- Top home-school texts dismiss Darwin. (From Joel, Ooxman and James.)
- Self-proclaimed psychic Sean David Morton is charged with securities fraud. (From Zoltan and Displaced Northerner.)
- Gut bacteria cause overeating in mice. (From Steve.)
- Will Canada’s national anthem be changed to make it gender-neutral? (From Lindsay.)
- Cops ordered a New Jersey family to cover up their topless snowlady. (From Izzy.)
You’re late on the Canadian National Anthem story – it’s already been decided that there will be no change.
http://calgary.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20100305/edm_ocanada_100305/20100305/
Seriously? They had to cover that up? It’s got the exact same amount of detail as any department store mannequin. Fucking prudes.
I’m still trying to figure out who among us Canadian women genuinely (or even remotely) found that line to be offensive or non-inclusive. And I’m tired of the papers and the politicians griping about how ‘Next, TEH ATHEISTS will want us to remove the ‘God’ line!’
Because I couldn’t care less about that one, either.
Secularism and equality are awesome, but we’re not insane.
The anthem thing keeps coming up. When I was a kid, they wanted to change the “sons” line as well as “native land” (under the premise that it discriminated against immigrants). Nothing ever came of it, though.
The only changes that seem to have been implemented since I was a kid were changing “and stand on guard” to “from far and wide” and changing one of the “O Canada”s to “God keep our land”. I think they just like to screw with the lyrics every few years to confuse people.
FYI, some repeat quickies this morning from 3.5.
@James Fox:
And I thought I was having some killer deja vu.
@Sam Ogden: There’s a glitch in the Matrix.
And Re: the wall street psychic, anyone who says this: “I have called ALL the highs and lows of the market giving EXACT DATES for rises and crashes over the last 14 years,†Mr. Morton claimed at one point, according to the documents filed in connection with the case.
If I hear that coming from my broker, I’m running for the hills- quickly and with all of my money.
I’m sorry about the repeating links. Thinking back all the way to Friday is hard. I’m going to start keeping a spreadsheet so I don’t get confused anymore.
Naked snowwoman was causing snowmen’s snowballs to heat up and melt.
Yeah, I thought there was a glitch in the matrix, instead of my usual being slobberingly drunk.
Slobberingly.
God damn it Sean David Morton is so close to my full name I started panicking. Thanks a lot, Skepchick.
The Under the Microscope site that was pimped earlier on a quickies has started to post letters.
http://www.underthemicroscope.com/blog/announcing-march-event-message-2-a-younger-me
I just have a rant about the homeschool text book thing.
My husband’s younger sister is homeschooled, and she needed a little extra help with her Chemistry, so I offered to help. I knew they used the Apologia textbooks, but I thought, “Well, it isn’t Biology. They can’t insert creationism into Chemistry, can they?” Oh, yes, they CAN!
While helping my sister-in-law go over the laws of Thermodynamics, I noticed a passage in the book about Evolution. It was the old trope about Evolution violating the 2nd law of Thermodynamics, an argument which has been debunked by multiple scientists. This isn’t the worst part, though. The textbook authors KNOW their argument has been debunked, and thy admit that in the text. At the end of the passage, they say something like (I’m paraphrasing here), “Well, we know this argument is completely false, but it sure makes you think, doesn’t it?”
So they know that they’re teaching these kids lies. They even know that adding that sentence at the end will allow them to claim that they aren’t teaching lies. And I’d be willing to bet that they also understand that most kids who read that whole passage will remember the nonsense about the laws of Thermodynamics, and forget the one sentence disclaimer.
This isn’t just willful ignorance; it is shameless lying.
@lexicakes: That article was already making me angry. Now you’ve gone and made me furious. And there’s no-one I can take it out on.
Also, that was a really well made snow sculpture.
@Jen:
It’s all good, Jen. You’re just keeping us on our toes.
@Sam Ogden: This is the third week in a row I’ve done it. I have a variety of excuses, mostly being sick and distracted and recovering from being around so much awesome at Skepchicamp. You know, the usual.
@Jen:
Great excuses all.
And from what I gather, it might take you a while to recover from Skepchicamp . . . . You bunch o’ sinners.
@lexicakes: I’m not surprised at all. And no, it if it makes you think, you’ll think the author of the textbook is an idiot.
@Sam Ogden: The only real sin was our absence.
It’s not like that snowgirl had any salacious details explicitly displayed. They should have responded with something along the lines of, “Naked woman? No, it’s a model of a woman’s short-sleeved wetsuit. Man, some people have dirty minds, huh?” I agree with the comment in the article that putting the clothing on made it more suggestive.
@James Fox:
It’s true. Your penance is to attend next year!
Though, if I’m expected to raise the bar next year, cramming that much awesome into one room over one weekend very well might kill us all.
@Elyse: It’s looking good for TAM this summer but I know you’ll be otherwise occupied.
@Elyse: It’ll be a great way to die. The headline: “Drunk, naked, intelligent smart-asses cause sin-gularity that engulfs entire city”.
@Elyse: I remain skeptical of pants. Can this topic be covered at next year’s skepchicamp?
@Skept-artist:
change it to Midwest and you’ve got yourself an exclusive!
@Ashley.Ele:
I will put you down as a speaker. Should we get a t-shirt gun and make “Down with Pants” tees for the crowd?
@Ashley.Ele: Uncovered?
@Elyse: @James Fox: Sounds like a win-win.
@Elyse: @James Fox: @Ashley.Ele: Looks like I need to start saving up.