tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775Sat, 15 Aug 2026 21:25:42 +0000Blogs about life, politics, religion, evolution vs intelligent design, and anything else I find interesting.http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/noreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)Blogger85125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-8295120681159876413Thu, 10 Aug 2017 21:36:00 +00002017-08-11T01:35:52.564-07:00There once was a tyrannical king who had a pack of wild vicious dogs. If anyone ever spoke evil of him or publicly disagreed with him, he would throw that person into a pit with those dogs to be eaten alive. One day the king discovered that his Counselor, who disagreed with one of his policies, had expressed his disagreement in public. The king was furious and ordered his guards to bring the http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2017/08/the-king-counselor-and-wild-dogs.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-6802939989088933173Wed, 11 Mar 2015 07:22:00 +00002015-03-11T03:14:52.089-07:00PZ Myers, a guy who loves to hate me, says that I think DNA is a computer program. That isn't true. Computer programs are executed on computers. Furthermore, I certainly wouldn't expect to look at DNA and see a bunch of IF-THEN-ELSE statements. However, I do think that DNA is a program. Is there a rational mind on planet earth that doesn't? If you don't think DNA is some kind of program make a http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2015/03/is-dna-computer-program.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-4195399777147000860Sat, 28 Dec 2013 10:35:00 +00002014-01-10T01:35:06.046-08:00There's no cure for psoriasis, but it's well known that bathing in seawater is an effective treatment for psoriasis especially when combined with sunshine. I have mild psoriasis on my shins. Most of the time it doesn't bother me but sometimes it keeps me awake at night. Before I knew what it was I tried applying all sorts of things to my shins to make it go away -- anti fungal creams, aloe vera http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2013/12/psoriasis-and-seawater.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-3386865118499134585Thu, 07 Mar 2013 23:32:00 +00002013-06-07T17:00:48.880-07:00Sharing your belief system can be risky, because sometimes people don’t like what you believe and they decide not to like you. But tonight I want to take a risk and share my belief system with you. Toastmaster, fellow toastmasters and honored guests: I could start out by telling you exactly what my belief system is, but that would not explain why I believe the way I do. Instead I want to tell http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2013/03/journey-of-thought.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-1941610942669732684Tue, 20 Nov 2012 01:54:00 +00002012-12-19T15:48:41.347-08:00 Using a tanning bed can improve your vitamin D status. A case study published in pubmed documented the case of a woman whose vitamin D level was 7 ng/mL which is way below the healthy range of 30 to 100 ng/mL. Because she had Chrone’s disease and was unable absorb vitamin D through her digestive track she was treated in a tanning bed for 10 minutes, three times a week for 4 weeks. During this http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2012/11/can-using-tanning-bed-improve-your.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-4182415957828279547Wed, 31 Oct 2012 22:20:00 +00002012-10-31T15:22:10.108-07:00 I just finished a month long battle with fruit flies. I tried several things including placing apple cider vinegar in a bowl. This definitely attracted the fruit flies but at the end of the day only two or three of the would drown. Most of the time they would just fly down, touch the vinegar, and fly out. Finally I came upon a solution that worked. I poured apple cider vinegar into a small http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2012/10/how-to-get-rid-of-fruit-flies.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-5621353581076298513Tue, 30 Oct 2012 06:59:00 +00002012-12-27T17:12:39.725-08:00Since the 432 scientist ENCODE Consortium assertion that so far they have detected function (biochemical activity) in 80.4% of the human genome, there has been a lot of whining and gnashing of teeth by activist atheists who commonly use the idea of junk DNA as one of their favorite talking points. Here is a sample of what the whiners are saying: “That conclusion, that 80% of the genome is http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2012/10/activist-atheists-junk-dna-and-encode.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-6797749452736921790Mon, 09 Jan 2012 02:30:00 +00002012-01-08T18:41:22.222-08:00I learned something interesting today at a gas station. I went in to buy a diet coke and wasn't thinking and pulled out my credit card to pay. When the clerk asked if I was paying with debit or credit I suddenly remembered my New Years resolution to give the credit card companies as little money as possible and paid with cash instead. I also mentioned my resolution to him and received some http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-using-credit-cards-hurts-small.