Good Morning
My mind is not working properly today, after hearing the debate last night…the fear of America’s future in science and technology scares the bejeezus outta me.
Here in Banjoville, the county school system has been changed to a Charter School. The process will not be complete for a few years, which is fortunate because my kids are out of there in 2017…but I know that there are changes coming…and it is going to look like a Ham version of science when all is said and done.
Creationism in public schools, mapped. Where tax money supports alternatives to evolution.
Thousands of schools in states across the country can use taxpayer money to cast doubt on basic science.
A large, publicly funded charter school system in Texas is teaching creationism to its students, Zack Kopplin recently reported in Slate. Creationist teachers don’t even need to be sneaky about it—the Texas state science education standards, as well as recent laws in Louisiana and Tennessee, permit public school teachers to teach “alternatives” to evolution. Meanwhile, in Florida, Indiana, Ohio, Arizona, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere, taxpayer money is funding creationist private schools through state tuition voucher or scholarship programs. As the map below illustrates, creationism in schools isn’t restricted to schoolhouses in remote villages where the separation of church and state is considered less sacred. If you live in any of these states, there’s a good chance your tax money is helping to convince some hapless students that evolution (the basis of all modern biological science, supported by everything we know about geology, genetics, paleontology, and other fields) is some sort of highly contested scientific hypothesis as credible as “God did it.”
Go and see the map, it is frightening how many dots there are all over the country. And it makes the pleas from Bill Nye all the more important, that
“If we stop driving forward, looking for the next answer, we in the United States will be out-competed by other countries, other economies.”
I am going to give you a link dump of commentary on the debate last night between Bill Nye and Ken Ham:
Bill Nye, Ken Ham Creation and Evolution Debate | TIME.com
No debate about it, Bill Nye dissected Ken Ham in creation-evolution discussion | GlobalPost
Who Won Bill Nye’s Big Evolution Faceoff? – NBC News.com
Talking past each other: Bill Nye vs. creationist Ken Ham on evolution | Ars Technica
Yes, the Creation Debate Was Worthwhile- Mashable
Creation vs evolution: the debate that went nowhere- The Sydney Morning Herald
Bill Nye Takes On Creationist Ken Ham (VIDEO)- Huffpo
Students react to Nye-Ham debate | The Kentucky Kernel
Basalt, wood, and dodging straight answers: On Nye v Ham. iO9
…this article through the reddit/r/everythingscience discussion thread on tonight’s debate, and thought I might find some interested fellows here.
At some point in the debate, Ham dragged up some anecdotal evidence about a 45,000 year-old piece of wood (maybe 450,000?) encased in what I think I remember as 4.5 billion year-old basalt. Nye sort of handwaved this away, saying perhaps the basalt “slid over” the younger material and never addressed it again, even after Ham brought it back up.
I’m pretty up on my creationism (sorry, ID) vs. evolution debate topics as I am an elementary school teacher and a former christian, but as this topic was novel to me I thought it deserved a bit of research. It seems to be similar to that classic creationist bit about polystrate trees.
Anyway, the article pretty much goes on to say that the person who made the original claim on the fossil essentially tucked it away in a drawer somewhere and won’t let anyone else look at it, hence why I designated it anecdotal above.
Check out that last link…some funny stuff there.
I think the whole thing can be summed up here:
This sums up the #creationdebate pretty well. http://t.co/RLe1BoJTpc—
Carolyn McDowell (@Arumi_kai) February 05, 2014
So in consideration of the ridiculous exhibition of last night, by that I mean Ham and his followers…I have a shitload of science links this morning.
4,600-Year-Old Step Pyramid Uncovered in Egypt – Scientific American
Archaeologists working near the ancient settlement of Edfu, in southern Egypt, have uncovered a step pyramid that dates back about 4,600 years, predating the Great Pyramid of Giza by at least a few decades.
The step pyramid, which once stood as high as 43 feet (13 meters), is one of seven so-called “provincial” pyramids built by either the pharaoh Huni (reign ca. 2635-2610 B.C.) or Snefru (reign ca. 2610-2590 B.C.). Over time, the step pyramid’s stone blocks were pillaged, and the monument was exposed to weathering, so today, it’s only about 16 feet (5 m) tall.
