Yearly Archives: 2005

Oxymoron?

This entry was posted in Religion on by

Just where would someone get a PHD that would generate this set of conflicting qualifications?

Geology:Ph.D. required. Teaching Introductory Geology, Paleontology, and History of Life. Compatibility with a young-earth creationist position required.
Since the course content would be empty perhaps they should just use the same folks that teach this class:
THEO 250 – Fundamental Theological Issues (3 hours)
A study of the major theological questions that arise in the defense of biblical inerrancy, scriptural separation, creationism, and dispensationalism. It also deals with such contemporary issues as the charismatic movement, feminism, situation ethics, and other vital concerns to the fundamentalist in today�s world. (Prerequisites: THEO 201 and THEO 202)
Via Pharyngula.

Why not Plastic Dollar Bills?

This entry was posted in Economics on by

According to this Slate article 23 countries currently use plastic instead of paper currency:

Notes circulating in tropical climates wear even more quickly. I lived in India for several years and had more than one rupee bill literally disintegrate in my hands.
This explains why Mexico and 22 other nations have switched from paper to plastic money for at least some denominations. Plastic bills last longer and are more difficult to counterfeit than paper bills. They are less likely to trip up ATMs, and they carry fewer germs. Plastic bills look and feel like “real” money, though they are a bit slicker to the touch.
On a bill for bill basis plastic money costs more but its longer life makes it cost effective. I’d be fine with plastic bills.
Rob, at Say Anything, seconds James Joyner’s suggestion that we go all the way by eliminating cash:
It strikes me, though, that a better solution would be to simply switch to the “plastic” currency we have all become accustomed to: credit and debit cards. A purely electronic system would seem to have all of the advantages of polymer bills with none of the disadvantages.
I don’t doubt that some year down the road this might happen. For now, though, I say no.
Over a year ago I switched back to cash for all my face to face purchases and am a happier person: transactions happen more quickly (except at the gas stations), the banks don’t get a cut of every purchase, and an unknown number of databases to not get another entry linked to my name.
Fix these things and I might change my mind.

December’s Top Referrers

This entry was posted in Modulator on by

On the right side bar is the updated roll of Modulator’s 20 top referrers for the month of December. Number 20 produced 15 referrals compared to 21 for number 20 in November.
December churn: 6 blogs dropped and 6 new ones added compared to 7 and 7 in October.
Overall traffic was down about 4.4% from November and up 464% from December 03 (no I do not expect the year to year growth to continue at that rate). I am also seeing an increasing number of visits from folks who have bookmarked Modulator and I thank all of you for visiting!
Top Referrer: The Sideshow! Thanks, Avedon.
Top search phrase/word: live strong bracelets
Most popular post: Live Strong
Statistics are culled from AWStats running on Modulator’s server at Hosting Matters.
Again, thank you one and all!
Also, I’d like to acknowledge referrals from some of the blogosphere’s ‘service’ sites: Technorati, weblogs.com, blogrolling.com, MovableType, Blogdex, Bloglines, blogoshpere.us, Sitemeter, NZ Bear’s Ecosystem, Bloogz and Daypop.
All of the blog rolls are ordered by most recently updated so be sure to ping weblogs.com or blogrolling.com to push to the top of the rolls. These are certainly the sites I tend to look at first and visitors will see you at the top of the roll as well.
For a brief discussion of Modulator’s blog rolls look here.