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After the last post concerning Chad Orzel’s position on science and religion, I want to explore the central policy question here that seems to get everyone exercised, namely: What should the science/religion stance be for top science organizations like the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Center for Science Education, etc?

Many “New Atheists” would argue that such organizations should stay silent on the question, and not lend credence to the view that science and religion can be compatible (even though they certainly can be for individual people, even if not in some grand philosophical way, as Orzel explains). Let me explain why I find the NA position to be exceedingly bad advice.

If you’re working in America today to promote the teaching or the public understanding of evolution, you are constantly going to be dealing with religious people–in various localities across the country; in regular queries through your website and by phone, and so on. Much of America is, after all, religious.

And that’s not all. Much of religious America has also been told, from various pulpits, by various friends, and by sundry New Atheists, that evolutionary science is incompatible with religion. This prevailing notion creates an incredible blockade preventing the acceptance of evolutionary science. For as we know from reams of polling data, in the United States, when you pit science against religion, science often loses.

Aware of this context, groups like the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) take a stance likely to help some religious believers reject what they’ve been told from the pulpit, and move toward a more moderate stance on science and religion–in essence, from anti-science fundamentalism to middle-ground reconciliationism. To this end, NCSE states something factually true and indeed, undeniable: that not every religious person thinks science and religion are incompatible.

The veracity of this statement is not really open to debate. The issue here is simply whether such people exist, and of that there’s no doubt whatsoever. In this blunt factual sense, at least, science and religion are compatible–they are reconciled all the time by actual living, breathing human beings. You might take issue with the logical basis for such reconciliation in a particular mind, but you can’t deny that it happens regularly.

Moreover, if religion is the mental block that prevents a wider understanding and acceptance of evolution, then by seeking to remove that mental block, a group like NCSE is simply striving to be effective. Why should its hands be tied in this regard?

They shouldn’t. I mean, just picture the kind of conversations a representative of NCSE would have to have with a concerned religious believer if New Atheists were setting its policy:

Religious believer: I know you say that evolution is good science, but I’m afraid of what my pastor says–that accepting it is the road to damnation.

NCSE: As a policy, we only talk about science and to not take any stance on religion. So we couldn’t comment on that.

Religious believer: I do have one friend who accepts evolution, but he stopped going to church too and that worries me.

NCSE: All we can really tell you is that evolution is the bedrock of modern biology, and universally accepted within the scientific community.

Religious believer: And I’m worried about my children. If I let them learn about evolution in school, will they come home one day and tell me that we’re all nothing but matter in motion?

NCSE: ….

You get the point, I think. To me, it is obvious that, far from enforcing an unnecessary purism, a group like NCSE should be encouraged to speak with religious believers in terms they can understand, and in a way that will help them accept evolutionary science. The same goes for other science organizations.

Last week Jessica asked for good ways to store utensils off the countertop, and we suggested hanging them on the wall. Well, here courtesy of IKEA Hacker, winner of the Home Tech category in this year’s Homies Awards, is a way to take your utensil wall display to a whole new level!

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Or worst, really depends on your vantage point.

(College Humor)

Your daily dose of news and tidbits from the world of money in politics:

Apparently the folks in Sunnyvale don’t take all federal holidays off. Which is fine, because after the three updates that landed over the weekend we were starting to feel a little app deprived. Regardless, we now have new apps, and while there may be the standard compliment of less-than-useful background and ringtone packages, there’s some useful and fun stuff buried in there. What stuff, you ask? It’s the stuff listed after the break, of course.

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KNOXVILLE — UT College of Business Administration alumna Jennifer Banner has established two endowments for the college in honor of two of her former educators, the Richard L. Townsend Excellence Endowment and the John Wachowicz Excellence Endowment.

Banner’s gift is part of the Campaign for Tennessee, a $1 billion fundraising effort at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Banner graduated in 1981 with a major in general business and, in 1983, earned her Master of Accountancy (MAcc) degree with a tax concentration. She currently is the CEO of Schaad Companies LLC; prior to joining Schaad she was a CPA and principal of Pershing Yoakley & Associates P.C.

“I wanted to honor two professors who made a difference in my life, both while I was on campus and continuing over the course of my professional life,” Banner said.

Richard Townsend is an associate professor in the Department of Accounting and Information Management; John Wachowicz is a Regions Bank Scholar in the Department of Finance.

“They both took an interest in me beyond teaching finance and accounting. Dr. Townsend helped steer me into the tax concentration, made numerous recommendations to recruiters, served as my adviser while in the MAcc program, and helped get me a graduate teaching assistantship,” Banner said.

