Evilution Day Quickies

HAPPY MONKEY!

Few random quickies for today--
1. I think a YEC challenged me to a dual. Or something. A friend was having a 'debate' with some random radical Christian pastor/reverend/whatever via letters to the editor in the Yukon Review, and cited some things he had learned from me and ERV. Random weirdo bawwwed to his 'professional' YEC butt-buddy. YEC butt-buddy took radical weirdos place in the 'debate', and now for some reason Im debating this guy:

*gasp!* Uh, oh... hes a lifetime member of American MENSA, people. I think Im in over my head here. lol.

2. SEED has up a ton of essays today for DARWIN 200, and I helped!

Survival of the Viral
Studying genetic "mistakes," like endogenous retroviruses, would have led us to a theory of evolution, even if Charles Darwin had not.

And let me state here that I am MADLY in love with the artists rendition of a retrovirus accompanying my article. MADLY. I think Emilie Clark captured what a 'retrovirus looks like' better than the models we work up for papers.

3. Im going to John Lynchs presentation tonight at the Sam Noble Museum! You sould go too, if youre around! Especially cause the museum has a sweet exhibit on evolution, which includes a component of HIV-1 evolution!

4. I just love this-- Afarensis defended the honor of his namesake, Lucy, against Casey Luskins grimy sleazy advances. Casey basically resorted the the ancient Creationist Claim 'there are no transitional fossils' and Lucy is a fake blah blah blah.
Afarensis whomped him gud. Its nice :)

More like this

This is a repost from the old ERV. A retrotransposed ERV :P I dont trust them staying up at Blogger, and the SEED overlords are letting me have 4 reposts a week, so Im gonna take advantage of that! I am going to try to add more comments to these posts for the old readers-- Think of these as '…
Alternate post title: Why Charles Jackson is a tool who can quote papers, but doesnt understand what he is reading. I get this question all the time, and its totally valid: How do you tell the difference between an endogenous retrovirus that is shared because of common descent, and a retrovirus…
Over a year ago, I made a short series of posts addressing Creationists and endogenous retroviruses (Old ERV, New ERV). Casey Luskin is evidently unaware of this series, as he managed to smack his loverly, loverly face into a couple of them in his recent blog post 'news release' at Evolution News…
What is it about ERVs that makes kooks cling desperately to them, like little 'gag-pol-env' life-rafts, as the kooks FAILboats sink into even further obscurity? I think the general populations ignorance about ERVs is what kooks find so attractive. Kooks, like Creationists, can say any damn thing…

Very nice essay! BTW, Abbie, someone is stealing your name; we know it wasn't written by you, as there was not a single "LOL!" in the whole piece ;)

Mensa is a waste of what might otherwise be a perfectly useful five letter acronym.

Great essay, Abby. Bad creoTard Vox Day also brags about his MENSA membership. Ah, intellectual 'dick-waving'..

Abbie - Good Darwin Day To You Too.

Congrats on your wel-deserved rep. Just remember, you took on Behe and Dembski and made them cry - This guy should be even easier. And by easier, I mean he looks like a nasty slippery piece of human filth and I'll be he specializes in the "Gish Gallop". Let us know if we can help.

I did notice from his bio, that he's been at a lot of different schools in a short amount of time. This might be worth looking into for someone.

Abbie, please post the link or text of the debate. If it's anything like the Sal-tard smack down, then I want to see it in all its cottage cheese dripping gore.

Happy Darwin's Day Abbie (and happy 200th birthday of Abe while we're at it)

1. Go get 'im, Abbie.

And Mensa. Oh Noz!!!

While in the Air Force, I was invited to join MENSA. I went to one meeting. All they did was sit around and brag about how smart they all were. I wasn't impressed. Never went back.

2. Yup. Darwin was brilliant. But if it hadn't been Darwin, it would have been someone else. It was an idea whose time had come.

3. I miss being close to a major university. I love seeing stuff like that.

4. I have read other stuff about this. Go, Afarensis, go!!!

Happy Monkey Abbie et al. I like your Darwin Day article, a very interesting view.

By John Phillips, FCD (not verified) on 12 Feb 2009 #permalink

Strange, your story doesn't add up. According to Matt Hardison, he was debating Dr. J in the Yukon, and offered you up as the proxy to debate Dr. J.

Lastly, Dr. Jackson wishes me to produce for him the one to whom I alluded in my last letter who is "well
versed" on matters concerning both microbiology and evilution. In fact, he even wishes to challenge this person to a debate.
Well, Dr. Jackson, on behalf of said person, Iâll accept this challenge that you do make.
With The Yukon Review I have left my contact information that either they or you can contact me, that we might arrange for a debate. And your opponent? An HIV researcher
for OU Medical Center whose name I will not divulge here (for the sake of her privacy), but will give to you
or whoever else contacts me. By the by, Dr. J, Iâll await your reply.--Matt Hardison, Yukon

sorry, yes, your story does ad up upon a re-read, sorry for my momentary lapse in comprehension.

That's alright, Wally; by now we're used to your permanent lack of comprehension about everything else.

By minimalist (not verified) on 12 Feb 2009 #permalink

You're debating Jeff Goldblum's evil twin? Or perhaps he's a Red Lectroid....is his name John?

;-D

@Wallace:

On behalf of the brothers, Happy Lincoln day. This debate should be interesting. I wonder who will stoop to namecalling first?

