Weirdness
pharyngula | February 14, 2008And it's a good thing! The Texas ban on sale of sex toys has been ruled unconstitutional. There will be a lot of people smiling in that state in days to come — I'd like to think that flooding the state with vibrators would have a salutary effect on the repressive prigs who are also responsible for the promotion of creationism.
So, Texans, you know it's Valentine's Day … does this give you any gift ideas?
pharyngula | February 13, 2008James Randerson scrapes a little more info on the Han and Warda paper. The editor, Michael Dunn, sounds uncommunicative, but I can't blame him for wanting to proceed cautiously…I just hope that eventually we get a better accounting.
The interesting revelation is a letter from one of the authors, Warda. I think we've found the source of the weird fantasies in the text.
The problem is that we described in very clear and definite way the disciplined nature that takes part inside our cells. We supported our meaning with define proteomics evidences that cry in front of scientists that the…
pharyngula | February 12, 2008The other big holiday coming up is Valentine's Day … so how about some appropriately silly valentines?
Warning: that one is the best one. If it makes you groan, the others will be pure torture. But they do beat out the sappy things we used to hand out in fifth grade.
pharyngula | February 3, 2008OK, so I was sent this picture, and I want to make it clear: this is not me giving a lecture.
Although, I must say that if you look closely, there is a distinct resemblance to Ken Miller…could he be a closet cephalopodophile?
pharyngula | February 2, 2008I have heard a rumor that tomorrow there will be some strange game called the "superbowl" going on … I don't know who is playing, I won't be watching, and I really don't care who wins, so I think I'll just root for the Toronto Maple Leafs, if that's all right. But I did discover another fun game that could be played.
The NFL doesn't like it when churches show the Superbowl on big screen TVs for their congregations (which is actually kind of a strange thing for churches to promote, anyway.) Maybe atheists should cruise their neighborhoods and rat out any churches that violate the rules.
Not to…
pharyngula | February 1, 2008My God Delusion index is 0.
Perhaps your score is a little higher, and you're concerned about it. You, too, wish to achieve the perfection of a nice, uncluttered zero, with god delusions completely absent from your life. Here's help. Watch the video below multiple times; with each viewing your GDI should drop. Stop when it hits zero.
Now…does anyone have a similar way to reduce a cholesterol index?
pharyngula | January 31, 2008At last, we have the perfect symbol for America under Bush. Nothing testifies to your pride in a country that is impossible to satirized anymore than fake plastic testicles painted in camouflage colors with a yellow "support the troops" ribbon that you can hang on your gas-guzzling SUV.
I swear, if I ever saw one of these on the freeway, it would be a traffic hazard because I'd be laughing and crying too hard to maintain proper control of my vehicle.
(via Jeffrey Rowland)
pharyngula | January 28, 2008It's a strange, weird world out there. I get hate mail all the time, but you know me — I'm mean and cruel and I don't hesitate to pull out the sharp, sharp knives of unkind rhetoric. Other people get hate mail, too, and here's one that made me laugh and laugh (which is also really mean, since I'm not the recipient.)
You people are going to ruin your little daughter and make her burn in hell like the two of you. You think you are clever and so does the devil. Only God has the answer for you. God or G. Bush.
That last line is a real laugh-getter — some people have problems distinguishing god…
pharyngula | January 28, 2008We're about to witness a monstrous event here on Scienceblogs.
Omnibrain: weird neuroscience from an inveterate smart-ass.
Retrospectacle: Parrots and hair cells with Shelley passing out the cookies.
Both are young graduate students in neuroscience, and both have decided to shut down their blogs…and
restart them as one freaky hybrid. They aren't going away, they're anastomosing.
