So after the last post I figured I would post something more comical, yesterday's SMBC comic!
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Thursday, January 26, 2012
What you should actually get out of college
I am going to start by saying that this post may seem to get a little politicy and that is because politics have gotten in the way of getting a college education. And one more thing most of this post is actually after the video so don't just watch the video and move on.
The last time I did a post on college it got a lot of views and actually got 2 comments, seriously people I want you to comment on the posts here it only helps me. Now those 2 comments happened to be spam so yeah I kind of expect more of that. Anyway I wanted to do this post because of a couple of things I have seen recently. The first is this video featuring Rick Santorum.
First lets pretend for a minute that CNN knew how to format a video for YouTube so it didn't come out all stretched out like that. I will grant Santorum that most college professors are left leaning to very liberal and that some, a small minority in my experiences, may actually try to "indoctrinate" their students. Most of my experience showed that professors tried to teach their students facts and if those facts run counter to what you grew up believing or being taught then you have to do some serious searching. What a lot of other professors do is try to teach you how to think critically this allows students to eventually look at some of what they were taught growing up and realize that it is wrong or that why they believe that was actually wrong so they need to rethink if they actually believe that. It seems to me that what the religious right is actually fearing about college is not the education itself it is the fact that students are being taught facts and that they are being taught how to think critically.
Which brings up this bill in the Virginia Legislature. Currently this bill is only in a subcommittee and so it still has a long way to go but what it would do if passed is nothing less than turn all colleges in the state of Virginia into schools that would not challenge a person's beliefs and wouldn't actually teach students anything. Here is the full text of the bill:
I did my undergrad at a public university in Virginia and seeing this upset me. My degree would start to become meaningless. What has probably surprised me the most is that I have only seen one mention of this bill and that was how I found out about. Nothing from NCSE or any other organization to show that they even acknowledge that it is even in existence. Maybe I have missed something, and if I have please post it in the comments below, and if there has been something I will take back what I am currently saying. Remember you have the right to religious freedom but you do not have the right to not be offended or to have someone make you question your beliefs!
Sorry, about that now back to our regularly scheduled programing.
The last time I did a post on college it got a lot of views and actually got 2 comments, seriously people I want you to comment on the posts here it only helps me. Now those 2 comments happened to be spam so yeah I kind of expect more of that. Anyway I wanted to do this post because of a couple of things I have seen recently. The first is this video featuring Rick Santorum.
First lets pretend for a minute that CNN knew how to format a video for YouTube so it didn't come out all stretched out like that. I will grant Santorum that most college professors are left leaning to very liberal and that some, a small minority in my experiences, may actually try to "indoctrinate" their students. Most of my experience showed that professors tried to teach their students facts and if those facts run counter to what you grew up believing or being taught then you have to do some serious searching. What a lot of other professors do is try to teach you how to think critically this allows students to eventually look at some of what they were taught growing up and realize that it is wrong or that why they believe that was actually wrong so they need to rethink if they actually believe that. It seems to me that what the religious right is actually fearing about college is not the education itself it is the fact that students are being taught facts and that they are being taught how to think critically.
Which brings up this bill in the Virginia Legislature. Currently this bill is only in a subcommittee and so it still has a long way to go but what it would do if passed is nothing less than turn all colleges in the state of Virginia into schools that would not challenge a person's beliefs and wouldn't actually teach students anything. Here is the full text of the bill:
HOUSE BILL NO. 1207What this bill does is says that a public college cannot force a student to take a class that is against their religious beliefs. This would allow students to get a degree in biology without taking a class on evolution or allow a student to take a geology class and answer a question on a quiz asking the age of the earth as only 6000 years old. This totally defeats the point of college. A student goes into college with a certain set of beliefs and knowledge and if these are not challenged while the student is in college they likely never will be and this will only make the students that come out of colleges more ignorant.
Offered January 19, 2012
A BILL to protect the right of students to assert conscientious objection to any requirement of an academic degree program in an institution of higher education; liability.
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Patrons-- Pogge and Cole
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Referred to Committee on Education
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Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia:
1. § 1. No public or private institution of higher learning shall expel, suspend, punish, penalize, discipline, deny academic credit to, require participation in a remediation program for, or discriminate against a student because he refuses to perform academic coursework or any other degree requirement on the grounds that it would force him to violate a sincerely held religious belief.
§ 2. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia shall not recognize any accrediting agency that denies full accreditation to, or otherwise takes any adverse action against, an academic program in any institution of higher learning in the Commonwealth because the institution exempts students from academic coursework or a degree requirement that would force any student to violate his sincerely held religious beliefs.
§ 3. The Attorney General or any student, prospective student, or former student aggrieved under this act may bring a civil action against the institution of higher learning, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia, or the relevant accrediting agency for damages, injunctive and declaratory relief, and any other relief authorized by law and shall be entitled to reasonable attorney fees and costs if that party substantially prevails on the merits of an action brought under this section.
I did my undergrad at a public university in Virginia and seeing this upset me. My degree would start to become meaningless. What has probably surprised me the most is that I have only seen one mention of this bill and that was how I found out about. Nothing from NCSE or any other organization to show that they even acknowledge that it is even in existence. Maybe I have missed something, and if I have please post it in the comments below, and if there has been something I will take back what I am currently saying. Remember you have the right to religious freedom but you do not have the right to not be offended or to have someone make you question your beliefs!
