Archive for April, 2008

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Convert-It or Ticket

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

One thing that most new science students have trouble doing is keeping proper track of units.  Beginning students will write down numbers, assured that they and everyone else will just know what units the number has.

Ten minutes later they’ve forgotten what the units of their numbers were and completely mess up their calculations.

Well, here’s yet another bad thing that can happen when you don’t pay attention to units.

OPP said the U.S. woman’s Mercedes Benz was clocked at a speed of 140 km/h heading west on Highway 401 just before 10:30 p.m. Sunday.

[…]

The total fine amounted to $405.

According to police, the Californian’s explanation for speeding was that the speedometer in her Benz only gave readings in miles per hour and she wasn’t familiar with the metric system.

She was driving in a 100 km/hr zone.  If we’re to believe this woman’s excuse, she saw the “100 km/hr” sign and thought “Whoo!  100!  That means I can drive 100 miles per hour here!  Floor it!”

(Now if she really didn’t understand the system, she might have considered using a little common sense.  Her speedometer at the time would have been reading about 87 miles per hour, which is enough to get a ticket most places in the US.)

So here we have a case of mistaken units costing a woman a lot of money.  Something to think about if you’re a new student feeling a little lazy in the lab …

Posted in Science education | 1 Comment »

Turtles all the way down!

Friday, April 25th, 2008

Well, what do you know, it really is “turtles all the way down“!

[Turtles all the way down!]

This is a group of sliders (I think! Someone correct me if I’m wrong) I saw while on the way to work. This group was actually difficult to photograph, for the simple reason that they are incredibly easy to spook. Getting even a little close to them results in them, well, sliding off their log and disappearing into the water.

This is in fact the second time I stopped at this little pond to photograph these turtles. The first time, they were gone the moment I set the tripod down. I suppose if I want better pictures of turtles in the future, I should invest in a better telephoto lens?

And as always, visit the Friday Ark for more animal friends!

Posted in Animals | 1 Comment »

In other news, water still confirmed to be wet

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

On Yahoo news, we have yet another confirmation that water is still wet abstinence-only sex education does not work. (edited to add: and neither does the Yahoo link back there.  Try this one!)

“Vast sums of federal monies continue to be directed toward these programs. And, in fact, there is evidence to suggest that some of these programs are even harmful and have negative consequences by not providing adequate information for those teens who do become sexually active,” Dr. Margaret Blythe of the American Academy of Pediatrics told [Congress].

When we’re faced wit ha ton of evidence against a position – say the position that abstinence-only sex education is beneficial – the rational course would be to abandon the position. As PZ Myers highlights, that’s just too difficult for some members of Congress. Take, for instance, John Duncan (R-Tenn):

it seems “rather elitist” that people with academic degrees in health think they know better than parents what type of sex education is appropriate. “I don’t think it’s something we should abandon,” he said of abstinence-only funding

Just stop and think about that assertion for a moment. It’s “elitist” to assume that people who have dedicated a significant amount of time researching and studying the outcomes of various types of sex education might actually know more about these outcomes that people who haven’t? The stupid! It burns! Representative Duncan, people who have actually researched and studied things generally know more about these things than those who haven’t. Since when did stating the obvious become elitist?

Sadly, this attitude is one I often have to battle as an educator. A big part of my job is to make people more knowledgeable. But I can’t do that if students think that someone’s gut feelings somehow trump reproducible observations and actual knowledge. That’s exactly what Representative Duncan is pushing; his gut feelings are supposed to somehow carry more weight than real data.

Posted in Politics, The culture wars | Comments Off on In other news, water still confirmed to be wet

What do you think’s IN the burgers?

Thursday, April 24th, 2008

While I was browsing through my pictures from Switzerland, I came across this oddly-named advertisement.

[Barfi Menus and Barfi Burgers]

Who knew the Swiss were such fans of You Can’t Do That On Television?

Posted in The Stupidity Photoblog | Comments Off on What do you think’s IN the burgers?

Flipping the Byrd

Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008

When I saw this post over at Not Very Bright, I thought for a minute that nvb had been fooled by the Church Sign Generator. But no … it’s apparently real.

[Jonesville Church of God]

I know not to expect brilliance from church signs, but I can’t help pointing out its wonderful logic. Pastor Byrd, author of the sign, wants us to believe that because the name “Obama” looks a little bit like “Osama”, Obama must be a (scary) Muslim! If that’s the sort of argument that will persuade a typical Jonesville Church of God member, then …

[Byrd, Turd ...]

Convincing argument, is it not?

Edited to add:

Pastor Byrd’s seen the light! Or, at least he’s tired of being criticized all across the country for his foolishness. He’s changed the sign.

Pastor Roger Byrd said that he had just wanted to get people thinking. He said that the message wasn’t meant to be racial or political.

A message containing a false smear of a presidential candidate was not meant to be political? What a load of bull. Pastor Byrd: when you find yourself deep in a hole of your own making, stop digging!

Posted in The culture wars | 1 Comment »

“A basic value of living in our society”

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

During Spring Break, I watched Frontline’s “Sick Around The World”. It’s a very good program, showing how several other countries provide their citizens with universal access to care. Strengths and weaknesses of each country’s program are presented. And if you’re tired of hearing about France and Canada, you won’t be bored with this program – France and Canada are not on the show!

The most interesting part of the show for me was the last segment – devoted to Switzerland.

[An image from Rick\'s trip to Switzerland]

At the beginning of the segment, Frontline interviewed a member of Switzerland’s Social Democratic party. They’re a left-wing party, and you’d expect them to support universal health care – even if it led to a system with a large amount of government involvement or oversight.

