Friday, July 8, 2005

The Mexican Cemetery I like to visit Mexico as often as possible - and that's not often enough. Sure, I like the beaches and all, but mostly I like the spirit of the people. Most visitors will find that English is all they need to have a good time, but if you try to learn a little Spanish, you'll discover a deeper, richer Mexico. People will open up to you, and you'll experience their pride and maybe a little of their culture. When I find myself in a Mexican village, one of the things I like to do is visit the local cemetery. Here's why. 6:47:30 AM    comment []

Friday, June 10, 2005

Saving Education in California Last March I wrote about a local initiative to raise money for public schools. If the measure had passed, it would have added $26 to parcel taxes in the district. In California, any inititative to raise taxes has to garner a 67% majority to pass. The money was earmarked to save arts classes and other electives in our two high schools. In March, it failed by less than a percentage point. Immediately after that election it was decided by teachers, administrators, parents and students to put it on another ballot for the June 7 election. Everyone in sight was recruited for a tough get-out-the-vote campaign. Signs were made, fliers passed out in front of grocery stores, registration booths set up. Teachers wrote letters, placed ads in local papers. Kids talked to their neighbors. At the polls on election day I ran into a friend who happens to be a third grade teacher. She told me they had just been given their budget for their classes next year. Do you know what the entire budget for the third grade is?" She asked me. "A hundred twenty five dollars." That's to cover everything a class might need, from construction paper to Kleenex. As in years past, teacherswill have to dig into their own pockets to supply their students. The sample ballot that was mailed to all voters contained brief arguments for and against the measure. Here is the argument against it: On March 8th, voters rejected this tax increase, but the school board members seem to have chosen to ignore that vote. Holding this special election is expensive for the county, not to mention two special elections this year. The trustees are hoping to sneak this tax increase through without us knowing. What part of "no" do they not understand? Property taxes are a poor way to finance education. We should require only those who use the schools to pay for them. Not everyone who pays property taxes benefits from the schools, and families that use the schools do not all pay. That is discrimination. If it is so important for "electives" to be available, parents should pay for it themselves. This way their children will appreciate those opportunities more. We need to get back to the basics of education. That will save money. Sebastopol and Forestville already have public libraries. Instead of spending more money for several libraries, all residents would benefit if we combined them into one per community. Senior citizens, don't let proponents of measure K buy your vote through the exemption offer. Think of young families buying their first home. The initial cost is high enough without the already high property taxes. Renters, don't be surprised if your rent increases due to higher taxes. Maybe West County High School District ought to improve its management of the money it already receives instead of begging for more. If you think that the schools need more money, no one is keeping you from paying $26, $100, or more if you wish. Look at your last tax bill. Do you really want it raised? All that the schools want is more of your money, and they will never have enough. Leaving aside the mean-spiritedness of this message, I have to point out that the "What part of no do they not understand?" argument comes from a minority whose 34% of the vote defeated the will of the 66% majority. Over a lousy $26. The argument was signed by three individuals, and the reader was directed to the Starving Taxpayers website for more information. The site contains more of the same stuff, among it this: MY MAY 9th ELMOLINO TOUR I arrived shortly before 9 to tour the campus with a representative from the pro-tax side. When I arrived it was raining pretty hard so I watched, from inside my vehicle, what was taking place. Looking at the ball fields, I could see through the rain, the sprinklers also watering the grass. I sure hope it got enough water that day! Some of the other things I saw: Two libraries, one school library and one public library, but only one is open at a time. Optional classes that are already available elsewhere. Students who have been brainwashed into believing that more tax is good. Teachers that are unusually well versed in the points of the communist manifesto, and violently defensive of it. Teachers that are unrespectable in their appearance and in-class mannerisms. I asked, and was told that the amount of dues the teachers union receives from each teacher in the distinct, whether they agree or not, is $700-$800 per year. If they really needed it in the schools why do they ship it out? That is a prime example of slavery to the unions. Presumably, he - I assume it was a "he," since everything on this site is unatrributed - picked all this up from the safety of his car. I could spend a few paragraphs venting my anger at this screed, and point out all its errors and inconsistencies, but I think it pretty much speaks for itself. A perfect axample of how public education was wasted on one individual. The good news: On June 7, Measure K passed with 67.5% of the vote. 6:58:04 AM    comment []

