A young woman found a dead ray washed up on a beach and took this photo:
She claims it looks like Jesus (how would she know?).
I hope she picked it up and took it home, to wait for it to resurrect three days later.
I think there’s something ironic about the juxtaposition of this fantasy image and my quote, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
You go off to give a talk on hedgehog gene expression in teratomas, or something similarly scientific. You put the memory stick in the auditorium display projector, the A/V guy pushes a button, and all of a sudden, the audience gets a brief glimpse of that unholy quantity of squid close-up photography you keep around for personal reasons. Now it’s never happened to me, personally — I’m competent with a computer, and much more careful — but here’s a story of a man who ‘accidentally’ showed the wrong powerpoint presentation.
In this case, the man was a Catholic priest (oooh, now you know exactly what happened next, right?)
And it wasn’t a zoology exercise on display. It was, as they delicately put it, “indecent images of men”.
I’m confused by one thing. On the one hand, they say the flustered priest quickly removed the memory stick and fled the room; on the other, the parents and children present report quite specifically that there were 16 pictures shown. I’m thinking it must have been a particularly vivid montage. Although the parents found it impressively memorable, the priest, Martin McVeigh, said he had no knowledge of it. Hmmm.
I am a little amused by what happened afterwards.
Twenty minutes later he returned, he continued with the meeting and wrapped up by saying that the children get lots of money for their Holy Communion and should consider giving some of it to the church.
That’s so typical of a Catholic priest: first they waggle a pile of penises at your kids, then they ask you to fill their coffers. Those priests better look like Chippendales dancers, or they shouldn’t get a penny.
I haven’t found any reports on how persuasive the audience found the presentation.
No no no. It is not. If you’re home alone, in a shuttered room, with a taser to use on any one who crashes in through the window to catch you looking…maybe not even then. Behold…The Squildo. I think just the name ought to give you enough of a hint of what’s on the other side.
OMG, it’s only $15. Why am I tempted? Why?
Oh, wait, no. That’s the shipping cost. It’s $138; suddenly, much, much less tempted.
I was alerted to the existence of Jonathan Bishop on twitter: he is, apparently a super-genius who will “write papers on-demand” and “work with leading academics” in just about any field. As proof of his bonafides, he plasters a photo of him wearing a mortar board everywhere. I’ve got one of those goofy hats somewhere, I should start wearing it more often. So I’d look smart.
The hat is silly, but what he says is sillier.
I’d like to know whether HERV is linked to Lucy’s more rigid brain as I believe schizophrenia makes the brain less ‘rigid’.
My question now is: can/did retrotransposons viruses transfer from fruit flies to humans via fruit to create more rigid brains?
So many assumptions: what does Mr Bishop know about endogenous retroviruses? What does he know about the molecular biology of Lucy’s brain? What does it mean to say a brain is more or less rigid? Where’s the link between this putative rigidity and endogenous retroviruses? Why are we drawing a link between australopithecines, schizophrenia, and retroviruses?
To answer these questions, I checked out Mr Bishops’ website. Something about it reminded me of Kent Hovind, for some reason.
Hi, my name is Jonathan Bishop. I am an IT polymath with professional expertise and Masters degrees in the scientific, legal and economic aspects of online communities and e-learning systems. I have direct experience in working in government, industry and academia and using this to push the boundaries of online community and trolling research. I hope that by the end of my career to have made an outstanding contribution to the advancement of knowledge, practice and policy in the fields of information technology, the arts, law and sciences.
Oh. Well. I guess that settles that. Of course, when I looked at his publications, just about all I see are conference presentations at IT meetings; I don’t see much evidence of a polymath.
You have reached The Official Website of Jonathan Bishop. I am regarded by Incisive Media to be one of ‘Britain’s foremost exporters of online community and e-learning research to the USA and Mainland Europe‘. I am regarded as the leading authority in the world on trolling and increasing participation in online communities.
Never heard of him. Oh, and the “trolling research”? He’s got a couple of blog entries about some incident at a football game. If that’s all it takes to be an expert in trolling, I must be the Einstein of trolls!
I told him that he was babbling BS. So he replied:
We’ll see Mr Myers when my empirical research paper on plasticity and social/emotional/cognitive imparment is published!
Oooooh, he’s submitted a paper. Where, I wonder?
I sent it to Nature Neuroscience, so it will probably get into the Daily Mail after! I am based at the Insitute of Life Science!
Heh. Chewtoy. He’ll probably appreciate the brief surge of traffic this post brings to him.
