Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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People have suffered and become insane for centuries by the thought of eternal punishment after death. Wouldn't it be better to depend on blind matter (…) than by a god who puts out traps for people, invites them to sin, and allows them to sin and commit crimes he could prevent. Only to finally get the barbarian pleasure to punish them in an excessive way, of no use for himself, without them changing their ways and without their example preventing others from committing crimes.
[Baron d'Holbach, "Systeme de la Nature" (1770)]
Evolution of alcohol synthesis
A quick reply to some of the arguments made recently
Symmetry breaking and genetic assimilation
Upstream plasticity and downstream robustness in evolution of molecular networks
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Category: Carnivals • Open Thread
Posted on: September 1, 2006 9:05 AM, by PZ Myers
We have another bumper crop of carnivals this week:
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Comments
How clueless can you get?
Posted by: quork | September 1, 2006 9:45 AM
I am not suggesting that any of the dear bloggers here have anything to hide, but you might be just honest businessman--if that exists--and not want your business plan to be discovered.
So, be careful with your old cellphone!
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-8/1157002091148600.xml&coll=1
" Selling your old phone once you upgrade to a fancier model can be like handing over your diaries. All sorts of sensitive information pile up inside our cell phones, and deleting it may be more difficult than you think.
A popular practice among sellers, resetting the phone, often means sensitive information appears to have been erased. But it can be resurrected using specialized yet inexpensive software found on the Internet.
A company, Trust Digital of McLean, Va., bought 10 different phones on eBay this summer to test phone-security tools it sells for businesses. The phones all were fairly sophisticated models capable of working with corporate e-mail systems.
Curious software experts at Trust Digital resurrected information on nearly all the used phones, including the racy exchanges between guarded lovers."
Posted by: bernarda | September 1, 2006 11:06 AM
A few years ago, I went to a magic show (Fusion, http://www.fusionshow.com/pamelaNajera.html) in Reno with my family. One of the cast members is Pamela Najera, who invited us to visit her website. So, I did...
Layers of Light International.
Has anyone else heard of this complete tripe??
https://www.2lolii.com/PamelaNajera/
A preview:
"Optimum living starts with the free flow of energy throughout your being. Layers of Lights' products focus on achieving sympathetic resonance with Truth and Peace within. From a center of Peace...all else follows. Once your energy is organized then your entire body and mind becomes stronger. Your balance, coordination, flexibility, coordination, endurance, mental clarity and focus all improve measurably. In fact, results are felt immediately."
Um, okay. That sounds rational. Not.
Posted by: MikeM | September 1, 2006 12:52 PM
wow, coordination gets improved twice as much as everything else?
Posted by: moonflake | September 1, 2006 1:11 PM
Okay, I have a story.
I'm walking across the university campus, and I see a crowd gathered around an open square/plaza/thing. I stop to see what's going on. A woman with crazy hair and a long dress shouts in a threatening voice, "So give your life to Jesus! A loving God!" She carries a Bible under her arm.
She sounds so unhinged that I think this is a parody. Then I see a man, wearing a gigantic sign: "Adulterers, fornicators, atheists, [a dozen other nouns], HELL AWAITS YOU!" The juxtaposition of "loving God" with "HELL AWAITS YOU!" is perfect in every way. It would have been funny if the two Christians weren't so serious.
A calm, articulate college student is talking to the man with the sign. "You see, if there were a god, we would expect some sort of observable evidence that this god exists. But I have seen no evidence in my life whatsoever to even suggest that there is an invisible god or a guy named Jesus."
If I hadn't had class, I totally would have stayed longer. As it was, I simply flashed a thumbs-up to the college student and continued on my way.
I love college. Such a wonderful exchange of ideas.
Posted by: j | September 1, 2006 4:24 PM
Miss Knotts may not have heard about the hundreds of scientists who have been switching to creationism after their research has led them to the conclusion that the Earth had to have been created by an intelligent being.
I think she's supposed to say "intelligent design" instead of "creationism".
To wit:
"Intelligent design means that various forms of life began abruptly through an intelligent agency, with their distinctive features already intact. Fish with fins and scales, birds with feathers, beaks, wings, etc."
That quote was from a famous intelligent design textbook. (By the way, I think that quote is referring to the fancy scientifical theory called the "Cambrian explosion" where everything was "poofed" in about two or three days or so.)
Posted by: 386sx | September 1, 2006 4:38 PM
Pope lends credibility to fraud
Posted by: quork | September 1, 2006 4:56 PM
These comments seem to have drifted in from other threads, but I do want to remind people that there's another carnival 'this week.' (I use 'baseball time' where the week starts on Monday.) That is this biweekly installment of
CARNIVAL OF THE GODLESS.
Posted by: Prup aka Jim Benton | September 2, 2006 9:50 AM
---
Atheism of big powers is root cause of man's plight
Or so says President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran.
Posted by: quork | September 2, 2006 4:32 PM
More on atheism, science
What makes her think that the atheistic claim is a priori, rather than an appropriate conclusion based on the lack of evidence? Why does she arbitrarily decide that the agnostic claim that the existence of god(s) is not knowable is not a priori?
*Yawn* - at least her address is appropriate.
Posted by: quork | September 2, 2006 4:41 PM
Supserstition is adaptive
Posted by: quork | September 5, 2006 1:19 PM