Scattered throughout central and southern Egypt, the provincial pyramids are located near major settlements, have no internal chambers and were not intended for burial. Six of the seven pyramids have almost identical dimensions, including the newly uncovered one at Edfu, which is about 60 x 61 feet (18.4 x 18.6 m). [See Photos of the Newly Uncovered Step Pyramid]
The purpose of these seven pyramids is a mystery. They may have been used as symbolic monuments dedicated to the royal cult that affirmed the power of the king in the southern provinces.
“The similarities from one pyramid to the other are really amazing, and there is definitely a common plan,” said Gregory Marouard, a research associate at the University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute who led the work at the Edfu pyramid. On the east side of the newly uncovered pyramid, his team found the remains of an installation where food offerings appear to have been made — a discovery that is important for understanding this kind of pyramid since it provides clues as to what they were used for.
Hmmm, that puts this pyramid outside the 4,000 year old Earth age right? But wait…it still can be explained by one thing….Gawwwwwd.
The ‘Pompeii of the early Cretaceous’: Researchers find stunningly well preserved specimens in China | Mail Online
Researchers have revealed one of the best preserved fossil sites ever discovered.
The fossil site in Jehol biota in the north-eastern region of China has revealed scorched tissue, and ‘re-crystallized’ sections of bone on fossil.
Experts say the site is similar to the effect of the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 buried Pompeii, Herculaneum and other cities, entombing people and animals in suspended death poses.
The team studied 14 fossils along with the chemistry and mineralogy of the volcanic rock and sediment that formed the animals final resting place.
‘What we’re talking about in this case is literal charring, like somebody got put in the grill,” said George Harlow, a mineralogist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, one of the researchers of the study.
Okay, that is in a language I think many of those at the creation museum would understand, I mean….Sunday bar-b-que is a big deal around the bible belt.
An ancient ecosystem known as the Jehol Biota existed in north eastern China about 120 million to 130 million years ago.
It consisted of dinosaurs, mammals, early birds, fish, lizards and other creatures, with the red areas highlighted below having thrown up fossils.
The animals lived among coniferous forests and lakes, in the shadow of volcanoes.
Fossils of these animals are found in the Yixian and Jiufotang rock formations, embedded in layers of volcanic material.
Hold up, 120 to 130 million years? Now that is for sure, most definitely outside the 6,000 year old Earth aka the Ham Young Earth belief system. I’ll point you to that iO9 link up top.
‘Severe reduction’ in killer whale numbers during last Ice Age
The scientists studied the DNA sequences of killer whale communities across the world.
They found a severe decline in whale numbers leading to a bottleneck and consequent loss of genetic diversity approximately 40,000 years ago when large parts of the Earth were covered in ice.
The only exception to this was found in a killer whale population off the coast of South Africa that retained high variations in genetic diversity.
As greater genetic diversity indicates larger population size, the researchers believe the South African community of killer whales escaped the bottleneck faced by other communities.
Genetic Diversity?
Madagascar’s tiny ‘sucker-foots’ give old bat new meaning | Reuters
You can call them the contrarians of the bat world.
While nearly all bats roost upside down from tree limbs or cave ceilings, two species of tiny “sucker-footed” bats currently found only in Madagascar roost head-up, typically in the furled leaves of a tree known as the traveler’s palm.
But these oddballs of the bat world once were much more common than they are today. Scientists reported on Tuesday the discovery in a desert in Egypt of the fossilized remains of two earlier extinct species of these bats – one that lived 37 million years ago and the other 30 million years ago.
What? Species? That doesn’t fit in with the Ham “kinds” graphic at all.
You really want to be scared: Study Guides – Answers in Genesis
Or how about this shit: | Answers in Genesis-Shop topic “Design”
I found myself looking through these titles of books, videos and shit…realizing my mouth was wide open…in disbelief? I don’t know, and Ham has the gall to say evolution in school is “indoctrination”?
