Bill Nye "Science Guy" pisses off Republican fundies at lecture in Waco TX.
Captain America
reflects light. Ignorant republicans then go ape shit and leave.
Bwahaha!
Bill Nye's show theme song include the words "Science rules" and I have
to agree.
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http://www.wacotrib.com/news/content/news/stories/2006/04/06/04062006wacbillnye.html?cxtype=rss&cxsvc=7&cxcat=11
'The Science Guy' is entertaining and provocative at MCC lecture
Thursday, April 06, 2006
By Tim Woods
Tribune-Herald staff writer
Audience members who expected to see Bill Nye "The Science Guy"
conduct experiments and wow their children received quite a surprise
Wednesday when Nye spoke at McLennan Community College.
Nye instead addressed such topics as Mars exploration, global warming
and energy consumption, particularly oil and gas. He even ruffled a few
religious feathers along the way.
The scientist with a background in stand-up and sketch comedy kept
spectators interested, entertained and at ease with his funny,
sometimes hilarious, delivery.
Speaking as part of MCC's Distinguished Lecturer Series, Nye spoke to
two audiences, one at 1:30 p.m. and the second at 7 p.m., of about 600
each. He said the first audience, though littered with young children
listening to some rather adult scientific topics, "was very
supportive."
The second group also was rapt from the beginning, greeting the
scientist with a raucous standing ovation upon his introduction.
"You haven't heard the presentation yet!" Nye told them.
Opening with a discussion of Mars and his hopes for further discovery
on the neighboring planet, Nye encouraged the audience to take interest
in discovery and "change the world," a mantra he repeated
throughout.
Nye indicated that the presence of water in Mars' atmosphere -
evidenced by the planet's ability to form frost - leads him to
believe that there is a strong possibility that the planet once
supported life.
The Emmy-winning scientist angered a few audience members when he
criticized literal interpretation of the biblical verse Genesis 1:16,
which reads: "God made two great lights - the greater light to
govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made
the stars."
He pointed out that the sun, the "greater light," is but one of
countless stars and that the "lesser light" is the moon, which
really is not a light at all, rather a reflector of light.
A number of audience members left the room at that point, visibly
angered by what some perceived as irreverence.
"We believe in a God!" exclaimed one woman as she left the room
with three young children.
Nye also was critical of what he said was governmental agencies' lack
of action, even lack of understanding, in protecting the Earth from
global warming and wasted resources.
Nye's educational science show won 28 Emmy awards during its
television run from 1992-98.
It seemed most in attendance were pleased to hear Nye speak, and some
were even awed by the presence of a childhood icon.
"How cool is that, to be face to face with the man, Bill Nye?" said
Jared McClure, who worked sound and video for the event. "And he's
funny, too."
What Me Worry?
Any religious belief that can be trashed offhand by a stand-up comic talking
to kids about elementary astonomy is probably not something you want to
hitch your eternal wagon to.
OTOH: Jesus of Nazareth had some pretty useful advice to keep from hating
and killing each other. Maybe we should keep that part, and toss out the
Creation myth (which has been in the trash heap for at least 400 years
now...except in Kansas).
"Captain America" <america...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1144682701.2...@i40g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
Scotius
<america...@gmail.com> wrote:
There are other stars visible besides the sun. Nye apparently
presumes that the God who made them all wasn't talking about them when
he said "the lesser light to govern the night". Oh well. Small
mistake. Nevertheless, I don't think he needs to be booed for pointing
out that the moon reflects light, rather than produces it. Then again,
you can't blame some people for being oversensitive when there are
idiots running around all over the media who think that "separation of
church and state" means you can't display the ten commandments in a
court building. All that referred to was the state not backing a
particular religion; not banning public expressions of Moore's, or
anyone else's religion.
cyr...@yahoo.com
Scotius wrote:
>Then again,
> you can't blame some people for being oversensitive when there are
> idiots running around all over the media who think that "separation of
> church and state" means you can't display the ten commandments in a
> court building. All that referred to was the state not backing a
> particular religion; not banning public expressions of Moore's, or
> anyone else's religion.
Display of religious doctrine in a court house of the government, is
not an expression of private religious belief. It is an expression of
official, government sanctioned religion, by virtue of it's placement
in a court house.
Roy Moore can build a 20 story high monument to the 10 commandments,
and place it in public, as long as it is located on private property.
That is the separation of church and state.
dk
> There are other stars visible besides the sun. Nye apparently
> presumes that the God who made them all wasn't talking about them when
> he said "the lesser light to govern the night". Oh well. Small
> mistake. Nevertheless, I don't think he needs to be booed for pointing
> out that the moon reflects light, rather than produces it. Then again,
> you can't blame some people for being oversensitive when there are
> idiots running around all over the media who think that "separation of
> church and state" means you can't display the ten commandments in a
> court building. All that referred to was the state not backing a
> particular religion; not banning public expressions of Moore's, or
> anyone else's religion.
>
Apparently you don't know your Bible. The text says A greater light to
rule the day and a lesser light to dominate the night and the STARS.
