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« Darwin's God and the problem of Civil War reenactments | Main | Really, it's just the blink of an eye on a geological scale »

Yes, I will be HALF A CENTURY OLD tomorrow

Category: Personal
Posted on: March 8, 2007 6:42 PM, by PZ Myers

As of 7:07AM Pacific time on 9 March, that is. I expect everyone to write me a poem in celebration. To start you all off, Richard Dawkins has set an example.

Don't give me that cross-eyed look. It is not unusual that I inspire poetry, I'll have you know.

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Comments

#1

Happy Birthday PZ.
May dodgy poetry rain upon you throughout this day.

Posted by: Technicolour Jorn | March 8, 2007 6:49 PM

#2

A poem? What the hell rymes with pharyngula? I don't even know how to pronouce it.

Happy B-day anyway!

Posted by: Tony Popple | March 8, 2007 6:52 PM

#3

Thats half a century YOUNG, you pessimist! ;)

Oh, and happy birthday!

Posted by: Aaron Kinney | March 8, 2007 6:52 PM

#4

And as a birthday present the US Mint looks to have turned secular for you. Many (more) happy returns.

Posted by: Hamish | March 8, 2007 6:56 PM

#5

Happy Birthday! Just for you I've put together a six part review of The God Delusion. Enjoy.


Deep in Chopra

Posted by: Deep in Chopra | March 8, 2007 6:58 PM

#6

Happy Birthday PeeZee.

Davescott and Billy D send their regards. also.

0_o

Rich

Posted by: Rich | March 8, 2007 7:04 PM

#7

I don't know how to dress this up
To be as good as Dawkins-

Yikes! to dress it up at all
I'd probably need eight stockins

Happy birthday anyway
PZ, up there in Morris

I've got to go back to my space-
Signed respectfully. Horace.

Posted by: suffenus | March 8, 2007 7:07 PM

#8

Science gains new friends;
Woo, defeated, walks the plank.
Let's cheer Darwin's squid!

Happy birthday!

Posted by: Pete | March 8, 2007 7:09 PM

#9

What a coincidence. I was just writing a nice Limerick for PZ... (it's on my site, and Dawkins too)

Posted by: Greg Laden | March 8, 2007 7:09 PM

#10

We could do a chain poem.

I'll start:

There once was a blogger, PZ...

Posted by: CalGeorge | March 8, 2007 7:11 PM

#11

There once was a man who loved squid
But not just to eat, no, forbid!
PZ was his name
Science was his game
And godless was he, most avid.

Happy birthday, PZ! (*sound a kazoo makes*)

Posted by: Stacy | March 8, 2007 7:11 PM

#12

There once was a man named Myers
Who was told he'd burn in Hell's fires
But he did his research
And he soon left his church
Revealing the rest to be liars

Happy Birthday PZ!

Posted by: Magpie | March 8, 2007 7:11 PM

#13

Happy Birthday, PZ! I know I'd be going crazy ninja if Richard Dawkins wrote a poem for me on my birthday.

Posted by: Tyler DiPietro | March 8, 2007 7:12 PM

#14

He's quite obsessed with squid,
And working hard to rid
The world of all false gods
(Though none are real, you sods.)
So bloggers worldwide said
"Happy Birthday, PZ"
(Except those in the States.)
Pharyngula relates
Octopus sex -- nifty!
Congrats, you reached fifty.
But take care for I fear
The end of days is near
Thor will soon be smiting
The heretic here writing.
Until that sad moment
You have time to repent.

I wish you'd given me some actual time to come up with a poem that doesn't suck. Oh well. Happy birthday anyhow.

Posted by: wolfa | March 8, 2007 7:17 PM

#15

Squid in white snow drift,
cephalopod of the north.
PZ slays dragons.

Posted by: RBH | March 8, 2007 7:20 PM

#16

Alas, only a brit could rhyme Pharyngula with "singular".

