Category: education

the argument for Creationism

On By Rick McIn education, GOP USA, government1 Comment

A 2012 Gallup poll interviewed a random sample of 1,012 American adults, aged 18 and older. …

Forty six percent Americans believed in creationism, 32 percent believed in theistic evolution and 15 percent believed in evolution without any divine intervention. …

As an Agnostic, I believe creationism is wrong. Flabbergasted that so many thinking adults could overlook the inconsistencies between what their eyes see and the possibility that the Earth is only something less than 10,000yrs-old …

Click PLAY or watch a Creationism pitch on YouTube.

I agree with National Geographic.

Why Do Many Reasonable People Doubt Science?

nat-geo-cover-lge

An overwhelming majority of the scientific community accepts evolution as the dominant scientific theory of biological diversity.

Nearly every scientific society, representing hundreds of thousands of scientists, has issued statements rejecting intelligent design …

61% of Canadians believe that humans evolved from less advanced life forms, while 22% believe that God created human beings in their present form within the last 10,000 years …

According to a 2008 Norstat poll for NRK, 59% of the Norwegian population fully accept evolution, 24% somewhat agree with the theory, 4% somewhat disagree with the theory while 8% do not accept evolution. …

The US has one of the highest levels of public belief in biblical or other religious accounts of the origins of life on earth among industrialized countries. …

wikipedia

Of the 2016 Republican candidates for President, so far, Huckabee, Perry, Santorum and Ben Carson are creationists. None of the others will admit they believe in evolution. They try to duck the issue often claiming: “I’m not a scientist.”

The GOP is an anti-science Party. 😦

related – A Creationist Campaign – Louisiana students are suffering for Bobby Jindal’s presidential ambitions.

Click through to see Stephen Colbert’s hilarious slap down of Jindal’s creationist “retreat from knowledge”. 🙂

Erin Stone is smarter than you

On By Rick McIn education, gymnasticsLeave a comment

She’s smarter than pretty much everyone. 🙂

Jerry DJ-Opie Blakley:

Congratulations to my lovely girl friend Erin Stone on graduating valedictorian of Southern Utah University.

She also graduated with Honors while maintaining a 4.0 throughout 3 years which most people would have done in 4. She also had the highest Z score aside from one class, an almost impossible feet.

She also did Gymnastics and Track and Field (Pole vault and recently Heptathlon)

She was the award winner of top female scholar 2 of 2 years and has just been nominated for NCAA women of the year!

She also applied to 11 Physical Therapy Schools and has been accepted to all 11. She has chosen Eastern Washington University for the next 3 years.

I think that deserves a huge shout out and congratulations that I can’t even do. So throw some likes (on her Facebook grad photo) to let her know how awesome she is!

guns in the home: more suicide, increased risk for women, more likely to be used for crime than self-defense

On By Rick McIn education, ethics, firearms, GOP USA, government, product complaintsLeave a comment

David Hemenway, professor at the Harvard School of Public Health:

… to qualify for the survey the researcher should have published on firearms in a peer-reviewed scientific journal, and that he or she should be an active scientist — someone who had published an article in the last four years. I was interested in social science and policy issues, so I wanted the articles to be directly relevant. …

So,for example, one survey asked whether having a gun in the home increased the risk of suicide. An overwhelming share of the 150 people who responded, 84%, said yes. …

I also found widespread confidence that a gun in the home increases the risk that a woman living in the home will be a victim of homicide (72% agree, 11% disagree) and that a gun in the home makes it a more dangerous place to be (64%) rather than a safer place (5%). There is consensus that guns are not used in self-defense far more often than they are used in crime (73% vs. 8%) and that the change to more permissive gun carrying laws has not reduced crime rates (62% vs. 9%). Finally, there is consensus that strong gun laws reduce homicide (71% vs. 12%). …

LA Times – There’s scientific consensus on guns — and the NRA won’t like it

la-oe-hemenway-guns-20150423-pg-003

That all said, if you still want to own firearms, please handle them responsibly.

Neither myself or Obama is coming for your guns. 🙂

Norway tops the Social Progress Index

On By Rick McIn economics, education, ethics, government, happiness, health & fitness, Islam, travelLeave a comment

Gross Domestic Product has become the yardstick by which we measure a country’s success. But, says Michael Green, GDP isn’t the best way to measure a good society.

His alternative? The Social Progress Index, which measures things like basic human needs and opportunity. …

The Social Progress Index determines what it means to be a good society according to three dimensions: Basic Human Needs (food, water, shelter, safety); Foundations of Wellbeing (basic education, information, health and a sustainable environment); and Opportunity (do people have rights, freedom of choice, freedom from discrimination, and access to higher education?) …

Norway

Some countries over-perform on social progress relative to their GDP per capita. Costa Rica is the biggest aggregate over-performer, showing strength across all the dimensions. The key lesson here is that building social progress takes persistence. Costa Rica has had strong education, health and welfare systems for a long time, as well as a long democratic tradition. SPI measures outcomes — life expectancy, literacy rate — not inputs, like laws passed or money spent. There are no cheats or quick fixes

WHY WE SHOULDN’T JUDGE A COUNTRY BY ITS GDP

slide-14-michael-green

Saudi Arabia is the biggest underachiever. I’ve just arrived … Actually I’m scheduled to get to San Jose, Costa Rica May 1st, my first visit.

gundamentalist child

On By Rick McIn education, ethics, firearms, GOP USA1 Comment

Some children grow up in poverty, lacking food and sanitation, while others are born in countries where basic necessities are taken for granted. Photographer James Mollison came up with the project when he thought about his own childhood bedroom and how it reflected who he was. Where Children Sleep – a collection of stories about children from around the world told through portraits of their bedrooms – stemmed from his ideas.

16 Powerful Photos Of Children And Their Bedrooms From Across The World

I’m most worried for Joey, age-11, from Kentucky.

Joey Kentucky

Joey Kentucky2

What could go wrong for this kid? 😦

boycott Kroger’s Supermarket

On By Rick McIn education, ethics, firearms, GOP USA, government, product complaints3 Comments

Stop shopping at Kroger’s until they stop open carry of guns.

Groceries not Guns

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

I was in Oklahoma last week. Pretty much every establishment I entered had either a “No Guns” sign. Or a “No unlicensed Guns” sign. Kroger’s does not. Boycott.

abortion, Gay marriage, prison, religion in the USA

On By Rick McIn barbecue, education, ethics, firearms, GOP USA, government, travelLeave a comment

… If you know whether a state was part of the Confederacy, it is possible to make a reasonably accurate guess about where it stands on a range of seemingly unconnected matters, from party politics to gay marriage. …

Today, only five states have no minimum-wage laws; all were Confederate 150 years ago. Of the ten states that lock up the highest proportion of their citizens, seven were Confederate. …

Economist

southern States

The 11 states of the Confederacy were Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia.

I was in Alabama last year. Very nice. I saw no visible signs of the legacy of slavery. I’m headed for Texas next week.

flag controversy

Montana does something SMART

On By Rick McIn education, firearms, governmentLeave a comment

Ten Republicans have joined House Democrats in narrowly defeating a proposal to permit concealed weapons on college campuses.

The Montana House failed Senate Bill 143 on a vote of 49-51 Tuesday. …

Opponents say only seven states allow concealed carry on campuses …

Republican Rep. Jeffrey Welborn said he voted against the proposal at the request of the parents of a Montana Tech student who was shot and killed by another student in 1982.

The House could reconsider the measure Wednesday.

GUNS-ON-CAMPUS-jpg

NBC Montana

Allowing guns on campus would be more dangerous than not. Firearm accidents and stupidity would far exceed those incidents where some student stops a crime.

Kleck and Gertz were wrong.

rich getting richer, the poor poorer

On By Rick McIn economics, education, ethics, GOP USA, governmentLeave a comment

Why is that?

Many of the rich (Cheap-Labor Conservatives) like “cheap labour”.

Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.

Though former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich overstates a bit, his key points are true.

Click PLAY or watch a trailer for Robert Reich’s documentary on YouTube. Inequality for All.

I can’t see why any poor or under-employed person should vote for the Republican Party. The American Tea Party hates the poor. Despises any program that gives one dollar to the poor. Yet wants to waste hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars in the Middle East.

I’m still trying to find a national American politician who’s a true fiscal conservative.

Films for Action – The Cheap-Labor Conservatives’ “Dirty Secret”: They Don’t Really Like Prosperity

Selma – a review

On By Rick McIn education, ethics, GOP USA, government, Islam, movies, things getting betterLeave a comment

Selma is a 2014 American historical drama film …

It is based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights marches …

Selma has received universal acclaim from film critics. Praise has gone particularly to the film’s acting, cinematography, screenplay, and direction. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film currently holds a rating of 98% …

Click PLAY or watch a trailer on YouTube.

It’s an important movie. A good history lesson.

Martin Luther King Jr. emulated my personal hero Gandhi. Non-violent resistance. The best way for an oppressed minority to challenge a privileged majority.

It worked.

But as a film I found Selma average. Too preachy. The dialogue often not believable. The good guys too good, the bad guys too evil.

It might have been better as a documentary.

Instead it’s a Hollywood fiction based on a true story. I know not all the facts are exactly right. But John Lewis, being bludgeoned in this photo March 7, 1965, feels the film gets enough right. To him the film is true to the story.

DAVIS

Alabama Governor George Wallace was a prototype segregationist. During his final years, Wallace recanted his racist views and asked for forgiveness from African Americans.

I visited Alabama for the first time last year. Surprised and pleased to see no outward signs of overt racism.

Sooner or later the echos of American slavery will be entirely forgotten.

In the meantime, Selma is a reminder of how far we’ve come. And how far we have not come.

related – Neil Young – Southern Man