…and this is a 
I get email…and so does everyone else!
Category: Creationism
Posted on: April 2, 2008 6:22 PM, by PZ Myers
It's my afternoon for getting lots of whiny right-wing Christianist email, I guess. This one is notable, not for its content (which is predictable, humorless, and indignant, and just like most of the complaints I get), but for the fact that it was also sent to my chancellor and every member of the biology faculty. Nice work, spammer.
"Man-whore" - PZ Myers
"He (Professor Michael Behe of Lehigh University) is such a man-whore for creationism..." - PZ Myers
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/
"Man-whore." Do you use such language in your department meetings at the University of Minnesota?
How about your classrooms? Is "man-whore" academic? Is it professional? Is it objective, and fair, and scientific?
Or is it more like what Ward Churchill would say?
"To my students and advisees: I've emailed a few of you, but just in case, I'm also putting this here. You've been trying to get in touch with me, especially this week when registration is pending, but when I'm not in class I'm flitting off to somewhere else. I was away in Washington DC last Thursday afternoon through Sunday, and I'm about to do it again with trips to Mankato tomorrow, a long weekend at a conference in Oregon, and then zooming away again right after class on Monday to Fergus Falls. Trust me, though, you're not the only one feeling a bit tired of it all." - PZ Myers
Tell me, Professor Myers, do you subscribe to that Global Warming business? Do you agree that humans must, according to scientists, "cut back man-made carbon dioxide emissions in half by the year 2050" even as worldwide population increases some 40% or more? If so, per capita consumption of fossil fuels will have to be reduced by 65%. How are we all to do this when you are flying to Washington, D.C., and Mankato, and Oregon, and Fergus Falls, to name but a very few of the places someone as terribly important as you has to go? Of course you can't videoconference. Your very presence in the room lends verily hallows everyone and everything there.The British lead the way again!
Category: Humor
They're so far ahead, it's almost April 2nd there right now. And they have taken an important next step: they have passed regulations requiring the reading of disclaimers at church services:
Congregants should be aware of the gaps and/or problems in the Catholic theory of transubstantiation, including, but not limited to, the Protestant notion that the bread and wine are merely symbolic, the opinions of other religions on the life of Christ, and the lack of conclusive scientific evidence available to support this theory.This is excellent news. I only hope our country can some day follow suit. - PZ Myers
You're all for the government intruding into church services, but when it comes to public education, leave that to you experts? Intrude away inside churches, but keep out of the classroom. Is that your point? Why don't you atheists just burn down all the churches. That should please you even more.Squid and bacteria don't need The Man
Category: Creationism
The Institute for Creation Research has just published a fairly typical article for them: it's the usual laundry list of amazing biological structures that cry out "Jaaayzuusss!" to the faithful. - PZ Myers
Is there anything you atheists enjoy more than mocking and ridiculing the religious beliefs of Christians? Anything at all? Are there no Christians on UMN's faculty? None at all?
That would indeed be odd, considering that some 85% of Americans profess a belief in God.
Uh-oh. If Goldberg had his way, I'd be off to Gitmo if he saw the back end of my car. I don't just have a Darwin fish — I've got a T. rex eating a Christian fish. - PZ Myers
Oops! T. rex lived millions of years before there ever were any Christians, so T. rex could hardly be eating a "Christian fish." Nice try though.
His (Jonah Goldberg's) "agreed-on etiquette" is nothing but a set of rules he applies only to his political opponents and never to his political allies. - PZ Myers
Do you apply the same rules to your political allies as you do to "man-whores" like Professor Michael Behe? Do you mock faculty members and students who believe in "Jaaayzuusss" in person as you do on your website of hatred and intolerance? And keep in mind, I'm only looking at one single page of it.
I think this will do for now. I'm not interested in, as Richard Dawkins says, "multiplying up examples" of how profoundly intolerant, and anti-intellectual, and hateful you are.
"It is safe to say that anyone who does not believe in evolution is either ignorant, stupid, wicked or insane." - Richard Dawkins, your soul-mate
Use video conversation to talk face-to-face with Windows Live Messenger. Get started!
Oh, dear. I'm sure my colleagues will be rushing to get more details of my trespasses against Jaaayzuusss-loving man-whores from you, Dr. Intellectual.
That's right, he signed it "Dr Intellectual". I'm looking forward to future mail from Dr Paradigm, Dr SuperMentalGenius, and Dr Spliffarooni.
