Pharyngula

Second life? You know whats going to happen right.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RedLyae4b2s

Posted by: Karl | April 17, 2008 8:07 PM

Good luck, PZ. May the flying penises not hit you in the face.

I'm a pretty big nerd, but not enough to be in 2nd Life. However, I will be listening in on the audio simulcast.

Posted by: Bill | April 17, 2008 8:25 PM

Also, watch out for Spartans.

Posted by: J | April 17, 2008 8:29 PM

I just signed up for it, from work- since thats where I am now, and it asked me to download some crap.. not from here!-anyway, i will just have to listen on the net and hope we dont overload the server.

Posted by: firemancarl | April 17, 2008 8:35 PM

Breaking news, if OT:

There's plenty of rhetoric and posturing, but not much truly intelligent debate, in this controversial documentary about evolution. Co-writer and host Ben Stein is startlingly one-sided in his unnatural selection of experts.

The proponents of intelligent design are well-spoken and rational, and almost uniformly American. Those who believe in evolution often have foreign accents, are stuffed shirts or seem ready to foam at the mouth. This is propaganda, a political rant disguised as a serious commentary on stifled freedom of inquiry.

A documentarian is not required to be objective, but Stein's point of view is blatant advertising. While he cites the holes in Darwin's theory, he never identifies specific flaws. He does directly link the theory to Nazism and eugenics.

While he gets points for addressing the debate, the way in which Stein goes about it undermines his efforts to be even-handed and intellectually rigorous.(Rated PG for thematic material, some disturbing images and brief smoking. Running time: 1 hour, 30 minutes. Opens today nationwide.) -- Claudia Puig

www.usatoday.com/life/movies/reviews/2008-04-17-also-opening_N.htm

Well, there you have it, if USA Today labels it a political rant, who can they get a good review from? Sure, blatant right-wing and religious rags, but that's about it.

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7

Posted by: Glen Davidson | April 17, 2008 10:11 PM

PZ, while you're there on Second Life,
Just take a look--perhaps you'll find my wife;
I think I lost here there--it seems that I,
In mundane First Life, don't know how to fly.

Posted by: Cuttlefish, OM | April 17, 2008 10:41 PM

For those who missed it, I've posted three snaps from the event. I would have done more, but I figure that much geekiness would melt the interwebs.

http://uprightalice.wordpress.com/2008/04/17/pz-goes-all-tron/

Posted by: UprightAlice | April 17, 2008 10:57 PM

UprightAlice @14

Thanks for those! Love the chambered nautilus, squids with fan signs, and the gigantic octopus!

I say, more geekiness! More!

Cuttlefish @ 12

I'm so used to lighter fare from you - that was touching.

Posted by: James F | April 17, 2008 11:03 PM

PZ sez:

Whew. For a moment there, I was afraid you'd be posting photos of me wrestling the giant penis at Cafe Wellstone.

I got yer back, man. What happens in Cafe Wellstone, stays in Cafe Wellstone. Just don't be telling people how you earned that Rolex.

Posted by: UprightAlice | April 17, 2008 11:07 PM

damn, i wanted to call you. i missed it.

Posted by: skeptic4u | April 17, 2008 11:42 PM

It was an interesting event. As per SL requirements, there were technical glitches, of course. I was going to snap a SL photo - but PZ's avatar took a nap. Then I forgot.

We had no Creationist gate crashers, as far as I could tell. Could be the 20 meter Octopus above us protected us.

JBS

Posted by: John B. Sandlin | April 18, 2008 12:43 AM

Also OT. From NYT review of Expelled:

One of the sleaziest documentaries to arrive in a very long time...

and

Mixing physical apples and metaphysical oranges at every turn "Expelled" is an unprincipled propaganda piece that insults believers and nonbelievers alike.

http://movies.nytimes.com/2008/04/18/movies/18expe.html?ref=movies

Posted by: UprightAlice | April 18, 2008 1:38 AM

GaaaAAAAHH! I miscalculated timezones. Or, more likely, somebody was on a daylight-saving-time thing. I got there - literally - just in time to see PZ saying goodbye. I hung around long enough to hear he'd be at the Cafe Wellstone.

So, got to the Wellstone. Approached PZ, long enough to say "hi, I post comments on Pharyngula" under THIS name. I NEARLY managed to say "love the blog, makes me wish I understood more biology"... when the SL viewer crashed on me. Came back, crashed again.

A pox on lag, a curse on heavily loaded SL servers. Giant flying penises against all computer faults, I say. Damn them all. May they all be infested with drooping, syphilitic virtual penii.

