Kooks
pharyngula | March 12, 2008Let me answer my own question: because he is an appallingly freakish idiot, and always a reliable source for the most amazingly inane claims. Don't worry, that link takes you to Mark Chu-Carroll's evisceration of his latest insane rant, that women are intellectual inferiors who can't teach biology or calculus and are incapable of practicing computer science or art. Vox Day. Can he do any of those things? I think not.
By the way, my wife is director of institutional research at a local college, and my daughter is a computer science major. Women outnumber men in our computer science program and…
pharyngula | March 10, 2008Here's more pernicious ignorance that we have to deal with: this is Oklahoma State Representative Sally Kern, benighted hate-monger, babbling lies.
Well, there is one part that is accurate, when she states that "We're not teaching facts and knowledge any more, we're teaching indoctrination", which is exactly right … at least in reference to her remarks.
(via Pam's House Blend)
pharyngula | March 10, 2008We've got some new additions to the Deadly Sins, the ones that will get you consigned straight to hell as soon as you die.
"You offend God not only by stealing, blaspheming or coveting your neighbour's wife, but also by ruining the environment, carrying out morally debatable scientific experiments, or allowing genetic manipulations which alter DNA or compromise embryos," he said.
Bishop Girotti said that mortal sins also included taking or dealing in drugs, and social injustice which caused poverty or "the excessive accumulation of wealth by a few".
He said that two mortal sins which…
pharyngula | March 9, 2008Now the odious Vox Day is ranting about how the discovery of dark matter and dark energy refute "rational materialist philosophy," because somehow it ties into the inapplicability of naturalism to "justice, equality, and freedom". Phil Plait quite rightly slams him back.
I have to give Blake Stacey the prize for the most succinct rebuttal, however.
I don't understand how people can use the discoveries of science to argue that science is broken. It's bass ackwards, that's what it is.
Not surprising, though; Theodore Beale aka Vox Day is a notorious loon, well known for making the most absurd…
pharyngula | March 6, 2008Somewhere south of San Francisco, there is a billboard that declares that there is physical proof of the existence of a god, and which suggests that you read their website. A reader sent it to me, and being the sort of open minded fellow who doesn't believe in any gods but is happy to look at any evidence someone might find, I looked.
I'm still an atheist. You can stop here if you want.
This thing is one big tease. It starts with a splash screen:
THE TIME HAS COME FOR YOU TO
WITNESS A MIRACLE
ARE YOU READY?
Sure, I'm ready. Although, really, this is the web, that nest of lies, so it's…
pharyngula | February 27, 2008Sorry, California. After the plague of migratory, mammal-eating pythons, we now have independent testimony that God doesn't like you.
God is disgusted with California legislators - at least some of them, according to an evangelical chaplain who ruffled feathers this week in the same Capitol where he leads Bible studies for lawmakers.
No, I don't accept his personal claims about the desires of the Great Cosmic Poobah, but the evidence from the situation that 1) this bozo gets paid $120,000/year to evangelize to politicians, and 2) weepy-eyed politicians are stumbling all over themselves to…
pharyngula | February 27, 2008There was a lecture at UCL recently by Dr Oktar Babuna and Ali Sadun Engin. They spilled the beans, and we're all in trouble now.
He then showed just how "insightful" the folks at Harun Yahya can be by quoting from one of their books, The Dark Clan, which explains that evolutionary science is inspired by "a dark clan behind all kids of corruption and perversion, that controls drug trafficking, prostitution rings". Evolution is the "greatest deception in the history of science".
The Dark Clan actually isn't bad — nice moody music about vampires and such. I was just listening to a couple of…
pharyngula | February 27, 2008The Colorado NPR station KUNC recently ran a credulous fluff piece by some guy named Marc Ringel, touting "healing at a distance", some sort of magic handwaving that he claims is "scientifically" supported. The Colorado skeptical community, of course, has expressed their scorn in email to the station, and also brought it to my attention. They also mentioned an excellent website reviewing the evidence for intercessory prayer.
The most interesting revelation to me: I've heard of tests of intercessory prayer, where people pray or don't pray for a patient and then the outcomes are evaluated to…
pharyngula | February 27, 2008The makers of Expelled have just issued an "online media alert" in response to a critical review of their movie, as some readers have forwarded to me. It's hysterical.
We already had our first security breech [sic] and are asking YOU now for your support to stand up for EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed. Hosted by Ben Stein, EXPELLED contains a critical message at a critical time. As an underdog in Hollywood right now, we need your support.
Recently Robert Moore, a film critic from The Orlando Sentinel pretending to be a minister, snuck into a private screening, did not sign a Non-Disclosure…
pharyngula | February 21, 2008Some of you may be reluctant to delve into the fiery melee that are the Pharyngula comments, but you're missing a very entertaining battle. We had a creationist named Steven pop by last night to offer his, um, opinions. Here's a brief summary of some of his sillier claims.
