Biomes Blog

Entry #2998: Chinese Cafe

A frozen ice-age plant, found in a fossilized squirrel burrow in Siberia, has been brought back to life after 30,000 years. It beats the old record for resurrecting a plant by nearly 29,000 years. Sounds awesome, except it was only found because the Russian permafrost is melting, revealing things like plants and mammoth bones for the first time in tens of thousands of years.

The first newly discovered U.S. bird species in decades may already be extinct. The Bryan’s shearwater.

Hump day musical interlude: I’ve never been much of a Joni Mitchell fan, but Chinese Cafe is a beautiful song.

Entry #2997: Canine Pancreatitis

Tuesday Coonhound Blogging: We almost lost Creole last night. She was sick all weekend so I made an appointment for this morning. Last night I decided to see if I could catch the vet before she left for the night, and it’s a good thing I did. She had acute and very severe pancreatitis, and the doctor said she may not have made it through the night. After IV fluids, metronidazole, tramadole and a massive dose of some kind of narcotic (she didn’t know what hit her), she’s recovering well after a night in a coma-like state. We’re heading back for a follow-up and more IV fluids now. She’ll probably spend the day there while I try to find someone to clean my destroyed carpeting.

The Lost Party, the strangest primary season in memory reveals a GOP that is tearing itself apart. It’s very long, but it’s a great read. I’m wondering if we should all start donating to Santorum. I still think Romney will win the nomination, but a Santorum/Obama showdown will have the added benefit of showing the world just how incredibly crazy mainstream Republicanism has become. Plus, the Prez will win 45 states. (Guess which ones he’ll lose.)

Entry #2996: There Is No Controversy

Albino monday: White chinstrap penguin spotted in Antarctica.

Consortium News interviews Phil Donahue about war stuff.

Thirty sensational print ads from around the world.

Why any parent would purposely not vaccinate their children is beyond me. Fourteen people contracted measles after the Super Bowl this year, all linked to two people in attendance who had the disease. All but one of them had not been vaccinated.

Entry #2995: Schadenfreude

To understand how the Republicans ended up stuck with four unelectable clowns running for the GOP nomination, you are required to read Matt Taibbi’s piece about conservative chickens come home to roost.

Impotent, evil or imaginary. Take your pick and choose wisely.

Celebrities who look like historical figures. I brought this up in Entry #1289, where I noted that Bill Kristol resembled the German tank commander in the movie “Kelly’s Heroes”.

Entry #2994: Darwin's Bulldog

Thomas Huxley was known as “Darwin’s Bulldog” because of his passionate defense of  the theory of natural selection. I met his great, great, great grand-daughter this week completely by chance. It came up when I mentioned, to this complete stranger who was looking at my tortoise, that his name was “Darwin” but that I originally named him “Huxley” (my staff vetoed it as too obscure).

Mitt Romney imitates Anchorman.

How a propaganda outfit posing as a real news station interprets a basic graph of gas prices.

Entry #2993: When Your Feet Say Go

I was reading some comments on Krugman’s Severe Conservative Syndrome column I linked to yesterday, and this one nails it (from SK in Cambridge MA):

To solve any problem, follow this procedure:

1. Cut taxes.
2. If the problem remains, privatize.
3. If the problem remains, deregulate.
4. If the problem remains, start a war.
5. If the problem remains, pray harder.
6. If the problem remains, blame it on liberalism.
7. Get re-elected and go back to step 1.

Stuff you should know: How to increase the life of your disposable razor, survive quicksand, make your teeth whiter, remove stripped screws, escape from a buried coffin and other useful things.

iPod Shuffle:

1. I Loved You Yesterday (Lyle Lovett)
2. You Are My Sunshine (Johnny Cash)
3. It Ain't Over Yet (Allman Brothers Band)
4. Honkey Cat (Elton John)
5. Pay it Back (Elvis Costello)

Entry #2992: Severe Conservative Syndrome

Paul Krugman on severe conservative syndrome.

Today’s slide show is about presidential candidates, including the recent dropouts, and their homes.

Incredible animal photos of 2011. This one is of Japan coast guard members rescuing a dog that was stranded at sea for three weeks after the tsunami.

Entry #2991: Yesterday Lizards, Today it's Newts

Newt or Schrute? Mother Jones has the quiz. The average score so far is 45%, and I got a pathetic 30%. See how you do (it helps to remember that the real-life guy is just as insane as the fictional one, an assumption I didn’t take seriously enough).

Learn about Newt, by clicking on the allegation of your choice.

Here are the 25 cutest pictures of Newt Gingrich with zoo animals. You'll notice from the quiz above, Newt loves zoos.

Entry #2990: Lizards

This professor is crazy. Solving Australia's invasive species problem by introducing elephants, rhino's and komodo dragons is a really bad idea.

