pharyngula

For they are like caged animals, ready to erupt.

I got a letter from the producers of this new evolution series to be shown on 17 June on The History Channel. It allays many of the concerns we had from the original press release. I want to thank you for your post "The History Channel might do something right" (May 6) about the channel's upcoming…

Hey, we've heard theists cite the authority of Einstein in service to their superstitions often enough: practically every colloquial mention of a god by Einstein seems to get reiterated to support a claim that he was a fellow believer. There's an obscure Einstein letter going up for auction that's…

So what are they doing having their own creationist troubles? It just goes to show that this isn't just a problem for southern yokels in Florida and Texas — it's an epidemic all over the country. The specific problem in this case is a ignorant kook who has been made director of School…

Don't you wish you were here?

Quickety-quick! The next Tangled Bank is going to be at the Beagle Project on Wednesday — so get those links in to me or host@tangledbank.net real soon now. Now I've got a full afternoon, with an imminent role as a pie-throwing target, followed by my revenge on my students with my first final of…

I have a daughter myself, who I want to grow up to be independent and free and sensible and interesting, so I can't even imagine what it would take to bring a parent to this: For Abdel-Qader Ali there is only one regret: that he did not kill his daughter at birth. 'If I had realised then what she…

And in keeping with that fine circus tradition, the Duggar Family is about to have their 18th child. You know, they have successfully turned their freakish excesses into a profitable enterprise, but it really isn't at all sustainable — I think the superficial news market can only bear one amazing…

We're in big trouble now. A think tank is gearing up to take on all those uppity atheists, and they have a cunning plan that cannot fail, which will strip us of one of the most important tools in our arsenal. They have found Russell's Teapot, and are planning to put it into space. We are logically…

The Irish Independent has a poll at the bottom of their main page: "Are you in support of the Catholic Church retaining its key role in Irish schools?" It's very evenly split, 49% yes, 51% no, which represents some solid opposition already. I had no idea that the church controlled 90% of the…

This account of a Pentecostal service sounds like so much fun, I almost want to go.

Today, I briefly emerged from my little academic cocoon and stepped outside. I was shocked to discover that the snow had all melted, the lakes were all thawed out, there were birds in the air, and the sun was shining — I think I somehow missed the appearance of spring. Don't worry, I'm buckling…

Sometimes the NPR Series "This I Believe" peddles a short dose of codswallop, but today's is pretty good.

Now that Atheist's Talk radio is over for today, you can tune in to Non-Prophets Radio and listen to my interview from yesterday.

Climate change denialists have something in common with evolution denialists: they have a list of "500 Scientists with Documented Doubts of Man-Made Global Warming Scares," just like the Discovery Institute's list of hundreds of 'scientists' who "Dissent from Darwinism". There is a difference,…

Paul Jones has died. I didn't know him, or even know about him, until his obituary was sent to me, but it's an utterly tragic life story. He was an ordained Baptist minister — there's a waste of a life right there — and his death was ironic and futile. He died of a heart attack, just as he was…

This morning at 9am, tune in to Atheists Talk radio for an hour of women and godlessness with Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation. It's Mother's Day! Free a mom from the shackles of superstition today!

I've had about enough. The last of my kids is doing these obnoxious things like graduating from high school, and now, attending the final prom. They have to stop trying to make me feel old.

Richard Dawkins takes only 3 minutes to slam both and Cardinal Murphy O'Connor and his interviewer, John Humphrys for the false privilege given to religion. Listen and enjoy.

Glenn Greenwald depresses me. His latest: Our military has been subverting the media with nicely tailored propaganda. I know, I know, so what else is new…but this is straight from Pentagon memos. I recommend we develop a core group from within our media analyst list of those that we can count on to…

Would you believe a school in Minnesota suspended three eighth graders for refusing to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? Outrageous. The pledge is ridiculous to begin with and replaces conscientious thought with blind obedience, and I think it ought to be rejected everywhere, but to punish…

Finals week is upon me, and I should be working on piles of paper work right now, but I need a break … and I have to vent some frustration with the popular press coverage of an important scientific event this week, the publication of a draft of the platypus genome. Over and over again, the…

Here's a bizarre miscellany. Well, it's just Wisconsin. Two people have been arrested after a Juneau County Sheriff's deputy found one of them and her two children living in a home with the body of a 90-year-old woman decomposing on the bathroom toilet. Tammy D. Lewis, 35, and Alan A. Bushey, 57…

The town of Frankenmuth, Michigan likes to flaunt their crosses — they've put them up on signs, and they've got one on the city logo. I suspect the town contains a Christian majority, so their local news probably felt safe putting up an online poll asking, Should Frankenmuth remove its cross from…

Wired has a pretty gallery of images from the recent Colossal Squid necropsy. If you've ever wondered what a pile of squid guts would look like on a table, here you go. It's too bad the images aren't quite large enough to use as wallpaper on my laptop. Oh, and those colors—that's exactly what slug…

This is the Friends of Brooker Creek Preserve website — it looks exactly like the kind of organization I would support, a community effort to protect a local wildlife area. They lobby, they educate, they offer opportunities to hike and experience nature. One problem: it's in Florida. That seems to…

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

I've tuned into KKMS, although to be honest, I lost all respect for these evangelical radio cretins when they had that Simmons "debate" and left me out. We'll have to see if their guest's attempts to criticize atheists in their absence will be as effective. I'm trying to grade exams while…

Guess what? He didn't like it, nosir. "Expelled" is a shoddy piece of propaganda that props up the failures of Intelligent Design by playing the victim card. It deceives its audiences, slanders the scientific community, and contributes mightily to a climate of hostility to science itself. Stein is…

After all, the big squid are washing up on Puget Sound beaches, so I, too, feel the call. I'm going to have to make the journey. It also helps that the Northwest Science Writers Association has invited me to come out and give a talk. I'll be speaking on 2 June at the Pacific Science Center on…