Paul Z. Meyers
pharyngula
Posts by this author
November 1, 2006
Goosing the Antithesis has Two Open Challenges for Theists—believers, please do try to address them.
November 1, 2006
On Halloween, I gave a short presentation as our first Cafe Scientifique of the year. The main intent was to introduce our schedule for the year and to give an amusing introduction to the media image of scientists by showing a few movie clips…and to say a few things about how we really ought to be…
November 1, 2006
But only a start. A new poll finds an encouraging level of doubt among Americans.
Nearly half of Americans are not sure God exists, according to a poll that also found divisions among the public on whether God is male or female or whether God has a human form and has control over events.
The survey…
November 1, 2006
South Park's amusement factor has been up and down for me, but I may have to make an effort to catch this evening's episode.
Cartman's plan to propel himself into the future goes horribly wrong. South Park Elementary faces strong opposition to the topic of evolution being taught to the 4th…
November 1, 2006
Wow—Liberty University is hiring. They've got 27 openings for new faculty right now, so if you're in the market, they might be tempting. The first three on the list are…
Biology: Two positions. Rank open. Ph.D. and compatibility with a young-earth creationist philosophy required. 1) Human anatomy…
November 1, 2006
Zeno sent me this:
It certainly encapsulates what I hear when Republicans open their mouths.
Who in their right mind wouldn't oppose baby-eating monkeys from outer space? Probably those same bastards who hate our troops and want the terrorists to win.
October 31, 2006
So I was way too depressing in that last post. Here's one of those little notes of hope that we hear too rarely—an Ohio Republican using her reason to back the best candidate for a job, even if he is a Democrat.
Republican Martha Wise is backing Democrat John Bender in the race to replace her on…
October 31, 2006
I have to disagree with Red State Rabble and his announcement of the demise of Intelligent Design. We're seeing signs of a shifting of strategies, the fading of a few personalities, and a little confusion on the part of our enemies, but it is a colossal mistake to be predicting their end at this…
October 31, 2006
Wow. Our very own Shelly Batts is a finalist in competition for a blog scholarship. Help out a promising young neuroscientist and Vote Shelly!
It is also an interesting turn to make blog popularity, as measured by a poll, the deciding factor in awarding a fairly substantial sum of money. I hope…
October 31, 2006
It belongs to The Poor Man Institute, dressed up as Powerline. It's terrifyingly detailed and accurate.
October 31, 2006
In the ongoing Hovind trial, no new revelations except for more details about how rich the creationist con artist and tax evader is. He makes $50,000/year in speaking fees, and with his wife, sells $1.8 million/year in "Christian merchandise" (tell me, you devout and faithful believers who also…
October 31, 2006
A reader in Canada just let me know that CBC Radio 1 will broadcast a program on creationist museum tours sometime this morning (between 9:30 and 10...the timezone is unclear). I won't be able to listen because I'm going to be lecturing the freshmen on the perfidies of creationism, so if anyone…
October 31, 2006
This is a gross violation of my expectations: the Halloween edition of The Synapse doesn't even once crack a zombie joke. I was terribly disappointed.
At least it does serve up a nice platter of brains.
October 31, 2006
If you're a fan of mangled philosophy and patent falsehoods, you really must read the Biblical view of science. It's crazily disconnected from anything close to describing how science actually works.
What then is the Biblical view of science? Science enables us to fulfill the mandate of Genesis 1:…
October 31, 2006
Matt Yglesias comments on one of Amy Sullivan's usual complaints about "secular liberal intolerance" in the most cynical, hypocritical way possible:
Now Amy's right. It would be useful, for the purposes of electoral politics, for liberals in the media to avoid expressing the view that the belief —…
October 30, 2006
Rosenhouse plans to review the reviews of Dawkins' The God Delusion this week, and he's already off to a scathing start. Pop the popcorn, and sit back.
October 30, 2006
Promise me, O Readers of Pharyngula, that you don't write emails as stupid as the ones below the fold.
The email has been piling up today in response to Mike S. Adams' recent column. Fortunately, the ones too stupid to spell my name correctly in my email address bounce, or there'd be lots more (the…
October 30, 2006
After a week long hiatus, the Hovind trial continues in Florida. This week, we learn about the virtues of Christian charity.
Hovind, a tax protester, makes a substantial amount of money. But he believes he and his employees work for God, are paid by God and, therefore, aren't subject to taxation.…
October 30, 2006
Man, I am so jealous of that Stupid Evil Bastard: he's gotten so lovely for Halloween.
October 30, 2006
Mike Adams latest column is all about his UMM visit…although, actually, it's more of a whine about me.
Dr. P.Z. Myer did, in fact, make my talk Thursday night and something very strange happened: He, too, experienced a sudden and dramatic change in his level of courage during the course of the…
October 30, 2006
The physicist Sean Carroll takes on Eagleton, and also makes a few comments on The God Delusion—key point, I think: Dawkins took on too many issues at once in the book, and opened himself up to criticisms on the weaker parts that are used to dismiss the stronger parts. I agree.
Most of the…
October 29, 2006
Here's a weird and trivial phenomenon to consider: gum disintegration syndrome.
I'm not much of a gum-chewer, and never have been…but I remember gum from when I was a kid, and you could chew and chew and maintain a flavorless wad for a long time. Recently, I thought I'd try gum as an appetite…
October 29, 2006
Reconstruction of Priscomyzon in dorsal (top) and left lateral (bottom) views. b, Macropthalmia stage of Lampetra showing anterior location of orbit and smaller oral disc, both positioned in front of the branchial region. The total length of the specimen is 116 mm. Drawings in a and b are scaled to…
October 29, 2006
Strange things are found in the sea, like this mysterious gelatinous blob bobbing about in the Norwegian fjords.
On Oct. 1 Rudolf and his brother Erling were diving when he spotted the unusual object.
"It was 50-70 centimeters (19.5-27.5 inches) in diameter and looked like a huge beach ball. It…
October 29, 2006
There are plenty of horrors to give us the heebie-jeebies, as you can learn in the 52nd Carnival of the Godless.
As for me, I'm going to be playing a mad scientist DJ on Tuesday, showing clips from horror movies at the Cafe Scientifique. I've been chopping and splicing all morning to get ready for…
October 29, 2006
Here's a real deal for you all: if you watch this video, you'll have taken care of all your religious obligations for the day and are exempted from having to go to church this morning!
October 29, 2006
A reader sent me a link to a site I hesitate to reference, just because I know some people will be aghast at the exposed mammalian flesh and weird exploitation of women…but it's got tentacles everywhere, and molluscs, and even a few arthropods and a giant salamander. The title, Tentacles of Desire…
October 28, 2006
Norwegianity has put out a request to design an appropriate logo for all of us godless heathen bloggers. There's a certain religious deathcult that uses an instrument of torture as its immediately recognizable logo—it's very simple, clean, easy to draw, and they've made it their own. You see one of…
October 28, 2006
I live in the 11th Minnesota senate district, and I'm represented by a Democratic incumbent, Dallas Sams. I am not a fan of Sams; he's one of those pro-life moderate Democrats, not particularly progressive (although he did make the effort to squelch an anti-gay marriage act), and if there'd been an…