By Mark | January 28, 2013 Had a vengeful God not struck him down for heresy, the famed naturalist Charles Darwin would be turning 204 years old on February 12, and literate folks around the world are marking the occasion by planning celebrations in his honor. I had forgotten that “Darwin Day” was upon us until earlier this evening, when a [...]
Posted in Other, Religious Extremism, Science, Uncategorized | Also tagged anti-science, Charles Darwin, Christopher Columbus, Columbus Day, creationism, Darwin Day, dino nuggets, Dinosaurs in Eden, Hitler, humans coexisting with dinosaurs, Kirk Cameron, Mark Chancey, Michigan Skeptics Association, Origin of Species, Phylum Feast, public education, religious fundamentalism, Science, separation of church and state, Texas, Texas Freedom Network, the rapture, threats to public education | By Mark | October 7, 2012 Not realizing that this was the weekend of the Chicago Marathon, Linette and I decided to pack up the family and head to the Windy City for the weekend. The top photo was taken inside the Evolving Planet exhibition at the Field Museum. The second photo is of a vehicle promoting a new menu item [...]
Posted in Mark's Life, Sustainability | Also tagged Bacon, Baconator, Chicago, David Ulansey, depressing stuff, Evolving Planet, extinction, Field Museum, marathons, mass extinction, Richard Leakey, vacation, Wendys | For as much as we talk here about the anti-intellectualism of the right, I don’t think I’ve ever shared this piece of George Carlin video with you. (See below.) It’s only three minutes long, but it gets right to the heart of things. In it, Carlin says bluntly that public education in America will never [...]
Posted in Education, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged Accelerated Christian Education, ACE, anti-intellectualism, behavior modification, biology, Bobby Jindal, challenging fixed beliefs, Christian Spurling, Colonel Robert Wilson, competing visions for the future of America, critical thinking, dismantling of public education, fixed beliefs, George Carlin, higher order thinking skills, hoaxes, libraries, Loch Ness Monster, Louisiana, Marmaduke Wetherell, philosophy, Plesiosaur, public education, public libraries, school vouchers, sea monsters, the future of America, Thom Elliott | A few days ago, in response to something that I’d posted about the battle being waged between anti-tax, “small government” Republicans and those of us fighting to maintain public services, someone calling himself Alan2102, emerged from the shadows to accuse a number of us of being “out-of-touch” with the values of real Americans – those [...]
Posted in Mark's Life, Observations, Other, Rants, Uncategorized | Also tagged Alan2102, Charles Murray, childhood obesity, class warfare, Coming Apart: The State of White America: 1960-2010, domestic beer, domestic violence, fast food, Git-R-Done, Global Warming, homophobia, Kentucky Fried Chicken, NASCAR, Obama, quiz, RIck Santorum, tits ass and robots, Transformers, utensils, wife beating, xenophobia | By Mark | November 2, 2011 In spite of the fact that Wall Street Journal columnist Jon Frieman declared Occupy Wall Street 99% dead this morning, the movement kept right on going. Today, most of the action seemed to be in Oakland, where activists, having called for a general strike in response to last week’s violent crackdown by police, brought a [...]
Posted in Civil Liberties, Politics, Uncategorized | Also tagged bike power, general strike, Jon Frieman, Justin Wedes, New York, Oakland, Occupy Oakland, Occupy Wall Street, Port of Oakland, protests | 
