Monthly Archives: April 2008

The sun is riz, the sun is set … and we ain’t outta Texas yet.

But plans for the Institute for Creation Research Masters Degree in Creationistic Biology for High School Teachers is out of Texas.

Members of the Academic Excellence and Research Committee and the Participation and Success Committee voted unanimously to approve the recommendation of Raymund Paredes, the state’s commissioner of higher education, not to approve the Institute’s application. The full Coordinating Board will vote on the committees’ recommendation on Thursday.”The issue before the Coordinating Board isn’t about academic freedom or free speech. The issue is whether the state will sanction the teaching of religion as science. Committee members today recognized that doing so would be a disservice both to science and to faith.Just as important, our state’s leaders have said that they want our public schools to do a better job preparing students for college and the jobs of the 21st century. If we’re serious about that goal, then we must be serious about how we train our teachers. Approving an advanced degree in science education from an institution that doesn’t really teach science would represent a huge step backward.”

Texas Freedom Network

Yeee hawww!!!!!

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Institute for Creation Research Masters Degree in Biology

The Institute for Creation Research (ICR) has, some time ago, filed for approval to run a masters degree program in life science education. The purpose of the degree is to train educators to present biology in a way that is consistent with Christian Biblical beliefs, as opposed to actual scientific knowledge. The Texas board in charge of these matters is taking the proposal under consideration this week. (Please sign the petition linked below!)The Texas Freedom Network has recently conducted a survey of Texas colleges and university faculty to get their opinions on this proposal. Continue reading Institute for Creation Research Masters Degree in Biology

Florida Academic Freedom Bill Passes in State Senate

A bill designed to make it easier to introduce creationism into public school classrooms has passed in the Florida Senate by a 21 to 17 vote margin. The bill was proposed by Senator Ronda Storms, Republican, and is modeled after a template provided by the Discovery Institute. Continue reading Florida Academic Freedom Bill Passes in State Senate

What is going to happen in Pennsylvania tomorrow?

The democratic party is polling tomorrow in Pennsylvania. The conventional wisdom says that there is a number of percentage points reflecting Clinton’s expected win above which this would truly count as a win for her, and below which it could be perceived as a victory for Obama. If Obama “wins” in this election, things could change quickly with Clinton being seen as heading for the door. However, a win is a win, and even a small margin for Clinton may be seen by the Clinton campaign as, well, what it would be, to be fair: Winning Pennsylvania. Were Obama to actually, numerically, win the primary, that would be a huge victory for him.Well, I’ve analyzed the data and I have a prediction or two to make. Continue reading What is going to happen in Pennsylvania tomorrow?

Nature and Science News

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Watching wolves, moose — and heat — on Michigan island from PhysOrg.com
(AP) — Ignoring our observation plane circling above the frozen Lake Superior wilderness, the eight gray wolves seemed as harmless as your beloved pooch cavorting with its pals in the yard. Trotting along Siskiwit Bay, they playfully nipped and pawed each other, pausing occasionally to roll in the snow.
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Humane Society files emergency appeal for sea lions in Ore. from PhysOrg.com
(AP) — An animal rights group isn’t giving up on blocking the government and two states from harming California sea lions that are feasting on the spring chinook salmon run at a dam on the Columbia River.
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Ice Escapades: Greenland’s Ice Sheet Is Speeding to the Sea>i-251cb128eb9a26c12fa7e93d01c30745-sa_ice.jpg

On July 29, 2006, there was a roughly 11-billion-gallon (0.044-cubic kilometer) lake that stretched more than two square miles (5.6 square kilometers) and covered the western portion of Greenland’s massive ice sheet. In the span of 16 hours, it was gone. The reason: water pressure cracked through the more than half-mile (980-meter) thick ice, draining the lake as its water rushed through the new funnel and gathered below the giant ice sheet, raising it nearly four feet (1.2 meters) and moving it nearly three feet (0.8 meter) to the north.”My co-workers and I had proposed models [in which] meltwater gets to the bed when a lake fills a crevasse, thus driving the crack down,” says glaciologist Richard Alley of Pennsylvania State University who was not involved in the study. Now glaciologist “[Sarah] Das [and her colleagues] have observed it–more than Niagara plunging into Greenland!”In fact, Niagara Falls’s flow per second can be as fast as 202,000 cubic feet (5,720 cubic meters) of water; the glacial lake drained at pace of 307,237 cubic feet (8,700 cubic meters) per second. The meltwater below the glacier then flowed away through channels in the rock below, allowing the ice to subside back to its normal position.

Be God

I have to confess that I really like Sim City. I have not touched it since I started blogging …. but I have many fond memories of firing all the hospital workers and unleashing tornadoes on wealthy neighborhoods, or using the terraforming tools to build landscape with a barely hidden but rich geological history then paving it over with suburbs, slums, and mixed used residential projects.But somehow, having all this power is a little unsatisfying. Maybe it would be more fun to be … I dunno, maybe ….i-e2401723fcf8416ffc2d6e3f8518379a-spore.jpg Continue reading Be God

Microsoft Works

… I’m talking about the “office suite” known as Microsoft Works. I’m not suggesting that Microsoft works.Increasingly, more an more people don’t know what Microsoft Works is because it has fallen into increasing obscurity. It is a kind of office suite that has a word processor, spread sheet, and maybe some other stuff. It is very inexpensive compared to, say MS Office.In years gone by I’ve taught a number of classes designed for High School Teachers. I discovered that a lot of teachers used MS Works. I discovered this the hard way when I started receiving assignments and other documents in a format that could not be opened by any software on my computer (then a Windows computer). At that point in time, anyway, even Microsoft Office would not read Works files. Continue reading Microsoft Works

Intertubes Will Clog in Two Years

AT&T is making the claim that the Internet will reach its full capacity limit by 2010.

… Jim Cicconi, vice president of legislative affairs for AT&T, warned that the current systems that constitute the Internet will not be able to cope with the increasing amounts of video and user-generated content being uploaded.”The surge in online content is at the center of the most dramatic changes affecting the Internet today,” he said. “In three years’ time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire Internet today.”

Continue reading Intertubes Will Clog in Two Years