England? Britain? United Kingdom? Everything explained

February 4, 2011

Is it England, Britain or UK?  The explanation:

Tip of the old scrub brush to Joe Carter at First Things.

6 Comments | Geography - Physical, Geography - Political, Government, History | Tagged: , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

Monkeys take over Greg Laden’s blog; counterattack planned?

February 4, 2011

All I know is what I see in this photo and caption I got in an e-mail from Science Blogs:

Efe pygmy and poison arrows, photo from Science Blogs

An Efe pygmy prepares poison arrows for hunting monkeys on Greg Laden's Blog. {No, really, that was the caption.}

As Groucho Marx would have explained, how they got on Greg Laden’s blog, I’ll never know. (Does anyone have a few spare commas they can send over the Science Blogs?)

2 Comments | Blogs, Humor | Tagged: , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell

War on science – what else would you call it?

February 4, 2011

From Michael Tobis at Only In It For the Gold, an essential blog for Texans:

At the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, Rand Paul proposes half a trillion in cuts to the US government, including:

  • National Oceanic And Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) is cut by $857 million.
  • NIH is cut by $5.8 billion.
  • DOE is completely defunded, with some nuclear-related tasks shifted to DOD.
  • NASA is cut by $4,500,000,000 (25%)
  • NSF is cut by $4,723,000,000. (62%)

Science? What science?

Cutting the federal budget is difficult.  Yes, we have a crisis in spending.  We also have many crises in education and in research, and many crises in our economy that are, each of them, rooted in a need for new research.

Is Rand Paul a complete fool?  Is he in league with Chinese Exceptionalists?  Are his ears made of tin?  Or is he a warrior against American knowledge and the American future?

This is a debate which needs facts, and people who can evaluate facts and arguments, and people with a vision for a future America — a good vision for a future America.

One gets the feeling that Rand Paul would have gone after the funding for Ben Franklin’s experiments — not because it would help the federal deficits, since Franklin funded his own work — but because he just doesn’t like science. ‘Why should we let Dr. Franklin take lightning from the gods?’ Rand might ask.  ‘Dr. Franklin should stay out of theology.’

And so the modern-day, real Rand Paul, blunders on, waging a War on Science.

17 Comments | Government, Politics, Science, War on Science | Tagged: , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Ed Darrell