This week in science: happy dino days!

Poor Senator Marco Rubio, he was asked how old the earth is:

Rubio wants to court people who believe that the Earth is between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago despite fossils and radiometric dating going back millions of years. The question is whether we should even consider someone for the presidency who denies such a clear and established fact. At what point is the denial of reality as threat to the nation in a commander and chief. Of course, some of these candidates may secretly accept reality, but that may be ever worse if you are willing to deny established facts (like the rising and setting of the Sun) in order to secure power.

See, Rubio's not an historian but he can tell you what recorded history says,]; he's also not a scientist so he can't tell you what science says! Well, he obviously doesn't possess the faintest shred of intellectual honesty or logic if he doesn't think he just hopelessly contradicted himself. And BTW, before we get all pious and preachy ourselves, this craziness'or convenient vagueness if you will'on basic established science has worked its way into some Democratic responses to the same question.

• Not exactly holiday cheer or science, but I've written several articles out of sheer frustration on what's it like to struggle as one of the many former-middle class and now very hard working poor in this country.
• Pure science, pure nature: sea snakes!
• Alright peeps, time to flex our mighty progressive muscle: go henceforth give our wonderful Bad Astronomer Dr Phil Plait a big Daily Kos traffic extravaganza at his new digs!
• Speaking of astronomy ... Curiosity has found something potentially extraordinary on Mars and no one, and I mean No One, is talking about it yet.
• Pure bullshit, pure mythology, pure pseudoscience:

  One creationist claim that's commonly laughed at is this idea that 8 people could build a great big boat, big enough to hold all the 'kinds' of animals, and that those same 8 people were an adequate work force to maintain all those beasts for a year in a confined space on a storm-tossed ark. So the creationists have created a whole pseudoscientific field called baraminology ...