Search
Profile
PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
• a longer profile of yours truly
• my calendar
• Nature Network
• RichardDawkins Network
• facebook
• MySpace
• Twitter
• Atheist Nexus
• the Pharyngula chat room
(#pharyngula on irc.synirc.net)
I reserve the right to publicly post, with full identifying information about the source, any email sent to me that contains threats of violence.
Random Quote
As it happens, Josephus, who mentions John the Baptist, does not mention Jesus. There is, to be sure, a paragraph in his history of the Jews which is devoted to Jesus, but it interrupts the flow of the discourse and seems suspiciously like an afterthought. Scholars generally believe this to have been an insertion by some early Christian editor who, scandalized that Joesphus should talk of the period without mentioning the Messiah, felt the insertion to be a pious act.
[Isaac Asimov, Asimov's Guide To The Bible ISBN 0-517-34582-X]
Recent Posts
- Our illness is their profit
- Friday Cephalopod: NUMBERLESS HOSTS!
- Dear Jezebel
- There Will Be Blood?
- Zooming in on the Origin of Life Science Foundation
- Friday Cephalopod: Feasibility trial successful
- Making excuses
- More bad science in the literature
- An open letter to the Indiana legislature
- One Carnival of Evolution, coming right up
A Taste of Pharyngula
Recent Comments
- Zaki Aminu on More bad science in the literature
- 'Tis Himself, OM on More bad science in the literature
- Amphiox, OM on Zooming in on the Origin of Life Science Foundation
- Zaki Aminu on More bad science in the literature
- Zaki Aminu on More bad science in the literature
- Zaki Aminu on More bad science in the literature
- Amphiox, OM on More bad science in the literature
- Zaki Aminu on More bad science in the literature
- Zaki Aminu on More bad science in the literature
- Zaki Aminu on More bad science in the literature
Archives
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
- January 2008
- December 2007
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
Blogroll
Other Information
« Our War on Christmas | Main | Every time someone tells a lie, Richard von Sternberg feels a thrill »
More articles by PZ Myers can be found on Freethoughtblogs at the new Pharyngula!
As long as we're getting all Christmassy...
Category: Humor
Posted on: December 17, 2006 12:06 PM, by PZ Myers
TrackBacks
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://scienceblogs.com/mt/pings/28428
Leave a comment
HTML commands: <i>italic</i>, <b>bold</b>, <a href="url">link</a>, <blockquote>quote</blockquote>
Comments
Posted by: Damon B. | December 17, 2006 12:11 PM
I much prefer it phrased:
THE AXIAL TILT OF THE EARTH IS THE REASON FOR THE SEASON
Posted by: bPer | December 17, 2006 12:29 PM
That image represents the summer solstice.
Posted by: waldteufel | December 17, 2006 12:33 PM
bPer is exposed as a hemispherist!
It's only the summer solstice if you live in the
northern hemisphere . . . .
Posted by: bPer | December 17, 2006 12:39 PM
Oh, piss off. I know perfectly well that that is the case. Myers is an American, and I was addressing the comment to him. But if it will make you happy, let's just say that it is the incorrect image for the upcoming solstice. Happy now?
Posted by: Russell | December 17, 2006 12:53 PM
Actually, that image represents two Martian death beams ridding the world of Sardinia and Namibia, presumably because the Martian jaw has a difficult time with names that end in -ia.
;-)
Posted by: Cathy in Seattle | December 17, 2006 1:40 PM
That's brilliant! I don't know whether to forward that to my Astronomy, Philosophy, or Religion professor....
Posted by: Jim in STL | December 17, 2006 1:56 PM
Who will be this year's Grand Martial of the Precession of the Equinoxes? For some reason I'm thinking elfin.
Posted by: hal | December 17, 2006 2:05 PM
So, do we need another poster or bumper sticker, depicting alignment for the ... other ... solstice? And do we need to swap them off every six months?
Posted by: bPer | December 17, 2006 2:43 PM
I considered trying to fix it, but simply rotating the image to the proper angle would mess up the shading, so I think it is best left to the original artist to fix.
As for the June solstice, are there places where it is celebrated? Maybe in the southern hemisphere, where it represents the shortest day of the year? In these parts, nobody but us astronomers seem to care, so there's no "reason for the season" - season meaning celebration in this context.
Posted by: windy | December 17, 2006 3:21 PM
As for the June solstice, are there places where it is celebrated?