Posted by: Siamang | March 8, 2007 7:21 PM

#17

There once was a prof name of Myers
Who threatened the ivory-like spires
Of grand fundy churches
Who cried: His science besmirches!
But Myers has the brains it requires.

Hmm..Not quite.

There once was a man of biology
Who taught without e'er an apology
The fundys attacked
But found themselves smacked
By logical reasoned morphology.

I'll get back to you....
Happy Birthday!

Posted by: ellroon | March 8, 2007 7:22 PM

#18

There was an old Prof named PZ,
Who liked creatures that came from the sea,
His fondness for squid,
Disturbed many a kid,
Yet his beard caused nothing but glee.

There once was a heathen named Myers,
To whose standards one only aspires,
At a credulous nit,
He'd unfurl his wit,
His patience does not include liars.

A biology prof, name of Paul,
Had no time for religion at all,
He amusingly boasts,
Of biblical roasts,
And wiping qu'rans on his ball(s)!

There once was a chap, name of Zach,
Who's atheist leanings weren't slack,
To creationist fools,
He'd whip out his tools,
Of reason and give them a whack.

There was a prof from Minnesota,
Who's modest and not a base gloater,
Yet he clearly took pride,
In his leathery hide,
Which repelled many creationist floater.

Enough?

I think so.

Happy Birthday PZ.

Louis

Posted by: Louis | March 8, 2007 7:25 PM

#19

I'll take that up.

There once was a blogger PZ,
Who went to a snowdrift to pee
His intelligent mind
made up a design
'twas the likeness of Doctor Behe!

Posted by: siamang | March 8, 2007 7:25 PM

#20

So PZ's no longer as rad
As when he was a nerdly lad
The news isn't completely sad
At least he's still Skatje's dad

Posted by: Steviepinhead | March 8, 2007 7:31 PM

#21

Birthday Haiku for PZ Meyers:

PZ is fifty
pity the brain died at nine
old, stupid asshole

Posted by: Yee Haw! | March 8, 2007 7:32 PM

#22

There was an old geezer named Pharyng
Whose temper had everyone staryng.
When he reached 50 years,
He drank 50 beers,
Which left his bath plumbing despairyng.

Happy Big Round One'

Bob C

Posted by: Bob Carroll | March 8, 2007 7:33 PM

#23

Achtung!

Hey I chust flew in from zee Vatican, and Boy are my pectoral muscles tired!

You vill all now all pay attention, Ja?
Don't make me invade Poland again...

I proclaim that PZ is a real saint, and a pretty good guy, for an atheist - and that's no Papal Bull!

Happy Effing Birthday Herr Doctor Myers

Posted by: Pope Sturbanfuher Benedict | March 8, 2007 7:35 PM

#24

As a pedagague You ain't no slob The author of Pharyngula. Happy Birthday to PZ Homo Sapien most singular.

Posted by: Bruce Breece | March 8, 2007 7:47 PM

#25

Roses Are Red
Violets Are Blue
This poem for PZ's Birthday
Isn't Very Good

Posted by: Grep Agni | March 8, 2007 7:52 PM

#26

YAAAAAAAAY!

There once was a sci-prof from Morris,
Whos blog tended to preach to the chorus.
But with steel-toed boots,
and brass knuckles too,
He hammers creationists for us!

Thanks for all the inspiration and encouragement, PZ!!!!! Happy birthday!

Posted by: ERV | March 8, 2007 7:55 PM

#27

Hey, PZ, I'm exactly five days older than you are. Junior.

Posted by: ACW | March 8, 2007 7:57 PM

#28

Happy Birthday PZ. It is the 9th 00:56am in Scotland. Suprised you still remember the time you where born. Do you still have your birthday certificate? Is the time on it?

Posted by: Steven | March 8, 2007 7:58 PM

#29

Raised arms - one squid
and five octopodes - pay
tentacle homage.

Posted by: clheiny | March 8, 2007 8:00 PM

#30

Your old, your old
You wear your trousers rolled.

