Uh-oh


So Jason Rosenhouse finally gets tenure (entirely on the basis of his craven obedience to the bidding of the jack-booted atheist thugs of academia, of course…) and then what happens? He reveals the man behind the mask. We’ve been played.

Most tenure contracts have some kind of ‘moral turpitude’ clause so you can still get rid of criminals, dangerous lunatics, and disgusting creeps. Does being openly religious qualify?

Comments

  1. weeks says

    Bound to happen. When you have opressive cultures of any kind people resort to underground and infiltration tactics. Have to do it myself. Hide the southern accent. Act like those that are not white males are the best things since sliced bread. Yep. Yep. Play the game if you want a job.

    I belong to the Darwinists but do see the opressiveness of both sides.

  2. says

    Yes, did you infidels and evilutionists think that someone wouldn’t finally catch on to your little game, think things through, and come out in favor of the designer after getting tenure?

    It’s tough sitting through all of the propaganda about “evidence” and “correlations” between related organisms, when all it takes is one look to see design. But I knew that Jason could pull it off.

    Expelled was right, suppression alone keeps people like Jason spouting the inanities of science, that killing force which Ben Stein so ably exposed. I just can’t figure out how it is that so many tenured professors still refuse to blow the lid on that religion, Darwinism…

    Must be the terror and intimidation that they go through prior to tenure. Maybe Jason’s courageous stand will allow the thousands of biologists chafing under the Darwinist yoke to finally reveal themselves, and truth will finally prevail. You know it’s going to happen eventually, why not now?

    Glen Davidson
    http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7

  3. bernarda says

    weeks, “Have to do it myself. Hide the southern accent.” Just like Senator John Edwards.

  4. Man of Science says

    Okay, so he’s a professor of mathematics. How does this involve religion or Darwin?!? Mathematics is a pure science, based on proofs and such. If he starts to teach how Jesus can be found in differential equations, then I’d worry. It sounds like he’s believing he was hounded all along, but I would guess it’s all in his mind, just like his religious beliefs. He’s educated, but he’s still a moron.

  5. David Marjanović, OM says

    Most tenure contracts have some kind of ‘moral turpitude’ clause so you can still get rid of criminals, dangerous lunatics, and disgusting creeps.

    Really? In France, the joke goes, once you’re tenured you can only be fired if you kill your boss, his wife, and their children.

  6. Leigh Shryock says

    I’m going to go out on a very long limb here and declare Poe. :)

  7. David Marjanović, OM says

    Out of seven commentators, three have overlooked the “humor” tag and failed to read the joke itself? It makes me weep.

  8. Olliedog says

    Is that a spoof or something?

    No *really,* I can’t tell. I looked at his blog… evil Darwinists, etc… Is that guy for real?

    Ollie

  9. says

    So what are you waiting for, PZ? Terminate him using the microchip implanted when he got his childhood inoculations. You know, the chip from the project we code-named ‘Mark of the Beast’.

    Ha ha, those Xians could never have foreseen our nefarious plan to destroy morality, since ‘Mark of the Beast’ was probably never been mentioned in the Bible (which we can’t possibly have read, since we’d all be Xians if we had).

    Now, on another topic, does anyone know what’s going on with the Western Canada fossil supplier? I’m supposed to be seeding the Horseshoe Canyon formation with fakes before the school year ends and the ‘science’ camps start, but my latest shipment is missing the coded sheets that tell you how many ‘millions’ of years ago these fossils are supposed to have been ‘radiometrically dated’ to.

  10. Ric Ford says

    Damn Leigh, you beat me to it. I was gonna call Poe on it. Either that or an awesome Socal wannabe ….

    ….or a complete muppet.

  11. weeks says

    bernarda:

    Edwards is not an academic. He is elected by those others than effete snobs.

  12. says

    One of the lasting effects of the whole “Beware the Believers” saga is that, in moments like this, part of the sound from the second video runs through my head. I blame the catchy funny voice.

    “Hang on, what’s this now? Hang on- wait a second. OH NOES*. No, don’t you do it to me don’t do it to me- (SLAM) D’OH!”

    *Yeah, ok, so the *video* doesn’t add the ‘s’, but my brain does. And sometimes when I say OH NOES out loud, I add the accent, although no one I know gets the reference. Like I said, it’s catchy.

