Paul Z. Meyers
pharyngula
Posts by this author
February 18, 2008
The producers of Expelled aren't exactly the brightest bunch. Their latest blog entry is a silly whine about me.
Paul is one of the stars in the film EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed. He's probably remembering all of the things that he said on camera, when we interviewed him and faithfully…
February 18, 2008
I'm sorry to say that I didn't make it to the Twin Cities Creation Science fair this weekend, and Greg Laden didn't either, which must explain why the TCCSA wasn't afraid to post photos of the 2008 Creation Science Fair this time around. One UM professor did stop by, though, and we have his…
February 18, 2008
This is actually a disappointment. I was sure that scienceblogging gave one lightning quick driving reflexes, phenomenal sexual performance, the powers of the anti-christ, and the ability to write perfect copy with the first draft, but this comic seems to be implying that scienceblogging only…
February 18, 2008
Greta Christina hosts the Carnival of the Godless this week, which means the atheism is laced with sex. This is an avenue for recruiting people to the atheist cause that has not been adequately pursued.
Although there is something to be said for goddesses: the Sunday Sermonette is a hymn from Janis…
February 17, 2008
Apparently, there was some panel on the repellent practice of "framing science" at AAAS recently, which I'm sure the principals will consider a triumph, despite their refusal to have any dissenting voices there to speak.
It reminds me of something.
Recall the recent episode with the creationist,…
February 17, 2008
One of the most common arguments against the New Atheists is to claim that they're railing against a straw man — that religion is benign and thoughful and rational. I'll agree that some individuals within religion are like that, but religion itself is a poisonous nest that encourages lunacy. Here's…
February 17, 2008
I received a fascinating pdf of a book from the author of the Cape Cod History page — it's by Bergen Evans, was published in 1946, and is titled The Natural History of Nonsense. As far as I've read yet, it's a wonderful example of rational thinking, and makes one wonder why this kind of writing isn…
February 17, 2008
Since I wrote about the wacky creationist who couldn't wrap his mind around the idea that plants and animals are related, and since I generally do a poor job of discussing that important kingdom of the plants (I admit it, I'm a metazoan bigot…but I do try to overcome my biases), I thought I'd…
February 16, 2008
Carnivals!
Carnival of Education #156
A belated Carnival of the Liberals #57
Carnival of the Liberals #58
Grand Rounds
Friday Ark #178
The Boneyard #13
Oekologie #14
A Tangled Bank announcement!
The next Tangled Bank will be at Greg Laden's place, so send those links in to me or…
February 16, 2008
Hey, there I am — I got interviewed by Steve Novella for the Skeptics' Guide to the Universe, and it's now available as a podcast.
February 16, 2008
Ben Stein, Walt Ruloff, and Mark Mathis have been rattily scurrying about the country, doing press conferences and radio interviews in an attempt to boost attendance at their upcoming schlockfest, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. Their schtick is to claim that academia prohibits free speech, and…
February 16, 2008
What is it with creationists and fruit? I hope you've had your coffee already, because this is an unpleasant way to wake up. The clip below is from a public hearing in Orlando, Florida, in which citizens had a chance to stand up and state their opinions of evolution. Are you braced to handle a…
February 15, 2008
Hemant thinks he has a shot of winning an online poll to determine the sexiest atheist blogger. No way! I'm going to send you, my minions, over there to … uh … wait. You people are probably still in shock from that time I exposed my chest, aren't you? Dang. I need to wait at least 20 or 30 years…
February 15, 2008
Would you believe there is actually an award called the Award for Liberty and Truth? You just know in this Orwellian country of ours that it couldn't possibly be given in recognition of actual liberty or truth … but it's even worse than that. It is the Phillip E. Johnson Award for Liberty and…
February 15, 2008
It's that time again: nominate your favorite commenter(s) in the thread for this post, and we'll see who gets to be honored with a Molly this month. You can check the last Molly thread if you want to see what worthies lost out last time.
Also, you may recall that story of a large snake that tried…
February 15, 2008
Approximately 1.4 million people have emailed me with a link to this article on body modification (I'm not complaining, do feel free to send me stuff). It includes this picture.
I'm sorry, but no thanks. That's a wanna-be kluge. It's pathetic. The guy has just had some kind of silicone rings stuck…
February 15, 2008
One thing I worry about that is a potential major barrier to secularism is this: a "pernicious pattern and practice" of infringement of religious liberties in the military.
I'm not the violent sort, and I think we need to achieve an enlightened society through reason and education … but that's all…
February 15, 2008
I don't have anything to add to the story of the lunatic who opened fire on a freshman science class, but here's a place you can talk about it without the taint of piety that's getting introduced into all the news stories right now.
The killers who have been executing these school shootings are all…
February 15, 2008
A poll by the St Petersburg Times reveals that the people in Florida are ignorant. 21% want creationism only taught in the schools, and 29% want both evolution and creationism taught. It's a horrendous result, and it's also strikingly different from the results we've see in similar polls, which…
February 14, 2008
Don't let my students see this, or the scene portrayed here could be my classroom, someday.
(I think the creationists at least imagine that they'll be able to rout science teachers so easily…)
February 14, 2008
Saudi Arabia is one screwed up, vile little backwater of a barbarous craphole. You have to read the case of Fawza Falih.
She has been condemned to death. By beheading.
She has been beaten to the point of hospitalization during her incarceration.
The authorities have a signed confession, which she…
February 14, 2008
If I am to succeed in my goal of overthrowing all of Western Civilization, I must continue to gather notoriety and credibility. To that end, I'll mention my latest victory: I am mentioned in a webcomic. Look closely at the pile of magazines drawn in the lower left panel...there I am! Soon I shall…
February 14, 2008
I have been warned that portents of my personal doom have been issued.
I predict that within one year of this date, Pharyngula, Panda's Thumb, EvC, RichardDawkins.net and Uncommon Descent will all have so completely degenerated as to become nothing but embarrassing footnotes in the history of…
February 14, 2008
And it's a good thing! The Texas ban on sale of sex toys has been ruled unconstitutional. There will be a lot of people smiling in that state in days to come — I'd like to think that flooding the state with vibrators would have a salutary effect on the repressive prigs who are also responsible for…
February 14, 2008
Down there in Weird Kansas, there was a minor incident that is symptomatic of an ugly way of thinking. A high school basketball team refused to allow a woman to referee.
The Kansas State High School Activities Association said referees reported that Michelle Campbell was preparing to officiate at…
February 13, 2008
I've been overestimating creationists. Every time I look at what they're saying about evolution, my estimation drops yet further … you'd think that after years of tracking this stuff, they'd bottom out, but no. The latest examples are some snippets from a presentation by Caroline Crocker. Crocker…
February 13, 2008
James Randerson scrapes a little more info on the Han and Warda paper. The editor, Michael Dunn, sounds uncommunicative, but I can't blame him for wanting to proceed cautiously…I just hope that eventually we get a better accounting.
The interesting revelation is a letter from one of the authors,…
February 13, 2008
The gang of prevaricators behind Ben Stein's Expelled movie had their own way of celebrating Darwin Day: they wrote a blog post that was a solid wall of lies and nonsense. In a way, I'm impressed; I'd have to really struggle to write something that was such a dense array of concentrated stupid,…