Paul Z. Meyers
pharyngula
Posts by this author
June 20, 2007
Some clothing store called Diesel is supposed to have a fashion show tomorrow that will be streamed live to the web. Normally, I wouldn't give a pickled pucker, but they advertise it as a "journey with us through time and liquid space to a futuristic world of bioluminescence, giant mechanic…
June 20, 2007
The latest edition of the Tangled Bank is available at gregladen.com, but don't give Greg any credit for it. It's written by some guy named Derwin Darwin II; Laden is probably slacking off at the lake, fishing.
June 20, 2007
A 7-year old boy is traveling around the country, standing on street corners and preaching hellfire at passers-by (you can hear him in a recording, too). He's part of a caravan of Baptists making an expedition up to the land of the Yankees to tell us all we're going to hell.
Is this abuse? The…
June 20, 2007
Nice site, that looks like a home-furnishings catalog to me. But then, I'm always disappointed that "Bed, Bath, and Beyond" lacks anything that is truly "beyond."
June 20, 2007
Stanley Fish is complaining about atheists again. As you might guess from the last time we went through this, his arguments are poor, and worse, are the same tired apologetics for religion we've all heard a thousand times before. Come on, Fish, I expect better from the Davidson-Kahn Distinguished…
June 20, 2007
Two videos with surprising similarities: Richard Dawkins and Digby. Both discuss being vilified by conservative forces for being "strident", and both explain that it's all about passion for a cause—Digby for progressive politics, Dawkins for godlessness.
June 19, 2007
Give the Countess a happy word — she's had her first novel accepted for publication. She's going to have to let me have a copy to review.
It's in the erotic romance genre, which suggests there will be lots of tentacles, mucus-slick chitin, and numerous eyes, so I'm sure I'll be the perfect audience…
June 19, 2007
I'm about to set off for the Minneapolis airport — a 3 hour drive, aaargh — and I'm informed that the Vatican has some suggestions for us drivers. There's a set of commandments (but of course, it's not religion if they aren't ordering you about). First on the list: "You shall not kill."
Yeah, I'm…
June 19, 2007
I told you that Answers in Genesis was trying to hire a geologist. You've blown it now, they've gone and hired a real pro.
The addition of Dr. Snelling confirms AiG's continued efforts to meet the highest standards in its research in creation studies, according to AiG President Ken Ham. "Dr.…
June 19, 2007
Oh, no—this article about Craig Schaffer in America's Finest News Source reminds me of me.
Eddy said he has tried repeatedly to pull Schaffner back from the precipice of lucidity.
"I admit, science might be great for curing diseases, exploring space, cataloguing the natural phenomena of our world,…
June 19, 2007
There are two subjects that I know stir up a few dedicated commenters here: abortion and circumcision. Most articles, when they fall off the front page, fade away from continued discussion fairly rapidly. Abortion and circumcision proponents and opponents have endurance, though, and comments will…
June 19, 2007
Here's some fun with demographics — it's a treasure map! Actually, it's a map of where the excess single men (in blue) and excess single women (in red) are located.
(click for larger image)
That east-west split is strange, I wonder what the explanation might be?
June 19, 2007
Wish I could be there.
It's a day of writing, of car repair, of trips to the airport (we're shipping Skatje off to a work camp…shhhh, don't tell her, she thinks she's going 'camping'), and little low level aggravations, like being locked out of my office because they're waxing the floors. So, sure…
June 19, 2007
It wasn't that long ago that we got to hear lots of wailing about how secular/liberal values led to the Virginia Tech massacre (although, to be fair, most of the wailing was of the "god works in mysterious ways" sort). We had Chuck Norris blaming the "secular progressive agenda".
Though one can…
June 19, 2007
Salman Rushdie has been awarded a knighthood—it's well deserved, I say, as he is an excellent writer—but some people have reacted insanely. (Warning: Irony rich environment ahead.)
The award of a knighthood to the author Salman Rushdie justifies suicide attacks, a Pakistani government minister…
June 18, 2007
It does add a new level of meaning to the phrase, "Come to Jesus."
(via NoGodBlog)
June 18, 2007
This is perfect: a crossword puzzle, with the answers filled in as a scientist would, and then as a creationist would. Very cute—the creationist answers don't fit!
They will argue, of course, that the problem is our metaphysical insistence on using words that fit the grid and address the clues.
June 18, 2007
There are a couple of small towns on the border between Utah and Arizona that are basically feudal theocracies, ruled by a particularly nasty splinter sect of polygamist Mormons. It's got some truly ugly social consequences — daughters are prizes given away to church leaders, while sons are…
June 18, 2007
Apparently, you shouldn't name your daughter "Barbie" unless you want her to grow up to be an airhead. A study, reported in the Guardian, claims that names have a powerful influence on social expectations — they report a significant effect in lowering exam scores based on whether the student's name…
June 18, 2007
A name I'd like to see banished to oblivion is that of Paul Hill, the religious fanatic and murderer who gunned down Dr John Britton and James Barrett at an abortion clinic. I don't care whether you are pro-choice or anti-woman, only the most wretched, insane god-walloper can possibly approve of…
June 18, 2007
You know, I hadn't noticed before, but if you give Fred Thompson a wig there is a bit of a resemblance…
Of course, the similarities that count are deep down.
June 18, 2007
The Council of Europe has put up a wonderful motion for a recommendation. Can anyone imagine this being discussed in the American senate or house of representatives? The Republicans would howl in fury against it, and the Democrats would rush to bury it, lest they offend the Republicans and annoy…
June 18, 2007
I don't normally mind people their hobbies and obsessions, even when I don't share any interest in their object of desire at all, but I did feel some intense schadenfreude at this story about people smashing their over-priced, over-powered sports cars. There is just something excessive about…
June 17, 2007
Matt asks a weird question: he's wondering who is the target of the sickest web searches. I should recuse myself, because I thought I got no perverts searching for me: after all, I think searching for "sex with a spider" or "penis tentacles" is perfectly normal. But I took a look at the search…
June 17, 2007
Bill Dembski is touting some strange ID-positive blog as a sign that there is a "growing number of non-religious ID proponents" — alas for poor Bill, when you glance at the blog, it's some random guy making a post about once a month, whose background is as a musician and professional crackpot. His…
June 17, 2007
The fundamentalist nuts in this country leave us goggling aghast at the lunacy they propagate, but man, some of the in-betweeners are almost as creepy—and I get to pick on somewhere other than America! This page on the "noble lie" brings up the Straussian hypocrisy that many confused pro-religion…
June 17, 2007
Hank Fox has brought a significant problem to my attention, one that I've addressed before: one of the consequences of growing American cowardice and these trumped-up Wars on Terror and Drugs (let's call them what they are: a War on Civil Liberties) is that science and science education are…
June 16, 2007
Everyone did good: they met Scalzi's challenge and then some, so now he has to go spend $20 and tour the horrid little place.
This will chap Ken Ham's buns, too. Sure, he'll have to buy a ticket, but he also raised $5,118.36 all of which will be donated to Americans United for the Separation of…