There is a great story on The Collegian about the lecture by Dr. Madeline K. Albright, former U. S. Secretary of State for the Clinton administration, who spoke Jan. 27 in Dunham Theater. I was lucky enough to be in attendance, and thoroughly enjoyed the lecture.

Two University professors premiered a statue dedicated to Holocaust victims. Albright lost three grandparents in the Holocaust, and portions of her lecture focused on that genocide.

Posted by Daniel at 11:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jan. 21 -- The temperature was in the low 40s when members of the Honors College, bundled in coats, reached Rice University to attend a lecture by Dr. Francis Collins, former director of the Human Genome Project.

Collins is renowned for heading the HGP. It was under his leadership that the scientists at HGP successfully sequenced the human genome.

The human genome contains 23 chromosome pairs, 22 of which are autosomal, while the remaining pair determines gender. Chromosomes are composed of Deoxyribonucleic acid, which provide the basic instructions for life. Slightly more than 3 billion DNA base pairs exist in the human genome, and all had to be sequenced during the 13 year project.

Collins announced the completion of the sequence on 26 June 2000. A rough draft of the genome was published soon afterward, and a final draft in April 2003.

Collins is known for his Christian religious beliefs and published works, including "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief." He is perhaps best known for being the unofficial spokesperson of theistic evolution.

Theistic evolution espouses the view that traditional understandings of God and creation are compatible with modern understandings of evolutionary science. Many adherents deny the conflict thesis -- faith and science are intrinsically different and must be separated -- and support approaching faith "reasonably."

"The God of the Bible is also the God of the genome. God can be found in the cathedral or in the laboratory. By investigating God's majestic and awesome creation, science can actually be a means of worship," Collins wrote in a 2007 commentary article for CNN.

It was this view that drove Collin's lecture at Rice.

The lecture was sponsored by the Veritas Forum -- a group that sponsors university events to engage students and faculty in discussions about the relevance of Jesus Christ in the modern world.

The Rice Thresher, the Rice University student newspaper, reported over 1,300 people attended the lecture and five overflow sites had to be used. HC students who attended sat in one of these overflow sites and watched the lecture via live video streaming.

We were only able to take one decent picture after the lecture because of the poor lighting conditions.

Photo taken by Caleb Cadis using Sally Grimes' camera.

Posted by Daniel at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Photo by Damon Winter, New York Times

"What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility — a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task."
-- President Barack Obama, inauguration speech, Jan. 20, 2008

University students and faculty gathered across campus to watch the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

Student Life hosted an inauguration viewing in the activities room of the Lake House. Over 30 students attended, including myself. Professors and University staff were also in attendance. Pictures of the event will be posted as soon as I can find them.

In case you missed the inauguration speech, Hulu, Youtube, Video Google, CNN Live and other Web sites have posted the video online. Hulu in particular has an excellent HD quality version of the speech. It is only 20:03 long.

I want to thank President Bush for serving this nation. I also want to give my congratulations to President Obama. May God bless him and the United States of America.

Posted by Daniel at 11:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On the evening of Saturday, Jan. 17, two students pulled a dolly through the automatic front doors of the Lake House. The dolly was empty. As they pulled the dolly through, the automatic door began closing, wedging the dolly between it and the other stationary door. The dolly could not be dragged out of the way quickly enough, and the pull of the pneumatics drove the door into a metal corner on the dolly, causing the door to shatter. No one was injured when the glass door crashed.

Photos by Maddee Schrader

Students stand near the wreckage moments after the incident.

A close-up of the damage.

Posted by Daniel at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The author of Ecclesiastes spoke wisely when he or she wrote the third chapter, which begins, "To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the heaven." There was a time for Christmas break, but that time is past, and the time for the new semester has begun. The signs of this are everywhere: students, some with baggage and parents in tow, have begun filing into dorms; the bookstore is selling expensive textbooks; the Baugh, the on-campus cafeteria, has opened its doors; and professors as well as students are preparing for tomorrow. Tomorrow is perhaps the biggest day of the semester. I hope it goes well for everyone.

Posted by Daniel at 6:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)