Didja know A Song of Ice and Fire by George "Rail Road" Martinson inspired a bunch of ripoff titles, prominently…
From: Life's a Gas
Much has been written in tribute about Rob Reiner after the brutal murder of him and his wife Michele. Rob…
From: Mano Singham
There was an interesting article in the August 11, 2025 issue of The New Yorker about the pain that can…
From: Mano Singham
in honor of the newest moral panic about a thing that is being blamed for suicides, a look back at…
From: Life's a Gas
The Probability Broach, chapter 12 We've previously seen that in the anarcho-capitalist North American Confederacy, everything is cheap and everyone…
From: Daylight Atheism
(Pearls Before Swine) {AD}
From: Mano Singham
I was trying to track down this movie I remembered watching on TV in the late eighties. I did find…
From: Life's a Gas
i think this'll be my last pro-AI post for a minute? continue to ignore, as you please. This blog is…
From: Life's a Gas
I am fascinated by the evolution of language but had never given much thought to punctuation. If I gave it…
From: Mano Singham
The writer and digital rights activist coined the term 'enshittifcation' to describe the deterioration of the internet and it caught…
From: Mano Singham
I think I'm trapped at home today -- I tried walking to work, and didn't get beyond my driveway, because…
From: Pharyngula
I've been watching the trainwreck named Avi Loeb for a while now, and it's become obvious that he's shredding his…
From: Pharyngula
I keep seeing lies about biology like this on social media. This is all wrong. [caption id="attachment_78186" align="aligncenter" width="500"] A…
From: Pharyngula
Defense Expert Dunc commented in an earlier post of mine, with a link to an article that we both find…
From: Stderr
I'm going to shovel out some opinions, here, and I will not be bothering (entirely) to support them with references…
From: Stderr
You may have noticed (I hope, actually!) that my last posting sounds like it was written with the assistance of…
From: Stderr
I'll be teaching cell biology next fall. Should I be worried? [caption id="attachment_78123" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Little girl: Sings "Jesus loves…
From: Pharyngula
Sometimes, students earn a failing grade. I hand back essays or exams with zeroes on them, and inform students that…
From: Pharyngula
I'm sure you've noticed how creationists only want to talk about their perceived flaws in evolutionary theory, but never about…
From: Pharyngula
I have a new column this week on OnlySky. It's about the continuing trend toward a secular future, in America…
From: Daylight Atheism
I am becoming increasingly concerned whenever I see the word 'influencer' associated with someone on the internet. It is a…
From: Mano Singham
I have a new column this week on OnlySky about the effect of abortion bans. They don't decrease abortion -…
From: Daylight Atheism
Heated Rivalry is an M/M hockey romance TV series based on the book of the same name. It's some sort…
From: A Trivial Knot
I have a new column this week on OnlySky. It's about the prospect of marriage going extinct, whether it can…
From: Daylight Atheism
I'm not in favor of assassinations; I'm especially not fond of sloppy wet work. Fortunately I'm not in that business,…
From: Stderr
Wait, what? There's a Riley Gaines Center? Meanwhile, the Leadership Institute, a nearly 50-year-old nonprofit that trains conservative activists, launched…
From: Pharyngula
Incels and misogynists seem to have missed out on a lot of genetics, so they freely make it up as…
From: Pharyngula
Rebecca Watson. The context: it's because Lawrence Krauss was getting clobbered by Watson over his abuses, and he wrote to…
From: Pharyngula
The insufferably pompous, arrogant, and sexist former president of Harvard University has been forced to withdraw from many of his…
From: Mano Singham
I have not written much about the Epstein files and the recently released trove of emails between Jeffrey Epstein and…
From: Mano Singham
Last night, I was going to clean up a junk drawer in my office -- you know, one of those…
From: Pharyngula
It's unpleasantly cold this morning, and I was reminded of this old photo from the early years of the 20th…
From: Pharyngula
There have been a lot of health problems and difficulties in our household this fall, a lot of stress. Usually…
From: Life's a Gas
I did not have a chance to take a bird picture for a long time, so I fumbled a bit…
From: Affinity
You can use AI to spy out AI! GPTZero, the startup behind an artificial intelligence (AI) detector that checks for…
From: Pharyngula
Making alliterated titles was a fun (for me) exercise, but I do not think I would be able to keep…
From: Affinity
Defense Expert Dunc commented in an earlier post of mine, with a link to an article that we both find…
From: Stderr
I've got all these spiders getting to a size where fruit flies don't cut it anymore, and unfortunately, my mealworm…
From: Pharyngula
Little Marco Rubio has taken decisive action and ended an oppressive policy. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday…
From: Pharyngula
Ways of Seeing (1972), John Berger Episode 1-4 | Video, 2 hours, via - An old television show, talking about…
From: A Trivial Knot
In these days of relentlessly depressing news, a good comedy comes as a welcome relief and this is such a…
From: Mano Singham
