Hiya gang, have you missed me? I've only got a moment before I have to go chase down flightless cormorants, so I thought I'd just pop in and tell you all I wish you were here, it's a fabulous place, and I'll have more to say when I get back after this weekend.
Until then, the guest bloggers are doing a marvelous job and have my full support!
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We've met, we've gotten educated, we've gotten married, and almost all in two different cities. Now I've quit my job so I can finish my dissertation, and we live together, what a concept.
Okay, year together, blah blah blah. Gardening, working, eating locally, helping each other, all good things…
I probably won't get to look at them until after Isaiah's birthday and our Chanukah party next weekend, but the seed catalogs are piling up, and I'm starting to think about gardens again. I can't wait to sink down into the couch with a stack of catalogs and dream.
This was a tough year for…
Alright, people, I'm gonna get tough. You know what I want, and you'd better give it to me.
I've got a bible here, and a 44oz. Diet Coke…lots of liquid containing a diuretic, to boot. In about an hour, I figure my bladder is going to be pretty full. You know what could happen.
I don't need…
Since half the blogs on the net seem to be making lists of their favorite movie quotes, I thought I'd add some of mine. Some movies are just goldmines of great lines - Caddyshack, almost any Kevin Smith movie, Bull Durham. Herewith some of my absolute favorites, without the title of the movie so…
Hm, how hard can that be? I mean, if they're not in the water, of course.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7
Great to hear from you, PZ! You are missed indeed, and I'm very much looking forward to hearing the details of your trip. Cheers!
Now, two boys have been found rubbing linseed oil into the school cormorant. Now, some of you may feel that the cormorant does not play an important part in the life of the school, but I would remind you that it was presented to us by the Corporation of the town of Sudbury to commemorate Empire Day, when we try to remember the names of all those from the Sudbury area who so gallantly gave their lives to keep China British. So, from now on, the cormorant is strictly out of bounds!
Enjoy, PZ! Thanks for checking in!
Meaning of Life! TEN POINTS!
the guest bloggers are doing a marvelous job and have my full support!
Except for the one post that's had me craving kalamari for nearly a week.
PZeeeeeee!!!! You are ruining my life. Come back right this instance and get back to blogging. Work is intolerable without you. :(
Don't forget the turtles, PZ!
Oh, your back. Have a nice time? All done galavanting around the globe? Elitist bastard.
OT - Poll Crash
It's at msnbc, it's about "in god we trust" on currency. So far, the wrong answer is winning.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/
Post haste everyone.
Pharyngulites:
Since PZ is not here on a regular basis, I'll give you this poll. It may be too late to swing it around but it's worth the try.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/
Should the motto "In God We Trust" be removed from U.S. currency?
Yes. It's a violation of the principle of separation of church and state.
No. The motto has historical and patriotic significance and does nothing to establish a state religion.
9% Yes
91% No
PZ (or PZMinions), if you are still here, please feel free to delete my comment and make a post. Thanks.
Glad to hear you're enjoying yourself!
I only miss you when your guest bloggers remember to post their identity and I can't make believe it's you. ;-)
Seriously, they've been doing a fine job.
Travel safe PZ. You are missed.
With my vote, Yes was up to 9.2%.
Snark, at least I sure hope so.
Good to hear from you.
John McCain is now the presumptive CIC and he is trying to start a war to punish Russia. Russia has lots of nukes, so there may not be a USA soon.
I am sorry if you lose half of your round trip ticket, but stay where you are and be safe. Think of your silenced USA minions every now and then if Russia believes McCain has any battaions to match his belicose words.
Hey P.Z. did ya see the bit on the federal judge in California rejecting the idea of homeschooled or "christian" educated kids being allowed in university? I can't find the link right now. I'll be back.
Up to 9.3 per cent, but... with in excess of 111,000 votes already cast, it'll be a toughie.
Not to be a buzzkill, but the poll for "In God We Trust" is from an article in 2005 about Michael Newdow.
Surely you're exaggerating the danger Mr. ThirtyFiveUp . The US and Russia together have only 9600 deliverable nuclear weapons.
You don't want us all there. Trust me.
Coin poll:
What is "patriotic significance", exactly? Pavlov language? Code for "If you don't believe in the Christian God, then you're not American"? Sheesh. Like anyone even knew the damn phrase was on their money until someone said they wanted to take it off. Take it off and put NUMBERS on the coins like in every other country in the world so that people who don't speak the language can at least tell what they're worth. Nah, forget it, too damned sensible.
Not to be a buzzkill, but the poll for "In God We Trust" is from an article in 2005 about Michael Newdow.
Well, if they've kept it open this long (that explains the 111,000 votes), we might still have a chance at skewage. :)
Please see the msnbc article the poll is attached to. It appears to mis-report Michael Newdow's suit against the use of 'under god' in the pledge.
This is completely off-topic, but I came across a very interesting clip taken from Fox News:
http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-60197
I'm not sure what to make of it. Media conspiracy buffs seem to think it buttreses their ideas; Bush-haters might claim it's evidence of the administration's incompetence. Fox critics appear to relish the "pwning" of said station.