  13. says

    I’m not familiar with Jason Rosenhouse so I am having a hard time telling if his post is a parody or not. PZ’s ‘humor’ tag helps, but I’m not sure it’s enough. If only there was a law for this kind of confusion…

  14. says

    And of course, mathematicians can do all of those numbery things that biologists can’t do. You know, no free lunch, counting up the changes that have to occur between a cow and a whale (one almost wonders if Berlinski is a deep mole on the side of EVIL sometimes, then he gets all supercilious again, and we know it’s just him), calculating irreducible complexity.

    You’re in for it now, Jason’s out of the closet, and he has a calculator. All of those biologists who don’t know what a number is will soon find out, don’t you worry about that!

    Glen D
    http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7

  15. says

    Seriously, to all who are wondering, this is definitely a spoof. Surely this is not believable (from the link):

    Sure, I went along. I participated in all those morbidly anti-religious initiation rites professors are forced into but agree not to talk about.

    Glen D
    http://tinyurl.com/2kxyc7

  16. Fred says

    “Get back to me after ten years of study, and then you will have earned the right to comprehend my brilliance.”

    That man is absolutely full of himself. Can’t say that this ego doesn’t fit the caricature of a hardcore creationist, though.

  17. says

    If only there was a law for this kind of confusion…
    Posted by: RWHouchin | May 8, 2008

    Houchin’s Law?

  18. Chris says

    I have no problem with someone being openly religious as long as they don’t preach that theirs is the One True Religion™, and that we must throw people who teach evolution in jail or execute people who perform abortions.

    You can’t stop people from believing irrational crap. You can certainly annoy them by arguing with them. Being confronted by facts, evidence, and logical arguments will really piss them off.

    Treating God as a metaphor is OK (and does not exist beyond the confines of your skull). Treating God as some all powerful angry white guy who will cast you into the fiery pits for not giving money to His anointed televangelists is not.

  19. weeks says

    Even if it is a spoof it does show some elements of truth in what one would have to do to survive in academia as a creationist.

    Creationism is bunk to me. But Ben Stein is right. Academics are oppressive.

  20. Jeremy says

    “…chafing under the Darwinist yoke”

    That really is priceless Glen. Keep up the good work!

  21. Jason Failes says

    #22: “Academics are oppressive.”

    …of bad ideas, and by oppress, I mean criticize.

  22. Elf Eye says

    Wait until the cdesign proponentists take him seriously and start quote mining him. You won’t be laughing then.

  23. ishmael9913 says

    I particularly enjoyed the darwinian octopus has it’s tentacles entrenched bit… hmmm… cephalopods…hmmm….

  24. Confused says

    Poes law hurts my brain. I figured the original post for a spoof, but some of the comments on this thread are pushing my ability to call it…

  25. pough says

    I’ve been highly suspicious of him ever since he admitted to enjoying a talk by Berlinski.

  26. Rob says

    DUH!!! Wake the $&#@% up!

    It’s a spoof, through and through. Rosenhouse is brilliant.

  27. JCG says

    It’s definitely a spoof, this part is a direct Jonathan Wells quote…

    But I knew I could do it. Father’s words, my studies and my prayers convinced me I should devote my life to destroying Darwinism.

    Great satire though, considering how many people were fooled.

  28. AJ Hawks says

    Most tenure contracts have some kind of ‘moral turpitude’ clause so you can still get rid of criminals, dangerous lunatics, and disgusting creeps. Does being openly religious qualify?

    Talk like that just fuels their fires man.

    Hearing you say that almost makes me believe there’s some truth to Expelled.

  29. says

    PZ didn’t help things by writing his own post up so deadpan.

    Since I wasn’t familiar with Dr. Rosenhouse, I thought at first that this was legit. Well, actually, I thought “What?! This has got to be a joke.”

    Then I did additional research, e.g. I read Rosenhouse’s post.

  30. Bill Dauphin says

    See what I meant over in the Portland thread when I said the public reaction was part of the art?

    ;^)

  31. G Lloyd says

    If this really is “Poe”, let it be used as the best illustration in every skeptics text book.

  32. Mike says

    Nothing tops the Norma Lee original, “Ask Jesus (to come set on your heart)”

  33. firemancarl says

    Does this mean he goes to heaven now that he has repented for eating all of those babies?

  34. Fred Nurke says

    “comprehend my brilliance”
    whatever happened to:
    “Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty look before a fall” ?

    What a hypocrite, what a surprise.

