Weirdness
pharyngula | February 17, 2009John Holbo has uncovered an old argument against atheists, one that might have oozed languidly from the fermenting brain of Ray Comfort. But no! This is from a 19th century book of poetry! I wouldn't be at all surprised if Ray steals it soon, though.
Basically, it's an invented disagreement. An imaginary atheist argues that in a well-designed universe, large oak trees ought to bear pumpkin-sized fruit, while little ground-hugging shrubberies out to have acorn-sized fruit. This is easily dismissed by the poet by having an acorn fall on the atheist's head.
Fool! had that bough a pumpkin bore,…
pharyngula | February 13, 2009One of our colleagues here at Pharyngula, Cuttlefish, OM, is apparently somewhat upset at the injustices against certain cephalopods. Be of good cheer! Our plans are coming to fruition, soon, and all the world will be under the tentacle, thanks to global warming and…Science!
pharyngula | February 8, 2009And I don't want to hear you complaining that everything makes me cranky! I get especially grumpy about armchair futurists making pronouncements about biology when they don't know a thing about it.
Chairman and CEO of Biotechonomy, Enriquez says that humanity is on the verge of becoming a new and utterly unique species, which he dubs Homo Evolutis. What makes this species so unique is that it "takes direct and deliberate control over the evolution of the species." Calling it the "ultimate reboot," he points to the conflux of DNA manipulation and therapy, tissue generation, and robotics as…
pharyngula | February 5, 2009I was just sent this slightly retouched photo of Titanoboa, and it bothers me. There's something missing.
No, not a caption, although that might help. What it really needs is…a second panel! What will happen in this scene just a few minutes later? I can picture it in my mind's eye, no problem.
pharyngula | January 22, 2009Except, perhaps, when the pet is an 18-foot long, 300 pound snake which thinks a 3 year old looks tender and tasty. The kid is alright, although he was bitten and almost crushed, but sadly the snake succumbed to 17 stab wounds inflicted by the mother.
I do have to wonder, though, about parents who keep a carnivore twice the size of an adult human being in the house with a small child. It seems rather irresponsible and cruel to me.
pharyngula | January 19, 2009I'm completely confused. We've got a parody site parodying a law about parodies — no one will ever be able to keep them straight.
Bo's Law relates to Atheism and the difficulty of identifying legitimate Atheists and their organizations because it is so hard to tell fake Atheism from the real thing. The law also works in reverse because as Christians, we know in actuality, there is really no such thing as "Atheism." So in fact, "real Atheists" can also be indistinguishable from "fake Atheists" because there are people and organizations who claim to be Atheist, while we know that is quite…
pharyngula | January 15, 2009South Carolina has made it illegal to transmit "material containing words, language, or actions of a profane, vulgar, lewd, lascivious, or indecent nature".
Well, darn. Dang it all to heck.
Actually, it looks like it doesn't take effect until approved by the governor, so we have a little grace period. After that, though…they're going to have to sweep up everyone on the internet and imprison us for 5 years.
pharyngula | January 15, 2009The other day, I pointed out that tasteless web design is a hallmark of crazy web sites, and used this Overcompensating comic to illustrate it…and you all scurried over to Timecube to see one of the best examples on the web.
I got this email today.
Dear Mr. Meyers,
Putting aside any offensive criticism of our website on your web page at http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/contact.php, we found many of the comments extremely humorous, even though at our expense.
We comment on your page at http://lfnexus.com/scumbagwebsites.htm.
Thank you for the good laugh!
Oh, yes, you can share…
pharyngula | January 13, 2009Aren't letters to the editor fun? They publish some of the craziest stuff.
One of the many problems with Darwin's theory of evolution pertaining to mankind is that neither Charles Darwin nor his worshippers take into account extra-terrestrial life.
It's pretty hard for someone to draw conclusions on mankind when Darwin had never seen nor heard of UFOs. That's kind of like teaching math but not understanding trigonometry.
Most of us in the Niagara Region live on a lake bed (Lake Iroquois). The Indians cannot be blamed for having an effect on this major geographical landscape change anymore…
pharyngula | January 13, 2009
Jeffrey Rowland points out a great truth: there must be a conspiracy of bad web design behind all the wacky sites on the web. If he'd only more carefully read one of the victims of the conspiracy, David Icke, he'd have drawn the web design expert as a reptoid illuminatus.