I thought Dave Futrelle was pulling an April Fool’s joke for a moment. He’s got post up, full of quotes, on these conversations racist MRAs are having about Enriching Vibrants. That phrase sounds like great name for a New Age band, but no…it is apparently a term of art for having sex with immigrants or non-white people. I think. Their scribblings are so incoherent and badly written, and they are so incapable of making a simple clear point, that I have no idea what they could actually be talking about.
But Futrelle’s links are valid. I looked at those sites, and the “vibrating enrichers” stuff is only a small part of the offensiveness flourishing in the Men’s Rights cesspit of the internet.
Unless…could it be…are the MRAs just the grandest, most elaborate, extended April Fool’s joke ever?
This is the ladies-love-me edition of I get email.
Susan wrote to instruct me in my religion, and tell me about her husband.
My dear sir-you are not an atheist. You are quite simply “your own god”-and you worship at the altar of your intellect. I am married to your counterpart-also a professor-also a biologist-and I pray for you both.
It’s true. I have a little altar next to my computer, and I burn fruit flies on it to honor my intellect.
I’m a little confused, though: so she’s saying her husband is also an annoying obnoxious biology professor and non-atheist? I have a clone, maybe? It’s weird that a theist would stay married to such a person. I don’t think a true believer could possibly stand me.
Amanda also sends her best wishes, although I think she’d be better off sending a love letter to Kent Hovind.
I find it to be a fascinating fact that all people who try to spread the truth and are successful get thrown into jail or end up being highly debated and persecuted for it. Hmmmm… Ever stop and think about how the bible tells us this will happen?
Furthermore, if anyone thinks they are stopping Dr. Hovind from spreading the truth they are foolish to have the slightest thought of it. Because he is still spreading the truth and people are converting. . . yes even in prison! He has been put in the exact place of the type of people that Christ came to save in the first place and show his mighty power. So it’s not like you have stopped him. But only the ignorant would think so.
I am so sorry to say that men with your type of mental dementia are so blinded and hardened from the truth and the only people who believe anything you say are people of the same ignorance and make believe. There is NO evidence to support any of the other creation theories. They’re all guesses. I don’t hate, I feel pity. It is such a shame that people are so willing to fight the truth before easily accepting it. Which is another fact the bible states will be wide spread. People will fight so hard to disprove the truth when it’s so easy to see and let the testimonies and scriptures minister for themselves!
Tell me, if by chance the bible was a fake (which it is not), why is it so necessary to teach the world that there is no hope? That there is no meaning or purpose to life and that all the people you love who died are never going to be endured again… Why is it such a mission for you people? So you can encourage more people to see life as a fluke and not care about consequence? It’s sick. All you want to do is hurt people but it’s absolutely thrilling that the people who know God and the truth are not the least bit angered or affected by your lies. . . rather we pray for you to see the truth before you no longer have the chance.
Here’s a little challenge. Why don’t you set out on a mission to debunk the bible. Prove it isn’t true and that the word of God is fake. And in 3 years come back and tell us your findings. I can guarantee they won’t be the same conclusions and “theories” you have today.
Well gosh then! I hope Kent gets to spend many more years in prison, since even Jesus wants him there.
The ones who will be eaten first were well-represented at the Reason Rally. I notice in one of the photos that one of the gilled and squamously batrachian horrors is skulking in my vicinity, and I did not even notice…which is righteous and appropriate.
Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn!
It cannot be unseen. Now that I have seen the priapus gallinaceus, I will never be able to look at a bird in quite the same way again.
And bird watchers…oh, you filthy voyeurs.
I’m giving a midterm exam on evolution this morning. I hope none of the students snap.
Associate Professor Stephen M. Kajiura was reviewing with his evolution class in GS 120 for a midterm when FAU student Jonatha Carr interrupted him: “How does evolution kill black people?” she asked. Kajiura attempted to explain that evolution doesn’t kill anyone.
And then, Carr became violent.
A fellow classmate, Rachel Bustamante, was sitting behind Carr prior to her outburst and noticed she had been avoiding looking at the professor until 11:35 a.m. — that’s when she snapped. The classmate reported that Kajiura was discussing attraction between peacocks when Carr raised her hand to ask her question about evolution. She asked it four times, and became increasingly upset each time Kajiura’s answer failed to satisfy her.
…fuckin’ evolution, I hate this shit.…You better shut the fuck up, before I fuckin’ kill you!
Exam time really is kind of stressful for the students.
