.000-07:00

At time goes on, I feel like I know less and less about everything. So, with that in mind: Week 4 Picks sure to go wrong!

2008 Week 1 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
9/28 1:00 ET	Denver	-9.5	At Kansas City
9/28 1:00 ET	At Cincinnati	-3.5	Cleveland
9/28 1:00 ET	At Jacksonville	-7.5	Houston
9/28 1:00 ET	At NY Jets	-1.5	Arizona
9/28 1:00 ET	At New Orleans	-5.5	San Francisco
9/28 1:00 ET	At Carolina	-7	Atlanta
9/28 1:00 ET	At Tennessee	-3	Minnesota
9/28 1:00 ET	At Tampa Bay	-1	Green Bay
9/28 4:05 ET	Buffalo	-8	At St. Louis
9/28 4:05 ET	San Diego	-7.5	At Oakland
9/28 4:15 ET	At Dallas	-11	Washington
9/28 8:15 ET	Philadelphia	-3	At Chicago
9/29 8:35 ET	At Pittsburgh	-5.5	Baltimore

NFL 2008 Week 3 Outcome

2008-09-25T09:21:00.000-07:00

2008 Week 1 Picks
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Result
At Atlanta	-5	Kansas City	Atl 38, KC 14	Win
At Buffalo	-9	Oakland	Buf 24, Oak 23	Loss
At Tennessee	-5	Houston	Tenn 31 Hou 12	Win
At NY Giants	-13.5	Cincinnati	NY 26, Cincy 23	Loss
At Washington	-3	Arizona	Was 24, Ari 17	Win
At New England	-12.5	Miami	Mia 38, NE 13	Win
At Chicago	-3	Tampa Bay	TB 27, Chi 24	Loss
At Minnesota	-3.5	Carolina	Min 20, Car 10	Loss
At Seattle	-9.5	St. Louis	Sea 37, ST.L 13	Win
At San Francisco	-4	Detroit	SF 31, Det 13	Loss
At Denver	-5.5	New Orleans	Den 34, NO 32	Win
At Philadelphia	-3	Pittsburgh	Phily 15, Pitt 6	Win
At Indianapolis	-5.5	Jacksonville	Jac 23, Indy 21	Loss
At Baltimore	-2	Cleveland	Bal 28, Cle 10	Win
Dallas	-3	At Green Bay	Dal 27, GB 16	Win
At San Diego	-9	NY Jets	SD 48, NY 29	Loss

Results: 9-7

Cumulative: 27-18-1
Well, I'm over .500. Hey, who's complaining?

PR and Elections

2008-09-22T10:56:00.000-07:00

The Jawa Report (I know, I know) has researched a pr campaign to smear Gov. Palin and tentatively connects it to David Axelrod, Obama's chief media strategist. Grrrr .... And you know that this will be reported, if it is reported at all in the MSM, not as a potentially damaging revelation about Obama, but as baseless slander, conveniently avoiding any mention of the facts cited by the Jawa Report.

Hitchens

2008-09-22T10:39:00.000-07:00

"Why, to put it another way, does he risk going into political history as a dusky Dukakis?"

This is the first thing I have ever read that Christopher Hitchens actually wrote, and I find him surprisingly funny.

Because It's Awesome

2008-09-18T11:00:00.002-07:00

'Boys at Green Bay

2008-09-18T11:00:00.001-07:00

In Green Bay, Aaron Notfavre faces Tony Nextfavre. The over-under is 51, which means the Vegas oddsmakers are counting on a rain of toads at halftime.

"This is a sick country"

2008-09-18T11:00:00.000-07:00

That's a quote from Jay Nordlinger at The Corner. He's talking about the vicious way Sarah Palin is being destroyed by the Press and by the Liberal Establishment. I too am shocked by the hate which she inspires. And I honestly believe that hate is from the devil. Whenever there is such an irrational, violent reaction to anyone or anything, I smell the whiff of brimstone. Which inspires the following suggestion.

Please pray for Sarah Palin every day. Please do not stop praying for her. She is one of us: she isn't a natural politician, she's just a normal woman who believes that the US could be a better place and that she can help. She needs God's grace to stand up to these attacks.

Also, please ask everyone you know to pray for her, every day. It's cliche (poets, come up with something better!) but we need an army of spiritual warriors. Church Militant, and all that.

I think Sarah Palin symbolizes the basically good (albeit imperfect) Christian trying to do God's will. I think this is what she symbolizes for everyone, those who love her and those who don't. And I think those who hate her do so because that is what she symbolizes. And I think if they are able to destroy her, what will be destroyed in the hearts of many is the sense that this land of ours could once again be essentially a Christian people, which Christian values and culture.

As always, of course, pray that God's will be done.

