tags: bpr3.org/?p=52, birds, aves, ornithology, Zosterops somadikartai, Togian white-eye, Indonesia, Sulawesi

An undated artist's rendering of Zosterops somadikartai, or Togian white-eye.

This small greenish bird that has been playing hide-and-seek with ornithologists on a remote Indonesian island since 1996, but was declared a newly discovered species on March 14, 2008 and promptly recommended for endangered lists.

Image: Agus Prijono.

Sharp-eyed scientists have discovered a new species of bird on a remote Indonesian archipelago in the Southern Pacific Ocean. A formal description of this new species, the Togian white-eye, Zosterops somadikartai, was just published in the March issue of the ornithological journal, The Wilson Journal of Ornithology. Not only was this bird recognized as a new species, but its small population and home range were sufficient for recommendation to the international endangered species lists. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post...

Once again, we open the floor to the lyrical expression of a few readers who have been inspired by the recent effusion of musical and poetical outbursts here. Fortunately for all, there is no gong hanging on the wall behind you, the judges…although some of these have been pretty good.

First up is a little poem written during the Dover trial by a very famous evolutionary biologist who has asked me to keep it anonymous. No confidence in the meter, huh? Or perhaps fear that declaring such talent will lead to the literary set distracting from the real work of biology?

I think that I shall never see
A theory dumber than ID:
It says that God can make a tree,
A beaver or a honeybee-
That God can simply get a whim
To make the small E. coli swim.
He waves His hand through Heaven's air
And lo! Flagella everywhere!
But sometimes even God falls down
And makes a poor, pathetic clown:
Yes, poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make Behe.

The second submission is by a well-known atheist who does out herself.

Super Geek
by Greta Christina
(to the tune of "Super Freak" by Rick James)

She's a very geeky girl
The kind you cheat off of in math class
And she will never let her teachers down
Once she takes her SAT's

She likes the boys in the chess club
She says that Spassky is her favorite
When she makes a move, it's rook takes bishop, check-mate
She's very hard to beat

The girl is pretty bright now
(The girl's a Super Geek)
The kind of girl you read about
(In Omni Magazine)
The girl is pretty brainy
(The girl's a Super Geek)
I'd really like to test her
(Every time we meet)
She's alright, she's alright, she's alright with me, yeah
She's a Super Geek, Super Geek, she's super-geeky

She's a very special girl
From her glasses to her Oxfords
And she will help me study AP math and physics
And AP bio, too

"Live long and prosper"'s what she says
"Back in the chem lab I'll be waiting"
When I get there, she's got Number Two pencils
It's such a geeky scene

The girl is pretty bright now
(The girl's a Super Geek)
The kind of girl you read about
(In Omni Magazine)
The girl is pretty brainy
(The girl's a Super Geek)
I'd really like to test her
(Every time we meet)
She's alright, she's alright, she's alright with me, yeah
She's a Super Geek, Super Geek, she's super-geeky

Judges?

As for me, it's time for me to flee the country. Ta-ta, until I next find a wireless connection somewhere in South America!

Read the comments on this post...

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As Lord Bonkers would say, I am not one to blow my own trumpet. But in all the nominating for the Lib Dem Blog Awards and the Total Politics list, I have spotted some praise for Liberal England.

Paul Linford: "Well-written, funny and wistful, it's about time Jonathan Calder (Lord Bonkers) achieved wider recognition."

James Graham: "Still a great staple for commentary and odd miscellenia."

Mark Valladares: "still churning out great work. Besides, as Lord Bonkers' diary secretary, he should be preserved for the nation."

As Lord Bonkers would say, people are Terribly Kind.

Continuing with asking for your help in fixing my Blogroll:

Every couple of days or so, I will post here a list of blogs that start with a particular letter, and you add in the comments if you know of something that is missing from that list.

See so far:
Numbers and Symbols
A

Today brought to you by letter B. This is what is on the Blogroll right now. Check also the Housekeeeping posts for other B blogs I have discovered in the meantime. Check links. Tell me what to delete, what to add:

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John McCain's latest campaign ads are calling him "the original maverick." To those of us of a certain age, James Garner is the original Maverick. If I was going to compare McCain to a character in a sixties television show I would cast him as Grampa Amos (Walter Brennan) in The Real McCoys or Uncle Joe (Edgar Buchanan) in Petticoat Junction. What are your casting suggestions?

Olympic Games: Researchers Explore What Makes Better Athletes, The Physiology Of Performance, And More:

The world-record pace for the marathon continues to improve for both men and women. For men, the record pace for the marathon is now about as fast as the record pace for the 10,000-meter run just after World War II. Today, champion athletes are running more than four times farther at speeds of well under five minutes per mile.

Neurobiologists Discover Individuals Who 'Hear' Movement:

Individuals with synesthesia perceive the world in a different way from the rest of us. Because their senses are cross-activated, some synesthetes perceive numbers or letters as having colors or days of the week as possessing personalities, even as they function normally in the world.