Darwin was a racist.
Christianity never supported slavery.
The 15th and 16th century slave trade was driven by the Dutch and Portugese, who were not Christian.
Scientists were responsible for the slave trade, not Christians.
Robert E. Lee converted to Christianity late in life — he was an atheist! He became an…
pharyngula | February 19, 2008Apparently, I was challenged by some functional illiterate who demanded that I address some unstated complaint by 5:30 today, or I will "forever be cast as having no credibility." , and accusing me of hiding some "skeletons".
Those skeletons aren't mine, they're the department's, and really, they're right out in plain sight. I do have a few bones of my own in my office, but they're all fossilized, and tens of millions of years old — I have an alibi!
I think I'll let that deadline slide on by.
Holy crap. This Matthew guy has finally spelled out the shocking revelation, the horrific skeleton…
pharyngula | February 14, 2008I have been warned that portents of my personal doom have been issued.
I predict that within one year of this date, Pharyngula, Panda's Thumb, EvC, RichardDawkins.net and Uncommon Descent will all have so completely degenerated as to become nothing but embarrassing footnotes in the history of internet communication. I also predict that P.Z. Myers and Richard Dawkins will have so embarrassed their home institutions that overt attempts will have been initiated to have their tenures revoked on the grounds of moral terpitude and seeking to overthrow the government. Public institutions like the…
pharyngula | February 11, 2008It's been yet another long, long day — I was one of many invited speakers at a conference on Networks and Neighborhoods in Cyberspace at the Twin Cities branch campus of the University of Minnesota Morris, and I got to make an early morning drive there and a late afternoon drive back. Drive, drive, drive. It gets old. Especially on those mornings when it is -15°F (around -25°C for those of you who insist on more civilized measurements.) If you've seen the movie Fargo you know what the scenery is like: endless snow-covered fields, endless rows of posts for barbed-wire fences, a succession of…
pharyngula | February 11, 2008Doesn't it make you happy to see people wanting to help other people?
"This is a service which is sorely needed," said Jankowski, who holds a doctorate in spiritual theology. "The number of people who need help is intensifying right now."
What service is Jankowski providing? That he claims to have a doctorate in "spiritual theology" is one clue. That he claims theological support from the Vatican and his Catholic archbishop is another.
Yeah, he's an exorcist. A professional expert at casting out imaginary demons.
The article goes on to claim that this is a growth industry. They're busy…
pharyngula | February 10, 2008So…Muslims want special foot washing stations so they can tidy up in order to pray, but at the same time, Muslim doctors don't want to have to wash their arms before they plunge them into my guts. "No practising Muslim woman — doctor, medical student, nurse or patient — should be forced to bare her arms below the elbow," they say.
A belief system that prioritizes washing up before mumbling at an invisible man over sterile technique in surgery does not require accommodation. It needs to be the target of laughter and contempt.
pharyngula | February 3, 2008We're in a war, we're looking at a looming mortgage crisis, and I can tell you that our educational system is getting flushed down the tubes, and what does our brave congress do? Why, it decides to make the words "In God We Trust" bigger on our coins.
Responding to complaints from the Religious Right, Congress has passed legislation mandating that the phrase "In God We Trust" be moved from the edge to the back or front of the new presidential dollar coins.
President George W. Bush signed the measure into law Dec. 26. It was tucked into a $555 billion domestic spending bill after having been…
pharyngula | February 2, 2008I mentioned the other day that this low-class, low-rent, low-IQ fanatical fundie church was going to broadcast their version of Richard Dawkins' funeral service. Well, it's up.
Rarely will you find such a sterling example of the cretinous minds that fester like rotting mushrooms in the sickly, benevolent glow of Christianity. The preacher is awful: he is visibly reading from his script, and he can't even do that competently. This is no St John Chrysostom; it's a stumbling oaf who reads and writes like a pissed-off sixth-grader. The content is predictable, beginning with a few utterly…
pharyngula | January 31, 2008I'm sure he will be looking forward to this: his funeral is going to be held tomorrow.
Since the teaser calls him "one of the most wicked and vile human beings ever to walk the face of this earth", and since they've already done a hack job on Heath Ledger (in which they build a crude dummy of the actor and set it on fire), I have a sneaking suspicion that this won't consist of a reading of
Dawkins' suggestion for his funeral. In fact, I don't think these hateful yahoos are capable of reading that; the examples on their website are less than eloquent. These are not your Southern gentlemen…
pharyngula | January 20, 2008This is very strange. After all the kerfuffle over that ridiculous online bookstore, they just sent me this message:
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pharyngula | January 17, 2008Of course, he's probably going to be proud of beating the Pope and Chuck Norris for this one.