On November 21, 1953, evidence was released that the Piltdown Man skull was a hoax. Zoologists and palaeontologists concluded that the jaw bone was that of an ape and the skull of a human. German anthropologist Franz Weidenreich exposed the hoax in 1923 and it took thirty years for the scientific community to confirm with his findings.
I stumbled across this interesting gallery of photos (one dating back to 1870!) from Telegraph.co.uk and don’t forget Part II). Am I a hopeless skeptic if I say I find none of these pictures convincing?
Meanwhile… I was one of many who received a mass email from Ed Kagin (who is, among other things, National Legal Director for American Atheists and a co-founder of Camp Quest for kids) with the subject line “Vote For the Least Undesirable Candidate Candidate [sic] Who Can Win”, and the simple message “In the election tomorrow, we must do the unimaginable to prevent the unthinkable.”
I can’t remember now where I first saw this, but this has been mentioned on other popular blogs. It’s a Solar System Quilt made in 1876 by Iowan Ellen Harding Baker. I have to add this to my list of Coolest Things I’ve Ever Seen (okay, I don’t really have such a list but maybe I should start one).
[Apologies for the sound glitch at the very beginning. The theme music overpowers the voice track, but it only lasts a few seconds.]
Presenting our first-ever live episode, recorded August 30th at Dragon*Con as part of the Skeptics programming track, directed by Derek Colanduno of Skepticality fame. (Derek’s pod-partner Swoopy directed Dragon*Con’s Podcasting track.)
Barbara Forrest - We talk to Dr. Barbara Forrest about SB 733 [link], the so-called Louisiana Science Education Act, a piece of legislation sitting on the desk of Governor Bobby Jindal that, if signed, would enable teachers and administrators in state schools to sneak Creationism/Intelligent Design in under the radar. Dr. Forrest is a professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University, the co-author of Creationism’s Trojan Horse [link], and was one of the star witnesses in the celebrated Kitzmiller v. Dover court case. She’s also a co-founder of the Louisiana Coalition for Science [lasciencecoalition.org] and active in defending science against religio-political encroachment at the national level.
Happy 150th Birthday, Evolution! - In 2009, the thinking world will celebrate Darwin’s 200th birthday and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his Origin of Species [link]. But we’re popping the cork early - a landmark in the history of science occurred on July 1, 1858. That’s the day that the theory of evolution by natural selection had its first public reading (at London’s famous Linnean Society). We’ll talk about how Charles Darwin and his associates gave naturalist Alfred Wallace the subtle shaft, ensuring that religious nutjobs in the 21st century would be railing about “Darwinism” instead of “Wallacism”. (For an excellent analysis of this episode, read Robert Wright’s fantastic book The Moral Animal [link].)
Independence Day- Now, here’s a holiday even the grumpiest atheist can get behind. Everybody knows that on July 4th, 1776, the American Colonists told the Brits where they could shove it. Sort of. We’ll look at some of the myths surrounding the birth of America, and revisit that pesky semi-religious language that has the fundies crowing about how this is a Christian Nation.
Goodbye, George Carlin- The skeptical world lost one of its funniest and most adamant stars. Carlin fought for free speech (and even pissed off politically correct left-wingers in the process) during the course of his five-decade career. He will be missed.
The Catholic Church - We provide an overview on the good, the bad and the crazy aspects of the Roman Catholic Church. Purgatory. Limbo. Whatever.
Ben Stein - The frontman for the anti-science documentary Expelled opens his mouth and removes all doubt. He appeared on Trinity Broadcasting Network on April 21, 2008 and made some outrageous statements. [Link]
Meanwhile, we stumbled across The Mortal Storm, a 1940 movie starring Jimmy Stewart that addresses, among other things, just how (un)scientific the Nazi outlook was. [Link]
Expelled - We discuss Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, the new crock-umentary starring Ben Stein. For a thorough critique of Expelled, visit Expelled Exposed.
Creation Museum - We discuss a recent expedition to the Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky. You can read more about it in John Snider’s report titled “The Creation Museum Is Full of Sh!t”. We’ll also talk about “Everything You Always Wanted to Know about the Separation of Church and State but Were Afraid to Ask”, a recent event co-sponsored by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State and the Interfaith Alliance Foundation.
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In this episode we throw in a potpourri of items in the news or random events we think our subscribers will find interesting, plus we discuss some interesting listener feedback.