Even though my wife does think it makes our car a billboard for godless liberal scientism, I may have to add this one to the collection.
Why, yes, I think I do need another bumper sticker
Pharyngula
Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
I thought you said it begins when your kids go off to college.
Hey, hey! I didn’t even know her 3.5 billion years ago!
I thought you said it begins when your kids go off to college.
OT, but where is WOOT? It’s sort of distressing not to see his blue boobies. Carry on.
the only bumper sticker I have is one promoting crazy-old-cat-lady-ism. it reads “cats, not kids”
this one is neat, but the necessary past tense doesn’t give it quite the necessary punch, i think.
She makes that out to be a bad thing?
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/6mb592
IIRC a study suggested that cars with more bumper stickers have more aggressive drivers. How aggressive a driver is PZ in comparison with his wife?
Uh oh, don’t tell Don McLeroy or Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr., the author of Sowing Atheism: The National Academy of Sciences’ Sinister Scheme to Teach Our Children They’re Descended from Reptiles. Yes, that’s the real title.
If it’s supposed to be a jab at pro-lifers I don’t think most people will get it.
She says that like it’s a bad thing! I’d take it as a compliment myself.
She could only have meant that as a compliment, right?
Sorry, that’s one thing I definitely got from my grandfather, clean, waxed cars with no bumper stickers.
Yikes! Triple-posting. Cleanup in Aisle six please? I kept getting “comment submission error messages.” Probably should have checked before re-submitting.
Shouldn’t it say “When does life begin”. It deals with the problem of embryos and life.
…or you could have just read the error message, which explicitly discourages re-posting.
You’ll have to do a lot better than that, PZ. Ussher not only named the exact year, but added October 27. Another victory for the fundies.
Shouldn’t it have the qualifier “on Earth”? But I guess that would reduce the impact of the double meaning.
It would be better if it said, “When did life on Earth begin?”
Actually, I think “Godless Liberal Scientism” would make a great bumper sticker. What could the trophy wife say then?
~
It would be better if it said, “When did life on Earth begin?”
dammit, now i have tea all over my keyboard.
It would be better if it said, “When did life on Earth begin?”
No, then it would just be statement of fact and not a humourous satire.
“Godless Liberal Scientism” as a bumper sticker.
All I can think of is how every rural stop sign in Texas is peppered with bullet holes or shotgun spray.
I keep an Evolve Fish on both cars but have been a little afraid of putting anything more agressive. You can never be sure whether or not one of those good Xtians might just bash your vehicle. This one though is more sciencey and not so overtly agressive. I might go for it.
And damn if I wouldn’t like to come back in ~3.5 billion more years and see what’s become of things.
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/05/21/100-bumper-stickers/
Pipe down Marshall. We’re all aware of the finer points that have yet to be fully understood and explored as to how organic life started on Earth. Rest assured, you haven’t discovered a unique idea about the matter. There’s a lot of well qualified, highly experienced, and highly knowledgeable people working the problem.
Ah, I thought it was meant to be a swipe against creationism! Maybe because I don’t live in the States.
“Marshall Nelson” == b& ultra-troll Charlie Wagner. /r/ IP b& and letter to his ISP requesting removal for harassment.
As referenced above, Territorial Markings as a Predictor of Driver Aggression and Road Rage. As the title implies, it’s related to territoriality and how the driver defines their “home” space.
Charlie is spamming irrelevant garbage and is therefore in violation of his ISP’s terms of service. /r/ b& and ISP letter.
Are you saying that life is infinite? Because that would be a tough point to argue, given that the earth was only formed 4.55 billion years ago.
It’s good, but my favorite is one I had about 20 years ago:
“You’ll never get out of this life alive!”
How about: “when does life begin- 1 billion year after planet formation”
I want a t-shirt featuring Darwin’s “I think” tree of life drawing. Such an inspiring, simple image.
I agree about the past tense thing, it needs to be “When does life begin”; that’s perfectly proper, life does begin ~3.5bya. Time is simultaneous, haven’t y’all read Einstein?
My female wife and I — I’m male — went to see Ladysmith Black Mombaza on Monday night at UC Davis. Great show, every town needs a Mondavi.
Parked in the lot, I saw a car with this one:
“So, when do we get to vote on your marriage?”
Mikey likes it.
But you do believe that the universe had a beginning right? That at the point of singularity there was no life, there weren’t even the organic molecules to create life.
