Yesterday I was crabby. Kind of today too, but mostly yesterday. I had to figure out why I was so crabby. Went through the checklist…
If I yell at the dogs and have the urge to throw something at David’s head then that’s pms…nope, not pms
If I have the urge to punch things or tip over heavy objects then that’s just me being crazy…nope, not the crazies
If I find myself spending hours researching a topic and then going to read debates on the topic and then start screaming at the computer and questioning the notion that we humans are somehow ‘smart’ then that means I’ve been reading the news and absorbing some science related controversy…oh yes! there it is! There’s the black marble of anger in my gut!
First off, there’s this dude, Ray Comfort. Now, as a rule, I’m a firm believer that you can be as nutty as you want and you can believe in whatever floats your boat (density of the object divided by the density of the fluid). That’s cool, you go believe in whatever. So, normally a guy like Ray Comfort would just get a sad sad head shake and maybe a laugh from me. Lots of people choose to ignore science, lots of people will even create a false premise and then argue from that premise. Everybody loves a clown (actually, not really, clowns are pretty messed up). So why am I so irritated with this guy? Because he is a very vocal part of the tard army that wants ‘intelligent design’ taught in schools instead of evolution.
The whole ‘intelligent design’ thing boggles my mind. I am often left speechless when I read their arguments. You cannot just MAKE SOMETHING UP, throw a few poorly reasoned arguments out there and call it science. This is the thing that you cannot do! Of the things that can be done, this is NOT ON THE LIST.
Let’s talk about the scientific method, you know, the very very very basic scientific method. You learned about this in high school, probably pretty early on, it’s really very basic. Ready?

1. Figure out what the question is
2. Gather up some info about the subject of the question
3. Form a hypothesis about what you think the answer might be
4. Perform some tests and write down what happens
5. Take some time to analyze the results
6. Draw some conclusions and form a new, better informed hypothese
7. Go back to number 4 and repeat the steps, testing, analyzing, drawing conclusions, new hypothesis, repeat
8. Once you’ve worked and worked and worked (and worked some more) and you have enough solid evidence to back up your hypothesis then you can publish it.
9. Independent concerns will retest the work you’ve done to see if you did it right, to see if they get the same results, to see if different results can be found.

As you can see, a HUGE part of the scientific method gathering data and testing the data. A huge NOT A PART of the scientific method is just making shit up, forming false premises, or claiming that it is completely untestable.
A hypothesis based on untestable ideas or data is called a philosophy. Even most quantum physicists, those people who dabble so close to the untestable, readily admit that until they can find methods to test and evaluate their hypotheses they are playing in the realm of philosophy.
Like I said, I don’t care what you believe, but if the basis for your hypothesis is ‘God’ then you are not dealing with science but philosophy regardless of the subject matter. And I see no reason to replace science curricula with philosophy.
But he wasn’t the only thing that made me crabby yesterday…
Yesterday the president reversed the limitations on federally funded stem cell research. This did not make me crabby. This filled me with much hope and joy. Mmmmmm scientific integrity never felt so good.
But I was made crabby. Of course I was.
People please, do some real research before getting all pissed of…and while you are researching, please keep in mind that propaganda is not informative.
There is no connection whatsoever in any way at all ever and ever and ever with abortion and stem cell research. Doctors will not suddenly start harvesting 39 week fetuses in the name of science. Women will not suddenly be used as breeding chambers so that the evil scientists can get their hands on said fetuses. Somatic stem cells, the ones found in fetuses are not as useful or plentiful, and cannot be effectively grown ex vivo. Embryonic stem cells are pluripotent, they can be anything (you know within reason) the other stem cells, not so much.
Where are we going to get all these embryonic stem cells? Are we just going to have hordes of visigoth like doctors slaughtering embryos!? No. Instead of destroying the excess embryos created for in vitro fertilization and instead of becoming the crazy octomom these embryos will be donated. These embryos have not yet formed the primitive streak, the generally agreed upon signifier of unique life. These are embryos that were going to be destroyed anyway and they do not represent life.
So lets not go around making up ideas and calling it science and halting a line of research that has so much potential to help.
deep soothing breath. deep.
but today!
Today I took my sister to the doctor and got to listen to her try to talk while high on pain meds. “Hey! April! Why don’t you try to schedule an appointment with the confused lady at the desk at the clinic!” Damn that was fun to watch.
I also got a metric buttload of sweaters from Savers. These sweaters are now in the dryer finishing their felting process and soon will be turned into headbands or other kinds of headbands or other kinds of headbands or purses with Lady Cthulhu on them or…well a lot of the stuff you see here as well as a lot of other things I keep forgeting to photograph!
Many of these items can be found at my Etsy shop and if you want something but don’t see it, let me know. I do all kinds of custom things that never even make it to the shop.
less crabby, more pisgetti!