It’s true…it’s a webcomic that jests at the expense of Pharyngula and you readers. We must be offended! Are there any legislatures we can fire up to condemn webcomics?
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
I congratulate everyone.
We could deny them shimmies.
I didn’t laugh; “furries” creep me out, and yes, I’m feeling pretty self-congratulatory. *pats own back*
Congrats! You know you’ve well and truly arrived when…
Screw ’em. I can laugh at myself.That’s something Ken Ham and Ray Comfort don’t have….
OH CHRIST FURRIES!
Run away people! RUN!!
And don’t stop until you reach the gun store.
Bah. They’re just pissed because it’s unlikely they’ll ever have genetically manipulated snouts or tails.
Seriously though, does seem odd for a furry to be complaining about others being all about one thing or another.
*yawn*
hahaha, that gave me a good laugh.
First of all… furries! *shudder*
But wait, is this REALLY at our expense? I find it hilarious that there’s a (slightly exaggarated) reference to how threatened some people feel by our posts on the internet! That’s the true fun, really!
Arrgh! My subcultures are all converging! I’m a furry, a scientist, a Pharyngula reader AND an atheist! Oh, and before the haters start, I just wanna point out that like anything, ‘furry’ is a very broad category; I’ve never, ever worn a ‘fursuit’, or attended a convention, and I don’t plan on either anytime soon. I also yell at people for saying Coelenterate. :)
Ugh, but they’re just *so* scientifically ignorant… they can’t even draw realistic quadrupeds…
anyway, last week in class someone asked of they had guns in Jesus’ time. How ignorant can you get?
agouti-rex wrote:
Actually, I’m curious about this. What percentage of Pharyngula commenters are scientists?
*raises hand*
I may regret this but….
then what makes you a furry?
I’m impressed they can spell erlenmeyer.
I don’t think I’ve seen a cartoon so maladroit before.
Mocked by furries?
Words fail me.
Well if it’s an open thread on self-congratulation, I’d just like to say this:
Bride you did an excellent job of shampooing the carpet this morning and your ta-tas aren’t too bad after having three kids.
It probably comes over as self-congratulatory to the deluded and demented when rational people argue amongst themselves.
There’s a reason that scientists or for that matter anyone with the tiniest bit of knowledge,or at least a desire to learn gets mocked and accused of having their noses up in certain parts of the world(Im not saying the O-word…)
But do I care…..
*raises hand*
Speaking as a paperpushing bureaucrat, I’m sick and tired of being sneered at by you sciency types. You deride me for the inability to integrate e to the x or not knowing the difference between α3β4 and α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. You mock, but when you want help writing your grant request, then my ass becomes kissing sweet.
So there, nyah. :^P
Mock me, shall they? I think not.
The next comic in the strip is interesting too.
I LOVE YOU THE MOST PZ!
Thus space BoS,OM:
Before we can all join in a chorus of fulsome praise, I think we’ll need to see the photographs — of the ta-tas, not the carpet.
must. resist. carpet. joke.
*raises hand too*
Nahhh…we love you, man. I mean, you brought the single malt, right?
Right…?
Im afraid those photographs are protected by australian copyright laws and can only be watched in the country of origin.(so send them over…:D)
Stop mocking us. I DEMAND that you stop mocking us!
Oh, shit! Furries! Courtney! Courtney, get me my gun!
Does computer science count?
James,
I’m not even a graduate. Just a nobody.
BTW the next panel on the site is pretty good too.
(I note they can’t spell Dr. Myers’ name).
@#29:
AHAHAHA! Fuck off, troll.
I see that you do not wish to die today.
Kel,
Theoretical computer science is probably more akin to mathematics, but applied computer science surely does. Do you research and publish? :)
Right…
because Furries have *SO* much room for mocking others. :^)
And just to keep things in the proper spirit, I think this comment is hilarious; I’m so clever with my sarcasm and sass-a-frass mannerisms.
At #13, James F wrote:
Not a scientist.
So I really, really appreciate all you scientists letting me hang out with you here, and read all the awesome sciency stuff you write with all those smarty-pants sciency terms, and let me comment, and don’t make fun of me when I do.
What percentage of Pharyngula commenters are scientists?
*raises hand, too*
Biologist, might i add…
I love you the most PZ!!! Even more than Newfie!
I’m not, but I can act like one if I need to. I’ve got a lab coat and everything. I even wear it at work.
Are furries even like -allowed- to mock people?
http://www.brunching.com/images/geekchartbig.gif
THEY’RE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE GEEK CHART. :/
OMG! Call the ACLU! Call the National Association for the Advancement of Godless People! We should sue their asses!
LOL furries, fail rodents of the Intertoobs.
*will raise his hand in a couple of years*
Wow, im absolutely offended!
How can such filth be allowed on the internet? We need to take action people, and stop allowing them to oppress us!
Not a scientist either; I liken being here to my experiences as a drummer – hanging around with the people who do know what the hell they’re doing.
Though this isn’t necessarily true of all drummers, of course – it was just I was bloody terrible at it…
The existence of Unix nerds would make his head explode. I’m just a lowly netadmin and science groupy but I’ve never felt put down here.
I call myself a cuttlefish, but now I have to worry–
Can one be an invertebrate, but still be called a furry?
I would have thought it simple, but the line seems rather blurry;
If someone here could clue me in, I truly hope they’d hurry!
*raises hand*
(physics)
(Patting self on the back while raising a hand.) Hmm… our cephalopod hordes and sperm whale commandos aren’t ready yet, and our fishy Kiwi friend is still working on his mutants. And the web site said I couldn’t do anything due to being an a banned list. And PZs jackboots and cyberpistols are still in transit. So, it’s Saturday night, so the only left to do is drink more libations. Hic.
http://www.amazon.ca/s/ref=nb_ss_b?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=P.Z.+Myers&x=0&y=0
you should write a book, PZ, so that I can be the first to buy it, thus showing my greater love than Heather…. and rid Canada of the this horrible Amazon search result.
I can’t quite imagine swarms of people fighting each other over who loves me the most, though — there are too many haytas out there.
And furries are ok, let ’em be who they want to be. I just wish they wouldn’t call us ceph-emulators “slimies”.
…and they couldn’t even get the mockery right!
Define scientist.
I’m just a lab technician. Does that count?
Does computer science count?
Not now, not ever. Says the man with a CS degree.
My response to this is “…and?”
That’s pretty much a non-argument, as far as responding to anything in particular we’ve ever said here. Sure, we’re kind of wanky sometimes, but that doesn’t make us on the whole wrong about anything.
Nope, I’m a lazy shit student who got a degree then headed out into the real world to make my way.
Do undergrads doing research count as scientists? If so, count me in. If not, I’m sad.
I know part of this is already posted, but its too full of awesomes to pass up:
“Honestly, I like Pharyngula blog quite a bit, but I can’t read the comments there since it’s all just a lot of OH LOOK AREN’T WE CLEVER TEE HEE WE IS SCIENTISTS AND THE LAITY IS SOOOOOO DUMB, HEY GUYS GET THIS TODAY I WAS AT THE MALL AND I HEARD A GUY SAY SOMETHING ABOUT COELENTERATES AND I WAS ALL ‘HEY BREEDER IT’S CNIDARIA! FUCK YOU AND YOUR CROTCHFRUIT’ THEN I TOTALLY BEAT HIM UP FOR BEING SCIENTIFICALLY IGNORANT AND I’M PRETTY COOL, RIGHT GUYS HIGHFIVE!!Honestly, I like Pharyngula blog quite a bit, but I can’t read the comments there since it’s all just a lot of OH LOOK AREN’T WE CLEVER TEE HEE WE IS SCIENTISTS AND THE LAITY IS SOOOOOO DUMB, HEY GUYS GET THIS TODAY I WAS AT THE MALL AND I HEARD A GUY SAY SOMETHING ABOUT COELENTERATES AND I WAS ALL ‘HEY BREEDER IT’S CNIDARIA! FUCK YOU AND YOUR CROTCHFRUIT’ THEN I TOTALLY BEAT HIM UP FOR BEING SCIENTIFICALLY IGNORANT AND I’M PRETTY COOL, RIGHT GUYS HIGHFIVE!!”
“You and Your Crotchfruit” is my new favorite candidate for a rock and/or roll song.
(also, someone needs to teach me how to do that cool HTML sidebar quote-y thing. thanks!)
Do scientists-to-be count?
*raises hand hopefully*
holy cow! it got posted!
And… now never to look at this thread again… yeesh, the comments are painful.
Ah well, cya
Nope, just a science cheerleader.
(Paging Naked Bunny with a Whip — can you tell us why the furries don’t like us?)
Same. Except I detoured through Wyoming and Colorado to ski and climb for 10 years first. SO I’m behind.
I went over twice with an honest attempt at trying to find humor but I simply didn’t get the the joke.
Is it that the people who make comments here think so highly of ourselves when secretly we’re unaware of how unethical and immoral we really on. I kind of understand but there is definitely something missing.
Needs revision furries. Come back when you can rival the Allied Atheist Alliance. I love those otters.
I’m pretty sure that the existence of furries is pretty solid proof that there is no god.
Scientist here…
Pussy.
Define scientist.
IMO, at the very least, have performed (or participated in) and published (in a scientific peer-reviewed journal)experiments designed to test a specific hypothesis or set of hypotheses.
More closely refers to someone actively engaged in such pursuits.
lab techs count if their work contributes new material to the larger body of scientific knowledge.
Teachers, even if they teach science, do NOT contribute directly to furthering new knowledge in science, and so are not scientists in and by the act of merely teaching. If however, like PZ, they actively involve students in researching hypotheses for instructional purposes, and that research results in new information, then they are both instructor AND scientist.
that’s not saying that teachers are not important to science; just that they aren’t scientists, as defined as the profession “scientist”.
just my opinion, as being both a current and former scientist and teacher.
http://caulfield.info/emmet/2008/09/formatting-comments-in-movable.html
@Hank Bones (#60): Use blockquote html tags.
