Day at the Museum

Scientists study foes' ways at Creation Museum

Scientists are visiting the 'Creation Museum' in order to learn how they are portrayed:

...The real purpose of the museum visit is to give some of my colleagues an opportunity to sense how they're being portrayed," said Arnold Miller, a professor of paleontology at the University of Cincinnati, which is hosting the conference. "They're being demonized, I feel, in this museum as people who are responsible for all the ills of society...


I'm glad he used the term 'demonized'. That's the way most Dominionists and Eliminationists characterize anyone who does not subscribe to their myopic world view.

Stop tracking mud in here!

Prints Show a Modern Foot in Prehumans

In a recent comment to this blog, in regards to a post about fossils, Riverwolf asked:

"I realize there are exceptions, but i was discussing this with a friend about how some Christians say these "discoveries" are all lies mention to destroy belief in God. What? Like, someone has enough money to go around creating fake bones and burying them??..."

Dammit! He's onto me! Yes, I fess-up. I'm the one who's been doing it. I hope Riverwolf and all you other lost/dammed souls appreciate my last effort:

...Footprints uncovered in Kenya show that as early as 1.5 million years ago an ancestral species, almost certainly Homo erectus, had already evolved the feet and walking gait of modern humans...An international team of scientists, in a report on Friday in the journal Science, said the well-defined prints in an eroding bluff east of Lake Turkana “provided the oldest evidence of an essentially modern humanlike foot anatomy.” They said the find also added to evidence that painted a picture of Homo erectus as the prehumans who took long evolutionary strides — figuratively and, now it seems, also literally...

OK, that's enough stomping around in the Antediluvian mud right now, I gotta go wash my feet...

Short Lived little fella

A Chameleon With a Short Life
A little chameleon has a very short life:

...As researchers...reported in The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the entire life span of the Furcifer labordi chameleon — from the moment of conception to development in the egg, hatching, maturation, breeding and right through to its last little lizardly thud to the ground — clocks in at barely a year...That hypercondensed biography, the scientists said, may well make the chameleon the shortest-lived tetrapod on Earth, a creature chronologically more like a butterfly or a sea squirt than like the other reptiles, frogs, birds and mammals...

Authors of the report also point out that the chameleon spends two thirds of it's brief existence inside the egg! Many invertebrates have short life spans, the vast majority being just one year. As pointed out in the study, this is certainly unusual for a vertebrate.

Good news

Evolution and Its Discontents: A Role for Scientists in Science Education
Rare good news:

...Studies show that the vast majority of Americans has a strong appreciation for the role of science in health, education, and competitiveness, and they especially value the contribution that scientific research makes to eliminating diseases...

It seems most Americans actually prefer the teaching of evolution in the classroom, as apposed to Creationism. The survey raises some interesting questions. Is it possible the wording of previous polls--that indicated a broader range of support for Creationism--skewed the numbers to make Creationist attitudes appear more prevalent? If so, why would agents of the 'traditional media' be so quick to hawk the dubious news (from past polls) that the majority of us are bible thumping assholes?

Beelzebufo: The Frog From Hell

Ancient frog was as big as a bowling ball

...A frog the size of a bowling ball, with heavy armor and teeth, lived among dinosaurs millions of years ago -- intimidating enough that scientists who unearthed its fossils dubbed the beast Beelzebufo, or Devil Toad...

Download Evolution today!

Evolution Book Sees No Science-Religion Gap

How cool is this:

...In 1984 and again in 1999, the National Academy of Sciences, the nation’s most eminent scientific organization, produced books on the evidence supporting the theory of evolution and arguing against the introduction of creationism or other religious alternatives in public school science classes...On Thursday, it produced a third. But this volume is unusual...because it is intended specifically for the lay public and because it devotes much of its space to explaining the differences between science and religion, and asserting that acceptance of evolution does not require abandoning belief in God....

This is just what our traditional media fails to grasp. The person offering the "religious" perspective is always some Dominionist knuckle-dragger. The fact is, most spiritual or religious people are not at odds with science:

...The 70-page book, “Science, Evolution and Creationism,” says...“attempts to pit science and religion against each other create controversy where none needs to exist.” And it offers statements from several eminent biologists and members of the clergy to support the view...

You can order a hard copy of the booklet, dl a copy, or listen to a webcast here.

Evolutionary Conversion

Former Evangelical Minister Has a New Message: Jesus Hearts Darwin

Fun (and short) interview from Wired News with former Evangelical preacher Micheal Dowd, who now embraces Darwin. There's a number of interesting comments. When asked if 'evolutionary theology' might trump scriptural truths, Dowd answers:

...God didn't stop communicating truth vital to human well-being thousands of years ago, when people preserved insights on animal skins. God communicates through science. Facts are God's native tongue. Who of us would let a first-century dentist fix our children's teeth? Yet every day we let first-century theologians fill our children's brains...