“Dr. Wachowicz taught me valuable business/finance skills that I still use every day,” she said. “I can never repay that debt. I was motivated to honor him because for decades I have watched him give so much of himself to UT and to his students, so much above and beyond the call, never asking to be in the limelight for it, just doing it because he is a man who wants to do his job to the best of his abilities. He absolutely has earned the right to be honored,” she said.

Banner also credits her success to two of her great aunts for taking a chance on her many years ago by paying for her college education. She said she’s worked to give them a good return on their investment.

“They led by example and showed me the way to give back to support education,” Banner says. “They exemplified the saying, ‘Don’t give someone a fish; teach them how to fish.’ Now I know how to fish. Dr. Wachowicz and Dr. Townsend taught me how, and I want to support higher education so more people can learn to fish.”

The endowments provide a way for other alumni of the college, friends and family of the faculty, colleagues, etc. who were touched by Townsend and Wachowicz’s teaching to give back to the college. Anyone may contribute to these endowments.

Banner’s gifts are part of the Campaign for Tennessee, the most ambitious effort in the university’s 214-year history, which places UT among the ranks of the nation’s largest public and private institutions that have sought this level of private support.

The campaign, which launched its silent phase in 2005, will secure private gifts that, in turn, will contribute substantially to the distinct, but linked, campuses in the UT system. Funds raised through the campaign will directly support the objectives of UT’s strategic plan. Among those objectives are improved student access and success, research and economic development, outreach and globalization.

—

C O N T A C T :

Cindy Raines (865-974-4359, [email protected])

Take notice: this is every parent’s worst nightmare come true. Without warning, 15-year-old Megumi disappears, seemingly without a trace. Her mother has no idea why she might have left or where she might be … and the only clue she has is a very expensive designer handbag filled with pricey make-up which she finds hidden under Megumi’s bed, something the teenager could never afford on her own.

From the mountain shelter swoops down “Uncle” Shiga, Megumi’s father’s best friend. The two used to climb serious mountains together, until Tatsuko froze to death after summiting Daulaghiri (the world’s seventh highest mountain) in the Nepalese Himalayas. Shiga still berates himself for not having gone up with Tatsuko, and has since promised to look after Tatsuko’s wife and young child no matter what … and now he’s got to find Megumi before it’s too late.

With the help of a mysterious young man who the city street kids trust, and an unlikely fast-talking school friend of Megumi’s, Shiga learns Megumi’s secrets are hardly innocent. Worried and desperate, Shiga is determined to rescue Megumi … which may well be the last thing he does …

With some of the most realistic black-and-white graphics, manga veteran Taniguchi creates a fast-moving mystery that will keep you turning those pages, quickly and nervously. As warned, if you’re a parent … don’t read this alone at night. Most importantly, make sure you really, really talk to your kids as often as you can. You wouldn’t want to discover their secrets this way for sure! As disturbingly entertaining as this manga is, it does double duty as a parenting guide, too!

Readers: Adult

Published: 2008 (United Kingdom, United States)

I think Vanessa Hudgens took a wrong turn from the “skanks who send naked pictures to boyfriends” list, but you never really know with these things.

(Complex)

Magneti Marelli’s US arm, Magneti Marelli Suspensions USA, LLC, has expanded its business by acquiring the International Steel Solutions plant in Pulaski, Tennessee.

The company will use the facility for manufacturing shock absorbers and related suspension parts. A great part of the plant’s current employees will be hired by Magneti Marelli – the company promises to increase this number in the next two years as it plans to further develop its product range. This development path will allow th… (read more)

The Mitsubishi Concept-cX made its debut at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show three years ago. Last month, at the 2009 LA Auto Show, Mitsubishi showed renderings of the production version of the Concept-cX called the RVR (its Japanese name). Finally, Mitsubishi has officially confirmed today that its all-new Mitsubishi ASX Compact Crossover will make its world debut at the 2010 Geneva Motor Show in two months.

“MMC’s new compact crossover will seat 5 and will be sequentially introduced in European countries from late spring 2010, aimed at expanding MMC’s passenger car footprint in the region, following in the footsteps of the larger and recently redesigned Outlander mid-size crossover,” Mitsubishi said in a statement.

Power for the European-spec Mitsubishi ASX will come from an all-new Euro 5-compliant 1.8L turbocharged direct-injection diesel engine and will feature “Automatic Stop & Go” technology. It will be mated to a 6-speed manual transmission. In Japan, the RVR will be fitted with an all-new 1.8L MIVEC gasoline engine.

