Paul Z. Meyers
pharyngula
Posts by this author
May 23, 2008
So that's what this blog is for. I do have a family history of alcoholism, so this is a healthier substitute.
May 23, 2008
Bob the Angry Flower retells the story of the bald prophet, Elisha. Man, if I had the power to summon angry she-bears, I wouldn't be siccing them on the children who made fun of my looks — I can think of much better targets for my wrath.
It's an odd choice for Bob, though. I'd think he'd be much…
May 23, 2008
This will be handy around here: The Hovind Scale. It's a metric for calculating the craziness of a creationist's comment from 0 (scientific and honest) to 100 (dishonest insanity). There's even an online calculator to simplify it for you!
I did a quick spot check on a few of our local loony…
May 23, 2008
I think I have a new favorite t-shirt supplier: Retropolis Transit Authority. Not only are the designs well done and stylish, but any designer who has both "mad geniuses" and "space pirates" as categories (not to mention "demented futuristic housewives," which I somehow find highly titillating) is…
May 22, 2008
Coral Ridge Ministries surveyed their membership, asking them to rank the greatest dangers to America's spiritual health. Top of the list is the ACLU; second are the homosexuals; third is abortion. Evolution doesn't show up until #7, and atheists are #9. This is a very disappointing showing,…
May 22, 2008
Abby has a classic battle of the kooks. In one corner, Leonard Horowitz, a raving looney who begins the debate with an official denunciation of Duesberg, speaking as the mouthpiece of god, arguing that HIV/AIDS is the designed product of evil militarists. In the other corner, the calmer, but still…
May 22, 2008
Some people practice their own special brand of Christian tolerance.
In learning about Central Valley Cafe Scientifique, we stumbled upon a startling incident that may or may not reflect on the scientific climate in the Valley.
The cafe’s next speaker, Fresno State professor Dr. Ryan Earley, found…
May 22, 2008
You all know how the Indiana Jones movies are written, don't you? Let me recreate for you the day Steven Spielberg sat down with his head writer to put together the outline of what would be the fourth installment in the franchise.
Spielberg: Guys, here it is: the secret formula for a successful…
May 21, 2008
And you all know what that means…the premiere of the new Indiana Jones movie. It's opening here in Morris at 12:01 am, and Skatje and I will be there…and since it is Morris, the line will be negligible, and we'll get the best seats in the house, and we'll have a grand time.
I've been looking…
May 21, 2008
Our local evangelical radio station is about to dump a load of tripe on the Twin Cities. I'm going to be tied up in domestic duties for a while, but if anyone else wants to tune in to KKMS (short for Khristian Krap for Mendacious Scoundrels) in about a half hour, here's the drivel you'll get to…
May 21, 2008
Apparently, a New York judge has upheld the injunction against the movie, so there will be no new showings, and DVD rights are in limbo.
The movie is dead anyway, so it doesn't seem to be a significant decision. It's not as if theater distributors are lined up clamoring for more copies of this…
May 21, 2008
Uh-oh. The creationist expectation of an abrupt transformation from one species to another has been demonstrated: the picture below is of a chicken egg that was cracked open to make a meal, and inside … a dead gecko. A bird giving birth to a reptile?
Actually, no, sorry. A chicken giving birth to…
May 21, 2008
Minneapolis is hosting the Republican National Convention this summer, and that means we're seeing an uptick in sleaze (you might want to avoid public restrooms when these guys are in town). The most bizarre part of it all is that the FBI is looking for villains in all the wrong places.
What they…
May 21, 2008
A few months ago, Laura King was riding a bus in Argentina with some nerd named Jeff Buckley, and they started talking about some weirdly amusing little blog called "Pharyngula", which led to a long discussion of evolution, which led to a relationship*, which led to her now-boyfriend asking me to…
May 20, 2008
Perhaps my fellow Americans feel a little dismayed at the news of all those young creationist school teachers…well, a recent poll in Britain showed that people have some awfully materialist opinions about god.
Only 1% of people think of God as female, with 62% considering God to be male, the online…
May 20, 2008
Here's the most depressing thing I've seen all week (and I'm grading genetics exams): it's the result of a national survey of high school biology teachers.
At least 16% of our high school teachers are young earth creationists. Furthermore, 12% our our teachers are using biology classes in public…
May 20, 2008
I got a request to try and drum up some Australian research subjects for a student's honors thesis work — don't worry, no knives, exotic drugs, or electrodes are involved, just filling out a short questionnaire. She's looking for Australians who read blogs but don't have blogs of their own, which…
May 20, 2008
Hank Fox is starting one of those memes: this one asks us to tell the story of a scar.
Tell the story of a (non-surgical) scar you have somewhere on your body. Answer and tag three other bloggers.
Alas, I am a pampered child of the middle class, and I don't have much of a history of trauma and…
May 20, 2008
A couple of college students in Toronto (what is it with those ferocious godless heathens coming out of that city?) took offense at the patent absurdity of the "Bible and Bible Studies" section of a large bookstore at Yonge and Eglinton, and decided to help organize the shelves by filing their…
May 19, 2008
Now you're all in trouble. I have been personally blessed by God via email.
Hi PZ,
Just wanted to thank you for the link to My Blog, Stuff God Hates. As such I will bless you and your family and make your descendants
the rulers of many lands.
Also, I rather enjoy your blog as well.
- God
"…
May 19, 2008
Robert Bakker is one of the good guys, a paleontologist who really does an excellent job of communicating enthusiasm for science. I saw him talk at St John's University a few years ago, and he clearly inspired the kids in attendance — I greatly enjoyed the talk too, even though one of his hooks was…
May 19, 2008
While I think a non-sectarian comparative religion course would be a fine idea for our public schools, I don't trust these bozos at all. Tennessee legislators want to stuff a bible studies class into the curriculum.
"Our government school teachers cannot constitutionally preach the Bible, but they…
May 19, 2008
I've been sent two lists of "10 Books That Screwed Up the World", and I'm not very impressed with either of them. The first is from a new book by Benjamin Wanker Wiker of the same title, published by Regnery Press, the imprint of right-wing wackaloons everywhere. Here's Wiker's list:
The Prince,…
May 19, 2008
I knew this would happen: creationists are pleased with the media coverage of the platypus genome, since it reinforces their misconceptions. The Seattle Times published a couple of letters from local creationists. Need I say that they are ridiculous?
It is rather sad to see the evolutionary spin…
May 19, 2008
I'm grading genetics exams today. I hope the English department doesn't inherit too many cadavers.
May 18, 2008
Shorter Bryan Fischer: Because the Nazis really hated homosexuals, they are nothing like the Religious Right. Or maybe it's that because the Nazis were gay, they didn't hate homosexuality enough, as the Bible clearly says you should.
I don't know. It's a confused mess of butchered history, so who…
May 18, 2008
You may recall that a while back I mentioned how Jerry Coyne praised some work on bat evo-devo. I also said that I was going to have to write that paper up sometime. The bad news: I haven't written it up for the blog. The good news: I did write it up for a future Seed column. The better news:…
May 18, 2008
It was commencement weekend here in lovely Morris, Minnesota, and I spent yesterday in a funny outfit posing for parents and going to commencement parties, and this morning was spent ferrying #2 Son to the Twin Cities for his long bus ride back to Madison. It's time to buckle down and finish my…