Posted by: James Brown | March 8, 2007 8:07 PM

#31

ID is dead,
Hovind is blue
You've taught us to read
and be skeptical too.

So, have a Happ, Happ, Happy Birthday, and thank you Dr. Myers

Posted by: J-Dog | March 8, 2007 8:08 PM

#32

The master of sci blog Pharyngula,
Said of his obsession quite singular,
"Creationist asses
Keep me from my classes
And I must focus on things curricular!"

P.S. Now I wonder how Richard Dawkins found out about this little soiree...?

Posted by: Phil Plait | March 8, 2007 8:15 PM

#33

I am exactly one year and one day younger than you.

There once was a something called God
Whose ontological status was odd
It couldn't be seen
Wasn't heavy or green
And left Myers profoundly un-awed.

Posted by: mtraven | March 8, 2007 8:20 PM

#34

Wow, Dawkins doggerel ain't half bad.

To the guy who brightens my morns
Much better than browsing through porn
He makes me spit coffee
While I cheer on his moxy
So I'll celebrate the day he was born!

Terrible. Simply terrible. :)

Posted by: Ric | March 8, 2007 8:22 PM

#35

You youngsters always have to hog the limelight, don't you? Nobody wrote poetry for my 51st. But since it seems to be the thing:

You are the very model of a modern biological
You've information vegetable, animal and logical
You know the ways of genomes and can list developmentical
From zygote to fifth instar you can tell if it's pharyngical
You're very well acquainted too with things creatonistical
And understand the politics of matters atheistical
About intelligent design you're teeming with the critical
With many snarky things to say about the hypocritical

You're very good at deconstructing neocon rhetoricus
You know the names of pundits who are seen to be ridiculous
In short, in matters vegetable, animal and logical
You are the very model of a modern biological

You know the mythic history of religious intransigents
You answer hard apologetics offered by evangelists
You quote the sci-en-tific liter-a-ture very concisely
And give out so students can admire you actions wise-ly
You can tell a proper explanation from a sketch miraculous
You know the physiology that goes along with baculus
You can hum the Internationale while dealing with the credulous
And love for reasons unknown all the shapes of things mollusculous

Then you can write a blog from which all the laity can be taught
And mess with people's minds by showing them they don't know what they thought
When others make it harder or just try to further fabulate
And when they use religion over science to regurgiate
The dogmas of an early age we progressed by last century
You treat them with derision or project the penitentiary
In short, when you encounter ignorant epistemology
You say that we had better all rehearse the real biology.

For your scientific knowledge, though you're feisty and all generous,
Though broad and full of clarity, is but part of your ingenious
Recall of matters vegetable, animal and logical.
You are the very model of a modern biological.

Posted by: John Wilkins | March 8, 2007 8:22 PM

#36

There once was a biologist named Myers

Of Design and creationists he tires

Of evodevo and Hox he 'xplains like no other

but it's cephalopods he truly desires

Happy BDay!

Posted by: CJ | March 8, 2007 8:26 PM

#37

Scarcely rhythmic doggerel:

Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni came out of the deep,
And roused his Architeuthid friends from their delightful sleep.
"We've hid away for centuries," the beast then rumbled loudly,
"But for dear PZ's fiftieth, we mollusca show up proudly!"

How'd I do?

Posted by: Poseidon | March 8, 2007 8:31 PM

#38

There once was a cephalopodophiliac
With penchant for the psychodiliac
He stoutly denied God,
While blogging unshod,
And a pain in the creationists sacroiliac.

Posted by: Brett | March 8, 2007 8:31 PM

#39

Ain't it nifty,
PZ's fifty!
(But at fifty-three
I'm older than he.)

Happy day and many more.

Posted by: Faithful Reader | March 8, 2007 8:38 PM

#40

Well I'm not a poet, and I know it, but here goes!

readin' PZ
is really easy
I like this blog
more than I like my dog
(true that)
it's better than my cat

it has a name I can't pronounce
but his words I can't denounce
cuz he knows what he's talkin' 'bout
and with me his thoughts have clout

Happy Birthday PZ!


