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Afarensis

Anthropology, Evolution and Science

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afarcomp3.jpg 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


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Administrative:

Blogging Will Be Light Today

Even though I have a ton of stuff to right about - the new paper on Paranthropous boisei for example - blogging will be light. Why?...

Begging For Articles (Sigh)

Can someone out there send me the two articles below? Google Earth, GIS, and the Great Divide: A new and simple method for sharing paleontological data A new archaic Homo sapiens fossil from Lake Eyasi, Tanzania Please leave a note...

DSL Issues (Again), Blogging May Be Sporadic

Been happening since Sunday. Phone company has been here several times. Problem is, they fix my stuff, but the neighbor's phone and stuff gets knocked out. So the Neighbor calls and gets his stuff fixed, which knocks my stuff out....

Unexpected Time Off and Other Stuff

I have lucked into a couple of days off before I start a new job, so I may do more blogging than normal between now and Monday. Another example of the lunacy being spread to try and defend McCain, consider...

In Case You Were Wondering...

Why blogging has been so light lately, especially with all the interesting paleoanthropology news, the answer is simple. I am in the process of reading Developmental Plasticity and Evolution by Mary Jane West-Eberhard. It is a long, fascinating, and challenging...

Super Readers Needed

Our corporate overlords are starting a new project called the ScienceBlogs SuperReaders Club. Here is how it works:...

DSL Troubles

I've been having random, intermittent DSL troubles since Friday which has been affecting my ability to write posts and send and receive email. Unfortunately, I have also been somewhat busy so I haven't really had time to straighten it out....

Reader Survey - Chance to Win an Ipod

Fill out this survey by our Seed overlords and you might win an ipod!...

Update on Banner Contest

So far I have only received on submission. Details on the contest can be found here...

Banner Contest and Minor Blog Changes

Well, it's not really a contest because there are no prizes other than an honorable mention on my sidebar - next to Pough. I'm not planning on replacing my banners, but I would like to add several more to the...

Open Lab 2007: The Judges Have Chosen!

Coturnix has the winners! One of my posts has been chosen for inclusion and can be found here. Congratulations to all the other winners and thank you to the judges, Reed A. Cartwright (the indefatigable editor), and Coturnix for all...

Update on afarensis' First Ever, Vile, Wicked, Christmas Songs I Hate Contest

Back on December 16th I announced afarensis' First Ever, Vile, Wicked, Christmas Songs I Hate Contest and called for you, my readers, to submit the Christmas songs you hate. Since most of my readers are refugees from PZ's blog I...

Wohoo! It Arrived!

And I will tell you all about it as soon as I have finished reading it:...

The Year in Review

Lynch is doing it. A year in review, that is. Pick the first sentence of your first post of each month....

Blogging

Due to circumstances beyond my control, blogging will be light and somewhat random for the next month or so. I'm hoping to finish up a book review for Monday but after that, who knows......

A Call for a Presidential Debate on Science and Technology

Recently NPR held a debate with the Democratic candidates for president. Immigration, China, and Iran were some of the main focuses of the debate. One thing not mentioned very often in that debate, or any other, were issues pertaining...

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