Tuesday, June 7, 2005

Coo coo ca choo Here's to you, Mrs. Robinson. 9:35:38 PM    comment []

Monday, May 23, 2005

Three Bird Stories 1. Love Birds In January the pair of love birds we've had for two years, one yellow-green with a peach colored face, the other dark green and blue with a pink face, began laying eggs all over the cage. We didn't know which one was the female until she laid several eggs in the food dish and began sitting on them. It was the darker one. After a couple of weeks she abandoned the eggs, so we removed them, and got a little plywood nesting box to attach to the outside of the cage. Both birds immediately went inside and we didn't see them again for several weeks. And, they were mercifully quiet. Soon the male began coming out to stoke up on food and water, returning to feed mom. We peaked in from time to time, to make sure everything was all right, and there came a day when there were four naked baby love birds. It was exciting and magical for our family, as we waited for them to appear at the circular door. Two were colored like dad, only a lighter yellow and paler cheeks. The other two were charcoal gray with no color whatsoever. We watched as they one by one appeared at the door and ventured outside. It seemed like no time before all four were clamboring around the cage and making one godawful racket. At about the same time, momma love bird went back in the box and dad made it apparent that none of the youngsters was welcome there. Our suspicions were confirmed when we peaked inside the box to find four more eggs. Yes, our six already too many lovebirds were soon going to be increased to ten. We still don't know what we're going to do about this - except to remove that dang nesting box at the first opportunity. 2. Starlings When we got our house, one of its more important amenities was a lap pool in the back yard. My wife is an avid swimmer; it's what she does for exercise, and she swims every single day in our pool during the warm season. In the 1890's, Eugene Schieffelin, decided to release into the United States all of the birds mentioned in the works of Shakespeare. Starting with only a few pairs of European starlings released in New York's Central Park, the starling became Mr. Schieffelin's biggest success. When I lived in the Midwest in 1980, starlings were everywhere in huge flocks, but I had never seen them in California - until last year, when a flock of about 30 starlings moved into our back yard and began making nests in the pine trees next to the pool. We thought it was cute at first - wildlife coming in to our yard to reproduce. The concept soon soured, though, as they began using the pool as a giant bird bath and latrine. They defecated and regurgitated on everything. They chased away all the other birds, and once their eggs hatched, they terrified our cats, dive-bombed any approaching humans, and made cacaphonous "keck, keck, keck" calls every time we went outside. Finally, after about six weeks of this, the fledglings learned to fly and they all left. Sigh of relief. Then, about three weeks ago, the starlings arrived en masse, happily yelling "We're back!" at the top of their little lungs, and began setting up housekeeping. I vowed they would not repeat their performance of the preceeding year. A week ago last Saturday I spent the morning scraping starling feces off the patio furniture and pool cover, and that afternoon I went into defensive action. I climbed high into the pines and pulled out approximately 15 cleverly hidden nests, apologized to the eight or ten beautiful blue speckled eggs in each one, and threw them to the ground. The adults were flying around screaming at me, and I admit I felt terrible about it, but I did it. They stayed around for a couple of days after, but then lost interest and went ... away. Songbirds have returned. Things are clean. Peace. 3. Redtail Hawk Our house is situated on a slope. Looking downhill from our house is our neighbor, surrounded by trees. Beyond them and further downslope is a small creek, lined with pines and eucalyptus trees. From our uphill vantage we are at about eye-level with the tops of these trees. Last Saturday afternoon - the first after the starling departure - I was standing on the deck outside the back door looking east, when I saw a redtail hawk fly into one of the pine trees down the hill and perch on a horizontal branch. I stepped inside to get my binoculars, and just as I came back out the hawk took off from the pine and soared a short distance away to a crotch in a tall eucalyptus, about 300 yards from where I stood. I put up the field glasses to have a look, and saw the hawk had landed on a nest - a huge nest. And in it was a large, almost grown baby hawk. I set up my little Celestron C90 telescope and called out the family and some visiting guests, and we spent the rest of the day taking turns watching the hawks. The mother would leap away, and the baby would test its balance on the edge of the nest, slowly flapping its wings. The mother would return with a mouse or gopher and, holding it with her feet, tear away long strips of flesh which she held out for the baby to gulp down. It's an incredible sight to see - like watching the nature channel, but real life, and only feet from my back door. We've continued to watch them, hoping we are fortunate enough to witness the baby's first flight. I took the following pictures with my little 2 megapixel camera, first using the normal focal length, then the 3X optical zoom. Then I held the lens up to the ocular of the telescope and took the magnified pictures. 10:36:56 PM    comment []

