I think DeGrasse is making a basic point, and it is one that I have often made about religion, and it is basically correct. to one ignorant of science, all things look miraculous.

You say that as though religion has anything to do with God. What Tyson says is true if you equate any particular religion with God. But think of it this way. If you were a God about to create a universe, would you create one that you have to constantly tinker with to keep it going or would you create one that was self sustaining through specific rules or laws.

did I? I don't remember saying anything about God in my reply.
ergo, I am not following your reply at all.

Tyson referenced God so it's pretty hard to embrace his pints without referencing God as well.

that's fine, but also quite disruptive. I was attempting to reframe the argument without referencing God, and you dragged h(im) back into it.

one of the main reasons I don't like discussing things on boards is that certain folks won't allow anyone to append a point, and others welcome it. it makes for rather confusing discussions, imo.

which flavor are you?

which flavor are you?

The confused flavour. I'm not sure what your post means.

are you the type of poster that looks at the DeGrasse post and will not deviate one iota from your interpretation of it and what you want to discuss and what he said, or are you the type of poster that will accept that others might not have any interest in discussing DeGrasse and his interest in God?

I am when the person references the quote. I've got no problem with going off on tangents but the other person has got to be clear about what parts of the post they are adhering to and which they aren't. "Well, I didn't mean that part" after the fact doesn't cut it.

i meant exactly what I said.

my problem with your response is that it didn't consider mine, Jim.

only yours.

and that's cool. knowing that you are uninterested in what I say will inform my future posts.

And the dumbing down continues

Virginia moving to eliminate all accelerated math courses before 11th grade as part of equity-focused plan
State says framework includes 'differentiated instruction' catered to the needs of the child

The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is moving to eliminate all accelerated math options prior to 11th grade, effectively keeping higher-achieving students from advancing as they usually would in the school system.

Loudoun County school board member Ian Serotkin posted about the change via Facebook on Tuesday. According to Serotkin, he learned of the change the night prior during a briefing from staff on the Virginia Mathematics Pathway Initiative (VMPI).

"[A]s currently planned, this initiative will eliminate ALL math acceleration prior to 11th grade," he said. "That is not an exaggeration, nor does there appear to be any discretion in how local districts implement this. All 6th graders will take Foundational Concepts 6. All 7th graders will take Foundational Concepts 7. All 10th graders will take Essential Concepts 10. Only in 11th and 12th grade is there any opportunity for choice in higher math courses."

His post included a chart with what appeared to be set math courses for 2022-2030.

VDOE spokesperson Charles Pyle indicated to Fox News that the courses would allow for at least some variation depending on ...

https://www.foxnews.com/us/virginia-acc ... ses-equity

Since the idea in this story doesn't make sense and it comes from Fox news and one source, a single school board member wh simply says he was told about it, and Virginia is all Democrat I decided to see what the real story was. The right wing news media is full of it but there's not a word in any real media. I think I'll wait until something a little less partisan becomes known.

Translation: Lower standards so everyone looks better - especially we, the educators.

And the Department of Education

Miami school won't employ vaccinated people

A Miami private school has told teachers and employees not to get COVID-19 vaccines, citing false information and unsubstantiated anti-vaccination theories. The school said it is their policy not to employ anyone who has taken what it called the "experimental" COVID-19 injection.

MORE-----> https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/us/miami ... d=msedgntp

Good grief!!

I wonder how the little darlins' parents will react when their kids aren't allowed into various establishments, to get on airplanes, etc. Besides, how would the school know if students or staff had receive the vaccination. It's not like they tattoo a big "V" on your forehead.

Maybe I should start a new thread called "yes they really are that dumb"??

Texas Republican asks: can we fix the moon’s orbit to fight climate change?
‘I’d have to follow up with you on that one,’ says forestry official Jennifer Eberlien to bizarre question from Louie Gohmert

The Texas Republican congressman Louie Gohmert has asked a senior US government official if changing the moon’s orbit around the Earth, or the Earth’s orbit around the sun, might be a solution for climate change.

Bizarrely, the question was not posed to anyone from Nasa or even the Pentagon. Instead it was asked of a senior forestry service official during a House natural resources committee hearing on Tuesday.

Speaking with Jennifer Eberlien, associate deputy chief of the US Forest Service, Gohmert asked if it was possible to alter the orbits of the moon, or the Earth, as a way of combating climate change.

“I understand from what’s been testified to the Forest Service and the BLM [Bureau of Land Management], you want very much to work on the issue of climate change,” Gohmert said, adding that a past director of Nasa had once told him that orbits of the moon and the Earth were indeed changing.