So <blockquote>FUCK YOU AND YOUR CROTCHFRUIT</blockquote> makes:
I am so using that from here on out!
Ick. I’ll bet they stink underneath their silly costumes.
FUCK YOU AND YOUR CROTCHFRUIT
I sill like Simon’s:
“Your Jelli Meat is simply not big enough…”
@Hank, the “sidebar quote-y thing,” I imagine, is this:
Put the following HTML tag in front of the quote:
<blockquote>
Then put the following HTML tag in back of the quote:
</blockquote>
So to display “Blah blah blah” like I just did above, type this string in your comment box:
<blockquote>Blah blah blah</blockquote>
What percentage of Pharyngula commenters are scientists?
*raises hand*
And I believe Nerd is too, although he’s very reticent about mentioning it.
It probably won’t be popular, but I would agree. And I would even put a temporal constraint on it. If you’re not currently doing science/publishing, I don’t think “scientist.” I think former scientist.
That’s by no means saying that other people might not have other equally valid definitions (this is just an opinion after all), or that people who care about science, who TEACH science, and/or who are enthusiastic amateurs or supporters, don’t also have very critical roles to play or aren’t warmly appreciated.
[quote]I may regret this but….
then what makes you a furry?[/quote]
The most basic definition of furry (the definitions are quite varied) is, I believe, ‘someone who’s attracted to art of anthropomorphic animals/zoomorphic people’.
Anyway, as a furry m’self, I’m familiar with the artist of that strip. He’s a professed troll, who does it for the humor value, doesn’t even pretend to be serious…which is the only kinda troll I like, really.
Why is a feminist like a pharyngulite?
That’s not funny!
(Awaiting the outraged reactions in 5, 4 ,3…)
(I note they can’t spell Dr. Myers’ name)
Well, it could have been mere incompetence or it could have been someone with a substantial familiarity with talk.origins where spelling the good doctor’s name accurately is Not Done. Of course, on t.o. the intentional misspellings are not nearly that prosaic.
Not a scientist, but glad they exist and speak up.
then what makes you a furry?
The most basic definition of furry (the definitions are quite varied) is, I believe, ‘someone who’s attracted to art of anthropomorphic animals/zoomorphic people’.
Anyway, as a furry m’self, I’m familiar with the artist of that strip. He’s a professed troll, who does it for the humor value, doesn’t even pretend to be serious…which is the only kinda troll I like, really.
Graaah! I fuck up the quote tags every time! You’d think I’d learn. Or at least learn to preview.
Mocked by furries?!? That’s like being lectured about your ethics by Karl Rove.
Get thee behind me animal fetishists!
Marge: Homer, there’s a man here who thinks he can help you.
Homer: Batman?
Marge: No, he’s a scientist.
Homer: Batman’s a scientist.
Marge: It’s NOT Batman.
So ah, what do watching Minnie Mouse or Mrs. Piggy do for you?
aaahrrgggh
ok I’m going to go bleach my brain
In that case, *raises hand*
that’s it, I’m going to have to go back to university and do a real science degree. I need the cred
So ah, what do watching Minnie Mouse or Mrs. Piggy do for you?
Minnie’s hot, Piggie’s not!
*ahem*
umm…
nevermind.
besides neither of them have fins.
THAT’s where the action’s at.
Hello, everyone! This is Agouti-Rex, the guy behind that comic. I’m kind of surprised that this got noticed, but I’m glad to see you have a sense of humor about yourselves.
In response to Randrew (because I’m sure that you’re on pins and needles to know what the joke is all about), this strip is part of a series making fun of some scientists who like to dismiss soft sciences like anthropology, sociology and psychology as disciplines not worthy of study. I’m sure that anyone involved in academia knows all about inter-disciplinary rivalries. It doesn’t have anything to do with posters being unethical or immoral, just highly pleased with themselves. Perhaps the joke makes more sense in context?
Apologies for getting Dr.Myers’ name wrong; I’ll correct that.
Thanks for reading!
I’m just a pundit: no expertise but plenty of opinion. :-)
Actually, I’m an unemployed lab tech. I find Ichthyic’s definition interesting. It would seem (by his definition) that a PhD who is considered the foremost expert in the field, but does no research and only teaches, is not considered a scientist. However an amateur astronomer with no college education, but who actively seeks comets and calls them in to NASA (as well as observing and reporting eclipses and other celestial events) is considered a scientist. While this may seem wrong on some levels, I think that it is certainly in the true spirit of what it means to be a scientist.
Um…furries?
Looks like the kitsch of death for Pharyngula.
Yeah I’m the Dick to the Dawk to the PhD,
I’m smarter than you I’ve got a science degree!
Like Richard Dawkins for instance?
There’s nothing wrong in being a science educator, Kel.
I haven’t noticed that being a scientist confers any particular advantage in Pharyngula threads, other than expertise in their field.
—
agouti-rex,
It’s called self-confidence.
Have you considered that the environment here might discourage those lacking in that attribute, and thereby select for those that don’t?
Anyway, I grant it might be difficult for some to distinguish between others being confident and being pleased with themselves.
Of course not. I’m not the one with that strict definition of science.
From my outsider’s perspective, I’d always taken that to be the definition of a Yiff person (Yiffy?). I’d thought the difference was between liking the art (Yiff) and actively identifying with a furry avatar, either online or in a suit (Furry). I’ll take your word for it though.
Back when I played online shooters my favorite Counter-Strike server was run by Yiffy people. They were nice, and I always got a good laugh (sorry) at the homoerotic drawings of anthropomorphic wolves. They also had a script which would automatically disconnect anyone who typed “fag” into the chat. This alone made it one of the best servers to play on; it seems that the players who were assholes anyway couldn’t refrain from typing it.
Huh…what would that be? Street cred seems wrong, somehow.
Lab cred?
Flask cred?
Sequence cred?
Outcrop cred?
Like Richard Dawkins for instance?
this has been raised before, and yes.
Dawkins is not, by my definition a scientist in the strictest sense, though by the larger definition (leaving the time angle out), he has indeed published significant contributions to scientific knowledge within the primary literature, which would at least qualify him as having BEEN a scientist. Is he a scientist NOW?
nope.
I spent several years in IT, even though before that I spent 7 years as an active scientist (researching sharks). I hardly would have called myself a scientist while I was working IT, nor would have I call myself an IT manager while I was doing research on sharks.
the “Issue” is exactly how one makes one’s living, in the strictest sense.
Doesn’t mean that if one is not an active scientist, one hasn’t previously been, nor does it in any way imply that one has given up one’s knowledge of being a scientist by choosing to do something different.
hope that’s clear.
Nerd Cred
I have a hunch that a lot of non-scientists read Pharyngula. People who care about science in society, or just geeks like me who always found science more interesting than sports.
I used to draw a webcomic. Now I regret killing it – I could have made a Pharyngula reference too. D’oh!
One does not have to be a Scientist by the strict definition above to be very knowledgeable about science. Though it helps.
I don’t put myself in either camp. I just have a highly tuned bullshit detector which probably comes as a result of having a highly tuned bullshit spreader.
I do think that popularizing science is a very important job and does not diminish the value of your work. Is anyone going to say that Neil deGrasse Tyson and Carl Sagan should not be called scientists?
As for me, I used to consider myself at least partly scientist, but Michael Egnor has given my profession a very bad reputation.
Nerd cred for sure. Just having a bachelors degree seems somewhat meagre as an achievement (though getting it was still a pretty damn proud day)
Actually, I’m curious about this. What percentage of Pharyngula commenters are scientists?
I have a Ph.D. in Psychology (biological, not counseling) but right now I’m mostly teaching. But no one gets out of Psyc 101 without knowing that they never make a big decision based on a survey without looking at the survey and the population sample.
Does that count?
Ichthyic @97, it was worth clarifying. I was about to post about it.
Hello John Morales!
Have you considered that the environment here might discourage those lacking in that attribute, and thereby select for those that don’t?
That may be. It was, as we in the business sometimes call it, “a joke.”
Anyway, I grant it might be difficult for some to distinguish between others being confident and being pleased with themselves.
Well, it is a subtle distinction often lost on us hoi polloi.
Maybe one of the furries who’ve commented above can answer; Were there furries before the internet? It seems like such a niche fetish that I have a hard time imagining it working beforehand. Would a pre-internet furry have had to make all of his own artwork? Sign up for a newsletter or something?
No offense meant, I’m asking in all seriousness.
Frankly I took it as a joke. Mocking sure. But It’s not like we don’t deserved to be mocked occasionally.
I think it kind of makes sense, I think. Is Behe a scientist? It doesn’t seem like it anymore. Many here would agree that Behe probably isn’t a scientist anymore. I’ve seen numerous comments to that effect. And by what criterion has that judgment been made? He isn’t doing science.
This will end up a semantic discussion right quick (in fact, we’re already there), but no, I don’t that most of what we think of as the important work that Carl did as science. He communicated science. His contribution to the history of the world, I would argue strongly, has been more important than what has been offered by a ton of the active scientists out there, but I wouldn’t consider the major impact he has had on the world science in the strict sense. He communicated what we do to the world. But that’s different than actually doing it (if we’re going to be all sciencey and be precise about our definitions…). Not that he never did science. But most of what he did was a different, and parallel, contribution.
Nope. Environmental educator here. I yell at people who say “seagull” or “jellyfish” or “shellfish” or “starfish”. “Seahorse” is ok, I guess.
And I need someone to tell me the name of that cool Firefox add-on that does all the work for HTML.
Behe does scinecy things but the root of his research is not scientific as he seeks to inject untestable bits into his “scienecy stuff” (that’s a scientific term).
Not a scientist, but plays one one on tv.
Does not play one on the witness stand.
