British humour: Freethinkers’ sermonette by Marcus Bridgestoke

I hadn’t heard of Marcus Bridgestoke, but he’s funny and has a point:

Another neurosurgeon weighs in

What is it with neurosurgeons? First it was Michael Egnor, supporting Intelligent Design by Supernatural Being(s) with his argument from Egnorance (“I, Michael Egnor, neurosurgeon, can’t understand it — therefore Goddidit!”. Now it’s Aaron Filler with a new “theory.” The result is published with in a book that’s getting glowing reviews. I quote from the editorial review:

…the author explores–and some would say resolves–a 200-year-long controversy surrounding the origin of species. Drawing on such diverse antecedents as history, myth, and religion (including Egyptian myth, Christian iconography, and the Hindu Veda), as well as modern developments in biology and genetics, the author bravely questions and rejects the reigning scientific orthodoxy and shows how humans and apes may have had a common upright ancestor–an “upright ape”–that walked on two legs much as we do now. He makes the bold and compelling argument that, at least from the point of view of posture, apes evolved from humans.Based on the most rigorous modern science–and its deep and mysterious connection to the worlds of myth, religion, and archetype–Dr. Filler’s theories force a total reassessment of some of the central aspects of our interpretation of human origins.

Let’s hope that the review is somewhat inaccurate. It’s thought-provoking, but where’s the evidence? Quoting Goethe and Etienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire does not a theory make. I’d have to read the book to see if there’s any factual basis – if the “new theory” is just the stunning revelation that hominid evolution is a tree with many branches, not a procession to glorious us, that’s fine. It is also quite possible that bipedalism preceded the chimpanzee-human split — though not as likely.

Cooling tower collapse due to wet wood?

Ontario Geofish reports that a nuclear plant used wooden beams to build a cooling tower in a wet environment. Some woods, such as cedar, might be able to take that for a while, but it seems like a poor bet. If your dock rots, that’s not as serious.

Ontario Geofish keeps an eye on government decisions that should take geological facts into account while planning nuclear plants or waste disposal that needs a stable environment. As usual, the human tendency to look for tigers before glaciers sometimes leads governments to ignore long-term dangers.

Whooping Crane festival – yesterday!

I meant to remind everyone of this weekend’s Whooping Crane Festival in Necedah, Wisconsin– but I got busy with organizing at home and missed by one day. There are others in other locations – or plan to go next year if you can. (Hint: the links down the side of the page don’t work but the text links at the bottom do.)

I’ve included a map that shows Minneapolis and Milwaukee. The star is at Necedah. Baraboo, where I visited the International Crane Foundation, is about half-way between Necedah and Madison.

HTML code validator

The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) offers a page where you can enter a link to your published markup language (HTML or XHTML) and get a report on its errors. Rumour has it that the list of errors can be astonishingly long. But if you’re brave enough, you can try it here: w3.validator.org.