  35. says

    Jason Rosenhouse (if that’s even his real name) must be stopped before he blows the lid on our nefarious agenda of polluting mythology with reality.

    I suggest we feed him only enough information to make him look foolish and paranoid as we have with the others. If word gets out that they’re actually onto something and people start listening, we’re in huge trouble. Dare I say, society could even collapse.

  36. Jams says

    Ignore this scum covering for Rosenhouse. They’re plants. That wasn’t satire. We must be vigilant. Hold the line. Hold the line!

  37. Don says

    If he can just maintain the spoof long enough to grab the Templeton Prize…

  38. says

    …and I suppose the fact that PZ filed this under humor was suppose to be a clue as well.*

    * I call Poe’s law on all the people who claim that they couldn’t tell it’s a spoof and on all the people who think that the people who claim they couldn’t tell it was a spoof really couldn’t tell it was a spoof…errr… or something like that.

  39. says

    * I call Poe’s law on all the people who claim that they couldn’t tell it’s a spoof and on all the people who think that the people who claim they couldn’t tell it was a spoof really couldn’t tell it was a spoof…errr… or something like that.

    Posted by: No One of Consequence

    That’s just what they want you to think!

  40. hje says

    The real reason it is difficult to tell Jason’s parody from reality is that there has been a steady parade of lies, deliberate misrepresentations, and disingenuous speech and behavior from the creo-ID crowd. The “stealthy” tactics of the producers and proponents of Expelled represent the culmination of these efforts–and they revel in their deceptions. But here is a problem with the practice of lying–it corrupts one character absolutely, so that in the end the distinction between lies and truth becomes irrelevant, and at that point anything is possible.

  41. s1mplex says

    weeks:
    I belong to the Darwinists but do see the opressiveness [sic] of both sides…

    Edwards is not an academic. He is elected by those others than effete snobs…

    Creationism is bunk to me. But Ben Stein is right. Academics are oppressive.

    Thank you for your concern…

    …trolling, that is.

    Make an argument or fuck off, you fraudulent asshole.

  42. Schmeer says

    Brownian!
    You forgot to close the /evil_atheist_secret_communication tags! Noooooooooooo! That message went out unencrypted over teh intertubes!

  43. Rey Fox says

    Vercotti: Darwinists… (takes a drink) Well, I was terrified. Everyone was terrified of Darwinists. I’ve seen grown men pull their own heads off rather than debate them. Even Ben Stein is frightened of Dawrinists.

    2nd Interviewer: What do they do?

    Vercotti: They use… sarcasm. They know all the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and… satire. They’re vicious.

  44. Alex says

    David at #9

    “Out of seven commentators, three have overlooked the “humor” tag and failed to read the joke itself? It makes me weep.”

    Boy was your comment premature.

    Listen everyone, IMHO I think it’s very safe to say that this is sarcasm/humor. The tag, PZs comments, and then the ridiculous post itself screams sarcasm.

  45. Sloan says

    Vercotti: They use… sarcasm. They know all the tricks, dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and… satire. They’re vicious.

    DINSDALE!!!

  46. Arrowsmith says

    Wait! Stop! If another person reading this bolg reads this in Jason’s original post:

    “Make a graph whose vertices are all possible genotypes with two vertices connected if they are one mutational step away from each other. That graph is isomorphic to a Cayley graph of a certain matrix group with respect to a standard generating set. (Surely that’s obvious?)…”

    and does not recognize it immediately for what it is, I will engage my own tunicate genes. Having my brain digested is the only way to deal with this level of credulity. How is it people have become so irony deficient?

  47. Nullifidian says

    The real reason it is difficult to tell Jason’s parody from reality is that there has been a steady parade of lies, deliberate misrepresentations, and disingenuous speech and behavior from the creo-ID crowd.

    No, the real reason that it is difficult to tell Jason’s parody from reality is that PZ has been consistently ramping up the anti-religious rhetoric and attracting a crowd here for their daily two minutes hate. Such a crowd is easily led, and when PZ’s rhetoric rather neatly tied into his usual fare–it really says something that calling for the firing of any religious professors with tenure is called “deadpan” in this context–they couldn’t get a read on what their leader was thinking, so they went by appearances and started lobbing insults here and on Dr. Rosenhouse’s blog.

    In short, this is what you get when reading the Little Green Footballs of the scienceblogs domain.

