Category Archives: Uncategorized

A real longneck: a 20-foot aquatic reptile of the Triassic with a nine-foot neck

August 14, 2020 – 9:00 am

In America, a “longneck” usually refers to a bottle of beer, so called because of its long top.  But, this creature, which lived about 250 million years ago, was a real longneck: it had a stiff, 9-foot (2.7 m) neck on a body that, with the neck, was only 20 feet (6.1 m) long. Moreover, […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (39)

NYT finally gets around to reporting on the “chaos in Seattle”

August 10, 2020 – 10:30 am

I’ve reported before on what happened during the recent troubles in Seattle (see here, for instance) , in which a six-block area of the downtown (renamed “CHAZ” or “CHOP”) was taken over by protestors and was abandoned by police, who wouldn’t respond to calls from within the area. Mayor Jenny Durtkan, too, refused to do […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (78)

“First they came for the bird names. . .” Woke craziness creeps into bird taxonomy

August 8, 2020 – 12:00 pm

The latest gambit of Woke politics is to trawl back through everyone’s history, and, if you find something unsavory, that person must be canceled. Now sometimes this is okay, as when statues are taken down that honored Confederates, particularly postbellum statues meant to solidify the established system of segregation. (I’d prefer, however, that those statues […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (69)

Charles Lipson on woke colleges, conformity, and diversity

August 6, 2020 – 11:00 am

One thing that happens when liberals start decrying the excesses and wokeness of the Left is that it groups us with conservatives who decry the same things but for different reasons (some of us, for example, want to create a Left closer to liberal traditions, as well as to maximize our effectiveness in defeating Trump […]

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Discussion thread

July 31, 2020 – 12:45 pm

As I’ve run out of things to say today, I’ll let readers speak, and about any topic on their minds.  If you want something to start with, and you needn’t discuss it, here’s a NYT op-ed calling for Trump to resign before his coronavirus policies continue to kill Americans. Now I’d be delighted if Trump […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (134)

New study shows that the asteroid, rather than volcanism, likely caused the end-Cretaceous dinosaur extinction

July 22, 2020 – 8:45 am

Over the past few decades, there have been many arguments about what caused the extinction of the dinosaurs at the end of the Cretaceous—about 66 million years ago. One theory is that volcanic eruptions from the Deccan traps, a volcanic complex in what is now India, spewed carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere. […]

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Here are the grasshoppers!

July 19, 2020 – 3:00 pm

Did you spot all three Northern Marbled Grasshopper’s in Mark Sturtevant’s picture posted three hours ago? Here’s the reveal in case you didn’t. Mark says this: Here are the three grasshoppers. I also include another picture of one. Their camouflage is incredible!

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Sunday Duck o’ The Week

July 19, 2020 – 7:45 am

Evolutionist John Avise has once again favored us with a Duck O’ the Week, designed to increase our knowledge about the wonderful species seen in North America. This one has a bit of a twist. Do you know the species? Click below the fold to see the ID, John’s duck notes, and a range map. […]

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Saturday: Hili dialogue

July 11, 2020 – 6:30 am

Welcome to Saturday, July 11, 2020: National Blueberry Muffin Day, a calorific treat (an average muffin has nearly 500 calories, the equivalent of 34 teaspoons of sugar).  It’s also World Population Day, National Rainier Cherries Day, National Mojito Day, and National Cheer up the Lonely Day.  The world population clock is here; as I write […]

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Readers’ wildlife videos

July 8, 2020 – 7:45 am

Rick Longworth makes some nice wildlife videos, complete with music, and here’s one featuring a brood of screech owls. His description is indented, and he adds some owl facts: A pair of western screech owls (Megascops kennicottii) took over my wood duck box this spring. They are small, about 19-25 cm in length. As I […]

By whyevolutionistrue | Comments (13)