Scale

Here's a neat illustration of scale.

Secular Service and UC Symposium

October 18th is Secular Service Day. Seems like a good idea, and maybe next year we can organize ART to participate. I know we have a few members who have connections in non-profit organizations, so it shouldn't be too hard to find opportunities. A bit late to organize something now.

Also the 2009 Darwiniana Symposium: Darwinism, Science, Religion, and Society will be held at UC October 29-30.

Speakers include Eric Plutzer (Penn State University), George Bishop (University of Cincinnati), Patricia Pricehouse (Case Western Reserve University), Robert T. Pennock (University of Michigan), NCSE Supporter Francisco Ayala (University of California at Irvine), Jon Miller (Michigan State University), Michael Roos (University of Cincinnati), and Robert Richardson (University of Cincinnati).

UC Skeptics - Are Christianity & Evolution compatible?

Revisionist History

The webpage is currently down due to being hit by multiple majors blogs the last two days, but this piece of "art" makes some strange claims about the founders and modern society. The artist is trying to make some profound statements about America, but the symbolism is all screwed up. Of note is the number of founding fathers who are portrayed good Christians including Ben Franklin (fornicator), Thomas Jefferson (read his version of the Bible), George Washington (didn't take communion) and even Thomas Paine (atheist). I was especially confused by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. dressed as the modern American soldier.

If you were wondering, the college professor is sitting right next to Satan and Mr. Hollywood.

You can see a revised version of the art with a humorous slant to it here.

Lockland Ten Commandments

The story appears to be a bit light on details. Apparently the guy claims to have been harassed by the police and in retaliation has files a lawsuit to remove the display.

LOCKLAND - A Lockland resident has filed a lawsuit against the village, claiming a display of the Ten Commandments outside town hall is unconstitutional.

Christopher Knecht wants the sign removed and a court order to prevent any future displays of "religious fables and myths."

Collateral Damage (I'm going to get an earful on this one)

I have often wondered about our ability to so readily accept collateral damage in a conventional war, yet we are so unwilling to accept it in the war against crime.
In war news from Afghanistan, we hear of wedding parties decimated by unmanned drones, and women and children recklessly killed by Blackwater in a street fight. This is news for a couple of days, and then we forget and accept it as the cost of war. These people are true innocents. But, for a person who is on death row for a murder he or she most likely did commit, we agonize for 20 years and spend millions of dollars before we are willing to carry out the sentence.
I don't know if there are reliable statistics about wrongful convictions, but my guess is that a very small percentage are innocent of the crime they were convicted for, and an even smaller percentage are true innocents.
At what point do we say society can't afford this process anymore, and we have to accept it as collateral damage?

A Glorious Dawn

This video has been making the rounds around the skeptical blogosphere. It has a catchy tune and a nice message from Carl Sagan.


If you don't know what Autotune is check out this video from Nova Science Now.

What if the only way to send astronauts to Mars is to leave them there for good?

I heard a segment on NPR a couple of weeks ago, and today found the transcript.
The gist of it was:

"What if the only way to send astronauts to Mars is to leave them there for good? Lawrence Krauss, a physicist at Arizona State University and director of the Origins Initiative, argues that a one-way trip is worth considering, and that it wouldn't be hard to find passengers."

An interesting concept.
The argument is that a round trip would be exponentially more expensive.
According to the guest, he has been able to find quite a few people who would be willing to volunteer.

The Transcript

The Audio

Betty Bowers, America's Best Christian

I don't know how many of you know about Betty Bowers, "America's Best Christian". The quote on her latest missive is, "I will NOT let Mr. Obama brainwash children! That is MY job."

Just for grins, check out her site at:
http://www.bettybowers.com/index.html

Here are some graphics that are worth a chuckle (I shudder to think how many people believe this sort of stuff).

http://www.bettybowers.com/bettyschool.jpg

http://www.bettybowers.com/bettybowersbible.jpg

-- Jill

Seasonal and 'Swine' flu

The blog Science-Based Medicine has a great article on the flu. Check it out and be the most informed person in your class this year.

Richard Wiseman

Richard Wiseman has an interesting website where he delves into the workings of the human mind. He loves to exploit some of the trickier parts.



It took me a few minutes to see anything, but once I did it became difficult to 'unsee' it.

Nice online talk on medicine

There is a very nice talk on medicine, the scientific method, and skepticism on the Skeptics Toolbox by Harriet Hall, MD.
http://skepticstoolbox.org/hall/
Here are a couple of slides:

Cartoons of the day

An oldie but a goodie.

