Punk Night at The Interzone

Friday, October 9, 7:30 PM. $3.00 suggested donation. Featuring:

• Tourist
• The Taxpayers (from Portland)
• The Wobblies
• Angries
• Bad Terms

I don't deal well with loud music, nor especially with crowds, so I will most likely not stick around. But from what I hear, this should be a fun show.

Unwise Mining Practices and Their Consequences

Don't build large open-pit mines on the shoreline. Water tends to push downhill, and it's not good to be downhill from the ocean, unless you're many miles inland.

I just found out that Dave's Landslide Blog posted this video clip nearly a year and a half ago, but I hadn't seen it before today, via TYWKIWDBI.

There is also a Wikipedia entry for this event with a little more information, and a link to the Google Earth Map of the area.

A Pick-Up Line for All You Lonely Guys

I'm certainly not going to use it, so I may as well pass it on.

"So did you hear that scientists have discovered that a chemical in human sperm may slow the aging process by 25%? I can give you some, if you'd like..."

And in case you're wondering, yes I did think twice about posting this. In the end, my pleasure with blatant bad taste overrode my disdain for sexual politics.

Happy Barcode

This is the Google Doodle today. The Barcode was patented on October 7, 1952, according to sources that claim to know. Hunh. Who'da thunk?

The Aftermath in Sumatra

The Big Picture has a set of 40 photos from the aftermath of last week's earthquake in Sumatra. Warning: several pictures are disturbing photos of dead victims. The above is a landslide (or set of landslides) triggered by the quake.

Paleozoic Amber

Chemical paleontology didn't really exist when I was an undergrad, or if it did, it was in its early stges of development and didn't get much attention. Various kinds of chromatography can separate organic molecules left over from dead organisms and preserved in rocks, to give us clues about how those organisms related to each other and to things alive today. Some organic molecules don't last very long, but some are extremely persistent. The New York Times is reporting that amber that appears to have a composition characteristic of flowering plants has been discovered in a coal seam. Said coal seam was deposited 200 million years before flowering plants are thought to have appeared. Abstact from Science here, but the terminology would have meant little to me without reading the news article first.

All Dinosaurs Go to Heaven

So dogs go to heaven, rocks go to heaven, is this really a surprise?Tee from Threadless!