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-3689249639431090693Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:17:00 +00002011-12-12T17:18:29.839-08:00Whenever there is a debate about how much DNA truly is junk, someone brings up the Onion Test which was coined by Professor T. Ryan Gregory. In his words:The onion test is a simple reality check for anyone who thinks they have come up with a universal function for non-coding DNA. Whatever your proposed function, ask yourself the question: Can I explain why an onion needs five more times DNA for http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2011/12/onion-test-answered-part-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-6949562042763014148Mon, 18 Jul 2011 18:36:00 +00002011-07-18T12:04:21.973-07:00I found this interesting tidbit in Wikipedia's entry on the Blood Type Diet:Yamamoto et al. further note:Although the O blood type is common in all populations around the world,[22] there is no evidence that the O gene represents the ancestral gene at the ABO locus. Nor is it reasonable to suppose that a defective gene would arise spontaneously and then evolve into normal genes.[23]What does thishttp://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2011/07/evolution-of-genes.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-6676835999500890799Wed, 15 Jun 2011 01:14:00 +00002011-06-14T18:14:37.978-07:00I voted for Obama last time around. There were a few things I liked about his policy but mostly it was a vote against McCain. However, if Ron Paul had won the Republican nomination he would have been my man. I am glad to see he is running again. I don't think he has a chance of winning but at least he's a sane voice in the wilderness.Ron Paul repsonds to questions (GOP debate #1, 2011)http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2011/06/ron-paul-for-president.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-5834892008270826498Tue, 17 May 2011 20:26:00 +00002011-05-17T14:55:32.598-07:00It looks like gas prices on on there way down, at least temporarily. Americans don't like paying $4.00 plus for a gallon of gas so demand is going down. That means oil producing companies have to charge less for oil. This shows that if the price of gas is too high Americans will find a way to use less of it. Using less energy resources is a good idea for us all. If we lower our consumption enoughhttp://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2011/05/gas-tax-experiment.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-8742434813907902365Fri, 13 May 2011 17:11:00 +00002011-08-22T18:20:43.681-07:00Don’t you just hate remembering passwords for all the websites you use? I do. And I know it’s very tempting to just use the same password everywhere but that could be a monumental mistake. If your password gets compromised at one website all your accounts could be compromised. At the very minimum you should have 3 passwords. Choose one for high security financial accounts; one for email accounts;http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-to-pick-and-remember-hundreds-of.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-7733610287727250619Tue, 28 Dec 2010 08:36:00 +00002010-12-28T12:19:58.683-08:00In an attempt to find out what I believe some have asked me “who is God”? I think that’s kind of a weird question. How would I know? The question also assumes that God is a person and that God has a name. Maybe that’s true but I wouldn’t know. I don’t think it is possible for anyone to know what God is. Many have made up stories about God as an attempt to understand what God is and some of these http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2010/12/what-is-god.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-1628125104975556652Thu, 29 Apr 2010 10:52:00 +00002011-01-11T01:24:16.965-08:00In chapter 3 of his book The Blind Watchmaker, evolutionary biologist and atheist Richard Dawkins, introduced the Weasel Program. In The Blind Watchmaker, Dawkins attempts to refute the argument for the existence of an intelligent designer (or God) based on the complexity of living organisms. As part of his argument, Dawkins asks us to consider the short sentence from Shakespeare below.METHINKShttp://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2010/04/interactive-weasel-program.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-6100332536881132325Wed, 27 Jan 2010 08:22:00 +00002014-01-13T01:37:29.325-08:00I just watched Quid Pro Quo last night. The movie explores the world of facticious disability disorder which includes people who are compulsively sexually attracted to disabled people, pretend to be disabled and/or want to be disabled. They are called devotees, pretenders and wannabes. I never knew those types of people existed.I love to watch these types of movies -- movies about bent people or http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2010/01/movies-about-bent-people.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-5874816890093443119Fri, 20 Nov 2009 01:39:00 +00002009-11-20T14:04:16.137-08:00Last night as I was bicycling home from work I was hit by a truck. I was riding through a crosswalk and stopped a few feet away was a truck. I saw the truck start movement and then stop. Because of that I assumed the driver saw me so I proceeded to ride the rest of the way through the crosswalk. I was almost passed the truck when it lunged forward and struck me. It couldn’t have been going more http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2009/11/last-words.