pharyngula

I'm still getting flamage from Dr Mike S. Adams' fans. This one just happened to tickle me, for some reason. I wonder if I can get that title engraved on my office door? YOUR WEB TREATMENT OF DR. ADAMS WAS DISCUSTING... OBVIOUSLY, YOUR REAL TITLE SHOULD BE "ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LEFTIST…

The cover of Time magazine highlights the current struggle: it's God vs. Science, or as I'd prefer to put it, fantasy vs. reality. I have mixed feelings about the story; on the one hand, it presents the theological sound in such a godawful stupid way that it gives me some hope, but on the other,…

Now this is cool: Just as sometimes humans are born with little tails, it seems that a few bottlenosed dolphins are born with vestiges of hindlimbs. The genetic toolbox for making limbs is all there, and sometimes it can get re-expressed, revealing these fascinating atavisms.

There will be no poll. It's presumptuous of me to even suggest coming up with a symbol for freethought, and seriously, this is a small corner of the internet, with a small subset of godless people, and the ones who'd respond to a poll would be such a tiny fraction of the possibilities that it would…

Don't ever claim that the little people can't influence the course of government. Don't assume that you need "credentials" or "knowledge" in order to make a difference. Read the inspiring story of the Unruhs and the South Dakota abortion ban. Leslee Unruh, a person with no legislative or medical…

A few carnival announcements: Carnival of Education #91 Friday Ark #111 Good planets are hard to find I know, it seems like we just had one, but it's coming up again: a new Tangled Bank on Wednesday, 8 November at Easternblot.net. Send links to science articles to PZ Myers or host@…

This is an excellent suggestion that ran in the Sydney Morning Herald. I agree…let's not, OK?

So...I'm on this chat room thingie. Anyone else want to join in? Is it more interesting if I say Mary and Skatje are there, too? I'm out of that madhouse now…time to go to the theater. We'll have to try it again sometime, but I suspect we're going to have to move to IRC to cope with the volume.

Richard Dawkins was interviewed in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, and whips out some of his standard 'arrogance'. Q Here are quotes about faith from two thoughtful Twin Cities clergy members. What is your response to each? The Rev. Greg Boyd, pastor of Woodland Hills Church in Maplewood: "I thirst…

Those funny guys at Uncommon Descent seem to have developed their new standard reply to charges that Jonathan Wells misrepresented Bill Ballard. They're demanding an apology from me for saying mean things about Wells because—get ready for it—Wells is accurately reporting his agreement with Ballard'…

This odd marine worm, Xenoturbella bocki, is in the news right now, and I had to look it up in Pechenik's Biology of the Invertebrates(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll) to remind myself of what it was. Here's the complete entry: Xenoturbella bocki This marine worm, first described in 1949 as an acoel…

The description of the end of the Hovind trial from the Pensacola News Journal can be found below the fold. Foolish little man. Pensacola evangelist and tax protester Kent Hovind winked at his wife and gave her a reassuring smile as he was led away to jail. Jo Hovind clutched the necktie he had…

Brian Flemming points out that Ted Haggard insists the biblical word on homosexuality is simple, and that the Bible says "They must be put to death." I'm not really into throwing rocks at people, but maybe I'd be willing to run the fried foods onna stick concession. Slacktivist offers a rather…

This easy chat room I tried out a while back is still idling along. It's mostly rather quiet, but now and then conversations get going. Anyway, just as another experiment, I'll be online tomorrow (Saturday) evening at 5pm Central time (that is, right around an hour ago, if you're reading this right…

Here's a point I've often seen made before, this time by Mike the Mad Biologist and Shakespeare's Sister: religion provides an important social outlet in small town America. It is the social network, the source of community activities, and an essential part of the people's identities. It's more…

You may have noticed that it was Halloween earlier this week, and I've got a few pictures of the cutest little squid dressed up as humans and cadging candy from people. Cephalopods are so clever! Who could resist hugging a cephalopod as cute as that? And then when you're in close, the arms wrap…

If it was before the age of 30, you are a bad, bad person and the government wants you to stop it. Does anyone else get the impression that these conservative Republican wankers are all virgins living in their parents' basements?

Argonauta nodosa hatchling Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.

In my review of the embryology of Jonathan Wells in PIGDID, I made a specific example of the abuse of a quote from Bill Ballard; I pointed out that he selectively edited the quote to completely distort Ballard's point in the cited paper, and used that to show how dishonest all of Wells' work was.…

Yet another interview with PZ Myers from Pharyngula is online now.

Ted Haggard is one of those people I genuinely despise. He's a major leader of a conservative evangelical organization, and as you can see in the clip below, he's a genuinely creepy, hypocritical, arrogant little man. He's changed now, though. Here's another clip of Haggard, being evasive and…

After 3 hours of deliberation, the jury found Kent Hovind and his wife GUILTY of tax fraud. Goodbye, 'Dr' Dino.

Coturnix finds a blog that is reviewing Seed magazine in a multi-part series. He seems pretty cool with it so far, but he hasn't reached that review of mine at the end of the last issue yet, though. I know it sounds so crass, since Seed Media is hosting this site, but it really is a good magazine—I…

As if you don't get enough of this guy PZ Myers on Pharyngula, now there's an interview with me up on Genetics and Health.

Eh, I don't think I really believe this, but since South Park thinks its funny to portray Richard Dawkins as a tasteless sodomite, it seems only fair to mention that the joke might have stung more if it had been applied to Ted Haggard. A gay man and admitted male escort claims he has had an…

Minnesotans have to choose between Mike Hatch (D) and Tim Pawlenty (R) for governor next week, and someone has noticed that Pawlenty ads have been lacking in substance…so they put together a helpful parody. I don't know, though—this could be a winning issue for Hatch. That kitten in the final…

There will be a wrap-up of the atheist symbol discussion tomorrow—I'll put up a post with the most popular options and invite people to defend them—but until then, savor this amusing artwork. (No, it's not a serious contender, it's just funny!)

The Hovind court case will be having final arguments today, but it's pretty much over. Defense lawyers for Kent and Jo Hovind rested their case on Wednesday without presenting evidence or calling witnesses. Closing arguments are scheduled to begin at 8:30 a.m. today. The Hovinds' fate then will be…

Well, I thought I was done with Mike S. Adams, but I keep getting sucked back in. I was asked by the University Register, our weekly campus newspaper, to submit an editorial on Adams' talk last week. "Sure," I said, and whipped out eleven hundred words. You can read them in situ in the online…

I caught most of South Park tonight, and it certainly was topical: it wasn't so much about evolution as it was RIchard Dawkins and The God Delusion. Unfortunately, as South Park seems to do whenever I see it, there wasn't much thought behind it at all. Richard Dawkins is made to have sex with Mr…