Pax

Metaphor and language, poetry and prose, and why I couldn't fall asleep last night (Dwight!).

2008-09-16T09:03:00.000-07:00

I had a conversation a while ago that went like this.

ME: My students [SAT prep kids] had trouble, when asked to replace the word "height" in the phrase "height of the tomato season" with a non-metaphorical term that meant the same thing. They couldn't even come up with something like "best part."

DWIGHT: I don't think there is a word that means what height means in that sentence.

- end of conversation -

This is the sort of thing that sits in my subconscious and festers for weeks, until at some unpropitious time it pops out and causes me to lose hours of sleep. The reason it bugged me so much is that I have endured for the last 6+ years a barrage of off-hand and backhanded comments to the effect that what a poem says cannot be said in any other way than the way it is expressed in the poem. But I've had enough, I'm mad as hell [not really], and I'm not taking it any more.

I'm going to focus, not on poems, but on the most emblematic of poetic devices, the metaphor. A metaphor works by identifying object A with something it is not (object B) for the purpose of drawing a comparison between A and B to illumine something common in A with B. "Then God said ...." It's a metaphor. We don't mean that God is speaking, but something else (what else in this example is hard to pin down). In other words, metaphorical speech depends on univocal speech. I can only eat like a pig because pigs actually eat in a certain way (like pigs).

In univocal speech (in which the meaning conveyed by the words used is actually what they mean generally, not simply what they happen to mean in this context) what is expressed is of various kinds, corresponding to the different grammatical moods: indicative, imperative, subjunctive, optative. There may be others, but that's not important. For the moment I which to focus on the indicative mood.

In the indicative mood, univocal speech expresses a state of affairs -- it signifies that the world is or is not in such and such a way. In the duality of speech there is the one intending something (the speaker) and one being intended (what is spoken about). In reflexive speech, these are the same. In either case, what is intended is an object which has a nature, has qualities of some sort, and can be grasped as it is in speech. If there were something about it, considered simply as an object, which our speech lacked the ability to express, we could invent a word for it. Thus, in principle, I see no reason why the [natural] world, considered objectively, cannot be completely accounted for by univocal speech.

So, what then does metaphor add to speech? I argue that it ads nothing on the side of the intended object, but adds on the side of the intending subject. When I say that Sarah Palin is a bulldog with lipstick, I have not captured the reality more accurately than if I say she is a tenacious and no-nonsense woman. But what I have done is invested the situation with humor and pleasure. What changes is not the content of what I am saying, but my relation to that content.

Put another way: the translation of a poem to prose looses nothing objective -- nothing regarding the state of the world. What is lost is personal: the crafted relation of the reader to that state of affairs.

What do you think?

NFL 2008 Week 2 Results

2008-09-16T09:00:00.000-07:00

2008 Week 1 Picks
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Result
At Kansas City	-3.5	Oakland	Oak 23,KC 8	Loss
At Cincinati	-1	Tennessee	Tenn 24, Cincy 7	Win
Indianapolis	-2	At Minnesota	Indy 18, Minn 15	Loss
At Washington	PK	New Orleans	Wash 29, NO 24	Loss
Green Bay	-3	At Detroit	GB 48, Det 25	Loss
At Carolina	-3	Chicago	Car 20, Chi 17	Push
NY Giants	-8.5	At St. Louis	NY 41, St.L 13	Win
At Jacksonville	-5.5	Buffalo	Buf 20, Jac 16	Win
At Tampa Bay	-7	Atlanta	TB 24, Atl 9	Win
At Seattle	-7	San Francisco	SF 33, Sea 30	Huh?
At Arizona	-6.5	Miami	Ari 31, Mi 10	Loss
At NY Jets	-1.5	New England	NE 19, NY 10	Loss
At Houston	-4.5	Baltimore	Postponed	None
San Diego	-1.5	At Denver	Den 39, SD 38	Win
Pittsburgh	-6	At Cleveland	Pitt 10, Cle 6	Loss
At Dallas	-7	Philadelphia	Dal 41, Phily 37	Win

Results: 6-7-1
Cumulative: 18-11-1
Well, that was a bad week, but it could have been worse. Stupid Patriots.

