Category Archives: Philosophy

A Creationist Speaker Comes to Town

Posted on January 25, 2017 by Ron Miksha

Originally posted on Letters to Creationists:
By the early 1800s European geologists (many of them devout Christians) realized that the rock layers they observed had to be far older than the 6000 years allowed by a literal interpretation of Bible…

Posted in Geology, Philosophy, Reblogs, Religion, Science Education | Tagged | Leave a comment

From Stars to Stalagmites

Posted on November 26, 2015 by Ron Miksha

I am a terribly slow reader.  Maybe it’s because I try to understand, remember, and absorb as much as possible from every word. Every single word. I watched a TED Talk performed by a gentleman who told me to do … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Review, Culture, Philosophy, Science Education | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Made of Stardust

Posted on November 9, 2015 by Ron Miksha

Today, I am remembering a childhood hero, astrophysicist/author Carl Sagan. I was 12 when I bought his first book, Planets, from the Life Science Series. I paid for it from money I earned picking potatoes on the family farm in … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, People, Philosophy | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Respects to the Hobbit Man

Posted on July 30, 2015 by Ron Miksha

About a week ago I was at JRR Tolkien’s grave. It is not my habit to seek cemeteries containing the tombstones of fantasy writers. However, my wife, two young kids, and I were staying at a guesthouse in Oxford. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Culture, Philosophy, Science Education | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Scotland’s Verbose Expounditor of Geological Logorrhea

Posted on June 3, 2015 by Ron Miksha

James Hutton (1726-1797), Scotland’s most celebrated geologist, had a way with words. A rather awful way with words. But his scientific brilliance is uncontested. He is credited with moving geology away from the La-Z-Boy recliners of seventeenth century drawing rooms … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Culture, Geology, History, Philosophy, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

History of a Science Historian

Posted on March 1, 2015 by Ron Miksha

It’s the birth date of the first American to receive a Ph.D. in science history. I’m surprised how recently he lived. I figured science historians have been around almost as long as science and history – but I. B. Cohen, … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Book Review, Culture, History, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Heresy without Redemption

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Ron Miksha

Today’s date, February 17, coincides with the day they killed Giordano Bruno. For years, he had been imprisoned for blasphemy, for practising magic, and for heresy.  Execution was recommended, though he could have had a less tortuous death had he … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Culture, Non-drift Theories, Philosophy, Religion, The Book | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Charles Darwin, the Geologist

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Ron Miksha

It’s his birthday. It seems Charles Darwin’s legacy is experiencing a renaissance. Sure, some 60% of Americans vilify the man and hope he is roasting in hell. Or undergoing reincarnation as a toad, or is still awaiting release from purgatory. … Continue reading →

Posted in Biography, Culture, History, Philosophy, Religion, The Book | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Ethical De-extinction

Posted on January 6, 2015 by Ron Miksha

A South Korean biotech firm pulled blood from a frozen female Siberian wooly mammoth. Found on an arctic island in the East Siberian Sea, the creature is the best preserved mammoth ever discovered. When she was dug out of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Culture, Philosophy | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

The Greatest Science Quotes

Posted on December 14, 2014 by Ron Miksha

Do you mentally collect and muse over science quotes? Some reasonably good web sites have already done this, but so far none of those sites has my all-time favourite. It’s obscure. It was spoken by a geophysicist fifty years ago … Continue reading →

Posted in History, How Geophysics Works, Philosophy, Plate Tectonics | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment