Paul Z. Meyers
pharyngula
Posts by this author
July 2, 2006
Whoa. A reader sent a link to this lovely print—I wouldn't mind having that on my wall.
(please don't hate me for my title; it's actually called "Stay, and I will love thee," but I couldn't resist.)
July 2, 2006
I know lots of people are going to send me mail about today's Doonesbury—it's a good one, but it's also a repeat that was first run back in December.
I had a good laugh over today's Lio, though.
July 1, 2006
Gosh, I think I like it. Grrlscientist dug up this automatic Advertising Slogan Generator, and here's what it tells me my new website slogan should be.
Does She or Doesn't She? Only Her Pharyngula Knows for Sure.
Yes, ladies, it's true: I do know. Don't blush; it's OK, it's perfectly natural.
July 1, 2006
Civilized Celts would send skillful bards to sing satires in great competitions. I applaud the idea of returning to such a literate tradition, but really…a skilled writer who knows something of meter and meaning vs. a clumsy, chattering hack who strings words together in lumpy, clattering…
July 1, 2006
Because all the cool kids are doing it, I plugged my face into this Face Recognition software.
I am not happy.
I mean, really, what did I do to deserve this?
→
I'm a little happier with my second choice.
→
I'm still not going outside anywhere without a bag over my head anymore.
July 1, 2006
The Intelligent Designer has been found, and his name is Phineas J. Schwartzfeld.
Phineas Schwartzfeld, who wears a mask and a garish purple and green costume emblazoned with the letters "I" and "D", claims to be immortal and that he invented life, the universe, and everything else many thousands…
July 1, 2006
First, I was impressed that homosexuals had such immense power that they could trigger earthquakes, but then, darn it, someone had to actually look at the data.
July 1, 2006
I say, "Fie on you, Superman Returns." I'll probably go see it if it shows up here in Morris, but otherwise, Jesus in spandex has little appeal to me.
The only summer blockbuster I care about is the one with the pirates, and most importantly, the villains based on marine biology.
It takes a…
June 30, 2006
I remember 1968, and I remember that I was into comic books at that age…but I sure don't remember that the patriarchy was this dominant, and clueless.
Remember, kids, be nice to your girlfriends so that they'll squelch any uppity feminists who threaten your dominance!
June 30, 2006
I can vote for a Christian politician, no problem. I have even liked Obama's sense of vision (although it seems he's been a bit of a flop in execution.) His latest speech, though…
And if we're going to do that then we first need to understand that Americans are a religious people. 90 percent of us…
June 30, 2006
Once upon a time, as a young undergraduate, I took a course in neurobiology (which turned out to be rather influential in my life, but that's another story). The professor, Johnny Palka, took pains at the beginning to explain to his class full of pre-meds and other such riff-raff that the course…
June 30, 2006
Found on Buridan's Ass:
"Someday the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire, and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron."—H.L. Mencken
June 30, 2006
But it's science themed music, so that makes it a little bit OK. Easternblot.net links to music from This Week In Science, and in the comments, I discover the media empire of Doctor Steel. My kind of guy.
Oh, and since I haven't done a Friday Random Ten in a while, here's a science themed Friday…
June 30, 2006
We have a couple of carnivals up right now…
Modulator's Friday Ark
Circus of the Spineless #10
Carnival of Education #73
…and a few that are looking for submissions.
Carnival of the Liberals #16 will be at the Uncredible Hallq next Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, e3 Information Overload will be…
June 30, 2006
I seem to have struck a nerve. I'm getting lots of irate email over this post I made yesterday…not the usual cranky, ungrammatical rants I get from creationists, but literate notes with a hint of desperation. They're still wrong.
Everyone is mangling the question. It's not, "What should a scientist…
June 30, 2006
It's a bonus movie for the Friday Cephalopod: the octopus is a master of camouflage.
June 30, 2006
Giant Australian cuttlefish
"It's a giant orgy. The waters of the Spencer Gulf are simply reeking with sex at the moment, as millions of Giant Australian cuttlefish arrive for their annual breeding season."
O Australia! I wish I could switch continents!
June 29, 2006
I had my credit card out and everything—doesn't everyone want a Death Ray?
(via collision detection)
June 29, 2006
Sweet jebus. Peggy Noonan is insane.
Bush the Younger would breastfeed the military if he could.
But the codpiece…and the cyborg appliance on his back? Breasts? Bush?? …soldiers lined up for the teat…? Aaaahh. Neurons…recoiling. Synapses…boiling, erupting, melting.
Must…stagger…to hospital…
June 29, 2006
In a thread that will not die at the Panda's Thumb, the argument has settled into a more reasonable back-and-forth on the issue of the entanglement of atheism and science. There are a number of people, including many of the contributors to the Panda's Thumb, who are adamant that evolution must…
June 29, 2006
It's got bats, it's got clever giant albino centipedes, it's got sudden death: it's the perfect lunch hour movie for Pharynguloids.
There is no genital mutilation, you may be relieved to learn.
June 29, 2006
I suppose this is a kind of threat—an archaic and quaint threat, but I'm sure some people take it seriously—but the Catholic church has made a strong statement against embryonic stem cell research.
The Vatican stepped up its fight against embryonic stem cell research on Wednesday, saying that…
June 29, 2006
Josh Rosenau is being proactive and is looking for help defeating the creationists on the Kansas Board of Education. He has a list of contested seats and recommendations of science-friendly candidates—Kansans can vote, the rest of us can send donations to their campaigns.
June 28, 2006
I mentioned that cringe-inducing hemipenectomy that some spiders do…well, Stan Schwarz had to one-up me and sent a link to an image of an example of full genital splitting (if you click that link, you're probably safe; it's a very tiny thumbnail image. Click on that, though, and all bets are off).…
June 28, 2006
I would have taken Bérubé's Transhumanist test seriously, but when I hit the last option my brain locked up and crashed hard. It took hours to download and restore the backup. Thanks heaps, Michael!
June 28, 2006
Maybe half of my audience here will be familiar with this problem. You're a man, and you're hauling this massive, ummm, package around in your pants everywhere you go. Other men fear you, while the women worship you…yet at the same time, your e-mail is stuffed to bursting with strange people…
June 28, 2006
This is becoming a regular occurrence: someone is trying to bomb my email address again, with 5-10,000 junk emails pouring in each hour. Look, fool, this is a waste of effort: the effect is that the activity monitor on my sidebar shows a lot of red and green bars, and my email software gets really…
June 28, 2006
What else can I think, when reading Echidne of the Snakes, I run across this astonishing gem of self-loathing femininity.
If you could change one thing about the world, regardless of guilt and politics, what would you do? Hoo-boy, this is where I get in trouble, and that starts with "T" and that…
June 28, 2006
Time's former "Blog of the Year," the execrable PowerLine blog with which I share a state, has done it again: said something so stupid and so palpably false that I'm feeling a bit embarrassed about ragging on Oklahoma in my previous post—I should feel ashamed by association at being a Minnesotan.…