pharyngula

Well, no, actually, he didn't. But once again, he's going to get misquoted by every creationist on the planet, thanks to Newsweek. They have an article about him and his book, and in a nice bold pull quote, here's what they claim: Hey, frogs are highly derived amphibians; we certainly aren't…

Oh, boy. As many of you already know, the big AAI conference is taking place in LA at the end of this week — I'll be there! — and they are giving Bill Maher an award. This is a problem. Maher made a provocative movie about religion this year, Religulous, and that's the kind of thing we want to…

30 September is going to be International Blasphemy Day, and I suspect Donohue will be turning purple while his head twirls around on his neck. It should be entertaining: he's already sending out press releases to complain. BLASPHEMY DAY TARGETS CHRISTIANITY The Center for Inquiry will launch the…

Which means we have to start guessing and taking bets on who will win the pretty prizes. MedGadget has a contest — leave a name there and maybe you'll win an iPod. I have no idea who will win this year, so I'm not making an entry. I do think it's about time for Mark Ptashne to get the nod, though.

Hooray for us! We got a nice plug in the Minneapolis Star Tribune for my campus's conservation efforts, and for the opportunities to major in environmental studies here. Come on, students and parents of students, trust me, this is a good place for the environmentally conscious.

In 2002, Thomas and Manju Sam had a very sick child: their daughter Gloria was suffering from a life-threatening case of eczema, and essentially screamed herself to death by painful suppuration. That's a ghastly tragedy, and we'd normally feel for the parents who suffered that loss. My sympathies…

Sad to say, I've seen a grand total of ONE monarch butterfly here in Morris this fall. When I moved here in 2000, we'd see them in swarms — there were scattered spots around town where clusters of monarchs would drape the trees and flutter about. Now…nearly nothing.

Premanand is a notable rationalist and publisher of Indian Skeptic magazine, and he is in a hospital dying of cancer as I write this. He is alert and fully aware of his condition, and he knows his death is imminent. He also knows that when he is dead, the contemptible ghouls of spiritualism and…

They've got another one entering the fray in November, and they need your suggestions for a name. It's a boy, which makes it harder. When we were in those distant childbearing years, I hit up taxonomy for interesting names, but for some reason, most Latin names always sound feminine to me. I was…

Today was a big day for revision and cleanup — I cut out some of the weaker stuff I'd written before. I think deleting words ought to count for just as much as adding words, but I'll refrain from complicating the tally that way. Productivity for Sunday, 27 September: 1651 shiny new words, one brand…

How can you resist a post about chimaeras and their amazing forehead specializations?

The tiff between Jerry Coyne and Robert Wright is getting even more hilarious. Wright is accusing Coyne of misrepresenting and misunderstanding his book, and is bringing up all these quotes from The Evolution of God to refute Coyne's claims. If you just read Wright, you'll have to agree — Coyne…

The Hastings bookstore in Lubbock, Texas, has a peculiar way of organizing their books. But then, these are people so deeply confused that they probably rummage about fruitlessly in the Religion section looking for truth.

We're getting advice from Christians now! Look and laugh at this list: Five things that would make atheists seem nicer. It's gone awry even with the title. I especially appreciate the word "seem," because Lord knows there's nothing that could make us actually nice, and obviously we need the…

I'm trying to have some serious writerly discipline here, so I've been hammering at the keyboard all day, and will do more tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after, etc., until it's all done (my goal is to wrap it all up within a month). As part of the process, I'm going to start posting a…

The HuffPo is once again a source of gross misinformation. Don't worry about swine flu — it's benign. If you really must protect yourself, take vitamins, eat garlic, get herbal supplements, and trust in homeopathy. It's patent quackery. Really, people: boycott the HuffPo. I never read that slurry…

For some reason, this geeky little saga tickled me. David: Taunt dude! You're supposed to be the tank! Zach: Just back up, you're drawing agro. David: I can't, I'm- Cheryl: *opening the door* David...? David: Oh sh*t! Cheryl: Discarded pizza rolls, empty Mountain Dew bottles...What's going on here…

More travel this week: I'll be in Lewiston, Maine to speak at Bates College, at 5 p.m. Tuesday, 29 September, in Room G65, Pettengill Hall. And from there I'll be flying to Los Angeles for the AAI convention. Lots of flight time is lots of writing time, right?

Pedophiles are wretched people who abuse the helpless, and they get no sympathy from me. However, they are still people — sick people, damaged people, often abused people, sometimes psychopathic people. They have to be treated with due process and concern — we want to end the behavior, not the…

It's a fine story, taken from the press conference I gave on Thursday, except for two things. The comments are a mix of the sane and the deranged. Fargo has some interesting people living up there—a lot of smart, sensible, rational people, and some some very noisy lunatics. It's strange how the…

It's a homo's Devil Machine! Oh, wait. We like that stuff. Never mind, carry on. (via Mark Allen)

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

The Charlotte Pop Fest '09 is going on right now — it's a music festival that also raises money for charities. You should go. The recipient of the profits this year will be the Richard Dawkins Foundation. What, you say? They're raising money to promote secular science? In North Carolina? Yes, they…

This is a lovely example of offended sensibilities that was sent to the University of Minnesota alumni association, as well as several other administration people and myself. I don't think the author realizes it, but this is the kind of hate mail that makes me very happy. Dear Alumni Association…

OK, who got to this poll before me? The answers are all going the way I want them to, and that's just unnatural. A new survey says a quarter of all Americans will claim to have "no religion" within 20 years. How do you view the boom in Americans without a religious affiliation? 71.57% It's a good…

(via My Confined Space)

Jebus, they can't shut me up. Just got back from the afternoon discussion, which went on for two hours. It was great fun. Of course… My opening remarks were about being assertive atheists who challenge conventions and do things like desecrating crackers… …and a priest, complete with clerical collar…

I'm keeping busy here — we had a packed house at my talk (which was all wonky sciencey biology stuff) last night, I did a press conference this morning which might get a few soundbites floating around North Dakota, spent a little time on the Christopher Gabriel show on WDAY radio, and now get a…