Life Musings

Get this. Remember that movie, Inherit the Wind? People think that it's an accurate depiction of the Scopes Monkey Trial, but in reality, it took tremendous liberties. It pretty much told a completely different story.

Thanks to the movie though, many people have a distorted view of the Scopes monkey trial was about the conflict between a school teacher and a crazed, religious populace that opposed the teaching of evolution. In reality though, there was no such conflict. There was no attempt to enforce the Butler Act, which would have restricted the teaching of evolution, nor was there any jail penalty attached to this law. Quite the contrary; Scopes had to be persuaded by a group of Dayton businessmen to present himself as a defendant so that the ACLU could present its case.

And yet schools show this film in biology class. I wish they wouldn't.

It was basically a publicity stunt designed to drum up tourism for a struggling town. I've been told (though I haven't confirmed this) that they even checked on the prices of renting ferris wheels long before the trial began, and ironically Scopes himself did not believe in evolution (or else hadn't really thought about it one way or the other).

Oh, and as long as I'm ranting, I want to endorsed the writings of Roger van Oech, a master of the creative process.

The episode of "Bones" last night was pretty darned good, and the ending... Holy cow!

First, I'm pleased to see that Emily Deschanel can sing. Her sister Zooey is an absolutely amazing chanteuse, and I'm happy to see that Emily can hold her own. I'd love to hear more, just so that I can find out just how good Emily really is.

Second, David Boreanaz put in a pretty good performance. Oh, and it was nice to her Zach belt out some Broadway as well. Dang.

Third, the ending... Wow. I'm not worried about the outcome, but it certainly made for a dramatic moment. Oh, and the way that Bones coldly (but justifiably) dispatched the perp was way cool as well. I had to double-check to footage to make sure that it was indeed an act of self-defense rather than vengeance.

Watch this episode, folks. Watch it.