Teach the Controversy!

If you've been a regular reader of my blog, which I can almost guarantee you aren't (that hit counter is getting to be an embarrassment), you know that I have a disgust for religious fundamentalists, especially those that deny evolution. Recently I came across a web site selling t-shirts that mock the "teach the controversy" approach of crypto-creationists. Tip: there's no credible controversy about the concept, but the details are constantly being refined or expanded. Maybe Satan buried fake dinosaur bones to confuse believers, eh? Or maybe we should seriously discuss astrology in science classes.

Recently there was an e-mail exchange between a prominent hard-core religious fundamentalist and a evolutionary biologist which resulted in, to use the language of today's youth, epic pwnage. Maybe someone deserves a t-shirt...

A different controversy with a sadly similar intellectual basis is taking place out in Alberta, amongst other places, where the Catholic bishops are opposing the immunisation of young girls against cervical cancer. When you strip away the arm waving it boils down to wanting to control the morals and sexuality of women rather than protect them from a preventable and sometimes fatal disease. The bishops equate protection from STDs with encouragement of pre-marital sex. This position is deeply hypocritical, medically harmful, and smugly paternalistic in the worse way.

In happier news, I enjoyed watching the French Grand Prix almost live on Sunday. The main developments revolved around Kimi Raikkonen and Lewis Hamilton. Lewis started in 13th after a ten place penalty for his pit lane crash in the last race and never really made any progress forward as he drove too aggressively and had a number of minor contacts. He was also given a drive-through penalty for a failed passing attempt. Kimi on the other hand started at the front and stayed there until his exhaust pipe broke off and began flapping around. He lost power and had to let his team mate Filipe Massa by until enough of the engine cover had burned off (!) to allow the exhaust gases to escape. Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen had a good fight for third in the closing laps, but Jarno held him off.

Two spinning classes planned for today, gotta get those "kilometers" in! Tomorrow is a swim and then a modeling job for Home Depot.

Listening to: Big Me by Foo Fighters from Foo Fighters.