Posted by: abeja | March 8, 2007 8:53 PM

#41

Happy 50th PZ! :)

Posted by: Heather S. | March 8, 2007 8:57 PM

#42

Three cheers for the prof named Myers,
The scourge of evolution-deniers.
With science and wits
He gives IDiots fits
And shows them all to be liars.

Friends and family call him PeeZee
But for me that's never been easy.
To Brits and Canucks
It's PeeZed - that sucks!
So it's Professor or Doctor from me, see?

Fifty times you've whizzed 'round Sol
(See - astronomy's fun after all!)
Tomorrow's your day
Par-tay all the way!
Saturday we expect a tell-all!


So, it turns out I'm 195 days your senior. And here I've thought I should respect my elder. No more! ;-)

Have a good one, and many more to come!

Posted by: bPer | March 8, 2007 8:58 PM

#43

PZ's a fortudinous being
Who challenges folks that agreeing
Just because THEY think so,
That they truly know;
Thus to others his memes are quite freeing.

Evidence is key to his thought.
Is there some or is there not?
If so, use your noggin
Instead of just bloggin':
Use brain: don't let it just rot.

Posted by: cyan | March 8, 2007 9:06 PM

#44

Ahem: (with short notice.)

The deck be laid out in silver and gold
The cap'n's nigh on fifty years old
Look lively there lads and raise the mainsail
We're headin' out to kick ID tail

ARRR!

Posted by: Mike Haubrich | March 8, 2007 9:14 PM

#45

...

...

Happy Birthday, PZ! I offer a Double Dactyl:

Higglety-pigglety
Prof. Paul Z. Myers
Set to turn 50
On Friday, March 9,

Parties 'til midnight with
Cephalapodean
Hors d'oeuvres and sips
Of invertebrate wine.

...

...

Posted by: Hank Fox | March 8, 2007 9:16 PM

#46

One half a century will grind no stone;
no catastrophic Flood a Canyon cut.
We see the layered ages in the rut,
which in a million years has scarcely grown.
The fauna north and south the river sown
might speciate (no longer they abut
and, isolated, lose the pow'r to mutt)
but not when you a hundred years have known.
And yet, in fifty years the world has changed!
You've made a name in standing up for truth.
We said hello to one that goes by Skatje,
and science, tech, and politics arranged
in ways so vastly different from your youth,
it must be by the will of Jesus. (Gotcha.)

Posted by: William | March 8, 2007 9:17 PM

#47

Squid-like PZ, squirting ink,
In the blogosphere, makes a stink,
O'er Johnny Wells and Dr. Dino,
Two of the IDiots we have come to know,
And loathe - because PZed is not averse,
To tossing scraps of religious stupidity (and a curse),
In our direction - fomenting godless insurrection! -
And professing his proud atheism to perfection.

Happy 50th B'Day, PZ!

Posted by: CalGeorge | March 8, 2007 9:19 PM

#48

BTW ...

I think there should be some sort of award for John Wilkins' offering. It should at least be sung at your party.

Posted by: Hank Fox | March 8, 2007 9:20 PM

#49

Dawkins should keep his day job.

Happy birthday!

Posted by: Carlie | March 8, 2007 9:22 PM

#50

Happy birthday PZ!!! And may you have another 50 years of blogging ahead of you :)
I'd write a poem, but I suck at poems.

Posted by: TAW | March 8, 2007 9:28 PM

#51

he he he... I just noticed I posted the 50th comment. What a coincidence (I swear it wasn't on purpose). Do I get a prize?

Posted by: TAW | March 8, 2007 9:30 PM

#52

"You are old, father PZ," young Skatje said,
"And your beard has become very white;
And yet you incessantly talk about squid--
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," father PZ said to his daughter
"I feared it might injure the brain;
But, now that I'm perfectly sure it's under water
Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," Skatje said, "as I mentioned before,
And you have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door--
Pray what is the reason for that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,
"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment - one shilling a box--
Allow me to sell you a couple?"

