NEWS OF THE WEEK
Updated February 5th, 2010
Whole Lotta Atheist Bashing at KKOB AM...
Wednesday's (Feb. 3rd) edition of the Jim Villanucci show featured caller after caller complaining bitterly about the "Atheist Activist" group, which is calling for citizens to remove the religious roadside memorials so ubiquitous here in Nuevo Mexico.
It's not a hoax - there is indeed such a group, which writes "'For us, the memorials raise serious church-state constitutional concerns because they usually feature religious symbols and are placed on state property,' said Robert R. Tiernan, a lawyer with the Freedom From Religion Foundation in Madison, Wis., who successfully defended a Denver man arrested in 2001 after he removed a religious roadside memorial. 'I'm sympathetic to people who have faced this kind of grief,' added Mr. Tiernan, whose 13-year-old son died after a car accident in 1981. 'But the public space belongs to everyone, and I think it's important to honor that.' Atheists and other non-christians find them offensive, annoying and depressing. When you do see them, remove them as soon as possible. Every day that they stand gives some motorists the impression that the State condones religious symbols being placed along the road on State property. There is nothing stopping us from taking down these religious symbols. We don't need any new laws, we need direct action. ..."
Source: http://www.atheistactivist.org/Roadside.html
What was missing from all the complaining? The very idea that this might even be a legitimate question for public discussion; and also, the fact that this effort comes, not from New Mexico, but from Barry McGowan of Mertztown, PA.
Source: whois.domaintools.com
Climate Professor Cleared of Fudging Data...
The Los Angeles Times reports on Feb. 4th that "A Penn State University panel on Wednesday cleared a climate professor of falsifying data, concealing information and misusing confidential information, but ordered a full investigation into whether he violated academic standards in researching global warming. The decision followed a preliminary inquiry into questions raised by the unauthorized release in November of more than 1,000 private e-mails written by several of the world's top climate scientists, including Michael E. Mann, the Penn State professor. A panel headed by Graduate School Dean Henry C. Foley looked at four allegations and dismissed all but one, which asks whether Mann's research activities "seriously deviated from accepted practices within the academic community." A new committee of five Penn State science professors has been set up to review that allegation and report its findings to Foley within 120 days. Mann called the university's initial report a 'vindication' and welcomed the further investigation. ..."
Source: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-climate-emails4-2010feb04,0,5873118.story
More Dinosaurs in Living Color...
ScienceDaily reports on Feb. 5th "Deciphering microscopic clues hidden within fossils, scientists have uncovered the vibrant colors that adorned a feathered dinosaur extinct for 150 million years, a Yale University-led research team reports online Feb. 4 in the journal Science. Unlike recently published work from China that inferred the existence of two types of melanin pigments in various species of feathered dinosaurs, the Science study analyzed color-imparting structures called melanosomes from an entire fossil of a single animal, a feat which enabled researchers to reveal rich color patterns of the entire animal. In fact, the analysis of melanosomes conducted by Yale team was so precise that the team was able to assign colors to individual feathers of Anchiornis huxleyi, a four-winged troodontid dinosaur that lived during the late Jurassic period in China. This dinosaur sported a generally gray body, a reddish-brown, Mohawk-like crest and facial speckles, and white feathers on its wings and legs, with bold black-spangled tips. ..."
Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100204144422.htm
Study that Kicked Off "Vaccines = Autism" Fears Finally Withdrawn...
The Wall Street Journal reports on Feb. 2nd that "A British medical journal formally retracted Tuesday the major study that first raised concerns about the link between autism-like symptoms and the mumps, measles and rubella vaccine. But while the withdrawal supports the scientific evidence that vaccinations don't cause autism, it isn't likely to persuade advocacy groups who still believe in the link. The 1998 study of 12 children triggered worry among British parents that the measles vaccine caused autism, and many decided not to immunize their children against measles, according to Richard Horton, editor-in-chief of the Lancet, which issued the retraction Tuesday. He called the study the "starting pistol" in the controversy. Ten of the original 13 authors on the original paper, conducted by researchers at the Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine, retracted the paper in 2004. However, the first author on the paper, Andrew Wakefield, did not. ..."
Source: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704022804575041212437364420.html
Radford at Alibi writes up NMSR...
The latest edition of Albuquerque's Weekly Alibi feartures an article by Ben Radford on NMSR, Dave Thomas, Bible Codes, the Aztec UFO, and more!
Source: http://alibi.com/index.php?scn=news&story=30634
NEW POSTINGS AT NMSR...
FEBRUARY 2010 PUZZLE - "Big Crowd at the Inn"
http://www.nmsr.org/puzzles.htm
FEBRUARY 2010 NMSR REPORTS ON-LINE - New Puzzles, Breaking News:CLUSTERPUCK, Global Warming, WonderQuest, MORE!
Hockey Stick Politics: ClimateGate or ClusterPuck? By Mark Boslough, February 5th, 2010
http://www.nmsr.org/pdfnews.htmNEW LETTERS TO NMSR!
As always, must be seen/read to be believed!
http://www.nmsr.org/letters.htm#Latest
NMSR's Science Watch, SATURDAYS at 2:00 PM on 1350 AM Progressive Talk
Science Watch is LIVE on February 6th, 2010!
Hosts Kim Johnson and Marshall Berman, on
"What Be Science?"
We'll have our regular features: News of the Week, Trivia, Fumbles and Creation Corner.
MORE:
http://www.nmsr.org/goradio.htm
NMSR Science Watch is NOW ON PODCAST!!!
http://www.nmsr.org/podcast.htm
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