September 17, 2010
This might be a little unusual for me, being an American of my age and all, but over the course of my life I've had a small number of close friends who were Hitler Youth in Germany during World War II. I don't hold that specific fact against anyone. But, just in case you wanted to see it, I…
September 17, 2010
Hitler wth Archbishop Cesare Orsenigo, the papal nuncio in Berlin, 1935
On April 20, 1939, Archbishop Orsenigo celebrated Hitler's birthday. The celebrations, initiated by Pacelli (Pope Pius XII) became a tradition. Each April 20, Cardinal Bertram of Berlin was to send "warmest congratulations to…
September 17, 2010
Amy Binder and John H. Evans, associate professors of Sociology at the University of California at San Diego, have written a piece on efforts to force religion in the guise of Intelligent Design and Creationism down the throats of children in Texas.
a repost
A proposal before the Texas Board of…
September 16, 2010
Summary of Hitler's Pope: The Secret History of Pius XII from Library Journal:
Relying on exclusive access to Vatican and Jesuit archives, an award-winning Roman Catholic journalist argues that through a 1933 Concordat with Hitler, Pope Pius XII facilitated the dictator's riseAand, ultimately, the…
September 16, 2010
Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust is a book well worth reading. I've read it and I think highly of the book.
I don' t have time to write a review right now, but here's the PW writeup:
Goldhagen's gripping and shocking landmark study transforms our understanding of…
September 16, 2010
Germany was a Christian nation long before the Nazi's came along in the 1920s. When the Nazi's took power in Germany, they were widely and generally supported. Even after the defeat of the Third Reich in 1945, a majority of the German People (in a survey conducted by the US military) remained…
September 16, 2010
A new study identifies a likely cause of rapid degeneration in some Alzheimer's patients. The results of this study may lead to improved treatment.
But first, let's look at the method used in this study, because that may be almost as important as a development. And for this, we will use a sports…
September 16, 2010
I would hope not, but in fact there seems to be no effective mechanism in place to keep in check a not insignificant number of Google engineers who have full access to everyone's gMail contents and other private information. And, there is always David Barksdale.
David Barksdale was one such…
September 16, 2010
The following is an abstract from an article by Eugenie Scott of the National Center for Science Education called “WHAT'S WRONG WITH THE "TEACH THE CONTROVERSY" SLOGAN?” available here.
a repost
a repost
Teachers are often exhorted by creationists to "teach the controversy." Although such…
September 16, 2010
This is from a few months back, but is very relevant to Back to School Month!
The podcast for today's radio discussion with Fellman, Scott and Laden is available.
A bit about the history of the NCSE; cultural relativism in the science education movement; Greg disses bench scientists again; The…
September 16, 2010
Rember this Hall and Oats video from Shorewood High School? If you liked that, you might like this:
September 16, 2010
Scientists have been measuring sea ice very carefully since 1979. Prior to that, there are estimates that are of varying degrees of usefulness. I know for a fact that many New England lighthouses were attached to land by winter-long ice in places that have not had sea ice in any living person's…
September 16, 2010
First, we have SeekFind, the "Christian Search Engine" where you will not find anything that conflicts with the bible. Click here. I entered "Australopithecus" and got 163 results almost all from the Institute for Creation Research.
Second, we have the skeptical search engine, click here, which…
September 16, 2010
Editor's Selection IconThe other day a friend of mine bumped into some news that concerned her. She could have asked a random person about this to find out more information, but there was a bit of information that came with the news indicating that I might know more than the average person about…
September 16, 2010
First, there was plain and simple creationism, a Christian idea that, in an ideal Christian world, would be taught as part of any science dealing with the past, including biology (evolution), geology, and presumably history.
But the constitution stood in the way of implementing basic Christian…
September 15, 2010
I just got the following email from Al Franken:
Dear Greg,
Believe me, the last thing a Vikings fan like me would ever think to support is something called a "Cheddarbomb."
But while the Packers may be our rival, I'd do just about anything to help out my friend Russ Feingold.
His football…
September 15, 2010
I've noticed that a lot of smart people who nonetheless "did not accept" AGW, or at least, denied the "A" part of it, have stoped talking about it lately. I'm speaking here of people I know personally. You know who you are, and you know you were wrong, and I just wanted to say that I forgive you…
September 15, 2010
There are two quick and fairly easy approaches to reducing US emissions of CO2 by several percent. These reduction would be at the household level, possibly decreasing the household cost of energy by between 20 and 30 percent (or more, depending on the household) and decreasing national total CO2…
September 15, 2010
It is a plot, as I always suspected.
Seth Godin at Gel 2006 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.
Here's his web site.
September 15, 2010
After 15 years in the British diplomatic corps, Carne Ross became a "freelance diplomat," running a bold nonprofit that gives small, developing and yet-unrecognized nations a voice in international relations. At the BIF-5 conference, he calls for a new kind of diplomacy that gives voice to small…
September 15, 2010
Arts administrator and live-theater fan Ben Cameron looks at the state of the live arts -- asking: How can the magic of live theater, live music, live dance compete with the always-on Internet? At TEDxYYC, he offers a bold look forward.
September 15, 2010
This Rob Dunbar is NOT Robin Dunbar the Archaeologist.
Rob Dunbar hunts for data on our climate from 12,000 years ago, finding clues inside ancient seabeds and corals and inside ice sheets. His work is vital in setting baselines for fixing our current climate -- and in tracking the rise of…
September 15, 2010
I just received a mass emailing from Julia's high school, in the name of the principal. Routine business. At the end of the missive was this quote:
A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.
What does this quote mean to you? If you don't know its context, you may be…
September 14, 2010
Do you remember the controversy over nuns painting a naked guy as part of an advertising campaign? (Click here, not work safe if anyone is looking and they're a prude.) Well, apparently one thing led to another and one of the nuns got pregnant!
An ice cream company banned from using an advert…
September 14, 2010
Governor Rick Perry's position is that he believes in "Intelligent Design" as a matter of faith and intellect. Well, his faith is out of place (did he not swear to protect and defend the US constitution? On a bible?) and his intellect is clearly damaged by exposure to those wide open Texas spaces…
September 14, 2010
Before:
Irish science minister boosts antievolution blarney
The Irish minister of state for science is to appear at a launch party for a self-published antievolutionist book, according to the Irish Times (September 13, 2010). Conor Lenihan, who represents Dublin South West for Fianna Fáil in Dá…
September 14, 2010
Stones & Bones is a new book for children on the topic we all know and love: Evolution.
The book comes with a CD and there is a very useful accompanying web site, according to the publishers. The NCSE recommends it.
One of only eleven books selected by the editors of BioScience, the…
September 14, 2010
NOT!!!!!!
Actually, I think we can make even better arguments about Luskin's points than this fun video gives. Put them in the comment section please:
