Yes, I have sushi and beach. That is all you need to know.
But wait! There’s more!
First, go and check out Olivia Judson, whose work on the sex life of animals I’ve blogged previously (‘Smart Bitches, Not Meerly Sex’), this time on the ongoing conflict between evolution and creationism in the classroom. Considering I’ve only just spoken today with students about beliefs clashing in the Human Biology classroom, when students must write about evolution although they believe otherwise, it’s rather timely -- from the NY Times!
When the dog days of summer come to an end, one thing we can be sure of is that the school year that follows will see more fights over the teaching of evolution and whether intelligent design, or even Biblical accounts of creation, have a place in America’s science classrooms.
In these arguments, evolution is treated as an abstract subject that deals with the age of the earth or how fish first flopped onto land. It’s discussed as though it were an optional, quaint and largely irrelevant part of biology. And a common consequence of the arguments is that evolution gets dropped from the curriculum entirely.
This is a travesty.
It is also dangerous.
Evolution should be taught — indeed, it should be central to beginning biology classes — for at least three reasons…
Want to contribute to a greater understanding of people’s reasonings? The NZ Skeptics sent this out with their newsletter:
The Sunday Star-Times is running a survey on beliefs in superstitions, the paranormal, conspiracy theories etc. You might have seen the article last weekend, which quoted me mentioning the Skeptics Conference which opened on Friday 13th, and how we entered under a ladder and smashed mirrors and spilt salt and had a very smooth-running conference….
If you’d like to contribute, there’s a link to the Believe It or Not survey, being conducted by Victoria psychology lecturer Marc Wilson, on this page.
Finally, there’s another thought-provoking NZ contribution, a magician joins the ranks with his blog offerings and a wide range of topics for you to read in the latest Skeptics Of Carlos Blog Carnival! Hop on over to Homologous Legs Blog to check out the reading joys!
In the meantime, I have notes to finish off and then I’ll check out the Olympics on the TV. Did I mention that I’ve taught two Olympian potentials in the past and even worked at a school that produced the Australian gymnastics Olympian and Commonwealth Medal winner Allana Slater?
A dedicated sportswoman, brilliant student and apparently a great sense of humor -- she’s currently working on her physiotherapy degree at my uni. And now into another sport -- shooting! I hope that my report done at the Australian Sports Institute on sports superstitions will pop up on YouTube later this year, for the TANK vodcast.
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