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Oh, Those Eyes In the NFL draft a couple of weeks ago, the San Francisco 49ers chose Alex Smith, a young quarterback from Utah to be the anointed heir to Steve Young. Sure, he can pass and run and read a defensive line --- but what's with his eyebrows?? 12:28:06 AM    comment []

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

House for Sale A front page story in our paper this morning was that the mean price of a house for sale in our county is now $600,000. That's just ridiculous. Especially so when you consider some of these half-million dollar domiciles. You put a house up for sale. You or your real estate agent takes the most flattering picture of it you can, and incorporate it with a brief description of the amenites into a small ad to appear in the newspaper or any of various real estate tabs. Generally the pictures are not much bigger than thumbnails, but still try to show the place from its best angle. Here are few houses new to the market. Each has a price tag of at least $500,000. Let's take a look. The most prominent element of many urban houses is - the garage door. Notice the wonderful latice rectangle decorating the upper wall. The sellers thoughtfully washed the driveway just before taking the picture. These folks tastefully trimmed the hedges to echo the semi-circualr garage door windows. And notice how they trimmed the tree in front so it perfectly covers the window. The predominant amenity of this place is the kennel in the side yard. They turned on the sprinkler to green things up for the photo. Low maintenance yard. You can sit on a concrete bench and admire the bird bath from either side. Another very attractive garage door. But what is that hiding in the driveway? Does it come with the house? 10:00:07 PM    comment []

Sunday, April 10, 2005

Upgrading the Bathrooms The newspaper where I work has been playing poor for the past couple of years - positions are left vacant, dire warnings about unauthorized overtime, broken computers replaced with "repaired" computers, etc. Yet for some reason, the restrooms in the building have escaped scrutiny. They've always been perfectly adequate restroom - -well stocked with soap, paper towels, and so on. But for some reason the company has seen fit to give them all an upgrade. Standard light switches were replaced with motion activated light switches - the lights go on when you open the door, and go off after a few minutes of no activity (don't stay in that stall too long). I suppose there's a savings in electricity usage, so this makes sense. But now they've replaced all the flush handles on the backs of the toilets and urinals with motion detectors, too. So now it flushes automaticaly when you leave the apparatus - and it goes on flushing for another good 30 seconds, dumping about 40 gallons of water down the drain. Not only does it wipe out that electricity savings, but it trains the user to not flush. And they often detect you when you are arriving and starts flushing beifre you get there. And last week they replaced all the paper towel dispensers with versions run by motion detectors. You wave your hand in front of it and a sheet rolls out automatically. Right below the dispenser - the counter or floor - a growing pool of water accumulates where people wave their wet hands. I like the idea of not having to touch anything in the bathroom, but I think things were OK as they were. I suppose I should expect motion detection faucets and toilet paper dispensers next. 11:10:17 AM    comment []

Monday, March 21, 2005

Exclusive to One Sweet Dream A friend of mine attended the congressional hearings into the use of performance enhancing drugs by baseball players last week. He took these two photos four seconds apart. They feature baseball commissioner Bud Selig, taking a performace enhancing substance. Is this his way of thumbing his nose at Congress?. 10:47:40 PM    comment []