How about “Life Begins in the Archean“? It doesn’t have that pesky past tense…
Die Anyway @ #28: I have the procreate fish on my minivan. It’s my second. That aggressive F.U. symbol tends to keep the Xtians from challenging it — at least that has been my experience. I have been tempted to place a sticker of a boy and girl kneeling in prayer before a cross under one of those Calvin “piss on you” stickers, but I’m worried about the reaction I’d get in Arizona. That might be too much.
I don’t really get it. Perhaps I just don’t get bumper stickers (not an amazing possibility since I have only owned a car for a brief, long ago period of my life when I had small children whom I needed to transport across large distances).
It just seems like a rather inane question with a similarly inane (if correct) response.
Like “Where is the library?/In the high street by the main square.” True but not the kind of information you you look for on the back bumper of car.
On THIS planet, life got a start within the last 4.5 billion years. Viable molecular replicators in the chemical bouillabaisse might have appeared and promptly got incinerated zillions of times before things settled down to a proper evolutionary banquet.
Let’s not be TOO parochial. There are over 9 billion earlier years it can have started elsewhere. The ingredients and conditions were available within the first several hundred million years after decoupling. The universe is ZOUNDS bigger than our little wet spatter of a mudball. The only honest answer is: “sometime within the last 13.5 billion years”.
“I do not accept that the universe had a beginning.”
What about the current universe as we know it, having cooled down so that atoms can exist, didn’t that have a beginning?
How could anything resembling what we call life exist before there were molecules in our current universe?
In a very real sense, our universe did begin about 13.7 billion years ago (or so CMB and a whole pile of other evidence suggests). Before that point, the laws of physics as we understand them today didn’t exist – there may have been _something_, but it wasn’t our universe. Even if there was some kind of organised self-replicator in a “previous” universe, it’s unlikely to have survived the early nanoseconds of our universe’s history, let alone the (hypothetical) transition “between” universes.
I want one that says “The media ate my baby!” but that’s probably a better .sig.
In case your post got erased from the historical record!
———————————————————–
Previewing your Comment
#1 Posted by: Bjørn Østman | March 18, 2009 3:10 PM
I thought you said it begins when your kids go off to college.
#2
Posted by: Postman (Formerly Known As Randy) | March 18, 2009 3:12 PM
Hey, hey! I didn’t even know her 3.5 billion years ago!
#3
Posted by: Bjørn Østman | March 18, 2009 3:12 PM
I thought you said it begins when your kids go off to college.
#4
Posted by: E.V. | March 18, 2009 3:15 PM
OT, but where is WOOT? It’s sort of distressing not to see his blue boobies. Carry on.
#5
Posted by: Jadehawk Author Profile Page | March 18, 2009 3:16 PM
the only bumper sticker I have is one promoting crazy-old-cat-lady-ism. it reads “cats, not kids”
this one is neat, but the necessary past tense doesn’t give it quite the necessary punch, i think.
#6
Posted by: Glen Davidson | March 18, 2009 3:16 PM
Even though my wife does think it makes our car a billboard for godless liberal scientism,
She makes that out to be a bad thing?
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/6mb592
#7
Posted by: Erp | March 18, 2009 3:22 PM
IIRC a study suggested that cars with more bumper stickers have more aggressive drivers. How aggressive a driver is PZ in comparison with his wife?
#8
Posted by: James F | March 18, 2009 3:23 PM
Uh oh, don’t tell Don McLeroy or Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr., the author of Sowing Atheism: The National Academy of Sciences’ Sinister Scheme to Teach Our Children They’re Descended from Reptiles. Yes, that’s the real title.
#9
Posted by: charley | March 18, 2009 3:31 PM
If it’s supposed to be a jab at pro-lifers I don’t think most people will get it.
#10
Posted by: Scooty Puff, Jr. | March 18, 2009 3:37 PM
my wife does think it makes our car a billboard for godless liberal scientism
She says that like it’s a bad thing! I’d take it as a compliment myself.
#11
Posted by: Scooty Puff, Jr. | March 18, 2009 3:40 PM
my wife does think it makes our car a billboard for godless liberal scientism
She says that like it’s a bad thing. I would take it as a high compliment!
#12
Posted by: Scooty Puff, Jr. | March 18, 2009 3:40 PM
my wife does think it makes our car a billboard for godless liberal scientism
She could only have meant that as a compliment, right?
#13
Posted by: dogmeatib | March 18, 2009 3:41 PM
Sorry, that’s one thing I definitely got from my grandfather, clean, waxed cars with no bumper stickers.
#14
Posted by: Scooty Puff, Jr. | March 18, 2009 3:43 PM
Yikes! Triple-posting. Cleanup in Aisle six please? I kept getting “comment submission error messages.” Probably should have checked before re-submitting.