Latest Doonesbury - So True

I'm reminded of a founding member of the Cincinnati Skeptics who long ago observed that:
"Skeptics are just another fringe group."

Creationist Blog

Check out this Creationist blog if you get a chance. I had an interesting exchange with the author towards the end of the comments.
http://thebibleistheotherside.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/hb-2800-in-texas-will-help-creationist-grad-school/

Liberty University's Creation Studies Department

I have started reading "The Unlikely Disciple" by Kevin Roose. This interesting book is about how he spent the Sprint 2007 semester at Jerry Falwell's 20,000 student Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is a fascinating account of the good and the bad about his time there.
What I wanted to talk about was their Creation Studies Department.

Apparently, they lost their accreditation in Virginia in 1982 from pressure from the ACLU, so that graduates were uncertifiable as public school teachers, since Liberty only taught creationism in biology classes (and everywhere else). To respond to this, the university moved all the creation coursed to their new Creation Studies department and was able to have students be teacher certified. All Liberty students are required to take a course in creation studies, biology majors are also required to learn evolution studies. As Roose says:

"And even those evolution courses are sort of Fair and Balanced(TM), if you get my drift. As Dr. Falwell said in 1982, before the Virginia board ruling: 'We with God's help, want to see hundreds of our graduates go out into the classrooms teaching creationism - of course they'll be teaching evolution - but teaching why it's invalid and why it's foolish, and then showing the proper way and the correct approach to the origin of the species'."

Liberty still seems to teach the original creation science. I gather many of the more funamentalist based colleges now teach intelligent design, but Liberty has remained pure to the original creed. BTW, he mentions that his required course was taught by a Dr. Dekker with some reasonable science cred in neuroscience. He recounts his first encounter in the classroom describing Dr. Dekker as in a white lab coat as if he was shipped from Central Casting as a movie extra playing Chemist #4. The first words he said in class were "My name is Dr. James Dekker, and I am a real scientist." This strikes me as a little defensive. Sort of reminds me of Dr. Science.

Creation Museum "Science" Fair

The Creation Museum is hosting a "Science" fair in February. This isn't a real science fair, if your child wants to participate they have to agree with the AiG Statement of Faith.

Do I have to believe a literal interpretation of Genesis, including creation about 6,000 years ago, to participate?

One reason we are holding this Science Fair is to show that creationists are capable of conducting good science. We also want to provide an opportunity to encourage creationist students with an interest in science to pursue their goals. In light of these intentions, the invitation to participate is open to any 7–12 grader who agrees with the Answers in Genesis Statement of Faith.

Of course, in real scientific studies there are no doctrines that one must follow in order to do experiments or research.

The cost of participating is $5/student, but I don't see anything on how much it would cost to attend the fair. In the past other creationist 'science' fairs have been good evidence for how otherwise bright children are being misled.

Amazing

From Yahoo News:
An undated photo released by The University of Cambridge shows a rook, a member of the crow family, as it drops stones into a tube to raise the water level and bring a worm into reach, at the Sub-department of Animal Behaviour at University of Cambridge. In Aesop's fable 'The crow and the pitcher' a thirsty crow uses stones to raise the level of water in a pitcher to quench its thirst. A new study published online Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009 in the journal Current Biology demonstrates that rooks, birds belonging to the corvid, or crow family, are able to solve complex problems using tools and can easily master the same technique demonstrated in Aesop's fable.
(AP Photo/The University of Cambridge)

Cartoon of the day

Irradiated food

I have been wondering why there is such a difference in the perception of genetically modified and irradiated foods between European countries and the United States.
On the one hand, most of the people of the US have few concerns about genetically modified foods. Yet they react very strongly against Irradiated foods. Just the opposite is true in Europe.
From the standpoint of the consumers, I have to side with the Europeans. Irradition is actually a very simple technology, which has been thoroughly tested, and really can't offer a lot of surprises. There can't be any residual radiation or others toxins in the food as a result of the radiation. I have read that if fresh strawberries are packed in Mylar and irradiated, they can last for 6 months on the shelf without refrigeration. Less spoilage and no refrigeration costs translates to more food getting to the people who need it. The only concern I have about irradiation is for the safety of the employees at the food processing end.
Genetic modification, on the other hand, especially if done at the DNA level, provides an almost infinite number of possible recombinations. The odds of accidentally producing something detrimental to humans are extremely high. Right now we are taking an Alchemist approach to the science of Genetics. We just dice and splice, and see what happens. Even if we learned enough to be able to accurately computer model the results before we splice, the science can never be perfect.
What do you think?