Comments
I love that the spammer didn't get the April Fool's joke about disclaimers in churches...
Posted by: Braxton Thomason | April 2, 2008 6:29 PM
'cause you know, if PZ didn't take those flights, the planes wouldn't go at all. So it's solely PZ's fault that the carbon emissions will occur.
Wait---unless PZ is flying on private planes now. Wouldn't that rock!
Posted by: cureholder | April 2, 2008 6:30 PM
Posted by: H.H. | April 2, 2008 6:30 PM
I'm laughing so damn hard right now...!!! This is tooo much!!
"Is there anything you atheists enjoy more than mocking and ridiculing the religious beliefs of Christians?"
Yes. We love to eat their babies even more.
Posted by: Alex | April 2, 2008 6:31 PM
Dr. Intellectual demonstrates the real problem among ID Researchers, and that is poor "framing" of counter-arguments... :-P
Posted by: GodlessHeathen | April 2, 2008 6:31 PM
That's some world class stupid!
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | April 2, 2008 6:32 PM
Don't you just love vitriolic spam telling you how hateful you are, PZ?
Posted by: NP | April 2, 2008 6:32 PM
Is this Michael Korn's new pseudonym?
Posted by: Ichthyic | April 2, 2008 6:33 PM
Yes. We love to eat their babies even more.
Mmmm. Baby sashimi...especially with some wasabi and pickled fetus. *drool*
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | April 2, 2008 6:34 PM
wait, he defends behe and in the same email claims that t-rex lived millions of years ago, and therefore t-rex couldn't eat christian fish?
seems this guy doesn't get not only jokes, he also doesn't get contradictions and symbols.
Posted by: momo | April 2, 2008 6:36 PM
Wow, just wow. He not only wouldn't know a joke if it hit him on the head, but he also thinks he smart.
Somehow I'm not surprised.
Posted by: coathangrrr | April 2, 2008 6:36 PM
Why don't you atheists just burn down all the churches. That should please you even more.
Speaking for myself, this would please me very much. But I'll settle for you and your damn churches not being subsidized by my tax dollars.
Why does it need the support of the U.S. government? If your houses of indoctrination are so self-reliant, then there should be no exemption.
It's extraordinarily hypocritical to bring up government favoritism as it applies to your myth-houses.
Posted by: Alex | April 2, 2008 6:37 PM
I don't believe it's intended to be. It's intended to be demeaning. It's intended to ridicule. And like the best ridicule, it points to the essential truth.
Tee hee. Someone for whom the concept of an April Fool has passed them by.
No. Next question?
According to Fox news, 34% of them believe in ghosts and an equal number in UFOs. And we laugh at them too.
Posted by: Lee Brimmicombe-Wood | April 2, 2008 6:37 PM
These guys are self-ridiculing. I wonder if it isn't just a troll.
Posted by: Cheezits | April 2, 2008 6:38 PM
Is there anything you atheists enjoy more than mocking and ridiculing the religious beliefs of Christians?
Well, I'd put getting laid, a fresh pepperoni pizza, and a nice cold bottle of stout pretty high on the list too. But then, why wouldn't we enjoy mocking and ridiculing you fools when you make it so easy!? Here's some advice, completely free: If you don't like being mocked and ridiculed, then try to refrain from saying and doing ridiculous things. See how easy that is?
Posted by: Martin | April 2, 2008 6:38 PM
It's funny that even as they're claiming that we censor, their reactions are always to call for censorship (that's what the mass emails are really about) the moment they see a blog post.
They only know how to appeal to their authoritarian base, which is why they are never likely to win unless we simply decide not to fight them any more.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
Posted by: Glen Davidson | April 2, 2008 6:39 PM
I wonder if it isn't just a troll.
in an email?
seems an odd way to troll.
Posted by: Ichthyic | April 2, 2008 6:40 PM
I thought about replying to him to ask a really important question:
What is his first name?
I'm guessing either "Pseudo" or "Pompous".
Posted by: PZ Myers | April 2, 2008 6:42 PM
Shouldn't that be "Rev. Intellectual" or "Father Intellectual" or some other such crustian tripe?
Posted by: Milo Johnson | April 2, 2008 6:42 PM
Hey, if I was going to troll, emailing PZ would be the logical course of action. :-D
Posted by: Cheezits | April 2, 2008 6:42 PM
Oops! T. rex lived millions of years before there ever were any Christians, so T. rex could hardly be eating a "Christian fish." Nice try though.
