American Pollution

The Birds and the Bees: How homosexuality, widespread in the animal kingdom, may have evolved

2006-10-28T17:25:00.001-07:00

What is taught in a country's schools reveals much about the national psyche. The Norwegian curriculum requires that all 14-year-olds learn about homosexuality. Assisting with this education, the National History Museum at the University of Oslo has just opened an exhibition of gay animals.

“Against Nature?” does not tell zoologists anything new. Homosexuality has been recorded in some 1,500 species so far, and been well documented in about a third of these cases; it has been known since the time of Aristotle, who thought he witnessed two male hyenas having sex with one another. But the exhibition's purpose is not to educate zoologists. It is to persuade the public that, as there are gay whales and worms, gay humans do not disturb the natural order.

Aside from illustrating homosexuality among an extraordinary variety of creatures, the exhibition shows how sexual stimulation can vary when, at first blush, the mechanical details of how this might work are not obvious to people attempting to draw analogies from their own anatomies. Male Amazonian river dolphins, for example, penetrate the blowholes of other males; female bottlenose dolphins use their snouts as dildos on other females.

Why this behaviour might be favoured by natural selection, though, is a difficult question to answer. In an attempt to do so, the exhibition picks on gay flamingos. Two males raising a chick after one of them had a one-night stand (of sorts) with a female are able to hold a larger territory than male-female partnerships. This suggests a chick with two dads could get more food and therefore have a better chance of survival. But explanations are harder when gay animals (such as some humans and, apparently, some killer whales) never try to mate with the opposite sex.

Theoretically, there are several possible ways homosexuality could have evolved. One is that homosexuals assist in the upbringing of their relatives so much that they pass on more of their genes this way than by having children themselves. Another suggestion assumes the genes that confer homosexuality in males are different from those that confer it in females. For the theory to work, these genes would have to confer some extra reproductive advantage to their straight carriers. This way, genes that increase the chances of one sex surviving and reproducing might not be discarded through the generations even though they inhibit making babies when they occur in the opposite sex. But testing these theories is hard, so nobody knows if they are true.

Taking lessons on sexuality from the birds and the bees itself requires first accepting something not taught ubiquitously outside Norway—that evolution occurs by natural selection.

The Birds and the Bees: How homosexuality, widespread in the animal kingdom, may have evolved

2006-10-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

Condi speaks out.

2006-09-26T14:19:00.000-07:00

So, today Condi Rice came out telling Bill Clinton that he better check himself before he wrecks himself when he disses Fearless Leader's attempts to (not) capture Bin Laden. Here's the story from MSNBC.com . Condi comes out saying that, "The notion somehow for eight months the Bush administration sat there and didn't do that is just flatly false...". But isn't that just what happened when Fearless Leader didn't read the Presidential Daily Briefing entitled Bin Laden Determined To Attack U.S.? Isn't that also what happened when Richard Clarke, the anti-terrorism cheif that had work for the past three presidents before Fearless Leader said to the 9/11 commision? Isn't that what happened when this administration did nothing after it was found out that Bin Laden was behind the attack of the U.S.S. Cole?

So, it's five years after the 9/11 attacks, and again I ask just where are we at? We had the world's support to go after Bin Laden, and we did that with Afghanistan. Along the way we took out a government that was using religious fanaiticism to oppress people. And that was a good thing, but we wasted it all on Fearless Leader's quest to be better than his dad.

But, we can all throw around blame, but the only people we can really blame is ourselves. As a nation, we are very apathetic of not only the plight of people from other places in the world, but we are also very apathetic of our own political process. If you aren't registered to vote, then do so. Because, if didn't vote in the last election, then you have no right to complain about anything. It is as much your fault that we have a former coke head, frat boy as a President as it is for the idiots who thought that by keeping him in office would keep us safer.

This Just In...

2006-09-25T12:40:00.000-07:00

Black Flag still kicks ass.

If you have never listened to them, then I suggest that you pick up a copy of Damaged (contains hits like Rise Above, Gimmie Gimmie Gimmie, and TV Party) and My War (not only contains their best song, My War, but also the one record that influence the creation of many early Seattle Grunge bands).

Here's a pretty good fan site dedicated to the band.

Why Clinton still kicks ass....

2006-09-24T21:14:00.000-07:00

If you haven't been watching the news this weekend, then you missed a great interview between Bill Clinton (the last elected President of the United States) and Fox News anchor Chris Wallace where Clinton came out in a fury against the accusations that his administration didn't do enough to capture Bin Laden before he left office. Here is the interview:

Great stuff, huh?

