Speaking of creationism…
From the Florida Citizens for Science page (you do have it in your RSS feed reader, right?) comes the news that the Board of Education of that state will hold a meeting on Monday February 11 where people can voice their concern over the state science standards. The meeting will have a live video feed.
If you are in Florida, and you like reality, then find out more and speak up! Counties across Florida have been falling like dominoes when it comes to the (potential) weakening of science standards.
Floridians! Take this opportunity to dedoomify yourselves!
February 8th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
Umm.. being from Florida, I can state with some confidence that it is not now the destination of those with reason and intellect dear to their hearts.
The bulk of new residents are delighted with their new state – but only because they do not know what it looked, smelled and even felt like before it was infested with people like them.
February 8th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I think they should teach more alchemy, geomancy, animal husbandry and bing-fa (the art of war).
This has NOTHING whatsoever to do with my plans to take over the Southwest with an army of zombie alligators. Honest.
February 8th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
[...] Floridians: dedoomify yourselves By The Bad Astronomer comes the news that the Board of Education of that state will hold a meeting on Monday February 11 where people can voice their concern over the state science standards. The meeting will have a live video feed. If you are in Florida, … Bad Astronomy Blog – http://www.badastronomy.com/bablog [...]
February 8th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Here is an opportunity to prevent further dooming of Texas as well. I just received this email (below) from the American Geophysical Union (of which I am a member). ICR is very scary and the thought of them being accredited in Texas is quite disturbing. Just look at their “research” on creationist astronomy:
http://www.icr.org/research/index/researchp_df_r01/
Dear AGU member,
The Institute of Creation Research (ICR) recently relocated its graduate school program from San Diego, California to Dallas, Texas. The school is attempting to obtain accreditation from the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) to grant Masters of Science Education degrees in Texas. The graduate school does not teach modern geology, biology, astronomy, or the scientific method, yet graduates of the program receive a Masters of Science Education and would be able to teach science in private or public schools.
A state advisory panel already has recommended that the Board accredit ICR’s masters program; however, the Board will vote on 24 April to make a final decision on ICR’s accreditation. The Board has delayed the proceedings because of a large public outcry from both proponents and opponents of ICR. If science teachers do not receive an appropriate scientific education they would not be adequately trained to teach the critical foundations of science such as modern biology, geology, and astronomy to the next generation of students.
If you would like to take action on this issue, contact one or all of the following:
* Your Congressional representative in Texas (find their contact information here: http://www.congressweb.com/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=agu)
* Dr. Raymond Paredes, Commissioner of Higher Education on the THECB (512-427-6101)
* The THECB (http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/Comments/ to write an email, or visit http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/Board/Members.cfm for phone numbers of members of the Board)
Talking points can be based on AGU’s recently revised position statement “Biological Evolution and the History of the Earth Are Foundations of Science” that can be found online at: http://www.agu.org/sci_soc/policy/positions/evolution2.shtml.
The National Academy of Sciences recently published a report on science, evolution, and creationism that reaffirms the overwhelming scientific evidence supporting evolution and the importance of teaching evolution as part of a science curriculum. Information about the National Academies Report can be found at: http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=11876. The ICR website is: http://www.icr.org/.
February 8th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
but only because they do not know what it looked, smelled and even felt like before it was infested with people like them.
Dang! And people think I’m harsh!
Are you sure they aren’t Evangelicals migrating down from the pan handle?
It *feels* different? Are they affecting the very texture of spacetime?
Ah, it’s probably the whole time flowing backward thing. That can cause the emission of geocentric particles which are the force carrier for ID-rays, a form of neuron disrupting radiation.
If you send a beam of them through a cloud chamber, you’ll see the face of Jesus. Well, that’s what I head from some guy who read it on a web site somewhere.
Floridians! Take this opportunity to dedoomify yourselves!
Well, speaking as a black hearted misanthrope: Floridians! Embrace your doom! Leap into the abyss! Tee hee! Kthx! Buh-bye!
February 8th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Off topic:
Just curious: how is some skank in a cop outfit supposed to “fix” people who believe in god? I even visited their site (hope you get some pennies for that click Phil) and it is a joke. Like many atheist sites they come off as total douche-bags. It does not reflect well on BA, that’s for sure.
Atheists/theists: two sides of the same coin of douchebaggery.
February 8th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
Quiet_Desperation said:
Are they affecting the very texture of spacetime?
I don’t agree with a lot of what you say, but that really made me laugh. Good job:).
Question: Does anyone here know how to quote a post on this blog? It doesn’t appear to accept BBCode, and I don’t know of any HTML tag that does that.
February 8th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
@Wayne
From your ICR link on the state of ‘creation astronomy’:
“On the other hand creation scientists take the Biblical account seriously, and so accept these events as real and have attempted to reexamine the world for evidence for those events.”
Here, in a nutshell, is why “creation science” isn’t science. In so many words, they start with their conclusion, then look for evidence to support it.
February 8th, 2008 at 5:46 pm
Given that that’s an exhaustive partition, I’m guessing you wouldn’t self-identify as a humanist.
February 8th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
If you are in Florida, and you like reality
You could probably fit all those folks in a very small room.
February 9th, 2008 at 12:18 am
“Given that that’s an exhaustive partition, I’m guessing you wouldn’t self-identify as a humanist.”
I should have been more precise in my stereotyping and bucketizing of the two factions I find to be laughable in their zealotry.
February 9th, 2008 at 10:32 am
@ billsmithaz,
Yeah, and it gets worse, if you read down to their “age of the Universe” arguments, their explanations for the various lines of evidence are laughable, and many of them are mutually exclusive (ie cannot both be true). Creation “science” is admittedly weak in astronomy, which is one reason I concentrate on it in my discussions.
I know there’s other Texans that read here, I urge all of you to spread the word on this and contact the THECB. We cannot allow that school to be accredited.
February 9th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
I live in Florida and I’m pretty for sure we’re not undoomed. The ocean doesn’t have to rise too much before the southeast U.S. border will be what’s left of Georgia and Alabama.
On the plus side, it will be nice to see all those beach condos that ruin the view under water.
February 9th, 2008 at 12:48 pm
I don’t agree with a lot of what you say
Fret not. Some day you may be as enlightened and as free from both religious and political ideologies as I, my child.
February 11th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
I live in the Daytona Beach, Florida, and I find it quite ironic and sad that the state that hosts the most important scientific endeavor and institution in mankind’s history, a.k.a. NASA.
I think Florida, however, is no different really than most of the United States. A cross-section, there’s people who have an interest here in this area in engineering (due to race sports), aeronautics (due to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University), and the space agencies in Brevard County. Then there’s the majority of the population that has at best a superficial knowledge of science and its discoveries.