Congrats! We successfully killed off another unnecessary species:

The West African black rhino appears to have become extinct, according to the World Conservation Union (IUCN).

Am I the only one that is bummed out about that?

How the fuck can short-term idiots like poachers, impotent governments and uncaring economies overwhelm all of us, millions of us, who are out here and do not want this to happen? Savings species like this is worth money to me. It’s important to me. (I do give/join environment-protection organizations.) It’s not enough.

I did an interview for the Prince fan site Housequake.com. It was pretty fun and I’d like to thank Jose for setting it up.

I mention in it that I have a great groove that is perfect for Prince. I just need him to write a hit on top of it. Prince, if you are reading this, email me. 😉

So DarkSyde interviewed Brent Rasmussen and it contains the following:

DS: Then you must be a card carrying member of the so-called Godless liberal left, yes?

Brent: Hardly. I’m pretty conservative. I was a conservative, registered Republican for the largest part of my voting life. I recently changed to “independent”. I consider myself a “little “l” libertarian.

Brent, I am calling you out. You are not a conservative. I’ve read your blog for a year or so and I’ve nary seen you post anything I would consider remotely conservative.

Now I’m going to anticipate your responses, ’cause you’ll probably never respond anyway.

1. You are a fiscal conservative. Yeah, me to. But I’m a raging liberal. Yes, although the phrase does include the word “conservative”, I think that is a misnomer. I’ve written on this extensively elsewhere but suffice to say, being wise and prudent fiscally is not a trait unique to either the Right or the Left.

2. You prefer less government intervention and regulation. Yeah, me to, and I’m a raging liberal. We absolutely do need some government intervention and regulation. If you are a law and order sort, or believe that food at restaurants should be safe and insider trading monitored, then the whole notion of government intervention and regulation is a debate of degree. Liberals do not prefer more and in many cases prefer less government interference than conservatives.

3. I know you are cool with same-sex couples and such. I suspect you are pro-choice. You probably think that the government should uphold international law and be concerned about the human rights complications of globalization. I know you are a champion of the separation of church and state and you probably think it is a protected free-speech act to burn a flag. I suspect you do not approve of blind ignorance to the mounting evidence for global warming.

I’m sorry to blow your cover, bud, but you are a liberal. That is not a dirty word.

I despise negativity. I like to be realistic and pragmatic and all that stuff, but having a positive attitude is something that is absolutely required, IMHO.

You guys get me when I am pissed off, a lot of the times. That tends to get me inspired to write. I am really not a pissy person at all. Although who among us is not grumpy sometimes?

When it comes to work and family and friendship and all of that, positivity is the only way to go.

It seems in the blogsphere that people tend to be extremely hard on each other (me included, of course). It can be emotionally taxing when people beat on you and the overall harshness of the debate can be a bit much at times. Lord knows I can dish it out and, for the most part, I think, take it. Text, even with liberally sprinkled smilies, just can’t communicate good natured ribbing very well. Attempts to be polite (as I learned) can be taken as condescension. All in all it seems sometimes that all of our guns have hair triggers, ready to rip new assholes.

No real point here. I do try to be positive and conciliatory on my blog at times, but mostly I write when I get annoyed. So that is a selection effect.

PZ said:

<blockquote…the creationist camp thinks the rhetoric of loud poseurs ignorant of biology, like Ann Coulter, constitute “facts,” while the serious research of thousands of biologists, of which they have no knowledge, is not only a matter of mere opinion, but is false. It’s not just backwards, it’s insanely backwards.

Yes. Insane is the term you are looking for. I beat and beat and beat this dead horse, as does PZ and the whole free-thinking gang and it just seems to make the creationists close their eyes and ears even more.

THIS IS SCIENCE. ANY ARGUMENT MADE AGAINST EVOLUTION NEEDS TO BE WELL-RESEARCHED, PEER-REVIEWED AND PUBLISHED! Op-ed pieces or bullshit like Coulter’s book do not qualify. Do the science or shut the fuck up.

These idiots SO want to believe that God waved a magic wand that they will reject the hundreds of thousands of papers written by PhD’s over the last century that clearly and thoroughly support evolution.

Disclaimer: I am not calling religious people idiots. I am calling creationists idiots and I’m calling people colossal idiots that think that a century of good science is a war against God by a bunch of godless liberals. This debate has nothing to do with God. It’s a debate about science. If you have an alternative scientific theory, publish it. These weak, redundant and unsupported jabs at evolution are desperately lame.

Rocketboom loses its famous face

I find this amusing. Rocketboom is big. They are on the cusp. They are like a band that just got a huge record deal and then breaks up before they make the record. It is dumb and dumber in vlogdom.

This relates to the overall odd thing about the blogsphere: most people do not have a business attitude when they start these endeavors. They just sort of fall into it. Being a partner in a business is hard. It takes more loyalty than a marriage. It takes a stubborn commitment to each other. It takes a lot of trust, too. It also takes money and a realistic view of how to sustain and grow the business.

I’m sure Amanda and Andrew will do fine. But it just illustrates the dangers of starting a business without thinking about it as a business. As the stakes go up, the cracks begin to show.