Weirdness
pharyngula | October 14, 2008Wait until the wingnuts get this: Hindus are presenting Obama with a monkey-god idol.
The idol is being presented to Obama as he is reported to be a Lord Hanuman devotee and carries with him a locket of the monkey god along with other good luck charms. An hour-long prayer meeting to sanctify the idol was earlier organised at Sankat Mochan Dham and by Congress leader Brijmohan Bhama, Balmiki Samaj and the temple's priests. "Obama has deep faith in Lord Hanuman and that is why we are presenting an idol of Hanuman to him," said Bhama.
And in other news, we have a lovely brass statue of the…
pharyngula | October 13, 2008Browse the IgNobel Awards and find your favorites. I rather liked the idea of ovulatory status affecting the earnings of lap dancers (although I'd like to know more about other factors that might influence performance), but the best was the title of the paper that won the literature prize: "You Bastard: A Narrative Exploration of the Experience of Indignation within Organizations."
pharyngula | October 13, 2008I guess I wasn't paying attention. Good thing there are sources on the web to explain history to me.
pharyngula | October 12, 2008But then, isn't everything? We had a veritable orgy of communion wafer consumption in Springfield, enhanced by a chocolate coating. Why can't the transubstantiation trick involve chocolate and milk instead of bread and wine?
pharyngula | October 12, 2008Have you ever noticed what the first result you get if you google for gift from god is? He does love us!
(via Evo Terra)
pharyngula | October 11, 2008He's already got the zombie vote and the fundiebot vote locked up, now he just needs to capture the teenaged male vote with a little violence in short-attention-span theater.
I'm over fifty. I can't watch that without my head hurting.
pharyngula | October 11, 2008I'm here in Springfield, Missouri as a guest of the local Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, and now I've suddenly found Tarvu.
Say Hebbo! from Torvakian on Vimeo.
What is the etiquette in such a situation? Do I have to damn my hosts, and do they have to burn me at the stake in reply?
pharyngula | October 9, 2008So very, very cold. I am tempted by this hat — as a purely practical matter, of course — since it would do such a fine and stylish job of keeping my brain warm during the long and bitter winter months here.
I could even wear it while blogging.
pharyngula | October 7, 2008I may have to change my voting plans — a real wild card candidate has entered the race.
There is, of course, a poll.
These guys are going to have a lock on the cryptozoological/weird conspiracy/tinfoil hat constituency, and we all know that that is a huge fraction of the population in this country. Don't count them out.
pharyngula | October 7, 2008As long as we're acknowledging crafty cleverness, you've got to admit that this is a nice twist on the "My Little Pony" theme. If I had a little girl anymore, I'd get her one.
Maybe for the grandkids, someday.
pharyngula | October 6, 2008The infamous anti-gay legislator from Oklahoma, Sally Kern, was interviewed by the Oklahoma Daily. The story has some fine bon mots, like her definition of evolution:
Kern defined evolution to me as "the process of wanting to create something or have something be perfect. Get rid of that which is not healthy and strong."
That's a very common creationist misconception: they can't imagine a natural process that doesn't have wants, that is lacking that teleological impulse.
The writer sent me the outtakes from the interview. If you want more Kern uncut and uncensored, look below the fold.
She…
pharyngula | October 5, 2008They just don't work. Maybe you've heard of "Minnesota nice", this strange passive-aggressive attitude around here that compels everyone to compete at being the most polite and deferential…and it completely defeats the function of the 4-way stop at an intersection. The rule is simple—whoever first comes to a complete stop gets to be the first to proceed through the intersection—but real Minnesotans can't grasp it. It's nice to let someone go through first, so you'll sometimes run into these situations where two cars are parked at the crossroads, with each driver waving for the other to go…
pharyngula | October 1, 2008An internet poll, which we all know is always accurate, representative, and binding, was held this week to determine who would be president of the US. Voters selected between Obama, McCain, Hillary Clinton, and a fourth, unlikely, dark horse candidate…me.
I won.
I think I've heard this song before, by Spike Jones and his City Slickers, only my name was Feitlebaum then.
pharyngula | September 22, 2008There is a very peculiar article at Roger Ebert's movie review site. It may not last long, so I've put a copy below the fold. It's a straight-faced recitation of creationist claims, all nonsensical, all typical, presented as if they were Ebert's opinion. It could be an exercise in Poe's Law, I suppose, or it could be the consequence of a little web hacking.
Questions and answers on Creationism, which should be discussed in schools as an alternative to the theory of evolution:
Q. When was the earth created?
A. Archbishop James Usher, working out a chronology from the Bible, calculated in 1654…
pharyngula | September 20, 2008Maybe we need to start smuggling seditious rationalist literature into America, because look at the state of our fellow citizens' minds:
More than half of all Americans believe they have been helped by a guardian angel in the course of their lives, according to a new poll by the Baylor University Institute for Studies of Religion. In a poll of 1700 respondents, 55% answered affirmatively to the statement, "I was protected from harm by a guardian angel." The responses defied standard class and denominational assumptions about religious belief; the majority held up regardless of denomination,…
pharyngula | September 19, 2008I am not yet in Madison, but I am in the Land of the Cheeseheads and am about to hit the road and expect to be there by early afternoon. And then I discover two coincidences, one happy and one mildly problematic.
By my good luck, Ron Numbers is speaking on the campus today, at 3:30 in Science Hall room 180. Hey, I should be able to make that! I just hope he doesn't dispense some jewel of wisdom that compels me to rewrite my talk on the spot.
One concern: this is September 19th! It's Talk Like a Pirate Day! This means, of course, that I have to give my lecture in a hokey dialect, which always…
pharyngula | September 18, 2008In case you were wondering about that lawsuit by JZ Knight in Seattle — she was claiming that a former student had stolen the teachings of her Atlantean warrior spirit guide for profit — it's over now. Knight won. Keep that in mind if ever a channeler tells you some flaky secret knowledge someday: it's protected, privileged speech and the ghostie can sue your butt off.
We're going to be in big trouble when John Edward's spirits copyright the alphabet.
pharyngula | September 17, 2008Now one Islamic cleric has declared that Mickey Mouse must die. He's unclean, after all.
"Mickey Mouse has become an awesome character, even though according to Islamic law, Mickey Mouse should be killed in all cases."
Mr Munajid seems to be a little confused about what is real and what is fiction, but at least this is a step up from declaring that people should die.
And then there is this:
Last month Mr Munajid condemned the Beijing Olympics as the "bikini Olympics", claiming that nothing made Satan happier than seeing females athletes dressed in skimpy outfits.
Looks like another bit of…