jlynch | October 14, 2006As usual, GrrlScientist made me do it. I agree with her in that the questions are a little too simplistic.
You Are 16% Capitalist, 84% Socialist
You see a lot of injustice in the world, and you'd like to see it fixed. As far as you're concerned, all the wrong people have the power. You're strongly in favor of the redistribution of wealth - and more protection for the average person.
No surprises here. The Political Compass puts me at Economic Left/Right: -9.5 / Social Libertarian/Authoritarian: -8.31 and the World's Smallest Political Quiz sees me as being a "Left Liberal" (a…
jlynch | October 13, 2006
Our Lady PeaceMark Van Doren, 1943
How far is it to peace, the piper sighed,The solitary, sweating as he paused.Asphalt the noon; the ravens, terrified,Fled carrion thunder that percussion caused.
The envelope of earth was powder loud;The taut wings shivered, driven at the sun.The piper put his pipe away and bowed.Not here, he said. I hunt the love-cool one,
The dancer with the clipped hair. Where is she?We shook our heads, parting for him to pass.Our lady was of no such trim degree,And none of us had seen her face, alas.
She was the very ridges that we must scale,Securing the rough top…
jlynch | October 13, 2006From the American Family Association:
Amnesty for 12,000,000 illegal immigrants.
A push to make homosexual marriage and polygamy legal in all 50 states.
Only liberal judges will be appointed. They will create laws to implement the social agenda liberals cannot get passed through the legislative process.
Liberals will make the killing of the unborn more difficult to stop.
Liberals will continue to try to rid our society of Christian influence, including any reference to God in our Pledge and on our currency.
A return to the "Fairness Doctrine" in broadcasting where opposing views must be…
jlynch | October 13, 2006By now, many of you will have heard of the recent Lancet study which claims that over 650,000 Iraqis have died due to the actions of the Bush administration. The paper is available online as a pdf. I haven't as yet had a chance to read the paper (still grading), but will just note that even if the estimate is too high, it is probable that the official estimate is too low. For further commentary by SciBlings see: Mike Dunford, Mark Chu-Carroll [here and here], Mike the Mad Biologist, Tim Lambert, and I'm sure others.
jlynch | October 12, 2006 While I'm at it, here's another new species. In this case, it is a catfish from Mexico, Lacantunia enigmatica, which has a number of distinguishing characteristics. As the abstract to the description [pdf] states:
A new family (Lacantuniidae), genus and species of catfish, Lacantunia enigmatica, is described from the RÃo Usumacinta basin of Chiapas, México. This odd siluriform is diagnosed by five distinctively autapomorphic and anatomically complex structures. ... Lacantunia enigmatica cannot be placed within or as a basal sister lineage to any known catfish family or multifamily clade…
jlynch | October 12, 2006
Another new species has been discovered. This one is a little special as it's the first new terrestrial mammal to be discovered in Europe in quite a while. It is Mus cypriacus, the Cypriot mouse. Thomas Cucchi, the discoverer, states:
"All other endemic mammals of Mediterranean islands died out following the arrival of man, with the exception of two species of shrew. The new mouse of Cyprus is the only endemic rodent still alive, and as such can be considered as a living fossil."
Full source: Cucchi et al. (2006) "A new endemic species of the subgenus Mus (Rodentia, Mammalia) on the Island…
jlynch | October 11, 2006Imagine that.
More than five years after President Bush created the Office of Faith-Based Initiatives, [David Kuo] the former second-in-command of that office is going public with an insider's tell-all account that portrays an office used almost exclusively to win political points with both evangelical Christians and traditionally Democratic minorities.
The office's primary mission, providing financial support to charities that serve the poor, never got the presidential support it needed to succeed, according to the book. ...
Kuo alleges that then-White House political affairs director Ken…
jlynch | October 11, 2006So said Eeyore. But equally, it could describe this - Dembski has noticed the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Society, and so wants to be like Dawkins:
Anybody who is willing and able to upgrade the look, feel, and functionality of this site (Uncommon Descent) to match that of the Dawkins site will receive three of my books autographed. What a deal. Think it over.
Wow.
jlynch | October 9, 2006
The endangered jaguar (Panthera onca) is making a partial comeback in the Southwest. As this article notes, sightings have become more frequent over the past decade as males are crossing over from Mexico. Needless to say, conservationists are worried about the effect of the 700 mile Bush's Border Boondoggle on not only the jaguar but other species.
Picture by permission of the Northern Jaguar Project
jlynch | October 9, 2006
Yariguies brush-finch
Atlapetes latinuchus yariguierum
New species described in the Bulletin of the British Ornithologists Club (Vol. 126: June 2006).
The new bird is named for the Yariguies indigenous people who formerly inhabited the mountain range where the bird was found. The new bird is a large and colorful finch with black, yellow and red plumage. It differs from its closest relatives in having a black back and no white markings in its wings. It is also found in other nearby mountains in Colombia's Eastern Andean range. Genetic, morphological and vocal studies have confirmed its…
jlynch | October 7, 2006
This is just sweet. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has snapped a picture of Victoria Crater and has captured the Mars rover Opportunity.
(HT to Bad Astronomy Blog)
jlynch | October 7, 2006ASU have the day off, but Saturday wouldn't be the same without me grousing about a team choking at football, so I present to you the Republic of Ireland soccer team (different "football" I know, but at least this one involves feet).
The qualifying rounds for Euro 2008 began last month and Ireland began with a relatively encouraging 1-0 loss to Germany, one of the useful teams (along with the Czech Republic and Slovakia) in the group. This would lead one to believe that games against teams such as Cyprus, Wales and San Marino should be gimmies, right? Wrong! Today, Cyprus beat Ireland 5-2 at…
jlynch | October 6, 2006You've got to love this quote: "Today is day 960 of Opportunity's 90-day mission to Mars" (Steve Squyres, Cornell).
jlynch | October 6, 2006
Seen for the first time, October 7th, 1959.
"there is no dark side of the Moon really... matter of fact it's all dark"
jlynch | October 6, 2006A trip through the wires tubes that are the Internets:
Olberman on Presidential Lying: "No critic, no commentator, no reluctant Republican in the Senate, has ever said anything that any responsible person could even have exaggerated into the slander you spoke in Nevada on Monday night, nor the slander you spoke in California on Tuesday, nor the slander you spoke in Arizona on Wednesday... nor whatever is next. You have dishonored your party, sir -- you have dishonored your supporters -- you have dishonored yourself." Read more here.
How to spin a comma: "[T]he President is making the point…
jlynch | October 6, 2006so I have no idea of the significance of this. GrrlScientist made me do it.
You Belong in Soho
Although you may not be a professional artist, you do dabble in one form of art or another.And you indie culture of all kinds - from little botiques to art house films.
Where Should Your Inner New Yorker Live?
jlynch | October 6, 2006
A Prayer for My Daughter
William Butler Yeats, 1919
Once more the storm is howling, and half hid Under this cradle-hood and coverlid My child sleeps on. There is no obstacle But Gregory's wood and one bare hill Whereby the haystack- and roof-levelling wind, Bred on the Atlantic, can be stayed; And for an hour I have walked and prayed Because of the great gloom that is in my mind.
I have walked and prayed for this young child an hour And heard the sea-wind scream upon the tower, And under the arches of the bridge, and scream In the elms above the flooded stream; Imagining in excited reverie…