Bill Nye The Science Guy incurs the wrath of Fundamentalists
 

Bill Nye, the harmless children's edu-tainer known as "The Science Guy," managed to offend a select group of adults in Waco when he suggested that the moon does not emit light.

As even most elementary-school graduates know, the moon reflects the light of the sun but produces no light of its own.

But don't tell that to the good people of Waco, who were "visibly angered by what some perceived as irreverence," according to the Waco Tribune.

Nye was in town to participate in McLennan Community College's Distinguished Lecture Series. He gave two lectures on such unfunny and adult topics as global warming, Mars exploration, and energy consumption.

But nothing got people as riled as when he brought up Genesis 1:16, which reads: "God made two great lights -- the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars."

The lesser light, he pointed out, is not a light at all, but only a reflector.

At this point, several people in the audience stormed out in fury. One woman yelled "We believe in God!" and left with three children, thus assuring that people across America would read about the incident and conclude that Waco is as nutty as they'd always suspected.
A shame because I am sure that there are plenty of people in Waco that know that the Moon is not a giant light-bulb.

Bill Nye is my hero.

Bill Nye is Hott.

"Wacko Texas"... it shall be renamed sayeth The Lord!

Bill Nye Is great! I used to have all my girls in Home School. We watched Nye as part of their Science Lessons. :)

bill nye is wonderful. fundies are idiots. fundamentalists are the same no matter what religion they are. the same guys that flew planes into the world trade center.

jesus, save me from your followers........

hmmmm...has signature potential...

*follows twentycentshift* http://forums.prowrestling.com/image...s/stalking.gif

I have a friend who has a t-shirt that says this.

it's an old saying....but so true.....

:)

checked out your dot com. really really nice photography.

everybody should go look at these pics. very beautiful stuff.

Thanks 20cent ;)

That is my view out my front window. I love this place. It is just now warming up and becoming Spring... can't wait, it is our 1st spring/summer living here.

The City Slogan is "City of Pure Water". It really is tastey! I am the type that refuses to drink water from a tap, but here, it is a treat. Folks come from all around to fill up containers of water for drinking. The water comes from springs fed from the snow on the mountain.
We are blessed to be living here.

Bill Nye! My teachers used to show his show to us in elementary school! He so rocks.

He's fun to watch and beneath that razzle dazzle, keep them entertained and tuned in, style, there is a very, very smart man.
There is plenty of highly educated scientists out there, but most of them can't explain much before putting me, at least, to sleep. When Bill Nye is on, I rage against the commercial breaks. :thumb:

holy crap....sounds like you live in near-heaven. good life you've got there. i trust you count your blessings. i've got it very nice too, but my view isn't that sweet......

Another one of the local slogans is : "Mt Shasta - Where Heaven Meets Earth"

I do count my blessings. It took 20 long years to be able to transfer here with the company for which I work. One does not land such a great location without much seniority. :)

Where abouts in Texas are you, if you do not mind my asking?

Anyone Else Find This Provocative?
 

From Ristocrats...

true spirituality
is not afraid of doubt

fundamentalists are afraid
it's their defining characteristic
a semi-conscious self-knowledge
is fuel for their fear

they are afraid of their doubts
so they deny them
retreat to the safety
of a sacred text

weak in their beliefs
so they insulate themselves
from contrary thought

weak in their beliefs, so they
embrace victimhood
as a shield and a bludgeon

seek to enshrine their rules in law
force them on others
punish dissent
before power slips away

certainty is their marketing tool
their willful delusion
but also
a prop that illustrates their weakness

'tis almost comical to watch them
so purposefully
miss the point

by a mile

*

doubt is to faith
as art is to life

It looks like truth.

Also explains justice and the American way. ;)

Mt. Shasta, California? Your cable company wouldn't happen to be Northland, would it?

I have Northland as my cable provider but i do not work for them. You near here?

now i believe in god but to be so blind and naive that they can't see what is in front of them is incredible. i don't see why science and religion can not co-exist. i am at the end of studying a science degree the more i learn and discover the more i am convinced that there must be a higher being then us because the more science tries to explain the less and less we truly know many situations things happen or work "just because it does"

My high school Physics teacher was like that. He was a very eccentric German with a pointy goatee - very out of place in a bad high school the deep south. A brilliant man who explained physics with incredible visual metaphors that became unforgettable and made it seem so simple and basic.

I understood Physics very well until my first college class when clarity gave way to obfuscation.

Absolutely. :thumb2:

No, but I provide cable internet tech support for their customers (we're the toll free number you call). Of course, that's only if you have cable internet service with Northland.

i'm in ft. worth, and i work just outside of dallas. i'm working on that seniority thing. i work for a television network, and i only have 6 years under my belt.

i admit, i know absolutely nothing about mt. shasta. looks like i've been missing out.

do you take those pix yourself? there's an artist's eye behind them. my wife is a painter, and i am a musician. the arts pretty much rule our brains. its a good thing.

The pics on my link are done by the local celebrity photographer Kevin Lahey.

It took me 25 years to get enough seniority to get here. Redding CA or Medford OR are near here and have their own tv stations :)

i saw that name, kevin lahey, when i was there. he's really a good photog.

i imagine that part of calif is gorgeous!!

It is very beautiful. Wwhen work calls for the need to rove I do not mind it at all. Beauty in all directions. :)

Definitions
 

I'd like to share three operative definitions -
Faith - basic tenants of your belief that govern your actions and interactions.
Religion - when you start insisting that others live by your faith.
Fanaticism - when you start killing people for not living by your beliefs.
The people in Waco haven't yet reached fanaticism and we pray they never will. As for science and faith coexisting, I don't have any problem. In fact, if you read Stephen Hawking's writing you find that he definitely believes in a supreme architect. It's only when people rely on ignorance and what other people tell them, instead of engaging in intelligent inquiry that we get incidents like Waco. But you already know that - I just thought you would find the definitions useful.

I believe in :fsm:!!! :::storms out of thread:::

What IS that?

The Flying Spaghetti Monster! May you be touched by his noodly appendage...

Help! I'm being proselytized!

Welcome to the Cellar, kwfinley. :D
I think you've got it pretty close on the definitions, but I'd say Waco was the result of attracting the attention of the government.

Welcome and thanks for the insight, KW.

The Branch Davidians would probably have never attracted the interest of the government if someone hadn't blabbed about the firearms.

I think the taxman may have been involved too, but your right. When you piss off all your neighbors, they bitch to the local authorities who immediately look for a way to pass the buck to a higher authority. Guns are a perfect way to get the feds attention, even better than drugs or child porn. Of course today, terrorism is top dog. :apistola:

Okay, I hate to be pedagogic, but the moon does emit light. Just like any object that's not at absolute zero temperature, it's a black body, and thus radiates according to the Stefan-Boltzmann law http://upload.wikimedia.org/math/6/5...f6b6228c24.png It does not emit visible light, but that's a detail. :rolleyes:

Incidentally, this implies that the earth and the moon are at roughly the same temperature (when averaged over the surface of the body). There are effects from greenhouse gases, albedo and self-heating, but solar radiation does dominate the equations. Neat!

I used to know a black body, but it was hot....radiating like crazy. :redface: