Wednesday, February 2, 2011


Fossil of Archaeopteryx bavarica from the Jurassic period. Paläontologisches Museum, München. Photograph: Luidger

WHAT DOES IT TAKE? DO WE HIT THEM ACROSS THE FACE WITH A 2 X 4 OR WATER-BOARD THEM? THE GOP DENIES EVOLUTION, CLIMATE CHANGE AND THEY ALSO DENY THEY SCREWED UP THE ECONOMY

I must do one of these types of posts about this subject periodically or I will explode. Although I am aware that no self-respecting CREATIONIST would even look at my blog let alone read it; and even if they did, they have their heads inserted so far into their anuses that it is impossible to discern or absorb anything other than their absurd theory of CREATIONISM.

Although ample evidence is there to support the THEORY OF EVOLUTION; there are some Fundamentalist-Christian-Evangelical types that would rather stick their head in the sand and simply ignore this evidence. It simply doesn’t add up, according to their askew ideology and since it doesn’t fit their agenda it is discarded, derided and definitely denied. These half-humans (if they need an example of mutation, they should look at themselves) are staunch supporters of teaching our impressionable young the concept of CREATIONISM and avoiding or even outlawing EVOLUTION.

Congressman Jack Kingston wants to see man-fish-newt

by DarkSyde

Sat Jan 29, 2011 at 07:16:04 PM PST

On Real Time with Bill Maher, Representative Jack Kingston (R-GA) apparently wants to see some kind of manfishnewt before he will accept evolution (For Southpark fans, that would be half-man, half-fish, and half-newt). Which, if ever found, would utterly destroy our understanding of human evolution along with a giant chunk of vertebrate biology. But I digress, and we can -- loosely and liberally -- credit Kingston for grasping blindly toward a transitional tetrapod. So presumably, as long as it's not Acanthostega, Ichthyostega, Hynerpeton or any of the dozens of fossils found at the exact geologic time and coincidentally with the exact suite of traits which bridge the transition from early fish to the first amphibians, Kingston will be convinced. Let's watch:

Kingston also demands a missing link. By which we can again loosely infer he means fossils demonstrating a mix of early and more modern hominid traits. As long as it's not A. ramidus, A. afarensis, H. ergaster, or any of the dozens of fossils on exhibit in museums all over the world, all showing the exact set of anatomical traits and found in the precise place in the fossil record demonstrating a clear progression toward anatomically modern humans over almost ten million years. Thus Kingston struggles to convey the well oiled illusion of reason while pandering to willful ignorance.



First off, you need to understand how evolution works. Mutations occur in organisms all the time. Some are neutral and have no effect on the organism. Some are beneficial, while others are detrimental.

Evolution is the result of the natural selection of beneficial mutations in the genome of an organism. If a mutation is beneficial to an organism, that organism is more likely to survive and pass on the mutation to the next generation. Over numerous generations, that mutation, along with other beneficial mutations will spread through the population of the species. It is the accumulation of beneficial mutations in a breeding population over a great many generations that will eventually result in changes in the species population over those generations.

All species evolve over time, some more than others. If a species is well adapted to an environment, it will remain relatively stable as long as the environment is stable. If a part of the population of a species finds itself in a different environment, it will evolve to fit into that environment and eventually will become a new species separate from the original population.

Thus, if you look at the geological strata, you will find a changing representation of species through the oldest to the youngest strata, and those changes reflect an evolutionary process. That is not what you would find if the fossil record had been laid down by a flood such as that described in the Bible. But it is what would be expected in an evolutionary scenario.

Early mammals existed during the time of the dinosaurs, but they were quite different from those existing today. Apes and other primates, including us, did not evolve until long after the time of the dinosaurs, which died out 65 million years ago.

You want transitional fossils, how about these?:
http://truth-saves.com/Transitional_Foss…
http://truth-saves.com/Our_Ancestors.php
http://www.holysmoke.org/tran-icr.htm
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fusea…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feathered_d…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/natur…
http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/thedinobir…
http://dinosaurs.about.com/od/thedinobir…
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/…
http://www.indiana.edu/~ensiweb/lessons/…
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/…
http://www.evolutionfaq.com/videos/trans…
http://chem.tufts.edu/science/evolution/…
http://www.theistic-evolution.com/transi…

And this series in particular.
http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc/…

But the evidence is not found just in fossils. There is other evidence.

For example.

About fifty years ago, when it was first noted that apes have 24 pairs of chromosomes, but humans have 23, the creationists subsequently pounced upon that as evidence against the evolution of humans from a common ancestor with the apes. The evolutionary scientists, however, using evolu

There are thousands, if not tens of thousands of evolutionary fossil records. Natural History museums from around the world are full of them: New York, Boston, London, etc.

Textbooks and popular science books on evolution have hundreds of photos of transitional fossils.

In addition, there is an entirely independent line of evidence: the genetic record. By comparing genomes between species, one can determine the amount of genetic overlap, the mutation rate, and when each common ancestor occured. So far this has supported evolutionary theory with astonishing accuracy.

What these Creationists fail to realize that adaptation and gradual change will take place and there is not abrupt metamorphosis of any one species…it all happens over a period of millions of years. So to ask for the cranium of a half human half monkey is so absurd as to provoke hysterical laughter.

This is an example of microevolution and is not proof of macroevolution or the theory of evolution.


This is the fossil head of a Bristolia insolens, a trilobite from the “youngest” geologic layer of these four examples.





This is the fossil head of the Bristolia bristolensis, a trilobite from the “second youngest” geologic layer of these four examples.





This is the fossil head of the Olenellus mohavensis, a trilobite from the “second oldest” geologic layer of these four examples.


When it comes to being an elected public servant I feel a lot more comfortable to have a Congressman who understands and believes in EVOLUTION and discards CREATIONISM as one more irrational, faith based concept…it is imaginary, made up and totally unsupported by science. That is why I consider anyone who believes in CREATIONISM to lack the mental capacity, intelligence if you will, to lead or to be Congressman or even President as Hucklebee seems to want to do. I simply would like to have public officials be a little smarter than myself though that is not saying much.

SOURCE: http://www.dailykos.com/

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100920011358AA4H6Tl

http://www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/benton2.html


Tuesday, February 1, 2011



My latest book from the library is (the audio version of) Stranger in a Strange Land (ref. Exodus 2:22:) by Robert Heinlein. I read the book once when I was a teen and I was impressed and also disturbed by it. I'm interested to see if it affects me the same way this time as it did before.

The book, which won a Hugo award for best novel, is set a bit in the future and is about Valentine Michael Smith, a child born on Mars to astronauts on a first-contact mission from Earth. All the astronauts die, leaving Smith to be raised by Martians. Twenty years later another expedition reaches Mars and brings Smith to Earth. For all intents and purposes, Smith is a Martian in a human body, suffering under a heavier gravity, a poor understanding of English, and an almost total lack of knowledge of humanity, including the fact of the existence of women. Being the only survivor of the first mission to Mars, he's inherited immense wealth and the government wants his money, so his nurse breaks him out of the hospital and spirits him to Jubal Harshaw, a wealthy and famous author/lawyer/doctor/libertarian/agnostic, who takes him under his wing.

The interesting thing about Stranger in a Strange Land is the way Smith thinks. Raised by Martians ....

Smith understands the concept of God only as "one who groks", which includes every living person, plant, and animal. This leads him to express the Martian concept of the oneness of life as the phrase "Thou art God". Many other human concepts—such as war, clothing, and jealousy—are strange to him, while the idea of an afterlife is something he takes as a given because the government on Mars is composed of "Old Ones", the spirits of Martians who have died. It is also customary for loved ones and friends to eat the bodies of the dead, in a spirit of Holy Communion.

Eventually Smith starts a new religion, the Church of All Worlds, which teaches the Martian language and psychic ability, practices polyamory, and exhibits many elements of mystery cults. It's attacked by the prevailing and powerful Fosterite religion as blasphemous, and before long Smith and his followers are wanted by the police. He ends up being killed by an angry mob, is eaten by his followers in a religious ceremony (sound familiar?), and then continues to exist in spiritual form as an advisor to his community.

As Wikipedia states ... "Stranger" was written in part as a deliberate attempt to challenge social mores. In the course of the story, Heinlein uses Smith's open-mindedness to reevaluate such institutions as religion, money, monogamy, and the fear of death. This can be challenging, but I think this is one of the best attributes of science fiction - it ivites us to look again at stuff we take for granted.

You can listen to an audio sample from the beginning of the book at Audible.com here.


You can now purchase The UnderGround Clown gear from:
"Brooklyn Mixed Martial Arts & Fitness"
located on:
5414 Avenue N
Brooklyn, NY
718-677-5979


Lee has an Obligatory Egypt post with some good links. It's funny, I too feel a certain desire to say something about Egypt even though I don't really know what's going on there. As I mentioned in a past post ...

I, who once only knew about Egypt that Cleopatra's ancestor Ptolemy took rule of the country after Alex the Great's death, that the emperor Hadrian's love interest died falling over the side of a barge on the Nile, and that you start mummy making by removing the brain through the nostrils, now also know a little bit about contemporary Egypt ...

thanks to those Gabriel Allon novels I've mentioned, though what I mostly know from them is that Egypt was the Bush administration's favorite out-sourced place to torture people. Andrew Sullivan mentioned this is a post the other day ... Egypt's Darkside

I hope things turn out for the best in Egypt.


Luella.

Luella Bartley is one of my favourite designers, after the label closing down, I feel we all lack a bit of the Bartley. The Spring/Summer 2008 RTW collection had me head over heels when I first read about it in Elle. The Batman prints clashing with florals? Amazing! I invested in my own Batman t-shirt from Topshop and teamed it up with my Topshop floral skirt, I thought I was the Bee's, well Luella's knees! Bartley's last collection to date (S/S 2010) was an amazing work of art. Full of colours, bows and prettiness.. I adored it. I didn't realise at the time it was to be her last collection, pity. I really do hope Miss.Bartley decides to relaunch the label in the near future, I would give anything to own a piece from Luella, everything is so timeless. Such a feminine, fun and eclectic designer, I miss Luella.
Fall 2006 RTW
Spring 2007 RTW
Fall 2007 RTW
Spring 2008 RTW
Fall 2008 RTW
Spring 2009 RTW
Fall 2009 RTW
Spring 2010 RTW

Step up to the plate and come clean…Republicans: you cause all this mess and we are not going to let you forget it.


Deregulation, friendly tax policies, inexcusable subsidies, assault on labor unions, outsourcing, encouraging corporations to set up house elsewhere, getting into two stupid wars, trampling our Constitution with illegal eavesdropping and searches, imprisoning enemies without due process indefinitely and then torturing them…


Wall Street surged between 1990 and 2007, average Wall Street salaries (including bonuses) ballooned nearly 112 percent, from just over $190,000 in 1990 to more than $403,000 in 2007, according to a startling new study by the Fiscal Policy Institute. During the same period, the top 5 percent of income earners—those making more than $167,400 a year in 2007—nearly doubled their share of the city’s total income, from 30 percent to 58 percent.

Then the crash came. And who do you think our government (Republican-Bush) went to help? It was the banks and the Wall Street firms with unimaginable bail outs that facilitated those who caused the crisis because of their greed and incompetence to depart with generous severance packages and obscene bonuses while the rest of the country had to bite the bullet and pay for it so they could keep their Hamptons second or third home.

America’s poor and working class struggled, and its middle class was almost decimated as the Fiscal Policy Institute study shows, the median hourly wage shriveled 8.6 percent between 1990 and 2007. The gap between rich and poor got wider—while the rich claimed ever larger chunks of the pie; the poorest 50 percent claimed less than 8 percent of the annual income and the once robust middle claimed just above 34 percent, This is in New York alone, earning the honor of being the most unequal large city in America.

