Now that the authorities have confiscated the computers of a few contrarian bloggers to see whether they can find evidence of who hacked the University of East Anglia’s e-mail servers, Lord Monckton is incensed! INCENSED, I tell you! He says he’s going to go after the climate scientists whose e-mails were stolen and have them prosecuted for fraud. Why him? Because the bumbling police don’t know much about climatology, so they need help to understand the “fraud”.

Read on!

The discovery of the carcass of Jerry Falwell on the floor of an obscure office in Virginia has almost zero significance, except perhaps for two categories of the species labeled “credulous idiot.” The first such category consists of those who expected Falwell (and themselves) to be bodily raptured out of the biosphere and assumed into the heavens, leaving pilotless planes and driverless trucks and taxis to crash with their innocent victims as collateral damage. This group is so stupid and uncultured that it may perhaps be forgiven. It is so far “left behind” that almost its only pleasure is to gloat at the idea of others being abandoned in the same condition…

Read the rest here.

Why is the Robin’s breast red? Why are any of the parts of any birds colorful? To make it easier for birders to identify them, of course!

But seriously, Science has a more interesting set of answers, and some recently published research on European Robins helps to examine this question in some detail.

There are several reasons that scientists have postulated for any kind of signaling seen in animals, and bird’s colors are clearly some kind of signal. Here’s a short list of them:

Read On

Or, “The Ultimate Deer John Letter”

More of my unused shortlist of presents.

For music, consider the latest Florence + The Machine , something by my nephew, XFactor contestant LeRoy Bell, or one of my latest fav’s, Holly MIranda.

I’m actually giving someone the The Robert Downy Sherlock Holmes Movie, because I think it is important to own the canon. Speaking of canon, a gift of Most of the harry potter movies is always nice (I just got mine a while back) the latest and last movie, which just came out., or the Star Wars Collection, or The Lord of the Rings. Anyway, something canonical.

Or, if documentary is more your style or your giftee is, say, a biology teacher or something, consider Life of Birds, or The Planet Earth.

Also, have a look at these items produced by friends of mine: The Listening Project, a documentary about the view others take of US policy; the mockumentary “… and on the seventh day, God Rocked”, or Flock of Dodo’s … not current but still very good.

The Washington Post reports:

Christopher Hitchens, a sharp-witted provocateur who used his formidable learning, biting wit and muscular prose style to skewer what he considered high-placed hypocrites, craven lackeys of the right and left, “Islamic fascists” and religious faith of any kind, died Thursday “from pneumonia, a complication of esophageal cancer,” according to Vanity Fair, the magazine for which Mr. Hitchens worked. He was 62.

The Washington Post reports:

Christopher Hitchens, a sharp-witted provocateur who used his formidable learning, biting wit and muscular prose style to skewer what he considered high-placed hypocrites, craven lackeys of the right and left, “Islamic fascists” and religious faith of any kind, died Thursday “from pneumonia, a complication of esophageal cancer,” according to Vanity Fair, the magazine for which Mr. Hitchens worked. He was 62.