  48. Sven DiMilo says

    the Little Green Footballs of the scienceblogs domain

    I’ll take Obscure Internet Metaphors for $200, Alex.

  49. says

    No, the real reason that it is difficult to tell Jason’s parody from reality is that PZ has been consistently ramping up the anti-religious rhetoric and attracting a crowd here for their daily two minutes hate.

    Of course. PZ knew that Rosenhouse was about to get tenure, and he suspected that that once the mathematician felt he was safe, he would pull off his Darwinist mask (hey, PZ has “tentacles” listening in lots of places). So, for the past several weeks, P-Zed did his job as Evilutionary Superscientist, pulling in the angry crowds with lurid stories and cheap shots guaranteed to provoke discussion. . . all so that his unwitting legion would be ready and eager to march upon the defector!

    Geez, it’s like people forget that the Evil Atheist Conspiracy is, you know, a conspiracy.

  50. Pablo says

    The real reason it is difficult to tell Jason’s parody from reality is that there has been a steady parade of lies, deliberate misrepresentations, and disingenuous speech and behavior from the creo-ID crowd.

    I think the phrase is “air of plausibility.” Pretty sad that something so dumb would sound plausible.

  51. Hank Roberts says

    Look, you guys are framing this all wrong.
    Remember, the first weekend doesn’t matter. This is only a serious problem if the number of people confused by it has doubled, at least, by the end of the _second_ weekend.

    And if they do stay fooled, I hope he’s got a tip jar open and has warned his departmental secretary to be expecting grant offers from, er, unfamiliar sponsoring organizations for his research.

  52. says

    PZ wrote: “He reveals the man behind the mask. We’ve been played.”

    Ah, we must crush him! Everyone, it is time to break out the deadliest and most fearsome weapon in our arsenal: set your “snark-o-trons” to “sarcastic” and “biting”! :)

  53. Joe Lapp says

    PROOF THAT JASON IS JOKING:

    To convincingly mask one’s view requires mental sophistication and self-restraint.

    No creationist has either mental sophistication or self-restraint.

    Therefore, no creationist can convincingly mask his view.

    Suppose Jason has been convincingly masking his view. Suppose also that he is a creationist. Contradiction. One or both of the assumptions is false. Either Jason is not a creationist or (equivalently) he has not been masking his pro-science views.

    Therefore, Jason is just pulling a publicity stunt. QED

  54. Mac Wilson says

    This is honestly one of the best displays of Poe’s Law I’ve ever seen. Well done…I think.

  55. says

    Wow. This is some of the most infuriatingly hilarious commentary on a post I have ever seen. Come on, people…it’s actually very funny, and if you keep on not getting it, you’re going to make me squirt milk out of my nose. Or blow a vein in my eye.

  56. says

    The real question is, does Poe’s law say more about the creationists, or about evolutionists?

    I mean, it could mean that evolutionists have stereotyped creationists so much that they can’t….

    Oh, who am I kidding? YECs are such wackaloons that you just can’t tell truth from fiction.

  57. ennui says

    Parody? On a science blog? On the Internet? Wait! The Internet!?! They have that on computers now?

    I fear that even all the empathy and experience of Etha will not be enough… We aren’t gonna make it.

  58. says

    Clearly, the internet is serious business.

    I don’t know which is funnier: The people believing Jason’s sincere, or the people bitching about the people believing Jason’s sincere.

    I think Jason Rosenhouse needs a cookie.

  59. Josh West says

    At least he’s in Mathematics. It’ll be hard for him to introduce Intelligent Addition to the literature.

  60. Jams says

    These attempts to grant Rosenhouse an air of plausible deniability are not to be taken seriously. We have been watching Rosenhouse for some time now, and are more than aware of his “tendencies”.

    Do not be fooled. This is the real deal.

  61. TheWireMonkey says

    Um, folks, if you read some of his other posts and links, it is clear that he is not on the side of creationists. This was a parody. Poe’s Law strikes again.

  62. says

    If he can just maintain the spoof long enough to grab the Templeton Prize…

    Now that would be some freakin’ awesome Sokaling.

  63. Mohamed says

    Chris: “What do you do at a Young Republicans meeting?”
    Alyssa: “We help those who already have the means to help themselves. Also, we perpetuate the idea that Jesus chose America to destroy non-believers and brown people.”
    Chris: “I don’t know why, but I feel safer already. “

  64. Colugo says

    There is only one way to settle this: Subject Rosenhouse to the Voight-Kampff test!

