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JISHOU, HUNAN — Today, while I was working on the computer in the office, my deans asked me if I would like to get a flu shot.
That’s the way they phrased it, anyway. The real meaning, however, was, “We really expect you to get a flu shot. Today. With the rest of the staff.”
But such directness is very un-Chinese. As it was phrased, it took a while for the true meaning of the “request” — or “mandatory option,” as my high school chorus teacher put it — to sink into my thick skull. They caught me while I was in the middle of entering students’ names into the Epals.com website, a task which Epals does not make especially easy by limiting you to 25 names at a time.
Distracted as I was, and still without a morning cup of Joe, I stalled and said I would think about it. My British cohort, David, was also likewise pecking away at another computer. He basically said, no. If it wasn’t a requirement, he would rather not. “I try to avoid taking medicines,” he added.
Soon after, David left to teach his classes, leaving me alone with two deans, the staff assistant and one of the head teachers. They chatted away in local dialect (It’s bad enough I can’t understand putonghua, they have to speak Jishou language!), so I could catch a few words, including the Chinese for “flu” and “teachers,”, and our names, David and John. The dean told me she had had her shot earlier in the morning, so I asked her how she felt. (FYI, she’s about my age.) She said her arm was sore and she had a slight headache. No biggie.
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WULINGYUAN, HUNAN — One of my last stops before classes resume was Yellow Dragon Cave (Huang Long Cave) here, near Zhangjiajie. The cave itself is stupendous. The tour includes a short boat ride on the underground river and a lot of stair climbing.
For me the highlight was this stalagmite, the “Sacred Needle for Stabilizing the Sea,” which rises 19.2 meters from the cave floor.
 Sacred Needle for Stabilizing the Sea The tour guide rattled off two impressive figures relating to this structure. One is that it is insured for several million dollars. The other is that the Sacred Needle is about two million years old.
This blog has highlighted the sheer silliness of creationism over the last four years, especially the ludicrous claims of Ken Ham’s Creation Museum in northern Kentucky. Ham (among others) figures the world was created in exactly six days about 6,000 years ago.
To bolster their claims that the Bible accurately describes the creation of Life, the Universe and Everything, Ham and Co. try all kinds of hand-waving arguments to counter reams of contradictory evidence from astronomy, geology, paleontology and biology, like
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The flood in the story of Noah created the Grand Canyon, aided in the dispersion of humans across the planet, and buried all known dinosaur fossils at about the same time, 2348 BC.
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Radioisotope dating is flawed, because in ancient times radioactive minerals decayed at faster rates than they do now.
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JISHOU, HUNAN — Since the Great Firewall of China has inexplicably blocked Picasaweb, where I host most of my photos from China, I have signed up with Flickr. So far, Flickr is not blocked {cross fingers}, so my Chinese friends can see my photos.
I paid for additional storage on Picasaweb, so I can upload most of photos there for posterity, but I am not yet going to shell out $25 to get extra space on Flickr. I’m hoping China’s net nannies will relent, and let Chinese netizens access Picasaweb again.
Flickr allows 100 MB a month for free, so I have uploaded my pix from the July 22 solar eclipse. I’ve included a sample here to pique your curiosity.
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JISHOU, HUNAN — NASA has released new photos taken from lunar orbit of the Apollo landing sites, just in time for the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11′s landing on the Moon.
The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is mapping the Moon’s surface in preparation for later missions to the satellite. So far, it has imaged five of the six Apollo landing sites. One image clearly shows the path taken by the Apollo 14 astronauts between the Lunar Module and a package of scientific instruments they deposited about 150 meters away.
Despite the disbelief of a small, but vocal denialist movement, men (so far, just men) have walked on the Moon. Moon-landing doubters claim the entire Apollo program was a sham, and that videos and photos of the astronauts on the lunar surface were Hollywood-style simulations.
Well, rocks don’t roll around the lunar surface by themselves, so those footpaths were either put there by shuffling astronauts or by some lunar creature. The simplest explanation (Occam’s Razor) suggests the astronauts did it.
Not that it will stop the True Disbelievers™ from claiming these latest photos are doctored.
