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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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Category: Current Events • Insanity
Posted on: April 22, 2009 7:47 PM, by afarensis, FCD
Words can not describe the mind-boggling nature of the video below (an exception to my no YouTube rule). Call me gobsmacked...
I blame the Texas Board of Education...
The funny thing - well, okay, there is a lot to laugh at - is that Rep Barton (R - Cliffs of Insanity) thinks he got the better of the exchange!
Highly Allochthonous 11.05.2009
Eruptions 11.05.2009
Not Exactly Rocket Science 11.05.2009
Corpus Callosum 11.05.2009
Starts With a Bang 11.04.2009
Humanities & Social Science
Comments
I thought, I've been dealing with stupid all evening. How bad can it really be? Now I know.
Posted by: Stephanie Z | April 22, 2009 10:09 PM
I don't know, that stupid is strong, oh so strong. But the stupid at Stephanie's is coming from someone who you can respond to and amusingly, keeps responding back...
Posted by: DuWayne | April 23, 2009 12:08 AM
I sent Barton an e-mail from his website asking him to study up on petroleum geology before he tries to "stump" Chu again. Why are people so, not willfully ignorant but proudly ignorant?
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD | April 23, 2009 12:41 AM
I can see why Barton can think he won. Chu definitely looks and sound puzzled. Though it's probably more from being startled by teh stupid.
Still would've thought an expert could explain it simply more easily (but maybe its because he was an expert).
Barton does add a finishing blow by suddenly mentioning Alaska must have been warmer in the past (because all oil-fields are cold??)
Posted by: zayzayem | April 23, 2009 4:04 AM
Was Chu puzzled, or was he just being diplomatic? He was definitely amused. The queston was abstruse and Chu's confused, bemused and haltingly befuddled grand finale statement was like a fireworks display with the biggest boom at the end.
Posted by: Reggio Emilio | April 24, 2009 11:41 PM
I think he was puzzled at where Barton was coming from - clearly Barton was asking a trick question aimed at global warming and Chu was trying to figure out how to explain oil formation, plate tectonics, and address the global warming subtext all in 6 seconds...
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | April 25, 2009 12:18 AM
Hrm. I don't know the players well enough here, but it looked like Chu was originally startled and then too diplomatic to give the answer any of us would give a question that inane.
Posted by: nomuse | April 28, 2009 7:07 PM