WHAT'S NEW Friday, May 20, 2005

WHAT'S NEW   Robert L. Park   Friday, 20 May 05   Washington, DC

1. MIRACLES?  I DON'T THINK SO.  NBC DATELINE IS NOT SO SURE. 
Dateline's investigative reporters traveled around the world
exploring claims of divine intervention, and Wednesday night they
shared their findings with us in a program called "Miracle."  It
was an hour program, but it seemed much longer.  I thought a trip
to the bathroom might help.  It took a few minutes after I got
back before I realized "Miracles" had ended.  Who could tell?  It
was now "Revelations" -- something about an astrophysicist and a
cute nun trying to prevent "the end of days."  Oh well, I didn't
miss anything important.  Dateline found that there are things
that no one has explained.  Amazing!  What have those scientists
been doing?  Viewers were in front of their TVs ready to learn
something, and there was something terribly important for them to
learn.  But they weren't told that not a single miracle has ever
been verified.  They were left to believe that the existence of
miracles is an open scientific question.  Has NBC no shame? 

2. LOS ALAMOS: BIDDING OPENS FOR MANAGEMENT OF THE LABORATORY. 
Competition is wide open amid concerns that a changing culture at
the Lab would threaten scientific and technical excellence.  The
new model seems to be a university/defense contractor team. 
Three teams are expected to bid:  The University of Texas teamed
with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman with an academic teammate
yet to be named, and the University of California, which managed
the Lab for 62 years by itself, now teamed with Bechtel Corp.  

3. EAST IS EAST AND WEST IS WEST, AND NEVER THE TWAIN SHALL MEET.
Several news accounts this week commented on an apparent rise in
the surface of "eastern Antarctica," due to increased snow and
ice accumulation, as predicted by climate models.  But which side
is "eastern" Antarctica?  Clearly, every side of Antarctica must
be "northern" Antarctica.

4. EVOLUTION: SO IS IT TRUE THAT CHARLES DARWIN WAS A DEMOCRAT? 
Dover, PA, school board candidates could run in both Republican
and Democratic primaries.  On Tuesday, seven incumbents who
support a policy requiring high school biology students to be
told about "intelligent design," won the Republican primary. 
Meanwhile, seven challengers, all of whom oppose mentioning
"intelligent design" in science class, won in the Democratic
primary.  The school board election will be held in November.  

5. KANSAS: IS "INTELLIGENT DESIGN" SCIENCE?  DEFINE "SCIENCE." 
The plan was to sell ID as science.  Nobody bought it.  So now
there's a move on the Kansas School Board to redefine "science"
as "a systematic method of continuing investigation."  Yes, I
know.  But it won't help anyway.  Courts have ruled that ID is 
religion.  So what Kansas needs is a new definition of religion. 
How about: "A way of explaining why it wasn't really your fault."

THE UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND.  
Opinions are the author's and not necessarily shared by the
University of Maryland, but they should be.
---
Archives of What's New can be found at http://www.bobpark.org
You are currently subscribed to whatsnew as: [email protected]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to [email protected]
To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to: <[email protected]>