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06 December 2007

Turtles all the way down -- an alternate Creation theory to make schoolkids know more about science

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Busy day -- Day 2 of the Hazmat Team cleaning out Bob's office, Day 2 of my nervous breakdown.

So not much text to go with this, and the stamp itself was Art Therapy last night, while I was babbling and drooling and weeping and muttering.

Texas, whose science education state agency seems to be run by a Holy Dentist -- I don't know if he's elected or appointed by the governor, which was President Bush's job before he got this new job which has done so much to shape and guide U.S. science policy -- is going to need all the alternative theories of Creation it can get so that it can teach schoolkids that there are lots more theories than just Natural Selection. President Bush is one of many thinkers who believe our kids get a much better science education when they're given all the different theories of when and how the World and the Universe came into being.

For the Earth's age, some say 4,540,000,000 years ago, and back it up with old rocks and Geiger counters. (I have a Geiger counter, if I can ever find the right size old batteries to get it running again, I could measure the age of old rocks myself.) Another guy says it was nightfall preceding 23 October 4004 BC. Now and then he's winning in Kansas and Dover, Pennsylvania, Polk County, Florida, and he just got the head of science education pushed under a bus in Texas. Our Man-On-The-Ground in Helvetia says he has influential advocates there, too.


This one is Hindu or Hindu-ish and comes from a famous story sometimes attributed to Stephen Hawking, who had just given a lecture on the Big Bang theory, when a woman in the audience demanded to know how his theory took into account that the world rested on the backs of an infinite number of turtles. He did the best he could to respond, but she was having none of it, and said:

"That's very clever, young man,
but it's turtles all the way down."

Me, I got my money on Flying Spaghetti Monster. If well-educated public-school kids deserve more than one theory of biological Creation, it makes the most sense to teach them about Flying Spaghetti Monster.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Natural Selction is the ONLY explanation we have at the moment. of course there are huge gaps, the human fossil record has more holes than a Swiss cheese (trust me i know)but but sooner or later we will fill those gaps. btw according to a wiki article the story is said to come from Bertrand Russel, richard dawkins has quoted it several times. Oh here is a cool movie about the dover trial

http://video.google.de/videoplay?docid=-6485580088897217945

enough now, i am going to shut down the Notebook and dump vista. do the same when you get your new calvinistic supercomputer. What is the difference between vista and a submarine ? you have a problem as soon as you open a window. difference between vista and a russian airline ? russian airlines don not crash as often. difference between vista and an SUV ? Compared to vista the SUv is eco friendlly. difference between vista and kiefer sutherland ? none, they will both need new drivers in the near future. and what is the difference between vista and paris hiton ?

Vleeptron Dude said...

I just found out in a phone call last night -- my whacky BROTHER is buying the Lamborghini Super Extreme Gamer Dell system that I let John Calvin talk me out of. HE gets the Lamborghini, I get the Volvo.

As for Vista -- EVERYTHING will be solved next week when they start distributing Service Pack 1, which will cure all of Vista's problems.

Stop fighting between a theory that justifies itself with scientific empirical evidence, and theories that justify themselves with Voices From Burning Bushes, or Spirit Souls that were cast into a volcano 100,000 years ago on a planet in a distant galaxy.

Faith, brother -- these matters are decided by Faith. Take a train to Geneve and ask M. Chauvin to explain Faith to you. (And you better listen up and get it right, or M. Chauvin has a few persuasive tricks up his sleeve for Slow Learners.)

Go to the Flying Spaghetti Monster page and read about the new Intelligent Design school curriculum whackiness in Polk County, Florida. For a Funny Guy, I have to say, the Prophet of FSM runs one of the most serious websites in Cyberspace. I don't know anybody else (except Vleeptron, of course) who fights so ferociously to keep education and science sane.

James J. Olson said...

Um, the whole Vista problem is solved by purchasing an Apple.

James J. Olson said...

Oh, and we want pictures of the New And Improved (TM) Office.

Vleeptron Dude said...

nah, the interesting foto was of the office before i started to clean it up:

http://vleeptronz.blogspot.com/2007/11/publicke-notice.html

my brother just told me he's buying that Extreme Gamer XPS Alienware Thing I let myself get talked out of.

James J. Olson said...

Your brother is the only person I know more eccentric than you.

Anonymous said...

not faith, mate, not in this case. Faith is allright, some of my mates are Christians and i accept them for what they are. But Intelligent Design (invented by a lawyer, a biologist and a mathematician btw) has nothing to do in a classroom and if my nephew will ever come home from school and starts to tell me strange things he heard in school about a Designer 8which is not unlikely with that new schoolbook i told you about) then I will go into grober Unfug mode very quickly. But Faith in a Church is ok. maybe i will go to Geneva and have a chat with Mr Calvin, could be interesting. Geneva is a very cool city anyway, lots of ppl from around the world, very hip and trendy, very liberal, not like in the times of Calvin

As for that XPS i will probably get myself one when this old desktop will kick the bucket. I want one. Chicks like Tiffani and Feloni with their bathtub are into this lamborgini thang, you know

Btw my dad drove a Volvos for 32 years. there is NOTHING that can destroy a Volvo except age maybe. he always refered to it as The Tank

Vleeptron Dude said...

When I'm broke, which is usually, I'm crazy. This season I have a little money, so I get elevated from crazy to eccentric. This distinction between crazy and eccentric has been commented on for centuries.

Among other things, Volvo is famous for its semi-socialized workplace -- worker participation, cooperative decision making between workers and management.

The Founder Emeritus of Volvo once gave a speech on Worker Participation in the Workplace at a very progressive college here (Hampshire College), and when he was finished, he asked if anybody in the audience had any questions.

A lady stood up and said, "I have taken my 1973 Volvo sedan to the dealership to fix a problem with the steering mechanism six times, and they just won't ever fix it ......."

The Founder took her name and phone number and handed it to his assistant and promised somebody from headquarters would look into the problem.

Amazingly enough, Volvo used to make a 2-seater sports car that I got to drive all through eastern Canada on a long camping trip a long time ago, and that was the SEXIEST, FASTEST car I ever drove! It has 6 forward speeds and then some crazy kind of electric OVERDRIVE! I'd buy that Volvo before I'd buy a Porsch or BMW. And I'll bet that it spends much less time in the fixit shop than any other fancy sports car.

I think the old TV show "The Saint" starring Roger Moore, about the reformed jewel thief, and also the new Hollywood movie Saint a couple of years ago (I forget which young Hollywood lox) both drove that Volvo sports car.