Happy Birthday to Matilda! I am looking forward to the birthday girl pictures.

I agree with Matilda- shocking, indeed. Happy birthday!

How can I convince my co-worker that the state of Massachusetts is not going to barge in to every citizen's home and force them to have a flu shot?

Tell her we don't like Florida enough to make them do that- those shots are ours, bitches! I think Florida scares Massachusetts as much as Massachusetts scares Florida.

Happy Birthday, Matilda!

My daughter attended a small liberal-arts college in the U.S. that spends 25 percent of tuition funds on grants, scholarships, etc., none of which she received, although some were available to her. My wife and I strongly believe that this is forced charity, a redistribution of funds and hence unethical. We give to charity and support our alma maters, but that is voluntary. Shouldn’t the school simply cut its tuition by 25 percent?

Do people not know that almost all colleges charge an artificially high rate so they can do this? Where do people think free rides come from?

I never thought about it. I always thought scholarships came from donated money, not tuition money.

Happy Birthday, Matilda!

Happy birthday, Matilda!

Birthday Happies, Matilda!

ION, Best. Gecko. Ever!

Cat Ba Leopard Gecko and Other New Species of the Mekong River Region

I, for one, welcome our new Cat Ba leopard gecko overlord. That fantastically sinister-looking leopard gecko (with the equally cool species name of Goniurosaurus catbaensis) is one of the 162 new species found in the Mekong River region of Southeast Asia:

Another unusual discovery was the Cat Ba leopard gecko found on Cat Ba Island in northern Vietnam. Named Goniurosaurus catbaensis, it has large, orange-brown catlike eyes and leopard spots down the length of its yellowish brown body.

One comment:

It’s like a Geico ad from Mordor.

Unless it's a dedicated donation for a named scholarship, donated money would go into the general endowment fund and then no distinction would be made.

Universites and colleges are generally fairly aggressive investors, but can have spending rates up to 7%, which is quite high. They need tuition to keep up.

Another cool animal: Four-Winged Fossil Bridges Bird-Dinosaur Gap

BRISTOL, England — A newly described, profusely feathered dinosaur may give lift to scientists’ understanding of bird and flight evolution, researchers report. The lithe creature, which stood about 28 centimeters tall at the hip, is the oldest known to have sported feathers and is estimated to be between 1 million and 11 million years older than Archaeopteryx, the first known bird.

...

Two types of feather adorn the creature, said Xu, of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology in Beijing. One kind, commonly referred to as “dino-fuzz,” resembles a frayed bundle of filaments. The other type, similar in overall structure to the feathers of modern-day birds, consists of small filaments that branch from a larger shaft-like filament.

The dino-fuzz decorates the creature’s head and neck. About two dozen of the shafted feathers adorn each forelimb, and a similar number embellish each lower leg and foot, the researchers report. Unlike most feathered dinosaurs described previously, which have the longest forelimb feathers near the tip of the limb, Anchiornis’ longest forelimb feathers are on the wrist, Xu said. Feathers on the legs and feet appear to have overlapped each other, creating aerodynamic surfaces that would have, in essence, given Anchiornis a wing on each of its four limbs.

eta:

The new find is important because it undoubtedly includes the oldest known feathers on any creature, says Mike Benton, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Bristol in England and cochair of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting.

“These exceptional fossils provide us with evidence that has been missing until now,” Xu said. “Now it all fits neatly into place, and we have tied up some of the loose ends.”