A taxonomist is a
person who studies organisms in part to work out their relationships and the
classificatory framework (i.e. their taxonomy) which explains those
relationships. Creationists have little understanding of taxonomy nor an
understanding of time frames. Some days ago, one creationist asked me, as if to
refute evolution ‘how come there are no humanzees?’ (presumably he meant chimpanzee-human
Most people would have heard of Israel
Folau’s transgression on Instagram, where he stated: “Warning: Drunks, Homosexuals, Adulterers, Liars, Fornicators, Thieves,
Atheists, Idolators: Hell Awaits You. Repent! Only Jesus Saves.” This caused
him to lose his contract with Rugby Australia and NSW Rugby, because it
breached the Professional Players Code of Conduct1. This was not so
much because he denigrated drunks and others who more or less choose how to
Time and again,
creationists have told me that ‘evolution is only a theory’. And so it is. The
problem with this assertion is not with evolution, but creationists, and their
absolutely blinding ignorance of science. Their understanding of the word ‘theory’
is based on the (very) colloquial meaning as in ‘that is my theory and I’m
sticking to it’ or alternatively ‘that is my story…’. These everyday quotes are
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Someone showed me an
e-mail they received from the Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance (MEAA).
This organisation is the trade union for those involved in journalism, acting,
theatre and amusements. It was registered in 1992 and was formed from the
merger of the Australian Journalists Association, Actors Equity of Australia,
and the Australian Theatrical and Amusement Employees Association, with the
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To explain this
properly, we need to do a bit of geology. The Permian Period is an interval of
geological time which began 298.9 million years ago and ended 251.9 million
years ago, so it lasted 47 million years1. At about the end of that
time interval, occurred the greatest mass extinction event in the history of
the planet. This extinction event wiped out an estimated 96% of all marine
species, and an estimated 70% of all terrestrial species.2
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It seems to be mostly
the far-right fruitcakes who are scared of the imposition of Sharia Law in
Australia. People like One Notion’s Pauline Hanson ramble on about it seemingly
interminably, and Jacqui Lambie has been forced to pull her head in a couple of
times because of her ignorance1. These sorts of idiotic attitudes
are simply because Hanson, Lambie and their ilk only seem to think that Sharia
Home Affairs Minister Peter
Dutton has blamed the Labor Party’s border protection policy for emboldening
people smugglers after the Australian Border Force confirmed a boat carrying 20
Sri Lankan asylum-seekers was intercepted en route to Australia a week or so
ago1. Whether the details of this boat interception leaked out, or
Dutton proffered the information simply to try to blame Labor is unclear.