More on the CT teacher case 8 May 2010 It now appears that the teacher who was forbidden to teach evolution because it was “philosophically unsatisfying” (ORLY?) was done so by the headmaster, Mark Ribbens, alone. Ribbens tried to impugn teacher Mark Tangarone, a teacher in the Talented and Gifted Program (TAG), by falsely claiming he was “a disgruntled teacher who did not like being supervised and had been disciplined for attendance issues and insubordinate conduct”, after the event became widely known. I think Mr Ribbens is the problem here, and I hope he is let go for being disgruntled. Education Evolution Politics Religion Evolution
Evolution The evolution of bacon 7 Jun 20117 Jun 2011 From Calamities of Nature… The alt text reads “Ironically enough, four billion years later the world witnessed the birth of the first bacon creature, which just happened to be a direct descendent of Harold.” Read More
General Science The New Yorker on “Freakonomics” and Global Warming 15 Nov 2009 To be skeptical of climate models and credulous about things like carbon-eating trees and cloudmaking machinery and hoses that shoot sulfur into the sky is to replace a faith in science with a belief in science fiction. This is the turn that “SuperFreakonomics” takes, even as its authors repeatedly extoll… Read More
Evolution Quetelet and the origin of statistical and population thinking 4 Jun 2009 Adolphe Quetelet is a much overlooked figure in the history of scientific methodology: he marked that populations had distributed properties that were largely constant, even though individuals varied in ways that seemed indeterminate. He noted that hat sizes and belt sizes were constantly distributed in different samples. Will Thomas at… Read More
Mark Tangarone is one of the finest teachers to be found in Ct. He puts forth his best for each student. It is a sad loss for Weston youth. The Board of Education should take a good deep look at Weston’s administration.