pharyngula

Whoa, I asked for poems for my birthday, I got poems. That was quite a response, and it had me regretting the fact that I didn't demand money. I could have retired by now. On top of that, GrrlScientist, Bora, and Archy are compiling lists of birthday greetings, so I can just pop over there and…

As of 7:07AM Pacific time on 9 March, that is. I expect everyone to write me a poem in celebration. To start you all off, Richard Dawkins has set an example. Don't give me that cross-eyed look. It is not unusual that I inspire poetry, I'll have you know.

I know I'm late getting to this article on "Darwin's God" that was published last weekend…but I've been busy, OK? And to be honest, when I took a look at at, the first couple of paragraphs turned me off. These are silly rationalizations for god-belief. Call it God; call it superstition; call it,…

Nah, I haven't bothered to listen to the Luskin/Egnor podcast from the Discovery Institute—I trust Orac's summary enough that I know it's a load of the same arrogant, clueless BS he was spinning here a while back.

Three girls have been suspended from school because, during a reading of an excerpt from the Vagina Monologues, they used the word—get ready to be shocked—"vagina". Obviously, the girls should have consulted this list for a euphemism.

This guy looks like he'd be fun to have do a show…

Fark is having an octopus photoshop contest — most of the entries make me go "eh", but there are a few nice ones. Phil Plait thinks this could be a symbol of rapprochement between the brilliant analysts of the natural world at Pharyngula and those slack-jawed people who stare dully at the sky at…

Newsweek has a story about the capture of the colossal squid, and it sounds like a) there will be video footage released next month, and b) the boat captain made a good bit of money off of it. Dolan, the Ministry of Fisheries observer, remembers being surprised at how docile and sluggish the squid…

Despite being in Japanese, you'll be able to figure out what's going on: this Tremoctopus, when threatened, unfurls a membranous webbing and swims away, trailing it behind like a cape to distract predators.

Read the story, buy the T shirt.

Since David Honig pointed out this one perfect picture, I had to put it up top. That says it all, doesn't it?

There's not a lot of substance to this short video, but it is a last chance to see shots of Kent Hovind's Dinosaur Adventure Land in Pensacola, Florida. It was shut down at the time it was photographed — the poor man refused to get building permits, so county authorities closed his little 'theme…

Here's an interesting opportunity: Lynn Margulis, the controversial scientist, is going on a 'blog tour' to promote her new imprint of science books called Sciencewriters Books. What does that mean? She's going to hang out for a little while on a few blogs and chat and answer questions. If you've…

Here's a nicely focused blog: R. Ford Denison, of the UM Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, has a new blog titled This Week in Evolution, and he's planning to put up one post each week summarizing a recently published paper in evolutionary biology. He has specific criteria: Each week,…

A recent article on Deep Sea News mentions the Ritual of 365 Points—since this is such an important reference to cephalophiliacs, I thought I'd repost my summary of a classic movie that hinges on it as a plot point. I have seen The Calamari Wrestler. It was…indescribable. I won't even try. The…

The archives of Natural History magazine contain some strange old stories—like this tale from 1933, when whales were casually slaughtered, and you could write about their death throes in a popular magazine. There's a memorable image in it, at least. Unimaginable numbers of squids, which occur in…

For everything from the intermittent masturbator to the mass murderer, FaithBrokers has a package for you.

I'll take the one on the right.

Why, yes, this is my new screensaver, thank you very much.

Some ditzy entrepreneur in California has a new twist on bottled water: As the body thirsts, so does the soul. So why drink regular drinking water when you can partake in a more blessed beverage? Bottled Holy drinking water is bottled in Stockton, California and blessed by priests from southern…

The indecency in public schools is out of control: "...during school hours in a classroom with an experienced teacher present, two sixth graders completed the act of intercourse...at least ten students were witnesses. No disciplinary actions were taken against the teacher... All teachers were told…

I was wondering why Vox Day, that lunatic, was asking me my definition of science—it turns out that that same day he posted the request, he was publishing a screed against science in WorldNutDaily. His lack of an adequate definition doesn't seem to have stopped him from condemning science, whatever…

Comments on this one are a little superfluous, don't you think? Alice says it all. It’s time to stomp out atheists in America.  The majority of Americans would love to see atheists kicked out of America.  If you don’t believe in God, then get out of this country. The United States is based on…

Vox Day asks a question: what is my definition of science? It's a bit weird coming from him — he is not usually that lucid or civil — but OK, I'll take it seriously. Unfortunately, "science" is one of those hugely polymorphic terms that carries a tremendous amount of baggage, and any one definition…

There's money to be made in crap. Who would have thought MySpace was so profitable? Rupert Murdoch has told an industry conference that MySpace make $25 million per month on advertising."It's extraordinary, the advertising has gone from basically nothing to, on a net basis, $25 million a month and…

My score on The Cowboy-Ninja-Pirate-Knight Test: a Pirate /> style="font-size:12pt">(You scored 3 Honor, 4 Justice, 4 Adventure, and 13 Individuality!) /> Arr matey. You may believe in honor, and justice, and you certainly have a sense of adventure. But mostly, you play by your own rules…

I received a strange letter in the mail (the kind with paper and stamps, not the electronic kind) today. It was nicely and formally printed, and looked like something professional…but as soon as I read the first sentence I knew it was junk. Evolution is defined by the Encyclopædia Britannica (CD…

(via My Confined Space)

Here's another special interest wiki: Athpedia, die säkulare Enzyklopädie. It's a wikipedia for secularists, and as you might guess from the description, it's so far all in German. There isn't a lot there right now, so make it grow; a moment's browse with my slow and clumsy recollections of German…

The last time I hosted the Circus of the Spineless, I just did a series of photos—invertebrates are wonderfully photogenic. Here we go again, with another collection of gorgeous images of crunchy, squishy, slimy, tentacled, multi-legged, no-legged creatures. Arthropods SEF sent me this nice…