Tracks and Traces 4.26.10

  • Check out my article on the atmosphere and evolution, "The History of Air", over at Smithsonian.
  • The Raleigh News & Observer has a brief interview with me (conducted by DeLene Beeland) on paleontology, evolution, and my forthcoming book Written in Stone. (Check out the comments, too - I already have fundamentalists praying for me *headdesk*)

More like this

A shot of the summit area of Eyjafjallajökull, showing the twin steam-and-ash plumes from the lava flow and active vent. Picture taken by Dr. Joseph Licciardi (UNH). Over the weekend, the newly reinvigorated ash eruptions from Eyjafjallajökull combined with favorable winds meant that ash from…
Time to play a little catch up ... Eyjafjallajökull erupting in early May. Image by and courtesy of Martin Rietze. A brief update on our friend Eyjafjallajökull - the eruption plume from the volcano was considerably taller yesterday, reaching 6-9 km (20,000-30,000 feet), but prevailing winds…
An aerial view of Eyjafjallajökull erupting on May 11, 2010, with the extent of the black ash from the eruption on GÃgjökull clearly evident, along with the cracks in the glacier near the lava flow. Photo from the Icelandic Met Office, by Sigurlaug Hjaltadóttir. Since this past weekend's…
The eruptive plume from Eyjafjallajökull taken Holsvelli webcam. Image courtesy of Mattias Larsson. Sorry to disappoint everyone visiting to blog while they sit at any number of airports around the world, but the eruption at Eyjafjallajökull appears to still be going strong. The Icelandic Met…

You get people who pray for you; I just get the ones who urge me to be open-minded (to the possibility that, say, the machine made from old microwave parts in some guy's garage will really let us travel to the stars!).

I'm praying for you - do you want to guess which side of the "evolution" issue I'm on?

Oooh, ooh, I know — the uninformed one!

[sigh]

"I'll pray for you" is just the fundie way of giving someone the finger.

Alien prequel! Cool. Hope there's no damn humans in it. Humans ruin the Jurassic Park series, too. Wish all the humans, especially the annoying kids, would just get eaten in the first couple minutes, and the dinos get on with doing their thing.

By darwinsdog (not verified) on 26 Apr 2010 #permalink

I just respond, Thank you (usually). Or if I'm snarky I'll ask what for, and depending on what they tell me I usually get to point out they've just made a judgment about my personal beliefs without even the courtesy of asking me about them. "I'll take Wrong Assumptions for a 1,000, Alex". Or if I'm just cranky, I'll take them to task for judging.

By Daniel J. Andrews (not verified) on 30 Apr 2010 #permalink

Brian -

I looked up your blog after seeing the N&O article. Enjoyed the posts I've read so far. I think I'll get your book as well (or at least look for it in the library :)). If you've not visited Raleigh's natural history museum before make sure to stop in if you're in town. It's really a gem for our fair city.

Down here when folks pray for you it's always with the best intentions!

By John Schultz (not verified) on 01 May 2010 #permalink

John - Thanks for the comment, and I am glad you have been enjoying the blog. The book won't be out until November, but I hope you give it a look when it comes out. :)

And I did have the chance to visit the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences last January. The tour was a bit of a whirlwind (I wish I had more time to explore!), but it was lovely, and it was certainly nice to poke around in the collections for a bit. Maybe, when the book comes out, I will organize a talk down there and visit again.