Heh, that one's a keeper! I have to admit I'd like to see a 'fire and brimstone' pro-evolution revival meeting. If the spirit called me, I'd start knuckle walking around the tent! :)

Explore your genetic history for $100!

Through the National Geographic Society's Genographic Project, you can submit a sample of your DNA and receive a report on your genetic history:

...Your results will reveal your deep ancestry along a single line of direct descent (paternal or maternal) and show the migration paths they followed thousands of years ago. Your results will also place you on a particular branch of the human family tree. Some anthropological stories are more detailed than others, depending upon the lineage you belong to. For example, if you are of African descent, your results will show the initial movements of your ancestors on the African continent, but will not reflect most of the migrations that have occurred within the past 10,000 years. Your individual results may confirm your expectations of what you believe your deep ancestry to be, or you may be surprised to learn a new story about your genetic background.

What a great deal for only $100 US! You also have the option of submitting your results to their database.

Monkey Trials, again

Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial

Get out the popcorn! Tonight, in the USA on PBS, a special 2 hour NOVA
concerning the Dover decision.

From a review in Variety:

...Through the expert testimony as well as interviews with the actual scientists, the production drives home that whatever one’s religious beliefs, incorporating an untestable theory based on faith into school curriculum bastardizes the long-held definition of science as something that can be challenged, examined and proven...
Finally, there’s even a kind of “Perry Mason” moment, where researchers expose intelligent design advocates using the term interchangeably with “creationism” in published materials, despite their insistence that the two are not directly linked...

SUNY-New Paltz offers Evolution

College to offer new minor in evolutionary studies

I am so proud of my Alma Mater:

...The State University of New York at New Paltz is pleased to announce the approval of an 18-credit interdisciplinary evolutionary studies minor. According to Glenn Geher, chair of the Evolutionary Studies Program Development Committee, the new program includes classes from many departments and will provide students with an education regarding evolution that is both deep and broad in scope. "In addition to requiring multiple courses that focus on the essentials of evolutionary theory,” said Geher, “the curriculum includes courses that apply evolutionary principles in varied areas – such as anthropology, literature, and psychology – as well as courses that address gross misapplications of mischaracterized evolutionary ideas, including a course from the history department, titled ‘Crime and Punishment in American History’..."

Bravo New Paltz! New Paltz is the town that garnered a bit of fame when Mayor West officiated over a plethora of gay and lesbian marriages. Not only that, New Paltz is where my coven meets (Witches of the Crossroads), and near where my whip club has it's crack fests. (Yup, I'm addicted to crack!)

The chair of Evolutionary Studies adds:

“...Ours is the second such program in the nation,” said Geher....For more information about the evolutionary studies minor, which begins this fall..."

New Paltz is a cool place. I majored in Anthropology. Cut my eye teeth in the Archeology Field School. From the bathroom wall in the Anthro House:

I dedicate these flatulent mists
to all you Anthropologists
And if you don't dig it George
kiss my Olduvia Gorge

(Thanx to Green Ghost for rubbing my nose in this link)

Vacation in the Stupid Zone!

Dinosaurs, humans coexist in U.S. creation museum

PETERSBURG, Kentucky (Reuters) - Ken Ham's sprawling creation museum isn't even open yet...where grunting dinosaurs and animatronic humans coexist in a Biblical paradise...A crush of media attention and packed preview sessions have convinced Ham that nearly half a million people a year will come to Kentucky to see his Biblically correct version of history...The $27 million project...

27 Million! For this nonsence! Why am I not buying this? It's obviously an intelectual and scientific swindle, but something tells me even more is going on:

...which also includes a planetarium, a special-effects theater, nature trails and a small lake, is privately funded by people who believe the Bible's first book, Genesis, is literally true...For them, a museum showing Christian schoolchildren and skeptics alike how the earth, animals, dinosaurs and humans were created in a six-day period about 6,000 years ago...While foreign media and science critics have mostly come to snigger at exhibits explaining how baby dinosaurs fit on Noah's Ark and Cain married his sister to people the earth, museum spokesman and vice-president Mark Looy said the coverage has done nothing but drum up more interest.

Looy? Sure there's not an "n" missing in there somewhere?

"Mocking publicity is free publicity," Looy said.

Damn-- I mocked him! I trust my check's in the mail. Hey, at least I deserve free tickets on the dino-merry-go-round.

...Besides, U.S. media have been more respectful, mindful perhaps of a 2006 Gallup Poll showing almost half of Americans believe that humans did not evolve, but were created by God in their present form within the last 10,000 years...