“We know there’s been significant solar flare activity, and so … is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM can do to change the course of the moon’s orbit, or the Earth’s orbit around the sun?” Gohmert asked. “Obviously that would have profound effects on our climate.”

Eberlien said she would have to “follow up with you on that one, Mr Gohmert.”

“Well, if you figure out a way that you in the Forest Service can make that change, I’d like to know,” Gohmert added.

Though he seemed to be entirely earnest, some observers have posited that Gohmert was seeking to express a belief that climate change was a phenomenon of natural changes in the orbits of celestial bodies, and so any other efforts to address it would be futile.

Gohmert’s question comes three years after a congressional science, space and technology committee hearing, focused on how technology could be deployed for climate change adaptation, heard from the Alabama Republican Mo Brooks on the subject of sea-level rise.

Brooks posited a theory that erosion from land plays a significant role in sea-level rise, including silt from the world’s major rivers, and rocks along the California coastline and the White Cliffs of Dover falling into the sea.

“Every time you have that soil or rock or whatever it is that is deposited into the seas, that forces the sea levels to rise, because now you have less space in those oceans, because the bottom is moving up,” Brooks said.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... ate-change

Only in the U.S., you say! Pity!

(You have to be Canadian to understand the reference.)

That is terrible (but I'm still laughing)

The secret corporate memo behind today's guerrilla war on campus progressives
The memo was called "Attack on the American Enterprise System" — a missive full of socialist fear mongering
By NANCY MACLEAN - LISA GRAVES

As college students return to classes this fall, the latest culture war campaigns will join the pandemic in upsetting campus life. If recent experience is any guide, their proximate cause will be well-funded right-wing groups that thrive on provoking and publicizing conflicts: "Campus Reform" (part of the Leadership Institute), Turning Point USA, and more.

When the University of North Carolina tried to hire a distinguished journalist, for example, Turning Point USA's Charlie Kirk had this to say: "Nikole Hannah-Jones is a racist and a liar." He urged allies to "find the names of the biggest donors at your school and email them"—and monitor faculty with his ProfessorWatchlist.org. Campus Reform obtained the offer letter sent to Hannah-Jones and Fox News cranked up its outrage machine. We know the rest of the story.

Such groups have actively targeted professors who teach about structural racism in American history. The latest buzzword is "CRT," critical race theory, which they claim is dividing students at all educational levels, even though CRT is mainly a law school elective.

Such clashes have multiple sources, but the least understood one is how they serve a long-term strategy to disrupt and transform higher education so it better serves corporate interests.

The initial mission statement was a confidential memorandum issued 50 years ago this week, on August 23, 1971, by a tobacco lawyer named Lewis Powell, Jr., at the behest of his neighbor Eugene Sydnor, a leader in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Powell's memo, which was shared with numerous CEOs, only became public after it was leaked to a reporter.

The memo carried the foreboding title "Attack on the American Enterprise System." It was filled with socialist fear mongering akin to the political rhetoric of 2020. Powell alleged "a wide-ranging attack from many in the media, in politics, and on the campus." His proposed corporate counterattack put higher education in the crosshairs. Powell recommended that ...

https://www.salon.com/2021/08/26/the-se ... s_partner/

How Educational Differences Are Widening America’s Political Rift
College graduates are now a firmly Democratic bloc, and they are shaping the party’s future. Those without degrees, by contrast, have flocked to Republicans.
By Nate Cohn

The front lines of America’s cultural clashes have shifted in recent years. A vigorous wave of progressive activism has helped push the country’s culture to the left, inspiring a conservative backlash against everything from “critical race theory” to the supposed cancellation of Dr. Seuss.

These skirmishes may be different in substance from those that preceded them, but in the broadest sense they are only the latest manifestation of a half-century trend: the realignment of American politics along cultural and educational lines, and away from the class and income divisions that defined the two parties for much of the 20th century.

As they’ve grown in numbers, college graduates have instilled increasingly liberal cultural norms while gaining the power to nudge the Democratic Party to the left. Partly as a result, large portions of the party’s traditional working-class base have defected to the Republicans.

Over the longer run, some Republicans even fantasize that the rise of educational polarization might begin to erode the Democratic advantage among voters of color without a college degree. Perhaps a similar phenomenon may help explain how ...

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/08/us/p ... -vote.html

So the Dems will be the elite and the Repubs the elitists?

Oh lord... It's too hard to divide those Roman Numerals...