Abbie (of ERV fame) and I after my talk at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Natural History Museum. It went well, I think. About 350 folks in the audience and the local NPR and PBS stations will apparently be offering audio and video at some stage. No questions from creationists (surprisingly) and, while the theme was the Darwinian Revolution, I got to get in a few comments regarding SB 320 and science education, and managed to plug Oklahomans for Excellence for Science Education.
Abbie tells me that she’ll blog something about the talk at some stage. We didn’t get to chat much, but will be getting together before the end of the week.
(Thanks to Ray for the photo!)
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Since the creationists ignored your Darwin day presentation, and you seem to be disappointed, I'll ask a question.
As Panda's Thumb publicized today, Eugenie Scott and some scientists are in a video birthday card for Charles Darwin, singing "Happy Birthday."
Can you name any other dead scientist who has had a video birthday card made for them?
Any living scientists who have thrown a birthday party for a dead scientist they did not personally meet?
For Newton? Einstein? Bohr? Maxwell? Any?
Have you noticed that in that picture Abbie and you are exhibiting an instinctual human behavior? Namely, you are providing Abbie with comfort and protection, while Abbie is accepting that comfort and protection. And I'll bet neither of you gave it any thought at all.
We have a lion-lioness relationship between men and women, with the ladies running things and the gents there for sex and muscle.
I think if any one is the pit-bull of the two of us, it's Abbie. She don't need protection from anyone!
Hey, I was wearing that Evolution shirt all day yesterday, too!
And yet, there were Creationists in the audience... including that weirdo YEC that challenged me to a dual yesterday. LOL!
When we had our Darwin Day Q&A last year, there were lots of Creationists in the audience, but not one asked a question.
Oklahoma Creationists are shy, I guess.
:P
My background is engineering, so the science tends to get over my head pretty quickly. Ken Miller's mass market books are about as far as I can go with my background and the time at my disposal. So, your talk was perfect for me. I enjoyed it alot. Thank you.
I liked it!
Completely off topic and inappropriate but Damn that ERV is a hottie!
No Name:
That's a matter of public record. You needn't bring it up as it goes without saying.
Also, Abbie's article on the meetup is hilarious.
I feel so honored that the back of my head is on scienceblogs.
That Abbie is a confident woman I do not doubt, but instinct has a way of overruling reason in a crisis situation. Besides which, pit bulls are some of the sweetest dogs I've ever met.
John says "No questions from creationists (surprisingly)"
How do you define the term "creationist?" Maxwell, Faraday, Pascal and Mendel were all creationists. And how do you determine that a question comes from a creationist? Since you are a scientist, I'm sure you have some set of well defined tests that help you determine who is a creationist and who is not.
I'm also wondering, if someone isn't a creationist, what are they? A spontaneous generationist? You can't say that they are a scientist, because some of the greatest scientists were and are creationists.
And, isn't evolution mute on the origin of life? E.g., science doesn't know how life started? Creation speaks primarily to the origin of life, not the origin of species.
@ DaveW
If you don't already know what a creationist is in the context of the above post, you need to spend more time here (and on other pro-science blogs). Your comment reeks of trolling (and YEC talking points).
That Abbie is a confident woman I do not doubt, but instinct has a way of overruling reason in a crisis situation.
Maybe I'm missing something, but that picture does not appear to be taken in a crisis situation.
I thought Abbie was 7' tall. Does that make you 8?
John - Your rhetoric plays well with non-scientists, people who can't think critically, and people who've been taught to fear and loathe anyone who would dare to challenge certain aspects of evolutionary theory and evolutionism.
Its your blog and your politics, but I would hope that you would reconsider your divisive behavior and tactics, and if you are an honest person, layout your definitions of all of the terms you use because they are ambiguous.
Otherwise, you are just playing politics to advance your own philosophy, beliefs and prejudices at the expense of others. Not very scientific, and not very honorable.
Thank you, DaveW. Your implicit lying (which John Lynch picked up on) was made explicit in your #16. Now no one else needs to take the time to reply to you, as your projection and admission of dishonesty have taken care of that.
John,
Glad that you liked the picture. It was nice meeting you and Abbie however briefly until the guards kicked everyone out. Great talk although I was also surprised (and encouraged) by the lack of anti-science type questions.
Cheers & Happy Monkey,
Ray