Final Fish Feast

Last lecture in Biology of Fishes, and the guys brought in various fish dishes.  Represented families - Engraulidae, Thunnidae, Centrarchidae, Cichlidae, Salmonidae, Pleuronectidae, Serranidae, and Gaddidae.  On the final, they'll match the fish to the dish.

Sounds good, but...

...I'd say the jury's out.  It appears possible that that warm temperatures and, perhaps, a biological community better equipped to deal with an influx of petroleum may lessen the potential impact of Deepwater Horizon.   However, there's also the possibility that dispersants like Corexit 9500 have simply turned a toxic threat into an invisible toxic threat.

We'll see.

Don't confuse me with facts...

The Livingston Parish School Board in Livingston, LA wants to explore the possibility of teaching creationism in their public school system's science classes.  Some of the pertinent quotes from school board members.

David Tate: "We let them teach evolution to our children, but I think all of us sitting up here on this school board believe in creationism."

Clint Mitchell:  "I agree.... You don't have to be afraid to point out some of the fallacies with the theory of evolution."

Board President Keith Martin (after noting an increase in discipline problems):  "Maybe it's time that we look at this."

 Dave again:  "Why can't we get someone with religious beliefs to teach creationism?"

Maybe this guy's available.  These are, after all, his old stomping grounds.  Hell, ole Dave probably hangs out with Jimmy at some of the roadhouses on Airline Highway.  After church.

None of these people, of course, know a damn thing about evolution.  Most of them probably don't know much about creationism either.  To be fair, some of them are just naive, and naive can be educated.  Others are just plain stupid, which is harder to cure.  But they're not all naive.  They're not all stupid.  Some are intelligent, and they're the ones that should be ticketed for that Hell they want so badly for you to be terrified of.  They're motivated by the very worst of human traits.  They want to use your fears to control you.  And they want to force you to think like they do.   Even if it hurts you.  They want to rob the children of Livingston and Denham Springs and Killian. 

We know what will happen, of course.  Livingston Parish will take its rightful place alongside the Daytons and Dovers of the country.  Another symbol of just how far we've failed to come.  But, if the ignorant and the naive and the malicious have their way for long enough (and clearly, there are a lot of them out there), the day may come when the judges of this country won't have the backbone to stand up for what's right.  And then, we'll be set back another 30 years while the rest of western civilization moves forward.  Don't stand for it.  It's time to quit playing nice.

For the good people of the Livingston Parish School Board.  They're playing your song....

Largest rat in history?

Take your pick...

Six kg rodent unearthed in East Timor.

Tony Hayward may be forced to step down at BP.

They're shrimping...

...in Mobile Bay.  Without much success at this point, but it's still good to know.

Can we learn?

This has been rehashed a thousand times over the last few months, but here's another synopsis from ScientificAmerican.com detailing the similarities between the Deepwater Horizon disaster and the collapse of the Ixtoc 1 rig - almost three decades ago.  It's sad that, almost always, a tragedy is required to focus our national attention on matters that we all know must be addressed.  The only way to make sure that something like this never happens again, and that we're able to maintain our standard of living into the forseeable future and beyond, is to address our national energy policy now.  The realization is growing that the time has come to put politics aside and actually DO something.  Let's strike while the iron is hot.