jewel November 10th, 2007
Some very cool news – on Tuesday, November 13th, at 8pm PBS will be airing a new NOVA program about the Kitzmiller vs. Dover trial on teaching ID in public schools. Check your local listings.
For more information, see the press release or click on the graphic to be taken to the NOVA site on the program.
edited to add: The NY Times also has a pretty good write up on Judgment Day.
jewel October 6th, 2007
I just finished reading 40 Days and 40 Nights: Darwin, Intelligent Design, God, OxyContin®, and Other Oddities on Trial in Pennsylvania by Matthew Chapman, a great great grandson of Charles Darwin.
We actually got to meet Matthew Chapman last weekend at the Atheist Alliance International conference and he is a very down to earth fellow. When I first read about who he was I thought – “Great great grandson of Charles Darwin – how cool is that?!”, but of course we cannot choose our ancestors and he is a very approachable guy, so although I do still think it would be cool to be a direct descendant of such a great historical figure, my rational side does take over and it isn’t such a big deal.
But I digress…
Anyway, I just finished his book on the Dover, PA trial “Kitzmiller v. Dover” where a school board – who were neither educators, nor schooled in science – bent on introducing the teaching of Intelligent Design (aka Creationism in a Labcoat) in their biology classrooms was given the smackdown by a George W. Bush appointee judge. Continue Reading »
jewel September 30th, 2007
We just got back from the AAI convention in Arlington. It was really an amazing 2 days. The guest speakers included Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris, Christopher Hitchens, Julia Sweeney, Eugenie Scott, Matthew Chapman, Edward Tabash, Pastor Deacon Fred, Ayaan Hirsi Ali and many others. The lineup was really quite spectacular.
Security was tight. There was a bomb sniffing dog and everyone that was able to get into the main ballroom was scanned by metal detectors. More on this later. Continue Reading »
jewel August 28th, 2007
Well, since the movie isn’t out yet, these write ups are just about what we know so far, which is the dishonesty the movie makers showed their interviewees, the press release for the movie, the blog post by Ben Stein and a new interview with the producer. All pretty easy targets, admittedly. The movie makers say that no one really knows what the movie is going to be about because no one has seen it yet. Uh huh, however, with the level of dishonesty they have demonstrated so far I, for one, am not going to hold my breath hoping for an actual factual account of, well, reality.
I’m actually looking forward to seeing this movie. I am quite curious about it. I doubt I will go see it in the theater, but I’ll rent it. Why not, it’ll be fun. Maybe I’ll invite some friends over and we can laugh and have a good time.
Anyway, the following write ups are very well written and are well worth the read:
jewel August 23rd, 2007
I’ve much more to to elaborate about regarding the upcoming ID documentary that I posted about yesterday that I decided to just get it out of my system.
The press release alone has several ridiculous claims that I would like to address a bit more here.
“Big Science in this area of biology has lost its way,” says Stein.
“Scientists are supposed to be allowed to follow the evidence wherever it
may lead, no matter what the implications are. Freedom of inquiry has been
greatly compromised, and this is not only anti-American, it’s anti-science.
It’s anti-the whole concept of learning.”
Ok, someone needs to teach Mr. Stein how science is done. Scientists do follow the evidence wherever it leads. It’s called the Scientific Method. Is it perfect? No, but it is the best method we have and it has worked very well for getting to how things really work. It’s especially good at getting rid of the cruft. In fact, it’s a very tough method because you have to have actual evidence to back up your claims. And, no matter what you are trying to get the scientific community to accept, the scientific community scrutinizes your claims. That’s routine. Continue Reading »
jewel August 22nd, 2007
They said so in a press release, so it must be true.
Next February there will be a new documentary out in theaters about how the Intelligent Design movement is such an underdog and it’s being treated unfairly. Apparently, the scientific community unfairly shuns ID proponents. Hey, all the scientific community asks is that there be proof of the claim — verifiable, reproducible proof. ID doesn’t have it. “Goddidit” isn’t proof. And ID isn’t science. Continue Reading »
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