pharyngula

I am unrepentantly pandering to the current obsessions I see in the comment threads with this link: bacon will help you get over a hangover. This observation needs to be scientifically tested. Report back with the results of your trials.

I'm dumber for even listening to this: Christopher Hitchens in a debate with FIVE blithering theologians (one of them was the so-called moderator). Hitchens was excellent, but the four other guys…Jebus. They all trot out these ridiculous arguments about a first cause and fine tuning and oooh, the…

God blessed a Chinese woman with twin baby boys, each one ensouled at the instant of fertilization with personhood and a personal divine fate. At their birth, though, the doctors callously ended one proud male life…and they've probably got the poor fellow pickled in a jar somewhere. Here's a photo…

How about some dismissive humor aimed at Bullyin' Bill O'Reilly? The mouse joke isn't bad, either.

Yeah, there's little I like better than some sweet snarky skewered Libertarianism. Of course, if you don't like it, you could always go complain in the comments over there.

Ray Comfort went off to New Zealand to have a debate — and wouldn't you know it, he stood up there and repeated the same bunk he spouts on his blog. Oh, wait: he did change one thing. Instead of talking about elephants, he changed his animal that he claimed couldn't possibly have evolved to a dog.…

The National Organization for Marriage could be a spoof, they're so silly…but they seem to take themselves very seriously. They have an ad out against gay marriage now that should win a prize for attempted dread. They try to sound so open to the idea of gays marrying each other, but the real…

She's so mad about how mean pro-choice people are, that she's making up new facts. She says she received death threats over her callous use of the death of children, which may be entirely true (and if it is, I'm pissed off at you: no, it doesn't matter how vile her behavior is, you don't threaten…

If your taste runs more to birds, there are some interesting chimeric jays as well.

I'm going to periodically repeat myself and remind biologists looking for a job that there is a temporary opening here at UMM, which you can also find listed in the official University of Minnesota human resources site. Four applications have already come in, so get to work!

I keep telling people this isn't only about biology — every scientific discipline is under attack. I'm sure physicists aren't complacent: another teaching standard diluted into meaninglessness was one about the age of the universe. Originally in the Texas school standards was this phrase: "concept…

One of the peculiarities of our media right now is that, as everyone knows, the best political reporting is being done by a couple of comedy shows on cable. Another source that has been surprising me is Rolling Stone, which has unshackled a couple of wild men, Tim Dickinson and Matt Taibbi, to go…

It's a full-sized statue of a buxom pirate on display at an antique shop in Girardville, Pennsylvania. It would look fabulous by the doorway to my house. This is not just an infatuation with pirates or cleavage, however. This pirate is special. A Catholic priest in Girardville was so irritated at…

Yet another international poll, this time from Argentina. Do you think the government should take in consideration the (Roman Catholic) Church's stance on abortion? Si 79.5 % No 20.5 % So far the majority seems to think going along with the Vatican's silly position is all right.

Gene Roddenberry has often pissed me off. He didn't invent the stereotype, but he certainly crystallized it in popular culture with his Star Trek character, Mr Spock. What is the end result of intelligence and education? Why, an emotionless robot who assesses impossible probabilities…

Could it be the start of an avalanche? The Vermont legislature has overridden a governor's veto to sign into a law a bill recognizing gay marriage. Civil rights expanding after so many years of repression? There are conservatives turning purple and screaming all over the country right now, I expect…

In Pharyngula's ongoing campaign of world-wide internet poll domination, how could I resist an opportunity to crash a poll in Romania? Scroll down a bit and look on the left side of the page to find this one. Crezi in Dumnezeu? (Do you believe in God?) da, el ma calauzeste! (Yes, he is guiding me…

James Dobson always seemed a little too obsessed with spanking and checking out penises to be entirely healthy, and now one of his employees has been outed as a pedophile. Juan Alberto Ovalle, 42, thought he was corresponding with a girl under the age of 15, but instead it was undercover officers…

Once upon a time, a creationist invented a brand new pseudo-scientific term, which he even presented at a scientific conference. It was a very, very silly idea called "ontogenetic depth". I criticized the idea publicly and viciously, pointing out that the concept had no explanation, no methodology…

I've had a few bad books foisted off on me, but so far they've all been by theists (there was one with angels that I'm trying to scour from my memory), but I guess it had to happen: an atheist wrote a very bad book. Read the review. You'll never be able to think about Captain Marvel in the same way…

We have assimilated another one: Starts With a Bang, a blog by a theoretical astrophysicist. I'm a little concerned about his profile picture, though. Do all astrophysicists have to dress up in red, white, and blue lycra, like a half-naked super-hero? It would be an interesting trend to get started.

President Obama speaking to the Turkish press: I've said before that one of the great strengths of the United States is, although as I mentioned we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a…

Isn't it obvious? It's all the atheist's fault! Some goober named David Lebedoff has an article in the Strib that claims that the whole source of the problem is all those amoral, atheistic people who don't believe in an afterlife. If you only go around once, then the main thing is to have fun. If…

Full-Time, One-Year Faculty Position in Biology University of Minnesota, Morris The University of Minnesota, Morris seeks an individual committed to excellence in undergraduate education, to fill a full-time, one-year position in biology beginning August 17, 2009. Responsibilities include: teaching…

Look up. The next thing I'm going to post is a job ad…you need a job, right? I'm going on sabbatical next year, leaving a small hole in our staff that we need to plug up with someone as clever and resourceful and pedagogically exciting as me. Don't be intimidated, though! We'll take someone who…

The Onion has just announced that the pope has reversed some traditional teachings. The divine proclamation, which contradicts prior teachings of the Roman Catholic Church, was reportedly made by Pope Benedict after a late night phone call to his Vatican residence. According to witnesses, His…

I was all set to mock the silly arachnophobes who got all squeamish over this morning's spider picture — how can a mere picture cause that kind of fear, anyway? — and then I saw this article on cleaning the Space Needle in Seattle, with all these photos of people dangling from ropes while wielding…

Rabbi Avi Shafran is a columnist who, to my mind, represents the very worst of religious dogma. He often writes about "morality", bemoaning the horrid state of godlessness, but his morality is little more than the rote obedience of the dogmatically orthodox. His usual complaint is that atheism…

All mosques are supposed to have an indicator pointing at the Kaaba in Mecca — the devout are supposed to aim their prayers in that direction (which is silly to begin with, but never mind). With all the high rises going up in Mecca, though, people were able to look down and notice that hey, the…