When Sentiment and Fear Trump Reason and Reality

When Sentiment and Fear Trump Reason and Reality
by Lawrence M. Krauss (New York Times)

What is being obscured in this manufactured debate is that the underlying intent has little to do with evolution, or the age of the earth. The fundamentalist attack is on the basic premise that physical phenomena have physical causes that can be revealed by use of the scientific method.

Because science does not explicitly incorporate a deity in its considerations, some fundamentalists believe that it undermines our moral order, just as the Buddha statues presented a threat to the fundamentalist Islamic moral order.

Maybe the Buddha statues were bad feng shui … but I digress; that’s not the topic here at all.

From the Devil’s Dictionary X™

intelligent design

a theory of life and existence based on the idea that only a super intelligence could have conceived of anything as complex and beautiful as diarrhea or herpes.

compare with evolution.

evolution

a theory with absolutely no proof, excepting billions of fossils, bacteria, finches, tortoises, pigeons, insects—all living creatures in fact—single point mutations, cellular automata, peas, the laws of physics, and common sense; aside from that, evolution doesn’t have a leg to stand on.

compare with intelligent design.

Sex Speeds Up Evolution, Study Finds

Sex Speeds Up Evolution, Study Finds
(National Geographic News)

The results suggest that a sexual population evolves faster than an asexual population when challenged by a new environment.

In a harsher environment, the sexual strain reached an increase in growth rate of 94 percent, but the asexual strain only 80 percent.

“This experiment provides clear and unambiguous evidence that sex allows faster adaptation to novel conditions,” said Rolf Hoekstra, a professor of genetics at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Hoekstra, who was not involved in the new study, wrote an accompanying commentary in Nature.

Not to mention heartbeat. Evolve faster, y’all!
Can’t say I’m too happy about the yeast connection, though.

Not Intelligent, and Surely Not Science

Not Intelligent, and Surely Not Science
Michael Shermer (LA Times)

But let’s be clear: Intelligent-design theory is not science. The proof is in the pudding. Scientists, including scientists who are Christians, do not use IDT when they do science because it offers nothing in the way of testable hypotheses. Lee Anne Chaney, professor of biology at Whitworth College, a Christian institution, wrote in a 1995 article: “As a Christian, part of my belief system is that God is ultimately responsible. But as a biologist, I need to look at the evidence…. I don’t think intelligent design is very helpful because it does not provide things that are refutable — there is no way in the world you can show it’s not true. Drawing inferences about the deity does not seem to me to be the function of science because it’s very subjective.”

Koran scholar: US will cease to exist in 2007

Koran scholar: US will cease to exist in 2007
(Jerusalem Post)

“The tsunami waves are a minor rehearsal in comparison with what awaits the US in 2007,” the researcher concluded in his study. “The Holy Koran warns against the Omnipotent Allah’s force. A great sin will cause a huge flood in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.”

Just enough time to squeeze out all your favorite songs from P2P networks. Make good use of the time, yo!

Why the argument?

Why the argument?
by Suchitra Samanta (Roanoke Times)

Finally, as a Hindu, my 5,000-year-old religion subscribes to several versions of “genesis.” I see no need to “prove” these. Nor do I buy into the Genesis of the Bible as “history.” I don’t need to. I simply respect the true meaning of what Hinduism, or Christianity (or any other belief system) has to offer, by way of giving life meaning. As a social scientist, I will continue to emphasize for my students at Virginia Tech the science behind the theory of evolution.

You gotta love that name, and attitude.

Why can't you pay attention anymore?

Why can't you pay attention anymore?
(CNET News)

What is ADT?

Hallowell: It’s sort of like the normal version of attention deficit disorder. But it’s a condition induced by modern life, in which you’ve become so busy attending to so many inputs and outputs that you become increasingly distracted, irritable, impulsive, restless and, over the long term, underachieving. In other words, it costs you efficiency because you’re doing so much or trying to do so much, it’s as if you’re juggling one more ball than you possibly can.

What are some of the symptoms?

Hallowell: When people find that they’re not working to their full potential; when they know that they could be producing more but in fact they’re producing less; when they know they’re smarter than their output shows; when they start answering questions in ways that are more superficial, more hurried than they usually would; when their reservoir of new ideas starts to run dry; when they find themselves working ever-longer hours and sleeping less, exercising less, spending free time with friends less and in general putting in more hours but getting less production overall.

Yes, you do have a problem. I know I do.

