pharyngula

Rats, I have to miss it again. The Twin Cities Creation Science wackos are buggering up science and children's education again this weekend with a Creation Pseudo-Science Fair at the Har-Mar Mall, which will be temporarily renamed the Har-Har-Hardy-Har Mall in their honor. I'll be back in…

I previously mentioned that the Science Museum in London is peddling quackery — they have exhibits that purportedly present nonsense like homeopathy and acupuncture as reasonable potential alternative treatments for some people. Since then, the Science Museum strove pitifully to cover their butts…

I'd almost consider retiring to Florida, just for the marine life, except that by the time I retire the state will probably be underwater, and all the marine life exterminated by careless tourists in expensive boats. At least now you can occasionally spot the splendid blanket octopus out for a swim…

I have received a request for volunteers to assist as subjects in a research project. I was disappointed; there are no exotic drugs, no catheters, no insane experimental surgeries that will turn you into a super-being with surprising powers beyond all mortal ken, but the fellow did manage to spell…

I'm doing some morning travel today, and won't be able to access the interwebberies until this afternoon, so I'm closing the perpetual thread instance a little bit prematurely — this never happens, he said. To compensate for the horrible awful stinky video in the previous thread, here's something…

I am very excited about this new technological development. The pope has blessed an iPhone app to help you figure out what to say in confession. I'm not at all interested in throwing away a whole $1.99 on it, but what's interesting is the potential. Next: an app for priests to guide them in the…

Once upon a time, everyone trembled in fear at the thought of antagonizing the Church of $cientology. Everyone knew their response to any criticism would be heavy-handed and unconscionable, and that they'd harrass you persistently if you ended up on their enemies list. That's changing, though, and…

Albert Mohler, that deluded Baptist zealot, has written an analysis of the New Atheism that puts evolution front and center. I actually sort of agree with him — these New/Gnu Atheists are predominantly scientific atheists who consider scientific explanations to be far better and more satisfying and…

While I can agree with much of their philosophy, the phallocentric attitude of this new religion of dudeism is unacceptable, so I can't really endorse them. Although I do hear that their prayer rugs really tie the room together.

Homeopaths have another opportunity to get rich quick: all they have to do is show that it works, and Randi will give them a million dollars. This is what Randi demands: Randi issued a one-million-dollar challenge to the manufacturers of homeopathic products to prove their claims, and challenged…

I have learned that AOL is buying the Huffington Post, which is an act of compounding irrelevancies. AOL was a joke (something about landfills full of shiny disks) ten years ago; the Huffington Post started with a flake running the show and has descended to capitalizing on celebrity sleaze, and is…

It was! We had salmon for dinner tonight, which must have inspired this choice. (via National Geographic)

The battle is over, you godless chattering monkeys, and it wasn't our reasoned arguments or our ferocious onslaught on religious institutions that finally led to the collapse of Christianity. The War on Religion was won by this video: Game over, man. Game. Over. (Current totals: 11,831 entries…

Justice in the UK apparently regulates all kinds of things. The 41 year-old had been in a relationship with a man whom he lived with and told officials "it would make me feel happy" for it to continue. But his local council decided his "vigorous sex drive" was inappropriate and that with an IQ of…

For a moment there, I was worried. Here I was, putting the readership to work writing a best seller based on the magic power of pope guts, and then Charles Stross, a real writer, writes up his own treatment based on the same premise. Fortunately, he has also announced he will not write it. But man…

Of course the Founding Fathers rode dinosaurs! How could they not? If it was awesome, and riding dinosaurs is always awesome, then it had to have happened in the Tea Party History of the World.

It's astonishing how regressive Republicans can be. Would you believe the Minnesota Republicans think women are worth less than men, and are willing to pass legislation legalizing that view? Minnesota Republicans have introduced legislation that would repeal the 1984 Local Government Pay Equity Act…

Last week, I made a post criticizing poor atheist arguments, and in particular, citing atheists who fall back on the limp crutch of the dictionary to justify their beliefs. This made many people upset. I have been named idiot of the week for failing to understand the meaning of atheism, and I've…

Jerry Coyne has made a strong observation, and is also hinting at an alternative, about the way the AAAS panders to religion. Once again, they're having a session at the national meeting in February dedicated to the accommodationist view, with a one-sided slate of speakers all preaching about the…

Really, we don't need them, but the best ones can be amusing. Evolution Made Us All from Ben Hillman on Vimeo.

Bill Nye the Science Guy, humanist of the year, science educator and entertainer, and all-around interesting fellow, apparently stopped briefly at the Creation "Museum" to take a quick picture of the exterior, and then moved on. How do we know? Ken Ham was watching. Bill Nye ("The Science Guy" of…

Way back in October, I told you we were trying to hire a new cell biologist. We had a very successful search, found a whole lot of brilliant candidates, and then brought a few of them out for interviews, where they shone like stars and dazzled us with their potential…and then they all turned down…

I am descended from Vikings, and I try to bring that wild-eyed berserkergang ferocity to blogging. But have you ever seen Swedes cook? YEEEEAAAAAH! That's the way to do it. You should have seen me this morning, when I was preparing the vegetable soup that will be simmering all day for our dinner…

The other day, this comic was posted on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal. Would you believe those crazy conservatives at the National Organization for Marriage — those blinkered bozos who think letting gays marry will destroy the fabric of society — posted it on their forums? It's rather strange…

It's like messages raining down from everywhere all the time…what's one more? (Current totals: 11,818 entries with 1,268,150 comments.)

So, you know, I had this idea for a novel. I started it, but I've since discovered that jewel-like prose and engaging story-telling is a little bit hard, and when I couldn't finish the whole thing over lunch, I've sort of given up. But then I had another brilliant idea! I'll put up the first…

What an odd news item: there is a rule that the Pope can't be an organ donor. My first thought was ick — he's rather decrepit, and if I ever require an organ transplant, I'd rather the source were a young, stupid motorcyclist who doesn't wear a helmet. The Catholics have other reasons, though.…

Nicely done: Ethan Siegel explains how we know that stuff is getting spontaneously created all the time. It's no miracle, it requires no magic man in the sky, particle/anti-particle pairs just pop into existence constantly. The real miracle would be getting William Lane Craig to comprehend this…