Weblogs
pharyngula | December 23, 2006You may be wondering what that strange "Blank post" was all about. The science blogging crew has been having a discussion about the "Most active" box you can find in the right sidebar, and RPM challenged me that I could put up an empty post titled "Blank post" and it would get 10-20 comments. I proved him wrong—it got over 30 comments in less than an hour and a half. That's just wicked, people.
It also made the #1 most active post on scienceblogs. Man, my job just got a lot easier…who needs to write anything?
I think my case is made. Using traffic activity to determine what links you'll put…
pharyngula | December 19, 2006Phil has conceded, and I've received official verification that Pharyngula is indeed the winner of the Best Science Blog award.
I have no illusions, though: this really isn't a recognition that I have the best science blog, it's evidence that I can put together a really good PR campaign that will turn out the vote for a meaningless weblog award. Yay! If you want a hint on how to get people riled up, though, one good way is the Pro Wrestling method: turn it into a grudge match, with lots of bellowing and thrown chairs. Phil Plait collaborated on this contrived conflict to turn out the…
pharyngula | December 16, 2006Somehow, I think I got a shave, too.
At least Wilkins looks exactly as he does in real life.
pharyngula | December 15, 2006
This will be my last plea for your vote, to the relief of many. My next comment on this subject will be a miserable concession speech glorious in-your-face crow of triumph, after all the votes have been counted and validated. We're behind right now, but I'm sure there will be a last-minute rush to the polls to save me.
I think it's time to up the ante a bit. Since Phil's doom is imminent, perhaps we need a little wager, just to make everything more interesting. My first thought was to have Phil's penalty on his loss was to come live in one of my tanks, as illustrated here (little known fact…
pharyngula | December 14, 2006
Pharyngula has fallen behind by almost 200 votes. Wouldn't you know that the phylum of the rats would be up to dirty tricks, though? One of their own has confessed to cheating, and tried to spread the information. Phil, to his credit, has suppressed the recipe, but it tells you all you need to know about his unscrupulous minions.
Vote for Pharyngula (and remember, you can vote every day!). Unless you really want to read my bitter, whiny, accusatory, and self-pitying concession speech.
You don't want to see me looking like that, do you? I don't even know if I can fit into my plaid pinafore…
pharyngula | December 14, 2006
Someone is voting like mad, and it ain't one of my partisans. The naked dude is passing me by and increasing his lead.
Vote for Pharyngula (and remember, you can vote every day!). Unless you really want to read my bitter, whiny concession speech.
>P.S. Another neck-and-neck race is shaping up in the Best Educational Blog category—quick, get over there and vote for Bérubé, or there will be more show trials!
pharyngula | December 13, 2006
The bad news: the shameless astronomer is gaining on us, and has closed within a hundred votes.
The good news: Deep Sea News has joined the scienceblogs stable! This is either a portent of the squid-fans victory, or a consolation prize that will make up for any loss.
Vote for Pharyngula (and remember, you can vote every day!). Unless you are incapable of being dazzled by carnivorous sponges.
pharyngula | December 13, 2006
O how desperate he has become. Phil is stripping to get votes now. I'm not going to go down that road (I'd be doomed for sure if I did), so here's the deal. Vote for me and I'm going to expose my brain rather than my bod: I've got this great post on evolution of the vascular system I'll put up later today if you good, smart people can keep the drooling libidinous minions of the Bad One at bay a little longer, and keep me in the lead. Otherwise, it's internet memes/quizzes and photos of my cat's litter box.
Vote for Pharyngula (and remember, you can vote every day!). Unless you hate science…
pharyngula | December 12, 2006
People, you aren't doing your part. Yesterday, I had an almost 600 vote lead over the star-gazing bone-bag; this morning, it has narrowed rapidly to little more than 200. At this rate, he's going to catch up and pass me today, and then the suppression of the majority invertebrates will continue to be perpetuated by this wicked chordatecentric minority. Vote, vote, vote!
How is he accomplishing these gains? There's the kitten factor, of course: by laying on the cute, he mobilizes the shallow masses who like superficial, pretty fluff (not my constituency, obviously). In his latest missive, he…
pharyngula | December 11, 2006
Yeah, I'm thinking of the kittens. I'm thinking real hard.
I was going to say, "Because if you don't vote for me, I'm feeding the kittens to the Kraken," but then I realized that the kind of people who'd vote for me would probably want me to feed the kittens to the Kraken. And then I realized it didn't matter how anyone voted, because I was going to feed the kittens to the Kraken anyway. So what the heck. Kittens. Kraken. Kraken Chow. That's the way it is. As the kittens must accept their fate, so must Phil.
