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Firefox 3 Download Day

I scarcely need to mention it, but today is the big day: Firefox 3 is out, so be sure to download it.  The Mozilla folks are href="http://www.spreadfirefox.com/en-US/worldrecord/firefox3">shooting for a world record for the most downloads in a single day. href="http://www.internetnews.com/software/article.php/3753196/Will+Linux+Users+Miss+Out+on+Firefox+3.htm">Will Linux Users Miss Out on Firefox 3?  Silly article.  Download the source.  Configure, make, make install. Just order a pizza first, because compiling it from source takes a while.  But so does eating a pizza. Actually…

Live Blogging Superbowl pt. 13

Part thirteen The commentators are talking a lot about how brilliant the winning coach is, even though the game is not quite over.  Are there any lessons to be drawn from this game?  No.  Super Bowl games usually are not very good, and this one was no exception.  It was exceptionally sloppy, and there were other unusual things about it, but in the end, it is just another game.  Except for those who made a ton of money.  Tomorrow, we get the treat of all the Monday-morning quarterbacking, plus the annual ritual of talking about the new advertisements that premiered during the game. 

Camo Sticks?

Another product that makes me go "hmmm."  Once or twice in my life I've paid extra for high-performance random-access memory, but I've never paid extra for the href="http://www.tomshardware.com/2006/10/17/log_ocz_camouflage_ddr2_memory/">paint job. This is the PC2-6400 Special Ops Urban Edition from OCZ. I suppose if you have a problem with tiny snipers running around in your case, it might make sense to get these.  Or, if you are fond of using old parts to make jewelry or something like that, it could be pretty cool.  But, what the hell, sometimes it makes sense just to have fun…

Exploring Life's Origins with Janet Iwasa

From Andre at biocurious: Janet Iwasa has had an unusual scientific career. After finishing her PhD with Dyche Mullins at UCSF she started a postdoc in Jack Szostak's lab at Harvard but not to do bench work or even simulations like her postdoc colleagues. Instead, Janet is a full time animator and graphic designer. Some of Janet's work can be viewed at her website, onemicron.com. Her latest work, a website called Exploring Life's Origins explores the early evolution of cellular life, including the RNA world hypothesis and the emergence of a protocell. Also check out this piece at Nature…

Vintage surgical instruments

From Lithographische Abbildungen nebst Beschreibung der vorzuglicheren alteren und neueren chirurgischen Werkzeuge und Verbande, nach dem Handbuche der Chirurgie von Chelius geordnet, und am Schlube mit einer systematischen Zusammenstellung sammlicher abgebildeter Geratschaften versehen, by Franz Andreas Ott, 1829, Munich (via BibliOdyssey). The book contains a total of 48 plates, and is just one of about 100 digitized monographs available at the Edoc database at Humboldt University in Berlin. Among the instruments in the plate above there appear to be several trepans; earlier today,…

Web Vision

This diagram of the retina, drawn by Santiago Ramon y Cajal in 1892, comes from Web Vision, a comprehensive overview of the organization of the mammalian retina and visual system compiled by Drs. Helga Kolb, Eduardo Fernandez and Ralph Nelson of the John Moran Eye Center at the University of Utah. The site is arranged like a book and contains 14 parts. It covers the anatomy,  physiology, development and regeneration of retinal circuitry; the primary visual cortex, colour vision and visual psychophysics; and the clinical electrophysiology of various retinal degenerative diseases. It also…

The lab as toy factory

Yesterday, a postdoc from a neighbouring lab came by to hand over an aliquot of antibodies to baymate. Here's what happened: me: it looks like Santa came early this year. friendly neighborhood postdoc: Well actually my PI would be Santa. I'm more of a reindeer. baymate: Nah, you're an elf. Remember, it's the elves that make all the toys while Santa sits back and relaxes. I think that baymate was on to something. The elves make all the toys, while Santa goes on a world-wide toy-promotion PR tour. But the only question I have is who are the reindeer?

Quote of the Day

From Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go: "When I watched you dancing that day, I saw something else. I saw a new world coming rapidly. More scientific, efficient, yes. More cures for old sicknesses. Very good. But a harsh, cruel world. And I saw a little girl, her eyes tightly closed, holding to her breast the old kind world, one that she knew in her heart could not remain, and she was holding it and pleading, never to let her go. That is what I saw. It wasn't really you, what you were doing, I know that. But I saw you and it broke my heart. And I've never forgotten."

