OK, I’m taking steps to avoid unnecessary confusion and ensuing chaos on this blog. From now on, if you are going to comment on this blog, the first thing you must do if to fill out this form:
Continue reading New Blog Rules →

No one will take Muammar al-Gaddafi’s speech at the UN seriously because he is generally seen as a raving lunatic. And he might be. However, he made numerous valid points (not all of which I agree with). I loved the part where he threw the book over his shoulder.
Continue reading Muammar al-Gaddafi: Not a bad speech →

Giant Waterbug Catches Fish

Sbling Darren Naish has a book out! It’s called Great Dinosaur Hunters and Their Discoveries.

Publisher’s notes:

This elegantly illustrated volume is a journey through more than two centuries of remarkable discovery. Books on dinosaurs are usually arranged by classification or epoch, but this unique work tells the story chronologically, in order of the key finds that shaped our understanding and brought these creatures to life for the public. From the fragmentary remains of giant extinct animals found in the early 1800s to the dinosaur wars in the American West to the amazing near-complete skeletons found around the world today, Darren Naish tells how these discoveries have led not only to the recognition of new species and whole new groups, but also to new theories of evolutionary history. Along the way, we encounter dinosaurs both familiar and obscure-including Tyrannosaurus rex, the giant sauropods, and most recently, the feathered dinosaurs of China. As he describes these significant finds, Naish explains in clear, accessible language, how our ideas about dinosaur appearance, biology, and behavior have developed and changed over time, and what the state of knowledge is today.

See Darren’s commentary on it here.

I can’t wait to get my review copy!!!

PZ Myers’ review of Richard Dawkins’ book, The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution, printed in Seed Magazine, is available on line here.

Lucky for Chris Joe wasn’t there. He tends to interrupt the interviewee even more than these other guys do.

The main reason that a government shouldn’t be run like a business is the profit motive. There is a key point here that the “government should be run like a business” people miss. The goal of government is decidedly not profit. The purpose of government is …

Mike’s post at Quiche Moraine is chock full of insight on this question.

An American scientist studying the origins of Black Death has died from an infection linked to the disease.

Professor Malcolm Casadaban was killed by a strain of the bacteria responsible for millions of deaths over the centuries, officials at the University of Chicago revealed.

An autopsy on the 60-year-old professor showed no obvious cause of death, except for the presence in his blood of the bacteria Yersinia pestis.

This strain of the plague is not thought to be fatal. It has actually been used as a vaccine. Obviously, there may have been complications of some kind. There is no known risk to the public associated wiht this incident.

Erik Klemetti notes that Mt. Rainier has been experiencing increased seismic activity as of late. (details)

Overall activity level is up since the last month and the little earth quakes are a little bigger. No particular explanations are forthcoming yet. Current seismic data are here.

Featuring one of our local caribou bou bou.

More about Dark Dark Dark at a later time.

I just found out that Scienceblogs has a facebook page.

You should join it!

NCSE: National Center for Science Education
STOP RACISM!
STOP RACISM Minnesota
The Friends of Charles Darwin
Minnesota Atheists
The Beagle Project

First, some important business. If you have a science post, send it to Scientia Pro Publica. . They are due NOW and, I assume owing to the beginning of the school year, there is a shortage.

Second, check this out: Something interesting happened the other day when Almost Diamonds produced this post on purity movements (or, purity as a trait of a community. For convoluted reasons, this led to two largely separate communities bumping a little into each other, which is probably a minor fender bender, but that event resulted in THIS POST at Almost Diamonds, which is a list of posts that Stephanie or I have written over the last year or so on how to ruin, or not ruin, the blogosphere.

If you are on facebook and have any (facebook) friends that are actual (meatland) friends, you better read this. Its about what looks like a very effective scam.

Is it possible that the earth can be cooling and experiencing global warming at the same time? Yes, of course. You don’t have to know much about how the earth works to understand that. Or, you could be a willfully ignorant moron like this guy.

It turns out the war of Gog and Magog starts tomorrow, so I’m going to spend the rest of the time before The Rapture cleaning out my father-in-law’s Scotch Collection which I happen to be alone with right now. Details here.

KTHXBYE