The Latest | Page 695

An Analysis of Homer Simpson and Stephen Jay Gould

Note: The Simpson’s, television’s popular prime-time cartoon known for its satirical commentary on various social issues, recently took a shot at the creation-evolution debate by featuring Stephen Jay Gould prominently in one of its episodes. Here is Bill Dembski’s review and observations of that episode. For those of you who regularly watch the Simpsons, you’ll know that to have one’s Read More ›

frayed-rope-about-to-break-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Frayed rope about to break
Licensed from Adobe Stock

The Unraveling of Scientific Materialism

In a retrospective essay on Carl Sagan in the January 9, 1997 New York Review of Books, Harvard Genetics Professor Richard Lewontin tells how he first met Sagan at a public debate in Arkansas in 1964. The two young scientists had been coaxed by senior colleagues to go to Little Rock to debate the affirmative side of the question: “RESOLVED, that Read More ›

Taking the high road on transportation issues

The current paralysis on state Route 520 creates instant flashbacks for those familiar with history: the collapse of the original Tacoma Narrows bridge, "Galloping Gertie," in 1940; the West Seattle drawbridge locked in "up" position for almost two years after being hit by a freighter in 1978; the sinkings of the Hood Canal Bridge in 1979 and the I-90 bridge in 1990. The greatest ongoing risk to 520 is structural collapse of the Evergreen Point floating bridge, the longest structure of its kind in the world. Experts say it can withstand only one more 20-year storm. This equates to a 40 percent chance of the bridge failing within a decade....As key highway links age or hit maximum capacity, the challenge of creative replacement becomes inescapable...Every panelist noted Seattle's current wealth. Yet (Seattle Mayor Paul) Schell and others mused over how this translates into public investment. The mayor said "the biggest challenge is how to fit 19th century governments into 21st century problems -- at a time when people don't want to pay for improvements. There is no constituency for change, yet change is inevitable." Read More ›

Please, Mr. President and Congress, A Shorter Campaign Next Time

Never have so many politicians worked so hard and spent so much to achieve so little change. With the White House still in Democratic hands, Congress still Republican and exactly the same partisan division of governors, the nation’s politics are roughly where they were a year and a half ago when history’s longest presidential campaign began. What was achieved? Altogether, Read More ›

chinook-salmon-underwater-stockpack-adobe-stock.jpg
Chinook Salmon Underwater
Chinook Salmon Underwater

How Many Are Enough?

Last year, the federal government listed Puget Sound chinook salmon under the Endangered Species Act. In the regional debate over how much to do and how many millions to spend, one question tends to be lost: How many Puget Sound chinook salmon will be enough? Read More ›

To Succeed, Seattle Should Share the Olympics

The Seattle Bid Committe that is spearheading the drive to bring the Olympics to Seattle and the Northwest in 2008 has entered a new, post-Atlanta phase. First, the organizational effort is about to be intensified. Entrepreneur Clark Kokich will operate as chairman of the committee, and internationally known events impressario Bob Walsh will lead planning, as before. But to provide Read More ›

deep blue water.jpg
Abstract dark blue digital background with sparkling blue light particles and areas with deep depths Particles form into lines, surfaces and grids
Photo by kokotewan on Adobe Stock

Rethinking Deep Blue

The recent hysteria over the defeat of world chess champion Gary Kasparov by IBM computer Deep Blue has provided fresh fuel for the debate over whether computers can be intelligent and, yes, even exhibit the other qualities of mind — consciousness, sensation, emotion and the like. Read More ›

Light rail offers communities once-in-lifetime chance

Sound Transit is the most comprehensive and expensive public project ever undertaken in the Puget Sound region. Tax dollars spent on rail and bus investments should be used as an opportunity to leverage complementary growth patterns, redevelopment, economic revitalization and infill, as we make the transition from a primarily personal auto and all-bus system to a reduced-auto and regional bus, commuter-rail and (LINK) light rail transit system.....In the vicinity of light rail, commuter rail and bus stations, thoughtful preparation and design by transportation and community interests could shape specific sites to have more people-oriented, transit-friendly development. Citizens willing, the light-rail project can provide the opportunity to improve Seattle neighborhoods. Read More ›

EPA’s not tracking with rail goals

The appeal of commuter rail linking Everett to Tacoma was one of the primary reasons voters gave Sound Transit the $3.9 billion go-ahead (finally) in 1996. After all, Amtrak runs intercity passenger trains on the tracks with freight trains. Why not add commuter trains on the existing track and let passengers connect with ferries and local transit at new multimodal centers in Edmonds, Mukilteo and Everett? Commuter rail will be a fraction of the cost of light rail and will be used most heavily when I-5 can use some relief -- namely, during rush hours. Riders will be offered an energy-efficient, fast and friendly alternative to the nightly parade of red lights. Makes sense, right? Well, not to the Environmental Protection Agency. The EPA apparently fears wetland destruction and loss of eelgrass between Seattle and Everett if Sound Transit has to add 1.6 miles to the 82-mile corridor of passing track along Puget Sound. Read More ›

The Title and Epigraphs of Surprised by Joy

by John Bremer Authors give their works titles, or, at least, propose titles, which sometimes get accepted and sometimes not. The proposed titles of C.S. Lewis’s works had a mixed reception. His first book of poems Spirits in Bondage was originally to have been Spirits in Prison but was changed when Albert Lewis pointed out that there was already a Read More ›