It's one of the curses of blogging - there's no way to control when good stories to blog about pop up. It would be great if we could regulate the flow in some way, and get the stories to show up at nice, regular intervals. Give me one good story a day, and one really good story every second or third day, and I'm a happy blogger. It would be so nice if life worked that way.
Anyway . . .
Today, there are way too many good stories to write about. We've got (in no particular order) mammal evolution in the news, a philosopher questioning the usefulness of lab courses, a good reminder of why local politics is important, a group of Congresscritters that think "prayer is the answer," everyone's favorite creationist surgeon acting like a five-year old, Senator Inhofe acting like, well, Senator Inhofe, and the United States Marine Corps being bloody stupid.
Highlights on each below the fold.
Mammal Evolution:
A new paper, just published in the journal Nature, suggests that mammals began to evolve and diversify much earlier than was previously thought. The new information comes from molecular data, not the fossil record, which raises some interesting questions about how much molecular diversity is (or isn't) related to morphological diversity. There are posts at Voltage Gate and Pharyngula right now that discuss this paper, and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be making a more detailed post about this one later today.
The Utility of Lab Courses:
This one is currently the Buzz here at Scienceblogs. Steve Gimbel, a philosopher at Gettysburg College, posted an article at his blog that basically suggested that non-science majors shouldn't have to take lab courses. (That's the fortune-cookie version, anyway.) Janet, Chad, RPM, Chad, Razib, and Chad have all weighed in on this one. (With three posts, Chad appears to be the most annoyed.) Between them, they've covered things fairly well. I pretty much agree with what seems to be the developing consensus: when they are good, lab courses for non-majors can be the single best way to teach how science really works - and that is probably more important for non-majors to learn than facts and figures. When they are bad, they're awful, but that goes for lecture courses, too.
All Politics is Local . . .:
Over at Thoughts from Kansas, Josh Rosenau has a post up about local school board races. Besides touching on the local issues, Josh sums up in eight words a strategy that conservative extremists have been successfully using for years all over the country: "Run on taxes, govern on the culture war." That's why we all need to get more involved. America was founded on the principles of self-government - so get off the damn sofa and self-govern, people.
. . . and that's good, because there are some real schmucks on the national stage:
Mike the Mad Biologist has a short article up about the recent antics of the Congressional Prayer Caucus. The Prayer Caucus is encouraging everyone to pray for the US and it's leaders for at least five minutes each week. Personally, I think that it would be more productive to encourage everyone to take at least five minutes each week to pay attention to actual issues that are important to the future of the nation, but that's (a) just me and (b) probably overly optimistic. I'd also encourage the elected jackasses who got up there yesterday and said things like, "Jesus is always the answer," (Todd Akin, R-Mo) and "prayer is the solution," (John Carter, R-TX) to go get preaching gigs, and let people who think that there might be something that the government can do to help the poor, the sick, and the uneducated work in peace.
In other Congressional-level inanity, James Inhofe and other Senate Republicans are trying, as Shelley Batts points out, to block Al Gore from having his "Live Earth" concert on the Capitol steps. Why? Because the event, which is intended to highlight the threats created by climate change, is "highly partisan" and "politically controversial." Give me a break. It's really not our fault that Inhofe and the Republicans have made being anti-reality a part of their partisan agenda.
The Revenge of the Egnorant:
Everyone's least favorite Creationist Brain Surgeon, Michael Egnor, is at it again, jumping up and down chanting "I can't heeeeaaaaarrrrrr yoooouuuuu!!!" at the top of his lungs. Orac and PZ are on it, and I will be piling on later on. It's not an important issue, really, but it's so easy and he makes it so much fun.
From the Halls of Montezuma:
Finally, we have the US Marines being bloody stupid. In the middle of a war, at a time when they are trying to recruit more people and increase the size of the Corps, the Marines have decided to focus on an issue that really matters. Tattoos. The new Commandant issued a directive barring large tatoos below the elbows or knees. It's not yet clear whether the directive, which threatens those who obtain such tatoos after Sunday with jail time and dishonorable discharge, will keep those who already have such tatoos from enlisting.
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RE: prayer caucus...
I'll admit, I don't understand the technicalities of prayer, but the first thing that went through my mind was: Why should people pray especially for the US and not all countries? Does everybody else in the world not matter? Are we only entitled to pray about our problems?
As a matter of fact, isn't it selfish to pray for anything specific? Why not just ask God each time, "God, I pray for you to make everything better and fix all the world's problems"? If prayer doesn't work like that, then what's really on God's mind? Is the "effectiveness" of your prayer inversely correlated to its scope? Where does one obtain a copy of the "prayer manual" which describes these rules?
Gah, it's is all so frustrating. I'm glad none of my elected representatives are in this thing..
Since God is omniscient and omnipresent, He already knows how every thing is going to work out and where and when an intervention will be made.
Therefore the only reason for Him to listen to prayers is that He likes to hear people beg.
I wonder why praying makes some people feel better?
Paul, part of my theory (as an ex-Christian) is that it gives people a way to feel like they are contributing, or that they are exerting some amount of control over something that is out of their control. So it may reduces one's sense of guilt for not being part of the solution, or it may relieve anxiety caused by events outside one's control. Those are not the only reasons for praying or the only ways it makes one feel better, but I think they are both applicable here, and both were factors for me.
I can only answer this question for one specific person: my mother.
She is always telling us (my sibs and I) to "lift it up to God" whenever one of us mentions a problem. The practical result of this is that we don't discuss our problems when Mom is around. Anyway, in Mom's mind, prayer relieves her of the responsibility to put any real effort into a solution. The problem is still there, but once she has prayed at it, it isn't her concern anymore, therefore she doesn't have to worry about it, therefore she feels better. Mom has a serious reality disconnect.
I don't know if this applies to other "power of prayer" types.