pharyngula

Forgive the unlovely image conjured by the title, but it's true: Sylvia Browne is trying to shut down a critical website on the flimsiest of pretenses. It's good to see that she must be feeling some heat.

I have to ask the question because by all my usual measures of whether something is satire (criteria like excess, and advancement of stupidity that no one in their right mind would espouse), it ought to be regarded as a humor site. Having Pat Boone writing on science, for instance, ought to be a…

The Austin Atheist posted this strange documentary about life in Austin, Texas. I'm pretty sure this can't possibly be satire, but since I've never been to Austin, I could be wrong. Maybe it's a mistake, and this is actually a documentary about Orange County. Is there an Austin in California?

Greta Munger is now a full professor. I think that means she is required to wear the black robes and funny hat full time now.

OK, so should I just retire and hand over the keys to the blog to Skatje? She's taking over my territory now. Whippersnapper.

"Experts are scum." That's the amusing interpretation of Lore Sjöberg, and even better, Kieran Healy finds an entertaining example. I use Wikipedia fairly often, but it is not for anything with much depth or controversy—even fake controversy, like issues in evolution. And one serious difficulty (…

Are you a voice talent? Want to participate in an online drama? Sign up for a part in a podcast recreation of parts of the Dover trial. It should be fun, if you're into that kind of thing. I'm not volunteering, I'm afraid. I can't act, and I'm also afraid that the closest match to my voice would be…

Alan Sokal—who has a history of criticizing the irrational Left—and Chris Mooney—who has come down hard on the anti-science Right—have teamed up to write an op-ed that makes suggestions to keep both sides from falling into the same trap again. I think the root cause of the problem is that we have a…

At last, a science blogger who lives somewhere even more remote and colder than Morris.

Nic McPhee is looking for a solution to an odd problem: a bat died and rotted on some fine furniture, leaving a nasty protein residue. Give him some suggestions on how to clean wing of bat off wooden furniture. This might call for the expertise of a witch.

Scienceblogs are a hotbed of irreligiosity today. Besides my usual, expected, reflexive contumely (illegal in at least one state!), Aardvarchaeology is hosting the 59th Carnival of the Godless, and Revere rips into CNN's anti-atheist bias. Sample stupid quote: Listen, we are a Christian nation. I'm…

Pat Boone has another article on evolution in WingNutDaily. It does not disappoint in its off-the-scale stupidity. Just one paragraph is enough to tell you it's a waste of time. But in a fascinating book, John Myers' "Voices from the Edge of Eternity," we find the detailed personal account of Lady…

It took it's own sweet time about getting here, but it's finally winter in Morris. Daytime high of -10°F, and it's supposed to drop down to -25°F tonight. This is definitely stay-inside-and-snuggle-under-a-quilt weather.

For this ridiculous religion thing. Let's hear it for the smart young people who are starting to wake up:

We've been found out. We've been trying to pass as simple, innocent, law-abiding members of society, but insiders have spilled the beans: we evilutionists are actually murderous, deranged terrorists. Tens of thousands of French schools and universities have received copies of a Turkish book…

Here's a tragic story: a teacher convicted. The six-person jury Friday … convicted Amero, 40, of Windham of four counts of risk of injury to a minor, or impairing the morals of a child. It took them less than two hours to decide the verdict. She faces a sentence of up to 40 years in prison. Her…

Zeke is gone.

Reader Ted sent along a rebuttal to that pathetic evolution "simulation" written by a creationist—it's a much better simulation that was presented at TAM5, called IC Evolver. The simulation plays a simple game that has a strategy that can be encoded in strings, and it starts with a set of…

Atrios has declared today to be Blogroll Amnesty Day, a time to purge those tired old links to sites that you've always got up on your page, but that maybe contain a few blogs you've grown tired of, or lacks the sites that you've been browsing recently. It's a fine idea; if you feel like clearing…

You can't imagine how relieved I am to learn that. Somebody tell his publishers that they can stop sending out those royalty checks!

When will the Democrats learn? We are in an unpopular and failed war, and what a successful presidential candidate has to do is openly and uncompromisingly slam this unjust travesty and the incompetents who initiated it, yet Clinton and Edwards are enabling war fever, if not directly feeding it.…

…between one and twenty. Then go read this article on Cosmic Variance (although I think it was a mistake to reveal the answer in the first paragraph and the title, so I stole my approach from present simple).

While it's nice to have the Dilbonians* still whimpering and howling in frustration and fury, here's an even better testimonial to my talents: PZ, I'm sorry I slighted you. I now have seen the light. You lull your victims into a false sense of security by manifesting as a mild-mannered biology prof…

How embarrassing. You know the Bible 90%!   Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic! Ultimate Bible QuizCreate MySpace Quizzes Oh, well…Zeno did…

It's that time when universities get on their knees and beg the state for continuing support (hey, isn't that all the time?), and my colleague Pete Wyckoff gave some testimony at the Minnesota capitol the other day. It's good stuff that summarizes the financial dilemma students are facing…

Maybe I should plan on steering clear of the place—they do seem a little trigger-happy. The must-reads of the day are Bruce Schneier and Teresa Nielsen Hayden on the ridiculous over-reaction of the mayor and police in Boston to a trivial (if obnoxious) ad campaign.

Brent exposes an interesting Massachusetts law: Whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing…

Let's all catch up with the latest carnivals, shall we? Skeptics' Circle #53 Carnival of the Liberals #31 Carnival of Education #104 Friday Ark #124 Otherwise, a few long threads are sucking all the air out of this place. Say whatever you think, as long as it doesn't involve cartoon…

May your weekend be as fun as theirs. Loliginid squid mating Well, more fun, actually…these squid have a frenzied spawning, and then die. Don't go quite that far. Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.

That Dilbert guy, I don't envy at all. The Bad Astronomy guy, maybe a little bit. He's got a clip of his appearance with Penn and Teller now, in which he rebuts the moon landing conspiracy theorists. Of course, the real reason we know the moon landings were faked is that if they'd actually landed…