pharyngula

Stein has a little tantrum over outcry against his address at the University of Vermont. It's not at all notable, except for one little comment. Stein said he has spoken at many universities, including Columbia, Yale, Stanford, and American University, "and no one has said boo. Somehow at UVM, it…

This is Samira Jassam. She is not a nice lady. She was responsible for sending men out to rape women, so that in their despair and shame she'd be able to recruit them as suicide bombers. She's a monster. The cowards who would do her bidding and assault innocent women are also creatures of contempt…

You'll have to think about this one. There probably is no teapot.

A nurse on a home visit decided to offer her services as a personal intermediary to a deity and pray for her patient. The patient objected and complained to the health organization — after all, the patient may not like her nasty bronze age god, and may feel put upon that a presumed professional is…

It's getting hot and nasty in the battle over the Texas science standards. Donna Garner, one of the members of the forces of darkness, has distributed a letter in which she claims that the atheists are winning Texas (I wish!), and that those of us who are working to teach evolution must be opposed…

There are days when you just want to slap a few journalists. The latest absurdity comes from the LA Times, in which an ignorant reporter waxes snarky over the fact that the vice president's wife is addressed as "Dr. Biden", since she has a doctorate in education, and snootily claims that:…

They just don't get it. Here's a beautiful example: Kurt Warner, the hyper-pious quarterback for some football team, has a number 13 on his jersey. Why? "A lot of people believe 13 is an unlucky number," Warner said, "but I've kind of embraced it." He added: "A lot of negative things come with the…

Phil Zuckerman has written a book called Society without God: What the Least Religious Nations Can Tell Us About Contentment(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll); I haven't read it yet, but it sounds like a good approach, looking at secular societies like Scandinavia and comparing them to religious societies,…

The NY Times ran an interesting article on sexology a short while ago, focusing on the differences in arousal between men and women. Like any guy, I read it hoping to discover the magic switch that turns women on, but as expected, the message is that female arousal is very, very complicated. This…

This gets better and better. President Daniel Fogel of the University of Vermont has given several interviews on the Ben Stein affair, and clarified quite a few matters. He explicitly says he did not ask Stein to withdraw from the commencement ceremonies, but when you read these comments, it's…

I'm getting a big surge in requests to pharyngulate this poll, Should the motto "In God We Trust" be removed from U.S. currency?. Stop, please. That poll is already blown to smithereens; just look at the numbers. Almost 11 million votes. The results are hacked, oversubscribed, and the product of…

Doesn't it just make you feel so darned good when you hear stories of megachurches and televangelists in decline? Once one of the nation's most popular televangelists, the Rev. Robert H. Schuller is watching his life's work crumble.   His son and recent successor, the Rev. Robert A. Schuller…

I was sent this very exciting piece of promotional art. I don't know why they didn't use it — it captures the movie perfectly. By the way, the quote from me is something I said…it's just taken a teeny-tiny bit out of context.

As you all know, Calvin & Hobbes was the best comic strip ever.

The people have spoken, and the honored recipient of the Molly for December is…Nerd of Redhead! This, of course, merely confirms the nerdishness and raises it to new heights, so the nick is now even more appropriate. Next, we have to pick some other nerd to get the OM after his or her name for the…

The climate change denialists have been whooping it up in my email lately, crowing in triumph over the fact that James Hansen's former "supervisor" has disavowed his work and claims there were no political efforts to suppress the scientific facts. I haven't really cared — it's an argument from…

It's a bit too phenomenological, and definitely too animal-centric, but who cares? David Attenborough's tree of life is very pretty and gets the gist of the story of life on earth across.

Jonathan Wells recently gave a talk in Albuquerque at something called the "Forum on Science, Origins, and Design", a conference about which I can find absolutely nothing on the web. I wasn't there, of course, and I don't get invited to these goofy events anyway, but I did get a copy of Wells'…

A few of us wild and crazy evo people, including Richard Dawkins, wrote up pieces for an issue of the BBC Focus magazine. You'll find me arguing with Steve Jones about whether evolution has stopped, Richard Lenski is highlighted, and Carl Zimmer makes an appearance. If you've got a flash player,…

Good news, all! Ben Stein has withdrawn from the UVM commencement. I think we can thank Richard Dawkins' clout for helping with this one. Here's the letter from President Fogel. They asked Stein to speak as an authority on economics? Dear Professor Dawkins, As one who has been deeply instructed…

NPR is getting with the program and are running weekly segments on evolution. This week, you can listen to the story of young Charles Darwin, good ol' Gas.

If you've been trying to complain to UVM about their decision to bring in Ben Stein as a commencement speaker, some of your arguments may have fallen on deaf ears. Richard Dawkins reports: Someone with a real axe to grind had to have been on the committee that picked this old fraud". Layla…

They must really be scraping the bottom of the barrel — at 9am Central, Sunday morning, Atheist talk radio interviews some strange guy named Bora Zivkovic. Who?

A few people (actually, a lot of people) have written to me asking me to address Kirk Durston's probability argument that supposedly makes evolution impossible. I'd love to. I actually prepared extensively to deal with it, since it's the argument he almost always trots out to debate for intelligent…

…that today is GrrlScientist's birthday. You should go over there with a cake and some presents, or at least some good wishes.

Aren't you excited? The Superbowl is tomorrow! OK, I know, most of you probably don't care. I know I don't; tomorrow is a lab prep day for me, and I'll be setting up fly stocks all afternoon. I don't even know who is playing, and I don't really care. Some of you might, and that's all right — my…

We have a Vermont alumnus among the ScienceBorg: Kevin Beck at Dr Joan Bushwell's Chimpanzee Refuge. He'd like to coordinate a letter-writing campaign to protest UVM's poor choice of a commencement speaker, so maybe you should go over there and leave a comment and email address. I'm still shaking…

Guess who UVM is bringing in to deliver their commencement address? Ben Stein. I am very sorry, seniors at that otherwise fine university. You're going to have a hack wingnut with a history of incompetence at economics, politics, and science standing up and giving you advice. I don't know what the…

Ahh, listen to the sense as well as the pleasant accent… (via 100 Days of Science)