Paul Z. Meyers
pharyngula
Posts by this author
December 17, 2007
So that's what the ICR is up to
If you've been wondering what's up with that attempt by the Institute for Creation Research to get accredited by the state of Texas, Texas Citizens for Science has dug up some suggestive information: the ICS is trying to trade up from their past worthless…
December 17, 2007
A recent poll of bigotry among religious groups managed to expose another level of bigotry in a certain unthinking tool, one David Briggs, who reported on it. It's fine that they're examining the problem of prejudice, but the last sentence at the end of this quote makes it clear that the virtue…
December 17, 2007
The first part of this video bugged me — it sounded like Pascal's Wager for global warming warriors — but hang in there. He admits that treating the alternatives as equal in probability is bogus, and what you need to do is rational risk assessment, and it makes a lot more sense.
December 17, 2007
And it's a good one, too.
I was dismayed to read that MIT has decided, after a hundred years without, that it needs a chaplain.
MIT is about science and engineering and mathematics. There is no place for belief in those disciplines. Only doubt: we accept evidence but constantly test it.
Our…
December 17, 2007
…people send you their weird and suggestively shaped fruit and vegetables. This reminds me of something:
Thanks, Ema! It even smells nice and lemony.
December 17, 2007
The 2007 Medical Weblog Awards are accepting nominations — and they're giving out prizes to the winners this year. Get over there and tell 'em who your favorites are.
December 17, 2007
Larry Moran has had a couple of articles up lately on Dr Sharon Moalem, a fellow who has a book out called Survival of the Sickest, and who also has a blog. Larry noticed a couple of things: he's writing utter tripe about junk DNA, he's editing and deleting comments about his science from his blog…
December 17, 2007
This month's Mad magazine (I know, I'm probably the only person over 14 who doesn't like vomit jokes who ever cracks the magazine open) has a feature on the the 20 dumbest people, events, and things of 2007, and guess what won a slot on the list?
(click for larger image)Finally there is compelling…
December 16, 2007
Revere makes a bunch of good points in his Sunday Sermonette. One is the sheer insanity of current American politics:
Enlightenment thinking is taken for granted by modern Europeans, so it's no surprise they are aghast when the leaders of a 21st century power think Divine Guidance is a good reason…
December 16, 2007
It's a little bit of an oversimplification of the history of atheism, but it's funny anyway…and the diagram for religious history is also grossly simplified.
People have actually tried to argue to me that science is so complicated, but "god" is simpler and should be the preferred explanation…but…
December 16, 2007
Timothy Sandefur has an excellent quote from H.L. Mencken on how we ought to be responding to creationists.
This actual conflict is joined, and it is the height of absurdity for the...compromisers to seek to evade it with soft words. That conflict was not begun by science. It did not start with an…
December 16, 2007
At least ten.
Personally, I find that an unctuous purveyor of holier-than-thou morality's failures as a parent damning…although his son's amorality wouldn't be such a problem if Huckabee hadn't tried to cover it up.
December 16, 2007
Darn it, here's the atheist problem: we're not easily commercialized, with nothing for the corporate world to sink their hooks into. Someone has noticed.
Look for atheist perfume and you'll be looking for eternity. You won't find the works of Bertrand Russell packaged like the latest issue of Self…
December 16, 2007
Albert Mohler never disappoints. If you want a peek at the smug, ignorant heart of modern American Christianity, the weekly columns of the president of the Souther Baptist Theological Seminary are good places to start. In his latest effort, he expresses surprise that atheists might enjoy the…
December 16, 2007
Mornings are caffeine time, but this ad does tempt me.
December 16, 2007
Remember that bizarre video from Pat Robertson that claimed I-35 was a holy highway? One element featured there was a cheerful (ex-?)gay man who claimed to have been "cured" in one of the Purity Sieges the Christians put on.
It turns out that the story wasn't quite as beautiful as it was portrayed…
December 15, 2007
All you Brits who pointed and laughed at our village idiot who built a major Creation "Museum" in Kentucky are going to get your comeuppance: Lancashire is about to get a "giant Christian theme park that will champion the book of Genesis and make a multi-media case that God created the world in…
December 15, 2007
If you've got an hour free, this interview with Kevin Padian is a pleasant listen. The interviewer is a bit of a bore, but Padian is always an intelligent conversationalist — I'd like to have seen a more aggressive counter to some of the silly stuff brought up by the interviewer, but this was not…
December 15, 2007
Many people have been sending me this story about Texas considering accrediting the Institute of Creation Research for training teachers, and I've just been reluctant to mention it because poor Texas has been getting walloped over creationism lately, and I was feeling a terrible sympathy for the…
December 15, 2007
Those of you who have been pregnant, or have been a partner to someone who has been pregnant, are familiar with one among many common consequences: lower back pain. It's not surprising—pregnant women are carrying this low-slung 7kg (15lb) weight, and the closest we males can come to the…
December 15, 2007
I'm not too impressed with the curriculum, but heck, they've got a great mascot, so I'm sure students will apply.
December 15, 2007
Given Dembski's recent remarks, this is spot on:
ID is science. Always has been. Always will be. Amen.
December 14, 2007
See, Larry Moran approves of my column in Seed — I'll mention when it is available online, but you'd have it already if you subscribed…and this is also the perfect time to give a gift subscription.
(I know, I'm such a shameless pitchman.)
December 14, 2007
All those kids who are expecting a white-bearded fat man to drop down the chimney are going to get a surprise on 'podmas.
December 14, 2007
Carnivals! And conversation!
Mendel's Garden #21
Carnival of Education
Health Wonk Review
Carnival of Feminists #49
Friday Ark #169
I and the Bird #64
And don't forget — the next Tangled Bank is at Ourobouros on Wednesday, 19 December. Send those links in to me or host@tangledbank.net!
December 14, 2007
It's that time of the month again — it's time to confer upon some worthy commenter the December 2007 Order of the Molly award. Just leave a comment here naming your favorite person on Pharyngula, and I'll see that they get added to the distinguished ranks.
December 14, 2007
There goes Bill Dembski again, revealing both his religious delusions and his ignorance of the state of modern biology in an interview.
4. Does your research conclude that God is the Intelligent Designer?
I believe God created the world for a purpose. The Designer of intelligent design is,…
December 14, 2007
On the one hand, this is a strange tale of mutant, bisexual, necrophiliac flies, and you've got to love it for the titillating nature of the experiments. But on the other, much more interesting hand, it's a story about drilling down deeply into the causes of a complex behavior, and tracing it to a…
December 14, 2007
I guess the science bloggers won't be getting Time's Blog of the Year Award then (which is nice, considering that other Minnesota blog that won, once upon a time.)
I'm fibbing, anyway. Michael Lemonick doesn't really hate us, I think he was just trying to get a rise out of us. Success!