Radiometric dating is a pretty awesome area of science that involves dating materials by using isotopic ratios and the decay rates of radioisotopes found in various samples.   It’s the most accurate means of dating the earth and based on radiometric dating, scientists have concluded that the earth is 4.54 billion years old.   So called “young earth” creationists hate this, because they insist the earth is actually six thousand years old.   Thus they love to attack radiometric dating.  Here’s a great video that explains the issue and how radiometric dating really works

I’d like to add that it’s not as if radiometric dating needs to stand on its own on this one.   Yes, it is the gold standard for dating of geological material, but there are many other observations that can be made which indicate that the earth must be on the order of billions of years old.   The fact that there is room for discourse in refining the accuracy of the calculated dates does not mean that the data is completely wrong by many orders of magnitude.
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Sure, the network might be called “The Learning Channel,” but don’t expect to learn anything from this new show.   If “John and Kate Plus Eight” was not stupid enough for you, the channel now has a new show that’s sure to rot even more braincells.  The show “Paranormal Court” is described as “Two parties come together and agree to be bound by the ruling enlisted from the other side.”

The idea behind it is basically that family members having a dispute, which involves a deceased person, consult a psychic to talk to that dead person about how to deal with the situation. Of course, it’s not terribly unusual for disputes and disagreements to come up over things like estate matters or how to best serve the wishes of a deceased person. So why not consult a psychic? Well, if you’re going to try to resolve a dispute, you probably want a mediator who is actually honest and has some integrity. Psychics, on the other hand, are professional liars. Even worse, the ones in this series don’t seem to even be that good at it.

Seriously, I can do better at cold reading than this!

The “Christian Science” movement and its standard-bearer, the “Church of Christ, Scientist” have been around since the late 1800’s.  Having been founded by Mary Baker Eddy, the movement is based on American Protestantism, but specifically claims that mankind and the universe are inherently spiritual and not physical entities.   It shouldn’t be confused with the Church of Scientology.

Despite the name of the Church, it’s about one of the most anti-science organizations around, especially when it comes to medical science. This tradition is one of the hallmarks of Christian Science and the one that it has become the most associated with. Traditionally, followers of the teachings of Christian Science reject any science or medicine that is not derived directly from “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures,” which claims that health and disease are metaphysical, with disease being a spiritual state which is to be treated through prayer and religion. The root of all disease, according to Christian Science, is fear, sin, lack of faith or ignorance.

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By now you’ve probably heard of the tragic events in Huntsville Alabama, where Biology professor Amy Bishop allegedly shot and killed three fellow faculty members of the University of Alabama.   I use the word “Allegedly” as a technicality, because although she has not been convicted or confessed, it’s pretty clear that she did do it.     Of course, all killings and killers are unique, although this one seems to fit the pattern of a “workplace rampage” – the kind of killing which is usually the result of an extreme amount of anger and frustration and often involves a feeling of being treated unfairly.  These usually (but not always) result in the death of the perpetrator, either by suicide or because they refuse to surrender and are shot by police after trying to continue to kill.  At this point it’s not clear whether or not Bishop attempted suicide, but had run out of amunition or had the gun jam.   It’s also not clear whether she had made any attempt to flea the scene.

Not surprisingly, discussion quickly moved to the topic of religion and politics.   There’s thus far no evidence that Bishop was in any way an “Intelligent Design” or creationism advocate.   However, according to some in the community, she was a regular church goer – although to a church that was decidedly “liberal” in social additude.   She was also a member of the Clergy Letter Project, a project which seeks professors and scientists to give advice to clergy on issues of science.   Other than that, she does not appear to have been especially active in religion.   A number of reports (especially local) have pointed out that she was a “liberal from New England” or used similar language.   A number of outlets have also stated that she was a “Socialist.” These reports seem to based their conclusion on some comments by her students, in which they state that she was not openly political in class but that she was “a socialist.”  Despite the headlines, it’s not really clear from these comments that she was actually a “socialist” in the sense of being for overthrowing the entire capitalist system and creating a Workers’ Paradise – it may simply be that she was a bit left wing.   (Not that this is unusual in professors in general)

The bottom line is that, despite grasping for straws on both sides, there’s really no evidence that Bishop had any extreme beliefs or was all that active politically or religiously.   Even if she was, that really doesn’t count for much.   There are millions of Christians, Atheists, left-wingers, progressives, socialists, conservatives and libertarians who have never killed anyone and never would.

