I think I prefer living nowadays...

Megafauna are thought to have evolved to such large sizes to cope with inhospitable climates and food scarcity, with fossils found in Australia of prehistoric emus, tree-dwelling crocodiles and carnivorous kangaroos.

This from an article about finding the fossil of a 'Mega-Wombat'...

The fossil of a car sized mega-wombat has been unearthed in northern Australia, scientists said Wednesday -- the most complete skeleton of its kind.

Weighing in at a whopping three tonnes, the herbivorous diprotodon was the largest marsupial to ever roam the earth and lived between two million and 50,000 years ago.

I think the tree climbing crocs are the scariest. Would have taken care of this guy in a second:

Australian man spends 6 days up a tree to escape crocodiles

5 Reasons The Founding Fathers Were Kind Of Dicks

History is not always what you think it should be...

Happy Fourth of July

May the only rockets' red glare you ever experience be in the night sky above the city park...

Maybe we need an axe, too?

Steve Benen of The Washington Monthly:

But it’s the “they don’t want compromise” line that really stands out. From McCain’s bizarre perspective, Americans simply want Democrats to accept the Republicans’ unpopular agenda — all of it — and see no need for compromise between the parties.

It’s a reminder about the extent to which the parties are approaching this process very differently. Democrats believe it’s a negotiation, and both sides will make concessions to reach an equitable agreement. Republicans believe it’s a transaction, and Democrats must simply give the GOP what it demands.

What? There are people who won't eat genetically modified vegetables?

A Bayer AG (BAYN) unit agreed to a $750 million settlement resolving claims with about 11,000 U.S. farmers who said a strain of the company’s genetically modified rice tainted crops and ruined their export value.

The settlement, announced yesterday, ends scores of lawsuits filed against the Bayer CropScience unit of the Leverkusen, Germany-based company by farmers in Texas, Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi.

The U.S. Agriculture Department said in August 2006 that trace amounts of the company’s experimental LibertyLink strain were found in U.S. long-grain rice. Within four days, declining rice futures cost U.S. growers about $150 million, according to a complaint filed by the farmers. News of the contamination caused futures prices to fall about 14 percent.

“From the outset of this litigation, we made it clear to Bayer that the company needed to step up and take responsibility for damaging American rice farmers with its unapproved rice seeds,” Adam Levitt, a plaintiffs’ lawyer, said yesterday in a statement. “This excellent settlement goes a long way toward achieving that goal.”

Bayer confirmed the settlement in its own press statement minutes later.

“Although Bayer CropScience believes it acted responsibly in the handling of its biotech rice, the company considers it important to resolve the litigation so that it can move forward focused on its fundamental mission of providing innovative solutions to modern agriculture,” Greg Coffey, a spokesman for the company, said in the statement.

h/t to Mike Goldman in Facebook.

I bet if they proved

That Monsanto's Roundup caused the miscarriage, they would back off. Corporate rights rule even over the sanctified fetus...

Pregnant Women Who Lose Babies Face Criminal Charges In Mississippi, Alabama

Why can't we do stuff like this?

Bjarke Ingels designs incinerator that doubles as ski slope in Copenhagen
Architect's latest project to transform an incinerator in heart of Copenhagen shows the playful side of sustainability

You are getting sleepy...

14 Propaganda Techniques Fox "News" Uses to Brainwash Americans

The Fourth of July

For math nerds

Maybe they just LIKE things broken...

Kevin Drum of Mother Jones:

Republicans got the tax cuts they wanted. They got the financial deregulation they wanted. They got the wars they wanted. They got the unfunded spending increases they wanted. And the results were completely, unrelentingly disastrous. A decade of sluggish growth and near-zero wage increases. A massive housing bubble. Trillions of dollars in war spending and thousands of American lives lost. A financial collapse. A soaring long-term deficit. Sky-high unemployment. All on their watch and all due to policies they eagerly supported. And worse: ever since the predictable results of their recklessness came crashing down, they've rabidly and nearly unanimously opposed every single attempt to dig ourselves out of the hole they created for us.