I'm in Cleveland tonight, preparing for a deposition tomorrow, but not before taking a long walk to see some of the sights. BTW, "Cleveland" was named after General Moses Cleaveland.  

Excellent TED talk by Sheril Kirshenbaum on the need to engage the public on matters of science, especially in the political arena. This is a critical need, and time is running out.

People are now in charge of the Earth and we are destroying it. Robert Krulwich writes that Planet Earth is Under New Management. We are no longer in the age of the Holocene.

Earth is being dramatically changed, and the changer, this time, is us: humankind ("anthro" in the Greek). "We are no longer in the Holocene," he told the group. "We are in the Anthropocene." It's a coinage he may have borrowed from biologist Eugene Stoermer, but here's the logic: The Earth is no longer being shaped mainly by natural forces, forces that operate on their own with a logic of their own. Our little blue dot is now, increasingly, sculpted by one of its inhabitants. This is our planet now. We've taken over.

Following the so-called debate between Bill Nye and Ken Ham, many of Ham's creationist followers wrote out questions to prove their case. This page a Imgur translates those questions for those who might be perplexed that they are being asked.

After five frustrating days, and with the help of a really smart consultant, I've figured out the problem at this site. I was unable to post without mangling the home page. That, combined with problems getting my backup service to perform a bona fide restore, caused me to put the site on hold. I'm looking forward to posting again . . .