But isn’t he in that strict sense a scientist as he’s publishing papers? Just not on the topic he evangelises.
But, while I do think the distinction exists, I don’t think that this is a hair that needs splitting. We’re all on the same side and are all working toward the same goal–namely of better understanding the universe and trying to get others to better understand it too. That’s the part that matters.
Is anyone going to say that Neil deGrasse Tyson and Carl Sagan should not be called scientists?
of course not.
dGrasse Tyson currently DOES publish in the scientific literature, as well as spending much time teaching and publicizing science (3 different careers at once, and getting paid for all 3 – the perfect trifecta!).
Sagan DID publish in the lit, and did publicize science, but he’s dead now, so one has to decide how to describe the body of work one contributed as a whole.
Carl, like most of us who got our advanced degrees in science and published, will be called BOTH scientist AND educator.
just like deGrasse Tyson.
just like Dawkins.
just like PZ.
just like my own graduate advisor (George Barlow).
just like me (er, if anyone actually notices my obit., that is :) )
sadly, this also means one has to call someone like Jonathan Wells a scientist as well, since he did manage to publish as a contributor to the lab he was working in as a grad student. However, like Behe, and like John Davison (*shudder), they have actually abandoned their knowledge of science for ideological ends.
as such, in their obits, I would be more likely to call them preachers than scientists.
LOL
I would be a scientist–i.e. doing and publishing science–except that I spend way too much time procrastinating on this damn blog.
PZ help – we’re doomed! They’re trying to get at us with humour, christian humour. Please don’t let them tease us or make jokes of our views; oh, I’m just not sure that we can survive this one….
They’re sending in the clowns – the christian clowns!
The one weak spot in our armory!
Help us please, PZ!
Why do furries draw themselves with animal fur? To cover up their thin skin.
For the sake of being self-aggrandizing, SICK BURN!
Is that supposed to be a joke also? Seriously, what’s your issue? Drop the passive aggressive bullshit and just say it.
cool Firefox add-on that does all the work for HTML.
??
I can haz 2 plz?
I’ve had a few (three) furries in my classrooms before. I gotta admit, they weird me out a bit. Kind of impressive really, considering I used to be into Goth.
@117:
Oh, and disclaimer: I’m not offended.
Those comments are freakin’ hilarious! I liked this one:
“I stopped reading Pharyngula. It’s 10% “biology is awesome” and 90% GRR THERE IS A CREATIONIST SOMEWHERE LET’S SKEW THIS POLL ON A NEWSPAPER’S WEBSITE NOBODY READS.”
I’m still rolling. :)
Could be. Shit. I think I just broke my rule of trying not to comment on shit that I don’t know in depth. I don’t really follow Behe’s work. I was under the impression that he had stopped doing actual research altogether. But that’s based on anecdotal information, only. Shit. It’s late, but I know better.
ah, furries. almost as bad as creationists, except thankfully no-one takes them seriously but other furries
Any trolls around? Obnoxious, stupid or …well that’s about it really. Anyone assaulting the citadels of reason too egregiously tonight?
Nope. Environmental educator here. I yell at people who say “seagull” or “jellyfish” or “shellfish” or “starfish”. “Seahorse” is ok, I guess.
And I need someone to tell me the name of that cool Firefox add-on that does all the work for HTML.
Are you thinking of Firebug maybe? It helps a lot when working with HTML, but doesn’t do any work for you…
@Kobra #117: I was going to try to thin-skin / fur joke, but couldn’t quite manage it.
The Pharyngula community is quite diverse. I’m wild ass guessing maybe 25% academics, 40% professional in some capacity, 20% students, 30% scientists, and most of the rest just science lovers. The error bars on the estimates are enormous. There is overlap in the categories (for example, PZ is both a scientist and an academic), so the numbers add up to greater than 100%.
Nerd cred. Sounds good to me.
Seriously, what’s with all the furry hate? In case you haven’t noticed, we atheists are the lowest rung on the ladder offline. Atheist are just as hated as furries are, most of the time. Maybe more, we get more publicity than furries do. When people make anti-atheists remarks, we scream bloody murder. And then we’re going to turn around and get self righteous because we don’t like what someone gets off on? Seriously? You all have you heard of something called ‘hypocrisy’, right?
@127: I’m good at being offensive at the drop of a hat. Also, I’ve used that one before when a group of furries decided to take over a thread on /b/.
Sorry for the double. The first post was stuck in the intertubes for 16 min.
@129:
“Seriously, what’s with all the furry hate?”
My above comment was made in the spirit of good humor. I’d wager that most commenters were doing the same and don’t at all hate furries.
Poor wanna-be sons of bitches don’t have an easy time anywhere, do they?
Alert Ted Stevens!
@133:
I don’t know why they decided to take over a thread instead of start their own. Not much point in that.
Oh well, trolls will be trolls.
I am the head of a huge mulinational company selling weapons across the world. I too find that the mix of people in pharyngula is very refreshing, often very different from us war folk.
I have no problem with furries. I was once lower than a furry.
I played MMORPGs for a while.
/shame
Speaking for myself, I hate “furries” because of all the damn fur. What do they think, they’re mammals? Please.
Also, Hitler was a “furry,” so there’s that.
@132
If you say so. I’m a touch autistic (or asperger’s, or however they decide to draw the line) so I can’t really tell. I just find it a little annoying when the automatic reaction of one group to another is mockery, in ‘good humor’ or not. Especially when the group being mocked is traditionally the target of scorn and derision simply for the trait that makes them a group. (I.e. being attracted to anthropomorphic animals) It’s not particularly funny on the receiving end, especially when there are so few positive depictions outside the group. I have a little experience with that myself, and believe me, it’s not pleasant.
@138: You’re thinking Führer.
@139: Tough. If they can dish out tongue-in-cheek mockery (or whatever would apply for the animal the author is trying to emulate), they will receive tongue-in-cheek mockery.
Granted, but at least on some of our parts, it’s purely in good fun. I mean you have to admit it is a little out of the norm (which is good not bad) and being that it’s basically being attracted to cartoons or “cartoony” depictions, it does have a built in humor factor.
If you can’t laugh at yourself…
um
you can’t um…
uh
not sure what comes next but I hope it involves whiskey.
Nah no furry hate, I can’t bring myself to judge somebody solely on their turn-ons. I can and will make jokes, though. Normal sexuality being as rich a target for jokes as it is and all, what’s not absolutely hilarious about a hand drawn picture of an anthropomorphic wolf complete with gigantic cock and balls? Or somebody getting their kicks from exactly that?
:D
Interestingly, according to the 2008 survey results show that 21% of furries are atheist, and another 22% of agnostics– it’s not really surprising, seeing as many furries are homosexual, or bisexual, and have to deal with the same bullshit people like PZ has to deal with a lot of the time.
Silva @139, you’d hate here in Oz (where I am, at least).
One of my co-workers, for example, will greet his (male) workmates with something like “Hey Knackers, you fat old bastard*, what’s up?”.
The translation of the above is something like “Hello”.
Go figure.
Anyway, relax. Kobra is a venomous specimen, but talks straight talk.
—
* or “you slacker” or similar.
*raises hand*
Yikes, if I wouldn’t have guessed so many readers of this blog were scientists. Now I feel my comments have been inadequate. If I had known my penis jokes would have been of much higher quality.
As for the comic, it made me chuckle. I think it’s healthy to laugh at yourself.
There won’t be any flame war over who loves PZ the most though because everyone knows it’s me. If you really want to see a petty flame war I recommend reading the one where people were arguing over the correct usage of the term crescendo.
P.S. I think someone was suppose to remind PZ about last month’s Mollys.
Hello Pcarini!
Sorry, I guess I misinterpreted John’s comment as passive aggressive, so I responded in kind. It’s hard to read tone on the Internet.
I don’t have a problem, I just thought it made for an amusing punchline. Some posters here seem to have come to the conclusion that since I made fun of Pharyngula posters I must have some sort of fundamentalist chip on my shoulder as if fundamentalists have some sort of monopoly on making fun of people on the Internet. I just draw cartoons and I thought that made for a decent joke. I think you’d agree that any Internet message forum will attract its share of excitable posters, and a bunch of excitable scientists would probably choose a site like Pharyngula to post. I didn’t mean anything further than that some comments can be kind of snippy, which is pretty much the case for any website on the Internet.
It depends on the criteria. I don’t even have my Associate’s degree yet, but I’m going to be conducting an experiment with a trusted friend that might end up in a scientific journal soon.
Put me down for “Mad Scientist in Training.” :P
In retrospect, I suppose that, since one of my undergrad degrees is a B.Psychology, I have at least have a passing familiarity with things like experimentation, research design and empiricism; I guess I qualify, to an extent at least as a behavioural scientist. Or at least an ex- one.
No, not firebug. Someone on this site turned me on to the add-on a couple of months ago and I had been using it until my expensive computer went south. (sorry BDC) I dug this POS out of my closet and now I can’t find the add-on to install. All one does is highlight some phrase, right click and select HTML and click on whatever you need done to the phrase, such as bold, quote etc. No thought involved. Everyone should know about it. I was going to recommend it to BDC with all his ah, issues with blockquoting. but we have never been introduced. Ichthyic, if I find it, I will post it, however OT it may be at the time.
What percentage of Pharyngula commenters are scientists?
*raises hand* …wait a minute… is this a POLL?
I did a double-take at this point.
@141
Sure, attack them for the statement. It’s totally within your rights. But it’s possible to complain about a statement without complaining about the traits they have. Whether they like anthropomorphic wolves or not really doesn’t factor into the rightness or wrongness of the statement. The comic is going after what he see as the standard poster on pharyngula without attacking every atheist (or scientist) everywhere. I can say ‘I think you’re wrong. Incredibly wrong, in fact’ without including ‘and by the way, you and anyone like you, even if they don’t agree with what you said, are terrible people’. You don’t need to insult every furry everywhere for one furry’s statement.