Humans' Response To Risk Can Be Unnecessarily Dangerous:

The traffic light ahead of you is turning yellow. Do you gun the engine and speed through the intersection, trusting that others will wait for their green, or do you slow down and wait your turn?

Perfectly Proportioned Legs Keep Water Striders Striding:

The amazing water strider -- known for its ability to walk on water -- came within just a hair of sinking into evolutionary oblivion. Scientists in France and the United Kingdom are reporting that the insect's long, flexible legs have an optimal length that keeps it afloat.

Entomologists Use 'Love Potion' To Detect Hidden Cerambycid Beetles:

Cerambycid beetles, also known as long-horned beetles, can cause severe damage to standing trees, logs and lumber. How then might they be promptly detected and their numbers swiftly controlled?

Gene For Sexual Switching In Melons Provides Clues To Evolution Of Sex:

A newly discovered function for a hormone in melons suggests it plays a role in how sexual systems evolve in plants. The study, conducted by French and American scientists, appeared recently in the journal Science.

Nine To Twenty Individual Fire Ant Queens Started U.S. Fire Ant Population:

The current U.S. population of red imported fire ants--which infest millions of acres across the southern states--can be traced back to nine to 20 queens in Mobile, Ala.

For The Birds Or For Me? Why Do Conservationists Really Help Wildlife?:

Volunteers who take part in conservation efforts may do it more for themselves than the wildlife they are trying to protect, a University of Alberta case study shows. Read the comments on this post...

tags: American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, birds, nature, Image of the Day

American Avocets, Recurvirostra americana, feeding at Bolivar Flats, Texas.

Image: Joseph Kennedy, 12 May 2008 [larger view].

Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.

Read the comments on this post...

Here's a few blog carnivals for you to read;

Tangled Bank, issue 111 -- eleventy-one! I think that's good luck in Hobbiton, right? Anyway, this blog carnival focuses on science, nature and medicine.

Carnival of the Vanities, 7 August 2008 issue. This is the original blog carnival, the first one in the whole wide world, and it links to the best writing in the blogosphere, regardless of topic.

Rants, the 6 August 2008 issue. You know you want to read it, yes you do!

Read the comments on this post...

Sorry it's been awhile. I've been in a funk. Just found this cartoon though by a blog friend, Ampersand (Barry), whose group blog (Alas, a Blog) is probably blogrolled down there in the list (and if not it should be)....

Now that the FBI has released its version of its investigation into Bruce Ivins, some of the best and brightest are busily driving Mack Trucks through the holes. While it remains to be seen if Ivins - who had the Anthrax attacks pinned on him postmortem - is as guilty as the FBI says he is, or at least wants us to believe.

Glenn Greenwald, as always, is on the case, pouring through the released documents, and he links to anthrax expert Dr. Meryl Nass, who truly has a must-read on the current situation:

The perpetrator(s) were tremendously careful to leave no clues vis a vis the envelopes. For example, block lettering was used, which is the hardest to identify with handwriting analysis. Second, stamped envelopes were chosen to avoid using saliva. Third, there were no fingerprints on anything.

Why would the person(s) who took such care select an anthrax strain that would focus suspicion on himself? In 2001, strain analysis was possible. It had been discussed many times as a forensic tool for biowarfare, including in a paper I wrote in 1992, which Ivins had read, and in which I thanked him for his contributions.

Read the rest here.

--WKW

The one admittedly useful thing about Facebook -- and I am not talking about the latest and greatest application that is deemed useful (but is everything but) by the good folks at TechCrunch* -- is the ability to connect with old friends from college and high school.

I recently reconnected with a high school classmate that messaged me with the subject
"rey!" (Only my friends from high school and freshman-floor college still call me that.) I replied back...

Back to school for an MBA? That's good, just don't rip-off the common-folk in the process. -Jeff

And the response...

don't worry, I have no intention of joining "the man." i'm getting my MBA to take them down from the inside.

I hope so.

* I also want to announce that I officially unsubscribed from the TechCrunch feed this morning. I feel a little groggy still, but I think I will feel much better tomorrow, and terrific next week.

Whooooo! What did you think?! At some point, I'd like Mary to scream so loud Nigel's head explodes, even as much as that screaming grates on my nerves. Anyway! My favorite routine of the night (and there were many good ones!):

The Trepak
Amazing!

Like I said though, there were many great routines last night:

Joshua & Katee
Josh and Katee's lyrical routine choreographed by Wade Robson. I thought it was a nice routine for them and that it was nice to see an original couple together at the end. This was probably my second favorite of the night.

Joshua and Courtney
Jive! I thought it was fun and looked exhausting. Though I understand what Nigel was saying to a degree, I don't blame them for being tired by that point and Nigel's comments were sniping.

Katee and Twitch
I admit, when I heard "foxtrot", I was like "yikes!". But they did it!

Mia is back for the final four's group routine:


Actually, I liked it. But the costumes for Katee and Courtney? Long sleeves? Ugh, they had to be burning hot.

