A few suggestions for books you can use at home to enhance, prepare for or catch up with various topics.
Great Physics Book: Black Bodies and Quantum Cats by Jennifer Ouellette.
Why the Wind Blows: A History of Weather
Home Chemistry: A New Guide for Hobbyists and Home Schoolers
You all know about the latest dustups and new research related to climate change, including the resignation of the Editor-in-Chief of a major journal as well as some new papers about global warming. There has been so much activity over recent days that I thought a new link farm would be a good thing. So, here it is. Please let me know if I’ve missed anything!
You 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:
Continue reading Back To School: Your Letter to you Child’s Life Science Teacher
Two videos from the NCSE …
Continue reading Back to school special: Teaching Evolution
Dentistry Overthrown!
Continue reading Wisdumb Teeth No Longer Need To Be Extracted!
Recommended reading
… Collective violence, extending from riots to warfare, presents a challenge to our ordinary understanding of free will. Actions that would rarely be taken by an individual on their own seem to be embraced when supported by a larger group. This can occur in societies ranging from the communist regime of Soviet Russia to the capitalist free market of modern day England. Given this commonality, perhaps the collective violence of a riot can be best understood as a biological event in which evolved cognitive responses encounter a unique environmental threat. And if that is the case, do individuals caught up in such incidents have any choice in the matter? …
Read the entire essay by Eric Michael Johnson here.
You will recall that in July a paper came out claiming that clouds, not CO2, caused climate change (I simplify slightly). Later, the Editor in Chief of the journal that published the paper resigned. Well, today, a paper came out that addresses the science side of the original paper. The origional paper appears to have been both poorly done and probably improperly (as in unethically done). The paper that just came out shows that clouds do not cause climate change. Climate science remains intact. Climate change denialism takes another hit.
I’ve written it up here. Deltoid has this covered as well.
In addition, there is some interesting reading here, here, here, and here.
Enjoy.
The question of whether clouds are the cause of global warming has been settled:
No, they are not.
Continue reading Latest Research Shows That Clouds Do NOT Cause Global Warming
Was Michele Bachmann’s campaign sabotaged as part of an insidious plot? Maybe.
Should 9/11 really be represented in a child’s coloring book with racist overtones? I’m thinking not.
Has Fox News finally become an honest and reliable source? Ah … well, no, apparently.
As you probably have heard, Ed Rollins, the very man who said “I gotta make a choice and go with the intelligent woman who’s every bit as attractive,” has left the Michele Bachmann for President Campaign. His senior deputy heavy hitter David Polyansky is also departing.
I’m pretty sure that this is step three in a three-step sabotage plan that Michele Bachmann herself is blissfully unaware of.
We Shall Never Forget 9/11 Coloring Book – Graphic Coloring Novel
African American Leaders celebrates the diversity, history, and accomplishments of African Americans in North America. Used widely in schools around the nation for educational purposes. This is a Really Big Educational Coloring & Story Book!
and Dinosaurs …
Dino’s has 32 exciting pages of Dino coloring, including Velociraptor, Tyrannosaurus, Seismosaurus, Pretty Jaw and much more. This book includes two pages of Dino cutouts, Dino plants, and a Dino forest. A Really Big Coloring Book!
But also Noah and the Ark ..
Noah and the Ark is one of the best known and most beloved stories of the Old Testament. In addition to telling the traditional story, the coloring book includes many animals for children to color. The Noah coloring book has been used as a teaching tool.
and Blessing of the Pets Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception Custom Coloring Book, whatever that is, and Story of Creation and the Ten Commandments
This book describes to children the story of creation and lists the Ten Commandments. The commandments are all listed on one page and then each commandment is written seperately on 10 different pages. A Really Big Coloring Book.
But I digress.
Part of the description of the 9/11 book is:
The September 11, 2001 attacks on America are now commonly referred to as 9/11. It was a series of coordinated attacks by a radical Islamic Muslim extremist terrorist group who call themselves Al Qaeda. They were self-proclaimed Jihadists; many American people refer to them as homicide bombers. Their leader was a Saudi national named Osama Bin Laden. He and his men used hijacked U.S. airplanes as weapons. A total of 3,000+ innocent people from over 70 countries were killed. There were no survivors from any of the airplanes.
And it includes this picture of Seal Team Six killing Osama bin Laden and his family:
The Guardian reports that
The Council on American-Islamic Relations has condemned the book as “disgusting”, saying that it characterises all Muslims as linked to extremism, terrorism and radicalism, which could lead children reading the book to believe that all Muslims are responsible for 9/11, and that followers of the Islamic faith are their enemies.
And, here’s the promotional video for it:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nJlk_Em7xY&w=500&h=311]
I have no comments at this time. But I will. I’m saving them up.