pharyngula

They're just not very bright and don't know much about them. Richard Ruelas, a reporter for The Arizona Republic, found himself staring down the barrel of Republican state Sen. Lori Klein's raspberry-pink firearm during a recent interview at the Capitol. "Oh, it's so cute," Klein said of the .380…

Remember Be Scofield and his bad list of atheist errors? Now Greta Christina takes him on, rather thoroughly.

One of the advantages of being an old geezer is that I remember watching this kind of thing as it was happening, and having to keep the television on all day and all night to catch the latest news from the Moon. You young whippersnappers just get it handed to you at your convenience on this youtube…

I hope this is something we can all agree on. Today is the The International Day against Stoning, a consciousness-raising event organized by Mina Ahadi, Patty Debonitas, and Maryam Namazie to call attention to the fact that some countries still practice public stonings as punishments for petty…

He's looking at you, and he's surrounded by rainbows. He must be magical. (via reader Jeremy)

They keep dragging me back in. I try to drop it, but my inbox is full of people still arguing this point, and it's getting ridiculous. The thing is, they keep throwing godawfully bad arguments at me, as if they're trying to hit me in the head with a brick enough times to make me stupid enough to…

He's been dead for 68 years, but I'm sure that if we just applied enough voltage to his grave he'd rise up and party with us today. (Last edition of TET; Current totals: 12,705 entries with 1,430,185 comments.)

Creationists are so far from being scientists that I'm frequently astounded at just how unaware they are — surely, if you're being that crazy, you've got to realize that what you're doing is nothing like what scientists do, right? I guess when you're that nuts you don't even know it. The…

At least, that seems to be the principle in play in Louisiana. It's not quite right, though. Answers in Genesis teaches that dinosaurs were on the boat. Like that makes the story any less insane.

This is wonderfully inspiring.

The town of Bolungarvik, Iceland has been engaged in a lot of public works construction projects, like a new road and building a barrier to protect them from avalanches. Unfortunately, there have been delays and accidents, and they've decided what's causing the problem: Elves. Pissed-off, cranky…

As some of you may know, one of Skepticon's yearly fundraisers is the sale of cheesecake calendars — and Jen McCreight is in the new one, tastefully posed. See? You don't have to take off your clothes to look good. Why, when I showed up for the photo shoot, they were prepared for me, and even had…

At last, you too can understand how our government works. Be sure to listen through to the end and catch the request for donations. Giving Weiner the money to buy explosives sounds like a total win to me.

People keep telling me that I have to read up more on real theology, you know, the stuff where smart old white guys sit around in seminaries and invent rationalizations for whatever the hell they want to believe. Unfortunately, I don't see any difference in principle (but hopefully, in outcome)…

I think you've seen this video before, but take it to heart this time. Just watch the slow gentle build, let your mind cool, savor a scene from the mysterious deep dark sea. This is the way my drugs have made me feel all afternoon. I could be that coleoid. (Last edition of TET; Current totals: 12…

Oh, lord, what have we done to deserve the affliction that is Michele Bachmann? I'm beginning to think there is no god up there. Her latest joyful promise to the extreme Right is a set of promises for what she'll do as president. Tonight, Michele Bachmann became the first presidential candidate to…

Less than two hours from now, the space shuttle takes off on its final mission, then…I don't know what. I guess we're handing off orbital flights to private contractors, which might represent a positive development, but we'll have to see. Good luck storming outer space, NASA!

A diver found a swarm of cephalopods huddled in fear of predators, and managed to get some spectacular photos. (via Boing Boing)

Here's an extraordinarily clear short summary of Rupert Murdoch's misery, the commendable efforts of the Guardian to report on the sleaze, and the likely fate of the principals — written with oblivious Americans in mind. By the way, one of Murdoch's cheese factories, News of the World, has gone…

On 12-14 August, you could be attending the 3rd Annual Midwest Humanist and Free Thought Conference. I wish I could, but I have to be in Oslo rather than Omaha on that date — but nothing is stopping you.

There are five of them gearing up at The Evolving Scientist, and they seem to understand that the potent mixture of real science and criticizing crazy dingleberries is a great way to build interest. (Oh, no, I just spilled the beans about my magic formula!)

I found a recent paper in Nature fascinating, but why is hard to describe — you need to understand a fair amount of general molecular biology and development to see what's interesting about it. So those of you who already do may be a little bored with this explanation, because I've got to build it…

We all know it is auto-tuned, and that many of you hate autotuning, so for those of you who can't stand the stuff, don't listen to this, and that way you won't have to complain to the rest of us. At least this isn't like those damned chimes going off every 15 minutes in the cemetery down the street…

There goes another dream. The department store has a very strict dress code for its employees. Full makeup at all time: base, blusher, full eyes (not too heavy), lipstick, lip liner and gloss are worn at all time and maintained discreetly (please take into account the store display lighting which…

I got an email from someone requesting advice. I can't imagine how he thought of me when in this situation. There's a group of geocentrists -- specifically, these guys -- who are trying to film a documentary, and they want to interview my advisor, Dragan Huterer. A couple of months ago, they…

Oh, man, Casey Luskin is such an embarrassing spokesperson for the intelligent design creationists — I hope they keep him employed forever. His latest tirade against me is a cacophany of inanity. His primary point is that creationists like Jonathan MacLatchie have forced me to make concessions to…

That last post was just too saccharine, so I have to bring you down. Balance! Balance in all things! So here's your official downer for the day: a story about greyhound racing. One thing about greyhounds: They aren't likely to die of old age. When dogs turn 4 or 5 and are finished racing, she…

I may have created a monster. I was sent this illustration by Martin aka Evader, with full permission to use it freely in any commercial venture…I have become kawaii! I am curious what the characters at the bottom say, though — "PZ is a poopyhead"?

Phil Senter has published the most deviously underhanded, sneaky, subtle undermining of the creationist position I've ever seen, and I applaud him for it. What he did was to take them seriously, something I could never do, and treat their various publications that ape the form of the scientific…