Waaaaa. First I get a pile of porn in my mailbox (wait, that’s not so bad…except that none of it matched my particular interests), and then I get sent a free DVD: Expelled. This is shaping up to be the suckiest birthday ever.

Alright, I confess, the DVD was a good present, so I could have a copy in my archive of creationist material. And it was obtained by an industry insider who didn’t have to pay for it, so no money passed to the hands of Premise Media, which is even better. It’s actually appreciated, so thanks Stranger Who Asked That His Identity Remain Secret. I don’t know if I’ll be able to bring myself to watch it, though…I haven’t seen it yet.

I am kind of bracing myself right now in case some well-meaning admirer has commissioned a dump truck to drop off a load of squid poop in my yard, or something, though.

What a horrible world that would be, although the deal with the puppies is tempting.

There are some things you’d rather not have associated with your country in the medical nomenclature, and deadly diseases are one of them. Notice how this New Zealand newspaper refers to a recent outbreak as the “English measles” — isn’t it nice how the anti-vaccination folks have made a significant contribution to the language?

(via Bad Science)

It was with some trepidation that I learned Ken Miller was on “This I Believe”…but hey, it’s actually good stuff that I agree with. Go ahead, even us delicate little atheists can listen to it.

Christopher Hitchens is visiting Lebanon, where he was his bold bad self and defaced a poster for the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, and was beaten up for the act. I don’t often agree with his politics, but the guy has massive brass.

There’s at least one account on the web now — this one is from a theist and critic, though, so you know he must be all wrong.

You’ve eliminated measles in Australia.

High take-up rates of the infant measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine has led to the elimination of the endemic measles virus in Australia, immunisation experts say.

Researchers from the University of Sydney, writing in the Bulletin of the World Health Organisation, claim that in 2005 and 2007, Australia satisfied the main criteria of having a low level of measles infection, with less than one case per million people.

Cool. Now if only certain people would stop making up nonsense about vaccinations…

Unfortunately, there are occasional setbacks.

A total of 125 cases were reported in 2006 – equivalent to six cases per million – but more than half of these were attributed to a outbreak linked to the tour of a foreign spiritual group.

A “spiritual group”? It was a Hindu spiritualist who traveled around, dispensing hugs…and a deadly disease. Keep that in mind next time some mystic claims to be completely harmless.

People are telling me that the French and UK versions of Google are highlighted today with the image above, a picture of Charles Darwin’s tangled bank, but that the US has snubbed the man. I think they’re wrong; I just looked, and google.com does have the above image. I can think of a few explanations: google just updated the logo a little later for our time zone, users may have been seeing a cached version of a frequently used page, or the explanation I prefer, I’m special and google takes care to present me with a special personal version of the page so that I don’t get mad at them. Admittedly, the last possibility is a tiny bit unlikely, but hey, if I’m not going to believe in a deity, maybe I can believe in a loving, omnipotent search engine. Just as long as it doesn’t start dictating what I’m allowed to do with my genitals…

In the past, I’ve tried to make my Polyphyletic Jambalaya for dinner on Darwin Day — if you make something with seafood, it’s especially easy to toss in representatives of a great many phyla all at once. Alas, this year I’m busy busy busy all afternoon and evening, with no time for anything…I may be wolfing down a crust of bread and a glass of water.

You surely have better plans.

I’m giving a talk on “Darwin and Design” at a banquet in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday. It will be fun, and it better be, because you know what I’m giving up? Valentine’s Day with the Trophy Wife! I may have to take her out to a movie or something on Friday.

There’s something else I’ll have to miss, again: the Creation Science Fair in Minneapolis will be taking place this weekend. I’ve seen enough photos to know that it’s a rather sad event, though — poor kids misled into doing weak science backed up by silly bible verses. I do get back reasonably early on Sunday, but the first thing I have to get to is…

The Darwin Year Panel Discussion in St Paul! This is open to the public, so if you’re looking for something smart to do on Sunday afternoon, come on out.

2009 marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th anniversary of the publication of On the Origins of Species. In honor of this, we have assembled a distinguished panel of scientists to give us their thoughts on evolution, creationism, and Darwin. The panelists are: PZ Myers, Randy Moore, Greg Laden, Sehoya Cotner, and Jane Phillips.

The discussion will be moderated by Lynn Fellman. Lynn is a frequent science interviewer on our Atheists Talk radio program. She is also an independent artist and designer (FellmanStudio.com) who incorporates science into her work.

This event is free and open to the public.

Location:
Rondo Community Outreach Library
461 N Dale St
Saint Paul, MN 55103
651-266-7400