But basically, I disagree with you one what constitutes an ‘acceptable target’. I doubt I can change your opinion. Thank you for your time and response. I’m just going to drop the argument, since I don’t see the point of getting into a screaming row with a total stranger for no good reason, which is probably what I’d start if I continued this.
@152: It is now.
http://www.kobrascorner.com/voting-booth.php
I am not a scientist. Unless you count managing a retail store a science.
I’m just a guy who fell in love with Carl Sagan books as a kid.
Not a scientist.
But I have stayed at a Holiday Inn.
/waves
Kobra: Ok, I admit it. I was a child of the 60’s.
Agouti-Rex, relax. It was a fine comic.
Enjoy the linkage :)
PS
How flattering.
Oh yeah, you’re now a Pharyngula poster ;)
Grats.
Not a scientist.
But I have stayed at a Holiday Inn.
Well I never been to Spain,
but I kinda like the music…
Not a scientist. Don’t even have a college degree.
As for self-congratulations… I didn’t run over anyone today for driving like an idiot. And I didn’t stab any customers in the eye with my pen. That included the psycho writer who was so worried about protecting the link between her pen name and her real name at the post office. She even whispered to keep the person in line behind her from hearing!
Talk about wanting to punch someone in the paranoid!
But I didn’t.
Eh, I am a model of restraint.
And I’ll be the person who says PZ, I love ya, man, but I save my fangirl love for Matsumoto Jun. Half dressed, young and beautiful–just the way I like ’em!
Actually I am offended by this comic. I pride myself on not being self-congrtulatory.
159 comments and nobody’s mentioned xkcd? That strip pretty much sums up my attitude toward furries.
And I’m never smug.
Anyway, it’s difficult to post on Pharyngula, as it has so little disabled access.
Not a scientist, more a science fictionist.
Can quote tracts of Bladerunner, if thats any use..
I am the most humble person EVER, for reals.
And I’m much less competitive than AnthonyK.
Paper pusher.
But I brought the dark ale. :)
Blind Squirrel, please don’t yell, but do tell me what’s wrong with seagull et al? Seriously.
PS. I liked the wee comic. miniLOL.
I’m a physics person. My CV is shorter than it should be, since I spent a little too long wandering the Earth and generally gadding about instead of doing research. I’m rectifying that problem now, though. I even have evidence that I have a PhD.
I’ve also borrowed a furry’s regular clothes to dress in drag. (At the party where I met Mary Prankster.) I’m not sure what that makes me.
I voted educator in Kobra’s poll, but don’t know where I would fit.
Trained in IT but never completed the degree. Published, but not in anything with cred and now long forgotten (and more how-to things – maybe original, but not really adding anything significant to humanity, just helping the slightly blinder).
As an amateur astronomer I participated in occultations that went into a dataset used in calculating various things (including a probe to saturn). My part was infinitisimal.
I teach sometimes, sometimes I have to do lots of research, maybe even doing something no-one has before (just because no-one else wanted or needed to). I haven’t done anything hands-on to advance human knowledge of boolean logic or computer hardware design, but I have done or recommended ways to do things that are new and advance the field (in some small way).
I guess I think of myself as a second cousin to the bastard child of a lesser scientist – but of that general inclination (scientist, not bastard).
Not a scientist, never even went to secondary school.
But damn I do loves me some pop science books. Gould, Dawkins, Pinker, and I’m currently readin Shubin’s Your Inner Fish, thanks to a recommendation here in Pharyngula.
Hahaha that was pretty funny :)
A bunch of freaks mocking people with actual accomplishments you say? Must be a day that ends in with a Y.
AnthonyK (numerous posts) – head of a large weapons company? – Is Anthony maybe “Tony” and you are actually Tony (K.) Stark aka Ironman???
me (@#170): Jellyfish, starfish, and shellfish are not fish. I’m guessing that Blind Squirrel feels that the “sea” in seagull is unnecessary and, often, wrong.
Hey, not cool…
Yes, it’s a stupid strip– I’m not saying you can’t criticize that. Tear it up, whatever, that’s okay. If they put it out there then they can take the backlash.
But the demeaning remarks about furries irk me– they like what they like, and that’s okay. They’re not doing eight year olds or anything, so what does it matter? People have their preferences.
As atheists, we should be about freedom of thought. A lot of us (including myself) are about equal rights and abolition of discrimination; furries aren’t doing anything wrong. Let ’em be.
test
test
test
testoftest
hmm. as to firefox addons to aid in typing comments, I just checked this out:
http://bbcomposer.elitwork.com/home.html
and it seems to do the job.
just rt-click in the comment window before you type your comment, the editor will pop up, and you can use standard xhtml or what have you in it.
then hit “apply”
done.
you can also use it to save your comments local (in case the site eats them before posting).
Not a scientist but I am a college graduate who took lots of geology. I’m also a military veteran and an avid fan of science fiction!
Besides that, I’m a scuba diver who is especially talented at spotting octopuses. (Did I mention I’m an atheist too?)
Me: It is the teacher in me. Look up “seagull” in a guide. There is no such bird! There are, however, herring gulls, ring bill gulls etc. Sven DiMilo is correct re the others.
Former scientist here, at least if one includes cognitive psychology. I still teach, but my dayjob is rather outside my prior area of study.
#99- “I have a hunch that a lot of non-scientists read Pharyngula. People who care about science in society, or just geeks like me who always found science more interesting than sports.”
*raises hand*
Ichthyic: Close, but not the one I am looking for. It may be easier to fix my computer than find the add-on on the internet.
Another physics geek here. Came close to punting grad school to be a full-time jazz musician. Got talked out of it. Still not sure if that was a good thing.
As to the HTML inserter thingy….
I think you mean Farkode !
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1447
Sorry,i meant BBCodeXtra…
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/491
By Dog clinteas, you’ve got it! I am a happy monkey now! I owe you a beer. Do you like McEwans?
Never heard of McEwans,but I sure shall try it LOL
Its quite a useful tool that add-on.
Here is my round up.
-I thought the strip was quite funny.
-Not a scientist but an actor. So I could be a scientist and you’d never know UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE!
-What furrys (furries?) “do behind closed doors” is their own business. I too Rev, have played MMORPG’s. So I suppose have no room to judge.
Aaaaaaaand I think I just reached my quota of posting for the month. Which is one post/month. Enjoy.
University fresher/general geek here.
Posting to say I actually liked the comic. Nice exaggerated art style.
test
test
testdeadlistening
ooooh! That is nice! Thanks, fellas!
I’m not a scientist, but I totally used Mr. Spock as a role model when I was a kid.
Can I stay?
I’m thinking of dressing up as Jessica Rabbit for halloween. Will people think I’m a furry?
Also, I’d like to think I’m on my way to becoming a scientist. Almost done my undergrad in Primatology. Yes, as in primates. We float around between the social sciences and “real” sciences, as we’re technically in anthropology.
I think it’s amusing that so many people who, on prior evidence, clearly like Calvin and Hobbes – not to mention the even superior Pogo – are so sneering about “furries.”
Not a “scientist,” per Ichthyic’s definition, but one who applies scientific methods (including formulating and rigorously testing hypotheses) to evaluation of human service programs in order to try to make people’s lives better.
Kobra’s poll really needs to be pharyngulated.
Now if I could just figure out how…
pcarini @ 95:
That’s partially correct. A furry is simply a person who has an interest (not necessarily sexual) in anthropomorphic animals. I identify myself as a furry, though I’m not really into yiff art. Some furries are, and that’s perfectly fine. But I hate the stereotypes that people spread, like that they are all people who “rape animals”.
By the way, where is Naked Bunny With a Whip?
Science: If you don’t piss people off, you ain’t doin’ it right.
(Not mine)
This furry stuff is just weird I have to say,i’m no stranger to fetishes of various kinds,but that stuff I dont get.
Also,I hear there are rather naughty furry roleplay things going on in places like Secondlife,if you know where to look.(So I hear)
Weird.
Admit it, most Pharyngulites are secretly squid furries.
(Yes, I know squids don’t have fur.)
Not a scientist, I only have a BS in CS.
@200: So that’s how PZ Myers found the comic in the first place.
I wonder what his user name is? Cephalopodominatrix?
Not a scientist here.
Big fan of science growing up. Got a liberal arts degree. Joined the Navy. Married a doctor (pathology). While living in Italy, I found I had no choice but to homeschool my oldest child. While preparing his science lessons I remembered:
I love science!
Then I started reading Pharyngula and haven’t been able to tear myself away.
Forgot to add: Between my B.A. degree and the Navy, I studied archaeology for a couple of years. Do I get some “geek cred” for that?
[quote]I studied archaeology for a couple of years. Do I get some “geek cred” for that?[/quote]
Umm,no.
Hmmmmmmm,quote fail….
Sven,how did you do the blockquote thingy with that add-on?
Couple of ways. I suspect you have it figured out by now. BTW, this is not precisely the same add-on as I was looking for, but it appears to have been derived from it.
I know you asked Sven. I’m dipping.
Either just hit blockquote and paste text between the tags or highlight the text and then hit blockquote.
This whole ‘furry’ thing is new to me; I don’t think it’s that big in Australia – possibly due to the climate – though it would explain those people who dress as koalas to collect donations.
george.w, that sums me up perfectly. I’m an illustrator by trade, but have always been interested in science in general. But then I’m not a regular enough commenter to form part of the demographic.
These may not be the furries you want to see.
clinteas @ 205: That’s BBCode that it put out, instead of XHTML, which is what scienceblogs accepts. Is there a setting somewhere for the output format?
It would be really cool if Sci-blogs put TinMCE or similar on the comment box. Then the available formatting options would show up as buttons up top. (I do like that people aren’t constantly fucking with the font-size and other obnoxious settings, though.)
