Where’s the Outrage?

Now, this is totally cool. A dinosaur found with muscle and skin intact. Although I studied dinosaurs in Geology a long time ago, I couldn’t remember what a hadrosaur was. So, I looked it up.From Paleodirect:
Hadrosaurs were the most common, varied, and well-adapted ornithopod (bird-hipped) dinosaurs. The group probably evolved in central Asia and by the Late Cretaceous Period, had spread all over the lands of the northern hemisphere, migrating across a land bridge that existed at that time connecting Asia to North America. From there, the group moved eastward again to Europe. Remains of a certain type have even been found in southern Argentina, believed to be from a migration from North America across a volcanic island chain that once existed. (more…)
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From WaPo:

A high school student hunting fossils in the badlands of his native North Dakota discovered an extremely rare mummified dinosaur that includes not just bones but also seldom seen fossilized soft tissue such as skin and muscles, scientists will announce today.

The 25-foot-long hadrosaur found by Tyler Lyson in an ancient river flood plain in the dinosaur-rich Hell Creek Formation is apparently the most complete and best preserved of the half-dozen mummified dinosaurs unearthed since early in the last century, they said.Much scientific investigation remains to be done, and no peer-reviewed studies of it have yet been published, but the discovery appears to be yielding tantalizing new clues about the size, body mechanics and appearance of the reptilian beasts that ruled the Earth millions of years ago, said paleontologists studying the specimen.  (more…) 

Tags: Science by ecthompson
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President Hugo Chavez is the charismatic leader of Venezuela. He hates the US in general and President Bush in specific. For years, I have been waiting for him to say that Terrell Owens line (Dallas Cowboys receiver), “I love me, some me.” He is the answer. Anytime one man believes that he is the answer to his country’s problems, there is a problem.

President Chavez is convinced that he is the man. He has the message. He wanted to formally change the constitution and give himself more power. He was so sure of himself that he put it up for a vote. He got defeated.

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From WaPo:

Venezuelan voters delivered a stinging defeat to President Hugo Chávez on Sunday, blocking proposed constitutional changes that would have given him political supremacy and accelerated the transformation of this oil-rich country into a socialist state.

Hours after the final ballots were cast, the National Electoral Council announced at 1:15 a.m. local time Monday that voters, by a margin of 51 to 49 percent, had rejected 69 reforms to the 1999 constitution. The modifications would have permitted the president to stand for reelection indefinitely, appoint governors to provinces he would create and control Venezuela’s sizable foreign reserves.  (more…)

 

 Chavez loses [0:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Tags: Foreign Affairs by ecthompson
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Got an e-mail today from a friend who sent me what is an excerpt from something that Ben Stein said on the CBS morning commentary several years ago. This is not the first time I’ve been sent this diatribe and it won’t be the last. It talks about the “War on Christmas” and how he, as a Jew, does not mind Christmas trees and other accoutrements of Christmas.

I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish. And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, be jeweled trees Christmas trees. I don’t feel threatened. I don’t feel discriminated against. That’s what they are: Christmas trees.

It doesn’t bother me a bit when people say, ‘Merry Christmas’ to me. I don’t think they are slighting me or getting ready to put me in a ghetto. In fact, I kind of like it. It shows that we are all brothers and sisters celebrating this happy time of year. It doesn’t bother me at all that there is a manger scene on display at a key intersection near my beach house in Malibu . If people want a creche, it’s just as fine with me as is the Menorah a few hundred yards away.

I don’t like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don’t think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can’t find it in the Constitution and I don’t like it being shoved down my throat.

Okay, here’s the problem, there is no “War on Christmas.” This problem, this confrontation is completely made up. You and I have been able to celebrate Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever holiday you want to celebrate in what ever way we wanted to celebrate it, as long as it didn’t involve injuring another person or infringing on another person’s rights. I’ve been able to place a 10 foot tree or a 20 foot tree in my house and I’ve been able to place as many lights or as few lights as I wanted to on it. I’ve been able to top the tree with a star or a cross or actually put nothing on top of the tree without a peep from a neighbor’s. Now, if I wanted to sacrifice my neighbor’s dog or his cat that would pose a problem. [Read more →]

Tags: Party Politics, Religion by ecthompson
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