NFL 2008 Week 2 Results (temporary and partial)

2008-09-15T08:35:00.000-07:00

2008 Week 1 Picks
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Result
At Kansas City	-3.5	Oakland	Oak 23,KC 8	Loss
At Cincinati	-1	Tennessee	Tenn 24, Cincy 7	Win
Indianapolis	-2	At Minnesota	Indy 18, Minn 15	Loss
At Washington	PK	New Orleans	Wash 29, NO 24	Loss
Green Bay	-3	At Detroit	GB 48, Det 25	Loss
At Carolina	-3	Chicago	Car 20, Chi 17	Push
NY Giants	-8.5	At St. Louis	NY 41, St.L 13	Win
At Jacksonville	-5.5	Buffalo	Buf 20, Jac 16	Win
At Tampa Bay	-7	Atlanta	TB 24, Atl 9	Win
At Seattle	-7	San Francisco	SF 33, Sea 30	Huh?
At Arizona	-6.5	Miami	Ari 31, Mi 10	Loss
At NY Jets	-1.5	New England	NE 19, NY 10	Loss
At Houston	-4.5	Baltimore	Postponed	None
San Diego	-1.5	At Denver	Den 39, SD 38	Win
Pittsburgh	-6	At Cleveland	Pitt 10, Cle 6	Loss
At Dallas	-7	Philadelphia

Results: 5-7-1
I don't know how I missed the SF-Sea game. Dumb. Though I probably would have picked Seattle and lost. Houston-Baltimore was postponed due to Ike. Bad week so far.

54 Day Novena

2008-09-11T08:33:00.001-07:00

If you want to do a 54 day novena for the election, today is the day to start. Pray for the unborn, always.

NFL 2008 Week 2 Picks

2008-09-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go. I have no confidence in any of these picks. For whatever reason, I feel like the line-makers have all gone crazy. Why on earth is Carolina a 3 point favorite over the Bears? The Bears just crushed Indy! And Carolina beat San Diego, a team that has consistently underperformed under Norv Turner. I don't get it.

2008 Week 1 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
9/14 1:00 ET	At Kansas City	-3.5	Oakland
9/14 1:00 ET	At Cincinati	-1	Tennessee
9/14 1:00 ET	Indianapolis	-2	At Minnesota
9/14 1:00 ET	At Washington	PK	New Orleans
9/14 1:00 ET	Green Bay	-3	At Detroit
9/14 1:00 ET	At Carolina	-3	Chicago
9/14 1:00 ET	NY Giants	-8.5	At St. Louis
9/14 1:00 ET	At Jacksonville	-5.5	Buffalo
9/14 4:05 ET	At Tampa Bay	-7	Atlanta
9/14 4:05 ET	At Seattle	-7	San Francisco
9/14 4:15 ET	At Arizona	-6.5	Miami
9/14 4:15 ET	At NY Jets	-1.5	New England
9/14 4:15 ET	At Houston	-4.5	Baltimore
9/14 4:15 ET	San Diego	-1.5	At Denver
9/14 8:15 ET	Pittsburgh	-6	At Cleveland
9/15 8:35 ET	At Dallas	-7	Philadelphia

9/11

2008-09-11T07:57:00.000-07:00

Pray for them, and for us.

NFL 2008 Week 1 results (final)

2008-09-09T09:50:00.000-07:00

Hey, 12-4! That's great!

2008 Week 1 Picks
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Outcome
At NY Giants	-4	Washington	NY 16, Wash 7	Win
Cincinati	-1.5	At Baltimore	Bal 17, Cin 10	Win
NY Jets	-3	At Miami	NY 20, Miami 14	Win
At New England	-16	Kansas City	NE 17, KC 10	Win
At Pittsburgh	-6.5	Houston	Pitt 38, Hou 17	Win
Jacksonville	-3	At Tennessee	Tenn 17, Jac 10	Win
Detroit	-3	At Atlanta	Atl 34, Det 21	Loss
At Buffalo	-1	Seattle	Buf 34, Sea 10	Loss
At New Orleans	-3	Tampa Bay	NO 24, TB 20	Win
At Philadelphia	-7.5	St. Louis	Phily 38, ST.L 3	Win
Dallas	-5.5	At Cleveland	Dal 28, Cle 10	Win
At San Diego	-9	Carolina	Car 26, SD 24	Win
Arizona	-2.5	At San Fransisco	Az 23, SF 13	Loss
At Indianapolis	-9.5	Chicago	Chi 29, Indy 13	Loss
At Green Bay	-2.5	Minnesota	GB 24, Minn 19	Win
Denver	-3	At Oakland	Den 41, Oak 14	Win

Results: 12-4

Video: The Bible in a Minute

2008-09-08T11:54:00.001-07:00

Funny! H/t American Papist.

NFL 2008 Week 1 results (partial and temporary)

2008-09-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

So far I'm doing ok, especially for the first week.

