pharyngula

I am off to a fun start here in Ireland, with a busy day yesterday. I was on the Tom McGurk radio show, which is summarized by a listener. Basically, it was the cracker incident compressed into less than 10 minutes, with McGurk barking at me and an amazingly clueless and pompous senator, Ronan…

It's a busy few days coming up. This afternoon I'm going to record an interview for a show called Culture Shock on Newstalk Radio, which is broadcast on Thursdays at 10pm on 106-108fm. I'll be at UCD tonight at 6:30, in Theatre B in the Science Hub. Tomorrow I hop on a train for Cork, 7pm in…

The Global Atheist Convention is now officially sold out. If you want to get in, you'll have to find a scalper. I am still surprised at how oblivious some commentary on the convention can be. Some people can't imagine what we could have to talk about without any gods in the room. But, if the…

Hey, look, I'm not too late with the Molly awards! The Molly for the month of December is split between John Morales, who seems to turn up in the list of candidates every month, and Leigh Williams, who stirred up some controversy in the voting because she is a Christian and we are, after all, a…

I'm not going to get into the ongoing civility wars. They were prompted by the announcement that the Nature Network has passed the landmark of 50,000 comments — congratulations, and that's very good — and various comments within that thread, combined with Greg Laden's helpful addition of more…

I'd recommend that every school board member who proposes that we teach both sides of the evolution "controversy" view this movie, except they're usually such delicate prudes who get outraged at tone that they'd probably have a heart attack at the profanity in this clip. Wait…maybe that's an…

(via National Geographic)

Bryan Fischer, a host on Christian Hate Radio sponsored by the American Patriarchy Association, recently received mail from a listener appalled at his suggestion that homosexuals ought to be imprisoned. Fischer was quick to reassure his listener that yes, he really does believe that, he will…

The things one learns on the internet — now I know the proper way to stimulate a bull elephant, in case the opportunity ever comes up. It looks strenuous and hazardous. I'm also amazed at the way the elephant just stands there and accepts servicing by the team of creepy bipeds. If some small…

There is a nest of creationist fruit loops scattered across Wisconsin, and they do try to get on school boards. The latest is David Weigand, a candidate for the board of education in the West Bend school district. Seriously, do not vote for this kook. Here's his statement on evolution. WITH REGARD…

Ben Goldacre found an exciting job ad. Unfortunately, he's completely unqualified for the position, which is probably why he mocks it. It's fear, yeah, that's the ticket, he laughs at it because he's afraid. Hang on a minute…I don't qualify for the job, either! I haven't got the vaguest clue about…

On facebook, you can vote for a concept by joining a fan group…and right now, there is a group called "We can find 1000000 people who believe in evolution before June." I think they can; they're approaching the 10% mark right now. Just follow the link and click on the "Become a fan" button. Don't…

And what have I accomplished? Thanks to Steve and Dierdre Metzler, who gave me a tour of the local pubs and restaurants, I have learned something important. Guinness in Ireland is a completely different beast from Guinness anywhere else; here, it's a silky smooth ambrosia with not a hint of…

On top of previous summaries, Zeno now recounts the tale of my visit to Sierra College. One amusing feature of the Q&A at Sierra was that a notorious creationist showed up, and I caused him considerable distress by turning his complaints against him by asking him to give his best evidence for…

Hey! You took advantage of my prolonged absence trapped in a metal tube hurtling at 37,000 feet above the Atlantic to fill up the last endless thread. Sneaky. You're making it hard to keep up. Go ahead. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm in Ireland and you're not, so I don't care.

I have arrived in Dublin, and am having a lovely time. I had a taxi driver with the most wonderful accent get me to a nice hotel, and am contemplating a stroll around the area to find some Guinness. This is my strategy for handling jet lag: I stayed awake through the entire flight, jogged about…

(Note also: I think someone with a bird fetish has a birthday coming up…)

It's like they're teasing me, begging me to squish their goofy little poll. Should the Bible be taught in public schools? Yes 70.2% No 29.8%

Dennis Engelhard was a trooper in the highway patrol who was killed in an accident, when a car lost control in the snow and hit him. That's tragedy enough, but what makes it worse is that the person he loved faces this sudden loss without any acknowledgment or support, not even a mention in the…

I had a nice break for about 14 hours — I arrived in Minneapolis, and my wife showed up with her massage table (there's a reason she is the Trophy Wife™), but now I have to get on a series of planes to arrive after a series of stops in exotic Dublin, where I shall somehow find my way to someplace…

The crafty Taisha McFall, creator of the Ray Comfort Tampon Case, is having a birthday tomorrow. What she'd like for her birthday is that women everywhere be free of fear and able to live their lives in some security, but barring that, you could make her happy by donating to Women for Women, an…

Oh, no. I'm flying off to the UK tomorrow, and I've just learned that all my favoritest, bestest people there are going to kill themselves just 8 hours from now (uh, remember, correlation is not causation…I'm sorta sure it's not because I'm coming to visit.) What they're all going to do is go down…

The murderer of Dr George Tiller has been convicted and now faces a life sentence. The Kansas jury didn't take long at all — it was an open-and-shut case of pre-planned assassination and terrorism. Thank you, Kansans.

Enteroctopus zealandicus (via TONMO)

Here's a new tradition I have to encourage: I was brought a cheesecake at last night's talk at Stanford. It was fabulous: white chocolate raspberry chocolate chip. The fellow who sent it along was Victor Harris of Reuschelle's Cheesecakes. He has a huge variety of different kinds of cheesecakes,…

Ben Stein wins another honor. He has been declared the Rosa Parks of Darwin skeptics on the Rosa Parks of Rosa Parks Blogs, which points out amusing and offensive instances of rhetorical hyperbole. The amusing bit here, though, is that he got named this on the basis of an old post by creationist…

There is an account of my Stanford visit in the Stanford Daily. I've definitely gotta work on my rabidity.

This is my last day in California, and you people have filled up the cosmic thread I started here. You know there's only one sentiment I can express here, and the words to this song are just perfect. On the day I went away... goodbye... Was all I had to say... now I... I want to come again and…

Gayle Haggard, wife of meth-snorting fan of gay prostitutes Ted Haggard has just had a press conference in which she announces that Ted Haggard is completely heterosexual…to which I can only reply with this song. Mrs Haggard also says "Our sexuality is conditioned, and we can be conditioned in…