So in lieu of that, Scott Adams, of Dilbert fame, is calling bullshit on fossils.  Fossils?  Yep.  I don't really understand his thinking and he uses this Newsweek article to support his claim that fossil evidence is BS. 

Funny, cause I have a whole different take on that article.  The fossil record (as related to human evolution) has always been conjecture and the DNA evidence is now allowing scientists to more specifically match the fossil record to the steps in our evolutionary history. 

The most interesting thing to me, is that all the available evidence points to a plethora of potentially human-ancestorial primates whose genetic line didn't survive.  In other words, there were lots of candidates for human evolution, and only one survived until this day.  Fascinating and humbling, isn't it?

By the way:  if you have lots of time, the comments to Scott's post are worth taking a look at. 

• Jason Calacanis boasting about the weather in LA and that he made valleywag again.
• Jason Chervokas was listening to classical music
• Charlie O'Donnell was leaving sxsw

Jordan McCollum points out some good posts about using Twitter, including Chris Pirillo's 5 Ways to Use Twitter for Good and Li Evans' How Twitter Could Become Useful to Business.

BL Ochman admits being addicted to Twitter:

"I don't know about you, but I have too many feeds in my RSS reader and I have a hard time keeping up with them all, not to mention the email newsletters and other stuff I am obsessive about reading. But unlike all of those, Twitter is quick, short, and to the point. It has to be when you have only 140 characters per post.

And, it's fun."

If you want to try Twitter for yourself, I highly recommend Slacker Manager's Several Habits of Wildly Successful Twitter Users. 

But there is a reason to be at a conference in person, says Kathy as posted by AdRants:

"...there are still elements that exist as the missing link between computer interaction and human expression. Responsiveness to software was compared to the likes of Asperger's syndrome, unintentionally rude and often narrowly focused."

Plus, let's face it, the after-hour bar sessions are impossible to duplicate via streaming video.

Lithuania is considering pulling their 53 troops, Denmark is leaving and the Italian premiere is resigning because of continued public resistance to Italian troops in Afghanistan. 

Meanwhile the Iraq insurgency is getting some organization.  First they start shooting down helicopters, now they are aiming for mass destruction with chlorine gas bombs. 

I saw last night that the "coalition of the willing" is down to  about 21 - from around 37 at the height.  Anyone know who remains? 

Talented people often choke under pressure because the distraction caused by stress consumes their working memory, a psychologist at the University of Chicago has found.

This explains why the busier I get, the stupider I feel... 

Is it any wonder that an organization that thinks flip-flops are made safer by passing through the X-ray machine is incapable of managing to secure its own servers?

Methinks the TSA is manned by graduates of schools similar to those some teenagers at my gym go to.  They were having a heated debate about the "state" of Canada when one girl declared:

It's a state of its own, like the Yakama Indian Nation.  Not a regular state like Washington or Oregon.

 I'm very happy I don't have kids in the public school system.

 Thanks for Xeni at Boing Boing for pointing out this strange and wonderful video of Smeagol/Gollum singing Barry White.  

 Michael Smerconish on the state of American celebrity (via Huffington Post):

It doesn't matter that Britney can't sing or Paris can't act, because news is what happens when you stumble out of a nightclub at 4 a.m.

 And an update on my own personal goal:  I lost another 3 lbs for a total of 36!

Claire Carroll shares the story of her "candy store" (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) over at Blogcritics, including what her husband is getting for Valentine's Day.

Hugh has a cheery look at romance:

I was actually planning on writing much more, but I'm suddenly feeling quite ill - and not because of the photo, above.  I've been having palpitations and a strange heaviness in my chest since last night and now I feel quite dizzy and sick, so I think it is time to call the doctor... 

One of A.N.S.'s lovers - either Stern or the other guy, manipulates his way to become the father of A.N.S.'s baby.  As soon as said baby is born alive, they off previous son, Daniel, so that A.N.S. has only one heir.  Then they off A.N.S. herself.  The father (whoever finally he ends up to be) now controls baby's money.

Of course, it would work better if they'd have waited until the Supreme Court case and paternity were decided.

But seriously, Defamer has the best round-up. His description of Wolf Blitzer/Dr. Gupta's coverage is good for a laugh.  If you are morbid, then Splash breathlessly says they will post a video Tuesday of CPR being administered to the dead celebrity.

Wednesday I had to drive to Seattle for a two-day meeting and from Yakima to Cle Elum was a total white out.  It is scary driving in the stuff because you are so focussed on watching the lines on the road to simply stay on the road, you can come up on someone and not see them until the last minute.  

The strangest part was around the Cle Elum area - not only was it foggy, but also raining!

In the past, YouTube's strategy of "Post 'em all and let God the users sort them out" worked.  YouTube could innocently shrug and meekly take down the offending video.  After all, taking down a couple of hundred videos is nothing to needing to police the reported 60,000 videos that are uploaded daily.

The innocence schtick will only take YouTube so far, as they know.  Google/YouTube has allocated $187 million for potential copyright infringement lawsuits.

The problem is, I'm not sure what a good solution is.  The reason people like me go to YouTube is to catch a clip of a show - and that clip is probably breaking copyright rules.   The thing that makes it illegal is the the thing that draws a lot of users.  Catch-22?

 I didn't watch the Super Bowl, instead I installed Windows Small Business Server on one of my computers, but from what I hear, Prince was lame and GoDaddy was booby-licious. You can see GoDaddy's commericals here.

 Chris Pirillo is drooling over this multi-monitor setup - I'd be happy with a third monitor and a real desk, instead of an old card table!

In the same get-organized vein, Lifehacker suggests we all get up early to get things done.  I agree - I can get through a whole batch of emails and work between 6 and 8 am simply because no one else is up yet.  I've even been able to adjust my work schedule so that I have most of the afternoon free to work on my on-going weight loss goal (so far I've lost 33 lbs).  Of course, it also means that I'm dead to the world by 9:30 pm...

First of all, the titles don't always reflect what the post is about and they are really hard to scan to find something interesting:

 Next, when I do find something interesting, here is what the feed looks like:

 Come on, guys.  This isn't even enough to tease me into clicking into the site. At least give us the first paragraph or two! 

Note that I don't mind needing to click through to the site to read the entire article, rather having no clue whether the post is worth the click through.  

This whole rant occurred to me as I realized it has been months since I've clicked through to a AintItCool.com post.