This should be close to the top of “Best Places to Work.”
Condor flight pen observation booth – Amanda Holland photo, all rights reserved
From my desk at the Senate Democratic Policy Committee I could look up to a crystal chandelier 10 feet across. Out the west window was a view over the National Museum of Art, down the mall to the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial. 25 yards away, over specially-ordered Italian tile, was the gallery to the World’s Greatest Deliberative Body. From my desk at the Senate Labor Committee I looked out on that grand Calder sculpture in the Hart Senate Office Building atrium. A couple of my memorable offices.
The work spaces I miss? That water tank in Shiprock, New Mexico, with the million-dollar view of the Shiprock; that trailer laboratory we parked in Huntington Canyon, Utah. That old dock on the Sawkill in the Hudson Valley of New York, by the old snag where the pileated woodpeckers nested and raised their brood.
Cousin-in-law Amanda Holland took this photo of her work station, above. This is a place where real science gets done. Amanda wrote:
I get to sit here for hours at a time, recording condor behavior. It does not get old. These birds are AMAZING. You can see a couple condors perched on a snag in the back of the flight pen.
Real work, for real good. That’s always the best place to work.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
It became really apparent during the rains last week.
Snails crawl up the walls and plants around our patio, and appear to wait to die there. We’ve moved them back down to the soil, and they climb up again.
Kathryn remarked at the army of snails on the garage wall, beneath a bird feeder . . . that was the clue.
I don’t think ours do that eye-stalk thing. Worse for the parasites, most of the birds ignore the snails.
MacDowell’s book kept me out of church for at least a decade.
In the later pages he talks about how many copies of the Bible there are, and he says that’s an indication of how accurate it is, and that it’s the truth. That’s like saying any document I create becomes more truthful the higher the number of Xerox copies I make.
I figured that was one of the stupidest claims ever made. Maybe it was the crowd I was in with, but the more devout Christians (except for the Mormons, but that’s a different tale) swooned over the claim. I thought that any belief system that was so devoid of logic, and which required adherents to abandon all reason, was foolish.
About five years ago I picked it up again when one of our youth ministers asked me about it, and I skimmed through it again looking for any cogent, careful and compelling argument. Of course, this was long after law school and due diligence work in the law . . . I thought it more foolish than I had found it years before.
I summed it up this way for the youth minister: If there were evidence, we wouldn’t need faith. We call it a faith proudly, and we discuss the mysteries. It’s a tragedy that MacDowell has been divorced from that sweet part of Christian discovery and leap of faith. Were there evidence enough for a verdict, we’d not need faith, and it would be impossible to be anything other than an agnostic who has found the evidence.
Your mileage may differ, but if so, you need a tune-up.
Ed Darrell
Dallas
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
When evolutionists study these worldwide resistance movements, they see four classes of adaptations arising, because an insect under attack has four possible routes to survival.
Jonathan Weiner, author of The Beak of the Finch, a story of evolution in our time
First, it can simply dodge. Strains of malarial mosquitoes in Africa used to fly into a hut, sting someone, and then land on the hut wall to digest their meals. In the 1950s and 1960s health workers began spraying hut walls with DDT. Unfortunately in every village there were always a few mosquitoes that would fly in through the window, bite, and fly right back out. Millions of mosquitoes died, but these few survived and multiplied. Within a short time almost all of the mosquitoes in the villages were hit-and-run mosquitoes.
Second, if an insect cannot dodge, it can evolve a way to keep the poison from getting under its cuticle. Some diamondback moths, if they land on a leaf that is tainted with pyrethroids, will fly off and leave their poisoned legs behind, an adaptive trick known as “legdrop.”
Third, if the insect can’t keep the poison out, it may evolve an antidote. A mosquito species called Culex pipiens can now survive massive doses of organophosphate insecticides. The mosquitoes actually digest the poison, using a suite of enzymes known as esterases. The genes that make these esterases are known as alleles B1 and B2. Many strains of Culex pipiens now carry as many as 250 copies of the B1 allele and 60 copies of the B2.