NEXTgencode

I heard about this great new (parody) company, NEXTgencode. You gotta love their tagline: Your Destiny is no Longer in Question. From their website: Want to see some of their "products"? Here's an add: And here's even more adds! Some products include: - Permapuppy ... have a pet that never grows up! - Special gene purchases (2XE4 to improve mathematical ability, BLSHt for better verbal facility) - EnlargeEar ... make your ears 20% larger to "bring you back into the conversation". (It's funny, while surfing the site we found a link to this other great site.) For more visit NEXTgencode! [HT…

The Best Science Television Show?

That is this week's question from the Seed mothership. Born and raised in Canada, I have to say that there is one obvious choice: The Nature of Things. Almost every Canadian in my age group has a picture of David Suzuki seared onto some part of their neocortex. Now some folk try to diss Dr. Suzuki ... all I can say is to leave the guy alone. When it comes to popularizing science for the mass market, no one comes close. P.S. Since I've moved to the US I've basically lived life without TV, and I can't say that I miss it.

Yet More Ugly, Vile Deep-Sea Fish Discovered

It is one biology's highest compliments to have a species named after you. But what if the above was your namesake? What does it say about your character? What does the author of that species description really think of the person it is named after? Perhaps these are the questions that geophysicist Michael Cousins is mulling over in his head after seeing Pachycara cousinsi, one 6 new species of deep-sea fish discovered in trawls from the southern Indian Ocean. His fiancé, Dr. Nikki King, was the lead author of these species. An early wedding present, or subliminal message? You decide!

Sea Floor Sundays at Clastic Detritus

With three biologist on staff now our coverage tends to lean toward the biological. We do cover geology, technology, and the such but from our warped biological view. What we need around this joint is some more geology! Over at Clastic Detritus a graduate students pontificates about all rock and whatnot. His ongoing series Sea-Floor Sunday is one to keep reading. Number 9 covers the continental slope off Australia and "everybody's favorite topic" sediment transfer to the deep. Discussed is how near shore processes of sediment suspension and transfer are linked to slope processes to…

Octopod Teeth

Many of you have probably seen this already. No doubt, you have said something like This thing has teeth where a beak should be -- disquietingly human teeth, at that. The picture is disturbing to say the least and will haunt my dreams. So is the picture real? Yes. The species is Promachoteuthis sulcus recently described by Young, Vecchione, and Roper. The published figure is... What you see is the oral view of the brachial and buccal crown. The supposed teeth are papillae on the lips of the buccal mass common in cephalopods (See below). Image from tolweb.org

Reason #111 Not to Pursue A Job In Oceanographic Sciences

Maybe another reason for scientist to carry Glocks in the field. A boat carrying six scientists from Waltair-Vishkhapatnam-based regional centre attached to Goa-based National Institute of Oceanography (NIO) was attacked two days ago off Yermal coast in Udupi district of Karnataka, top level officials confirmed. The assailants arrived in two different native crafts, got into the NIO boat and took away the geo-physical survey instruments after a brief scuffle, a NIO spokesman stated. The NIO officials, who were yet to confirm whether the act is a case of piracy or of loot for petty gains,…

Couple Wears Dead Dog Sweaters

A totally normal British couple has made headlines by wearing sweaters, knitted out of the hair of their deceased pet dogs. Beth and Brian Willis have made two sweaters, one out of Kara, a Samoyed, and the other from Penny, a Swedish Lapphund. I can't decide which one is hotter. Says Mrs Willis in this exclusive article in the Peabody Award winning Daily Mail, "It is not actually a hair but a wool, which is why it is so good for clothes," and, "Apparently it is quite popular with lots of the people who breed long-haired dogs." You know what is even more popular? Not being a total freak.

Not a creature was stirring

Given the available options, would you be stirring? You could, after all, be sunbathing on the beach. Of course, you might have to haul yourself out of the waves every now and again. Or you could nap in a sunny wading pool with your siblings. Maybe you could relax among the orchids. Perhaps a shark's gotta swim, but a flat fish who wants to blend in can take things slower. And a snake who stirs is much easier to distinguish from a vine. Here's hoping that those of you longing for some downtime get a chance to relax with the ones you love.

Three cheers for Dr. May!

