humor
sporte | April 2, 2009We saw it this morning while walking the dog.
Figure 1. A sign nearby claims this is a "Seagle."
Figure 2. The ducks must think swimming is safe.
evolvingthoughts | April 2, 2009Well yes it was a joke. But it was based on the inappropriate manner in which the well-known work on lateral transfer was reported by New Scientist as showing that Darwin was wrong. That genes occasionally cross over taxonomic borders among single celled organisms by transduction (viral exchange), conjugation (sharing plasmid DNA) and transformation (reuptake of naked DNA in a medium) has been known for a while. What this showed was that gene trees and taxa trees don't exactly coincide. But for the animals and plants Darwin mentioned, evolution still runs in trees.
The other thing I was…
pharyngula | April 1, 2009Now this is effective birth control.
Abstinence suddenly looks much more appealing.
bioephemera | April 1, 2009
I've been as eager as a brain-starved zombie to get my hands on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the Jane Austen mash-up concocted by Seth Grahame-Smith for Quirk Books. It sounded a like Regency Buffy: zombie-slaying Lizzy Bennet indulges in arch quips while skewering zombies and ninjas with her Katana, all in time for the Netherfield ball. The obvious question was, could this conceit actually work for the length of a novel?
The answer: yes - sort of. P&P&Z is no Buffy. But it will be entertaining for a particular type of reader: those who are familiar with the original novel, yet…
pharyngula | March 31, 2009I must echo Huxley and say, "How stupid of me not to have thought of that!" in response to the discovery of a new mode of evolution. This changes everything!
In an entirely relevant mode of logic, I have noticed that we are suffering with a surprising and rather nasty blizzard today, which was clearly intended for tomorrow. Its appearance today only makes sense if it is Australian, and therefore John Wilkins is responsible for flying over here and shoveling my driveway.
grrlscientist | March 31, 2009tags: religion, atheism, humor, occam's razor, streaming video
This streaming video is a brilliant example of the topic that it addresses, discussing religion, the incorrectness of Occam's Razor and the secret ninjas who destroyed the World Trade Towers using a controlled demolition on 11 September 2001. The argument? The most complicated, difficult explanation is usually the right one. Because God is infinite (and infinitely complicated) [4:16]
evolvingthoughts | March 31, 2009A new study into the transfer of genetic material laterally, or across taxonomic divisions, has shown that evolution does not proceed as Darwin thought, and that in fact the present theory of evolution is entirely false. Instead, it transpires that lateral genetic transfer makes new species much more like Empedocles' "random monster" theory over 2000 years ago had predicted.
Publishing in the Journal of Evolutionary Diversions, the major journal in the field, Professor Augustus P. Rillful and his colleagues of the paragenetics laboratory at the University of Münchhausen in Germany have shown…
pharyngula | March 30, 2009Administrators at Boston Latin prep school issued a notice that there were no — I repeat, no — vampires attending the school. Read the article, and apparently there was also a rumor of at least one werewolf running around.
They issued no disclaimer against the existence of decrepit old mummies or mindless zombies, however, which should be grounds for concern. They're probably among the staff.
pharyngula | March 30, 2009Last night's Family Guy featured an unsurprising revelation about a character.
(via Sunny Skeptic)
The full episode is on Hulu.
grrlscientist | March 30, 2009tags: politics, good citizenship, humor, America, streaming video
This streaming video provides essential educational advice to Americans on how to be good citizens -- I was especially impressed with Mary's frugal meals, but seriously, she'd spend le$$ if she stopped eating meat altogether! [10:39]
Hattip: Travelgirl.
evolvingthoughts | March 29, 2009Whenever you see this:
Remember this:
From AppleInsider - who also note that Linux is cheaper than both, and runs on old hardware (but you need to find your Inner Geek, which costs in time spent).
mikethemadbiologist | March 28, 2009It's a dancing revue:
It beats other things they could have done with the sheep.....
grrlscientist | March 28, 2009tags: sesame street explains madoff scandal, politics, satire, , humorstreaming video
In this video, Ernie and Cookie Monster explain the Bernie Madoff scandal .. so even kids can understand it [1:18]
evolvingthoughts | March 26, 2009It's true! Dinosaurs still exist. John Conway dissected a Rhamphorhyncus, and drew what he saw, here.
I had "dinosaur" in the title but as Chris points out, that's a bad error, like calling a mammal a turtle.
Damn, I'm not having much luck. Not a pteranodon then...
evolvingthoughts | March 25, 2009At Laurie's blog, The Critical Thinker's Speakeasy. 'Course, I don't think this actually happened. My own Mormon stories are much more restrained. After 20 minutes of arguing, in which I quoted the Bible at some Mormon missionaries, one said "But the Bible is not accurate. You need the Book of Mormon. Unfortunately I gave mine away." "No worries," I said. "I'll just go get mine." They left shortly afterwards...
tqa | March 23, 2009
Tonight's entry in Conservapedia Foolishness is my favorite kind of entry to write - one where someone else did all of the work.
Over at Religion, Sets, and Politics, Josh Zelinsky has a fantastic - and amusing - look at a Conservapedia discussion thread where Andy Schlafly apparently redefines "liberal" to mean "less conservative than him", and says that his main problem with a British political party that his own website describes as "Neo-Nazi" is that the party also supports universal health care.
oracknows | March 22, 2009A few weeks ago, having fallen asleep on the couch watching TV, I awoke to an ad for a most wondrous product. Well, not exactly. In fact the product, known as a Snuggie, left my scratching my head. Three questions came to mind:
Who on earth is too stupid to use a blanket?
Who on earth would buy a product that makes them look either like a complete dork, or a monk with a fuzzie robe?
Would anyone actually go out in public with such a thing?
That's why, on a Sunday when my brain's too fried to write anything about science (or even that coherent), I was happy to see the cheap and quick blog…
oracknows | March 21, 2009Normally, I'm not much into LOLCats, but this one is so spot-on for this blog:
All too true, alas.