Remember all those stupid arguments you had regarding evolution with your uncle? He kept asking you “well, if we come from monkeys, where’s the missing link?” Well, you can now tell him the missing link is currently in Oslo, Norway. Ida, as the fossil is called, is perhaps one of the greatest fossil finds of our time. The previously oldest fossil of our ancestors was Lucy, who clocked in at roughly 3.4 million years old, and even she was only 40% complete. Ida, on the other hand, is 47 million years old and is 95% complete!

The species, dubbed Darwinius masillae in honor of Darwin’s 200th birthday, is a type of lemur that eventually split off into the familiar species we know of today. Ida is the most well preserved fossil from the Eocene era, so much so that scientists were able to analyze her last meal, and even what her fur must have been like.

I can already hear creationists preparing their response to such an earth shattering discovery. Here is undeniable proof of our ‘lowly’ origins, but even the missing link won’t be enough to deter religious wackos from declaring this must be a test from God or something. Can’t they just accept the fight is over? We won, bitches.

As some of you may have heard, the Canadian Science Minister, Gary Goodyear, is an idiot. I mean this of course in the most literal sense. He was asked a few days ago whether or not he believed in evolution. At first, he refused to answer the question, but after being pressured by the PM’s office, he came back with “of course I believe in evolution”. Well, here’s what his interpretation of it is:

I do believe that just because you can’t see it under a microscope doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. It could mean we don’t have a powerful enough microscope yet. So I’m not fussy on this business that we already know everything. … I think we need to recognize that we don’t know…

We are evolving every year, every decade. That’s a fact, whether it is to the intensity of the sun, whether it is to, as a chiropractor, walking on cement versus anything else, whether it is running shoes or high heels, of course we are evolving to our environment.

Mr. Goodyear seems to be under the impression human beings are physically adapting to their environment in some crazy Lamarckian way. It’s like thinking in cold weather, you’ll grow long and luxurious fur to stay alive and pass it on to your offspring. It’s not how evolution works at all. Also, I have no idea how he thinks we observe it, but the power of your microscope doesn’t give you a better idea of what is going on. Might as well have said “I don’t know how many beakers you need to do science, but hopefully we have enough”.

This is why I hate when conservatives get in power. They put retarded sycophants in charge of science departments who have no understanding and appreciation of science beyond the types of technology it can produce. You can also see what a liar this man is, as he obviously does not believe in evolution, but considers his position far too luxurious to leave. He’ll lie through his teeth, but that doesn’t mean I have to believe him.

Someone of his extremely limited intelligence doesn’t belong in such an important position. He needs to be fired immediately. He was asked an important question about science, and he couldn’t even get it right. In my opinion, that should be reason enough to lose it.

Here is an interesting article over at sciam (Scientific American) about a telephone that can apparently communicate with the dead. Well, by apparently, I mean ‘not fucking likely’, but hey, I’m just one of those annoying skeptics who just tries to ruin everything, aren’t I? It was featured at a Paranormal conference held by Ryan Buell. If that name sounds familiar, it’s because I ripped him a new one in one of my podcasts for his pathetic Paranormal State TV show on A&E.

The telephone is your classic piece of paranormal junk: an interpreter is needed to attempt to decipher what the ghosts are saying, since they have a great deal of trouble communicating with the other side (apparently). They also seem unable to offer more information than what a typical mentalist would be able to conjure, so it’s fairly unimpressive by any standard.

I’m personally embarrassed by paranormal ‘investigators’ who run around with video cameras and other scientific looking devices thinking they are seriously helping

advance our understanding of the world with their little field trips. There is never any attempt to question their own assumptions. Is this cold breeze really the result of an undead presence, or is it possibly because the old creepy house you are in is drafty? Why not bring a building contractor just to make sure? Oh, you’d rather bring in a psychic? Yeah, that’s fair.

TGA reader Ben sent me this link. It’s from a Australian news site, and deals with the issue of having secular ethics as an option for primary school parents. Seems as though the staff and parents aren’t too pleased about it:

Research director Jenny Stokes said: “If you go there, where do you stop? What about witchcraft or Satanism? If you accredit humanism, then those things would have an equal claim to be taught in schools.”

I’m not a big expert on just what goes down under, so these stories generally baffle me. You would think trying to teach kids about ethics without a higher power was as dangerous as throwing a can of gasoline on an open flame. Last time I checked, everyone I knew who learned about civics in class didn’t end up being morally psychotic or wanting to sell his soul to Satan. Lighten