Because these genes are virtually identical, letter by letter, from continent to continent, it seems likely that they came from a single lucky mosquito. The mutant, the founder of this particular resistance movement, is thought to have lived in the 1960s, somewhere in Africa or Asia. The genes first appeared in Californian mosquitoes in 1984, in Italian mosquitoes in 1985, and in French mosquitoes in 1986.
Finally, if the insect can’t evolve an antidote,it can sometimes find an internal dodge. The poison has a target somewhere inside the insect’s body. The insect can shrink this target, or move it, or lose it. Of the four types of adaptations, the four survival strategies, this is the hardest for evolution to bring off — but [entomologist Martin] Taylor thinks this is how Heliothis [virescens, a cotton boll-eating moth] is evolving now.
“It always seems amazing to me that evolutionists pay so little attention to this kind of thing,” says Taylor. “And that cotton growers are having to deal with these pests in the very states whose legislatures are so hostile to the theory of evolution. Because it is evolution itself they are struggling against in their fields each season. These people are trying to ban the teaching of evolution while their own cotton crops are failing because of evolution. How can you be a creationist farmer any more?”
The daffodils are lovely — I recall when they’d bloom just about Easter in Utah, and Washington, D.C. Here in Dallas, our daffies depart before March 15, often not bothering to stick around until Easter.
But the real treat is the tree in the background. It’s just another tree early in the spring, not yet leafed out. But this one is special.
Pterocarya fraxinifolia (tree in the background) – common name, “caucasian wingnut” – in the Warley Place Nature Preserve, in Essex, England. Photo by Glyn Baker.
Its common name is “caucasian wingnut.” You can’t make this stuff up. Reality is always much more entertaining than fiction.
Another species from China, the Wheel Wingnut with similar foliage but an unusual circular wing right round the nut (instead of two wings at the sides), previously listed as Pterocarya paliurus, has now been transferred to a new genus, as Cyclocarya paliurus.
Uses
Wingnuts are very attractive, large and fast-growing trees, occasionally planted in parks and large gardens. The most common in general cultivation outside Asia is P. fraxinifolia, but the most attractive is probably P. rhoifolia. The hybrid P. x rehderiana, a cross between P. fraxinifolia and P. stenoptera, is even faster-growing and has occasionally been planted for timber production. The wood is of good quality, similar to walnut, though not quite so dense and strong.
Japanese wingnuts? Chinese wingnuts? Tonkin wingnuts (for all you Vietnam war historians out there)?
Remember the sage grouse? People groused because the U.S. Department of Interior Fish and Wildlife Service determined most populations of western sage grouse are threatened enough to earn listing as an endangered species under the Endangered Species Act — but then refused to list the bird, because other plants and animals are even more threatened, and need attention sooner. (I was one of those people complaining.)
Ranchers across the west are being offered millions of dollars in aid from the federal government to make their operations more environmentally sustainable and reduce their impact on the sage grouse the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced today.
“USDA will take bold steps to ensure the enhancement and preservation of sage grouse habitat and the sustainability of working ranches and farms in the western United States,” Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said. “Our targeted approach will seek out projects that offer the highest potential for boosting sage-grouse populations and enhancing habitat quality.”
The Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service will soon begin accepting applications for two federal programs aimed at reducing threats to the birds such as disease and invasive species and improving sage-grouse habitat. The agency will have up to $16 million at its disposal for the programs.
The Wilderness Habitat Incentive Program provides up to 75 percent cost-share assistance to create and improve fish and wildlife habitat on private and tribal land.
Sage grouse face a difficult future. State wildlife management agencies face a tough future, too, in trying to save the birds. The nation needs energy resources found, often, where the sage grouse need lands to meet, mate and raise their young. It’s a difficult balancing act.
Steve Schafersman sends along a press release; Texas college biology departments continue to advance science and education despite foggings from the State Board of Education. Odd thought: You can be relatively certain that you can avoid Don McLeroy, David Bradley or Cynthia Dunbar, by being at the Alkek Library Teaching Theatre on the evening of March 23; learning will be occurring there at that time, and so it is a cinch that the leaders of the Austin Soviet will not be there:
Evolution expert to deliver lecture at Texas State
SAN MARCOS — Jerry A. Coyne, professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago, will present an evening talk and book signing at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 23, at the Alkek Library Teaching Theatre on the campus of Texas State University-San Marcos.
