pharyngula

You really should read this Senator Charles Grassley's investigation into megachurches. It's about time someone pulled down these big-time scams. Nearly 2,000 years later, some who claim to speak in Jesus' name are taking a different view. Consider Bishop Eddie Long, who pastors a megachurch in…

Spotted in a Toronto bookstore:

Remember the creationist trying to raise money by selling off his mastodon skull? Now we know why he is trying to get money fast. He got into a nasty, mud-slinging lawsuit with a fellow Christian creationist over ownership of another fossil. The wonderful news: if he doesn't get enough cash from…

The new Minnesota Atheists radio show was very good — they're going to have a hard time topping getting a heavy-hitter like Richard Dawkins next week (well, maybe not: next week they're talking about sex), but they've clearly got no shortage of material to talk about. My segment was cut a bit short…

Talk about clueless gomers—here's a Canadian blog praising the Expelled movie, and bringing up a very tired argument against evolution. For the trolls (and you know who you are!), I simply offer the original title Darwin gave to his book, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or…

Minnesota Atheists will be having the first of many weekly radio programs on Air America, starting on Sunday, 13 January, at 9 AM. They're getting off to a very strong start with an interview with Richard Dawkins, among many other features. Minnesota Atheists will launch a weekly, one-hour program…

You've got a real winner running for mayor down there. Bill Foster is another ignorant creationist running for political office. "Evolution gives our kids an excuse to believe in natural selection and survival of the fittest, which leads to a belief that they are superior over the weak," Bill…

Sad news…Vampira has died. She was very young for a vampire, only 86, and there's no word on whether it was a stake or sunlight that ended her long career as one of the rare Finnish vampires (real name: Maila Syrjäniemi). You may recall her from her important role in Plan 9 from Outer Space. It's…

OK, you can all stop trying to win a copy of the Atlas of Creation now — the owner has decided who is to be afflicted with punished with tormented with given the copy. Scott Hatfield, I've passed your email address along. Look for a message. Get ready, it might take a month's worth of a public…

…the more likely the bird will deny all gods.

…you think the PCR song is kind of catchy. The PCR Song There was a time when to amplify DNA, You had to grow tons and tons of tiny cells. Then along came a guy named Dr. Kary Mullis, Said you can amplify in vitro just as well. Just mix your template with a buffer and some primers,…

How sweet: this octopus got a Mr Potato Head for Christmas, and now he won't let anyone take it away. Hasbro really must come out with a new line of Mr Potato Head features that includes beaks and suckers and tentacles, and then they'll have the cephalopod market completely locked up.

My apologies for reopening old wounds, but if you want to know what Paul really thinks, just take a look at his newsletters.

Texas has been considering this application from the Institute for Creation Science for approval to offer a degree in "science" "education" (a double misnomer!). Now there's an excellent idea afloat by the Texas commissioner of higher education — go ahead, give 'em a degree, only call it "creation…

Jason Wiles delivers a lovely smackdown of Huckabee's position on evolution. First, he hits him hard on his record as governor of Arkansas. During Huckabee's tenure as Governor, evolution education in Arkansas languished in an environment of general hostility and insufficiency. Two anti-evolution…

This is getting weirder all the time: the Miami Herald claims that 12 Florida counties have passed anti-evolution resolutions in their school boards. They all sound awfully similar, too, as if… …as if there is intelligent design behind this campaign. …as if there is some money backing this effort…

Next time you have to bring treats to a school board meeting, or need something sacramental for your church, if you're just looking for something fun to do with the kids, here's what you can do: It's a completely edible FSM, and it sounds like it would be sweet, too.

Would you believe someone has received a copy of Harun Yahya's epic tome, Atlas of Creation, and doesn't want it? Weird, huh? Let's imagine, though, that someone for some bizarre reason wants one. Here's your chance: write a comment here that testifies to your deep and unholy desire to possess a…

Some states manage to pull their collective heads out of their butts and and do the right thing. There's good news from South Carolina: Today, in a stunning reversal of votes, the State Board of Education approved the Miller/Levine Biology Textbook that was under scrutiny. The vote went from 9-7 (…

Answers in Genesis, fresh from their success at aping real science with their fake "Museum," has a new dishonest enterprise in the works: they're starting a fake science journal, the Answers Research Journal, which will publish "cutting-edge research that demonstrates the validity of the young-…

Attempting to infect Spain America should be ashamed: now our resident idiots are exporting creationism to Spain (Google translation). They're staging a conference, Lo Que Darwin no Sabía (What Darwin Didn't Know). My apologies to the land of Santiago Ramón y Cajal, Miguel Servet, Joan Oró, and…

Yep, another Florida county approves a goofy anti-science resolution. From their minutes: Approval of the Resolution Urging State Board of Education to Direct Florida Department of Education to Revise the New Sunshine State Standards for Science Such That Evolution is Not Presented as Fact. Texas…

This is hilarious. That wacky Islamic creationist, Harun Yahya, sent all those copies of his great big expensive book, Atlas of Creation, to biologists all around the country, and darned few of us have actually bothered to look at it in any detail. The general pattern of the book is repetitious and…

The latest edition of the Tangled Bank is at Aardvarchaeology. I think you have to read it: I believe that is hypnotoad on the top of the page.

This is the time — you can give feedback on the Minnesota science standards, and you can also apply to be on the standards writing committee. Here's where you have a chance to make a difference. The Minnesota Department of Education is now soliciting feedback from the public on the current Science…

This is probably a serious site. Probably. It could be satire, but the line between satire and Christianity is razor thin. Read Christian dating tips, and judge for yourself. First rule of Christian dating: it's pretty much like going to church. Boring, chaste, and offering nothing but faint hopes…

The Taylor County school board has taken a big step: they've voted to oppose evolution: Whereas, the Florida Department of Education has drafted and is now proposing new Sunshine State Standards for Science, the Taylor County School Board opposes the implementation of the new standards as currently…

Morris has very hard water, so we're familiar with loading up the water softener in the basement with bags and bags of potassium chloride pellets. I didn't realize (but I should have) that the water softener is mildly radioactive. Cool! Nuclear physics is real!

For Mike Huckabee. Collins is a good choice for any candidate who thinks sucking up to a religious constituency is more important than getting the best advice about science. For anyone who actually wants advice about science, I recommend RPM.