: PBS LearningMedia - Kratts Creatures: Wild Ponies!

: PBS LearningMedia

Well, this is it. This is the final episode that the PBS Learning Media website offers, and it's about wild ponies on Assateague Island off the coast of Maryland and Virginia in the U.S. The Kratt brothers are searching for these wild ponies to learn more about them. During the episode many interesting things are taught: wild ponies are smaller than domestic horses, they are territorial and tough, wild ponies live in groups called bands which are divided into different ranks: stallions are the leaders and the lead mare is 2nd-in-command. We also learn about how mothers bond with their new foals and desire strongly to care for them and how they will use many tricks to ward off dangerous insects. History is discussed (Spanish attempted to bring them to the island, but the galleons sank) as well as the need to protect themselves and their territory against other rival bands. Chris and Martin demonstrate this by dressing up as a horse and being chased by the stallion which is arguably foolish: humans can't join horse bands and the horses would always suspect a strange horse as a threat. There is however, some evolution included within the episode: horses started out small as sheep with no hooves. It supposedly occurred 50 million years ago with a creature called condylartha who then split into two species: one evolved into rhinos and tapirs and the other into horses. Pretty far-fetched if you ask me. Anyways, I hope you enjoy these episodes as much as I still do. One thing to keep in mind if you want to watch them: you'll need to have the latest versions of BOTH Adobe Flash Player and Java installed properly. That's all for now. Goodnight!

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratts Creatures: The Redcoats are Coming!

: PBS LearningMedia

Yet another episode is being blogged. This one's about foxes, red foxes to be exact. Chris and Martin are in North America seeking to learn about the red fox: how it hunts, its secrecy and cleverness, the different scents it can leave, and how it can escape predators and/or hunters such as foxhounds. Along the way, we learn about how a fox mother takes care of her kits, especially when it comes to food and hunting. In the episode, we learn that the animal kingdom is much more complex than just hunted creatures and hunter ones. Almost every animal that hunts is also faced with the danger of being caught by predators. However, it doesn't go well for Chris and Martin as they unknowingly pick up the fox's scent on themselves and have to run away from foxhounds. This lets us see how much they fail at being masters of fox tricks: running along a section of fence, running through a cow herd, going through water, and running back along their own trail. The only strategy that works is to climb a tree, which is what the grey fox does in Central America. One more thing: evolution. Yes, we get it again. This time we are told that 40 million years ago a strange creature appeared called tmork who was the supposed ancestor of foxes, bears, weasels, dogs, cats, etc. 20 million years later, he disappeared and foxes and other animals appeared afterwards. During that time there was an alleged family split between dogs, wolves and coyotes vs foxes. Hard to believe, but many people do. Anyways, that's all for now.

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratts Creatures: The How Show

: PBS LearningMedia

Continuing with more episodes. This time, the Kratt brothers along with Allison try to answer different questions people have about how animals survive on our planet. Allison goes around town with a video camera to record the questions and Chris and Martin travel around local North American wild areas and farms seeking to answer them: how flying squirrels "fly", how snakes eat things bigger than their heads, how reptiles survive in the desert, how creatures depend on each other, and how animals know what to eat and what to avoid eating. This one's actually pretty cool and its a nice break from the usual show format. Hope you like it, and I'll catch you later.

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratts Creatures: The Great Bear Show

: PBS LearningMedia

Haven't blogged in awhile, so I'll show you the second of two Canadian episodes. This one has the Kratt brothers looking for black bears. Along the way, we learn the truth about bears (they actually don't hibernate), they like many different kinds of food and NOT just honey and porridge, won't bug you if you keep your distance, etc. The brothers also show us what NOT to do when looking for black bears and trying to survive (lug ALL food with you) when they crash their bikes into a river and lose their food. Luckily, Martin had hidden a bag of potato chips back at their campsite. We also learn the terrible consequences of not properly sealing your food and hiding it carefully when Chris and Martin see black bears eating food at another campsite. It's an interesting one, with nothing except pure facts. Enjoy.