2008 Week 1 Picks
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Outcome
At NY Giants	-4	Washington	NY 16, Wash 7	Win
Cincinati	-1.5	At Baltimore	Bal 17, Cin 10	Win
NY Jets	-3	At Miami	NY 20, Miami 14	Win
At New England	-16	Kansas City	NE 17, KC 10	Win
At Pittsburgh	-6.5	Houston	Pitt 38, Hou 17	Win
Jacksonville	-3	At Tennessee	Tenn 17, Jac 10	Win
Detroit	-3	At Atlanta	Atl 34, Det 21	Loss
At Buffalo	-1	Seattle	Buf 34, Sea 10	Loss
At New Orleans	-3	Tampa Bay	NO 24, TB 20	Win
At Philadelphia	-7.5	St. Louis	Phily 38, ST.L 3	Win
Dallas	-5.5	At Cleveland	Dal 28, Cle 10	Win
At San Diego	-9	Carolina	Car 26, SD 24	Win
Arizona	-2.5	At San Fransisco	Az 23, SF 13	Loss
At Indianapolis	-9.5	Chicago	Chi 29, Indy 13	Loss
At Green Bay	-2.5	Minnesota
Denver	-3	At Oakland

Results: 10-4

Palin's Speech

2008-09-04T07:51:00.000-07:00

I loved it. I loved every minute of it. The three things I liked best were visual, and I haven't seen them mentioned yet. When she walked out on stage, the crowd would not stop applauding and cheering, apparently from pent-up frustration with the msm's smear-job following her nomination. As she stood there, taking it all in, she mouthed "Wow." What a reception, eh, Sarah? I was watching the ABC coverage, and later in the speech, they cut to a shot of the little girl (whose name I forget) holding Trig (the infant with Down syndrome). The five-year-old was licking her hand and then smearing down Trig's hair. Priceless! Finally, after Palin gave her line about the difference between hockey moms and pit bulls (lipstick), she looked out into the crowd (and seemingly right at the camera) and winked, as if to say, that one's for you -- for us. We have an advocate.

Update: Here's the video of the hair-do.

2008 NFL Week 1 Picks

2008-09-03T13:17:00.001-07:00

Hey, it's football season! I'm picking against the spread again this year. As before, I don't know jack. My picks are in bold. Enjoy!

2008 Week 1 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
9/4 7:00 ET	At NY Giants	-4	Washington
9/7 1:00 ET	Cincinati	-1.5	At Baltimore
9/7 1:00 ET	NY Jets	-3	At Miami
9/7 1:00 ET	At New England	-16	Kansas City
9/7 1:00 ET	At Pittsburgh	-6.5	Houston
9/7 1:00 ET	Jacksonville	-3	At Tennessee
9/7 1:00 ET	Detroit	-3	At Atlanta
9/7 1:00 ET	At Buffalo	-1	Seattle
9/7 4:15 ET	At New Orleans	-3	Tampa Bay
9/7 1:00 ET	At Philadelphia	-7.5	St. Louis
9/7 4:15 ET	Dallas	-5.5	At Cleveland
9/7 4:15 ET	At San Diego	-9	Carolina
9/7 4:15 ET	Arizona	-2.5	At San Fransisco
9/7 8:15 ET	At Indianapolis	-9.5	Chicago
9/8 7:00 ET	At Green Bay	-2.5	Minnesota
9/8 10:15 ET	Denver	-3	At Oakland

Sarah Palin

2008-08-29T08:10:00.000-07:00

Rocks!!!

Update: More valuable than pearls is a woman who likes to fish and hunt.

Students' Emails

2008-06-06T19:10:00.000-07:00

This site rocks! Check out these students'emails! Wow.

The Last Lecture

2008-05-22T10:16:00.000-07:00

This is quite good. You may have seen it, because it's been around for a while, and it's long (over an hour) but it's worth it.

Eight Belles

2008-05-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

You may have heard about Eight Belles, the second-place finisher of the Kentucky Derby, being euthanized after the race when she broke both her front ankles. PETA made several stupid comments after the race suggesting that the jockey should have known something was wrong, etc., etc. The trainer in an emotional speech then said some stupid comments about the horse putting her life on the line, etc. Various people started fighting about the fact that the horse didn't have a choice to race and couldn't know the risks, etc. The whole conversation was so frustrating, because no one was willing to talk about the real issue: what good is served when animals are domesticated and put to use by humans?

Is it wrong to race horses? If it is, is it wrong because the horse doesn't have a choice? Essentially, if you answer that second question in the affirmative, then you are opposed to all domestication. I see no possible ground for discussion with such a person.

An animal essentially is the creature of the moment: he may desire or not desire to run, to eat, to play, and so on, but whatever he does, it is in the now. The more developed an animal is, the better it's memory, and hence the more the past comes into play in the present. I think this is the essence of the perfection of an animal: the degree to which it is able to bring together past and future in the present. But no animal does this with anything like the perfection that humans do, humans who have history, and tell stories and pass down legends from generation to generation.

