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"Support academic freedom." Mmmmyeah.
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Margaret Talbot pens the story of the Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District trial. "You sometimes hear it said that a courtroom is not a proper venue for debating science. In this case, it proved to be an ideal forum … The trial also allowed the lawyers to act as proxies for the rest of us, and ask of scientists questions that we'd probably be too embarrassed to ask ourselves. In a courtroom, you must lay an intellectual foundation in order to earn a line of questioning — and so the lawyers stripped matters neatly back to the first principles of science."
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An in-depth video primer on the history of and cases behind evolution and intelligent design.
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I have no qualms with ID being discussed in philosophy classes, as long as the nature of science has been established adequately first.
NOLA.com | New Orleans Inspector General Robert Cerasoli quits post, citing health issues
… Cerasoli grew into a workaholic, obsessing over a job he viewed as crucial, even intrinsic, to the public good. When the stress built to a peak, Cerasoli turned to a unique outlet: volunteering at a suicide hot line. “I wanted to juxtapose my own pressures with those of people under far more extreme pressure than me, to put my problems into context,” Cerasoli said.
Thanks for coming to Rising Tide, taking the time to address each of our concerns and generally being a mensch. Here’s to your speedy recovery. Cancer is a relentless jerk. When it attacks people like my mother-in-law, my grandma, Karen Gadbois and Cerasoli, I wonder if there is any justice in this world.
We’re toast. Just slap some meat on, dress it up and have us for lunch.
The stupid just keeps on coming.
Columbus Dispatch | Whitehall Council still deeply divided on ‘Science Month’ (Whitehall is an eastern suburb of Columbus, OH, right next door to the Columbus Country Club)
… Councilwoman Jacquelyn Thompson originally suggested declaring Feb. 12 Darwin Day in honor of the 200th birthday of the man who conceived the theory of evolution. However, she watered it down to “Science Month” and added Galileo’s name in a compromise two weeks ago.
“The whole idea of this was to recognize the events,” she said at a council meeting yesterday. “I thought it was a great opportunity to show that we value science, we value inquiry and we encourage our students to open up to the world.”
A few council members replied with shouts of “Not my children!”
Wow. Finally, someone tells the truth, someone openly admits that curiosity and inquiry, these urges for discovery that once made this nation great, are no longer core American values. Someone want to tell me what and who we’re stimulating our economy for? How will this country prosper again and sustain such growth? By praying to the Lord for an asteroid of gold to crash into Earth? All scientists should simply go on strike. Then let’s see where you get your food, drugs, gasoline, internet and stuff from.
In withdrawal. Until next season, videos like this are going to have to suffice.
Y’all should know by now that I am Beavis/Cartman, a mind perenially in the fourth grade. And my friends are Butthead, Stan, Kyle, Kenny, Butters, Homestar, Peter Griffin, Kid, Play, Bob, Dave, Prince Akeem, Peter Venkman, Bueller, Tron Carter, Carl Spackler and their own unique characters. So, even if I don’t find one myself, I am sent a link like this at least once a day. This one has to be shared because the giggles it causes are too much for one house to bear. (Thanks, Walli!)
NYTimes | No Snickering: That Road Sign Means Something Else
… In the scale of embarrassing place names, Crapstone ranks pretty high. But Britain is full of them. Some are mostly amusing, like Ugley, Essex; East Breast, in western Scotland; North Piddle, in Worcestershire; and Spanker Lane, in Derbyshire.
… As for Penistone, a thriving South Yorkshire town, just stop that sophomoric snickering. “It’s pronounced ‘PENNIS-tun,’ ” Fiona Moran, manager of the Old Vicarage Hotel in Penistone, said over the telephone, rather sharply. When forced to spell her address for outsiders, she uses misdirection, separating the tricky section into two blameless parts: “p-e-n” — pause — “i-s-t-o-n-e.”
Is that how it’s pronounced? I thought it was said … you know. Oh, come on, guys, don’t laugh! Things like food … and butt warmth (teeheeheeheeeee) are in jeopardy.
… “If they ordered a pizza, the pizza company wouldn’t deliver it, because they thought it was a made-up name,” Mr. Hurst said. “People would stand in front of the sign, pull down their trousers and take pictures of each other’s naked buttocks.”
BWAhahahaaa! New Orleans has its share of strange street names, some that elicit a double take. As do other cities like Yellowknife, Canada with Ragged Ass Road and Pinch’em Slyly Place in Charlottesville, Virginia. What strange or funny street names have you run across in New Orleans or where you live and travel to?
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Learn about the history of the theremin through original documents and photo galleries.
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Follow the online instructions to perform your own virtual pooja to Lord Ganesha. The lamp-lighting part is pretty trippy.
Help Oiled Birds
Please help some innocent living things by supporting the efforts of The International Bird Rescue Center in locating, rescuing, and cleaning wildlife affected by the ongoing oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Click on the pelican to donate.
