Saturday, May 07, 2005

Evolution again

Some scary things are happening again - not here in Pennsylvania, but over in Kansas, where two of my nieces live. They are smart kids and their dad is a biologist at the University of Kansas, so they probably won't be affected much by the latest nonsense. I love this quote:

The hearings in Topeka, scheduled to last several days, are focusing on two proposals. The first recommends that students continue to be taught the theory of evolution because it is key to understanding biology. The other proposes that Kansas alter the definition of science, not limiting it to theories based on natural explanations.
This just so reminds me of that urban legend, where some state legislature defines pi to be exactly 3. And it's even scarier with pictures:


Someone, please tell me this has been photoshopped. Yikes.

On a personal note, my heroic adventurous kid sister is blogging her trip to Darfur. Wow.

3 comments:

Ingrid J. Jones said...

Hello William. I found your blog when I checked to see who was linking to your sister's blog. You are absolutely right, your sister is heroic and adventurous. There has been such a clampdown on news out of Sudan, it is brave of her to be blogging about her trip while she is there. Do you realise her blog is the first ever from Darfur?

After blogging almost daily on Darfur since April 2004, it is pretty special for me to be in contact with someone in Darfur. Yesterday I featured some of Sarah's posts and photos at my blog Sudan Watch http://sudanwatch.blogspot.com

Your post saying your sister is blogging her trip to Darfur seems to confirm to me it is real. Wow is right. What a feat. I look forward to following her posts. I wonder if you are in contact with her in Darfur. There's so much I'd like to know, like what led her there, what sort of work she is doing, if she is allowed to talk about her work while she is there. What her living conditions are like and how she is managing. Did she take the photos posted at her blog. Is she posting directly herself and has anyone in Sudan objected to her blogging. Her posts are so sensitively written, it makes me feel sure she knows what she is doing.

My understanding is she will be in North Darfur for the next two months. Here's wishing her all the very best. You and all of the family must be very proud of her. I know I am, and I have only just met her in cyberspace. Perhaps because I have followed the news so closely on what has been happening in Sudan, I can easily imagine what she must be seeing, hearing and feeling. So glad you linked to your sister's blog, otherwise I would have never found you. Thank you. With kind regards from Ingrid in England, UK.

Anonymous said...

That picture has been photo shopped. I think it is from the onion. As for the pi being exactly 3 that comes from somewhere in the bible where it talks about the dimentions of a sphere which end up being logically impossible if you do the math.

Yaroslav Bulatov said...

That picture is from 2002 article in TheOnion titled "Christian Right Lobbies to Overturn Second Law of Thermodynamics"