Happy Holy Pasta Week!

Sep 15-19 is "Holy Pasta Week"

Welcome to the first day of Holy Pasta Week! Unlike many holidays, the origins of Holy Pasta Week are not lost in the midsts of time and memory. In fact, we know EXACTLY how it started. Here's Keith Kisser explaining the dates:

The holiest of holidays for Pastafarians, is of course the birthday of His Most Holy Prophet, Marco Polo (b. sept 15, 1254), who brought the word of his Noodly Appendage back from the East.

As Talk Like A Pirate Day falls on September 19th, this five day period constitutes Holy Pasta Week, during which spaghetti is consumed liberally. With a nice chianti, of course.

All well and good, but who are Pastafarians? And what do Pirates have to do with Pasta? For that, The Wikipedia entry is probably the best overview. Or you can start at the Open Letter to the Kansas School Board that started the whole thing. In short, the whole Pastafarian movement is a reaction against Creationists trying to get their beliefs into science classes. Strange that the same folks who want religion in science classes don't allow science to be taught in church as an alternate "theory" to their beliefs.

And even if they did, it would be silly. There is a time and place for everything. Science belongs in science classes. Religion belongs in church or philosophy classes. If you cannot apply the scientific method to something, it doesn't belong in a science class... and "Intelligent Design" or whatever they are disguising Creationism as this week is all about belief and not about science. And please note: I'm not saying that Intelligent Design or Creationism is, in and of itself "silly". I'm saying that it's silly to teach religion in a science class. I respect people who are able to hold their beliefs without forcing them on children in inappropriate forums.

Thus, in the spirit of the holiday, I present the first of my links for this week: An Introduction to the Scientific Method. Remember: Science expects to get things wrong and alter the theories to fit the facts. This is the strength of science. Any method of learning which alters or ignores facts to fit theories is not science, and should not be taught in a science class.

Arrr! Ramen.