Isebrand.com

Salon.com on Answers In Genesis' new museum of lies

Salon.com has an article on the new Creation Museum. The museum is an inadvertent exhibition of myriad and uncreative (which is not to say inherently ineffective) ways that Christian fundamentalists perpetuate anti-science mendacities--also known as lies about geology and biology, and the omission of facts revealed to the world through genetics and astronomy.

From the article we learn that for the organization that built the museum, Answers In Genesis,

the conclusions of modern science are not to be trusted, as they are biased by the fickle reasoning of man and a modern antagonism toward faith. On the other hand...the Book of Genesis is true "from the first word to the last."

With a staff of nearly 300 employees, Answers in Genesis [is] a well-oiled money-raising machine and opened the $27 million museum without a penny of debt to banks or lenders.

The museum is situated in Petersburg, Ky., just 20 miles southwest of Cincinnati...within a one-day drive for two-thirds of the country or 200 million Americans....

However, just because the museum is an exhibition of lies, doesn't mean it will financially fail. The article reminds us that "Only 39 percent [of Americans] answer yes to the question, 'Do you believe that human beings as we know them developed from earlier species of animals?'"

Enjoy: 15 answers to creationist nonsense.

Greetings from the UK

I know it's been a few days since there's been a diary on Isebrand.com. I'm in the UK for a brief visit, including for the civil partnership ceremony of my friends Gareth and Simon. (Photo: a friend of Gareth & Simon, shown seated, signs as legal witness.) It's the second time in as many years that I've had the pleasure and honor to be in the UK for a celebration of a civil partnership. The legalization of civil partnerships in the UK has had all the negative consequences one might reasonably expect. None.

Milliners' sales have been bolstered, of course, and the increase in cleaning services for hats and morning coats is no great cause for concern, since the UK has strong standards regarding the ecological soundness of commercial cleaning operations. It might also be noted that the monarchy remains intact, tea inexpensive, the economy expansive, toast hard, mobile phones more advanced than in the US, airing rooms abundant, and the countryside beautiful. The Hebrides have not fallen into the sea.

Pottersville

Here's a blog I've been visiting lately. I don't agree with everything written on it. (I don't agree with everything written on any blog I read that I can recall right now). And, overall, I think it's too mean-spirited, which is just my predilection, and doesn't really feed into my evaluation of whether or not it is worthwhile for others to read. (I obviously think it's worth taking a look at, or else I'd not mention it!) But there are some good observations and some good writing by "jurassicpork." Pottersville.

The Democracy Protection Act

New Democracy Project (NPD), Demos, The Nation, and the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU's School of Law issue a report: The Democracy Protection Act: 40 Ways Toward A More Perfect Union (PDF).

NDP says:

The 40 proposals in this report expose America's "quiet crisis of democracy" and demonstrate that a pro-democracy movement is already spreading.  Witness the nearly 40 organizations cited as leaders on democracy issues.

Some of the 40 (each explained more fulling in the report:

*Create Universal Youth Voter Registration (Based on high school enrollment)
*Criminalize Voter Intimidation (Make it a felony to knowingly try to stop others from voting)
*Restore the Vote to People with Felony Convictions (Enfranchise ex-offenders who have paid their debt) *Give the Vote to D.C. Residents
*Guarantee Free Air Time for Qualifying Candidates

Much more. In the report.

What's your silliness?

I took a few of those silly yet fun "What X?" quizzes. I'll post the results from time to time. Of course, the results of the first one I took belie any suggestion that they might actually be helpful. I've been to Amsterdam, I live in NYC, and visit London about once a year, and I really can't imagine preferring Amsterdam to London, ever.

You Belong in Amsterdam

A little old fashioned, a little modern - you're the best of both worlds. And so is Amsterdam. Whether you want to be a squatter graffiti artist or a great novelist, Amsterdam has all that you want in Europe (in one small city).

What European City Do You Belong In?

Creationism going global

Hat-tip to the National Center for Science Eduction, which notes on their site:

Creationism going global. A special report in the April 19, 2007, edition of The Economist -- exotically datelined "Istanbul, Moscow, and Rome" -- discusses the continued global spread of creationism. The incidents discussed are the dissemination of a book preaching Islamic creationism...

(Click image to enlarge. Hat-tip also to those wild and wacky Yoists.)

Iraq misadventure = $9,000,000,000 per month

From Elizabeth Drew's "The War in Washington," in The New York Review of Books:

The [Iraq] war-funding bills are "supplemental" because the administration has preferred not to reveal the real costs of the war—now roughly $9 billion a month—in the regular budget but instead to rush an "emergency" supplemental bill through Congress.

And this summary:

If American troops continue to be deployed as a combat force, the US will still be bogged down in a country torn by sectarian rivalries and with a government seemingly incapable of making real reforms, while more soldiers are killed and maimed, and American military readiness virtually destroyed. As critics of the surge predicted, the number of US troops killed in Baghdad has risen; in fact in the first seven weeks of the new strategy that number nearly doubled from the previous period. As William Pfaff pointed out in a recent column in the International Herald Tribune, the US would still be trapped in a cultural and religious war, trying to impose American democratic and secular values on a tribal, nonsecular society.

Yo!

Recently added to Free-Thinkers blogroll: http://www.yoism.org/

GREAT site for exposing pseudo-science silliness...with a bit of its own clever silliness.

Big Picture On Evolution

The religious right--which is the principle base of the Republican Party today--basks in, promotes for political ends, and encourages science illiteracy. Know your science, and you're all that much better armed against the religious right. Encourage others to understand science, and you're actively and directly helping combat the influence of the religious right. That's why I encourage you to read and spread the word about this free PDF download, Big Picture On Evolution.

Major hat-tip to the National Center for Science Education for this heads-up about The Wellcome Trusts' 16-page publication, Big Picture On Evolution.

"Nothing in biology makes sense except in the light of evolution." When biologist Theodosius Dobzhansky wrote these words in 1973, he was reflecting on the coming together of two strands of thinking: evolutionary change, kick-started by Darwin in the mid-19th century, and genetics, a subject whose origins go back to the same year, with Mendel's studies, but only really got going in the 20th century.

Since then, the general principles of Darwinian evolution have been widely accepted. At least, they have been in the scientific community. In wider society, a significant proportion of people remain sceptical.

Why should this be? Why does Darwinian evolution raise controversy when, say, quantum mechanics scarcely registers on the public consciousness? This issue of 'Big Picture' looks at the theory of evolution, the evidence that supports it. unanswered questions and the history of public reaction.

Order 'Big Picture on Evolution' print copies, or download the PDF [3.41MB].

The Golden Compass

The Golden Compass is finally going to be released in December. I haven't looked forward to a movie this much since The Fellowship of the Rings. The movie is based on the first book of the His Dark Materials trilogy by Philip Pullman. I read The Golden Compass about nine or 10 years ago, on the recommendation of my friend, Grant, who works in publishing.

It will be interesting to see how faithful the movie's producers remain to the books. The books are challenging, sophisticated fantastical fiction, arguably aimed primarily at teenage readers, which reflect a very adult and dark view of religion, especially in the last of the three books. If that aspect of Pullman's imaginary world-beside-our-world is not reflected in the movie, it will be a major act of intellectual cowardice.