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Let me start out by saying: I'm not posting this to put anyone at RHF on
the hot seat. (I could tell you about embarassing times when our center
has flubbed on scientific accuracy too.) But FYI...

The piece below appeared in the 2/20/04 edition of Swift Online, an
excellent weekly column c/o the James Randi Educational Foundation.
(http://www.randi.org/) And for the record, K.I.S.S. means "Keep It
Simple, Stupid", the book in question is not associated with the rock
band. I suspect that Randi knew this and the headline is a gag.

Any comments?

Jonah Cohen
Outreach & Public Programs Manager
Science Center of Connecticut

==========================================

GENE SIMMONS A SCIENTIST?

 Reader Sean Ellis of Farnham, Surrey, UK, shares this with us:


"A few weeks ago, I had the good fortune to visit San Diego, and having
some spare time I visited the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, in the
leafy and attractive Balboa Park. I was gratified to see so many kids
there, learning about science and technology. However, despite the shop
stocking several Prometheus book titles, I was disturbed enough by one
title to send the following e-mail to them:

I visited the RHF Science Center during a visit to San Diego on
Wednesday, and was in general impressed. However, I was extremely
disappointed to notice that the store was selling a book called "The
K.I.S.S. Guide to Astrology".
Astrology is not a science, and should not be presented to children as
science. The inclusion of this book in your store undermines the whole
purpose of the center — to stimulate young minds and promote scientific
and critical thinking. It also devalues the rest of the store, since it
conveys a message that the items therein are not carefully chosen.

I would be interested to hear the reasoning behind the selection of this
book as suitable for the Science Center store.

Yours, Sean Ellis


Since I have now given them adequate time to reply (they have not seen
fit to do so), I thought I would let you know also, in case this is of
sufficient interest to make it into your regular commentary."


Sean, please keep us informed on how interested this Science Center is in
answering your inquiry...



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