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-7053622256894866485Sat, 17 Oct 2009 23:17:00 +00002009-10-18T23:18:14.947-07:00In his blog, biologist T. Ryan Gregory coined the phrase “Onion Test”. The blog entry starts like this:The onion test is a simple reality check for anyone who thinks they have come up with a universal function for non-coding DNA. Whatever your proposed function, ask yourself this question: Can I explain why an onion needs about five times more non-coding DNA for this function than a human?Why http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2009/10/onion-test-answered.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-8265286925780952346Wed, 07 Oct 2009 06:07:00 +00002009-10-07T12:15:22.056-07:00I think most people believe that they, their thoughts and their feelings are more than just a chemical reaction. They have a belief that there is more to themselves than the material. This is why it is so easy to subscribe to the first religion we are exposed to -- it gives us an initial framework for our thoughts. Eventually we may mature intellectually and become aware of other ways of http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2009/10/what-side-are-you-on.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-7237439701478601747Mon, 21 Sep 2009 03:51:00 +00002009-10-19T12:24:09.902-07:00Damn it. I’ve been expelled from PZ Myers blog Pharyngula. PZ has rules about what is allowed on his blog which creationists must follow. If you cross the line you get put in the dungeon and that means you can no longer contribute comments. I admit that I played around as close to the line as possible without crossing over -- and sometimes did stick my pinky toe over just to annoy PZ. A few timeshttp://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2009/09/expelled-from-pharnygula.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-2750667991893873549Sat, 05 Sep 2009 07:40:00 +00002011-01-11T13:40:30.897-08:00The Silverlight application below simulates mutation and natural selection of genomes. You can start the simulation now by pressing the Evolve Genome button and then read on.Note that there are two views to this application: the Simulation View and the Mutation View. The Mutation View shows what happens when a coding sequence is mutated. Press the Mutation View tab and go look. The simulation http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2009/09/genomicron-simulates-mutation-and.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-523447701469288721Mon, 24 Aug 2009 03:25:00 +00002009-08-24T18:39:28.844-07:00A thoughtful person once asked the question: “Does entropy apply to information?” The answer is obviously “yes”, but why? The short answer is that it’s because the probability of information is extremely low. The purpose of this blog entry is to attempt to explain my answer.Consider the highly organized sequence of characters below.Mathematics is the language of science. To succeed in science, http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2009/08/probability-of-information-part-3.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-356564407821619994Thu, 04 Jun 2009 00:07:00 +00002009-08-24T01:16:33.547-07:00My wife and I originally purchased the Magic Wand as a sex toy, and as such, it is unsurpassed. However we have found other uses for the gadget besides its obvious use as a massager.Relief from Burn PainOne day I burned myself and decided to try distraction to get through the pain. I applied the Magic Wand to one of my feet and to my amazement the pain disappeared completely. I removed the Magic http://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2009/06/why-i-believe-in-magic.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-5435875111306548258Fri, 22 May 2009 01:22:00 +00002009-05-22T21:17:56.721-07:00I have heard that marijuana gives you the munchies. Not that I would know; I only smoked it for a brief period of time during my teenage years and I always had the munchies back then. However, after drinking Diet Coke I get really hungry. I wonder what chemistry is involved that makes me so hungry after drinking that stuff. Maybe they should call it Break Your Diet Coke. You can probably think ofhttp://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2009/05/diet-coke-versus-marijuana.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34429775.post-6713416447760921406Sun, 03 May 2009 06:32:00 +00002010-03-31T18:36:21.924-07:00In my first blog entry about the probability of information I used the English language to show that the probability of generating a significant amount of information randomly is essentially 0. It’s important to note that the example is not just an analogy; it illustrates a fact that applies to all kinds of information – including DNA. The calculation may vary depending on the type of informationhttp://randystimpson.blogspot.com/2009/05/probabilityof-information-part-2.htmlnoreply@blogger.com (Randy Stimpson)24