A fatwa! A fatwa on his head I say. He shall be rapped on the head 40 times with a whifflebat. How dare he portray the Pharyngula in such a way!
@Blind Squirrel FCD #210: No, those appear to be bears.
pcarini: So that is what Princess Sparkle Pony was referring to. By the way folks, my link above might be NSFW.
pcarini: TMI! So that was what Princess Sparkle Pony was referring to. By the way, my link above might be NSFW.
YAY ! Thanks pcarini !
And he rolls another double. That’s it for me this morning. Good night. (Spherical Earth is confusing).
Ahem. I am the True Internet Pussy. Scott from Oregon is never wrong.
Pijo.
Sorry, Nerd, but that made me laugh the most. :)
Carry on, then.
…
But wait! Few people here do that.
?
Woot!
I guess congratulations are in order.
Everybody knows that you’re not _truely_ famous until you feature in a web-comic.
Well done!
The Honorable Bride of Shrek,OM might disagree with that statement !
I do have to admit that when I was little I found a “Josie and the Pussycats” comic book and felt like I had to hide to read it… seemed naughty and intriguing to me.
I think it was something about their tails.
But I don’t think that makes me a furry, does it?
Oh, and I also had kind of a crush on Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer’s girlfriend Clarice.
oh god. :(
I had never heard of furries till they were featured in an episode of CSI, and I didn’t remember the name. When I started reading the comments (before checking out the comic, for some reason), all that came to mind was this:
(I provide the link for informational purposes only. That one is borderline unwatchable – no “Horror at Party Beach”…)
You atheists may think this is just a joke, but NONE OF YOU can point to an OBJECTIVE MORALITY that would prevent depraved Dr Moreau wannabe scientists from creating sapient animal/human hybrids and HAVING SEX WITH THEM
Barack HUSSEIN OBAMA is starting stem cell research and the brits have already made hybrid embryos
I pray that Jesus comes back soon and puts a stop to all this!!!!! I fear for our childrens futures!!!!
“Barack HUSSEIN OBAMA “
That’s so 2008. Haven’t you heard? The wingnuts all refer to him as “the Obamanation” now.
SC, OM, funny I was just thinking of that episode as that was the first time that I became aware that they actually existed. Ain’t people strange, oh and that is not a negative comment, just an observation, as some of my friends consider me a bit strange at times. Of course, the ones who know me well know that I am strange all the time, but hey, life would be boring otherwise :)
Peace in Christ, why wait, just do the world a favour and rapture yourself already.
When I was a little girl I did have a big crush on Gunther Gebel-Williams. :)
You atheists may think this is just a joke, but NONE OF YOU can point to an OBJECTIVE MORALITY that would prevent depraved Dr Moreau wannabe scientists from creating sapient animal/human hybrids and HAVING SEX WITH THEM
fuck objective morality;
I can haz snake people sex?
chooooice!!
PiC @223, it’s really hard to parody true fundies.
Not a bad effort, though.
50 Reasons I Reject Evolution:
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/654576/
Is it to late to lower my hand?
I think of myself more as an Igor than a scientist.
the brits have already made hybrid embryos – Piss on Christ
It’s TRUE! And with these hybrid embryos, with their preternatually stiff upper lips, we will CONQUER THE WORLD!!! Prepare to resume your rightful allegiance to Her Britannic Majesty, rebellious colonials!
Clinteas @ #220
I am in a true huffy fit that someone is self describing as the “internet pussy”. I believe I, and possibly Patricia OM , have earnt that accolade through our sheer unrelenting sluttishness over the last few years.
I am truly grateful that you would stand up for my “honour” in trying times such as these (even though you were calling for a photo of my “carpet” on another thread).
I’ve lost your email sunshine, post it again and I’ll give you a buzz.
*clears throat*
You have your titles, I have mine. Point me to a single occasion on which you have been dubbed a true internet pussy, and I will gladly share the honor. But you’ll have to pry trashy piece of work from my cold, dead hands (paws, tentacles,…).
I got a chuckle out of the comic. Thanks.
It’s only taken me 200-some-odd comments (some very odd!), wandering through furrydom (I had to ask that nice Wikipedia what the feck a furry was), Firefox addons, possible definitions of scientists and related fields, and I think there was even a poll there someplace…, before I finished congratulating myself. Pats own back.
Educated as a scientist and mathematician, but never worked as either. Am a Unix-nerd (which is, in fact, my job) as someone put it.
And speaking of Firefox addons, my favourite is “mozex”, albeit essentially the only feature I use is an ability to edit textarea inputs (like this comment box) with an external editor of my choice. In other words, with a tool designed for editing text, rather than the frustrating primitive (and in my opinion, hard-to-use) “editing” abilities you otherwise have. There’s at least one more Firefox addon with the same purpose, “It’s All Text!”, which is probably a better choice than mozex since it’s actively maintained and perhaps a tiny bit easier to use. I stick with mozex out of habit, plus an occasional use of some of its other features.
BoSOM,
hello honorable slut,long time no see,hope you and family are well !
Its still terminate111 at hot for the true internet sluts to buzz me…:-)
Oh,and to the scientist thing,I agree with fishman’s definition,and following that I would never consider myself more than a vaguely informed layperson on evolutionary biology,or any other science area other than medicine….
Not a scientist here. I studied French, taught in a primary school and then qualified as a counsellor but even as a child I just loved science fiction and science.
I couldn’t be a scientist – my maths lets me down – but I find it massively interesting.
I’m an atheist. I’m not a furry but good luck to them, and kudos to whoever pointed us to the xkcd comic.
By the way, is Write Area the html editor you were looking for?
@ pcarini #107:
Yes. I pre-date the internet and some of my contemporaries were already furries in all but name (since the name possibly didn’t exist before – rather like autism was only counted once it was named!). It mostly manifested as a cat (eg wearing ears and tail) or hairy-footed hobbit obsession back then. Think of all the bunny girls too … though that was more the onlooking males being obsessed!
I’ve always been more of a slimey – though not at all in that dressing up sense (nor probably by most other strict definitions). …_@o”
Meanwhile, although I can see how some people might have that research-publish definition of scientist, I disagree with it. My definition of a scientist is someone who actively thinks/acts like a scientist.
So that would include some historical people before science degrees and official science publishing. It would exclude any lab techs and “Behe”s who are merely going through the motions without genuine understanding and scientific thought processes. It includes amateurs, graduates, techs, teachers, children and retired folk who still approach all aspects of life in a scientific manner – even if their personal research never gets published.
It also allows for people to be intermittently or partially scientists. Eg all theistic scientists are only scientists to the extent to which they disbelieve in god in their everyday lives/work. All the time they have their godbot heads on, they are being active anti-scientists / non-scientists. So, depending on working hours and whether one discounts sleep time, they might be only 30% scientist.
*raises hand*
I have a confession to all you Pharyngula commenters who’ve seen me around here for the past year.
I draw t3h furry arts for a living. It may seem strange, but it sure as hell beats designing logos in some office building all day.
So there’s that. *holds up garbage can lid* Fire at will. X3
Incidentally, I don’t recall any scientists who were/are furries. I think all the furries were/are in other subject areas (and still don’t behave particularly scientifically). That could just be a coincidence though rather than an anecdotal hint at some mutual exclusion effect.
Wow, I never thought I’d live to see the day Pharyngula would like to FA.
Sweet! :)
*wags*
Nice cartoon, shome pisstake shurely?
As for pre-internet furries, the film “Morgan: A Suitable Case for Treatment” may be taken as a 1966 example.
McEwans, the best buy in beer, is of Scottish provenance, as is the habit of slagging friends. Rather like the abusive OZ workmate cited by John Morales #145
Disclaimer: I am not a scientist, nor have I played MMORPGs or whatever, but I have edited Wikipedia.
You forgot the ever popular “shite hawk.”
BTW, is the legend about gulls and alka seltzer true?
Never mind about the gulls and alka seltzer, snopes gave me the answer.
Well, I tried to dabble in academia, but I sucked. So, no, not a scientist.
Furriness isn’t my thing, but I’m not one to mock, since I’ve tried my hand at smutty anime fanfiction.
Aren’t cephalopodophiles technically squishies rather than slimies?
[b] [/b][b]God here…long time reader, first time poster…(raises hand)…I am a scientitst too…the original one…what do you think of the creation….fucking awesome eh…though I say it myself….sorry about the last 2000 years in particular…making another unvierste elsewhere…back on the job now…here to save the planet….and religious people…fucking hell those guys are nuts…now I’m back…the’re gonna fry…good work PZ Myers….you have pleased me…when you die you shall have tentacles…and give AnthonyK a molly…for he has mightily pleased me and is an insturment of truth…..phayrngula is most awesome….out [/b]
Oh. By the way: where does one buy stock in Sealclubbers Inc.?
You bastard God, this formatting thing doesn’t work at all! That’s it, I’m becoming a Christian, or whatever is the most ugly of your religions (not Islam, no beer) just to show you how stupid I can be!
Anthony K. You need to replace [] with < and >
Who the fuck asked you? I mean – oh, yes, thanks. Please grant yoursllf an extra portion of food at your next meal;)
This is a test—testing—and some more
tests.Yuck. First impressions, but I don’t like “BBCodeXtra”. First gripe is it’s using physical markup (e.g., “<i>”) rather than logical (e.g., “<em>”); secondly I hate having to highlight text and then step through multiple menus; and thirdly, I don’t see any support for entities (e.g., “—”).
AnthonyK that’s very generous of you, thanks. I’ll have an extra slice of chocolate cake with my next coffee :-D
I used Excel to create my own formatting tool – it’s a bit clunky but it works – I type or paste the text in one cell and then copy the formatted text it’s spat out into another cell back into the comment field.
Go on, John, be bold!
It’s true, there is litlle support for them here, particulalry the ones who demand to be worshipped and then make their followers wicked and stupid.
