Let me humbly suggest that CNN puchase a copy of my book The Design Inference (Cambridge University Press, 1998) to determine whether its explanation for the “X” that flashed over the VPs face during his speech holds up. In particular, what are the odds that this program glitch just happened to kick in right as the VP spoke, no sooner or later, with the “X” marking his face having the appropriate size and thickness and occupying just the right position? See http://www.drudgereport.com/flash5cnc.htm.

Here’s the home page of the professor offering this course: http://members.aol.com/pmirecki/pmcv.htm

U. of Kansas Offers Creationism Study
Tuesday, November 22, 2005

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,176354,00.html

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Creationism and intelligent design are going to be studied at the University of Kansas, but not in the way advocated by opponents of the theory of evolution. Read More ›

The power of evolution to bring about remarkable biological designs never ceases to amaze me. Scratch that. The power of evolution to delude its followers into thinking it can bring about remarkable biological designs never ceases to amaze me. That’s better.

Butterfly’s Navigation Secret Revealed in Flight Simulator
By LiveScience Staff
http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/050504_butterfly_navigation.html

The monarch butterfly is known to use the angle of sunlight as a navigational guide on its annual fall migration from across North America to Mexico. But how it processes the information has been a mystery.

Now scientists have used a flight simulator and peeked inside the butterfly brain to learn that their light-detecting sensors are hard-wired to their circadian clocks, allowing the creatures to compensate for the time of day. Read More ›

The Darwin exhibition frightening off corporate sponsors By Nicholas Wapshott in New York (Filed: 20/11/2005) An exhibition celebrating the life of Charles Darwin has failed to find a corporate sponsor because American companies are anxious not to take sides in the heated debate between scientists and fundamentalist Christians over the theory of evolution. The entire $3 million (£1.7 million) cost of Darwin, which opened at the American Museum of Natural History in New York yesterday, is instead being borne by wealthy individuals and private charitable donations. MORE

The battle of Intelligent Design vs. evolution is popularly cast as Christianity vs. science, religion vs. Enlightenment. At the nation’s largest Baptist university, the battle is Christian vs. Christian, and all the bloodier. . . . MORE

Paul Myers, the Foghorn Leghorn of evolutionary thinkers, offered the following memorable quote a few months back. I preserve it here for the record books. Let the humiliation of ID proponents continue and intensify.

Mark Psiaki comments at length on Cornell University President Hunter Rawlings’s state of the university address criticizing ID: http://www.rso.cornell.edu/idea/rawlings_speech_w_mlp_comments.pdf. For earlier postings on Hunter Rawlings’s address, search under “Rawlings” on this blog.

From: “Biosciences” [biosciences @mail.medicine.uiowa.edu]
To: [select U of Iowa faculty — ID proponents were bypassed]

Dear colleagues:

The issue of “Intelligent Design” has received a great deal of attention in recent months. Local interest in this issue spawned a recent panel discussion “Intelligent Design: in your classroom?” sponsored by the student group, U of I Freethinkers. The substantial attendance and lively discussion at this event indicates a strong interest by the University of Iowa community in this important topic. Read More ›

Here are two short articles from the Iowa State Daily. One was from just before the forum and the other just after. http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/2005/10/19/News/U.Of-I.Joins.Regent.Institutions.In.Intelligent.Design.Discussion-1106604.shtml http://www.iowastatedaily.com/news/2005/10/21/News/Iowa-Continues.Intelligent.Design.Discussion-1106703.shtml

From a colleague: A common criticism of ID is that the design inference ONLY works when you know something about the potential designer. Since we know nothing about the potential designer for ID, it’s theory is useless and unproveable. But then I stumbled upon the Golden Record (http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/goldenrec.html) and realized this is ID in reverse. We are the unknown designer sending our design out into the universe to be detected. Science thinks it won’t get mistaken for a ‘natural object’ so we must conclude that the recipients don’t need to know anything about humans in order to conclude it was designed. Tell me how the “aliens” can know this Golden Record is not the product of unintelligent processes (nature) and Read More ›

In another article (http://www.physorg.com/news8333.html), one reads: “It’s amazing that butterflies have evolved such sophisticated design features which can so exquisitely manipulate light and colour. Nature’s design and engineering is truly inspirational.”

Butterfly wings work like LEDs
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4443854.stm

When scientists developed an efficient device for emitting light, they hadn’t realised butterflies have been using the same method for 30 million years. Read More ›

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051120/sc_nm/religion_evolution_cardinal_dc

. . . Intelligent design disrespects faith, discounts faith, destroys faith. . . http://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/columnists/sives/stories/MYSA112005.3H.ives.1a957b69.html

The Rev. George Coyne, the Jesuit director of the Vatican Observatory, said placing intelligent design theory alongside that of evolution in school programs was “wrong” and was akin to mixing apples with oranges. http://www.breitbart.com/news/2005/11/18/D8DV0FEO0.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/17/AR2005111701304.html