pharyngula

They're in big trouble now: the atheists chalked portraits of Mohammed on sidewalks all over campus. Allah will be offended, and there might even be nothing but a yawning chasm where Champaign and Urbana once stood. Any UI students should write in and let us know if there are any omens, portents,…

This is the first I've heard of this, but there is a devastating disease called Plum Pox Virus that kills trees bearing stone fruits, like plums and peaches, and the only way to deal with infected plants is to rip them out of the ground and destroy them. There has been a recent outbreak in…

John C. Nienstedt is the Archbishop of the Diocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis, which makes him the ranking Catholic god-botherer in the region, I guess. We're supposed to call him "Most Reverend" — priests are really good at attaching laudatory titles to themselves — but I won't be doing that,…

Argonauta nodosa Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.

I've so late in tallying up the Molly nominations lately, that I thought for a change I'd get the March Molly award done on time, and a little early even. This one was easy: it was a landslide for Josh, Official SpokesGay. Every blog should have an official SpokesGay. Now, start nominatin' for the…

Some yogi in India claims that he hasn't eaten, drunk, or used a bathroom in 70 years. Yeah, right. Now the Indian military is studying him because, obviously, soldiers who don't need to be provisioned would be rather useful…which assumes that this nonsense is even worth studying. Two cameras have…

Tim Minchin has a new and utterly delightful little song about the Pope. Warning: it's catchy. You might end up singing it around the house. Oh, and also…it's a teeny bit naughty. Maybe not safe for work, unless you work in a Catholic office — then you should turn it up loud. Also, if you're one of…

At last, some research in communicating evolution that I can agree with, because it corresponds to my prior experience and biases! Which is exactly the wrong reason to agree with it, of course, but it's a start, and with some significant reservations, is an interesting foundation to argue over.…

The word is out: on my way to the Gods & Politics conference in Copenhagen, I'm taking a little detour to visit Oslo, as this forum article mentions. It's true! It's true! Tidenes happening før Skepsikonferansen 2010! En ravende, sinna, og nysgjerrig teddybjørn av en ateist og skeptiker kommer…

This story about the desperation of the French priesthood to recruit new victims has some interesting statistics. There are around 24,000 priests in France today, down from 42,000 in 1975. The number of Catholics entering the diocese has declined as well, from 116 ordainments in 1999 to 89 in 2009…

I suggested in jest that maybe we should put England's sensible Lord Justice Laws on our Supreme Court, but maybe they still need rationalists over there. The Guardian has been using a stellar pro-science panel (Goldacre and Singh, to name two members) to quiz representatives of various political…

I think Lord Justice Laws would be an excellent choice, even if he is British. He recently handed down a decision in the case of a therapist who refused to treat same-sex couples that was simply beautiful. Lord Justice Laws said legislation for the protection of views held purely on religious…

I really hate Poe's Law. I can't tell if Restore Stephen Baldwin, a web site dedicated to raising money for the evangelical Christian actor, is sincere or not. It's just too crazy — it's comparing Baldwin to Job, and shilling for donations so Baldwin can continue to preach about Jesus, despite the…

A vitamin D overdose is nothing to laugh about — it's painful and debilitating, can cause kidney damage, and can kill. This is a case where consuming excessive amounts of a vitamin supplement can do more than help you make expensive urine, and can lead to crippling illness and death. Gary Null is a…

I don't think the current results are quite right, and they need a little godless input. It's cunningly designed to split our votes, alas…but do what you can. What Do You Think About the Tea Party? Believe they are white racists 2% Believe they are ignorant-uneducated people 1% Believe they are…

Why would the Pope dislike the internet? Why does Islam rebel at mockery? Why do religions demand unquestioning respect? It's because open criticism kills them. Thunderf00t explains why. (via RD.net)

Hey, I'm going to be at the Orange County Freethought Alliance conference on 8 May; how convenient that the OC Register is running a silly little poll already. Does religion make us better people? Opinion 1: Religion makes people behave better. 32 % Opinion 2: Being religious has no effect on your…

Jen has put up the numbers — this was clearly an effective PR move, doing a good job of bringing an absurdity to the public's attention. I think it's important that we use more humor and make more noise to wake people up, because this problem of religious 'prophets' using natural events to bolster…

Nothing will dissuade the contributors to the evergrowing thread, not even another cheesy 1950s horror flick. Yak, yak, yak. (Current totals: 10,115 entries with 977,398 comments.)

PBS has a crew in the Vatican, looking to see some signs of light from a secretive organization. Here's an account of one audience — it sounds hopeless. First some flunky came out to make this declaration: The last couple of months have been very difficult, he went on, with so many questions being…

This is completely unsurprising. An account from Randall Price has emerged; Price is a notorious Ark-hunter, young earth creationist, and professor at Liberty University, so he has good kook credentials and is the kind of guy who desperately wants the recent claims of the discovery of Noah's Ark to…

Couroupita guianensis There's a reason this is also called the cannonball tree.

This is really hard to watch: it's a young woman giving the benediction at the graduation ceremony at Midwestern State University, in Texas, and she's so sucked up into her religious fervor that she starts shaking, I catch a hint of speaking in tongues, and finally ends up fainting on the stage.…

There are good people living in Mississippi, I just don't know how they can bear it. At least this first story can't be blamed on Mississippi. Fred Phelps is planning to picket Constance McMillen's graduation. This will be very interesting … how will the town and her fellow students respond? Will…

This is an excellent review of a program that will be on tonight: Tonight on Frontline, "The Vaccine War" presents both sides of the controversy over whether young children should be vaccinated for diseases such as measles and polio, and in a rare display of TV-news common sense and independence,…

Ho hum. I'm getting lots of mail about this ridiculous story on WND and Fox claiming that Noah's Ark has been discovered atop Mt Ararat. No, it hasn't. This is yet another mob of incompetent evangelicals hiking all over a big hill in Turkey and credulously interpreting every rock formation and…

In the Department of Unfortunate Analogies, here's a Christian minister giving advice on one's marital obligations: As I said, sometimes sex is just sex; it's what you do when you are married. Just like cleaning the toilet is what you do to keep your house clean...and I bet you don't have this…

It looks like there is a theme going around the science blogosphere, triggered by a few remarks from Stephen Hawking. Stephen Hawking says we should avoid any aliens—they'll destroy us. Sean Carroll agrees, but think it's highly unlikely. Phil Plait disagrees that aliens will destroy us, also…

The results are in, and I'm sorry to say that women dressing provocatively caused no significant statistical difference in the frequency or magnitude of earthquakes. Geology is simply unimpressed by small localized fat concentrations on the short-lived bodies of mammals. I'm afraid, though, that…