"You are old," Skatje said, "and your jaws are too weak
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the squid, including the beak--
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said her father, "I took to the Law,
And argued the Truth case with my wife;
And the muscular strength, which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."

"You are old," Skatje said, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose--
What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"
Said her father. "Don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs.

Posted by: marcel | March 8, 2007 9:34 PM

#53

Human
or Squid
biologist
or embryologist
Atheist
or Terrorist
or even a member of the Feminist Conspiracy
all who will reason
are welcome
in PZ's little corner of reality.

Posted by: llewelly | March 8, 2007 9:36 PM

#54

All the best PZ. I wish you a curmudgeonly, atheistic, confrontational, naturalistic, skeptical, joyful second half century. It's the only way to live!

Posted by: Mark Trodden | March 8, 2007 9:39 PM

#55

Lines on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of PZ Myers' birth

the faithful are frightened, in fact they're running scared
of the professor who spooks the thinking-impaired
he's been suffering fools badly for half a hundred years
let's have half a hundred more! believers, cue the tears

happy birthday, Professor Myers. I'll always be older than you. so there.

Posted by: tim serbo | March 8, 2007 9:43 PM

#56

PZ big 50
celebrating big birthday!
Party hardy dude!

My haiku for the PZ!

Happy Birthday!

Posted by: Crazyharp81602 | March 8, 2007 9:49 PM

#57

Some excellent entries I see
an engineer not a bard I be
so just a simple wish for thee
have a happy birthday on me

Posted by: afterthought | March 8, 2007 9:50 PM

#58

Happy birthday, P.Z.!

Posted by: Diego | March 8, 2007 9:50 PM

#59

A child of the Enlightenment
I look to reason's spark
To light a single candle
And not just curse the dark

The winds of blind religion
May flatten reason's fires;
To coax the flames to rise again
I count on P.Z. Meyers!

So here's to P.Z. Meyers!
Today we count the score;
For fifty years he's held the line--
I wish him many more!

Posted by: Cat Faber | March 8, 2007 9:57 PM

#60

I already did that. It was a pain in the aspidistra too. I went for the big half century plus one. Now I only have to accept the steady rise towards 60. Accckkk!

Posted by: beepbeepitsme | March 8, 2007 10:19 PM

#61

With liars, Priors and friars,
Infesting the Internet's wires,
There's one thing they'd agree,
To beware of, you see,
That's the sharp wit of P.Z. Myers.

Hmmmm...maybe Haiku:
P.Z.Myers' day.
Cephalopods rejoicing.
Creationists cringe.

Happy, happy 50 and many more!

Posted by: Bryn | March 8, 2007 10:25 PM

#62

No angel attended his birth,
looking down with cherubic smile.
Nor did one follow his first steps;
provide comfort when sick, succor when tired.

Fifty years.
Fifty years, walking, running,
and at times stumbling;
Neither God blessed,
nor Devil cursed.

What is the meaning of life?
It's not the greedy
expectation of more, more,
an eternity of more.

We're each given a handspan
of years.
What is life?
It's looking at you
in the mirror.
Every year another layer
of silvering;
Every year, a polishing.

Happy Birthday, PZ.

Posted by: Shelley | March 8, 2007 10:30 PM

#63

My birthday offering is the zoologist's version of "Happy Birthday."

Hippo Birdie 2 Ewes
Hippo Birdie 2 Ewes
Hippo Birdie 2 Ew....oooos
Hippo Birdie 2 Ewes

(Sung to the tune of 'Happy Birthday.'

Posted by: beepbeepitsme | March 8, 2007 10:34 PM

#64

Still not enough Haiku in this thread for my liking:

fifty years have earned
a rest on their laurels, some say
Not so! Cries PZ

and now in the Japanese:

音殺し
雪が、真実を
殺せない

Translated:
the sound-killing snow, cannot kill the truth

Posted by: Slacker Ninja | March 8, 2007 10:36 PM

#65

PZ blogs about evolution
with many a cunning locution.
So to him I say "Cheers!
You've reached fifty years!"
And drink an alcoholic solution.