Sorry, about that now back to our regularly scheduled programing.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Interview of Dr. Hayhoe
Another video, this time by Greenman3610, is an interview with Dr. Katharine Hayhoe from Texas Tech University. It is sad some of the intimidation that she has had to face because she dared say that the climate is in fact warming and we are likely the cause of it. Having met her a couple of times I know she is extremely nice and I can't imagine why people would act like this other than to discourage her continued research.
Explanation of Human Ancestry Made Easy
So a few years ago Potholer54 made a video series pretty much explaining the history of the earth and life and one of those videos was Human Ancestry Made Easy. He apparently got some questions about some of the content. Now I use the term questions loosely here because it is pretty obviously creationists trying to show that evolution doesn't work, even though it does and they are wrong. I think the bigger issue is just the way Potholer54 phrased the statement and he at least tries to explain it here, although I don't think he did a perfect job with it either but he at least got closer.
Monday, January 23, 2012
2011 was the...
9th warmest year of the recorded period, from 1880 till now. This is according to NASA who have apparently finished calculating their data. It is also the 9th warmest year in the past 10 which has now seen 9 of the top 10 warmest years on record. This is what we should expect to see if the climate was in fact warming, every year won't be the warmest but decades on a whole should be getting warmer. In fact this is true, the 00s were warmer than the 90s the 90s warmer than the 80s, something is clearly happening you have to be openly trying to ignore the data not to see that. The image below is from NASA and shows the yearly temperature average since 1880, I have also included a little blurb from the same article below but I recommend you read the whole thing.
From NASA:
From NASA:
The global average surface temperature in 2011 was the ninth warmest since 1880, according to NASA scientists. The finding continues a trend in which nine of the 10 warmest years in the modern meteorological record have occurred since the year 2000.
NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) in New York, which monitors global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis, released an updated analysis that shows temperatures around the globe in 2011 compared to the average global temperature from the mid-20th century. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience warmer temperatures than several decades ago. The average temperature around the globe in 2011 was 0.92 degrees F (0.51 C) warmer than the mid-20th century baseline.
We know the planet is absorbing more energy than it is emitting," said GISS Director James E. Hansen. "So we are continuing to see a trend toward higher temperatures. Even with the cooling effects of a strong La Niña influence and low solar activity for the past several years, 2011 was one of the 10 warmest years on record."
The difference between 2011 and the warmest year in the GISS record (2010) is 0.22 degrees F (0.12 C). This underscores the emphasis scientists put on the long-term trend of global temperature rise. Because of the large natural variability of climate, scientists do not expect temperatures to rise consistently year after year. However, they do expect a continuing temperature rise over decades.
The first 11 years of the 21st century experienced notably higher temperatures compared to the middle and late 20th century, Hansen said. The only year from the 20th century in the top 10 warmest years on record is 1998.
Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park
Location: Northwestern Georgia near the border with Tennessee and Alabama in portions of the counties of Catoosa, Dade, and Walker as well as in Southeastern Tennessee in and around the city of Chattanooga in Hamilton County.
Introduction:
On the same trip that my wife and I went to Russell Cave National Monument we also hit up Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park (Wikipedia page), since we were going down to the Chattanooga area anyway. This park is actually consists of a grouping of several parks that are in close proximity so they all fall under one name. The reason for this is that the city of Chattanooga had taken over many of the locations used in the battle after the Civil War ended so the NPS had to purchase some of the land piecemeal as well as having several things within the city itself. Another reason why it is multiple pieces of land is that there are in fact 2 main battles that took place in this area, one would eventually lead to the other but there is a gap in time in between.
I grew up as a history buff and one of the most interesting times to me was the American Civil War. As such I have been to many of the battle sites and I have always enjoyed them as they are always interesting and try to show you the scale, not only geographically but of human loss, that each site exhibits. I have been to where the war started, Fort Sumter, where the war ended, Appomattox Court House (sorry about that not linking to a post this was before I started blogging), and many places in between, including Gettysburg and many of the sites in Northern Virginia (again sorry for not having a post but those trips were also before I started blogging). Each battle has its own story and at everyone the NPS staff works to let you know not only how the battle fit into the overall story, but also how the battle fits in to the stories of individual from the war, and we aren't just talking General here but everyone down to the lowly privates.
Growing up and spending a lot of my time in the east it is easy to forget how major many of the battles of the west were. The east is where the show was, the west was how the North won the war. By the September of 1863 the Confederates were in trouble and they were starting to feel it. By this time the Battle of Gettysburg had happened and the Union had won not only there but in Vicksburg and now controlled the entire Mississippi River. The South was feeling the choke of the Union blockade and knew something had to be done. The North leading up to these battles had almost taken all of Tennessee and the marches leading to this battle would allow a Union capture of Chattanooga.
The Battle of Chickamauga would represent a slight turn for the Confederates. Union forces held the high ground and the ground easiest to defend by the start of the second day of the battle. Some costly maneuvers due to some poorly written/poorly understood orders would lead the a Union retreat that was averted total disaster by Union forces capturing the highest ground around an almost cliff like climb for the Confederates brought an end to fighting. By the next morning the Union troops had fallen back to the city of Chattanooga itself.
The city of Chattanooga sits at a bend in the Tennessee River and is surrounded to the south and east by high ridges. The Union stayed in the city which allowed the Confederates to put their guns in a position to fire heavily into the city. But the Union over the long run had more men and better weaponry. Eventually a commanding officer would be put in place who could handle the situation. The Union forced open a supply line which brought in fresh troops and supplies so that by the end of November the Union forces would be able to take back the hills around the city. The attack began on what is known as Lookout Mountain and eventually Union forces climbed to the top to find that the Confederates who had started the day shooting at them had abandoned their positions. The Union victory and ability to hold Chattanooga would allow General Sherman to have a supply base on his march to Atlanta and eventually to the sea.