Anyway, there is some truth to this, according to NBC News (Must open link in Internet Explorer), who reported that Clinton came within hours of killing Bin Laden back in 1998 when he ordered the cruise missile strikes on Al Qaida. Of course, as the former president said in the interview, he was critized by many on the right about using the strikes as a diversion to the Lewinksy scandal, but just what has the new administration done? Like I said in the last post, the U.S. Army had Bin Laden trapt but let him go, and as President Clinton said in the interview that this administration sees Afghanistan only as 1/7th of the importance in the War on Terror as Iraq. Even the current leader of Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai, has came out to say that the money used for Iraq could have been used to stabilize his country from the resurgence of the Taliban (you know, they guys that we kicked out of power and thought to have destroyed).

So, this interview was aired on Sunday morning and now people are coming out saying that Clinton is blaming others for his failure to capture Bin Laden. In fact, if you search for this video on YouTube, you get most of the links saying as much. But, even in the interview Clinton says that he didn't do enough since he didn't get Bin Laden, but he did more than what the Bush administration has done. Hell, Fearless Leader and Dead-Eye Dick didn't have any meetings concerning Bin Laden or Al Qaida in the eight months between the time that they stole the election and 9/11. In that time, they were too worried about keeping people from getting better from stem cell research that they couldn't read the CIA briefings titled Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US.

So, we should all thank President Clinton for all the hard work that he did while he was in office to try to capture Bin Laden, because we all know that no one has started a war over lying about a blow job.

--Aptiva Dave

Five years gone

2006-09-11T19:38:00.000-07:00

So, the fifth anniversary of 9/11 has now come and passed, with Fearless Leader coming on the television to tell us all that he still believes the lie that Iraq was part of the attack on that terrible day. Now, I'm not a Saddam fan (the guy was a real head case), but what has our nation done to bring to justice the madman who was in charge of the people who attacked us? Nothing much really. Bin Laden is still out there, breathing, eating, and laughing while the people who lost loved ones that day are still grieving. In fact, the U.S. intelligence group that has been assigned to track down Osama hasn't had any real leads in quite some time.

Of course, that wasn't what we heard from Fearless Leader and his cronies five years ago, when he stood with a group of rescuers at Ground Zero and proclaimed that the people who attacked us would hear from us pretty soon. Well, we made a great show of force and took out those nut jobs in the Taliban, who were hiding bin Laden. Our forces even had Osama trapped in the mountains of Afghanistan, but he got away because it took two months for our Special Forces to show up in that region. Do you know what happened because of those two months? Ask the people of Madrid or the people of London. Ask the people of Iraq who now have to worry about al-Qaida in their streets.

In his speech tonight, Fearless Leader again called the Iraq War part of the War on Terrorism, but were we all thinking that Iraq was a part of this tragedy five years ago? I remember, in all of the shock of what was going on, that our enemy was clear now, that it was a tall, Arab man with along beard and a kidney problem that did this to us. I sure as hell knew it was some modern day Napoleon in an isolated country that was despised by its neighbors. I also knew that there was no way that a secular Muslim like Saddam Hussein would have any thing to do with a radical fundamentalist like Osama bin Laden, and apparently the U.S. Senate didn't find anything connecting the two.

So, what do we need to do in the next five years so that we can bring some sense of closure and justice to this tragic event? Well, if you haven't, then you need to register to vote. And when you do vote, vote for people who will commit our forces to find bin Laden and bring him to justice. Vote for people who will get us out of Iraq and who will stand up to the right-wing who have turned this country on it's head. Also, and this goes hand in hand with the voting, watch the news or read the paper. Keep up with what's going on around you so that you aren't fooled by the politicians that represent our country to the rest of the world. This country needs a change and it is now time for our generation to take charge and shape this country back into something that makes us all proud to be Americans.

On a side note, the first thing I read after the attacks was the back of Jawbreaker's record Bivoac. My eyes stopped on the title of the seventh song, which is called p.s. New York Is Burning.

Yarghhhhh!

2006-09-07T21:42:00.000-07:00

I've been neglecting my duties.
But now I'm here to redeem myself.

These violent delights have violent ends
And in triumph die, like fire and powder,
Which, as they kiss, consume.

Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene VI

And I suggest that you all watch American Beauty.

--Katlyn

Display it with pride!

