pharyngula

Nicole Smalkowski, the young woman discriminated against because she is an atheist, was in the news again on Friday. She was interviewed by John Stossel (who is a colossal douche) for 20/20 and a story about disbelief in America. Stossel makes much of the fact that atheists are a minority and that…

Next week, the Humanists of Minnesota are having their annual banquet and fundraiser. You should all go! It's at the Doubletree Hotel, 1500 Park Place Boulevard, in St Louis Park, at 6:00 on 19 May. Tickets are $37. Here! A flyer and ticket order form! The featured speaker at the dinner is, umm, me…

As I mentioned earlier, I had to beg off on moderating the YearlyKos science caucus this year. I am pleased to say, though, that my replacement is Tara Smith. Now watch. People are going to flock to YearlyKos and tell the organizers they were so impressed with Dr Smith and they sure are glad that…

This is a beautifully done movie, although it does get a bit silly in the end. One point this brought to mind: have you ever looked at sperm? They're amazing. We humans do go through a single-celled haploid stage which is the focus of some very intense selection pressure, and humans in their…

Here are a few — only a few — of the photos from our triumphant day in St Cloud. This is Alaric trying on those funny academic robes. If he had to wear them every day, like I do, he wouldn't be laughing so hard. (You do know that we professors wear these things all the time, right?) Here's that…

It's a bit of a travel day for me again—I'm in St Cloud, sitting in a coffee shop for a little while, before heading off to the SCSU campus for…ALARIC'S GRADUATION! My oldest son is graduating with a double major in Economics and Political Science today. One less set of tuition payments to make, at…

If you have a subscription to New Scientist, you can read my review of Stephen Jay Gould's latest book. "He's dead!" you might say, but he does have a new book on the way, titled Punctuated Equilibrium(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll). Actually, it's not new — it's simply chapter 9 of The Structure of…

What is going on here? I read Mitt Romney's comments on evolution on TPM Cafe and was surprised at how many people think it was a positive development. Is this a first? Mitt Romney isn't pandering to religious right voters or flip-flopping on an issue important to them in this interview, in which…

It's always so exciting to see a new creationist argument…until you actually look at it and see how silly it is. And they've been getting more and more desperately absurd as the years go by and the flaws in the old arguments get harder and harder to support. Once upon a time, they could just say it…

Everyone say happy birthday to Coturnix and Melissa!

The server here is not working well—people are getting lots of "Internal Server Errors" when they try to post comments, and I'm seeing the same problem when I try to post articles. Despite the error message, though, the comments are usually going through. IGNORE THE ERRORS. Here's the usual run of…

James Kakalios gets to use the latest Spider-Man movie as an excuse to explain the physics of granular materials in the New York Times. Good thing they didn't ask a biologist about Sandman … all I could think about was that there was no way a loose aggregate of coarse sand would be able to mimic…

Hey, this isn't a half-bad critique of creationist arguments — short, written at a simple level, and with a list of references at the end. Too bad he's another of us repugnant atheists — he'll frighten the children and never convince anyone of anything.* *That's sarcasm, 'k?

Here's a slew of good stuff to entertain you on a pleasant Friday, the last day of finals week here at UMM. I have to give my genetics students their final exam in a short while—I fear they are not having a happy time right now. When they're done, though, the sun will be shining, commencement…

That Holbo fella puts up a post about octopuses — it's got a winged cephalopod, and one driving a car — and he wasn't inspired to wax holbonically upon it? I'm disappointed.

Rupert Murdoch has openly admitted that global warming is a real problem. At an event held this morning in midtown Manhattan and webcast to all News Corp. employees, Murdoch launched a company-wide plan to address climate change that includes not only a pledge to reduce the company's emissions (…

Rumor has it that Hammer Films might be coming back—I don't know if this is good news or not. I love the old movies and have a stack of their DVDs right next to me, but all the money in horror movies seems to be in ghastly 1½ hour extended torture scenes, like the hideous Hostel and unwatchable Saw…

Seaducer sent me this photo, taken on a dive near Bonaire—the colors and shadows and the meaty, fleshy look of the beast give it a wonderfully baleful look.

Neddie finds something rather disturbing: a border guard leaving a comment in a blog, flaunting his knowledge of the comings and goings of the blogger at a border crossing. It's vaguely threatening, in a "I know where you live" kind of way. The assertion that "you do not have a right to privacy" is…

First, an important message from Randy Olson: Second, another important message from Randy Olson: one of the DVD extras for the movie has been released to YouTube! It's got my picture in it, but skip that, watch for… Jack Cashill's little falsehood about Haeckel's embryos. He accuses SJ Gould of…

A new book titled Flock of Dodos (a book, not the movie, and apparently the two have nothing to do with each other) is coming out, and Glenn Branch of the NCSE tells me it mentions something vile about William Jennings Bryan, the defender of creationism at the Scopes trial. That's his campaign…

Fox News happily reports that a scientific study has found that Religion is Good for Kids! Jean Mercer scrutinizes the study, finds it dubious at best, and Dale McGowan suggests that a better title would have been Religion May Make Some First Graders Marginally Easier to Manage. Not that there's…

The regal old willow that has graced our front yard for longer than I've been alive, and which has sadly shown signs of advancing senescence, is scheduled for termination tomorrow morning. It's a beautiful old tree, but its habit of dropping a ton of log every spring has made it a hazard, so we've…

Some conservative named Patrick Hynes is unhappy that the Republican candidates were asked their opinion of evolution. His argument is two-pronged: it is reasonable to disagree with scientific opinions on the matter, and it is unreasonable to ask the politicians of his party what their opinion of a…

Brent got asked a question by Vox Day: to list Christianity's 10 greatest sins against science. He expands a little bit: I'm reading all of these New Atheist books, I keep reading these condemnations of Christians being anti-science, but no one ever bothers to explain exactly what they mean by that…

I'm a traitor. Remember how I was going to lead the Science Caucus at YearlyKos? I was really looking forward to that and we had some great ideas for a productive session. I hope who ever takes over for me can use some of that. That's right — I'm not going to be able to make it to YearlyKos this…

Here's something you don't see everyday: a bear kills a moose in someone's driveway, and then rips its heart out and eats it. Even better, Skemono has links to the video. It makes me glad I don't live in Alaska. People should ask Skatje about the time she met a moose on a camping trip. She did not…

While I might wish that this satire were true, it has a few problems. SEATTLE--Members of The Discovery Institute, a Seattle based think tank, publicly rescinded their demands that intelligent design be taught in public schools after watching an Ultimate Fighting “best knockouts” compilation…

A reader sent along an an article from the Lancaster Sunday News, announcing a lecture on 17 May by John Morris, an infamously silly Young Earth Creationist. It's a little peculiar; it's written by Helen Colwell Adams, bylined as a staff writer for the paper, but it is completely credulous — she…

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