pharyngula

So it's snowing, and my rather worn shoes got wet, and everywhere I walk I now hear this faint, hissy, squeaky noise. Does it improve my image as a tough guy if I tell you that I'm imaging that I'm crushing baby mice between my toes as I walk? Discuss.

Watch the Fox News announcer get all pissy about Brian Flemming's Blasphemy Challenge. The funny thing is watching Kasich declare himself just "sick" about it and accusing Flemming of "preying on children" and getting upset because the people on youtube are not attacking Mohammed enough…and then…

A Colorado state senator (a Republican from Colorado Springs, of course), Dave Schultheis, is pushing a draft of an absurd bill to open public schools wide to religious indoctrination, all in the name of the first amendment to the constitution. It's a demand to create a "Public School Religious…

Just in case anyone sensible in the Minneapolis/St Paul area feels like exposing yourself to the wild and crazy world of Minnesota creationism, here are the events coming up in February. On the 17th, you can attend the creation science fair in the Har Mar Mall, and you can drop in to the Christian…

Many people sent me links to this list of bands that will turn you gay, but I held off on posting anything—it was too fishy. David Bowie, Melissa Etheridge, and Ted Nugent, sure…listen to a couple of tracks of those guys and you'll only want to hang out with your fellow man. But Morrissey is listed…

D. James Kennedy, head mackerel of Coral Ridge Ministries, had a very serious heart attack last month. He seems to be recovering now, and let's all wish him well and encourage him to relax, enjoy the rest of his life, and stop standing up in pulpits and lying. Strangely enough, though, this…

The Nielsen Haydens filled my morning with horror, so I'm going to make you suffer, too. Behold, a Danish disco band pretending to be Apaches: It goes on for an interminable 4½ minutes; seriously, you've done your penance if you watch 20 seconds, long enough to spot the sequins and the Groucho…

Apparently, I've been labeling the Discovery Institute incorrectly all these years. It's not a think-tank, it's a belief tank.

Via Bioephemera, I've discovered this wonderful medical illustration blog, Street Anatomy. In particular, this article on the illustrator Cvetomir Georgiev has an amazing image of a dissected torso exposing a fetus in situ…and I've got a new desktop image. It's gorgeous stuff; people are so…

Hey, I'm teaching a genetics class this term, and someone is taking one. I'm going to be spending part of my day setting up flies for an upcoming lab…this looks awfully familiar.

Rush Limbaugh.

I am: James Tiptree, Jr.(Alice B. Sheldon) In the 1970s she was perhaps the most memorable, and one of the most popular, short story writers.  Her real life was as fantastic as her fiction. Which science fiction writer are you?

I recently got a short email interview on the subject of science and spirituality. Now I should warn you: "spirituality" is one of those words that sets my teeth on edge and triggers a reflexive reach for my kukri. It's an empty buzzword that some people use as a placeholder for "deep feelings of…

I've been telling everyone she's better than Mozart, Darwin, Shakespeare, Franklin, and Aristotle. Trust me.

Pat Boone.

The IDists under Dembski have set up this truly cringeworthy site called "Overwhelming Evidence" that caters to the younger set—and if you think the pronouncements of the mature followers of the Blessed Designer are batty, you ought to read what the characters on that site write. I find myself…

Two thoughts on watching this video: Dick Cheney is a contemptible tool, and Jon Stewart is one of those national treasures who makes me think being an American isn't so shameful after all.

I could not believe this thread at the antievolution.org forum. Wesley Elsberry pointed out an instance of blatant fraud in a creationist presentation by Cornelius Hunter: Then there was the ID conference in San Francisco where Dr. Cornelius G. Hunter, the "expert" involved in the antievolution…

You can now download the interview by Karl Mogel of Ken Miller and me. You'll want to listen to it first of all for 1) Ken Miller, 2) the music I suggested, and lastly and leastly, 3) me. Unfortunately, I wasn't impressed with Miller's explanation of his comments in Kansas against atheists—it would…

Well...here's an interesting atlas of religion from Spiegel. I'm not entirely convinced of its reliability, though; the majority of Scandinavia is mapped as Protestant, but I have my suspicions that it should be listed as nominally Protestant. By using solid colors and labeling whole populations as…

I was on the radio again this morning, this time to announce the upcoming Café Scientifique here in Morris, which was also announced on the university web page. Did you happen to tune in? Are you coming? It's going to be a fun one. The chemistry discipline will be putting on a show, with…

There has been a call for submissions for the next Tangled Bank, to be held at Ouroboros next Wednesday. Send those links to Chris Patil, me, or host@tangledbank.net. While you're waiting for the best carnival of them all, may I suggest that you browse these fine alternatives that are already…

Sara at Orcinus has an excellent article on the UC/Calvary Chapel Christian School lawsuit, in which a Christian private school is suing the University of California system to require them to accept their dreck for credit. She's right that the universities need to stand up for standards, but I do…

Sepioteuthis sepioidea Figure from Cephalopods: A World Guide (amzn/b&n/abe/pwll), by Mark Norman.

I'm going to be interviewed tonight by Karl Mogel for his Mindcast podcast. I'm not sure how this is going to work; I think it'll just be made available at some later date. Maybe he'll pop in and explain how you can listen to it. I do know you can find past episodes in the iTunes store. He promised…

Chris Clarke has a new banner on Creek Running North, so of course he has to give us a grand tour of the Pleistocene. It's a Carl Buell original, you know — it's becoming quite the coup to get some Buell art on your blog.

People are always asking me this question: I swear, though, that I never, ever give them this answer…

Yesterday, I pointed out that Jonathan Wells was grossly ignorant of basic ideas in evo-devo. This isn't too surprising; he's a creationist, he has an agenda to destroy evolutionary biology, and he's going to rail against evolution…same ol', same ol'. That's nothing, though. Wells and his fellows…

It's embarrassing enough that all the Minnesota blogs are snorting in disgust at Michele Bachmann's kiss, but now those foreign, non-Minnesotan sites are making a big foofaraw, too. Yes, we confess: Minnesota's sixth district elected a dumb-as-rocks, simpering, fundagelical Bush sycophant to…

Grrr. This story pisses me off beyond all reason. It's a trumped up contretemps generated by one of our local Minnesota Republican hacks, griping about a UM faculty member using her campus email. A University of Minnesota professor has come under fire for sending a message using her university e-…