Domesticated animals, however, get to participate in the human story: think of Babe the Blue Ox, or Achilleus' horse. I still tell stories about my dog that died of cancer, and the whole world will remember the tragedy of Eight Belles, who died after coming in second in the greatest horse race in the world. Sure, Eight Belles knows nothing of this: but that's not the point. The point is, it's better to be part of a story, even if you don't know you are part of it.

102 Minutes

2008-05-09T07:59:00.000-07:00

I just read 102 Minutes, a journalistic account of the time from when the 1st airplane hit Tower 1 at the World Trade Center to when the tower fell. It's an excellent book, not the least because it makes vivid the stories of the people inside the towers. It's really intense, however. I recommend it to all, but be warned.

I was most impressed with the story of one particular fellow who went from floor to floor in the area just below where the plane hit in the north tower with a pry-bar dislodging debris which had trapped people. He died when the tower collapsed, but his actions saved perhaps 70 people. Stories like that make me hope I would act with the same courage if I were in a similar situation.

Do you think courage is the most manly of virtues? I suspect that all the things we associate with being manly are all qualities ordered to the virtue of courage. Maybe I'll post some more on that soon.

Libertarians

2008-04-25T08:06:00.000-07:00

The problem with libertarians is that they deny a connection between personal virtue and the public good.

New Blog on Blogroll

2008-04-25T07:19:00.000-07:00

Check out Pamela Paul. I don't know a lot about her, but she's written a book called Pornified which I think everyone needs to read. Apparently her new book is on the absurd cost of raising children these days, another important topic. Enjoy!

Red Red Rose

2008-04-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

Check out my wife's new blog! Cool, eh?

John Derbyshire

2008-04-22T10:31:00.000-07:00

There's been a little debate going on at The Corner about reason, truth, science, and faith. John Derbyshire started the debate here. It continues here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, at least so far. Derbyshire's major point, I think, is that religion is unfalsifiable and therefore, lacking criteria for verification, necessarily relativistic. Why, for example, prefer Catholicism over Buddhism?

It's an important question for scientists to ask. Actually, I see three important questions. First, is it possible for there to be something which is true which is unfalsifiable? Second, is it possible for us to know these truths? Third, is it wrong for us to hold as true something which is unfalsifiable, even if we do not know that it is true?

I think that Derbyshire would admit that it is possible that something be true which is unfalsifiable. However, it is quite clear that he denies that we could know them, at least with kind of certainty that we know scientific truths, and he implies that therefore these things are not worth believing. (He was widely reported to have left the Episcopal faith within the last few years or so, and is the most vocal opponent of religion on The Corner.)

However, Derbyshire himself holds to beliefs which are unverifiable by definition. For example, he believes that all proponents of Intelligent Design are motivated by religious, and not scientific, reasons. He knows quite well enough the scientific arguments which ID people make, but refuses to engage them, instead asserting that these arguments are simply cover for anti-scientific creationistic beliefs. It is impossible for Derbyshire to be refuted on this point, because any evidence to the contrary can be explained away (paraphrasing him slightly, it's ridiculous to suppose on his account anything other that unadulterated religious fervor (by definition anti-scientific) to the ID proponents).

The scientific method, therefore, cannot be the standard by which we judge all our beliefs. There are many things we believe, and Derbyshire must admit this, I think, which we cannot prove, and this state of affairs is or at least can be good. For example, it is appropriate to believe in the fidelity of my wife, and in fact, it would be inappropriate to subject that fidelity to scientific scrutiny. A relationship has been destroyed already when the husband hires a private investigator to follow his wife around, even if she has been completely faithful.

Secondly, we can ask, granted that we hold beliefs which are unverifiable, can we know anything for certain which is not verifiable, or at least falsifiable? I think it is obvious that the answer to this question is yes. For example, consider Aristotle's definition of nature: "Nature is a principle and cause of motion and rest, in that in which it is, primarily, in virtue of itself and not accidentally" (Physics 2.1). This is not falsifiable. There is no experiment that can prove this wrong. It is, however, in contradiction to Newton's definition of matter ("The quantity of matter is the measure of the same, arising from its density and bulk conjunctly"), which itself is unverifiable. Either Aristotle is right (there are things with natures and forms which determine things' actions from within) or Newton is right (there are no natures or forms, and the only account we can give of the world is mathematical). The scientific method assumes the second. Why? Because it is successful. We have a cure for influenza and we have put people on the moon. But it is one thing to say that it is successful and its another thing to say that it is verifiable.

We can put things another way: Newton's theory can (with modifications) be incorporated into and Aristotelian framework. Aristotle's theory is not opposed to materialistic explanations -- after all, he distinguishes four causes, and modern science is explicitly concerned with two of them. However, Aristotle's understanding of nature can never be subsumed into Newton's account. Newton's science works by systematically accounting for quantifiable differences in material properties, a practice which has no room for non-quantifiable realities like "nature."