    New glossary:

    PseudoPoe: Mock fundamentalism is actually crypto-fundamentalism disguising itself with the sheepskin of irony.

    HyperPoe: People denouncing Rosenhouse are ‘indignation Poes’ pretending to be outraged but are really in on the joke.

    PseudoHyperPoe: Alternatively, Rosenhouse denouncers are actually pro-fundamentalist accomplices attempting to make anti-creationists look bad, part of the deceptive faux-mockery of fundamentalism.

    Poe will eat itself.

  65. rob says

    it’s not a spoof! he is really an anti-darwinist! here is the mathematical proof!

    first take the ascii values of the letters in “jason rosenhouse” then substract 32 to convert each to the uppercase ascii value. then convert those to hex, then into binary and back to decimal. now raise e to the natural log of each value and convert *those* values back to the letter each represents in ascii. if you write out the letters in reverse order they spell:

    “WWFSMD?”

  66. says

    There is only one way to settle this: Subject Rosenhouse to the Voight-Kampff test!

    “You are walking along the seashore and you see a tiktaalik—”

    “What’s a tiktaalik?”

    “Ever see a half-amphibian, half-fish?”

    “Of course.”

    “Same thing. You reach down and flip the tiktaalik on its back. . .”

    Later:

    “You’re reading a magazine, when you come across a full-page nude photograph of William Dembski. . . .”

  67. Jams says

    The World Wide Federation to Smite Modern Darwinists.

    Yes. It all falls into place.

  68. V says

    Ha ha! You fools! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is never get involved in a land war in Asia, but only slightly less well-known is this: never go in against a PZ when Poe is on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha…

  69. says

    Here’s a great opportunity to remind ourselves to minimize our dependence on authority (even if the authority is Jason). I know it’s impossible to avoid a complete dependence on authority of all kinds, especially if you’re an ignorant lay son-of-a-Chiropractor like myself.

    I say laugh along, regardless of whatever side Jason is “really” on. Clearly he has provided skeptics with plenty to laugh about!

    We are entertained.

  70. says

    Whatever you do, don’t ask him about his mother!

    The last guy to do a Voigt-Kampff on one of these Nexus 6 creationists got a hole blown in his guts for his troubles.

    That’s why they brought me in. To retire him.

  71. says

    What? Have I shown a lack of empathy for my fellow (purportedly) man? Are you afraid I might go all Batty on you?

  72. says

    @#74 ennui —

    Parody? On a science blog? On the Internet? Wait! The Internet!?! They have that on computers now?

    I fear that even all the empathy and experience of Etha will not be enough… We aren’t gonna make it.

    No! My empathy for those who have been misled by satire, combined with my experience at recognizing satire…

    Aw fuck, you’re right. It’s officially the end of teh internetz. Well, it’s been fun, guys….*waits for technoRapture*

  73. Cheezits says

    Come on, people…it’s actually very funny, and if you keep on not getting it, you’re going to make me squirt milk out of my nose.

    Now *that* would be funny.

  74. says

    Etha,

    Are only 144,000 people going to be techno-raptured or will it be many orders of magnitude greater than that?

    Tell me! I want to believe!

  75. says

    PZ wrote: “Are you afraid I might go all Batty on you?”

    Personally, all I know is this: if I’m in the room and you suddenly say, “Let me tell you about my mother,” I’m hitting the deck…

  76. Santiago says

    Hahaha, it really is a sad day when this can be confused with anything other than parody, but Poe’s law will never cease to surprise us, I guess.

  77. Colugo says

    1858 AD: Darwin’s friend Charles Babbage constructs an Analytical Engine – purportedly designed to be a mere computer, but which is in fact a time machine (and uncannily resembles an early 21st Century talk show desk).

    4004 BC: Darwin travels back in time to the Rift Valley of East Africa (AKA the Garden of Eden) to end the tyranny of the Demiurge by giving Mitochondrial Eve and Y Chromosome Adam the gift of Science, bringing Dust into our world and creating a paradoxical time loop. In doing so, Darwin becomes the archetype for Lucifer/Prometheus, the deity worshiped by all later scientists.

