creationist madness

this is just sooo wrong on so many levels


(via Mike the Mad Biologist)

and yes, arguments like this are used in churches to convince people evolution is wrong

The conditions and timeframe of the peanutbutter jar, or anything else produced by the food industry, are nowhere near the conditions of primordial soup where life could evolve (although i bought this one thing in the chinese supermarket a few years ago that got pretty close).

And even if life would have evolved in the jar ... something no biologist that understands anything about the theory would ever consider saying ... you wouldn't be able to see it, it would be microscopically small and you'd eat it without ever knowing it (like those eight spider a year in your sleep).
So may i now suggest an in depth examination of everything found in all the stores around the globe, at x hours per item ...

sigh

here's another one (or are they joking, don't know)
that's debunked quite easily

update: why do i torture myself in watching things like this
feeling sick

Beauty - sea creatures

David Attenborough rules!
"The vampire squid .. from Hell", nobody uses sentences like that only to say "bioluminescent bacteria" a few seconds later :)

via the park bench
where i took a seat thanks to N@ked under my lab coat
where i ended up thanx to PZ

sometime i feel sad, there are just so infinitely much more things to discover in blogs alone than I will ever be able to discover,
but it's ok, i'm gratefull for what i do discover
meeting real people is important too :)

Wanna hit me with something?

if you're anywhere near Antwerp, Belgium, on the first of May 2007,
bring a pillow and you will have your chance, only if you're prepared to except a pillow beating in return of course ;)
a pillow, why?
because there will be a pillowfight
spread the word and see you there

update: ok i should really start spreading the adress of this blog to some friends of mine, not too many (local) readers yet

human evolution

allright, nice one (scroll right)
wouldn't it be nice if some more stuff like this could be found in city's
i wouldn't mind
(and it doesn't have to be science related, just nice)

via Pharyngula

Romantic ideas #00001

It's all about emotions, sharing strong emotions creates bonds between people.
Now beware, this one might not be a good idea on a first date, and it's not for the weak-minded, but for the average western european (or member of other "civilised" country) it should be a strong experience :)
so you go a restaurant and order this:

ok, maybe you won't find this in that nice place around the corner, i'm guessing you'll have to find your local koreatown/chinatown

via Pharyngula

not convinced??? apparently all you have to do to like it .. is try it


and as an extra bonus you can speak korean instantly, so what are you waiting for!

Plastic

Science has found that there is 6 times more plastic by weight in some areas of the ocean than naturally occuring plankton. There is a lack of investigation on the effects on hormone disruption and the endocrine system of marine life. If there are disruptions in the reproductive cycles of certain fish for instance, this could be a devastating extra pressure on economically important fish species that are already being overfished.

So...consider the implications each time you take a plastic bag at the shop....
where does it end up .. why are we using plastic packing that lasts for decades to transport things we're going to eat within days ??



And here's a nice educational website for children on keeping the oceans clean.
http://www.keepoceansclean.org/home/

ducks, without the u and then backwards ...

get's you to www.xkcd.com
i've mentioned it before,
this one just cracked me up :)
check out more of them!

update:
no really!!
check out more of them
AND don't forget to hover over the picture with you mouse, extra commentary appears!!

Animusic

a wonderfull combination of computer animation and nice music

and there are several others to be found on youtube

Newest playlist additions meme

Nickelback has a new cd out there, "All the right reasons", you can see a few of the vid's on their site
"If everyone cared" is somewhat in the same area as "The world is on fire"
which i've already mentioned twice, here and here
it's not just about nice chords (but they help), an important or strong message in a song is what really convinces me

the other music video's are also nice, go check 'em out,
"Far Away" (love is important, and so is putting out forest fires)
"Savin'me" (just a real cool idea for a musicvideo)
"Photograph" (i like photographs)

do the moonwalk

I admit it, every now and then i practice moonwalking,
luckily you just have to enter 'moonwalking' in google or youtube to encounter too many links to people who are willing to teach you how, so that part was easy, but don't ask me to show it, yet

but almost being a biologist, the following video is of course something for which i can only have the greatest form of admiration .. !

