On the Origin of Species

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection. Thank you, Darwin, for making sense of life, and for standing the test of time and scrutiny of science for 150 years.

Here's NPR on the occasion.

Meet Homo Palineus

No wonder they like her! They're exactly like her: politically uneducated, misinformed, inarticulate, raging idiots!

Best quote: 'I just believe it. I've heard it over and over again that.... I know it's going on. These procedures are happening. [...] I watch Fox News—a lot!'

(Found through boingboing)

The Democracy We Engendered

Iraq and Afghanistan rank fifth and second from the bottom, respectively, on Transparency International's 2009 Corruption Index. Afghanistan was only second to Somalia.

Image Source

Sarkozy on Camus

Apparently, Sarkozy has expressed his desire to move Albert Camus's remains to the Panthéon in Paris. His daughter has agreed to the 'honor;' his son says his father wouldn't have liked it.

I'd have to go with the son on this one. Catherine has done a lot of good things about her father's legacy, but she is wrong on this one. Although Camus is undoubtedly worthy of having his remains housed alongside those of Voltaire and Hugo, he was much too moral and independently-minded to be allied (even in death!) to the 'grands hommes' of the Panthéon.

Besides... he wanted to be buried where he's buried and that should end the debate.

Arithmetically Challenged Fox News

This picture is worth... 193 percentage points??

(Source: BuzzFeed)

Unfair and Unbalanced

This article summarizes Fox News's misuse of footage and invention of facts in presenting the network's propaganda for the year we're about to close.

How the Mighty Have Fallen

(Found through The Daily Dish)

Archangel Mikhail Gorbachev

In this interesting interview in The Nation, Gorbachev is not parsimonious in self-praise, though one should give the man credit where it's due. We often forget that the fall of the Soviet Union and the other Eastern European 'Communist' régimes was due to the efforts of people there—both those in power and those who took the streets. Reagan was just one side of a dialogue that would not have been if the other party had turned a deaf ear like they had done for decades.

On UCs and Higher Education

University of California president Mark G. Yudof has written a paper about what the Federal Government's role should be in higher education across the nation. He has also expressed the same sentiments in an article published in The Chronicle.

Regardless of what I think of him, he is right on this point.

Meanwhile, last Wednesday, Yudof & Co. voted to increase fees by 32% in the University of California over the next year. With another predicted deficit in California's budget, there is a good possibility that funding to education will be cut further, resulting in even higher fees and tuitions in the near future.

Students at UCLA, who had come from all of the UCs, protested the measure.

Humanist Propaganda

At this time of year, when tensions and emotions run high, and our individual and collective goodness toward fellow human beings runs low, a message should resound:

No God? ... No problem!

Be good for goodness' sake!

What Palin Really Said on Oprah

Conan O'Brien's take on it.

The True 2012 Apocalypse

Berisha komunist...

...dhe jo nga të mirët.

Dy artikuj flasin për atë që dihet tashmë: se Sali Berisha ka qenë komunist. Njëri prej tyre pretendon se është gjetur tesera e tij e Partisë, ndërsa artikulli tjetër jep dëshminë e një ish-të dënuari, në gjyqin e të cilit, sipas tij, Sali Berisha ka kërkuar dënimin me vdekje.

The Rings of the Earth

I actually think it'd be cool to have rings around our planet. I mean, look at it!

(Source: boingboing)

Evolution Vindicated

And in the Galapagos, no less, where a new species has emerged right under the observing eyes of the scientists who work there.

Word Challenge

What do you think are the one hundred most common words in the English language?

Take the challenge.

Hint: Think small....

(Found via BuzzFeed)

History of Sorts...

Welcome to today's United States of America, where 'history' is simply voting to debate—not pass, but merely debate—a life-saving measure that fulfills, in part, government's duty to that measure vis-à-vis its citizens.

Let's hope true history is made soon....

Oxford U. Press: Word of the Year 2009

Apparently, the Oxford University Press keeps track of new word usage across the anglophone world and this is what they came up with as word of the year 2009:

UNFRIEND - v. to remove someone as a 'friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook.

A more complete list can be found on their blog page.  Notable mentions include a lot of new twitter and Obama neologisms, as well as 'teabagger' and 'birther'.

Tube-Inspired Highway System

Ever wonder what the U.S. highway system would look if it were represented on a map like a subway system?

Look no further.

(Found via ThinkProgress; image source)

The Last Ten Borrowed Years In Seven Minutes

Borrowed because the world was supposed to end in 2000, remember?

(Found on The Daily Dish)

Sarah 'Pinocchio' Palin

Her mendaciousness summarized.

The Only (So-Called) Democracy in the Middle East

Israel is now inviting students at universities to report 'subversive' (i.e. non-Zionist) professors.

Good job!

Balkan Demographics

The Economist analyzes demographics in the Balkans. Population seems to be declining all across the board, although it is expected that by 2050 the population of Albania will have increased. I don't know if I agree with that, but they know best... sorta....

London in Color in 1927

(Source: boingboing)

'Lou Dobbs' Arrested

The Onion reports that Luis Miguel Salvador Aguila Dominguez has been arrested and deported for having lived in the United States illegally under the name Lou Dobbs.

"Mr. Dominguez did not come quietly, but in the end he came," said Sam Whitlock of the U.S. Border Patrol, who was injured during the arrest. "He pulled a knife on me, like they will, and swore a bunch in Spanish and spit on us when we finally managed to grab him by the serape and throw him against a wall. But the important thing is that he's now back where he belongs."

Tchaikovsky's Voice

For real... a recording of Tchaikovsky's voice from 1890. Anton Rubinstein is featured in it, too, among other figures of the time.

Translated dialogue:
A. Rubinstein: What a wonderful thing [the phonograph].
J. Block: Finally.
E. Lawrowskaja: A disgusting...how he dares slyly to name me.
W. Safonov: (Sings a scale incorrectly).
P. Tchaikovsky: This trill could be better.
E. Lawrowskaja: (sings).
P. Tchaikovsky: Block is good, but Edison is even better.
E. Lawrowskaja: (sings) A-o, a-o.
W. Safonow: (In German) Peter Jurgenson in Moscow.
P. Tchaikovsky: Who just spoke? It seems to have been Safonow. (Whistles)

(Source: boingboing)

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