Verschlimmbessern, verb, German: Making something worse by trying to improve it. I tried to somehow righten the mistakes I made…
From: Affinity
Last year we didn't really have too much of an autumn show of colour. Instead, most trees just went from…
From: Affinity
This week's Friday Feathers come from Nightjar who writes this: These sanderlings briefly landed in front of me during…
From: Affinity
The acclaimed singer-song writer-guitarist has announced that he is retiring from concert tours. He has had a long and illustrious…
From: Mano Singham
While David's tulips are most gorgeous, my woods are just as colourful, though the flowers are my potted plants. I'm…
From: Affinity
This week's recipe comes thanks to kestrel. Hmmm, too bad we don't have plums this year. I'll let kestrel take…
From: Affinity
I do not read much fiction these days but I used to read it a lot in the past, especially…
From: Mano Singham
I've been in a bit of personal debate recently about whether or not to get me some sort of starter…
From: Affinity
This article seems almost prescient (in its tone, if nothing else), despite being merely a summary of particular trends. It's…
From: Pervert Justice
[Please: no spoilers in the comments] It has come to my attention that Good Omens is finally being turned into…
From: Stderr
Or Andy Lewis or mariamaclachlan or Maria MacLachlan (if those latter two are different people). Sometimes I despair of getting…
From: Pervert Justice
I rarely do this outside of classrooms, but I'm going to give folks here some definitions that are in common…
From: Pervert Justice
Classic conspiracy theories galore at this facebook page, United 4 Truth. But also this: Do you want the explanation that…
From: Pharyngula
Related to my previous post, the latest tale of a white woman calling the cops on black people is the…
From: Pharyngula
Last week, I banned Andy Lewis, Maria Maclachlan, Alan Henness and a few of their friends. Oh, the weeping and…
From: Pharyngula
Uh-oh. Brace yourself for waves of outrage and rationalizations from Sam Harris and his fan boys. Eli Massey and Nathan…
From: Pharyngula
Just a reminder that the humanist charity, Foundation Beyond Belief, is still raising funds for hurricane relief, including for the…
From: The Bolingbrook Babbler
My guest for today is Courtney Heard. She’s been blogging about atheism and secular humanism at Godless Mom since 2014,…
From: Bi Any Means
It is time for Argument Clinic to tackle one of the most important topics in argumentation today: how to deal…
From: Stderr
I was introduced to another good take-down of that silly anti-"grievance studies" campaign. What I particularly appreciated is that this…
From: Pharyngula
I was recommended a YouTube video, "Transphobia: An Analysis," and it easily lives up to its name. I noticed an…
From: Reprobate Spreadsheet
John McLaughlin was an influntial conservative and used to host a public affairs show on public television that I stopped…
From: Mano Singham
I rarely do this outside of classrooms, but I'm going to give folks here some definitions that are in common…
From: Pervert Justice
There is a widespread and pervasive myth that children are frequently being pushed into gender transition therapies. It's a dangerous…
From: Geeky Humanist
Last week, I banned Andy Lewis, Maria Maclachlan, Alan Henness and a few of their friends. Oh, the weeping and…
From: Pharyngula
CW: Suicide, Sexual Assault, Racism, Transphobia According to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, 40 percent of trans people have attempted suicide…
From: Bi Any Means
This article seems almost prescient (in its tone, if nothing else), despite being merely a summary of particular trends. It's…
From: Pervert Justice
After Kavanaugh’s Destruction…
That's news to me, but it's actually good news, I'm just missing the details. Did he explode, was he loaded…
From: Pharyngula
So, in a Pharyngula thread Giliell observed: Actually I do think that people, especially white men*, voting for Trump because…
From: Pervert Justice
The Cleveland Orchestra has the reputation of being one of the best in the world. The city points proudly to…
From: Mano Singham
During a secret executive session of the DuPage Township Board, Trustee Maripat Oliver announced that she is leaving the Illuminati,…
From: The Bolingbrook Babbler
At least the weekend is over and done with. [embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EnrFe3Zb6k[/embed]
From: Affinity
If you're in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and you want to start your Halloween celebration a bit early, check out…
From: Freethinking Ahead
Really, we've got them all hoodwinked into thinking college is a way to learn things and launch a career…if they…
From: Pharyngula
One of the weirdest trends is where people pay enormous amounts of money for clothes items that look well-worn or…
From: Mano Singham
Skatje & Kyle had a baby girl in the middle of last night. I'd been crossing my fingers hoping for…
From: Pharyngula
Today we’re going to take a break from Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation and the rest of all the horrible stuff happening…
From: Bi Any Means
Sometimes my head has too many thoughts. Today's song holds more than just a nice melody for me. In a…
From: Affinity
The traffic in London is horrible so moped use is booming. Food delivery services use freelance couriers on mopeds to…
From: Mano Singham
Just a reminder that the humanist charity, Foundation Beyond Belief, is still raising funds for hurricane relief, including for the…
From: The Bolingbrook Babbler