I use Phraseexpress which allows me to quickly create simple scripts and macros for entering any HTML code with a couple or few key strokes in any text box or app. E.g. /bq[space key] enters the code for blockquote with the cursor in the right place for entering or pasting text. Though it is a Windows only program, so only suitable for heretics.
Which is where I’m completely opposed to you (and the pretentious, unrealistic standards people who deprecate certain codes). The physical approach is the better one for genuine content-led pages.
It’s a standard in science to use italics, and know that you’ll get italics, for a species name. It’s a standard in maths to use bold and underline for some things, eg vectors. As a precision-oriented person, the last thing you want are some wishy-washy writer’s non-specific emphasis codes (em, strong etc) which might turn out any old way, depending on local style, but are basically the wrong way round anyway.
It’s time for scientists to reclaim the internet from the non-scientists.
Testing—&dog;, &god;, &idiots;—yep, you’re right, there is “litlle” support for them here.
Thankyou John. Mac programs will generally be found more suitable for blasphemers. No one talks to those who use Linux. That’s for people who have nothing useful to say – computer programmers, say, or Christian Scientists (which I note, is a term that really puts the moron in “oxymoron”).
Ah, that’s what I get from not going to church on a Sunday. Won’t either. So there.
Seriously though, you’d think god would have thought of something better to do when he was shagged out after creating the Universe. Stayed in bed say, and had a wank. Church must bore him fucking rigid – all that banal praying. Uh guys, god’s busy – he isn’t listening and doesn’t care. Get over it.
Furries are concerned with “human ethics?”
Really?
That picture of a dinosaur you used in a previous post:
http://kyoht.deviantart.com/art/New-Squatter-80616197
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/03/how_did_dinosaurs_sit_down.php
Was done by a furry, or at least someone who draws furries.
I mean, where is that extra penis I prayed for (two hands, two lady holes)? Is that so much to ask? Bastard.
If anyone wants to laugh at (not with) a real anti-science, Creationism-happy “comic strip”, here’s a particularly ugly example. Sorry for the link to my own post, but I hope you can understand my not wanting to award Pharyngula-level link juice to some scribblings that only Ben Stein could love.
http://www.defaithed.com/blog/defaithed/2009/01/religious_cartoons_theyre_not_all_funny
Oh, you crazy evolutionists and your genocides! When will you learn?
Yeah, yeah. I just love reading PZ but, I agree…..too many of his commenters are assholes.
Now, this is where they gang up on me…….identify me as a troll…hurl insults…insisting that this commenter is an asshole….
Blah..blah..blah. It gets old.
SEF, at no place did I say or imply there isn’t a time and place for physical markup. Please don’t imply I said figments of your imagination.
And, may I say, there were no furry dinosaurs. Fur emerged in another clade completly. Be careful not to blaspheme evolution – or it will not touch you and your life and your line will go extinct.
That depends – are you? If so, you will be told. And perhaps even if you aren’t, should you express your rationality in a particularly stupid way.
[quote]making fun of some scientists who like to dismiss soft sciences like anthropology, sociology and psychology as disciplines not worthy of study.[/quote]
errm!…does that mean they are?
(Non-scientist…lowly lab rat in the past…and for my sins for the foreseeable future)
Not a scientist, but not my fault. Mom gave the money my grandpa saved for my college education to her church when I came out as an atheist, so no university for me. (I made it through about two years before I ran out of money and credit for loans, so I had to get a job, and that was that).
I try to use as much scientific method as I can in daily life-as a gardener I have ample opportunity to experiment and verify my results, but it all just ends up in my head without publication or peer review.
No one here has ever called me an asshole, and I am perfectly qualified for that appellation.
Brutal :(
Well, I don’t know. Most intelligent blog in the unvierse, my arse. I’m bored. I know, let’s play a game – I spy.
I spy with my little eye something begining with “G”.
Your go!
This is an nteresting mash up of stuff…
Scientist – I’m a retired science teacher. I consider myself a scientist although some might differ with that. From my point of view, being a scientist denotes an extended involvement in a particular field of study. I would not discount the large number of amateur ornithologists, astronomers, ictheologists, and the rest who study and learn all they can about their particular passion. Amateur denotes a love of a subject, not a lack of competence.
Furries – Odd, but as long as everyone involved is adult and agrees to the rules of the game – whatever works.
Hollydust @240 – takes guts to put yourself out where it is riskier.
Look, just because a non-existent deity has done unbelievably horrible thing to a little girl in Brazil, it doesn’t mean we can’t have fun.
OK then – what do you think is the single thing which is most objectionable about this supposed deity?
Points will be given for wit and snark.
Well? What are you waiting for?
Kel
Yeah, it sucked, but then I never would have turned into a rock’n’roll/pot-dealing punk and would have probably ended up boring and common, I never would have met the incredibly cool people who have made up my adult life, and I never would have bought that 1963 Les Paul,Jr. and started a Grateful Dead cover band, and on and on.
What’d you do to piss off a furry? I thought they were generally a peaceful people… uh, animal.. hybrid thing.
Anyway, I’ll agree that some people here can come off as assholes, but some people deserve to be mocked by such assholes. Especially if they’re disingenuous pricks who want to push their fairy tales into government and on everyone else, for example.
I mean, if you’re worried that people here are too mean, go talk to Casey Luskin. You can cry on each others’ shoulders about how everyone is so gosh darn mean, golly gee whiz, and you just can’t understand why.
Are furries like the guys in the Monty Python sketch about men who dress like mice and have cheese parties?
*232
Far be it from me to queer the pitch of random and gratuitous colonial expansion of the Great British Empire…a worthy endeavour as that is…and I think all here could agree with that…
It seems that having tried it in this particular direction once or so in the past…and seeing as it was a bit of a botheration at the time might I suggest to possibly skip it this time around?
I mean if they promise to behave themselves in a true British manner..and not scare the horses…I see no real reason to re-engage with the colonials at any level…web blogs aside of course….!
To be quite honest it was generally thought at the time that it was no bad omen to release new world to fend for itself.
They are a singular folk with a significant amount of woo worshippers…I am not sure it is a particular benefit to have to re-educate these masses to be …well rather British about reality…I am sure there are if not copious…then at least sufficient… amounts of rationality sloshing around in their bilge tanks to aid mental ballast…although that is by no means certain. ;-)
Holy shit.
I’m not a scientist but an engineer. I take the results of the research scientists create and turn it into something actually useful, however. Does that count?
[ducks the barrage of thrown erlenmeyer flasks]
Larry, it’s OK, I not only used to use their results to create useful stuff I used to create equally useful stuff to enable some of them to do their research :)
So we’ll duck together :)
I’m a philosophy/classics student. I hope I can still play with the cool kids though.
Finally…raises hand.
@63:
Well, I like you. I am — dare I say it? — one of you!
This comic appears to be one in a sequence where the main character, who apparently teaches psychology, is feuding with her college’s “hard” science teachers. It’s just a joke, and I was surprised by the many defensive reactions here. Not to mention the quantity of hate directed at furries.
Of course. What I think you’re actually asking is if there was a furry fandom before the internet, and there was. It was a subset of the SF/Fantasy genres.
Conventions, local clubs, comics, newsletters, BBSes…
It’s amazing, but people with similar interests did manage to meet and socialize before the Internet.
But, but, Naked Bunny et al., you’re, ah, naked. So you’re not a not in a fursuit… you’re a pissing poor example of a furry! ;-)
yzfool, that’s groovy. At least your not one of the dreaded “media studies” types… you aren’t, are you?
Wait. Hold one.
Are you suggesting that people get out from behind their computers and meet up and socialize now that there is the internet?
Why fling anything at engineers, writers, IT managers, psychologists, USPS workers, teachers, or any other jobs? We all have a part to play in making civilization work and advance. If you do your jobs well, my hat’s off to you.
You bunch of wankers. Come and join me on the second of the Brazillian religous evil threads. I am spilling the beans on Myers. At last!
Haven’t read all comments but I noticed comments about BBcode, etc. This Firefox addon comes in handy for me when posting comments:
Text Formatting Toolbar
Yeah, and next you’ll try to tell us that people breathed before Priestly invented oxygen.
Daaw! Does that mean no hugs? No “find the carrot”?
No way. You might get sunburn or catch cold. Please stay in front of your computers and
entertain mesocialize safely.One thing that I found annoying is that, on one of the comic’s author’s journals, someone said Dawkins is obnoxious.
http://www.furaffinity.net/journal/654808/
Other than that, the comic’s funny if you read the one before it to establish a sense of context.
test
test2
@297:
Test?
Test
Test2
2Test
Not safe for eyes, more like.
(that BBCodeXtra is great!)
…icles.
I would declare a jihad against them, but they are already furries. That’s punishment enough.
Another test—testing, testtest,
testoroonie—and somemoretests.Hum… also physical tags, but looks like maybe it’s possible to customise. Certainly a bit easier to use, but still have to switch back and forth between the keyboard and the mouse. No obvious entity support, but perhaps with the customisation…?
I see good-hearted ribbing. Where’s the hate?
Surely this was what god gave Eve? Your point?
HUG.
But if you can’t find your, ah, carrot, then I rest my case…
I’m not a Scientist…I loved Science in school but bombed out on the math. I ended up with an art degree. I am a stay at home Mom who brings her 5 year old son here for the squids, fossils and dinosaurs etc., I stay for the snark, Science and rational thinking re: religion. Religion=Bleh.
No scientist here. Just retired from the gamming industry. I’ve always thought, though, that some science might be gleaned from watching drunk people trying to high-five and missing. Does that count, or is it just…science envy?
*Prudently abstains from raising hand*
It’s blasphemy I tell you. Somebody call the U.N.
PhD student with ¡¡¡three whole published papers!!! speaking. And real papers, not extended abstracts in Nature, Science or PNAS <phhhhh!>.
