Hello, Dear Readers.
I’m back from a long absence due to personal issues, time issues, job issues, and computer issues. But fear not – the blog is not dead, the Jackson Skeptical Society is doing fine. In fact, we’ve been getting more traffic than ever, most of whom are interested in Robert Dowling (and, oddly enough – Rods of Ra?).
We just had a Skeptics in the Pub meeting that was, as usual, an absolute blast. I’d like to congratulate everyone who attended on being jovial, accommodating (the table/band situation was a bit of a challenge, but we managed to overcome) and informed.
The topics of the evening were pretty bouncy: Andrew Wakefield, the utterly stupid Texas Nurses Trial, the bad science of Dr. Arafiles and the eventual acquittal of Nurse Anne Mitchell. Orac has been all over this, and as a regular reader of Respectful Insolence, I was all over this subject. We also mentioned “Quantum Balancing Crystals” which contain “thousands of nano-scale quartz crystals that are invisible to the naked eye.” I’m sure they do.
There was plenty of beer – and the new Samuel Adams Nobel Pils was on tap at the Tavern. I recommend it if you like highly hopped lagers.
So all in all, a great meeting. There will be more posts later, I promise, but expect slowed posting for a while; things have been busy on the homefront.
Until then, you JSS members have a homework assignment. I’m working on setting up a meeting at the Eudora Welty library, open to the public, about a topic of our choosing. If you checked the Facebook Page you’ll know that the two topics on hand at the moment are 1: Psychics aren’t real (the old skepticism go-to topic) and 2: Astrology isn’t real (just as good!)
I figure that we should start on the basics, eh?
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: jackson skeptical society, jackson skeptics, local events
Hey, remember when the JSS was starting up? Well one of the first things that we all bitched about “back in the day,” was Representative Gary Chism and his attempt at getting anti-evolution warning stickers put onto biology textbooks in Mississippi.
Chism, the southern baptist insurance salesman from Columbus, Mississippi, now has an even weaker bill he’d like to pass – I’m not even sure, entirely, what it would require after reading it here.
From Section I:
The lesson provided to students shall not evidence bias through selective instruction on the theory of evolution, but rather, shall have proportionately equal instruction from educational materials that present scientifically sound arguments by protagonists and antagonists of the theory of evolution.
Even making the world-shattering assumption that scientifically sound arguments by “antagonists of the theory of evolution” actually exist I don’t think that we’re going to be able to buy all those copies of “Pandas and People,” so lets add “unfeasible” to the list of problems this bill has.
Now on to part 2, where what I think of as the real intent of the bill exists:
No local school board, school superintendent or school principal shall prohibit a public school classroom teacher from discussing and answering questions from individual students on the origin of life…
Ah, so when one kid keeps sidetracking the biology class into theology, or one teacher wants to chat Answers in Genesis instead of Darwins finches, no one can stop them.
This is just about the last thing we need. Fortunately, Chism brings such a bill to the house yearly, and it is soundly stomped (none have ever gotten out of committee) – probably more for political bragging rights than anything else.
So for you Jacksonians, Representative Cecil Brown is the Chairman of the Education Committee – and he’s from our district (district 66), so let him know – he’s the guy with his hand on the throat of this thing at the moment.
Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: creationism, jackson skeptics, Mississippi
