Judge Jones is my hero.
Ok. Going back to the beginning of the month when I was in Philadelphia...
It was my privelege to attend a panel discussion on the teaching of evolutionary science in schools. One of the panelists was
Judge Jones, who presided over
Kitzmiller vs the Dover Area School District in 2005. This has been widely reported as a rerun of the
Scopes 'monkey trial' of 1925. In short, Creationist school board attempts to introduce teaching of
Intelligent Design in science classes in Pennsylvania public schools. Judge rules that this is unconstitutional, declares Intelligent Design wholly antithetic to science, exposes a long running fundamentalist political agenda and ultimately causes the whole school board to be replaced.
Get in.
Anyway. I've just read
Judge Jone's official opinion . It's 136 pages of brilliance. Very easy to read, very exciting. At the conference, we were all urged, as scientists, to read it and I have to say I wholly agree. If you're a scientist, you should read it to feel reinvigorated. If you're an adherant to Intelligent Design, you should read it if only to be put firmly in your place (which is the theology department, incidentally), if you're neither, then simply read it as an wonderful exersize in rationality.
I'm so excited, I'm going to link to it
again.
And
again.
In these days, when so many people seem intent on abandoning rational thought and pretending that the Enlightenment was just a bunch of wooly minded academics poncing about in libraries, it is very exciting to have a piece of writing like this emerge. Intelligent Design publically exposed as a fundamentalist, theist, creationist agenda which has about as much place in a science classroom as a big fat crucifix.
"Methodological naturalism is a 'ground rule' of science today which requires scientists to seek explanations in the world around us based upone what we can observe, test, replicate and verify" Judge Jones, 2005, p.65
while we're on the subject.
could have been
worse, though. I guess. Teeheehee, Dell.
on the extreme heat of my Powerbook and the crapness of my PhD
Went to the
British Library today, which was... useful. Learnt me some stuff about skin structure and comparative life history. Not yet found a way to connect the two, but hey, what can you do? Can't help feeling that I'm starting the library work a little late. Can't escape the gradually dawning realisation that my PhD has been a bit of a let down. I think I've been supervised quite badly. I think. Well. I guess time will tell.
Also, my powerbook is very seriously overheating. The fans don't seem to be turning at all. It gets so hot that touching the bottom of it can actually be uncomfortable...
***
You'd think I'd have checked that out before now, wouldn't you? Online, I mean. My lovely Powerbook's been burning my thighs for some time now. I now find out that this is normal... at least there is some
precedence . People tell me that there is no way to
force my machine's fan's on and furthermore that the heat issue is partly due to the fact that the aluminium case acts as
a heat dissipation device , although there is apparently some discussion over whether or not my battery might burst in to flames. Mostly though, it seems
fine .
Happy I could share that with you.
If only my academic life could be so speedily remedied.
explanetary
People seem perplexed by my queue in the hip-hop club observation. Well, it went like this: there was a dance floor, with girls getting jiggy with eachother and a few guys. The guys in the middle of the dancefloor were most involved, then there were a few satelite males around the edge, getting progressively less jiggy as they reached the wall, along which they seemed mainly to have formed a line. From this line, a girl could select a new dance partner by approaching him/her and, well... grinding, I suppose. My labmates and I subverted the system by striding gamely onto the dancefloor and throwing down some British shapes. One of the walls was mirrored too. Hysteria as local males sans female partner danced with themselves, using the mirror.
Anyway, I'm off to a barbecue soon. Best get dressed.
the unexamined wife
Right. Recovery breads an obligation to post.
The conference was good. Full of academics of all shapes and sizes, famous and less so. I met quite a few I had heard of, many I had not but should have done and made some new friends. I actually handed out my cards to people. Excellent. I have considered going through a day by day account of Memehunter vs the Human Behaviour and Evolution Society, but on the whole, I think there are probably more interesting things to read, and if you're really interested in how academics pass time in and between talks, you can check
here .
So I'll try and condense things.
The jetlag took me exactly 3 days to get over, with day 3 being the worst. On my arrival in Philly, I had a wander about, swiftly establishing that Philadelphia is my new favourite place (after Florence, Italy of course). My exploration of my immediate vicinity was a simple matter; I waited until an attractive looking guy walked past and I followed him. No, I was not stalking him, there was not a hint of sexual intent. I simply reasoned that good looking people would go to interesting places. It paid off anyway, I got a good tour. So, thanks random guide. Anyway, after a while of wandering Philly, I realised I'd been awake for around 14 hours and went back to my hotel for a nap to await the arrival of labmates. Dinner with LabmateMike swiftly followed, in a "pub" amusingly titled the Elephant and Castle. Made me feel right at home.
Anyway, the conference reception was the next night (too jetlagged to remember my own research, somewhat embarassing) and the conference proper began on Thursday. Interesting talks. Then some drinks. Earlyish bed, coz my talk (and LmM's and Miriam's) was the next day.
The time between me waking up (around 8.30) and the time of my presentation (3.20) was one of the most scary experiences of my life. I jest not. I was terrified. Part of my mammalian brain just wanted to run and kept whispering to me about how easy it would be to just go to the hotel. I sat it out though, and in the end my talk went quite well. There was a traffic-light style system that was meant to keep everyone on track time-wise; a strip of green on the computer monitor that went orange when you had 5 minutes left (to take questions) and then counted down from a minute before turning red, at which point you had to GET OFF the stage. Podium. Whatever. Anyway. I was CONVINCED I was going to be done in 5 minutes and refused to look at my watch in case I scared meself. Also, I am red-green colourblind, so could not see the shift from green to orange. It was a surprise to me, then, when the counter started counting down when I still had 2 slides to go. Rapid conclusion, apology, sit down. No questions for me. Ha ha! That evening we all got extrememly drunk and ended up, after touring
South Street , in a Hip Hop club somewhere downtown, where I was bemused by the dancing style of my transatlantic cousins. Seriously. It'd be sexy, but you have to, like, form a queue to get involved... or something. It was so weird.
More conference after that, which was fun. Then I spent my last night in the US in Westchester... but I think I shall save that for another post.
Also, I am doing fierce battle with the landlords of my last flat.
Watch this space.
tease
Hello hello, I am back with tales of academic bruhaha and London mum moving.
I am, however, still tired.
Thank you for your patience. More to follow.