[caption id="attachment_77735" align="alignright" width="130"] Dumbass[/caption] I don't think she should graduate from college until she passes a basic English literacy…
From: Pharyngula
A reader sent me a comment about how Catholics tell stories that they claim are in the Bible that aren't,…
From: Pharyngula
[caption id="attachment_77649" align="alignright" width="150"] Chopping it all down[/caption] I had a nightmarish realization last night -- that American education was…
From: Pharyngula
We all know of and despise Ryan Walters, the Superintendent of Public Instruction in Oklahoma. He's a Christo-Fascist of the…
From: Pharyngula
As regular readers know, I play the card game bridge and recently I happened to look at some aspects of…
From: Mano Singham
Joseph Ladapo is the surgeon general for the state of Florida and is a vaccine skeptic who recently announced plans…
From: Mano Singham
I've been pretty blithe in my attempts to make people feel less doomy, and PZ did call me out on…
From: Life's a Gas
I was in the parking lot of home despot, when I saw this sign at a distance. Initially I thought…
From: Life's a Gas
To me the answer is 'no' but the title of this post was suggested by this essay by Philip Goff,…
From: Mano Singham
I am becoming increasingly concerned whenever I see the word 'influencer' associated with someone on the internet. It is a…
From: Mano Singham
There was an interesting article in the August 11, 2025 issue of The New Yorker about the pain that can…
From: Mano Singham
I'm just trying to help the AI out. I think it's time Guenevir had a lover.
From: Pharyngula
Chuck Wendig is a well-known author, and unsurprisingly, people are curious about him. He's the subject of various harmless inquiries,…
From: Pharyngula
I'm a terrible YouTuber -- uncharismatic, dull, lacking in visual skills, and incapable of maintaining a consistent schedule -- but…
From: Pharyngula
I previously took a lot of words to describe the guts of Markov chains and LLMs, and ended by pointing…
From: Reprobate Spreadsheet
Pattern matching is a dangerous business, but this is now the second third time I've seen LLMs compared to Markov…
From: Reprobate Spreadsheet
I think I'm trapped at home today -- I tried walking to work, and didn't get beyond my driveway, because…
From: Pharyngula
I am fascinated by the evolution of language but had never given much thought to punctuation. If I gave it…
From: Mano Singham
When I become an evil overlord, that will be my catchphrase: "The spiders will feast tonight!" I got to the…
From: Pharyngula
Much has been written in tribute about Rob Reiner after the brutal murder of him and his wife Michele. Rob…
From: Mano Singham
Consider this: ICE agents smashed in a car window in Minneapolis, and dragged a pregnant woman through the snow and…
From: Pharyngula
The writer and digital rights activist coined the term 'enshittifcation' to describe the deterioration of the internet and it caught…
From: Mano Singham
In an earlier post, I wrote about how I enjoyed sleeping. But clearly I am a mere piker in this…
From: Mano Singham
If you've noticed that I'm posting less, it's the timing: my sabbatical is ending, I'm getting ready to plunge back…
From: Pharyngula
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani upset the political establishment by winning the mayoralty of New York City but now comes along…
From: Mano Singham
He's always been this revoltingly racist, but somehow he got elected, because a lot of the citizenry are revoltingly racist.…
From: Pharyngula
Commenter Dunc pointed me to a long but fascinating article by Edward Zitron titled The Era Of The Business Idiot…
From: Mano Singham
Worst president ever. Mr. President, thank you. Um, the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, is saying that he's actually proud…
From: Pharyngula
The stories of brutality and violations of people rights by the thugs that now make up the Immigration and Customs…
From: Mano Singham
That's just the start, everyone in this rotten administration should follow. Wait, no, I can't recommend following any of the…
From: Pharyngula
I am becoming increasingly concerned whenever I see the word 'influencer' associated with someone on the internet. It is a…
From: Mano Singham
Much has been written in tribute about Rob Reiner after the brutal murder of him and his wife Michele. Rob…
From: Mano Singham
Although I do not always comment on breaking news, that news is on my mind and these last two days…
From: Mano Singham
The writer and digital rights activist coined the term 'enshittifcation' to describe the deterioration of the internet and it caught…
From: Mano Singham
[caption id="attachment_78183" align="alignright" width="150"] He looks like a genuine American Psycho[/caption] Joe Lonsdale. He's emblematic of the problems of the…
From: Pharyngula
This time, at Brown University. It's deja vu all over again. For some of the students, this was their second…
From: Pharyngula
pro-AI post, haters don't comment. but if you're having an open-minded moment, it could be interesting for you to read.…
From: Life's a Gas
In an earlier post, I wrote about how I enjoyed sleeping. But clearly I am a mere piker in this…
From: Mano Singham
Democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani upset the political establishment by winning the mayoralty of New York City but now comes along…
From: Mano Singham