Taking Photos While Geocaching
A series of pictures taken during various geocaching tours. Some in the Coesfelder Heide, some near Wolbeck:
natur - 13.12.2003 - 13.11.2005
Creationist Plague
Oh, great, now the creationists are already in Thuringia. Well, no wonder, if you belong to a party that also demands a reference to God in the European Constitution...
And no, "Intelligent Design" is not a scientific theory that could be discussed as an alternative to the theory of evolution - ID is complete nonsense, religiously motivated hostility towards science. Barely disguised creationism, nothing more. Therefore, the demand for a scientific discussion of this alleged "theory" is simply nonsense.
Beware the Monster Chick!
That dinosaurs were feathered - they were only tarred during the asteroid impact (ok, sorry, bad joke) - has been under discussion for a long time, especially since there are appropriate findings. But this was new to me:
“The way these creatures are depicted can no longer be considered scientifically accurate,” he said. “All the evidence is that they looked more like birds than reptiles. Tyrannosaurs might have resembled giant chicks.”
Chicks? More like chickens, right? Unless the chicks in the writer's hometown are overly impressed by feathers.
ID is utter nonsense
Intelligent Design is not science:
It stems from laziness and arrogance: "I'm a smart guy, and I can't understand how all this could have evolved. Therefore, it couldn't have evolved through evolution."
A very good (because honestly annoyed) article in Die Zeit about the nonsense of creationists who always want to force their brain farts into schools. A topic that should have been filed away since Darwin - and unfortunately is still stirred up by religious nutjobs.
It would be about time for the big churches to take a clear stance on the issue and declare the nutjobs for what they are - but they can't bring themselves to do that. After all, you can make a lot of money with simple answers to complex problems. And who cares about reality ...
Yep. Makes sense.
Not Intelligent Design, but rather the Google-Bombing of the expression naturally.
Effects of Genetically Modified Rapeseed and Co.
At Isotopp I found a pointer to information about the British evaluation project on genetically modified seeds. Shocking, what effects this has, for example, on related wild plants and what this will mean for us in the long run. But of course, it's all sooo safe and sooo important for us - it's really just about the revenue for the genetic engineering companies, not about what consumers really want.
But of course, every critic of genetically modified seeds is dismissed as a crank by the economy and its henchmen (such as Clement and other politicians).
The Catholic Church and Evolution
Not yet seen in other media, so here's a link to the New York Times: Leading Cardinal Redefines Church's View on Evolution - New York Times:
The cardinal, Christoph Schönborn, archbishop of Vienna, a theologian who is close to Pope Benedict XVI, staked out his position in an Op-Ed article in The New York Times on Thursday, writing, "Evolution in the sense of common ancestry might be true, but evolution in the neo-Darwinian sense - an unguided, unplanned process of random variation and natural selection - is not."
Well. The Catholic Church wants to go against Darwin and his teachings again? Instead of blunt creationism, now the embellished Intelligent Design? What is not compatible is reality and the Catholic Church ...
Environmentalists criticize the Whaling Commission
Those who believed that the meeting of the Whaling Commission was a success for animal rights activists will be proven wrong:
Japan announced that it will double the quota for scientific whaling to more than a thousand whales. In the future, not only minke whales but also endangered fin and humpback whales will be hunted. Homes describes this as a "catastrophe for species conservation."
Under the guise of alleged science, the madness will continue - regardless of whether there will eventually be no more humpback or fin whales left. The threats to small whales will also not decrease in the future - because changes in fishing will not be discussed. Regardless of whether thousands of small whales die in the process.
And of course, all of this is again only for commercial purposes. Even Norway - which certainly has its own whaling history - kills whales mainly to sell them to Japan, where there is more money to be made ...
Should Fin and Humpback Whales Be Hunted Again?
Japan will now also hunt minke and humpback whales
Japanese whalers will now be allowed to hunt almost 900 minke whales annually in the IWC protected area of the Antarctic. After a two-year transition period, the catch quota for fin and humpback whales will be increased to 50 animals each. Both species are highly endangered. Japan justifies the increase in quotas with an alleged recovery of whale stocks.
How perverse does a society have to be when it subordinates nature to economic interests to such an extent that even endangered species are not spared. Our nature is irreplaceable - everything we destroy is gone. Never comes back. But who cares - if some idiots want to buy something, others want to make money from it. And they come up with the most absurd lies to justify it.
Even if there were a recovery of animal populations: the populations are so decimated that any recovery is urgently needed for the survival of the animals. Large whales have large territories and few calves - if the population becomes too low, the whales no longer find each other often enough for reproduction. Similar problems already exist today with blue whales.
Cunning ants build traps together and operate them jointly to catch larger insects. Nature never ceases to amaze.
Golden Hamster Stories
Goldhamster turns 75 years old:
On April 12, 1930, a golden hamster burrow was excavated near the city of Aleppo (Syria), containing one female and 11 young animals. Of the young, three males and one female could be raised and bred at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. All golden hamsters in human care worldwide descend from this brother-sister mating that took place 75 years ago. In the wild, the golden hamster was considered lost or extinct.
So this is a joke, right? All pet golden hamsters are the result of inbreeding? Everything stems from these two animals at the beginning? And they haven't mutated into furry broccoli yet? Wow.
MathWorld News: The Mathematics of Tsunamis - interessante (wie ich finde) Erläuterung der Wellenentwicklung von Tsunamis. Gefunden im zeitwissen:log.
ACEROLA Fruit Facts - Was sich so alles in meiner Buttermilch findet ...
Saubere Entsorgung: Bazillus hat Hunger auf AtommĂĽll - Wissenschaft - SPIEGEL ONLINE - Bakterien reduzieren radioaktives Metall und beziehen daraus ihre Energie