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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
***********************************************************************
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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