But this was happening all across America with some degree of intensity or another.


But inequalities don’t stop there; our seniors saw a pillaging of their retirement accounts. With the crisis in full bloom, many of the IRAs and 401s just disappeared…like mine did. How terribly ironic that this money actually existed…employers were matching dollar for dollar what the worker put in…that money went somewhere…please tell me who has it.

What we have here folks, is failure to communicate. Our government then was complicit with this whole scheme…a blown up kind of Ponzi scheme and it was President Bush and his Republican cronies that facilitated the opportunity for our economy to crash. I know they will not own it; they don’t even want to hear or even acknowledge it happened. But it is there for everyone to see no matter how they deny it, how they try to change the facts, how they change the subject and most importantly: how they think it was just swell and would like to come back to the same old shit.

Lastly, it is this insistence in not taking responsibility for the damage that is causing the recovery to be much more sluggish and certainly the shameless sabotage on the part of the Republicans to help the President enact needed legislation to fix the problems Republicans left behind. Obstructionism, saying “NO” and trying to reclaim the reins of power by lying to the American people can only last so long…they will eventually fall flat on their faces once Americans realize that the cause of their problems is a very sick and askew ideology: TRICKLE DOWN ECONOMICS, GOVERNMENT IS THE PROBLEM and GOVERNMENT IS TOO BIG.

That is why it is not surprising that the Republican Teahadists are so willing to entertain the American public with distractions such as “Death Panels” and questioning the President’s birthplace. Now they are engaging us in a debate over the 2nd Amendment and gun ownership, they are threatening to de-fund the Health Care legislation that was just passed and most Americans want, they are also even talking about changes in Social Security which is solvent and will continue to be for the next 25 years. There is a reason for Teahadist Republicans to make all this noise and it is that while we are debating crap like that we are not talking about their participation and complicity in what has got to be the biggest assault on the middle class and the poor to benefit the very rich and the corporations.










Really Random Tuesday is hosted by Suko.





February has arrived and we're in the middle of an ice/snow storm here, which makes for nice cozy reading at home on my couch wrapped in a blanket.




I had a good reading month for January and hope to keep up this pace for the rest of the year. I really got into reading short stories online over @ american lit.com.





Books I read and reviewed:


1. The Lotus Eaters


2. Lincoln's Yarns and Stories (though this doesn't really count as a full January read since I've been reading this bit by bit online since 2010.


3. Blood of My Brother



4. TheSmartestWay to Save, Why You Can't Save Money and What to Do About It


5. Half in Love: Surviving the Legacy of Suicide (review will be up tomorrow as part of the blog tour)







Short stories I read in January:


1. Eva is inside her cat


2. Regret




3. A Moonlight Fable



4. The Storm (review not linked yet)


5. A Sister's Confession (review not linked yet)





This coming month I hope to read at least 8 books. I also want to finish re-reading Wuthering Heights, which I keep putting on the back burner.





Lastly, I found a site called The Daily Post over @ Carol's blog. The idea of this site is to give bloggers an idea to blog about daily. Their prompts are really good, especially if you are looking for ideas to blog about. Here is a random one I picked:



If stranded on a desert island, and could only bring one music album with you, which would it be? What is it about this music that never gets old for you?





There are soooo many albums I could mention here. But if I had to chose just one, it would have to be Legend by Bob Marley & The Wailers. I never get tired of this album.


This is my 'poolside music' during the summer. I play it often when we are swimming in the pool or enjoying hubby's b-b-q or just entertaining friends and family.



Listening to it always reminds me of those hot summer days. The entire CD is great. It's mellow music that you can listen to and enjoy.









What about you? What album would you take to a deserted album and why?

Enjoy your Tuesday :)







 

FREE HOT BODYPAINTING | HOT GIRL GALERRY