Twitch and Courtney
Another crazy girlfriend routine? They danced it well, of course, but seriously people...WTF?

The one routine I felt was more "eh" than "wow" was Katee and Courtney's Broadway routine (by Tyce DiOrio):


Not that it was "bad" but just that there was something missing from it for me.

The solos were great as well and I enjoyed the interviews with Cat (who is the best host ever, IMO). I honestly don't know between Katee, Joshua, and Twitch. I don't think Courtney is as popular as the other three, honestly. I like her but I don't think she'll win. So! What did you think? Who do you think will win?

This is how to do it: the Big Think project wants you to look over their inspirational science profiles and vote for one — and as a reward, they'll donate $1 to DonorsChoose, to fund educational projects. This is a win:win situation. For a couple of clicks, you get to be entertained for a few minutes, and you get to gouge a dollar out of Pfizer, and you get to help out school teachers. How can you not do it?

Apparently, they need 8000 more clicks to meet their quota and limit for the month. I bet we can do that in a day.

(By the way, I voted for Pardis Sabeti.)

Read the comments on this post...

While the Jonas Brothers thrilled the crowd with a high-flying act that had the audience in full swoon, the 2008 Teen Choice Awards belonged solely to the Republican Party.

In between the screams and the close-ups of Jerry O'Connell, the Republican Party took home three Choice Awards in an awards show that proved once and for all that Republicans are not out of touch with the youth of America.

The awards won by congressional Republicans:

Choice Political Kabuki Award: The Republicans ongoing performance art being played out in the House of Representatives was the runaway winner in this category.

Choice You're Not Fooling Anyone Award: Again Republicans won this award for the current House performance, based on the fact that they have done absolutely nothing in seven years aside from pushing through the Bush/Cheney agenda and destroying the old record for filibusters.

Choice Dreamiest Guy Award: Ted Stevens. No one saw this coming. A recount is expected.

--WKW

James Morrow is writing a book about a nineteenth century contest to prove/disprove the existence of God. The book takes place in Brazil. You can read more about it here and the cool thing is, you can sign up at that same website to contribute ideas and information to the author that might help with the research for the book.

What's in it for you? Well, post your own creative project, novel, film, play, weight loss goal(kidding) etc. and find out who is out there to help you along. The idea behind ICrew is to get creative types working together on specifically outlined projects.

Another cool project there is a movie about "a troubled group of mill girls who return [in] 1912 to guide a bankrupt, modern-day mill owner when her future threatens their past." (I love stuff like that.)

[Full Disclosure I'm "officially" helping ICrew out with internet outreach in the hopes that I'll someday be invited to a Park Avenue writers' party attended by Wallace Shawn. Just saying. - BG]

This is much funnier than I expected it to be.

See Paris Hilton Responds to McCain Ad and more funny videos on FunnyOrDie.comSee more funny videos at Funny or Die

If only she were old enough...

Fresh from The Greenbelt

Submitted sans comment.



HT Dvorak

--WKW

Focus on the Family, James Dobson's religious group that - if what they believe is true - will see 97 percent of its members burn in the fiery pits of hell while Gorgons feast on their entrails, has decided that their God has too much time on its hands.

So they're encouraging the faux-devout to pray that it rains on Barack Obama during his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Covention.

"Focus on the Family asks people to pray for rain during DNC

COLORADO SPRINGS – A video producer for Focus on the Family is asking people to pray for rain when Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois) makes his speech at the end of the Democratic National Convention in Denver.

Obama is giving his acceptance speech outdoor at Invesco Field at Mile High on Thursday, Aug. 28.

Stuart Shepard made the prayer request in his latest Internet video for the evangelical Christian group.

He says he's only partly joking.

"Sure it's boyish humor perhaps to wish for something like that, but at the same time it's something people feel very strongly about. They're concerned about where he would take the nation," said Shepard.

Reached for comment, a spokesperson for God said the deity would likely not be answering any of the prayers, due to a profound lack of existence.

--WKW

Crossposted at Williamkwolfrum.com

This isn't worthy of "What's Important" but I like it so I'll share it. Garrison Keillor says (this is from the Baltimore Sun, but it's a widely distributed column):
And it's an amazing country where an Arizona multimillionaire can attack a Chicago South Sider as an elitist and hope to make it stick. The Chicagoan was brought up by a single mom who had big ambitions for him, and he got scholarshipped into Harvard Law and was made president of the law review, all of it on his own hook, whereas the Arizonan is the son of an admiral and was ushered into Annapolis though an indifferent student, much like the Current Occupant, both of them men who are very lucky that their fathers were born before they were. The Chicagoan, who grew up without a father, wrote a book on his own, using a computer. The Arizonan hired people to write his for him. But because the Chicagoan can say what he thinks and make sense and the Arizonan cannot do that for more than 30 seconds at a time, the old guy is hoping to portray the skinny guy as arrogant. Good luck with that, sir.

Fresh from The Greenbelt