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I think this is the "news" item Jeff was referring to re: BC Tours of 
the Denver Museum of Nature and Sciences evolution exhibitions.

http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/FaithMatters/story?id=4467337&page=1

It may have served no useful function to confront them with their 
belief that humans and dinosaurs coexisted. However, I might have 
been interested in engaging them in conversation about the facts of 
the supposed co existence. I guess I'd really like to see the 
footprints also.

Martin




>
>
>
>This weekend, I had the pleasure of taking my two sons to Dinosaur 
>State Park, southwest of Ft. Worth, Texas.  It is a place I highly 
>recommend - there are dinosaur footprints visible in the riverbed.  
>In the summer, one can wade and swim in the shallow pools.  The most 
>spectacular are two sets side by side - one showing a carnivore, the 
>other a herbivore.  While there is no way to know if the hunter was 
>stalking its prey, it certainly fires the imagination.
>
>But this is really about the issue of pseudo museums.  As I was 
>watching my boys on the other side of the river, skipping stones, of 
>course, two twenty-something men came down to the bank.  After 
>exchanging pleasantries, how cold is the water, etc.  they asked a 
>question which stunned me:  "Do you know where the set of tracks are 
>showing the human footprints right next to the dinosaurs'?"   Of 
>course I said no.  To which they replied, "We stopped at the Museum 
>on the way in and they have a picture of them (the side-by-side 
>tracks).  They're supposed to be near here.  Boy, that's something 
>I'd really like to see."
>
>They had been to the Creation Evidence Museum.  I'm sorry the boys 
>and I didn't have time to visit, it would have been fascinating.   
>Perhaps I should say it would have been illuminating.  If you have 
>time, and the inclination, I recommend perusing their website:
>
>http://tinyurl.com/2rnao9
>
>It is a wonderful example of obfuscation through scientific language.
>
>Recently there was a nice piece on the news about how a 
>creationist/intelligent design organization uses the Denver Museum 
>to take tours of home schoolers to show how they, the intelligent 
>designers, are right and the rest of us are wrong.  If someone has 
>the link to that, I would love to see it shared.
>
>Frankly, I don't know why I feel compelled to share the story of 
>this encounter.  I have no desire to make fun of these two young 
>men.  
>They are as interested in the pursuit of truth and meaning as anyone 
>else.  Nor did I feel any compunction to engage them in a 
>conversation about the flaws in what they had seen at the 'museum.'  
>I'm not on the front line of the war, or skirmish, or whatever it 
>should be called, between intelligent design proponents and those 
>who work hard to try and keep pseudo science in its appropriate 
>place - outside of science.
>
>If I gained anything from the experience, it is a deeper admiration 
>for those who do wage the war.  If I learned anything from the 
>experience, looking at their website, it brings home our collective 
>willingness to defer to those who offer themselves as experts.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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-- 
Martin Weiss, PhD
Science Interpretation
Consultant,
New York Hall of Science

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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.

Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.

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