Were you fooled?

Were you? 

Did you watch that Megalodon Discovery channel special? Do you think Megalodon was real after watching it? You didn't? You don't appear to be alone. While all the articles seem to indicate that LOADS of people were, it appears this is based on an online poll done after the show… so it was incredibly scientific;) People ALWAYS take those seriously. (Meg's ARE real. I used to have a real tooth on my mantel, they're just no longer alive.) So where is all this outrage coming from, because I only seem to see it in articles and blogs… mostly science ones. Can it be that there really aren't lots of people who fell for it? Can it be that this is merely a few people who are outraged for people they believe fell for it? Is the science community actually manufacturing this? Maybe not intentionally, but they do seem to be the ones who are spearheading  this, they seem to the ones incredibly outraged for others who actually didn't fall for it or could care less. I'm sure a few people were fooled after all Mountain Monsters got picked up for a second season and that's all kinds of fake! But the majority of people I've talked too knew it was fake and one guy was left questioning wether it was real or not…

Yes, some of the science was off or based on older estimates, current thinking places them at around 52 feet (it's possible they were longer OR shorter, we only have teeth and a few vertabrae as sharks are mostly cartilage and don't fossilize well. It's possible they had GIANT heads!) But besides some of that, there was OTHER science that people seem to have missed. Underwater camera stuff, hunting of whales, Meg teeth whale tail bones, whale migration patterns and tagging and tracking animals, all real science. The 2 million year old whale was wrong, but that's kind of a tricky thing. They've known about the whale, but they didn't know who that whale was related to until they tested the DNA, it turns out the whale is not related to any other existing whale species, it's related to a line that was thought to have gone extinct 2 million years ago. I can see how that would get messed up, but it's not right in the show. Some of the other science is, well… speculative. And it would have to be since it's explaining why we haven't seen this animal in 1.5 million years. Its OK to do this in books, just not on TV I guess.

It is funny that the other scientists in the special don't agree with the main lead in this throughout the whole thing they disagree. I liked that a lot. 

Meg lived in warm shallow seas! Or did it? Its true that all the fossils we're found have been from shallow seas, but was it strictly limited to those? Fossils underwater are hard to find and the majority of what we find is all from shallow seas because those shallow seas are now on the surface and easier to get to. By this logic, most known water animals lives in shallow inland seas, we know this isn't true with todays animals so it's doubtful it was true of the pasts. I have a hard time seeing a LARGE shark stuck in shallow seas while it pretty swims away into the deep ocean… These sharks lived for 25 million years, I'm sure they're environment shifted and moved with the continents.

Could they still exist? It's very, very doubtful they are still alive. I'm sure we would have found whales with Meg teeth in them, especially during the whaling boom of the 1800's. BUT it's possible they still exist in some form, the ocean is a very large place so I wouldn't rule it out completely. I'll just say this, we have more evidence for the existence of Megalodon than we do for Sasquatch. At least we know Megs lived at some point. We have never found a great ape species in the new world, not even in South or Central America.

Have at thee!

Batcave!

Another image I did to help fund Cannibalism in Tyrannosaurs! Feeling generous? Head over and help out! Almost there!!! And a big thank you to Carlos, for the purchase!

Best,

Brett

A new Sunday Blasphemy!

Yeah, I know, I haven't done one in awhile. I was just annoyed with both sides for utter stupidity. But after a short break I feel the crazy religious 'right' has won out! Huzzah!

Here's a list of the crazy shit Christians (and some other religions) say about Atheists... I've heard almost all of these before. The translations are spot on! 

And here are some more!

Best!

Brett

Happy Sketch Saturday! Lots of Stuff this week...

Last weeks Sketch... I thought I posted it but I guess not...

Superior Spiderman... (sold)

Darksied... or Darkseid... I can never remember... (sold)

And finally Kazar and Shanna, sneaking up on a Daspletosaurus. If you're interested in purchasing this one please let me know, money will go to fund this Cannibalism in Giant Tyrannosaurs study!

Til next week!

This Sunday, 46% is the new minority!

 So a new poll (a scientific one, not the usual internet ones that people crash;)) And it looks like all the people who keep telling me that Creationists are really just a SMALL fraction of the Christian population in the US are WRONG. It looks like 46% of AMERICANS are YEC. That's not a small part, OR a minority, that's almost HALF of the population. Scary indeed.

