Sunday comics: Teaching "Both Sides"

I always love when Doonesbury tackles the evolution "debate"...

Another mistake by the creation museum

As a scientist, I could probably write reams and reams (or the internet equivalent thereof) about the inaccuracies and mistakes made by Ken Ham's creation museum in their presentation of the supposed history of life on earth.  I will not waste my time. Instead, I would like to simply point out something that I thought of after posting an image of this billboard of a fire-breathing dragon the other day.  As P.Z. Myers does a good job of explaining on his blog Pharyngula, the dragon billboard, and its accompanying dinosaur billboards (below), are nothing more than a marketing campaign to draw in more family visitors to the creationist museum.

As I said yesterday, the dragon billboard, and its corresponding exhibit at the museum, was likely inspired by biblical verses that mention the existence of dragons.  And it is here that I think Ken Ham has missed out.  You see, there are also a fair number of references to the existence of unicorns in the Bible, and let's face it, not all kids go crazy for dinosaurs and dragons, some prefer unicorns and "my little ponies".  So, where are their billboards?  Oh well, I am certainly not going to lament the fact that the creation museum has missed targeting a key demographic.  Instead, I will just post a picture of a unicorn here, and hope that many children and their families will find there way  to reliable, science-based information about the history of life on earth (whether it be here or elsewhere).

Sunday Comics: Fire Breathing Dragons

Though not actually a comic, or intended to be funny, this is a picture of a new billboard advertising the Creation Museum here in the "Bible belt" of the United States.

While this should be hilarious, I find it sad that there is a place masquerading as a "science museum" that is teaching people that fire breathing dragons were real, and co-existed with humans sometime in the past 5,000-6,000 years, all because dragons happen to be mentioned quite frequently in the bible.  I'm all for the right to teach people your fundamentalist religious beliefs if you so desire, but don't claim that it has anything to do with science.  In fact, I'm even willing to help the cause by pointing out that the most prominent references to dragons in the bible are in the book of revelations, which relates events that, even by biblical literalist standards, have not ever actually happened.  AND, in that book, the dragon is described as being red and having seven heads and ten horns... so, perhaps the joke here is that the creation museum can't even get the bible right... and yet, so many visitors will go there and think that they have actually learned something about paleontology and the history of our world.

Sunday Comics: Women (Zombies) in Science

This one comes from xkcd, you can check it out here.

Dire Wolves are real! (Dragons, not so much)

Yes, dire wolves are real, or, at least, they were...
If you are a fan of the "Song of Ice and Fire" series of books by George R. R. Martin, or the more recent "Game of Thrones" tv series adapted from them, then you likely know about dire wolves: the overly large wolves that are portrayed as almost magical beasts and tremendous hunters.  Well, as it turns out, dire wolves did exist... and they could grow to about double the size of modern wolves.  Though it is believed they were better scavengers than hunters, eating the leftovers  (perhaps) of saber-toothed tiger kills.