Pro-Science News
Texas: 19 Out of 20 Science Professors Prefer Science
Dr. Raymond Eve of the University of Texas at Arlington conducted a survey of Texas science professors on whether evolutionary science should be taught or evolutionary science and “intelligent design” both should be taught, and the Dallas Morning News reports that 95% responded that evolutionary science should be taught.
Of course, most science professors should, when [...]
Categories: Pro-Science News
Pitfalls of Popular Writing About Science
I won’t cover the gamut, but rather wish to point out a case. In the 16 Oct. 2008 Nature, Clive Wynne of the University of Florida had a review of a book by Irene Pepperberg. His review was titled, “Psychology’s Pet Subject”. The book reviewed was Pepperberg’s “Alex and Me: How a Scientist and a [...]
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Uncommon Upheaval
William Dembski’s weblog, Uncommon Descent, underwent a recent facelift. Following a server change and software upgrade, Dembski announced his retirement from heading the weblog, citing work going on with Robert Marks. Dembski announced that Barry Arrington would now be in charge of the weblog. That left people speculating about “blog czar” David Scott “DaveScot” Springer, [...]
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Science and Math Elemetary Exploration
Back on November 8th, Diane and I spent half the day helping Lansing Community College put on their Science and Math Elementary Exploration event. We were assigned to the biology section where we provided owl pellets for the students to pick apart and identify bones found therein. We had instruction sheets and a handy one-page [...]
Categories: Pro-Science News
They’re Playing His Tune
In an AP story, Georgia Rep. Broun (R) warns that Barack Obama could be dangerous:
A Republican congressman from Georgia said Monday he fears that President-elect Obama will establish a Gestapo-like security force to impose a Marxist dictatorship.
“It may sound a bit crazy and off base, but the thing is, he’s the one who proposed [...]
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With the Race Lost, Now is the Time for the Real Negative Campaigning
The blame game seems to be the rage in Republican circles. Various news items are now being published about “off the record” information… sorry, but “off the record” doesn’t mean “only publish when stale”, it means not for publication at all.
I made no excuses for criticizing Sarah Palin in her role as Republican candidate for [...]
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Book Review: “Gnuplot In Action” by Philipp K. Janert
A while back, I posted here about getting acquainted with “gnuplot”, a handy cross-platform plotting tool. Philipp K. Janert happened by and offered me a review copy of his book on “gnuplot”. I’m busily working up a manuscript for submission. Today, I was working on figures and dealing with “gnuplot” once again, and found occasion [...]
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Voting: Mission Accomplished!
Here in Williamston, MI, the polling place was full up at 9:30 AM. We had about a 20 minute wait in line, during which we heard that they had received about 1000 absentee ballots, where they usually have about 300 of those to process. Diane and I had printed off our sample ballots the better [...]
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A Quiet Halloween
I gave up on the idea of partying on Halloween when a headache I got in the afternoon insisted on getting worse instead of better. Diane chose to spend the evening with me rather than head off to the party we’d been invited to.
The party was a costume party, and Diane had borrowed a [...]
Categories: Pro-Science News
Birders Practice Falconry Without a License in Illinois
The Chicago Tribune reports on the case of birders practicing falconry without a license.
The species—a burrowing owl and a Brant goose—were spotted about 9 a.m. Wednesday within 100 feet of each other in the wooded natural area. Within hours, however, the burrowing owl had been torn apart by a hungry Cooper’s hawk in front of [...]
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Crowther Doing What the DI Pays Him For
Rob Crowther, Discovery Institute spokesperson, has an op-ed in the Vancouver Sun.
Intelligent Design goes beyond biology and encompasses physics, chemistry and cosmology, as well. It is not creationism, nor was it developed to get around court rulings.
Intelligent design is the Logos theology expressed in the idiom of information theory, or so asserts Dr. William Dembski. [...]
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Texas: ICR is Disappointed, Again
The Institute for Creation Research is continuing to press to get their pseudoscience degree-granting operation set up for business in Texas. They’ve run into a stumbling-block: the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board wants degrees granted with their approval to actually be based on science. This message went out from the ICR today:
OCTOBER 30, 2008
Dear Friends:
As [...]
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Texas: “Zombie Jamboree in Texas”
Glenn Branch, Deputy Director of the National Center for Science Education, has a blog post in the Beacon Broadside, “Zombie Jamboree in Texas“.
When the distinguished philosopher Philip Kitcher recently addressed the creationist movement in his Living With Darwin, he judiciously assessed creationism in its latest incarnation as historically respectable but currently bankrupt, and proposed to [...]
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The SF Chronicle Interviews Lauri Lebo
The San Francisco Chronicle has an interview online with Lauri Lebo, journalist and author of The Devil in Dover.
One small town school board’s attempt to introduce religion and cast doubt on evolution is the subject of a new book by Lauri Lebo, who joins Chronicle education reporter Nanette Asimov in this podcast interview.
Categories: Pro-Science News
More DI Misinformation
Yes, there’s another post at the Discovery Institute blog. This one is by Rob Crowther, and it seeks to reassure everyone that they aren’t pushing “intelligent design” anymore.
As for claims that we try to get intelligent design into the curriculum, that’s just not the case. Our science education policy is very clear. In November of [...]
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Texas: Getting Involved
I got a call today from a friend in Texas who until recently was a high school science and math teacher. She had just read an article in Texas Monthly about the State Board of Education, its lopsided composition and “intelligent design” advocate chairman, and was hopping mad about it. I asked her if she [...]
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NCSE’s New Website
The National Center for Science Education has long planned a revision of their web pages. Now, the new version of their website is officially up and running. Check it out.
The previous version is still available, though. There will be a period of confusion until Google spiders both sites, as the old content has been incorporated [...]
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The Real Weasel in JavaScript
I set up a page taking a first pass at providing a “weasel” program that follows the description Richard Dawkins gave in “The Blind Watchmaker”. It is done using a not well-behaved JavaScript routine, but as this was my first JavaScript coding of any sort, I figure refinement can come later. See it here. [...]
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Say Good-Bye to Sage Grouse
The campaign to eradicate sage grouse continues. The San Francisco Chronicle reports on Nevada Gov. Gibbons and his comments on possible listing of sage grouse as endangered:
Gibbons said it’s important to protect the sage grouse, but it shouldn’t be listed as endangered because that could make it “virtually impossible to develop renewable energy in Nevada. [...]
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Texas: A Word from the Pro-Science Side, Too
The Waco Tribune had two op-eds, the one I noted earlier from antievolutionist Don McLeroy, but also one from Daniel Bolnick making the case for teaching accountable science in the science classroom, and giving a pass to an ensemble of arguments passed down from the religious antievolution hymnal.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
The Texas State Board of [...]
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