#15
Posted by: Michael Fugate | March 18, 2009 3:52 PM
Shouldn’t it say “When does life begin”. It deals with the problem of embryos and life.
#16
Posted by: Sven DiMilo | March 18, 2009 3:53 PM
…or you could have just read the error message, which explicitly discourages re-posting.
#17
Posted by: varlo | March 18, 2009 3:54 PM
You’ll have to do a lot better than that, PZ. Ussher not only named the exact year, but added October 27. Another victory for the fundies.
#18
Posted by: Marshall Nelson | March 18, 2009 3:57 PM
“When Did Life Begin?
3.5 Billion Years Ago.”
Wrong!
We don’t know when life began.
We don’t even know if it HAD a beginning.
#19
Posted by: Alverant | March 18, 2009 3:57 PM
Shouldn’t it have the qualifier “on Earth”? But I guess that would reduce the impact of the double meaning.
#20
Posted by: Nick | March 18, 2009 3:57 PM
It would be better if it said, “When did life on Earth begin?”
#21
Posted by: Sastra Author Profile Page | March 18, 2009 3:58 PM
Actually, I think “Godless Liberal Scientism” would make a great bumper sticker. What could the trophy wife say then?
#22
Posted by: Rev. BigDumbChimp | March 18, 2009 3:58 PM
~
#23
Posted by: Nick | March 18, 2009 4:00 PM
It would be better if it said, “When did life on Earth begin?”
#24
Posted by: Jadehawk Author Profile Page | March 18, 2009 4:01 PM
We don’t even know if it HAD a beginning.
dammit, now i have tea all over my keyboard.
#25
Posted by: SteveM | March 18, 2009 4:02 PM
It would be better if it said, “When did life on Earth begin?”
No, then it would just be statement of fact and not a humourous satire.
#26
Posted by: Marshall Nelson | March 18, 2009 4:02 PM
“Three new species of bacteria, which are not found on Earth and which are highly resistant to ultra-violet radiation, have been discovered in the upper stratosphere by Indian scientists. One of the new species has been named as Janibacter hoylei, after the Distinguished Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle, the second as Bacillus isronensis recognising the contribution of ISRO in the balloon experiments which led to its discovery and the third as Bacillus aryabhata after India’s celebrated ancient astronomer Aryabhata and also the first satellite of ISRO.”
http://www.isro.org/pressrelease/Mar16_2009.htm
#27
Posted by: E.V. | March 18, 2009 4:04 PM
“Godless Liberal Scientism” as a bumper sticker.
All I can think of is how every rural stop sign in Texas is peppered with bullet holes or shotgun spray.
#28
Posted by: Die Anyway | March 18, 2009 4:04 PM
I keep an Evolve Fish on both cars but have been a little afraid of putting anything more agressive. You can never be sure whether or not one of those good Xtians might just bash your vehicle. This one though is more sciencey and not so overtly agressive. I might go for it.
And damn if I wouldn’t like to come back in ~3.5 billion more years and see what’s become of things.
#29
Posted by: bio teacher | March 18, 2009 4:07 PM
http://stuffwhitepeoplelike.com/2008/05/21/100-bumper-stickers/
#30
Posted by: Alex | March 18, 2009 4:12 PM
Pipe down Marshall. We’re all aware of the finer points that have yet to be fully understood and explored as to how organic life started on Earth. Rest assured, you haven’t discovered a unique idea about the matter. There’s a lot of well qualified, highly experienced, and highly knowledgeable people working the problem.
#31
Posted by: Nick | March 18, 2009 4:12 PM
It would be better if it said, “When did life on Earth begin?”
No, then it would just be statement of fact and not a humourous satire.
Ah, I thought it was meant to be a swipe against creationism! Maybe because I don’t live in the States.
#32
Posted by: Blue Fielder Author Profile Page | March 18, 2009 4:12 PM
“Marshall Nelson” == b& ultra-troll Charlie Wagner. /r/ IP b& and letter to his ISP requesting removal for harassment.
#33
Posted by: MyaR | March 18, 2009 4:13 PM
As referenced above, Territorial Markings as a Predictor of Driver Aggression and Road Rage. As the title implies, it’s related to territoriality and how the driver defines their “home” space.
