Paul Z. Meyers
pharyngula
Posts by this author
August 10, 2008
Sunday at 9am Central, tune in to Atheists Talk radio for a chat with Lori Lipman Brown of the Secular Coalition and Louis Appignani, Humanist Philanthropist.
August 9, 2008
Quito is not a shiny city. It's a bit shabby, with peeling paint, narrow twisty streets, buses belching fumes, and cheap gray tenements erupting all over the hillsides, and it is also far too churchy for my tastes. But man, it has character. It's a wonderfully lively place, and what it lacks in…
August 9, 2008
Another bit of distortion from Ray Comfort: he claims now that I was asked to present the very best evidence for evolution, and that all I could come up with was some "little infolding of the gut". If you've come here from Comfort's ignorance zone, here are the details of the evolution of lizards…
August 8, 2008
Hey, I've safely arrived here in Quito, Ecuador…and of course, I beat Phil Plait here, getting through customs and to the hotel long before he did. He's got to be getting used to second place by now.
I see the guestbloggers have come through and are doing a bang-up job, so I don't need to say much…
August 8, 2008
Octopus sp. kagoshimensis
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
August 7, 2008
Once again, we open the floor to the lyrical expression of a few readers who have been inspired by the recent effusion of musical and poetical outbursts here. Fortunately for all, there is no gong hanging on the wall behind you, the judges…although some of these have been pretty good.
First up is a…
August 7, 2008
This is how to do it: the Big Think project wants you to look over their inspirational science profiles and vote for one — and as a reward, they'll donate $1 to DonorsChoose, to fund educational projects. This is a win:win situation. For a couple of clicks, you get to be entertained for a few…
August 7, 2008
Have you been wondering who won the Molly for July? It goes to … Owlmirror, OM. Let's hear some applause for the worthy champion.
In other news, you may recall that I'm going to the Galapagos Islands, and I'm leaving tonight! I shall be spending the next week and a half bobbing about in a boat in…
August 7, 2008
I'm afraid the odious Oklahoma legislator, Sally Kern, has opened her mouth again. She has declared herself a "cultural warrior for Judeo-Christian values. I despise the term "Judeo-Christian" — it's so fake, and such a transparent attempt to tie morality to religion. So what are these "Judeo-…
August 7, 2008
Barack Obama will be giving his acceptance speech at the DNC outside, so what do the geniuses at Focus on the Patriarchy propose to do? They urge their followers to pray for rain.
Pathetic. Why not suggest instead that they pray for thunderbolts of doom, and that the earth split open beneath Obama'…
August 6, 2008
Here's An Open Letter to Barack Obama that urges him to support a basic progressive agenda — sign it if you're sympathetic with its goals.
August 6, 2008
It's on the internets. The opening is something that I can't imagine flying by on American television: he simply says that evolution is a vastly superior explanation to anything religion has ever provided.
August 6, 2008
For those of you who liked yesterday's little poem, here's a somewhat rowdier piece that I was sent.
DNA (to the tune of TNT by ACDC)
Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi! Oi!
See me divide up in your nucleus on your micro-screen
I'm all of you that you can get
If you know what I mean
Proteins to the left…
August 6, 2008
Peter Wood has an interesting commentary in the Chronicle today. At least, it starts out well, but by the end it turns into a bit of a train wreck. The good part is a discussion of a growing deficiency in science and math training in the US. The usual ignorant reaction to this problem is to flog…
August 6, 2008
You can now read Tangled Bank #111 at the denialism blog. It's poetical!
August 6, 2008
I'll be on the air on radio station WDAY out of Fargo in a few minutes. After yesterday's exhibition, I expect plenty of phone calls, so don't let me down. Give me good, short, sharp questions, too!
August 6, 2008
Today's target is the website for the credulous Australian TV program, The One, which claims to be searching for someone with magical mind powers. The poll asks, "Are you a believer or a sceptic?"
70% of Australian voters in this poll are currently calling themselves believers. Let's embarrass them…
August 6, 2008
I actually watched the entire appalling 10 minutes of this ghastly creationist video by Dr Ron Carlson, Learn How Evolution is Largely Based on the Silly Assumption of a Dead Lawyer. The whole thing is built around a completely false claim, that fossils are dated only from the geological strata,…
August 6, 2008
I think McCain is in big trouble when Paris Hilton runs intellectual circles around him.
August 5, 2008
Last week, we watched Evolve: Eyes on the History Channel; tonight, shall we watch the next episode, Evolve: Guts, together? Tune in shortly!
A disgusting beginning: competitive eaters? Bleh. It's a basic introduction to mammalian digestive physiology — I can tell we're going to get lots of Big…
August 5, 2008
I was sent this lovely bit of poetic biology, by someone who said it was written by a colleague at the Salk…maybe she'll give full credit in the comments. Consider yourself a knowledgeable cell biologist if you get all the allusions.
The p53rd Psalm
p53 is my shepherd, I shall not cycle
It maketh…
August 5, 2008
John Freshwater, the Ohio science teacher who uses his classroom to proselytize and promote creationism, is following a familiar tactic: LIE.
Supporters of a middle school science teacher facing firing for burning crosses into students' arms were in the majority at a central Ohio school board…
August 5, 2008
The ever-hilarious Ray Comfort will be on radio station WDAY shortly, at 10am Central — tune in and leave your rebuttals, humorous sneers, brutal put-downs, and random comments here. I'll be on the same station, same time tomorrow.
Question: Explain what intelligent design is?
Answer: Everything…
August 5, 2008
Tonight, at 9 Central/10 Eastern, it's time for the second episode in the History Channel's series on evolution: Evolve - Guts.
It doesn't just take willpower to survive. It takes guts--in the form of a digestive system that turns food into fuel. Look closely at the role guts have played in shaping…
August 5, 2008
I always wonder who the "you" is that online pollsters think they're addressing. I think they're talking right to us atheists, so you should answer their question: Do you believe in God or a supreme being?
August 5, 2008
Who has heard of Jim Ottaviani? He's a guy with an excellent line of science-related comics — I have "Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards", but there are quite a few others I have to buy now — and now Scott Hatfield interviews Ottaviani at the San Diego ComicCon. Remember, we need multiple…
August 5, 2008
Who knew that water droplets suspended in the air could could refract light and produce a rainbow? It can't be. Why, it must be…a government conspiracy! This never happened before!
See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.
You might also enjoy this collection of real church signs…
August 4, 2008
Many people were writing me wondering wht this mysterious "Montauk monster" that has been in the news might be. It was clearly just a partially decayed mammal of some sort, but Tetrapod Zoology has the details. It's a rotting raccoon.
August 4, 2008
I know many of you had your hearts set on a debate between me and Ray Comfort, but there has been a slight change of plans, for the better, I think. Instead of a debate, Comfort will be on tomorrow morning, Tuesday, at 10am Central time, and will express himself without fear of snorts of derision…
August 4, 2008
I'm not. Yet.
It's actually a little bit disturbing: you can do free criminal searches on anyone. Check up on your friends! Your spouse! Neighbors! Turn them in for big cash rewards!