Robert A. Moog passes away.

From the Associated Press:

Robert A. Moog, whose self-named synthesizers turned electric currents into sound, revolutionizing music in the 1960s and opening the wave that became electronica, has died. He was 71.

This guy is responsible for most of the music I love. Without him, Pink Floyd would have sounded like Led Zeppelin, the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange would have been a lot less interesting and you can forget about albums from Gary Numan or Kraftwerk.

Damn.

Look Ma, another creationist moron

I think that the main reason I post all of the letters I write to the newspaper here is because they prefer to publish mail from morons, nine times out of ten. Granted, they receive thousands of letters daily, but sometimes I really question their editor's choices in whom they give a soapbox to. Thus far, I have yet to get one of my letters to the editor published in the newspaper. Instead, they waste newsprint on the ignorant ranting of individuals like Don Bruner. Thank goodness for online journals. Here's a strike back for science:

It is my sincerest hope that the Post-Gazette published Don Bruner's letter ("Stay Clear of Satan" August 22^nd, 2005) because the editorial board was having a good laugh which they wished to share with the greater public, not because the newspaper received a flood of letters reflecting Mr. Bruner's sentiment. He states that he is deeply disturbed that faculty members of the University of Pittsburgh believe that human beings evolved from monkeys and other primates, rather than simply coming into existence by the will of a "loving god." He also states that he believes that the "good name of the University of Pittsburgh [has gone] down the tubes."

Obviously Mr. Bruner is mistaking the University of Pittsburgh for the Vatican (or Duquesne, perhaps) and those faculty members for theocrats. Rather than condemn those faculty members for not subscribing to Mr. Bruner's particular flavour of dogma, I think they should be commended for trying to shed some light on the world in these dark days of the intellect. Let's face it: science and knowledge are under attack in America today, especially considering the push to teach creationism (under the guise of "intelligent design") in science classrooms.

Mr. Bruner is well within his rights to indulge his fantasies of eternal rewards for what he perceives as "good behaviour" during his lifetime. However, I would like to remind him that even within his little fantasy world, Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge, not the Tree of Life. Furthermore, one of the Ten Commandments is "Thou shalt not lie." As science is "knowledge or a system of knowledge covering general truths or the operation of general laws especially as obtained and tested through the scientific method and concerned with the physical world and its phenomena," as defined by Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, it seems to me that none of the members of the University of Pittsburgh's faculty nor anyone else who believes than humans evolved from monkeys will be damned to spend eternity with Satan.

Scratchpad

I think "Destroy The Scene" would make a good song title. Don't you?