2006-08-28T08:20:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, here's banner you can place up on your website to show some support for AP:

Here is the link if you want a bigger one. Just link the picture back to www.americanpollution.blogspot.com.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

2006-08-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

If you haven't got a thing to do, then American Pollution recommends you goto the nearest video store (which we're pretty sure is going to be a Blockbuster) and pick up Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Quite possibly one the best of the underrated movies of the past year. It also holds the distinction of being one of the best Val Kilmer movies since The Salton Sea (okay, Wonderland was okay, but since Boogie Nights ripped off the story years before it never really seemed original). It also holds the honor of being #2 on my all time list of Robert Downey, Jr., movies (#1 will always be The Last Party)

Talk Dirty to me...but not if you don't want to

2006-08-23T21:50:00.000-07:00

So my sister and I were talking of casual sex the other day...something I have found myself doing before, I've seem to have had an absence in lately. I don't consider this good, nor do I consider it bad. Sex isn't everything. But my sister was giving me her two cents, which is what I charge her when she talks about stuff, and she said "I don't see how you can have sex with someone that you don't really care about." Now, I can see where she's coming from, I used to see the exact same way. Well then, low and behold, I had sex...my sister's no virgin, truth be told, she's in the hospital right now about to squirt a kid out later in the evening, so why did her view not change like mine did? Well, probably because a penis is a very odd thing. It controls your mind, man. No, but sometimes, it feels like it.

I tried to explain to her how I could do such a thing, and how most everyone else with a tallywhacker could as well, and I actually came up with a pretty good explanation. I used to hold sex very dear. I didn't lose my virginity til I was 17 years old, and it was by choice. I wanted to wait until I found someone I wanted to be with for the rest of my life...and I did. The girl I gave my virginity to exchanged the favor, after a year of dating eachother, and I had no thoughts of ending it ever. However, it ended, hearts were broken, yadda yadda, sex is the point of this story. I broke my characteristics down into 4 primal instincts. Eating, sleeping, fucking, and drinking...not alcohol, just drinking water. The main four, anyway, and they all function pretty much the same, if you're hungry, you eat. If you're tired, you sleep. If you're horny, you'll attain an orgasm one way or another, and if you're thirsty, you'll drink something. The sex one is no more complicated than eating. If you're hungry, and someone brings you food, you take it and eat it...well, how about if you're not really THAT hungry. If someone brings you food, and you're not really hungry, but you're not really full...you'll still eat it. Same with sex, if you're really horny, and someone offers you sex, you take it. On the other hand, if you're not really horny and still offered sex...you're going to take it. Sex isn't offered to males very often, so whenever the chance arises, we take it. Using your hand isn't really the same.

My sister understood my points, and thankfully acknowledged that I was using the head on my neck, instead of the one hanging out of my crotch. She was still deadset on her idea of not having casual sex, which is completely fine, and in truth, probably a way better plan to act on than mine of casual sex. Casual sex can break hearts, destroy lives and relationships, and it could actually kill you. But hey, I live on the edge, that's the kinda guy I am. When you're aroused, you don't think about danger, you go back to your primal instincts. You. Want. Sex. Give. Now. Or. Die. My advice would be to really care about the person you're going to have sex with...I mean, it's a really dick move to not say that you don't. Any girl that wants to has sex with me knows exactly how I feel about them beforehand, I make sure of that. I'm a really blunt and rude motherfuck, and I shit myself out of sex more often than often, so it doesn't really matter to me. I waited to lose my virginity, I can say no, but it's a lot easier to say yes. Especially when the other one wants it more than you do.

So in a nutshell, sex is overrated...I mean, it should be a way to further your relationship with someone, and be a deeper sensation and meaning than of other intimate activities, like holding hands or kissing. But the truth is, most guys aren't going to see it like that. I don't know why they don't, and I don't know why they won't learn to...but they don't and won't. The responsibility should be on all the guys, but most don't give two shits. It's up to the girls to pick out the guys who are telling the truth and who just want your crotch-hole.

Godspeed.

-Pogo Conspiracy

Thank you Jeebus...

2006-08-23T08:15:00.000-07:00

Okay, turns out that all of those stories about Weezer breaking up were all false, and was confirmed by the band on their website.

Now, if only they can make another record as good as Pinkerton, everything would be right in the world.

Time to take out Hartsford

2006-08-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

According to Dick Cheney, A.K.A. Dead-eye Dick, all you anti-war types are only "giving 'the Al Qaeda types' exactly what they wanted". Especially if they voted for Ned Ladmont in the Connecticut Democratic Primary last week, where he defeated incumbant senator (and big war supportor) Joe Lieberman.