No details on when we’ll get the compact crossover from Mitsubishi or what it’ll be called on our side of the world – but it definitely is coming, so be patient.

2011 Mitsubishi ASX:

2011 Mitsubishi RVR (Renderings):

– By: Omar Rana

Contributor: “Dr. J”
Dr. J offers his irreverent, slightly irrelevant, but possibly useful opinions on health and fitness. A Florida surgeon and fitness freak with a black belt in karate, he runs 50 miles a week and flies a Cherokee Arrow 200.

I have long been a fan of the keep it simple stupid (KISS) principle!

There is a reason, in surgery, that the words complicated and complication have the same root origin. I learned that lesson early on in my surgical career when called upon to repair a cheek fracture (ZMC)
for an inmate in our local prison system. He was a large, very muscular man, so I joked with him as I examined the injury, “I’d hate to see the guy who hit you!”

He then told me the story. It seems that while he was doing a bench press, someone with a grudge to settle came up over from behind him and punched him straight down in the face! He probably finished the set before finishing whoever hit him!

In the operating room, I had a decision to make. I could either do a simple intra-oral approach, which would have given a good result most of the time, or a more complicated external approach, which would give a good result almost all of the time. I chose the complicated approach. What could have been a 30-minute operation turned into four and a half hours of very challenging repairs! From that day on, I was a believer in KISS!

KISS and diet

Not surprisingly, successful dieters are believers in the KISS principle also. It seems that the perceived level of complexity of a diet plan’s rules and requirements will have a significant effect on how successful the plan will be for a person’s weight loss efforts.

Researchers from Indiana University and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin recently compared the dieting behavior of women following two different diet plans and found that the more complicated people thought their diet plan was, the sooner they were likely to abandon it.

“For people on a more complex diet that involves keeping track of quantities and items eaten, their feelings about the difficulty of the diet can lead them to give up on it,” reported Peter Todd, professor in Indiana’s Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences.

Keep it simple, sister

The researchers recruited 390 women, already in the process of using one of the two diet plans, from Internet chat rooms dealing with weight management. The subjects answered questionnaires at the beginning, at four weeks, and at the end of an eight-week period.

The study (PDF) examined the effect of the complexity of two diet plans. Brigitte, the one that is simpler to learn and apply, is a popular German recipe diet that provides shopping lists for the dieters to follow with prescribed meal plans. The other, Weight Watchers, is more complicated, assigning point values to every food and instructing participants to eat only a certain number of points per day.

Discussion

Although most people think the major determinants of whether one will be successful at dieting are willpower and dedication, this research points out that the perceived complexity of a diet plan’s rules and requirements has a significant effect. From my point of view, the more concrete, practical applications that you can use in your attempt at weight control, the greater your chance of getting the results you want. Keeping it simple is practical.

It seems reasonable to believe that the longer people can adhere to their diet plan, with the added potential of making it a lifestyle change, the more successful they will be long-term with their weight loss and maintenance.

For people interested in following a diet plan, Jutta Mata, a professor of psychology at Stanford University, suggests they take a look at several diet plans considering how many rules the plans have and how many things need to be kept in mind to actually apply the plan.

“If they decide to go with a more complex diet, which could be more attractive because it allows more flexibility, they should evaluate how difficult they will find doing those calculations and monitoring their consumption,” she said. “If they find it very difficult, the likelihood that they will prematurely give up the diet is higher and they should try to find a different plan.”

Mata said this complexity, even with the belief that one is capable of achieving the goal of sticking to the diet regimen, will have a negative effect on the outcome.

“Even if you believe you can succeed, thinking that the diet is cognitively complex can undermine your efforts,” she said.

Finding a diet plan that you will stay with is key. There are so many factors that will influence your success. Along with other factors, if you are looking for what will work best for you, whether with surgery or dieting, keeping it simple is the best operation!

From the RSS feed of CalorieLab News (REF3076322B7)

Dr. J will see you now: Keep it Simple

“TransferJet Technology”—does marketing speak get any more pseudo-tech-epic than that?

Sony’s latest 8GB Memory Stick, now debuting in Japan, works just like any old overpriced Memory Stick. But, from 3cm away from a supported device, RF-based TransferJet can transfer the stored data at speeds of 560 Mbps (or, as Wikipedia reports, 375 Mbps in real world use).

Technically, TransferJet has been around since 2008, but it’s just finally making its way to Sony products.

As for that Memory Stick’s price, we have no clue. Sorry. [Sony via Akihabara News]

I’ve really enjoyed my time on this planet so far and look forward to many other years here.  If Kurt Vonnegut, Philip K. Dick, and Robert Heinlein are to be believed, I should be able to travel to other planets by now.  Since I can’t, I’m limited to looking at really cool photos.

