A Bulging Photo Opportunity

post from Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) on 10 March 2008 03:59:59 PM. © Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)

tags: birds, Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, ornithology, Image of the Day

Red-tailed hawk, Buteo jamaicensis, in Central Park.

Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [larger size].

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Post 1001: Job with Eco-St

post from Climate Change Action on 10 March 2008 03:58:00 PM. © Climate Change Action

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“According to God's word”

post from Pharyngula on 10 March 2008 03:49:07 PM. © Pharyngula

Here's more pernicious ignorance that we have to deal with: this is Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern, benighted hate-monger, babbling lies.

video details and more

Well, there is one part that is accurate, when she states that "We're not teaching facts and knowledge any more, we're teaching indoctrination", which is exactly right … at least in reference to her remarks.

(via Pam's House Blend)

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Dazzling Egnorance: Egnor vs. Experimental
Science

post from Good Math, Bad Math on 10 March 2008 03:37:31 PM. © Good Math, Bad Math

I'm jumping into this late, and it's at least somewhat off topic for thisblog, although I'll try to pull a few mathematical metaphors into it. But MichaelEgnor, that paragon of creationist stupidity, is back babbling about evolution andbacterial antibiotic resistance. This is a subject which is very personal to me:my father died almost a year ago - basically from an antibiotic resistant infection.

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Fear the philistine

post from Pharyngula on 10 March 2008 03:28:58 PM. © Pharyngula

I am reminded of the whole host of intellectual failings of creationists: it's not just that they reject modern science, but many of them tend to be brain-damaged peckerwoods who are also incapable of viewing literature and art without squawking in horror, unless maybe it's a tasteless photorealistic airbrushed Aryan Jesus, or perhaps some cookie-cutter landscape from a hack like Kincade. For a truly sickening example, just look at Ray Comfort's latest blog entry. He's reacting to a documentary of Gustav Klimt, which describes his work as "sensuous" and "obsessed with women", which are all marks of Satan in Comfort's book. He ends his recitation of the description of the eroticism in Klimt's paintings with this:

If you too enjoy gazing at the naked female form, you don't have to go to New York to see similar works. You can find them scrawled on the walls of most public rest rooms.

I know there are lots of good artists around, but they generally don't scribble on restroom walls. Does this look like something you'd find on a bathroom stall?

Does this make you think of pornography?

Here's a gallery of art by Gustav Klimt. There's a good reason he's a famous painter — this is wonderful stuff. Ray Comfort, two-bit rednecked ignoramus that he is, sees none of it, and is so freaking dishonest that he doesn't dare show his readers any of Klimt's actual work … so instead he does his own crude rendition of "The Kiss" to illustrate his screed, and just so you don't miss his point, he crudely slathers wicked words all over it.

I think you might find Comfort's work in a seedy, filthy restroom somewhere, but not Klimt's.

Just so you don't think this battle is all about nothing but esoteric arguments over details of the interpretation of rarefied biological data, I can't imagine a clearer example of the broader field of the struggle. This is a war over all of Western culture. What do you want? Klimt or Comfort? Science or lies?

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We're all going to hell now

post from Pharyngula on 10 March 2008 02:56:51 PM. © Pharyngula

We've got some new additions to the Deadly Sins, the ones that will get you consigned straight to hell as soon as you die.

"You offend God not only by stealing, blaspheming or coveting your neighbour's wife, but also by ruining the environment, carrying out morally debatable scientific experiments, or allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA or compromise embryos," he said.
Bishop Girotti said that mortal sins also included taking or dealing in drugs, and social injustice which caused poverty or "the excessive accumulation of wealth by a few".
He said that two mortal sins which continued to preoccupy the Vatican were abortion, which offended "the dignity and rights of women", and paedophilia, which had even infected the clergy itself and so had exposed the "human and institutional fragility of the Church".
The mass media had "blown up" the issue "to discredit the Church", but the Church itself was taking steps to deal with it.

The article also mentions using contraception is a mortal sin.

It's a strange list. There are a couple that are common practices of the Catholic church itself, the excessive accumulation of wealth and pedophilia (and isn't that just the cutest little disclaimer? The church is "taking steps to deal with it" — which usually means hushing it up and sending the offending priest off to virgin hunting grounds). Does the Vatican really haven any credibility when an old guy in silk robes encrusted with jewels declares the virtues of poverty?

The dictum against polluting the environment is a good one, but awfully vague. Is he promoting a zero-carbon footprint? Is he arguing against nuclear power? Should we stop exhaling carbon dioxide? Similarly, the prohibition against drugs isn't very specific — are all pharmacists going to hell now?

Declaring that meddling in the fate of embryos is also terribly broad, suggesting that all developmental biologists are also going to hell. This is one mean and nasty pope, I think — he has me damned on several counts!

And I'm sorry, but it is not defending the dignity and rights of women to deny them family planning. It also contradicts any sincere desire to improve the livability of the planet to argue that people are not allowed to take simple action to limit their fecundity.

But of course this is all an exercise in empty rhetoric. The pope does not have any better knowledge of the mind of any god than I do, and does not know anything about the actual fate of human souls after death. It is a bit presumptuous to be declaring that there is an immortal omnipotent being who will torture you for eternity for putting a condom on, don't you think?

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Put a scientific stamp on your letters

post from Science Blog - on 10 March 2008 02:12:22 PM. © Science Blog -

Let the world know you love science and the people who have contributed to our knowledge and technology.

I just returned from the post office, where I bought a sheet of 41-cent stamps honoring four American scientists.

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More from the Lunar and Planetary conference

I mentioned last week that Pamela and Rebecca are blogging from the Lunar and Planetary conference in Texas right now… but of course Emily is there as well, and has some follow-up news about Mercury, with a promise of more to come.There’s going to be lots of cool news from the conference, so do what [...]

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We are experiencing technical difficulties.
Please stand by.

In case you haven't noticed, we're having problems all across scienceblogs. Few of us can post at all, and those who can are reporting errors all over (I will be amazed if this post makes it through). You are also unable to comment.

The crack team of Seed technical experts are delving deep into the guts of the software as I write this, butchering gremlins as they go. No word yet on when we'll be able to post again.

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Lots happening

Just a quick note in case anyone wants to see or hear more about bird conservation and Boreal birds: National Geographic’s Wild Chronicles has released a fabulous new show on Boreal birds and their conservation with dramatic footage shot last[...]

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