Of course, ol' Dead-eye said that the Democratic party "now stands for a wholesale retreat in the broader campaign against terror" during a conference call with reporters on Monday. Apparently he could leave his secure bunker long enough to bash senisble people.

In unrelated snakes news, the new awesome movie of the summer is coming out this Friday. That's right, it's time to "Get these mutha fuckin' snakes off this mutha fuckin' plane!" And, to remind all of your friends to go see the movie, you can send them a phone message from Samuel "I can make any movie kick ass" Jackson.

All in a day's work....

2006-08-12T17:01:00.000-07:00

So, apparently we can pretty close to another big terror attack the other day. Turns out, though, that our government weren't the first to find out about it. Nope, but thank Jeebus that the British are looking out for us.

Apparently the terrorists were looking to use regular household ingredients, that when mixed together could create an explosive device powerful enough to take down a plane. So now airline passengers are having to leave all liquid items out of their carry on luggage and put it into their checked baggage. You can't even bring anything on the plane with you to drink (I guess unless it came from one of the restaurants or stores inside the airport). I guess Sierra Mist was pretty accurate about the state of world affairs when they produced this commercial a while back.

Will Michael Ian Black be put on the FBI's Most Wanted List? Maybe, if he doesn't get me all of the episodes of The State on DVD for me.

So now, the politicians are coming out on both sides to tell us how the other side is wrong on fighting terrorists. Well, of course Fearless Leader gave his two cents on the whole thing, from his vacation ranch.

Okay, what it wrong with this? The country was this close to a repeat attack like 9/11, which our own security didn't catch in the first place and now he's had such a hard time of the job during this (which he really didn't do anything) that he has to take some time off playing cowboy? Listen, buddy, I went to Tuskahoma yesterday to install some switches in a rat infested building, and you don't see me taking some time off from work?

Why didn't we fire him two years ago?

2006-08-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

According to a new study, immigrants aren't taking jobs away from U.S. citizens.

But what about all of the kids going to school to get a master's degree in roadside orange sales?

On a related note, ice tea from El Tapatio is the shit!

--Aptiva Dave

You Make Me Feel Like A Whore...

2006-08-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

Okay, last post of the day, I promise. But it's a good one:

Bill O'Rielly get's owned by Art from Everclear.

Now, I'm not as big of a fan of Everclear as I was a few years ago, but I've always liked Art and the stuff that he stands for. He's a freaking delegate to the Democratic Convention from Portland!

May have to pick up their new record.

Listen up, you're on watch...

2006-08-09T18:46:00.000-07:00

Just so you know, we at American Pollution have our eyes on you.

--Aptiva Dave

This just in...

2006-08-09T12:29:00.000-07:00

The Descendents kick ass. You can check out their page here, where you can buy yourselves a pair of custom Descendents Vans.

I don't ever want to grow up.

China punks scream to be heard

2006-08-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

Great article here about the rise of punk rock in China. You think punk isn't dangerous anymore, then try living in a place where the government censors everything.

--Aptiva Dave

8/6/06

2006-08-06T13:05:00.000-07:00

FuriousLee

T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

The Waste Land

V. WHAT THE THUNDER SAID

(excerpt)

Who is the third who walks always beside you?
When I count, there are only you and I together
But when I look ahead up the white road
There is always another one walking beside you
Gliding wrapt in a brown mantle, hooded
I do not know whether a man or a woman
—But who is that on the other side of you?

What is that sound high in the air
Murmur of maternal lamentation
Who are those hooded hordes swarming
Over endless plains, stumbling in cracked earth
Ringed by the flat horizon only
What is the city over the mountains
Cracks and reforms and bursts in the violet air
Falling towers
Jerusalem Athens Alexandria
Vienna London
Unreal

A woman drew her long black hair out tight
And fiddled whisper music on those strings
And bats with baby faces in the violet light
Whistled, and beat their wings
And crawled head downward down a blackened wall
And upside down in air were towers
Tolling reminiscent bells, that kept the hours
And voices singing out of empty cisterns and exhausted wells.

In this decayed hole among the mountains
In the faint moonlight, the grass is singing
Over the tumbled graves, about the chapel
There is the empty chapel, only the wind's home.
It has no windows, and the door swings,
Dry bones can harm no one.
Only a cock stood on the rooftree
Co co rico co co rico
In a flash of lightning. Then a damp gust
Bringing rain