I have been to several different types of Civil War sites and this one had a uniqueness of its own. Civil War sites in cities, like Petersburg, often feel cramped in or at least surrounded while those out in the country, like Appomattox Court House, often feel like they take forever to get to. This site has a little bit of both. You feel a little ways away from the hustle of the city while not actually being that far. I enjoyed the trip and recommend anyone in the area to head down and check it out.
Geology:
I don't want to repeat myself too much here so I recommend you go check out my post on Russell Cave National Monument as these two sites are only about 30 minutes away from each other so the overall geology isn't that different. What I want to stress here is just how important geology is to wars, especially the Civil War, and I can assure you I can think of several more sites where geology plays a major role in the way the battle was won/lost. While the actual knowledge of geology was not important for the battle the way the battle took place could only have occurred because of the set up of the geology in the area.
The Battle of Chickamauga was takes place in an area of low rolling hills with some areas of higher relief. The rocks in the area where the battle took place represent what is known as the Ridge and Valley Province. These rocks have been heavily uplifted as well as folded and faulted. There are also a lot of limestone in the area and this is easily eroded away to produce sinkholes or just lower areas where rivers and streams flow. At the end of the first day and beginning of the second day the Union forces held a line on a slight limestone ridge, they owed this ridge due to erosional factors that had lowered the surrounding area while the ground sloped more gently behind them. This gentle slope led the the next formation above/younger than the one they were on. While the eventual falling apart of the Union line had little to do with geology their survival is directly because of it. Where the younger higher formation has a lot more limestone in it, this means it erodes faster, this quicker erosion can cause steeper cliffs to form since the erosion is going to be faster at the edge and with a more easily eroded formation the erosion will likely start from the edge, since that is where the rock is exposed. As the Union forces retreated they regrouped up on top of a short steep ridge. This was enough for them to gain an area where they had the firing advantage and were able to hold off the Confederates long enough to form a more cohesive retreat.
The Battle of Chattanooga is a different story though. The high ground around the city of Chattanooga is due to the ridges being caped by a layer of sandstone and/or conglomerate. These rock types are harder to erode and as such will stand up longer to erosional forces than will other rock types. The city itself sits primarily on the flood plain for the Tennessee River. These river sediments buried arrowheads and other archeological remains so that they could be found in what is now another part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, in what is known as Moccasin Bend, we did not get a chance to go here however (mostly because most of it is closed off to the public). These ridges gave the Confederates a better firing angle on the city but they did not use them well enough as supply lines were eventually opened. Under the sandstone layer are more layers of limestone this is why the sandstone in this location is interpreted as a river setting that temporary buried a calcite producing system, if you want to know how look at how far the plume of debris from the Mississippi River goes out into the Gulf of Mexico today. The lower layers being limestone creates really steep cliffs on the sides of the ridges and these steep cliffs make it hard to get to the top but as you are shooting down they make it hard to shoot at the people directly below you as well. This is what would eventually force the Confederates off the ridges around the city and would allow the Union to win the battle.
More Pictures: All images are by the author ask permission if you want to use them, and if you do make sure you give me credit.
Further Reading:
University of Tennessee Chattanooga (UTC) site on the outcrops of the area.
Another piece by UTC on the geology visible from Lookout Mountain. (PDF)
If you want to learn more about the history of the site visit the NPS page.
National Park Service Series Page
Introduction:
On the same trip that my wife and I went to Russell Cave National Monument we also hit up Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park (Wikipedia page), since we were going down to the Chattanooga area anyway. This park is actually consists of a grouping of several parks that are in close proximity so they all fall under one name. The reason for this is that the city of Chattanooga had taken over many of the locations used in the battle after the Civil War ended so the NPS had to purchase some of the land piecemeal as well as having several things within the city itself. Another reason why it is multiple pieces of land is that there are in fact 2 main battles that took place in this area, one would eventually lead to the other but there is a gap in time in between.
I grew up as a history buff and one of the most interesting times to me was the American Civil War. As such I have been to many of the battle sites and I have always enjoyed them as they are always interesting and try to show you the scale, not only geographically but of human loss, that each site exhibits. I have been to where the war started, Fort Sumter, where the war ended, Appomattox Court House (sorry about that not linking to a post this was before I started blogging), and many places in between, including Gettysburg and many of the sites in Northern Virginia (again sorry for not having a post but those trips were also before I started blogging). Each battle has its own story and at everyone the NPS staff works to let you know not only how the battle fit into the overall story, but also how the battle fits in to the stories of individual from the war, and we aren't just talking General here but everyone down to the lowly privates.
Growing up and spending a lot of my time in the east it is easy to forget how major many of the battles of the west were. The east is where the show was, the west was how the North won the war. By the September of 1863 the Confederates were in trouble and they were starting to feel it. By this time the Battle of Gettysburg had happened and the Union had won not only there but in Vicksburg and now controlled the entire Mississippi River. The South was feeling the choke of the Union blockade and knew something had to be done. The North leading up to these battles had almost taken all of Tennessee and the marches leading to this battle would allow a Union capture of Chattanooga.
