pharyngula

Why is the reality-based community ignored? Because the other side, the Jesus-loving wingnut loons, is committed to defending idiocy, while the Democrats have a complete lack of any guiding principle, other than to get elected. Nick Coleman has another perfect example, not that there's any shortage…

We all knew him as Mr Wizard, of course. He was a great no-nonsense science teacher who influenced a whole generation of kids — he taught us that science was a very down-to-earth process that worked. He didn't have a lot of flash and pizazz, and the production values on his show were downright…

I think a nimble-fingered Albanian got a little souvenir. Too bad the market for Bush memorabilia is in the dumpster right now.

Coyne not only dismantles Behe's argument, he gives a nice primer in the basics of evolutionary biology. He also points out that Behe, one of the few biologists in the Intelligent Design camp, has conceded virtually everything to science, and is left clinging to one forlorn hope, that mutations are…

I haven't been monitoring the comments too closely lately, so I hadn't taken a closer look at this latest trollin' fool, "Peanut Gallery". When I saw that his latest comment seemed awfully familiar, though, I did a quick search and … whoops, what do you know. It was our old pal, the Kansas troll.…

Wise up, newspapers. You shouldn't publish the drivel the Discovery Institute sends out — it's not news, we've heard the opinion a thousand times before and it's just as hokey, and they're making you look silly. Do you also print without question the latest missives from the Raelians or Gene Ray?…

One word: awesome.

When the Buddhas of Bamyan were dynamited, it wasn't an atheist who lit the fuse. These modern atheists that have stirred up so much resentment among the apologists for religion are not destroyers who seek to demolish the past or who want to advance a destructive ideology — they aren't philistines…

Not that I was ever a fan of Archie comics, but I thought they were a little less inane than this: You can read the whole thing online, if you want to. Sanctimony really doesn't go well with corn, though. (via Tikistitch)

We've got a new Gallup poll on evolution to agonize over. It's nothing but bad news—we are a nation of uneducated morons. Gary chose to weep over the political correlation: look how membership in the Republican party is tied to ignorance about science. The clear majority of Republicans are…

Jason Rosenhouse has an exhaustingly exhaustive report on a lecture by Thomas Woodward, in 4 parts (here are parts 1, 2, 3, and 4). Woodward has written a book defending ID, and is going around the country giving testimonials to his faith. As is common with these folk, he also did a little…

Since I asked for it, and since so many were promptly forthcoming with a copy, I'd better give you a quick summary. Kubodera et al. have formally published their observations of the eight-armed deep sea squid, Taningia danae, that were in the news last February. There isn't much new information in…

Two photographs by the same photographer, taken on the same day of the year, with an unhappy subject at the center. What a bizarre coincidence. Personally, I think the first one was far more affecting and important.

The Power Team is one of many evangelical circus shows—they specialize in doing energetic school assemblies where they rip telephone books in half and breaking bricks, all with the intent of getting people to attend their tent revival shows where they somehow argue that all the machismo makes them…

George W. Bush is having private conversations with an invisible friend. Back in 2003 he met with the Palestinians and told them all about it. Nabil Shaath says: "President Bush said to all of us: 'I'm driven with a mission from God. God would tell me, "George, go and fight those terrorists in…

Oh, crap. Tristero throws me into despair with this sad quote. Science is a gift of God to all of us and science has taken us to a place that is biblical in its power to cure," said Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, arguing for the bill's passage. "And that is the embryonic stem cell…

This one has lots and lots of photos and details—I don't think I'll ever need to visit Ken Ham's folly, to my relief, since I can already see everything that's in there. The article makes another good point: this museum is going to be a tool to drive apostasy. It's so ridiculous, so cartoonish,…

This is grossly unfair. Ric Mercer makes fun of Americans for not knowing much about Canada. I assure you, though, that Americans know as much about Canada as they do about the United States.

OK, that last post might have given you nightmares. Here's something to soothe your frazzled nerves: femme femme femme. Women sure are pretty. (via toomanytribbles)

Just something for you zombie cannibals to think about. (via Gimme back my god!)

The Carnival of the Godless is full of new commandments I'm supposed to follow, but that seem to be getting broken at a frenetic pace. We don't need any more; I have a suggestion for the Christians. Pick one of the good ones in the original 10. Not an easy one, like "Thou shalt loaf about on Sunday…

Another morning, another creationist whine out of the blue. Here's another letter, and as usual with these well-thought out rants, I'm an afterthought—it's addressed to Ken Miller, but then the guy figures he might as well clog a few more mailboxes while he's sending it out. As is traditional, the…

John Scalzi lives right near the Creation "Museum," and he refuses to go. Good for him, I say — we're going to have to start starving Ken Ham soon. On the other hand, if anyone could mock Ham's Folly effectively, it's Scalzi … it's also so much fun to torment him. So his readers are teaming up to…

I really don't give a damn about Paris Hilton, but doesn't this just break your heart? Friends said that she was not eating or sleeping in jail, and that she had been crying a lot. Some reports suggested that this was because she had not been allowed to wax or use moisturiser. For Ms Hilton, here'…

Now this is a different categorization of the differences between bold, brave assertive atheists and the spineless, gutless apologists for religious lunacy: we're "mean", and they're "nice". When the mean atheists and the nice atheists get together, it's not so much that it annoys the mean atheists…

Paying a pittance to old winos to get them to beat each other up for the camera is cheesy enough, but now they've sunk even lower: getting sanctimonious old Republican twits to throw punches at Democrats. Tacky, tacky.

Duae Quartunciae (will he ever settle on a name?) has an excellent historical summary of the Answers in Genesis civil war. There's loads of fun stuff there, including an account of a prior split that involved accusations of witchcraft and "demonic infiltration", Ken Ham's pitiful claim that he is…

The first of three potluck picnics sponsored by one of our regional godless groups is being held Sunday, 10 June, at noon, at Columbia Park—Skatje, my wife Mary, and I are planning on being there. Come on out and join the freethought community in the Twin Cities area! By the way, it's weird how we'…

Somebody out there must be able to give me a fix—I keep trying to get this paper, and either my library gives me ambiguous messages about access and a few errors, or the Royal Soc. site balks and tells me that there is system maintenance going on. I can't even get to the videos. Come on, man, I'm…

Those nerds over at Marginal Utility have been analyzing some interesting data — the results of the General Social Survey have been released, and you know those guys. Give them a file full of numbers and they go nuts. Here's an interesting correlation. They compared general beliefs about scientific…