Sloth & letters

2/15/2007

If you're feeling as slothful today as I am and I'm not sure that's possible you may enjoy playing with the animations on this page. If you try to explore the site any further than the homepage, though, expect puzzlement. It's all in Japanese. You don't need to be fluent in any language to have some good time-wasting fun on the homepage.

OK, playtime is over, now here's a link to a link. The blog "sciencebase" has an artful and fun introduction into the use of a new forensics tool. His blog entry will whet your appetite for the more scientific/technical summary he's linking to.

I promised to publish the letters I've received. I've cut out the ones that heap slavish praise on me. I figure you're capable of slavish praise without prompting from strangers.

Here are response to my Feb. 12 post announcing it was Darwin Day, presenting a link to some Darwin Day movie recommendations, and informing readers I was going to take a bunch of unneeded antibiotics in order to force some bacteria to evolve:

Pati in Michigan wrote: Loved this. Very funny. I took antibiotics last week, does that count?

Pati

My response: No it doesn't count. Try again next year, although we may up the ante a bit by aiming X-rays at mosquitoes. Maybe eBay is selling X ray machines. Save your pennies.

Mark, keeper of the Tech In Toledo blog, wrote: Thanks for letting me know it was Darwin Day. I wish I had known earlier. I wanted to subscribe to your blog but I couldn t find any sort of RSS link on your page.

Me: Try now. I forwarded your message to the power's that be and I think I saw smoke and steam, indicating some activity in response.

Gita from Alabama:

I am reading your blog from Alabama, where they have been known to put disclaimers in school text books to the effect that evolution is just a theory.

Apparently some states evolve faster than others.

Me: Don't feel too bad, Gita. I've seen folks still walking on knuckles nearly everywhere I go. And Ohio's Board of Education has been occasionally confused about the difference between science and religion.

Andrea: I can't believe that the list of Darwin Day movies didn t include Planet of the Apes--original or remake. What s up with that? Seems like a major omission in my book--or should I say blog?

Me: See message below. You have company.

Beth: Thanks for the alert. This is big and I almost missed it. Think I ll

honor the principles of biological evolution by dusting off my fossil

collection, drawing little feet on the fish emblem on my neighbor s car

and dancing upright. This is just the celebration I ve been needing.

I m saving the movie list -- what a hoot. I m only disappointed Planet

of the Apes isn t on there... :-)

Me: What is the best paint to use to add feet to those fish? I was going to try nail polish. And I'd say two people equals a groundswell of demand for the inclusion of Planet of the Apes in future movie lists.