I... I don't know where to start, really. I'm too busy laughing.
Posted by: Andrew | April 2, 2008 6:43 PM
A large passenger jet with all seats filled gets about 80 passenger miles per gallon, twice as much as a car considered fuel-efficient with one occupant (though nowhere close to a Smart Car's 100mpg.) For long solo trips, flying is the most efficient way. However, many (most?) trips are unnecessary, ie vacations, business meetings where videoconferencing and exchanging data over VPN's would do, etc.
Posted by: Kevin Dorner | April 2, 2008 6:45 PM
I have nothing useful to add, these nuts leave me flabbergasted. I just want to say: Lee, I like your style. You seem to share some eloquence with that other brit dude, the one that got to see movie that pz didn't. Don't leave. :)
Posted by: slang | April 2, 2008 6:46 PM
What is his first name?
Maybe it's "Auntie".
Posted by: Cheezits | April 2, 2008 6:46 PM
Hey, if I was going to troll, emailing PZ would be the logical course of action. :-D
no. without public viewing of the bait, there is no motivation to respond.
of course, in THIS case, the writer now HAS public viewing, so if that was your point...
Posted by: Ichthyic | April 2, 2008 6:46 PM
With mail filled with such hilarity, it's hard to imagine how you remain so sardonic!
(@ Alex #4: mmm, babies!)
Posted by: dusty59 | April 2, 2008 6:48 PM
It's laughable, yes. But at the same time creepy.
This feckwit took the time to submit the mail to the chancellor and faculty. That's pretty overt intimidation. At the minimum it is an attempt to alienate PZ from his colleagues, at worst an effort to get him censured or maybe fired.
Yup, this doctor is pretty much a class-A creep.
Posted by: Lee Brimmicombe-Wood | April 2, 2008 6:48 PM
Yours respectfully &c &c,
- Dr. Spliffarooni
Posted by: Sili | April 2, 2008 6:48 PM
"Is there anything you atheists enjoy more than mocking and ridiculing the religious beliefs of Christians?"
Yes. Watching you get red-faced sputteringly insane when we do it.
Posted by: Carlie | April 2, 2008 6:51 PM
Why do these pseudo-Christian fools always run around projecting their own qualities on anyone with an IQ above room temperature?
I mean, this blathering little dickweed actually had the grapes to call PZ "anti-intellectual?" I mean, it's not like the retard is coming across as anyone actually, you know, IN a position to make such an assertion.
I'd be laughing if it wasn't such a common, gutless, misguided tactic by these irreparably-fucked, potatoheaded zealots.
Posted by: Dan | April 2, 2008 6:51 PM
Why don't you atheists just burn down all the churches.
Wow, that'd emit some serious greenhouse gasses.
Why not just tax them like movie theaters, amusement parks, and strip clubs?? It's unfair to the rest of the entertainment industry that the churches get a tax break.
Posted by: Marcus Ranum | April 2, 2008 6:51 PM
Mr. Intellectual does not fool me. He loves being 'persecuted.'
Such persecution is beyond delectable for it allows Mr. I. to get it on with Jebus via his personalized imaginery hotline (aka praying) and commiserate with his Savior, muttering: "when they pierced your flesh, it must have felt just like when these new atheists criticize my faith. Oooooh, I feel so close to you now, Jebus, but I want to feel closer, so I think I will stop praying just for a little while and peruse that lovely, oops, wretched atheist's maddeningly popular blog, to be able to feel even closer to you. I love you Jebus, but PZ Myers is the light and the way to you! Bye for now, see you soon."
Posted by: Logicel | April 2, 2008 6:52 PM
Damn, PZ! ANY Evil Scientist worth his island lair is traveling by matter transmitter nowadays! Sheeshe....
Posted by: cory | April 2, 2008 6:55 PM
So how often do the flights between Morris and Mankato run? Maybe you should suck it up a bit and take the high-speed commuter rail instead.
Posted by: Stephanie Z | April 2, 2008 6:56 PM
Hopefully a lot of us also got email today: from Motive Marketing, promoting the release of a bunch of new on-the-web film clips.
Posted by: Bad | April 2, 2008 6:57 PM
What a maroon! Cause your peers couldn't just read your public blog posts or anything! LOL
Posted by: Diego | April 2, 2008 6:58 PM
is 'man-whore' scientific??
probably not, therefore evolution didnt happen and GODIDIT!!!!!!!!
