Stannous Flouride's Book of Truthiness

For the April 1971 issue of MAD artist Al Jaffee  created this back page fold-in graphic:

By folding the right side:

over to meet the left:

You got this:

The theory that men are idiots and often do stupid things is backed up by evidence in the Christmas issue of The BMJ.

http://www.bmj.com/content/349/bmj.g7094

The findings are based on an analyses of sex differences in idiotic behavior.

The Avian Tree of Life

(the above illustration can be greatly expanded here: http://cdn.phys.org/newman/gfx/news/hires/2012/firsteverfam.gif)

The genomes of modern birds tell a story of how they emerged and evolved after the mass extinction that wiped out dinosaurs and almost everything else 66 million years ago. That story is now coming to light, thanks to an ambitious international collaboration that has been underway for four years.
The first findings of the Avian Phylogenomics Consortium are being reported nearly simultaneously in 29 papers—eight papers in a Dec. 12 special issue of Science and 21 more in Genome Biology, GigaScience and other journals. The full set of papers in Science and other journals can be accessed at
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/346/6215/1308.

The newly named dinosaur, Aquilops Americanus, which means “American Eagle Face” was a crow-sized cousin of the ceratopsians of Asia.

The creature lived during the Early Cretaceous Period some 108 million years ago, making it 20 million years older than the next known horned dinosaur in the area, said the study led by Andrew Farke from the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology in California.

“We were surprised that it was more closely related to Asian animals than those from North America,” said Farke. That suggests some international migratory event may have occurred, but researchers are continuing to pin down the possibilities of how this may have happened. Farke said since only scattered teeth and skull bones have been found, paleontologists know little about how this eagle-faced miniature dinosaur lived and died.

More info:
http://www.alfmuseum.org

Though this is the worst drought in some 1200 years, long term trends show that  3-year droughts are not uncommon:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2014GL062433/abstract

But for the first time since 2009 a blocking ridge of high pressure has dissipated and restored the Hawaii to California moisture laden path known as the Pineapple Express.
While the storm will bring major problems, including flooding, mudslides and damaging winds, it will bring much needed rain to the region.

From 1-3 inches of rain will fall on coastal Southern California with an average of 3-6 inches of rain forecast over central and northern parts of the state. This translates to between 17 and 100 million gallons per square mile from this storm alone.

Another storm will arrive on Sunday. Though not as wet as the present one it will certainly help.

It’s one thing to read a statistic that such and such happens every so many seconds. It’s another thing entirely to see it as graphically represented as this great example by science comic artist XKCD:
http://xkcd.com/1331/

Here is la colibri (the hummingbird) in its original state. It should be noted that walking on the Nazca lines is strictly forbidden, and when permission is given it is done under close supervision wearing special shoes.

Here is Greenpeace’s stupid banner with the idiots who set it up.

This distant shot shows where they walked while setting it up.

At the left you can see the path they wore setting it up.

This photo shows the damage done by the erection and removal of the banner outlined in red. It was removed by Greenpeace.

Peru is furious, to say the least:
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/peru-indignant-greenpeace-stunt-nazca-lines-27488218

Peru will seek criminal charges against Greenpeace activists who damaged the world-renowned Nazca lines by leaving footprints in the adjacent desert during a publicity stunt, a senior government official said Tuesday.

“It’s a true slap in the face at everything Peruvians consider sacred,” Deputy Culture Minister Luis Jaime Castillo said of Monday’s action by the environmental group at the famed drawings etched into Peru’s coastal desert, a U.N. World Heritage site.

He said the government was seeking to prevent those responsible from leaving the country while it asks prosecutors to file charges of “attacking archaeological monuments,” a crime punishable by up to six years in prison.

The activists entered a “strictly prohibited” area beside the famed figure of a hummingbird, the Culture Ministry said in a statement. They laid big yellow cloth letters reading: “Time for Change; The Future is Renewable.”

The message was intended for delegates from 190 countries at the U.N. climate talks being held in nearby Lima.

Castillo said no one, not even presidents and Cabinet ministers, is allowed without authorization where the activists trod, and those who do have permission must wear special shoes.

The Nazca lines are huge figures depicting living creatures, stylized plants and imaginary figures scratched on the surface of the ground between 1,500 and 2,000 years ago. They are believed to have had ritual astronomical functions.

“They are absolutely fragile. They are black rocks on a white background. You walk there and the footprint is going to last hundreds or thousands of years,” Castillo said. “And the line that they have destroyed is the most visible and most recognized of all.”

No, not roses.

Etlingera corneri, also known as ka lo or rose of Siam, is a member of the ginger family that is native to southern Thailand and the northern region of the Malay Peninsula.

Taken at the Fairchild Tropical Botanical Garden in Miami, Florida

Fiery Flyby

Photograph by Baldur Sveinsson

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/volcano-tourism-iceland/

In actuality the airplane is about 300m away from the lava spout but something tells me that’s close enough to feel the heat.

I was a Kickstarter backer for this new PES animated short that was just released today!

The rest of his wonderful animated shorts and commercials are on the website:
http://pesfilm.com