Jibjab the news

I tried to read the news yesterday, and I almost threw up.

MSN, Yahoo, Fox, Huffington Post, and even local news was a complete wash! All the stories were about storms, drama in basketball, celebrity babies, new cooking fads, and Sara Palin. It was almost like the real world didn't exist!

Does everyone know that we have had troops deployed to Jordan for the past year? Originally sent to bolster Jordan's troops against the conflict in Syria, they are now also training Iraqi soldiers in counter terrorism and we are supplying them with weaponry. Didn't the US do that once before? And didn't that lead to our soldiers getting shot by weapons the we sold to the other side?

What about Ukraine? Did anyone keep following that after Crimea voted to be part of Russia...not that I have found. I have to go to BBC.com and guess what? It is always one of their top stories! But nowhere to be found in our news media except in the other news sections at the bottom of the pages! The entire eastern region of Ukraine is in turmoil between pro-Russian factions and pro-Ukranian demonstrators, and getting more mand more dangerous by the day because of Russian propaganda, and militant groups. By the way, did you know that we sent troops to Europe too?

And then there's good old Korea. The south is experiencing the resignation of the PM over a sunken ferry that killed many of the 476 students and teachers on board. And the north is conducting live fire drills, and may be ramping up to a nuclear test despite UN objections!

And yet none of this is in news media rotation.

In talking to friends about the lack of news reported on "the news", I was referred to this video on YouTube:

At first I was amused, as it pretty much coincided with what I had found in the news. Then I realized that it wasn't really all that funny. Someone actually put this together, admittedly as a jab to mostly conservative media stations, and it has thousands of views. People are openly mocking our news circuits.

Do people realize, I wonder, how much of a laughing stock we must appear to other countries when what a bigoted man said to his girlfriend is top billing on our news programs? Or when we are more concerned with the release of the cast information for the new Star Wars film, than we are about our President saying we have an "ironclad" agreement with the Phillipines to defend them and their sovereignty from Chinese interest in outlying islands?

How foolish we must look. How sad.

...Nature girl

Nature girl vs Ken Ham and Bill Nye

Let me start out by saying that I love debates, I am naturally argumentative, and I adore intellectual discussions. The debate at the Creationist Museum almost didn't qualify as either.  This is a topic that is near and dear to my heart because I believe in intelligent design, AND I am a happy science nerd!

The arguments of both sides were deeply flawed and missed HUGE key points and supports for both sides! Given the position of both these men in their respective communities I frankly, expected more.

Here is the link to the original debate...obviously, my thoughts follow.

Now, I know that this is going to spark a lot of e-mails from my deeply religious friends, but that's ok, this is something that should be talked about.  The topic was whether Creationism is a viable method of human origin to be taught to school children.

Let's start with Mr. Ken Ham.

First, I never would have picked a Young Earth Creationist (YEC) to debate Bill Nye. There is SO much that is left to faith in the young earth model that a persistent atheist (like Mr. Nye) would have no problem showing all the un-backed scientific holes! But aside from that, Mr. Ham left out key points, got MAJORLY off topic, and made assumptions about the Bible that aren't there to make! Much like the assumptions that he accused secular scientists of making!

Second, he spoke often on the differences between Darwinism and Creation "trees of life" and yet completely ignored the fact that Darwin was deeply faithful, and was trying to explain the bible in scientific terms! Now I'm not a Darwin expert, but his "warm pond" theory, to me, never negated the potential for divine intervention. Nothing offered by either side eliminated the possibility that they could both be correct.

Third, unless I missed something about the original question, nothing about the origins of morality, definition of marriage, or the fact that some proponents of YEC are highly educated is valid or relevant to discussing the viability of YEC as an education source. Morality is a faith AND societally based construct. Morays, taboos, and social structure were all in existence BEFORE Christianity as a cornerstone of the process of "civilization". The only thing that Judaism/Christianity did was define a set of rules for a subsection of the population based on an emerging religion. The definition of marriage is for me tough because I see it as a religious tem not a socio/political term. As it stands today it is interchangeable...but now I'm off topic. The ludacris implied statement that YEC is a viable scientific theory to teach children because there are lots of scientists who made big contributions to technology who believe it should have gotten him laughed off the stage, but it only gave Mr. Nye cannon fodder.

