pharyngula

Carnivals and conversation, right here. Friday Ark #159 Circus of the Spineless #25 I and the Bird #59 The next Tangled Bank will be at The Other 95%, next Wednesday on 10 October. Send those links in to me or host@tangledbank.net right away!

Did you know that the Nobel Foundation has an RSS feed now? It's almost as good as getting that phone call — you'll be alerted to the prize winners the instant they're announced. (Thanks to Abel for noticing this.)

Dear Sam, I read your presentation to the Atheist Alliance. You were eminently successful in being a controversial contrarian, so your intent was well executed. Good work! However, I do have to disagree with your argument (oh, right — you were trying to stir up dissent. Again, good work!). You say…

Hillary Clinton, that is. She's made some concrete statements about what she'd do for science as president: take steps to depoliticize science agencies, lift limits on stem cell research, invest in alternative energy and global warming research, subordinate manned space missions to earth science…

Are you trained in vertebrate systematics or natural history? Would you like to work at a liberal arts college with undergraduates? We have the perfect opportunity for you. Tenure-Track Position in Biology University of Minnesota, Morris The University of Minnesota, Morris seeks an individual…

Deleted at the request of Brian Batson

Wilkins has submitted to some silly book meme, and anything John does I have to do better. The ones in bold I've read, we're supposed to italicize the ones we've partially read. I haven't italicized any, because if it's a book I pick up and despise and put back down again, I want to forget I even…

This is getting ridiculous. Now I'm accused of "trying to drive a wedge between those who are against evolution" … because I think belief in angels and demons is absurd. Damn. Just because someone accepts evolution doesn't automatically make them a good guy, and if they're praising evolution and at…

I recently mentioned the way some serious theologians believe in demons and exorcisms. I can't help it; I find these notions ridiculous to an extreme, and the absurdity of serious scholars blaming diseases on demonic possession in the 21st century is something one has to find laughable. I was being…

Hey, it's safer than going after Iran.

The offenses of creationists aren't always blatant: it's the sneaky erosion of science, the quiet omissions, the gradual degradation of good science where they make the most gains, and it's where they get bold and stick their heads out (like Dover) where they get slapped down. We need to be aware…

Just watch the little suck-up grovel for the Religious Right. It isn't pretty. McCain: I think the number one issue people should make [in the] selection of the President of the United States is, 'Will this person carry on in the Judeo Christian principled tradition that has made this nation the…

There's nothing to drive out but the humanity. VJack has a sad story to tell. If you think it's just an isolated story and that exorcisms are an odd little superstitious relic that only wackos on the fringe fuss over, Nick Matzke brought this odd account from JP Moreland to my attention: Recently…

Tristero makes a few points that are exactly what I've been trying to get across in my introductory biology class this week, where we're covering Charles Darwin and the evidence for evolution. The first is that we do not rely on Darwin's authority; there is no cult of personality, no reliance on…

I hear from Andy that you'll be able to listen to a debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox, both of Oxford, on … oh, I bet you can guess what it's about. It's going to be streamed live on a number of Christian talk radio stations, so look it up if you're interested, it should be on in…

Young America's Foundation is giving away a poster of the 'heroes' of the Conservative Movement — the usual roster of dunderheads shipped in to the photo shoot by way of the short bus — for nothing but the cost of shipping and handling. I guess they were having a tough time finding anyone who…

& This ad campaign is going to have some troubles, I suspect. It's saying something I want to hear: they're marketing wild seafood from Alaska, and they're trying to convince me that it is a sustainable fishery. I have my doubts; but they are about to start a series of ads to tell me that it is…

Alright, I want you people to school me real quick. I've been reading these stories about the Countrywide mortgage company getting mean and nasty with foreclosures, and the Countrywide CEO leeching huge personal profits from the company — Krugman even compares Countrywide to Enron. Now normally,…

I had no idea that schools were now hiring security guards to enforce anti-crumb-spilling laws. The floors must really shine in Palmdale high schools — get a little sloppy with lunch, and the guards will break your arm and arrest you. And your mother. And the kid with the cell phone who catches it…

Well, lookee here … an announcement in the local Morris paper. SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7 TOM DEROSA will be at Morris Evangelical Free Church at 6:30 p.m., to present a creationist's perspective about evolution. DeRosa's presentation is free and open to the public. I don't think I have any plans for…

If you've got a high tolerance for nonsense, you might want to check out 50 religious insights from George W. Bush. The man is a regular mullah, full of deep insights. I rather like juxtaposing these two: I'm also mindful that man should never try to put words in God's mouth. I mean, we should…

This might be one of those "framing" exercises: Science Creative Quarterly wants your science questions. The catch is that they'll be answered by Bill Hick the Science Prick (Ooo-eee, late-night Pharyngula is on an off-color roll, isn't it?). There's a prize, though! The humiliation and abuse might…

That last creationist email I posted was agonizing in its longwindedness…how about something short and illustrated? (Mild warning: this sketch might be considered obscene if it weren't so crude and talentless that any relationship to real anatomy is a scurrilous rumor.) i drew a picher of u and ur…

I tried. I really, honestly, sincerely tried. I've been struggling with this book, The Spiritual Brain: A Neuroscientist's Case for the Existence of the Soul(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mario Beauregard and Denyse O'Leary, for the past week and a half, and I've finally decided it's not worth the…

Attila takes a tour of Nature headquarters — it looks like they're doing some cool, progressive, net-friendly innovation there. I was jealous of one thing: they're using an internal corporate blog instead of email. It's an easy and obvious solution, and I wish there were a way to implement that…

I don't even know what Wilkins is complaining about anymore, but he's got some kind of objection (or agreement? I don't know) to things I've said before or didn't say. This is the danger of getting into discussions with philosophers — they're saying something with great erudition, but sometimes you…

After his recent rampage against the Baylor administration, Bill Dembski now claims to be offering an apology to Baylor…only not really. I don't think he knows what 'apology' means — a statement loaded with reservations like "I mean in no way to mitigate the gravity of Baylor's wrong in censoring…

Omnibrain provides the proof. We live in a universe ruled by chance, the product of chaos, where reason simply does not matter. Now that that has been established, I find myself with the sad thought…is this a world I want to live in?

Continuing the cynicism from yesterday… It's so true, it isn't funny.

I wrote of my fondness for salmon the other day, and now I learn of a strange and rather satisfying coincidence: Larry Craig was an enemy of the salmon. The surprising fall of Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, removes a longtime obstacle to efforts by Democrats and environmentalists to promote salmon…