Wednesday, November 24, 2010

I Force Myself To Blog About a Dinosaur Coincidence

I wish that I had the energy to blog more, but most of the time I am too tired. When I have blogged, I have mostly blogged random thoughts and meaningless flights of fancy. I'd like to blog about more serious, science-related stuff, but that generally requires too much work in terms of research and making sure that I actually get things right.


I am forcing myself to blog about something interesting in the realm of dinosaurs that I noticed yesterday. There has been a lot of news related to ceratopsians in the last few months; I mentioned one piece of news here. In a new development that some would describe as ironic, but which would probably better be described as appropriate, paleontologists have announced the discovery of a new dinosaur from Korean Peninsula, named Koreaceratops . . . just in time for the artillery attack by North Korea on South Korea.

Monday, November 1, 2010

Halloween Is Going

Halloween has come and gone, and the evil pumpkin-headed dude did not show up. He could appear next year, though. Or perhaps evil rat-men will emerge from the sewers. There is always hope.


Sunday afternoon I was in the Old Town section of Alexandria, Virginia. There were a few people wearing the evening's costumes early. And I also saw some people, mostly women, dressed in such a way that made me ask myself, "Is that a costume, or just a questionable fashion choice?"


With men it is usually clear cut as to whether clothing is a costume. I did see one guy, however, who led me to wonder, "Is that a costume, or just a questionable beard choice?"



Another seasonal milestone that will soon pass is Election Day. And that means a (temporary) end to political advertising. This year there have been so many political advertisements that we almost ran out of commercial space for things like Skittles. Just about every television ad for the last month has consisted of angry people glaring into the camera and delineating why a particular candidate is a bastard. (Bonus points were awarded if one of the glaring angry people wore a hard hat, because that made him the Authentic Voice of the Working Class.)


We are supposed to love political advertising, because it's America, and freedom, and democracy. But I hate it.