So the Fuckin Millipede Just Ate a Mammal?

indeed.

Don't Miss It...FOX News Special (Updated)

How did this press release come about?

AP INCORRECTLY CLAIMS SCIENTISTS PRAISE GORE’S MOVIE
The June 27, 2006 Associated Press (AP) article titled
Scientists OK Gore's Movie for Accuracy" by Seth Borenstein raises some serious questions about AP's bias and methodology.
AP chose to ignore the scores of scientists who have harshly criticized the science presented in former Vice President Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth."
[...]
- US Senate Committee on Environment and Public Work

Call my cynical, but this reminds me too much of the pro-business "government" Earth Day site (that focuses on Environmentalism as the big evil in it all). Theoretically, I'm all for the s keeping an eye on media truth, but is this really what's happening here?

Update: Okay. This is nauseating. Apparently the EPW is divided into Minority and Majority pages, with separate press releases. This is NOT science speaking from this organization. It's the agenda of the Republican Party. I call your attention to this hilarious headline on the Majority (Republican) Press page:

05/18/2006 - DON’T MISS IT…FOX NEWS SPECIAL, Global Warming: The Debate Continues

Are you fucking kidding? Call me biased, but the Minority Press page seems a bit more responsible.

Update 2: Hey, whaddya know? ThinkProgress has more on this Press Release.

Morning Chuckle

Right. Got it.

Good Lord Above

Connie Chung and husband Maury Povich had a talk show for the last few months. It sucked royally, and apparently Connie sang a goodbye song the other day. This is totally worth your 2 minutes.

PZ, Coulter Naturalist

PZ took the plunge and has beeen reading Coulter's book. He recently posted a challlenge:

I will suggest instead that if anyone reading this thinks some particular paragraph anywhere in chapters 8-11 is at all competent or accurate in its description of science, send it to me. I couldn't find one. That's where the obligation lies: show me one supportable claim in Coulter's farrago of lies and misleading statements and out-of-context quotes, and we'll discuss it.

A few days later, and hundreds of Coulter-fan emails later, he has issued a clarification of what is "not an appropriate reply":

Cackling that Coulter must be right because she's got "liberal panties in a twist" is not cogent.

Telling me that the "WHOLE BOOK PROVES LIBERALS ARE THE PROBLEM WITH AMERICA" is not cogent.

Promising to pray for me, or assuring me that I will burn in hell, is not cogent.

Explicit details about how Ann Coulter is sexier than "fat harry hippie jew girls" is not cogent.

He's a brave man, and he takes it with scientific detachment and a professional intuition to categorize his experiences.

And what a great word cogent is! If American science education survives , let's put PZ on a coin or something.

Old Bodegas Never Die

COME WATCH ALL THE WORLD CUP GAMES HERE!, originally uploaded by ameliabee.

This used to be THE 24-hour bodega in Fort Greene. Some friends and I almost got shot there one night by a kid with a very short fuse yelling to everyone around him that "I'm Not Playin!!!"

I've only been in FG for ~8 years, so I can't claim to be much of an old timer, but even I knew that something died when this place closed (2 years back?). They were always nice to me during the year that this was my 6-pack store, and it was airy enough that it didn't stink like cat piss as much as some others. I once asked if my beer would ever be free, and they said it would be on my birthday. 6 months later I walked out with a free 6 pack of Brooklyn India Pale ale.

It's so sad to watch it sitting and rotting - although perhaps it would have been more crushing to see this immediately turn into yet another French restaurant or housewares store or gourmet market. In a way, its ghost now sits and scowls at all the miserable shit that goes on in FG these days.

Well, I'm sure its days are numbered. But for now, this is a beautiful picture. Lord knows what the World Cup scene was in there.

Tailess Whip Scorpion

tailess whip scorpion 1, originally uploaded by jleberly_jebs.

To start the week, it's one of my very favorite chelicerate. This one's pretty tiny, but, as I mentioned last fall, the tailess whip scorpion did have a starring scene in the latest Harry Potter movie...

Fresh Scorpion Kebab

Fresh Scorpion Kebab, originally uploaded by www.nataliebehring.com.

I know I post a lot of these scorpions-to-eat, but I just dig the yellow color in this one...

Can't Hurt

I always enjoy a good restating of the logic of evolution, because it's just so darned beautiful and simple. PZ Meyers, in a post about shithead Coulter's latest yapping, lays out a lovely summary:

If heritable variation exists, (which, of course, it does)

if excess reproduction occurs, (also obviously true, or we'd be up to our ears in mice)

if variants differ in their likelihood of survival and reproduction, (a little trickier, but still fairly obvious)

then the relative frequencies of the variants must change.