Now, per suppositum Derbyshire would reject Aristotle's theory of "nature" on the grounds that there are no criteria by which it could be verified. However, the notion that something should be rejected as being true if it cannot be verified, itself cannot be verified, as we have shown by distinguishing Newton and Aristotle. Therefore, the act of asserting it to be true enacts its falsity.

It is on the basis of such truths (aka, ones known to be true prior to all scientific investigations) that Aquinas proves the existence of God, and all philosophy of any sort proceeds. And, as we have noted, science itself depends upon those truths. However, there is a further question. Granting that we cannot know for certain everything a certain religion proposes as true, does it follow that we have no good reasons for believing them? For example, the Apostles' appealed to one fact and one fact only when converting the Jews and the pagans: the Resurrection. The Resurrection is not a verifiable fact, in the scientific sense, but then again, neither is the existence of Newton in the 17th century. But that does not mean that we have no good reason for believing in the Resurrection (or, for that matter, in Newton's existence).

But all that aside, I think Ramesh Ponnuru is exactly right about Derbyshire.

Baze et al. v. Rees, Commissioner, Kentucky Department of Corrections, et al.

2008-04-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't know, the above is the Supreme Court case that affirmed the constitutionality of lethal injection (it's not, according to the court, "cruel and unusual punishment"). The court was divided, 7-2. But to say that doesn't really get at the division on the issue within the court.

ROBERTS, C. J., announced the judgment of the Court and delivered an opinion, in which KENNEDY and ALITO, JJ., joined. ALITO, J., filed a concurring opinion. STEVENS, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. SCALIA, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which THOMAS, J., joined. THOMAS, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment, in which SCALIA, J., joined. BREYER, J., filed an opinion concurring in the judgment. GINSBURG, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SOUTER, J., joined. (p. 5)

How on earth are the courts meant to interpret this? Three and one and two and one against two. Thomas writes an opinion disagreeing with the plurality's interpretation of "cruel and unusual" but agrees in judgment; Alito writes an opinion in response to Thomas; Stevens writes an opinion which, while concurring in judgment, calls into question the constitutionality of the death penalty in se; Scalia writes an opinion which rips Stevens' argument to shreds; and on and on.

I'm amazed that the MSM haven't reported this as "Supreme Confusion." Looks like a big mess to me.

Super Bowl XLII

2008-01-28T14:23:00.000-08:00

I have only one wish this weekend: that New England loses.

Super Bowl XLII in Phoenix, AZ
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
2/3 6:18 ET	New England	-12	NY Giants

2007 NFL Conference Championships Results

2008-01-28T14:16:00.000-08:00

2007 NFL Conference Championships
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Outcome
At New England	-14	San Diego	NE 21, SD 12	Win
At Green Bay	-7	NY Giants	NY 23, GB 20	Loss

Total: 1-1
Running total (playoffs): 4-2

2007 NFL Conference Championships

2008-01-17T08:07:00.001-08:00

I have only one wish this weekend: that New England loses.

2007 NFL Conference Championships
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
1/20 3:00 ET	At New England	-14	San Diego
1/20 6:30 ET	At Green Bay	-7	NY Giants

NFL Divisional Playoffs Results

2008-01-14T10:09:00.000-08:00

2007 NFL Divisional Playoffs
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Outcome
At Green Bay	-7.5	Seatle	GB 42, Sea 20	Win
At New England	-13.5	Jacksonville	NE 31, Jac 20	Win
At Indianapolis	-11	San Diego	SD 28, Indy 24	Loss
At Dallas	-7	Giants	NY 21, Dal 17	Win

Postseason Record: 3-1

NFL Divisional Playoffs

2008-01-10T07:39:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a while, but ... I'm back.

2007 NFL Divisional Playoffs
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
1/14 4:30 ET	At Green Bay	-7.5	Seatle
1/14 8:00 ET	At New England	-13.5	Jacksonville
1/15 1:00 ET	At Indianapolis	-11	San Diego
1/15 4:30 ET	At Dallas	-7	Giants

Pictures

2007-12-03T07:06:00.000-08:00

Wedding pictures can be viewed here.

In Flight

2007-12-03T07:04:00.000-08:00

Well, well, well.

NFL 2007 Week 9 Picks

2007-10-31T12:07:00.000-07:00

I don't know, etc, etc. My picks are in bold.

