pharyngula

These are a pair of movies made of a Loligo opalescens mating frenzy off the shores of La Jolla. Squid do everything with gusto. Squid Run from David R. Andrew on Vimeo. Squid Run at La Jolla Shores - Nov. 22, 2010 from Walter Chung on Vimeo.

Stevie Johnson, a player for the Buffalo Bills football team, dropped the ball in a catch that would have won his team a game. I have to commend him for some consistency, though — most players just credit their good catches to the Man Upstairs, but not Stevie: he got on Twitter and cussed out his…

I once gave a lecture in which I summarized Intelligent Design arguments as simply repeating the word complexity a lot. I was wrong; I left out a word. They also use the word "purpose" a lot. The latest example of the same tired old nonsense comes from Michael Behe, who really is just repeating the…

If there were a hell (and there isn't), I suppose this is as good a breakdown of deserved punishments as any.

Cardinal George Pell, Archbishop of Sydney, has spoken. "A minority of people, usually people without religion, are frightened by the future," he says. "It's almost as though they've … nothing but fear to distract themselves from the fact that without God the universe has no objective purpose or…

How odd: Leslie Nielsen has died, and everyone is talking about the silly comedies he made late in life. Doesn't anyone remember Forbidden Planet? What's the matter with you people?

The hot topic on the chiding thread is a regular commenter who is planning to do something very, very stupid. I have to chime in: don't. Always drink in moderation, if at all. (Current totals: 11,416 entries with 1,196,543 comments.)

Today, Wikileaks begins releasing a huge collection of US embassy cables, and we're about to discover the degree of skullduggery that's been going on. The cables show the extent of US spying on its allies and the UN; turning a blind eye to corruption and human rights abuse in "client states";…

Wayne Laugesen rightly points out that the Catholic church does not have exclusive ownership of pedophilia and child abuse. But then he takes a long leap into lunacy. Today, sexual abuse of children is clearly out of control in public schools and is even more prevalent in homes. Society needs to…

All it takes is a little prompting: I write a post titled "The Bible is not a medical text", and next thing you know, someone sends me an email titled "The Vedas are a medical text". It's enough to make a fellow weep. Dear Sir, I am PhD Scholar, enrolled with Utkal University of Culture,…

I'd love to visit Mars, especially if I could go with some dolphins. And now, for a mere $1550, I could attend the Dolphins & Teleportation Symposium 2011 and learn how to teleport! This Workshop will include interspatial communication, quantum merging, E.T contact, teleportation to Mars,…

I think more scientists should be in GQ. Larry Moran exhibits both style and craftsmanship with his handmade haberdashery. Now you might think I should be envious — I should have such panache! — but the tinfoil cone simply isn't my way. Here in the frigid North, unlike temperate Toronto, such a…

Although citing the Bible seems to be a way to fast-track bad science papers to publication. In yet another example of a journal letting bad Bible interpretations pass for science, a paper titled "Newer insights to the neurological diseases among biblical characters of old testament has been…

Jerry Lewis, the comedian, hosts a yearly telethon to raise money for children with muscular dystrophy. I find it entirely unwatchable, because it comes across as patronizing and condescending, and seeing Jerry Lewis mug for the camera and present himself as the loving, maudlin hero trying to save…

There's a sucker born every minute, and you'll never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. The Creation "Museum" is expanding and building a theme park. It's simply a fact that Ken Ham's Institution of Ignorance is doing business like gangbusters — it is well-attended…

There was a debate in Toronto yesterday, between Christopher Hitchens and Tony Blair on whether religion is a force for good in the world, and I think readers here properly predicted the results: Hitchens was dynamic, clear, and forceful, while Blair was a simpering, weak, maker of feeble excuses.…

Minnesota State Representative Tom Hackbarth is a Republican. How can you tell? By his deranged behavior. A security guard at a St. Paul Planned Parenthood clinic called the cops last week after he spotted a Republican state lawmaker with a loaded gun in the parking lot. But the pol says he was…

Are we all clear on this now?

Enough. Everyone is sending me this photo of a girl in a fluffy hat and tentacles, and she looks nothing like a cephalopod! OK, but she is adorable, and I want that hat, too.

Enough. Everyone is describing this new species of deep sea worm as squidlike. IT IS NOT. It's segmented, it swims with undulations of bristles, it's got appendages on its head, not its foot, that it uses to trawl for food. It's a lovely beastie, but how can anyone mistake it for a squid? What's…

Tonight, Tony Blair and Christopher Hitchens will debate on whether religion is a force for good. I'd love to hear Hitchens on that subject, but Blair? That's almost as comical as having Hitchens debate Bush on the subject. The newspapers are relying on two tools to promote the event. Hype:…

Are you a science journalist? Do you work with science journalists? Print this cartoon out and hang it all over your workplace. Oh, and if you're a science editor, please get it tattooed on the back of your hand.

What is wrong with people? It's just a frackin' book! A 15-year-old girl has been arrested on suspicion of inciting religious hatred after allegedly burning an English-language version of the Qur'an — and then posting video footage of the act on Facebook. No. It is obscene to start jailing people…

So North Korea is rattling the sabre again, and I'm hoping some serious, mature people on our side will step up and act responsibly…but I'm pretty sure we won't find those people on the Republican side. So far, their responses range from the stupid to the evil. Here's Sarah Palin babbling away on…

It's Thanksgiving. Only two weeks left in the semester here. And I feel Nicholas Cage's pain. Go ahead and chatter away, all you participants in the chattery thread, but I have to howl at the moon and pound at a keyboard for the next four days. (Video not safe for work. May upset Grandma, too. If…

There's a campaign of sorts that's beginning in the UK, in which Christians are urged to stand up and announce that they are not ashamed to believe in a zombie redeemer who will protect them from his flaming torture pit deep beneath the earth. In a way, I'm sure it's very nice for them personally…

You need a hat, right?

Victoria amazonica

So, various factions at the United Nations have been pushing for anti-blasphemy motions — after all, we can't go around picking on weak ideas. But do you know who the UN thinks are fair game? Non-heterosexual people. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people were once again subject to the…