humor
oracknows | March 7, 2006After all the violence and controversy over the Danish cartoons about the Prophet Mohammed, why is nobody protesting this real blasphemy?
oracknows | March 7, 2006I'm a bit burned out from spending far more time than they deserve debunking the Geiers' bad science and even worse statistics; so today's blogging will tend towards lighter fare (and shorter posts). One thing I found recently via PharmaGossip is some rather compelling evidence in support of global warming. Just check below the fold.
Pretty compelling evidence, wouldn't you say?
pharyngula | March 6, 2006We're going to have to rethink all monotheistic religions, actually, since a study now proves the universe was created by a committee.
The most extensive analysis yet undertaken of the structure and contents of the universe conclusively proves the universe was created not by a single entity, as has been widely suggested, but by "a fractious and disorganized committee or committees given to groupthink and petty infighting", according to Drs. Karl Pootle and Yumble Frick, co-authors of the study. The analysis is expected to have profound implications on the theoretical underpinnings of many…
oracknows | March 5, 2006
So, what do you do when those pesky scientific facts won't line up with your beliefs, be they beliefs that evolution doesn't explain the diversity of life, that mercury causes autism, that global warming isn't happening, or whatever your faith-based scientific belief might be?
Click on the image, and White House Situational Science Advisor tells you exactly how to avoid such annoying conflicts.
Best quote: "Situational science is about respecting both sides of a scientific argument, not just the one supported by facts."
Heh.
grrlscientist | March 3, 2006
I was recently reminiscing about my winter vacation spent in Minnesota, so a friend sympathetically sent me this story (below).
Note: For those of you who don't know, I am blonde (Obviously! Who else other than a blonde who hates the cold would spend her winter vacation in Minnesota??), but this story is not about me because you all know that I do not believe there is a dog.
THE BLONDE AND THE LORD
A blonde wanted to go ice fishing. She'd read many books on the subject, and finally, after she collected all the necessary tools, she left for the ice. After carefully positioning her comfy…
pharyngula | March 2, 2006Never mind me, I'm running around with classes and meetings today…here are a few quick links.
The 29th Skeptics' Circle.
The Tildification of Norwegianity.
The Terry Writing Challenge—there's real money involved.
An in-depth interview with PZ Myers.
I and the Bird.
Intelligent Design subverts itself.
An example of the research promise of ID.
Don't trust the NIH.
The Carnival of the Liberals.
pharyngula | March 2, 2006In my talk on Tuesday, I suggested that if we really want to teach the controversy, we ought to put the Norse creation myth in our classes. I had no idea the plan would be so popular.
oracknows | February 28, 2006Although the images used are a bit out of date (for one thing, that looks like a first generation iPod on the box), this video is spot on hilarious.
Pray this never happens...
grrlscientist | February 28, 2006
The 23rd Qualm
Written by a retired minister,
sent to me by a reader.
Bush is my shepherd; I dwell in want.
He maketh logs to be cut down in national forests.
He leadeth trucks into the still wilderness.
He restoreth my fears.
He leadeth me down paths of international disgrace for his ego's sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of pollution and war,
I will find no exit, for thou art in office.
Thy tax cuts for the rich and thy media control,
they discomfort me.
Thou preparest an agenda of deception in the presence of thy religion.
Thou anointest my head with foreign oil.
My health…
oracknows | February 27, 2006Nonmedical people always seem to have a conception of surgery as being a particularly glamorous profession. So did I to some extent before I entered medical school, although my surgical rotations quickly disabused me of that impression. Somehow, working from 5 AM to 11 PM every day and several hours each day on the weekends, combined with the grunt work that had to be done, just didn't seem as all those medical shows. All one has to do is to spend a night in the emergency room draining perirectal abscesses to know how unglamorous surgery can be. Not that it mattered. Something about surgery…
oracknows | February 26, 2006Sent via e-mail:
Paris Hilton prepares for Mother Theresa role.
I almost choked on my ice tea when I read that. Please tell me this is a sick joke. It sure sounds like one, and certainly the source doesn't look particularly reliable. Even so...
(OK, OK, I know. Enough with the fluff. I'll start posting more about medicine--surgery, actually-- tomorrow and science after that.)
grrlscientist | February 26, 2006
Like most Americans, I was losing sleep because I realized that Dick Cheney was roaming the countryside, fully armed and seething with rage while inebriated, with the single-minded goal of murdering innocent domestic quail and guilty lawyers. But then a friend sent me to the Quail Hunting School. This is the same hunting school that Dick Cheney graduated from. The specific advantage of this particular hunting school is it teaches hunters how to do their dirty deeds under real life circumstances instead of under the utopian conditions of hunting while sober.
oracknows | February 26, 2006I've always kind of liked Spongebob Squarepants, although I had always wondered about his relationship with Patrick Star. Here's evidence that my suspicions may have been correct.
pharyngula | February 26, 2006Garry Trudeau has been on a roll lately—the BD story line has been affecting and sympathetic, and now and then, he comes out and slams unreason. There have been long stretches where it feels like he's phoning it in, but not so much recently.
grrlscientist | February 25, 2006
WASHINGTON, D.C. - A White House source stated that Congress is considering awarding Vice-President Dick Cheney the Medal of Freedom, the national highest civilian commendation, for his act of bravery in shooting an attorney.
The source was quoted to say "All Americans have wanted to shoot a lawyer at one time or another and Cheney actually had the balls to do it."
In a related story, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, which issues hunting licenses, said that it will start requiring hunters wishing to bag a lawyer to have the new "lawyer's stamp" on their hunting license. Currently…
oracknows | February 25, 2006Today, while I'm making fun of anti-Semitic idiocy coming out of Iran, perhaps I should stop being so upset over the free speech infringement that I've railed about regarding David Irving's three year sentence for Holocaust denial in Austria.
It turns out that he isn't really in prison, and his name isn't even David Irving.
(Hat tip to Andrew Mathis!)
oracknows | February 25, 2006You can't make stuff like this up. You really can't.
Did you know that Tom and Jerry are in reality a clever secret nefarious plot by the Jews?
That's what Professor Hassan Bolkhari, who teaches philosophy of art at Tabatabaei and Al-Zahra Universities in Iran and is a member of the Film Council of the Islamic Republic of Iran and a cultural advisor to the Iranian Education Ministry, asserts (if you understand the language, feel free to check out the original video here):
There is a cartoon that children like. They like it very much, and so do adults - Tom and Jerry.
[...]
Some say that this…
oracknows | February 24, 2006Those who've been regulars here for a while know that on Fridays and the weekends, I often (although not always) like to take a lighter approach with my posts and links. In that vein, I bring you a vision of what's become of Michael Jackson...