Genes shed light on pygmy history
Scientists on Tuesday said they could fill a blank in the history of Central Africa’s pygmies, whose past is one of the most elusive of any community in the world.
At a key period in the human odyssey, these hunter-gatherer tribes shunned interbreeding with Bantu-speaking communities who were early farmers, according to a gene analysis.
The two groups first met when the Bantu groups, having acquired farming technology some 5,000 years ago, started moving out of the region of Nigeria and Cameroon into eastern, central and southern Africa.
Again with that whole greater than 4,000 years ago theme?
Whoa…
Well, as I was writing this post last night, my computer froze up and I just abandoned the post to finish this morning. So I guess like a Beatles song, this thread will play like two different blog post in one?
The big stink this morning?
The Best Of The Bad Reporting On Obamacare, The CBO And Jobs
The Congressional Budget Office issued a new report Tuesday on the federal budget deficit, Obamacare and jobs — and Official Washington exploded.
It all centered on one line about how the health care reform law would affect employment. CBO actually said that Americans would choose to work less, for various reasons, and that if you translated the fewer hours worked into full-time jobs, it would equal 2.5 million by 2024 (2.3 million by 2021). It didn’t say that Obamacare would cost the country 2.5 million jobs, but Republicans said so anyway.
But it wasn’t just the GOP, which had a political incentive to take advantage of economic jargon. It was the political press as well. They either misrepresented what the report said — or shrugged off the actual facts, opting instead to speculate on what the political spin would mean for the horse race.
The mememorandum page is so taken up with this CBO/Obamacare shit, I had to put a link up.
While I was there, this next article popped out at me…Justice Scalia: “You Are Kidding Yourself If You Think” SCOTUS Won’t Vote in Favor of Internment Again – Hit & Run : Reason.com
Enjoy that latest nugget of crap from Scalia’s mouth.
Another WTF moment: Gun lobbyist Larry Pratt: U.S. blacks need ‘attitude’ lessons from ‘happy’ Africans | The Raw Story
My state of Georgia was in the news recently displaying the horrible leadership skills of Governor Deal and Mayor Reed, well…here is yet another area that Georgia is failing in. (And I don’t think this is going to fix it) Bill filed to privatize Ga. child welfare services | AccessNorthGa
A bill has been filed in the state Senate that would have Georgia move toward privatizing some state child welfare services.
The bill sponsored by Republican Sens. Renee Unterman of Buford and Fran Millar of Atlanta would allow faith-based and community-based organizations to apply for “fixed-price” contracts to handle services including adoption, foster care and case management. The law would be contingent on the state receiving a federal waiver.
While on the subject of faith-based PLUB control…Women’s rights country by country – interactive | Global development | theguardian.com
But take a gander…La Course Will Include Women In Le Tour de France For The First Time
Also check out the latest candidate news:
RALEIGH: Clay Aiken makes it official: He will run for Congress | State Politics | NewsObserver.com
Sandra Fluke, Wendy Davis, And How The Fight For Reproductive Rights Is Inspiring Women To Run For Office | ThinkProgress
Victoria Jackson Files To Run For Tennessee County Commission Seat
There is a look back at: How 10 years of Facebook design tweaks have shaped the way we behave on the Web | PandoDaily
And here is a graphic look at: The toll of the anti-vaccination movement, in one devastating graphic – latimes.com
Let’s end this post with a little humor: Walmart to Pay $25 Billion to Move the State Capitol of Arkansas to Bentonville | Rock City Times
BENTONVILLE – Gov. Mike Beebe and officials with Bentonville-based Walmart Stores Inc. have confirmed an agreement that, if approved by the Arkansas Legislature, would see the retailer pay the state $25 billion over five years in return for moving the State Capitol to Bentonville.
The $25 billion would essentially fund all state government operations for the next five years – which is the timetable for moving state operations to Bentonville.
“It certainly is an unusual move, but from a practical standpoint it makes sense. As we continue to increase our influence over state government officials, it becomes an issue of efficiency,” said Walton Richman, a spokesman for Walmart.
So….what you all reading about today?