pharyngula

Poor Geoffrey Simmons, so painfully pathetic. He's back on KKMS right now, given an hour where there isn't one of those wretched evolutionists to point out the absurdity of his comments. So far, all he's doing is giving a litany of complexity — the eye is so complex, and the eyes are at the top of…

So I'm glad someone took the time to reply to them.

Suddenly, lots of people want to debate me. I'm really not that much into the debate business, and I think most of the people who want to battle me don't need a high-level argument about biology — they need a remedial course in elementary science. Especially since most of the challenges are rather…

The latest Tangled Bank is now online at Quintessence of Dust.

A dismaying update: the paper in question contains a significant amount of outright plagiarism, and large chunks of text are taken literally from Butterï¬eld et al. 2006, "Oxidative stress in Alzheimer's disease brain: New insights from redox proteomics," European Journal of Pharmacology 545: 39-50…

Turn off your TVs. Don't bother watching the election coverage. I know you've all been wondering how little rural Morris, Minnesota, population 5000, would vote in the super Tuesday voting. Turnout was heavy, with between 400 and 500 people showing up for the caucus, and the results were … (…

I'm swamped with teaching labs, writing deadlines, and the DFL caucus — you're all going to caucus, right? — so I'm just going to have to ask you to pretend that Henry Rollins is me for a little while.

The speakers for The Amaz!ng Meeting 6 have been announced. Uh, wow. What am I going to do up there? I don't do card tricks, nor do I blow stuff up. I'm not going to be the most acerbic speaker in that crowd, either. I also have to be worth some fraction of the $450 registration cost. The pressure…

…and now they just have to sign the prenup (there is a prenup, right?). Shelley and Steve are merging their two blogs as of early March, and they've picked one of the names one of you perspicacious readers suggested. (I would have just said "This is madness!", but then Shelley would have kicked me…

Sure you do. So you might enjoy this webcast series from Scientific American. One of the things they mention is the recent "peer-reviewed" "scientific" "journal" from Answers in Genesis (sharply slammed by Larry Moran), and they criticize Nature's coverage, which urges scientists to avoid taking "…

I appreciate sincere criticism, I really do, and despite all the praise for my recent radio debate, I listened to it and mainly heard a lot of things I could have done better. So I like it when I find someone who also offers suggestions for improvement, but at the same time, I have to disagree with…

Just the title of this book is good for a laugh: The Complete Idiot's Guide to Prayer. They've certainly got their target audience pegged. As an added bonus, the reviews are amusing. Have reviewed a number of books on prayer and they usually get too complicated and bogged down. "Close your eyes…

Hey, gang! We've got a Tangled Bank coming up at Quintessence of Dust like, TOMORROW. Links to your science writing are needed — send 'em in today to me or host@tangledbank.net, or you'll miss the party. We're also running low on scheduled hosts — if you'd like to volunteer, drop me a note.

This is my favorite Roy Zimmerman song (so far). It just portrays perfectly the contradictory, weird mess of a country we live in.

As promised, here are the details on my debate this week. Debate: Are Science and Religion Compatible? An Evening of Stimulating Intellectual Discourse with Loyal Rue and PZ Myers Sponsored by Campus Atheists, Skeptics, and Humanists Thursday, February 7, 2008 7:00pm - 10:00pm West Bank Auditorium…

Don't answer that. But just in case you can at least tolerate listening to me, I'm interviewed on NSTA's Lab Out Loud podcast.

I would be the first to admit that the readership of Pharyngula is not a representative slice of America. We've self-selected for cynics and skeptics and atheists and science-minded people, and that's all right … that's the way I like it. The viewership of something like ABC News, on the other hand…

I'm going to the DFL caucus tomorrow night, and after seeing this video I'm thinking I ought to throw my vote to Mike Huckabee. Maybe I can convince a few others to join me if I dress sexy enough.

A budding new freethought group at Wilfrid Laurier University made a dreadful mistake in their application: they actually admitted that their goal was "to promote science, freedom of inquiry, skepticism, and a good life without the need for superstition or religious belief." I don't know about you…

This is awesome. A band set a Chick tract to music, and not just any Chick tract, but one of the sickest, creepiest Chick tracts ever.

Any google experts out there? ERV has been having some difficulties — she keeps getting delisted by google, and then coming back up. Strangely, if you search for ERV, this currently comes up: Wha…? Go to the link, and that text isn't there. It's as if someone has been whining to google, and their…

We're in a war, we're looking at a looming mortgage crisis, and I can tell you that our educational system is getting flushed down the tubes, and what does our brave congress do? Why, it decides to make the words "In God We Trust" bigger on our coins. Responding to complaints from the Religious…

OK, so I was sent this picture, and I want to make it clear: this is not me giving a lecture. Although, I must say that if you look closely, there is a distinct resemblance to Ken Miller…could he be a closet cephalopodophile?

Do the intelligent citizens of Florida a favor and sign the petition urging better standards for education. More pressure!

Many of you have already seen the gorgeous video below: it's a spectacularly beautiful animation of the activity in a cell. I like it, and it's a useful illustration, but … there's something fundamental that it gets completely wrong. So today I'm not going to praise it, I'm going to criticize it…

Both Jon Swift and Skippy are spearheading a regular event, Blogroll Amnesty Day, in which we recognize and acknowledge the breadth and depth of blogtopia (yes, we all know who coined that term!). It's today! You are encouraged to scout out new blogs, get out of old ruts, and explore new or…

I forgot to remind you all to tune in to the Minnesota Atheists radio show…but you all know by now to turn on your radios/streaming connection on Sunday mornings, right? If you forgot, you'll have to do penance by reading the Sunday Sermonette.

Every once in a while, someone from Sweden notices American politics. The state of the nation may make us residents weep, but at least we can be entertained by the startled expressions of horror from the foreigners.

A review in the New Orlando Sentinel asks the question, "Is Ben Stein the new face of Creationism?" In the cruelest slam of creationism yet, it is accompanied by this photo: That's just mean. Anyway, read the whole thing. It's a review of Expelled, and … no, sir, he didn't like it. He uses "straw…

I have heard a rumor that tomorrow there will be some strange game called the "superbowl" going on … I don't know who is playing, I won't be watching, and I really don't care who wins, so I think I'll just root for the Toronto Maple Leafs, if that's all right. But I did discover another fun game…