Conservative pundits and evolution

I wrote this on April 19, 2009:

I am only casually aware of the science and probably couldn't argue the issue, but I still get irritated when Glenn Beck, Ann Coulter, or Ben Stein, claim that evolution is some insidious plot by progressives and atheists. I guess it is mainly because of the repeated misconceptions. Glenn Beck was once talking about a scientist who is an expert on the atmosphere and a global warming skeptic. I searched a little on the guy and found out he also rejects evolution because he doesn't find the arguments convincing.

Pre-spaceflight depictions of Earth from space

On February 17, 2005, The New Neo wrote about drawings of Earth without clouds:

I’m not so very old, but when I grew up and artists or scientists drew conceptual drawings of the earth from outer space, the globe was always pictured as just that–a globe like those spinning ones in school, tethered to their metal stands (only, of course, without the metal stands). No clouds at all. Despite the fact that we all should have known better–all we had to do was look up at the sky most days to see those voluminous clouds–no one did seem to know better.

I don't know how old she is or even what her real name is, but I'd guess she was born in the late 1950s or early 1960s and is about the same age as my father.  I tried doing a search to confirm her claims, but I was not able to.  Fortunately, some people in the comments left some clues.

In 1935, "The Explorer II reached a peak altitude of 72,395 ft. at 12:30 pm and remained there for 80 minutes.  This set a new world altitude record, and one that would last for nearly two decades.  The crew became the first humans to witness the curvature of the Earth."  Captain Albert W. "Stevens took along a camera to take pictures, including the first ever motion pictures shot from the stratosphere.  The collected data showed that the ozone in the upper atmosphere was effective at blocking most of the ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. It was also found that the percentage of oxygen at the peak altitude was about the same as that at sea level."

Also in 1935, French artist and astronomer Lucian Rudaux drew pictures of the Earth as seen from space that included an atmospheric veil.  They were included in the book "Larousse Encyclopedia of Astronomy".

In 1946 the first photograph of Earth from space was taken with a German V2 rocket that had been captured by the Americans.

Chesley Bonestell was an American painter who inspired the space program.  His 1953 painting "Conquest of the Moon" shows clouds on Earth.

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to fly in space in 1961.  23 days later, Alan Shepard became the first American to travel into space.

The first views of Earth from the Moon were taken in 1966.

In 2013, Gizmodo had an article called "How Artists Once Imagined the Earth Would Look from Space".

Secession

I wrote this on April 14, 2009:

I hear people say that states should have the right to leave the union, and I just don't think it would be appropriate for a state to leave for any small reason. The Constitution created a centralized government because of problems in the Articles of Confederation. I think if a state agrees to be part of the Union, then they have some obligations with that. We definitely need to swing back towards state power, but I just think we have to be careful about how far we push that. I think probably the Department of Education is the most pointless organization that the Federal government runs. There is also the related issue of whether states should be allowed to have separate moral policies.