Go ahead and read the whole post. PZ is a real treasure for education.

I'm A Dwagon!

Doesn't this just sound like something a child would do?

Mr. Bush flew out of Andrews Air Force Base shortly after 9 p.m., bounding onto the plane by shouting to reporters 'POTUS is on board!' according to a pool report. POTUS is the abbreviation for 'President of the United States.'

wolf spider

wolf spider, originally uploaded by okprairiemom.

Lovely!

More Inconvenience

Roger Ebert on An Inconvenient Truth:

In 39 years, I have never written these words in a movie review, but here they are: You owe it to yourself to see this film. If you do not, and you have grandchildren, you should explain to them why you decided not to.

Please Don't Go

In secret moments, I say to myself...I don't care what happens in the world. Just please, Lord, let The Editors continue to fight for Freedom and Democracy and a Pony.

Dixieland

Hmm, I guess it hasn't really killed their careers.

Bravo, NY Daily News

In case anyone forgets that there's a real difference between the NY Post and the NY Daily News....the latter's lead editorial today

Global warming is rising up the public agenda, thanks to evangelizing by Al Gore in a new documentary and book that are far scarier than anything ever produced by Stephen King. The fright is all the more real because Gore is talking fact, not fiction.

And the Post's movie review of An Inconvenient Truth:

He implies that no reputable scientists dispute anything he says - basically, that the ice caps are melting and people on the 50th floor of the Empire State Building had better learn to swim. But there is wide disagreement about whether humans are causing global warming (climate change preceded the invention of the Escalade) and about whether we should be worried about the trends.

The story here is the topic, not the messenger. Al Gore can drown birds in oil in his bathtub for all I care, as long as he is able to continue to expand awareness of the extent of the evidence that humans really are damaging the earth on a scale that is measurable and dangerous.

No Notary, No Sex!

Wisconsin decides to instruct its sex educators to teach children that your legal standing is apparently relevant to the health of your body in relation to sex.

No Answer

When there's nothing else to say in response to the clear evidence and the growing understanding of Global Warming, what does Big Oil say?

You don’t go see Joseph Goebbels’ films to see the truth about Nazi Germany. You don’t go see Al Gore’s films to see the truth about global warming.

Cute.

Jean Rohe: Response to McCain's Aide Mark Salter

Jean Rohe is a student at the New School in NYC. McCain gave a graduation speech to them the other day. Jean spoke before him, and criticized some aspects of his policy. Since then, McCain's aide has come down hard on her.

Ms. Rohe responds with clarity and strength:

In addition, you make many assumptions about who I am and what I stand for. You assume that the words shouted from the audience reflected at all times my opinions and values. You assume that I have made myself look like an idiot, which, I can tell you, is just not true. You assume I have taken no risks. I'm curious to see which doors have been permanently closed to me in the future, simply because I've spoken up. You assume that I did what I did simply to draw attention to myself for my own personal benefit. I have said in my writing, and I will say it again, I would never have asked for this responsibility in a million years. The entire event was stomach-churning and unpleasant because it was something I didn't want to do, but knew I had to out of an obligation to my own values. You assume that I have no experience making a living. I have been a full-time college student and have worked a job to pay my own rent and my own expenses for the past two years. You assume that I live in an 'echo chamber' of liberal head-patting, when, in fact, I live in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, a neighborhood notorious for its cultural diversity and sometimes, conflict. I live in New York City where every human interaction is a test of our willingness to coexist as citizens. And finally, I think it is unfair to assume that I have not considered the hardships of Senator McCain's life. Indeed, one of my first feelings upon seeing him in the flesh was compassion for how much he must have endured in his time as a POW. If there's one thing that I know about myself, it is that I care for people, and in that sense I have a great deal of character. Please don't try to bully me anymore.

Selling scorpions

Selling scorpions, originally uploaded by HaraWish.

Have a good weekend, everyone...

"Unsettled"

Think Progress has the transcript of NBC White House correspondent's interview with George Bush "at the border" this morning on the Today Show. Excellent stuff.

GREGORY: Let me ask you about your leadership. In the most recent survey, your disapproval rating is now one point lower than Richard Nixon’s before he resigned the presidency. You are laughing.
BUSH: I’m not laughing –
GREGORY: Why? Why do you think that is?
BUSH: Because we are at war, and war unsettles people. Listen, we got a great economy. We’ve added 5.2 million jobs in the last two and a half years. People are unsettled.
GREGORY: But they’re not just unsettled sir. They disapprove of the job you’re doing.
BUSH: That’s unsettled.

My favorite line is "You are laughing" - so true.