FYI only
Thanks, Captain Bringdown and the Buzzkill Squadron with your Harsh Offensive.
Who is that PZ guy?
Just kidding! Have fun, PZ and don't worry about us. The guest bloggers are making us clean our rooms and eat our vegetables. Really. And nothing irreplaceable has been broken. Yet.
Here it is:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/12/BAQT129NMG…
Psssst! Hey Joyess:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/08/a_victory_for_rationalism_in…
Well, I've really enjoyed your guests.
I'm commenting less, and as a result, I modified a whopping 91 Cold Fusion programs YESTERDAY, and got another feature working last week.
I think a compromise of some sort is in order here. My productivity is WAY up.
Ahhhhhh......... Well done guest bloggers!!!
Nah. Not missing you. MAJeff has all your brainless chops when it comes to stirring the pot like a true demagogue, and the others, for the most part, actually blog about science.
Take your time. Take the rest of your life, in fact.
In fairness, Danio, the Chronicle article is much better, and it has comments from actual Californians in it.
Make sure you read x4x's completely idiotic comments, everyone. Now that's a creobot.
Nobody misses you more than Nobody, apparently.
Rather than removing "in god we trust" from the currency I'd much rather see the currency, itself, removed altogether. The currency is a far more serious problem than the words printed on it.
Mike M: How was my comment unfair? I just wanted to let joeyess know that the topic had been covered here in PZ's absence.
The Chronicle article is almost certainly a better report, and the comments should indeed be a fun read, but note that it was published one day after I posted my blog entry about the ruling.
9.6% Y
90% N
Jeeeez! I didn't intend to start a flame war. Easy, folks. I simply haven't been here to read the various posts. I stopped by and saw a post by PZ, wondered if he'd seen the story, thought I'd pass it along. Both pieces are great. All of you elitist bastards need to chill out!!!!!
;^)
Hey, I heard flightless cormorant tastes like cuy. You'd best bring back plenty of pictures, PeeZed!
Of course we missed you PZ!! We're your ilk...we'll always miss you! :P
While checking my hairline this morninf I noticed two little bumps. I guess I'm on my way to minion status.
Hey PZ...
More tentacle fashion for you to wear.
http://www.uncrate.com/men/style/dress-shirts-ties/tentacle-tie/
Danio, I meant no harm. I just liked the article Joeyess found more, even if it was already covered.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/
Vote to remove "In God We Trust" on our currency!
I have to go chase down flightless cormorants
No need for euphemisms, PZ. *wink*
So says the neighborhood masochist, Nobody The Idiot Troll.
The guest bloggers have been doing a fine job. Especially MAJeff. Oh, and Sastra. And Danio. And Lisa. Did I miss anyone? :-)
llewelly @19:
But...it's OVER NINE THOUSAAAAANND!!!!
#19 llewelly and #46 Shaden Freud
Between 9000 to 10,000; that is one for every year the earth has existed. Surely proof that the Bible is inerrant in every way.
Bow your heads.
#25 Lana
Hey, don't tell, but I did not make my bed today and I ate candy before lunch.
In the words of Hugh Laurie's Prince George:
"Lucky, lucky, luck, luck luck luck luck..."
MAJeff has all your brainless chops
"Nobody" again demonstrates his deep, personal understanding of brainlessness.
In the meantime, here's another poll:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/
I was disappointed that there wasn't a third option: "Only if we add 'All others pay cash.'"
He's back after the weekend?
Dang- we haven't even had time to organise a party at his empty house yet.
Organise? Organise? You don't organise an empty house party--you flyer a few local high schools and let the party develop organically.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/
The Yes vote is now up to 30%. Any more takers?
Now 31%. I think it would be a coup to skew a three-year-old poll starting from 9% with 111,000 votes already cast.
Looks like this has turned into an open-thread.
Did anyone else hear what McCain said?
"...in the 21st century nations don't invade other nations."
This was in response to Russia invading Georgia.
So, hmmm, where does this put him with regards to a little country called Iraq? Just askin'.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/08/13/mccain-in-the-21st-centur_n_11…
Do we miss you? Yes, we do! But, PZ, you said:
If you decide you like them better than me, I shall be heartbroken, but I will be kicking them off on the 18th of August anyway. Maybe they'll be inspired to go on to new blogs of their very own...?
I'm absolutely ready for regular blogs from Danio, LisaJ, Sastra (especially Sastra) and MAJeff. In fact, I think they should all abandon you entirely and unceremoniously on August 19 in favor of their own blogs. Then, the next time you take time off to chase flightless cormorants with beaks of undisclosed dimensionality and microfunction, we shall be treated to the spectacle of your scrambling for other minions to take over pharyngula.
POLL!! POLL!! POLL!!
And a good one that we are missing... should "In God We Trust" be removed from US currency?
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/
PLEASE GO VOTE!
Thanks
Miss you. Need more polls to crash!
