Keeping up with the Googles ...

Went to a lecture on Social Media today and saw this video which has been around for awhile ... fascinating:



Cool music, too!
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Best line from the President's speech ...

"Dropping out of high school is no longer an option. It's not just quitting on yourself, it's quitting on your country -- and this country needs and values the talents of every American."
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It's the end of the world as we know it ...

Matthew Yglesias at the Atlantic.com highlights a short video made to accompany an article by Greg Easterbrook about the risk of mass extinction on Earth caused by an asteroid strike. If you like scary movies you should check this one out. Bottom line ... NASA is dropping the ball by not spending enough resources to address this real threat.

Let me introduce you to my cousin Valencia.

The Florida Board of Education is considering new science standards which make evolutionary theory a central part of the curriculum, and limits the influence of alternative theories in the classroom. You may remember the Kansas Board of Education going through a similar experience over the last few years, with evolution proponents eventually winning out over the creationist/intelligent design crowd. If a city, state or country really cares about being competitive in the global economy and wants to prepare children for success in a variety of scientific fields, they have to strengthen their support of true science, whether that involves evolution, climate change, genetic research, or a myriad of other topics.
But the challenge ahead for science proponents is daunting as this article makes clear:

The Times survey ... revealed a huge gulf between scientists and the public. While the vast majority of scientists consider evolution to be backed by strong evidence, nearly two-thirds of those polled were skeptical.

Sha and I were fotunate to hear a some great speakers last summer at the YearlyKos convention in Chicago (now Netroots Nation). One of the panels was on science and the most entertaining speaker was Ed Brayton. Here is a post from his blog on the Florida situation:

Those who are campaigning against those standards have consistently displayed precisely the kind of rank ignorance of science that make those new standards crucial. A commenter left this transcript of what one man said during the public comment time on the new standards recently:

"Now I have in my hand an orange. I was about to eat this orange yesterday, but before I did I sat down and read about this evolution stuff. I learned that this orange is actually my first cousin. I didn't want to eat the orange no more. So now I'm going to give it to you people on the committee, and you can eat it if you want. But if you do decide to eat it, it shows that you don't believe in this evolution either. And we shouldn't be teaching our kids something no one believes."

Stunningly stupid.

Well said.