Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
The whole game I’ve been thinking, Messi (and Argentina) are really off form, but he just scored a truly beautiful goal off the post—his first goal in World Cup play since 2006. 2-0 Argentina at minute 66. And one for Bosnia-Herzegovina in the last few minutes.
And. . . it’s Argentina 2-1. Good game, even though Messi missed a great chance at the end to make it 3-1.
Is anyone not watching footie? If so, here’s a post on conservation.
There’s nothing that will stop ivory poachers—even the international ban imposed in 1989. I wish there were some way for authorities de-tusk elephants while they were alive, but that’s not on. And so we mourn the death of Satao, described by CNN as one of Kenya’s “most beloved elephants.”
Satao was doomed simply because his front teeth were so big. From CNN:
Poachers killed one of Kenya’s most beloved elephants — a behemoth animal with tusks so large, they touched the ground.
Satao was shot with poisoned arrows in the sprawling Tsavo National Park in the country’s southeast.
Wildlife officials found his carcass with two massive holes where his tusks once stood. His face was so badly mutilated, authorities used other ways to identify him, including his ears and the pattern of mud caked on his body.
“Satao is dead, killed by an ivory poacher’s poisoned arrow to feed the seemingly insatiable demand for ivory in far off countries. A great life lost so that someone far away can have a trinket on their mantlepiece,” Tsavo Trust said in statement late Friday. “Rest in peace, old friend, you will be missed.”
. . . Satao was about 45 years old, and a hit among visitors at the national park, where understaffed conservationists monitored him regularly to protect him from poachers.
“When he was alive, his enormous tusks were easily identifiable, even from the air,” said Tsavo Trust, a non-profit that protects wildlife.
An editorial by Rob Portman (a Republican Senator from Ohio) at CNN outlines the seriousness of the problem, and gives some suggestions, which you can read at the site.
The largest slaughter in one year since the 1989 ban was passed happened in 2012, with up to 35,000 elephants killed. This adds up to nearly 100 a day. Tens of thousands are killed every year. Without action, the day may come when this magnificent creature is known only in history books.
Estimates say if elephants continue to be slaughtered at today’s rates, the creatures could be extinct in a decade.Not only do elephants die. The wildlife rangers who try to protect them from poachers are being killed.
I had no idea 100 elephants were poached each day. I suppose the poachers might be driven by their own starvation, but I can’t imagine killing such a magnificent beast just for two front teeth. Indeed, for any reason.
h/t: Hempenstein
As far as I know, ever since the Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) wrote to the Lebanon, Missouri school superintendent and school board, objecting to Lebanon High School principal Kenneth Lowery’s prayer to God at graduation, there has been no response. None, that is, except for Lowery’s two apologies, which weren’t really apologies because he said he was sorry “if he’d offended anyone.” He further said that nobody had leaned on him to produce his apologies, and since he’s a Christian and wouldn’t lie, I’ll believe him.
But by failing to give a formal response—one promising that it would stop religious proselytizing in its schools—the Lebanon School Board and its superintendent are putting their schools in danger. If they think that Lowery’s notapology was sufficient, they’re wrong. Christians they may be, and insistent on their right to pray in schools, but they’re ignoring the ultimate currency of American society: currency itself. For by ignoring the perfectly valid complaints of the FFRF, the Lebanon R3 School District is bringing itself closer to a lawsuit, one that it stands a good chance of losing. And if it loses, it will have to pay court costs, which can be substantial. When the school district of Dover, Pennsylvania ignored warnings about teaching creationism, and went to their famous trial, their defeat set back the school district over one million dollars.
Why don’t the people of Lebanon realize this? By insisting on their right to pray in public schools, a “right” that has been repeatedly overturned by the courts, they could bankrupt a school district that can’t be very wealthy to begin with. Yet most of those on the school board appear to be bankers and businessmen! Their fealty to God is distorting their thinking.
At any rate, things have gotten even closer to Lebanon. As The Friendly Atheist (Hemant Mehta) reported yesterday, another public school in Missouri, Fayette High School, was sued because one of its teachers, Gwen Pope, made announcements about Christian prayers over the school’s loudspeaker every Friday morning, apparently touting the Christian school club that she sponsored. (These announcements weren’t allowed for other clubs.)
