pharyngula

You may have noticed that the site has been down for a while. We were hit with a combination of problems. First, we have been plagued by this idiot script-kiddie, the registrant for usuc.us: (Information erased: a call to the person to which the domain is registered reveals he has no idea what is…

How can Gregg Easterbrook be publishing a science column in Slate? Brad DeLong explains it all. The fact that Easterbook's writing is "lively" and "provocative" and that he is a member of the appropriate social networks is sufficient reason to publish him as a "science writer." I can see where "…

Why do we put up with these insane people? This is painful to listen to: it's an NPR interview with John Hagee, and he goes on and on about his weird biblical prophecies that soon (maybe in the next hour!) the Rapture is going to occur, war will break out with Russia and Islam against Israel, and…

Hrm. Well. Since so many people are emailing me about this (I guess the book is officially out now, since so many are reading it), I'll come clean: I am mentioned briefly but flatteringly in Dawkins' new book, The God Delusion(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll). I'll spare you all the mystery, and quote it…

Doggone it, I'm gonna have to take someone out to the woodshed. Aren't little girls supposed to be submissive and obedient?

Pat Hayes wonders about the sensibilities of Minnesotans: What is it about Minnesota -- the cold winter weather, perhaps -- that seemingly helps our northern neighbors see this issue more clearly than others? You might also note that Canadians aren't mired in a bloody mess in Iraq, either,…

How odd. That little crank site that Bill Dembski runs has intentionally removed itself from the Google indexes: no search is going to turn up a link to Uncommon Descent. Elsberry speculates that it's to remove the possibility of their penchant for revisionism being discovered. I applaud this move…

Hey, papal apologists (papalologists?), stop reading this! You won't like it. It's nothing but a couple of links to religion-bashing, prompted by the naked sectarian stupidity of one bizarre religious leader. Christopher Hitchens takes the pope to task for pissing off Islam (a triviality, as…

Ugh. John Pieret is right: this effort by Michael Shermer to reconcile evolution with conservative theology is hideous, on multiple levels. It takes a special kind of arrogance to think that Christians are going to consult Shermer, a godless hellbound skeptic, on how to interpret the fine details…

The Give Up Blog has a post outlining a general problem: denialists. The author is putting together a list of common tactics used by denialists of all stripes, whether they're trying to pretend global warming isn't happening, Hitler didn't kill all those Jews, or evolution is a hoax, and they…

I confess that I have not read Bérubé's new book, yet. It's on my list, but that list is long and dreadfully discouraging…and now, Chris Clarke has undermined the book's sales by publishing a condensed version of its contents. I also suspect that Bérubé's book lacks the beautiful illustrations. All…

Of course! They're lurking everywhere, scheming to get onto school boards and wreak havoc. I recently heard from a few people at the University of Hawaii who were shocked to see some of the responses of school board candidates there to the question, "Should public schools teach intelligent design…

Arrrrr. Let us begin a rude day with a rude picture. I do protest, though, that Cap'n Blackbeard looked nothin' like that (he had two hands and a snaky tangle of a beard), and there is a great missed opportunity here. Blackbeard knotted lit matchcords in his hair and beard so they'd glow and hiss…

(via Language Log)

Now we've got unconfirmed rumors that Steve Irwin was born again shortly before he died. You may recall that Charles Darwin was also tarred with claims of a deathbed conversion, too. The message is clear. Don't convert, or you'll die. The only question is whether it's Jesus that does the execution…

I didn't even place in the Nerd-Off final tally! I guess I'm just too suave and ept.

Let's say you don't want to actually read James Kakalios's Physics of Superheroes(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll)—it doesn't have enough pictures, and the text isn't in word balloons, or maybe the word "physics" causes an acute case of the heebie-jeebies—well, now you're in luck. Some of his lectures are on…

The Next Hurrah discusses how information (and misinformation) is spread over the web, determined by tracking how a story about PETA and gay sheep circulated. A couple of interesting points are that he emphasizes that the way to persuade is to get out and make comments on other blogs—having a…

This weekend, I read a couple of stories about people teaching about evolution. As you might expect, these generally aren't articles that fill me with joy. The first is an article from Jacksonville, Texas that explicitly compares two local junior colleges, both associated with religious groups. Lon…

(click for whole cartoon) What a shocking realization: Opus and I have a lot in common. Same purpose, the fondness for squid and cold weather…I don't think I'm a penguin, though. It is a most excellent godless sermon.

I've already done my fair share of pope-bashing, so I won't kick him any more over this latest episode. Instead, I'll just tell everyone to go read my homies in the science community, Revere and Sean (who is particularly telling on that jarringly bogus "Violence is incompatible with the nature of…

How about them boobies? I was traveling yesterday, and missed most of the astonishing uproar over being photographed while bearing breasts—so I won't add much to the thrashing except to point out the bright side. You see, the real resentment is over the fact that Jessica happens to be young and…

The Dharma Bums have a new project: they're collecting photos from around the world that show how beautiful the world is, under the subject, "Good Planets are hard to find". If you've done some nature photography, send the pictures in.

Rocket science isn't my bag, but I have done brain surgery (on animals, not people), and I've done a lot of single cell neuro work, so I have to agree with this report that assesses the relative merits of the two disciplines: "It does require a superior intellect to function as a rocket scientist…

An old pal of mine, the splendiferously morphogenetical Don Kane, has brought to my attention a curious juxtaposition. It's two articles from the old, old days, both published in Nature in 1981, both relevant to my current interests, but each reflecting different outcomes. One is on zebrafish, the…

For a rather different kind of squid, here's a pretty image. There's also a mammal in the picture, which I understand some people might find not quite safe for work, so don't click through unless you can handle viewing an exposed superficial epithelium.

Whoa…watch this phenomenal video of the Vampire Squid. They've caught it feeding and using a few sneaky tricks to escape predators.

Chris Mooney gave a talk in Seattle, and you know who else is up there in my home town: the Discovery Institute. They tried to go on the offensive and sic their version of an attack dog on him…which was, amusingly enough, Casey Luskin. This is the kind of attack dog that goes "yap-yap-yap-yap-yap-…

I mentioned before that IDEA clubs insist that expertise is optional; well, it's clear that that is definitely true. Casey Luskin, the IDEA club coordinator and president, has written an utterly awful article "rebutting" part of Ken Miller's testimony in the Dover trial. It is embarrassingly bad,…

Via El PaleoFreak (in Spanish; here's a translation), I find this strange little cockatoo chick, and even better, take a look at these wonderful simulations of feather development.