World Net Daily, that cesspit of far right wing kookiness, often spams me with weird advertisements. As I was about to hit the delete key, the latest one caught my eye: it was about UFOs. UFOs? I knew the site was all about political and religious extremism, but where do flying saucers fit into that picture? So I actually read a little further, and saw a name I recognized: L.A. Marzulli. I met Marzulli! I heard him give a talk! Marzulli is totally bug-boinking batty!
I got as far as the first paragraph before I started throwing red flags, and by the second I was ready to call off the whole game on account of dishonesty. Psychology Today (I should have been alerted by the source) defends EP.
The human brain, just like every aspect of every organism on the planet, is the product of evolution. If you accept that evolution is true, you can’t avoid that conclusion. That’s why I often get confused when I hear reasonable people being broadly dismissive of evolutionary psychology (EP).
EP is simply an approach to psychology that explicitly acknowledges evolution as the designer of brains. This approach may sound non-controversial in principle, at least among those who accept evolution. Nevertheless, many non-creationist critics find plenty of reasons to object to EP, or at least to what they consider EP to be. For examples of some such criticisms see Ed Hagen’s Evolutionary Psychology FAQ.
I am feeling a strange and somewhat unwarranted affinity to Dan Savage right now. Apparently he’s going to be on some new television show (that’s the unwarranted part: there’s no comparing our relative popularity or cultural influence), and certain people are rising up in protest because he’s too rude.
Dan Savage’s vulgarity and violent rhetoric is well-documented. Savage is unapologetic in his promotion of filth masquerading as humor. His new show, ironically titled “The Real O’Neals,” is a platform he does not deserve. Even so, Disney ABC continues to remain silent as pro-family and pro-faith organizations call for it to reconsider its decision to promote this bigoted, hate-filled man.
"Disney ABC continues to circle the wagon and ignore the anti-religious bigot in their midst,” said MRC President Brent Bozell. “We will not relent in exposing Dan Savage for the vile hate he spews at conservatives, Catholics, and evangelicals. Disney ABC’s silence is shameful.”
I’ve got all this grading to do. Do you think the students will object if their papers are returned covered in blood, vomit, and tears?
That’s not a comment on the quality of their work, but how I’m feeling when faced with the interminable ever-growing stacks.
Tamah Jada Clark is really, really upset about something — it’s not clear what. She has filed a legal something or other titled To Fuck This Court and Everything that it Stands For in which she chews out a judge, colorfully, and fails to make much of a case for anything. She apparently thinks she is not obligated to pay federal taxes? She does not recognize the fed because she is a Floridian-American? I don’t know. But she goes on for pages raging about the judge who dismissed her case.
I remember reading Johnny Hart’s B.C. back in the late 1960s. It was stale then, relying on feeble non sequiturs and unfunny one-liners, and it just got worse over the years as it became increasingly religious (You want to suck all the joy out of something? Just add Jesus.), and now of course, it’s the classic example of a zombie comic strip, the original creator is dead, and his successors just keep phoning it in.
But someone still reads it: Ken Ham, of course. He was quite amused by this piece of crap.
Jadehawk has been suffering to provide evidential support for Secular Woman, in particular their recent statement on their priorities.
However, one issue that has surfaced during this dispute demands our attention due to our understanding of events. Our stated values make it clear that we stand with survivors of sexual assault and those who believe and support them. We choose not to associate with those who align themselves with abusers rather than victims.
Inspired by the title of Philip
Sandifer’s essay, I felt compelled to filk.
No rights reserved. For pity’s sake, I left quite a few lines
unchanged from the original. I deeply apologize to Leonard Cohen, who
probably has no idea what this is all about.
“First we take their rockets”, to the tune of “First we take
Manhattan”, by Leonard Cohen
They sentenced me to Less-Than-“No Award”-dom
For trying to game the system from within
I’m coming now, I’ll show them “No Award”-dom
First we take their rockets¹, then we bite their shins
I am guided by a voice from out of Heaven
I’m guided by my hatred of their sins
I’m guided by the beauty of our weapons
First we take their rockets, then we bite their shins
I’d really like to vote your ticket, baby
I love your malice and your trolling and your sword²
But you see that crowd there moving into Worldcon?
I told you, I told you, told you, I was only bored
Ah you loved me as a loser, but now you’re worried that I just might win
You know the way to stop me, but you don’t have the discipline
How many nights I prayed for this, to let my work begin
First we take their rockets, then we bite their shins
I don’t like this social justice, mister
And I don’t like those people dark of skin
Don’t need rights for wife or girl or sister
First we take their rockets, then we bite their shins
I’d really like to vote your ticket, baby
And I thank you for those items that you sent me
The ballot and the little rocket pins³
I practiced every night, now I’m ready
First we take their rockets, then we bite their shins
I am guided
Ah remember me, I used to live for music⁴
Remember me, my mouse⁵ was full of win
Well it’s Judgement Day and everybody’s losing
First we take their rockets, then we bite their shins
1: The physical form of the Hugo award looks something like this (the
base is different each year):
More info here.
2: Flaming phallic sword.
3: Every Hugo nominee receives a little rocket pin; one per
nomination, as best I can tell. John C. Wright will thus receive 5. It
would perhaps be appropriate if they were accompanied by as many as
necessary to come to 30 pieces of silver
4: Psykosonik, it says there.
5: Yes, the mouse that goes to 11 18…!!
Here’s a curious marketing omission for you: the Marvel Avengers merchandise is all lacking the one woman on the superhero team, the Black Widow. It’s a mystery. I’m wondering if maybe Scarlett Johansson has cooties or something.
Or maybe it’s something else. Maybe it’s because it is traditional to erase the feminine. Let’s take a look at some classical statuary.
Louisiana is saddled with this absurd “creationism law”, which states that teachers can bring creationism into the public school classroom as part of a “teach the controversy” strategy. Zack Kopplin has been fighting this stupid law, trying to get it repealed, but with no luck so far. One problem is that lawmakers have an excuse to avoid doing anything about it: they try to claim that no one is using it to teach creationism!
The Louisiana State Legislature has voted to keep this law despite repeated challenges, in part because it has a fig leaf: No one has managed to demonstrate what is going on inside Louisiana classrooms. In 2013, as I was testifying before the Louisiana Senate Education Committee in support of a bill to repeal the law, Sen. Conrad Appel, the committee chairman, asked me, “Do you have any evidence of school districts or individual schools that are physically teaching creationism?”