It went further than that. As Hemant reports:
Pope’s husband Michael (who didn’t work at the school) would attend the meetings. Pope was quoted as telling her math students that “God will punish them if they are not good.” She had Christian books on her desk. She put up color flyers on her door for the meetings (another privilege no other student group at the school had). And the school allowed all of this to happen.
The American Humanist Association (AHA) brought suit with the help of a brave young lad, junior Gavin Hunt. The school decided to settle without admitting guilt, but that still involved prohibiting announcements of religious activity over the public address system, forbidding school employees from participating in religious activities (I’m not sure what this means), and banning teachers from placing religious articles in public view.
Oh, and the Fayette School district had to fork over $41,000 in legal fees to the AHA. If there had been a trial, it would have been much more expensive!
So the lesson to Lebanon is clear: settle now, before you bankrupt your schools. The solution is easy: just follow the law and promise to stop proselytizing and praying at school events.
The lesson for Gavin Hunt was even harder. Mehta wrote to him asking how he felt about it all, and Hunt responded:
I’m no longer attending the school as a result of the harassment and I’m positive this [new] school will provide a more appropriate environment. I cannot adequately express the importance of keeping religion out of schools. I will continue advocating for a secular government and the advancement of humanity in any way that I possibly can.
Another Jessica Ahlquist! How I do admire these students who stand up for principle, knowing what it will cost them.
But I want this to be a lesson for the students of Lebanon, too. Realize that if you are brave enough to take on the school about the issue of prayer, your road may not be easy. Only you can determine where you’re comfortable making a stand.
It wouldn’t be fair to interact with these students and not let them know the consequences of asking for their First Amendment rights in a religious community. Like honey badgers, when Christians are riled it’s not a pretty sight.
Matthew Cobb called my attention to a page from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), showing temporal data on carbon dioxide concentration, sea level, temperature, sea ice, and other indicators of global warming. It’s not pretty.
(Go here for an explanation of how the data were collected.)
Carbon dioxide is at its highest level by far over the last 400,000 years: 398.6 ppm (parts per million). Some climate denialists say that it’s not a greenhouse gas, though, because it’s needed for plant growth!
There’s also a slider where you can monitor the changes from September 2002 through December 2009. Here are the endpoints:
But, as the faithful tell us, it’s all good: either the End Times are around the corner, or, as God assured us, He’d never destroy the Earth again after Noah’s Flood.
It’s sad to think that, two generations from now, the Earth is going to be in much worse shape than it is now. And it’s even sadder to realize that we know it’s gonna happen, but governments don’t want to do anything about it. Perhaps our remote descendants—if they haven’t been supplanted by cockroaches—will look back and wonder, “What were they thinking?”
There seem to be a lot of football experts, self-styled or otherwise, on this site, so here’s the chance to show off your knowledge and get a prize.
The contest:
Guess the two teams who will play in the final World Cup match, the victor, and the score.
Deadline for entering: Tomorrow, Monday June 16, 5 p.m. Chicago time.
The prize: An autographed copy of WEIT, with a special drawing of a cat playing football wearing your team’s colors.
Roolz: One guess only per person. In case of a tie, the first correct entry wins. If nobody gets the final teams and the score, the winner will be the first person to correctly guess the two teams and the winner. If nobody gets even that, then nobody wins, and you’re a bunch of n00bs.
First, here are the goals from Italy’s 2-1 victory over England yesterday (watch soon, for FIFA’s watching too!):
On last Sunday’s “Last Week Tonight” show, John Oliver extols football but takes down FIFA. I’ve never seen this guy, but this is pretty funny:
And what could be more appropriate than this? The video seems to be from Japan, and the cats pretty much suck. But let’s face it—they’re better than Brazil.
And your lagniappe:
Check out the new Google Doodle, again with a World Cup Theme.
And here are the noises one hears in Brazil (in this case São Paulo) when their team is playing in the World Cup. This is from the Brazil/Croatia game that, well, didn’t turn out so well for the green and yellow.
h/t: Miranda, Greg Mayer, Rafael
All times shown are Chicago times (2 hours earlier than Brazil).
I know Matthew will be watching the France/Honduras match (his favorite team is not England but France). With my ration of one game today, I’ll be lucky to watch Argentina/Bosnia & Herzegovina, which I’ve discovered is broadcast on a local Spanish-language t.v. station. Which game(s) will you watch?
And any bets whether Messi will score?
