The larch

It is a sad indication of the state of education these days when students are not grounded in the fundamentals of Monty Python.

Season 1, episode 3 from 1969: How to Recognise Different Types of Trees From Quite a Long Way Away.

And what a great episode this is too, not only the Larch but Cardinal Richelieu, Superman's alter-ego Bicycle Repair man and nudge, nudge, wink, wink.

The larch re-appears in the closing sequence although I do feel compelled to point out that doesn't look like a larch trunk, I think its a birch - almost all the other trees around it are clearly silver birch. And look at all those wonderful ferns. Just look at them!

That is how a seahorse do

On the topic of biodiversity (?) here's a new True Facts video from zefrank1. I think it's largely true although that's not the case with all his True Facts videos. I have my suspicion about some of the facts in the True Facts about Morgan Freeman video. Although the animal ones all seem to be more or less true. Like he says in the one about the baby echidna 'It's difficult to make shit up about the echidna because it's so damn weird.'

It's that time of the year again...

Yes, it's grad student appreciation week next week. No, really.

As part of this year's festivities they are holding a free screening of the PHD movie in Corwin Pavillion at 4pm on Tuesday April 24th.

If you don't read PHD comics then you should - especially if you intend to go to grad school. If you want a flavor then try the 200 most popular comics.

I haven't seen the movie but I believe that all the actors and actresses are PhD or graduate students, many from Caltech where it was filmed.

Heterozygoats

Bruce sent me these. Have a good weekend.

 

Top Ten Evil animals

Time magazine has a 'Top Ten Evil Animals' list, and amidst the usual suspects (rats, bed bugs, tapeworms, humans etc) is the somewhat surprising panda.

The writing made me laugh:

What most people don't realize is that pandas have us duped. They are the one species in the animal kingdom that seem to live outside the realm of Darwinian science. Most creatures in the universe follow German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's axiom: a creature "will strive to grow, spread, seize, become predominant... because it is living and because life simply is will to power." Pandas, though, didn't seem to get the memo. They have no will to live or reproduce. To this day, scientists have to perform grotesque procedures to keep the panda population from collapsing into oblivion. Forget about the fact that pandas are mean-spirited, mate-abusing, progeny-mauling, deviant monsters. Forget about the fact that these hoodlum bears have conned humanity with their supposed cuteness. The most evil thing about pandas? The cunning with which they expose the stupidity of us humanoids.

Trees, photosynthesis and weasels

Any questions?

Cute overload

Ha, I see your cute rabbits and raise you an otter. If you need more cute animals to relax from the stress of upcoming midterms then Cute Overload or Zooborn should give you everything you need.

The real reason...

Monday funnies

I don't know what made me think of Tim Minchin, I must have seen a reference to him somewhere, but I thought you might enjoy these. Phrases like 'I don't think you're special, I mean you're special but you fall within a bell-curve' probably explain why so many scientists marry other scientists.

Various-Organisms-Man

Yay people started posting. Well, Olivia and Bettina did and don't think that I didn't notice. Join the fun, there's room for everybody.

Although spontaneous generation does not occur and we now believe evolution of species is generally a gradual evolutionary process it is important to note that many superheroes are created much more quickly. Usually a one step process and often involving radiation.

For the punchline see the latest Super-Fun-Pak Comix by Tom the Dancing Bug (Ruben Bolling). This strip, especially the occasional Super-Fun-Pak Comix, often has some good biology and science jokes - Selfish Gene, Chaos butterfly, 10,000 years between panels, and the splendidly juvenile Science Facts for the Immature.

Edward Tufte kills kittens...

Bruce forwarded this to me. If you don't get it then you must take CS105 - Research Presentation before you graduate. Or the kittens will die.....

(Original at Mark Goetz blog)

Cowbirds in Love

I just discovered this comic. Cowbirds in Love is a daily comic about sad things, happy things, science, philosophy and occasionally obligate brood parasitism. Not quite as nerdy as xkcd it has a similar poorly drawn charm - complete with occasional biology.

As someone who actually does have a strong opinion about the difference between geeks and nerds I was especially amused by yesterday's xkcd comic.

Stephen Colbert's Inner Fish

I mentioned this book earlier in the quarter and it is a very good read. I hadn't realized that the author, Neil Shubin, had been on the Colbert Report until Vincenzo mentioned it to me. He does a pretty good job at getting his points across, letting Stephen Colbert get his laughs, and not coming across as a clueless scientist. Nice job.

xkcd on Field Biology

Lotusland trip tomorrow

Don't forget our trip tomorrow. Meet at CCS at 9.15 RAIN OR SHINE - and at this point the former is looking more likely....(although it looks like the heaviest showers should be over by the time we arrive).

I don't think it will snow but just in case here is a handy guide to tracks we might find. Okay, 'fess up which ones don't you get? I confess I've never been into the Lord of the Rings so I don't get the Legolas reference although I do recognize the name as some elf or pixie or something. I think the rabbit one is the funniest.

From xkcd - the nerdiest strip out there. Math humor and science pathos under one roof.

Scientific facts not determined by opinion poll.

I've posted on this before but since many of you are ,ultimately, PhD bound you may as well start reading it now. PhD comics tells it like it is. Life in the lab, dealing with advisors, eating noodles and the occasional snarky comment about the media. Be aware the archive is pretty vast......

Alternative titles

It's a little fast and hard to keep up with in places, especially in the latter stages but the fast moving style, pop culture references and connections to Thursday's class make this video well worth a look. Eddie Izzard suggests some of the rejected titles for Darwin's big book....

xkcd

Cthulhu hates Chordates

Having just enthused about Cephalopods I was delighted to come across this picture in the news today. I'm a big fan of obscure jokes and this placard, at a counter demonstration to the hateful Fred Phelps, who was at the University of Chicago yesterday, is excellent. Fred Phelps and his church, the Westboro Baptist Church are (in)famous for their protests which usually involve a lot of placards along the lines of 'God hates gays', 'God hates the world' or 'God hates you'.

This parody is great since it requires you to know something about HP Lovecraft to know that Cthulhu is very Cephalopod like AND to know that Cephalopods are most decidedly not Chordates. In addition, the Lovecraft Cthulu WAS evil and probably does hate Chordates. Kudos.

MTA. A comment from the signmaker: I decided that if the Mighty Tentacled One had to hate a chosen group, it would be one outside of it's representative clade, and deuterostomes wouldn't fit on a sign.

Things Darwin would not say

In honor of the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth, New Scientist magazine had a competition to come up with the best 'Thing you would never have heard Charles Darwin say about evolution.' Out of 900 entries the winner was:
'Finches eh? Seen one, seen 'em all'

Also in New Scientist this week The Last Word, where readers send in questions and then others submit answers, has:

I have always been fascinated by evolution, and while I can usually see why and how certain characteristics evolved in different species, I'm confused by whales and dolphins. How did their breathing holes evolve, bearing in mind their ancestors were land mammals?

You can see the answers submitted to date here.