I suppose you could ask are there 'man-whores' once one is defined, and I suppose it could be any man who has sex with over say 10 different partners in a year, if thats so then it would be quite easy to determine (well to a point) how many man whores there are or were in any given population!!
Posted by: extatyzoma | April 2, 2008 7:00 PM
Who could it be, I wonder?
Who is so astoundingly stupid, and so neurotic in their persecution complex, that they would take seriously something posted on April 1st, while they themselves are composing their e-mail on April 2nd?
Hm.
Do the e-mail headers bear any resemblance to those of Mark Armitage's e-mail?
Posted by: Owlmirror | April 2, 2008 7:03 PM
What is his first name?
How about Dr. Ann T. Intellectual.
Posted by: Corey Schlueter | April 2, 2008 7:05 PM
Because they are immoral scum? I use the word 'immoral' advisedly. However, anyone whose moral compass is distorted by religious dogma seems doomed to live a life full of error.
For every one of the Godly that keeps to themselves to themselves and performs good works, there seem to be many who believe they can pray away their bad deeds one day a week and sin for the remaining six. And they too often seek forgiveness in the privacy of a pew, instead of facing up to what they have done and making things right with those they have hurt.
Their morals are flawed, these worshippers of gods. I weep at the foul things they do in the name of religion.
Posted by: Lee Brimmicombe-Wood | April 2, 2008 7:06 PM
Bwahahahaha! Choke Choke.
*Recovers* bwahahahaha! sniff
Creationists, ah, so funny.
Posted by: Ric | April 2, 2008 7:06 PM
Dr Intellectual has clearly never set foot on a university campus. Everyone knows that all biologists ever talk about is sex and evilution.
Posted by: CCW | April 2, 2008 7:07 PM
Have you ever seen us in the same room together?
Posted by: Lee Brimmicombe-Wood | April 2, 2008 7:09 PM
Wow, that's a new level of stupid right there.
Posted by: Alex | April 2, 2008 7:10 PM
""Man-whore." Do you use such language in your department meetings at the University of Minnesota? "
I have a feeling that there will be a bit of levity injected into the next department meeting at U of M.
Someone should keep score on how many times the phrase is used. Better still, turn it into a drinking game! (You do drink at your department meetings, right?)
J. D.
Posted by: J. D. Mack | April 2, 2008 7:13 PM
Dammit, just when I was going to change my screen name to "Dr Intellectual", someone beats me to it. Of course, I'm not a doctor, so I couldn't do it anyway.
This just screams out, "I'm gonna tell on you, Paul! Mooooommmmmmy!".
Posted by: MikeM | April 2, 2008 7:14 PM
Poor PZ. You remind me of the kid in The Sixth Sense:
"I get email from stupid people."
"Stupid people like, who? And how?"
"Sending email like regular people. They only hear what they want to hear. They don't know they're stupid.
"How often do you get email from them?"
"All the time. They're everywhere."
OH NO! DOES THIS MEAN WE'LL FIND OUT AT THE END THAT WE WERE ACTUALLY KILLED BY DONNIE WAHLBERG ALL THOSE YEARS AGO?!
Posted by: Brownian, OM | April 2, 2008 7:14 PM
Exactly. This thought will hunt me in my sleep. Well.. thought or fantasy, I'm not sure yet. I'll enjoy it tho. Cheers. :)
Churches are useful. They keep loonies away from t3h intarwebs. Some of them anyway.
Posted by: slang | April 2, 2008 7:15 PM
'Your very presence in the room lends verily hallows everyone and everything there.'
Whoa, boy! I'm English English from a place where much of the language was invented and I can't make sense of this. Is Verily Hallows one of your strange American actress names, and does her mother know she's being loaned out?
Posted by: Peter Mc | April 2, 2008 7:17 PM
What did your chancellor say?
Posted by: Edward | April 2, 2008 7:18 PM
extatyzoma at 37:
A whore is not about quantity, its about doing it for the money. PZ was referring to Behe getting $20,000 for writing a favorable review of creationist science books. Thats pretty good wages for any prostitute.
Jim
Posted by: Jim | April 2, 2008 7:19 PM
That would indeed be odd, considering that some 85% of Americans profess a belief in God.