There is, however, some information which indicates a troubled past.   In 1986, Bishop shot and killed her 18 year old brother in Braintree, MA. The bizzare incident happened when she shot her brother in the chest with a shot gun and was found in the street holding the gun.   Police investigated the incident, but were unable to find any conclusive evidence to refute Bishop’s claims that it had been an accident.   Although some suspected it was not, no charges were ever filed.

Possible trigger was a tenure dispute?
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By now, we all know that Haiti is badly in need of aid and there are many groups out there which are working to try to get it there.    Due to the enormous scale of the disaster, there’s almost no limit to the need for everything from food to water to search and rescue equipment.    Military air and sea-lift divisions from several countries are working to get the complex logistics in place and organizations ranging from the Red Cross to the United Nations are doing what they can to get food, water and other supplies to the people of Haiti.

As a general rule, organizations are asking for individuals and small groups to donate money, as opposed to directly donating the supplies.   There are some exceptions to this, such as for specialized equipment, or in cases where an organization can supply large quantities of an important aid supply, but in general, the logistical issues with sorting and shipping many individually donated canned food, water bottles or first aid kits makes these kind of donations less useful and slower to get to those who need them most.

However, if you are going to donate something to the effort and it’s not money, it should at least be something with some kind of usefulness to it.   There are many things that would fit the bill here.   Water purifiers, sanitary supplies, basic clothing like undergarments and even items like eyeglasses could help those who lost everything.  It’s been said that “nobody wants your old sneakers,” and that is certainly true, but if you happen to have several truck loads of brand new sneakers, that might actually help.

Yet one group has decided to send something even more useless than a pair of old smelly sneakers.  What is it they’re sending?  Solar powered bibles.   Yes, you read right.   Apparently they felt that the people of Haiti need faith right now and that faith comes from the “good book.”   However, the “good book” is apparently not good enough – or maybe it’s just too inexpensive and doesn’t have that whiz-bang novelty of a new gadget, so they’re instead sending a solar-powered device which is preloaded with an electronic audio-book version of the bible.   They already are planning on sending 600 of them and would like to raise money for 3000.

If it’s not a frivolous enough expense to send portable self-reading electronic bibles to Haiti, these ones also have a solar panel on them, thus assuring that the quake refugees will be able to charge them with the same sun that beats down on them as they search for clean water and food.    That way, they will at least not have to worry about finding more batteries to listen to the bible.

They state that the audio bibles are necessary to send “hope” to Haiti.    It justifies this by providing a sample of a bible reading in both French and Haitian Creole (the primary language in Haiti) to show that the passionate and dramatic reading of the bible versus is so much more hopeful than words on paper.  These bibles can also be listened to by a large number of people, even if they’re not literate and thus could not read it themselves.   Apparently it never occurred to them, that a single person could read the bible to a large group gathered around them – a person who might be called something like a “priest” or “minister.”

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2010 has barely started, and I thought this would be a great time for me to prove once and for all that I am a psychic, a seer, a prophet or whatever else you care to call it. I am issuing some of my psychic predictions for the remainder of the year. I stand behind all of these, as they were given to me through a gift from god. That said, I do not claim 100% accuracy.

It is possible that a couple of these may be wrong, but the overwhelming majority will be right. If not the majority, than, well, uh, at least some, but we will focus on the ones that I got right, and that’s all the proof you should need!

I anticipate my success rate will meet or exceed that of the best and most famous psychics and seers!

(note:  for those not directly familiar with this page, this is posted in a sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek manner.  I don’t actually believe I’m psychic or even that psychics exist, however I do stand by my claim that many of these will prove uncanny in their accuracy.)

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Best Wishes that for a very very high energy holiday season and a bountiful new year.

This holiday season, may you and all your friends and family enjoy relief from the bitter cold through artificial heating and may your nights be happy, secure and brought by the glow of incandescence, fluorescence or whatever lighting you may have.   Of course, for those who are in Australia or South America, may your days be cooled by air conditioning.   Here’s hoping all your travels are safe, comfortable and rapid, and may all your pantries overflow with a surplus of safe and pathogen-free food.   And may your health be maintained by the best medicine that science can produce.