Jerry Coyne and friend (image stolen from Larry Moran's Sandwalk; pretty sure he won't mind)
Admission is free and doors will open at 6:30 p.m. A book signing with light refreshments will take place following the lecture.
Coyne is an evolutionary biologist whose work focuses on understanding the origin of species. He has written more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers on the subject.
In addition, he is a regular contributor to The New Republic, the Times Literary Supplement, and other periodicals. He runs the popular Why Evolution is True blog, and is an internationally known defender of evolution and critic of creationism and intelligent design.
The book Why Evolution is Truehas received widespread praise for providing a clear explanation of evolution, while succinctly summarizing the facts supporting this revolutionary theory.
Coyne’s lecture is sponsored by the Department of Biology and the Philosophy Dialogue Series at Texas State. Contact Noland Martin (512) 245-3317 for more information. For more information about Coyne and his book, please visit his blog: http://www.jerrycoyne.uchicago.edu. [and Why Evolution is True]
This lecture is part of a larger series on philosophy and science, featuring a few lectures that appear designed solely to irritate P. Z. Myers:
Philosophy dialogue to take up evolution, identity
Texas State philosopher Jeffrey Gordon will be among the speakers at the university’s Philosophy Dialogue Series in the next two weeks. Texas State photograph.
STAFF REPORT
The Philosophy Dialogue Series at Texas State will present evolution and identity as its discussion topic for the next two weeks in Room 132 of the Psychology Building on campus.
Following is the schedule of events, giving the discussion titles, followed by the speakers.
March 16: 12:30 p.m. – Evolution and the Culture Wars, Victor Holk and Paul Valle (Dialogue students). 3:30 p.m. – Arabic Culture 101: What You Need to Know, Amjad Mohammad (Arabic Language Coordinator).
March 17: 2 p.m. – Phenomenology of Humor, Jeffrey Gordon (Philosophy)
March 18: 12:30 p.m. – Stayin’ Alive: Does the Self Survive? Blaze Bulla and Sky Rudd (Dialogue students).
March 19: 10 a.m. – Sustainability group, topic be announced, Laura Stroup (Geography). 12:30 p.m. – Talk of the Times, open forum.
March 23: 12:30 p.m. – Evolution: An Interdisciplinary Panel Discussion, Harvey Ginsberg (Psychology), Peter Hutcheson (Philosophy), Kerrie Lewis (Anthropology), Rebecca Raphael (Philosophy & Religious Studies). Special guest panelist, Jerry Coyne, University of Chicago (Evolutionary Biology). Evening lecture – Why Evolution is True, Jerry Coyne, University of Chicago, time and place to be announced.
March 25: 12:30 p.m. – Constructing a Masculine Christian Identity: Sex, Gender, and the Female, and Martyrs of Early Christianity, L. Stephanie Cobb, Hofstra University (Religion and Women’s Studies).
March 26: 10 a.m. – Sustainability Group: Civic Ecology, and The Human Rights of Sustainability, Vince Lopes (Biology), Catherine Hawkins (Social Work). 12:30 p.m. – Talk of the Times, open forum.
Sponsors of the Philosophy Dialogue Series include: the American Democracy Project, the College of Liberal Arts, Common Experience, the Gina Weatherhead Dialogue Fund, the New York Times, the National Endowment for the Humanities, Phi Sigma Tau, University Seminar, the University Honors Program, the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs and the Vice President for Student Affairs.
For more information about this topic, contact Beverly Pairett in the Department of Philosophy at (512) 245-2285, or email philosophy@txstate.edu. A complete schedule of discussion topics and presentations can be found at http://www.txstate.edu/philosophy/dialogue-series/Dialogue-Schedule.html.
Probably can’t make it to San Marcos from Dallas on a school night. San Marcos biology and social studies students, and teachers, should plan to be there.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Biology covers vast fields, with experts in some areas able to spend entire lives without touching other areas of the science of living things.
Working on the effects of climate change, many different areas of biology need to be tapped to figure out what is going on, and what might happen.
Mushrooms, anyone?
