Science v. Religion--Continued

Check out this cartoon by Pat Bagley. Sometimes you just gotta love the satirist.

Science vs. Religion

I was reading the online version of the Salt Lake Tribune and came across this article which does a great job of summarizing the current religion vs. science debate. Take it for a quick read.

The following is a quote that I feel best captures the point of the article and the need for SB96 to be defeated.

We need a well-educated workforce to allow us to compete in the world's science and technology-based economy of the future.

We can't afford to discourage or confuse our children. Science classrooms are where we cultivate the mindset of discovery that benefits millions of people worldwide and where we train the workers of tomorrow. The challenge is not to bring religion into those classrooms, but to teach science better than ever, with new imagination and energy.

After reading this article I stumbled upon a wonderfull letter to the editor, which I reproduce below. At first I believed it to be just another sad argument against the teaching of evolution, but quickly realized the sarcastic edge. All I can say is bravo.

Evolution fails here

There can be no doubt that evolution is not only just a theory, but a discredited one as well. We can offer our own Utah Legislature, led by Sen. Chris Buttars, as undeniable proof that man does not, and has not, evolved over time. In addition, at every election, we can point to the return of these wise and learned statesmen to office as further evidence that the concept of survival of the fittest is a fallacy in our beloved state.

(I chose not to print the name)

Then today I read this in the Utah county newspaper, the Daily Herald. The article appears to be an AP publication of an article originally printed in the Salt Lake Tribune though I couldn't find the original article there (didn't look too hard). Needless to say I am not overly surprised with the quote:

They are split on evolution as well, with 60 percent of Mormons supporting a Legislative proposal that would require public schools to teach that evolution is a theory on which scientists disagree, and 40 percent of non-Mormons supporting it.

But the thing that strikes me the most humorous is the following:

They are less divided on banning smoking in bars. Among Mormons, 41 percent support a ban on smoking in private clubs. Among non-Mormons, 27 percent do.

I find this humorous as there is no official LDS church statement on evolution, but there is very strong doctrinal stance by the LDS church against smoking. The contrast I find humorous.

//Fixed formatting errors. Added link to SB96 Jan 30, 2006 @9:03pm

Glory Road

Title: Glory Road (2006)

Rating: 7/10

Today the wife and I took some time to ourselves and went out to eat and to see the movie Glory Road. The choice of the movie was made as a result of having free tickets, and also wanting to see it.

Overall the movie was pretty good, but not as good as a movie similar in nature--Remember the Titans. I say it was similar in that both movies address the struggles of African-American teams in overcoming social and racial stereotypes. So in that way they were similar, but I don't believe that they are the same caliber from movie making and cinematic perspectives.

Glory Road has some dull parts, most often when they sought to build the off-the-court lives of the characters in the movie. This was most likely to show that they were looked down at in every aspect of their lives, but needless to say it just caused the movie to drag at times.

The import of this move speaks volumes and has been written about on numerous ocassions at ESPN. Many people credit the real life story of this basketball team of opening up college basketball, particularly in the south and back east, to black ball players. So for that alone I believe the movie should be seen.

Would I see it again in theatres--not likely. Would I want to buy it--eventually. It was a good movie, but it is the real life story that it was based upon that makes this movie important.

First Day Teaching

Well today was my first day teaching. For the past week I have been observing my host teacher and reading over the chapters scheduled to be taught while I am in his class. The lesson was on meiosis.

The topic of my lesson was meiosis--the process of sperm and egg formation. It is actually a rather interesting and fun topic. The second period (first period is a prep period) things went pretty well, got through the lesson in pretty good order. I made some general mistakes, which I will fix before teaching the second period, but all-in-all not a bad start. My host teacher was also pretty happy with it as well.

The third period went really well. Made the slight modifications to the lesson that I found were needed in second period, and things went much better. More fluidity to the lesson, and most importantly more clarity. After this period we broke from lunch.

After lunch was the last period of the day. This may sound odd to some of you but Alpine School District has their high schools on the block schedule. Each student takes 8 classes a term, with 4 classes meeting every other day. Took a little getting used to, but all in all I like it.

Needless to say it appears that I felt a little too confident with how things were going and I deviated slightly from how I taught it in third period, and all hell broke loose. The structure of the lesson fell apart and there was much confusion. I got it back on track, but not without more effort and time that the other class didn't need.

Overall it was a good experience. My host teacher was extremely pleased with how things went. Even went so far as to say that was the best first day any of his previous student teachers had. I apparently avoided the novice mistake of over-teaching, or teaching myself into a corner. Good to hear. Hopefully tomorrow will go smoother.

Evolution Continued

Well today we discussed evolution...err...the creation in church. It started out relatively good. Nice discussion on the who and the why's of the creation and the purpose of the creation. Then the wheels fell off, at least for me, when the teacher (not a class member) suddenly shifted the discussion into science and religion, more particularly evolution and creation.

