pharyngula

It seems that it might be safer to attend an Australian strip show than to go to church. The latest data, compiled by the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research, showed 1600 people were charged with committing a range of 27 offences in the state's "places of worship'' in 2008. Surprisingly,…

But I will hit you with the Dugong Song. You can blame my neighbor Ben who was singing it this afternoon.

Oh, no…it's a video of a sea lion brutalizing an innocent cephalopod. It looks like this was made by attaching a camera to a sea lion. Am I wicked for thinking the next video I want to see is a sea lion slowed down by the clumsy gadgetry on its back, getting chewed on by a shark? Yes, I am taking…

Stupid question, stupid comment, and insufficiently intelligent responses. Teach South Africa what it means to rouse the indignation of Pharyngula. Do you believe in evolution? The debate over the origin of mankind's existence has been raging for ages. Yes 61% No 39%

They're amazing multicellular animals that complicate the issue of individuality. Check out this creaturecast! CreatureCast - Siphonophores and Individuality from Casey Dunn on Vimeo.

For many years, the NSF has been producing a biennial report on American attitudes (and many other statistics) about science called Science and Engineering Indicators. This year, as they have every year, they got the uncomfortable news that a majority of our compatriots reject human evolution and…

Jen, in response to someone making a line of clerical Barbie dolls, has created her own contribution: Atheist Barbie. She's kickin'. I like her…although if word gets out that pants are not part of the atheist outfit, we're going to have a surge of male membership and all the women will stay home.…

We now have a smoking gun implicating Pope Ratzi in the cover-up of child abuse by priests. Pope Benedict XVI has become embroiled in new revelations over child sexual abuse, over a letter he is said to have signed in 1985 before becoming pontiff. Associated Press said it had obtained the letter…

After tweaking Paul Nelson on his six year delay in explaining Ontogenetic Depth, he has posted a reply. No, it's not the long promised explanation. Instead, here's what he's got: PZ Myers' criticisms don't count and were all wrong! But, well, he now realizes Ontogenetic Depth is a "a poorly…

I've spent far too much time in airports lately, and I think I might be going mad. I'm sitting, trying to type while waiting, and it's just noise, noise, noise, noise — there's the horrible repetition of "You are approaching the end of the moving walkway&hellip:You are approaching the end of…

I'm scarcely home, and I've got something else lined up — I'll be interviewed on Mike Feder's show on Sirius Satellite Radio at 6pm ET today. Tune in if you can!

Oooh, nice t-shirt.

Sepia latimanus Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.

I'm in Syracuse. I had a hellish trip trying to get here yesterday, and now I have to catch a 6am flight back home. I had a grand time with the nice people here last night (including Hank Fox and Carl Buell), but now I have to remain conscious until I get aboard my plane, which feels like it won't…

People of a certain age will remember thos "create your own adventure" books — well, Ars Technica has an online version of one, featuring tentacled beings from another plane, bacon, and geeks. It might go over well here.

It's tough being a member of Westboro Baptist. No one likes you.

It's another CFI conference, titled Dangerous Nonsense - Exploring the Gulf between Science and its Impostors, which is being held in Chicago on 24 April. I just got the notice today, though, and noticed that the cutoff date for discounted early registration is 7 April, right now! If you're…

On that crazy story about the Catholics suing Baltimore, I overlooked a poll. It needs fixin'. Pregnancy counseling center lawsuit Do you agree with the archdiocese that Baltimore's law requiring pregnancy centers to post signs stating that they do not provide abortions or birth control referrals…

Thanks to Pamela Turner for sending me a box of TCHO chocolates — they're fabulous. My one concern is that I'm about to leave town for a day, and this box of temptations is sitting out on the dining room table where the Trophy Wife™ and the Trophy Daughter™ and even one of the Trophy Sons™ (who is…

Baltimore has a very sensible ordinance that requires pregnancy counseling centers to plainly state what services they provide. The ordinance requires that a "limited-service pregnancy center" post an easily readable sign, written in English and Spanish, stating that the center does not provide or…

It's true — here in Minnesota, we're always talking about them dingbats next door in Wisconsin, and they are — we live in a place where all our children are above average, dontchaknow, and the only way that is statistically possible is if some place nearby is all below average. So we love to rag on…

Californians, if you're living anywhere near Berkeley, you might want to go to this: the Skeptical Conference on 24 April. They've got some good speakers, and it should be a fun meeting. Just don't believe anything they tell you unless they provide lots of evidence to back it up.

The Bishop of Tenerife has voiced the latest excuse in the Catholic pedophilia scandals, and it is a predictable one. Women have heard this claim about rape over and over again: the victim was asking for it. His comments were that there are youngsters who want to be abused, and he compared that…

Pterocarya fraxinifolia The common name of this tree is the Caucasian Wingnut.

It's Paul Nelson Day, the yearly event in which we make ludicrous pseudo-scientific claims and promise to back them up tomorrow, as celebrated last year. Nelson, some of you may recall, is a creationist who made up this wacky claim of "Ontogenetic Depth", saying he had a way of objectively…

I thought the town was bad before, when they cancelled the high school prom because a young woman was going to bring a female date to it. But then there was a ray of hope: the school administrators changed their minds. There would be a prom after all, and Constance McMillen could bring her date!…

Some of our stats have been released to the press today. ScienceBlogs.com, the leading social media site in the science category, today released traffic figures for 2009 and the first quarter of 2010 (Source: Google Analytics). Visits for the quarter ending March 31 grew by 41% year-over-year to…

I've just won an award. I hope there's cash, or at least a gaudy trophy, to go with it.

Sorry, I'm going to have to ruin your breakfast again. The Stranger has a revealing article on pedophile priests — in particular, it focuses on the native populations of Alaska and Canada, which were used as a nice, obscure dumping ground for the very worst sexual predators the Catholic Church…

Does anybody else think he ought to be wearing a filter mask? That stuff has got to be incredibly toxic. (via Effect Measure)