A Question for Republicans…and Democrats and Libertarians, Apparently

This is a question for Republicans – and Republicans Democrats and Libertarians only alike – and I am serious and I really want an answer. See, the other day Jim Fiore posted a clip of a TV news reporter defending Palin’s foreign policy experience by saying that Alaska was next to Russia. Then today Cindy McCain makes the same argument to George Stephanopoulos. I have also seen this argument pop up in a number of forums. So here is my question – and remember this is for Republicans only.

Interested in Lithic Analysis?

Kambiz has an excellent post on the recent news about the recent research comparing Middle and Upper Paleolithic tool sets.

Something Happening Here, What It Is Ain’t Exactly Clear…

Strange things seem to be going on in the Twin Cities…
PZ also has a post on the subject.
An update

Casey Luskin Contradicts Self, No One is Surprised

This post is respectfully dedicated to Richardthughes
Awhile back I noticed something interesting about the intelligent design movement and their use of junk DNA. For the longest time intelligent design advocates insisted that there was no such thing as Junk DNA.

Goodbye to Mapstats

Sorry, we have had a good year and a half, but lately I don’t think you care anymore. You spend more time not counting my hits than you do counting them. Maybe it’s me, maybe I’ve grown apart from you, what with me expecting you to actually, you know, count hits, so don’t take it badly. I’m sure you will find other blogs, and lure them with your seductive promises. So keep a stiff upper lip and good luck in future endeavors and all…

Homo heidelbergensis at the Gates of Europe and the Peopling of the Americas

One of the biggest debates in North American archaeology concerns the timing of the peopling of the America’s. Basically, it boils down to Clovis or Pre-Clovis. One of the more interesting thing about this debate is the way archaeological evidence gets used and critiqued by the various participants.

Laughing at Uncommon Descent

From the I can’t believe they went there again files DaveScot and others have resurrected the flagella argument. So, below the fold is a video featuring various flagella in action. One thing to watch for, Bfast comments:

Wilkins, there’s one problem with this argument. The flagellum actually works like a machine. Dispite the image being rendered in a nicely viewable form, flagella spin around, in a controlled fashion, causing forward motion. They actually do that, that part isn’t a cartoon. Get it — spin, forward motion, control, machine.

At about 51 seconds into the video we have a flagella “spinning” and watch which way the organism is traveling…

Know Your Primate: Papio hamadryas

Order: Primates
Suborder: Haplorrhini
Family: Cercopithecidae
Subfamily: Cercopithecinae
Genus: Papio
Species: Papio hamadryas
Normally, in these posts I try to provide some basic information about the species I’ve picked and provide a few pictures. In this post I would like to do something a little different.

The Value of Forensic Anthropology

Although the person mentioned in this article is an archaeologist, this is an excellent example of forensic anthropology in action.

Book Review: War before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage

Once upon a time it used to be thought that “primitives” lead lives that were, to quote Hobbes, “…nasty, brutish, and short…”, times change and so did the lifestyle of the “Other”. Changed so much, in fact, that only European expansion, circa the age of Discovery, could provoke a war. Both ideas are the subject of War before Civilization: The Myth of the Peaceful Savage by Lawrence H. Keeley.