Sunday, March 13, 2005

The Return of Prop 13 Public education in California is in bad trouble. One reason we come up short in the schools department is that California is faced with the task of educating an enormous number of non-English speakers. But the other, larger reason - and one that makes the first so much more difficult - I'm blaming on Howard Jarvis and Paul Gann. Back in 1978 these two gentlemen staged what they called a "taxpayer's revolt," and put a proposition on the ballot that was supposed to have made property taxes more equitable - Proposition 13. Yes, the disposition of property taxes - the pool of money that paid for most local and municipal governments, and upon which public schools still depend - needed to be fixed. Before Prop. 13, you paid property taxes based on the assessed value of your property. Say in 1960 you and your neighbor each bought identical houses on adjacent lots for $10,000. Property taxes were about one percent, so you each paid the local county tax collector $100 a year. By 1975, the demand for houses in your area has risen and your neighbor decides to move. He sells his house for $40,000. The new owners now pay $400 a year in property taxes. The county assessor, who makes an annual review of the real estate values in the county, says that your house, identical to your neighbor's, is now worth $40,000, and your taxes go up to $400 a year, too. To Mr. Jarvis and Mr. Gann this seemed unfair. So, on the June 1978 California ballot, they authored a bill that, if approved by voters, would roll back assessed values to 1976 levels, and make it illegal for your property to be reassessed for tax purposes until it was actually sold. Thus, the new owners would pay the higher tax rate, but your taxes would stay roughly the same. For retirees on a fixed income this was important. They could now plan their future without having to worry about dramatic unforeseen property tax increases. The impact on public education, though, was foreseen, and the measure was bitterly fought. Proposition 13 passed, getting 65% of the vote. Schools almost imediately felt the blow, and California started its slide from having the best schools in the country to near the bottom. And property taxes? 27 years later we have a situation where you, who have lived in your house since 1960, pay taxes at near the 1976 level - around $400 a year. Your neighbor's house has been sold a couple of times, most recently to a young family for $400,000. They pay $4,000 a year in property tax. There are many who who say that this is as inequitable as the old method. But overall, it meant a decrease of 35 to 55 percent (depending on who is doing the figuring) in tax revenues to local coffers. To me, the new tax sceme may or may not be a good thing. I would think there should be a way to tax property that would be more fair, but that's not my major beef with Prop. 13. Schools are hurting. I know this, because I have a son in public school, and I volunteer on various committees. I see already-underpaid teachers, who haven't had a raise in years, buying books and materials for their students out of their own pockets. Textbooks in science are years out of date, but still being sent out for repairs (at $5 per book) during the summer because they can't afford new ones. Art, music and drama classes are being completely eliminated from the curriculum. At the beginning of the year, our high school's award-winning band director announced that the only way he could do his job was by having a paid assistant to look after intrument donations, repairs and so on. His full-time assistant was paid $30,000 a year, and it could not come out of the school budget - it would have to be raised privately. A group of parents organized a "Blue and White Ball" fundraiser - an evening of catered food, a "casino", a raffle and silent auction of donated goods and services. It was a great success, and we were able to raise the money to keep our director and his assistant. But it was not without feeling a little like playing into the hands of the taxpayer rebels. See, they say, private fund raising works; there's no need for taxes. I pity the less-well-off districts that need to raise money to keep programs. So, like many counties in California last week, we had a measure on the ballot to raise the parcel tax. Ours was to increase the tax on each parcel in the district by $26. That's $2.17 a month to keep arts programs and libraries open. 65.5 percent of the voters in my district voted in favor of the parcel tax - but it was defeated. Why? Because the third part of the Prop. 13 measure that we passed in 1978 - by a simple majority - required that any future tax increases have to be approved by two-thirds of the vote. Out the window goes rule by majority. Our $26 parcel tax was canned because of the wishes of 35 percent of the voters. Similar measures all across the state lost by similarly close counts. In the run-up to the election - and I thought it would pass, by the way - I talked with several people who planned to vote no. Their position was, why should they have to pay a tax for a service they don't use and don't care about? Let the people who use the schools pay for it. My attempts to explain that everyone, including themselves, benefits from having a good education system fell on deaf ears. This provincial and dim attitude is one of the reasons the European Union, where education is taxpayer funded through college, is leaving the US behind. What's needed is another referendum - that will only need a majority vote to pass - to return to the days of majority rule. It's too easy to get a thrid of the people to oppose progress. 5:19:40 PM    comment []

