pharyngula

The Discovery Institute is getting so politely eviscerated by a couple of people right now — you ought to savor the destruction. Richard Sternberg, the wanna-be martyr of the Smithsonian Institution, made a stupid mathematical mistake in explaining alternatively splicing, and then, after it was…

Good news for those of you already signed up for Copenhagen, and perhaps a little additional incentive if you haven't: Richard Dawkins has been added to the speakers' list. See you there in a bit less than two weeks!

Is it possible to take out a hit on a channel? Last night I skipped through a few television channels and was briefly intrigued to see A Princess of Mars on SyFy! I had to watch a few minutes to discover that it was a heretical abomination which must be burned and its television creators hunted…

Religion has a real problem with incentives. As long as they're all in an invisible afterlife, it's hard to take them seriously. The religion I grew up in was rather vague about the consequences — there was a Hell which was not discussed in polite company, and Heaven was a place brought up at…

Somehow, this video reminds me of the party that never ends. (Current totals: 10,369 entries with 1,015,708 comments.)

At the youtube page for this video, it's recommended that you buy his DVD. I agree! I want it! But, unfortunately, I only found one Minchin DVD at Amazon, and it won't play in the US. Any suggestions? Anyone? When I see Tim Minchin in London in the fall, do I have to beat him up, steal his…

I was catching up on Narbonic this morning, and she linked to an animated Little Nemo cartoon by Winsor McCay — from 1911. I was impressed. We all need a little hundred-year-old psychedelia to start the morning. McCay was a pioneer of animation — you might also enjoy the famous Gertie the…

I was asked to help skew a 'reader's choice' award in Kentucky—you know, that state with a Creation "Museum"—and I'm always happy to help rub Kentucky's nose in its religiosity, and helping an atheist blog acquire some notoriety sounds like an excellent idea. All you have to do is go to this list…

I guess Zeno does. Good thing, too, or we would have missed this gem of inanity. Someone writes in, worried that after they're dead, the ghosts of her parents and in-laws might follow her around, watching her have sex or go to the bathroom or other such private matters. Who knew the dead were all…

The Nation has published an extremely generous profile of the Templeton Foundation. I'm trying to be charitable about it, but there's little here that the Templeton itself will find objectionable — it's one more swoop of the brush in an effort to always whitewash the foundation as sober, sensible,…

Is there some kind of competition here? Are states vying for the title of most screwed up, repulsive state in the nation? 'Cause Arizona is really working hard to make Texas look sane. An Arizona elementary school mural featuring the faces of kids who attend the school has been the subject of…

Visit the scenic Gulf Coast now, and catch a glimpse of nature! They're only birds, does it matter that their suffering is immeasurable and their deaths ignominious? Surely not, not when their agony is balanced by the wonderfully elegant plumage of Washington lobbyists and oil company executives.…

It's odd, but several of the major sex abuse cases involving the Catholic church involve deaf kids. I didn't understand why, until I heard this song. And now I have to get some q-tips and sulfuric acid and scrub out my ears. For a not-quite-so entertaining story, read this account of Father…

Can we arrest Bush now? Please?

Before: Megalocranchia fisheri paralarva After: Megalocranchia fisheri adult Figures from ToLWeb and Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.

I mentioned earlier this week that sometimes I get positive email, and that it actually outnumbers the outright hostile hate mail. But both classes are greatly outnumbered by the most common kind of email I get, the cranks and crazies. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce Woolsey, Stephen D…

People were apparently rather peeved about Morgan Freeman's appearance on the Daily Show on Wednesday night (that link is to the whole episode; Freeman appears at about 15 minutes in). He's narrating a new science show that, in the clip shown, seems to be mainly about physics and cosmology. After…

Oleg Savca is a boy in Moldova who had a deadly brain tumor, and was expected do die, because nobody in his area knew how to treat him. His mother, Zina Savca, was reduced to hoping for a miracle from god. Left alone, the tumor would put Oleg into a coma and ultimately kill him. What happened next…

These do seem to be a bit polarizing, with a strong I-hate-autotuning camp…I rather like most of them, although this particular example is a bit weak — autotuning doesn't help much with long passages of tech talk, and this one has it. It doesn't help that I'm not that keen on sending manned…

Christopher Monckton, that pompous know-nothing who professes to be an expert on climate change and doesn't believe in it, gave a talk here in Minnesota last fall, at a little Christian college called Bethel University (which curiously has a biology department that manages to never once mention…

One of the most cunning tools of the patriarchy is the assignment of woo as a feminine virtue. Women are supposed to be intuitive, nurturing, accepting, and trusting, unlike those harsh and suspicious men. It's a double-trap; women are brought up indoctrinated into believing that being smart and…

The Guardian is asking for recommendations, but they've also got a good list of their favorite science blogs that is a good starting point for anyone.

Jerry Coyne has put together a list of his 20 most favorite movies, and invited us all to join in. I can't. I just don't believe in it. There is no such thing as a best movie, just movies that some of us like a lot. I also can't list 20, so you'll have to settle for an idiosyncratic 5 movies that…

I'm sure many readers here are fans of Thomas Kinkade — how could we not love a hack who used his pious Christianity to woo franchises into paying him buckets of money to sell his kitsch? — so you may be saddened to learn that his Signature Gallery stores are dying like starving puppies and he's…

We have another flaming authoritarian cretin of inexplicable popularity here in Minnesota: Bradlee Dean. He runs an outfit called "You Can Run But You Cannot Hide Ministries", which trundles about the region bringing the word of god and Bradlee Dean to kids. He actually gets into the schools,…

I knew it would come to this. Now the indefatiguable thread is about porn stars. Let's see how long you can keep it up (she said). You can talk about other things, too, you know. (Current totals: 10,348 entries with 1,012,682 comments.)

After all, if the New Life church in Yorktown, Indiana can offer a course in the New Atheism, I must be qualified to discuss all the nuances and fluff and crazy beliefs of Christianity. I am most amused, though, by their choice of instructor. It's some fellow named Jim Spiegel, who derives his…

It almost makes one feel sorry for Andrew Wakefield. Retraction: Enterocolitis in Children With Developmental Disorders A J Wakefield, A Anthony, S H Murch, M Thomson, S M Montgomery, S Davies, J J O'Leary, M Berelowitz and J A Walker-Smith Am J Gastroenterol 2000; 95:2285-2295 On 28 January…

Just for something completely different, here's an email I just got that isn't threatening me with death or causing me to choke while laughing because of its absurdity. Dr. Myers, Over the last several years I have been "converting" from a once very strong evangelical faith to atheism. It was a…

We're always hearing about these amazing profilers who work to describe the culprits, sight unseen, in serial killer cases. They get highlighted in books and movies and television, and the media just slurps it up with gullible glee. I've always found them unbelievable. The noise they're making is…