The other stats are, 32% believe in god guided evolution and then there are the people like me, who believe it was all random chance coming in at 15%.

Can you see now, why I do these Sunday Blasphemy posts? The god guided stuff isn't actually supported by evidence, that's more seeing that there is something to evolution but refusing to give up the good feeling of your religion. It's incredibly frustrating and a bit scary. Because that 46% can make way more religious people faster than the non religious people, we tend to have small families or none at all. Luckily there is that 3rd part of government that will protect the rights of the minority group.

There is a glimmer of hope, the 15% group seems to be on an upward trend... albeit a very SLOW one. In 300 years we might be 80%! Then you Christians better watch out cause we'll simply ignore you and make fun of you. You can keep your religion, we won't try to take it from you by making it illegal. It will still be a secular society.

 On another note;

 I'm still waiting for Steve to post about why it's OK for people to be adhere to certain parts of the Bible yet completely ignore others... So Far I've been told my 'tone' isn't good and that I'm not up for a discussion on the matter. I've of course deleted those comments, just more dodging the question nonsense. He's not allowed to comment until he answers the questions. I wonder how it feels to have deity who doesn't agree with all your ideas as we all know I'm god here.

So in honor of Steve I have a video for you;)

Brett

Yutyrannus huali!!!!

This was just the best week EVER!!!! A feathered theropod dinosaur has been found!!!! Most likely it's an early tyrannosaur but it's also possible, just possible mind you, that it's actually a Carcharadontosaur!

They found 3, one about 30 feet and 2 others about 24-25 feet. Equal in size to Albertosaurus and Allosaurus! Go here for a far more detailed analysis. 

Best,

Brett

This Sunday, I was WRONG!!!!!!

Yes folks, it looks like I was completely wrong about Jesus being a zombie. It's a sad, sad day... I need to bone up on my undead a bit... Thanks for sending me this Derek:)

And here are some holiday wishes from the Christians! From this disgusting page with PEEPS!

And a cool video about evolution... it's not just for biology!

So, good luck, and happy Lich King Jesus day!

Brett

Stephen Hawking Timeline

So on April 1st, I go this email about a graphic featuring Stephen Hawking. I was intrigued so I sent a reply and I got this!



Created by: Online PhD

Pretty darn cool! Shout out to Peter Kim who did the graphic!

Best!

Brett

This Sunday: Incompatibility

Over one Why Evolution is True, there is an interesting post about the compatibility of science and religion. It's interesting to see how people can accept both, but they don't, they simply hold two different views in their heads and because they ignore the real differences they think they are compatible. Ignorance is truly bliss!

I also like this line: When you compare science with faith in this way, ask yourself this: would you rather live in a world in which there had been science and no faith, or a world in which there had been religion but no science?


Best,


Brett

Velociraptor scavenging a pterosaur!

Well look at that! A new dinosaurs image by Jess and I! Done for Dave Hone over at Archosaur Musings. You can read all about it over there! Lots of dinosaurs lately!

Best!

Brett

Intelligent Design is dead...

It looks like Science has officially declared this pseudo science up and gone with the wind. I almost feel bad... almost;P

Sorry, I know it's not Sunday but since the IDer's insist it was I think I can get away with it;)

Best!

Brett

This Sunday: Go elsewhere;P

Sorry, busy this week, so I'm not going to post anything but I'll send you to a few places that I thought were interesting:

Why Evolution is True has a great post about the difference between science and religion.

And since it's Halloween next weekend.... I think... here's an 'interesting' ie; scary site about spreading the Word of God to those heathens on October 31! It's a modern day version of Christians co opting holidays for their own nefarious purpose! It's the Winter Solstice all over again, the horror!

And finally the Bible Stories are 'real' because they are 'true'... or not real but true?! or something;P

Have fun, talk amongst yourselves, I'll chime in if I have time or need a break:)

Best!

Brett

This Sunday: Dinosaur Fun!

Pharyngula posted this amusing illustration this week, very funny! But what's really cool is the arrival of a new feathered dinosaur called Xiaotingia. 

