Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802)

Tomorrow is Darwin Day, the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin. Let's start the celebration a bit early by talking about Charles Darwin's grandfather, Erasmus Darwin.

Erasmus Darwin was a physician and "natural philospher" or a person who studied nature or science before the development of modern science. Erasmus Darwin actually came up with the idea of evolution decades before his grandson published the "Origin of Species". Erasmus Darwin published his version of evolution (along with ideas concerning pathology). "Zoonomia" was published in Unfortunately, Erasmus was unable to come up with how evolution would actually work. You can actually read the entire Zoonomia by clicking the above link (thank-you gutenberg.org).

Would it be too bold to imagine that, in the great length of time since the earth began to exist, perhaps millions of ages before the commencement of the history of mankind would it be too bold to imagine that all warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament, which the great First Cause endued with animality, with the power of acquiring new parts, attended with new propensities, directed by irritations, sensations, volitions and associations, and thus possessing the faculty of continuing to improve by its own inherent activity, and of delivering down these improvements by generation to its posterity, world without end!

No, it wasn't too bold to think the above thought.

Blue Moon of Kentucky - A Rare One

Paul, George and Ringo

American's Right to Privacy - O'Reilly Version

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Recent Conservative Comments

A couple of mornings ago, a local woman called the morning radio show "Talk of the Town".

The USA has loaned so much money to other countries! Why don't we make those countries pay us back!

Be careful of what you wish for. The USA is the largest debtor nation on earth. Let's hope and pray that China and Japan don't insist on immediate repayment of our debt to those countries. Check out this link at the CIA World Factbook. Be sure and scroll all the way down to the bottom of the table.

This afternoons email contained this comment to one of my posts on Liberal vs Conservative Values. This post generated quite a bit of discussion about the effectiveness and morality of torture. Of course, the non-believer (me) said torture was immoral, the Christian (Tony) said torture was absolutely necessary.

Did you ever answer this question?

"However if liberals do believe in freedom, liberty and the constitution can you name one policy or bill intrudeced by a liberal legislature or executive that did not increase the size, role and demands of the government in the last 10 years?"

Huh? wha... I mean just wait a minute. The last 10 years? Who has been in charge the last 10 years. Not liberals. Who doubled the national debt over the last 10 years? And yes, who enlarged the government over the last 10 years. Answer - Republicans. It is really hard to take some people seriously.

Oops, yet another comment from the same person.

BTW, this right here: using techniques that (a) actually work and (b) don't turn us into monsters?

I would like examples, please. And examples of why they would not be considered torture under your definition. Almost ANYTHING can be considered torture under the right circumstances.

I almost have to agree. Reading posts from the above commenter could be defined as torture.

The Mosquito

One of the most deadly creatures known to man - the mosquito. Think malaria, yellow fever, encephalitis etc. - deadly diseases that have killed millions, maybe even billions since the dawn of time.

Here is the life cycle of that nasty creature.

First, the egg. Different types of mosquitoes have very different habits as to where they lay their eggs.


The egg hatches into a larva. This is the little creature you see swimming around in that bucket of water you have outside your house in the summer. Notice the little siphon through which the larva obtains oxygen at the surface of the water.

The larva eventually molt into pupae. This stage only lasts a couple of days dependent on the temperature. Inside the pupa the adult form is developing.

Lastly, we have the blood sucking murderer itself - the adult form. Only females feed on blood. They need the blood for egg development.



For everything you ever wanted to know about malaria (and more) this appears to be a pretty valid website.

USA! USA! USA!

Miller JD, Scott EC, Okamoto S (2006) Public acceptance of evolution. Science 313:765-766.

Is there any way we might get to beat Turkey anytime in the near future?

Obama Really Does Bring Change

Check this out. Here is a question from a person attending an Obama "town hall" meeting in Indiana.

"You have come to our county and asked us to trust you, but those that you have appointed to your Cabinet are not trustworthy and can not handle their own budget and tax issues. I'm one of those who thinks you need to have a beer with Sean Hannity, so tell me why, from my side ..."

People in the audience start to boo but President Obama doesn't want that. Here is President Obama after quieting crowd and saying the women has a legitimate question....

"Now, with respect to Sean Hannity, I didn't know that he had invited me for a beer. But I will take that under advisement. Generally, his opinion of me does not seem to be very high. But, uh, but I'm always good for a beer."

This wasn't a Bush meeting where questions and questioners had to be prescreened. Just think, a person can be critical of President Obama, in a public meeting, and not be escorted out of the meeting room. Times really have changed.

Republican Economics

One of the best features of the original plan was aid to cash-strapped state governments, which would have provided a quick boost to the economy while preserving essential services. But the centrists insisted on a $40 billion cut in that spending.

So says Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman The one part of the economic stimulus package that was understandable, money for state governments, was slashed by "centrist" Republicans in return for their votes to pass the package.

Here is the message I've been getting from Republican lawmakers. First, don't help states out, make them cut their budgets. Somehow losing state government jobs is good in the current economic climate. Claiming that firemen, policemen, teachers and corrections officers (both teachers and corrections officers are likely to lose jobs in SL) is just fearmongering.

Second, tax cuts are what we need. Especially tax cuts for the wealthy and businesses. The benefits of these tax cuts will trickle down, like they did with the Bush tax cuts. And, by the way, we need to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. Nice thing about tax cuts for the wealthy - they work whether the economy is good or bad!

Third, don't give any breaks to those who need it the most - the poor. See, if you give them money they will only save it. We need to give it to people who will spend the money.

