The Infidel Guy Show

A Spider Trying to Look Like an Ant?

Looks like an ant right? Well it's not. This is an ant-spider. There are over 100 species. Viewed face-on(not seen here) you'd know right away that this is a spider. The image is courtesy of Thomas Vattakaven at: http://www.naturemagnified.com/2010/02/ants-spiders-and-ant-spiders.html Thomas says, "... it was clear that the spider was trying to mimic the longer ants...". A troubling error that I continue to read from many nature enthusiast's sites and even some seasoned biologists is that in instances of natural mimicry or even in the formation of specialized systems, that these organisms are "trying" to do something. This can confuse those unfamiliar with evolutionary processes. Evolution does not try to accomplish a particular goal. Tom's statement is akin to saying that darker-skinned people are darker because they are purposefully 'trying' to resist sun radiation damage. Huh? Exactly. This spider's relatives evolved with the ants and over time, body forms which began to look a little bit more like the ants' gave each new generation particular advantages. Less predation and less competition for food sources to name a few. I wish folks would stop personifying and anthropomorphizing organisms in nature. It should be no wonder then why many of those ignorant of evolution still have some Lamarckian view of how organisms change over time. See wiki on this issue: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_mimicry. Please visit my facebook page as I am far more active there lately: http://www.facebook.com/infidelguy.

Excellent Critical thinking Video.

Love it. "Critical Thinking isn't just thinking a lot." Rock on. It's challenging your own biases. You think about your thinking. Too hard for most unfortunately. �Critical Thinking.� � A look at some of the principles of critical thinking.

SCOTUS allows Cross to be Displayed on Public Land

A splintered Supreme Court displayed its deep divisions over the separation of church and state Wednesday, with the court's prevailing conservatives signaling a broader openness to the idea that the Constitution does not require the removal of religious symbols from public land.
A 5 to 4 decision by the court overturns a federal judge's objection to a white cross erected more than 75 years ago on a stretch of the Mojave Desert to honor the dead of World War I. Six justices explained their reasoning in writing, often using stirring rhetoric or emotional images of sacrifice and faith to describe how religion can both honor the nation's dead and divide a pluralistic nation. The bottom line, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy wrote, is that "the Constitution does not oblige government to avoid any public acknowledgment of religion's role in society." Although joined in full only by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., Kennedy's opinion will be closely parsed as courts across the country consider challenges to religious displays in public settings.

-Article continued off site, courtesy Washington Post.

Teacher Sued For Bashing Christianity

Most weekdays, some 2,700 students crowd the sidewalks and hallways of Capistrano Valley High School, which is a quick drive from Orange County, California�s finest beaches. Capo, as the school is informally known, boasts a champion surf team as well as a prestigious academic reputation, among other distinctions. The world�s most powerful megachurch, Saddleback, is about eight miles south of Capo; nearby are the skyline-dominating Crystal Cathedral and the nation�s largest Christian broadcast network. Non-Christian faiths, too, have set up shop in the OC, home to growing numbers of Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist and Zoroastrian worshipers. In fact, for all the associations of Orange County with implants and Botox and for all the TV shows that depict a shamelessly decadent lifestyle, such as �The Real Housewives of Orange County,� this is foremost a highly religious place. All of which has come to play out in the classroom of history teacher James Corbett, the defendant in a federal lawsuit that, depending on its outcome in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, could threaten traditional notions of academic freedom. -Article continues off site, courtesy Alternet.

Hitches on the Catholic Church Child Abuse Scandals

The Catholic Church is in serious trouble and may have nowhere to run, depending on who you ask. "I warned them about all of this," declared author Christopher Hitchens, appearing on HBO's Real Time with Bill Maher on Friday night. "Nothing good can come of a church that has as its' slogan, 'Leave no child's behind.' And then they went and chose as pope the man who was personally responsible, in his dioceses, and institutionally responsible for the cover-up. So now, there's no escape." The child rape scandals that have savaged Catholic ranks for years starting in the United States, then flaring up in Ireland, Germany, Italy and other locations around the world, have finally come to implicate Pope Benedict XVI, according to recent reports. At time of this writing, the most recent scandal flare-up involved a school for the deaf in Wisconsin, where up to 200 boys were molested by a man whom Hitchens said "was allowed to walk free and was buried with full honors as a priest." -Article continues off site, courtesy Rawstory.

Book Discussion, ''What Darwin Got Wrong''

At this point, the idea of somebody publishing an attack on Charles Darwin isn�t exactly surprising. The 19th-century naturalist, and the man behind the theory of evolution, has never been a particularly popular figure among conservative Christians, and, these days, the anti-Darwin movement is a cottage industry. In the last year, which marked the bicentennial of Darwin�s birth and 150 years since the publication of "The Origin of the Species," the man was even subjected to the peculiar indignity of an assault by former "Growing Pains" star Kirk Cameron. But unlike most of these attacks, "What Darwin Got Wrong," a new book by Jerry Fodor, a professor of philosophy and cognitive sciences at Rutgers University, and Massimo Piattelli-Palmarini, a professor of cognitive science at the University of Arizona, comes not from the religious right, but from two atheist academics with -- surprise -- a nuanced argument about the shortcomings of Darwin�s theories. Their book details (in very technical language) how recent discoveries in genetics have thrown into question many of our perceived truths about natural selection, and why these have the potential to undermine much of what we know about evolution and biology. -Article continues off site, courtesy Salon.

