Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
Last Thursday, July 21, the Texas Board of Education in an 8-0 unanimous vote opted to keep teaching evolution in high school biology classes using approved scientifically accurate textbook supplements from established mainstream publishers. They did not approve of the creationist-backed supplements from International Databases, LLC. Four times as many people showed up to testify in favor of the scientifically accurate texts as showed up to oppose them.
Although a creationist member of the Board objected to the supplement from textbook publisher Holt McDougal by releasing a list of Holt’s supposed errors involving evolution and common descent, the Board responded by noting that the list had not been signed off on by the Board of Education’s review panel in full. The Board went on to approve the Hold McDougal supplement, but submitted it for review by Commissioner of Education Robert Scott to look at the supposed errors and suggest changes to the Holt McDougal supplement. Local educators and the National Center for Science Education are confident any of Director Scott’s revisions will show the current state of evolutionary biology. In a statement released by the NCSE, NSCE Director Dr. Eugenie Scott praised the Texas Board of Education, saying “These supplements reflect the overwhelming scientific consensus that evolution is the core of modern biology, and is a central and vital concept in any biology class. That these supplements were adopted unanimously reflects a long overdue change in the board. I commend the board for its refusal to politicize science education.” This is squarely a victory in the battle to keep public education educational over the forces that would make public education into religious and/or political indoctrination.
Source: NCSE
~Submitted by Gene Howington, Guest Blogger
OS,
Same here, early day. G’night all.
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kderosa,
I do realize that you really don’t know what you are talking about.
I cannot let that one pass, even if I am sleepy. Atomic clocks are so precise they are easy to synchronize if you know what you are doing and have the equipment. Anyone who has gotten past Physics 101 should know that.
On that note, I am powering down. G’day all.
Gene, you do realize that atomic clocks would be the most difficult clocks to synchronize completely accurately, don’t you?
Gene the problem with atomic clocks is the little buggers are impossible to see and won’t hold still while you set them, with all those electrons flying around and what have you.
Now on that note, I bid all a good night because i have to get up early in the morning to work on a conservatorship case.
This isn’t the discovery channel, boys, there are always practical considerations to take into account in the real world where clocks and such exist.
raff,
That was not meant (Ditka) as an insult in the (beer) slightest to Bears fans. 🙂 I love Chicago (except in the winter).
OS,
He obviously don’t know how atomic clocks work either.
Gene,
Easy on the Bears fans!
Gene, the kid does not understand a scientific hypothetical, insisting on being concrete-minded. No surprises there.
GeneH/Buddha, I know you are desperate for an argument win, but you know as well as I do that in the realm of millionths of a second or less, as your commercial airliner example suggests, it is effectively impossible to synchronize clocks with that level of precision with such crude aircraft. But keep trying, lets see how ridiculous we can carry your desperation in proving your point. You know, I know someone who used to take things to such ridiculous extremes on a regular basis — Buddha.
pete:
“mespo
i think i’d find out why chicago trains go so slow.”
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If you mean inbound ones, it’s mercy, pete, pure mercy.
pete,
It’s so da Bear’s fans don’t spill their beer and sausage. 🙂
kderosa,
Time dilation is measurable using a commercial jet and our survivability near an ultra high mass object is irrelevant to the effect it has on the curvature of spacetime. It happens whether we are there or not, your inane statement notwithstanding.
mespo
i think i’d find out why chicago trains go so slow
Roco,
No one is arguing the clock that is broken is non-functional. That’s just irrelevant to it reading right twice a day. As to your paper example, of course a piece of paper isn’t a clock, functional or otherwise. It’s a piece of paper. The law of identity holds. However, twice a day using the 12 hour schema, the numbers on the piece of paper match the correct time.
Yes, I am familiar with Susskind. This is some fascinating stuff.
Roco,
Time dilation isn’t measurable by “a” Timex. It’s takes at least two Timex’s, the more precise the better, and a plane (or more). Google “Hafele-Keating Experiment”.
Gene H:
Ok, if a train leaves the station in Chicago at 2 o’clock going 25 miles an hour and another one leaves LA at 3 o’clock going 75 miles per hour how long will it ….
Shucks, I was never good at those time-rate-distance questions! 😀
GeneH/Buddha, let me know when we develop a spacecraft that can survive, much less travel at those speeds, or survive being in proximity to such a large mass sch that your assumption becomes feasible and I’ll be sure to revise my joke for you.
Gene H:
no, it will not have a correct reading. I can write 4:15 on a scrap of paper, does that make it a watch, does it have a correct reading? Yes but it is irrelevant.
Would you use the broken watch to plan for meeting a date at 4:15? The sheet of paper is just as good.
It has no functionality.