Science, Bitch

This just in -

LONDON (AP) — DNA testing is taking a bite out of the Bigfoot legend. After scientists analyzed more than 30 hair samples reportedly left behind by Bigfoot and similar mythical beasts like the Himalayan Yeti, they found all of them came from more mundane creatures like bears, wolves, cows and raccoons.

In 2012, researchers at Oxford University and the Lausanne Museum of Zoology issued an open call asking museums, scientists and Bigfoot aficionados to share any samples they thought were from the legendary ape-like creatures.
"I thought there was about a 5 percent chance of finding a sample from a Neanderthal or (a Yeti)," said Bryan Sykes of Oxford University, who led the research, the first peer-reviewed study of Bigfoot, Yeti and other "anomalous primates." The study was published online Wednesday in the journal, Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Sykes and colleagues tested 36 hair samples from Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Russia and the U.S. using DNA sequencing and all of them matched DNA from known animals. Most were from bears, but there were also hairs from a Malaysian tapir, horses, porcupine, deer, sheep, and a human.

While Sykes said they didn't find any proof of Bigfoot-related creatures, he acknowledged their paper doesn't prove they don't exist.

That last bit - "he acknowledged their paper doesn't prove they don't exist" is an important thingie.  While it's likely that these bigfoot critters don't exist, nobody worth listening to is trying to disprove anything.  The point of the exercise is to test whatever "evidence" is presented simply to find out if that evidence supports the hypothesis or not.

The other thing to remember is that even tho' there's real proof that these hair samples are confirmed not bigfoot, I'm betting this disappointment doesn't portend the demise of the Bigfoot Industrial Complex.

There's a True Believer born every minute.

Today's Econ Lesson

Today's Pix

This Just In - From SCOTUS

The Gunfighter

Let's be careful with that whole omniscience thing.

The Bible Wasn't Written In English

And god didn't tell anybody to write it either.

The Atheist Experience:

If They Find It, They'll Play With It

What'll They Think Of Next?

They may be wacko, but wacko is what makes 'em creative.

So Sir John of Orange has decided to sue Obama for - uhm - not sure for what exactly, but it doesn't matter cuz Obummer's not one of us so he must be up to no good somehow, and if we just keep pissing into the wind, we're bound to get sumpthin' important wet eventually.

Anyway, great idea, right?  This is USAmerica, Inc after all, and if you want somebody to stop doing something you don't want him to do; or you want him to start doing something he's not doing that you think he oughta be doing - sue the fucker.

Quick tho't: isn't it one of the basic tenets of "conservative thinking" that we should do everything possible to prohibit frivolous lawsuits?  Or is Tort Reform really just another instance of Repubs trying to recapture the glory days when The Law and The Courts and The Government were all reserved for the landed gentry?

BTW - "conservative thinking" - now there's an oxymoron for ya.

But let's consider what Ol' Doc Maddow pointed out for us on Thursday - that there's no process in place that makes it possible for The House of Representatives to sue The Prez over a dispute about some political or even legal point.

In order to make that happen, Boehner has to pass new legislation (something he has shown himself to be woefully inept at accomplishing); it then has to pass The Senate, and then Obama has to sign it into law.

Why are we paying these guys for this shit?

Warfare Queens And The Culture Of Defendency

Jon Stewart, makin' it look easy:


Jon Stewart 062614 by lookatmyshirt

You First

A Chinese hospital in Nanjing, capital of Jiangsu Province, has introduced a new machine that makes sperm donation even easier- an automatic sperm extractor. I’m all for hands-free technology, but have scientists gone a little too far with this invention?

The effortless machine features a massage pipe that can be adjusted to suit the height of the user. All the gentleman has to do is plug in the frequency, amplitude and temperature and off they go. It’s also fitted with a small screen for those feeling uninspired.

According to the director of the urology department of the hospital, the machine is designed to help individuals that are finding it difficult to retrieve sperm the old fashioned way. We're not entirely convinced that standing in a room shared by many other people and being milked like a cow is going to help, but their efforts are commendable. Here’s to technology.

