By the Quantum Pontiff. Interesting list. Could be an internet meme.

…The park encompasses the giant caldera of a hotspot-fuelled ‘supervolcano’ that last exploded 630,000 years ago, and is famous as the place to see geysers, hot springs and other hydrothermal activity, all powered by that same hotspot. …

An Epic Post, you must read.

In surveying the diversity of living organisms, the 20th century evolutionary theorist Theodosius Dobzhansky did not see “a formless mass of randomly combining genes and traits.” Instead he perceived pockets of discontinuity organized around available ecological niches – clusters of occupied “adaptive peaks” separated by rifts and valleys representing vacant spots in the natural world. Big cats, for example, formed their own mountain chain distinct from the cluster of dog species, and dog species were likewise separated from bears. By looking at the ecological and evolutionary topography of species, life’s pattern would emerge.

at Brian’s New Blog

The anti-Darwin industry among fundamentalist Christians has produced thousands of pages of misinformation in their attempt to tar and feather the theory of evolution. I have responded to many of these false claims previously. However, one assertion that is especially outlandish is that the Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin was a devoted Darwinian who funded a program to create “ape-man Superwarriors” in his goal for world domination. As Creation Ministries, publisher of the Journal of Creation and advocate of a young Earth literal interpretation of the Bible, insisted in 2006…

Must read at The Primate Diaries

Tomorrow we begin the obstetric countdown to goat birthing. This is only our second time ’round with this, and while I’m less nervous than last time (way more nervous than the actual goats, though), I’m still a little worried. Mostly about Selene, who after her bout with meningeal parasite last year has some residual weakness in her back legs. Although she gets along great, can still jump on the stanchion, etc… and is a fine milker, I’m worried she’ll have trouble delivering.

Well, now I know where to get goats …

Science After Sunclipse rants about Google Books. Here.

As many of you know, I moved my blog Culture Dish yesterday from ScienceBlogs, where it’s been the past few years. As Carl Zimmer pointed out in his post about PepsiGate and the many bloggers who relocated, moving a blog is no small undertaking. Fortunately, I have a rockstar web designer who created this blog here yesterday and transferred my old Culture Dish archives to this site. …

Here

I think the strike is still on. One of the problems we have around here is communication, and it is not just between management and bloggers. Nobody tells me anything. But another problem we have around here is patience. So I’ll try to be patient.

In the meantime, I continue to blog at my old site, and here are a few recent non-trivial installments you may find interesting:

Can you train an adult brain? (An actual science post!)

Web Reactions to #SbSTRIKE (Humor, tragedy)

Learning the Bash Shell (A repost to keep you amused, if you are into this sort of thing)

… or something. I’ll be here, on strike.
Continue reading Adam …. call me #SbSTRIKE →

In those days, one of the hardest things to come by was a good pair of boots. Boots were carefully and painstakingly hand made of relatively rare materials. They were meant to last for years, re-soled now and then, re-heeled a bit more often. I myself barely remember, as a child, bringing the family shoes to the cobbler for new heels, or perhaps bringing them back home, acting as a tiny courier and not having to bring any money for the work being done since it was put on an account. But back in those days … long before my time or even my father’s time … boots were even more rare and a person of modest means was likely to own perhaps six pairs in a whole lifetime.

Continue reading All Quiet on the Scienceblogs Front →

Holy crap:

Knowing the Problem of Induction

Through these experiences, I found out how religious people “know” what they know. There could be no doubt, because the words came directly to me while I was experiencing the ecstasy. There was no induction needed, because through those experiences I had the Truth.

On the Utility of Dicks

This is not about what you think it is.

Adventures Among Ants

Well, OK, not so much read, but listen to!

Rage rising…rising…rising…

At some point, there will be a loud noise, a sudden lurch (Bora’s departure may even be it), and everyone will abruptly turn and run screaming for the lifeboats. I personally may trample a few women and children to get a good seat. There may be riots and recriminations. Shots will fired, flares will go off, people will be thrown overboard, boilers will explode.

Breaking news: It seems as though the cap placed on BP’s deep sea oil well may be leaking, and there is seeping gas and/or oil from nearby indicating that the oil is leaking from the bore hole into surrounding sediments.

Continue reading BP’s oil well seeping, leaking →

Actually, this ad makes be a little hungry.

The Twittersphere erupted Sunday when former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin tweeted that “peaceful Muslims” should “refudiate” the mosque being built in New York City near where the Twin Towers once stood. Palin found herself the butt of many tweets, as refudiate, of course, is not a word in the English language.

After deleting the offending tweet, Palin replaced it with another calling on “peaceful New Yorkers” to “refute the Ground Zero mosque plan,” which only added to the confusion because it would appear the word she was looking for was “repudiate.” Then came the kicker: To quell the vicious Twitter-ribbing she was receiving, Palin unleashed yet another tweet comparing herself to no less than the Bard of Avon.

source