Complete Second Presidential Town Hall Debate 2012: Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney

Here's the second debate between the two American presidential candidates. I'd forgotten to blog this earlier, so now you can watch it. In my opinion Obama won and generally put on a better show than Romney did. I thought it was funny however that Obama said at one point: "The promises I've made, I've kept and the ones that I haven't kept...it's not for lack of trying but we're working on them."LOL That's hilarious! Obama, if you've kept your promises, then WHY are there any that you haven't kept? How can you say this statement without seeing the obvious logical contradiction within? The other interesting part of the debate was when Romney brought up the Libya controversy that happened on 9/11 of this year. Romney pointed out that Obama for WEEKS didn't say that it was a terrorist attack and instead blamed a dumb Youtube video about Muhammed. In fact, it took the Obama administration TWO whole weeks to admit the truth! This should have been Romney's knockout punch, but it wasn't. The moderator helped Obama and Obama said,"Get the transcript." Obama also said that Romney's remarks were offensive. In other words, he emotionally won the people over. Sorry Barack, but even the truth can be offensive! The truth however, DOES set people free in the end, as Christ once said. All in all, it was a very entertaining debate and I hope you enjoy watching it. Goodnight.

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: The Great Canadians

: PBS LearningMedia

This is the first of two episodes featuring animals from my home country, Canada! On this one, Chris and Martin are in the Great North checking out our wildlife. It starts out in the Creature Club with Allison confused about the whereabouts of the brothers because they had first planned to visit Central America, but she couldn't find them there. So she tries the African savannah, the ocean, and the Australian outback, but to no avail. Chris then informs her of the change of travel plans and Allison eventually realizes its Canada when Martin shows up on horseback dressed in typical Mountie gear. This, to me was not right for PBS to do. C'mon, we don't need stereotypes. Anyways, we get into Canadian history flashback style and the brothers hear a strange, cow-like noise. Even Allison is stumped because her software can't help her. This becomes the basic storyline of the episode. Along the way, we learn cool facts about beavers (which the brothers find out about following a loud splashing noise), black bears, loons (following another bizarre noise heard by the brothers), elk, cougars (following a failed attempt by it to get a loon for dinner), otters, and finally the creature who was making the cow-like noise: moose! About moose, we learn about its size, its predators such as wolves, and its swimming and diving skills to get at salty underwater plants. When it comes to beavers, we learn about its lodge-building survival technique and watch as Chris and Martin build one of their own. After all that, Chris and Martin race each other to the lodge, but end up in different lodges: Martin at their beaver lodge shivering in the cold while Chris gets hot coffee at a human one! Allison gives us a musical and video montage of Canadian sounds and creatures, and the brothers fail at singing our national anthem with Martin back in the Mountie gear. Pretty good episode, although I could've done without the stereotypes and the evolutionary tale about "giant beavers" living 2 million years ago all over North America. Take care.

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: The Giant Bug Invasion!!

: PBS LearningMedia

Here with another Kratt's Creatures episode, this time looking at...um...well...bugs! Yeah, I'm not going to recap this one; you'll just have to find out for yourself! Bugs are not my favourite thing, so I'll catch you later. To make matters worse, we get evolution at the end of the episode: bugs have been around for supposedly over 300 million years.

Complete Vice Presidential Debate 2012: Joe Biden vs. Paul Ryan

This is the 2nd debate of the election campaign for the Americans. It is between current vice-president Joe Biden and Republican candidate Paul Ryan. I thought they both had some good things to take away from this encounter:

Joe Biden - fiery, passionate, took opponent to woodshed
Paul Ryan - first debate, seemed cool and collected under fire, seemed as though he believed his talking points

Now, for the bad things:
Joe Biden - seemed rude, arrogant and a complete jerk, didn't seem to care much for supposed Catholic faith; lied about caring for average American (Obama's policies don't bear that out: NDAA, jobless number 8% and higher until recently, made a mess of things on 9/11 anniversary this year with terrorist attacks in Libya against embassy - blamed a Youtube video instead of terrorists, secretive trade deals to screw people over, etc)
Paul Ryan - didn't seem to have good defenses against Biden's probing questions and points, might have been nervous but didn't show it

In summary...
Substance: debate win goes to Joe Biden
Style and Professionalism: easily goes to Paul Ryan

There you go! Enjoy.

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Sharks

: PBS LearningMedia

One last post for the night; I fibbed again. Out in the Caribbean, Chris and Martin are looking for sharks. They are disturbed by the false notions and the propaganda against sharks: that they are ruthless killing machines. So they want to clear up those misconceptions and show that sharks are just doing what comes naturally. After the intro (about how humans think of sharks as evil), we are treated to an evolutionary story about sharks first appearing in some "Devonian" era 400 million years ago. Afterwards, we get to learn about stingrays (a relative of sharks), many shark food such as goldfish and other animals such as moray eels (which have bitten divers). Pufferfish are also briefly shown as well as flamingoes. Along the way, the brothers get lost on a deserted island and are rescued by a shark scientist Dr. Sam Gruber. Sam tracks the sharks that live around the area so that he can help protect them. The sharks that Chris and Martin see are nurse sharks, lemon sharks, Caribbean reef sharks, sharp-nosed sharks and black-tipped sharks (who live in groups similar to dolphins). Nurse sharks are mostly bottom feeders and will eat anything small and crustacean-like it can find. It is not harmful to humans. It's a similar story with lemon sharks, only they live in groups. In fact, the only dangerous sharks the Kratts see are Caribbean reef sharks, but even when they spot them, the sharks don't seem to be vicious killers. Finally, we learn about the sharks amazing senses: electro-receptors, the lateral line (distant touch) and good smell and hearing although it uses sight as well to catch food. This episode shows that sharks are not nearly as mean as the media movies and reports suggest. Well-done, Kratts!