Now what's cool about Xiaotingia is that when placed into a cladistic matrix it groups together with Archeopteryx, what was considered the first bird awhile ago (and for awhile the only bird before the end of the Cretaceous.) BUT grouping them together pushes both of them OUT of the bird group and into the 'raptor' group of dinosaurs. So it turns out the great conundrum of paleontology has been solved! We now know Archeopteryx is a dinosaur, not a bird, something that was predicted in the early 80's by the great Gregory S. Paul. Paul, using our knowledge of evolution, made a prediction that later turned out to be true, SCIENCE WIN!

So are you asking yourself why is this in a Sunday Blasphemy post and NOT you dinosaur blog? Well, it turns out that the Creationists seem to think that this invalidates evolution! Ignore the fact that Archeopteryx has been considered a sister taxon to birds for quite a number of years, because science changed to fit the evidence that makes it false to the Creationists... My head it hurting just trying to attempt the mental gymnastics... Science is self correcting, when new evidence turns up and is proven to be true, we have to re-evaluate and incorporate that new knowledge into current thinking, something creationists refuse to do. We know the earth isn't 6,000 years old, we have trees older than that. We have evidence that Egypt was already a great city WITH writing about 100-180 years AFTER creation... I'm not sure if that would be possible to go from basically nothing to a fully civilized nation that fast...  Adam and Eve would still be alive if you go by Creation science! Some other new thinking, is that the Big Bang wasn't the 'beginning' of the universe, it's just the last point we can go back to because the explosion obscures everything before it! Science Channel has some good shows on Wednesday!

And finally, we have this great webpage about God destroying the dinosaurs! It's a bit old, 1995, but since Creation science hasn't actually done anything except repeat verses from a 2,000 year old book this would be very modern thinking indeed! Enjoy as I did!


A few more tidbits to look over:


Taking down some IDiocy!

Why a crazy sect of Jews thinks it's OK to kill babies. Relax they used to do it all the time, Old Testament style! 

And you may have noticed I haven't commented on the Norwegian  Nut, I'm still not really sure if that was religiously motivated or rightwingish, or just plain crazy. It seems xenophobic so since I can't make up my mind I'm not going to play the blame game, Fox News can do that;) (Sarcastic yes?!)

Best!

Brett

This Sunday, ALIENS!

Ok, so it's not the norm, but our modern view of aliens has been tainted by the religious view of humans being perfect, made in Gods image and the pinnacle of evolution. Here is a very interesting talk in blog form about wrong this would actually be, if you know, we could find some.

So how is this Blasphemy you ask...? Well the Jedi religion is a budding religion, so I thought I'd pick on them this week;) Weak, but they really are to easy a target, and I think Triumph the insult comic dog tore them up so bad on Conan they really can never recover, so we have to go easy on them;)

Best!

Brett

Green Lantern Trailer and Awesome Rap Battle Video!

I will admit that the first trailer for this was... bad. But this looks like a whole mess of fun!



This was just fricken great!

Sorry I don't have anything new to post image wise. I'm working on some new character designs and JLA 57 right now, but I can't show you that stuff yet:(

Best!

Brett

Real Life Destination Truth!

What a wonderful world, or at least inter-webs!

Over on this blog Frontiers of Zoology the author has posted this image.

It's Aztec (I'm not 100% sure about that, but it's from that area and region) and looks to show a monkey (or ape, I can't see the rear but since there are no known apes in the Americas I'll go with monkey) covering his ears. That's not why I posted a comment there. I commented because the author has decided that this is an OLD WORLD monkey from Japan, and not a native NEW WORLD monkey. He's using this statue to claim that China and the peoples of S. America were exchanging animals and culture. Now this is ENTIRELY possible…. well sort of possible, there is other evidence that sort of supports this but it's nowhere near 100% fact. Now on to the sculpture!

As you can see it's stylized, it appears to be bald, the head doesn't have the same texture as the body, the face looks like it MIGHT also have some sort of hair, but that might just be weathering. It also appears to be smiling. It also appears to have a ruff of hair along the sides of it's face. It's hard to actually tell one way or the other. Also of note, the feet are wrong for any monkey or ape save man... or bigfoot;)

So what kind of monkey is it? Well the author would have us believe it's from Japan, you know those macaques that use the hot springs to stay worm in the winter. But Retrieverman, one of the commenters (who I agree with) said it appears to actually be a Bald SOUTH AMERICAN Uakarki . That's what got this whole thing started, the author decided that is was a macaque and that any other opinions on it are simply wrong because he believes he knows more about monkeys then the commenters. This is quite possibly true in this case I know some monkeys on sight but not all of them, BUT I do know how to tell the difference between animals.

