Ellen DeGeneres

Ellen, speaking on the murder of 15-year-old Larry King, who was killed for being gay.

H/T Jim Burroway, Box Turtle Bulletin
She provides a series of links on the show’s webpage.

Berry Go Round #2

Welcome to the second edition of Berry Go Round, the blog carnival dedicated to all things botanical. Since this is still a fairly new carnival, I took the liberty of sampling the blogosphere beyond what was submitted to the carnival.
There were two big news items in the last week – the opening of the [...]

Texas

Truly beautiful, especially the stadium shot.

H/T dKos

Burmese pythons invading California?

This is a great article from the San Francisco Chronicle – according to USGS predictions, exotic Burmese pythons (which have established in the Florida Everglades and can move as much as 20 miles a month) could make it to California as soon as 2020.  Californians – run for the hills!
The top map shows current suitable [...]

Reminder: Berry Go Round #2

Submissions for  Berry Go Round #2 are needed by tomorrow.  If you have anything plant related, please use the link (you can send a submission through the big orange box in the top right corner of that page) or leave me a link here.

Tom Coburn: Iraq war “probably a mistake”

This news is probably a week old, but I still think it’s worth noting.  On Thursday the Tulsa World reported:
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn’s comment that going to war in Iraq was “probably a mistake” represents a significant departure from where the Oklahoma Republican started out on the 5-year-old conflict.
Coburn’s comment came at the beginning [...]

Ants

When I was a child I read a book about ants – about one ant in particular, who was born in a colony, tends to one of her sisters before her nuptial flight, gets swept away from the colony is a flood, and finds herself alone.  She discovers a new colony, but the ants reject [...]

Bt cotton and the evolution of resistance

Over the last decade, genetically modified crops have become widespread in agriculture. One of the more successful of these are Bt crops – transgenic plants that express genes derived from Bacillus thuringensis. These genes allow the plants to produce toxins which specifically affect certain groups of insects. Since these plants do not [...]

Unfolding scandal

Drip, drip, drip…

Emptywheel at FireDogLake:McCain’s Favors for Iseman Involved Helping Far Right-Wing Families to Sustain their Shell Companies
Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo: Not Looking So Good, Straight Talk…Inc., McCain to FEC: Blow it out your #$%
Greg Sargent, TPM Election Central:Top McCain Adviser Says He Does Much Of His Lobbying From Aboard Straight Talk Express!
Paul [...]

I would like to thank the Academy,…

In recognition for my singular achievements* in blogging, that most distinguished authority on all things bloggy, Mike O’Risal of Hyphoid Logic has named me to Knights of the Hyphoid Logic Realm and awarded me the highly prestigious “E for Excellence” award.

One of the benefits of having been bestowed this honour is the ability to bestow [...]