Coral Stone Fusion - Part Two

For an explanation of these photos, go to Coral Stone Fusion - Part One .

Coral Stone Fusion - Part One

While walking on the beach this morning, I came upon, what I can only describe - for lack of any other term - as a fusion of a coral and a stone. After spotting a number of similar ones, I began photographing them as I came upon them.

I don't know exactly what to make of these things; I'm a bit con -fused myself.

I photograph approximately two dozen. Nearly all were located in a relatively small are of the beach. I'm breaking up the photos into two groups to be published in different posts.

Twelve in this post and twelve more in a post to follow.

Random Coral

In an effort to expand my tan, I took an additional walk this morning, this time along the beach in Sibulan. While walking, I'd stop from time to time to photograph random bits of coral. Here are said photos.

The Left Embraces the Anti-Science Label.

For quite some time, Democrats and other assorted Leftists have attempted to mock Republicans and Conservatives as anti- science. Republicans are seen as anti-science by the Left because of some Republicans views on Climate Change and Evolution/Creationism.

According to an article at theatlantic.com, however, that while it's sadly true that half of all Republicans believe the Earth is only 10,000 years old, 34% of Democrats believe the same. Also, according to the same article, twice as many Democrats as Republicans believe in astrology.

Democrats most often reject science when it deals with sexuality; Liberals and Progressives reject the scientific fact that the fetus growing inside a human female during pregnancy is a unique, human being in its own right. Despite having it's own unique DNA showing otherwise, the pro-abortion Left believe this human being is actually a body part of the female; or worse; that the fetus is a parasite growing inside the female host.

While eight-in-ten Republicans and Republican-leaning independents say that whether someone is a man or a woman is determined by the sex they were assigned at birth, most Democrats and Democratic leaning voters (64%) take the opposite view and say a person’s gender can be different from the sex they were assigned at birth. This unscientific belief held by a majority of Democrats is contrary to what scientists know about DNA and the different chromosomal makeup of males and females.

Now, to further show that Democrats make up the anti-science Party, Sara Giordano, assistant professor of the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies Program at UC Davis, maintains that science is rooted in racism, and has been used to perpetuate racism and colonial practices. Giordano has vowed to "challenge the authority of Science" by "rewriting knowledge" through a feminist lens. She also believes "We need to disrupt the epistemic authority of Science…[and] the assumption that science = truth."

Giordano hopes that people will soon come to "embrace an irreverent disdain for traditional science and instead practice feminist science," adding that this is time for a "much needed anti-science, antiracist, feminist approach to knowledge production."

It appears that science has rejected her views on "gender", and now Giordano wants to reject science.

P.C. Patrol Enabling the Mentally Ill.

According to the Huffing and Puffington Post, Filipinos Aren’t Happy With This White Woman Claiming To Be Filipina.

In Tampa Florida, someone going by the name Ja Du is self-identifying as a Filipina, despite the fact that he was born a white male. Sadly, the writer of the article, Kimberly Yam insists on referring to "Ja Du" using pronouns such as "she" and "her".

In the video embedded in the article, Ja Du is seen driving around in a "motorized rickshaw" which he claims is called a "tuk tuk". I haven't seen any quite like the one Ja Du is driving in Philippines, but similar vehicles are called "tricycles" or "pedicabs", not "tuk tuk". He'd know that had he ever traveled to Philippines.

An article on the story at truthrevolt.org quotes a local psychologist, Dr.Stacey Beth Scheckner, who maintains that Ja Du's delusions are perfectly fine and dandy:

"If someone feels that they feel at home with a certain religion, a certain race, a certain culture, I think that if that’s who they really feel inside life is about finding out who you are. The more knowledge you have of yourself, the happier you can be. And, as long as it’s not hurting yourself or anyone else, I don’t see a problem with that.
"If that’s who they are and they want to celebrate it and enjoy it, then you have to think what harm is it doing? All they want to do is throw themselves into that culture and celebrate it.
"I think before we get offended, we need to take a step back and think about what is the harm."

The only thing that offends me about this situation, is that quacks like Scheckner are enabling Ja Du's mental illness.

The Tabili

My wife and I drove out to the property in Magatas, Sibulan this morning to bring feed for the pigs. After feeding the pigs, I walked around the property a bit and spied this lizard crawling along the fence. Naturally, having my camera ready, I had to take a few photos.

When I my wife saw the photos, she told me this particular lizard is called tabili. Doing a little web-surfing, I find it is the Lamprolepis smaragdina AKA the "Emerald Tree Skink", "green tree skink" or "emerald green skink".

More on the State of the Climate Report

I'm finding the 2nd book in C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy as boring as the first, but I determined to complete the entire trilogy.