The Battle of Chickamauga would represent a slight turn for the Confederates. Union forces held the high ground and the ground easiest to defend by the start of the second day of the battle. Some costly maneuvers due to some poorly written/poorly understood orders would lead the a Union retreat that was averted total disaster by Union forces capturing the highest ground around an almost cliff like climb for the Confederates brought an end to fighting. By the next morning the Union troops had fallen back to the city of Chattanooga itself.
The city of Chattanooga sits at a bend in the Tennessee River and is surrounded to the south and east by high ridges. The Union stayed in the city which allowed the Confederates to put their guns in a position to fire heavily into the city. But the Union over the long run had more men and better weaponry. Eventually a commanding officer would be put in place who could handle the situation. The Union forced open a supply line which brought in fresh troops and supplies so that by the end of November the Union forces would be able to take back the hills around the city. The attack began on what is known as Lookout Mountain and eventually Union forces climbed to the top to find that the Confederates who had started the day shooting at them had abandoned their positions. The Union victory and ability to hold Chattanooga would allow General Sherman to have a supply base on his march to Atlanta and eventually to the sea.
I have been to several different types of Civil War sites and this one had a uniqueness of its own. Civil War sites in cities, like Petersburg, often feel cramped in or at least surrounded while those out in the country, like Appomattox Court House, often feel like they take forever to get to. This site has a little bit of both. You feel a little ways away from the hustle of the city while not actually being that far. I enjoyed the trip and recommend anyone in the area to head down and check it out.
Geology:
I don't want to repeat myself too much here so I recommend you go check out my post on Russell Cave National Monument as these two sites are only about 30 minutes away from each other so the overall geology isn't that different. What I want to stress here is just how important geology is to wars, especially the Civil War, and I can assure you I can think of several more sites where geology plays a major role in the way the battle was won/lost. While the actual knowledge of geology was not important for the battle the way the battle took place could only have occurred because of the set up of the geology in the area.
The Battle of Chickamauga was takes place in an area of low rolling hills with some areas of higher relief. The rocks in the area where the battle took place represent what is known as the Ridge and Valley Province. These rocks have been heavily uplifted as well as folded and faulted. There are also a lot of limestone in the area and this is easily eroded away to produce sinkholes or just lower areas where rivers and streams flow. At the end of the first day and beginning of the second day the Union forces held a line on a slight limestone ridge, they owed this ridge due to erosional factors that had lowered the surrounding area while the ground sloped more gently behind them. This gentle slope led the the next formation above/younger than the one they were on. While the eventual falling apart of the Union line had little to do with geology their survival is directly because of it. Where the younger higher formation has a lot more limestone in it, this means it erodes faster, this quicker erosion can cause steeper cliffs to form since the erosion is going to be faster at the edge and with a more easily eroded formation the erosion will likely start from the edge, since that is where the rock is exposed. As the Union forces retreated they regrouped up on top of a short steep ridge. This was enough for them to gain an area where they had the firing advantage and were able to hold off the Confederates long enough to form a more cohesive retreat.
The Battle of Chattanooga is a different story though. The high ground around the city of Chattanooga is due to the ridges being caped by a layer of sandstone and/or conglomerate. These rock types are harder to erode and as such will stand up longer to erosional forces than will other rock types. The city itself sits primarily on the flood plain for the Tennessee River. These river sediments buried arrowheads and other archeological remains so that they could be found in what is now another part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, in what is known as Moccasin Bend, we did not get a chance to go here however (mostly because most of it is closed off to the public). These ridges gave the Confederates a better firing angle on the city but they did not use them well enough as supply lines were eventually opened. Under the sandstone layer are more layers of limestone this is why the sandstone in this location is interpreted as a river setting that temporary buried a calcite producing system, if you want to know how look at how far the plume of debris from the Mississippi River goes out into the Gulf of Mexico today. The lower layers being limestone creates really steep cliffs on the sides of the ridges and these steep cliffs make it hard to get to the top but as you are shooting down they make it hard to shoot at the people directly below you as well. This is what would eventually force the Confederates off the ridges around the city and would allow the Union to win the battle.
More Pictures: All images are by the author ask permission if you want to use them, and if you do make sure you give me credit.
Further Reading:
University of Tennessee Chattanooga (UTC) site on the outcrops of the area.
Another piece by UTC on the geology visible from Lookout Mountain. (PDF)
If you want to learn more about the history of the site visit the NPS page.
National Park Service Series Page
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Why SOPA is bad
So I wanted to get another non-video post up before I posted more videos but this video is too important. I know I normally don't post about political issues but SOPA and PIPA will kill the internet as we know it and will make blogs almost impossible to exist so please watch and do what you can to make sure these bills not only die buy don't come back, although they probably will.
Carnegie Museum of Natural History
See I told you I would put a real post together before I posted another video. I am also changing the way I do these, since I now have a separate page linking to all of the museum posts I figured I would start just titling the museum posts the name of the museum. So I guess if you were confused this would be under the old title scheme Museum Visit #5. Enough with the housekeeping stuff lets move on to the actual review.
Let me start by saying that while I may have included several images in this post [image to right is of Dippy outside the museum, obviously it had snowed, and as always all images are by the author ask for permission if you wish to use them] if you head over to Dave Hone's Archosaur Musings blog he has several posts dedicated to the museum, I will link to all of them at the bottom of the post, so make sure you head over there and be warned there may be more added over the next few days/weeks. Needing to look at some other specimens for my research I had contacted Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CM) (Wikipedia page) to get a chance to look at some of their specimens. Once I had finished my research I took some time too look through the museum itself but as my time was short, and I wanted to beat rush hour home, I did a quicker trip through the museum than I normally would have. With that said this is the museum I grew up going to, being from the Pittsburgh region, so I know a lot of the permanent exhibits really well, and I spent plenty of time in the dinosaur hall anyway.