So what is the linchpin of the authors argument? The nose. On a very stylized image the nose is narrow. Narrower than the bald uakari monkey's usually are. BUT the uakari monkey is from Brazil and not native to Mexico so it's entirely possible the STYLIZED image isn't 100% accurate to begin with (hell, I could argue the head is far to large for ANY monkey or ape and it's all made up!) and so to assume it's an old world monkey based on the nose alone alone is jumping the gun to say the least.

Normally I'd have left my comment and that would be it. But the author chimed back in and told me and Retrieverman that we didn't know anything about monkeys. I then went back and told him it was to stylized to make those assumptions. Some good back and forth always livens up the debate, I'm used to 'debating' people who have preconceived ideas so repeating things sometimes helps;)

That brings me to this morning. Retrieverman sent me an email about it so I checked back. It looks like my second comment was deleted. WHY? Because I repeated some of the stuff from my first comments and the author had this to say…

"I am calling a halt to repeated reiterations of the same point of view being posted by persons who refuse to recognise a basic Zoological principle: in this case, the shape of the nose. You simply cannot make a Cattarhinne into a Platyrhinne by rhetoric, and no amount of arguing will change the point. Next time, Brett, I would advise you against making a power play out of one of these discussions when your remarks betray an underlying ignorance of the subject. NO, you cannot have it your way just because you WANT to have it that way."

I might be ignorant of some monkey species, I don't specialize in that type of thing. BUT I do know HOW science works and the BASIC principle of Occam's razor can easily be used to negate your entire idea. I'm not interested in a power play, I'm interested in facts. What the author has provided are not facts, it's an idea, and not a very good one. His whole idea hangs of a stylized nose done by someone who most likely is simply sculpting something he's seen on another sculpture. I do art for a living, I also study animals for drawing, and for fun. I can tell you for a FACT that most artists simply don't draw animals well. Look at ANY old drawings, they are usually REALLY badly done because the artists simply aren't that good OR they don't have access to the animal. The sculpture in question isn't a good representation of ANY monkey OR ape and to make a grandiose proclamation that it is and call that science is an insult to the people who actually are scientists and study animals.

Go ahead make your claims against reason and logic and call it science, it will not make what you say true no matter how much you try to silence the descension, that ISN'T science either. It won't make the scientific community take cryptozoology seriously. What you are actually practicing good sir, is religion. So you can silence me on your blog, but I have my own blogs and a will to use them. Have at thee!

Best!

Brett

This Sunday, humans are special because they're alturistic... right?

So according to the religious, we humans are special and our ability to care for others is what makes us special and unlike those filthy disgusting animals, right?!? Well not so fast. It turns out we humans can trace our altruism to the animals and even some that aren't particularly close, like Elephants and Chimps.

I honestly don't know why being descendent from animals is so bad. I mean there is a ton of evidence to support this, Creationists might not like it and often ignore it, but it's there and you can't argue with the genes. Just because you believe your related to George Washington because your gran told you so doesn't mean it's so. To them, being specially created dirt or mud seems like e better plan. You know, if I was making something special I would maybe start out with something that didn't contain the shit from other animals... you know like gold or diamonds or maybe a flower... but the mud? Have you ever driven by actual wild mud? That is some foul wet dirt! I mean sure according to evolution we started out as muck as well, but that muck, through trial and error, evolved into all the life on the planet... To me that's way more special and awe inspiring than being blinked into existence by a magic Genie... and not even a hot one.

Best!

Brett

This just in, the mechanism for alturism in animals is called Kin Selection, been around for a bit actually.

Is it possible to get something from nothing? This Sunday it is!

So one of the things I keep hearing over and over again is this something from nothing (I'm fairly sure that this pertains to life but be bear with me.) It turns out on a quantum level the universe creates something from nothing all the time and it's been tested and proven. Really interesting stuff go here for the details!

