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A few things that amused me

post from Pharyngula on 09 May 2008 10:55:28 PM. © Pharyngula

Here's a bizarre miscellany.

Well, it's just Wisconsin.
Two people have been arrested after a Juneau County Sheriff's deputy found one of them and her two children living in a home with the body of a 90-year-old woman decomposing on the bathroom toilet.
Tammy D. Lewis, 35, and Alan A. Bushey, 57, both of Necedah are each charged with two felony counts of causing mental harm to a child, according to a criminal complaint filed Friday. Lewis also faces one count of obstructing police.
The body was decaying for two months in their bathroom. How could they do that? It takes religion to be that crazy!
Lewis told the deputy that "God told her Alvina would come back to life if she prayed hard enough." Bushey told the deputy that "Lewis was obedient and served the Lord just as she should."
The 12-year-old boy later told investigators that after Middlesworth died, Bushey told him her appearance "was the result of demons attempting to make it appear that Alvina would not come back to life. The boy also reportedly said that Bushey told him that if Middlesworth's death was discovered, he and his sister would have to go to public school and get jobs because the woman, whom the boy referred to as his "grandmother," was paying the bills.
The ICR has put out an enemies list. There are three people on it: Richard Dawkins, Eugenie Scott, and … me! They noticed <sniff> — I'm so touched.
Adnan Oktar, aka Harun Yahya, the notorious Turkish creationist, has been convicted of "creating an illegal organization for personal gain", and has been sentenced to 3 years in a Turkish prison. Hooray! Justice at last!

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Live video chat: Sun. May 11 at 3:00 MT

post from Bad Astronomy Blog on 09 May 2008 08:31:04 PM. © Bad Astronomy Blog

I’ll be doing another live video chat starting at 3:00 p.m. Mountain Time (21:00 UT) on Sunday May 11. If you look below and see/hear me jawing about astronomy or Doctor Who, then you’re good. I urge you to go to the UStream page, though, so you can participate in the chat room (or find/use [...]

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Foldit

post from easternblot.net on 09 May 2008 05:58:00 PM. © easternblot.net

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Real controversy in evolution

post from Bad Astronomy Blog on 09 May 2008 05:46:38 PM. © Bad Astronomy Blog

The Disco ‘tute, the ironically described think tank for intelligent design, loves to crow about how there are basic controversies in evolutionary science and that makes it all wrong. However, in the real world, we know that the mouthpieces at DI are overly fond of lying, as has been shown so many times that it [...]

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When will they learn Another internet poll

post from Pharyngula on 09 May 2008 05:45:03 PM. © Pharyngula

The town of Frankenmuth, Michigan likes to flaunt their crosses — they've put them up on signs, and they've got one on the city logo. I suspect the town contains a Christian majority, so their local news probably felt safe putting up an online poll asking,

Should Frankenmuth remove its cross from the city shield?

They don't expect a horde of ravening godless atheists to descend on them and vote "YES!" — they never do. Mount up, internet warriors, and assault their poll with fire and sword and level it until they reel back crying for mercy.

Frankenmuth won't know what hit them.^*

^*Literally; most probably won't even notice. It's just a pointless internet poll.

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UFOh noes!

post from Bad Astronomy Blog on 09 May 2008 03:30:08 PM. © Bad Astronomy Blog

I got an email from writer Paul McNamara about my recent comments complaining about shoddy journalism when it comes to UFO reports. Turns out he wrote a list of 10 reasons not to believe in UFOs, and while it’s a tad snarky it really hits the high notes. To his list, I’ll add my #1 [...]

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1968 Science Fiction is Todays Reality

post from Science Blog - Send lawyers, guns and money on 09 May 2008 02:53:06 PM. © Science Blog - Send lawyers, guns and money

The futuristic epic 2001: A Space Odyssey influenced many to fall in love with the limitless possibilities of space exploration. The movie sparked imaginations and provided a realistic preview of what our future in space might look like.

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Designer Genes - Drew Endy uses DNA to make new
and improved versions of life

post from Science Blog - Send lawyers, guns and money on 09 May 2008 02:46:58 PM. © Science Blog - Send lawyers, guns and money

When Drew Endy envisions the future, he sees giant gourds engineered to grow into four-bedroom, two-bathroom houses. He sees people alerted to nascent tumors in their bodies by internal biological sensors, and cars fueled by bacteria-produced gasoline. Endy, 37, is a pioneer in synthetic biology, a field that combines biology, chemistry, and engineering to remake biological systems to act according to human design. In other words, he?s a little like God, if God were a geek.

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Volcano erupts in Chile

A lot of you may have already seen this, but a 1200 meter volcano called Chaiten in Chile erupted the other day, blowing smoke and ash kilometers into the sky. It also sparked massive lightning, and the images are incredible:There are quite a few amazing pictures of the event on Flickr. There is also this [...]

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Weekly Science Update - Breakthroughs in
Evolution

I like how the New York Times, the LA Times and USA Today, and even Yahoo! News each has a science section and it includes stories about ecology, nature, health, medicine, even science-society intersections. Why haven?t Black Media outlets done the same? Well, until it happens, I?ll continue posting important and interesting information about science and research. Think of it as supplemental News. The weekly science update labels are a quick way to see what?s new in Science and Research. And if you don?t listen to NPR Science Friday -- you may be even further behind than I think -- here is your Crib Sheet for Cocktail party talk this weekend. Both are rather quick reads. So scan through them quickly impress everyone with your knowledge of evolutionary theory over drinks. This week?s theme ? EVOLUTION.

Platypus Genome Decoded Yes, this is a big deal. Okay not the ?how does this apply to me? kind of way. But it?s a big deal to evolutionary and conservation geneticists/biologists. Yes, the freaky looking platypus? genome has been figured out. And yes, it confirms what every elementary kid thought when they first are introduced to this animal - Platypus DNA is a combination of reptiles, birds and mammals; but in the most evolutionarily delicious way. Check out the story.

Ancient "Nutcracker Man" Challenges Ideas on Evolution of Human Diet Short and sweet ? Anthropologists examined the tooth wear and food residuals of early hominid teeth. Usually dental paleontologist use ancient teeth to hypothesize what animals could eat. Because of this hominid?s tooth, cheek, and skull structure, plus the tell-tale wear on the teeth, they surmised that these early humans were well-suited for eating nuts and fruits with hard shells. But thanks to better digital and electronic imaging technology that can take a closer look at the teeth and determine what they actually ate (or more likely to have actually eaten). Neat, huh?

Oh, and don?t forget my prior posting on Human origins in Africa are derived from 2 lines.

Knock ?em out.

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