Calculus, Quadratic Equations Split Pennsylvania Town

Calculus, Quadratic Equations Split Pennsylvania Town
(Ridiculopathy)

Even with all the uproar, the teacher at the center of the controversy is still amazed at the anger his class has generated. “I can’t change the nature of advanced mathematics,” said Scopes. “It would be nice if Pi were exactly three, for example, but that’s not for me to decide. In fact, you could say that mathematics is the closest thing to a language of God you’ll ever see.” Suddenly the interview was interrupted by the sound of pitchforks and torches outside the classroom window. “Oh, crap. I probably shouldn’t have said that.”

It’s funny ‘cause it’s true. Well, almost.

Survey Indicates Science Teachers Feel Pressure to Teach Nonscientific Alternatives to Evolution

Survey Indicates Science Teachers Feel Pressure to Teach Nonscientific Alternatives to Evolution
(National Science Teachers Association)

“A teacher’s job is to foster a deep understanding of science in students and help them better understand the natural world around us. But something is not right when science educators feel pressure to teach a variety of religious or nonscience viewpoints. It’s not fair to our students to give them anything less than good science,” said Gerry Wheeler, NSTA Executive Director. NSTA also gauged educators’ ability to discuss the issue with parents and other community members. When asked if they feel well prepared to explain the reasons why it is important for students to understand evolution, a strong 85% said they did, with only 11% indicating they did not. When asked how successful they have been at helping parents and others understand the reasons why it is important for students to understand evolution, more than 62% said they were successful, with only 5% indicating they were not.

Film about volcanoes falls victim to creationists

Film about volcanoes falls victim to creationists
by Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun Times)

Evolution is indeed a theory. Creationism is a belief, not a theory. In science, a theory is a hypothesis that has withstood the test of time and the challenge of opposing views. It is not simply somebody’s notion about something. The creationist belief cannot withstand such tests and challenges; it exists outside the world of science altogether.

There is no conflict between a belief in Darwinism and a belief in God as the creator of the universe. Many scientists have no trouble with the idea that God was the creator of all that is. In evolution, they think they see the elegant way by which he caused suns and planets to form, matter to interact, and life to come into being; that over some 4 billion years, the Earth and the creatures on it gradually evolved into the world we occupy today.

The evolutionary revolutionary

The evolutionary revolutionary
(Boston Globe)

Trivers’s ideas have rippled out into anthropology, psychology, sociology, medicine, even economics. His work provided the intellectual basis for the then-emergent field of sociobiology (now better known as evolutionary psychology), which sought to challenge our conceptions of family, sex, friendship, and ethics by arguing (controversially) that everything from rape to religion is bred in the bone through the process of evolution. The linguist and Harvard psychology professor Steven Pinker calls Trivers “one of the great thinkers in the history of Western thought.”

UFOs and Space Shuttles were explicitly mentioned in the Noble Qur’an!

UFOs and Space Shuttles were explicitly mentioned in the Noble Qur’an!

“O ye assembly of jinns and men! If it be ye can pass beyond the zones of the heavens and the earth, pass ye! Not without authority shall ye be able to pass! (The Noble Quran, 55:33)”

When Allah Almighty revealed to Prophet the Noble Qur’an 1500 years ago, there were no flying airplanes or manmade objects invented. Yet Allah Almighty talked about humans passing the zones of heavens by saying “If it be ye can pass …, pass ye! Not without authority …”

What is that authority? It is the Will of Allah Almighty of course, and the physical “space shuttles.”

Of course! Space shuttles! It’s obvious, isn’t it? Read further for insights into UFOs and alien life forms. Project Blue Book, meet thy Maker!
The term “little green men” takes on a whole new significance.

Fresh Claim that Shroud of Turin is Fake

Fresh Claim that Shroud of Turin is Fake
(Live Science)

In other words, in Wilson’s estimation, the Shroud of Turin is a fake—produced with some glass, paint and old cloth. And that theory, especially with Easter this weekend, has so-called “Shroudies” abuzz.

“A lot of religious people are upset,” said Wilson, 26, who teaches at New Saint Andrews College in Moscow, Idaho.

Wilson is himself an evangelical Christian but said his views on the shroud don’t change his faith.

“I’m a Bible-believing Christian who believes in the Resurrection completely without a doubt,” he said.

I don’t even know why this is news. A teacher comes out with pure speculation, and it makes for an article on Live Science? Slow news day? Here’s what the aspiring Dan Brown wants to do:

Wilson said he wants to write a novel about his theory. The forger or perhaps forgers, Wilson theorizes, probably robbed a grave and pulled the aged shroud off a body, then crucified someone to obtain the blood and study the wounds of Jesus.