Finally, Mr. Ham walked straight into the line of fire when he admitted that some parts of the bible are to be taken literally, and some is poetry or stories. The argument that the bible can be taken literally at any point (from his comments on historical science) implies that the bible was written as the contained events occurred. All biblical scholars know that the bible was written by different authors, sometimes years after events occurred! In the case of Genesis, it was written generations later, even if you espouse YEC!

And now for Mr. Nye

If it is possible, I am more disappointed in Mr. Nye than in Mr. Ham.  As a scientist there is nothing that should be excluded from creating the best possible theory. True, you can't TEST divinity, but if it fits into the data collected as an option...it is viable.

While Mr. Nye did a much better job of staying on topic his blanket disregard for the possibility of intelligent design was, to use his word, unsettling. He also harped on the need for children and young adults to be "scientists" implying the exclusion of faith and reliance on pure science to find answers that are metaphysical at one end, and existential at the other, also...not relevant to the debate topic! He also fell victim to emotional appeals and personal instead of topical debate.

The idea of intelligent design is not ludacris, it's a belief, like science. His blatant dismissal (though I applaud him for admitting the unknowns of science, "what came before the big bang?") of a possibility that the earth is younger than he thinks and might be constructed by something else, is exceptionally maddening. For Mr. Nye it is apparently completely irrational that some unknown force may have compressed rock layers, or increased the reproductive capacity of  animals after the ark to cause a boom in population growth, or spoke the universe into being. And that is what a scientist is supposed to do, find an idea and see if the data contradicts it! Not declare impossibility and reject out of hand.

As did Mr. Ham, Mr. Nye decided to make an unnecessary and inaccurate statement about how educated people validate the system. While Mr. Nye admitted that there are faithful people who are scientists he continued to call for more students to pursue science, invent things and solve problems as if somehow YEC were unable to do that! And while YEC, believers of intelligent design, and secular scientists all believe different things, that has no bearing on the individual's ability to contribute to the scientific community!

I personally found Mr. Nye's persistent "dumbing down" of scientific processes inappropriate and out of place. The people in that audience know that there is no sound in space, we don't need a silent analogy of the big bang. There is also no need to bring a fossil found by the side of the road, to explain a fossil record. Finally, personally, I don't need a description of the evolutionary process of being a simple to complex method...that's what evolution is! Just because intelligent design to you means perfect from the start and then adaptation, doesn't mean that is the only interpretation!

The thing that bothered me the most...about both arguments...is that they completely ignore the concept of God's time (here is a great philosophical paper on if God is bound by time...or above it) and here is a bible verse reflecting on conquering impossibility (Luke 18:27)! Any scientist who dismisses a possibility because it seems rediculous or impossible should turn in his degree! And any man of faith who doesn't acknowledge that the impossible is what makes God...well God...is missing the point!

I hope that the debate...and maybe this...inspires people to ask questions, clarify their thoughts, and maybe be willing to accept the validity of an impossibility as an option. 

...Nature girl

In the weeds

It's a funny phrase isn't it... "in the weeds".

Yesterday was a strange day. One of those days where you wake up feeling great, and energized, and ready to tackle the day.  Then, 5 minutes in, it feels like a giant sat on you.

In an attempt to recover from my metaphorical squashing, I spent a little time out on the lanai trying to rehab my one day garden.  Right now it looks like this:

It is small, and full of weeds, but one day it will be a lovely lawn for the pup (hopefully before he gets here the end of next month)...maybe. One of the big obstacles is the cement grid that the owner put down.  In order to get the weeds out, I have to weed each one of the little squares, one at a time. Now this would not be so much of an issue but I have to sit in the weeds, or kneel on a pad and bend over to pull them out, and my back strongly objects!

So as I was sitting in the weeds, pulling one little square at a time, I thought to myself "I am living out the phrase!". Faced with a giant task, a broken trowel (damn you plastic tool!!), and down to only a weed puller and my bare hands I started to laugh. My life seemed oddly poetic for a moment.

Then I realized I was sitting in weeds, barefoot, with dirt smearing my legs and ants starting to crawl on me....eew.

I gave up for the time, but suddenly I am really looking forward to soaking the ground and getting back into the weeds...I think that makes me crazy...and it will have to wait until Sunday.  Will I be breaking the Sabbath or is gardening an approved task?  Ah well, a topic for another time.

...Nature girl