Chupacabra Captured?

It looks pretty pathetic really - not like the humanoid alien or terrifying wolf-like creature that has been supposed. More like a hairless chihuahua. (View slideshow.)

Tasers: The Lethal Non-Lethal Weapon

Chimps Have Language

Animals - seemingly more intelligent every time someone does a study. Time to stop underestimating our fellow inmates on this godforsaken rock.

Amazing GMO News Resource

This month's "Non-GMO Report."

Iran Could Drive Us Out of the Gulf

This fascinating article just came to our attention. Turns out the technology called the "aircraft carrier" has become obsolete (aka floating death trap). This due to certain Russian-made supersonic cruise missiles, of which Iran has hundreds. The Argentines sank two British Warships years ago with similar missiles, and they only had five of the missiles to work with.

Fascinating Article About Latest DNA Research

DNA's amino acid vocabulary is limited by DNA's stability. They exist in balance, and probably evolved in a hot environment, which as Tommy Gold tells us, was probably several miles underground, and other planets lkely harbor such subsurface biospheres too.

Invaluable Link to E. Howard Hunt Information

In the process of doing research for our upcoming Reader column (more about the Plame leak case), we came across this biographical webpage of E. Howard Hunt, one of the most militant, viciously anti-communist cold warriors the US ever touched with a ten-foot-pole. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you Nixon bad-guy, JFK assassination suspect, and democracy-subverting wingnut, E. Howard Hunt.

John Dean on Plame Leak Case

"It'll be a cinch," is the upshot.

A curious line in here though, when Dean states, "Even Nixon never set up a hit on one of his opponents' wives."

It's entirely likely, in our view, that Nixon had something to do with the airplane crash that killed E. Howard Hunt's wife. Surely John Dean is aware of the possibility, if he doesn't actually know all about it. Is he being coy by writing this? Is he telegraphing that he actually knows something he won't reveal?

Great article: "How to Prosecute the Plame Case"

Argues that, contrary to popular opinion, finding Rove guilty of actual treason is going to be a piece of cake.

Autism unknown among the Amish, who don't vaccinate ... hmmm

"Triple asteroid system"

i.e., an asteroid with two moons.

Link to our Reader article predicting Rove et al. have made themselves targets for assassination by CIA

Amazing Link for Plame Leak Freaks

Check it: everyone involved and how they were involved, and it is a lot of them. Every fact referenced with links to the news sources.

String Theory

Ha ha - not really about string theory, but about scientists beginning to translate - finally - the mysterious knotted string writing of the Incas.

Chinese Mad Scientist Spreading GMO Rice around China with NO Safety Tests or Environmental Impact Study

This well-connected scientist also stands to profit from doing so. The Chinese authorities have not been able to stop him thus far. Let's hope this is not the Chernobyl of genetic pollution happening right before our eyes. Rice is China's staple crop after all; if anything goes wrong, they're fucked. The guy thinks he's Johnny Appleseed but what if he's Typhoid Mary instead?

Saturn X-Ray Anomaly: Score Another for Van Flandern

The juicy part of this article comes at the very end where we find out Saturn's rings reflect almost no x-rays from the sun, which means the rings must be made up of particles no smaller than grains of sand, or the solar x-rays would be broken up and scattered more. Hate to say it y'all but this plays right into the hands of rogue astronomer Tom Van Flandern, who asserts the rings are young, temporary structures. Assuming the rings are from a breakup event, as Van Flandern does, we would not expect small pieces. The establishment however assumes that gradualist, non-catastrophic forces are at work, and that Saturn's rings are an ancient, more permanent feature. But then we would expect smaller pieces in our rings, because they would have had more time to collide and smash each other to bits.

Good analysis of the dangers of Intelligent Design

This column argues that it's bad economics to water down science when American kids are already lagging behind in science. It reminds one of the big Japanese car factory that was being lured into Alabama or somewhere with all these lavish tax incentives and stuff, but the car company decided to go to Canada instead because their workers are literate and take less money to train. Someday we may figure this out if it keeps happening: education is important. Science is important. Doing these things RIGHT will translate into $. Keep Inteeligent Design in Sunday School, in philosophy, in social studies where it belongs. But it is not science. We ourselves are no fans of the current powers-that-be in biology. But the default option is not Intelligent Design. The default option is better science.

Intelligent Design is vulnerable on the basis that it opens the door to the question of whether or not God is an alien. Since there is nothing in ID that rules this out, a line of attack could be developed whereby one links Intelligent Design to Von Daniken. Aren't they trying to say the same thing? And doesn't it weaken the ID people to take the sheen off their god like that, to reduce Him to an advanced alien species?

Of course, complicating matters, there is SOME reason to SPECULATE about the need for a scientific theory of "what if life as we know it was physically engineered by aliens." But then the question becomes, "Who engineered the engineers?" And there one must say, it was either a.)God, b.)the aliens are the ones who evolved, and then went on to engineer life elsewhere, or c.) time is infinite and life is eternal and HAD no beginning.

"b" and "c" are the ones that can possibly be explored scientifically.

The question, "Was God created by Super-God?" cannot be scientifically resolved.

Because if you are going to insist upon being able to say that God has always existed, and is therefore the explanation for life, then you must grant me the right to say that life has always existed, and therefore needs no god.

The question of life is not resolved yet. Even if the answer IS "a.) God," it certainly hasn't been shown scientifically in the slightest, and displays strong evidence against. So there we might fault God for mismanaging His resources.

Next up in math class: "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?"

Scientists for Hire Divulging Data to Highest Bidder

Wall Street mini-scandal.

Another CIA Officer, Like Plame, Lost Job After Clash With Bush Admin. Over WMD

This sure firms up the circumstantial case.

Allowable Levels of Plutonium in Water Were Set in 1976 Based on 1950s Science

File under "Thanks For Nothing, EPA; Your Dalliances With Industry Have Sold Us Down the River."

Photo of Titan's Surface Looking very Earth-Like

The article I found this at admitted that life is a tiny possibility for methane generation, observing that Titan is "very cold." But as per Dr. Tommy Gold and his notion of the deep hot biosphere, we would suggest that Titan's likely mass of seething microbial life finds it much more hospitable deep underground. They thrive on the heat, chemical reactions, and are protected from impacts to boot. Meanwhile their farts are detectable to our instruments.

Regarding Methane on Titan

When you think of methane, what's the first thing you think of? Answer: cows. Not so for rocket scientists, who look for geophysical explanations and such. But masses of critters are part of, and shape, geophysical landscapes. Biological explanations are uselessly left off of the table. The linked article goes on and on about all the methane on Titan but never once mentions that, if we had gotten the same methane data on Earth, we would recognize it as a sign of life. Get holistic, y'all!

Organic Farming Better for Environment

Shocking.

Attention Afficionados of Reality: Bin Laden/Hussien Both Proteges of Reagan

Read, weep.

More clues that Mars harbors life

Upshot: More methane than there should be. Note that there is also a buttload of methane on Titan and Jupiter and I think Saturn too, all candidates for life. None of this comes as a surprise; all predicted years ago...