Oy! That doggerel won't hunt. But I wanted to contribute anyway: Here's to you PZ! *raises glass*

Posted by: G | March 8, 2007 10:38 PM

#66

There exists a blogger named PZ
Whose science makes creationists queasy

They respond with ridicule and scorn
Especially about his cephalapod porn

But in the war of internet wits
they always come off as ineffectual twits

His wisdom comes as no surprise to us still
For when he was born the Dead Sea had just taken ill

But my welcome it seems I overstay
In all sincerity PZ, Happy Birthday

Posted by: willdlifer | March 8, 2007 10:41 PM

#67

I have eaten
the squid
that were in
the icebox

And which
might once have been
close friends
of yours

Forgive me
they were delicious
so sweet
and so cold.

Posted by: junk science | March 8, 2007 10:42 PM

#68

At half a century, you're hardly hoary
but please, do tell,
your previous life's story.
You walked with dinosaurs,
you should admit
when you were just a little git.
And when you died between two toes,
you, born again,
like a bad smell, rose
as a modern skeptic
and a sceptic, too.
Do tell us true,
you pharyngula-fixated
cephalopodophilic
professorial stew.
Confess, profess!
confess the Truth,
dear 'Pee Zed Myers'
(or is PEE ZEE you?)

Posted by: Anna Tambour | March 8, 2007 10:45 PM

#69

PZ Myers is turning 50;
As a fan, I find that nifty.
He hammers on the cred'lous sods
And links to lovely ceph'lopods.

Posted by: Paco | March 8, 2007 11:03 PM

#70

A poem?! Are you an English teacher now or something? Sigh, fine, but you owe me.

Happy fith decade.
A Thousand years ago,
You'd be dead by now,
Probably burned at the stake
For Heresy or blasphamy,
AKA Rational thought.

Happy now?

Posted by: B. Wood | March 8, 2007 11:07 PM

#71

Oh, for the life of me,
There's no rhymes I can see
that will fit to a tee
someone named Myearshertz.

Happy birthday!

Posted by: John Pieret | March 8, 2007 11:12 PM

#72

Happy birthday PZ! I didn't realize you were so young :-/

Posted by: Cyde Weys | March 8, 2007 11:13 PM

#73

That's one awesome hat, and, my god, it's like you've got a little parroting cult!

Posted by: mollishka | March 8, 2007 11:17 PM

#74

Ok, so I'm no good at poetry - so I got my friends the Vogons at the BBC Vogon Poetry Generator to do it for me!

Happy Birthday PZ! Oh, and sorry about the following...


See, see the flowery sky
Marvel at its big pasty white depths.
Tell me, PZ Myers do you
Wonder why the Colossal Squid ignores you?
Why its foobly stare
makes you feel belligerent.
I can tell you, it is
Worried by your flurbly facial growth
That looks like
A calamari.
What's more, it knows
Your squidly potting shed
Smells of lettuce.
Everything under the big flowery sky
Asks why, why do you even bother?
You only charm preservatives.

Posted by: ColinB | March 8, 2007 11:20 PM

#75

Note: to correctly scan this epic, you must be ancient enough, not to mention uncool enough, to remember the song, "They Call the Wind Maria," from Paint Your Wagon.

At U of Minn
They got a man
Who blogs of squid and pirates
Writes godless rants
Instead of grants
And they call him PZ Myers....

Myers taunts the fundie hoards
Deprives trolls of their vowels
Posts lewd pix of ceph'lopods
Makes Dembski loose his bowels

Doc Myers
Doc Myers
His students yell, "Doc Myers?"

Before I found Pharyngula
I got my work done quickly
But now I tell my boss to wait
As I'm downloadin' new squddie

Now fifty years have come and gone
And PZ starts to whining
He's asked us geeks to write in verse
So the scansion's gone a flyin'

A-flyin'
For Myers
The strained quatrains for Myers

--
Happy birthday, PZ, I sure hope it's better than my poem!!!