2007 Week 9 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
11/4 1:00 ET	Washington	-3.5	At NY Jets
11/4 1:00 ET	At Kansas City	-2.5	Green Bay
11/4 1:00 ET	At Tampa Bay	-3.5	Arizona
11/4 1:00 ET	At Tennessee	-4.5	Carolina
11/4 1:00 ET	At Atlanta	-2.5	San Francisco
11/4 1:00 ET	At New Orleans	-3.5	Jacksonville
11/4 1:00 ET	At Detroit	-2.5	Denver
11/4 1:00 ET	At Buffalo	-1	Cincinnati
11/4 1:00 ET	San Diego	-7.5	At Minnesota
11/4 4:05 ET	At Cleveland	-1	Seattle
11/4 4:15 ET	New England	-5.5	At Indianapolis
11/4 4:15 ET	At Oakland	-2.5	Houston
11/4 8:15 ET	Dallas	-2.5	At Philadelphia
11/5 8:30 ET	At Pittsburgh	-8.5	Baltimore

NFL 2007 Week 8 Results

2007-10-30T06:21:00.000-07:00

2007 Week 8 Picks
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Outcome
Cleveland	-2.5	At St. Louis	Cle 27, St.L 20	Win
At Chicago	-4.5	Detroit	Det 16, Chi 7	Win
Indianapolis	-6.5	At Carolina	Indy 31, Car 7	Win
NY Giants	-9.5	Miami	NY 13, Mia 10	Win
At Tennessee	-6.5	Oakland	Tenn 13, Oak 9	Loss
Philadelphia	-1	At Minnesota	Phi 23, Minn 16	Win
Pittsburgh	-3.5	At Cincinnati	Pitt 24, Cinci 13	Loss
At NY Jets	-2.5	Buffalo	Buf 13, NY 3	Loss
At San Diego	-10.5	Houston	SD 35, Hou 10	Loss
At Tampa Bay	-4.5	Jacksonville	Jac 24, TB 23	Win
New Orleans	-2.5	At San Francisco	NO 31, SF 10	Win
At New England	-15.5	Washington	NE 52, Wash 7	Win
At Denver	-2.5	Green Bay	GB 19, Den 13	Win

Weekly Total: 9-4
Running Total: 63-53

NCAA Div. III Bonus Coverage (Trinity vs. Millsap)

2007-10-29T10:02:00.000-07:00

Wow.

SPIN on Sportsline.com

2007-10-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

The jokers over at Sportsline.com have these anti-expert picks, one done by a coin flip, one by a dog, etc. The funny thing is that about half the experts do worse than the SPIN picks. What I find fascinating is that the coin flip is about 50-50, but picking from a hat is only 40-60.

NFL 2007 Week 8 Results (partial)

2007-10-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

2007 Week 8 Picks
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Outcome
Cleveland	-2.5	At St. Louis	Cle 27, St.L 20	Win
At Chicago	-4.5	Detroit	Det 16, Chi 7	Win
Indianapolis	-6.5	At Carolina	Indy 31, Car 7	Win
NY Giants	-9.5	Miami	NY 13, Mia 10	Win
At Tennessee	-6.5	Oakland	Tenn 13, Oak 9	Loss
Philadelphia	-1	At Minnesota	Phi 23, Minn 16	Win
Pittsburgh	-3.5	At Cincinnati	Pitt 24, Cinci 13	Loss
At NY Jets	-2.5	Buffalo	Buf 13, NY 3	Loss
At San Diego	-10.5	Houston	SD 35, Hou 10	Loss
At Tampa Bay	-4.5	Jacksonville	Jac 24, TB 23	Win
New Orleans	-2.5	At San Francisco	NO 31, SF 10	Win
At New England	-15.5	Washington	NE 52, Wash 7	Win
At Denver	-2.5	Green Bay

Weekly Total: 8-4
Running Total: 62-53

NFL 2007 Week 8 Picks

2007-10-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

I don't know, etc, etc. My picks are in bold.

2007 Week 8 Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
10/28 1:00 ET	Cleveland	-2.5	At St. Louis
10/28 1:00 ET	At Chicago	-4.5	Detroit
10/28 1:00 ET	Indianapolis	-6.5	At Carolina
10/28 1:00 ET	NY Giants	-9.5	Miami
10/28 1:00 ET	At Tennessee	-6.5	Oakland
10/28 1:00 ET	Philadelphia	-1	At Minnesota
10/28 1:00 ET	Pittsburgh	-3.5	At Cincinnati
10/28 4:05 ET	At NY Jets	-2.5	Buffalo
10/28 4:05 ET	At San Diego	-10.5	Houston
10/28 4:05 ET	At Tampa Bay	-4.5	Jacksonville
10/28 4:15 ET	New Orleans	-2.5	At San Francisco
10/28 4:15 ET	At New England	-15.5	Washington
10/29 8:30 ET	At Denver	-2.5	Green Bay

MLB 2007 World Series

2007-10-24T06:58:00.000-07:00

The (2nd) best championship (after Hockey)!! Wooohooo!

