pharyngula

Saturday is the day of this insane yearly event, the Blogathon, in which bloggers post constantly for 24 hours straight. I am not quite that crazy, but Blag Hag is, and she's looking for people to sponsor her effort. Proceeds will go to the Secular Student Alliance, so it's a worthy cause.

Did I say 101 atheists were going to the Creation "Museum" four days ago? The updated number is currently at 201, and the Secular Student Alliance is keeping registration open for a while, so you can still get in. This is going to be great — be sure to wear some kind of distinguishingly godless…

Tom Harkin is up to his usual tricks: he wants to expand the role of 'alternative therapies' by allowing them to be covered by insurance. The quacks are cheering him on, too — every naturopath, homeopath, acupuncturist, crystal healer, shaman, meditator, and iridologist wants their slice of that…

Sepia Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.

The bluefin tuna is being grossly overfished, and is on its way to extinction. The reason? Fishermen can sell a single bluefin for $173,000. At first thought, you might feel like blaming the greedy fishermen (and I think there is some fault there), but here's an article that assigns the blame more…

The other day, I mentioned the silly anti-global-warming argument of Alan Quist: he claims a 16th century map shows Antarctica in accurate detail, revealing that 500 years, the continent was completely ice-free. Therefore, he kookles, the world is currently in a deep freeze and a little warming…

There is a site called ScienceBlog, at scienceblog.com. Note that it is a little different from scienceblogs.com — it lacks the "s". There are a few other differences, too: it's a site that simply reprints press releases. Send 'em anything, and they'll spit it back up on the web for you. One such…

A gallery in Glasgow has put out a Bible and suggested people write in it. The Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow has invited art lovers to write their thoughts down in an open Bible on display as part of its Made in God's Image exhibition. Next to the Bible lie several pens with a note saying: "If…

Carl Zimmer discovers that George Will is still lying about global warming. Also, Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead.

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Some people are quite rightly appalled that Bill Maher won the Richard Dawkins Award from AAI, and is at the top of the list of speakers at the AAI conference. I sympathize; Maher certainly has some wacky ideas, and I even gave him a mixed review on his movie, Religulous. (I also must repeat a…

The wikipedia article on "New Atheism" is nothing short of a travesty. It mentions nothing of the fact that the people associated with this "New Atheism" clearly state that there is nothing "new" about it, and the only sources it cites are Andrew Brown, who has become something of a mewling whiner…

Someone in Kissimmee, Florida got it into their head that the city logo was lacking in pointless accolades to their deity, so they want to jam one in. There's a poll, of course. Kissimmee city commissioners are considering putting "In God We Trust" on a new city logo. Commissioner Art Otero says he…

If you're considering a pet, you have to weigh the pros and cons. Wow, when they're all laid out like that, you just have to choose the squid. Now wait — maybe you've got some brain-damaged children running around who chose poorly, or you flipped a coin and are now stuck with the decision to get…

Supposedly, the Next Big Thing in the Intelligent Design creationism movement is Stephen Meyer's new book, Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll). Meyer is wandering about the country, peddling absurd op-eds and flogging his book in bad talks. Here…

A professor of religion has decided that atheism is in decline and the "New Atheists" are over. Why? Because sales of books by the "New Atheists" have declined since their release several years ago, Karen Armstrong has published her silly book, and surveys show that atheists are still a minority.…

Scarcely do I mention that Texas goes recruiting in Minnesota for kooks, but I learn that John Charles Wilson is running for governor of Minnesota. Wilson's Edgertonite National Party is based on the Lauraist religion, a movement he created that believes Laura Ingalls Wilder is God and that the…

The atheists put up billboards, the Christians put up billboards. What's the difference? One small difference can be found in this story about new pro-theocracy ads going up in Florida. The billboards showcase quotes from early American leaders like John Adams, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin.…

These will keep you groaning all day. A fellow accidentally ingested some alpha-L-glucose and discovered that he had no ill effects. Apparently he was ambidextrose. A bloke walks into a pub, and asks for a pint of Adenosinetriphosphate. The barman says "That'll be 80p (ATP) please!" (note 100p…

I really want Dara O'Briain's sack. P.S. I think we're back online now. P.P.S. Ooops. Comments aren't working. The tech people are trying to turn those back on right now.

We just got the very abrupt word that Seed will be doing an upgrade of our servers tonight, like real soon now, and that during this process you won't be able to make comments. Apparently, the little text box will still be there, and you'll be able to type away madly, but nothing will happen. Don't…

PLoS has recently published a highly speculative but very interesting paper on how a particular signaling pathway, the Hedgehog pathway, might have evolved. It's at a fairly early stage in hypothesis testing, which is one of the things that makes it interesting — usually all you see published is…

I confess. One of the staple sources of creationist lunacy I document here has always been Texas (with Florida as a close runner-up), which seems to be thickly infested with ignoramuses who get elected to high office. It's the kind of place that inspires the Molly Ivins of the world. Lately, we've…

Ethan Siegel wants you to compel him to go bald. He claims he is going to shear off all of his hair to raise money for charity, but I've seen this act before. It's so familiar. First, he goes completely bald. Then, he gets a monocle. A dueling scar would be a nice touch. Then, to complete his…

Mr Deity is wrestling with the various versions of his story. Much is explained by his choice of a script doctor. By the way, if you've ever wanted to actually meet Mr Deity, you've got a shot: he'll be speaking at the Atheist Alliance International 2009 Convention in LA this October. And it's…

The current total of registered attendees for our Invasion of the Creationist "Museum" is now at 101 — and you've only got a few more days to pre-register. You're also welcome to just show up, of course. This is an official Outing — not only are we going on a trip, but you should be a loud and…

I await the day when someone proposes to put a sign advocating godlessness on a bus, and the Christians and Muslims are so accustomed to it that they regard it with complete nonchalance. That day isn't here yet, as we can see by all the ongoing perturbation at very simple, innocuous statements. Now…

This is not a very good picture, but it's because the subject is very, very shy. We have a, shall we say, rather untamed yard, very weedy, and we keep finding new little pals moving in. We've got rabbits everywhere, and lately, to our annoyance, pocket gophers are burrowing in our front yard, and…

(via Chris)