Maybe it’s to prevent evolutionists from exercising in air conditioned rooms…

I’m hearing lots about this CHE story that documents an omitted category in a list of subjects eligible for a class of grants…and the omission conveniently knocks out evolutionary biology. I’m suspicious, and everyone is suspicious, and for good reason—this is an administration that elevates incompetent ideologues to positions of unwarranted power in the halls of science, so seeing that kind of selective deletion isn’t too surprising.

However, Matt Brauer at the Panda’s Thumb finds two other deletions: exercise physiology, and…Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning Technology? Unless there’s a passage in the Bible that says Jesus hates ducts, this sounds like a case of incompetence being a bigger factor than ideology.

Trout Fishing in America

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Troutnut has put up a beautiful page of Aquatic Insects of American Trout Streams. It’s all about using insects to catch fish, but it’s still an excellent example of how outdoor sportsmen (and in this case, soon-to-be grad student) can put together scientifically interesting information, too. If you don’t know a mayfly from a caddisfly, it’s full of photographs of the different organisms that might flit out of your nearby stream and park on your screen doors to weird you out.

Billionaires for stem cell research

Forbes has an article on billionaires who oppose the stem cell ban (free reg required): the subtitle is “Billionaire cash has kept embryonic stem-cell research alive—just barely,” which really says it all. It discusses the extremely generous gifts private donors (and also some state funding by referendum) that have kept stem cell research afloat in the world of GW Bush and the religious right. There’s quite a bit of money flying around out there.

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Physics envy

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So this is what that phrase means: S. Daniel Morgan tells me that you can get an Albert Einstein action figure, but I haven’t been able to find a comparable Charles Darwin action figure. This just isn’t right.

I did discover that SciAm pointed out this deficiency long ago. I checked Archie McPhee, of course…and they’ve got pirates and Jesus and Lunch Ladies and Carl Jung and an albino bowler, but no Darwin. This is a serious lacuna in the necessary office toys category.

Please just stop

People, people, people. There is far too much attention being paid to a pair of obnoxious trolls in the comments. Ignore them. Do not call them out. Do not pester them with questions. Just let ’em rot.

I’m going to have to start disemvoweling the stuff from Bres Mac Elatha/Robert O’Brien and Jason, as well as the posts that refer to them, if you can’t leave them be. I get cranky when I have to start hacking up annoying comments, you know.