This history of this museum is the history of Pittsburgh in a nutshell. The museum is located in the Oakland region of the city sandwiched between two of the local colleges, the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and has several other colleges close by. The museum building actually houses two museums, the museum of natural history and the museum of art (Wikipedia page), and a branch of the Carnegie Library (Wikipedia page) system for the city. The building and the 3 main things in it were gifted to the city by, shockingly, Andrew Carnegie who had basically built the city through his steel industry and wanted, or as he felt needed, to give back to the people of the city so he gifted the museum and a huge library system to the city to pay it back. The fossils within the great dinosaur hall Carnegie had bought specifically to fill the hall with what, at the time, were the great new finds of prehistoric beasts coming out of the western U.S.. While he did not acquire as many as the American Museum of Natural History (Wikipedia page) in New York or the Smithsonian (Wikipedia page) in Washington, D.C. he managed to have a great many finds come to Pittsburgh. Many of these finds were completely new genus and species and one Apatosaurus louisae was named after Carnegie's wife while one dinosaur was named after him as well, Diplodocus carnegii. The museum was amazing when it was first finished and it represented the wealth that was the city and the power that it held when steel was made there. Very little changed in the museum for many years and as jobs and influence moved from the cities the dinosaurs in the hall continued to look more and more out of date as they were set up in a way that we thought dinosaurs were during the early to middle 20th century. During the late 1990's and early 2000's thanks in part to growing influence of the medical field, a lot coming out of Pitt, and a growth in technology, a lot of which came out of CMU, the region started to see renewed growth in jobs and people. Around the same time CM decided their dinosaurs were out of date and set off on a multi-year project to update them. This meant closing the dinosaur hall down and remaking the whole thing. I remember seeing the dinosaurs in the old style and was upset when they said they were going to close the hall down but seeing the finished project it was well worth it [Image to the left and above of the new hall]. You can see why I said the history of the museum follow that of the city pretty well though now hopefully, also that was far longer than I wanted it to be whoops.
Walking into the museum you get the feel that you are walking back in time, not quite to the time of the dinosaurs but at least to the time of Andrew Carnegie, the marble that surrounds the interior of the natural history entrance is impressive and shortly after paying admission there are many open rooms that have artifacts from Ancient Greece and Rome. This was early 20th century decadence at its best in a museum for the people. The cost to get in is not cheap, $17.95 for an adult, but trust me it is worth it, I should note that if you are a member or a member of several other museums you can get in for cheaper or even free. Now you are going to have to walk past the gift shop and unless you want to carry around your gift with you all day I would try to hold off till the end of the day, although they do have plenty of fun/cool stuff in there.
I am going to treat the museum as unidirectional and in reality there are plenty of ways to explore the museum and you can explore it however you want but the museum is kind of set up to be viewed in the way I am going about it [Image at right is of the fighting T. rex's]. Continuing forward you will enter into a smaller hall, this one gives you a very basic primer of geology. There are displays talking about such varied things as oil and natural gas, this was built before the big natural gas push in the northeast as well, to coal as well as just talking about general rock types and fossils. There are also several displays talking about the local geology and why the local geography is the way it is. The coolest thing in this room is the "elevator", I forget what their name for it is, that "takes you under the museum" to see the rocks. While it takes you down the guide talks about the geology of the area and about more general geologic situations such as it getting warmer the further down you go. The final thing you might notice as you walk out is a display of the what the area looked like during the Pennsylvanian, it was swampy, and includes some of the plants and animals known from that time period, this was also put together before the discovery of Fedexia striegeli so that is not included.
As you move on you may be tempted to speed ahead into the dinosaur hall but those doors are there for a reason, turn right to go see the impressive mineral collection. This also used to be not as well put together but when they redid the dinosaur hall they redid this as well. I don't know if it is as large as the one at the Houston Museum but it is put together in a more modern way and just seems a little more interesting. The problem with it is that it is just too big and I doubt many kids are going to have the patience to walk though/look at all of the mineral after all they just saw a glimpse of the dinosaurs. One more thing to see before you enter the dinosaur hall is right across from the minerals is a large glass faced room. If you are lucky you may be able to catch paleontologists in there working on dinosaur bones so it is pretty cool especially for the budding paleontologists in your group.
