Flotsam and Jetsam (11-18-09)

I had been planning on writing a post called “Thoughts on Eskin Kuhn’s Pterosaur Sighting” wherein I examine young earth claims that an American soldier named Eskin Kuhn (I’ve seen it spelled differently on other sights) saw a pterosaur while stationed in Cuba. The claim is a hoax. I no longer have the patience for dealing with creationist-related debunkings and I have no intention of actually writing up one for this topic.

Mariana Musings (11-18-09)

I keep hearing comparisons to theft, but isn’t downloading music more like hopping the fence to Cedar Point and riding the roller coasters without paying than actually stealing something? The “victims” of the “crime” don’t actually lose anything, they just don’t gain anything from other people benefiting from their service.

Weird Search Engine Traffic (11-16-09)

Breaking Waves (Week 46, 2009)

The List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations has finally been fully split up. Sorta. I actually haven’t moved the unsourced entries yet. If you want to check out the fruits of this splitting, see List of stratigraphic units with dinosaur body fossils

Shanweiniao

and List of stratigraphic units with dinosaur trace fossils.

My deviantART gallery has been updated with more fractals, including those space fractal things I’ve been screwing around with. Space Fractals 2-7 are variations on the same image because after my success with Space Fractal 1 I decided to do some experimenting with various filters and what-not. They’re tolerable, even though I didn’t really like the actual fractal image I was working with.

Space Fractal 2- I like this one even though the space image I used for the background is a bit grainy.

Space Fractal 8

Space Fractal 3

Space Fractal 4

Space Fractal 5

Space Fractal 6

Space Fractal 7

Space Fractal 8 This is my favorite of all the Space Fractals I’ve done so far besides the first. I’m really please with how this turned out.

This Side of Forever is the first Space Fractal to receive a proper title. It’s okay, but it looks a lot better as a thumbnail than it does in full view. I like the twilight/sunset color split.

I’ve made some regular fractals, too:

This Side of Forever

http://fav.me/d2det16

http://fav.me/d2det5s

http://fav.me/d2det7l

http://fav.me/d2det8x

http://fav.me/d2det9x

http://fav.me/d2detcg

Mariana Musings (11-13-09)

Yay! Lou Dobbs is leaving CNN! Now if only he would leave the country.

Mariana Musings (11-11-09)

The liberal blogosphere buzzes about “increasing extremism” and the “alienation of moderates” within the Republican Party. The sentiment is basically true and the process is still ongoing. I find liberals expressing two equally wrong reactions to this:

Liberals
1.) See how they’re chasing out moderates? This party’s about to die!
2.) See how they’re chasing out moderates? These guys are crayzee!

The Republican Party is not going to die within our lifetimes, and may never die until the singularity hits. It’s just simple inertia. Not to mention that American’s practice their partisanship like they do their religion; they’re born into them and don’t give them up no matter how obviously stupid they are.

Evil, but principled at least.

Under Bush’s watch we were hit by 9-11, the economy collapsed, and he lied us into a trillion dollar plus war with over 4,000 deaths. He stripped away essential freedoms, committed war crimes and God knows what else. And you know what? 46% of the country voted Republican again in the next election.

That “chasing out moderates” business? As much as I hate to say it, that’s called “having principles.” The Republican Party stands for something. It might be an evil something, but something it is. What principles do the Democrats stand for? Nothing. They might as well renamed themselves “The (Mostly) Non-Republican Party.” That’s all they are.

I may hate Republicans, but I respect that they have conviction. Their moderate-witch-hunts are what prevents them from ending up like the Democrats; an impotent gaggle with no uniting principles. If any party is going to implode it will be the Democrats, a party bound only by the fact that they’re Not Republicans.

Breaking Waves (Week 45, 2009)

The List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations received a major update, namely that the name of pretty much every stratigraphic unit of formation rank or higher that has ever been reported as producing dinosaur fossils was added. Since that’s like, 500 of them and 120 kb of information, I needed to split the article up.

Space Fractal 1

I created the List of stratigraphic units with dinosaur body fossils and List of stratigraphic units with dinosaur trace fossils which will collectively house all the names, and may need to be split again by the time I get all the names sorted out. I have no clue when that will be, I’m not even halfway done splitting up the original article. A shoot-from-the-hip guess would be about three weeks.