“Most likely it involved some real wicked people,” Wilson said.

Further abuse of theory. For some strange reason, any story about religious relics is considered fascinating. Notice how the Pope is always in the news with every sneeze and bowel movement?

More biased (deservedly) reading on the Shroud:
Skeptic’s Dictionary entry on the Shroud of Turin
Voice of Reason: The Truth Behind the Shroud of Turin

Scientists Recover Tissue From T. Rex

Scientists Recover Tissue From T. Rex
(Live Science)

If scientists can isolate proteins from the material, they may be able to learn new details of how dinosaurs lived, said lead researcher Mary Higby Schweitzer of North Carolina State University.

“We’re doing a lot of stuff in the lab right now that looks promising,” she said in a telephone interview. But, she said, she does not know yet if scientists will be able to isolate dinosaur DNA from the materials.

It was recovered dinosaur DNA—the blueprint for life—that was featured in the fictional recreation of the ancient animals in the book and film Jurassic Park.

Before anybody books the island, I propose we wait for velociraptor DNA too, just to be on the safe side.

Should We “Teach the Controversy”?

Should We “Teach the Controversy”?
(CSICOP Creation Watch)

The fact is that every scientific theory presented as orthodoxy in science classes began in exactly the place ID finds itself now: A heresy believed by a handful of people dissatisfied with the orthodox view. In no case, however, did the supporters of the heresy earn their place in the curriculum by appealing directly to school boards and state legislatures. Rather, the heresy won out only by producing evidence adequate to convince a large majority of scientists.

And that is exactly what ID proponents refuse to do. The arguments they are making now are identical to the ones they were making a decade ago. As a scientific enterprise they have made no progress at all. At no point have they shown how their theory accounts for the data of the fossil record, or the findings of genetics, or the evidence from embryology, or the data from any other branch of science. Evolution accounts for all that data. Nor have they described, let alone carried out, any innovative research program based on their ideas.

Researchers trace evolution to relatively simple genetic changes

Researchers trace evolution to relatively simple genetic changes
(EurekAlert)

In a stunning example of evolution at work, scientists have now found that changes in a single gene can produce major changes in the skeletal armor of fish living in the wild.

The surprising results, announced in the March 25, 2005, issue of journal Science, bring new data to long-standing debates about how evolution occurs in natural habitats.

I Used To Believe

I Used To Believe
(The Childhood Beliefs Site)

I used to believe will remind you what it was like to be a child, fascinated and horrified by the world in equal parts. The following pages will reassure you that the things you used to believe weren’t so strange after all. Just be careful what you tell your own children!

Eg: When I was in 5th grade our teacher went around the room asking us our religious beliefs. Well, I was the only one in my class who wasn’t catholic and when it came my turn I told her “I’m Prostitute” and when she looked at me in disbelief I continued by saying “It’s true, ask my mom, she’s one too!”

More bloopers than beliefs, on first pass. I used to believe a lot of weird things myself; guess I still do. Time to rationalize my philosophy by reading the bible in its class.

Beelzebubble

From today’s Devil’s Dictionary X™

clitoris

the female pleasure center—usually depicted in art and literature as a beautiful flower, especially an orchid, while in reality resembling nothing quite so much as a wad of chewed bubble-gum.

Mmm … bubble gum.

‘Secret Life of My Vagina’ examines South Asian female sexuality

‘Secret Life of My Vagina’ examines South Asian female sexuality
(Brown Daily Herald)

The monologues are among the first in the United States to address the sexuality of South Asian women. Last year, two South Asian cultural organizations at Stanford University hosted “Yoni Ki Baat: Talks of the Vagina,” addressing similar issues. Indian filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s 1999 film “Fire” chronicled a lesbian relationship, triggering strong condemnations and acts of vandalism at theaters that showed the production.

Great Hindi title, unless somebody mistakenly translates it as “douchebag,” but that’s unlikely. More power to the vagina!

Evolution is much more than just a scientific ‘hunch’

Evolution is much more than just a scientific ‘hunch’
by Samuel Kounaves (Winchester Star)

A theory in science is not just a “hunch.” It is a coherent body of interconnected statements, based on reasoning and evidence, that explains a variety of observations and makes predictions that can be tested. A theory is so well supported, it is as close to a “fact” as you can get in science.