Being that I have some rather non-mainstream-Mormon thoughts on the creation, well really how evolution fits the bill as the mechanism used to create life, I decided to keep my mouth shut and just listen to the discussion. There were several times throughout the discussion, however, where I really, really, really wanted to say something, but refrained.

The first such situation came with the first comment from the class. Being that it came from a more stately (read older) lady of the ward, I can understand the errors as she may not have been up to date on the topic, and maybe even only read or listened to media that glosses over the defeats of the attempts, but she was certain that we would be seeing religion entering into the discussion of evolution in the classroom as it is beginning to be pushed for. I can only assume that she is referring to "Intelligent Design" which has been roundly defeated in the courts as a religious belief and not science, and therefore unconstitutional to be taught in state sponsored schools (and rightly so).

The second situation was when a man (rather well read and educated one) stated that he regularly studies this issue and is intrigued by it, particularly when you start delving into the more hidden aspects of it--the suppressed information. I had to double take on that one--a conspiracy about evolution...wow. I stifled a laugh. It was at this point that I realized keeping my mouth shut was the proper thing as it did not appear that the class would at all be willing to listen to a statement supporting evolution as the mechanism of creation.

The third statement came from another sister after she explained the need to parents to be involved in our children's learning and schooling and to understand what is being taught so that we, as parents, can counter erroneous and worldly teachings (which I agree with when it comes to morality and other core church teachings). She continued to explain that the Earth was formed from unorganized matter (okay with her on this), and that we believe there are multiple worlds out there (also in agreeance). She then went on to discuss how she explains the fossil records and the scientific data about dinosaurs and the fossil records by stating that many of these other planets surely must have dinosaurs living on them and it was from one of these planets, that exploded at some point, that the unorganized matter was obtained to form this Earth--again, I stifled a laugh. Not because the idea was loony, but because when I first studied evolution I tried to think of things along those same lines but quickly ruled it out as illogical in thought. So to now hear it spoken out loud in church just made it sound all the more absurd.

The fourth was the most irritating to me because of where the brother pulled the information from to make the argument. One of the brethren began by stating that the LDS community has three records of the creation: Genesis, Book of Moses, and the temple. He continued by stating that the temple depiction is the most accurate and that when God "placed" the animals on the earth and commanded them to multiply in their respective sphere, he did not say that he "modified their DNA" but "placed" them on the earth, thus implying that evolution is not possible, at all. The reason why it was the most irritating was because the temple is full of symbolism, and is intended to be reserved for those members of the LDS church who are worthy to enter. To pull it into such a common, non-intimate setting just struck me as wrong, particularly when not everyone in the room is able to attend the temple.

Needless to say I left Sunday school laughing to myself and more than frustrated with the lesson. Here was a time set aside to discuss the creation and its purpose in the plan of salvation, but instead the teacher turned it into an anti-science discussion. Take a look for yourself at the Gospel Doctrine lesson manual or study guide. Nowhere does it say to discuss evolution or the scientific theories of evolution, or the origins of life.

I was going to discuss my beliefs on the theory of evolution and religion, but this post is already getting long and has taken me a couple days to write already. So I will conclude by saying that I find it humorous to see how people will construct these fabulously intricate and illogical thought processes and beliefs to protect their religious beliefs when no such construction or protection is needed.

//fixed spelling and grammatical errors. Jan 27, 2006, 19:12

Week One of Student Teaching
Well the first week has come and gone, and for all intents and purposes it was rather uneventful. It is rather funny that I was a little nervous to be going into these classes since they are the same classes I monitored an exam for and caught a couple people cheating. I was a little nervous because of that and how well I would be accepted. Fortunately I am beginning my student teaching at the beginning of a new semester, and those I was nervous to be teaching have transfered out of the classes.

This entire week I have been monitoring and observing how the regular teacher teaches, and handles the class. Perhaps I am being a little arrogant, but it doesn't appear to be all that difficult. But like I said I haven't really taught anything--only watched. So it will be interesting to see what happens when I actually teach my first lesson next week. Perhaps it will be as easy as I think, perhaps I am merely full of myself and will crash and burn. Will let you know.

Evolution Just a Theory?
Read this today in the Salt Lake Tribune as well as this in the Deseret News. Apparently Chris Buttars is at it again. His Senate bill (SB96), that just cleared the "Senate Education Standing Committee" seeks to add the following to the state science curriculum.

A requirement that teachers tell students evolution is only a theory, about which scientists disagree.

 --sltrib.com

In reading the bill (see above link) it does not appear to require that teachers state that evolution is only a theory. The legislation seeks to establish the following:

This bill: ...requires the State Board of Education to establish curriculum requirements and policies that: stress that not all scientists agree on which theory regarding the origins of life, or the origins or present state of the human race, is correct; and do not endorse a particular theory regarding the origins of life or the origins or present state of the human race....