Posted by: tikistitch | March 8, 2007 11:46 PM

#76

Happy Birthday, PZ!

Faced with the choice between a feeble attempt at writing poetry (with a high probability of an absolutely horrid result on my part thus detracting from the celebration) or presenting an entertaining music video featuring cephalopods --- well the decision was easy!

Enjoy this Octopus's Garden.

Posted by: Disgusted in St. Louis | March 8, 2007 11:50 PM

#77

With apologies to both Goldsmith and Myers, an (imaginary) encounter between an IDiot and Pharyngula:

Good people all, of every sort,
Give ear unto my song;
And if you find it wondrous short,
It cannot hold you long.

In Morris there was a Prof,
At whom the IDiots did balk
That still a evolutionary race he ran,
Where'er he went to talk.

And in that town an IDiot was found,
As many IDiots there be,
Both mongrel, puppy, whelp and hound,
And curs of low degree.

This IDiot and man were never friends;
But when a pique began,
The IDiot, to gain some private ends,
Went mad and bit the man.

Around from all the neighbouring blogs
The wondering scientists ran,
And swore the IDiot had lost his wits,
To bite so good a man.

The wound it seemed both sore and sad
To every pro-Monster-ian eye;
And while they swore the IDiot was mad,
They swore the man would die.

But soon a wonder came to light,
That showed the rogues they lied:
The man recovered of the bite,
The IDiot it was that died.

Happy birthday Pharyngula!

Posted by: Guru | March 8, 2007 11:55 PM

#78

Okay, I'm in:

A 100% Original Birthday Poem for PZ Myers

I think that I shall never see another quite like dear PZ.
The man who blogs for you and me will soon turn half a century!
The man who makes the fundies cry when he explains ID's a lie
by showing them the alterations in nature's most bizarre creations.
A family man with wife and kids who intimately studies squids
'cause he prefers cephalopods to any silly man-made gods!

Happy Birthday, PZ!!!

Posted by: lee | March 9, 2007 12:02 AM

#79

Vse najboljse za tvoj rojstni dan, Faringula!!!

Posted by: Tea | March 9, 2007 12:04 AM

#80

The Fate of ID at Pharyngula
Could justly be thought of as singular
At Dembskian prose
He turns up his nose
And raises just one Myers finguler.

Many Happy Returns!

Posted by: Ian H Spedding FCD | March 9, 2007 12:05 AM

#81

happy birthday PZ...

I'm afraid I don't have any poetry though. Probably for the best, actually ;-)

Posted by: Millimeter Wave | March 9, 2007 12:06 AM

#82

Two poems. First, a reworking of "The Story of Bonnie and Clyde":

You've read the works of Dennett & Dawkins
And ScienceBlogs on the wires.
If you're still in need
Of something to read
Here's the story of P.Z. Myers.

Now P.Z. Myers is in the Atheist Gang.
I'm sure you all have read
How he rants and raves
With discourse crazed
And wishes the God-fearing dead.

There's lots of untruths to these write-ups;
He's not so vicious as some;
But his rhetoric's rough
And he's necessarily tough
On the credulous, foolish, and dumb.

Folks call him an uncivil firebrand;
They say he is heartless and mean.
But say what you will:
His readers are thrilled
For P.Z.'s prose is logical and clean.

Creationists fool around,
Try taking him down
With claims of I.C. in the cell.
They say of him,
"He's unduly dim
And will doubtless end up in hell."

But their bulbs are dimly lighted;
P.Z. lets reason and evidence guide.
He tries to open up minds,
Even those of the blind,
But isn't above being snide.

His blog gets brighter and brighter,
With posts to read and admire.
So let e'vry woman and man
Do all that they can
For the 50th of P.Z. Myers.


And second, with apologies to Hilaire Belloc:

Of Dr. Myers, by the wingnuts 'tis said,
"His sins are scarlet!" But his posts are read.