Guess the planet.  No clicking through to the APOD site until after you’ve made a guess.  I’m 44 – wouldn’t it be cool if in my lifetime I could go to this planet?  Oh – and where’s my jetpack – NASA promised me that when I was a kid.

The morning papers are full of speculation about what the Democrats will do with their health-care bill if Scott Brown, a Republican, wins the senate seat formerly held by Ted Kennedy. Massachusetts is holding a special election for the seat today; if Brown defeats Martha Coakley, a Democrat, the Dems will lose their filibuster-proof majority in the Senate.

One option would be for the House to pass the bill already approved by the Senate. That possibility gets top billing in stories from the WSJ the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times.

But many House Dems object to some provisions in the Senate bill, including language on abortion and the tax on high-end health plans. Those elements of the bill that pertain to the budget could be tweaked through a process known as reconciliation, which requires only 51 votes in the Senate.

Another option — passing a final version of the health-care bill before Brown is seated (if he wins) — has been ruled out, the WSJ says.

Coakley backs the health-care overhaul, and Brown opposes it. In Massachusetts, more than 90% of those who back the overhaul support Coakley, and more than 90% of those who oppose the overhaul back Brown.

So the broader issue implied by the election in Massachusetts — a solidly blue state — is that the health-care bill has become unpopular with many Americans. A new Washington Post-ABC News poll found that 51% of people oppose the health-care changes being debated in Congress, while 44% support them. And whatever happens with the bill in the next few weeks, you’ll be hearing about it for months to come — as a central theme in this year’s midterm elections.

Image: Wikimedia Commons

Taxi and Grease star Jeff Conaway has been hospitalized after falling down a flight of stairs in his Los Angeles home late Monday.

Conaway, 59, tumbled down the stairs, suffering serious injuries, the actor’s live-in girlfriend, Vikki Lizzi, told TMZ.com overnight. Jeff had to be taken to a Los Angeles medical facility by ambulance, where he remains hospitalized.

He suffered a broken hip, a broken arm, a fractured neck and a brain hemorrhage in the accident and is set to undergo surgery. Conaway most recently appeared on the VH1 reality smash Celebrity Rehab in 2008, where he battled his longtime addiction to drugs and alcohol.

KNOXVILLE — The Knoxville community is invited to read John Rawls’ book, “Justice as Fairness,” and then participate in a series of group discussions beginning Jan. 25.

The book events are being sponsored by the University of Tennessee Howard H. Baker Jr. Center for Public Policy and the Knox County Public Library.

“Sen. Baker, in talking about the American democratic republic as an ‘experiment,’ says it is our job as Americans to continually evaluate our system in order to create one that works,” said Carl Pierce, interim director of the Baker Center.

John Rawls devoted his intellectual life to answering these important questions of political philosophy. His work gives Americans a shared framework for public deliberation and reasoned judgment about the most pressing political issues that we face: guarding our basic constitutional liberties, creating and maintaining equal opportunity, and the interplay between economics and social cooperation for the common good. Without this shared framework, American citizens may find political life dominated by dogmatic fanaticism and apathetic resignation.

Citizens committed to the success of our system owe it to themselves to engage in the questions that occupied Rawls — perhaps the most important political philosopher of the 20th century.

Group discussions of Rawls’ book will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. on Mondays in the Toyota Auditorium at the Baker Center, 1640 Cumberland Ave., on the UT Campus. Each meeting will be facilitated by a UT faculty member with expertise on Rawls’ work:

• Jan. 25, Part 1: Fundamental Ideas, led by Joe Cook, College of Law
• Feb. 1, Part 2: Principles of Justice, led by Otis Stephens, College of Law
• Feb. 8, Part 3: The Argument from the Original Position, led by Iris Goodwin, College of Law
• Feb. 15, Part 4: Institutions of a Just Basic Structure, led by Matt Deaton, Department of Philosophy
• Feb. 22, Part 5: The Question of Stability, led by David Reidy, Department of Philosophy

No previous knowledge of Rawls’ work is expected. Light refreshments will be served at the group discussion events.

A two-day symposium, Rawlsian Liberalism in Context(s), will be held at the Baker Center on Feb. 26 and 27.

For more information, visit http://bakercenter.utk.edu, or contact Amy Gibson.

—

C O N T A C T :

Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, [email protected])

Apple’s Mac business is having a growth comeback.

After the recession knocked out the Mac’s growth story, it’s back on the rise, thanks to the awesome 27-inch iMacs and more affordable MacBook Pro.