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures - Pan Troglodytes - an In-Depth Analysis

: PBS LearningMedia

This is the last entry for tonight. The episode is about chimpanzees. Our adventurers are in Africa looking after 3 orphaned chimps: Nika, Tess and Sophie. They have lost their parents and their wild lifestyles, so Chris and Martin want to teach them how to be good chimps. We start off with teaching them about food: particularly the trick of putting a stick in a log or tree hole and eating termites that latch onto the stick. The other chimps weren't interested but Sophie was and learned quickly. We learn that humans and chimps have some dietary choices that are similar such as fruit and veggies, nuts, meat, etc. Of course, our preparation is different and we don't eat bugs nor do chimps eat junk food. Adult chimps plan their hunting of monkeys and other small animals and then strike. They also have the strength of 3 adult men. The oposable thumbs of chimps and the other apes are discussed: some have short thumbs because that makes for easier swinging through trees and gorillas use theirs for getting leaves and other food. Chimps have them and they are even on the feet of the chimps. Sharing within the ape world is looked at with chimps, gorillas and orangutangs. Orangutangs by the way weigh up to 200 lbs and yet can swing easily in the jungles where they live. Gorillas are the strongest of the apes however and they use the strength for getting at their vegetation for food and for getting around in their forest home. They are not malicious brutes and have been misrepresented by the media. Chimps by way of being omnivores are more brutal than gorillas, contrary to popular perception. The fact of chimps, orangutangs and gorillas building nests is also brought up. Lastly, chimp communication is discussed: facial expressions, barks, whistles, hoots, etc. A good episode, but not one without evolution. Allegedly, the first ancestral apes appeared 60 million years ago with a number of different pithecus specimens being brought up. 10 million years ago, the first real apes appeared. Sounds similar to the documentary I embedded earlier, except that apes are discussed and not humans. That's all for tonight. Have a good night, and I'll catch you later.

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Planet of the Dolphins

: PBS LearningMedia

An underwater episode this time, interacting with dolphins. In the episode we see bottlenosed and spotted dolphins and learn about echolocation (a skill that bats also have) - used to grab food and avoid danger. We also learn about the group and teamwork mentality of dolphins, the dangers posed to dolphins such as tuna fish and pollution, their eagerness to play with divers, and the fact that dolphins are always communicating with each other (blowhole blasting, whistles, fin rubbing, tail slapping on the ocean floor, getting attention by corkscrewing their bodies or swimming upside down during courting for a mate, etc. Other creatures are also noted in the episode such as tiger sharks, remoras and sting rays (who are related to sharks, by the way). Finally, we get even more evolutionary propaganda: millions of years ago cow-like animals started being in the water and eventually adapted to become dolphins and whales. Pretty funny if you ask me. Anyways, the Kratt brothers did a good job on this one. That's all for now.

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: The Cow Show

: PBS LearningMedia

Last one until tonight. The episode takes place in Florida where the search is on for water-loving creatures called "sea cows". Allison doesn't believe them until she learns that they're really called manatees. We learn that this is a trend among us humans as we call koalas bears even though they're not, and we do the same thing for river wolves and parrotfish and wombats. Most of the episode however doesn't even touch on the manatees but instead on the other creatures that live in the Florida everglades: armadillos, rattlesnakes, many different types of birds including wood storks and great blue herons, and other animals such as water moccasins, alligators, and yellow ratsnakes. After all of that, we finally find the manatees who are big water-loving mammals that look as though they are a mixture of whale and walrus without tusks. Unfortunately, some evolutionary thought is sneaked in and we are "informed" of their relationship to elephants despite only coming up with two main similarities: both have 4 toenails and both eat vegetation. The manatees love for warm water is demonstrated by the existence of hot springs and the danger that speed boats pose to these big, mellow giants is also proven. A brief discussion by Ttark about the now-extinct stellar sea cow is also given in the episode and special stress is given to the immense size that the creatures had: 26 ft in length and over 4 tons in weight. Stellars even lived in the Bering sea waters. That wraps it up. I'll be back with more soon.  