Wait! Everyone knows this! Is Rowland hiding something? Is he part of the global cabal?
pharyngula | January 8, 2009Burger King is running a strange promotion on Facebook: for every 10 friends you drop from your list, they'll send you a coupon for a free hamburger, because you love the Whopper more than your friends.
Let's see…I've got 3,747 friends on Facebook. That would mean I could get 374 free pieces of meat between slabs of bread, and each of you is worth what, about 30¢?
By the way, I have discovered that when you have that many facebook friends, it has some very rough spots. There are a few places where you click on something, and it asks if you want to send something to any of your friends, and it…
pharyngula | January 8, 2009There are some things I never contemplated before, but in case you need a list to be really sure, here are
Eight Reasons You Should Keep Coke Away From Your Vagina. Heed them!
pharyngula | January 8, 2009Glastonbury is the legendary burial place of King Arthur, so as you might imagine, if you're a fey English wackaloon with a fondness for magic crystals and pagan rituals, it's a magnetic attraction. How bad can it be? Well, the wicked government of Great Britain, always trying to suppress the Old Ways and encourage this horrible practice of "modernization", has flipped the switch and turned on free wireless networking for the whole town. Evil!
"I don't want my son exposed to risk 24 hours a day, including at his primary school, which is within the Wi-Fi zone," yoga teacher Natalie Fee tells…
pharyngula | January 5, 2009A certain astronomer was impressed with this video:
Cool animation for sure (and even better in hd), but Bad Evolution. Once again, we get the portrayal of evolution as a progressive process, driven by lots of bloody (oily?) battles between individuals. This is the kind of thing that perpetuates common myths about biology.
Also, cyborg women are not the end result of evolution. They're more like a delightfully exotic weird side-effect, way out on the fringe of diversity.
pharyngula | December 23, 2008People keep trying to tempt me into Tarvuism, and I do admit that they have some lovely reverential imagery.
However, I am a hardcore atheist, and I deny Tarvu. I even deny Oobu.
So I'm sorry, I won't be joining, even if it is so easy to join. I do encourage and endorse their right to display a cyclopean cephalopodian nativity scene in the Washington state capitol, however.
(via Canadian Cynic)
pharyngula | December 22, 2008Andrew Sullivan is taking votes for his Moore Award — and I'm on it. This is his prize for "divisive, bitter and intemperate left-wing rhetoric", named after Michael Moore.
He clearly intends it to be disparaging, but I find it to be a curiously misapplied award. First, it's named for Michael Moore, who really isn't that awful — he's usually right, for one thing. For another, his counterpoint on the right is the Malkin Award, and I'm afraid that if he thinks a deranged harpy on the right is equivalent to a controversial but clearly progressive film maker on the left, his scales are a bit…
pharyngula | December 21, 2008Rolling Stone has one weird story: The Legend of Master Legend. It's about people who think they are superheroes, right down to donning costumes and calling their run-down suburban ranch house a secret lair. These people are deluded, all right, but they seem mostly harmless, and the story is written in a tone that doesn't mock them.
One surprising piece of information is that there are enough of these people around that there are actually hero supply houses for them. One is called Hero Gear, which will make your costume for you (no mass-produced items here, since every super-hero is unique…
pharyngula | December 19, 2008A reader sent me this caricature. I do make a rather grim looking cleric, don't I?
Still, it's an interesting proposal. I think we need a pope who would blow raspberries at the rituals and laugh at the beliefs, and I can see myself thwapping Bill Donohue with that stick a few times. Is there an application form for me to fill out? How many members of the college of cardinals are among my readership?
pharyngula | December 16, 2008This cute, innocent little 3-year-old just wants his name in frosting on his birthday cake, and the bakery refused to do it. Harsh, man. Poor little guy. And he's probably going to have to deal with this blatant discrimination for the rest of his life.
He's also stuck with a pair of dingleberries for parents. They named him…Adolf Hitler.
(via Techskeptic)