Silflay Hraka

Climate change killed the Neanderthals–or so a new study argues. They use an interesting proxy for reconstructing the climate.

To figure out the temperature, water supply, and windiness of Iberia from 20,000 to 40,000 years ago, the scientists looked at sediments on the ocean floor off Spain and Portugal. Because wind or water erode rocky minerals differently, the pebbles and fragments wash into the sea in different ratios, creating a steady track record of land conditions at the bottom of the ocean.

The scientists also focused on barite, a compound gathered by marine animals. The more barite in sediment, the more lively the oceans were at the time. “When we found big drops in marine productivity, we knew there were big changes in climatic condition in Iberia,” Jiménez-Espejo says.

The trouble with many climate proxies is that they can be influence by a multitude of factors. Ocean “liveliness” could be caused by any number of things other than wind.

Thanks to the incipient arrival, Scotty is changing rooms, moving from his current abode into what was once the computer lab/guest room. Though larger, due to its placement in the floor plan the room is freezing in winter and broiling in the summer. Fortunately, he’s not old enough to know to complain, so all is well when it comes to his new bedroom.

Wife and I spent the morning painting it. I deal in broad brushstrokes, rollers and cursing. She does the trim.

Color: Alpine Green, which is not green at all, but rather a greenish-hued white.
Soundtrack: Sound Effects

PostScript: Thanks to her “pregnancy,” someone lacks “energy.” The remainder of the trimwork fell to me, as did the extra cursing.

Soundtrack: Dance Hall Crashers

I would suggest that, if one is going to write

…I’d like to back up and take another look at Sowell’s use of the term “degeneracy” to describe US educators. I’ve been hearing this word a lot recently. Terms of this sort are used by people like Mark Steyn and Bernard Lewis to describe secular Europeans, who apparently have also fallen from grace because they don’t follow the laws of Moses, or even the ethics of Betty Crocker.

that one should actually go to the trouble of producing actual quotes one is accusing Mark Steyn and Bernard Lewis of using instead of tossing off the casual smear.

I’m not saying there aren’t quotes there to be used, but rather that respect for the form, if not one’s readers, demands that a blogger put in the work to dig them up as part of the essay. To not do so is–to my mind–intellectually unserious.

Admittedly, I am kind of OCD when it comes to things like that.

This made me chuckle.

What is of more concern for Americans than such fictional scenarios, is the very real take- over of the military by people who share hard line ideological objectives. Not all of these people wear a uniform, many are administrators or politicians, but they all share a common view that America is under threat from enemies at home and abroad. An ideological ‘coup’ of sorts has already happened internally - only 7% of military personnel describe themselves as liberal.

Obviously, we need to start drafting liberals until a more equitable balance is achieved. Were we to start with the liberal-arts faculty at major universities, such a program would also address conservative complaints about intellectual diversity on our nation’s campuses. It’s a win-win situation!

Brew Review: Rogue Chipotle Ale, and–what’s the point?–MIller High Life.

Miller High Life is a watery, thin beer. The very first thing you notice upon sipping this beer is, well, that it’s wet. Really, no flavor comes across at first. After a second I started to taste the bready malt that came through in the aroma, followed by some very weak hop bitterness. This beer is not about flavor, it’s about being as bland and inoffensive as possible. This is not the Champagne of Beers.

The Deus is, though.

Not every commencement speech has to be boring.

A college education isn’t just about exploring your role as a friend and family member. It’s also about civic duty. Know the law. In Indiana, stealing lawn gnomes is a felony, but spousal abuse is only a misdemeanor. That means wives are less valuable than lawn gnomes in the eyes of the state. It also means that if you do steal a lawn gnome, you’ll get a much more lenient sentence if you marry it first. On a related note, never, ever write a valedictorian speech after attending a senior event that features an open bar.

Fish end times.

Victims bloat up and bleed from bulging eyes before dying. The extraordinarily virulent disease is sweeping rapidly through the lakes and is expected to start going on full rampage again within the next couple of weeks when the water warms up to its favoured temperature.

Saving the crocodiles of the Okavango. I find it odd that the Planet Earth series didn’t mention them at all, given the struggle crocs must have with the seasonal nature of the delta. Can’t cover everything I suppose.

Even if they are wiped out, it’s not like there isn’t plenty of stock elsewhere in Africa to pull from.

Postscript: I wonder–and it is just an idle supposition, given the impossibility of experimentation in such an ecologically important area–what would be the consequences of replacing the Okavango crocs with–say–American Alligators? The whole reptilian water-predator niche don’t strike me as particularly narrow, and alligators are much less of a threat to humans than their cousins.