Sunday, February 6, 2005

Eggs Are People, Too Interesting story on Salon, "Clump of cells or 'microscopic American?'" In in vitro fertilization, a woman is given a drug that causes her to produce many eggsa during ovulation. Then, during voulation, she has several eggs removed from her ovary, which are then combined in a test tube with her partner's (or a donor's) sperm. This shotgun approach can result in many fertized embryos, some of which are inserted back into the woman in the hope of a successful pregnancy. Frequently the process leaves behind several unused embryos. With the donor's permission, these can be inserted into another infertile woman and lead to a successful pregnany for her. Here's what we're talking about: This is an 8-cell embryo - a fertilized egg that has divided 3 times, whcih is the point when it is ready to be put back in the woman's fallopian tubes. The process has been know as "embryo donation." The Department of Health and Human Services has now adopted a policy of replacing the term embryo donation with "embryo adoption. Get it? The woman is no longer the recipient of a potential baby, she is adopting an actual baby. The idea, of course, is political. If they can get Americans to think of it as adoption, it's a small step to convince them that embryos (and fetuses) are children. I know the fundamentalists want us to believe that the ava and sperm are actually little humans, too, but evn they will sometimes admit that that's a little farfetched, and difficult to control. A single ejaculation of sperm would mean the murder of hundreds of millions of tiny humans. Nightlight Christian Adoptions has a program called Snowflakes that finds adoptive parents for embryos. Since 1997, they have matched 207 genetic families with 136 adopting families, with a live-birth success rate of 35 percent. That means that each of the 207 genetic families must have donated ten or more embryos, which means Snowflakes has been the group home of something like 2,000 children, 65% of whom they have allowed to die. That's 1,300 dead kids. Are they ready to take responsibility for that? And I still don't understand why, if fetuses are babies, a pregnant woman is not eligible for Welfare (AFDC) or a simple dependent income tax deduction. Apparently that arm of HHS and the IRS do not consider an unborn fetus to be a child. 8:47:09 AM    comment []

Saturday, January 29, 2005

Helping Us Over the Wall It's ironic to me that so many of the cruxes that shape our world are the result of almost miraculous coincidence. All the oil just happens to be under Islamic soil. After the Jews are nearly exterminated in the middle of the last century, they are compensated by being awarded the very land they were promised in the Bible, a land which also houses the most holy shrines of Christianity and Islam. And the very seat of the flowering of a way for humans to live in peace is brutally overrun by the most populous country on earth to provide strategic advantage over the second most populous country, and both have nuclear weapons. I just watched a very powerful documenatry, "Tibet - Cry of the Snow Lion." It makes me both sad and hopeful at the same time, and deepens my admiration and reverence for the Dalai Lama. We used to play a "New Game," I don't remember the name, where a team has to cooperate to get everyone on the team over a high wall. The strong have to help the weak, and the weak play their own piotal role. We're all playing that game here on earth. But when the first guy gets to the top of the wall he looks back and finds that the rest of us have begun fighting about petty matters and have completely forgotten about the wall, and he has to go back and bring their attention back to the goal. When I see beings of wicked nature overwhelmed by violent negative actions and sufferings, I shall hold such rare ones dear, As if I have found a precious treasure. ---from Eight Verses for Training the Mind by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama 2:31:59 AM    comment []

