Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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The creed whose legitimacy is most easily challenged is likely to develop the strongest proselytizing impulse. It is doubtful whether a movement which does not profess some preposterous and patently irrational dogma can be possessed of that zealous drive which "must either win men or destroy the world." It is also plausible that those movements with the greatest inner contradiction between profession and practice-that is to say with a strong feeling of guilt-are likely to be the most fervent in imposing their faith on others.
[Eric Hoffer, The True Believer, 1951, section 88]
Polar lobes and trefoil embryos in the Precambrian
Evolution of alcohol synthesis
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« About that last mysterious "Blank post" | Main | The Courtier's Reply »
Category: Art
Posted on: December 23, 2006 5:36 PM, by PZ Myers
We got our Christmas tree today at a little tree farm down the road from us; the last few years we'd have to wade through the snow to pick our tree, and the owners offered sleigh rides. This year…sere and brown and bare everywhere, with only a trivial dusting of snow.
At least Olduvai George gives me a taste of what it ought to be like.
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Comments
Cutting down a Christmas tree with an Oldowan industry tool would be a bitch though.
KC
Posted by: Carbonfish | December 23, 2006 5:45 PM
I'm running the air conditioner here, night and day, house is hot, humid... been doing so for past few days. nasty weather. Killer tornado hit this year, and that's something I was always thankful for, we never saw any of the bad ones. Medical rescue workers simply weren't prepared and were in shock the news reported. I thought we had bad Hurricanes hit, but at least were immune to killer tornados. But not anymore.
Posted by: sharon | December 23, 2006 6:02 PM
I'm running the air conditioner here, night and day, house is hot, humid... been doing so for past few days. nasty weather. Killer tornado hit this year, and that's something I was always thankful for, we never saw any of the bad ones. Medical rescue workers simply weren't prepared and were in shock the news reported. I thought we had bad Hurricanes hit, but at least were immune to killer tornados. But not anymore.
Posted by: sharon | December 23, 2006 6:02 PM
a friend and I were talking the other day, and the subject of xmas trees came up.
What is more eco-friendly- having a zombee (still alive but kind of dead too) tree, or a plastic one? I'm kind of leaning towards a zombee tree, but what would you all say?
Posted by: TAW | December 23, 2006 6:04 PM
Down closer to the Antarctic we are suffering the opposite.
Large chunks of the Antarctic ice shelf have been drifting up the east coast of New Zealand. Our typical "Kiwi Christmas" of 30*C (86*F) and long hot Summer days has been usurped by freezing wind, rain and hail.
Meteorologists were predicting an El Nino effect which would be drought for us but alas... not yet.
Posted by: Paul | December 23, 2006 6:44 PM
...
...
TAW, we had a tinsel tree when I was a kid, and I was perfectly happy with it. I know they're farmed, but I still don't like the idea of cutting down a live tree -- killing something -- for a silly holiday "tradition." If I was still doing Xmas trees, I'd go with the fake-o.
OR ... there's a potted houseplant called a Norfolk Island Pine. Very symmetrical, very beautiful, very Christmas-tree-ish. Might think about getting one of those.
...
...
Posted by: Hank Fox | December 23, 2006 7:25 PM
Europe here. No snow this winter so far at all, except in the mountains; not in France, not in Austria, not in Germany, not even in Finland, for crying out loud. Not normal. Nowhere near normal.
Posted by: David Marjanović | December 23, 2006 7:49 PM
Plastic tree here. Okay, it's made from petrochemicals and it doesn't have that freah tree smell, but I can reuse it for the nest ten years or so and I don't have to worry about watering it when I'm away.
DO NOT get a Norfolk pine. I had one for a couple of years. You get to watch it drop entire branches at regular intervals and when you look up the problem. they tell you that you're either watering it too much or not enough...AAARRRGGGHHH!!!!!!!!111!!
Posted by: T. Bruce McNeely | December 23, 2006 8:39 PM
Hank Fox, Franky I don't care much for tradition. If my family didn't insist, I wouldn't "celebrate" xmas, thanksgiving, or even birthdays. I ask about the tree out of sheer curiosity, not because we're getting one. In fact, someone gave us a huge fake tree a couple of years ago, so we don't need one.
If real trees are more eco-friendly though, I'd rather people buy them than fake trees.
Posted by: TAW | December 23, 2006 8:42 PM
Wait, wait, what's this? A Christmas tree? What happened to Cephalopodmas? Heathen!