    33 AD: On the way back to his own time to commit his ultimate blasphemy against God (publishing The Origin), Darwin pierces the crucified Christ’s side with a gear stick of the Analytical Engine in order to ensure that He does not reinstate His father’s reign of primordial ignorance. However, the nano-meds provided by Christ’s father Jor-El (the Demiurge) regenerate His tissues within three days. Christ swears revenge on Darwin, constructing a ceramic transistor android which is programmed to lay in wait in for the construction of Babbage’s machine and obliterate it along with Darwin. The android is accidentally activated in Prague in 1582 and is destroyed … mostly.

    1979: A 10-year-old cdesign proponentsist supragenius (Intelligence: 21, Alignment: Lawful Neutral) discovers the sole remaining part of the Golem of Prague, a forearm and hand, and uses the advanced technology to build his own set of creationist replicants – which are destined to be a sleeper cell deeply embedded in the bowels of intertubes Darwinist anti-Godism.

  78. says

    Etha Williams (#94):

    Aw fuck, you’re right. It’s officially the end of teh internetz. Well, it’s been fun, guys….*waits for technoRapture*

    No no no, it’s pronounced “Singularity”.

    PZ Myers (#93):

    Are you afraid I might go all Batty on you?

    You may think you have covered your tracks, but we know your record is not, shall we say, Pris-tine.

  79. says

    Seriously, folks. This is not about Darwin vs. Jesus. It’s tenure that’s to blame for all this. Look at what that kind of power can do to a guy!

  80. hje says

    No, the real reason that it is difficult to tell Jason’s parody from reality is that PZ has been consistently ramping up the anti-religious rhetoric and attracting a crowd here for their daily two minutes hate.

    Oh, really? Has PZ been hiding his dislike of the foibles and hypocrisy of the religious? I mean the tagline for the site is “Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal.”

    I’m guessing you haven’t found any of that “hatin’ ” over at UD and associate’s web sites. They’ve all ratcheted up the lyin’ and hatin’ quite a bit in the last few months, even before Ben Stein’s bold “science is murder” proclamation. Just for fun, read what Denyse thinks about PZ as a person.

    Nobody’s quite to the level of advocating the systematic imprisonment and extermination of scientist–yet–but give the movement time and opportunity, and they’ll get there. Expelled is just paving the way. There is a little demonstration project going on over in Iraq. It shows what the targeted assassination of academics and other professionals can do to successfully advance a sectarian cause. A glimpse of a possible future.

  81. David Marjanović, OM says

    However, the nano-meds provided by Christ’s father Jor-El (the Demiurge)

    ROTFL!!!

    Perhaps you should get a Molly after all. :-)

  82. says

    Colugo, ok that’s amusing but WTF?

    As to people failing to recognize Jason’s parody I’d suggest that this demonstrates either a) a lack of openmindedness or b) a lack of humor.

  83. Sonja says

    People, people — learn how to spell “Poe’s” Law! For those of us using Ctrl-F (find), it looks like no one called it until comment #49 (and it was actually comment #8).

    Still, I thought it would be a lower number…

  84. says

    @#96 Doodle Bean —

    Etha,

    Are only 144,000 people going to be techno-raptured or will it be many orders of magnitude greater than that?

    Tell me! I want to believe!

    Well, there are several schools of thought on this. The largest group, Fundamentalist Decimarians, believe that only 144,000 will be T-raptured; however, the Mainstream Hexidecimarians hold that it will be 1,327,104. This belief is not to be confused with the Hexidecimarian Heresy, which claims that only a very elite 90 people will be raptured; they point to the fact that 144,000 converts into this purely numerical hexidecimal quantity as proof that their belief is the truth. The chmodal Unix Unitarians hold that 144,000 was meant in base-8, and that in fact 51,200 will be raptured.

    There is also the Binarian Cult, which claims that we are not yet ready for the T-Rapture since it will in fact consist of 100011001010000000 people (based on the binary conversion of the decimal quantity), but no one really takes them seriously.

    It’s a very difficult issue, but some of the best Theotechnologians are working night and day on figuring out which is a correct figure. Theology being the progressive science that it is, I’m sure we’ll figure it out eventually. Unless we get T-raptured first…

  85. Ruth says

    “Really? In France, the joke goes, once you’re tenured you can only be fired if you kill your boss, his wife, and their children.”

    According to the Professor in ‘Educating Rita’, you have to buggar the bursar.

