Tvindy

Al Franken, Molly Ivins, & Bill O'Reilly Panel Discussion

Tonight on C-SPAN2 at 9:30 PM ET, BookTV is airing what may very well be their best-ever panel discussion. (It was so good I watched it twice when it first aired.) Pat Schroeder moderates (well, sort of) a discussion between

• Al Franken
  • Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right
    
  • Rush Limbaugh Is a Big Fat Idiot: And Other Observations
• Molly Ivins
  • Bushwhacked
• Bill O'Reilly
  • Who's Looking Out for You

Watch as Al and Bill go head-to-head!

Click here for details.

And if you're still not convinced, read this, this and this.

Are Humans Apes?

It never fails. Whenever I hear people debating the veracity of religion, someone always brings up the apes, as in But how could something as intelligent and spiritual have come from apes? or even less intelligently, If humans are supposed to have come from apes, then how come there's still apes? Normally at this point, I'm trying not to get involved in the conversation and saving my groans for later when I can utter them in private, but frequently such remarks are followed by the evolutionary proponent's reply, in which (s)he explains, sometimes in great detail, how it is a proven fact that humans come from apes. At this point I always lose my self-restraint and interject with my oft-repeated spiel about humans, apes, and evolution:

Humans did not come from apes. No qualified person in the scientific community has ever made that claim, including Darwin. All apes and humans are desceneded from a single proto-ape species that lived millions of years ago and no longer exists. Thus humans can be said to be closely related to the other apes, but we are certainly not descended from them. Actually, we are apes, no less so than chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans and gibbons. Whether or not you choose to subscribe to evolutionary theory, there is no doubt that all human beings, including Jesus Christ himself, are classified, both genetically and morphologically as an ape species.

Despite many arguments by people to the contrary, I'd never seriously questioned the fact that humans are apes. After all, I acquired that particular tidbit of knowledge from my father, who is an anthropologist and therefore should know. However, it was disquieting that the CNN article I referenced in my previous post seemed to imply otherwise, as have several other sources I've encountered over the years, so I decided to do some checking. The best explanation I found (under response #6) states in a nutshell that the term ape is sometimes employed to include all species in the superfamily Hominoidea (chimps, gorillas, orangutans, gibbons and humans) and sometimes to only include the nonhuman species, although traditionally, usage of the word has often not included humans. Therefore, I am completely correct when I state that humans are apes. Unfortunately, those who argue against me and say that humans are not apes are just as correct. Don't you just love the English language?; it's so free of ambiguity. Anyway, perhaps I should try to be a little less self-righteous in the future.

New Ape Found

According to CNN scientists have identified a previously undocumented type of ape in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Genetic tests are currently being conducted on fecal samples to determine the animal's classification. The researchers are entertaining three possibilities: it is a chimpanzee subspecies; it is a hybrid form of gorilla and chimpanzee; or it is a completely unknown ape species. Any one of these possibilities would be remarkable.

Consider:

A Chimp Subspecies: Chimpanzees are our closest genetic relatives. If this new ape turns out to be a form of chimpanzee, it is radically different, both in form and behavior. There has long been a debate over whether or not bonobo chimps more accurately reflect the behavior patterns of early humans than mainstream chimps. Now we may have found a new chimp that lives on the ground and has been observed to walk bipedally, so it would almost certainly be the closest living model we have to the behavior of early humans.

A Gorilla/Chimp Hybrid: If this is the case, it would be extraordinary. I'm willing to accept that in theory gorilla and chimp DNA could combine to produce viable offspring, but it's hard to imagine the two species actually mating with each other in the wild. They are behaviorally so different from one another. Furthermore, the new hybrid ape would have to survive to adulthood, find a mate, and be able to reproduce, which is an ability that most interspecies hybrids , such as mules, do not have. Furthermore, one would expect that most of the new DNA would gradually become diluted with each passing generation, rather than that a new genetically distinct population would arise. It certainly sounds farfetched, but that would make it all the more intriguing if true.

