pharyngula

Curses — we almost had Sandwalk in our grasp. If only we'd sent the borg queen in a little earlier, we might have overcome his resistance. Ah, well. There are other blogs to conquer, although I must say the swooning and shrieking and histrionics among the SciBlings as we absorbed yet another…

Bill Dembski has another triumph under his belt. He has shown that James Cameron's math in the Lost Tomb of Jesus show was wrong. It seems a little late, given that even the show's statistician has made a retraction. But of course, Dembski's got to claim that the analysis is tangentially related to…

If you've been reading that fascinating graphic novel, Y: The Last Man(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), you know the premise: a mysterious disease has swept over the planet and bloodily killed every male mammal except two, a human named Yorick and a monkey named Ampersand. Substantial parts of it are…

If you've been wondering who the 'non-religious Darwinist' (according to the DI, that is) who sent threatening notes to the University of Colorado at Boulder faculty might have been, wonder no more. The Colorado Daily News has revealed his name: it's Michael Korn. You can read Korn's website and…

Mmmmmm. Squid pie. With sprinkles!

Mastigoteuthis sp. Since I recently pointed out the strange news reports of an "octosquid" that even went so far as to call it half squid/half octopus, I thought I'd show why the preliminary assignment to the genus Mastigoteuthis was suggestive. It probably did have 8 arms and 2 tentacles … before…

This is amusing in so many ways to an atheist. Christian activists tried to disrupt a Hindu prayer in the Senate. It's absurd but so typical of Christian extremists that they would freak out at the imposition of a prayer that does not reflect their beliefs — welcome to my world, guys. We learn…

Manuscript note by Francis Crick: "I think the most significant aspect of DNA is the support it gives to evolution by natural selection." Note written on the back of a letter from D J E Stamp. 13 June 1989. (hat tip to Branch of the NCSE)

Some of you may noticed that someone on scienceblogs is going out of their way to say untrue things about me … it's a transparent ploy to get me to link to them, I think, and an attempt to ruin my reputation. It's not going to work, I tell you. No links! I'm not going to reward them with my…

Paul Nelson isn't happy that I explained that W. Ford Doolittle is not denying common descent when he says there was a large and diverse pool of organisms swapping genes at the base of the tree of life, and he presents a very revealing counter-argument: Before I respond to PZ’s baseless charge, let…

I just had to repost my review of Lifecode because the author, Stuart Pivar, is pushing the book again. Here's the press release, shocking in its pretentious flapdoodle: Prominent Scientists Reject Mainstream Genetics, Support New Theory of How the Human Body is Formed New York, NY: In the foreword…

I've been reading a strange book by Stuart Pivar, LifeCode: The Theory of Biological Self Organization (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), which purports to advance a new idea in structuralism and self-organization, in competition with Darwinian principles. I am thoroughly unconvinced, and am unimpressed…

Sometimes, I confess, this whole common descent thing gets in the way and is really annoying. What we've learned over the years is that the evolution of life on earth is constrained by historical factors at every turn; every animal bears this wonderfully powerful toolbox of common developmental…

This is a nice, short summary of some of the explanations for the evolution of homosexuality. It could be shorter; there are really just two classes of explanation, the adaptationist strategy of trying to find a necessary enhancement to fitness, and the correct strategy of recognizing that not all…

UFO 'studies' have come a long way since the days of Billy Meier, when you could just throw a pie plate or a hubcap into the air and take a polaroid, and presto … proof of flying saucers! Now in these days of Photoshop and CGI, you can get much more elaborate and realistic images — none of those…

Leslee Unruh, witch-queen of the Dakotas, is in Minnesota for the National Abstinence Clearinghouse convention. Fortunately, we've got Jeff Fecke to document the atrocities. The question remains: who will fumigate and sterilize the Crowne Plaza Riverfront hotel afterwards?

Recall those threats made against evolutionary biologists at the University of Colorado at Boulder? You can read the text of some of them at the Panda's Thumb now. This is clearly the work of a deranged Christian cultist and creationist kook. We at the Panda's Thumb also know who the author was,…

Isn't this a lovely map? It shows the concentration of ignorant, deluded, wicked, foolish, or oppressed victims of obsolete mythologies in the United States, with the lighter colors being the most enlightened and the dark reds being the most repressed and misinformed. Oh, it's labeled as the…

They've got another article from some fuddy-duddy prof who doesn't like the 21st century. It seems to be nothing but a long whine about modern teaching technologies — it's rather pathetic, actually, but the Chronicle seems to have a fondness for running occasional articles from defensive, confused…

Tell me this isn't the truth. I long ago learned my lesson. When I'm buckling down to work at the laptop, I quit the browser and email and newsreader and don't fire them up again until I've accomplished something.

All the Baptists and Methodists and Mormons and Lutherans and so forth have been unchurched by fiat — the pope has declared their buildings non-churches and that they aren't true followers of Jesus. This is good news! Now we can tell all the protestants, "Nyaa, nyaa, you're going to Hell with us…

If you've been following the Bloggingheads site, you probably already know that the best thing on it is Science Saturday with John Horgan and George Johnson. Horgan and Johnson are splitting up for the next few weeks, and are getting different heads to make a pair. Next week, George Johnson and the…

The six health care workers in Libya who were accused of intentionally infecting children with AIDS have had their death sentence confirmed. According to Revere, this is good news. It means the case now moves to the High Judicial Council, which has the power to commute the sentence, and which is…

That quote from Henry Waxman can't possibly be a surprise, can it? Our former surgeon general, Richard Carmona, is speaking out against the anti-science policies of the Bush administration. For example, he said he wasn't allowed to make a speech at the Special Olympics because it was viewed as…

Usually, on my morning walk, I keep my eyes open for any squid that might have washed up on the sidewalks of Morris. Now I learn that the squid wash up on the beaches of Tasmania. I suppose a place nearer an ocean is a more likely spot. (By the way, TONMO is the site to check for more news on the…

I can't possibly be the only one to have noticed the similarity. Leave it to the Republicans to consider nominating a thuggish, evil alien to run the country.

The NCSE is running a contest to design a new logo. Guidelines are at the link; If you've got any graphical talent at all, send something in. Fame and glory and a free subscription to Reports of the NCSE could be yours!

How do you know Egnor is crazy as a loon? For one thing (among many), he lashes out at both Orac and me. Triggering a response from one wordy skeptical woo-woo-basher should be enough for any semi-sane kook, but his last little screed tried to trawl both of us up in the flimsy net of his delusions…

Phil reveals his man-crushes, and I have to respond in kind. Fortunately, it's easy. I've just seen something that endears one particular gentleman to me… Michael Moore. He batters that smug silver-haired rodent, Wolf Blitzer. I wish he'd been given a chance to kick Lou Dobbs' ass. He rakes the…

Congratulations to skippy the bush kangaroo on reaching his 5th blogiversary! In his honor, I'll have to put on my Skippy the Bush Kangaroo t-shirt when I get home.