Walking into the dinosaur hall is an experience in and of itself [Image to left is of the doors to the entrance to the dinosaur hall with a Herrerasaurus in front of it]. We have all seen museums that are dark and dingy and all they have on display are the dinosaur fossils themselves. Walking into CM's dinosaur hall you are immediately hit with how bright it is, most of which is done with skylights in the roof. On the walls are vast paintings making the skeletons on display part of the ecosystem from which they came. The room is divided up into the three periods that made up the Mesozoic. In the Triassic portion a phytosaur, Redondasaurus bermani, skeleton on display hunts or is at least annoyed by a small group of early theropod dinosaurs, Coelophysis bauri, representing animals found in the Chinle Group of New Mexico and Arizona, although this is about the same age as the Dockum in West Texas. There is also a display on the more "local" Triassic finds from the rift basins of the east coast from North Carolina up through Connecticut which you can read more about in a book I reviewed in the past. Many of the dinosaurs in the Jurassic section were unearthed in what is now Dinosaur National Monument (Wikipedia page) so there is a display on that. The museum then shows its classic sauropods against a beautiful background that includes some rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs and in a display that includes footprints. There is also in this section a small collection of fossils from Solnhofen Formation of Germany which were donated to the museum by Bayet in 1903. Finally you enter the Cretaceous which consists of 2 Tyrannosaurus rexs fighting over a kill while a Quetzalcoatlus flies overhead. Finally there is a smaller room that shows off some of the Cretaceous interior seaway animals that have been found from places like the Niobrara of Kansas. From here there is a stairwell to go up and view the exhibits from above which is well worth taking the time to do as this is a view you typically don't get a most museums. There are lots of smaller displays which I did not talk about, sorry I could keep going for a while, but I did want to mention two other things. Most of the big displays have computer monitors that you can touch and find out more information. One of the things you can learn is just how much of the skeleton you are looking at is real and you will find that most of the skeletons on display are mostly real which is pretty cool to see. The other thing I wanted to point out is that if a specimen was the first of its species to be named it is known as a type specimen and these are displayed prominently throughout the hall whenever there is a type specimen on display, and trust me there are a lot of them.
Moving from the dinosaur hall we next move onto the Cenozoic area [Image at right is of the ground sloth Paramylodon harlani]. This area is one of the few areas of the museum itself that I have complaints about. Maybe it is because my wife studies prehistoric mammals or maybe it is just my love of all things paleontology but I find this area to be a little disappointing. There are only a few specimens on display although the main ones separate from the kids area are very well done. There is a little area where kids can "dig" for fossils and while I love this idea the way they set up a lot of the mammal fossils around the outer edge can make them hard to get to or see. This is especially true if the pit is closed or if there are kids digging in the pit and you don't want to risk stepping on them. I think this is the area that needs to currently be redone the most move the specimens out where they can better be displayed and seen also bring up some more fossils from collections so we can get a more diverse showing. This is a time that most people forget about and there were plenty of interesting animals that lived then too so lets show them off as well.
The next exhibit area is upstairs and consists of stuffed/taxidermied animals from all around the world. These are really well done and while they show there age in that a museum built today probably wouldn't have as many they are in really good shape. The animals are also not just lifeless animals but have realistic backgrounds to where they come from, again complete with footprints, and seem to be really alive now. There are plenty of animals from Africa and North America primarily but a few Asian and South American animals also make an appearance. Prior to the Pittsburgh Zoo (Wikipedia page), which is great as well, becoming as good as it is this would likely have been the only place people would have seen animals in their more natural environment. When originally built the zoo was nothing more than steel cages and concrete floors, and trust me it has come a long way from that, so the animals in no way looked natural or at home but you could see that at the museum.
There are two other main exhibits that are worth checking out but I won't go into too much detail here. There is an exhibit on Ancient Egypt which has some cool displays and specimens from there. There is also an exhibit on some of the native people from closer to the Arctic Circle. This is probably the only place I have been to that has an exhibit on them so it is interesting to compare with the more southern Native Americans. The final thing to check out is a little explore area. This area has lots of things for kids to do and gives them a chance to learn about science and to touch things like animals pelts and the like.
I love this museum but I am sure I am a little biased. It is definitely worth the price of admission and you will spend the better part of the day there. If you have some time you admission will also get you a chance to go see the art museum, and you might want to because you are also likely paying for parking which can be expensive but kind of has to be to discourage people from parking there for work/school. My only complaint about the museum itself is the size/set up of the Cenozoic mammal portion but I do have one other complaint so hear me out. The museum does have a little restaurant area, which is nice considering some museums like Panhandle Plains don't even have one at all and the one in Houston is just a McDonald's, but the food overall is sub-par and expensive for what you get. Although I will recommend that you get the dinosaur smiley cookies they are from Eat 'n Park which is a local chain that has great cookies so these are just as good plus they are dinosaur shaped what's not to love!
Museum visits page
Links to Dave Hone's posts are below the fold
Let me start by saying that while I may have included several images in this post [image to right is of Dippy outside the museum, obviously it had snowed, and as always all images are by the author ask for permission if you wish to use them] if you head over to Dave Hone's Archosaur Musings blog he has several posts dedicated to the museum, I will link to all of them at the bottom of the post, so make sure you head over there and be warned there may be more added over the next few days/weeks. Needing to look at some other specimens for my research I had contacted Carnegie Museum of Natural History (CM) (Wikipedia page) to get a chance to look at some of their specimens. Once I had finished my research I took some time too look through the museum itself but as my time was short, and I wanted to beat rush hour home, I did a quicker trip through the museum than I normally would have. With that said this is the museum I grew up going to, being from the Pittsburgh region, so I know a lot of the permanent exhibits really well, and I spent plenty of time in the dinosaur hall anyway.
