• Blogs Wot I Read - Geek Out! - Hot Off The Presses - Random Access Memories

    Evidence Supports Earlier Date for People in North America – New York Times

    Evidence Supports Earlier Date for People in North America – New York Times Exploring Paisley Caves in the Cascade Range of Oregon, archaeologists have found a scattering of human coprolites, or fossil feces. The specimens preserved 14,000-year-old human protein and DNA, which the discoverers said was the strongest evidence yet of the earliest people living in North America. Other archaeologists agreed that the findings established more firmly than before the presence of people on the continent at least 1,000 years before the well-known Clovis people, previously thought to be the first Americans. Recent research at sites in Florida and Wisconsin…

  • Dear Mom - Flickr - Moblog

    Dude herez ur hibrid in my space

    UPDATE: Posted via Flickr so that my husband David could find his car where I parked it, as his flight schedule was changed and we decided he’d taxi to where I work, pick up his car which I drove in, and he’d get me at the end of the day. This was so he’d have a ride to and from work, and so on. The logistics of married people are not fascinating, but they do take a lot of work. It all worked out satisfactorily at the end of the day: so very nice to see my hubby when he…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Health And Fitness

    Not soap, but chocolate

    I went to a local health and beauty spa today, Spa Martinique. I had done something to my neck yesterday – I have a history of “throwing it out” going back to childhood and later in college. I’d been thinking of finding a good local “aaaah spa,” the kind of place where you walk in the door and the atmosphere of serene calm (and the scent of expensive emollients) is designed to make you say “aaaah.” I’d been to one in Salt Lake but didn’t know if I’d have to schlep all the way downtown or not. A few days…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Hot Off The Presses - Mini-Posts

    Zimbabwe: The Suspense Is Killing

    Such a platitude: “The suspense is killing me.” In Zimbabwe, the suspense is killing democracy: the Zimbabwe Election Commission has been slowly announcing results in a piecemeal fashion, with suspiciously neck-and-neck results when the numbers posted outside every polling station previously seemed to presage a much bigger majority for the opposition party (or parties, as there’s a split). Mugabe must go someday. But when?  Now it appears that he’s started a “crackdown.” The suspense could be killing people for real, very soon. This is Zimbabwe

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Geek Out! - Religion

    The Questionable Authority : Summary Judgment in California Creationist Lawsuit: Bottom Line, and What’s Next (Part 1 of 3)

    As a religious liberal who enthusiastically embraces reality (and whose favorite college class of all time was Evolution 101/102/103 long ago), I have to savor the following: The Questionable Authority : Summary Judgment in California Creationist Lawsuit: Bottom Line, and What’s Next (Part 1 of 3) This means two things: first, the question of whether or not the University of California can reject courses from the Christian schools under any circumstances has been settled in favor of UC. The judge ruled that UC has a compelling reason to pick and choose the “content” and “viewpoints” that they will accept as…

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Geek Out! - Religion

    Pharyngula: EXPELLED! from Expelled

    PZ Myers got pulled out of the line for a private screening of Expelled, the creationist “documentary” by a rent-a-cop at the producers’ request. But his guest, Richard Dawkins, was not recognized. IM N UR THEETRE, MOCKIN UR DOGMAS! See all 1200+ comments for more enjoyment of the delicious irony at Pharyngula: EXPELLED! As seen various places, most recently OneUtah UPDATE: A video of a post-expulsion discussion between Dawkins and Myers is here. [kml_flashembed movie="http://media.richarddawkins.net/video/2008/RDPZweb.mov" width="426" height="260" wmode="transparent" /]

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Mini-Posts

    BBtv – Klaus Pierre Does Pirates of Pantaluma

    I can’t explain why I find these little adventures of the French-German action hero funny and strangely compelling; they just are. In this one, Klaus wigs out in several languages and takes off into a park wearing a pirate shirt and puffy pants, which he gives back. BBtv – Klaus Pierre, French-German Action Hero in Training in America: Pirate Musical of Epic Fail – Boing Boing

  • Blogs Wot I Read - Hot Off The Presses

    Zimbabwe: “…the police at once jumped on her, beat her until she screamed”

    Why blog? Some people have fun and go to big conferences.  Many people simply enjoy putting their words up on the net.  Others get the word out about specific topics or interests. And for a few people, blogging is a moral imperative, a matter of life and death, because the truth must be told from within the borders of a country gone mad. This is Zimbabwe is such a life-and-death blog. Mostly it chronicles the difficulties of life in a poor country inflicted with government corruption, hyper-inflation, and the uncertainty of how to get through day-to-day life when you never…