Ferrel monk parakeets in Brooklyn (They’ve been living there long enough to get into some bird identification guides) are being poached by …. parakeet poachers! Here is the story.
Check this out:
Exelon, a nuclear giant that recently backed away from building new nuclear plants, is moving into wind.
The inside story on giant sharks at Tetrapod Zoology.
Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design
In this important book published by Oxford University Press in 2004, Forrest and Gross assert that there is a new strategy afoot among pro-creationists. What Forrest and Gross claimed four years ago is every bit as much true today. This strategy consists of …
… a no-holds-barred commitment to particular, parochial religious beliefs about the history and fabric of the world … This variant has eliminated brilliantly the obstacle of rational opposition to ideology … The new strategy is wonderfully simple. Here is how you implement it: exploiting that modern, nearly universal, liberal suspicion of zealotry, you accuse the branch of legitimate inquiry whose results you hate, in this case the evolutionary natural sciences, of — what else? — zealotry! … Crying “viewpoint discrimination,” you loudly demand adherence to the principle of freedom of speech, especially in teaching, insisting that such freedom is being denied your legitimate alternative view…
This bold strategy is working, not just with religious fundamentalists, who do not need to be convinced anyway, but with people who have no such fundamentalist commitment and who are in principle well-enough educated to see what is happening. …
This lusty new variant of creationism is advancing rapidly by means of a strategy called “The Wedge.”
Continue reading Creationism’s Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design
A little over a year ago, there was a meeting of the Minnesota Atheists that included a one hour panel discussion of evolution, creationism, science education, and so on. The panel was moderated by Lynn Fellman, and included (in order from right to left as the audience gazed on) Randy Moore, Sehoya Cotner, Jane Phillips, Greg Laden, and PZ Myers. I thought it would be interesting to repost a description of that event for Back to School Month.
Continue reading Creationism and Evolution in the Classroom
As Earl bears down on North Carolina and environs (well, slides by rudely if not bears down) I’ll be stepping back from regular discussions of the Tropical Weather situation as I engage in labor day weekend activities. Meanwhile, have a look at this post at the NASA web site with more interesting and sometimes freaky views of Earl’s Eye.