A reader made sure I saw this today. (Thank you, reader!) From Brian May's website: Yes. It's done, and after about 37 years, I am finally a doctor. The oral examination of my thesis, and of me, lasted about 3 hours, and then I retired with Prof Rowan-Robinson, for a few moments, for my two examiners to confer. After only a couple of minutes they called me back into the room and offered their hands in congratulations. Yes, my category was number 2. I understand pretty much nobody gets a 1st category - which is "This is perfect - here's your PhD." Congratulations to Dr. May on a job well…

It's a nerd-off.

Perhaps not every ScienceBlogger is hot, but almost all of them are nerds. The time has come to see just how high those geek flags fly. It's time for a nerd-off. My opening volley after the jump, starting where one does: my momma. The nerd apple doesn't fall far from the tree. My momma programs in COBOL. Circa 1989, my momma emailed me ASCII cow-art. Some of it was NSFW. When I was little, I thought all holiday wreaths were made out of computer punch cards, 'cause that's what my momma used to make wreaths. Momma raised a nerd.

In which the elder Free-Ride offspring channels Descartes.

At bedtime, after the reading of the stories, the younger Free-Ride offspring lay upon Dr. Free-Ride's better half, and Dr. Free-Ride's better half responded by making strangling noises. Of course, I called in from the other room to remind the children that homicide, whether intentional or accidental, is forbidden in the house. Younger offspring: I'm not killing him! He's pretending! Dr. Free-Ride's better half: Actually, I'm pretending to be alive. Elder offspring: Pretending means you are alive. If you weren't alive, you wouldn't be able to pretend anything. Dr. Free-Ride: Well played,…

The Free-Ride offspring go to art school.

Actually, the Free-Ride offspring are just taking a few art classes this summer. We haven't packed them off to live in a garrett somewhere. (Not that we haven't given the matter thought.) Here are some drawings from their first week. By the younger Free-Ride offspring: The light brown lop-eared rabbit in the picture is, apparently, an homage to the rabbit I had in grad school (long gone by the time either of the sprogs was on the scene). By the elder Free-Ride offspring: I'm especially fond of the cacti and the bug in the foreground.

Kids today.

It is not easy to be a tremendous Luddite parenting 21st century kids. Currently, the Free-Ride offspring are learning the intricacies of Photoshop. The elder offspring so far has focused on creating new Pokemon using parts from existing ones, while the younger offspring has taken to adorning bulldogs with handlebar mustaches, bowlers, spats, and tutus. I'm sure Dr. Isis will be ready when Little Isis is old enough to Photoshop. Me, not so much. However, I do feel an inexplicable urge to make a diorama. Maybe I can make one that represents what we hope to accomplish at our department…

Evidence is always the best way to resolve a debate

You know how we great clumsy gallumphing unsophisticated atheists are always comparing belief in gods to belief in fairies at the bottom of the garden or tooth fairies or whatever? We may have to revise those arguments. Now we really have to worry. If some space probe snaps a picture of an orbiting teapot, we'll have nothin'. Crap. Sean knocks the props out from under my godlessness. Now I'm going to have to convert to something…what does everyone recommend? Catholicism, LDS, Scientology, etc., or should I just go all the way primitive, erect a phallus-shaped rock in my backyard, and start…

UARS Update

Here's the latest from NASA. Look for an update fairly soon. Or a loud noise, perhaps! Update #9 Thu, 22 Sep 2011 09:01:35 PM CDT As of 9:30 p.m. EDT Sept. 22, 2011, the orbit of UARS was 110 mi by 115 mi (175 km by 185 km). Re-entry is possible sometime during the afternoon or early evening of Sept. 23, Eastern Daylight Time. The satellite will not be passing over North America during that time period. It is still too early to predict the time and location of re-entry with any

Do you live in or near Baton Rouge?

Rally at the Capitol to Repeal Louisiana's Creationism Law Mark April 28th on your calendars! We will be holding a rally at the Louisiana State Capitol in support of repealing the misnamed and misguided Louisiana Science Education Act. The rally will take place at 11 am and the repeal will hold a table in the atrium of the capitol from 9 am to 4 pm. Please contact repealcreationism@gmail.com if you're interested in meeting with legislators or in volunteering. I hope to see you there, and please bring friends. We will show the legislature that Louisiana wants this law repealed! Facebook group…

Anthropogenic Climate Change: It's for real.

I've noticed that a lot of smart people who nonetheless "did not accept" AGW, or at least, denied the "A" part of it, have stoped talking about it lately. I'm speaking here of people I know personally. You know who you are, and you know you were wrong, and I just wanted to say that I forgive you. Mostly. In the mean time, have a look at this: That is from NOAA's new Climate Services site, where you too can mess around with the data and get the bejeebus scared out of you. Click here. If you dare. They need a graph for pirates.

