The Penguin Bar

Evolution in Action: Lizard Moving From Eggs to Live Birth

Miro — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 02:50:38 +0000

Evolution has been caught in the act, according to scientists who are decoding how a species of Australian lizard is abandoning egg-laying in favor of live birth.Along the warm coastal lowlands of New South Wales map, the yellow-bellied three-toed skink lays eggs to reproduce. But individuals of the same species living in the state’s higher, colder mountains are almost all giving birth to live young.Only two other modern reptiles—another skink species and a European lizard—use both types of reproduction. Related: “Virgin Birth Expected at Christmas—By Komodo Dragon.”Evolutionary records shows that nearly a hundred reptile lineages have independently made the transition from egg-laying to live birth in the past, and today about 20 percent of all living snakes and lizards give birth to live young only.

via Evolution in Action: Lizard Moving From Eggs to Live Birth.

Bob Cesca: The GOP Plot to Screw the Economy and the Middle Class

Miro — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 02:22:45 +0000

And yet they want to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, which would cost $678 billion dollars without paying for them — and that’s just the cost of the tax cuts going to the top two percent of earners. In other words, the Republicans want to spend $678 billion in further giveaways for the wealthiest two percent, and they don’t care whether it increases the deficit.

By the way, the Republicans also recently voted against and defeated an amendment to strip Big Oil of its $25 billion in subsidies. Just thought I’d pass that along. Put another way, $678 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy? No problem. Deficit-shmeficit! But $34 billion in unemployment benefits for an out-of-work middle class at a time when companies aren’t hiring (say nothing of the aforementioned bullet-points)? Evil! Instead, the Republicans want to give almost as much money to Big Oil in the form of corporate welfare during the worst oil spill in American history while telling unemployed middle class families to piss off.

Do we have a clear picture in terms of who and what the Republicans care about?

It surely isn’t fiscal discipline or the deficit. And it surely isn’t the middle class. The Bush tax cuts, if extended, would add $2 trillion to debt, so it’s not that either. Throw in another policy started by the Republicans — the war spending (more of which was passed yesterday without any worries about CBO scoring or making sure it’s deficit neutral) — and there’s the vast majority of your deficit and debt for the next ten years. Not the stimulus or the bailouts. The long term budget impact of the wars and the Bush tax cuts literally dwarf the stimulus.

via Bob Cesca: The GOP Plot to Screw the Economy and the Middle Class.

Twitter Updates for 2010-07-10

Fab — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 02:25:00 +0000

OK, hard drive replaced, installed linux Mint 9 (RC). Still thrilled to be free of Windoze! Much to install still but it is running. #
@bloggerplugins OK… odd thing to have happen though in reply to bloggerplugins #

Twitter Updates for 2010-07-09

Fab — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 02:25:00 +0000

Advance in Quest for HIV Vaccine http://bit.ly/aQF2oo #
Judge in Boston rules federal ban on gay marriage is unconstitutional – http://bit.ly/c94J6a #
@bloggerplugins: Breaking! Oranje http://bit.ly/ct5ATp <== sends me to a page selling pills. #
Only in the US…. "Jindal signs law that allows guns in churches " http://bit.ly/952TkJ #
Residents outraged: BP dumping oily waste in Gulf landfills http://bit.ly/cjnnSe #
@bloggerplugins Your URLs redirect to a Canadian "health care mall". Spam site. NOT good! in reply to bloggerplugins #
@bloggerplugins And still you send people to a pill site! http://pinaberui.com/ in reply to bloggerplugins #
BP partner Anadarko refuses oil spill bill http://bit.ly/cyeYTZ #

Twitter Updates for 2010-07-08

Fab — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 02:25:00 +0000

Report: 'Absolutely Fabulous' star has breast cancer – http://bit.ly/9rBDnp #

Twitter Updates for 2010-07-07

Fab — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 02:25:00 +0000

Gulf Oil Spill: Scientists Beg For A Chance To Take Basic Measurements http://huff.to/cGvsTi #
Gulf awash in 27,000 abandoned wells — and no one at all is checking to see if they are leaking http://bit.ly/aS1RAX #
Police: Conn. priest stole $1M for male escorts http://bit.ly/c8pA3r #
CRU climate scientists 'did not withold data' http://bit.ly/bRsP8X #

Twitter Updates for 2010-07-06

Fab — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 02:25:00 +0000

RT @nancyfarlow: RT @muckmakers What Mormons Actually Believe http://youtu.be/Vnaa5MQIH94?a <== no more bizarre than any other religion #
Confidence Fairies Have Infiltrated The White House – Paul Krugman http://nyti.ms/9tYcwp #
Punishing the Jobless – Paul Krugman http://nyti.ms/b8cyxb #
As Oil Industry Fights a Tax, It Reaps Subsidies http://nyti.ms/bSgGft #
US taxpayers’ Afghan aid money buys rich Afghans’ Dubai villas http://bit.ly/d0yiwK #
And #SL is down… unable to login. Peachy. #
'Big budget' porn film shot in London hospital http://bit.ly/d6XW36 #

Twitter Updates for 2010-07-05

Fab — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 02:25:00 +0000

Planck telescope reveals ancient cosmic light http://bit.ly/b1EPFQ #
Obama administration plus BP block media access in Gulf [Watch the video!] http://bit.ly/bcKV7l #

Twitter Updates for 2010-07-04

Fab — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 02:25:00 +0000

Oil found in Gulf crabs raises new food chain fears http://bit.ly/9NfI6e #
How’s that recessioney, oily thing working out for ya? – David Michael Green http://bit.ly/9KhUpZ #

Twitter Updates for 2010-07-03

Fab — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 02:25:00 +0000

DR Congo oil tanker blaze 'kills 200' http://bit.ly/cqs6gq #
Peru to expel British 'Tarzan agitator' Paul McAuley http://bit.ly/9i5vla #
A Giant Planet for Beta Pic [APOD] http://bit.ly/cnNYM3 #