pharyngula

I just got hit by a major wave of comment spam, and it took me while to puzzle out all the tools available in this MT system to purge them. I'm tinkering a little bit with comment settings to try and prevent it from happening again (tip: don't put lots of links in comments, because they will get…

[When I started this weblog, one of the hot topics in the Creationist Wars was Jonathan Wells, a Moonie who had trained as a developmental biologist and written a screed against evolutionary biology titled Icons of Evolution. This book purported to document serious flaws in some of the major…

Conservative religious groups are once again making grade school textbooks the battleground. In California, supremacists and revisionists are trying to make radical changes to kids' textbooks, inserting propaganda and absurd assertions that are not supported in any way by legitimate scholars. The…

Cory Doctorow visited the Nature offices, and gave what sounds like a very thought-provoking talk. It's all about the past and future of intellectual property, the net as a tool for creating relationships between authors and readers, and some odd legal maneuverings on the horizon.

Minnesotans are pretty smart, too. Read the letter to the Minnesota Daily by Alex Galaitsis; he gets it. It's written in response to a budding young he-said-she-said journalist who wrote a truly insipid article a few days ago.

…boy, they've got some smart college students down there.

Majikthise reports that an Australian couple has found a $295,000 lump of ambergris on a beach. Ambergris is cool stuff, so let me add to it's splendor by bringing up two scientific views of it. First, let's hear from the chemists: Since ancient times, ambergris has been one of the most highly…

Some good news first: Dembski gave a talk in Kansas. Kansas! You'd think they'd love him there, but his audience was better informed than you might expect, from the example of their elected Board of Education officials. Dembski, who may have been led to expect a warmer reception for his ideas—he…

I am so going to hell for linking to this. If you love Jesus, don't click on that. (via Stupid Evil Bastard)

The speakers for the science panel at the Yearly Kos convention have been announced, and they are Chris Mooney, some goofy guy named PZ, and Wendy Northcutt. We're going to Vegas! Since I only drink in moderation, never gamble, and the only showgirl I want to see is my wife (who will be coming…

First, a tiny bit of quantitative morphological data you can find in just about any comparative anatomy text: mammal number of vertebrae cervical thoracic lumbar sacral caudal horse 7 18 6 5 15-21 cow 7 13 6 5 18-20 sheep 7 13 6-7 4 16-18 pig 7 14-15 6-7 4 20-23 dog 7 13 7 3 20-23…

…for us readers. I can't even imagine how the organizers are coping. The latest category posted is Most Deserving of Wider Recognition, and there are 300 weblogs in there!

A few months ago, after learning that Bill Gates was giving money to the Cascadia branch of the Discovery Institute (which studies transportation issues in the Pacific Northwest), I wondered if the DI was as incompetent and delusional about transportation as evolution. Here's one answer—not…

Since I mentioned yesterday that penis size mattered, upon stumbling on this article about the horrific effects of a trematode infestation, I thought everyone might enjoy a grim and vivid picture of what trematodes can do to a poor, innocent mollusc. This is a photo of a trematode, or fluke.…

Leiter Reports has become a group blog. I hope the new guys have been thoroughly instructed in how to maintain the standards—I don't want to see that uncompromising irascibility diluted! Another new group blog has formed, Minvolved, focusing on Minnesota politics.

Alas, my daughter and I are big fans of Vonnegut's writing, but he's showing signs of losing it. He sounds terribly unhealthy on the radio, and his performance on the Daily Show a while back was depressing. This morning, Vonnegut was on NPR, and said scientists were defending evolution because of "…

Since Thursday, Wiley has been running a series of strips mocking bloggers. I'm beginning to feel opressed.

Carnival of the Godless #32 is available for reading. Once you've read through all that, there's also a somewhat interesting theistic point of view to consider. The author quotes Pascal: Let the skeptics first learn what religion is before attacking it. If religion boasted that it offered a clear…

The Koufax Award nominations are beginning to trickle out. The first ones up are the nominations for Best New Blog of 2005, and oh my, but there is a long, long list. You don't get to vote yet, though—they are wisely suggesting that you should take a little time to browse and make an informed…

I hate those commercials on cable TV for Enz*te, that fake "male enhancement" product that promises a "boost of confidence" for all the guys who take their little pill. I don't believe it, of course—it's probably a concoction of sawdust and rat droppings. But the phenomenon of male confidence as a…

It's true—Ken Ham has a whole team of expert fabricators working for him. We knew that all along, of course.

I have been informed of the existence of this device. Do not be fooled. It transforms an inelegant tube-shaped dense paste of chopped chordate parts into a crude, inaccurate semblance of that pinnacle of molluscan evolution, the cephalopod. What next? Will Steven Spielberg take a mound of…

When she's not making up stories about me, I've dragged Grrlscientist out to do some traditional midwestern things…like bowling. She has an interesting style—the fling-and-butt-flop, caught here on camera. You can see the position of the ball. It doesn't look like a strike to me. I do have more…

Lauren bails out.

Orson Scott Card has written a long essay defending Intelligent Design. Oy, but it is depressing. It's a graceless hash, a cluttered and confusing mish-mash of poorly organized complaints about those darned wicked "Darwinists". He lists 7 arguments. Then he repeats his list, expanding on them.…

That is not my picture, I'll have you know, and although last night's party was lightly attended, it was quite pleasant, with plenty of food and good conversation, and it went on until midnight. I had no idea how louche Grrlscientist was, though…I should have gotten a photo of her dancing on the…

DarkSyde has another of his Science Friday interviews on dKos—this time with the gang at Real Climate.

Another week, another Friday Random Ten. This one is playing right now, and poor grrlscientist can actually confirm that yeah, I listen to this stuff. Bergfäst (Mountain Haunted) Gjallarhorn Before The Night Is Over Gaelic Storm My Weakness Moby Hjaðningaríma Gjallarhorn I'm not worried…

This is fun—it's a proposal for remaking Inherit the Wind with the Dover case as its centerpiece. It's also a good overview of the events of the trial. (via Red State Rabble)

James Wolcott: Inside, a NY editorial titled 'Nuts!' begins with a little historical lesson explaining the cover line. "It may be the most famous one-word sentence in American military history, and it's time to dust it off after yesterday's pronouncement from Osama bin Laden: 'Nuts!' That's how…