More KCFS photos

June 2005 - Lawrence KS - Kansas Citizens for Science post "trial" gathering.

The 3 Amigos! - Pedro, Harry, Jack

Last night's event at JCCC

The speaker event (see press release below) was a smash hit! The room at JCCC was supposed to hold 75 people, but before the program started, volunteers had to bring out more chairs. Moderator Harry McDonald estimated there were about 90 people there.

The crowd was respectful and seemed very interested in the topics.  Paul Decelles, professor of biology at JCCC, explained some common myths about science; Josh Rosenau, public information person from the National Center for Science Education (www.ncseweb.org), described the evolution of anti-science activities; and retired KU economics professor David Burress gave a breakdown of different population groups that favor or oppose science.

Thanks to everyone who helped get the word out and everyone who attended. It was a fascinating evening.

KCFS' next event, on December 3 at JCCC, which is billed as a Year of Science event, (http://www.yearofscience2009.org/home/), will be a kind of scientific game show loosely based on "Family Feud." More details as I get them.

KCFS photos from the 2005 KSBOE trial of Darwin

Snapshots from the 'post game analysis' session led by the Kansas Citizens for Science (KCFS) after the KSBOE "trial" of Darwin in May 2005. State Capitol, Topeka, KS.

Note Josh Rosenau (with two name tags), then a grad student at KU, now with NCSE.













Attorney Pedro Irogonegary
Who questioned ID proponents during the "Kangaroo Kourt."












Below: KCFS press briefings during the Kangaroo Kourt proceedings. Harry McDonald, standing.

Tonight at JCCC -- KCFS/KCAU event! Free!

JCCC speaker event Nov. 6 celebrates 150th anniversary of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species"

NEWS RELEASE -- FOR RELEASE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 2, 2009

Contact:          Liz Craig (KCFS)                      Lynne H. Schulze (AU)

Phone:            913-236-7595                             913-633-2479                 

Email:             lizard6849@yahoo.com            lynnehs@gmail.com

In recognition of the 150th Anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and Kansas Citizens for Science present:

150 Years On, What’s All The Fuss About Evolution, Science Education and Church and State?

Date:               Friday, November 6, 2009

Time:              7:00-9:00 p.m.

Location:       Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd.,

                        Carlsen Center Rm. 234

Campus Map: http://tr.im/B8tg

The program is free and open to the public.

Speakers:

• Josh Rosenau, “Thoughts From Kansas” blogger (http://scienceblogs.com/tfk), 

now on staff at the National Center for Science Education (www.ncseweb.org)

“Anti-Evolution Efforts Since the Dover Decision and the Defeat of ‘Intelligent Design’”

• Paul Decelles, Professor of Biology at Johnson County Community College

“Some Myths and Misconceptions About Evolution”

• David Burress, retired KU economics professor and a founding member of Kansas Citizens For Science

“Fighting About Darwin: Who and Why”

Moderator:

Harry McDonald, former Blue Valley biology teacher and President of Kansas Citizens For Science

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (www.au.org) is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans. The Greater Kansas City Chapter’s website is: www.aukc.org.

Kansas Citizens for Science (www.kcfs.org) is a not-for-profit educational organization that promotes a better understanding of what science is and does, by advocating for science education, educating the public about the nature andvalue of science, and serving as an information resource.         

####

NOVA "Becoming Human" Part 1 airs tonight

NOVA: Becoming Human Part 1 tonight on PBS. Check local listings for time.

First Steps: Six million years ago, what set our ancestors on the path from ape to human? http://tr.im/E2kN

 

WEBCAST: THE MAKING OF THE FITTEST

Hear NCSE Supporter Sean B. Carroll discuss "The Making of the
Fittest: Natural Selection and the DNA Record of Evolution" on-line!
>From 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. (Eastern) on Wednesday, November 4, 2009, 
Carroll will deliver the third lecture of the 150th anniversary Origin of Species
lecture series, hosted by The Reading Odyssey and the Darwin 150
project -- and the whole lecture will be webcast live.

Sponsors of the lecture series include the National Center for Science
Education, National Geographic, Citrix Online and its HiDef
Conferencing Division, Campaign Monitor, the Harvard University Museum
of Comparative Zoology, SquareSpace, the movie Creation, and the New
York Academy of Sciences. Future speakers in the series include E. O.
Wilson.

For information on the webcast, visit:
http://darwinlecture3.eventbrite.com/

For information about the hosts, visit:
http://www.readingodyssey.com/
http://www.darwin150.com/

JCCC speaker event Nov. 6 celebrates 150th anniversary of Darwin's "On the Origin of Species"

NEWS RELEASE -- FOR RELEASE WEEK OF NOVEMBER 2, 2009

Contact:          Liz Craig (KCFS)                      Lynne H. Schulze (AU)

Phone:            913-236-7595                             913-633-2479                 

Email:             lizard6849@yahoo.com            lynnehs@gmail.com

In recognition of the 150th Anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species,” the Greater Kansas City Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State and Kansas Citizens for Science present:

150 Years On, What’s All The Fuss About Evolution, Science Education and Church and State?

Date:               Friday, November 6, 2009

Time:              7:00-9:00 p.m.

Location:       Johnson County Community College, 12345 College Blvd.,

                        Carlsen Center Rm. 234

Campus Map: http://tr.im/B8tg

The program is free and open to the public.