The comic isn’t bad (if a bit unimaginative), but commenter sandypants has something against xkcd! Cut her to fine slices using Dunkleosteus jaws!!!1!
Also, Holydust turns out to be a lot uglier than I used to imagine. :->
There’s one tiny flaw in that chart: many people who speak Klingon are not Trekkies, and the most extreme Trekkies usually don’t speak Klingon. I bet even that most of the people who get married in Klingon garb can’t even pronounce Qapla’.
:-D :-D :-D
“The closer you get to humans, the worse the science gets.”
— proverb
————
Also, I’m with comment 258. When I want to emphasize stuff by putting it in boldface, then I actually want to emphasize it by putting it in boldface.
I think you can sue.
At least you can where I come from.
David, you’re a clever Pharygulite. I am like, totally screwing Myers over on another thread, and I’m getting no response. If you don’t want to see your hero crucified come and help out. Please?
Clinical pharmacist here. But, I am working on some (hopefully publishable) research currently, so I guess that counts? That is if I can stop reading this blog long enough to make any progress.
Anyways, Congratulations and Happy Monkey!
B.S. Geology, H.S. Science teacher, loved it but left it. Made a career as an Industrial Photographer (WTF?… I know), now retired and never heard of a furry until this thread.
Shit! I’m getting old.
I have two science degrees, well sort of, but I don’t use either so I’m nothing but a wannabe scientist.
Who do I have to pay to become part of the self congratulatory elite here? Does time spent on T.O. and other forums battling creobots help? Maybe knock off a few bucks?
And who do I congratulate first, our host or myself? Damn, this is getting complicated, but the devil is in the details, or so I’ve heard.
Fine, I’ll let you go on believing that slamming a diverse group of hubndreds of thousands of people because of a joke in an obscure webcomic is “good natured ribbing”, and certainly some of the comments here were good-natured. I also don’t mind people saying things like “furries creep me out” because, well, fine. It’s an honest statement of fact, and you don;t have to justify your likes and dislikes to me. Hell, I make lots of jokes about furries myself, so I’m not exactly defensive about it, and anybody who reads enough of my posts knows I don’t tend to get overwrought about stuff.
But I do get overwrought by bullying and hypocrisy. I was surprised at the number of posters here — people generally rather “whatever” about other people’s harmless interests — who decided to heap scorn on furries purely because this webcomic happened to have furries in it, despite it having nothing to do with the joke. Having atheists — one of the most reviled groups of people in American society — turn around and mock another group they perceive as being lower on the social totem poll smells of bullying. And I very much doubt that anybody here would want to be judged as a group based on the actions of some other atheist that they’ve never even heard of, but a number of commenters were quick to turn around and do it themselves. That’s purest hypocrisy.
I don’t expect everyone to like furries, and I sure as hell don’t expect them to keep their opinions to themselves. I wasn’t even going to post on this thread, except I was asked by name to comment, presumably as the group’s most visible furry.
I like it when people who dislike furries tell me why, and I sometimes agree with them! (Some furries do suck.) But keep in mind that just saying “furries suck” is not only boring, but also likely an insult to more of the regulars here than you know.
Scientist.
Unapologetic behavioral variety. I’m mildly surprised to hear that the comic is a series based on a psychologist feeling a bit defensive; I’ve been in the field for 30 years, and have never encountered a life/physical science person who viewed experimental psychology as anything other than hardcore science.
And our first year students routinely ask: “Why are we doing so much biology, I thought this was psychology.” Welcome to the new psychology.
@316:
The only furries who have ever pissed me off were probably the ones that gave everyone else a bad impression: The ones that decide to take over other threads on 4chan with their cartoon porn. And I’m specifying these people because anyone with the 4chan toolbar can minimize threads that have content they dislike, so all-furry threads shouldn’t cause any competent person any inconvenience.
That’s probably where a lot of it comes from. What’s that overused proverb about a few bad apples?
Don’t get around much, so never heard of furries before.
Not a scientist, just a regular gazebo with a job. I did
check troll on Kobra’s poll, though.
Not a scientist, but I’ve been watching VenomFangX to learn about it.
@320: VenomFangX is probably the worst person to learn science from on all of YouTube.
SC, OM – Your use of the P word is safe from me. I’m one of those that get’s up on her high horse over it’s use.
Look I DID IT!!!! Thanks pcarni#71.
I had heard of furries. I didn’t know there was any controversy about them.
*Raise hand*evolutionary genetics, even though Georgia Purdum denies that we exist!
Scientist, biologist, the name says it all… And that’s
I’m really impressed to find out that a lot of the biologically well-informed comments I’ve seen on this site are coming from non-biologists, hooray for the amateurs!
I did an ethnographic project on the Furry fandom (a couple, actually; the first a paper, the second a documentary shot through webcam with five furry interviewees from around the world). It’s an extremely fascinating and diverse subculture, and my interviewees were extremely helpful. On a personally biased note, I’m glad to see that this artist isn’t another anime and/or Disney copy machine.
I haven’t looked into it too closely, but my immediate impression is that more people want to play hide the carrot with you.
(Yes, I used <em>-tags there. I’m not sure why.)
I have a PhD in Gruesomeness. And I have read a lot of science fiction.
(I still miss The Stars Our Destination in Chicago.)
It’s furries. You’re lucky they didn’t draw PZ as a blue fox with a giant penis. (serious. go look at the front page of that site)
If you’re going to look at furry art, might as well go look at a good artist: http://meglyman.deviantart.com/
She draws cephalopods (and it’s G-rated).
wazza @12
“last week in class someone asked of they had guns in Jesus’ time.”
No they had crucifixion and now Christians wear a small replica of a crucifix around theirVron necks to celebrate that fact.
I missed the whole “jelly meat” thing — that was on the Beetle Phallus post, wasn’t it? Skip a thread and you miss a meme…
Naked Bunny with a Whip @ #316:
Don’t “presumably” me, baby, that’s exactly why I asked. You answered questions I’d posted, for which I thank you.
On the whole furries before the internet question: Yes I do understand that affinity groups can communicate without the web. The question was more of a chicken and egg type thing; how would people know they like furry art until they’ve seen it? It seems there would have to be a few people who started drawing it without someone else’s work as an influence, and then felt the need to share it in the face of almost certain ridicule.
@David Marjanović, OM #311: I’m glad somebody got the bad pun there, I was worried that it’d just come off as mean spirited.
1. Not a scientist. Buff, SF fan, informed lay person…Have stood down creationists on given the opportunity.
2. Never heard of furries except in CSI episode. Mildly interesting, think I’d rather see than be ’em. Being an ‘ol gray bear, am fairly furry with out a costume (especially without a costume)
What do Furries think of Tribbles?
Or would the meeting of the two cause a rip in the nerd-time continuum?
Hehe, yeah. That’s the aphorism that says that everyone sucks because there will always be some annoying members of whatever groups you’re in. :-)
@334:
Yep.
This webcomic incident reminded me of something: One of my first internet friends was a furry. I wonder if I she still uses the same email address.
Frasque:
Ooh that’s rather fun. I like those!
I’m going to turn this space over to a quotation from Nancy Liebovitz now:
If you can’t manage empathy for furries, I hope thinking about them at least gives you better understanding of the people who think you’re ridiculous and can’t shut up about it.
Ah, I see. Well, as one of those who predate the Internet, I noticed it as a kid when I always pretended to be anthropomorphic characters in games (when that was an option). Furry characters appear in a lot of popular culture, from movies and Saturday morning cartoons to comic books to more “serious” literature. I was always interested in werewolf and werecat characters in comics and TV shows, and was once of the few people to watch “Manimal” when I was a kid.
So I was a furry and noticed my affinity well before I knew there was any sort of organized fandom, much less the Internet.
I may as well point out that I’m not actively involved in the fandom even now that I do know about it. I don’t subscribe to newsletters or participate in furry social groups or wear a fursuit or go to cons. For me, being furry being an SF fan or being a dom is much like being an atheist. It’s just a part of me, but it’s not the focus of my life.
If anything, I’m more involved in the atheist community just by reading and participating on blogs like Pharyngula and Bad Astronomy. My furriness is mostly displayed passively in my handle and my Second Life avatar. I try not to be obnoxious about any aspect of my personality.
‘Tis Himself:
Ditto. I just assumed that it was a past-time, like being into RPGs. Now I’m starting to suspect that it goes deeper: psychological rather than recreational? Not that I would have any problem if that were the case.
pcarini – I forget which thread the jelly meat term got started on, but it was made by the troll Simon.
@340:
To say there’s a controversy is misleading. Controversy seems to imply intellectual disagreement. In reality, it’s just expressive trolling.
Bored /b/tards troll furries, and a few bored furries troll /b/, and it all started with SomethingAwful.
That depends on the carrot under consideration, and where it is being hidden.
Er, does this mean we have to go on the attack against The Flaming Lips.
Furry dance off! Infection by The BellRays. Damn but I love this band.
I suppose now would be a good time to mention that there’s a reason that I sign my posts with “Fox”. *shame shame shame*
I have galleries on DeviantArt (click above!) and Furaffinity under the username “reyfox”. The trouble with “furry”, more so than just about any other fandom, is how so often merely being a patron of the arts there is equated with it being some sort of culture or lifestyle. For that reason, I just call myself an artist. The furry fandom is general is mostly just a harmless lark and part of the usual identity crystallization that comes with youth*. It certainly attracts its share of social malcontents, but so do many other “subcultures”.
* And has the additional pride factor of being largely user-created and not built off of some pre-existing merchandisable property.
Thanks, Bunny, for acknowledging the distinction between that and “hate.”
Apart from priests. And beauticians. And people who own those shops that sell nothing but ornaments and knick-knacks. Oh, and advertising executives.
Kobra:
Lets wind the clock back 40 years:
Bored Rockers antagonize Mods, and a few bored Mods antagonize Rockers, and it all started on the South coast of England.
