gregladen | September 11, 2010This is Al Qaeda day because it is on this day nine years ago that Al Qaeda, the terrorist organization that had been doing battle with the US for some 8 years or so, finally won the War against the West, resoundingly defeating George Bush by successfully completing the most terrorizing event to have been carried out ever. To this day, the United States is little more than a deer caught fearfully in the headlights of Osama bin Laden's Cadillac SUV as he drives about the desert playing with his guns and religion.
Sadly, the defeat was not so much a success of bin Laden, as it was a collapse…
gregladen | September 11, 2010I went to an Indian Restaurant last time I was in Arkansas and this was the entertainment.
The problem with a Sitar Sarod is that you can't jump around on the stage while you are jamming with it.
Hat Tip: Miss Cellania
gregladen | September 10, 2010Really. If a dam is not an important current hydroelectric source, why not remove it next time it needs major renovation? Oh, and if you live downstream, move.
That's my idea for World Rivers Day which is traditionally celebrated on the last Sunday in September. I'll be at the river! Here's the details.
gregladen | September 10, 2010We were standing behind my friend Andre's store in Isiro, Zaire, waiting for Andre to finish receiving some orders so we could sit down for some tea, or may be some beer, and do a little black market trading.
A big truck with a canvas top stretched over an iron frame was backing up to the loading dock. These loading docks had solid concrete bases set at the approximate height of a freight truck's bed, and with a large concrete and steel canopy over the top to provide shade and protection from the rain. All this concrete and steal is normal for the region: Most houses are made of either…
gregladen | September 10, 2010..that even when you try diligently to separate the politics of religion vs. creationism and to say again and again that religion can go along its merry way as long as it stays out of the science classroom, people like Casey Luskin will still find the words in your rhetoric to accuse you of attacking religion.
A while back, Genie Scott appeared with me and Lynn Fellman on Atheist Talk Radio, where we discussed science education. Genie is the director of the National Center for Science Education.
Subsequently, in a posting on the Discovery Institute web site, Casey Luskin makes the contrast…
gregladen | September 10, 2010That depends ... on what X and Y are!
And if that does not come naturally to you, perhaps you should read The Complete Idiot's Guide to Pre-Algebra by Amy Szczepanski and Andrew Kositsky.
The CIG to PA is built just like the other books in the Idiot's series, using familiar conventions to keep the flow of the book smooth while providing additional ancillary information, and in the case of this text, practice problems (answers provided in the back). This book reminds me of a tired old reference I've got on my shelf called Technical Mathematics. Sometimes you just need a place to look up…
gregladen | September 10, 2010Everyone who went out and purchaced Islamic Holy Books for the big burning on September 11th needs to just take it down a notch, put the Qurans on the book shelf next to the Bhagavad Gita and that copy of Catcher in the Rye you've always planed to read and switch to plan B for celebrating the defeat of Western Culture by the Mossleman bin Laden. (No relation.) Because the nutjob in Florida who caused all this fuss has backed down.
According to "Reverend" Terry Jones, the Islamic Center Rec/Mosque to have been built at Ground Zero will not be built on that site, and according to Jones, these…
gregladen | September 9, 2010Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
gregladen | September 9, 2010Sara Lee isn't just a baked good any more:
Sara Lee Schupf, the namesake of the Sara Lee bakery brand, will this week announce a $1.5 million gift to the New York Hall of Science to create a Center on Play, Science and Technology Learning, or SciPlay at the Queens institution.
The center will serve as an incubator and research hub to develop programs and educational materials for teachers that support connections between play, science and technology. Mrs. Schupf's gift will also provide funds to recruit a group of fellows at the center.
Details
The Denver Science Museum (remember this?)…
gregladen | September 9, 2010The Institute for Creation "Research" moved from California to Texas a few years ago in part, it is believed, to set up a masters program for teachers in life sciences. I'm guessing they figured they could get Texas to certify a bogus Masters program more easily than California. They did make some progress, but it went to court, and just recently they lost that case and had to give up on the idea.
