Why do people still refer to Hovind?

Seriously I wonder that all the time. Anyway another great take-down of Hovind/anti-evolution arguments by Potholer54

Golden Crocoduck Nominees 1

So Potholer54 has the first of his Golden Crocoduck videos for this year! Enjoy.

Correlation and Causation

Sometimes while talking with creationists I feel like I have said this multiple times but it doesn't seem they notice. Anyway enjoy today's SMBC.

Explanation of Human Ancestry Made Easy

So a few years ago Potholer54 made a video series pretty much explaining the history of the earth and life and one of those videos was Human Ancestry Made Easy. He apparently got some questions about some of the content. Now I use the term questions loosely here because it is pretty obviously creationists trying to show that evolution doesn't work, even though it does and they are wrong. I think the bigger issue is just the way Potholer54 phrased the statement and he at least tries to explain it here, although I don't think he did a perfect job with it either but he at least got closer.

This Strawman is Getting Old

The last of the Golden Crocoduck videos has been posted by Potholer54 and while there isn't going to actually be voting this year, for reasons you can see here, I figured I would still post this video. I have heard this nonsense so many times and have heard it refuted but as long as creationists keep using it it will keep having to be debunked.

Next Golden Crocoduck Nominee

Potholer54 introduces us to his next Golden Crocoduck nominee in his newest video

Population

So this is something that you hear a lot coming from creationists, mostly because they are just regurgitating Kent Hovind, that the population now can only have been reached with an initial population of 2. This new video by shanedk should at least partially answer that question.

Fire Breathing Dinosaurs?

In Potholer54's continuing nominations for this year's Golden Crocoduck award he nominates the man who first popularized the idea about dinosaurs having too small nostrils...well just watch the video.

Dinosaur Eggs and Creationism

Potholer54 continues to feature his Golden Crockoduck award nominees, this one deals with dinosaur eggs and how they somehow show that a global flood occurred.

Ring Species

In his newest video Potholer54 nominates one more person to this year's Golden Crocoduck. In the video he discusses ring species, I will leave the discussion as to what they are to him but I use a similar example of ring species when trying to teach about evolution and speciation.

I Love Phylogeny

I know that sounds nerdy but I do find phylogeny immensely interesting it shows how interrelated we all are to all the other animals, plants, etc. AronRa has yet another great video this time discussing phylogeny. As with all of his videos it has a lot of technical jargon in it but it is phrased in a way that most people should be able to understand.

Golden Crocoduck Nominee #1

So Potholer54 has moved the Golden Crocoduck award from his other channel to his main one and here is the first nominee for the 2011 award. Let me say that the group that is the first nominee put together a pretty trippy movie for both children and especially for a creationist group.

How do you define a human

AronRa has a new video out defining what exactly a human is. He has previously shown how we are monkeys and apes and this one just helps in the classification more specifically. This is part of his on going Falsifying Phylogeny (see parts 1, 2, 3, and 4) series.

Ken Ham's take on Fossil Butte

So yesterday the blogger over at The Dispersal of Darwin posted a link to this story on Facebook yesterday. When I saw where it linked I initially didn't think much of it but as I read through the article I wanted to address something. The link leads to Ken Ham being upset about the way that Fossil Butte National Monument (Wikipedia page) handles the age of the Earth.

First, Ken Ham can complain all he wants about this being "indoctrinating visiting families" but I am sorry Ken it isn't. Why do I say this? Well simple there has been no peer-reviewed published scientific paper that 1) disputes evolution, and 2) supports his particular view of a 6 day creation. All evidence right now points to an old Earth one that is ~4.6 billion years old, I am not saying that it may not be proved wrong in the future but it isn't really looking like it. What the NPS is doing is taking the current scientific understanding about the planet and presenting it in a unique way.

This brings me to my second and main point, this is a really cool way to try to teach people about this. As someone who has taught labs on historical geology I am always trying to find a way to help my students understand the age of the Earth. While this may not be useful to everyone to the people visiting Fossil Butte it will help them get a better understanding this great expanse of time. Humans are not good at understanding numbers that big because they really don't mean much to us but by having people drive through this whole length of time might give this huge numbers some meaning, you could do the same thing with other numbers that are really big like the debt etc.

I haven't been to Fossil Butte myself but Ken's post makes me want to visit it even more than before, hopefully someday.