Mac retail sales in the U.S., tracked by NPD Group, are up around 26% year-over-year for the December quarter, according to analysis by Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, who published his findings in a note this morning. That’s higher than the Street’s expectations for 19% year-over-year growth.

In unit figures, Munster thinks that’ll mean Apple shipped 3.1 million Macs last quarter, up from his previous guess of 2.9 million.

Munster also thinks Street estimates for 2010 now have to come up: The Street is expecting roughly 14% year-over-year Mac growth this year, which seems to be below the roughly 20% year-over-year growth the business is showing. “2010 shaping up to be the year of the Mac,” he writes.

Lastly, in his note today, Munster said he remains “confident” in his estimate for 9.3 million iPhone shipments last quarter, above the Street at 9.1 million.

Apple reports December quarter results next Monday, Jan. 25; join us for live coverage. It’s expected to show off the Apple tablet — and perhaps a new version of the iPhone — next Wednesday, Jan. 27.

Don’t Miss: 20 guesses about what the Apple tablet will look like >

Join the conversation about this story »

See Also:

• Apple Tablet Event Is On!
• Is Apple Making The 1990s Mistake All Over Again? No Way, Says Gene Munster
• A $1,000 iPhone App!

This weekend, BoomTown got ahold of a new book by former AOL exec and longtime entrepreneur Ted Leonsis, which it set to be released on February 8 by Regnery Publishing.

Titled “The Business of Happiness: 6 Secrets to Extraordinary Success in Life and Work,” Leonsis penned the book with former AOL PR head John Buckley.

And, like the ebullient Leonsis, its entertaining center fulcrum is a list he often talks about, which he made after a scary plane experience 25 years ago, of the 101 things he wanted to achieve before he died.

“At the time, I thought that ticking items off my list would make me happy,” he writes in the book’s introduction.

It seems to have worked, he also notes: “I’ve found that actively pursuing happiness seems to be a driver of success.”

The second part of the book concerns itself with giving advice to others on how to get to happiness and success the Ted way.

But, I really enjoyed the first part of the book, in which Leonsis tells his story–from humbling beginnings to college at Georgetown University to his start in the tech industry at Wang to his first successful forays into entrepreneurship.

Eventually, one of his start-ups–Redgate Communications–ended up being bought by Steve Case of AOL.

Leonsis writes about this roller-coaster ride at AOL, which had as many ups as downs–with one of its down-est downs being its moment of glory: The merger with Time Warner (TWX).

“Let me state for the record: I was passionately opposed to the merger with Time Warner,” he writes. And he was.

For the most part in the book, Leonsis is probably kinder to the principals on all sides than is warranted.

But–for those who know him well–it’s more his glass-full nature that trying to be willfully opaque about what is now widely considered to be the worst U.S. business alliance in history.

And Leonsis does correctly point out one of the merger’s main screw-ups–the inability, due to internal politics, to sell AOL broadband over Time Warner’s powerful cable system.

It is also no surprise that Leonsis takes the AOL side, painting a picture of obstructive Time Warner execs more obsessed with Wall Street than creating great products.

Writes Leonsis:

“It was no longer, ‘What great product did we release this week?’ Everything–everything–was about whether we were going to send enough money to New York to help our new corporate parent meet its $11 billion EBITDA number and generate cash flow to pay off Time Warner’s debts. I remember coming out of meetings and saying to people, ‘We could be making nuclear power plants, for all you could tell from that meeting.’”

In the end, the Time Warner forces won out over those from AOL and Leonsis found that he was the last man standing, this time with new CEO Jon Miller.

With Miller, Leonsis slogged on at AOL, trying to move its prospects forward, but that also ended in tears.

Miller–who is now digital head at News Corp. (NWS)–got unfairly canned by Time Warner.

Eventually, unhappy with the new exec team–who were later tossed out too–Leonsis left in 2007.

AOL (AOL) has recently been spun out of Time Warner, with former Google (GOOG) exec Tim Armstrong at the helm.

And Leonsis has also moved on–becoming even more involved with his sports teams, forays into film-making and investing in new start-ups (sometimes with Case)–and carving out what seems to be a pretty happy life.

At the end of his book, Leonsis publishes his list and shows what he has checked off and what he has not.

He seems to have made a big dent in it, although he still needs to win a world championship and go into outerspace. Also get a hole-in-one.

Not that I am keeping track, Ted–but you better get cracking.

And, to get a taste of Ted’s infectious style, here’s an interview with him I did in Silicon Valley in 2008, in which he mentions happiness a lot:

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