However you may celebrate your holidays and whether it is Christmas, the Yuletide, Solstice, Chaunaka or otherwise, here’s hoping that the power of many many kilowatts will serve for your comfort and protection.  Terajoules of comfort and joy, for all of mankind.

The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Policy recently came out with the results of a series of public opinion studies on religion and paranormal beliefs in American society.   There were some interesting trends observed, some of which might not have been expected.   Unfortunately, there’s no sign of any general reduction in mystical or religious beliefs.  (I’m sure some readers will disagree on whether that’s unfortunate or not.)   There has been a slight decline in the attendance of traditional religious services in recent years, but general beliefs, including beliefs in less traditional religious and spiritual concepts remain strong, and in some cases are growing.  Indeed, since the 1960’s, there has been an upward trend in those who claim to have personally had a religious or mystical experience.

One of the biggest trends that has appeared is the inclusion of more new-age, mystical and Eastern beliefs in American religion.   While Christianity (in one form or another) remains the largest religious sect in the US, many also indicate that they believe in things like astrology, fortune telling or the idea of  spiritual energy or karma.   More surprisingly, a significant number of Americans (16%) believe that people can cast a negative influence by giving the “evil eye” or casting spells or curses.   Even those who identify themselves with traditional western religions are now more receptive than ever to other forms of bullshit.

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In the US, teaching a religious scripture class in a public school (government sanctioned, tax payer funded) would simply not happen.  We have black latter law against that, and even in the deepest backward bible-belt backwaters, something as blatant as a scripture class is just not going to happen.  Sure, teachers may try to throw in some religious messages (which they shouldn’t) but even that could lead to a lawsuit in federal court.

Not so in Australia.   Despite being a country well known for its skepticism and generally secular, it seems that a vestige of the religious days still exists in some public schools in New South Whales.   On the bright side, while these classes are actually being mandated by the government (seriously), they are optional for students to take and more than half of families elect to have their children opt out of these classes.   Still, by law non-scripture students can’t be taught another subject during scripture class sessions.  Apparently this came about because it would give them the benefit of having time for additional education and thus encourage more to not take scripture class (or that was the justification anyway).   This amounts to a kind of no-compete clause that assures that schools all have dedicated time for religious indoctrination that cannot be used by any other subject.

This law goes all the way back to the late 1800’s and still applies today in New South Whales.   Many other parts of Australia continue to have mandated scripture classes in public schools, but now allow students to take other classes in place of the religious classes.  Only New South Whales still has a law directly preventing other classes from using the time and forcing students to choose between doing nothing and being taught religious beliefs.

Via Homepage Daily:

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Found this on a fundy “creation science” site, apparently questions that will tell whether you’re an “Evolutionist” or not. The alternative, being a creationist.

Evolution can become so ingrained in our thinking that we don’t even notice it. Our government schools and universities are entrenched in evolution, from biology to philosophy and even English class. There is no escaping evolution after we graduate, either. We encounter it in the newspaper, on the radio, on television, and in blockbuster movies. So, how do you know if you’ve been evolutionized? Here are a few questions to find out:

1. Are tribes in the South American rain forest more primitive forms of humans than we are?
2. Did dinosaurs live before humans?
3. Were the people who lived in caves and used simple tools not very intelligent?
4. Did Noah lack special tools or equipment to build the Ark?
5. Are the stars older than the earth?
6. Is there more than one race?
7. Does it take millions of years to form fossils, oil, coal, or diamonds?
8. Did Adam have to learn how to speak, read, and write after he was created?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you’ve been evolutionized to some degree, and the more times you responded “yes,” the more evolution impacts your thinking. Evolutionary teaching so permeates our culture that it can affect every area of our thinking, including what we believe about the Bible. This sort of evolutionized thinking has even permeated our churches.

That is why it is more important than ever for Christians to be discerning and weigh every thought against the truths revealed in God’s Word. If you examine each question more closely, you will see how your answers must be different from evolutionists’ if you start with God’s Word.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t answer any of the questions with an unequivocal “yes.”   Here are my answers:

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