There is one obstacle. They don't know what to call this brand new twisted experiment in blogging, so they're running a contest to name the new blog (they don't mention it, but they're also going to need a redesigned…
jlynch | January 26, 2008
Meet William Torres and his slippers. William was arrested while driving in Allentown (Pa) on two counts of homicide and was known to be dealing coke and heroin from his home. More interestingly, William was pulled over while wearing "a hooded sweartshirt [sic] with a skull-head pattern on it, pajama bottoms and fuzzy lion-faced slippers". Prison is going to be rough on this guy, me thinks. Either that or he's getting a head start on the insanity defense.
(HT to Fark for making my evening).
pharyngula | January 26, 2008There might be crazy Christian ladies there!
Nah, I know there are crazy Christians there, but they're mostly fairly cool…I haven't seen any eruptions like this one.
jlynch | January 25, 2008I’ve seen the light, had an epiphany even. Tom Cruise tells us:
Being a Scientologist, when you drive past an accident, its not like anyone else. As you drive past you know you have to do something about because you know you’re the only one that can really help.
and later
We are the authorities on getting people off drugs. We are the authorities on the mind. We are the authorities on improving conditions. Criminal, we can rehabilitate criminals, way to happiness, we can bring peace, unite cultures.
Is there anything Scientology can’t do? Probably not, according to Cruise.
So I’ve had an…
pharyngula | January 25, 2008A reader sent me an example of religious kitsch, but just to be on the safe side, I'm going to have to put it below the fold. There's nothing obscene about the work in question, but I dare you to look at it and not have wildly inappropriate thoughts skitter through your brain.
I think we need a caption contest for this one.
pharyngula | January 24, 2008Ken Cope, a regular commenter here (come on, you guys all know him) sent along some cephalopodian artwork a friend of his does. After browsing a bit, it was sinking in: Ken is friends with an animation artist and roller derby star, one who wins awards for most penalties in a season no less, and who paints toilet seats for fun. How cool is that?
And people think I'm strange…
If I'm ever in LA, you're going to have to introduce me, Ken. I have fond memories of watching roller derby with my great-grandmother.
pharyngula | January 24, 2008It's safe, it's harmless, it's a good way to vent: Faith Fighter! Pick your favorite deity and pound the space bar until your enemies are unconscious.
When you look at the list of opponents, you might wonder why atheism is not represented. That's because atheism is the real world matrix upon which the religious fantasies are exercised — therefore, the godless parts are the computers and networks upon which it is played. (Yeah, I know, way too much philosophy for a mindless kick-punch game.)
pharyngula | January 23, 2008It's still only a just-so story for the fascination some people have for LOLcats.
I think this demands an experiment — we need to do something involving knives and laserbeams to the people who produce those ubiquitous images.
pharyngula | January 21, 2008The video clip below is from a game called Noah's Adventures. It's awful—Noah sounds like a drunk with brain damage, the graphics look like a preschooler tried fingerpainting with his feces, and the whole plot is ridiculous.
Now here's the question: is this the work of a sincere creationist, or is this the product of the evil atheist conspiracy, made with the intent of making creationists look like talentless, tasteless hacks? I can't tell.
pharyngula | January 21, 2008Maybe "wacky" isn't the right word — if you read through this collection of Russian jokes translated by Mark Perakh, you might find some are fairly funny, others are completely opaque and strange, and others drop with a leaden thump. One common seems to be finding a kind of morose humor in misery.
Having a strange sense of humor is the only way I can explain this: Pravda, the Weekly World News of Russia, has an article explaining Intelligent Design creationism, which fits right in with their usual fare of UFOs, girls in swimsuits, devils, and muscular bronze stallions with weird human…
pharyngula | January 20, 2008Alright, Mormonism is weird…but did you know there are some church 'scholars' who think Bigfoot is actually Cain?
Here's a Bigfoot theory I haven't heard before. Apparently there are some in the Mormon church who hypothesize that Bigfoot may actually be Cain, condemned to walk the earth forever. Matt Bowman provides some scholarly elaboration on this theory on the Mormon Mentality blog.
This is all spun out from an early church leader's tall tale of encountering a hairy giant.