Among the National Academy of Science personnel, which we would assume would be closer to the number for professors, this percentage is off by a bit over an order of magnitude.
Posted by: TheFeshy | April 2, 2008 7:22 PM
I am very glad I don't live in America, I don't think I would be able to take the constant right wing christian arrogance.
Posted by: Euan | April 2, 2008 7:25 PM
Dan #30 "Why do these pseudo-Christian fools always run around projecting their own qualities on anyone with an IQ above room temperature?"
Fahrenheit or Centigrade?
Posted by: MH | April 2, 2008 7:28 PM
"OH NO! DOES THIS MEAN WE'LL FIND OUT AT THE END THAT WE WERE ACTUALLY KILLED BY DONNIE WAHLBERG ALL THOSE YEARS AGO?!"
Man I think that was my alltime favorite Die-Hard sequel. Officer McClane, giant boy detective!
Posted by: Bad | April 2, 2008 7:31 PM
Yeah, but he gotcha on the T. rex / Christian fish thing. That's a rookie mistake, man. Tyranosaurs had to have been eating Baal-worshipping fish. Or, no, probably pagan fish, or maybe even atheist fish. Because it wasn't until God finally got around to sending his only son down a couple thousand years ago that fish could have been saved at all.*
So I guess there's millions of years worth of nicely seared and blackened fish waiting in Hell!
yum...
*Theological conundrum: are fish saved by faith or by works? Because mine never seem to do much in the way of works.
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | April 2, 2008 7:31 PM
I'd guess troll.
Posted by: Jritter | April 2, 2008 7:33 PM
PZ,
This was bound to happen and there'll probably be more negative stuff sent to your chancellor. Yes, I'm the same Lurquin who has dared to make some fun of you and even criticized you a few times.
Don't forget that you'll want promo to full and a good salary raise at some point in your career. Also remember that you are nowhere to be seen since 1994 or so in a Google Scholar search. Granted, the creos publish garbage in their own venues. But then, they'll criticize you for not publishing anything at all, except your blog! That ain't quite science as we understand it. I don't know the standards for promo at UMM, but I think having dinner with Dawkins is not one of them.
PZ, I know what I'm talking about, I was chair of Genetics for 8 years at a research university. In my experience, once the shit hits the fan, it tends to stick to the walls. Make sure you have very good friends among the UMM faculty and administrators. If you want to know where I'm coming from just check me out on amazon.com and Google Scholar. As I mentioned in another post, one has to be squeeky clean before lashing out against others. Your minions will crap all over me but I don't care, I'm Emeritus!!!
Good luck, and I mean that.
Posted by: paul f lurquin | April 2, 2008 7:33 PM
It's because they eat coconuts, not fish.
What a bunch of meanie-head, bad-word saying, impolite, poo-poo faces on this blog. Ooops. I just said a bad word. Forgive me Jebus.
Posted by: Alex | April 2, 2008 7:36 PM
In my first year at law school one of my lecturers told us that anyone who uses the word "verily" is a posing wanker. She was right.
BTW I personally think Man-Whore is a very cool word and I think the odd faculty meeting could only be enlivened by the odd sprinkling of it amongst other academic speech.
Posted by: Bride of Shrek | April 2, 2008 7:36 PM
Boy, who would have thought Nisbet would go so overboard?
Posted by: Scote | April 2, 2008 7:37 PM
A careful review of the syntax of the e-mail using NSA algorithms reveals that Dr. Intellectual is actually master Armitage, mounting a clever attack on PZ to deflect the criticism of his paper. It hworked--the department of the University of Leviticus put Armitage's PhD in the mail before noticing the withering mockery on Pharyngula.
ice
Posted by: ice9 | April 2, 2008 7:37 PM
Ahem. A cousin of Miss Anne Elk: that is my theory, and it is mine.
Posted by: xebecs | April 2, 2008 7:39 PM
You fly to Fergus Falls and Mankato from Morris?
There's more to this being an atheist evolutionist professor on the take from the public than a mere "Tropy Wife."
Posted by: Mike Haubrich, FCD | April 2, 2008 7:39 PM
These idiots betray themselves with abandon. You can tell by the words they toss out as apparent slander. Ward Churchill? Am I supposed to be offended or something? All I envision when I see them use these anger buzzwords is a sad little sack of a dunce standing alone in public yelling "CLINTON!" "TERRRRISTS!" "SADDAM HYOO-SAYN!" "FRAYDUM!" "CUT TAXES!" "NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN!" "POL POT!" "STALIN!"
