…annoyingly hard to pick. You people just named almost everyone, and some of you seemed to name everyone in a single comment. It’s not like there was a runaway leader; it’s more like there’s this huge base of commenters that everyone likes. This is a good situation for the blog as a whole, but doesn’t make it easy to single out anyone.
So this time I’ve compromised and picked the top two, secure in the knowledge that there are many more from the Pharyngula pool who will be acknowledged in the future. They are:
- Kristine Harley, who is widely appreciated for general good humor, pithy comments, and perhaps a little belly-dancing, although that doesn’t translate well to a text-only comment. Readers here have good imaginations, though. She’s all over the place, but her latest comments are here, here, and here.
- Scott Hatfield, most people’s favorite even-tempered theist, who apparently has Job-like patience to be able to endure the routine scourging given to people with his beliefs here, and even has the temperament to be cheerful about it all. You can find some of his latest comments here.
Their names will be enshrined in a sub-page in the next day or two, and more will join them on a monthly basis.
A Solomonic decision.
Yay! Good choices.
Great choices!
We’re fortunate to have such a wonderful blog community at Pharyngula. There are so many incredible commenters that I’m always eager to read the responses to the posts.
Congrats to the winners!
Now, of course, you two have a reputation to maintain. Be wary, for if you let your standards slip. . . well, let’s just say I know a few Evil Overlords who are looking to test a few less elaborate methods of hero extermination. We don’t want any unpleasantness, do we?
(-:
Who gets this year’s Golden Tazer award?
Bravo and brava!
(still in shock) Wow, I am so unworthy. I’ve learned so much from coming here, and I really appreciate all the feedback I get from you guys, even when it is accompanied by the smell of scorched flesh. Thanks. It’s nice to be noticed.
(aside to PZ) As you can see, my Zombie Android Creationist-Squirrel halfbreeds have INFILTRATED your LAIR OF DARKNESS! Bwa. Ha. Ha.
Fondly…SH
Congratulations to the very deserving winners!
Pig pile on Scott and Kristine!
PZ, maybe it’s time for a “Was this post useful?” feature.
Eeer-ahhh *stretch*, what a weekend in the library I’ve had, billions and billions of bibliographies. Well, I think I’ll hop on the computer and see what’s happening in the blogosphere…*gasp!* Shimmying succotash!
Gee, thanks PZ and everyone! I’d like to thank my whole blogging community. If I have laughed last, it’s because I’ve cried on the shoulders of giants. [All together now: “Awwww…”]
And congratulations, Scott! Shimmies to you, man.
Clearly, the solution is to cut Hatfield in half, then award both halves to Harley.
Oh. And I nominate Blake Stacey for the next round. ;-)
(sheepishly handing a certain pundit a freshly-sharpened ax)
I guess this is what you meant, old Scot, when you suggested I shouldn’t meet you in a dark alley. Try not to screw this one up.
Before I go, my upper torso nominates Torjborn Larsson for the next round, because of his erudition; my nether regions nominate Icthyic, for her passion.
Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my closeup (gulp).
Congrats Scott. However you might find hordes of small fish nibbling your nether regions for suggesting that Ichthyic is a she. Not that there is anything wrong with being a she. Some of my best friends are she’s. But Ichthyic isn’t.
I nominate Hank Fox for the next run, though Blake Stacey would be a good choice as well.
Good choices. If I second these nominations, does that help or hurt them?
[in the background, I think I hear: (sotto voce): “It’s an honor just to be nominated…”]
Wht pthtc crck ths blg rlly s.
t s hrd t blv sn’t t?
lv t s!
” pst vltn s ndnbl, prsnt vltn ndmnstrbl.”
Jhn . Dvsn
Well done Scott. You seems like one of the good guys. Sorry Kristine, i’ve not noticed your comments as much (my fault I’m sure, i’ll be on the lookout from now on) but i’ve got no doubt that your contributions have been no less worthy.
Congo Ratz to both of you!!
Congratulations again to the Sheba of Shimmies and I’ll gladly third the nominations of Torbjorn and Ichthyic — despite Icky not being a “she,” he’s still quite teh man-‘ho
Oh, and I nominate JAD for the Golden Ball-Gag Award for Senior Logorrhea. On second thought, he might actually *like* that…brr
With apologies, I’m going to treat this as a semi-open thread for a moment, because I need to share – we took my 6yo girl and 4yo boy to the Natural History museum in London this weekend, and Lauren and I had our first chat about evolution. Standing in front of the whale skeletons we counted the whale’s ‘fingers’ and talked about repurposing of body parts. She asked what the little floaty things were towards the back of the whale, so we discussed vestigial body parts etc. She remained interested for far longer than I might have hoped, given that it was almost 1pm and we hadn’t had lunch. The boy just wanted to see more whales, but that’s a start :) Here endeth the proud father blather!
Paul:
Looks like you have quite a good reason to be proud!
well-earned reward for both Kristine and Scott.
Was that really JAD? He’s just bitter, not because I got an award, but because I got away.
Kristine and Scott, well done!
“Before I go, my upper torso nominates…”
LOL! Now that’s how to make the best of bad situation! :-)
Icthyic: What can I say? I regret stumbling over your gender, and hope no offense was given. In my defense, the ax was nigh, and there was a definite gleam in the axman’s eye. Abashed…SH
Wait a minute. How come there are three packages on my stoop?
In most elections, I vote but might as well not have. (Even moved from NYS to Ohio temporarily in 2004 to vote in a swing state – for all the good it did me.) In this one, I didn’t vote (didn’t think I deserved the franchise), but I like the results.