Another Gulf Oil Rig Has Exploded

An offshore oil rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, west of the site of the April blast that caused the massive oil spill. A commercial helicopter company reported the blast around 9:30 a.m. CDT Thursday, Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel said. Seven helicopters, two airplanes and four boats were en route to the site, about 80 miles south of Vermilion Bay along the central Louisiana coast. The Coast Guard said initial reports indicated all 13 crew members from the rig were in the water. One was injured, but there were no deaths. details

Current Events in Human Evolution

I will be interviewed on Sunday Morning by Lynn Fellman on Minnesota Atheist Radio. We'll be covering the recent and almost recent news in several areas of human evolution, and discussing "Lucy, Ardi, Frodo, and us: what old bones and new genetics are revealing today" ... but since news from the field comes in so quickly, we may never get to our intended topic, since we can also talk about monkeys and very ancient cut marks on stone tools. Tune in on Radio 950 KTNF Twin Cities, or catch the Podcast later. I don't think there is a streaming thingie.

Brookhaven National Lab Blogs

Brookhaven National Laboratory is a multipurpose research laboratory funded by the U.S. Department of Energy. Located on Long Island, NY, Brookhaven operates large-scale facilities for studies in physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, applied science, and advanced technology. The Laboratory's almost 3,000 scientists, engineers, and support staff are joined each year by more than 5,000 visiting researchers from around the world. And, they now blog at Scienceblogs!!! Go welcome Brookhaven. Yes, there is a trend. Scienceblogs is adding a number of institutions as bloggers. This is going to…

The oceans of Mars teemed with life

... maybe. Maybe there were vast oceans, and maybe they were occupied by microbes. This, according to reserearch being discussed in Natoial Geographic. A vast ocean chock-full of microbes may have once covered more than a third of Mars's surface, scientists say. The new evidence, from an analysis of dried-up Mars river deltas, adds to growing signs the red planet was once wet. On Earth, river deltas all lie at more or less the same elevation and reflect the current sea level. In fact, by estimating the elevations of ancient deltas, scientists can reconstruct how sea levels have changed over…

Australian cave painting could be 40 kya, depicts megafauna

This just in from OZ: Scientists say an Aboriginal rock art depiction of an extinct giant bird could be Australia's oldest painting. The red ochre painting, which depicts two emu-like birds with their necks outstretched, could date back to the earliest days of settlement on the continent. It was rediscovered at the centre of the Arnhem Land plateau about two years ago, but archaeologists first visited the site a fortnight ago. A palaeontologist has confirmed the animals depicted are the megafauna species Genyornis. Archaeologist Ben Gunn said the giant birds became extinct more than 40,000…

Uffda

I'm using the Internet connection of some neighbor who's name is "linksys" because my 6 year old wireless router died this morning. I have had a GI disease of some kind for the last few days which has made it impossible to eat pain meds. Ouch ouch ouch. Tomorrow, I get oral surgery. I blew all the dust out of all of my computers with those cans of air, and it settled on everything. And the vacuum cleaner sucks. In that it doesn't. So don't expect any great blogging from me today, or even tomorrow, OK? Just don't. Maybe I'll twitter baby duty tomorrow.

The growing irrelevancy of Behe

Michael Behe's reputation is spiraling down the drain a little more. He denies the ongoing research on his favorite scientific examples, the flagellum and the immune system, and I think Les Lane has the right idea—his favorite icon, Mt Rushmore, needs a little more undermining, too. That first link above includes an excellent quote from the prescient and thorough Charles Darwin; he had the Behes pegged over a century ago. [I]gnorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge: it is those who know little, and not those who know much, who so positively assert that this or that…

Photosynthesis Video

Photosynthesis; This is how the British to it (teaching, not photosynthesis). From Crackle: Biology Education - Photosynthesis for GCSE / K12 ... I'm not sure why he says we don't know how photosynthesis works. Look at how well behaved the students are. You can tell this is not America, even without noticing that the guy talks funny. The graph on the rate of photosynthesis is idealized. This is not the graph for all plants. This won't work for your Alaskan Peas, for instance. Notice the maximum value for effect on increased CO2. I wonder what ever happened to the old chap..

