The holiday season is upon us!

By the right of no power invested in me by anyone, I declare this holiday season officially open (And the EAC war on Christmas about to commence). It certainly feels festive: it’s so cold in Central Texas that even the Intertoobz are sluggish and few will venture outside unless and until they have to. It’s been a tough year, beginning with a freak heart attack, an elevator ride into healthcare poverty, a big complication from surgery, then the underlying blood disorder found in the midst of a cancer scare while being threatened with my job and health insurance by the usual corporate brutes. Then to add insult to injury, last night Family Guy killed off … we’ll I don’t want to spoil it but they need to bring that character back toot suite.

But thanks to you guys and gals at FTB, this blog has been a sorely needed bright spot for me without which I would be in even more dire shape. Thanks and happy holidays to friends, trolls, and frenemies alike!

Was he FOR rape before he was against it?

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Last day to beg until after the Big Feast, pleeeease chip in a few bucks so a certain hellbound atheist activist can get by. My PayPal email is DarkSydOtheMoon-at/aol.com. I wouldn’t ask if the situation wasn’t grim. Thanks for listening!

The Teaparty playbook is simple: it’s the same ugly bullshit that has sustained authoritarian creeps and their well paid henchmen since the dawn of civilization. It worked for post Civil War racists for more than a century, it worked for European fascists in the 1930s, and it works for the conservative wing of the Republican Party today. An important part of the playbook is to call your opponents the worst names you can think of, say for example, baby killer, pervert, wimp, traitor, or rapist, over and over and over. On the latter, take it away RushBo: [Read more…]

The moment of truth approaches for ISON

Thanks to some generous readers yesterday, this will be the last day before Thanksgiving Week I’ll have to bleg for money. The fact is blogging pays about a tenth what it did before the Great Recession and atheist activism isn’t exactly, as The Jerk would say, a profit deal. I’ll have a snail mail address soon for those of you who don’t use Paypal. For the rest, please send small dollar donations to DarkSydOtheMoon-at/aol-com. No amount is too small or too large. For an update on deep space visitors, go below. [Read more…]

New genetic analysis of archaic hominids binds us closely together

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An endogenous retrovirus or ERV is a genetic scar produced by a failed viral infection. Geneticists can tell its of viral origin because it will contain base pairs associated exclusively with viruses. If the ERV happens to insert in a portion of a cell genome that goes onto contribute to an egg or sperm that creates a new person, and if that same stretch of DNA containing the ERV is part if an allele that ultimately gets selected for widely, eventually the entire population will share it. If the population then splits over time, both descendant groups will have it in the same place. If you and a stranger have a unique ERV occupying the exact same segment in both your respective genomes, it is powerful evidence you are closely related.

Humans and chimps share a number of ERVs, which is more than just a smoking gun that we share a relatively recent common ancestor, it’s a video tape of evolution pulling the trigger. So it was with great interest that a new study comparing ERVs in anatomically modern humans to Neandertal DNA as well as poorly understood contemporary referred to as Denisovans has been released: [Read more…]

The filibuster is in jeopardy

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As luck would have it, one of my family members is in ICU and I have a series of comprehensive medical tests today myself, so I may be scarce for a day or two. In the meantime please consider a small donation to your humble atheist blogger this week. I really need it and no amount is too small. Thanks to those of you who pitched in already!

Back in the darkest days of the Bush administration and Tom DeLay’s house of horrors, Republicans threatened to nuke the Senate filibuster. I’m proud to say my colleagues at Daily Kos and I responded with, go for it. It’s a dumb arcane artifact of Senate rules that obstructs ledge and gives individual and small groups of senators the ability to legally shake down industries and star in their own dramatic CSPAN grandstand. Since 2008 the GOP has used it a record number of times to thwart progressive policies and block everything in sight. It appears Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has finally had enough: [Read more…]

George Zimmerman back in jail

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I’m begging for change in readers’ Paypal accounts and this clown is free to cash in on tragedy. I guess life isn’t fair and that’s saying it mildly.

I didn’t cover the Trayvon Martin story, much, because it was covered really well all over the place and there wasn’t much to add. Only one eyewitness survived. But since skating on those charges charges, the creep that killed Trayvon has been in all kinds of trouble involving guns and allaged threats. . This weekend George Zimmerman was arrested again in a pattern that’s become all too familiar: [Read more…]

Science denial is deadly

Via WeatherUnderground: a view of part of Washington, Illinois from Mackenzie Street on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2013 after a tornado tore through the area. (AP Photo/Alex Kareotes)

Creationism is annoying and depressing, but a typical middle-class voter can get through their entire lives availing themselves of the fruits of microbiology and science in general while yammering on against about evolution or geology. As Illinois residents dig out from another freak tornado epidemic and the death toll on the Phillippines in the wake of Super Typhoon Haiyan rises, it’s appropriate to note climate change is a whole different story. The wind, water, and drought brought on by changing climate are killers. Ask any expert: [Read more…]

Damn meddling script kiddies

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Without your contributions this year — to Paypal email address DarkSydoThemoon-at/aol-com — this site and would cease to exist. The moment I don’t have to do this anymore I’ll be thrilled to yell it from the mountain tops. I’ll have a snail-mail set up later this week for those who despise or do not use Paypal. On a bright note, I was able to afford some Bengal Gold, an insecticide that’s very effective. So, thanks to those who donated, I had a satisfying morning of sorts killing and sterilizing all the little bastards who moved in to keep me company …

On the weird spamming dealio that a reader reported, it’s a persistent trickssy little bug, but fortunately all it does is hyperlink a few random words and its even kind enough to feature on off page arrow to warn you. My scans picked up the usual garbage and I killed them all, after which it seemed to go away. But just this morning there were signs it had gotten back. This particular spammer appears to work with a file or files many people have, but not everyone has them, so the links show for some people and not for others. BTW, If you’re a little low on bucks to blow on sec software, MalwareBytes has a decent free version that’s better than nothing and doesn’t seem to cause many conflicts. I’ll be working on getting rid of the last shreds of it today, meaning new posts will be light as my PCs will be undergoing maintenance.