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Mgobo of Baboon Mountain

: PBS LearningMedia

We're back in Africa yet again! This time, we're learning about baboons. Creature adventurers Chris and Martin Kratt wanted to do a field study on these creatures - their lives and behaviors. They decided to record their observations separately in their own notebooks. What we find is a complex group society where the babies are the most important members. They are the future of the troop and start out with black fur for the first three months. That time is when the rest of the group wants to be with them, even big males who want them in order to avoid getting into fights. Mother baboons can be very protective of their babies and will only allow trusted baboons near them. Back to the brothers...Chris aims for an objective look at baboons and is curious about one young baby whom he names Mgobo. He also gets worried about Martin who starts to act a little "babooney" in order to try and fit in with the troop. Martin first tries "come here and let's be friends" looks such as lip-smacking and moving his head from side to side in weird ways. This however causes the baboons to run away, thinking him to be a predator or unwanted guest. Then Martin relaxes and the baboons come back. Later, Chris observes Martin eating with the baboons and remarks to himself that Martin might be fitting in too well and that he should keep his eye on his older brother. During Martin's baboon craze, he observes Chris climbing up an acacia tree and thinks that he should have done the same thing. We see the way baboons have rank within the group, how they interact with other animals, including lions who successfully hunt one of the members, and we see their friendship-making ways and how they interact with their children. This proves to be a very good look at a sometimes under-the-radar species. Finally, we get the evolution teaching as always: 25 million years ago our ancestors lived in trees. Then when there were new food sources on the ground, our ancestors adapted to that. Be back later!

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Rainforests - Under the Canopy

: PBS LearningMedia

Quick post about another episode. The action takes place in Cost Rican rainforest habitats. The brothers are there because they want to check out its creatures and also because Allison has to give a report for her school on them. Needless to say, there are problems early on as the Kratts slide into a muddy river with tapirs and goof off with monkeys in the trees. Of course, this conflicts with Allison not doing well on her report and she gets flustered. Ttark suggests showing how animals work together. Then it gets serious as Chris and Martin show how acacia trees and its ants benefit in a symbiotic relationship. We learn about the balance of predator and prey with tayras and monkeys and jaguars and tapirs. Some creatures such as peckerees will fight back at predators and charge as the brothers find out. Lastly, we learn about hummingbirds and insects and how they work to pollinate flowers so that both sides get what they need. Rainforests even help to regulate our oxygen and water supplies. Unfortunately, there is some climate change ("global warming") propaganda advocated in the episode. That's all for now. Later.

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Weird Creatures

: PBS LearningMedia

I'm back with another episode. In Australia, Chris and Martin are exploring strange creatures: monotremes (egg-laying mammals). One of them has a beaver-like tail, webbed feet similar to frogs or otters and a duck-like bill. That creature is the platypus. The other monotreme is a mix of porcupine (quills) and anteater (behaviour and body shape). This animal is called the echidna. Back in the Creature Club, Allison argues with Ttark (an extinct dinosaur) about whether the creature world operates on the same "rules" as humans do. Ttark says no due to "weird" creatures that baffle us humans such as aardvarks, the monotremes, penguins in Australia (blue fairy) that dig burrows, thorny devils in the outback, flightless birds, etc. Allison however says yes due to creature reproduction (placental mammals such as horses give birth to live young that are well-developed, marsupials such as kangaroos birth small and undeveloped young that grow in pouches, and other creatures lay eggs such as reptiles, birds and insects). Ttark and the brothers both inform and prove to her however that the monotremes are real creatures. However, we get evolutionary teaching yet again: it is defined as creatures adapting to situations and environment. This though is something that even creationists claim to believe hence evolution must be deeper than that. Lastly, we learn that the platypus was once defined as a hoax during the 1700's and 1800's. Pretty humourous stuff. Overall it was an enlightening episode. Have a good day.