Someone put a lot of satirical work into this very funny book called God Hates Checkered Whiptail Lizards.

There’s a game app for your phone called Ant Smasher. Here’s a bearded dragon that’s really good at it.

Entry #2989: Spotted in York

Albino Monday: Piebald deer, this one all white but with a brown head, was spotted in York, Maine.

See how you do on this pew news quiz. I scored 12 out of 13, mixing up MItch McConnell and John Boehner (not the men, the positions they held). I thought I knew my congressional wingnuts, but I guess I was wrong.

A view of the western hemisphere from 93 million thousand miles up.

Entry #2988: Just One More Thing

From Lieutenant Columbo to the grandfather in The Princess Bride, and all the comedies he did with Allen Arkin, Peter Falk was a pleasure to watch. I’m working my way through the great, but very dated, Columbo series, and realizing that the show “Monk”, as good as it was, is a complete ripoff of Falk’s work. Here’s a great scene from The In Laws.

Entry #2987: Here I Am, Yes It's True

Yesterday’s facial hair link got me thinking about my own beard. When I grow one it is extremely thick, to the point where it is impossible to create a seal with my diving mask. So I wear a five-day growth at all times. It gives me the feel of a beard, but the mask still can keep the water out. The five-day growth is courtesy of the iStubble, a product I endorse completely. In nine years of blogging I think I’ve posted photos of myself three times. But I figured this would be good time to illustrate the work of the iStubble. Click to embiggen if you dare.

Forty things that will make you feel old.

The Boss: What was done to my country was un-American. At 62, he’s liberal and timeless.

Entry #2986: That's Mr. GE To You

With the  recent  extinction of the baiji, new sanctuaries for the last two species of Asian freshwater dolphin (the Ganges River and Irrawaddy) is good news.

Things Mitt Romney considers to be people, and things he doesn’t.

Facial hair and 19th century politics.

Entry #2985: Vegan Taxidermy

Vegan Taxidermy (via Hans), amazing meatless stuffed animals, like this burrowing owl made out of craft materials.

Listen to a male burrowing owl. And this is its distress call.

Idiot-proof tips for safe driving.

As Kthug clearly shows, red staters are moochers off those federal programs conservatives despise so much.

Entry #2984: Move

Patrick Stewart speaks out against domestic violence, and to the cuts in the U.K. aimed at the services that protect the victims.

Geek Stuff: Buildings that look like the Death Star.

The mystery of Hanny’s Voorwerp has been solved. It’s the birth of a star.

Hump day musical interlude: In the short video “Move”, some guy travels around the world and compiles a montage of one second shots at each location.

Entry #2983: All Your Aorta Are Belong To Us

The Valentine Dilemma. This is Randall's take on the famous Prisoner's Dilemma. The paradox of the prisoner's dilemma is that if both prisoners were rational they would never cooperate, even though it's in their best interest to do so.

Yesterday's trivia was pretty easy, but I posed it as an excuse to post the full incredible image.

Buy your anatomically correct heart-shaped chocolate heart here.

Today's slide show is a collection of unfortunate Valentine's day cards.

Entry #2982: The Other 98%

Albino Monday: Albino raccoon caught in Monroe County, Indiana (via Mike).

George Soros: He’s no Koch brother. (Click infographic)

Trivia (6 Biomes points): What is this a portion of?

Entry #2981: Egg Corns

I have a thing for Mondegreens. These are misheard song lyrics (like this huge list of Dylan mondegreens), but it turns out there is also a term for misheard words and phrases. Like someone calling Alzheimer’s disease “old-timers disease”. The key is that the speaker isn’t aware that what he’s saying is wrong. These are called “eggcorns”, coined by a linguist who heard a woman refer to an acorn as an “egg corn”.

This week’s Green Thing is by Oprid, a Spanish company that is producing an overhead charging system for electric buses.

Entry #2980: What's an Apple II?

Pet corner: What playing in a dog park looks like from a dog’s point of view (hint: Awesome).

Soaking the poor, state by state. Kevin Drum has the numbers.

The fascinating takaway from this Times piece on Apple products is that manufacturing jobs are not sent overseas because of the “cheap foreign labor” cliche, but for a much more complicated set of production cost issues. Ones that now put American manufacturing to shame.

I just bought the newest iMac. The Boy sums up my purchasing experience with the obnoxious kid at the Apple Store.

Entry #2979: Twenty Years of Schooling and They Put You on the Day Shift

Chimes of Freedom, a new collection of 75 Dylan covers, is out. Here’s the playlist. It’s been released as a benefit for the 50-year anniversary of Amnesty International. And Dylan has donated all copyright royalties to the cause. A few years ago on 60 minutes, Ed Bradley did an interview with Bob Dylan.

The F-35: A weapon that costs more than Australia.

 Etymology-man explains the term “tidal wave”.