I should have done this


A couple of ladies in Seattle decided to just up and visit the Discovery Institute. No appointments or anything…they just walked up to the door, buzzed the intercom, and got a tour from Casey Luskin.

They’re a bit of a tease, though, posting this in multiple parts. I anxiously await reading more of their encounters.

Comments

  1. Randy says

    Nah, you’re too recognizable. You should’ve sent Richard Dawkins.

    maybe if PZ shaves the beard. then he could move secretly around creationist/ID circles.

  2. student_b says

    Nah, you’re too recognizable. You should’ve sent Richard Dawkins.

    spurt

    Argh, now I need to clean my keyboard again. Damn you coffee, damn you!

  3. Carlie says

    Maybe he can be like Superman – when he has the glasses on, he’s PZ, godless crusader, but if he takes the glasses off, no one there will recognize him.

  4. says

    You would have had to shave your beard first. Otherwise even the dim bulbs of the Disco Institute would have recognized you and imprisoned you in their on-site dungeon. Their dungeon is probably irreducibly complex, too: No lock, no dungeon. No door, no dungeon. I’ll bet it’s a converted supply closet, remodeled by an intelligent designer.

    On the other hand, I have known supply closets to evolve naturally into dungeons all on their own, without a guiding intelligence. But eventually someone else in the office notices and lets you out.

  5. Sastra says

    I was at the county fair yesterday, and decided to ‘crash’ (ok, visit) the Young Earth Creationist booth. They had the whole ball of wax there, including running Ken Ham videos, and a dice for you to throw so you could see how “improbable” life was. I had about 15 minutes of friendly argument with the enthusiastic and incredibly naive pair running it.

    Favorite highlights: being shown a rock from South America which was carved with a very implausible drawing of an Aztec or something running away from a Tyrannosaurus Rex — positive proof that dinosaurs were still around with humans! When I said “that’s a hoax,” the response was “maybe” — and then they brought up the Paluxy footprints.

    After being told that creationism was indeed science, I asked where the experimental laboratories were. The nice young man swept his arm across the air to indicate the YEC booth, the county fair, and the fairgoers, and triumphantly proclaimed “HERE! This is Creationism’s lab!”

    Uh huh. I look forward to reading the reports from the ladies in Seattle, but suspect even Casey Luskin will be a bit more sophisticated. Though I bet they won’t have a real lab either.

  6. Neil Schipper says

    The other side attracts 10,000 people to well-organized events. Our side gets two self-absorbed, intoxicated, honesty-impaired women harassing an office. And we proclaim victory? Reminds me of the Palestinians flashing victory signs after a bombing in a market.

  7. Rowan says

    Casey Luskin, the archetypal IDiot….

    If you can stand the braincramp I encourage anyone to email him at cluskin@discovery.org

    I had a 2-3 month email debate with him earlier this year and his ramblings never fail to amuse. Unfortunately it ended when he slithered out of it. My last mail to him was back in March, I am still waiting for his response……

  8. Deepsix says

    Sounds like an interesting adventure. But I HATE posts that are done in a series. Someone let me know how it ends.

  9. Pierce R. Butler says

    No appointments or anything…they just walked up to the door, buzzed the intercom…

    Isn’t that the way Ben Stein did it?

  10. says

    Casey, stupid? The man who wrote the following?

    Intelligent agents ‘re-use’ functional components that work over and over in different systems (e.g.,
    wheels for cars and airplanes):

    “An intelligent cause may reuse or redeploy the same module in different systems, without there necessarily being any material or physical connection between those systems. Even more simply, intelligent causes can generate identical patterns independently.”5

    Let’s see, what we’ve got there is a real ID prediction, one that fails immediately. OK, that’s about as stupid as one can get while remaining a proponent of ID. Or IOW, a typical IDiot.

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

  11. Owlmirror says

    Favorite highlights: being shown a rock from South America which was carved with a very implausible drawing of an Aztec or something running away from a Tyrannosaurus Rex — positive proof that dinosaurs were still around with humans!

    Was that an Ica Stone?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ica_stones

  12. minusRusty says

    got a tour from Casey Luskin

    Ewe! Ick!!

    That’s nearly a perfect reason not to visit Disco I.

  13. JohnW says

    Neil, #9:
    “The other side attracts 10,000 people to well-organized events. Our side gets two self-absorbed, intoxicated, honesty-impaired women harassing an office. And we proclaim victory? Reminds me of the Palestinians flashing victory signs after a bombing in a market.”

    Our side also has libraries full of evidence, thousands of ongoing fruitful lines of research, and well over 10,000 people working in the field. Their side has well-organised events and, um…

  14. DavidONE says

    maybe if PZ shaves the beard. then he could move secretly around creationist/ID circles.

    Or if he removed the glasses, donned a cape and wore his pants (British version) outside his tights, then no one would know who he was.

  15. Lilly de Lure says

    John W said:

    Our side also has libraries full of evidence, thousands of ongoing fruitful lines of research, and well over 10,000 people working in the field. Their side has well-organised events and, um…

    Bueller?

    Bueller?

    (Sorry, couldn’t resist)

  16. says

    Thanks for that, PZ. The response has been pretty great, and to those who are waiting for the next installment, it’ll be up soon, I promise.

    Thanks again!

    tiana

  17. Holbach says

    Sure would love to get into that house of insanity! First off, I would have made a sign that said “WELCOME TO FANTASYLAND- FORMERLY INSANE LAND”, and then when I was let in with that religious retard look on my face, I would plant the sign near the door for visual and shock value. Oh yes, and I would add a smaller sign under it that said; “Do not remove this sign under penalty of eternal damnation”- god”. And then once inside I would writhe on the floor in abject dementia and babble Swahili in lieu of glossolalia for that insane religious effect. What happens next is a wild card. Wild pandemonium by the retards, or a Swat team to remove the sacriligious defiler, or mass suicide by the inmates of the Deranged Institute over the incursion by a rational individual. The latter scenario will be the preferred effect!

  18. Gregory Kusnick says

    I live literally right across the street from the DI and walk past their door almost every day. Creeps me out every time. Never quite had the nerve to go up and ring the bell, though, so kudos to these ladies for giving it a try.

  19. Holbach says

    Gregory Kusnick @ 24 Across the street from the Deranged Institute? Wow, if you were so inclined, during this coming Halloween you could pull all sorts of pranks just short of physical damage, such as placing signs of a mocking nature at the door, or a simple well-designed and official sign that said, “Municipal Dump” or of a more purposeful nature alluding to the inmates remanded to their place of dubious employment, such as “The Deranged Institute For The Mentally Challenged”. Oh what the hell, set a bag of shit on fire, ring the bell and run! So much more meaningful in the way of association and a riot to boot!

  20. Qwerty says

    I am sure Casey enjoyed their flattery as even dumb guys like to feel flattered. Hell, even gay guys like me enjoy it when I am flattered by a woman or a man.

    Rum will make one do funny things. I stay away from it. I think it’s lethal.

  21. Bride of Shrek OM says

    On a related anecdote of being pissed in “anti-atheist” places, I can fondly admit to being pissed in church at least once a year in my youth. Anyone ever tried going to midnight mass on Christmas Eve when you’ve been out partying, you stagger home and your family insist on your coming along “for Grandma’s sake”? For some reason they insisted on doing the whole manger/baby/donkey thing enactment and one very beer lubricated year I remember the donkey dropping a turd the size of a volkswagon up near the alter. Needless to say I bellowed with delight and the bastard priest asked my parents to remove me.