Pharyngula
Archives for November, 2010
We are not Geoffrey Beene’s Kids!
Posted by PZ Myers on November 27, 2010 Jerry Lewis, the comedian, hosts a yearly telethon to raise money for children with muscular dystrophy. I find it entirely unwatchable, because it comes across as patronizing and condescending, and seeing Jerry Lewis mug for the camera and present himself as the loving, maudlin hero trying to save these pathetic, pitiful wretches makes me want…
P.T. Barnum was right
Posted by PZ Myers on November 27, 2010 There’s a sucker born every minute, and you’ll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. The Creation “Museum” is expanding and building a theme park. It’s simply a fact that Ken Ham’s Institution of Ignorance is doing business like gangbusters — it is well-attended and successful, has low-brow appeal, has negligible operating…
So, how did Hitchens do?
Posted by PZ Myers on November 27, 2010 There was a debate in Toronto yesterday, between Christopher Hitchens and Tony Blair on whether religion is a force for good in the world, and I think readers here properly predicted the results: Hitchens was dynamic, clear, and forceful, while Blair was a simpering, weak, maker of feeble excuses. It is resolved: religion is wrong…
From the crazy part of Minnesota
Posted by PZ Myers on November 26, 2010 Minnesota State Representative Tom Hackbarth is a Republican. How can you tell? By his deranged behavior. A security guard at a St. Paul Planned Parenthood clinic called the cops last week after he spotted a Republican state lawmaker with a loaded gun in the parking lot. But the pol says he was only “checking on”…
Friday Cephalopod: THIS. IS. A. CEPHALOPOD.
Posted by PZ Myers on November 26, 2010 Are we all clear on this now?
This is not a cephalopod, part 2
Posted by PZ Myers on November 26, 2010 Enough. Everyone is sending me this photo of a girl in a fluffy hat and tentacles, and she looks nothing like a cephalopod! OK, but she is adorable, and I want that hat, too.
This is not a cephalopod, part 1
Posted by PZ Myers on November 26, 2010 Enough. Everyone is describing this new species of deep sea worm as squidlike. IT IS NOT. It’s segmented, it swims with undulations of bristles, it’s got appendages on its head, not its foot, that it uses to trawl for food. It’s a lovely beastie, but how can anyone mistake it for a squid? What’s next,…
Blair v. Hitchens poll
Posted by PZ Myers on November 26, 2010 Tonight, Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens will debate on whether religion is a force for good. I’d love to hear Hitchens on that subject, but Blair? That’s almost as comical as having Hitchens debate Bush on the subject. The newspapers are relying on two tools to promote the event. Hype: Together, Tony Blair and Christopher…
I like this rule
Posted by PZ Myers on November 26, 2010 Are you a science journalist? Do you work with science journalists? Print this cartoon out and hang it all over your workplace. Oh, and if you’re a science editor, please get it tattooed on the back of your hand.
Not this again!
Posted by PZ Myers on November 25, 2010 What is wrong with people? It’s just a frackin’ book! A 15-year-old girl has been arrested on suspicion of inciting religious hatred after allegedly burning an English-language version of the Qur’an — and then posting video footage of the act on Facebook. No. It is obscene to start jailing people for destroying their own books,…