What scientists debate today are the mechanisms of evolution and their importance, not validity. Creationism and intelligent (divine) design are not rival theories to evolution. As much as creationist would like you to think so, there is not one shred of evidence to support them. They are simply pseudoscience brought to the service of dogmatic religion and extreme literalist interpretation of scripture.

That life on this planet has evolved during 3.5 billion years from single-celled organisms to complex and diverse life, is a fact. Overwhelming evidence is in the geological record observed by thousands of scientist over hundreds of years. Evidence is clear and undeniable. That the Earth is 4.5 billion years old is also a fact. Denying these observations is equivalent to denying the earth circles the sun or matter is made of atoms.

The only theory that explains how evolution happens is Darwin’s theory of natural selection (descent with natural modification). This is what we are talking about when we say “the theory of evolution.” There have been some modifications, but it stands now stronger than ever. In fact, nothing makes sense in biology except in the light of evolution. Every day that passes brings more observations confirming Darwin’s theory. For 150 years, creationist have pronounced the theory dead. It isn’t.

Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy

Animal-Human Hybrids Spark Controversy
(National Geographic News)

Chinese scientists at the Shanghai Second Medical University in 2003 successfully fused human cells with rabbit eggs. The embryos were reportedly the first human-animal chimeras successfully created. They were allowed to develop for several days in a laboratory dish before the scientists destroyed the embryos to harvest their stem cells.

In Minnesota last year researchers at the Mayo Clinic created pigs with human blood flowing through their bodies.

And at Stanford University in California an experiment might be done later this year to create mice with human brains.

So much for being special creations in the image of the Lord. These spawn of Satan portend an early Armageddon, I tell ya! Repaint, all ye thinners! The end is neigh! *snort*

Unintelligent Design

Unintelligent Design
by Jim Holt (New York Times)

And why should the human reproductive system be so shoddily designed? Fewer than one-third of conceptions culminate in live births. The rest end prematurely, either in early gestation or by miscarriage. Nature appears to be an avid abortionist, which ought to trouble Christians who believe in both original sin and the doctrine that a human being equipped with a soul comes into existence at conception. Souls bearing the stain of original sin, we are told, do not merit salvation. That is why, according to traditional theology, unbaptized babies have to languish in limbo for all eternity. Owing to faulty reproductive design, it would seem that the population of limbo must be at least twice that of heaven and hell combined.

It is hard to avoid the inference that a designer responsible for such imperfections must have been lacking some divine trait—benevolence or omnipotence or omniscience, or perhaps all three. But what if the designer did not style each species individually? What if he/she/it merely fashioned the primal cell and then let evolution produce the rest, kinks and all? That is what the biologist and intelligent-design proponent Michael J. Behe has suggested. Behe says that the little protein machines in the cell are too sophisticated to have arisen by mutation—an opinion that his scientific peers overwhelmingly do not share. Whether or not he is correct, his version of intelligent design implies a curious sort of designer, one who seeded the earth with elaborately contrived protein structures and then absconded, leaving the rest to blind chance.

Remembering Francis Crick

Remembering Francis Crick
by Oliver Sacks (The New York Review of Books)

It was not until May of 1986 that I met Francis Crick, at a conference in San Diego. There was a big crowd, full of neuroscientists, but when it was time to sit down for dinner, Crick singled me out, seized me by the shoulders, sat me down next to him, and said, “Tell me stories!” I have no memory of what we ate, or anything else about the dinner, only that I told him stories about many of my patients, and that each one set off bursts of hypotheses, theories, suggestions for investigation in his mind. Writing to Crick a few days later, I said that the experience was “a little like sitting next to an intellectual nuclear reactor…. I never had a feeling of such incandescence.”

The artist as neuroscientist

The artist as neuroscientist
(Nature)

The rules of physics that apply in a real scene are optional in a painting; they can be obeyed or ignored at the discretion of the artist to further the painting’s intended effect. Some deviations, such as Picasso’s skewed faces or the wildly colored shadows in the works of Matisse and other Impressionists of the Fauvist school, are meant to be noticed as part of the style and message of the painting. There is, however, an ‘alternative physics’ operating in many paintings that few of us ever notice but which is just as improbable. These transgressions of standard physics—impossible shadows, colors, reflections or contours—often pass unnoticed by the viewer and do not interfere with the viewer’s understanding of the scene. This is what makes them discoveries of neuroscience. Because we do not notice them, they reveal that our visual brain uses a simpler, reduced physics to understand the world. Artists use this alternative physics because these particular deviations from true physics do not matter to the viewer: the artist can take shortcuts, presenting cues more economically, and arranging surfaces and lights to suit the message of the piece rather than the requirements of the physical world.

