9 April 2010 (noonish)

Crazy day: yesterday I had planned to prepare for an upcoming differential equations that I was going to substitute for. But the morons let an afternoon meeting run on and on and on (NEVER volunteer to serve on a committee on which people on the committee don’t see the need to wear a watch…).

So I ended up rushing through the day today.

Workout notes 2200 yard swim; pull buoy, no push-offs. 17:56 first 1000, then alternate 100 paddle/100 free for 16:56 (1000), then 4 x 50 fist to cool down.

Injury note: I got ultrasound with electrical stimulation; that seemed to calm my knee down a bit. Last night was my best “sleep without pain” night in a while; I also iced it prior to going to bed.

Humor
Check out “Atheist Barbie”:

(if you don’t get the “baby in the lunch bag” joke, it is that many theists (especially Christians and Muslims) see as “so immoral that we’d eat babies”).
This is hilarious! Just darken the hair….and judge for yourself.

You’ve seen Supply Side Jesus. Now check out Tea Party Jesus.

A sample:

Posts
Evidently President Obama doesn’t worry about Sarah Palin’s opinion:

President Obama dismissed criticism by Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin Thursday over his administration’s proposal to limit the use of nuclear weapons.

Pointing to Palin’s lack of expertise on the policy surrounding nuclear weapons, Obama brushed off Palin’s claims that the move would make the U.S. more vulnerable.

“I really have no response. Because last I checked, Sarah Palin’s not much of an expert on nuclear issues,” Obama told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “If the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff are comfortable with it, I’m probably going to take my advice from them and not from Sarah Palin,”

At a Minnesota rally on Wednesday, Palin told Fox News that the White House’s vow to limit future use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states made the U.S. less safe. The former Republican vice presidential candidate compared the move to “a school kid asking to be hit.”

Think about it: Obama and Palin appeal to the polar opposites: Obama appeals to many intellectuals and Palin appeals to the anti-intellectuals who are proud of their ignorance.

Economics: do you think that we are on the cusp of a new Gilded age? (a Republican “heaven on earth”?)
Check out these charts on the gap between the wealthiest among us and the poorest.

Science
A new transitional fossil (with respect to human evolution) has been found; this one is between “Lucy” and us. Surf to read Jerry Coyne’s take on things.

Also: animal life that does NOT breathe oxygen has been found:.

Deep under the Mediterranean Sea, small animals have been discovered that live their entire lives without oxygen and surrounded by ‘poisonous’ sulphides. Researchers writing in the open access journal BMC Biology report the existence of multicellular organisms (new members of the group Loricifera), showing that they are alive, metabolically active, and apparently reproducing in spite of a complete absence of oxygen.

This has profound implications for the possibility of life on other planets.

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