pharyngula

Representative Patrick Kennedy has been barred from taking communion by the Catholic church. This is a politically motivated action to intimidate a politician into supporting a position on a political issue opposed by the church, abortion rights. Hmmm…using religion to commit extortion. How unusual…

I repeat: Skepticon II was a blast, and I think what really contributed to the fun was that there was a lot of young people organizing it and in the audience, and no stodginess was allowed. Make sure you go next year — it really was one of the more entertaining and enthusiastic meetings I've gone…

That's a photo of a coral slurping up a passing jellyfish. For some reason, I find it vaguely disturbing, and have no idea why my wife would select it.

Once again, I risk stirring envy by putting a picture of a kitty-cat on Pharyngula. I met some people who showed me a nice picture of their pet, which is named after…me! Here's PZ Meowers: And look! He's blogging!

I have mixed feelings about this: a first-edition copy of Darwin's Origin of Species has been discovered, which is, of course, great — I do wish I had the pocket change to drop £60,000 to buy it for myself. The weird part is that it was found in the guest bathroom of an old house in Oxford.…

Every year, L'Oreal selects women who have made significant contributions to community service and awards their organization a substantial grant of $5,000. There are ten honorees this year, and they've all got good stories to tell. You also have a chance to vote on one of the ten, and the winner of…

It's strange…I was offline all day yesterday. I've been at Skepticon II down here in Springfield, Missouri, and unfortunately, I had no internet access while I was in the meeting, which went on all day Saturday late into the evening, and then, once the talks were over, the socializing began. The…

Loligo peali (via Scientific American)

Grrr. I was sent a link to these lying, sleazebag scammers at mygeneprofile.com, and it's the kind of thing that pisses me off. What you'll find there is a long video where the lowlife in a suit talks about how your children have in-built genetic biases ("from God", no less), and how if you want…

KKMS is a Twin Cities Christian talk radio station which has long been on my list of disreputable people and organizations peddling lies to the populace. They really pissed me off a while back when they brought me on to debate Geoffrey Simmons, and after I smacked him down hard, they invited him…

I have to recommend this criticism of sexism in the skeptical community: skeptifem points out that while we're quick to outrage when someone like Bill Maher violates science norms, we seem to shrug off the fact that he's been rudely anti-woman at times. When someone does try to share the…

Nah, I know you didn't…but I finally got around to tallying up the votes, and the winners of the Molly award for the month of September are Desert Son [New complementary close under construction] and Feynmaniac. You may now give them the traditional champagne shower. While you're at it, start…

It's another travel day for me tomorrow — I'm off to Skepticon II in Springfield, Missouri, where I'll be joining a whole group of interesting people. I notice I'm going to be giving two talks (hey, JT, nice surprise!), which shouldn't be a problem. The first one is going to be important: I'll be…

Then take a picture of yourself with it and send it to Eric Michael Johnson. I think he's going to put up a collage of smirking evilutionists with Comfort's folly.

Here we go again. Ross Olson is sending more patronizing email, so I guess I'll have to be mean and tear up his prior argument. November 18, 2009 Dr. Myers, Thank you for posting my comments and promising to comment on the questions I raised. Here is the introduction I gave to your debate with Dr…

Operation Save America has begun. Some of the fundagelicals are hoping to get militant, and I don't mean in that same sense that some atheists are called "militant", which generally means "atheists who say something". No, they are organizing and training kids to get out there and fight spiritual…

Apparently, because people had plans to counter some of Ray Comfort's Origin giveaway — which was announced to occur on the 19th — Comfort is giving them away today. I've been getting reports from various universities that his minions are at work right now, as in this photo from Oxford. Get out…

Poor Adnan Oktar. The New Humanist published an exposé, and he and his organization are clearly freaking out. I've been getting several near-hysterical emails a day from the Turkish creationist mouthpiece, Seda Aral, insisting in many different font colors that the accusations are baseless and are…

Bill Maher struck precisely the wrong tone in his recent plea for 'forgiveness' for his anti-vax stand — it wasn't an admission that he had been wrong, it was a rather smarmy, self-righteous claim that he has been the open-minded one who just wants to ask the hard questions . It reminded me of…

I wondered what the creationists were doing after last night's debate, when all the godless rationalists were partying down. They were composing a condescending letter to rationalize away their defeat! Here's what Ross Olson of the Twin Cities Creation Science Association sent me and Mark Borrello…

It's an announcement for a new video game, and the website is totally deadpan. I can't find the company "Prayer Works Interactive" on the web, which gives me some hope that this isn't real.

Go to the NCSE's Don't Diss Darwin site, and download the flyers and bookmarks and information there. Then on 19 November, when the creationist goons descend on your campus, follow them around and hand out truth and humor to go along with Comfort's bogosity. Easy.

Well. It was a strange event. Kittywhumpus and Greg Laden have good detailed breakdowns of the debate, so you can always read those for the audience perspective. As for me, I've learned that you can never prepare for a debate. I tried. I had a focus — the topic, chosen by Bergman, was "Should…

Our problem is that we men don't stand up when we pee. Obama probably sits down when he should pisseth against the wall. This isn't a joke. It's what this guy seriously believes, and he's very angry about it. Somehow, I get the idea that Steven L. Anderson, the flaming anti-gay pastor, has these…

I know that Seed and SixApart have been busily tinkering with the comments section to "improve" things, but I don't know exactly what they're doing. It's gotten weird, though, and many of you are sending me complaints that you can't comment any more — I haven't banned anyone recently, I swear. It…

The New Humanist hands out a yearly slap-in-the-face to the most deserving noisy believer of the year — last year's winner was Sarah Palin — and this year they have a full slate of worthy apologists for superstition. It's an internet poll, but who should win this one isn't at all obvious — they're…

She has so much of it to spread around, too. Sarah Palin's memoir reveals her unsurprising opinion about evolution. Elsewhere in this volume, she talks about creationism, saying she "didn't believe in the theory that human beings — thinking, loving beings — originated from fish that sprouted legs…

For those who were wondering, it's still happening. 7:30pm tonight, at the North Star Ballroom in the St Paul Student Center, 2017 Buford Ave. S. The topic is "Should Intelligent Design be Taught in the Schools?". I'll be there. It's going to be recorded. I'll probably be available for conversation…

I found this comment, left on the blog of the negligible Bryan Appleyard, to be immensely entertaining. It's the combination of hyperbole, unintentional irony, and oblivious incompetence, all spiced with a germ of truth, that makes it amusing. Myers, like Dawkins when he's tired and especially the…

Those of you who are fans of his books, like Clan Apis and the Sandwalk Adventures and Optical Allusions, should know that he has been keeping a blog, Drawing Flies, that is all about the intersection of science, education, and art. It's got comics! You can't go wrong!