2007 MLB World Series
(best out of 7)
Underdog	Favorite	line
Colorado	Boston	-210

Running Total: 2-4

NFL 2007 Week 7 Results

2007-10-23T06:53:00.000-07:00

2007 Week Picks
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Outcome
At Washington	-6.5	Arizona	Was 21, Az 19	Loss
At New Orleans	-8.5	Atlanta	NO 22, Atl 16	Loss
Baltimore	-2.5	At Buffalo	Buf 19, Bal 14	Loss
At Dallas	-9.5	Minnesota	Dal 24, Min 14	Loss
New England	-16.5	At Miami	NE 49, Mi 28	Win
At NY Giants	-9.5	San Francisco	NY 33, SF 15	Win
At Detroit	-1.5	Tampa Bay	Det 23, TB 16	Loss
Tennessee	-1.5	At Houston	Ten 38, Hou 36	Loss
At Oakland	-2.5	Kansas City	KC 12, Oak 10	Win
At Cincinnati	-5.5	NY Jets	Cinci 38, NY 31	Loss
At Philadelphia	-4.5	Chicago	Chi 19, Phi 16	Win
At Seattle	-8.5	St. Louis	Sea 33, St.L 6	Win
Pittsburgh	-3.5	At Denver	Den 31, Pitt 28	Loss
Indianapolis	-2.5	At Jacksonville	Indy 29, Jac 7	Win

Weekly Total: 6-8
Running Total: 54-49

NFL 2007 Week 7 Results (partial)

2007-10-22T08:38:00.000-07:00

2007 Week Picks
Favorite	Spread	Underdog	Score	Outcome
At Washington	-6.5	Arizona	Was 21, Az 19	Loss
At New Orleans	-8.5	Atlanta	NO 22, Atl 16	Loss
Baltimore	-2.5	At Buffalo	Buf 19, Bal 14	Loss
At Dallas	-9.5	Minnesota	Dal 24, Min 14	Loss
New England	-16.5	At Miami	NE 49, Mi 28	Win
At NY Giants	-9.5	San Francisco	NY 33, SF 15	Win
At Detroit	-1.5	Tampa Bay	Det 23, TB 16	Loss
Tennessee	-1.5	At Houston	Ten 38, Hou 36	Loss
At Oakland	-2.5	Kansas City	KC 12, Oak 10	Win
At Cincinnati	-5.5	NY Jets	Cinci 38, NY 31	Loss
At Philadelphia	-4.5	Chicago	Chi 19, Phi 16	Win
At Seattle	-8.5	St. Louis	Sea 33, St.L 6	Win
Pittsburgh	-3.5	At Denver	Den 31, Pitt 28	Loss
Indianapolis	-2.5	At Jacksonville

Weekly Total:5-8
Running Total: 53-49

MLB 2007 Championship Series Wrapup

2007-10-22T08:36:00.000-07:00

Blast! Boston. grrr.

2007 MLB Championship Series
(best out of 7)
Underdog	Favorite	line
Colorado (4-0)	Arizona (0-4)	-130
Cleveland (3-4)	Boston (4-3)	-155

Total: 1-1
Running Total: 2-4

MLB 2007 Championship Series (update)

2007-10-19T06:44:00.001-07:00

2007 MLB Championship Series
(best out of 7)
Underdog	Favorite	line
Colorado (4-0)	Arizona (0-4)	-130
Cleveland (3-2)	Boston (2-3)	-155

Total: 1-0
Running Total: 2-3

NFL 2007 Week 7 Picks

2007-10-19T06:24:00.000-07:00

I don't know, etc, etc. My picks are in bold.

2007 Week Picks
Date & Time	Favorite	Spread	Underdog
10/21 1:00 ET	At Washington	-6.5	Arizona
10/21 1:00 ET	At New Orleans	-8.5	Atlanta
10/21 1:00 ET	Baltimore	-2.5	At Buffalo
10/21 4:15 ET	At Dallas	-9.5	Minnesota
10/21 1:00 ET	New England	-16.5	At Miami
10/21 1:00 ET	At NY Giants	-9.5	San Francisco
10/21 1:00 ET	At Detroit	-1.5	Tampa Bay
10/21 1:00 ET	Tennessee	-1.5	At Houston
10/21 4:05 ET	At Oakland	-2.5	Kansas City
10/21 4:05 ET	At Cincinnati	-5.5	NY Jets
10/21 4:15 ET	At Philadelphia	-4.5	Chicago
10/21 4:15 ET	At Seattle	-8.5	St. Louis
10/21 8:15 ET	Pittsburgh	-3.5	At Denver
10/22 8:30 ET	Indianapolis	-2.5	At Jacksonville