My deviantART gallery has been updated with the first of a new art project for me, Space Fractal 1. Merging space imagery with fractals was an idea I had a week or two ago, but I hadn’t had the chance to try it until yesterday. I’ve never seen anyone do anything like this before and I hope I stumbled onto something original here.

Sonar Echoes (11-06-09)

My third and final response to emjem24, a loathesome homophobe who comments at Michelle Malkin’s blog.

emjem24
This is just another ploy to create another special group of protected people like minorities who’ve enjoyed special privileges for decades.

I would love to see you tell a black man to his face that he’s a member of a protected, specially privileged minority. He would break your face.

emjem24
How ’bout treating homosexuality for what it actual is: a statistical anomaly?

How about treating homosexuals for what they are; human beings with unalienable rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

emjem24
They don’t get the same protections because they don’t have the same kind of relationships that heterosexual couples have.

“Black people don’t get the same protections as Whites because they don’t have the same kind of racial heritage that Caucasian people have.” Same logic, same disgusting bigotry, and you evoke the same feeling and degree of contempt from myself as if that was actually what you said.

emjem24
I’m sick of this PC crap. No wonder it rains in the Northwest so much. These crybaby liberals and their gay buddies never stop cryin’ and bellyachin’ about what they’re owed by the rest of us who could give a damn. Washington is just another blue state gone crazy.

You do owe gay people the same rights that others get; it’s called “equal protection under the law.” You do owe gay people the rights to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness“; those are called “unalienable” rights.

Sonar Echoes (11-05-09)

Yesterday I started responding to homophobic bigot and redundant redundancy emjem24, who left a dumbass comment on Michelle Malkin’s blog. Here, I continue my response.

emjem24
Heaven forbid none of us want homosexuality and its lifestyle crammed down our throats and taught to our kids.

When millions join a movement hell-bent on rewriting state constitutions to forbid heterosexual Christian marriage, then you can complain about other people meddling with your lifestyle. Until that time, you’re just a fucking hypocrite. And homosexuality is a sexuality. You can’t “teach” it to someone. It’s not like Karate or Algebra.

emjem24
What these liberal morons seem to be saying is, tradition, religion and all their tenets are a threat to THEM.

You do know that most liberals, like most people generally (myself included), aren’t gay, right? I can’t speak for anyone else, but personally I don’t have a horse in this race. I’m not gay and none of my friends or family are gay either. Some of us take political positions for reasons other than consolidating our own power or lording it over people we don’t like.

emjem24
A life with no rules, structure, is not a life.
It’s chaos… especially for the rest of us who get caught up in the experiment.

It’s not “an experiment,” it’s the extension of liberty to those who have asked for it, in other words, basic human decency. And how the fuck are you getting “caught up in it”? The only people affected by same-sex marriage rights are people seeking same sex marriages. Or are you afraid that should these rights be legalized you might find the option tempting?

emjem24
I’m not overly religious and I could care less if people are gay or not. What you do in private is YOUR business just recognize that larger society doesn’t accept it or tolerate it.

“I’m not overly flamboyant and I could care less if people are straight or not. What you do in private is YOUR business just recognize that larger society doesn’t accept it or tolerate openly heterosexual people.” Somehow, if that scenario were actually playing out, I suspect you would be bitching about your own rights. Hypocrite.

Sonar Echoes (11-04-09)

emjem24 is a stupid bigot who’s awful fond of the idea that gay Americans are second class citizens. He recently spewed his hate on the intertubes in a comment on the equally despicable Michelle Malkin’s blog. Here, I respond.

emjem24
What an utter waste of a referendum. I just got through reading some of the poster comments and it’s a pretty heavy mix between those who disagree on religious grounds and those who think that gays “deserve” equal treatment and rights.

Did you really just put scare quotes around “deserve”? God you’re a bastard. They just want to get married. What’s the big fucking deal?

emjem24
Those in the pro camp are not only deluded but they have no freaking idea what impact this will have on the larger society. It isn’t just about healthcare access, benefits, etc. It’s encouragement to what is, in all intents and purposes, an alternative lifestyle.

Oh no, not alternative lifestyle! Don’t those fucking queers know that this is America? Land of the free-to-live-your-life-as-I-deem-fit-for-you. Conform to my wishes or shut up!

emjem24
It was a very poorly worded piece of legislation. I agree with you there. People are so hell bent on an anything goes society, that I begin to wonder why have rules at all? Why have morals or ethics? When you look at Washington, it’s no wonder it’s such a liberal stronghold.

