An existential crisis is an important part of growing up.

Private school, Mississippi.

I was a YEC before going to university. I studied geology. After two years, I accepted that evolution happened. After four years, I was an atheist. I went on to get a doctorate, and I have published quite a few papers about rocks that are >2 billion years old.

As a kid, there were literally 0 authority figures in my life that accepted that evolution happened. It was taken as a given that it was ridiculous. My biology teacher skipped the chapter on evolution, saying, “this is controversial.”

Patience, love, and making critical information available gives kids like I was a chance.

Well… On Earth…

I just think it’s funny that it goes from “terrible heads,” “fierce looking,” “beast head,” “dog teeth,” “two dog-like teeth,” to… “With breasts.” Really a dramatically different category.

Footprints.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/animals/a10933/tyrannosaurus-trackways-reveal-a-dinosaurs-walk-17016027/

Have you seen the FMWC?

Yes, because “family values” means anti gay and anti abortion.

The documentary “The Family” offers the explanation that Russia has a strong traditional family values contingent that appeals to the right-wing idealogy.

It’s one banana, Michael. How much can it cost?

The SEC? Do they still have boats?

Treason against who? A South African in America who has a company turned off access to Ukraine because Russia wanted it. Hard to say where that would fall in court.

Depends strongly on the community. Every sub discipline has its own standards of respectability. Publishing outside of those constraints can cause articles to be ignored.

The scary thing is that he didn’t invent that concept. It has been raging since before the Satanic Panic. He just gave those people a platform.

I wasn’t sure if this was true or a weird misunderstanding or conspiracy type thing. Seems to be true. Here is an accessible writeup: https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20231127-brazils-mysterious-tunnels-made-by-giant-sloths

Reminds me of the time I was rear ended and the guy told me it was because he was playing candy crush.

Yeah, you can appreciate that people are complicated, and bad people can create good things. If you try to only read books by people who are morally above reproach, you will wind up with a pretty short reading list.

Now that I am fully informed, I have decided to continue being a huge fan of his work. Of the authors of delightful stories that I have enjoyed in my life, this is probably not even top 20 assholery.

Yes. In the heirarchy of science, it ranks just below literature.

I did some work on the geology of Pilanesburg a few years back. To walk around outside the vehicles, we had two armed rangers accompanying us, both to keep us and the animals safe. It is unimaginable to think of approaching a herd of elephants on foot.