Monthly Archives: February 2011

“Creationism ‘alive and well’ in Minnesota biology classes”

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I just posted the following comment on this article in MinnPost:

Thanks for covering this. As Randy says, this has been known for decades, but for some reason every time it hits the news (because of a new study that shows the same thing again) everyone seems to have just heard it for the first time.

I promise you: Creationist students (there are many) and/ore creationist parents of students (and no, parents and students are not always on the same page as each other) DO make themselves known the the teachers who are teaching evolution, sometimes quite aggressively. I have yet to hear of a parent (other than me) actively seeking out a biology student and explaining that the parent/child are interesting in an excellent science education, and in fact insisting on it.

Here is a good template for parents to use when meeting the life science teacher.

Parent: “Hi. I’m Mary Joe’s parent. I just want you to know that I fully support science education and I recognize that things like creationism, or so-called ‘teaching the controversy’ are never, ever appropriate in the science classroom.”

Teacher: “Oh … ah … nice to meet you …”

Parent: “Also, I want you to know that if you ever have any difficulties in this regard, you should let me know. I’m a member of the National Center for Science Education, a member of the Minnesota Citizens for Science Education, a widely read blogger and an activist in this area. If you ever get any trouble from anyone, including school administrators, call me or send me an email and I will directly support you and find others who will do so as well.”

Teacher: “Oh, … well, … ah … ”

Parent: “And one other thing. I just want you to know that if you do happen to be one of those biology teachers who does not teach evolution in the classroom, or who actually teaches creationism … I’ll be your worst nightmare.”

Teacher: “Oh, …. ah … um…”

Parent: “And, you should know, my child, who will be in your class, is totally on board with this and will be paying close attention.”

… or words to that effect.

A Universal, One-Shot Flu Vaccine?

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ResearchBlogging.orgA Better Grip: T Cells Strengthen Our Hand against Influenza Clinical Infectious Diseases, 52 (1), 8-9 DOI: 10.1093/cid/ciq018Flu vaccines are important and useful, but also relatively ineffective compared to many other vaccines. Immunity is imperfect, there are many ‘strains’ of influenza in a given year only some of which are addressed by the available vaccine (though often the most common ones) and one year’s vaccine does not provide immunity to subsequent years’ influenza because the virus changes so much. Well, actually that’s not exactly true: The influenza virus has various different parts, and the parts that the traditional flu vaccine uses to induce an antigenic reaction in the potential hose is highly variable. Other parts of the flu virus are not as variable. If only a vaccine could be developed that uses the less variable part of the influenza virus, then perhaps it would be a universal, long-lasting vaccine that you take once, and become pretty much immune to all future influenza.
Continue reading A Universal, One-Shot Flu Vaccine? →

I watched the news today, oh boy.

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I went to the gym today and spent about an hour on the treadmill (yeah, I know, good for me) and from where I was I could see the CNN-playing TV and the Fox-playing TV. I usually position myself so I can’t see Fox because I find it disturbing and annoying, but the gym was crowded so I did not have that choice.

One of the main news stories that cycled through the CNN show was this one:

Former President George W. Bush was forced to cancel a planned trip to Switzerland this week over concerns of protests linked to the Bush adminstration’s treatment of detainees.

…

Activists also planned to file an official criminal complaint against Bush with Swiss prosecutors, nine years after he ordered that the Geneva Conventions would not apply to “enemy combatants” arrested by the U.S. military in Afghanistan or elsewhere around the world.

source

Meanwhile Fox News cycled through a number of stories that had titles like “Breaking News” and “Murders still a mystery” and “gunman kills one, self” and “OMG” and so on and so forth, without mentioning the fact that our ex president is a suspected war criminal and won’t be able to do that presidential thing like Carter and Clinton do, going around the world and promoting peace and democracy and stuff.

The people who watch Fox News live in a world different from the rest of us. They are captives of sensationalism, tied up in loathing, guided by a ring attached to their nose that stands in for thinking. A commentator on Fox News could tell the listeners to jump off a bridge and they’d start looking for a bridge. They do what Michele Bachmann tells them to do. Seriously. I was annoyed.

Then the Indigo Girls version of All Along the Watchtower came on my iPod and I heard this:

… your hatred is rooted in your fear
And your paranoia and insecurities
Well they don’t belong here
You got to take someones hand
You got to learn to make your stand
And it’s one two three four
Look at the sky you can open the door

And I thought, “They should sing THAT at the beginning of the freakin’ Superbowl.

Sing along with Christina Aguilera

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Why Does the Superbowl Hate America?

Watch the girl sing while you follow the … revisions below:

Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hail’d at the twilight’s last gleaming reaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro’ the perilous fight,
O’er the ramparts we watch’d, were so gallantly streaming? Oh so proudly we washed at the twilight’s last reaming
And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof thro’ the night that our a flag was still there.
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the nuh brave?

See this for more.

Republican Rep. Thomas A. Anderson of New Mexico is an Idiot

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He is the author of NM House Bill 302 which is designed to protect teachers who want to teach anti-evolution or climate change denialism. This is not too different than the bill Michele Bachmann, who is also an idiot, introduced when she was a Republican member of the State legislature in Minnesota some years ago.
Continue reading Republican Rep. Thomas A. Anderson of New Mexico is an Idiot →

Send me your bird posts, and check out these carnivals.

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The Superbowl of Birding is out, and by that I mean I and the Bird Web Carnival number CXLIII. Pronounced like Cthulhu but with an “i” sound at the end. You will find it here at the Slugyard blog.

The next edition of I and the Bird is set for February 17th, and I will be hosting it here, so please send me your bird blogging. It would be helpful if you put IATB in the subject line of your email to me.

The Bobo Carnival of Politics is out as well. Bobo is a clown, so be careful. Click here.

Elderly Minnesota Couple Fends Off Home Invader With Gun

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… they weren’t scared, but the guy trying to rob them sure was.

…

Wally was sitting at his computer when the man entered his home.

“He just stood there in that doorway, standing there with a shovel,” said Wally. “I thought, ‘what the hell is going on here?’ I thought it was a joke!”

After hearing all the commotion, his wife, Betty, went to the front of the house and found him on the floor. Wally had been punched in the nose and it was bleeding.

“I sat on the edge of the bed. He says, ‘give me your hands! I’m going to tie you up!’ And I said, ‘No, I don’t think so,” Betty said.

What? Who punched whom? Wait, was this guy armed? This is a very poorly written article.

Continue reading Elderly Minnesota Couple Fends Off Home Invader With Gun →