[caption id="attachment_33777" align="alignnone" width="163"] Source: Wikimedia[/caption] Remember when "liberals" praised Pope Francis for being so progressive? Our lovely progressive Pope…
From: Affinity
In my post on the short BBC true-false quiz on popular misconceptions about evolution, I mentioned that I had got…
From: Mano Singham
Catholic morality demands rapists face no punishment when their victims testify as to their deeds, according to Bishop Donald Sanborn:…
From: Pervert Justice
Let's pretend, for just a moment, that we have rule of law in America right now, and that this country…
From: Oceanoxia
The BBC website has a short quiz consisting of seven true-false questions about evolution that seek to challenge many popular…
From: Mano Singham
In a long overdue move, the government of Cuba is seeking to change many elements of its constitution, one article…
From: Mano Singham
Do not trust billionaires. Do not trust big corporations. Both owe their existence to a lack of concern for human…
From: Oceanoxia
He makes a point that I had not thought of before. If Satan is in charge of hell and people…
From: Mano Singham
In a recent post, I noted the fact that in many other countries, investigations of abuses in the Catholic church…
From: Mano Singham
Nir Shafir is a historian of the early modern Ottoman Empire at the University of California, San Diego. In preparing…
From: Mano Singham
Perhaps you're an evolutionary biologist who thinks evolutionary psychology is too panadaptationist. Or you're a creationist who thinks evolutionary biology…
From: A Trivial Knot
I rarely do this outside of classrooms, but I'm going to give folks here some definitions that are in common…
From: Pervert Justice
I know, you're all sick of Boghossian's stunt. I am too. Still, I just spotted something I'd like to document.…
From: Reprobate Spreadsheet
You were too slow: Chiroteuthis calyx wins.
From: Pharyngula
My lab schedule is now settled on feeding on Monday and Thursday, and on Friday I shuffle males into tubes…
From: Pharyngula
Hurricane Michael is hammering Florida right now. Unlike the previous hurricane to hit the US where there was a long…
From: Mano Singham
I know what you're all wondering: "WHAT DID MARY SLIP INTO MY COFFEE AND CAN YOU HAVE SOME?" This is…
From: Pharyngula
Ever read a policy document? They have a pretty simple structure, where the problem is identified and then solutions are…
From: Reprobate Spreadsheet
We're in a mundane phase of this project -- I've got swarms of baby spiders, a handful of wild-caught adults,…
From: Pharyngula
What, another hurricane menacing the coast? Category 2? Pffff... Actually, no: hurricanes are like bullets - the size doesn't matter…
From: Stderr
I have written before about Australian sprinter Peter Norman who joined with Tommie Smith and John Carlos in their dramatic…
From: Mano Singham
Or Andy Lewis or mariamaclachlan or Maria MacLachlan (if those latter two are different people). Sometimes I despair of getting…
From: Pervert Justice
I rarely do this outside of classrooms, but I'm going to give folks here some definitions that are in common…
From: Pervert Justice
Today we’re going to take a break from Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation and the rest of all the horrible stuff happening…
From: Bi Any Means
I like to think of myself as someone not easily provoked to anger. But I do have hot buttons that…
From: Mano Singham
My guest for today is Courtney Heard. She’s been blogging about atheism and secular humanism at Godless Mom since 2014,…
From: Bi Any Means
Have you noticed how Republican insults are becoming a genuine mark of pride? Sharice Davids is running for Congress, and…
From: Pharyngula
William Blackstone once wrote: all presumptive evidence of felony should be admitted cautiously: for the law holds, that it is…
From: Pervert Justice
So, in a Pharyngula thread Giliell observed: Actually I do think that people, especially white men*, voting for Trump because…
From: Pervert Justice
I don't want to see anyone dropping the filthy "C" word in the comments, either.
From: Pharyngula
During a secret executive session of the DuPage Township Board, Trustee Maripat Oliver announced that she is leaving the Illuminati,…
From: The Bolingbrook Babbler
I have written before about Australian sprinter Peter Norman who joined with Tommie Smith and John Carlos in their dramatic…
From: Mano Singham
It turns out that Saudi Arabia was hosting a big Future Investment Initiative (FII) summit in Riyadh on October 23…
From: Mano Singham
Today we’re going to take a break from Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation and the rest of all the horrible stuff happening…
From: Bi Any Means
Sarah Aziza reports that the mysterious disappearance and possible murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey is not the…
From: Mano Singham
The story about the Saudi Arabian journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a permanent resident of the US, who disappeared after entering a…
From: Mano Singham
James O'Brien explains the chaos in the UK. He's incredulous at how incapable Parliament is at confronting a bad idea…
From: Pharyngula
So this happened. And yes, snowflake that I am, I find it offensive. Deeply so. “We are disappointed that the…
From: Affinity
Bill and Hillary Clinton are going on a 13 city joint tour of the US and Canada titled "An Evening…
From: Mano Singham
I'm calling it now with reasonable certainty. Lots of people would vote if they could, but they can't, so they…
From: Great American Satan