A New Species of Ape: Wow! Finding a whole new species of great ape would be mindblowing. Chimps, gorillas, and orangutans are so fascinating because of their high level of intelligence combined with their similarity to humans. Yet each species is so different from the other two. Chimps are the most aggressive, both to other chimps and to smaller animals which they occasionally hunt as food. Gorillas are strict vegetarians and normally very docile. They sometimes fight for dominance, but not with the ferocity of chimps. Orangutans are loners. They don't live in communities, and it is not unusual for them to be out on their own for as long as a month without even running into another of their kind, although they do have complex social interactions when not alone. A New ape species would likely be as different from the other great apes as they are from each other. The best case scenario would be for us to discover not only that this is a new species, but one that is genetically even closer to humans than chimpanzees, perhaps even more intelligent. Wouldn't that be something?

We'll know more in about a month when the genetic tests have been completed. And this autumn, primatologist Shelly Williams says she hopes to return to Africa to further study the apes. Hopefully she'll take better pictures this time around.

Cool Rabbit Sites

If I were asked to list the three most interesting rabbit sites I have encountered on the web, these would be they:

Poke the Bunny is an oldie but still a goody. The rabbit is fairly patient, but if you poke him one time too many, you'll be sorry.

At meet the rabbit !!!, a sophisticatedly flash-animated bipedal rabbit stalks your cursor after mistaking it for a carrot.

Oolong - The pancake rabbit was a real bunny (now deceased) living in Japan, whose owner created a photo diary documenting the animal's unique ability to balance all manner of things on its head.

Sweet Avocado

It's interesting how people in different countries have such diverse takes on food. Danish licorice is flavored with salt and ammonia. (It's actually quite good once one develops a taste for it, but prepare to be revolted the first time you try it.) The Japanese have completely different sensibilities when it comes to flavoring their ice cream. And of course the US is the only nation to truly embrace peanut butter. What is particularly intriguing, to me at least, is the Brazilian take on avocados.

The first time I ate avocado in Brazil was at a restaurant, where it was served for dessert as a custard. That's right -- avocado custard! You see, for Brazilians avocados are not viewed as fit for human consumption unless they are heavily sweetened. They aren't even served in salads. An avocado without sugar is just plain disgusting to them. Of course, most of us in the US would hold the opposite position (especially when presented with the famous Brazilian avocado-flavored popsicle), but as with Danish licorice and (presumably) Japanese ice cream, any open-minded person can quickly develop a taste for seemingly bizarre food combinations.

If you're interested in trying sweetened avocado, here is a simple and delicious recipe for Vitamina de Abacate. It's sort of like an avocado milkshake. Take half a ripe avocado (minus the pit and peel), and place it in a blender with at least half a quart of milk. Blend together, adding milk as necessary to get the consistency right. You'll want it thick and creamy but not so thick that you won't easily be able to sip it from a glass. Blend in sugar. Keep adding until the mixture is nice and sweet. Don't skimp on the sugar; remember that it's supposed to taste sweet. (Once you've done this a few times, you'll have a sense of the proper proportions and can just dump everything into the blender at the start.) Pour into a tall glass, and enjoy.

Other variations often used by Brazilians involve adding a little raw oats to the mixture to give it some texture, using honey instead of sugar, and adding a little orange juice. If you have a powerful enough blender, you can also blend in an ice cube to make it nice and frosty. Since I'm a bit lactose intolerant, I usually put in 2 or 3 lactaid tablets to help with digestion. You might also consider substituting other ingredients for the avocado. In Brazil, Vitamina comes in a variety of flavors, including coconut, papaya, passion fruit and grape, as well as more unorthodox selections like oats, peanut, and corn.

Bon appétit!

Pic of the Week

One of my hobbies is digital photography. I keep my camera with me at all times and try to average at least 10 pictures a day. Every week I'll select one of my better shots to post here.

The above image is the statue of Beneficence at Ball State University in Muncie, IN. I used the solarize effect to compensate for backlighting.

My First Post

Hello and welcome to my new blog! Since this is my first post, it's just a test entry. Better content will follow shortly. Stay tuned . . . .