SSDD
XD
@348:
Oh man, you mean it’s just another pointless culture war? That can’t be, unless…
Oh Darwin!
The furries are bigger than I thought. DEFCON 4! They’re taking over!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!
…
In all seriousness, I know this is nothing new.
I used to play at an MMORPG based on anthropomorphic animals, but in my sheer ignorance I never realized it was something people practiced in real life. As children, weren’t we all bombarded by anthropomorphic animals in cartoons? It just seemed natural to see furry artwork and virtual worlds pop up online. A lite version of the fetishizing of furries has popular appeal in U.S. culture at any rate when you consider Playboy Bunnies.
Given the subject, I was sure SSDD was a link to a webcomic.
Our resident anarchist might like to know that they’ve taken over by the time the story is set.
Was I the only person who saw this as more gently poking fun and not actual mockery per se? It seems like part of the joke is about what the whiny character finds so disturbing is so utterly trivial.
@352: No, you’re not.
Thanks Emmett, et al!
Hang on, so they think a bunch of people congratulating each other on their icons are is somehow better than just congratulating each other on not being morons?
The comic was almost halfway funny, but meh, the comments exhibit a complete absence of irony, which implies the comic author (who should be aware of the style of comments) seems to lack it as well.
The thing about self-congratulations is you should only do it if there’s something to be congratulatory about.
6/10. Must try harder.
Hello again! A couple people seemed confused by my talk about “inter-disciplinary rivalries,” so I guess I should clarify. I didn’t men to imply that different academic disciplines refuse to cooperate or are somehow actively antagonistic. My wife and many of my friends are college professors, and it seems that whenever we get together, after hours or at a party, conversation often turns to joking or complaining about other departments in the university where people seem to think that their research is soooooooo much more important than ours (And I’m sure people in those departments have similar feelings about us). The comic was just meant to take that to its illogical extreme.
Pharyngula readers may be more entertained by my other comic, which is a satire of religion set in an alternative fascist theocratic America: http://buxompiratewench.comicgenesis.com/d/20090119.html
Or alternatively, if you’d like to see a much more clever ribbing of Pharyngula than my own, I’d recommend that you read Intragalactic here: http://intragalacticcomic.com/2008/12/10/science-the-proof-part-1/(That's a two part strip, so be sure to hit the “next” button!)
@Sili #351
LOL, I wasn’t aware that there was a furry comic called SSDD. How appropriate.
Sorry, that link should have read: http://intragalacticcomic.com/2008/12/10/science-the-proof-part-1/
@efrique #355
So my opinion can be ascertained by reading comments left by other people on my work? But wouldn’t that be like concluding that P.Z. Myers has no sense of humor from reading comments left by other people on this post?:)
aratina@350
teenage mutant ninja turtles? :)
this demonstrates the charm I find in some furries.
bbcodextre was indeed the add-on I was looking for. Makes style tags a cinch for newbies like myself.
I’m not a furry either, and don’t know a whole lot about it beyond the fact that it exists (I did see that CSI episode), and I’m with some of the other commenters in wondering WTF is up with all the scorn directed at them? I don’t “get” furry, but I don’t see why I need to; they’re just doing their thing, right?
Speaking of furry art, it makes a good test for the statement we hear sometimes, that, “If I can imagine it, it must exist somewhere–and I imagine God.” The furries just have a more whimsical imagination than some other people. Remember H. Beam Piper’s “Fuzzy sapiens”?
The link that Ichthyic mentioned at 179 has code helper that purports to do XHTML as well as BBCode, XBBCode, and a partial implementation of WikiMedia wiki code.
Everybody knows there will always be at least one kind of furry to root for PZ
http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/8452/pz2.jpg
Imo, you don’t even have to be a nerd to find science more fascinating than sports. Of all inane, unintellectually stimulating, overrated, and pointless activities, sports is beaten only by discussing sports.
*doesn’t raise hand but says…*
Radiologist here. Not a Scientist but had to take Physics Boards (plus pre-Med-Oh-God) so have been bludgeoned by Science-Lite more than once. And then came Nuc Med with decay and MRI with K-space. :-*
Just happy that the Intelligentsia has survived the Slavish Worship of Anti-Intellectualism and the By God I’d Rather Have a Beer With Him Instead of Those Damn Egghead Experts era. *sheesh*
Don’t worry if you don’t know the answer. Only your Hairdresser knows for sure.
“last week in class someone asked of they had guns in Jesus’ time.”
It would be hard to be sure that they didn’t; the Chinese probably had gunpowder at that point, though cannon don’t SEEM to have turned up until considerably later.
Ok so I’m late to the party this time.
{raises hand}
Yup I’m a working, proper, real, published, PhD’d, research scientist in real* science. Ummm and errr well so what? Ok, ok for survey purposes it’s all good. We so rarely talk about actual chemistry here I’ll remain an interested lay person.
Also, since what I do is synthetic chemistry I feel no need to hurl erlenmeyers because what I do is already useful (as well as pure science) and it don’t require no steeeenking engineers to make it so.
{smug mode}
Although it occasionally makes me smell funny.
{/smug mode}
And now onto the very very serious topics of furries, geek hierarchies and Pharyngula/Pharyngulite mockery.
1) Furries = ok by me. I’m under the impression that, although I don’t share their tastes, they don’t require me to. Live and let live sayeth I.
2) Geek hierarchies: I’m in no position to criticise. Like The good Rev BDC (KoT) I too have played an MMORPG. In fact I tell you all here and no in a total disregard for maintaining any credibility whatsoever, there is only one MMORPG I have ever played, and I still occasionally (once every 2 weeks or so) play it. It is like I’ve confessed to a murder.
3) Pharyngula/Pharyngulite mockery: YOU DARE YOU FURRY FUCKS? Oh wait, it was actually very good mockery, erm, I actually like it…..erm what do we do if we erm sort of, don’t mind a bit of mocking? Good mocking is good, the world needs more of it. Power to your furry parts Aguoti-Rex. I particularly like the last panel of the 3rd comic in the series. PZ watching tentacle porn is funny. Especially because it’s true (I should know I’ve met him, whilst he nipped to the toilets I looked in his lap top bag and it was filled with cephalopod related “gentleman’s relaxation literature” of an extreme kind. I’m guessing that he will approve if he already does not. I’m not sure I agree with all the sentiments in your mockery, but then, so what? It was good mockery nonetheless.
Cheers all
Louis
* Everyone KNOWS that REAL TRUE science is physics and chemistry and that everything else is stamp collecting and opinion. I mean it’s just like my friend Jock McJock who doesn’t put sugar on his porridge…Oh wait, did I makes a booboo? ;-)
Robert Synnott, #368
Gunpowder is too useful not to use, and a practical bunch like the Romans would be sure to use it if they’d had it. Think of what Christianity would be like had Jesus had been tied to the mouth of a cannon.
No, tools get used. Even if that use is not what we would expect. And their use gets remarked upon. We would also see examples of their use today. Blasted rock at mining or road construction sites for example.
The fact we don’t find evidence of gunpowder being used in Roman tims, no mention of their use, no sign the compound had any impact on Roman life and society pretty much tells us they had no gunpowder.
When something useful is developed, and it is cheap to manufacture, it will be used widely. Gunpowder is cheap to manufacture. That we don’t see signs of it being used at all should tell you something.
Responding to several comments as the original link isn’t working for me.
First, I find it bizarre that there’s so much disdain for furries on a site with such an obvious cephalopod fetish. With Calvin & Hobbes quotes on the sidebar no less!
Malkara @ #42:
Seen several of those charts. On most, the arrows go both ways!
John Morales @ #68:
Not a very imaginative or effective insult to use on someone going by the name “Cat of many faces”. Perhaps unintentionally hilarious though. I’d go with “scaredy-cat”. :P
pcarini @ #107:
Google “Omaha the Cat Dancer”. I think it’s pre-net, definitely NSFW, erotic comic with anthropomorphic characters.
Anthropomorphic art has been around forever, the Greeks probably had centaur porn, and satyrs and fauns were definitely horny (pun intended).
Also, yiff is not the entirety of furriness. Look at ordinary cartoons, how many furry characters there are in video games and such. Look up Maus, it’s the only graphic novel to win a Pulitzer IIRC, and it’s anthro (NSFW, but not for sexual content, it’s a WWII story from the author’s father, drawn with cute animals doing the unspeakable things humans did).
Then there’s Rule 34, and the related Rule 36 (if there is no porn of it, someone will make it). I’ve got a friend who’s into Harry Potter fanfics, some of those can get really freaky, and that’s a CHILDREN’s series. Disney’s Robin Hood is a furry classic. Calvin & Hobbes inspired most every furry webcomic artist I’ve seen (Ozy & Millie is a great one, actually safe and very funny). Bloom County and Pogo are also cited as inspiration.
And there’s anime, especially catgirls and the pet monster genre (though contrary to some slogans not everyone finds Renamon foxy in that way). Otaku and furries often overlap. Look at the popularity of InuYasha, where anthropomorphic bondage is canon, played for laughs starting with episode 2, and there’s a love triangle between 2 canines and a Japanese schoolgirl in uniform! And all this is shown on Cartoon Network, has been for years!
Peter McKellar @ #176:
What would Tony Stark be doing here? Has he lost his mind?
Sili @ #248:
http://www.kingdomofloathing.com
Naked Bunny With A Whip # 294:
*huggles*
Carrot-related games are reserved for my mate. ;)
Several people:
Carrots are a vegetable, not a fruit, as I’m sure Naked Bunny With a Whip can tell you. Peaches, on the other hand… :P
X Wolp @ #365:
What is the sound of eight hands clapping?
plum grenville @ # 366:
I’ve joked that football is the official religion of the Southeast. I’m a heretic in more ways than one. BTW, not a scientist, engineer, with an interest in learning and understanding things (an interest that is sadly rare in this part of the country).