Warning Ads

For some time now, smokers have had to endure nasty warning ads such as this...

...to remind them of what they already know - smoking is bad.

This seems a bit unfair when the rest of the population can engage in dangerous activities without fear of being reminded of the obvious.

So, the Odyssey is seeking to redress the balance...

Please feel free to forward any further suggestions

Inter-tainment: The Onion

Fair Fines

I had a friend, whose boss lost his licence.

The boss made driving him around part of my friend's job description.

One day she got a fine, which she couldn't afford to pay, and she lost her licence.

Subsequently, she lost her job and the boss got another one of his employees to drive him around.

A one-hundred-dollar fine means poverty for one man and nothing to another...

It's a sad story and illustrates the unfairness of fines. Let's make every fine have two parts:
1. Community Service
2. A fine as a percentage of your previous year's income

That seems a lot more fair, don't you think?

Quote #001

I would be more apathetic if I wasn't so lethargic.

Religious Response

I recently posted a cartoon I found regarding science teachers wanting creationism taught in schools. Gary posted this comment:

"A very controversial issue.

I cannot agree. The two concepts: Creationism and Evolutionism have equally good arguments for our existence but, only creationism provides a reasonable, plausable, and complete picture.

Evolutionism falls abysmally short in explaining the origin of the "big bang". Something appearing out of nowhere?

Scientists need a reality check. By their very field, the notion of something appearing out of nowhere should cause them to shutter.

I posted a blog on the topic earlier.

I invite you to visit my site at garyross.ca.

Have a healthy and prosperous 2009.

Gary"

I've just got around to replying, sorry for the delay...

Hey Gary,

Welcome to the Odyssey and thanks for your comments.

Firstly, in this post I'm only offering a statistic with an amusing cartoon. It caught my eye from a website that I subscribe to called: counterknowledge.com

You can check out the article here.

So whether you agree or disagree is irrelevant to this post. You can question the statistic, but it's not a matter for opinion.

Secondly, there are two issues we are looking at here: one - the concepts of creationism and evolution and two – whether creationism should be taught in schools.

Personally, I don't have a problem with creationism being taught in schools. It becomes a problem when it is presented at a “scientific fact” rather than a “religious belief”. Outside of schools specializing in religious education, I don’t know where else this is done. Certainly not in a state run school, in any of the five countries that I’ve lived in.

There is a danger for students who are not taught evolutionary theory as part of their high school qualification. I’ve heard that they can't enrol in science courses at non-religious universities, as their education is lacking. Regardless of whether you believe in evolution or not, it’s still one of the dominant scientific paradigms of the twenty-first century.

Regarding the concepts of creationism and evolution: I’m neither a scientist nor a theologian. I also couldn’t possibly hope to change your opinion, but I can give you mine:

I don’t really see creationism and evolution being mutually exclusive. I feel it’s possible to believe in both at the same time. Could the line from the bible “let there be light” be an analogy for the big bang? Perhaps; but the point is: the two subjects are mutually exclusive – one belongs in science class and the other in religious education. They are two completely different schools of thought. It’s like trying to solve a calculus equation by playing basketball… it ain’t going to happen.

Some of the greatest scientific minds of history have been devout Christians, including:

Georges Lemaître, a Roman Catholic priest, who proposed the Big Bang theory.

Francis Collins, the director of the U.S. Human Genome Project.

You don’t have to be an atheist to be a scientist.

In regard to your comments: “only creationism provides a reasonable, plausable, and complete picture” - I don’t agree. I can’t see any reason in it nor plausibility. Certainly your supporting argument: “Something appearing out of nowhere?” is just as counterintuitive. God appearing out of nowhere is equally inexplicable as the big bang appearing out of nowhere.

It reminds me of that Family guy episode.

How the big bang, the universe and everything came into existence is a question that scientists are trying to answer, with projects like the Large Hadron Collider. Religion however, has no need to even address the question. It’s a matter of faith, which needs no proof.

That’s my personal opinion however and I support your right to have yours.

Thanks too for the comments from Timbo, I'll have a listen to that interview and get back to ya.

65% of Science teachers do not think it should be taught

New poll says 29% of science teachers believe creationism should be ‘taught’ in schools

Inter-tainment: rathergood.com