Diversity is good, but these are cultures I wouldn’t mind seeing go extinct.
Amanda thinks she needs to boil her computer after watching this video promoting “purity balls”. I don’t think it’s enough. Incineration may be necessary.
You may have heard of this movie, Jesus Camp, about the indoctrination carried out in a church camp (I haven’t seen it; the clips and trailer are scary enough). Interesting news—the camp filmed in the movie has been shut down.
Minnesota elected a Muslim, Keith Ellison to the US House of Representatives. If he’d made his religion an issue, I’d be unhappy about this (just as I am about any other pious politician), but he didn’t—even though his opposition did—so I’m not perturbed. He seems to be advocating the right stuff.
Ellison said his race and religion weren’t as important as issues such as Iraq and health insurance for all. “We still have 43 million American uninsured. This is a problem for everyone in the United States,” he said.
He advocates an immediate U.S. withdrawal from Iraq along with strongly liberal views. While Ellison did not often speak of his faith during the campaign, awareness of his candidacy drew interest from Muslims well beyond the district centered in Minneapolis.
If you want to see people blowing their tops, you’re going to have to go to Rapture Ready.
If I had my druthers, every leader of our government would be a Bible- believing, Christ -loving, running -after -God believer.
It is a sad day for America today. A happy day for Terrorist however.
The beginning of the end of Christianity in this nation!!! The fall of great civilizations usually begin with one small event. This very well may be that domino.
This guy is a security risk…BECAUSE he is muslim! He can NOT be trusted with any state secrets in the war on terror. Any information that would benifit the enemy can and will be leaked by this guy.
There’s plenty of paranoia to go around there, and there’s also an excess of irony. These two comments had me laughing.
NOT a good thing. You mark my words…within the year, we’ll hear about an Islamic “prayer room” being set aside within the Congressional building(s).
I have yet to see a Muslim who can seperate their religion from anything. This is not a good thing at all.
Too bad they’re completely oblivious to the fact that they’re just seeing the country through the eyes of every American muslim, atheist, pagan, Hindu, etc. right now.
Holy crap. Look at what Bush said to Speaker Pelosi:
In my first act of bipartisan outreach since the election, I shared with her the names of some Republican interior decorators who can help her pick out the the new drapes for her new offices.
You going to take that kind of patronizing, condescending “bipartisan” baloney from Bush, Speaker Pelosi? I hope you’re getting warmed up for a good fight.
I’m in a Rove-induced state of total confusion. Suddenly, Rumsfeld resigns. Huh? Why now? Why not last week, when it might have affected the election? What game is going to be played here?
(Yeah, I’ve heard the Rumsfeld→retirement, Lieberman→Defense, Unnamed Republican appointee→Lieberman’s seat triple-play to preserve the Republican majority in the Senate, but to be so blatant and do it the day after the election doesn’t seem reasonable.)
(Oh…maybe my mistake is assuming “reason” in this administration. “Naked bugnut greed” is more the operational expectation.)
In case any of our biology students read this wacky site, I’ll remind you all that there is a meeting for all first-year biology majors this evening at 7:00, at my house (300 College Ave, west of the science building and across the street from LaFave House; we’re the place with the lawn that looks like bulldozers and zombies had a war on it). The biology faculty will be there with sweet tasty desserts, and you can ask us anything about classes, careers, science. It’s all going to be informal and fun.
If you want, you can meet with other biology students at 6:45 in the bioclub room (1040 Science, near the post office) and walk over in a group. Or come over any time by yourself between 7 and 8—the door will be open.
P.S. If you have allergies, we do have cats. However, they will be confined to the basement for the duration of this event.
In news guaranteed to cause distress to dashing, globe-trotting, heroic professors everywhere, Henry Jones Jr has been denied tenure. I hope there is an appeal.
(via Savage Minds)
This week’s Tangled Bank covers everything from spacewomen to cavemen in The Tangled Bank – The Future, Present, and Past at easternblot.net. The election news is all over, so it’s time to read some science!
Fascinating stuff…read this paper in PNAS, Evidence that the adaptive allele of the brain size gene microcephalin introgressed into Homo sapiens from an archaic Homo lineage, or this short summary, or John Hawks’ excellent explanation of the concepts, it’s all good. It’s strong evidence for selection in human ancestry for a gene, and just to make it especially provocative, it’s all about a gene known to be involved in brain growth, and it’s also showing evidence for interbreeding between Homo sapiens and Neandertal man.
The short short explanation: a population genetics study of a gene called microcephalin shows that a) it arose and spread through human populations starting about 37,000 years ago, b) this particular form of the gene (well, a small cluster of genes in a particular neighborhood) arose approximately 1.1 million years ago in a lineage distinct from that of modern humans, and c) the likeliest explanation for this difference is that that distinct lineage interbred with modern humans 37,000 years ago, passing on this particular gene variant that was then specifically selected for, a process called introgression.
The work looks sound to me, and I’m convinced. The one thing to watch for, though, is that there will be attempts to overreach and couple possession of this gene to some kind of intellectual superiority. We don’t know what this particular variant of the gene does yet! All we can say at this point is that some abstract data shows that a particular allele spread through the human population at a rate greater than chance would predict, that the gene itself has as one of its functions the regulation of brain growth, but that it is highly unlikely that that particular function is affected by the variant. Whatever it does, I expect the role is more along the lines of subtle fine-tuning rather than simply making people smart.
I just read Jesus’ General’s roundup of reactions to the election from Little Green Footballs. I suddenly feel so much more jubilant that these crazy people have lost this election.