Of course, in this campaign there were only good candidates.
I have been really taken with Scott’s patience, honesty, intelligence, and general goodwill. These qualities are not always in great abundance here toward Scott and others who share his beliefs. Nice to see him get recognized.
Congratulations Kristine and Scott.
Dr P.Z. Myrs
Thnk y fr sprtng m frm th rst f yr dstngshd cntbtrs by dsmvwlng my cmmnts. ny frm f ttntn s grtly pprctd.
Hr s nthr pprtnty t prv t ny nbsd bsrvr tht y r “prscrbd,” “brn tht wy,” hmzygs thst, ttlly blvs t tht whch ws bvs t lbrt nstn –
“vrythng s dtrmnd… by frcs vr whch w hv n cntrl.”
nd t L Brg –
“vltn s n grt msr n nfldng f pr-xstng rdmnts.”
Nmgnss, pg 406
nd t Prr Grss –
“ny systm whch prprts t ccnt fr vltn mst nvk mchnsm nt mttnl nd ltry.”
vltn f Lvng rgnsms, pg 245
nd t tt Schndwlf –
“…th mn ftrs f th vltnry trnd wr ld t rght frm th strt..”
Bsc Qstns n Plntlgy, pg 360 –
n thr wrds, ll n cmplt ccrd wth Th Prscrbd vltnry Hypthss.
” pst vltn s ndnbl, prsnt vltn ndmnstrbl.”
Jhn . Dvsn
Mn, ds yr scrty sck!
t dsn’t gt ny bttr thn ths!
lv t s!
” pst vltn s ndnbl, prsnt vltn ndmnstrbl.”
Jhn . Dvsn
M.P. Zyrs
B sr t vst brnstrms nd my Mnfst thrd whr jst rprntd th mssg y sbsqntly dsmvwld.
t dsn’t gt ny bttr thn ths. Thnks fr xpsng yrslf.
lv t s!
” pst vltn s ndnbl, prsnt vltn ndmnstrbl.”
Jhn . Dvsn
frwrdd th whl srdd mttr t Dwkns.
njy.
[Heh. Davison babbles on a blog, gets disemvoweled, and he complains to Richard Dawkins? What’s he going to do, yell at me to disemvowel him harder? -pzm]
I didn’t think that JAD could make so much sense. The stuff above is infinitely better than his “Manifesto” (many of his ‘crucial points’ coming straight out of Bartlett’s) or his junk in Rivista.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/35s39o
Congrats Kristine and Scott!
Why do I get such a giggle when I see a disemvoweled troll post again and again?
I guess Dawkins is supposed to be the Godfather of atheists?
“Fredo, you’re my older brother, and I love you. But don’t ever take sides with anyone against the Family again. Ever.”
Might be it is permitted only to eulogize winners here. How witty you are Kristine! Vow, I consider your darwinistic surrealistic posts here to be jewels of world-literature. Good job, just continue.
John Davison didn’t follow the rule and his text appeared disemvoweled consequently. Yet I would reccommend to read his Manifesto everybody.
Whl Phryngl blg strggl fr frdm nd blshmnt f slvry lt s mk smll stp twrds frdm ls tdy. Jst nw. Lt’s spprt blsmnt f bn f Jhn Dvsn n ths blg nd ths thrd spclly. spps w r nt n Glg hr nd t s nt ncssry tht cntrbtrs hr shld nly clbrt wnnr Chrstn fr hr “wtty n-drwnstc” qs-ltrlly pcs.
Ths s th txt tht Jhn Dvsn pstd nd tht ws dsmvwld n ths vry sm thrd:
Dr P.Z. Myrs
Thnk y fr sprtng m frm th rst f yr dsngshd cntrbtrs by dsmvwlng my cmmnts. ny frm f ttntn s grtly pprctd.
Hr s nthr pprtnty t prv tht y r “prscrbd,” “brn tht wy,” hmzygs thst, ttlly blvs t tht whch ws bvs t lbrt nstn –
“vrythng s dtrmnd…by frcs vr whch w hv n cntrl.”
nd t L Brg –
“vltn s n grt msr n nfldng f pr-xstmg rdmnts.”
Nmgnss, pg 406
nd t Prr Grss –
“ny systm whch prprts t ccnt fr vltn mst nvk mchnsm nt mttnl r ltry.”
vltn f Lvng rgnsms, pg 245
nd t tt Schndwlf –
“…th mn ftrs f th vltnry trnd wr ld t rght frm th strt.”
Bsc Qstns n Plntlgy, pg 360 –
n thr wrds, ll n cmplt ccrd wth th Prscrbd vltnry Hypthss.
” pst vltn s ndnbl, prsnt vltn ndmnstrbl.”
Jhn . Dvsn
Thnk y fr yr spprt.
[Davison is banned for a reason. He is abusive, repetitive, and damned stupid. If you want to be his mouthpiece and echo his stupidity for him, there’s an easy solution: you’ll be banned, too.
There’s another important principle here: don’t make me work any harder than I have to. People who don’t abide by the rules cause me extra work, and I won’t tolerate it.
This is your only warning.
–pzm]
I am not Davison’s mouthpiece. I only consider his Manifesto something that should be treated with more respect while it is more substantial explanation of mystery of life as darwinism.
Btw. I have never observed professor John Davison to be abusive on the Brainstorm. And there were reason I would say.
I also see no reason why you call me “echo of his stupidity”. I have never call you an “echo of atheistic stupidity” – even if it is my opinion. I also didn’t call your friends here “echo of atheistic stupidity” – and it is my opinion as well. I never abuse my partners in discussion as first.