pharyngula

Oh, dear. Earlier, I wrote about Ken Ham's visit to the Pentagon, a soul-shuddering thought if ever there was one, and it seems Ken has read it. He has replied with a blog entry titled Biology Professor Calls Me “Wackaloon”. Ken, Ken, Ken. You act shocked at the thought that one guy publicly stated…

This weekend has been busy — yesterday, I gave my talk at the Amaz!ng Meeting, and I think it went OK. I tried to go against type and gave a talk that was all science and biology*, no debunking, no godless inspiration pep talk, no railing at the state of delusional thinking and ignorance in the US…

So that's what the DI has been up to their "Biologic Institute". (You might have to know the LOLcats tradition to get the joke).

A pair of Hapalochlaena lunulata (via the UCMP Cephalopod Page)

I'm in Vegas, I'm at the Amaz!ng Meeting, I'm distracted by all the shiny flashy lights and all the strange people who want to talk to me, so you're all going to have to talk among yourselves for a while. Here are a few news items to prime the pump. Don't read this one until after breakfast. It's…

I'm at this amazing meeting meeting these amazing people right now. I'm going to have an amazing lunch and then I'm going to an amazing reception. Say hello if you see me — I've already put my autograph on one octopus.

As you read this, I'm on an airplane winging off to Las Vegas for The Amazing Meeting (Amazing Schedule here). I understand that I am expected to be Amazing, but usually all I can manage is a low-key Interesting, so it will be quite the challenge. Anyway, I am told that I should arrange a…

Colleen Leduc has an autistic child named Victoria who is enrolled in a public school. She recently got a terrifying phone call — her daughter was being sexually abused. We parents know well the fear and worry a threat to our children can cause, and Leduc was receiving an urgent, frantic phone call…

Ken Ham, chief wackaloon at Answers in Genesis, was invited to speak…at a Pentagon prayer breakfast. Just let that sink in. There are people at the Pentagon who are in charge of planning where your sons and daughter and nephews and nieces and other beloved family members and friends will be sent to…

Barbara Forrest is sending this message out everywhere — they need concerted public action to forestall a dreadful legislative disaster that is looming large in the state of Louisiana. You can help! We in the LA Coalition for Science have reached the point at which the only possible measure we have…

I've got all this work to get done right now, and what happens? Electronic Arts sends me the Creature Creator for their upcoming Spore video game (which is not going to be about evolution, no matter what their PR says — I've read the blurbs, and it's all non-evolutionary). It is fun, though. And of…

Would you believe that Andy Schlafly, head kook at Conservapædia, wrote a letter to Richard Lenski, demanding release of his data to Schlafly and his crack team of home-schooled children? Schlafly is a creationist and ideologue of the worst sort; he has no qualifications in biology, and only wants…

Olivia Judson hits exactly the right note in her article about Charles Darwin and the coming centennial year of The Origin: brilliant fellow who revolutionized our thinking, but he wasn't the only one and he definitely wasn't the final word on evolution. So let's party! This is going to be a great…

We've had a few examples here lately of crazy creationist talk, but some of the climate change denialists are just as bad. Look at this example of someone arguing that greenhouse gases can't cause global warming: Moreover, the actual trapping of heat cannot raise an object's temperature in the…

Remember the case of John Freshwater, the Ohio science teacher who burned a cross into a student's arm and decorates his desk with Christian kitsch? He's a raving mad loon, but he's also fun and popular with the Christian kids at school (who are, naturally, a majority). Now John Freshwater and the…

Guess who is going to be a guest on the contemptible Christian talk radio station in my area tomorrow, at 5pm Central time? Chris Hedges. Expect lots of raving anti-atheist lunacy. Call in if you can.

On the one hand, there is this incredibly tacky exploitation of the devout in the marketing of The Pope's Cologne. It's claimed to be produced according to some 19th century formula, straight from Pope Pius IX, who apparently went around dazzling the ladies with his bling and his expensive scent.…

Here you go: It was a good performance, but I think he tried a little too hard to cram a whole lecture into a few minutes — but then maybe that's what you need to do on Colbert, ride hard over his attempts to derail you. I also disagree with his premise that creationism has its roots in anti-…

I just got an email listing 50 "proofs" for the existence of a god. It was also sent to a large number of skeptics, and included a plug for the dumb-as-bricks author's book — she's a flea who writes an imaginary scenario in which Richard Dawkins gets psychiatric counseling…from Jesus! If Debra…

Somebody has floated the idea of building an Evolution Museum in the same neighborhood as Ken Ham's Creation "Museum". Superficially, it's a fine idea, but no, I can't support it, for a number of reasons. Every natural history museum is an evolution museum. There is already a natural history…

I just got around to reading this very nice article by Gregory Paul and Phil Zuckerman, which we godless heathen ought to find reassuring and optimistic. They describe how religion is fading, even here in the United States, and that it is a natural consequence of economic trends. In particular, the…

How about this one? On Monday, California became the second state in the nation to legally recognize same-sex marriages. Do you think gay marriages should be legal in Colorado? "No" is currently leading.

As I said I would, I'm watching this History Channel documentary about the origin of life. How about a little live-blogging? 8:00. Ugh. It begins with a bunch of tripe from Coyne and Polkinghorne, claiming we need religion to understand the meaning of life. This is a bad, bad start, but I'm hoping…

In addition to the abiogenesis program on the History Channel, it looks like Ken Miller is going to be on the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. I hope you've got cable! By the way, if you don't have cable, and you still want to see Ken Miller, the HHMI offers a DVD of Miller lecturing on evolution…

That dreadful propaganda movie is opening in Canada next week, not that I expect it will be a box office smash there after flopping here. However, there's a weird comment on the blog of Canada's greatest quote-stringer and maker of delusional word hash (Forgive me for linking to Uncommon Descent in…

Bill Dembski seems to be a bit peeved at those theistic evolutionists — they keep siding with the evolutionary biologists, whether they're Christian or atheist or whatever! And all that despite the fact that the atheists often roll their eyes and laugh when the theistic evolutionists start babbling…

There seems to be a lot of interest in theories of abiogenesis around here — and it looks like The History Channel is showing a program on How Life Began tonight. Is the History Channel actually trying to ramp up some good science content, or have I been missing some good stuff on that channel?

Let's all advocate teaching the controversy…by wearing the t-shirt!

How do these bigots get into high office so frequently? An Irish official in charge of the country's health care cheerfully made some outrageous accusations on the air. Homosexuality is a mental illness, at least according to the head of Northern Ireland's health committee. Iris Robinson MP, who,…

Oh, my. Bobby Jindal was on TV, and he got asked about evolution. Here's his answer to a question about whether he had doubts about evolution. One, I don't think this is something the federal or state government should be imposing its views on local school districts. You know, as a conservative I…