Today's Pix

About That Thing In Mississippi

Teabagger fave Chris McDaniel challenged Thad Cochran in a GOP primary and lost.  The 'Baggers are trying to tell us that Cochran courted "the black vote" to pad his totals blah blah blah.

Look, guys - I'm not gonna try to convince anybody that the 'Murican voter is some kinda genius, but if those Mississippi Democrats wanted to fuck up the GOP's chances to get their guy back in the Senate, they woulda voted for McDaniel.  I can't possibly be the only one here who remembers Sharon Angle and Christine O'Donnell, can I?

Of course, it seems the Press Poodles are willing to go with the Shenanigans-At-The-Polls narrative - or at least the Tea-Party-Is-So-Over blurb - because if they point out that a lot of people in today's GOP really are stoopid enough to see a duck and call it a frog, then they lose the dramatic tension and it makes it harder for them sell us the Red vs Blue / They're All The Same / It's A Horse Race bullshit.

Just a thought.

Happy Birthday, Virginia

The Commonwealth of Virginia officially ratified the Constitution of the United States and became the 10th state of the United States on June 25th, 1788.

The Invisible Hand

..is invisible because it's another mystical fabrication of "capitalists" who aren't interested in doing any more work than it takes to sell us the illusion of a useful product instead of creating something of real value.

There's no such thing as Alternative Medicine.  Anything that's been studied and tested and peer-reviewed and proven beyond the 95% Certainty Threshold is called Medicine - because that's what it is.  Everything else comes under the general heading of Quackery. However, there are new things that come along all the time, and some of them could lead to (or actually be) the next great discovery.  So the point is - as always - to be skeptical and to demand evidence.

By the 1920s, a huge fad had grown up around Radium (eg), which was being touted as a miracle substance - "liquid sunshine" is how some companies described it.  They sold people on drinking water that had been infused with radon gas, and never mind that a good buncha these suckers died of various cancers and leukemia - Marie Curie died in 1934 of aplastic anemia believed to have been contracted from her long-term exposure to radiation - and her original lab notes are still too radioactive to be handled safely.

Science finds something interesting, and almost immediately, the sharpsters gather to figure out how to use this new stuff to separate the marks from their paychecks.

Commerce must be regulated.  We have to be careful not to let regulation be used as a political weapon to gain an unfair advantage just to beat down competition, but every time we've allowed "the free market" to run wild, we've paid a heavy price.  A little of that good ol' American Common Sense is in order here.

Call It "Quaint"

FAIR-TV looks at the week's Press Poodling:

Isn't it Interesting?

Interesting, but not surprising at all.

Here's a report (Business Insider) on how researchers are unlocking the secrets of how Antibiotics-Resistant bacteria are making it really hard for us to kill them.

The global threat of antibiotic resistance could finally be tackled after British scientists discovered a chink in the armour of deadly bacteria.

Health experts have warned that within 20 years even routine operations like hip replacements and organ transplants could be deadly because of the risk of infection.

But now scientists at the University of East Anglia have discovered how the bug responsible for E-coli and salmonella builds an impenetrable wall to keep out antibiotics.

I guess it's interesting to me mainly for these three reasons:

1) A properly funded public institution (not in USAmerica Inc, of course) is leading the pack while we're sittin' here with our thumbs up our ass.

2) Evolution, motherfucker.  How do you suppose those brainless little bugs have managed to flummox "the greatest healthcare system on the planet"?

3) For the Dems - you've been handed 2 more great little items that should be more than enough to beat the GOP bloody.  What do you intend to do with them?

One God Further

Saturday Nite Tunage

Born To Be Blue --Mavericks




No Sugar Tonight --Guess Who

"a bag of goodies and a bottle of wine - we're gonna get it on right tonite"




No Matter What --Bad Finger




All My Only Dreams --The Wonders




A Cheat --The Blue Hawaiians




Dirty Work --Steely Dan




I Wanna Love You --Delbert McClinton




I'd Rather Go Blind --Etta James




Walk Away --James Gang

Today's Pix

  

White Bird --It's A Beautiful Day