  86. Helioprogenus says

    For those who are still unconvinced that it’s a big spoof, you have to read the critical comments. No creationist or IDer would leave those in place. Their egos and irrational thinking are prime for deleting criticism. I had purposely called Poe’s law, and then dissed on mathematics a little (just as dead pan as PZ when linking to it), and yet, my comment remained up.

  87. hje says

    Yow!–I think I’ve fallen for Nullifidian’s meta-parody (#62). It’s getting too deep here.

  88. says

    The current investigations into the scientific veracity of Poe’s Law (surely it’s only a “theory”?) are derivative and flawed. A new, broader, more holistic pandimensional paradigm is required to take this research to the next level.

  89. mikecbraun says

    Wanted to throw in my…DINSDALE! That was a great satire. It had me going for a minute or ten, since I’m not familiar with his blog. I’ll probably read it now. What’s more, Dr. Rosenhouse knows how to treat a female impersonator.

  90. Bob Vogel says

    Wow. Another highly educated liar for Jesus who finally let his cat outta the bag after a great deal of work, time, and sweat. Too bad. Most people will now ignore everything he says because he’s a proven liar. Perhaps his imaginary friend will now listen more and he can count any other negative feedback as “persecution.” Or he can join a fundamentalist church.

    Kudos if this is parody – at least brilliant enough to receive a PZ post. The guy must be loved. I’m thinking Robin Williams in “Mrs. Doubtfire” here. It must’ve been tough for him.

  91. David Marjanović, OM says

    Kudos if this is parody

    Not only is this a parody, it’s an obvious parody, and Rosenhouse has admitted it in his very next post! Also note that he changed the header of his blog back.

  92. Colugo says

    David Marjanović, OM: Thanks, I am flattered indeed!

    Sven DiMilo: “there are holes–huge, gaping holes–in Poe Theory.”

    Do I detect the stirrings of a Neo-Goatseist Synthesis reconciling the gaping holes of both evilutionism and Poe’s Law? On the one hand, the God of the gaps (gapes?) of evolution, on the other, the Schrodinger’s God of ambiguous parodies. God is indeed holey.

  93. MandyDax says

    Wow, that was so funny, especially the comments. Thanks for pointing the way, PZed.

  94. Bob Vogel says

    #115, Dave. And here I always thought I’ve been innoculated against this sort of thing. Just goes to show ya…

    Thanks, tho.

  95. Ichthyic says

    What? Have I shown a lack of empathy for my fellow (purportedly) man? Are you afraid I might go all Batty on you?

    no, we all know that macroevolution is impossible: squids can’t give birth to bats.

  96. says

    I am not so much disturbed as puzzled by the apparent inability of some here to recognise this most blatant of parodies. How is it actually possible to be fooled by this??

  97. Helioprogenus says

    It’s called Poe’s Law #122. Check it out on Wikipedia if you like.

  98. says

    I’m quite aware of Poe’s law. I’ve seen a few parodies here and on other evolution sites where I could grasp the possibility. But this case is such extremely amazingly blantantly obvious parody, that seeing Poe’s law in action is befuddling to me. What are people thinking? Do they really live surrounded by such amazing idiocy that Jason’s comedy looks real? To anyone? srsly?

  99. Cheezits says

    Poe’s Law is just an excuse for getting fooled by fairly obvious parodies. *smirk*

  100. Ichthyic says

    To anyone? srsly?

    this might help:

    go back through the posts here, and list the one’s you think took Jason’s sudden turn as something serious.

  101. says

    This does it. Screw “teaching the controversy” – we need to teach satire in American schools first. LOL.

    I nominate Jason for the Poe Chair of Applied Satire.

  102. says

    David Marjanović, OM:
    Out of seven commentators, three have overlooked the “humor” tag and failed to read the joke itself? It makes me weep.

    I think it is almost impossible to see the difference between jokers and creationists. In Crea/ID issue satire is dead: It can’t compete with real life.

  103. Ygern says

    This is satire, a parody.
    For one thing, evolution and biology are not part of the Math Department, nor is any mathmentician required to teach evolution (or ID).

    For another, the whole article is clearly tongue-in-cheek, using all the cliches of Creationist fears of the jackbooted heels of Science Academia.

  104. Deb says

    ROFL! He had me going at first, lol! But then I got it. Too funny! I can’t wait for the IDiots to see this and break open the non-alcohol champagne to celebrate their “win”!

    Of course then I would love to be a fly on the wall when they realize they’d been had…..(picture an evil grin smiley).