Atatpuerca 5
Category: Paleoanthropology
In place of today's 'Know Your Primate" (which will be back next week) I present the following picture:...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 8:00 PM • 2 Comments •
Now on ScienceBlogs: The death of Tetrapod Zoology
Anthropology, Evolution and Science
Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called Transitions:The Evolution of Life His previous blog can be found here.
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"Loyalty to petrified opinion never broke a chain or freed a human soul..."
Mark Twain
"Ideology is a poor substitute for rational thought..."
Afarensis
"It isn't faith that makes good science...it's curiosity"
Prof. Jacob Barnhardt, The Day the Earth Stood Still
"This man wishes to be accorded the same privilege as a sponge. He wishes to think!"
Clarence Darrow, Inherit the Wind
"...I become fearful when I see people substituting fear for reason..."
Klaatu, The Day the Earth Stood Still
"I want you to grab life by its little bunny ears and get in its face..."
The Simpsons
"This is between me and the vegetable..."
Seymour Krelborn, The Little Shop of Horrors
"There are bad laws and cruel laws and the people who enforce them are both bad and cruel..."
Thea, Isle of the Dead
"With the first link, the chain is forged. The first speech censored, the first thought forbidden, the first freedom denied, chains us all irrevocably." Jean- Luc Picard, Star Trek: The Next Generation
"But the limit of tolerance for these human foibles is obtained when the proponent of a questionable scientific doctrine endeavors to maintain it against all possible odds by misrepresentation, misinformation and suppression of contradictory data, and by insinuating unfairness in opponents of his views."
Franz Weidenreich, Morphology of Solo Man
"Man stands alone in the universe, a unique product of a long, unconcious, impersonal material process with unique understanding and potentialities. These he owes to no one but himself, and it is to himself that he is responsible. He is not the creature of uncontrollable and undeterminable forces, but his own master. He can and must decide and manage his own destiny."
George Gaylord Simpson, Life of the Past
Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
Unknown
Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And when you look into the abyss, the abyss also looks into you.
Frederich Nietzsche
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
The Declaration of Independence
March 29, 2008
Category: Paleoanthropology
In place of today's 'Know Your Primate" (which will be back next week) I present the following picture:...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 8:00 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Osteology
Greg Laden has a write up of the 1.1-1.2 MYA find at Atapuerca. I mentioned this story last year and the find has finally been published. I will have more to say about this in a later post (there are...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 4:13 PM • 4 Comments •
Category: Anthropology
It happened while I was watching a show called Human Ape. In some ways the show was an interesting exploration of the differences between humans and apes. There was some interesting stuff I agreed with and there was some stuff...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 1:09 AM • 8 Comments •
Category: Silliness
Really, the guy is simply everywhere, getting expelled from movies, getting expelled from conference calls, and now with this video I expect he will be expelled from the Grammy Awards...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 12:36 AM • •
March 26, 2008
Category: Atheism
You may have noticed the red "A" on the sidebar of my blog. I am, of course an atheist. I tend to lean towards the militant side of the atheist family, although I am a lot less feisty about it...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 11:49 PM • 3 Comments •
Category: Blogs of Note
The Four Stone Hearth volume 37 is up at A Hot Cup of Joe. Carl is to be commended on his creative and wonderful use of pulp SF to present the carnival. Well Done!...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 10:29 PM • •
Category: Invertebrates
The question has come up on ScienceBlogs as to which class of invertebrates are the best, coolest, etc. Like PZ I had though about saying Cephalopods (because of those nice octopi that helped the archaeology community find some pottery), but...
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 1:30 PM • 5 Comments •
Category: Current Events
I saw this and dropped my lighter on the floor just to check and make sure gravity is still working. (Hat tip to Eschaton)....
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 8:22 AM • 7 Comments •
March 25, 2008
Category: Current Events
This NPR story comes at a perfect time given the current discussion over framing. Although ostensibly about rumors, the story makes several good points that can be applied to the current "troubles"....
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 7:21 PM • 3 Comments •
March 23, 2008
Category: Creationism
There have been a wide variety of responses to the PZ incident. Quite a large number of us a busy laughing at the irony of it. There has been some criticism, for example see here, here, here, here, and here....
Posted by afarensis, FCD at 6:33 PM • 24 Comments •
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