It's like watching the wicked witch of the west melt in front of your eyes. You can hear them getting dumber.
Posted by: BlueIndependent | April 2, 2008 7:39 PM
The idea of anyone flying to Fergus Falls or Mankato gave me the giggles, much less flying anywhere from Morris. How I wish, or certainly did when I was going to school there.
I thought that'd be the best thing I'd hear in what's left of today, until I got to the part about how T. rex couldn't eat Christian fish. Oddly, he seems to actually own up the to fact that dinosaurs lived millions of years before Christians; did he forget to take his crazy pills? The rest of the e-mail certainly sounds floridly crazy enough, but a fact almost seeped through his crazy "logic" there...
Posted by: Holly | April 2, 2008 7:42 PM
Okay, how do you keep that nofollow out of the href? I tried deleting it from #62 in preview mode, but it snuck back in.
Posted by: xebecs | April 2, 2008 7:42 PM
The rest of the e-mail certainly sounds floridly crazy enough, but a fact almost seeped through his crazy "logic" there...
Not only floridly, but also Fluoridation. And Floridian.
Posted by: MAJeff, OM | April 2, 2008 7:44 PM
Ah, I can just picture the spammer's sneer as he typed in all the department email addresses with "I'm gonna te-ellll" singsonging in his warped little mind. I'm sure he stuck his tongue out at one point or another - and the irony of this tattletale tantrum escapes him completely.
It's the petty christian mantra:" PERSECUTION! PERSECUTION! HE'S MAKING FUN OF RELIGIOUS PEOPLE!",followed by:
"I'm better than you because I believe in a magical deity and you don't (nya nya nya nya nyaaah nyaaah)...."
Hopefully your chancellor is a rational and reasonable man (or woman) who does not suffer fools gladly.
Posted by: jsn | April 2, 2008 7:47 PM
Posted by: Fernando Magyar | April 2, 2008 7:48 PM
If I ever get a PhD I should definitely change my name to Spliffarooni. Think of all the diabolical confusion I could cause when my name appeared in a scientific journal and everyone assumed it was a prank!
Posted by: Sharon | April 2, 2008 7:48 PM
This was bound to happen and there'll probably be more negative stuff sent to your chancellor.
well, I'm sure the chancellor gets a good laugh out of them too.
Posted by: Ichthyic | April 2, 2008 7:49 PM
You can't get there from here. That is, any and all URLs (except for those in the original post) will have rel=nofollow added.
It's to prevent spammers from getting Googlejuice.
Posted by: Owlmirror | April 2, 2008 7:50 PM
"How are we all to do this when you are flying to Washington, D.C., and Mankato, and Oregon, and Fergus Falls"
Yeah, PZ -- be sure to enjoy those flights to Mankato and Fergus Falls...
Posted by: JRQ | April 2, 2008 7:53 PM
Your minions will crap all over me but I don't care, I'm Emeritus!!!
yeah, so?
lots of nutty emeritus out there.
If you actually knew anything about how small colleges work, you'd know that it's very unlikely that publications would help PZ's promotion more than his teaching skills would.
why don't you educate us more with your vast fountain of wizzdom, ex-professor?
did someone tell you to shut-up when you were still active?
did you try to be vocal about an obvious wrong and get your ass chewed for it?
do tell!
Posted by: Ichthyic | April 2, 2008 7:54 PM
"It is safe to say that anyone who does not believe in evolution is either ignorant, stupid, wicked or insane." - Richard Dawkins,YOUR SOUL-MATE
Uh-oh, does The Trophy Wife(tm) know?
Posted by: jsn | April 2, 2008 7:54 PM
I dunno, Paul; I'd have never heard of UMM if it hadn't been for PZ. Pretty sure I am not unique in that respect. He may not be cuddly but universities struggle to get name recognition. Cornell was thrilled to have Carl Sagan even though he really torqued off the religious people.
If the recent debacle with "shut-up" framing is any indication, the chancellor may look at Dr. Intellectual's email and decide PZ ain't so bad after all.
Posted by: decrepitoldfool | April 2, 2008 7:56 PM
Owlmirror: Thanks, but in the previous article, I see several comments that include links (search for "tinyurl" to find one), each of which has a nofollow, but which still act as hyperlinks. Do you know what the difference is between my nofollow and their nofollow????