(and it's funny too)

Let's dance into the sunset

That i'm an excellent danser is such a big secret that at parties people don't even believe it after they've actually seen me dance ... but i like it, so i don't care.
Next time you go dancing, take a look at these moves for some extra inspiration!
'The evolution of dance'

Planetary defence assault platform ???

It's called a Schaufelradbagger or Rheinbraun bagger and it's big!
Bagger 288 for instance weighs 13000 metric tons (no really, 13000 tons, that's 13000 cars!!), is 240 metres long, 96 metres high and planetary defence is probably one of it's secret functions.
These Bucket-wheel excavators are the largest vehicles on this planet and they can be seen at a pityfull 140 kilometres from where I'm sitting right now !!!
If not soon then I'm certainly gonna see them with the kids (that will be around 2025, be patient and i'll blog about it when the time comes).

Things this big can of course be seen from the sky, if you're familiar with google earth you can go see them @ 50°53' N and 6°20' E and in a few other mines more to the east, you really can't miss these mines, they can be seen from at least 150 kilometres eye altitude, just go the the Belgian/Dutch/German border, and then into Germany.

The ultimate picture,
some more pictures,
and some action pictures

I bet these are the reason the martians, the decepticons nor the borg don't dare to attack us

Newest playlist additions meme

I'm working real hard trying to get the first draft of the paper "The impact of management on the development of plant communities and the relationship with light" in such a state that i wouldn't sink into the deepest caverns of the earth out of shame for how bad it looks, so that it can be mailed to prof J.

But maybe i just have to share with you the name of the song that i very recently added to the "really good playlist" and is now on some kind of a manually enforced repeat because i'm using the screen of the pc that's playing the music as a second screen for my dad's laptop on which i am merging 2 versions of the paper into one ultimate draft version (the keyboard is still connected and repeating the song manually has been succesfull for now (i don't know the shortcut for 'repeat' (and i use too many brackets (i know))))
and before you pull me through the adsl-cable to hit me in the head for procrastinating, it's:

'One Word' by Anouk

naturally to be found on youtube

try to get your hands on it if you can,
and you can listen to it on her 'myspace' (whatever that may be), you might like it,
I know i do, the music is good
& the lyrics are good 'cause (just pointing out one of more than one) today:
I hope that at the very absolutely least, when the awkwardness/heartache is over, there will be a beautifull goodbye with my star in heaven.
and why not, naturally i'd prefer a beautifull '(a lot) more than goodbye'!!
but that's not in the song

My typical day at the office

Well since i'm a student of a traditional chinese kungfu school, it's only natural to have some appreciation of stuff like this:

Ways to Abuse Shaolin

Ok, i admit they'll probably never teach me how to ignite the cheese, that knowledge is preserved only for the few chosen disciples who train more than i ever will be able to.
I'm working on the Meditation part (patience is the key),
but that thing by the watercooler .. that's just easy ;)

Easter is ...

.. tradition
.. waking up before the 8 o'clock alarm (WTF ???)
.. for some reason shedding a few tears while watching the videoclip of save tonight
.. looking for the eggs my sister has hidden in the garden (still wearing my pyjamas :) + sweater)
.. hiding them again so she can go on a quest of her own
.. eating chocolat eggs
.. family discussions about mindfullness
.. eating chocolat eggs
.. not being able to go out for lunch because some blind µù$^="ç%&"éé parked his car in front of our garage
.. eating more chocolat eggs
.. really not caring about that car in front of the garage (remember the point about mindfullness)
.. doing the dishes
.. eating some more chocolat eggs
.. still not caring that by now the car isn't in front of our garage any more, but someone else (also a blind #éµ%%^$&@) has replaced that car with a car of his own, just waauw
.. doing all kinds of family stuff related to amongst other things our general quest to get rid of the junk spread around our place = bonding :)
.. messing up the work schedule (not really caring about it right now, some extra caring is scheduled tomorrow)
.. listening to music from Anouk
.. not finding any more chocolat eggs on my desk :(
.. going out for dinner (bbye)
.. (back from dinner) finding the eggs again :)
.. now doing some thesiswork anyway

xkcd and science

xkcd.com is a fun place, it's a daily comic and i like it,
PZ attracts attention to a nice scientific one and ads something,
good lab practices :)