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

The New Communists Listening to NPR last week, they were discussing the upcoming inauguration, discussions with various players about the way the people who don't believe in the emperor's clothes are being kept away from the action. One guy - the head of the Republican Inauguration Committee or something - said, and from memory, I think this is a direct quote, "Groups like ANSWER and Code Pink have aligned themselves with the terrorists and Saddam Hussein. They have no business at the inauguration." Beginning in 1950 and going for the next 40 years the Republicans discovered a broad base of support, fueled by the end of the world war, and tapping into people's fears. The name they put on it was Communism. Joe McCarthy in the Senate conducted hearings to root out suspected Communists. By rumor and innuendo he ruthlessly ruined people's lives and careers for his own political advancement. Eventually McCarthy's bluff was called and the "Red Scare" came to an end. But the damage was done. In the public mind "Communism" was equated with "atom bomb." In the days before focus groups Republicans knew they could get a lot of milage out of labeling someone a Communist. The Soviet Union came apart in 1990, and he term "Communist" lost its cachet. It no longer inspired fear - Communists were losers. We elected Bill Clinton and entered a decade of peace and prosperity. The Republicans had lost their biggest weapon, and searched madly for a new one. And on September 11, 2001, providence provided it. Terrorism was no longer something that happened elsewhere. It could happen right here in your neighborhood. The Republicans wasted no time. They labeled everything and everyone who disagreed with their aims and methods a terrorist, and they continue to do so today. They motivate people by fear and use the idea of terrorism to further political ends. And in that respect they are, by definition, terrorists. Read about Joe McCarthy and the Red Scare here. It's very brief, and worth it just to reacquaint yourself with this era. Try substituting the word "terrorist" for "communist" as you read. 12:22:56 AM    comment []

