Carnivalia, and an open thread

By the way, the mysterious disappearance of this week's Tangled Bank host is still unexplained, but Thoughts from Kansas has stepped forward to fill in the gap (thanks to you others who volunteered, too—I went through the list in the order the offers were received, and Josh was first). Give him a little time, he's doing this on very short notice, and I'll put up an announcement whenever it's done.

I have forwarded to him all the submissions that were sent via me or host@tangledbank.net, but if you sent anything to metaanalysis directly, you might want to resend it to me.

More like this

On Friday, I made an announcement about the Skeptics' Circle scheduled for July 31 in the light of having learned some very bad news, namely that the planned host, Jeff of Blue Collar Scientist, had recently been diagnosed with liver cancer. I wanted to verify that Jeff wasn't going to host (as I…
I'm having some difficulties with my lab server, difficulties that I can't sort out right now since I'm going to be leaving town for a week and a half. Unfortunately, this is also the server that handles mail coming in to my pharyngula.org and tangledbank.net addresses — so if you've sent stuff to…
Hey, not many carnival announcements this week. You know, if you've got a carnival that is in some way related to science, biology, godlessness, academia — my usual obsessions — feel free to send me notices and I'll mention them in my weekly carnival roundup. Friday Ark #137 I and the Bird #48…
The next Tangled Bank will be at Further Thoughts on 2 April — it's time to send those links in to me or host@tangledbank.net. Meanwhile, get inspired to write some Tangled Bank-worthy posts by reading these fine carnivals. The Carnival of the Cities I and the Bird #71 Carnival of the Liberals #…

No surprise that reactionary draft-dodging chickenhawk Rethuglican Limbaugh attacks Michael J. Fox, even though Fox did a similar ad for Arlen Specter in 2004. Here is another interview with Fox that shows what a scumbag--as if we didn't know--Limbaugh is.

http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2210587

Is Fox "acting" here too?

Stewart Lee who wrote "Jerry Springer the Opera" tells about his encounters with xians.

http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/

Just scroll to the video.

Buying pork on Eid

...
And, although no Muslim I respect takes the Taliban seriously (we usually have Koranic debates in rumshops), all Muslims I have discussed the Taliban with defend them, ultimately erring on the side of the brother in faith rather than the brother in spirit. The extreme Islamic approach, exactly the same in tenor, depth and intelligence as the extreme Christian approach, is to err on the side of appeasing God...

I just finished The God Delusion and, while I disagree with the points made in most every negative review I've read of it, I didn't find it particularly great. It seemed rushed; he skims over things that would have been interesting, dwells on others that really aren't, and frequently goes off on wild tangents. The very last section, which I just read, with the odd burka analogy (which, given the current "veil debate" here in Britain, I just found bizarre and jarring) did absolutely nothing for me. I think the point was to offer some sense of the inspirational scope of science, but instead it just seemed to regurgitate all those awful, not-particularly-inspiring ideas Computer and Cognitive Scientists have given the world. Still, it might be worth giving to someone who's "on the fence" about these issues.

Nobelist Peter Agre appears on the Colbert Report

Stephen Colbert: You've said that anyone who grew up on a farm knows that evolution exists. Okay... Are you saying that a monkey can milk a cow?

Dr. Peter Agre: Well, if I can milk a cow, I suspect a monkey as smart as I am could milk a cow.

Stephen Colbert: Are there monkeys as smart as you are?

Dr. Peter Agre: I'm sure there're quite a few.

Stephen Colbert: Really?

Dr. Peter Agre: Mmm hmm.

Stephen Colbert: Do they give a Nobel Prize for throwing your own feces?

Dr. Peter Agre: That's the economics prize, I think.

I think the point was to offer some sense of the inspirational scope of science, but instead it just seemed to regurgitate all those awful, not-particularly-inspiring ideas Computer and Cognitive Scientists have given the world.

Go stuff yourself, sir.

By Caledonian (not verified) on 28 Oct 2006 #permalink

Listener's alert: apparently both Richard Dawkins and Deepak Chopra get interviewed (not together) next week (Oct 30+) on KQED radio's talk-show program "Forum". This is an hour-long format for each guest, two each morning, with listener emails and call-ins. The host is Michael Krasny, and he's very good usually.

The web schedule page doesn't list either for Monday's preview, but this page does include the web streaming link and several-year archive (with an 11/04 Dawkins interview about 'Ancestor's Tale'). Perhaps Chopra will get his on Halloween?

Remember Rabbi Avi Shafran, who commented on atheism and morality? PZ already tore into that one. Now Shafran is back, just in time for Halloween, explaining how all his critics are misguided.

...Perhaps the writers misinterpreted my invocation of Hitler, Stalin and Pol Pot as examples of non-religious sorts who were responsible for countless deaths of innocents...

Do you think?