Creationism and Evolution in Public Schools

The Secular Student Society at Texas Tech (yes the website is out of date come on now guys) [prior post about them] is hosting an event that has been the focus of many posts on this blog, Creationism and Evolution in Public Schools. This event will be a talk by Dr. Michael Dini a professor of Biology, more specifically Biology Education, at Texas Tech University and will start on Monday April 11 at 8:00 pm in Holden Hall Room 150. This should be an interesting event because Texas has in the past been openly hostile to evolution and Lubbock is one of the more conservative cities in the country. I will be there and if this is a topic that interests you at all you should be there as well you are more than welcome.

Textbook Stickers

If Creationist get their "warning" stickers on textbooks soon everyone will be demanding them as SMBC points out below.

Miller/Morris Debate

One of the most popular debates on Evolution vs Creationism was the Miller vs. Morris debate of 1981 held at Brown University. Well now the NCSE has a posting of the transcript as well as the audio of the debate online. The transcript can be found here and the 4 videos that make up the audio portion found below. Also if you want to download an mp3 of the debate it is available in 4 parts on the transcript page of the NCSE's website.

Note: Each video is about 50 mins long so be prepared for a long day if you are to watch them all. If you want to go to the specific pages for all of the videos click the label for each video.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Also subscribe to the NCSE's YouTube channel.

Antivax and Creationism

With the semester wrapping up I will be busy with finishing up work so don't expect much for the next few week, although I have a lot I want to do (damn inspiration coming during the busiest time of the year).

The Louisiana Coalition for Science has a great article about the tie between the antivax movement and those who want to teach creationism in Louisiana's science classrooms, in particular Dr. John W. Oller, Jr.

Such is the evidence for the quality of the scientific judgment of Prof. Oller, who, in his LinkedIn profile, specifies that his interests are “consulting offers” and “expertise requests.” He hangs out with not only the the disgraced (and disgraceful) Andrew Wakefield but also with young-earth creationists who have misinformed an untold number of innocent children. His association with ICR indicates that he believes that the earth is only a few thousand years old. Yet, according to Oller, the scientists with hard-earned, professional expertise in biology who wrote the proposed textbooks don’t know what they’re doing. Oh, and — lest we forget — evolution is causing the downfall of society.

It is a long read but it is good so I recommend everyone read it.

I am mildly supprised

So the way Louisiana has been I was surprised to see this published by the Louisiana Coalition for Science, for background on this story see my post here.

Readers will have to pardon the mixed metaphors in this post, but something happened today in Louisiana that is is about as common here as snowflakes at Christmas: the voice of reason prevailed at a meeting of public officials.

The Louisiana Textbook/Media/Library Advisory Council met today, Friday, November 12, at 9 a.m. at the Claiborne Building in downtown Baton Rouge. The council voted 8-4 to recommend approval of the biology books that had already been approved by the Textbook Review Committee. Teachers, scientists, and students showed up at this meeting to support the earlier decision of the Textbook Review Committee and to protest the attempt by the Louisiana Family Forum (LFF) to commandeer yet another aspect of Louisiana science education policy.

This is a big win for Louisiana students and I am happy to see that a lot of people showed up in support of science education, although it isn't completely supp rising. I don't have much to say so I will let Barbara Forrest carry us out on this one.

Well, gosh, let’s hope this decision paves the way for BESE’s approval of the textbooks. Regardless of what happens next month, all of us owe a big “thank you” to the good citizens who showed up at that meeting today.

Thank you Baton Rouge Advocate

So after my post last night I was delighted to see this short opinion piece by the Baton Rouge Advocate's opinion staff earlier this afternoon. They argue, and rightly so, that evolution is a science supported by the facts and that Louisiana doesn't want to turn into the next Texas or Kansas and be the laughing stock of the U.S. and even the world.

But it is the duty of the committee members not to be politicians — a couple of the members are state legislators — or representatives of public opinion. The committee members have a duty to reject intrusion of pseudo-science, such as creationism or its offshoot “intelligent design,” into science classrooms.

[...]It’s one thing to be different culturally, as Louisiana is in so many ways. But the facts of science and biology do not change. For Louisiana to be different in the direction of ignorance would be a humiliation in the eyes of the nation and the world.

Let me just say this, thank you Baton Rouge Advocate for supporting true science education!