Thanx for reminding us. The lion's share of the blame rests with the media for that humiliating factoid. As a further example of their incompetence, they consistently fail to mention there's virtually no dispute among scientists on the basics of evolution. But I suppose such info just get's in the way of a balanced view. It's so nice to watch the media jump through hoops held by the tinfoil-hat crowd.

Looy said supporters of the museum include evangelical Christians, Orthodox Jews and conservative Catholics, as well as the local Republican congressman, Geoff Davis...

TO ALL MY ATHEIST AND AGNOSTIC FRIENDS: please note this atrocity is untouched by Pagan/Wiccan hands. :)

Ham, who also runs a Christian broadcasting and publishing venture...

Sounds like a Mom & Pop operation, doesn't it? And in the quest for this "balance", how'bout some biographical info on Ham's Fundie-Absolutist empire? I'm sure all his books, tapes, and DVD's will be on sale in the Museum Shop.

The museum's team of Christian designers include theme park art director Patrick Marsh, who designed the "Jaws" and "King Kong" attractions at Universal Studios in Florida, as well as dozens of young artists whose conviction drives their work.

OK, so people working on this are FX people from theme parks. It's good to know that no real scientists, working in real museums, had anything to do with this.

"...I think a lot of people are going to come out of curiosity ... and we're going to present the Gospel. This is going to be an evangelistic center," Looy said. A chaplain has been hired for museum-goers in need of spiritual guidance...

Yup, the sight of a trilobite puts the fear of God in me! Whenever I go in a museum, I suffer a bowl-shaking crisis of faith. Hold me, Lord--hold me! For comfort, I'll read The Counter Creationism Handbook.

Dr. Laura VS Evolution

I am the proud owner of what I thought was the worst board game in the world: THE DR. LAURA GAME. Yes, I actually own the thing. I cannot begin to describe the complete and abject horror one must undergo to play this game. Just opening the box, you feel like a character in an HP Lovecraft story, about to unleash some unspeakable pan-dimensional horror. "What" you might as, "could possibly be the point of such a game? How do you win?" You draw a card and are presented with a situation like "My daughter came home with a nose-ring. What should I do?". Your answers can be:

a)show her more love.
b)get one yourself.
c)ask your daughter to discuss such things with you in the future.
d)pack your daughters belongings in boxes, dump them on the curb, change the locks, disown her, then have your tubes tied so you'll never bare such demon spawn again.

If you picked a-c, the jaws of Hell have opened just a bit more for you. But if you picked d), then you scored a point! Good for you!

Of course, I'm being sarcastic. But the point of of the game is not to figure out your life, be a better parent or human being, but to become---Dr. LAURA!
The winner is the first person who best answers like her! Mind-melding with her! Won't life be so much simpler once you internalize Dr. Laura's special breed of loathing and tough-love? I pity the poor troubled unfortunate who turns to the Dr. Laura's of this world for help. (I should point out, for anyone who has forgotten: Dr. Laura's mother starved herself to death, shuttered up in her apartment, estranged from her daughter. What nice family dynamics.) The bad news is--for any parent who had their hearts set on raising serial killers--this game is longer sold. But all is not lost. There is now even a more mind-numbingly stupid game to be had:

Intelligent Design versus Evolution!

“Intelligent Design versus Evolution” is a new board game that was designed by actor Kirk Cameron and best-selling author Ray Comfort, to help fight against the what they maintain is the brainwashing of an entire generation...“We are very excited about this game because it...shows that the contemporary theory of evolution is perhaps the greatest hoax of modern times.”...Intelligent Design Versus Evolution is unique in that the playing pieces are small rubber brains...

Rubber brains! I shit you not! Can anything actually be this unintentionally funny? Like others, at first I thought this was a hoax. For a moment, I was actually so naive to believe nobody could ever think up anything this wrong. But once again, my complete lack of faith in humanity was reinforced when I saw the original web site. As advised in the link above, it's best not to be eating or drinking when you check the original pages, as you'll spew all over your keyboard.

Teaching God and Evolution

Thank God for Evolution

There should be more workshops like this:

Washingtonville —The Rev. Michael Dowd and his wife, Connie Barlow, will present a free workshop, “Thank God for Evolution! How Science and Religion Are Spurring Each Other to Greatness,” at 10:45 a.m. on Sunday Nov. 19, at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, 175 East Main St., Washingtonville.

(Kudos to Darksyde over at Kos for this)

Gradual Evolution in Kansas

Pro-evolution standards could take months

Two new State Board of Education members take office Jan. 8, ending a conservative GOP majority and giving control to a coalition of Democrats and moderate Republicans. That makes a return to standards treating evolution as well-grounded science - not a flawed theory - seem inevitable...