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Incidentally, the Moon will have a starring role next Wednesday here in China as it blocks the Sun for almost 6 minutes. I am already planning to take a short trip north to view it, as Hubei is right in the eclipse path. I hope to get some good eclipse photos and post them here.
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JISHOU, HUNAN — It should not come as a big surprise that the swine flu (H1N1 influenza virus) has spread very quickly. A lot of people fly internationally now.
But epidemiologists in Toronto have found convincing correlation between air travel from Mexico during the early stages of the H1N1 outbreak and the number of reported infections in the destination cities. Their findings are summarized in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine
First, here’s their map showing the destinations of air travelers from Mexico during March and April 2008. [Click on the image to see it full-size.] The vast majority of those destinations were in the USA and Canada.
The researchers tabulated the number of reported cases of H1N1 infections. The USA and Canada lead the list.
China has seen relatively few H1N1 cases, since air travel between China and Mexico is not too common, but reported cases have either involved travelers who had been to Mexico and traveled through the USA, or travelers coming directly from the USA.
By comparison, soldiers returning from World War I apparently spread the so-called Spanish flu around the world, leading to a major pandemic in 1918.
In response to the pandemic, China has curtailed same-day issuance of visas within the USA. Visa applicants now have to wait for their visas. In addition, health inspectors check everyone arriving on international flights before they even leave the plane. Anyone who has an abnormal temperature, or who shows signs of respiratory problems (coughing, sneezing, etc.), are sent to a nearby hotel for a one-week quarantine.
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JISHOU, HUNAN — A Christian group plans to hand out 1,000 copies of “The Charles Darwin Bible” to teachers attending the National Education Association (NEA) convention in San Diego this week.
The Charles Darwin Bible is a copy of the New Testament, with annotations referring to Christian and creationist beliefs. It’s the latest attempt by creationists to wiggle their religious non-science into the public schools.
There is also a creationist edition of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species available. Since the original text of 150 years ago is not copyrighted, evangelist Ray Comfort slapped a 50-page “special introduction” onto the work and is selling it for a mere 99 cents. Comfort’s plan is for fellow believers to hand the bastardized copies of Origin of Species to their teacher and professor friends.
The Charles Darwin Bible is another brainchild of Comfort’s. It’s being distributed by Holman Bible Outreach, which is selling the curiously named book for $3.99 (or $1.75 by the case). Someone ponied up the money to hand a thousand of them out to NEA members.
The NEA is one of two professional organizations that represent public school teachers. Its annual convention began June 26 and runs through Friday.
Here’s a description of the CDB:
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JISHOU, HUNAN — It takes a certain amount of nerve, and intellectual dishonesty, to appropriate the text of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, write a creationist “special introduction” to it, then reissue the mangled tome as a legitimate copy of Darwin’s work.
The creationist outfit, Bridge Logos Foundation, of Alachua, Florida, has published an abridged 150th anniversary edition of Origin of Species, complete with a 50-page introduction calling into question practically every conclusion Darwin makes in the rest of the book. Living Waters Publications, is peddling the book as a way to undermine the teaching of evolution in schools and universities.
Both organizations are masterminded by Ray Comfort, a noted anti-evolution, fundamentalist writer.
 Here is the squib describing the book:
This special 280-page edition not only contains an abridged Origin of Species but also has a 50-page Introduction that reveals the dangerous fruit of evolution, Hitler’s undeniable connections to the theory, Darwin’s racism, and his disdain for women. It counters the claim that creationists are “anti-science” by citing numerous scientists who believed that God created the universe—scientists such as Einstein, Newton, Copernicus, Bacon, Faraday, Pasteur, and Kepler. It has many original graphics and (as it says on the back cover) is designed for use in schools, colleges, and prestigious learning institutions. The back cover lists the above information as well as saying the book contains “Information on Intelligent Design vs Evolution.” We want to get one million copies into the hands of students and professors in colleges and universities throughout the U.S. Let’s see if they try to ban Darwin’s Origin of Species. That would be interesting.
This is a preview of And speaking of thought control … how about creationist subterfuge? . Read the full post (1608 words, 2 images, estimated 6:26 mins reading time)Possibly related posts:
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