Paul Z. Meyers
pharyngula
Posts by this author
August 27, 2008
If you've got the 29 August issue of Chemical & Engineering News, there's an interesting editorial inside. It seems there has been a flurry of activity on C&EN on the issue of evolution; the editor dismissed the whole idea of intelligent design creationism back in February, saying that it…
August 27, 2008
You may recall that some whackaloons going to pray for rain in Denver to ruin Obama's acceptance speech. It didn't work — no surprise there — but there was an incident, a small selective event. A defective sprinkler went off, flooding a skybox booth.
It belonged to Fox News.
Omens and portents!
August 27, 2008
Another willing victim has been absorbed into the empire: Blake Stacey, the guy I want by my side in a gunfight (we're still waiting for Ben Goldacre to release the embarrassing photos of that incident), has brought his blog into the SciencBlogs fold. Check out the new Science After Sunclipse.
August 27, 2008
The Democratic National Convention is going on in Denver, and I'm really not at all interested in what's going on inside the convention center: it's a bunch of people saying feel-good platitudes to get themselves elected, all studiously avoiding saying anything substantial that might annoy a voter…
August 26, 2008
Bless their sacrilegious little hearts, the students are trickling back onto campuses everywhere, and doing their part to stir up freethinking mischief. Skatje and Collin are going to be recruiting for the UMM Freethinkers tonight, offering the incoming freshman cookies for their souls and handing…
August 26, 2008
Since Tom Willis wants to slap warning labels on all scientists, one of our commenters obliged by designing one you can get on a t-shirt.
It's probably not exactly what Willis intended, but it'll do.
August 26, 2008
Cyberguy has a nice collection of short pamphlets discussing atheism, evolution, and the scientific method, and will soon be including a lovely pdf of Planet of the Hats. It's useful to have these sorts of things in simple, single page format.
I expect you all to make lots of copies, team up, put…
August 26, 2008
Someone must have been reading some of my comment threads attentively, because this looks familiar:
(Click for larger image)
August 26, 2008
They're remaking The Day the Earth Stood Still…with Keanu Reeves! It looks very, very bad. What did they think they had to add to a SF classic? More special effects?
(At least there's one bit of good news: Watchmen looks fabulous.)
August 25, 2008
It's true — the cracker incident is still dribbling on in my mailbox. The email is down in volume considerably — only a few dozen angry letters a day. I'm still getting a handful of actual letters every day, and those are both comical and pathetic. Usually, they're an announcement of some ceremony…
August 25, 2008
Once upon a time, Charles Darwin crossed the equator in the Beagle, and he received the traditional hazing:
We have crossed the Equator. I have undergone the disagreeable sensation operation of being shaved. About 9 oclock this morning we poor "griffins" two and thirty in number, were put…
August 25, 2008
Any science journalists out there? You might not want to read this webcomic. The rest of you…sure, go have a laugh. It's rather accurate.
August 25, 2008
In reaction to the Freedom from Religion Foundation's billboards, FoxNews asks, "What's your reaction to the 'Imagine No Religion' billboards?". Unfortunately, you only get your choice of two poor answers: "I'm not offended…it's free speech" and "I'm offended…America needs religion". What about "I'…
August 25, 2008
I bet all they had to do was tell the investors what it is — an Australian musical romantic zombie comedy with giant cephalopods — and the money must have come rolling in for $QUID. I'd pay to see it.
Although…the teaser does need more squid in it.
(via Twitch)
August 25, 2008
An elementary school in Missouri has been allowing the Gideons to distribute bibles to students on their lunch hour. It's crazy stupid, a clear violation of the separation of church and state (not that fundie churches care about that anymore). Fortunately, Americans United is on the ball.
In its…
August 25, 2008
But if you want to do a little something to tweak the noses of the Religious Right, the American Patriarchy Association has called for a letter writing campaign. It seems that Hallmark Greeting Cards are peddling a line of gay-friendly cards, which irks poor little Donald Wildmon something fierce.…
August 25, 2008
The first day of classes is on Wednesday.
<insert long despairing wail here>
I have to get ready now, so life is going to be a bit frantic for a few days. This term I'll be teaching Developmental Biology, a fun class and not a problem right now, and I'll also be teaching our intro course,…
August 24, 2008
This story about the struggles of a high school biology teacher in Florida is depressing. David Campbell, the teacher, is a hero — but it's the kind of hero sent off to suffer and fail in a misplaced struggle, who dutifully falls in battle, a victim of bad leadership and poor strategy. It's the…
August 24, 2008
We just moved the last of Skatje's stuff out of our house and into her dorm room. No more kids at home! We've come full circle now to 1983, back when we were a couple living in a studio apartment, living on Mac&Cheez and free government cheese food, scraping by on minimal grad student stipends…
August 23, 2008
9am Sunday morning — it's Atheists Talk radio. This week, they're broadcasting from the Minnesota State Fair!
August 23, 2008
When last we heard from Tom Willis, big-wig in the Creation Science Association for Mid-America, he was pondering whether evolutionists should be allowed to vote. Since Tom Willis is batshit insane, he decided that no, they should not, because they're wicked godless atheists with no moral sense (…
August 23, 2008
Uh-oh. We were scheduled to have a Tangled Bank while I was off gallivanting in the southern hemisphere, and I guess it didn't happen. Shall we have a belated carnival at Science Notes on Wednesday, the 27th? Send in the links and we'll try to pull it together.
August 23, 2008
Tony Sidaway discusses a unifying property of theistic evolutionists: the desire or need for there to be some kind of universal plan for their existence. It's not an attitude I understand very well; I don't think it makes life better to believe that there is some ineffable teleological intent…
August 23, 2008
Since the DNC has chosen to not only ignore but outright spurn and reject the significant bloc of voters in their ranks who are not irrational people of faith, a demonstration is planned for 24 August at the Colorado Convention Center — you can RSVP if you want, but I'm sure you won't be turned…
August 22, 2008
Steven Pirie-Shepherd discovered the next generation of chemistry professors at the aquarium in Santa Barbara. I am impressed, and will more eagerly join the next search for new chemistry faculty at my university — I have a recommendation in mind.
Together with my prior observation, we clearly…