#isbrandyok

@JoeCienkowski is a motor-mouthed creationist who hangs out on Twitter. His wife, Brandy Evans Cienkowski, is much less vocal and considers herself one of those ‘liberal Christians’, and she apparently got fed up with Joe (he has also been arrested at least once for battery in January, which is not a good sign) and left him…and then was, presumably, reconciled and rejoined him, at least by Joe Cienkowski’s account. Strangely, Brandy has gone completely silent since this reconciliation, and Joe has has also spluttered to a trickle of tweets, all unresponsive to questions about his wife’s status. This has roused suspicions, and there is a call out for contact. If you know Brandy Evans Cienkowski, let people know here or on Twitter.

Trust no one!

The beans have been spilled. I lied. I am not the Digital Cuttlefish, I am not leaving Scienceblogs, I have no talent for poetry, and I am not a nice person.

I am highly untrustworthy, though. I had people asking all day if I was really in Elmhurst and if I was really going to the local pub last night. I’m a little worried that I’ll get home to find the wife has changed the locks on me.

Events for this Thursday

Aaargh! Dueling events on Thursday night!

Oh, well, they’re easy to resolve spatially. If you’re somewhere near Minneapolis, you should attend JT Eberhard’s talk in Smith Hall at 7. He’s going to be talking about “Campus Preachers: An Excuse to Build Forts and Other Shenanigans”, so I’m sure there’ll be tips on what to do when Brother Jed comes to town.

I can’t go! I’m going to be in the Twin Cities on Thursday night, down near the airport, because I’m flying out to speak at Elmhurst College on Friday. But I’ve got another commitment for this Thursday night. I’m appearing on Virtually Speaking with Jay Ackroyd, a kind of talk show that takes place in Second Life. I’ll be tottering about with a poorly controlled avatar, and you can join in by creating your own avatar, or you can just listen in as if it were a live podcast.

So you can listen to me if you’re anywhere in the world, but you’ll need to physically come to Minneapolis to see JT.

An inside view of the Journal of Cosmology

I’ve been saying for a long time that that ‘journal’ that published the meteorite microbes story was a joke: now someone who has also published in the JoC gives us a look at the review process there. It’s not very rigorous, as you might expect.

She also gives a good mineralogical explanation of the structures they were seeing (see also Ian Musgrave’s summary). This paper’s dead, Jim. But don’t be surprised if you see it cited in other papers from the fringe astrobiology crowd in the future.

I get email

I think this one was more of a wrong number.

Found you online and had a question…

Hi, my name is Susan Dahl. I did a search online for Christians and I came across you. It would be great to have more info about what you are sharing online for the benefit and help of others.

I am writing because I would like to find some new friends who have a walk with the Lord in the Puget Sound area. Even in the Northwest, there are still some of us out there!

I look forward to hearing from you.

God bless you,

Susan Dahl

It’s OK. I’ve decided to name my penis “The Lord” just so these spammy Christian emails will make a little more sense.

Praise the Lord!

Christchurch struck by Poe?

After the serious earthquake in Christchurch, New Zealand, a website popped up that blamed the event on gays and lesbians, prostitution, and baby seal clubbing, a website that has been rightfully denounced by the media and gay and lesbian groups.

But I’m suspicious. There are a couple of things that make me doubt; one is that the site is a little too free in flaunting photos of naked people from gay events in New Zealand, which is not typical of conservative religious sites. Another problem is the excess — it is clearly trying to be sensationalist. And yet there is no one, no church taking credit for the site, which is very peculiar.

This isn’t a site representative of much of anything. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s either the work of an obsessive religious zealot — an individual, not a group — or of someone intentionally trying to discredit religion with an over-the-top fake. Either way, whoever made that crazy site needs some pity.