In discovering these shortcuts artists act as research neuroscientists, and there is a great deal to be learned from tracking down their discoveries. The goal is not to expose the “slip-ups” of the masters, entertaining as that might be, but to understand the human brain. Art in this sense is a type of found science—science we can do simply by looking.

The article is missing a few images, but it’s a fascinating and insightful read. Maybe it’s the combined effect of the amygdala and conscious image-recognition areas that makes a sharply focused subject set in a blurry background so appealing in photographs and movies.

Cultura Obscura: Velvet Vulva

Cultura Obscura: Velvet Vulva
(The Gateway)

Velvet Vulva handbags are uniquely designed to arouse the divine goddess inside. The pleasurable purses are individually modelled after the female sexual organ and come in various shapes and sizes. The sumptuous fabric labia and beautifully buttoned clitoris are handcrafted out of the highest quality materials in order to maintain lifelong durability.

Thank goodness it ain’t Velcro. I reckon the wiener wallet will soon follow, in spring.

Bubbling over with the gum that claims to boost breasts

Bubbling over with the gum that claims to boost breasts
(Times Online)

As well as claiming that its product offers women astonishing lifting powers, the scientists at B2Up say that the rose-flavoured gum, when chewed three or four times a day, will also fight ageing, improve circulation and reduce stress.

Bust-Up attributes its powers to the slow release of dietary supplements, of which pueraria mirifica appears to be the most active. “Unlike dietary supplements taken in a pill once a day, the gum means that it is constantly bombarding your system and restoring the muscle tissue that keeps breasts healthy,” a B2Up spokeswoman said. “And it smells nice on the breath.”

Won’t be long before these guys buy up Yahoo! and Google. Cosmetic snake oil is big business. That story lists a few other wonderful contraptions, like a laxative made from volcanic rock powder and a sonic brain massager. You just can’t make this stuff up.

Buy Bust-Up. Fill up a form (before anything else), and wait.

Faith, science and nature’s mysteries

Faith, science and nature’s mysteries
(Daily Press)

Biological evolution is the foundation on which all of the modern life sciences are built, the culmination of a revolutionary century of exploration, rigorous testing and synthesis. It is regarded by essentially all practicing biologists as the most fundamental, internally consistent and empirically well-supported body of explanation in the history of the life sciences.

Importantly, many world religions have also recognized this and issued formal statements supporting the validity of evolution. These include the Episcopal Church, the Lutheran World Federation, the United Methodist Church, the United Presbyterian Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the American Jewish Congress, the Unitarian Universalist Association and others.

It’s no surprise Islam doesn’t recognize evolution, owing to its unbending adherence to Qur’anic literalness and inerrancy, the book purportedly being the unchanged word of God (Allah). If at all in the future, fundamentalist Muslims do decide to grudgingly espouse the fact of evolution, I’m sure they’ll assert it was mentioned in the Qur’an all along. In fact, some are already claiming it to be so.

This is possible by the sheer Nostradamic nature of Qur’an interpretations, enabling Islamic apologists to squeeze in anything and everything modern science discovers/invents into its 6200 odd verses, with the caveat: “Note that any translation of the Qur’an immediately ceases to be the literal word of Allah, and hence cannot be equated with the Qur’an in its original Arabic form.”

Of course, the sagacious Hindus were well ahead of the curve in matters evolutionary.

Botanical Society of America’s “Statement on Evolution”

Botanical Society of America’s “Statement on Evolution”

Far from being merely a speculative notion, as implied when someone says, “evolution is just a theory,” the core concepts of evolution are well documented and well confirmed. Natural selection has been repeatedly demonstrated in both field and laboratory, and descent with modification is so well documented that scientists are justified in saying that evolution is true.

There’s only so much you can do to counter willful ignorance, but you should never stop trying.

An Argument’s Mutating Terms

An Argument’s Mutating Terms
(Washington Post)

If the proponents of creationism uncovered some facet of the biological world that contradicted the theory of evolution, some scientists—though perhaps not all—would be intensely interested. Coming across an anomaly in science is like winning the lottery. Unexplained findings can offer a shortcut to scientific fame, as when Alexander Fleming noticed that mold was preventing the growth of staph bacteria in culture. But creationists have not come up with a single scientific observation that undercuts evolution. Biologists have demolished the few arguments that creationists have proposed, such as the idea of “irreducible complexity.” And at this point, creationist organizations such as the Discovery Institute in Seattle are spending most of their money on public relations rather than research.