According to the Deseret News article Buttars says the following about his bill:

"There is no faith-based in here. They're all inferring that. I don't know why they're doing that," Buttars said. "All the bill says is, don't overstate what you don't know."

My favorite quote appears in this article in the Salt Lake Tribune.

"There is evolution within species," Buttars said. "There are big dogs and little dogs, big cats and little cats, but you haven't seen a 'dat.' You don't see intermediate species."

I am absolutely amazed that people are making such a big issue concerning the teaching of evolution. It doesn't make sense to me. How does evolution disprove the existence of God? How does it supposedly cheapen man as his ultimate creation? Why can't evolution be the device God used to create this world and all the diversity, including humans, that are found upon the face of the Earth? It simply does not make sense to me. Why does it matter what scientist believe?

Running Wire
For the past couple days I have been helping a contractor friend of mine wire one of the houses he is building. It is a pretty fun experience. I really don't know why I enjoy it as much as I do. Perhaps it is simply the solitude of the experience, or possibly the sarcastic banter that this friend and I enjoy when we cross paths. Not sure.

Martin Luther King, Jr.
This morning as I was perusing my normal news haunts, an article on Dr. King caught my attention. The article discusses a new book written by Historian Taylor Branch's title "At Canaan's Edge". The following is a quote from the article concerning the contents of the book:

In the book, the third in Branch's series detailing King's life and the civil rights movement, the author writes of a longstanding affair King allegedly revealed to Coretta Scott King the year before his 1968 assassination.

Branch, who has not been available for interviews, also writes of heated arguments King had with some of his closest colleagues, including Jackson, whom he accused of trying to use the civil rights movement to promote himself.

Rumors of Dr. King having an affair(s) are not new. I have heard them for several years. In my mind, however, they do not take away from his message nor his stature as a man seeking to end racism and segregation. They merely highlight that he was indeed a man prone to the same mistakes, and temptations as many others. The work he did 30+ years ago was important for this country and, IMHO, cannot be diminished by time nor by these rumors (or even fact).

The issue concerning Rev. Jesse Jackson, well, enough said.

//fixed gramatical and formatting errors. Jan 17, 2006 16:01//

The Clock is Ticking
24 is for all intents and purposes my favorite show. Tonight a new "day" started with two hours being shown--tomorrow another two hours will be showed. To say that I am happy that a new day will be shown complete with Jack Bauer is probably an understatement. After the last day ended, with the faked death of Jack Bauer, I was a little disappointed that it apparently signaled the end of a novel concept of a television series.

While up at the parents for dinner I was able to catch the first hour of the day, and without saying I am more excited for this season than I was for any of the previous four. Unfortunately I had to leave the folks prior to being able to watch the second hour. What makes it worse is that it is unavailable on iTunes for purchase. So I will have to search my friends and various other locations for the second hour.

Now before anyone tells me that it is unrealistic and that there is no way that all this could happen in a day, all I can say is relax, kick back, and enjoy. That is the fun of 24--the suspension of reality. The emphasis on Apple computers, in previous seasons, wasn't too bad either (this season they appear to be using Dells or some other generic PC systems).

Finally Received my Student Teaching Assignment
Well I finally received my assignment. I will be doing my student teaching at Pleasant Grove High School with Bob Day. I have substituted for him on a previous ocassion, and he is also a neighbor so I think this will be a great opportunity.

Heather's Sick
Heather has been under the weather for the past couple days, which has resulted in not much sleep for Jen or me. Sunday night she got up multiple times from 2-5 am, at one point every 20 minutes. Finally tried to get her to sleep some by bringing her into our bed, which didn't work (never has). She tossed and turned for a couple hours, until we put her back in her bed, whereupon she slept the rest of the night.

Last night the same thing happened, but this time it started around midnight. Rather then getting up every 20 minutes or so with her, we brought her in to bed straight away. She nearly jumped out of Jen's arms and crawled over and snuggled up to me (made me happy, almost a little prideful). She fell quickly to sleep and slept the entire night. The only problem was that any time I rolled to my side, she (through gravity) rolled to meet me. At the end of the night I was relegated to the rightside of the bed. Now by rightside I am not talking about the right half, nor the right quarter of a king sized bed. I am talking about no more then the furthest one foot of the right side of the bed. In some ways I am sure Jen is glad that I have such a gravitational pull on our kids when they happen into our bed for the night--her half remains hers.

The Next Jimi

Okay maybe not the next Jimi, but Ky is getting pretty good at the guitar. Right now I am sitting in the recital hall of The Music School here in American Fork. It is kind of funny, in a way, as he likes it fast and loud. Fortunately he only has an acoustic guitar. The day he gets an amp and an electric, look out the walls may start coming down.