I will...racist gutter sludge. Look, Wallace, we all know you're incapable of achieving sexual climax without being as obnoxious as possible through massively courageous feats of anonymous blog-trolling, but you're giving pretentious pre-teenagers everywhere a bad name.

Anyone else catch this lump of tard-tastic broken crayon (Re: Dawkins visit to OU)?

Your wish is finally fulfilled. You had always wanted to debate him, and more importantly, take a picture with him. He contacted CFI twice requesting an opportunity to talk at OU. When and where are you debating him?

Happy Darwin day. I heard the Galapagos tortoises got a shell polish and extra pumpkin at the zoo. Neat.

By Prometheus (not verified) on 12 Feb 2009 #permalink

ERV, here is a profile of the guy who filed the Academic Freedom Act. The profile from the speakers bureau of the John Birch Society. And what about his friend Sally?

On behalf of the brothers, Happy Lincoln day.

This debate should be interesting. I wonder who will stoop to namecalling first?

I will agree with Paul, this is racist.

But I will bite anyway. Happy Lincoln Day. Happy Darwin Day. Two great men, one apple, one orange, and one great day.

But if you simply must have a silly competition of who was more important, I will admit that Lincoln was. Other scientists would have eventually discovered all that Darwin did. It is very possible that no one would have done what Lincoln did: save the Union. And one can only imagine just how repressive the creationists in the South would have been without the United States Supreme Court to stop them.

ERV, here is a profile of the guy who filed the Academic Freedom Act. The profile from the speakers bureau of the John Birch Society.

Ah, Randy Brogdon. He just submitted another bill to restrict the transfer of Oklahoma State drivers license data (including fingerprints) to any other entity, including the federal government.

Why, you might ask? Well, according to today's (Feb 12) Norman Transcript, he is concerned about the information ending up in the files of some foreign government as part of a move towards one-world government.

A John Bircher indeed!

By carlsonjok (not verified) on 12 Feb 2009 #permalink

Happy Monkey to all!!
You're debating that guy?? He looks like a 70's porn star.
Well, I guess you have to change careers when you start getting up in years.
On a serious note though, I don't mean to insult porn stars. They have more to offer to the world than creationists.

Holy shit. It looks like he shaved his beard for the materials to weave that jacket, but accidentally missed a spot beneath his lower lip.

The moustache defies explanation, and may constitute proof that God does not exist.

"Ah, Randy Brogdon. He just submitted another bill to restrict the transfer of Oklahoma State drivers license data (including fingerprints) to any other entity, including the federal government."

Gee, he does realize that the federal government is a higher authority than the Oklahoma government? I guess not. Now if he says that the feds have to get the appropriate search warrant (or other appropriate legal safeguard) then I might think that he has a case depending on the nitty gritty of the proposal. But my approval would have nothing to do with some imaginary world government.

Awesome article Abbi! Seriously, your explanation of ERV's as evidence for evolution is going to stick with me.

A really funny thing. When I look at his site, the first two paragraphs read like this.

"Dr. G. C. Jackson has his bachelor's degree in Biology, a master's in Science Education, and a master's in Environmental Biology from George Mason University.?

He earned his doctorate in Science Education at University of Virginia.?
"

Yep. Exactly like this :) What's with the question marks?

Martin asked
"Yep. Exactly like this :) What's with the question marks?"

He also advises students:
"Follow the advice of The Matrix and free your mind."

I guess he earned those degrees when he was still a captive consciousness and thus regards them as questionable?

No necktie for Dr. Mustache AND soul patch. Watch yourself Smith, Charlie J. is off the hook!

By Prometheus (not verified) on 13 Feb 2009 #permalink

Great, I've posted as Dr. J for sometime without knowing some wackaloon had called himself that. I feel dirty!

By Formerly Dr. J (not verified) on 13 Feb 2009 #permalink

I think we need a law that says that anyone who didn't earn a Ph.D. should not even consider calling himself a doctor, yet, for some reason, the people most likely to call themselves doctors have either professional degrees (eg MD, DDS, OD), woo degrees (DC), or pathetic degrees (EdD).

I expect Mr. Jackson to spend a lot of time telling lies to the audience. Interrupt him every time he does.

By freelunch (not verified) on 13 Feb 2009 #permalink

Creationist, Bircher, NWO-Conspiracy Nutcase. Damn, a trifecta. I wouldn't worry about the Mensa bit. I've run into quite a few Mensa-members who were total morons. Not a shred of common sense or knowledge among them. Mensa is completely over-rated.

Actually, looking at the picture, I was struck by the resemblance to the Templar from Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. Maybe my memory is faulty, but does anyone else think he looks like him?

Frank Zappa? (http://toddalcott.livejournal.com/193323.html)?

G. C. Jackson likes "citing" Einstein's famous quote: "science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."

But if Jackson would ever bother reading the rest of Einstein's article, he might notice Einstein's next dozen or so follow-up paragraphs...

"Though I have asserted above that in truth a legitimate conflict between religion and science cannot exist, I must nevertheless qualify this assertion once again on an essential point, with reference to the actual content of historical religions. This qualification has to do with the concept of God." Etc...

I debated that guy last September. I'm only a senior undergrad bio major, and he was a pushover. "Evolution can't generate novel information, there are no transition fossils, radiometric dating doesn't work." Have fun.

By DCardinale (not verified) on 20 Feb 2009 #permalink