Old friend Greg Marley, one of the very few I’d trust to identify edible wild ‘shrooms, presents a session on mushrooms in Maine, tomorrow. Mushrooms had a tough go of it in Maine over the last season. Why? Marley may offer suggestions, you may have some data.
Greg Marley is the author of Mushrooms for Health
In any case, if you’re in or near Brunswick, Maine, this is one of the better things you could do tomorrow; I hear from Marley:
The Maine Mycological Association is holding their second Winter Lecture this Saturday, Jan 30 In Brunswick.
Many people talk about the cold wet year that we just allowed to slip into history. “Boy, it must have been a fantastic year for mushrooms!” they say. Well, in reality it wasn’t. We didn’t see many common species at all or in anything approaching normal numbers. Other species were delayed or fruited in very different habitats that usual. It was a very odd mushroom season.
Greg Marley will be leading a discussion and showing slides of mushrooms fruiting in 2009. We will look at weather patterns and talk about out ideas on what happened and, more importantly, what we can learn from the year’s lessons.
Please come, bring your ideas and opinions along with your mushroom stories from 2009 and join the conversation!
Saturday, January 30. 9-11:30am Free and open to all.
Curtis Memorial Library
Pleasant St
Brunswick, ME
Exit 28 from I-295 onto Route 1 (Pleasant St). At the 3rd traffic light continue straight as Rt 1 bears left. Curtis Library is 2.5 blocks down on the right, across from the Post office.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Neil Shubin’s Your Inner Fish reads well, and it reveals evolution as easy to understand from a morphological view of life as revealed by fossils and modern animals.
Shubin released the illustrations from the book for teachers to use — a rather rare and great contribution to evolution.
As I sit with officials from the Texas Education Agency and the Dallas ISD discussing what goes on in our classrooms, I often reflect that the drive to testing frequently pushes education out of the classroom.
One of my favorite education blogs, the Living Classroom, comes out of a the West Seattle Community School where, many days — perhaps most days — education goes on in wonderful ways. No test could ever capture the progress made.
Asher and his amazing squid, The Living Classroom, West Seattle Community School
It’s pretty colorful, even for a squid, but I’ll wager the kid now knows more about squids than most Texas ninth grade biology students. Of course, sewing squids is not among the list of Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills. What Asher now knows . . . such learning would have to be smuggled into a Texas classroom.
When education is outlawed, only outlaws will have education.
Spread the word; friends don't allow friends to repeat history.
Texas holds more than its share of nasty pests: Imported Argentine Fire Ants, Canadian thistle, zebra mussels, creationists — and now, Rasberry Crazy Ants, Paratrechina sp. nr. pubens.
(Hey, Texas A&M spells it “Rasberry” without a “p,” so do I. It’s named after Pearland, Texas, exterminator Tom Rasberry, who first identified the Texas pest.)
Remember the wonderful old Japanese monster movies, where monsters from past Tokyo ransackings would return to fight the new monsters? Texas could use a good Godzilla or two.
Or, until that account is unsuspended by the forces supporting Donald Trump: Follow @FillmoreWhite, the account of the Millard Fillmore White House Library
We've been soaking in the Bathtub for several months, long enough that some of the links we've used have gone to the Great Internet in the Sky.
If you find a dead link, please leave a comment to that post, and tell us what link has expired.
Thanks!
Retired teacher of law, economics, history, AP government, psychology and science. Former speechwriter, press guy and legislative aide in U.S. Senate. Former Department of Education. Former airline real estate, telecom towers, Big 6 (that old!) consultant. Lab and field research in air pollution control.
My blog, Millard Fillmore's Bathtub, is a continuing experiment to test how to use blogs to improve and speed up learning processes for students, perhaps by making some of the courses actually interesting. It is a blog for teachers, to see if we can use blogs. It is for people interested in social studies and social studies education, to see if we can learn to get it right. It's a blog for science fans, to promote good science and good science policy. It's a blog for people interested in good government and how to achieve it.
BS in Mass Communication, University of Utah
Graduate study in Rhetoric and Speech Communication, University of Arizona
JD from the National Law Center, George Washington University
Posted by Ed Darrell 
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 