Also a new orbiting telescope has found a ton of planets outside our solar system. Not really Sunday material, but really friggin' cool! If a third of the 200 million stars in our galaxy have planets (that makes 66 million stars with planets by the way) and 6% of those are the right size and in the right place for liquid water. Then that makes 3,960,000 planets with the possibility to support life... Makes you wonder why this wasn't mentioned in the Bible,  only the stars already known and some constellations, nothing about other planets or those dreaded aliens;)

Best!

Brett

Is the Truth different on Sunday?

So, what is truth? I'm beginning to think that that word had different meaning for the religious and science minded. For the religious, the truth is the word of god as described in the bible. For the science minded, I like this one (the post is actually quite good as well):

"A scientific truth is more complex than a colloquial truth, it's requirements being that it is free of contradiction with logic and reality and supported by reason and evidence."

I keep hearing that (insert religion here) is true but time after time I am given no evidence, when I ask for it I get something on morals or the mind of god or lately MONKEYS and that evolution isn't true because some Creationist 'scientists' say so. I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the circular reasoning I keep coming across. How can I accept that what these 'scientists' say when what their followers are saying has nothing to do with science and everything to do with faith? When everything they say goes against hundreds of years of research and understanding? I guess it all goes back to the truth, or biblical truth since they aren't the same thing. One sounds lovely... being special, having a soul, being loved. The other fighting tooth and nail to survive, adaption and evolving to find a place in the ever changing environment. One 'supported' by biblical truth the other by science and reason.

I was asked why I do this in a recent post, the person seemed to think that I must still believe in god or I would just sit quietly in the corner and I guess stare at the wall. I do this because someone has to. To sit by and let the religious 'right' take over and force their religion on other is bothersome in mind to say the least, here is one example and here's another. Sitting by and letting these things happen, letting this insanity go unchecked and unopposed to me is worse than being on the opposing side. By saying nothing, you condone them. And by letting them take over you run the risk of turning this country and others into another Uganda, where the church and its followers are now trying to pass laws to execute homosexuals and witches... Because the bible says so, these are biblical truths (you can go here for some of the details). Most Christians would be appalled by this, but by doing and saying nothing you've given them the green light, what's next Atheists and Wiccan? Hindus and Jews? What will it take to get you off your asses and tell people that this kid of thing is wrong? They are accusing children of being witches and killing them!

So, if the biblical truth is actually so very unlike the new Christian views with their Buddy Christ, than how can you keep telling me the bible is true if you don't actually follow it? That simple truth, to me speaks volumes.

And to end this weeks post a very interesting video on How to be a Good Creationist!




Best!

Brett

There you go M.O.R. I got it done on Sunday;)

Since I have yet to be given any evidence I went looking and I found this! Wow, I really hope his science teachers never see this, but I'm willing to bet he may have been home schooled;) If this is the evidence, I can't every take anything a creationists says seriously.

This Sunday: Attack!

Well, it's the 26th and I can stop being nice;) Let's see, so much good stuff this week. We have Hitler and the Nazi's celebrating Christmas. How festive! But I guess it means nothing as they aren't True Christians.

We have those funny old Muslims trying to outdo the Christians in their hypocrisy! Of course you'd never see Muhammad molesting a child... oh wait..

And to liven things up, some funny cartoons... Well, I thought they were funny.

And then a few other things. Josh Brecheen a newly elected creationist from Oklahoma want's the schools to teach creationism again. It's an interesting post because the comments in red are from an actual biology professor. Shows that you really shouldn't argue against something if you don't know anything about it.

And then this news that Christians are now the minority in Britain (at least in that pole.) Exciting!

But what really blew me away this week. A new hominids called Denisovans! Do you remember that single finger bone they found in Siberia? Well they managed to sequence it and low and behold it's a new species, related to Neanderthals! It even interbred with humans in the area! How cool is that, we have a DNA sequence BEFORE we even have an idea what the hominid looks like! To fricken cool! SCIENCE!

I am curious, how the creationists will explain this away? Since the DNA says there are other species that look like homo sapiens but aren't doesn't that mean they were in the Garden of Eden as well? Funny that they aren't mentioned, or is this were Cain and Able got their brides? Then I guess that would mean that humans as a species were never perfect.

Best,

Brett