“Why is evolution still a theory?” is a popular argument with the creationists I face. Trying to explain the difference is seen as twisting semantics to suit science’s “nefarious” goals.

Theory: (n)

5. scientific principle to explain phenomena: a set of facts, propositions, or principles analyzed in their relation to one another and used, especially in science, to explain phenomena
(Microsoft Encarta Dictionary)

1. A well-substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world; an organized system of accepted knowledge that applies in a variety of circumstances to explain a specific set of phenomena
(WordWeb)

1. A set of statements or principles devised to explain a group of facts or phenomena, especially one that has been repeatedly tested or is widely accepted and can be used to make predictions about natural phenomena.
(Dictionary.com)

Methinks Encarta needs to catch up.

Tree Climbing

Tree Climbing
(The Loom)

Scientists publish evolutionary trees all the time in which they compare the DNA of individual people. They also use the same methods to demonstrate that chimpanzees are our closest living relatives, that primates descend from small shrew-like mammal ancestors, that mammals and other land vertebrates descend from fish, and so on. (I don’t have time this morning to grab examples of these trees, but if I have time tonight I will.) Certainly there are parts of these trees that are still difficult to make out. DNA sometimes evolves so much that a gene can wind up obscuring its own history, for example. But scientists have never hit the wall that creationists claim exists.

It’s difficult when you have to fight ignorance coupled with extreme cognitive dissonance, a potent and frustrating mix.

Scientists Don’t Buy Intelligent Design

Scientists Don’t Buy Intelligent Design
(Wichita Eagle)

Taken together, the scientists’ reviews amount to a unanimously critical assessment of the minority report and intelligent design.

If only what they recommend gets across. I particularly liked E.O. Wiley’s take on the situation.

IMAX theaters Reject Science Shows under Religious Pressure

IMAX theaters Reject Science Shows under Religious Pressure
(Live Science)

Some IMAX theatres are refusing to show movies that mention evolution or the Big Bang because of protests by religious groups who say the ideas contradict the Bible.

While the number of protests is small—perhaps a dozen or fewer IMAX theaters—the effect could be significant because only a few dozen IMAX theatres exhibit science documentaries, according to an article Saturday in The New York Times.

This is sad. The future looks bleak indeed. I suspect this will be a growing trend in all walks of life.

Dover Dithers Over Donations

Dover Dithers Over Donations
(Panda’s Thumb)

“While Joseph Maldonado’s YDR article is informative, it doesn’t list the books, so I asked Lenny which books he had sent. He graciously sent me the list, his correspondence with Dover officials, and permission to post it all.”

That’s a fine set of books. Love to have all of them in my library. Almost halfway there.

Search Rank Easy to Manipulate

Search Rank Easy to Manipulate
(Wired.com)

Although Google claims its “complex, automated methods make human tampering with (the) results extremely difficult,” that’s simply not true. Digital vote rigging is merely part of doing business, according to Boser. “I could create a blank page without a keyword anywhere present, or a 404 error message, and if I can get enough sites to link to it, I could get it to place first on Google,” Boser said.

As if we didn’t know this already. About time something better came up.

The 30 least hot follow-ups

The 30 least hot follow-ups to the 30 hottest things you can say to a naked woman.
(Defective Yeti)

Man, that was hilarious! You jus’ gotta love juvenile humor.

The original Aural Sex article from Men’s Health.

The Nature Of Normal Human Variety

The Nature Of Normal Human Variety
A Talk with Armand Leroi (Edge.org)

“We don’t know why some girls have big breasts and some of them have small breasts. These are important questions—or at least jolly interesting ones—and we just don’t know their answers.”

Mmm … Science is fun!

Ayurvedic advisory

Some Ayurvedic medicinal products reported to contain high levels of heavy metals

One product, SAFI, manufactured by Hamdard (Wakf) Laboratories in New Delhi/Ghaziabad, India was tested by Health Canada and found to contain arsenic levels in excess of 40 times the maximum allowable concentration for drugs. Described by its labelling as a blood purifier used for skin diseases and as a treatment for digestive problems, SAFI is available as a liquid in a 200ml bottle and packaged in a lime green box, bearing a black and red label on both the front and back. Consumers are advised not to use this SAFI product.

So, if you are excessively fond of “Mahayograj Guggulu w/silver & Makardhwaj,” now is the time to go easy.
Remember, “herbal” != harmless.