#34
Posted by: Marshall Nelson | March 18, 2009 4:15 PM
17 March 2009
“Predominantly left-handed amino acids were found in six out of six meteorites examined by a pair of astrobiologists at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “I have to admit I didn’t believe it at first,” one remarked. With no better idea, the astrobiologists suggest that water caused the anomalous chirality — the effects of water are evident in the meteorites. But water itself has no chirality. Or maybe polarized light was responsible? But light comes equally in right- and left-handed polarity.
On the other hand, life creates only left-handed amino acids. And when life dies out, this chirality slowly degrades away. For some amino acids, this degradation can take billions of years. Could the surprising excess of left-handed amino acids in the six meteorites be the remnants of ancient life on their parent bodies?”
Daniel P. Glavin and Jason P. Dworkin, “Enrichment of the amino acid l-isovaline by aqueous alteration on CI and CM meteorite parent bodies” [abstract], doi:10.1073/pnas.0811618106, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, online 16 Mar 2009.
(A tip of the Hatlo hat to Brig Klyce)
#35
Posted by: Blue Fielder Author Profile Page | March 18, 2009 4:28 PM
Charlie is spamming irrelevant garbage and is therefore in violation of his ISP’s terms of service. /r/ b& and ISP letter.
#36
Posted by: Kel | March 18, 2009 4:37 PM
We don’t even know if it HAD a beginning.
Are you saying that life is infinite? Because that would be a tough point to argue, given that the earth was only formed 4.55 billion years ago.
#37
Posted by: badrescher Author Profile Page | March 18, 2009 4:44 PM
It’s good, but my favorite is one I had about 20 years ago:
“You’ll never get out of this life alive!”
#38
Posted by: Marshall Nelson | March 18, 2009 4:44 PM
“Are you saying that life is infinite? Because that would be a tough point to argue, given that the earth was only formed 4.55 billion years ago.”
My position is that life is endemic in the universe and is older than the earth.
http://www.panspermia.org
#39
Posted by: DRH | March 18, 2009 4:53 PM
How about: “when does life begin- 1 billion year after planet formation”
#40
Posted by: Kevin Schreck | March 18, 2009 4:57 PM
I want a t-shirt featuring Darwin’s “I think” tree of life drawing. Such an inspiring, simple image.
#41
Posted by: JM Inc. | March 18, 2009 5:01 PM
I agree about the past tense thing, it needs to be “When does life begin”; that’s perfectly proper, life does begin ~3.5bya. Time is simultaneous, haven’t y’all read Einstein?
#42
Posted by: MikeM | March 18, 2009 5:01 PM
My female wife and I — I’m male — went to see Ladysmith Black Mombaza on Monday night at UC Davis. Great show, every town needs a Mondavi.
Parked in the lot, I saw a car with this one:
“So, when do we get to vote on your marriage?”
Mikey likes it.
#43
Posted by: Kel | March 18, 2009 5:07 PM
My position is that life is endemic in the universe and is older than the earth.
But you do believe that the universe had a beginning right? That at the point of singularity there was no life, there weren’t even the organic molecules to create life.
#44
Posted by: Marshall Nelson | March 18, 2009 5:22 PM
“But you do believe that the universe had a beginning right? That at the point of singularity there was no life, there weren’t even the organic molecules to create life.”
I do not accept that the universe had a beginning.
The Problem of First Cause
“One of the oldest problems facing humankind is the problem of “First Cause”. Why is there anything, instead of nothing? When and how did it all start? Is it “turtles all the way down”? Evolution has the same problem of infinite regress. All evolved forms were modified from pre-existing forms. But is it just an infinite regression of pre-existing forms? When and how did it all start?
The question of First Cause has been addressed by Philosophers and Scientists since the beginning of time. No solution has been forthcoming, although I will offer one for your contemplation. The First Cause problem stems from the knowledge that everything in the world has a cause. Because of this, you eventually must come to a primary cause, which religions call God. But this begs the question: “who made god?”. If everything must have a cause, then God too must have a cause. Religion says: “not so, God has always existed.” and leave it at that. But I contend that if there is anything in the universe without a cause, it might as well be the universe itself, rather than God. Since I don’t believe in God, there’s only one option as far as I can see: the universe and the life in it have always existed. There’s simply no reason for thinking that the universe had a beginning. Cosmologists seem to have an even different view. They claim that the universe came into existence without a cause. It’s really only poverty of our limited human imagination that everything must have a beginning. For evolutionists, the question “where did life come from” may be no different from the question “where did matter come from?”
re: #42
The question is really directed at Americans and isn’t really about life of the primordial soup variety. In the U.S., it’s usually taken to ask how long after the boinky-boinky-have-a-cigarette do the merged cells become “a life”.