Speakers:

• Josh Rosenau, “Thoughts From Kansas” blogger (http://scienceblogs.com/tfk), 

now on staff at the National Center for Science Education (www.ncseweb.org)

“Anti-Evolution Efforts Since the Dover Decision and the Defeat of ‘Intelligent Design’”

• Paul Decelles, Professor of Biology at Johnson County Community College

“Some Myths and Misconceptions About Evolution”

• David Burress, retired KU economics professor and a founding member of Kansas Citizens For Science

“Fighting About Darwin: Who and Why”

Moderator:

Harry McDonald, former Blue Valley biology teacher and President of Kansas Citizens For Science

Americans United for Separation of Church and State (www.au.org) is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to preserving the constitutional principle of church-state separation as the only way to ensure religious freedom for all Americans. The Greater Kansas City Chapter’s website is: www.aukc.org.

Kansas Citizens for Science (www.kcfs.org) is a not-for-profit educational organization that promotes a better understanding of what science is and does, by advocating for science education, educating the public about the nature andvalue of science, and serving as an information resource.         

####

Sen. Al Franken Kicks A** at Health Care Reform Hearing

Ten Myths About Charles Darwin

Kevin Padian discusses -- and debunks -- "Ten Myths about Charles
Darwin" in the October 2009 issue of BioScience. "Charles Darwin is
one of the most revered (and at times reviled) figures in Western
history. A great many 'facts' about him and his ideas are the stuff of
textbook myths, others are inaccuracies spread by antievolutionists,
and still others are conventional historical mistakes long corrected
but still repeated," he writes. "I present 10 such misconceptions, and
some quick and necessarily incomplete rebuttals. New scholarship is
rapidly clearing away some of these myths." Addressed are:

* As a boy Darwin was good only for "shooting, dogs, and rat-catching"
* Darwin was a "mere companion" to Captain Robert FitzRoy on the HMS Beagle
* Darwin's epiphany about natural selection came while visiting the
Galápagos Islands
* Darwin stole the credit for natural selection from Alfred Russel Wallace
* Population thinking
* Dual criteria for classification: Genealogy and similarity
* Gradual change is slow and steady
* Human evolution was shaped mainly by natural selection
* Sexual selection is all about how many offspring you leave
* Darwin was a confirmed atheist who had a deathbed conversion to Christianity

Padian concludes, "Myths will always arise and abound ... It is hoped
that this myth-busting scholarship will soon filter down to revisions
of textbooks that discuss Darwin and to public discourse about his
life and work." President of NCSE's board of directors, Padian is
Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California at
Berkeley and also Curator of Paleontology at the University of
California Museum of Paleontology. (Thanks to BioScience for
graciously making Padian's article freely available on-line.)

For "Ten Myths about Charles Darwin" in BioScience, visit:
http://caliber.ucpress.net/doi/full/10.1525/bio.2009.59.9.10

New Prehistoric Timeline from National Geographic

Got questions about the evolution of life on our planet?

Want to know when the first tetrapods appeared? When the first pollen-carrying plants came onboard? Check out the neat new timeline on the Nat Geo website.

Very cool.

The Grandeur of Life: Darwin Exhibit at Linda Hall Library

This past weekend, I dropped into the LHL to see the current exhibit, "The Grandeur of Life," honoring the 150th anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" and Darwin's 200th birthday. A friend of mine, Michael Irvin, designed all the posters, descriptive labels and printed materials related to the exhibit, and they were beautiful.

I wish there were some online photos of the books on display at the LHL. One was from the 16th (or was it 15th?) century, printed by Gutenberg (maker of the first printed Bible). The illustrations, woodcuts and copper engravings, some hand-colored, were spectacular. The incredible detail of a lizard, heron, hedgehog or other critter some early naturalist had collected ... amazing. The books show an evolution not only in thinking about nature, but also in the way animals were portrayed in illustrations.

The exhibit will be up through March 27, so there's no hurry. But hurry there anyway, so you can come back several times to fully appreciate all the displays. An early edition of "Origin" is also on view. Read more about it here.

Talking About Darwin and Evolution - 150th Anniversary of "On the Origin of Species"

In recognition of the 150th Anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s “On the Origin of Species”

    150 Years On, What’s All
    The Fuss About Evolution,
    Science Education and
    Church and State?

    Date:        Friday, November 6, 2009
    Time:        7:00-9:00 p.m.
    Location: Johnson County Community                                  College
                     12345 College Blvd.
                     Carlsen Center Rm. 234
                     Campus Map: http://tr.im/B8tg
                     Free and open to the public
                       

      
  Speakers:

• Josh Rosenau, “Thoughts From Kansas” blogger (http://scienceblogs.com/tfk),
now on staff at the National Center for Science Education (www.ncseweb.org)
“Anti-Evolution Efforts Since the Dover Decision and the Defeat
of ‘Intelligent Design’”

• Paul Decelles, Professor of Biology at Johnson County Community College
“Some Myths and Misconceptions About Evolution”

• David Burress, retired KU economics professor and a founding member
of Kansas Citizens For Science
“Fighting About Darwin: Who and Why”

Moderator:
Harry McDonald, former Blue Valley biology teacher and
President of Kansas Citizens For Science

  

Co-sponsored by the Greater Kansas City Chapter of 
Americans United for Separation of Church and State (www.aukc.org)

       and Kansas Citizens for Science (www.kcfs.org)