The winners of the Alliance for Science essay contest that I mentioned a couple of months ago, where high school students were asked to write an essay of 1,000 words or less about the topic Why would I want my doctor to have studied evolution?, have been announced.
My only question is why the actual essays aren't posted on the Alliance's website. I did find, however, that the winner, Gregory Simonian, has a blog, where he describes his struggle to write the winning essay:
I'll give you some behind-the-scenes commentary. I had a super tough time cutting that essay within the word limit. I had to get rid of an entire section about the Tripoli Six (Six foreign doctors in Libya sentenced for infecting kids with HIV, even though new research found that it was impossible. For more detail, search scienceblogs.com, they'll have more detail than you can ever use). Even then, I had to kinda get rid of a few adjectives in that essay. I believe the final word could was 3 under the maximum. I never thought I would have so much to say.
Yeah, as one of the more--shall we say?--verbose bloggers out there, I can feel your pain.
I just wish that I could read the results. I hope The Alliance for Science posts the winning essays soon. I'd be happy to link to them. It'd also be hilarious to see the reaction of everyone's favorite creationist neurosurgeon, Dr. Egnor, who had waxed so indignant about the very concept behind this contest.
In any case, head on over to cactaur's (a.k.a. Gregory Simonian's) blog and congratulate him!
I also note that two of the winners come from New Jersey. Maybe this will help counteract the taint brought upon the state due to the Matthew LaClair case, which was recently settled.
You, verbose? Why this is a perfect example of your usual short and concise posts.
Not a chance, Orac, as long as we have the future Reverend Jim "Machiavelli" McGreevey teaching ethics classes. . .
Hi Orac, thanks for the link. In my 5 seconds of stardom, I can only say I hope that you and your readers enjoy reading the essay as much as I enjoyed writing it. There were several times when I just had to laugh when reading about Dr. Egnor. Though, I can probably imagine your frustration writing about him. Well, lets see how things turn out, and how soon the essay is released. Thanks again.
Because it would mean that they had taken biology at some point.
Not to quibble, but aren't five of the six nurses? Not that any of that makes a difference, they still might be saved though it's clear that the truth of the matter isn't driving the pogrom, it's lies of convenience and politics.
Olvlzl: You're right, they were. Unfortunately, the post suffered from generalization. I'll fix that. Thanks for catching it.