Posted by: Sean Foley | March 9, 2007 12:27 AM

#83

Something something something, happy birthday
something something
squid something
something atheism
BLAH

Posted by: Baratos | March 9, 2007 12:28 AM

#84

Happy Birthday PZ.

Sorry, I don't have a poem, but I want to say your blog is an inspiration. Keep up the good work.

Posted by: joseph smidt | March 9, 2007 12:44 AM

#85

There once was a righteous prof called Pharyngula;
To colleagues and friends he seemed quite avuncular,
But his morality slid,
Seduced by a squid,
And his reputation no longer stands perpendicular.

Posted by: Kiwi Dave | March 9, 2007 1:13 AM

#86

Note: I use Canadian Zs

A biologist known as PZ
An atheist too, it is said
Puts his thoughts in a blog
Which maddens the fog
Minded IDiots who from him have fled

Damn, Just 5 hours earlier and I could claim a full decade more experience than you. Anyway,

Happy Birthday to us
Happy Birthday to us
Happy Birthday PZ and Don
Happy Birthday to us

Posted by: Don Cates | March 9, 2007 1:40 AM

#87

Adreanof quakes.
Fifty years, who remembers?
PZ Myers might.

Um... happy birthday.

Posted by: stnemmoc | March 9, 2007 1:41 AM

#88

My haiku (or something) is ruined! Anyway: 1957 Adreanof Earthquake.

Posted by: stnemmoc | March 9, 2007 1:45 AM

#89

Happy Birthday to you, Pharyngula!
Sorry I'm not there to sing to ya.
Do not go flying your flag half-furled,
Cuz fifty is not the end of the world.

But I bet you can see it from there, cantcha?

(ducking and running)

Posted by: Chakolate | March 9, 2007 1:58 AM

#90

Happy Birthday PZ. I think I speak for more than I know when I say that you have catalyzed a march toward rationality. PZ, Dawkins, Dennett, and Harris, are the pioneers, making rational and logical atheism acceptable to more people than you could ever know. I'm only 22, and from my limited experience, I think demographic trends are moving toward rationalistic humanism.

P.S. I'm drunk, so it took me about 10 minutes to write this without typos. Please forgive incoherence if that be the case.

Posted by: JohnTheStudent | March 9, 2007 1:59 AM

#91

Happy B-day, Professor Paul
Who's always up for a brainy brawl
You dropkick the fundies
Right in their undies
& make the creationists bawl.

Posted by: Krystalline Apostate | March 9, 2007 2:02 AM

#92

Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Damn, you're old.
Was this supposed to rhyme?

Posted by: Tiax | March 9, 2007 2:28 AM

#93

A Villainous Villanelle for Pharyngula Zed Myers:

Pharyngula is widely read
Its traffic comes from far and near
To pick the brain in PZ's head

Like evil wraiths riz from the dead
Creationists will laugh and jeer
To pick the brain in PZ's head

Of science ne'er enough is said
To quench most people's primal fear
To pick the brain in PZ's head

"Happy Birthday," we all said
For Myers's fiftieth year --
Pharyngula is widely read

Trolls and seekers both have pled
For science writing without peer
To pick the brain in PZ's head

Dawkins ignited the thread
Here within the blogosphere
Pharyngula is widely read
To pick the brain in PZ's head

Posted by: Interrobang | March 9, 2007 2:35 AM

#94

I can't write poems but I can sing :
" Un p'tit beurre c'est pour vous, un p'tit beurre c'est pour vous..."
If you know french and if you are already drunk, maybe I have a chance you find this funny...

Posted by: nat | March 9, 2007 3:18 AM

#95

From one just-turned half-centenariarian (sp???), to another: Happy B-Day!

Should we feel iffy
About the turn to fifty?
Nah, it's quite spiffy!

Posted by: Carolus Hereticus | March 9, 2007 3:49 AM

#96

PZ are you so young?
Or am