More Worthwhile Reading

I wanted to link to an article I read last night in the New Yorker with a very readable and cohesive account of how the case in Dover, Pennsylvania about Intelligent Design came to be. Alas, the New Yorker does not publish entire articles on their website. I suppose I don't blame them. The link above leads to an interview with the Margaret Talbot, who wrote the article.

Anyhow, it's in the latest issue, so consider this a plug. I wasn't following the Dover case at all until Pat Robertson suddenly declared the small Pennsylvania town the modern equivalent of Sodom and Gomorrah. But the article does a great job of providing a clear step by step account of how the case made it to court.

A side note. The book that is constantly mentioned as a leading "biology textbook" (and I use that term loosely) by the Intelligent Design people is called Of Pandas and People. I don't know what it is about, I don't know why that specifically is the title, and I don't really care.

But I do care that these people are enlisting the panda in their fight against real science. I know that Butterstick, for one, would highly disapprove.

Butterstick, like my father, believes in teaching good science. I am sure of that.

P.S. To those of you wondering if I have tickets to see Butterstick: I don't want to talk about it. I tried for thirty minutes the moment the tickets went on line to get through the site. I was unsuccessful. It's a sham. The general public will never really have the chance to see Butterstick.

P.P.S. If anyone HAS a Butterstick ticket that they want to donate to a very good cause, I know one Panda-obsessed Washingtonian who would be forever indebted. (Though I wouldn't offer up a blowjob, which was apparently one of the bartering tools posted on Craigslist for tickets.)

P.P.P.S. Sorry I wrote blowjob, mom.