Puijila darwini

i-e88a953e59c2ce6c5e2ac4568c7f0c36-rb.png

It’s yet another transitional fossil, everyone! Oooh and aaah over it, and laugh when the creationists scramble to pave it over with excuses.

What we have is a 23 million year old mammal from the Canadian arctic that would have looked rather like a seal in life…with a prominent exception. No flippers, instead having very large feet that were probably webbed. This is a walking seal.

i-2e998e366fcd8b430268a2fed96002fb-pujila.jpeg
(Click for larger image)
a, Palatal view of skull; b, lateral view of skull and mandible, left side; c, occlusal view of left mandible. Stippling represents matrix, hatching represents broken bone surface. The images are of three-dimensional scans. The brain case was scanned using computed tomography, whereas all other elements were surface scanned.

What it tells us is that marine pinnipeds almost certainly had an origin in the arctic, derived from terrestrial and semi-aquatic forms — these were more otter-like animals.

You’ll want to learn more about this beautiful creature. There is a website all about Puijila (in English, French, and Inuktitut) where you can find all kinds of images…and you can also find out how to pronounce “Puijila“, something we’re all going to have to practice. Who knew paleontology was going to lead us all into learning a few words of Inuktitut?

Rybczynski N, Dawson MR, Tedford RH (2009) A semi-aquatic Arctic mammalian carnivore from the
Miocene epoch and origin of Pinnipedia. Nature 458:1021-1024.

Looking for me in Ashland?

There will be a few opportunities for informal conversation today. I’ll be on an evolution walk at Briscoe Geology Park at 2:00pm today, and for those of you who can’t bear the thought of seeing me without a beer or four in you, I’ll be popping by the Standing Stone Brewing Company sometime after 9:30…after my talk and after I’ve had some dinner with Jefferson Center folks. If I’m late, don’t panic, just have some good conversation with other godless Pharyngulistas, and I’ll get there eventually.

I’d really like to win an iPod Touch

This is terribly crass of me, I know, but I’d love to win a free iPod Touch or iPod Shuffle. All I have to do is get the most people to click through the link posted below, and if I’m one of the top 3 promoters, I win! I get all these readers here, so I figure I might as well use you for personal gain.

Here’s the link. Come back and click on it every day!

Creation Minute is an exciting series hosted by Eric Hovind that explores the creation worldview using cutting-edge visual effects and digital technology. Each episode challenges the evolution theory and gives evidence of the Bible’s historical and scientific accuracy.

Well, as you can guess, I’m not really after the gadget itself…I’m more interested in seeing Eric Hovind compelled to send it to me. Heh heh heh.

(Of course, given his family’s criminal tendencies, and their adherence to Christian immorality, there is a good chance that even if I get the most click-throughs, I won’t win.)

Please, Texas, make Don McLeroy unemployed

There is hope in Texas. Deranged creationist dentist Don McLeroy is getting grilled in confirmation hearings.

State Board of Education Chairman Don McLeroy, R-Bryan, faced searing questioning during his uncommonly long confirmation hearing Wednesday at the Senate Nominations Committee.

And Chairman Mike Jackson, R-La Porte, said McLeroy’s nomination is on shaky ground because he might not be able to get the required two-thirds vote from the Senate.

Texans, call your congresscritters and urge them to purge this embarrassment from the board of education. If you can shed McLeroy, I will celebrate and write a post fulsome in its praise of the beauty and wisdom of Texans, I promise.

Scientifical journalism done good

Over on an MSN site, there is an image of Ötzi the iceman with a very strange caption.

The iceman is believed to be the ‘missing link’ between apes and humans that roamed the mountains, encased in ice.

How many ways is that wrong? The “missing link” remark, applied to a human being let alone anything else, is bad enough…but I’m having a hard time picturing the ecology of beings encased in ice and roaming mountains.

Attempts to get MSN to correct the ignorance are going unheeded, apparently.

It’s a good thing Orac is surrounded by medical professionals

I know how much Orac dislikes the Huffington Post — I despise it myself as the doman of airheaded woo of the type represented by Deepak Chopra, and the only time I glance at it is to remind myself that the left can also sink into sloppy stupidity as deeply as the right. But poor Orac — his head might just explode into flames when he reads this simperingly stupid piece on vaccines from Jim Carrey.

The Huffpo is a little island of pampered fluff, where celebrities are asked to ‘blog’ (it really isn’t, though—they tend to drop these little turds of pseudo-wisdom, and then never hang around to interact with their readers) simply because they are celebrities, and we are expected to pay attention despite their lack of substantive authority. It’s the People magazine of the lefty blogosphere, and I’m really ashamed to see that as one of the showpieces of my political affiliation.

Partway there!

Oy, this has been a long day of travel, and it’s not over yet. I’m at the Salt Lake City airport right now, with a long 5 hour layover. At least I have wireless and my kindle.

It’s a bit of a shock being here, though. I’d forgotten how much those big lumpy whatchamacallums, you know, those giant piles of rocks and dirt — oh, yeah, mountains — add to the scenery. Also, 80°. The world is not supposed to be that hot right now.