pharyngula

It was the classic scam. An elderly couple are told they've won the lottery, and millions of dollars are theirs…they just have to pay a few taxes and fees first in order to free up the cash. First it was a few thousand dollars, than a few thousand more, than a few tens of thousands, and finally,…

Hey, this is a surprise: Phil Plait is stepping down from the presidency of the JREF to pursue a career in television. Phil, I've seen your picture in the skepchick calendar — television isn't ready for that kind of exposure yet! Well, maybe on Skinemax. All hail the new president of the JREF, DJ…

By the way, this is from an interesting article about using an endangered species lottery to save rare Australian animals.

It must be funny pages day at Pharyngula — Get Fuzzy was just for me, I think.

For those of you who haven't been following the story line, Mr Wiggles, the sociopathic teddy bear, has recently filled in for God, and really messed up the universe. Only not really — it was all just a dream. But at least it has a happy ending. It makes me happy, too.

Look what Roy Zimmerman had to say on this video: This one goes out to PZ Myers and the phine pholks at Pharyngula ( http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula) "Christmas On Mars" will be featured on my "Real American" CD, due out early in 2010. As always, it'll be available on http://royzimmerman.com/…

It's an odd thing that when people list great science popularizers of the past, names like Sagan and Feynman always pop up, but most people seem to have forgotten Isaac Asimov, who wrote some fabulous essays on understanding science. Here's one example, in which he addresses a claim we hear all the…

This is the debate on climate change: scientist with the evidence vs. shouting loonie with wild accusations of conspiracy. Listen to the very end when Watson sums up the other guy perfectly.

Those evilutionists! Do they have to taint everything? You can get that on a evolutionmas card, too. Perfect for giving Aunt Petunia conniptions.

Watch this spectacular time-lapse video of echinoderms and nemertine worms eating a seal carcass. It's sure to stir your appetite.

I laughed at the God Equation. The author writes to assure me it is very scientific. I laugh some more. Dear Dr. Myers, I didn't believe the equation either. I am a skeptic and a great fan of people like Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, etc. so please don't tar this with the pseudoscience brush…

Who will be the last man to die in Obama's war? And what will he have accomplished?

Back in October, I sent you off to vote in an online poll that pitted real social workers, SozialHelden, against homeopaths, in a contest that actually had consequences: the winner would get a "Dedication Award" for their work. We just got word from SozialHelden on the outcome of the poll: haben…

On Thursday, I gave a talk at the University of Minnesota at the request of the CASH group on a rather broad subject: evolution and development of the nervous system. That's a rather big umbrella, and I had to narrow it down a lot. I say, a lot. The details of this subject are voluminous and…

This is an excellent response to the furious and unfounded assertions of the right-wing denialists that have followed from the release of private email by climate change scientists. I'm on a couple of private mailing lists where we exchange views on evolution, and <shock horror> we actually…

This is going to go on for years and years, isn't it? Sarah Palin is going to keep on saying stupid things to keep herself in the news. No one person has all the right answers. It takes a united nation, and it does take godly counsel, and it takes prayer and answers to prayer - and a collective…

Can you bear yet another case of religion-rationalized child abuse? Over three months in 2006, as her five children grew more emaciated and listless by the day, Estelle Walker made no move to find a job, no effort to scrounge up a meal, her kids told a jury yesterday. "We were supposed to wait…

Be still my heart…Isabelli Rossellini dressed up as a squid demonstrating their mating ritual. This is much more convincing than the God Equation.

We atheists are done for now. Behold, the God Equation, which I received in email and proves that a deity created us all: Scientists working in the UK have discovered robust evidence that the creation of the earth and moon was a deliberate act. The researchers found that the earth, moon, and beyond…

I hadn't heard anything about it. Apparently, almost nobody else had, either. In New York, Beck sold 17 tickets. In Boston, another 17. And in Washington, D.C., the hotbed of political activism, his tearful film drew only 30, Raw Story has found. Glenn Beck's new movie The Christmas Sweater - A…

…and don't get into an argument with Aron Ra about creationism.

It puts it all in perspective, doesn't it? There is the unfortunate fact that most Americans would probably regard Kirk Cameron as a legitimate authority, rather than a whiny and arrogant clod with delusions of competence, however…

Good thing it's an easy one. I was up way too late last night with all those young people in the Twin Cities, so I can't think too hard right now. Should New Jersey legislators legalize same-sex marriages? Yes 50% No 50% Not sure 0% I suspect we can tip this one way or the other rather easily.

Sign this petition to protect a valuable dinosaur trackway quarry in New Jersey — it's going to be bulldozed and built over with condos if you don't. It might even if you do, but make a little effort to bring this deplorable waste of a scientific resource to people's attention, anyway.

This is pretty cool: Scienceblogs and National Geographic have joined forces to create a mighty partnership to conquer the interwebs. I think. I'm not sure on what exactly we'll gain just yet, but the people with vision at the top have hinted at some juicy things. Here's the press release: National…

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

I'm going to be speaking at the U of M tonight. I actually have to leave soon for this, because we had a light snowfall yesterday, and last I checked, the roads were slick as shellacked snot. I'm giving myself lots of extra driving time to improve my odds of actually getting there intact and with a…

I hate these annoying cliffhangers.

A study that tried to analyze how pornography affected men's views ran into an unfortunate problem: no control group. It seems there does not exist a population of males that doesn't see some porn regularly. Still, they went ahead and at least got some shaky numbers on porn viewing habits. Single…

Oh, when will we learn? Michael Shermer and Donald Prothero duked it out with a pair of Discovery Institute charlatans recently, to predictable results: the creationists cried victory afterwards. It simply doesn't matter that they had no evidence. Anyway, a couple of things struck me as too typical…