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Mungu's Revenge

: PBS LearningMedia

This will be the last post for tonight. The episode is about a few creature myths that are told by Chris, Martin and Allison during a thunderstorm that knocked out the power in the Creature Club. Chris tells the story of the cold-hearted, loner and streetwise rhino who received special horns from Crucian the white egret who was Mungu's helper at the sacred mountain. See, Mungu desired to honour the request from Crucian on behalf of the animals to help them defend themselves. So, he promised horn protection, and the Kratt brothers even get in the story: Martin as a buffalo and Chris as an impala. Crucian however gives the rhino the forbidden speical horns and all the creatures laughed themselves silly, sending the rhino into a solitary lifestyle. Mungu found out and was enraged, banishing Crucian forever from sacred mountain and to live with the rhino that he had helped. Allison's story takes place in Australia and featured the platypus. The animals were all trying to prove who was the best: mammals, birds and underwater creatures. First, the birds asked the platypus but she refused. Next, her fellow mammals tried to seduce her but again she said no. Finally, her fellow underwater creatures tried to get the platypus to join their meeting but she resisted again. She asked her friend and other fellow monotreme the echidna (egg-laying mammal) what to do. The echidna's advice? Be your own creature; you're unique just the way you are and NOBODY should define you and manipulate you. Not bad advice at all. Afterwards, Martin finishes things up by telling his story about the ostrich. He unfortunately starts out somewhat evolutionary by "revealing" that long ago there were no animals at all. One night however, the earth cracked. Out of the crack crawled every creature on earth. So, Martin puts himself in the picture to give direction. That leads us to the ostrich. She was having an identity crisis. At first she thought she was a bird, but when she showed her new egg to the birds they laughed her silly: she couldn't fly, wasn't colourful, and was a HUGE bird. (Wonder why the emu didn't join her??) Anyways, the ostrich then foolishly says to herself that she must be a mammal. A giraffe scolds her and reveals to her that she's actually a bird due to her egg-laying and walking on two legs. The ostrich as a result goes to the sun wizard who gets the ostrich's egg in return for long and strong legs to keep up with all of the other animals. Thus, the ostrich chose to live on the savannah. Again, a great episode and one that provides a break from non-stop fact. Goodnight!

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Running with the Wild Dogs

: PBS LearningMedia

First post I'm doing tonight. On this episode, Chris and Martin are in Africa once again to check out its most endangered predator the wild dog. They deconstruct the myths about the dogs behaving as evil, ruthless killers. While wild dogs are efficient and strategic with hunting, they're also great at taking care of puppies together. We get to learn about how the adult dogs chase away vultures from their children's food and how they get along with each other better than most people! Of course, we do also "learn" that all of the dogs we know today evolved from animals of the likes of wild dogs. So, that would include ALL of our domestic breeds - probably even the ones that WE developed (rotweiller, golden retriever, bloodhound, great dane, mutt, bulldog, cocker spaniel, sheepdog, border collie, and even our designed pedigree breeds, etc.). It would also include the wild canines (fox, wolf, coyote, dingo, jackal, and wild dogs - both Indian and African). It just seems crazy if you ask me, or it could have been a mistake that the show made. Either way, it's all nuts! Finally, during the episode, the Kratts visit Gus Mills who is a scientist in the region that is tracking wild dogs in order to help them stay strong and healthy as a species. It's neat watching the brothers use tracking equipment and determination to track down the dogs. That's a wrap on the episode. It's pretty good overall, and you'll learn something. Take care!

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Marshmania!

: PBS LearningMedia

I seem to have a habit of fibbing while I blog these episodes, so I apologize once again! Anyways, this one is about marsh animals. Chris and Martin float over Virginia in the U.S. in a hot-air balloon. The air soon leaks out of it and they crash into a marshy environment. Along with that, the brothers realize they have no food. Even when they find their backpacks, they don't find any food. So they realize that they're going to have to dine with creatures in order to do it. This even lets us see what failures they are at imitating the great blue heron when it comes to catching fish. Meanwhile at the Creature Club, Allison is having trouble with her audio log due to it being scrambled. So she uses the frog and cricket sounds to locate the brothers. During the episode, we learn about the marsh and how it supports a great deal of life: from microorganisms all the way up to wild ponies and even fish, frogs, toads, a lot of different bird species, blue crabs, and turtles such as the diamondback terrapin and the snapper. The Kratts even use a seesaw to illustrate the necessity of balance in the animal kingdom and show how human development can and does interfere with the natural world. The introduction of the sica deer from Asia is an example: it is making life more difficult for white-tailed deer and delmarva fox squirrels. To their credit however, they do emphasize the need for homes, office and industry. They simply suggest more careful planning. This helps me to better respect them as creature adventurers and scientists. It truly is a breath of fresh air to hear that amidst all of the animal rights looniness. In the end, Allison gets her equipment fixed, the brothers get their breakfast of seafood, and then the brothers float away in their hot-air balloon. Sadly, it's not all good. We get the privilege of hearing one of the most ridiculous evolutionary stories I have ever heard in my life: around 4000 million years ago, the earth was water and muck. One day, volcanoes erupted and meteors collided with the earth. Afterwards, there was life in the muck: little protozoa that eventually "evolved" into everything else! Imagine that: life comes from non-life! What a silly idea! Evolutionists need not wonder then as to why we find it so hard to take them seriously. Anyways, it's getting late. Goodnight! 

