Well, I survived my first week of classes, and I think I’m on track to make it through the next 14. Unfortunately, in these days of fast internet communication, one of my students has a blog, and has already posted a frank review of her classes. I’m assessed. It’s not good. I may have to flunk her, or maybe put her to work scrubbing the toilets.
So what if they want to chew your face off? They’re being the best Japanese Giant Hornets they can be.
It’s getting to be about that time: science fair season. I’ll remind you all that we have an infamous local event, the Twin Cities Creation Science Fair, in which real live homeschooled creationist kids will present their experiments at the Har Mar Mall, on 16-17 February. I’m hoping to make it this year, but I’ve got a lot of other traveling to do that week, so I’m not sure that I’ll be able to make it…if I do, though, I’ll let you know.
Because I have to deal with this all the time, I’ll also remind everyone that the Objective: Ministries Creation Sciende Fair page is a satire, OK?
This, however, is real: Possummomma finds a lovely example of Christian “science”. A sixth-grader in her area decided to test the hypothesis that “unchristians” are less moral than Christians with a questionnaire — a badly done questionnaire. Some amusing bits: the student had his subjects report on their amoral behaviors, and didn’t keep their answers anonymous. Cool. That could add some fun to a community event.
The other amusing thing is the conclusion: everyone failed the morality test. The answer, then is that we are all sinners, so we’d better become Christians.
The kid ought to come on up to Minnesota — he’d fit right in.
There might be crazy Christian ladies there!
Nah, I know there are crazy Christians there, but they’re mostly fairly cool…I haven’t seen any eruptions like this one.
This is a painting Our President loves; it’s called “A Charge to Keep,” and GW Bush even used that as the title for his autobiography.
Here’s what Bush himself says about the picture.
I thought I would share with you a recent bit of Texas history which epitomizes our mission. When you come into my office, please take a look at the beautiful painting of a horseman determinedly charging up what appears to be a steep and rough trail. This is us. What adds complete life to the painting for me is the message of Charles Wesley that we serve One greater than ourselves.
Bush got it wrong. The painting has been traced back to its source, and it turns out it doesn’t portray a Methodist missionary spreading the word on the Texas frontier…it’s something far more appropriate.
Only that is not the title, message, or meaning of the painting. The artist, W.H.D. Koerner, executed it to illustrate a Western short story entitled “The Slipper Tongue,” published in The Saturday Evening Post in 1916. The story is about a smooth-talking horse thief who is caught, and then escapes a lynch mob in the Sand Hills of Nebraska. The illustration depicts the thief fleeing his captors. In the magazine, the illustration bears the caption: “Had His Start Been Fifteen Minutes Longer He Would Not Have Been Caught.”
I laughed and laughed. It epitomizes their mission, alright.
Sure enough, we actually have a new scibling in the borgosphere: DrugMonkey. It’s OK if you encourage them.
I’ve been tagged with a teaching meme: I’m supposed to answer the question, “Why do you teach and why is academic freedom critical to that effort?”. We science types are late to the game; there are already several examples online, mostly from those humanities people.
OK, it’s cute and catchy, but it’s also got a very awkward sudden jump from the mammal-like reptiles to the primates, and unfortunately it perpetuates the “evolution as a process on rails” concept by showing a single lineage — ours, of course. Why not show a progression to a modern rose, or a fly, or a fish? Or better yet, illustrate evolution as an ongoing explosion of diversity? I know, I know, it isn’t as engrossing to self-centered humans, the market for this sort of thing.
A reader sent me an example of religious kitsch, but just to be on the safe side, I’m going to have to put it below the fold. There’s nothing obscene about the work in question, but I dare you to look at it and not have wildly inappropriate thoughts skitter through your brain.
I think we need a caption contest for this one.
It bodes ill for a certain southern state that my mailbox overfloweth with tales of idiocy from Florida … it’s gotten to the point where I cringe a little bit when I see “Florida” in the subject line, because I know it’s going to be another delusional school board, another wacky letter to the editor, another Floridian complaining that his state isn’t as stupid as it sounds from all the news. Even the Florida Citizens for Science blog is a reservoir of terrible stories right now.
So I’m going to abstain for a little while from the Florida bashing and give the good guys a chance to catch up. How about telling us some good news? I’m sure there are intelligent, progressive people down there gearing up to fight for science and reason, so let’s hear the positive news from the Florida creation wars. If you want anonymity or don’t like commenting, go ahead and email Florida stories with a hopeful bent to me and we’ll try to present the other side of the state.