Atheist Group Responds to 'Jesus Code' Rifle Sights

MILITARY SHOULD SCRAP "JESUS CODE" RIFLE SIGHTS: "PROPAGANDA COUP FOR TALIBAN, OSAMA" SAY ATHEISTS An Atheist public policy group said today that rifle sights marked with a secret "Jesus Bible Code" may provide Islamic extremists with a powerful propaganda tool and egregiously and dangerously violate the separation of church and state. According to a report on ABC News, a Michigan-based company, Trijicon, has a $600 million contract to provide U.S. forces with 800,000 of the rifle sights which are being used in Afghanistan and Iraq. The sights are marked with citations from the Bible, including one that declares that Jesus is "the light of the world." Dr. Ed Buckner, President of American Atheists, said that he fears Islamic terrorists may take full advantage of "a major blunder that seriously risks efforts to reach out to people in Muslim countries threatened by groups like the Taliban and al-Qaeda." "Part of the U.S. message abroad should emphasize the core American value of secular government and respect for individual religious liberty -- and instead the U.S. military is promoting Christianity, literally with the barrel of a gun. We call on President Barack Obama to repudiate this effort immediately." Kathleen Johnson, Vice President and Military Director for American Atheists, said that the religious inscriptions "clearly violate the First Amendment and the U.S. Constitution, as well as armed forces regulations against promoting sectarian religion." "We are not going to enjoy much success in trying to achieve 'nation building' and self-sufficiency for democratic governments in countries like Iraq and Afghanistan if our troops are seen as modern-day 'Crusaders' out to impose Christian fundamentalism," said Johnson. She urged the Pentagon and Congress to open an immediate inquiry into how Trijicon won the lucrative contract and if military brass were aware of the Biblical citations on the gun sights. "These rifle sights should be phased out of use as quickly as possible," added Johnson. "The mission of the U.S. military cannot include proselytizing for Christianity or any other religion." AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights for Atheists; works for the total separation of church and state; and addresses issues of First Amendment public policy. American Atheists, Inc. PO BOX 158 Cranford, NJ 07016 Tel.: (908) 276-7300 Fax: (908) 276-7402
atheists.org

Antievolution legislation in Missouri

House Bill 1651, introduced in the Missouri House of Representatives on January 13, 2010, and not yet referred to a committee, is apparently the second antievolution bill of 2010. The bill would, if enacted, call on state and local education administrators to "endeavor to create an environment within public elementary and secondary schools that encourages students to explore scientific questions, learn about scientific evidence, develop critical thinking skills, and respond appropriately and respectfully to differences of opinion about controversial issues, including biological and chemical evolution" and to "endeavor to assist teachers to find more effective ways to present the science curriculum where it addresses scientific controversies." "Toward this end," the bill continues, "teachers shall be permitted to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of the theory of biological and hypotheses of chemical evolution." -Article continues off site, courtesy The National Center for Science Education.

Science center Sued for Rejecting Anti-Evolution Film

Here we go again. The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the California Science Center, an organization affiliated with the Smithsonian, is facing a lawsuit from a group called the American Freedom Alliance. The group planned to rent the Center's IMAX theater in order to show a movie called "Darwin's Dilemma," which attacks the theory of evolution and promotes intelligent design. When the anti-evolution, pro-ID Discovery Institute stepped in, the Center used a clause in the contract to cancel the showing, attracting suits from both groups. The AFA's vision statement says that it "aims to build a national alliance of people of faith," and the group apparently decided to use the public controversy over evolution as a way to do that. The film it chose features several Discovery Institute fellows, and was produced by a company that lists the DI as a "research link," along with an organization, the Access Research Network, that has Discovery fellows on its board -Article continues off site, courtesy ars technica.

29% of Americans say religion �out of date�

A Gallup poll of Americans' attitudes towards religion released on Christmas Eve found significant recent increases in those responding either that they have no religious preference, that religion is not very important in their lives, or that they believe religion "is largely old-fashioned or out of date." Only 78% of Americans now identify as Christian, while 22% describe their religious preference as either "other" or "none." Most of these changes have occurred since 2000 and represent the first significant shift since a sharp decline in religious adherence during the 1970s. Over the last nine years, the number with no religious preference has grown from a level of around 8% to 13%. The number for whom religion is not very important has climbed from just over 10% to 19%. And the number who believe religion is out of date and has no answers for today's problems has jumped from slightly more than 20% to 29%. -Article continues off site, courtesy Rawstory.