Things to do on Sunday

Two fun things to do on Sunday: 1) Listen to Atheist Talk at 9: AM on KTNF, with Minnesota Atheists. Then, when you are done with that, stop over at Har Mar Mall in Roseville Minnesota for the Twin Cities Creation Science Association Home school Science Fair. Details here. I'm not sure if I can make it, so if you go and get a photograph or two (and don't have your own blog), send them on to me and I'll put them up. I'm sure people would love to see them. Here's the photos from last year. Sort of.

Attack mouse of the DI crashes, bursts into flames, and explodes!

Casey Luskin has been posting a series of articles to argue with Carl Zimmer, and has finally posted his last attempt, which Zimmer has dealt with. We have a new catch phrase, thanks to Luskin, in reference to the shortcomings of the vertebrate eye: Was the Ford Pinto, with all its imperfections revealed in crash tests, not designed? You see, we're not allowed to infer anything about the Designer from its handiwork in the natural world (that would be theology, after all), except perhaps when it's necessary to speculate that life was designed by Ford to counter those annoying facts.

Let's go back to the days of the Founding Fathers...

...back when they believed that humors were responsible for your health. Oh, yes, I know it's now "politically or medically incorrect" now to practice medicine the way they did in the days of our Founding Fathers, but that's because the socialist libero-Nazis took that away from us. After all, remember who else didn't answer medical questions. That's right. Hitler! We must take back our country and the medicine of the Founding Fathers, lest our organs organize against us and the government be given the power to remove your appendix and eat it in front of you and your children! Genius!

Steyn fan angry

Tim Blair is incensed at my conclusion that Steyn had stolen from a blogger. He calls me "the Lambot" and "a thief", searches for something to attack me with ... and comes up with an incorrect comment I made on another blog. I guess I'm in good shape if that's the best he can come with. Especially since since it's the fourth time he has ranted about that comment. And he has yet again linked to his post that contains uncorrected errors of his own. (Lockitch's article was not published in the Age, and the quote was not part paraphrase.)

Hunt for real surveyors continues

Stephen Dubner reports that Freakonomics is the 7th best-selling book for 2005. According to Nielsen BookScan, it is has sold 584,000 copies so far this year. Freakonomics discusses the survey that Lott claims to have conducted in 1997, but that he appears to have fabricated. Lott says that eight Chicago university students made the phone calls for him. So why hasn't one of these students read Freakonomics and come forward to prove that Lott conducted a survey? You would think that students (or former students) from Chicago would be particularly likely to have read the book since Levitt is…

The 53rd Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle

The 53rd Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has been posted at Slicing with Occam's Razor. Once again, the best skeptical blogging from the last fortnight has been gathered, sifted, and presented in one tight, easy to peruse package. Next up is Action Skeptics, who will host a fortnight hence, on February 15, 2007. If you're interested in adding your name to the increasingly long and distinguished list of bloggers who have hosted in the past, please drop me a line at oracknows@gmail.com. The schedule is here, and what's involved in hosting is described here.

The Dezenhall proposal

Jim Giles, who broke the story of how for-profit publishers had hired Eric Dezenhall to run a PR campaign against Open Access, has a post at the New Scientist Science News blog, where he posts a copy of Dezenhall's proposal. It always nice to see more of the inner workings of the astroturf industry: 4 Enlist Think Tank Support Seek studies, white papers and public commentary from think tanks that may quantify the risks, the societal price tag of public access. Groups that may be considered include the American Enterprise Institute, Brookings, Cato, Competitive Enterpise Institute and…

Oregon Petition: the musical

Eli Rabett on the Oregon Petition where we find John Humphreys in the graveyard resurrecting this unkillable climate denialist zombie. Tim Lambert, thermometer in hand tries to bludgeon the poor beast into eternal peace (and quiet). For those of you fortunate enough not to know what the hell Eli is babbling about, go, leave, get hence from this post, lest the spirit of love and kindness curdle in our season of good will and you try to stiff your loved ones (Ms. Rabett has informed Eli that any such attempt would be a health contraindication). There's more on the whole sordid tale.

Carnivalia, and an open thread

We just had one of these! Mendel's Garden #6 Friday Ark #104 Well, just to flesh it out a little more with some random links, here are some photos. I was told the second one made someone think of me (warning: body modification!). And, jebus help me, for some reason I thought this photo was very sexy. Or appetizing. I don't know, something in the midbrain flickered. Oh, and several of us sciencebloggers were interviewed for an article by Eva Amsen on "Who benefits from science blogging?" It doesn't mention the benefit of people sending you pictures that tickle the cingulate.

