The problem with modern progressive notions of equality is that all must be equal - and New York is the home of modern progressive idealism, so serious candidates in the governor's race had to share a stage with Jimmy McMillan of the "Rent Is Too Damn High" Party and he stole the show, issuing forth sage wisdom at random intervals like "The chemicals of Agent Orange -- dioxin and a lot of other chemicals mixed up -- I would get sick. When I get home tonight, I know I'm not going to be able to breathe if I take them off. It could be psychological, I don't know, but I just put 'em on and wear them anyway."Can't get enough of Jimmy McMillan? Here is some video:

With an economy in freefall and his party poised to lose control of the House, President Obama has found time to appear on "Mythbusters", which will shore up the one demographic already guaranteed to vote for anyone not a Republican - scientists.

Hunting as the primary source of food is the common conception of prehistoric man but that may be incorrect, says Anna Revedin of the Italian Institute of Prehistory and Early History in Florence, who ancient starch grains on grinding tools buried at three prehistoric settlements in the valleys and floodplains of Italy, Russia, and the Czech Republic.Read the tale by Kristen Minogue at Science Now.

Press coverage has cast further doubt on climate scientists' claims that man-made global warming is real and adversely affecting the planet, according to a report by Adam Fleming at the BBC.

Israel's Antiquities Authority is partnering with Google to bring the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls online, in the original languages and in translation.  Some scholars have complained that access to the ancient texts, among the more interesting archaeological finds of the last century, has been too limited. The images of the 30,000 fragments will be in high resolution, preventing a need for them to be re-imaged in the future and allowing in-depth analysis. The first photographs are slated to be online within months.

Chad Orzel at Scienceblogs.com has a fun article on "Goodnight Moon" and a bunny that says good night to a lot of stuff and tackles the question everyone has - how long does it take to say goodnight to all that stuff?Using the awesome power of science, he lets us know ... He's also doing the blogging event for the educational charity DonorsChoose so if you want to donate and help under-funded schools, here is the direct link.

In the 'You shouldn't mix alcohol and goat sacrifice' department, we have this news from Associated Press/NPR;  a 10-day Navratri festival that honors Durga, the Mother Goddess in the Hindu religion, went awry after a scuffle broke out concerning who would get their goat sacrificed first.It's not like they wouldn't all get a chance - some 30,000 goats were sacrificed at the temple on Saturday, it is said.   But being first was the issue so with 40,000 people at the Tildiha village temple needing their goats sacrificed, it was bound to get ugly.  And so it did, with 10 dead and 11 wounded.

One of the most cuddly early animals might have been a pack-hunting cannibal.   Those cute critters of the early Earth may have been roving packs of cannibals, according to new evidence on trilobites.  Teeth marks, attack positions, shredded relatives and other signs of cannibalism have been found in the fossilized remains of tiny agnostid trilobites, affectionately called "bugs" by paleontologists and fossil hunters.Earth's Early Cannibals Caught in the Act

In dioecious species you have males and females, and males do not directly produce offspring. The increase of the population is constrained by the number of females in such lineages (male gametes are cheap). There is no such limitation in asexual lineages, where every individual can contribute to reproductive “primary production.” Additionally, the mating dance is another cost of sex. Individuals expend time and energy seeking out mates, and may have to compete and display for the attention of all. Why bother?The answer on the broadest-scale seems to be variation, says Razib Khan...

America is a 'melting pot', it used to be said - everyone adds their own stuff but it's part of the same dish.   In the 1970s, partly due to elitism and partly due to idealism, that began to change and multiculturalism took hold.  America was not a melting pot, proponents said, it was a salad bowl and each part needs to remain whole.  People who dislike foreigners happily embraced that progressive idealism.