I'm about 45% through it and I was going to read the State of the Climate in 2016 Report at the same time, but I've hit a snag. I had downloaded the report and converted the document from pdf to mobi in order to be able to read the report on my Kindle. Unfortunately, that conversion didn't work out so well. Many of the pages in the pdf contain 2 pages, side by side. When converted to mobi, this makes reading the document next to impossible. I'll have to read the report in the pdf format on my PC - which I don't enjoy doing.

Never the less. I believe the report needs to be read and I'll do just that.

State of the Climate in 2016 Report

From an article published in The Manila Bulletin:

"The Earth set a series of dire records in 2016, including hottest year in modern times, highest sea level and most heat-trapping gases ever emitted, a global climate report said Thursday.
A range of key climate and weather indicators show the planet is growing increasingly warm, a trend that shows no signs of slowing down, said the annual State of the Climate Report".

The State of the Climate Report, an international, peer-reviewed publication released each summer is, according to American Meteorological Society,".....the authoritative annual summary of the global climate......"

"The report, compiled by NOAA’s Center for Weather and Climate at the National Centers for Environmental Information is based on contributions from scientists from around the world. It provides a detailed update on global climate indicators, notable weather events, and other data collected by environmental monitoring stations and instruments located on land, water, ice, and in space."

The 298 page report is available here.

I've downloaded the pdf and, of course, converted the document to mobi via online-convert.com. I've looked at portions and intend on reading the entire report on my Kindle after I've finished reading the the 2nd novel in C.S. Lewis' Space Trilogy.

As I've said, I've only read portions of the report, but it also contains information covering the climate on Mars. Looking forward to see how that gets tied into global warming.

Tambis or Makopa?

In another post [The Piglets at Four Weeks] I mentioned that I had taken some unripened fruit, which I had picked from a tree growing at the apartment complex where we live, to the piggery to serve as a treat for the pigs. The tree grows beside the area where I park my car at night.

I park my car outside the complex gate during the day to prevent sap and bits of fruit falling onto the car.

When I took the photos of the fruit tree today, I had only intended to post one with the post about the piglets. I went to the web to identify the tree before writing the earlier post, and the confusion that resulted from that search is the reason why this deserves a seperate entry.

There two related fruit trees that grow here in Philippines - the tambis and the makopa. Both are in the genus Syzygium and belong to the myrtle family. Although the fruits have reportedly different textures and tastes, there seems to be a bit of confusion as to which is which. It appears to be more complicated than "You Say 'Tomato'....."

Even after reading the article linked to above, I am not at all certain if the tree at the apartment complex is the tambis or the makopa. I don't particularly care for the taste of the ripened fruit and will only use it as pig feed, so the correct name isn't of any real importance to me at this point.

Trump and the Paris Climate Accord

 President Donald Trump has announced that the U.S. is withdrawing from the 2015 Paris climate agreement and blogger Mark Shea has unleashed a firestorm of anti-Trump vitriol. In Shea's opinion, by his withdrawal from the agreement, Trump has flipped off Pope Francis and now, "Trumpian Catholics" are cheering.

I wanted to leave a comment on Shea's post, but as I've been banned from commenting on his blog, [twice, actually] I have to address his post here.

First of all, as I've said time and again, I did not vote for Donald Trump and I wish someone else (other than Hillary Clinton) had won instead. Secondly, I support Pope Francis. In a battle between Trump and the Pope, the Pope wins every time. Thirdly, although I see the discussion over climate change as more political than scientific, I lean on the side that maintains that the planet is warming and human activity contributes to that warming.

With all that being said, I find all the weeping and moaning over the Paris climate agreement withdrawal ridiculous.

Trump supporters claim withdrawing from the accord will make America Great Again. The anti-Trumpers says Trump's action will destroy the planet. Both sides are full of the organic matter I spread on my garden.

I've read the Paris agreement (found as a pdf thanks to NPR) and it is, as Hillary Clinton might say, the "biggest nothing burger, ever."

As an aside, thanks to Hillary, we can now dispense with phrase "nothing burger" from this point forward.

My reasons for being against the Paris agreement are the opposite of Trump's. Trump doesn't believe in climate change, probably hasn't read the agreement - but believes signing it hurts Americans.

I, on the other hand, believe in the science behind climate change, I have read the agreement and believe the accord to be 31 pages of useless crap. Like everything thing else Liberals support, it is a useless document written to make people believe they are accomplishing something when they aren't actually doing squat.

Greenhouse Effect

Out of curiosity, I placed a kitchen thermometer inside our car for about an hour. The windows were up. The car was in the shade. Still, the temperature read 140°F (60°C).