Just a quick post today, because I want people to spread the word about this. This weekend I had an amazing time at Paganicon getting together with like-minded people in a safe and educational environment. At times like these I really feel like being Pagan is no big deal; it's just another spiritual path that has all sorts of adherents, and we can all get together and talk about important things. But this morning back in the office, reality rudely awakened me once more to the fact that some people just don't get it. That's fine, but it's a problem when those people then harass you and cause you to lose your job. This article gives a compelling picture of  a group of people highly

I saw a blog by Jerry Coyne which referenced an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In particular there is a chart that shows a surprising percentage of adults who have false beliefs about science: 33% of adults don't think the Earth goes around the Sun once per year. 49% think that "ordinary" tomatoes don't have genes but genetically modified tomatoes do. 14% think that sound travels faster than light. And this one is a bit more challenging, 45% think that antibiotics kill viruses (they don't; they kill bacteria). The point of the article is that there are several reasons for scientific illiteracy. For one thing, we need to improve science education in order to help adults have a