Pharyngula
Archives for August, 2008
Everyone must read this article about ‘Joel’s Army’ and be afraid. It’s a movement by radical Dominionists to build an informal paramilitary organization (at this time, it seems to be more attitude than organization) to prepare to fight to impose a kind of Christian fascism on the world. It may be a group small in…
It is good to be the king
Posted by PZ Myers on August 30, 2008 But egads, it’s hard work keeping up with the Elizabethan chatter required of the job, all in a day’s work putting down yet another pretentious eruption of elitist bastards. Most cruelly mock and rip and shred
Lori Lipman Brown on Colbert
Posted by PZ Myers on August 30, 2008 You can watch it here. She did as well as she could, but whoa…this is a perfect example of how Stephen Colbert will tromp all over an interview for comic effect.
Guess who’s turning 18 today?
Posted by PZ Myers on August 30, 2008 It’s some stranger!
Reprogramming the pancreas
Posted by PZ Myers on August 30, 2008 Wow…so have you heard about this result? One goal of regenerative medicine is to instructively convert adult cells into other cell types for tissue repair and regeneration. Although isolated examples of adult cell reprogramming are known, there is no general understanding of how to turn one cell type into another in a controlled manner. Here,…
Banking with Jesus is a bad idea
Posted by PZ Myers on August 30, 2008 Integrity Bank in Georgia decided to build their business model on Christian principles. Integrity’s employees regularly prayed before meetings or in branch lobbies with customers, while the bank gave 10 percent of its net income to charities. “We felt if we prayed and obeyed God’s word and did what He asked, that He would help…
Carnivalia and an open thread
Posted by PZ Myers on August 30, 2008 Hey, there’s some cool stuff out there: A new one! Carnival of Evolution #1 I and the Bird #82 Humanist Symposium #24 Carnival of the Liberals #72 The Skeptics’ Circle And of course, if there’s anything else you want to talk about, this is the thread to do it in.
Create dollars for education by clicking
Posted by PZ Myers on August 29, 2008 I mentioned this before, but time is running out and the full allotment of money hasn’t been used up yet. If you go to the Big Think site and watch a video about inspiring scientists, Pfizer will spend a dollar on DonorsChoose. The videos are actually pretty good, they aren’t just commercials, and it’s an…
Friday Cephalopod: Bigfin cruiser
Posted by PZ Myers on August 29, 2008 Sepioteuthis lessoniana Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
Surprise! McCain doesn’t persuade me to switch my vote with his VP choice
Posted by PZ Myers on August 29, 2008 So McCain has picked Sarah Palin as VP. Supposedly she has some credibility as a good choice for dealing with energy issues, but near as I can tell she’s of the drill-in-marginal-areas school, not someone who’s going to pursue alternative energy sources, and is going to be a favorite of the oil companies — Dick…