Vote for Pharyngula (and remember, you can vote every day!). Because the kittens…
pharyngula | December 11, 2006
We're in good shape. Pharyngula is slowly pulling ahead of Bad Astronomy, and I think Phil has just conceded by urging his readers to vote for me. He is admitting that a vote for him is a vote against the eventual squid domination of the Earth, so naturally no one in their right mind is going to vote for him anymore. He also includes a picture of the cutest little kitten as a token of his surrender.
Vote for Pharyngula (and remember, you can vote every day!). Unless you think kittens don't deserve tentacles.
P.S. I have to give my vote to Majikthise for Best Individual Blog.
pharyngula | December 10, 2006
Look at this...Phil is sneaking around my back, recruiting people at the JREF to vote for him, as if he is the only skeptic in the running. He's also tried to win people over on talk.origins. I'll have you know I've been fighting for the forces of rationality for years now. I've debunked astrology, I've jumped down Deepak Chopra's throat, I've skewered creationist cranks, and yes, I've even done movie reviews. There is also much more sex on a biology blog than you'll ever find on a mere astronomy blog.
Although, I do have to grudgingly confess, Phil's recent post about religious goons…
pharyngula | December 9, 2006
Phil is still playing the speciesist card, and now he wants to invoke the so-called superiority of bony internal skeletons. There's nothing wrong with a good hydrostatic skeleton, you know, it's one of those useful innovations that allows a soft tissue to extend and become rigid. I'm sure Phil's lovers have all wished he had one. (Perhaps that's the source of the telescope fixation over there, a little rigid tube envy).
And look at how far he's willing to go:
That is why I am promoting the "Defense of Vertebrates Act". This legislation, which I will submit to the National Academy of Higher…
pharyngula | December 9, 2006
Now Phil has gone too far. In a Rovian scheme to pander to bigotry, he has confessed to cultivating my love of cephalopods to discredit me, and he has also stated that liking invertebrates is "unhealthy". And now he has called us cephalapodufascist!
This is what he sent me in his sneaky, long-term plan to pander to the anti-cephalopod faction. It's adorable, it's charming, it's sweet…yet Phil Plait considers it "unhealthy". He probably hates Cephalopodmas, too.
Vote for Pharyngula. Unless you hate squid and want to be eaten last.
By the way, you should also vote for Sadly, No for Best…
pharyngula | December 8, 2006
Phil is pleased that water has been discovered on Mars, and thinks this is a good reason to send spaceships there…and back. As a biologist, I wonder what alien life forms could be flourishing in that damp opportunity, and would urge careful disinfection. Who knows what weird parasitic microorganisms could be lurking there? Do you really want to endorse a rocket jockey when what you really need is someone able to understand and fight the alien threat?
Vote for Pharyngula. Unless you want Martian pod-fungus to eat your brain.
P.S. Also, you need to vote for anyone other than Stop the ACLU in…
pharyngula | December 8, 2006I'm going to rudely hijack one political issue to make a point about another. I think you'll quickly figure out what it is.
NARAL has been undermining their own relevance by failing to support pro-choice positions in a misguided attempt to court moderates—basically, as Ezra Klein points out, they're failing to recognize their role in the political ecosphere. They're an advocacy group for a specific range of policies, not a politician who has to balance constituencies—they are supposed to be spokespeople for one particular constituency.
…one thing groups like NARAL have a tendency to do is…
pharyngula | December 7, 2006
Really, I wasn't going to make a big deal of this award, but then Phil had to go and mock the noble name of Pharyngula, and make it all a challenge. Now as a matter of honor I have to try and defeat the Bad Astronomy blog.
I have to do this. If you read that post, it is revealed that Phil has posed nude for the SkepDude calendar. This is a troubling precedent, I'm sure you'll all agree that we shouldn't encourage bloggers to let it all hang out in public like that.
Vote for Pharyngula. Unless you want me to pose nekkid.
pharyngula | December 6, 2006
I get a badge!
There's a bit of chagrin involved in being nominated for one of these Weblog Awards, since if you look at the finalists in "Best Blog", you'll see Malkin, LGF, Power Line, InstaPundit, and The Corner listed…you have to figure, whoa, standards are awfully low here.
However, I am not nominated for Best Blog! I am in the Best Science Blog category. This makes me feel much better, because my fellow nominees are all a fine bunch of deserving people.
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