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 
All across the blogosphere creationists of the intelligent design variety are launching desperate salvos designed to snatch defeat from the jaws of, well, defeat. The object of their hysterical spinmeistering is the PBS documentary Judgement Day: Intelligent Design On Trail. The documentary, for those who are unfamiliar, covers the Kitzmiller v. Dover trial that turned out to be a major embarrassment for Intelligent Design advocates. As you surf the net and encounter the spin put out by the Discovery Institute keep this in mind:
However, Michael Behe, Scott Minich, and other ID proponents affiliated with the Discovery Institute declined to be interviewed under the normal journalistic conditions that NOVA uses for all programs. In the midst of our discussions, we even offered to provide them with complete footage of the interviews, so that they could be reassured that nothing would be taken out of context. But they declined nonetheless.
The program airs on Tuesday, November 13 at 8PM ET/PT on PBS. I recommend you record it. In the meantime, you can watch the trailer for the series below:
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I'll be sure to catch it. I can't wait to see the DI and their internet fellow travelers kvetch and whine about the movie, it will be my entertainment for the week.
Posted by: Tyler DiPietro | November 8, 2007 12:50 AM
A number of other bloggers have already commented on the Discomforted Institute's effort to slime the Nova episode. The DI seems desperate, as usual, having no facts on their side.
Posted by: mark | November 8, 2007 8:00 AM
Hey Mark, I got an "article not found". Maybe they're so worried they hope it will go away if they ignore it. The sad thing is that it probably will.
Posted by: terryt | November 8, 2007 11:10 PM
"But they declined nonetheless." Why am I not surprised? ;-) It must be very tiring for ID adherents to always fight intellectual debates without having any real scientific ammo to fire...
Posted by: Kris Verburgh | November 10, 2007 6:08 AM