Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Happy 189th birthday, Gregor Mendel! 


GREGOR MENDEL: Google Doodle celebrates the father of genetics

Gre
gor Johann Mendel — who was born on this day in 1822 — is honored Wednesday with his own Google Doodle, which spells out the company's home-page logo in ...
peas, of course
 

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

NSTA Statement Regarding the Release of A Framework for K–12 Science Education by the National Research Council (NRC)

 

Arlington, Va.—July 19, 2011—The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) believes the Framework for K–12 Science Education, released today by the NRC, has the potential to bring about transformational changes in science education. The Framework for K–12 Science Education is the most significant and promising step forward in science education since the release of the National Science Education Standards (NSES) and Benchmarks for Science Literacy. The Framework builds on the strengths of these standards documents while refocusing the field on a vision to better engage students and build their understanding and appreciation for science and engineering over the K–12 years.

One significant aspect of the framework is the recommendation that new standards integrate three key dimensions: practices needed to engage in scientific inquiry and engineering design, content that includes a limited number of core ideas in four disciplinary areas, and cross-cutting concepts that bridge both the sciences and engineering.

Also noteworthy is the Framework’s inclusion of engineering which focuses on how science is utilized through the engineering design process, and the distinctions and relationships between engineering, technology and applications of science. The Framework also brings much needed attention to the practices of science, especially at the K–2 level, that will support science instruction through the interdisciplinary connection to language arts and math.

“This framework emphasizes the importance of engaging students more deeply in the process of doing science, not just learning content,” said NSTA Executive Director Dr. Francis Eberle. “NSTA applauds the NRC for its outstanding work on this document and for engaging the science education community during the development process. Much work lies ahead. We look forward to working with Achieve to translate the Framework into new science standards that can be supported by all states, and to involve science teachers in the development process.”

The Framework will serve as the basis for the development of Next Generation Science Standards, a state-led effort managed by Achieve, Inc.

About NSTA

 

The Arlington, VA-based National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), www.nsta.org, is the largest professional organization in the world promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all. NSTA’s current membership includes approximately 60,000 science teachers, science supervisors, administrators, scientists, business and industry representatives, and others involved in science education.

Contact

 

Kate Falk, NSTA
(703) 312-9211
kfalk@nsta.org

Monday, July 18, 2011

Salt Lake Tribute Attributes Firing of Utah Archaeologists to a Combination of Political Retribution and a Lack of Respect for the Past

The positions of state archaeologist Kevin Jones and assistants Derinna Kopp and Ronald Rood were eliminated, not only to save money, but to settle scores. The three had become an annoyance to some of the powerful people in the Legislature, governor’s office and the Utah Transit Authority, and they had opposed powerful real estate developers. http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/opinion/52175670-82/state-ancient-utah-archaeologists.html.csp

Saturday, July 02, 2011

New Evidence Suggests God Also Had Incredibly Busty Daughter


ARABAH VALLEY, ISRAEL—In a discovery that biblical scholars say could alter our most fundamental understanding of Christianity, recently unearthed manuscripts suggest that in addition to His Son, Jesus Christ, God also had a daughter with absolutely humongous breasts.
Scholars say Tammi of Nazareth may have been a major religious figure nearly two millennia before the bra was invented.

The documents, found in a cave near the Jordanian- Israeli border and estimated to have been composed circa A.D. 200, recount the life, teachings, and death of Jesus' well-endowed twin sister, Tammi of Nazareth. According to experts, the revelation points to a more dualistic conception of the divine, one with the male principle embodied in Jesus and the female principle represented by Tammi and her giant, heaving bazoingas.

"It's a monumental shift," said Boston College religion professor Paul Ferber, claiming that the newly discovered texts are more significant than the Gospel of Judas or the Dead Sea Scrolls. "Tammi has single-handedly undercut the male hegemony we've come to associate with the Christian faith, and added an important new dimension to the holy scripture."

"Also, the various sources are in clear agreement that Tammi had the most enormous jugs in all of Galilee," added Ferber, gesturing with his hands."Seriously. Like, out to here."

The existence of Tammi has caused scholars to reexamine the Trinity of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and replace it with a Quadrinity that includes the Daughter figure—though some, including Ferber, argue it should actually be reconstrued as "a five-way Quintinity, counting as two separate divine powers both of Tammi's bodacious watermelons."

According to the manuscripts, written in Greek on papyrus scrolls, Tammi led a ministry contemporaneously with her brother's. Although she promulgated similar ideas concerning faith, humility, and forgiveness, and appeared to possess the same miraculous powers, Tammi seems to have had more difficulty communicating her message. In one passage, for example, her disciples repeatedly coax her into washing their feet, apparently for a better vantage point from which to observe her "heavenly radiance." And while she, like Jesus, walks on water, the feat is described as almost disappointing to many onlookers, who had apparently hoped to see her run.

Professor Ned McCormick of Duke Divinity School said a complete understanding of Tammi's teachings will require decades of research, with particularly close scrutiny given to the dozens of detailed illustrations.

Explaining the difficulty of interpreting the texts, McCormick cited a passage that reads: "Saith Tammi, 'Consider ye this on the forgiveness of one's enemies: Let he who would slander you sup at your table, let he who would inflict…I saith unto thee: Look upon mine eyes, which dwell within mine head, and not upon mine bosom, wherein no wisdom dwells.' And then did Tammi snappeth her fingers together, saying, 'Seriously; I doth mean it. Up here.'"

"In all fairness to her disciples, it must have been impossible to concentrate with a couple of cannons like those in your face," McCormick said. "Especially in that desert heat, with nothing but a thin linen vestment between you and two of the most succulent milk-makers you've ever laid eyes on, beads of sweat slowly making their way down from her throat and running along the swells before descending into that perfect cleft between…oh my Lord."

The circumstances surrounding Tammi's death are unclear, but the texts seem to suggest that while she was not crucified, she did, like her brother, die in Judaea, rise from the dead, and ascend bodily into heaven in her early 30s, well before her breasts would have begun to sag.

While the documents make no direct mention of Tammi's participation in the Second Coming, Ferber said he would not be surprised if her followers held similar eschatological views and worshipped her as a kind of tandem messiah who would one day return to earth along with her brother, "her ginormous gazongas defying gravity as she descended bodily in glory from heaven" to establish the Kingdom of God.

"Maybe I'm just being hopeful," Ferber said, "but I'd sure love to see those holy ta-tas with my own eyes."