Sydney Writers' Festival 2009: Stories from the Climate Change Front

Sydney Writers' Festival 2009: Stories from the Climate Change Front: A Forum and Launch of Overland 195 Saturday, May 23 2009 15:00 - 16:00 David Spratt, co-author of Climate Code Red, Dr Sharon Beder, author of Global Spin: The Corporate Assault on Environmentalism, and Deltoid science blogger Tim Lambert discuss the state of the climate change debate today with Overland editor Jeff Sparrow. Are the big polluters changing their ways or simply greening their public image? Who are the main climate denialists? What kind of action do we need, and how close are we to achieving it?

80% of Australians accept that humans are causing climate change

The latest Newspoll finds that 84% of Australians accept that climate change is occurring and 96% of those that believe that climate change is occurring think that it is wholly or partly caused by humans. A 1993 ISSP survey found that 32% of Australians don't believe that humans evolved from another species -- the comparable figure in this survey is that 15% of Australians don't accept AGW. It is a delight to note that the poll was commissioned by the Australian, so they had to, in effect, report that their own noisy campaign against the science has been a dismal failure.

A new bathtime dilemma

Both Proper Study of Mankind and Thoughts in a Haystack have summaries of this bizarre paper that was published in Science last week, showing a connection between a sense of cleanliness and ethical thought. I guess it's not surprising that physical sensations impinge on unconscious decisions, but it is interesting in that it hooks into some cultural rituals. I'm not at all clear on what it means, though: should I skip out on taking a shower so I'll feel more compelled to do good in thought and deed to compensate, or should I do pre-emptive washing so I won't be hindered from skullduggery?

Neil Munro on global warming and y2k

I wouldn't have thought that it was possible to be more wrong than Neil Munro's prediction of the result of the Iraq war: The painful images of starving Iraqi children will be replaced by alluring Baghdad city lights, smiling wages-earners and Palestinian job seekers. But in a piece scare-mongering about the Y2K problem Munro predicted that Al Gore would be a big loser from the Y2K problem: (National Journal , 20 June 1998) Loser: Vice President Al Gore, who fretted about global warming, legal authorities and campaign finance laws while missing the biggest technology problem facing the…

More disturbing Google searches

Uh-oh. Periodically, via Sitemeter, I like to check out what sorts of searches are leading people to my humble blog. Recently I noticed one coming here from Italy via a Google search for "giant enema." Number two on the search list was this post. I'm guessing my Seed overlords are probably relieved that the post to which that search led was on my old blog, not the current incarnation of Respectful Insolence. (Or maybe not. After all, traffic is traffic.) Me, I'm curious why someone in Italy is searching the web for giant enemas. Maybe EneMan would like a trip to Europe.

Practical Water Bottle Advice

A reader asked me for some help choosing a water bottle because of concerns about antimony, bisphenol A, and phthalates (BPA is really the only risk worth thinking about in this trifecta). She read this NYTimes article about plastic bottles and risks,...etc. She was rather confused by the article. No doubt, it's more stream of consciousness than helpfulness. So here's your simple, practical advice, Amy: Get this bottle. It's the HDPE or the #2 that you are looking for (the milky looking plastic). It's cheap, reusable, sturdy, dishwasher safe, and people safe. (No, I don't get any money from…

The 101st Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle: Out of Africa

And so it begins... The first 100 have passed, and now the second 100 begin. This time, it comes from Africa, the 101st Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle. Go forth. Read. Enjoy. Be enlightened. Next up two weeks hence will be Bing McGhandi over at Happy Jihad's House of Pancakes on December 18. (I really love the name of that blog.) Start getting your skeptical pens ready (metaphorically speaking, of course). Check out the guidelines here. And while you're at it, check out the Carnival of the Africans, basically an African version of the Skeptics' Circle.

CHAOS: Complex Habitats around Our Suburbs

Contrail descending from a cumulonimbus cloud. I suppose the most obvious signs of life in this picture are human in origin. With the storm rolling in, most animals had already sought shelter. Not us... we keep flying over the country, or running outside to take pictures. We operate under the assumption that we have the upper hand when it comes to the weather. (Of course, looking at last week's news, that might be a faulty assumption.) I think this picture says otherwise... we may have conquered flight, but our biggest jets are still dwarfed by ordinary thunderheads. All photos by the…