Well, duh. Try Finland, Sweden or the Baltic states around Midsummer. Then there's the modern Stonehenge celebrations and a lot of other stuff elsewhere. Isn't the longest day much more fun to celebrate than the shortest, anyway?
But there is not much need for a midsummer solstice sticker due to lack of controversy about the 'reason for the season' at least in Northern Europe. There was that 'birthday of John the Baptist' pretense for a while but it's all but forgotten. Everyone knows the true meaning of Midsummer is to get drunk and perhaps burn some shit... 'Tilt of the axis is the reason for the tilt of the bottle'?
Posted by: lo | December 17, 2006 5:51 PM
Can someone explain how this is funny?
I mean a good joke is something that is so absurd and so over-exaggerated that one just cracks up.
Posted by: bPer | December 17, 2006 6:39 PM
windy said, regarding my question about June solstice celebrations:
Thanks! I wasn't aware that Midsummer was such a big thing in Scandinavia. One more reason to visit someday.
As for Stonehenge, my understanding is that that is a Druid thing, and considered as little more than a curiosity by the general public in Britain. Is that the case? When I asked the question, I was thinking of a general celebration like Christmas or Midsummer.
I wouldn't say so. First off, as an amateur astronomer, the summer solstice marks the shortest night of the year. That cuts into my observing time, and makes for some very late nights. As a northerner, it marks the end of spring - the climb out of winter darkness and barrenness - and the beginning of the long slide back into winter. For me, the winter solstice has always been way more meaningful and joyful - the days will start getting longer again, and in the meantime, I can observe starting right after supper.
Posted by: JS | December 17, 2006 8:32 PM
It's not really a 'big thing' - at least not in Denmark. But by the end of June, the holidays have just started for most schoolchildren, so it's a good time to take a quiet day at home, and end it by gathering the local community, building a big fire and listen to some local dignitarian give a speech while the sun goes down.
A quaint custom that hasn't been quite as commercialised as Christmas, Easter or Haloween... My hypothesis is that it's too close to the 4th of july to be marked in the US, leaving the chief driver in the commercialisation of Haloween and Christmas out of the equation. The 4th of July, after all, is not really exportable...
- JS
Posted by: Tim McCormack | December 17, 2006 9:37 PM
@lo: It is funny because of the phrase "Christ is the reason for the season."
Posted by: Keanus | December 17, 2006 10:19 PM
But where's the turtle?
Posted by: dkary | December 17, 2006 11:41 PM
A week ago I received this one as a holiday card from an old friend of mine. My wife and daughter had just been grumping at each other over something when they heard me burst out laughing in the next room. I brought the card in and showed them what it said. My wife started laughing right away (we're both astronomy teachers) and as soon as we explained what "axial" meant my daughter got it too. It brightened up the whole morning for us.
Now, isn't that what a holiday card should do?
Posted by: Loren Petrich | December 18, 2006 1:52 AM
Consider:
Newgrange Megalithic Passage Tomb Ireland, 3000 BCE
Dowth Megalithic Passage Tomb Ireland, 3000 BCE
Maeshowe Orkney Islands, 3000 BCE
Stonehenge England, 3000-2000 BCE
Chichen Itza Yucatan Peninsula, 1000 CE
Lunar Markings on Fajada Butte, Chaco Canyon, New Mexico 1000 CE
All these structures have winter-solstice alignments, suggesting that the structures' builders considered that event very worth marking out.
And notice how celebrations like Xmas, Hanukkah, and Diwali involve lights -- the sort of thing that is in short supply at the Winter Solstice.
And notice how Xmas trees are evergreens -- they do not look like they've died, as deciduous trees do.
Posted by: windy | December 18, 2006 5:58 AM
JS wrote: It's not really a 'big thing' - at least not in Denmark.
Yes, I think it's a bit different over there :)
A quaint custom that hasn't been quite as commercialised as Christmas, Easter or Haloween...
I was going to comment on whether a holiday has to be commercialised to be a 'big thing' - but then I realized that actually the sales of alcohol and 'barbequables' go up to astronomical figures here on Midsummer week, so I can't really claim it's not commercialized :)
Posted by: SEF | December 18, 2006 7:08 AM
Here's something I came across a while back, linking the Jesus story to ancient sun/zodiac myths (NB there's quite a lot of it):
http://members.cox.net/deleyd/religion/index.htm
Posted by: Carlie | December 18, 2006 8:03 AM
The 4th of July, after all, is not really exportable...
So, then, do the other countries skip from the 3rd straight to the 5th? Must be hell on the FedEx estimated arrival dates...