May 01 2012

Oh, boy, now I’ll annoy some more Salonites

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Salon has also picked up my Near death, rehashed article, which further abuses Mario Beauregard. Let’s see what New Agers come scuttling out of the woodwork again.

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32 comments

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1

'Tis Himself

1 May 2012 at 3:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Salon still gives a link to SB Pharyngula.
2

Marcus Hill

1 May 2012 at 3:57 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

At the end of the Salon article:

PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris. He is the science blog Pharyngula.

See, not only can you be a disembodied mind, you can be a sentient blog!
3

reasonbeing

1 May 2012 at 4:07 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

If the best they can put forward is the “Maria’s Shoe” argument, then their responses are really not even worth reading.
4

PZ Myers

1 May 2012 at 4:08 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

They also put forward the “Old guy finds his dentures” argument!
5

gragra

1 May 2012 at 4:25 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I take it they pay you for using your stuff?
6

Caine, Fleur du mal, OM

1 May 2012 at 4:38 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It might be nice if they could figure out Pharyngula FtB.

PZ:

They also put forward the “Old guy finds his dentures” argument!

I’m afraid to ask, so I won’t.
7

Zinc Avenger

1 May 2012 at 4:42 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I suspect we’re in for a series of near-brain-death experiences.
8

Loqi

1 May 2012 at 4:49 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I assume it will be more of the same: unsubstatiated anecdotes that aren’t evidence for anything. I don’t expect that they’ll understand that the criticism is of their arguments and sloppy thinking, not just their conclusion.
9

chakeith

1 May 2012 at 4:52 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The comments at Salon are hilarious – a little heated, even. Good stuff
10

ruteekatreya

1 May 2012 at 4:53 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Aren’t Near Death Experiences cultural anyway? I seem to remember reading someplace that where a Christian sees HEAVEN the buddhist might see the Wheel or some such. Though I don’t remember with much certainty and don’t remain atop the matter.
11

Glen Davidson

1 May 2012 at 5:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The important thing to remember is that this is every bit as scientific as ID, which no doubt is why Denyse O’Leary cooperated in writing his dreck.

Teach the controversy, academic freedom, and all that. If basically Xian BS against evolution is to be taught, why not New Age BS about how the brain is just a useful interface for “the mind.”

Above all, why should one form of BS censor any other form of BS?

Glen Davidson
12

gragra

1 May 2012 at 5:12 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

The comments at Salon are hilarious – a little heated, even. Good stuff

There’s a tone troll, and a request to prove a negative, and materialism-is-pseudoscience, and an Ad-hominem missfire, and a shifting of the burden of proof, and science-doesn’t-know-everything…

I thought the character in Storm was a bit of a stereotype but it’s all there. Admittedly from different people, but we’re all the one Ground of Being after all.
13

irisvanderpluym

1 May 2012 at 6:29 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

There’s a tone troll, and a request to prove a negative, and materialism-is-pseudoscience, and an Ad-hominem missfire, and a shifting of the burden of proof, and science-doesn’t-know-everything…

I suddenly feel the urge to go over there and encourage them. I’m sorry—I know it makes me a terrible person and all, but OMFG the lulz.

*trrrryy…toooooo…resist…*
14

A. R

1 May 2012 at 6:33 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

We should attract the Salon idiots to TZT for the new people to snine their fangs on.
15

Ms. Daisy Cutter, Gynofascist in a Spiffy Hugo Boss Uniform

1 May 2012 at 6:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Salon commenters aren’t as head-on-pants-wooey as Alternet commenters, but that’s not saying much. Most definitely, a lot of them like being stupid and wrong at the tops of their voices, and not only about woo.
16

Ms. Daisy Cutter, Gynofascist in a Spiffy Hugo Boss Uniform

1 May 2012 at 6:45 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Jesus fuck, did I actually type “head-on-pants”? Argh. You know what I meant. The opposite.
17

A. R

1 May 2012 at 6:48 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Ms Daisy Cutter: I find that the alternative situation of head-in-pants is quite common.
18

irisvanderpluym

1 May 2012 at 7:09 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Wow, gragra. You were not kidding. I think my favorite is science cannot explain why women’s menstruation synchronizes with the lunar cycle (?!), therefore woo. Or maybe it’s that no one can explain the deep mystery of how bees can fly, therefore woo.

To be fair, a lot of sharper wits over there are knocking them down, and with bonus mockery.
19

coralline

1 May 2012 at 7:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Yes, but one’s own pants, or someone else’s… while they’re being worn? That’s fun.
20

A. R

1 May 2012 at 7:28 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

coralline: I should imagine it would be one’s own trousers, so as to facilitate cephalic penetration of the anal aperture.
21

coralline

1 May 2012 at 7:32 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

A.R :

I see what you did there. Kind of wish I didn’t. :D
22

A. R

1 May 2012 at 7:36 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

coralline: I’ve found that to be the standard body position for most woo-ists.
23

psanity

1 May 2012 at 7:47 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I got a kick out of the commenter, on the side of reason, who intentionally misspells PZ’s name differently every time he uses it. It’s like meta-mockery. Is Mikeyc a local denizen?
24

kemist, Dark Lord of the Sith

1 May 2012 at 7:54 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I think my favorite is science cannot explain why women’s menstruation synchronizes with the lunar cycle (?!)

It doesn’t.

At best it mysteriously synchronizes with the single time in the year you happen to be taking vacation near the sea (and you have forgotten your effective prescription painkillers at home and are stuck with stupid useless tylenol) so as to make that time as miserable as possible.
25

rjlangley

1 May 2012 at 8:17 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

@24 Ergo Jesus.
26

John Morales

1 May 2012 at 8:30 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

[OT + meta]

kemist, amusingly, on my screen your comment is just to the left of the entry The Well-Timed Period of the right-hand pane’s blogroll.

(Yes, I’m easily amused)
27

a3kr0n

1 May 2012 at 8:52 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I don’t understand how this works. Do you give them permission to print your article, or do they just take it?
28

F

1 May 2012 at 9:02 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Zinc Avenger #7

I suspect we’re in for a series of near-brain-death experiences.

Or near-brain experiences. I run into people having those all the time.
29

What a Maroon, Applied Linguist of Slight Foreboding

1 May 2012 at 9:24 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Hey, I don’t think y’all are giving them enough credit. One of them has a master’s degree…

in Science!
30

PZ Myers

1 May 2012 at 9:40 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

I suspect the ever-morphing spelling of my name is the product of a denizen of talk.origins. It was a kind of game they played there, morphing my name around to a novel configuration every time they referred to me.

I just realized…that was from 20 freakin’ years ago. How long have I been doing this? And how long have people been mangling my name?
31

ladyh42

2 May 2012 at 12:50 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment

Kemist wins a million internets, for nothing more than absolute truth!
32

stubby

2 May 2012 at 3:25 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment

It’s on like donkey kong! I apologize for that.