You are putting the cart before the horse IMO. I think it is only
because the Religous Right were constantly assaulting people with their
religion (same thing as sexual assault to me) that people began
fighting back and started to fight against relgion being part of our
government. Add to that the Republicans getting into bed with the
Religious Right to win elections, there by destroying everything the
Republican Party stood for, and you have the cultural war we now have.
Hebrew: God made the two great lights, the greater light to dominate
the day and the lesser light to dominate the night, and the stars.
Greek: And God made the two great lights, the greater light to rule the
day and the lesser light to rule the night, and the stars.
Vulgate: And God made two great lights the greater light to rule the
day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
Peshitta: And God made two great lights.. The great(er) light to rule
over the day and the smaller light to rule over the night and the
stars.
wby...@ireland.com
<america...@gmail.com> wrote:
>Bill says the sun is one light in many in the universe, and the moon
>reflects light. Ignorant republicans then go ape shit and leave.
>Bwahaha!
That's not quite the way Mr. Nye described the event on Olbermann's
show. A few people walked out and only one was heard to make any type
of remark. Mr. Nye felt that those who left did so without much bother
to the rest of the audience. I don't agree at all with the folks who
left but neither do I agree with the media seeking to make something
out of a minor occurrence.
WB Yeats
B1ackwater
>Scotius wrote:
>
>>Then again,
>> you can't blame some people for being oversensitive when there are
>> idiots running around all over the media who think that "separation of
>> church and state" means you can't display the ten commandments in a
>> court building. All that referred to was the state not backing a
>> particular religion; not banning public expressions of Moore's, or
>> anyone else's religion.
>
>Display of religious doctrine in a court house of the government, is
>not an expression of private religious belief. It is an expression of
>official, government sanctioned religion, by virtue of it's placement
>in a court house.
Um ... I think it takes more than ONE guys utterances to
equate to 'establishment'. Proper 'establishment' is a lot
of WORK ... a large coordinated effort to further one
interpretation of one religion while suppressing or
exterminating all others.
Think of the HRCC at the dawn of the protestant movement
or Henry 8 trying to obliterate catholicism in favor of his
new C-of-E because the pope was an inconvenience. THAT is
"establishment", THAT was the model the Founders had in
mind - not-so-ancient history in their day. Many of their
parents or grandparents had come to America BECAUSE of the
C-of-E being "established".
But some redneck judge saying "I believez in Jeeezus" or
scotch-taping a "10 Commandments' poster to the wall
kinda crooked ... nope ... not 'establishment' ... just
an asshole giving the lawyers good excuses to appeal his
verdicts. Good example of why lower-court judges should
be elected, not appointed ...
>Roy Moore can build a 20 story high monument to the 10 commandments,
>and place it in public, as long as it is located on private property.
>That is the separation of church and state.
Being TOO zealous about purging religion from the public
forum, well, it kinda takes on the look and feel of
'establishment' itself. Doesn't matter that you're
establishing an un-religion - the fanatical attack on
and exclusion of religions has the same divisive and
inflammatory potential the Founders were seeking to
avoid.
Rule of thumb ... be willing to extend a little SLACK.
Slack is a wonderful social lubricant, better than
a short list of written 'freedoms' in many cases. Give
slack, expect slack. A more harmonious society will
result. Get nit-picky and aggressive ... you'll get it
right back, teeth buried in your throat.
cyr...@yahoo.com
B1ackwater wrote:
> On 10 Apr 2006 14:09:37 -0700, cyr...@yahoo.com wrote:
>
> >Display of religious doctrine in a court house of the government, is
> >not an expression of private religious belief. It is an expression of
> >official, government sanctioned religion, by virtue of it's placement
> >in a court house.
>
> Um ... I think it takes more than ONE guys utterances to
> equate to 'establishment'. Proper 'establishment' is a lot
> of WORK ... a large coordinated effort to further one
> interpretation of one religion while suppressing or
> exterminating all others.
>
> Think of the HRCC at the dawn of the protestant movement
> or Henry 8 trying to obliterate catholicism in favor of his
> new C-of-E because the pope was an inconvenience. THAT is
> "establishment", THAT was the model the Founders had in
> mind - not-so-ancient history in their day. Many of their
> parents or grandparents had come to America BECAUSE of the
> C-of-E being "established".
I would call it a matter of degree. Statues of the Ten Commandments may
not be as harmful to liberty as hanging of heretics, but both are
aspects of the same tendency. Both involve the systems of government
taking on an overt religious preference. At least in my opinion.
> Being TOO zealous about purging religion from the public
> forum, well, it kinda takes on the look and feel of
> 'establishment' itself. Doesn't matter that you're
> establishing an un-religion - the fanatical attack on
> and exclusion of religions has the same divisive and
> inflammatory potential the Founders were seeking to
> avoid.
I think we are pretty far from purging religion from the public life of
the US. The last poll I saw on the subject showed that an otherwise
qualified atheist scored lower than an otherwise qualified homosexual
as a theoretical presidential candidate.
>
> Rule of thumb ... be willing to extend a little SLACK.
> Slack is a wonderful social lubricant, better than
> a short list of written 'freedoms' in many cases. Give
> slack, expect slack. A more harmonious society will
> result. Get nit-picky and aggressive ... you'll get it
> right back, teeth buried in your throat.
Indeed.