Fourth, deficits are bad! We are borrowing on our childrens future! Please forget that we ran up one of the largest deficits in the history of mankind over the last year. It was to pay for our safety.

Unfortunately, if the economic stimulus doesn't work, Democrats are going to be blamed. If it works, I'm sure Republicans will figure out how to take credit for it.

Rev. Phelps to Visit Plattsburgh - Again

The good Rev. Fred Phelps is going to visit Plattsburgh again. The reverend doesn't like the play "The Laramie Project".

The beliefs of Rev. Fred Phelps of the Westboro Church of Hate confuse me. That is until I spent a little time at his "godhatesfags" website. Rev. Phelps has somehow convinced himself that he is one the unconditional elected, one of the Five Points of Calvinism. This, as I understand it, means that he is one of God's children that have been saved from the beginning of creation.

When God created the Universe (and people) he designated certain individuals as saved and other individuals as those who will eternally rot in hell. This makes a bit of sense due to the concept of "predestiination". Since God is all powerful and all knowing and always was and always will be, God knows what is going to happen in the future. So obviously who will be saved and who will not be so lucky has already been written.

The cool think about the unconditional elected designation, is (as I understand it) it doesn't matter how you lead your life. You can hate freely, as Rev. Phelps and his family does and it doesn't matter - you have already been unconditionally elected. You are predestined to be saved....no matter your actions while living on Earth.

"God preordained...a part of the human race, without any merit of their own, to eternal salvation, and another part, in just punishment of their sin, to eternal damnation. " John Calvin

Naturally, you can back this statement up with any number of passages from the bible.

Romans 9:21: "Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?"

Below is a picture of some of the members of Rev. Phelps Westboro Baptist Church.

They look a little similar to one another. Not a surprise since most the church members (~70 members total) are also related to Rev. Phelps. Sounds much more like a cult to me. If the Rev. Phelps is one of those individuals that has been "saved", I'm glad I'm an atheist. I'd rather rot in hell eternally than exist forever in a place where Phelps is considered one of the good guys.

Personally, I like George Carlin's views on religion.

Second Week Down

Today marks the end of the second week of classes. Quizzes given in Human Biology and Anatomy & Physiology II. Everyone in A&PII passed with pretty good scores and that was expected. Human Bio scores were better than the group I had last semester but still have 5 out of 37 students who failed to take the quiz. I'm going to be a bit more strict this semester in the amount of time I give to make up missed exams.

My Pathology class gets their first exam next week. I expect they will do quite well. We had quite a lively discussion about therapeutic touch in Pathology. Unfortunately, I didn't realize we had a TT practitioner (actually Reiki) in the class. Some of my comments on TT were not well received.

Bob Marley

Bob Marley was born on this day in 1944. I wasn't a big fan of his music when he was alive, but I come to appreciate it.

Krugman vs Will

I Screwed Up 2

The end of the era of excuses and denials.

How Many Planets "Out There"

Most people have probably read that extra solar planets have been discovered and that is about the end of it. Just how many planets have been discovered? How many stars have we seen that have planets revolving around them? These questions and many more will be answered at JPL's PlanetQuest website. In less than a month, the Kepler Satellite will be launched.

Are we alone? Is ours a unique planet or are there many other Earths orbiting other stars? Scheduled for launch in March 2009, Kepler, a NASA Discovery mission will help scientists determine just how many Earthlike planets may exist in our galactic neighborhood.

Visit the Kepler Mission website to learn how we are going to find many more planets in the immediate (relatively) vicinity of our galaxy.

I Screwed UP

Only two weeks into the Obama administration and President Obama has admitted that he screwed up. Eight years of George Bush and Bush still can't admit he ever made a mistake.

GOP Economic Advisor

Joe "The Plumber" is the latest advisor to the GOP on the economic stimulus package. Liberals consult Nobel Prize-winning economists and conservatives count on unlicensed plumbers for economic advice. Joe "The Plumber" is fresh off his job as a "journalist" in Iraq. While in Iraq, Joe pronounced that he didn't think we needed any jouralists in Iraq. Just let the military tell us what is going on.

Health, Defense and the Press

Some of my conservative positions.

Tom Daschle should withdraw his name for Secretary of Health and Human services. He's probably the one of the best people for the job but there has to be an equally good person without Daschle's tax woes.

The budget of the Department of Defense should not be cut - at least not in these economic times. Yes, I'm sure the budget could use a lot of work. We have heavy equipment in Iraq that needs to be replaced or refurbished. We don't really need F-22fighter jets (although it is a really, really cool aircraft). We need more ideas like the F-35 joint strike fighter.

The media needs to keep on President Obama's case. That is their job. Too bad they didn't do the same with Bush to keep him honest. But that is in the past.

Teleportation

Remember that recent post about entangled atoms? I didn't think so. But entangled atoms are theoretically useful in making a quantum computer. Entangled atoms actually "teleport" information - spooky!

In todays Science Times there is an excellent graphic that explains quantum teleportation. Yes, theoretically this phenomenon could be used to teleport you....or at least a copy of you.

More Ice Palace Pictures 2009

Ice Channel

The lone tower by the Lake

Side of the Ice Palace

This was an access hole for wiring I think. It's been plugged up.

Extra blocks (being used to construct a pyramid in Riverside Park I understand)

Pirate ship of iceSteps to the quarterdeckLooking at the bow of the ship from the quarterdeck

Ice Palace from out on the Pontiac Bay

Entrance to the Ice Palace

Why Didn't I Think of That?

February 12th marks the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth. Click on the below youtube video and listen to Thomas Henry Huxley lament, in a song, about not seeing the simple fact of evolution. It's a minute or so into the video, so be patient.