Posted by: Nes | December 23, 2006 9:12 PM
Posted by: llewelly | December 23, 2006 9:31 PM
Not quite true ... Finland is about 50% snow-covered, Sweden and Norway a little more. There's also a stripe of snow cover in the alps. See here for example. N. America, Asia. All have below normal snow cover, but Europe is the farthest below normal.
Posted by: llewelly | December 23, 2006 10:55 PM
Happy Xmas:
(for anyone in need of explaining religion in modern western countries to their kids)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqeLPkSE5po
Posted by: lo | December 23, 2006 11:09 PM
Hint for those who like the smell of real Christmas trees, but can't have a real one (like me, as I am highly allergic to pine needles). Put a rosemary plant next to the fake tree. It smells just like pine, and just before guests come over, give it a quick brush to really get that scent of Christmas. Plus, it means you have fresh rosemary through the winter months (a great her for cooking).
Posted by: W. Kevin Vicklund | December 24, 2006 12:24 AM
*gg* check this out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRJmY63ndAQ
At first i actually thought this was for real but it is actually satirical.
Posted by: lo | December 24, 2006 3:46 AM
Now this is just awesome:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwlZ1O2Roh0
Posted by: lo | December 24, 2006 3:59 AM
Finland is a bit more than 50% covered, although most of it is a dusting:
Of course, I life in one of the white bits on the map. You notice that the forcast is for it to be cold on Christmas day, but without the requisite precipitation. Bah, humbug!
Bob
Posted by: Bob O'H | December 24, 2006 4:13 AM
We need more help with this warming thing, and here is a place to start: call on your angel.
http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2006/12/23/493542-majority-of-americans-believe-in-angels
"Among the findings about angels and Santa:
_Protestants, women, Southerners, Midwesterners and Republicans were the most likely to believe in angels, although strong majorities in other groups also shared that faith. Belief in angels declined slightly with advanced education, from 87 percent of those with high school education or less to 73 percent of those with college degrees. Overall, 81 percent believed in angels.
_86 percent believed in Santa as a child. And despite the multiethnic nature of the country, more than 60 percent of those with children at home consider Santa important in their holiday celebrations now."
Yikes!
Posted by: bernarda | December 24, 2006 4:36 AM
Here is some more if you wanna kill some time before xmas starts:
This guy is just amazing AND with that i mean FRIGGIN AWESOME. I cracked up about his impressions of all those irrational people who are still stuck in a web of traditions and ancient worldviews.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMw5jfPgDM8
I am still laughing about this guy, njoy.
Posted by: lo | December 24, 2006 4:41 AM
Wow. I spent the first 18 years of my life in either Minnesota or Wisconsin and never experienced an even partially brown Christmas. Damn you, global warming!
Posted by: Dave Carlson | December 24, 2006 4:44 AM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ1n5ecSylU
Oh yeah, the guy is not a scientist but just an atheists with a proper high school education (at least that is my best guess),- anyhow he still is way smarter and argues way better than any religious nut.
(And please hermetically seal your ears whenever he swears, so your ears don`t have to be rinsed with holy water each times the sound waves of a dirty word made it to your cochlear...i mean seriously that shitty water is everything but antiseptic, and, i mean - gee, ear infections aren`t exactly hard to catch!)
Posted by: lo | December 24, 2006 5:44 AM
It has to be a real tree for me. I don't care about plants' feelings. Sorry.
No Solstice snow for quite a few years around here, and it cheeses me to no end. The network affiliates smile their plastic smiles and rave about our wonderful luck that we're slowly being boiled alive.
Posted by: Stogoe | December 24, 2006 9:26 AM
As to real vs. fake:
A real tree lasts a few weeks and then can be composted or turned into mulch.
A fake tree lasts forever in a landfill.
About the weather:
We had a week and a half of unseasonably cold weather to break up a whole month of unseasonably warm weather. I mean seriously it was in the fifties and sixties during finals! WTF?
Posted by: Pygmy Loris | December 24, 2006 5:08 PM
Hate to report that Africa is seasonably warm.OK, 35 deg + every day may be a tad extreme but it is seasonally correct.So, apart from AIDS, poverty, wars, encroaching desertification and dwindling fish stocks, loss of species - you know, same old, same old - everything's cool.Er - whatev.
Posted by: suezboo | December 25, 2006 4:53 AM
Coming in a few days later - the sentimentalists didn't get their white holiday, but the capitalists must be missing some business. Today is a white Boxing Day ...
Posted by: Keith Douglas | December 26, 2006 11:38 AM