Hawks on the 1470 Reconstruction

Hawks points out some flaws in the new 1470 reconstruction. Specifically, he points out that in the Bromage poster the Leakey reconstruction and the Bromage reconstruction are in different orientations.Hawks provides some compelling pictorial evidence that once the two are in the same orientation the differences between the two, by and large, disappear. Once Hawks pointed this it, it became obvious he was correct (Hawks, in my opinion, is one of more perceptive and insightful paleoanthropologists around – I’d give my right arm to study under him for awhile). So I did some photoshopping myself.

I’m for Utilitarianism, No Wait Make That Existentialism….Confusion Reigns

My Sciblings are trying to figure out what philosophy they follow, so, of course, I had to take the test too. I find the result somewhat surprising since I have not read Mills or Bentham and do not know that much about Utilitarianism. Although I am pleased to note that my score was tied, 75% each for Utilitarianism and Existentialism, which makes me wonder if I agree with myself philosophically speaking. Does this mean I have to engage in long winded philosophical debates with myself, or do the two philosophies get along with each other? I’m so confused. On the positive side, at least I know how Hamlet felt…

Chocolate Jesus

I first saw this story on MSNBC last night and thought about doing a story on it, but procrastinated. This morning Eschaton links to a post on Feministe about it.

PZ and the Noisy Primates

Over at Lynch’s place PZ complains about “noisy primates”. I am not impressed with the decibel level, so here are some real noisy primates. I do, however, agree with PZ characterizing the above primates as “fawning” and think it would be funny if the otters were both male…

Busting Jonathan Wells

In an earlier post I talked about Sal Cordova blathering about KNM-ER 1470. Cordova is arguing that the Bromage reconstruction vindicates everything Wells had to say about the fossil. This has led me to don my biohazard suit and dip into Wells execrable Icons of Evolution.

Natural Gas Drilling in Chaco Canyon? WTF?

According to this story there are some, possible plans to put natural gas wells south of the visitor center:

The Problem With 1470: Sal Cordova Blows It

As Chris O’Brien points out (and beat me to it, darn him), Salvador Cordova pontificates about a new reconstruction of KNM-ER 1470.

Hawks on Homo floresiensis

Hawks is at the AAPA meetings and reports on several interesting papers on Homo floresiensis. The first examines the crainofacial shape of LB 1 and concludes that the morphology is consistent with that of a scaled down ancient hominid. The second looks at the wrist anatomy of LB 1 and concludes that:

…the evidence is more consistent with hypotheses that H. floresiensis is descended from a hominin ancestor that migrated out of Africa prior to the evolution of the shared, derived carpal morphology characteristic of H. sapiens and H. neanderthalensis.

Update: As Matt points out in the comments, this was at the Paleoanth meetings. I misread Hawks, he will be at the AAPA meetings later this week.

More on F. Clark Howell

I just thought I would pass this along. Brian Howell, son of the late F. Clark Howell has a blog about his dad and the health and cancer treatment of F. Clark Howell before he passed away. You can find it here.

Four Stone Hearth; Evening Edition

Frequently, wars erupt on the internet over the perennial question of ‘Where are the women”. lexis2praxis, one of the more interesting and insightful anthropology bloggers, asks that question about The evolution of Women in Anthropology:

Anthropology has, like most other sciences, been traditionally male-dominated. However, there have been a number of influential female anthropologists, the most popular of course including Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, and some more contemporary women like Sherry Ortner. Other prominent female anthropologists can be found here.

Yet, as lexis2praxis points out, most portrayals of human evolution revolve around males.