- Posts tagged Evolution
- Explore Evolution on posterous
Eyes from around the animal kingdom
A Gallery of Beastly Orbs
Howdy folks. How've y'all been keepin'? Me? Very busy. Apologize for being so out-of-touch, and while I'd love to tell you that the issues that have kept me away have subsided, they persist.
So to beg forgiveness, today I'll offer you a small gallery of eyeballs from across the animal kingdom. I've been collecting these images to post as Facebook 'Cover' photos, changing them once a day. I featured everything from owls to elephants to sheep to leaf tailed chameleons; see if you can figure out which is which.
Eating Evolution
Evolution
by Ted Sabarese
There have been a lot of new readers around these parts recently, from all over the world, and I'd like to thank each and every one of them. This blog is of course open to everybody, and I hope that no matter where you come from, or what you believe, you find content that interests you.
However the following needs to be stated quite clearly. This blog is written by a skeptical, atheist, astronomy loving, evolution supporting, conspiracy theory psshawing, lab-coat worshipping dork. Some new folks hovering around the blog, no doubt having discovered it through the sun-earth distance post, have seemed surprised by that fact.
A Severed Leg on the Sidewalk (Warning: Graphic Images)
Sorry folks. These pictures (bottom) aren't pretty, but damn are they fascinating.
When driving one of my kids to school today I noticed something odd out the window, and after the tot was safely in class I circled back to see what it was. There on the sidewalk was what appeared to be the severed leg of a deer, partially frozen, and particularly haggard looking.
Gorilla Business
I love watching the gorillas... almost as much as I love watching people watch the gorillas.
Yesterday, I was asked to drop the family off at the Toronto Zoo, a request which I refused.
See, my wife recently had surgery on her foot, and can't walk around very much. However there's a splash-park within the zoo, so she and some friends were meeting there to sit around and gab while the children played themselves into certain afternoon naps. Being a male, I was not invited to the chatter-fest, and was told to return some hours later to pick them all up.
My answer was a resounding "NO!"
Animating Evolution
The Origin of Species
an Animation by Robert Etchinham
I'm aware of Robert Etchingham's work from some comedy shorts he's done in the past, so I'm already a big fan. But if the following video—released just today—actually ends up being the first in a real animated series, I may just have to start stalking the dude and going through his garbage.
Even in this short clip you can see how awesome his animation style is. Imagine bringing that classical animation look to the topic of evolution, and the potential it might have for teaching kids about science? Although I imagine this video is actually just a one off, I'd really love to see more.
More on Robert and his work here.
A Rational Children's Song
Evolution Made Us All
A Children's Song (below) by Ben Hillman
To the consternation of some, I'm raising my children without God.
It is of course our choice as parents to make, although as far as I'm concerned, there is no choice at all. If my boys decided to follow a religion as adults I would respect their decision, but I'm certainly not going to actively indoctrinate them with a mythological world-view at so impressionable an age. Especially not one that denies basic scientific fact, as some religious people do when it comes to evolution.
New Skeptical Poster
Let them Plagiarize! (Poster-Quote #5)
I came across this quote the other day by Howard Aiken, and knew it had to become my next poster. Aiken is someone I'd never heard of before, but apparently he was a pioneer in computing. Given that, I have no idea in which context his quote was given, nor what he meant by it specifically. Nevertheless, it made immediate sense to me.
“Don't worry about people stealing your ideas. If your ideas are any good, you'll have to ram them down people's throats.”-Howard Aiken
The Know/Do Problem
How to Fly to the Stars, Save our Planet, and Ignore People
I have an embarrassing admission to make. Sometimes, when nobody else is around, I talk to myself.
Or at least I hear voices, and they're not always supportive ones. Usually, they start barking at me right before I post something potentially controversial on this site. See, I'm a huge wuss-bag that abhors confrontation of any sort, so I'm always anticipating the backlash my opinions might engender. The voices I'm talking about offer me a preview of every negative comment one of my posts might provoke, and they frighten me.
I, Evolved Biological Robot
Poster Quote #4
Isaac Asimov Can't Prove Evolution, But Then Again Nobody Can
After a number of Poster-Quotes featuring the words of scientists and philosophers, I'm quoting sci-fi author Isaac Asimov this time around, and I realize how big of a nerd that makes me. "Oh man, I KNEW it! The planet guy's a dork. He probably writes this stuff with a pair of Spock ears firmly attached to his noggin." I mean, I am a nerd, but truth be told I'm not all that big a fan of science fiction. Some of it's perfectly good—the better sci-fi movies and a little Heinlein for example—but I don't necessarily favour the genre over others.
Yet when I found this particular quote from Professor Asimov, and thought about the debate with a creationist I had taken part in earlier that day, I figured it was especially appropriate.
Top Secret Agents
Who's Really in Control of Your Destiny?
Allow me to paint a picture for you, one that will illustrate why it feels like you're being watched. I know I spend a lot of time debunking things on this website, but in this one case your paranoia is justified. There are indeed agents watching you every day, so many that sometimes you see them when they're not even there. They're in the woods and around the corner, and they're coming for you.
Anyway, back to the story. Here goes:
