Paul Z. Meyers
pharyngula
Posts by this author
March 16, 2008
George Carlin is showing signs of his age, but he's still sharp.
March 16, 2008
Remember Sally Kern, the Oklahoma legislator caught on tape babbling about the gay conspiracy? It's worse than it sounded: it seems Kern has a gay son who she has essentially deleted from her public life.
And these are the people who claim ownership of the word "family"…
Here's something even…
March 16, 2008
It's almost time for Atheists Talk radio, at 9am central. This week, they're interviewing the marvelous Susan Jacoby, author of Freethinkers: A History of American Secularism(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll) and The Age of American Unreason(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll). Don't miss it!
March 15, 2008
Somebody please restore my faith in humanity and reassure me that Christvertising is satire.
March 15, 2008
That's the sentiment Terry of Rapture Ready expressed. Don't believe me? Here's the direct quote:
There are two important statistics to note:
1. Each month about 160,000 people visit Rapture Ready.
2. Every year, the mortality rate claims around 1 percent of the population.
Internet usage by…
March 15, 2008
The critics of atheism seem, without exception, to be lacking in imagination. Over and over again, what we hear from them is desperate attempts to pigeonhole atheism as just another religion; they squat uncomprehendingly in their hovels built of faith and peer quizzically at the godless, seeking…
March 15, 2008
Well, I'm facing the consequences of my little fall yesterday — all day and night yesterday I could feel every little muscle in my back slowly knotting up in protest at the unkind treatment they have received. On top of that, I really have to finish my Seed column today (And I will! I am determined…
March 15, 2008
The atheists are coming!
It's nice to see we're getting front page coverage on the Minneapolis Star Tribune, but it's also sending the wrong message. American Atheists are having their big conference in town next week, but we've been here all along and we aren't leaving after Easter. It's a…
March 14, 2008
Uh-oh…Casey Luskin made a significant gaffe. He claimed that Florida's "academic freedom" bill would specifically allow public school teachers to offer instruction in Intelligent Design, and he said it with the microphones on where newspaper reporters could catch it. As Wesley says, it's obvious…
March 14, 2008
More people, especially public school teachers, ought to be aware of the Ask a Biologist website — it's an excellent and easy resource. Kids (and adults) can fire off a quick question that gets tucked into the database, and then someone on their team of volunteer professionals will try to answer it…
March 14, 2008
This song does use some naughty words, so don't play it where your fundagelical cubicle mate might hear. Or turn it up loud. Your choice.
(Via Reasonable Doubts)
March 14, 2008
I complained before that Florida lawmakers were being treated to creationist propaganda at a facility of Florida State University. Perhaps I should have had more confidence in the people of Florida. The movie was shown, and…
But the evening at downtown's IMAX Theater, which was rented out to Mr.…
March 14, 2008
This is my least favorite time of the year in Minnesota. I hate early spring.
Everything is melting during the day: there's a constant drip-drip-drip, puddles everywhere, the snow is shrinking away from all those untrammeled areas surrounding us, and during the day, the walkways are all like…
March 14, 2008
Bolitaena pygmaea
Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.
March 13, 2008
They couldn't even get the title right: A Meeting of Minds. It's more like a meeting of the mindless. Ben Stein has had a friendly meeting with that old fraud, Ken Ham, and apparently they were perfect for each other. The sexual tension is palpable in the accompanying photo; the mutual praise…
March 13, 2008
Chris Hedges wrote a pretty good book on fundamentalism called American Fascists; at least, I thought it was pretty good, but now I have my doubts about his credibility. He has a new book, I Don't Believe in Atheists, and has an essay that summarizes his position. I could not believe how awful it…
March 13, 2008
Martin is in a protracted Wikipedia battle with a cult, Falun Gong, that is trying to erase unpleasant aspects of their ideology from the record. I know there are a few dedicated Wikipedians aroung these parts, so you might want to help him out.
March 13, 2008
Religion can be a force for peace, love, and understanding — at least when it provides an opportunity to beat up on those evil secularists. Turkey is an excellent example of where the creationists want to take us: it's the one country in the world that beats the US in its level of ignorance about…
March 13, 2008
That venerable institution among internet atheists, Reggie Finley, will be interviewing me tonight for Infidel Guy radio. We're going to talk about this strange propaganda film, Expelled, that's supposed to come out next month, and I suppose we'll also discuss creationism in a more generic context…
March 12, 2008
Let me answer my own question: because he is an appallingly freakish idiot, and always a reliable source for the most amazingly inane claims. Don't worry, that link takes you to Mark Chu-Carroll's evisceration of his latest insane rant, that women are intellectual inferiors who can't teach biology…
March 12, 2008
Usually, when I read one of these common stories about people denying themselves reasonable medical care for religious reasons (such as the Jehovah Witness's proscription against blood transfusions, or the Christian Scientist's insane denial of illness altogether), I find myself siding with the…
March 12, 2008
I have just walked outside in Morris, Minnesota, and you may not believe this, but there is liquid water falling from the sky. I even spotted an absence of coats, and someone rollerblading. Have I been magically transported to some tropical paradise, like Portland, Oregon?
March 12, 2008
People in India were told that there was a miraculous image of the Virgin Mary floating in the sky, so about 50 of them suffered burned retinas by staring at the sun. I think we can see that religion definitely attracts stupid people to its ranks.
I sure hope no one tells them that if you hit…
March 12, 2008
There are all these PharynguFests going on, but they all make me entirely superfluous…I may have to pout. Why isn't anyone inviting me to London or Anchorage? I know, it's because you don't need me, and you're cheap and don't want to spend the money on some distant nerd, since you've got plenty of…
March 12, 2008
In early February, a number of bloggers brought to your attention a peculiar paper on mitochondrial proteomics, a paper which was obviously odd on even casual inspection, containing grandiose claims of a theoretical revolution that were entirely unsupported and ludicrous assertions of evidence for…
March 12, 2008
People, I know it's really hard sometimes to tell the parodies from the sincerely held beliefs of the faith-heads. That last post was humor; sure, there are people out there who think they can spot atheists by their degenerate, evil ways, but that was clearly a spoof of such attitudes. This, on the…
March 12, 2008
Who needs church if you can get together and reason together? First it was Boston; now other cities are joining in with gatherings of fans of skepticism and science. Here are your opportunities:
London, England: Saturday, 15 March, 7:00pm, at the Doric Ach near Euston station.
Anchorage, Alaska:…