David Brooks in today’s NYT:

…Obama has won roughly 70 percent of the most-educated counties in the primary states. Clinton has won 90 percent of the least-educated counties.

There’s something rather disturbing about that. I wonder how Hillary feels about the fact she’s very popular amongst the uneducated?

Two stories that remind me of why I value the First Amendment:

Russia is persecuting minority religions in order to preserve the dominance of the Orthodox Church.

And in the States, a atheist soldier is suing the army because of threats made to him.

- “In November, he was sent home early from Iraq because of threats from fellow soldiers.”

- “Another sergeant allegedly told Specialist Hall that as an atheist, he was not entitled to religious freedom because he had no religion.”

“You know, some people counted me out and said to drop out,” said a glowing Hillary at her Philadelphia victory party, with Bill and Chelsea by her side. “Well, the American people don’t quit. And they deserve a president who doesn’t quit, either.” (NYT)

It’s an interesting argument. “My opponent may be ahead on votes and delegates and he’s going to cross the finish line before me, but because I’ll be close behind I deserve to win.”

I came across this little fellow a couple of evenings ago when we were taking Maia for a walk. He was just behind the house, sunning himself on the riverbank. He didn’t seem to be bothered by my presence at all. He was so well camouflaged that when I looked back after taking my eyes off him for a moment I thought he’d slid off.

One of the standard arguments of anti-evolutionists is that evolution is very unlikely because most mutations are harmful.

In fact, it seems that most mutations are neutral, with only a few being either harmful or beneficial depending on the environment that the organism finds itself in. Various projects are deliberately inducing mutations in, for example, food crops and decorative plants in order to bring about beneficial changes. If the anti-evolutionists were correct these projects would simply fail.

Further than this, scientists have messed with the control mechanisms that tell genes when to turn on and off. Every gene in your body contains the genes for insulin, for making toenails, and for creating brain cells, yet fortunately most of those genes are turned off in most cells most of the time. A complex regulation system tells genes that it’s time to get to work. Messing with that system would seem to be a recipe for catastrophe, and yet it’s not.

When the regulatory mechanisms in E.coli were randomly rewired, 95% percent or the organisms did just fine, and some even benefited.

Mutations can be beneficial. Evolution happens.

Anti-evolutionists (mainly conservative Christians) will pay no attention, of course. As I wrote yesterday, we tend to ignore or dismiss evidence that contradicts our beliefs.

I’m fascinated with memory, and how it works. This interest is practical rather than theoretical. I find that an understanding of memory is important because 1) I’ve often been a student (I’ve spent 10 years of my life in college and university and plan for another three or four more years of study) and had to memorize information, and 2) because we all depend on memory in our day to day lives, for everything we do, although I’m particularly interested in how our memories can give different people conflicting accounts of the same incident.

There are a couple of recent articles in the Times that deal with memory:

Idea Lab - Memory explains some of the limitations of memory, including erroneous eyewitness testimony and vulnerability to being misled by “spin.” Understanding the limitations of memory is important so that we don’t place too much faith in it. Every time, for example, that we retrieve a long term memory we risk adding to or altering it. It’s possible for us (or others) to change our memory of events such that we believe the new version. “Could there possibly have been two people in the car? Did one of them maybe have a beard?” Leading questions make us vulnerable to changing our memories.

In Divided They Fall, Nick Kristof discusses research showing how existing opinions lead to bias in how we perceive and remember events. He also goes into how this leads to polarization — we seek validation for our existing beliefs and opinions and ignore or dismiss contrary evidence. This has led to conservative and liberals in the US living in separate “meme-pools” in which they pay attention only to people with like views. (Actually, liberals are a bit better than conservatives at paying attention to contrary views).

Kristof’s column is based on Farhad Manjoo’s new book, “True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post-Fact Society.” I plan to get a copy.

I don’t know who the pastor being interviewed is, but he runs rings around the Fox News reporter, who does a great job of showing how “impartial” that channel is. We need more people like this pastor, who can articulately and passionately promote justice.

Selene, Japan’s lunar spacecraft, has been putting together an incredibly detailed map of the moon that includes mineral identifications. That’s all cool, but the sheer Japaneseness of the map below delights me. It’s the moon as Hiroshige would have printed it had he been into astronomy.

If you click on the image you can see a larger (250KB) version that covers the whole of the earthward hemisphere.

My adoption agency sent a link the other day to this huge photoset of images of Ethiopian children, adoption agency staff, and adoptive families.

My wife and I needed a birthday card (it’s Barb’s 50th tomorrow) and we decided to use one we’d bought in Ethiopia. We checked out the web address on the back of the card and found that it was made by an excellent program that gives employment to young women in the southern town of Jimma. They’re nice cards. Why not buy some and help some Ethiopians to support themselves?

Yesterday and today I meditated with a friend who lives a couple of thousand miles away in Spokane, Washington. We both used our computers to log on to Skype, a free service that allows you to talk with other people (and even see them). My computer was set up on a coffee table, with the built-in webcam pointing at the area where I meditate. Priyamitra was likewise sitting in front of his computer. I could see him in full-screen, and he could see me the same way.

We did a little chanting together, and then I rang a bell and we meditated for 40 minutes.

I find it to be very supportive when I sit with other people. My sits are calmer, my mind is more settled, I’m less inclined to restlessness, and the time goes by faster.

I’m very appreciative that I can do this! Just a few years ago the idea of having a full-screen image of a friend meditating 2,000 miles away would have seemed like science fiction.

I’ve been looking into the possibility of having group videoconferencing that would allow a few of us to meet and discuss our practice or to study together, but so far that’s still in the Sci-Fi realms, unless you’re prepared to spend a lot of money. At the moment Skype only enables you to videoconference with one other person, but hopefully they’ll add that facility soon.

There’s a powerful editorial in the NYT today condemning John C. Yoo’s appalling contortions of the law in order to justify the torture and abuse of detainees — There Were Orders to Follow - New York Times — a document the NYT describes as

“Eighty-one spine-crawling pages in a memo that might have been unearthed from the dusty archives of some authoritarian regime and has no place in the annals of the United States.”

Even the US Constitution, and specifically the 4th Amendment, doesn’t limit the government’s actions in Yoo’s opinion.

All of this happened under the reign of the man who promised to bring decency to the Whitehouse.