(and yes, phrases like “boinky-boinky-have-a-cigarette” probably have a lot to do with my unexpectedly long bachelorhood)
Only sticker I got is “Follow Me To Buc-ee’s”.
PZ, if you’re on the road in Texas, take a dump at Buc-ee’s. This company has built it reputation on its restrooms. And buy some Buc-ee’s chow-chow on the way out. Chow-chow is a spicy partly fermented cabbage relish loaded with hot peppers and garlic. Its a Texas German relish that tastes like sauerkraut, picante sauce, and taqueria pickles all rolled into one.
Best dish at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is bratwurst on a roll with fresh fermented chow-chow that’s never been canned.
Aaronson Jones Rutherford writes:
If I say you’ve got a big rebuttal, will you hold it against me?
Only sticker I got is “Follow Me To Buc-ee’s”.
PZ, if you’re on the road in Texas, take a dump at Buc-ee’s. This company has built it reputation on its restrooms. And buy some Buc-ee’s chow-chow on the way out. Chow-chow is a spicy partly fermented cabbage relish loaded with hot peppers and garlic. Its a Texas German relish that tastes like sauerkraut, picante sauce, and taqueria pickles all rolled into one.
Best dish at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is bratwurst on a roll with fresh fermented chow-chow that’s never been canned.
Why isn’t it acceptable to say “I don’t know” about the beginning of the universe? Because it’s the only answer anyone’s got that’s close to true. At this time. Perhaps some day scientists will be able to figure out more of what was happening on the other side of the singularity – or maybe they won’t. But, in either case, the question of god is irrelevant; those claiming to know something about god are clearly making it up, to about the same extent as the theoretical cosmologists. The only difference is that the theoretical cosmologists will eventually (viz: steady state) give up on a theory after they’re confronted with contradictory evidence. The claims of an omniscient all powerful god are looking pretty thin, too, if all its proponents can do is point at the singularity.
What made the universe? I don’t know and I suppose, in a very real sense, I don’t care.
“What made the universe? I don’t know and I suppose, in a very real sense, I don’t care.”
Well said. Definitely a post of the month!
I only regret that it took me so long to figure it out.
It would have made life a lot easier!
Charlie, get your dumb ass away from this blog. You’ve already been banned numerous times and nobody buys your stupidities.
With kids in college/university PZ needs bumper stickers to keep the bloody thing on.
At least 3.5 billion, and possibly even further back. Though around here things don’t usually pick up until Friday evening.
I’ve only had two atheist/evolution stickers on my car ever, and both were stolen, one when I was parked in the airport parking garage, the other at WalMart I think. Now my husband won’t let me put any on the car because he drives it to work and he works with a buncha fundies who he imagines will gun him down in cold blood. He’s probably not far wrong, all told.
I like this sticker a lot, though. Hmm…
Yeah, Darwin’s tree of life. Surely one of the most inspired and inspirational little doodles ever done. The more I learn about Charles Darwin, the more he impresses me. If this keeps up, I’m going to wind up worshipping him the way the creotards think I do.
Some fundamentalist was bitching about the “I think” part of that image a few weeks ago. I didn’t take time to see if they objected to the “I” or to the thinking, or to the weakness of not saying “I believe”.
I think “The beginning of life
is WAS 3.5 billion years ago” might be a better way of phrasing it.Well, she does have a point about the car’s resale value with all that sticky residue.
I’ve only had two atheist/evolution stickers on my car ever, and both were stolen, one when I was parked in the airport parking garage, the other at WalMart I think.
http://www.treatment-for-anxiety.org
Aaronson Jones Rutherford, please don’t do that. It’s extremely irritating to encounter a complete recap of the thread to date. If you think PZ Myers is likely to delete pertinent comments, make those comments in a location not under his control (which is most of the internet).
On the next round of Survivor, how about adding the most egregious of those who can’t be bothered to actually read the submission error note or haven’t the patience to wait for it and continue making multiple identical posts. It is more irritating than dodging over Africangenesis’ and others killfiled headings.
Jadehawk – where did you get the cats not kids sticker?
COI: 4 cats no kids
Question: how many bumper stickers do you need before you start looking like a mad hippy type? I have a RDF sticker, an atheist sticker and two condemning the destruction of old-growth forest in Tasmania. I used to think people who drove around in sticker-encrusted cars were weird. Now I fear I’m turning into one.
I did once see a BMW with the sticker ‘My other car is also a BMW’ which I thought was quite cool.
What EXACTLY 3.5billion years ago? TODAY?
Yay! Happy birthday life!!!!!