They love to Lie, and it shows

Delta airlines in-flight campaign for November was about flu prevention. One psa they are running is from the NVIC the National Vaccine Information Center, ironically one of the most anti-vaccine groups. The psa is careful not to come out and say don't get vaccinated but suggests alternatives such as drink plenty of water, exercise, and plenty of sleep. Now don't get me wrong all of those are good things but they alone won't help protect you from an illness caused by a virus. Delta has had it brought to their attention the nature of the NVIC and their stance on vaccines, however Delta has refused to pull them. Obviously with the month coming to a close now and the campaign getting ready to change it is not that much of a threat anymore. Many people however that watched those videos may now turn to the NVIC for information which in the long term may harm many others. Measles had once been eradicated in this country but we are seeing a resurgence as the anti-vax group gains momentum. So the major threat isn't just spreading the flu but a general fear of vaccines that keep people from protecting themselves and others from harmful diseases. 

http://skepchick.org/2011/11/update-delta-still-running-anti-vax-ads-in-flight/

*Just full disclosure here, while I do support vaccination as a whole, I personally don't usually get the flu vaccine, as I hate needles and am in a low-risk group. I am currently getting a 3-part Hep-B vaccine as a first responder, risk v benefits.

Gelatogate

Last weekend(11/19-20) Skepticon was held in Springfield Missouri, well apparently there was a little bit of drama in town.  The owner of a small ice cream shop called Gelato Mio went down to skepticon to see what it was about. When he got there he walked in on Sam Singleton giving a very fervent talk. For those not familiar with Sam Singleton this is a description right from his website. Brother Sam’s performance kidnaps the style of a Pentecostal revival meeting and uses it to deliver a sharp, compelling, take-no-prisoners atheist rant that makes Christopher Hitchens look like a vanilla cupcake.  Well, you can see where that might cause an unsuspecting christian to take note. Andy, the store owner took offense to what Sam had to say and when he got back to his shop posted the following note on his door.


He said that he took it down after he calmed down about 10 minutes later. Clearly enough time for someone to snap this photo and take note. He has since apologized and now the debate over whether to accept his apology is being fought.
http://redd.it/mkw6h

Now PZ  Myers of Pharyngula fame has been vocal about not accepting his apology. The owner has made a personal  apology to PZ which he rejected saying "I have to live with the fact that I live in a country where my rejection of your religion makes me a pariah. There’s absolutely nothing you can do to make up for that."  I certainly understand where Pz is coming from and I would not patronize his store myself either. That being said, we all make mistakes and have knee-jerk reactions, and I believe that is what probably happened here. I don't know what he could do differently now that will make it up to anyone.
http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/11/22/fair-weather-atheists-and-sunshine-skeptics/

Often there are times when public figures make some off color remark or mistake that they are forced to publicly apologize for. When I see these, they frustrate me, because I know that person is just doing it because they have to. They don't have a different worldview just because they apologized. A racist isn't not a racist just because they apologized that their statement was overheard. So I don't think that just because he apologizes that he will think any more of skeptics or atheists. Likely he is just sorry for his overreaction not his belief. He also claimed that while the sign was up that no one was refused service. In fact he may have done some people a favor, after all who wants to give their money to someone who is that bigoted. So, I don't know if he apologized just because he thought it would be good for business, but I can accept his apology, however if I find myself in Springfield I wont be giving him my money.

Happy Thanksgiving

     Well with Thanksgiving upon us I just wanted to take the opportunity to thank everyone that has joined and supported M.E.A.N. It has been a great year and I have really enjoyed meeting all the members who have had a chance to make it to a meeting. This year I am thankful to all of you who have shared your story with me. I hope to use our 1 year anniversary in January to help motivate me into stepping it up a little bit and add a little more structure to the meetings. I would like to try and get a guest speaker at least once this year. I also plan on having a showing of Roger Nygard's "The Nature of Existence" and also "The Ledge".  Have a happy Thanksgiving and I hope you all get to spend it with those you love. -Wingman

Ring species

During our September meeting while discussing evolution, Ryan brought up a great example that I was not familiar with. It is an evolutionary concept called "Ring Species", it is a great example of evolution in action. As an animal population spreads, the neighboring populations can continue to interbreed with one another. So, in this example there are 7 subspecies of the  Ensatina salamander. Subspecies 1 can interbreed with subspecies 2, and 2 with 1 or 3, and so on. However, subspecies 1 and 7 which live side by side can not interbreed with one another. As they descended down each side of the valley, they evolved with subtle differences and by the time the salamanders met at the bottom of the valley, while looking very much like the same animal, they are essentially 2 different species.      

Now of course this did not just happen overnight and would have taken many years and generations for this to have taken place. What makes this so interesting is that you can see the transition species along the way, of course all of the species have continued to adapt. Being able to track the animal as it moved and adapted to it's environment, while still being able to see the original species, make it a great tool to show evolution in action. There are other ring species as well, but the Ensatina salamander is one of the better known examples. For further information, I would recommend  checking out this link and look at the work Tom Devitt is doing, it also contains a more in-depth explanation and some experiments he has done with the salamanders. http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/0_0_0/devitt_01