Tuesday, February 28, 2006

I never thought it would happen here...

Ok time for me to cause controversy again. I am quoting an article below that I just read about the "teaching evolution in school" debate. What a load of crap! All of a sudden, every non-scientist in the world is now a scientific expert. We have a masonry contractor arguing about evolutionary theory. Where did he get his facts? The high school biology class that he took at least 10 years ago? Of course the article says that he claims to have "studied" evolution. Yeah right, probably at the same pseudo scientific institute that has been funding all the other initiatives in other states. All they need is one weak willed group of people to give in and away they go. Hope I don't offend anyone out there, but what the heck, I am entitled to my opinion, and I will continue to call out stupidity where I see it.




Nev. Proposal Raises Evolution Questions

By BRENDAN RILEY, Associated Press Writer

CARSON CITY, Nev. - A proposed constitutional amendment would require Nevada teachers to instruct students that there are many questions about evolution — a method viewed by critics as an opening to teach intelligent design.
Las Vegas masonry contractor Steve Brown filed his initiative petition with the secretary of state's office, and must collect 83,184 signatures by June 20 to get the plan on the November ballot. To amend the Nevada Constitution, he'd have to win voter approval this year and again in the 2008 elections.
Brown said Tuesday that he hopes that volunteers will help him collect the signatures, but at this point has no name-gathering organization set up. A Democrat and member of a nondenominational church, he said he hoped for broad support from people who share his views.
"I just want them to start telling the truth about evolution," Brown said. "Evolution has occurred, but parts of it are flat-out unproven theories. They're not telling students that in school."
Brown, who has three school-age children, said he's been interested in evolution for years. He added that if people take time to read his proposal "how can this not pass?"
The petition says students must be informed before the end of the 10th grade that "although most scientists agree that Darwin's theory of evolution is well supported, a small minority of scientists do not agree."
The plan says several "areas of disagreement" would have to be covered by teachers, including the view by some scientists that "it is mathematically impossible for the first cell to have evolved by itself."
Students also would have to be told some scientists argue "that nowhere in the fossil record is there an indisputable skeleton of a transitional species, or a 'missing link,'" the proposal says.
Also, the proposal says students "must be informed that the origin of sex, or sex drive, is one of biology's mysteries" and that some scientists contend that sexual reproduction "would require an unbelievable series of chance events that would have had to occur in the evolutionary theory."
Brown commented on his plan following a decision Monday by the Utah House to scuttle a bill that would have required public school students to be told that evolution isn't empirically proven.
Last month, the Ohio Board of Education deleted a science standard and lesson plan encouraging students to seek evidence for and against evolution — another setback for intelligent design advocates who maintain that life is so complex it must have been created by a higher authority.
In December, a federal judge barred the school system in Dover, Pa., from teaching intelligent design alongside evolution in high school biology classes. The judge said that intelligent design is religion masquerading as science.
Also last year, a federal judge ordered the school system in suburban Atlanta's Cobb County to remove from biology textbooks stickers that called evolution a theory, not a fact.
But critics of evolution got a boost in Kansas in November when the state Board of Education adopted new science teaching standards that treat evolution as a flawed theory.

Sunday, February 26, 2006

New avatar

Yahoo! Avatars

Well here is the new avatar I created using the Yahoo avatar tool. I mixed and matched trying to get a resemblance that was close to me. What does everyone think? Is it me? (Well minus the marriage weight that I have) There is the small version also:

Yahoo! Avatars

Which is what I am thinking of using for a more permanent avatar. Cool huh?

Saturday, February 18, 2006

My brain

I didn't really have anything to blog about, but I decided I needed to write something to keep the meager audience that my ramblings has, so I decided to go through the picture files I have stored on my PC and randomly pull one and write a blog about it. So what do you think of my gears? I borrowed this from some random website with thoughts of using it as my avatar (since, like Teri, I don't feel comfortable posting a picture of myself) I figured it was kind of an idiom for the way my mind works, where one random thought will percolate through and cascade several attached thought chains. Thats probably more information than anyone cared to know, but what the heck...scary huh?

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

In salad lines of fire...

I got home from work today, changed out of my work clothes and into my comfy lay around the house clothes. Looked in to the fridge and decided to be good and have a salad for dinner since Teri had gone through all the trouble of making it yesterday. Which of course got me to thinking about salads and the fact that nobody seems to do homemade salads anymore. I mean when was the last time you bought a head of lettuce and at least 3 or 4 other ingredients to put into a salad? Teri and I always compromise on the salad, I love tomatoes and mushrooms, she doesn't so they stay on the side and I just add to the base salad. Our base salad transmorgifies periodically depending on our mood, but usually includes one of those prepackaged salad bags (yeah I know I was talking some good smack about homemade, but with only the two of us eating getting all the greens are a waste, especially since Teri loves fresh spinach and I really don't), green onions, and radishes, with the occasional carrot or cucumber thrown in. We try to keep sunflower seeds and grated cheese around since Teri and I both love them on salads and Teri also likes crutons which I am not fond of. We have also settled on Ranch dressing even though both Teri and I prefer getting honey-mustard when we go out and get a salad with dinner. Maybe its because the only thing we ever seem to have in the house that hasn't gone bad is Ranch, I don't know. Does anyone else make salads and not just buy the bag, and if so what do you put in it?

Thursday, February 02, 2006

A little bit of this, a little bit of that

Hey I haven't been writing on my blog that much, its hard to get excited when everyone who normally visits is in the doldrums. However, I did have one new visitor and I snagged her post because I liked the idea...so here it is...

I'm a Mercedes SLK!



You appreciate the finer things in life. You have a split personality - wild or conservative, depending on your mood. Wherever you go, you like to travel first class. Luxury, style, and fun - who could ask for more?


Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.



Let me know what you are. I am curious to see how this plays out...