Posted by: xebecs | April 2, 2008 7:57 PM
Granted, the creos publish garbage in their own venues. But then, they'll criticize you for not publishing anything at all, except your blog!
actually, even what PZ writes in his blog gets better peer review.
Posted by: Ichthyic | April 2, 2008 7:58 PM
I would have passed up science as even an interest years ago if I knew that you were not allowed to use vulgar language or insults of any kind. I've said it before and I'll say it again, whining about the tone of language here is the surest sign that the person has nothing to say. Nothing to argue. So they figure they are justified in trying to take one of our weapons away. Sorry, we don't care if all you have is an epee, this is still a gunfight.
"Is there anything you atheists enjoy more than mocking and ridiculing the religious beliefs of Christians? Anything at all? "
Sex, Ben & Jerry's ice cream...that's about it.
Me, I've had a rough week, so I'm taking a little extra pleasure in twisting the knife in these pathetic deluded wankers. Choke on a communion wafer and die. That goes double if you're Protestant, by the way.
I can't believe the Firefox spellchecker flags "wanker". Also, "spellchecker".
Posted by: Rey Fox | April 2, 2008 8:00 PM
As long as he was being dense, Dr. Smartypants (or whatever) could have just said "Fish can't be Christians!"
Posted by: Justin H. | April 2, 2008 8:02 PM
Paul F. Lurquin said:
"I don't know the standards for promo at UMM, but I think having dinner with Dawkins is not one of them.
PZ, I know what I'm talking about, I was chair of Genetics for 8 years at a research university."
The first of those would appear to be the correct one, Paul.
Posted by: JRQ | April 2, 2008 8:04 PM
Yeah, we enjoy sex more than making fun of religious nuts. Speaking of which, what about the International Fuck For Religion event, or whatever it's called?
Posted by: Seamyst | April 2, 2008 8:10 PM
Late to the thread, but I call dibs on "Dr. Wile E. Coyote, Super Genius PhD" (but only if I can have Mel Blanc* do the voice announcing me).
*I know that's impossible....
Posted by: Ron | April 2, 2008 8:12 PM
What I find astonishing is the assumption that the chancellor and the biology faculty would be unaware of the online activities of PZ Myers. He's merely a faculty member who's known all over the world, is in huge, global demand for interviews and public speaking engagements, and never speaks of UMM and its students in less than glowing terms.
I'm sure that the chancellor hates that.
Posted by: HP | April 2, 2008 8:12 PM
*Theological conundrum: are fish saved by faith or by works? Because mine never seem to do much in the way of works.
It's works, but a little-known fact is that the work that is most valued is the prodigious creation of shit. Therefore, your fish are covered. The creationists, of course, figured this out a long time ago, QED.
Posted by: Carlie | April 2, 2008 8:12 PM
"'Man-whore." Do you use such language in your department meetings at the University of Minnesota?"
I referred to an author as 'ar-tard' during a departmental meeting once. That's close, right?
Posted by: Meret | April 2, 2008 8:15 PM
Dr. I. must stay really comfortable during those hot summer months what with the cool, cool breezes flowing between his ears and all. We're talking major league stupid here. Its amazing that he can work the intertubes in the first place.
Posted by: Larry | April 2, 2008 8:16 PM
Also, CO2 release efficient is not the same as climate change contribution efficient.
"The Radiative Forcing Index (RFI)-the ratio of total radiative forcing to that from CO2 emissions alone-is a measure of the importance of aircraft-induced climate change other than that from the release of fossil carbon alone. In 1992, the RFI for aircraft is 2.7; it evolves to 2.6 in 2050 for the Fa1 scenario."
http://www.grida.no/climate/ipcc/aviation/064.htm
Posted by: amk | April 2, 2008 8:16 PM
"Dr Spliffarooni"? Oh, I'm totally stealing that one. Not sure what I'll use it for, but I must have it.
Posted by: catta | April 2, 2008 8:19 PM
oh god! make the comic sans STOP!
Posted by: kat | April 2, 2008 8:19 PM
Dunno. Maybe use quotes to properly delimit the link?
<a href="http://URL_goes_here">text goes here</a>
Posted by: Owlmirror | April 2, 2008 8:21 PM
Even compared to rail? Not that I know what US rail is like to use.
Hahahahahahahaha! That's a good one.
The east coast is the only place where rail is used much, and not even much there.