You Can Pick Your Friends, but You Can't Pick Your Friend's Noses!

As I mentioned in a previous post I have been fortunate to have a close, good set of friends my entire life. From the time I moved into my childhood home I have been friends with:

• Scott
• Dallon
• Carr
• Kyle

Those are the four friends that I have had the longest. Not the only friends, but the ones forming my earliest memories and with whom I am still close. There were others from way back when (Ike, Robert, Tom, Becky) but I don't know where they are or what they are up to.

Between second and third grade we added Nate to the mix. I remember the first time playing with Nate was flying kites at Morningside--Nate, Ryan and I. It was Ryan's mom's idea to bring the new kid along. Man he had white hair--still does. I went through pair of socks after pair of socks playing in Nate's unfinished basement. My mom almost seemed to beg me to play in my barefeet--never did.

Richard moved in in the middle of the third grade. Once again he was quickly part of the group. It was a natural fit since we were all in the same ward--Holladay 19th. The thing I remember most about meeting him was that golden hair. Never seemed to play with him much,however, as he always seemed to be swimming. My fondest recollection of Richard happened before he even moved in, so it is more a memory of the house he lived in--you guys know what I am talking about.

We were a motley crew growing up. Always seemed to find something to do. We were a tight group of friends. Did a lot together. Then Junior High hit. I probably wouldn't have been so bad were it not for them splitting our ward in two. Those going to Churchill were in one ward, those going to Wasatch in the other (for the most part). I remember sitting on Ferris's lawn after church dejected and downtrodden over the news. We were all pretty mad at it all.

For three years, there was little contact between the two halves. We got back together, so to speak, when we all ended up at Skyline, but it wasn't completely the same. We were together, but parts of us were in different social constructs, and thus our interaction was limited. Most of us hung out together. But like I said...different social groups. Once we graduated, we all kind of scattered, but we still had links.

The mom network did a good job of keeping us informed about what was going on in each others lives, as well all tried to establish ourselves. We all went on missions, we all married in an LDS temple, and we all now have kids. We try to get together every summer and at Christmas, and for the most part everyone makes it. Nate has missed out on the last several, but here's hoping he makes it to the next. Dallon lives in Northern (cold) Wyoming; Kyle, California; Ryan, Rich and Nate, Salt Lake; Scott and I, Utah County. All are doing well, all seem happy.

In looking back on my childhood, there were some rough patches. Difficulties that didn't need to be there. But on the whole, they were good times--times I wouldn't trade for the world. So wherever you are gents, raise a glass of your favorite rootbeer (Barq's isn't rootbeer) and toast one to the memories. They made us who we are. Thanks.

A Little About Me

The answer to who I am is probably left to people who know me, and then depending upon whom you ask, the answer will vary. So needless to say, I am me.

I am a normal looking bloke. Not much to say beyond that. I have a full head of hair, mostly blondish-brown with some recent white/grey strands intermixed. As of this writing I have been married 10½ years, have 4 kids, and live in Alpine Utah.

I was born to Bob and Maryanne, and am the third of four sons. Yes, you read that correctly four sons, no daughters. My mom had a magnet on the fridge that sums up many peoples' reaction to this: "There is a special place in heaven for the mother of four boys." In our case that may indeed be true.

I grew up in Salt Lake City and lived in the same house from the time I was 3 or 4 until I married. I was fortunate to have some very close friends who remain close friends to this day, some 30+ years later. I went to Morningside elementary, then Churchill Jr., quickly followed by Wasatch Jr. (yep the one that burned down), and graduated from Skyline High (frankly I could care less about the football team, so don't ask). I went to BYU for one year prior to my LDS church mission in Geneva, Switzerland. I later returned to BYU, got married to Jennifer, had my first son, then graduated with a degree in Zoology.

Shortly before I graduated I began working for iServer, which was subsequently bought by Verio, which in turn was bought by NTT. 7½ years after starting with iServer I was laid-off ;-) and am know pursuing my teaching certification. Along the way I had two more sons and a daughter.

That is me in a nutshell.

What does "Yatyk's Musings" mean?

Quickly put, yatyk is me. I am yatyk, or at least yatyk is my AIM nic. At the time I had to chose an AIM handle I only had two kids (Ky and Taylor). Thus my AIM handle is a combination of their two names (Ky, Tay) reversed.

I chose 'musings' because it sounded better than anything else I could think of; however, after looking it up in the dictionary to truly understand what it means, the origin of the word is probably more apt than the current definition:

Origin Middle English: from Old French Muser 'meditate, waste time'.

So this blog of mine may offer me a space to meditate on who I am and the life I lead, or may simply be a waste of time. I guess that is completely in my hands.

Why I do this?
Good question--wish I knew. Maybe some day I will write some declaration like my brother did. Until then, your guess is as good as mine.