gregladen | September 16, 2010This 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 appeasement question; A phone call from a famous Pharyngulistum; Science standards; Local control. The Minnesota Science Standards. An intelligently designed buffet and the question of "alternative curriculum."
Go listen, and come back and comment.
gregladen | September 16, 2010Rember this Hall and Oats video from Shorewood High School? If you liked that, you might like this:
gregladen | September 16, 2010Scientists 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 memory, and there are similar bits and pieces of historical data suggesting that sea ice was once much more extensive in the Northern Hemisphere than at present.
Since 1979 there have been three years in which Arctic sea ice reached a rather alarming minimum size prior to reforming. We are in one…
gregladen | September 16, 2010First, 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 provides results from science oriented and skeptical sites. The search engine needs updating to include some of the new science blogging networks, but it still works pretty well the way it is. I entered "Bible" and got this:
You can have your pick.
gregladen | September 16, 2010Editor'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 it. So, she asked me, and as it turns out, I did not know anything. But, having heard the news from her, I noticed a different bit of information that came along with it that told me exactly who would know everything about it, so I sent along a question .... "What's going on with the [deleted]?" I…
gregladen | September 16, 2010First, 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 teachings in public schools in the United States, though that battle took decades. Just as creationists were being driven off he landscape, a sort of Battle of the Bulge occurred, in the form of Intelligent Design.
a repost
Intelligent Design is a scientific-looking theory which is really just more…
gregladen | September 15, 2010I 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 allegiances aside, Russ is one of the most courageous and dynamic progressives in the Senate -- and he's facing a tough fight this November. Russ's opponent is spending millions of his own dollars attacking him.
Click here to join Russ Feingold's oddly named but absolutely critical "Cheddarbomb" today!
If…
gregladen | September 15, 2010I'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. Mostly.
In the mean time, have a look at this:
That is from NOAA's new Climate Services site, where you too can mess around with the data and get the bejeebus scared out of you. Click here. If you dare.
They need a graph for pirates.
gregladen | September 15, 2010There 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 emissions by around 10% or so.
But these approaches are nearly impossible to implement. Why? Because people are ignorant and selfish.
The two methods are: 1) Replace existing technologies with more efficient ones and 2) Use energy less. I'm not talking about replacing technologies at a…
gregladen | September 15, 2010It is a plot, as I always suspected.
Seth Godin at Gel 2006 from Gel Conference on Vimeo.
Here's his web site.
gregladen | September 15, 2010After 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 countries, that works with changing boundaries and that welcomes innovation.
gregladen | September 15, 2010Arts 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.
gregladen | September 15, 2010This 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 deadly ocean acidification.
gregladen | September 15, 2010I 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 in for a surprise.
A repost
You see this quote all the time on K-12 educational material as a header, footer, slogan, logo, inspirational message, and so on. It obviously means something good about teachers. Maybe something good about education. The quote is by Henry Adams and comes from…
gregladen | September 14, 2010Do 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 displaying a pregnant nun has vowed to position similar posters in London in time for the Pope's visit.
Antonio Federici's advert showed a pregnant nun eating ice cream in a church, together with the strap line "immaculately conceived".
Brilliant!!! Details here at the BBC
gregladen | September 14, 2010Governor 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. Between his ears.
Here's the story, where you can see the news bit and if you like leave a comment! (I did.)
Notice the major blunder the reporter in this video makes: Explicitly distinguishing between creationism and intelligent design. Also, of course, the unquestioning assumption that…
gregladen | September 14, 2010Before:
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 Dáil Ãireann (the lower house of the Irish parliament) and serves as Minister of State for Science, Technology, Innovation, and Natural Resources, is billed as launching John J. May's The Origin of Specious Nonsense (Dublin: Original Writing, 2010) at a September 15, 2010, event in Dublin.
(source,…
gregladen | September 14, 2010Stones & 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 flagship magazine of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, for its Fall 2008 Focus on books on evolution and adaptation for young scientists, Stones & Bones sketches the story of evolution in seventeen verses. Through words and illustrations readers will find answers to questions such as, when…
gregladen | 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: