Paul Z. Meyers
pharyngula
Posts by this author
June 7, 2009
Jen has taken me, Richard Dawkins and Hemant Mehta and used The Sims to put our simulacra together into a house. I'd say it's some kind of pilot for a new sitcom on Fox, except I've seen enough Sims to know it will not end well. One of us will catch on fire, someone else will drown in the pool, and…
June 7, 2009
One of those right-wing circle-jerks has been going on in Virginia, and the wingnuts are vying to see who can be holiest — it looks like a contest between Newt Gingrich and Mike Huckabee. It's boring, except, I think, for the revelation about the nature of God.
Huckabee was not to be outdone in the…
June 6, 2009
Here I am, receiving the Humanist of the Year award from Jennifer Bardi, of the Humanist magazine.
The picture is a bit murky, but trust me, it's very pretty and sniny.
June 6, 2009
Sunday morning at 9am Central time, learn all about Convergence and the skeptic track therein from a real live Skepchick, all on Atheists Talk radio!
June 6, 2009
I've been neglecting you, O Readers! It's been a busy couple of days out here in sunny Arizona — they keep telling me it is a surprisingly cool weekend, which I take to mean it is a blazing hellhole most of the time — and I've been having a grand time attending talks and deferring any worries about…
June 5, 2009
Cheyenne Cherry has a very pretty name. It's too bad that the person isn't quite so pretty a human being.
She and an unidentified juvenile allegedly broke into Valerie Hernandez's Tinton Ave. apartment on May 6 and trashed the place.
Then in a shocking act of animal abuse, they tossed the woman's…
June 5, 2009
This little sketch might be too tempting for me…there are a lot of creationist articles that I would slap this on.
(via Kobra)
June 5, 2009
Hey, FBI, why aren't you enforcing the FACE act?
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
(via Survival of the Feminist)
)
June 5, 2009
It's only missing a fourth item: a cube of real butter to represent reality, the subject science studies, with all the dangerous deliciousness it stands for.
June 5, 2009
I know, they're getting a little old. It's just that we have this glaringly obvious monument to ignorance in our midst, one that is hard to just ignore, so everyone has to take a crack at it. This one does make a few interesting points, at least. For instance…
Of course, the Bible in no place says…
June 4, 2009
What a strange experience…I'm actually leaving Morris, Minnesota for a weekend and I'm bringing the Trophy Wife with me. She's usually left behind (no doubt sighing with relief), but this time she's coming along with me to Tempe, Arizona. It's probably only because our daughter is there this summer…
June 4, 2009
When it's got a squid in a top hat on it. I could wear this one to the ritziest of places.
June 4, 2009
This is a somewhat unconventional poll — the site lets you vote on issues, and they've set up one as creation vs. evolution. Vote for one or the other!
Creationism
Â
The religious belief that humanity, life, the Earth, and the universe were created in their original form by a deity.
Â
Evolution
Â…
June 4, 2009
The winner of the Molly Award for the month of April kept having the same thing said about him over and over: he was overdue, that people were voting for him month after month. Finally, persistence pays off: you can now refer to Bill Dauphin, OM.
Notice that it is now June — you need to tell me who…
June 3, 2009
Simon Singh, the science writer who had the temerity to say that chiropractic treatment for ear infection was "bogus", and who was found guilty by a British court of libel, has decided to appeal the decision. That takes real guts — libel law over there really stacks the deck in favor of frivolous…
June 3, 2009
Sometimes, it just takes a little sharp humor to clarify our current situation.
Well, to understand the Sonia Sotomayor fracas you have to realize that the timespace confundulum has actually fractured into two frozen moments, one having to do with the sudden appearance of emotional, abrasive…
June 3, 2009
One more joins the ranks of states on the side of goodness: the New Hampshire legislature has passed the last few bills needed to legalize gay marrriage in that state. Unfortunately, part of the compromise is a set of exemptions for religious organizations, who won't need to do the right thing.…
June 3, 2009
Oh, how I despise PETA. Now they're putting up new billboards in Kansas —can you guess why?
Lindsay Rajt, campaign manager for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, said the billboards were prompted by the recent shooting death of abortion doctor George Tiller, who was killed Sunday at his…
June 3, 2009
As you should know, John Wilkins has left the enveloping (and sometimes stifling) womb of Scienceblogs to strike out on his own, and is also laboring as an underpaid postdoc. He has entered that realm familiar to philosophers everywhere: poverty. It's good for the soul, John! Calorie restriction is…
June 3, 2009
The Intelligent Design creationists have done it again: thrown together another piece of sloppy scholarship to defend themselves from a non-argument. John Lynch is lazing in the balmy Mediterranean, and casually demolishes them in an afternoon in a Cretan cafe. It sounds like hard work,…
June 3, 2009
This is a sad story: Dahl's daughter Olivia, to whom he had dedicated James and the Giant Peach and The BFG (I remember reading both of those to my kids when they were little) died at the age of 12 of measles encephalitis. He wrote a short piece urging everyone to immunize their children 20 years…
June 2, 2009
People were complaining that that last pointless poll was too easy to knock over. Here's a tougher one.
What's your reaction to Barack Obama's proclamation designating this month as 'LGBT Pride Month'?
It is a well-deserved celebration - 1.81%
No big surprise from this administration - 21.56%
Sin…
June 2, 2009
One of those other godless, unfeeling scientists dared me to post this cuddly video of frolicking furry animals.
I'm only doing it to lull you all into a false sense of security. One minute you put your guard down in the presence of all the furry warm cuteness, then wham! Out comes the chitin and…
June 2, 2009
This local (he's in my backyard of St Paul!) rabbi, Manis Friedman, offers an enlightening vision of old testament morality. He was asked, "How should Jews treat their Arab neighbors?" Here's his answer.
I don't believe in western morality, i.e. don't kill civilians or children, don't destroy holy…
June 2, 2009
The Horizon Church of Towson asks what I'm sure is a very sincere question.
How old is the Earth?
about 6000 years old 28.13 %
about 4.5 billion years old 37.50 %
I am not sure 34.38 %
Gosh. This question has a very simple answer. Maybe you should tell them what it is.
June 2, 2009
Don't follow this link if you are at all sensitive. Gingi Edmonds has weighed in on the killing of George Tiller. She compares him to Lee Harvey Oswald, Ted Bundy, and Jeffrey Dahmer, and concludes with some really twisted logic.
Tiller was killed by a pro-choice act. Pro-lifers need make no…
June 2, 2009
Texans have been doing a lot of things right lately. The newest happy result: bills in the Texas legislature to prop up the Institute for Creation Research and to add creationist language to their science standards failed.
So there's a bit more hope for Texas: Don McLeroy is out as Chairman of the…
June 2, 2009
The UK still wins, though. We've got school boards that seriously consider including the fantasy that the earth is 6000 years old into the curriculum, but in the UK, you've just got clever people with ropes and boards stomping out patterns in the barley fields. The media seems to take the "crop…