This history of this museum is the history of Pittsburgh in a nutshell. The museum is located in the Oakland region of the city sandwiched between two of the local colleges, the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), and has several other colleges close by. The museum building actually houses two museums, the museum of natural history and the museum of art (Wikipedia page), and a branch of the Carnegie Library (Wikipedia page) system for the city. The building and the 3 main things in it were gifted to the city by, shockingly, Andrew Carnegie who had basically built the city through his steel industry and wanted, or as he felt needed, to give back to the people of the city so he gifted the museum and a huge library system to the city to pay it back. The fossils within the great dinosaur hall Carnegie had bought specifically to fill the hall with what, at the time, were the great new finds of prehistoric beasts coming out of the western U.S.. While he did not acquire as many as the American Museum of Natural History (Wikipedia page) in New York or the Smithsonian (Wikipedia page) in Washington, D.C. he managed to have a great many finds come to Pittsburgh. Many of these finds were completely new genus and species and one Apatosaurus louisae was named after Carnegie's wife while one dinosaur was named after him as well, Diplodocus carnegii. The museum was amazing when it was first finished and it represented the wealth that was the city and the power that it held when steel was made there. Very little changed in the museum for many years and as jobs and influence moved from the cities the dinosaurs in the hall continued to look more and more out of date as they were set up in a way that we thought dinosaurs were during the early to middle 20th century. During the late 1990's and early 2000's thanks in part to growing influence of the medical field, a lot coming out of Pitt, and a growth in technology, a lot of which came out of CMU, the region started to see renewed growth in jobs and people. Around the same time CM decided their dinosaurs were out of date and set off on a multi-year project to update them. This meant closing the dinosaur hall down and remaking the whole thing. I remember seeing the dinosaurs in the old style and was upset when they said they were going to close the hall down but seeing the finished project it was well worth it [Image to the left and above of the new hall]. You can see why I said the history of the museum follow that of the city pretty well though now hopefully, also that was far longer than I wanted it to be whoops.
Walking into the museum you get the feel that you are walking back in time, not quite to the time of the dinosaurs but at least to the time of Andrew Carnegie, the marble that surrounds the interior of the natural history entrance is impressive and shortly after paying admission there are many open rooms that have artifacts from Ancient Greece and Rome. This was early 20th century decadence at its best in a museum for the people. The cost to get in is not cheap, $17.95 for an adult, but trust me it is worth it, I should note that if you are a member or a member of several other museums you can get in for cheaper or even free. Now you are going to have to walk past the gift shop and unless you want to carry around your gift with you all day I would try to hold off till the end of the day, although they do have plenty of fun/cool stuff in there.
I am going to treat the museum as unidirectional and in reality there are plenty of ways to explore the museum and you can explore it however you want but the museum is kind of set up to be viewed in the way I am going about it [Image at right is of the fighting T. rex's]. Continuing forward you will enter into a smaller hall, this one gives you a very basic primer of geology. There are displays talking about such varied things as oil and natural gas, this was built before the big natural gas push in the northeast as well, to coal as well as just talking about general rock types and fossils. There are also several displays talking about the local geology and why the local geography is the way it is. The coolest thing in this room is the "elevator", I forget what their name for it is, that "takes you under the museum" to see the rocks. While it takes you down the guide talks about the geology of the area and about more general geologic situations such as it getting warmer the further down you go. The final thing you might notice as you walk out is a display of the what the area looked like during the Pennsylvanian, it was swampy, and includes some of the plants and animals known from that time period, this was also put together before the discovery of Fedexia striegeli so that is not included.
As you move on you may be tempted to speed ahead into the dinosaur hall but those doors are there for a reason, turn right to go see the impressive mineral collection. This also used to be not as well put together but when they redid the dinosaur hall they redid this as well. I don't know if it is as large as the one at the Houston Museum but it is put together in a more modern way and just seems a little more interesting. The problem with it is that it is just too big and I doubt many kids are going to have the patience to walk though/look at all of the mineral after all they just saw a glimpse of the dinosaurs. One more thing to see before you enter the dinosaur hall is right across from the minerals is a large glass faced room. If you are lucky you may be able to catch paleontologists in there working on dinosaur bones so it is pretty cool especially for the budding paleontologists in your group.
Walking into the dinosaur hall is an experience in and of itself [Image to left is of the doors to the entrance to the dinosaur hall with a Herrerasaurus in front of it]. We have all seen museums that are dark and dingy and all they have on display are the dinosaur fossils themselves. Walking into CM's dinosaur hall you are immediately hit with how bright it is, most of which is done with skylights in the roof. On the walls are vast paintings making the skeletons on display part of the ecosystem from which they came. The room is divided up into the three periods that made up the Mesozoic. In the Triassic portion a phytosaur, Redondasaurus bermani, skeleton on display hunts or is at least annoyed by a small group of early theropod dinosaurs, Coelophysis bauri, representing animals found in the Chinle Group of New Mexico and Arizona, although this is about the same age as the Dockum in West Texas. There is also a display on the more "local" Triassic finds from the rift basins of the east coast from North Carolina up through Connecticut which you can read more about in a book I reviewed in the past. Many of the dinosaurs in the Jurassic section were unearthed in what is now Dinosaur National Monument (Wikipedia page) so there is a display on that. The museum then shows its classic sauropods against a beautiful background that includes some rhamphorhynchoid pterosaurs and in a display that includes footprints. There is also in this section a small collection of fossils from Solnhofen Formation of Germany which were donated to the museum by Bayet in 1903. Finally you enter the Cretaceous which consists of 2 Tyrannosaurus rexs fighting over a kill while a Quetzalcoatlus flies overhead. Finally there is a smaller room that shows off some of the Cretaceous interior seaway animals that have been found from places like the Niobrara of Kansas. From here there is a stairwell to go up and view the exhibits from above which is well worth taking the time to do as this is a view you typically don't get a most museums. There are lots of smaller displays which I did not talk about, sorry I could keep going for a while, but I did want to mention two other things. Most of the big displays have computer monitors that you can touch and find out more information. One of the things you can learn is just how much of the skeleton you are looking at is real and you will find that most of the skeletons on display are mostly real which is pretty cool to see. The other thing I wanted to point out is that if a specimen was the first of its species to be named it is known as a type specimen and these are displayed prominently throughout the hall whenever there is a type specimen on display, and trust me there are a lot of them.
