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.
This video, clearly showing the superiority of cats over d*gs, got 6.5 million hits since it was posted nine days ago. I’ve gotten it from several readers, so this might be old news for ailurophiles. There’s certainly something about it that appeals to the public!
“It’s just a cat, dude—come on.” Really? Just a cat?
And, one for Official Website Physicist™ Sean Carroll:
“Advancements,” of course, should be “advances.” Why is this longer and more pretentious word replacing the simpler one?
It’s a slow news day (although cats are in the offing), and so there will be fluff—literally and figuratively; and I have a book to write. I will report, though, that we’re getting 1-3 inches of snow at the moment, shown in the first photo, taken on the street a few minutes ago. The second I took a couple of weeks ago but forgot to post. It’s just a tree at dawn, in the fall, lit from below by floodlights. Both were taken with a cameraphone.
Reader Stephen Barnard sent two bird photographs from near his home in Idaho. The first is of a male and female mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) with the description (click photos to enlarge):
Here’s the first decent photo with my new super duper Canon 500mm IS lens, which arrived last night. I’m practicing with the ever-present Mallards. ISO 400, f/4, 1/6000, handheld
And a lovely pair of trumpeter swans (Cygnus buccinator):
Hili: I see a huge emptiness
A: You are like a black hole – you devour everything.
In Polish:
Hili: Widzę ogromną pustkę.
Ja: Jesteś jak czarna dziura, pochłaniasz wszystko.
It’s FRIDAY! Tomorrow is Saturday, and Sunday comes afterwards. Which seat can I take?
So, to end the week, we shall have cats.
If there were an Olympic event for the Kitten Carry, this mother cat would win the gold. I don’t know anything about the circumstances (was the kitten lost?), and the video seems to be in Russian, but you must admire the tenacity (and balance) of this feline mom:
h/t: P
The Guardian published a list of books that Guantánamo Bay prisoners aren’t allowed to read, according to Clive Stafford Smith, director of the legal charity Reprieve. Reprieve provides legal counsel and other aid to 15 prisoners in that unconscionable facility.
And this list makes no sense whatsoever.
h/t: Grania
Eric Hedin’s course at Ball State University was deep-sixed because Hedin gave a one-sided presentation of intelligent design—a discredited and religiously-based hypothesis about origins—in a public university science class.
Now another course has been canned, this time at Amarillo College, a public two-year college in Texas. The course, “Evolution vs. Intelligent Design,” was offered in their continuing education program for adults.
The local secular group, “Freethought Oasis,” objected, and, after similar objections from the Texas Freedom Network and the National Center for Science Education, the course was cancelled. There’s a long, whiny complaint about this “censorship” by Casey Luskin at Evolution News and Views, as well as an analysis by Sensuous Curmudgeon, “Discoveroids suffer a crushing defeat.”
Lest you think that this is a violation of academic freedom because the title of the course implied fair presentation of both sides and because it was not a science course—or even a course for undergraduates—just look at the one textbook required for the course (the description below is from Luskin’s post):
You can suss out the book here, and check out the authors:
It’s an ID book! Three of the authors (Meyer, Minnich, and Nelson) are affiliated with the Discovery Institute (Nelson is a young-earth creationist!), Seelke is an evolution denialist, and Moneymaker (!) has written other antievolution books.
Some balance! No wonder that three groups objected to the course.