An “anything goes” life where others’ standards and rules are not forced upon you is called a “free” life. I know that might not be easy for an authoritarian like yourself to understand, but that’s how it is. Supposedly this concept is the foundation for our society.

emjem24
Heaven forbid anybody should judge anybody else… even though it happens to all of us on a daily basis.

“Heaven forbid anybody should murder anybody else… even though it happens to dozens of us on a daily basis.” Seriously, that’s the logic you’re using. “It happens a lot, therefore it’s ok.” Moron.

Mariana Musings (11-04-09)

Land of the Servile

The apparently not-so-great state of Maine has repealed gay marriage rights. The vote was 52.75% in opposition to the legality of gay marriage rights and 47.25% in favor of it.

Congratulations, Maine, almost 53% of your population are shitty Americans, and shitty human beings generally. America: land of the not as free as the Canadians, South Africans, Belgians, Spanish, Norwegians, Swedish or Dutch. Conservatives are right about one thing; the battle over gay marriage really is about the soul of our country’s values. Sadly, the bad guys are winning.

Oasis of the Seas > Noah’s Ark

The MS Oasis of the Seas has finally been completed. Since the Oasis is the world’s largest passenger ship, you may be curious as to how previous contenders stack up, like Noah’s Ark for example. The answer is “not so well;” the Oasis actually dwarfs the biblical dimensions given for the mythical vessel.

A modern cruise ship with almost 14 times the volume allegedly posessed by Noah's Ark. Photo by Ereine.

The bible gives precise dimensions for Noah’s ark, which translates into modern American measurements as “450 feet long, 75 feet wide and 45 feet high” according to the New International Version of the Holy Bible. Simple calculations show that the ark had an internal volume of 1,518,750 cubic feet.

The Oasis is bigger in every dimension except one, width. The newly completed marvel of modern engineering is 1,181 feet long, 236 feet tall, and 74 feet wide. Its volume is 20,624,984 cubic feet, a volume nearly 14 times greater than Noah’s Ark itself! I wonder if it has an onboard zoo?

Breaking Waves (Week 44, 2009)

The Paleobiota key template has had an additional color added to it; red for accepted species no longer listed under the original genus.

Archaeornithomimus. Photo by Laikayiu.

For instance, in the Bissekty Formation a species of the dubious genus Amtosaurus was found to be unique enough to warrent the erection of a new genus to contain it, Bissektipelta.

So, the listing of “Amtosaurus archibaldi” has the genus in grey (dubious) and the species in red (reclassified). The now proper taxon Bissektipelta archibaldi is listed under normal colors as accepted. I left Dinoguy a message to see if he approved of the new color, but he’s not gotten back to me yet.

I found the article Mirapoint with the random article link. It was tagged as reading like an advertisement, but the problem was easily solved. All I had to do was remove some of the “peacock words,” and put the history section before the section listing its products. I slapped a merge tag on its daughter article, Mirapoint Email Appliance since niether article is all that well developed and the daughter article’s subject matter was basically identical to the product section of the original.

Mekosuchinae received a fossil range template with some tweaks.

The mekosuchines Baru (larger) and Harpacochampsa (long snout). Art by Apokryltaros.

Major additions to the List of dinosaur-bearing rock formations this week. I finally manned up enough to flip over to the The Dinosauria’s stratigraphic index and just started adding new rows for each formation. I’m only up to the Ns right now and I’ve already pretty much double the size of the list.

I’m thinking of splitting the list into subheadings based on how many genera have been reported from the formations. Since the list is becoming ungainly, and considering that I have to list trace-fossil bearing formations as well, I’m considering creating a new article for all of the body fossil-bearing formations, just leaving a list of the most diverse ones on the original page. Even that split might not be enough due to the obscene number of formations contain only scrappy indeterminate remains. This could get complicated.

I’ve added dinosaur lists to the following geologic formation articles:

Allison Formation

Bearpaw Formation

Hesperornis. Art by Arthur Weasly

Belly River Group

Foremost Formation

Fort Crittenden Formation

Kanguk Formation

Kaskapau Formation

North Horn Formation

Scollard Formation

Vermillion River Formation

Wapiti Formation