During a California wildfire rescue workers ran out of crates to place rescued animals, forcing them to put a fawn and a bobcat kitten in an office together. When they got back they found that fawn and the bobcat cuddling and the pair became inseparable. Yes, compassion,
Continue readingTag: Evolution
Scripturient: Blog & Commentary: The Cosmic Origins of Life
Here’s one to confound the creationist crowd: life may have begun as a result of organic molecules resulting from impacts by comets or meteorites. No supernatural foundation, no invisible hand guiding the process. Just random crashes, a little physics, some chemistry, a while lot of time, and voila: life. But
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week. – Richard Seymour rightly calls out right-wing lobby groups in the UK for distorting the facts in order to attack social programs: The report calls for benefits to fall in real terms, and refers to “the regrettable 5.2% blanket benefit increase put through in
Continue reading350 or bust: Why We Do What We Do
It’s TED Talk Tuesday, and today’s video is Rev. Michael Dowd’s 2012 TEDx Talk which reexamines faith traditions and what science is now revealing about human nature and instincts: The world’s faith traditions offer conflicting beliefs about our inner and outer nature, and our challenges. Fortunately, a knowledge-based view of
Continue readingEclectic Lip: The Innovator’s Dilemma, Toyota edition
This car — yes, this car — has impeded Toyota’s electric efforts My post on how The Innovator’s Dilemma explains why Toyota lags in electric vehicles — and how Kleiber’s Law explains there’s nothing for them to worry about (yet), is now up on GreenCarReports. While the Tesla stats were
Continue readingScripturient: Blog & Commentary: The colonization of land by life pushed back in time
A recent story on Science Daily made me stop and read with fascination. It’s about the discovery of fossils that showed life colonized land more than two billion years ago. That’s a shocker, because all indicators are that the Earth was a hostile place, land was barren, and life was
Continue readingThe Political Road Map: The Great Academic Rejection of 2008-20??
…….. 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20….. Do you know what this is? It is a count of the amount of days since my last job interview. A count that is used to monitor a continued hope that employment in my field or a career of some sort will be attainable under the current economy.
Continue readingChadwick's Blog & Commentary: ID’s deep roots in creationism
Proponents of creationism often try to deny that “intelligent” design (ID) is merely creationism wrapped in a fake lab coat to make it look like it’s pals with science. It isn’t. They’re not buddies, didn’t go to school together, and … Continue reading →
Continue readingThe Canadian Progressive: Info Graphic: The Evolution Of The Job Search
By The Canadian Progressive Reporters | Jan. 30, 2013 via The Daily Muse: We recommend:Fight for Internet freedom, ditch GoDaddy nowOperation Last Resort: Anonymous Declares ‘War’ On U.S. GovernmentWelcome to #Ottawapiskat, the “Settler Nations” reserve and Canada’s capitalOn Canada’s Independence Day, #DenounceHarper & #HappyCanadaDayThis year, Ramadan has a serious
Continue readingEclectic Lip: The Black Swan’s Thanksgiving Turkey
(originally written Nov 24, 2011. Part of Great Upload of 2013.) It came to my attention that Naseem Nicholas Taleb, who authored The Black Swan (surprisingly, not about a ballet dancer, but about financial crises) discussed other avians in his book, among them the Thanksgiving turkey. Per the Wikipedia page,
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Evolution – Qualia Soup
It is nice to have a post you can point to when people suddenly become hyperskeptical of Evolution. Thanks Qualia Soup. Filed under: Education, Science Tagged: Education, Evolution, Qualia Soup, Science, Science 101
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Warning: you don’t have Spidey-reflexes
This sign would also be useful if posted liberally on the 401, especially in the Toronto region. Alltop is a member of the slow humor movement.
Continue reading350 or bust: Climate Crisis: Humanity At Its Finest?
Humans are such complicated creatures. We are wreaking havoc on a global scale because of big-is-better, greed-is-good mentality that dominates most nations and corporations (combined with an “it’s too hard to change” attitude on the part of much of the populace). Yet we are also capable of great compassion, and
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: States Continue To Push For Anti-Climate and Anti-Evolution Curriculum Laws
confused-child.jpg It looks like Tennessee can add another dumb law to join the ranks of other special ones such as being able to shoot whales out of a car, marrying your cousin, and not being allowed to carry skunks into the state or electrifying your trash. It now joins Louisiana
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: On the compatibility of science and religion
Most people accept, at least tacitly, the majority of scientific claims: general relativity, quantum mechanics, pharmaceuticals; people accept that these work more or less the way the scientists say they do. Indeed, in almost all aspects of our lives people accept that a reasoned, evidential basis for knowledge is paramount.
Continue readingLeDaro: Evolution and Republican Nomination Race
There is a serious misconception that Democrats believe in evolution and Republicans don’t. Republicans not only believe in evolution but that they practice it plentifully. You have to look at the current race for the Republican Presidential nomination race and you will understand what I mean. They understand and practice
Continue readingThings Are Good: Pet Therapy For Your Health
Any pet owner can attest that having a cute loving animal around can make you feel better, but did you know that having a pet can make you physically healthier? What’s even better is that animals benefit benefit in a similar way that we do. I wonder what this has
Continue readingmark a rayner | scribblings, squibs & sundry monkey joys: Humor: an evolutionary explanation
Humans have evolved to have a sense of humor — sorry, most humans have evolved to have a sense of humor because it helps us deal with: the vast indifference of the universe the crushing knowledge of our own mortality … Continue reading →
Continue readingDeSmogBlog: Does PolitiFact Adequately Cover Scientific Misinformation? Well, Sort Of
pinocchio.jpg I’ve been harping a lot lately on the fact-checkers, like PolitiFact, and how they too often fall for a type of phony journalistic “balance” that those of us who practice science journalism as a trade have long abhorred. And then it occurred to me: Maybe the deep difference between science
Continue readingMolly'sBlog: Molly’sBlog 2011-11-24 20:11:00
TODAY IN HISTORY: ANNIVERSARY OF ‘THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES’ ********** It was today in 1859 that Charles Darwin published ‘The Origin Of Species’. It can be argued that this has been the most influential book of the modern age. Today pretty well anybody involved in the sciences is a “Darwinist”.
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