But then the focus shifted to Pascal Couchepin, a member of an opposing party – the Free Democratic Party. This party values “the free market, free trade, economic deregulation and the rule of law“. This sounds considerably less left-wing, and almost mirrors what our Republicans say they stand for. So what does Couchepin have to say about universal access to care?

For the Swiss, whether you are right or left doesn’t matter; I think there is a consensus on that. We want that every [one] of our citizen[s] can get the best medical treatment when they need it. …

Later, when discussing what the Swiss people thought about access to care:

Everybody has a right to health care.

And when asked about whether a free-market system could be relied on to provide health care…

No, I don’t think so. If you do that, you will lose solidarity and equal access for everybody. […] We think that is a basic value of living in our society.

“A basic value of living in our society.” That made me think – why don’t we have universal access to quality health care in this country? We’re certainly not too poor to afford a good health system. So what’s wrong with America?

Perhaps it’s a moral failing of our society. We do not provide universal access to care because we do not value life. Or, at least, we do not value life nearly as much as we’d like to think we do.

Consider that on the one hand, some of us will go to great lengths to prevent a woman from having access to birth control or abortion. “We value life“, these people – usually Christian “values voters” – say. But these people don’t demand of their lawmakers that these valued lives have adequate health care. (It’s an issue that isn’t even on the radar with the Republicans these folks almost reflexively vote for!) “Values voters” have, seemingly, no problem with the fact that American families can be ruined because a family member has the misfortune of getting sick. To those folks, I recommend a little reading: Matthew 25, verses 34-40.

To the rest of us, I’ll simply say that universal care isn’t just an economic issue – though it does seem to save money in other countries. It’s a moral issue. It’s simply the right thing to do.

Posted in Politics | 3 Comments »

A bird’s eye view: Mourning dove

Friday, April 11th, 2008

We have a new resident in our yard.

[A mourning dove on her nest]

Patty says this is a mourning dove (Zenaida macroura) – a common game bird. This dove has made her*** nest (and laid her eggs) in one of the bushes in our front yard. The nest is surprisingly exposed at the moment – but will probably be more hidden in a few days when the bushes put out more leaves.

But for right now, we have a bird’s eye view of the nest!

[A mourning dove up close]

***We’re not quite sure whether the dove in the pictures is the male or the female. The pictures were taken during the late afternoon.

Find more animal friends at The Friday Ark!

Posted in Animals | 1 Comment »

Super-Size SC

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

A bill aimed at removing junk food like sodas and high-calorie snack food from South Carolina public school vending machines was recently rejected.  Our schoolchildren are among the most obese in the nation, so why did this happen?

“We support the intention of the legislation (to improve students’ eating habits),” said Scott Price of the School Boards Association. “But the local boards and communities should be making those decisions for themselves.”

Looking a little deeper, though, we can get a glimpse of the real reason the bill was opposed.

Some Greenville high schools earn as much as $70,000 annually from vending machine sales, said Quentin Cavanagh, marketing and training specialist for Greenville County schools. “None of (the principals) want to sell this stuff. But they need the revenue,” Cavanagh told the House panel.

[…]

But the bottled water and granola bars that replaced the Cokes and Snickers candy bars were not as popular with students. As a result, some high schools [who removed junk food] suffered big cuts in vending machine revenue for student activities.

We’ve got to ask ourselves a question. If schools are so desperate for funds that they’re terrified of putting less junk food in their vending machines because it might lower sales, then aren’t we underfunding our schools?

Posted in Education, Politics | 1 Comment »

All glory to the Hypnotoad!

Wednesday, April 9th, 2008

Silly human! You thought the Hypnotoad was merely a fictional character from Futurama? You were wrong!

All hail the Hypnotoad! All glory to the Hypnotoad!

Posted in Silly stuff | 1 Comment »

Consider the source

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

Matt at Pooflingers Anonymous has a post up about an event that seems almost foreign to someone living in the Deep South – a school is being sued because a teacher was allegedly critical of a student’s religion in the classroom.  I agree with Matt’s assessment – a teacher has no business either promoting or denigrating a religion in the classroom, since the teacher is in a position of power and is acting as a government employee.

The only problem I have with the story so far is the source: OneNewsNow.  It’s a site that, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought came from the same folks who brought us Landover Baptist.

Whether it’s a story about prayer in public schools, workplace restrictions on Christians or battles for biblical truth within our denominations, the American Family News Network (AFN) is here to tell you what the newsmakers are saying.

[…]

At OneNewsNow.com, you will get your news from reporters you can trust to give the latest news without the liberal bias that characterizes so much of the “mainstream” media.

Workplace restrictions on Christians? In America? Where do they get this stuff? Anyway, I started poking around on the site, and thought I’d see what they thought about scientific matters.  This article caught my eye: Environmental expert chides media for reports on Antarctic ice breakage.

Although an ice chunk seven times larger than Manhattan has collapsed in the Antarctic, one environmental expert is saying there’s nothing to be alarmed about.

So who’s OneNewsNow’s environmental expert?

Marc Morano is the resident authority on global warming with the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works minority staff. He says media coverage of the ice collapse was both “shameful” and “embarrassing,”

With this guy being described as an “environmental expert” and a “resident authority” on climate, he must be a pretty impressive climate scientist, right?

Morano was “previously known as Rush Limbaugh’s ‘Man in Washington,’ as reporter and producer for the Rush Limbaugh Television Show

… which would certainly make him an expert on hot air.  How that makes him an expert in the field of climate science, I’m not certain.

Posted in The culture wars | Comments Off on Consider the source

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