Subsequently, they've pulled another rabbit out of the hat: A degree in "Christian Apologetics" which would serve a similar purpose as the Creationist MA (and it would have a "Creation 'Science…
gregladen | September 9, 2010Much in the same way that "woodpeckers" have evolved several times (most are birds that look like each other, but then there is the aye-aye and Darwin's finch), one can say that the nightjars are birds poking around in the insect-eating bat niche.
Nightjars are crepuscular birds also known as goatsuckers. The most commonly seen nightjars in the US are probably nighthawks. The Whip-poor-will is one. If you've traveled much in Africa, then you may just know of them as "Nightjars" as in "Whoa, Rafiei, what was that bird that just flew out of the dirt road past our headlights?" ... "That was…
gregladen | September 9, 2010Microsoft says Teh Gay is "inappropriate." The corporate computer giant and evile empire banned a kid from having an X-box account because he listed the name of his home town in his profile, and happens to live in Fort Gay. The people of Fort Gay are not putting up with this. When challenged, Microsoft made up some fake story about how this happened, said they were sorry, and agreed to reinstate the child's account. As long as he not list his home town as Fort Gay. Which part of "you are a bunch of bumbling morans" do they not understand? And these are the people who are in charge of…
gregladen | September 9, 2010Live from Skeptrack at Dragon*Con, we talk to the women of skepticism about the contributions they're making to science and critical thinking.
In this episode:
Panelists: Kylie Sturgess of The Token Skeptic, Robynn "Swoopy" McCarthy of Skepticality, and Heidi Anderson and Jenna Marie Griffith of SheThought.
Live on September 10th, as a podcast Sunday. Details here.
gregladen | September 9, 2010"Maybe Hawking should leave God alone," claims Marcelo Gleiser.
Poor god. Getting beat up by a guy in a wheel chair.
Gleisser essentially argues that Hawking can't make the claims he makes about the irrelevance of god in an origin physics. Yet, Gleisser freely implies the possibility of god-like entities in discussing on how it all started. So, the way it works is like this: If you agree with Gleisser, you can use the same kinds of arguments he uses. If you disagree with Gleisser, you should, well, shut up and stuff.
If I was Hawking, and Gleisser was in the vicinity, I'd double…
gregladen | September 9, 2010The U.S. Army honors soldiers wounded or killed in combat with the Purple Heart, a powerful symbol designed to recognize their sacrifice and service.
Yet Army commanders have routinely denied Purple Hearts to soldiers who have sustained concussions in Iraq, despite regulations that make such wounds eligible for the medal, an investigation by NPR and ProPublica has found.
gregladen | September 9, 2010You have to tell your child's life science teacher (or, any science teacher for that matter) that your family does not support creationism, does not want to see anyone "teaching the controversy" and that you know that "Intelligent Design" is a form of creationism. I promise you, the creationist parents of your child's peers, and some of the creationist kids in the classroom, are not keeping their mouths shut. Why should you?
So, pursuant to this, I have composed a template for you to use as an email or letter to send to your child or ward's life science teacher:
Dear [Fill In the Blank],…
gregladen | September 9, 2010Technically, Igor is no longer a tropical storm, but the National Hurricane Center had decided to let Igor keep it's Tropical Storm Symbol and that status that goes along with that for the rest of the day. If Igor shapes up and gets its act in gear, then, well, we'll see.
Igor is in the vicinity of Cape Verde and is expected to move west or west/northwest through an area with conditions very favorable to hurricane development. By the end of the coming weekend, Igor is expected to be a respectable hurricane. Indeed, this may be one to keep an eye on.
Meanwhile, there is a nasty bit of…
gregladen | September 9, 2010Rachel Sussman shows photographs of the world's oldest continuously living organisms -- from 2,000-year-old brain coral off Tobago's coast to an "underground forest" in South Africa that has lived since before the dawn of agriculture.
gregladen | September 9, 2010Have a look at this video, done by Brian Rooney of ABC News Nightline, in which he follows around Billy Jack and Rusty Carter, two young earth creationists who are leading a school group through the Denver Museum of Nature and Science:
A revise repost.
Young earth creationists, or 'YEC's' believe the earth and all forms of life that exist today were created over a six day period 4004 B.C.
In this piece, the YEC's are showing exhibits to the young students, asking them questions, teaching them, and so on. Rooney also interviews the two YEC's in the absence of the children, as well as Kirk…