Totally OFF subject, but am I the ONL:Y one offended with tonight's reports about Obama's July 7 flight which had the problems and the ATC asking "How many souls on from board?) Even worse, (I believe MSNBC, although I surf so much I may have inadvertently defamed them) response from the plane was "51 "souls" on board."
51 souls, 100 soles. (One passenger was barefoot.)
MSN says it is unable to record my vote for "technical reasons." Anyone else getting this?
9 to 43 percent on a 3 year old poll with over 110,000 original votes, epic.
Should the motto "In God We Trust" be removed from U.S. currency?
The motto is the least of the problems with our currency.
-jcr
The motto is the least of the problems with our currency.
jcr wins the thread.
Game Over.
Up to 57%. This may be one of the best examples of how the blogosfere can skew polls.......
If anyone has any brain cells they feel are unnecessary, go read Ray Comfort's latest post.
Meanwhile I'll be in the corner eating paint chips and sticking a fork in the electrical socket.
Yay! Now Russia is threatening Poland with nuclear annihilation becase they agreed to take a piece of our missle shield that hasn't, doesn't, and never will work!
I love geopolitics under the Bushies. "Well, we've spent billions, and have barely managed to get the thing to fire, much less hit anything. Let's really piss off the only other nation that has the strike capability to harm us by sticking it near their borders like it actually does something."
Question! (I apologize about the randomness of the post)
Can someone be presented with a sample of DNA from a mammal and determine what species it is? For example, if I were to give you a sample, could you determine that it was a squirrel, rather than a gorilla? Can you get more specific than that? Can you determine what *kind* of gorilla it is?
Thanks for the assist, pharyngulites. This was the first place I thought of when this question came up.
If anyone has any brain cells they feel are unnecessary, go read Ray Comfort's latest post.
Ay, Rev. Way too early for that. I liked MudSkipper's comment.
(Why can't he spell Berkeley correctly? Why, why, why?)
Because Ray is a dumb dumb. A lying, smarmy little weasel. But most of all, a dumb dumb.
I can't state it any more clearly than that.
@ Bill #69
I think that can be done in some cases. I don't think we could identify bigfoot with it, though.
There is 5X blame to go around in this SNAFU and no good guys. This could lead to a new cold war at the least or WWIII. Or not but why is anyone taking the chance?
The Georgians miscalculated and ended up in a war with an opponent two orders of magnitude larger and didn't even seem to give a good account of themselves. The only way to fight the Russians would be to do a Cheknya. Let the Russians level everything and fight from the mountains as guerrilas for a few years until they bleed out.
The Russians have gone loco. Empires are expensive and they collapsed because the last one didn't work and because their mickey mouse economic system didn't work. The cold war damaged both sides but they eventually lost the war of who can spend the most money on threat displays that might get used but probably won't. It was a lose-lose situation. So why bother repeating the same old mistakes?
The USA has screwed up big time. Much as I didn't like Reagon, he had a point. No one ever lost a war by being too strong and armed. The pointless war in Iraq is bleeding our military and economy out. This is our Russian-Afghanistan conflict. As Hitler brilliantly showed, fighting multi-front wars doesn't work well. We may end up going eye ball to eye ball with the Russians yet again. With our arms and legs tied by Iraq.
I wouldn't trust Putin who seems to be a megalomaniac intent on restarting the cold war. I would make sure we have the military we might need to ensure that we don't need it. And Bush/Cheney should be tried for treason. Not that he was actively malevolent but at his level of stupidity, that is indistinguishable from it.
Looks like there may be a counteroffensive on the poll.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/
If that someone has the proper equipment, the proper data, and is trained in the proper techniques, yes. Think of DNA paternity tests. The principles are the same, but of course there is a much greater genetic difference between a lowland gorilla and a mountain gorilla than there is between a parent and a potential child.
Damn you, Reverend! Now my brain hurts like a mofo... and my new desk is dented...
I told you. That place is made of dumb.
Looks like there may be a counteroffensive on the poll.
I think you're right. Now down to 52% Y.
the poll caught my eye when I checked it over the course of a couple minutes and it literally jumped by thousands of votes.
I envy you PZ. It's always been a dream of mine to visit the Galapagos and see Darwin's finches. I hope you take a lot of pictures and enjoy yourself thoroughly.
12 minutes dissecting Comfort on KPFT
Listening to Ray actually does cause brain damage, I kept calling him "Roy"
I'm still trying to figure out how they fly with those huge beards
PZ
Miss you? Hell no. We are having a "hoot" with the PZ minion's posts. Have a great time. Take your time. Don't hurry - relax, evolve, drift a bit. Just remember, some of us don't get away a lot or aren't allowed out to play much.
Scooter (#52), I laughed out loud. Would someone please PhotoShop(R) a few "Darwin's finches"?
Better than a poll: help Graham Linehan to decorate the set of The IT Crowd. He's asking for details for its third season to make it look like "a cross between a comic book store and the Batcave." Geek heaven, in other words. See "Be my Hive Brain" for details.
I had a typo in that link: "Be my Hive Brain".
The new name for group efforts like this is "crowdsourcing."
Oh, you've been gone?