Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
A few days ago I wrote about Mike Riddle speaking in several schools in the Potosi school district. Today I stumbled across this commentary in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Two interesting quotes from the commentary:
Mr. Riddle is a doubt-peddler. The whole thrust of his work is to convince the unsophisticated that evolution is a theory in crisis, collapsing under its own weight. Evolution is, in fact, the central organizing principal of modern biology. There is no scientific alternative to evolutionary theory. Creationism and its kissing cousin, ''intelligent design,'' fail to meet the basic definition of science.
"Kissing cousin" - I like that, it's better than "creationism in a cheap tuxedo"...
Last year, the percentage of Potosi seventh- and 10th-grade students who scored "proficient" or "advanced" in standardized science tests was below the state average. Perhaps instead of hearing about creationism, those students would be better off spending their science classes learning about science.
Comments
How has this school not been sued???
Posted by: Corkscrew | May 12, 2006 9:17 AM
Potosi is a rural school district, so I'm not surprised they haven't been sued. Americans United for the Separation of Church and State did send them a letter asking the event be cancelled, but I am not aware of any legal action at this point...
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | May 12, 2006 9:32 AM
Perhaps instead of hearing about creationism, those students would be better off spending their science classes learning about science.
WHOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Theres a thought.
Posted by: bigdumbchimp | May 12, 2006 9:53 AM
That's my home -- Missouri -- The show me state (except when it comes to thing like religion, in which case we'll take things at face value)
Posted by: Jim H | May 12, 2006 10:07 AM
I remember in high school the "power team" that came -- big hulks of muscle who broken and bent things using superhuman strength, then slipped in the gospel of Jesus as an added bonus. They're still traveling the country, spreading religion, in high schools everywhere. I won't be holding my breath waiting on the AU or ACLU to shut them down, but I hope they do.
Posted by: Daniel Morgan | May 13, 2006 9:59 AM