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Lion, King of the Beasts?

: PBS LearningMedia

One more episode for the day: lions. We'll learn about lions, their prides, how they work together to hunt for food, and also about how lions are NOT the kings of the beasts. Chris and Martin observe a lion pride at work in the night hunting impala and are amazed at the speed with which they devour their food. An evolutionary story about lions first being small and that the first humans were ape-like creatures who often thought about creatures is presented as well. Take care!

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Heavyweights of Africa!

: PBS LearningMedia

Posting about Africa's biggest creatures tonight. Back in Africa, Chris and Martin are looking for rhinos, but keep going in circles because they are lost. In the Creature Club, Allison attempts to help them, but experiences temporary loss of connection. When its restored, she sees rhinos and alerts the brothers who in turn hurry to them. However, they are stopped by the Nile River. Being that the river is full of both crocodiles and hippos, crossing it will prove dangerous. So, the brothers do an experiment with their hippo test dummy (Ken) by putting him in an inflatable rubber life raft. Needless to say, it doesn't go well for Ken as the hippos attack the boat, tear it to shreds and even take Ken's head off! So we learn about crocodiles and hippos, especially about how territorial hippos are. Hippos are so tough that some of them can ever chomp a croc in two! We also see how crocodiles attack a zebra herd that is attempting to cross the river, resulting in the stallion getting a bad wound on his beehind. Eventually, the Kratts cross the river successfully by finding a bridge. After that, they see elephants and get to observe them for awhile. Finally, after all of that, Chris and Martin see the rhinos. Once again, Ken is the victim of an experiment gone wrong as a rhino charges at him and badly wounds him. The need for defense is clearly seen in the experiment. One cool fact about rhinos is that their horns aren't made of bone. Instead, keratin makes up those horns. That's the EXACT same material for our fingernails, toenails, and hair! Lastly, we get a silly evolutionary story in the episode: rhinos started out just like their supposed relatives the tapir: small. Afterwards they grew tremendously bigger and became taller than the trees and were called "indricotheriums". Finally, the woolly rhino replaced them and remained until a few thousand years ago when the current species developed. Hope you enjoy!

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Elephants 2 - Wild Elephants Couldn't Drag me Away

: PBS LearningMedia

This is the final of two episodes about elephants. In this one, the brothers go to the African savannah to check out what life will be like for Emily, the oldest of the three orphans if she ever returns to the wild. What is discovered is a complex family group composed of mothers with their babies and that the group is led by an old matriarchal elephant. We learn about elephant intelligence, care for the young, teamwork, the need for play to sharpen future skills of young elephants, how elephants defend against predators such as lions, and about the ivory trade by humans resulting in the deaths of many elephants per year. Of course, no episode would be complete without evolution and this is what's taught: elephants in "prehistoric" times were bigger than today's two types, they started out as the size of a tapir, and that creatures such as "megistopheriums" hunted "mastadons". That about wraps it up. Goodbye for now.

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Elephants 1 - Educating Emily

: PBS LearningMedia

I decided to blog about another episode, this time about elephants. In Africa, Chris and Martin go to the Sheldrick Wildlife Trust to take care of three orphaned elephants for the day: Emily, Itaung, and Amente. We learn about how difficult it is for the caretakers to care for these babies and how care must be taken to start introducing them into the wild. The importance of food, water, play, communication, and friendship is emphasized. Also too, the brothers get involved in a mudbath! In the end, the episode proves to be fun and educational. Alas, some small amount of evolution is advocated: elephants have had tusks for over 5 million years. Now, onto Part 2...

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: The Great Defenders

: PBS LearningMedia

Back again with another post. This episode of Kratt's Creatures focuses on creature defenses of all sorts. The Kratt brothers, along with Allison Baldwin, learn about how animals defend themselves and they all experience a rough time doing it. Poor Martin! He gets bitten by a snapping turtle, sprayed by a skunk, and attacked by a mother goshawk. Oh yeah, and he gets stung by bees too. Don't worry, he healed up and he even gets his justice at the end of the episode as Chris and Allison experience for themselves creature defenses. Chris gets sprayed by a skunk while Allison gets stung by bees and infected by poison ivy. So, all's well that ends well. This episode for me is right up there with the cheetah one in terms of hilarity and entertainment value. I should warn you however that Martin advocates the evolutionary view of "human ancestors" losing their tails millions of years ago. Anyways, have a good one!

