October 7th: Today in 1780 the American rebel militia beat an army of British Loyalists at the Battle of King’s Mountain in South Carolina during the American Revolution. The battle was fought by American Militia hiding behind rocks and trees and firing at British troops who tried to fight in lines just like the stereotypes [...]

September 4th: Today in 1957 Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus called out the Arkansas National Guard to stop nine black students from entering the all white Little Rock Central High School. This was directly in the face of the federal law so President Eisenhower nationalized the troops and sent them back to barracks, then sent out [...]

September 3rd: Today in 1855 a force of around 750 US Army soldiers attacked a camp of nearly 250 Sioux Indians and killed nearly ninety men, woman and children in the camp in the Battle of Ash Hollow. The write ups of the battle from both sides are wildly contradictory, but the battle was enough [...]

As a follow up to the piece on Cartoon Animal Biology here is a paper on B Movie Monster Biology. What a great week to be a biologist! Now we need an article on the biology of man eating squirrels and we will have a trifecta!
Via Slashdot

September 2nd: Today in 1666 a small fire broke out in a bakery that spread and burned for three days, the Great Fire of London. The fire destroyed the majority of London, both inside and outside the walls but was remarkable in how few died, with most estimates ranging from 5 to 20. The city [...]

From the world of global insanity, perfumes inspired by the works of HP Lovecraft. Aiiiiiiieeeeee Aiiiiiiiiiieeeeeee Cthulhu fhtagn! Cthulhu fhtagn!

Internet security is getting harder and if you are reading this you really do have to pay attention. The volume of email spam is back up,and you can see at the bottom of this page how many spam comments are blocked on this blog but the worst trend I am seeing is the mass increase [...]

Ever wonder how cartoon charactors really work? An art exhibit in Korea tries to provide an answer. I have no idea how they got a Canis Latrans Animatus, they are really hard to kill. Fun stuff.

September 1rst: Today in 1914 Martha, the last Passenger Pigeon died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo. Her body was sent to the Smithsonian where it was a skinned and stuffed then put on display. Apparently even this last tribute to the Passenger Pigeon is being closed down. Passenger pigeons once filled the sky they [...]