Sunday, January 16, 2005

The Intelligence of Intelligent Design From today's New York Times: Following is a statement on evolution and an alternative that a school administrator in Dover, Pa., is expected to read to high school biology students this week: The Pennsylvania Academic Standards require students to learn about Darwin's theory of evolution and eventually take a standardized test of which evolution is a part. Because Darwin's theory is a theory, it continues to be tested as new evidence is discovered. The theory is not a fact. Gaps in the theory exist for which there is no evidence. A theory is defined as a well-tested explanation that unifies a broad range of observations. Intelligent Design is an explanation of the origin of life that differs from Darwin's view. The reference book "Of Pandas and People" is available for students who might be interested in gaining an understanding of what Intelligent Design actually involves. With respect to any theory, students are encouraged to keep an open mind. The school leaves the discussion of the origin of life to individual students and their families. As a standards-driven district, class instruction focuses upon preparing students to achieve proficiency on standards-based assessments. Dover, Pa, is the focus of a lawsuit involving a group of parents, represented by the ACLU, and a single school board member elected in the Great Bush Mandate last November. This scene is being played out on different levels in school districts around the country. Pandas are used as an example that disproves the theory of evolution because pandas supposedly have an opposable thumb (they don't). A passage from "Of Pandas and People": Intelligent design means that various forms of life began abruptly through an intelligent agency, with their distinctive features already intact - fish with fins and scales, birds with feathers, beaks, and wings, etc. Some scientists have arrived at this view since fossil forms first appear in the rock record with their distinctive features intact, rather than gradually developing. The backers of teaching Intelligent Design go to great lengths to support their claims and promote their goals, which is to get religion's foot in the classroom door. They appear at school board meetings and try to sound open-minded and reasonable. Who could argue against open discussion and free examination of all competing theories in an educational setting? Design theory is already well established in scientific inquiry. For example, in a fire investigation one examines the evidence at the scene to determine whether the fire was a result of natural causes or whether arson (a designed event) was involved. In archaeology one examines an object made of rock (an artifact) to determine whether it was shaped by natural forces or whether it was shaped by man to be a tool. In forensic science one investigates the crime scene to determine if the death was by natural causes or whether it was murder (a designed act). In the government funded SETI program we analyze patterns of radio and light waves in an effort to detect alien intelligence. We believe origins science should be conducted in a similar manner. One examines the scientific evidence to determine if a design inference is warranted. The phenomenon must be studied without bias or assumption in a search for an explanation that is dictated by the evidence rather than a preconceived notion of the outcome. This is the method that will lead us closer to the best scientific explanation for our origins. Origins science demands objectivity. And here's some more: Although evidence of design is consistent with theistic belief, it may also be said that evolutionary theory is consistent with non-belief (or atheism or agnosticism). The evidence in both cases is not religious although it impacts religion. The goal of objective origins science is to see that the relevant evidence is shown without religious, philosophic or naturalistic bias or assumption. It is then up to the students, parents and others to decide what to ultimately believe about where the evidence leads. You won't get very far in researcing Intelligent Design before you are led straight to its evolutionary progenitor, Creation Science, a name that was tarnished when the Supreme Court ruled against teaching it in 1981. On the Creation Science home page, we find: The first chapter of the Bible, Genesis, tells of the major creation events. Many people, even Christians, regard the creation account as something other than actual history - a nice story that conveys some truths but which is not to be taken literally. The main reason for this view is the incorrect assumption that "science" has proved that it was really evolution that got us here. But why not start with the view that Genesis is true?, especially if you already believe that an all-powerful creator exists or could exist. There is no fundamental conflict between what is said in Genesis and what we absolutely know to be scientifically true And later: The "geologic column", which is cited as physical evidence of evolution occurring in the past, is better explained as the result of a devastating global flood which happened about 5,000 years ago, as described in the Bible. Even evolutionists acknowledge that the fossil record is one of "fully-formed abrupt appearance" and "stasis" (that is, no change over time) ... There is no reason not to believe that God created our universe, earth, plants, animals, and people just as described in the book of Genesis! Who are these people who disagree with standard high school science curricula? And what do they want with our public schools? Scientists who call themselves "creation scientists" are professionals, typically with advanced degrees from major universities, who are generally involved in the same types of work as the average scientist. The difference is that creation scientists have a "world-view", or "model" for their science which is based on the belief that an intelligent designer ("God") exists who created our universe and the natural things in it. The creation events were one-time events and are not taking place today. A large subset of creation scientists could be called "Biblical creationists", who take the first eleven chapters of the Bible to be real history, including the creation of all things in six 24-hour days, the existence of Adam and Eve as the first man and woman, the unnatural introduction of "death" into the perfect creation because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, and the occurence of a world-wide flood (Noah's flood) which destroyed most life and greatly affected the processes operating on the earth. Most creation scientists believe that the earth is "young" (on the order of ten thousand years), but this is a secondary issue. Biblical creationists believe that the Bible and true science are in full harmony with each other - there is no need to "check your brain at the door" when entering a church. Enough of Intelleigent Design. As long as they don't teach it as accepted fact, I really have no objection to bringing it up in the context of alternative theories. Let's agree that the Theory of Evolution is just a theory, and as such is no more valuable to our understanding of the universe than any other theory. But why stop at Intelligent Design? The Hindu cosmology is considerably older than that of the Bible, and its account of the age of the universe is much more in line with the Darwinists. Don't the cosmological traditions of Navajo and Mayan cultures deserve equal time? And what of Islam? Checking out the Islam Guide we can find that in the Quran, God tells Muhammad about the stages of human embrionic development - We created man from an extract of clay.  Then We made him as a drop in a place of settlement, firmly fixed.  Then We made the drop into an alaqah (leech, suspended thing, and blood clot), then We made the alaqah into a mudghah (chewed substance)... If Intelligent Design belongs in the school, shouldn't this be included as well? 6:26:40 PM    comment []

Saturday, January 15, 2005

New Job Yep, a new job. Same company (a daily newspaper) but different job. Better job. But less time for blogging. How about those Europeans? They landed a spacecraft on Titan, one of the moons of Saturn, over a light-hour away from Earth. And it's sending back picutres. Looks kind of like coming in for a landing in Santa Barbara, no? 2:50:01 PM    comment []