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Creature Rescue

: PBS LearningMedia

I'm back with another episode. On this one, Chris and Martin are helping out animals in a North American city that are either orphaned or that need assistance. From taking a tiger from a homeowner's residence to a wildlife facility, getting a baby bird back into its nest, going to get a raccoon out of a house, helping birds and squirrels at a wildlife resuce center, getting an oppossum to a place where his physical and creature needs are taken care of (albino, was blind and had a bad leg), and more, the brothers teach how important it always is to know whatever you're doing when you rescue animals and that you need to know all you can about the specific creature. For me, the best parts were about the tiger and the oppossum. That's all for now!

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Maximum Cheetah Velocity!

: PBS LearningMedia

All right, so I fibbed! I'm giving you one more episode for tonight. It's about the cheetah, the fastest land animal on earth. These guys are my favourite wild cats because of their speed, and also because they are the underdogs of the wild cat world. Cheetahs CAN run up to 70 miles per hour (or 120 kilometres per hour), but they can't fight back against a lion or hyena, because if the cheetahs ever did, they would wind up dead meat. In this episode, Chris and Martin learn about the cheetah, its features and vulnerability due to its weak genome, and how rough life can be for a mom and her cubs on the African savannah. Along the way, the wacky brothers try their best to match cheetah speed: bicycling, using a brand-new creature jeep (which was successful), and even using "Ken" the hippo test dummy for an "experiment". A great and fun episode, if I do say so myself! Of all the episodes, this one proved to be the most fun and entertaining. Have a good night!

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: City Critters

: PBS LearningMedia

One more episode before I shut down for the night. This one's about animals that have whatever it takes to survive in a city: raccoons, peregrine falcons, foxes, beavers, owls, robins, squirrels, mice, etc. The Kratt brothers go to a schoolyard, crash into a swimming pool to find a snapping turtle, go through a wildlife park to look for red-tailed hawks, and even go into a sewer to look for alligators! Enjoy.

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: In Search of the Tasmanian Tiger

: PBS LearningMedia

This is the other episode that I've already discussed before, but now you can watch it without parts as I find that to be more convenient. It's about a possibly exctinct carnivorous marsupial called the thylacine. This makes it more related to the Tasmanian devil instead of the Siberian tiger. People call it a tiger due to the stripes that stretch from its rib cage area all down to its unusually straight tail. This episode details the typical story of the thylacine: people hunted it into extinction in the 1930's. What interested me most about the episode though was the introduction to the Tasmanian devil. This was my ultimate favourite episode growing up. Goodnight!

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Kickboxing Kangaroos

: PBS LearningMedia

I've already discussed this episode already, so I'm not going to bore you with the details (including the simply wild evolutionary story that the episode promotes), but now you can watch the episode in one piece without parts. It's about kangaroos. Catch you later.

Story Of Human Evolution (History Channel)

Thought I'd embed this documentary about our human beginnings from an evolutionary perspective. What I found interesting was that the documentary speaks of a specimen called "Lucy" as though she walked upright, but there is recent speculation of her having walked on her KNUCKLES, similar to a modern-day ape or chimpanzee! The ending was also interesting as the film concludes that ALL of the accepted specimens (homo erectus, homo habillis, "Lucy", and "Neanderthal Man") are links to our supposed human evolution. This is funny considering that they picked these things apart earlier (they saw Lucy as being more chimp than human, for example). In the end, they conclude along the same lines as Darwin apparently did: "We don't know, but we might in the future. If we find anything, we'll let you know. There are many areas of the world that haven't been dug up yet, so who knows what's out there?" All in all, it gives a good insight as to the minds of evolutionists and even shows some frauds that have been made (Piltdown Man). Enjoy!

