First up, this tweet from the New York Times over the weekend, which was apparently not a self-parody:
Yeah, because we’d all be so much better off if we were still hunter-gatherers. It would have saved us from Joe Camel and Philip Morris. Incidentally, there is evidence in evolutionary biology that the enlargement of the human brain may be linked to our species’ use of fire. One biologist I know thinks we should be called homo igniferens. So now it’s the New York Times that is skeptical or opposed to evolution. Heh.
And then what Monday wouldn’t be complete without the latest climate change harangue? I missed the opening ceremonies, which apparently included some climate change propaganda. But in case you didn’t get the message, there’s this today:
Olympic Records Won’t Come Easy in Rio as Climate Changes
Climate change warnings poignantly made during the Olympic Games opening ceremony on Friday are likely to resonate with athletes over the next fortnight as they struggle to train and compete in Brazil’s soaring temperatures.
Marathon runners, swimmers, volleyball players and even soccer referees will succumb to extreme heat and lose concentration during the games, in some cases risking their lives to heatstroke, according to a report released Monday by Observatorio do Clima, a Brazilian civil society group.
“Because of warming, sport will never be the same again,” and fewer records than in previous games are likely to fall as a result, the report said.
Global warming was a key theme of the opening ceremony, featuring maps, charts and graphics of rising global temperatures, melting polar ice caps and rising sea levels encroaching on cities from Amsterdam to Shanghai.
Notice: All comments are subject to moderation. Our comments are intended to be a forum for civil discourse bearing on the subject under discussion. Commenters who stray beyond the bounds of civility or employ what we deem gratuitous vulgarity in a comment — including, but not limited to, “s***,” “f***,” “a*******,” or one of their many variants — will be banned without further notice in the sole discretion of the site moderator.