PZ: apologies; I was Arnott Timtam. Thanks for the tolerance. I look forward, very dearly, to seeing the captured video. Or, dare I hope somebody will post a transcript, please, please, pretty please?

Posted by: Troff | April 18, 2008 7:49 AM

PZ, thanks for coming and speaking to us. I had a great time. Please come back and speak again. I'd love to hear your thoughts on resources for non-scientists on evolution.

Posted by: Ruetha Jewell | April 18, 2008 8:44 AM

troff--

the blogtalkradio archive has a podcast. I had a little trouble getting started--this is only our second BTR simulcast, so there is about 2 minutes of scarlatti before we get started.

Posted by: jayackroyd | April 18, 2008 9:15 AM

Rated PG for thematic material, some disturbing images and brief smoking.

This stood out above everything for me. A movie's rating can be affected by a person *smoking*? Really? That the silliest thing I've read online this week.

And this is from someone who thinks smoking is only slightly above taking a dump in public.

Posted by: Quiet Desperation | April 18, 2008 11:13 AM

A review that ties in the political aspects of Expelled rather well:

Film omits little details like separation of church and state

Someday perhaps it will be possible to look back on Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed as a relic and reminder of the rhetorical logic employed during the era of George W. Bush. Until then, it should be seen simply as a tiresome ideological bludgeon, an attempt to deceive audiences into believing it is one thing when it is, in fact, quite another.

Entertainer, pitchman and political commentator Ben Stein begins the film by intoning that there is a growing conspiracy within the academic and scientific communities blocking out proponents of "intelligent design" as a means to explain the origins of life and human development in favor of lock-step enforcement of Darwinist theories of evolution.

By setting the argument up in this way, one which is never fully pursued or proven, Stein has, of course, attempted to use a textbook tactic of Karl Rove to reframe the discussion, putting it in terms by which his side seems the valiant underdog, suppressed and belittled by their opponent, while turning notions of right-and-wrong, freedom of speech and even the meaning of science upside down. When in doubt, Stein falls back on vague claims regarding "freedom" and "dire consequences for every American." (Sound familiar?)

A newspaper movie review is, of course, not really the forum for debating the ins, outs and what-have-yous of intelligent design, but it certainly can be said here that if a film like Expelled is meant to be the vanguard action for turning public opinion, the movement has a long, long road ahead.

Directed by Nathan Frankowski and co-written by Stein and Kevin Miller, the film follows along gamely but charmlessly on the Michael Moore path, with its hapless everyman guide, ironic use of antiquated educational films and even showing host and crew half-heartedly kicked out of the Smithsonian.

The film quite pointedly never particularly makes the case for intelligent design, also never fully explaining how the concept is not, as its detractors would have it, simply shoehorning a space for faith-based creationism within the boundaries of science. Also notable in its absence is the notion of separation of church and state.

All this is without even touching on the most spurious and risible sections of the film, in which Stein visits a Nazi sanitarium and concentration camp, attempting to draw a line from Darwin to Hitler to Stalin to John Lennon (for real).

Expelled has already kicked up quite a dust storm within the confines of the Internet, as a series of preview screenings around the country have led to various garden-variety contrived controversies both pro and con. Some of those interviewed onscreen have subsequently claimed they were approached under false pretenses, and even the rights clearances for songs and animation used in the film have come under scrutiny.

In some ways the film is itself an afterthought, a formal necessity toward the ultimate aim of mobilizing and propagating a specific agenda. As a work of nonfiction filmmaking it is an atrocious sham, and as agitprop it is too flimsy to strike any serious blows. The most rational, genuinely effective way to deal with Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is to not be drawn into its web, to simply ignore it.

>>>Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed (Rocky Mountain Pictures) A documentary starring Ben Stein. Directed by Nathan Frankowski. Rated PG for thematic material, some disturbing images and brief smoking. Time 90 minutes.

Mark Olson writes for the Los Angeles Times.

www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/custom/today/bal-to.expelled18apr18,0,4344175.story?track=rss

Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7

Posted by: Glen Davidson | April 18, 2008 11:58 AM

#29 jayackroyd wrote:

Thanks for the snaps Alice. And for the, um, kind words about us.

Consider it a compliment. I haven't done a virtual world thing for many many years, so you should feel special. :) Definitely worth a chuckle, especially when PZ's avatar kept nodding off.

Posted by: UprightAlice | April 27, 2008 2:33 AM