Moving from the dinosaur hall we next move onto the Cenozoic area [Image at right is of the ground sloth Paramylodon harlani]. This area is one of the few areas of the museum itself that I have complaints about. Maybe it is because my wife studies prehistoric mammals or maybe it is just my love of all things paleontology but I find this area to be a little disappointing. There are only a few specimens on display although the main ones separate from the kids area are very well done. There is a little area where kids can "dig" for fossils and while I love this idea the way they set up a lot of the mammal fossils around the outer edge can make them hard to get to or see. This is especially true if the pit is closed or if there are kids digging in the pit and you don't want to risk stepping on them. I think this is the area that needs to currently be redone the most move the specimens out where they can better be displayed and seen also bring up some more fossils from collections so we can get a more diverse showing. This is a time that most people forget about and there were plenty of interesting animals that lived then too so lets show them off as well.
The next exhibit area is upstairs and consists of stuffed/taxidermied animals from all around the world. These are really well done and while they show there age in that a museum built today probably wouldn't have as many they are in really good shape. The animals are also not just lifeless animals but have realistic backgrounds to where they come from, again complete with footprints, and seem to be really alive now. There are plenty of animals from Africa and North America primarily but a few Asian and South American animals also make an appearance. Prior to the Pittsburgh Zoo (Wikipedia page), which is great as well, becoming as good as it is this would likely have been the only place people would have seen animals in their more natural environment. When originally built the zoo was nothing more than steel cages and concrete floors, and trust me it has come a long way from that, so the animals in no way looked natural or at home but you could see that at the museum.
There are two other main exhibits that are worth checking out but I won't go into too much detail here. There is an exhibit on Ancient Egypt which has some cool displays and specimens from there. There is also an exhibit on some of the native people from closer to the Arctic Circle. This is probably the only place I have been to that has an exhibit on them so it is interesting to compare with the more southern Native Americans. The final thing to check out is a little explore area. This area has lots of things for kids to do and gives them a chance to learn about science and to touch things like animals pelts and the like.
I love this museum but I am sure I am a little biased. It is definitely worth the price of admission and you will spend the better part of the day there. If you have some time you admission will also get you a chance to go see the art museum, and you might want to because you are also likely paying for parking which can be expensive but kind of has to be to discourage people from parking there for work/school. My only complaint about the museum itself is the size/set up of the Cenozoic mammal portion but I do have one other complaint so hear me out. The museum does have a little restaurant area, which is nice considering some museums like Panhandle Plains don't even have one at all and the one in Houston is just a McDonald's, but the food overall is sub-par and expensive for what you get. Although I will recommend that you get the dinosaur smiley cookies they are from Eat 'n Park which is a local chain that has great cookies so these are just as good plus they are dinosaur shaped what's not to love!
Museum visits page
Links to Dave Hone's posts are below the fold
Friday, January 13, 2012
Sea Level Rise
One last video and then I will try to get some posts with actual substance (who am I kidding right?). This is another one by Greenman3610 in which he interviews the actual scientists at December's annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) and discusses the potential sea level rise if the climate keeps changing at the current rate.
Circumcision and YouTube policy
So anyone who has followed this blog for a while knows that I post a lot of videos from a YouTube user known as C0nc0rdance, no seriously a lot of videos from him. I do this because he makes well informed well researched videos that summarize the scientific understanding right now. Most of these topics are also on more medical oriented topics which tend to be outside my area of expertise so I appreciate the effort he puts into the videos. A few months ago he posted a series on circumcision in baby boys. It was interesting and is worth checking out but it was really outside of my interests for this blog. When I got back from break I saw the video below and decided that I would put up the full series. Well since then the video has been restored but YouTube's earlier bad action will mean I will still post the series for all to see. Note that the circumcision series itself (2 videos) is below the fold.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
History Lesson!
This was far to good not to share, especially with my views on what the History Channel has become. Oh, and one more thing if you are on YouTube go subscribe to the maker of the video CGPGrey he makes very funny and informative stuff!
H/T Know Your Meme
H/T Know Your Meme
Mini Ice Age?
Again the answer is NO! and in the video below Greenman3610 lets the experts explain why, along with pointing out the distortion and lies put forth about it. I know 2 climate change videos/posts in one day I am asking for it aren't I.
Its all the Sun's Fault!
Anyone who has had a discussion with people who deny that humans are causing climate change has surely heard this one before, even if the person doesn't believe the climate is actually changing they will find a way to work in a, "Well even if it is it is all the sun's fault anyway!" There is no doubt as a geologist that the sun is the largest driving force behind climate and this can be traced back through geologic time. The question then becomes well if in the past the sun caused climate change, although not always just the sun itself sometime with the help of how the earth was rotating the sun (we can discuss this at a later date if you want), is the sun doing stuff now that could be causing climate change? The simple answer is NO but I will let Greenman3610 take it from here.
Water Fluoridation
So C0nc0rdance does it again releasing another heavily researched medical video on a controversial medical topic. Yes this video has been out for a while but sorry I was busy traveling over the holidays. Anyway enjoy the video and I welcome any discussion that comes of it, or you could go join the one already in progress in the comment section of the video itself. On a related note you could, and in fact should check out his short 2 part series explaining how the dose makes the poison I posted a while ago.
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