My Thoughts on Last Night's U.S. Presidential Debate

Well, if you've been following the presidential campaign that our American neighbours have been having, then you know that the Democrat Party leader and current American President Barack Obama is leading his Republican Party challenger Mitt Romney in the polls lately, especially since Romney's recent "47% comments". Throughout the campaign, Obama has for many people looked more confident, more fresh, more experienced and more qualified to lead America than Romney. Well, I'm pleased to say that this has changed quite a bit. Last night, they had the first of three presidential debates. This first one took place in Denver, Colorado. Needless to say, Obama looked lost, out of place and foolish without his precious telepromter. He couldn't effectively look like a leader, looked at his lecturn most of the time when speaking, and didn't always stay on topic as much as Romney did. In the beginning of the debate for example, when Romney spoke about jobs, what did Obama counter with? More talk about jobs for their 23 million unemployed? Nope, he talked about education! Also, Obama at one point in the debate talked incessantly about the tax breaks that the oil giants are getting ($2.3 million). Romney to his credit gave a great counteract by pointing out that Obama gave in the $50 million range to some "clean energy" company in terms of breaks! Romney repeatedly had great zingers in the debate all night long, even telling Obama once that "you don't get to choose your own facts." Great stuff! In fact, in the jobs segments, Obama looked so flustered that he even told the moderator, "You may want to choose another topic." Talk about a losing performance! The end of the debate was especially revealing: Romney, when speaking about the role of government, spoke first about the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights and mentioned religious freedom. Romney used this to illustrate the need for a strong military. As much as I agree with libertarians about the overbloated "military industrial complex", this link worked well for Romney. Obama on the other hand, spoke about the need for government to do more to help people prosper and get by, essentially calling for the typical liberal strategy of bigger government. What a contrast! All in all, it was Mitt Romney who looked energetic, fiery, and confident during the debate while Obama looked tired and lacked the hunger that he had during 2008. I thoroughly enjoyed watching the debate. I hope you did too! Anyways, I'll close by embedding the whole thing. Here it is:

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratt's Creatures: Creatures of the Night

: PBS LearningMedia

Another post before I call it quits tonight. This episode has Chris and Martin travelling around in Australia searching for animals that are most active during the night. More specifically, they want to find a fruit bat called the flying fox. They eventually find them but then want to race the bats as the animals fly off in search of their nighttime meal. Needless to say, the brothers can't keep up and have to rest, finding a tree-kangaroo in the trees. Earlier they saw a brush-tailed possum fighting with a kangaroo. Later on, they try to mimic the tree-kangaroo's jumping from 50 ft ability but land in water, knocking out transmission signals to the Creature Club. It is restored, and the action eventually switches to the brothers being in a bat cave where they find Australia's only carnivorous bat, the ghost bat. The show touches on why bats are so important to the creature ecosystems of this world and why we humans are often needlessly afraid of bats. Great episode!

: PBS LearningMedia - Kratts Creatures: Koalas and Wombats

: PBS LearningMedia

Back to regular posting. This episode deals with koalas and wombats, two creatures that are completely different from each other but are said to be related. The Kratt brothers learn about the lifestyles of the two creatures: wombats being the ground and burrow-digging marsupial and koalas being the tree-huggers and eucalyptus leaf eaters. Chris and Martin start out the episode by riding on horseback looking for the two animals. Their horses however, suddenly become unnerved and spooked by the sound of dingo howls and run off, separating the brothers. Chris ends up crashing into a tree that happens to have a koala living there and Martin gets thrown off his horse near a wombat burrow. There, he meets a bunch of wombats eating the Australian grass. We learn about the defenses of the two creatures as well: koalas sit up tight in the trees when dingoes are prowling, and wombats run straight for the burrows. Of course, if the wombat senses that a creature is trying to get into his burrow then he uses his reliable rump shield to boot him out. However, I should warn you about the explanation that is given for the relatedness of the two creatures. We are told that through a process known as "divergent evolution" koalas and wombats, being related, have learned to be completely different in lifestyle. Of course, this may just be about adaptation and taking advantage of situations, something that isn't unique to "evolution". Anyways, other supposed examples are elephants and manatees and porcupines and beavers. This is contrasted in the episode with "convergent evolution". This is allegedly when two different creatures start to resemble each other and/or live similar lifestyles. Again, this sounds as if ADAPTATION is the key topic and not evolution. The funny thing though is when different supposed examples were given for this "convergent evolution." Here is just one of them:

- hyenas and tasmanian devils: I gotta say that this is HILARIOUS! The reason is that there are MANY reasons as to why this connection is bogus. 1) T-Devils are marsupials whereas hyenas are placental mammals. (Marsupials carry their newborn young in a pouch to grow and placental mammals give birth to their more fully-formed young through the normal womb process and don't need a pouch.) 2) Devils live alone while hyenas live in packs. 3) Devils are mainly scavengers (eaters of dead meat) while hyenas are mainly prone to hunting live prey for food. 4) Hyenas face much competition for food from other creatures such as cheetahs, lions, leopards and wild dogs while devils don't have that problem as often. The only other competitors might be tiger koals or dogs and cats that have now become wild in Tasmania but that's about it.

Other than that, the episode was a good one. Enjoy!