The New iOS Maps App Will Kill You

… that is, if you try to use it to navigate your way through the desert.

I won’t make a habit of just linking to the stuff I write elsewhere without expanding on it substantially for the Horde’s benefit*, but I’ve been following stories of people who die because they rely on online maps for way too long, and I don’t want to read about any of you in the paper. Like I did the Danish tourists who were looking for the U2 Joshua Tree 260 miles from where the tree actually used to be, based on an internet fan club map.

If any of you are going to have an uncomfortable time in the desert based on questionable online advice, I’d much rather it be because we set up some Pharyngula Desert 2013 kinda deal and we ran out of single-malt on day 2. Rather than that permanent thing.

So go read. And heed.

* note: no actual benefit may result

Rooting for the home team for the first time

You all recall that vacuous op-ed by Riley Balling against gay marriage from last week, right? I replied to it, and now I see that Chris Kluwe, the awesome kicker (I have no idea how good he is at kicking a ball, but he seems to be awesomely smart) on the Minnesota Vikings football team, has written a sterling response.

Frankly, sir, your blatant attempt to sway people by using the “OH MAH GAWD THINK OF THE CHILDREN” argument is tiresome, bothersome, and insulting to anyone who cares to take the slightest interest in pulling aside your curtain of self satisfied drivel to expose the ugliness underneath. Furthermore, you never made any sort of logical attempt to explain how same-sex marriage affects your marriage in any concrete way, instead offering up vague generalizations with no proof. When it comes to “the children”, I can assure you that I *am* thinking of my children, and not just my children, but all the children they will come in contact with, and all the adults they will someday be; and it is my sincerest wish as a parent that I can raise them to be tolerant, to respect the free will of others, and above all, to see beneath the smug bigotry and oppression of those who would enslave the world to satisfy their own ugly lust for control. If you have any children, it is my hope that they enjoy a peaceful life, one free of tyranny.

I’m not really interested in that football thing. Can we just have the players write op-eds every week? It would be a much more productive use of their time, and it wouldn’t produce broken, brain-damaged people.

Around FtB

Hey gang, what’s happening?

  • Lilandra blasphemes. The kitten picture is unforgivable.

  • Martin Wagner talks about the Austin bat cruise, among many other things. I tried, but I just couldn’t make it this year. Next time! I’d like to be shat upon by a bat.

  • Brianne Bilyeu has a report from Louise Kellar about the Creation Evidence Expo in Indianapolis. Guess what? There wasn’t any evidence!

  • Frederick Sparks criticizes the biases of science. Ouch.

  • Ophelia Benson is concerned about the direction SCA is taking, and recounts some events at this past weekend’s HFA conference. Hey, I was there! Also of note: Ellen Beth mentioned that the obsessed clown posting as “ElevatorGate” was specifically excluded from the event.

  • Greta Christina weighs traditional vs. DIY publishing. I can tell you that traditional publishing sure is slower.

  • Jason Thibeault discusses the proper methods of hunting witches.

  • Maryam Namazie features the FEMEN this month in the Nude Photo Revolutionary Calendar.

  • Mano Singham discusses political purity. Is your presidential candidate a perfect paragon? I know mine isn’t.

  • Steven Andrew notes that arctic temperatures are now higher thant they were in the Medieval Warm Period. There goes another denialist excuse!

The campaign of lies is gearing up

Here’s what we Minnesotans get to look forward to on our TV screens for the next month, an ad against gay marriage.

So their only argument is this “But they’re redefining marriage!” nonsense? Why should we care? If the law specified a thousand more special cases, it wouldn’t affect my relationship with my wife in the slightest.

As for their argument that they just want to give the people the right to decide…that doesn’t fly either. Civil rights, especially granting equality to a minority, is not a matter to be decided by a majority vote.

I might just have to keep my TV off until November.

(via Joe. My. God.)

Do creationists evolve to be that stupid?

It’s a serious question! I once thought that maybe Douglas Axe was going to be a serious creationist foe for a change: he has a real Ph.D. in chemical engineering, and he seemed to avoid saying the egregiously stupid things all the other creationists say. And then I saw this little clip of Doug Axe digging in his heels and denying reality — he makes a bogus mathematical argument that evolution is impossible, and flatly denies the existence of any transitional forms — and I got to wondering. Was he always this stupid and I didn’t know it because he kept his mouth mostly shut, or did he gradually become increasingly idiotic as he hung out with IDiots?

He doesn’t believe in change, which would suggest that he’s always been this way. On the other hand, he does believe in Intelligent Design creationism, so maybe he was guided towards stupidity. But then, if he believes purposeful design can shape organisms, why is he denying the existence of transitional forms?

Ah, screw it. I’m just writing him off…another creationist reveals the root ignorance of their position.

Why I am an atheist – CuervodeCuero

I was born rural, poor and white in western Canada, a region soaked in Christianity in all its rainbow of heresies and home to one wannabee theocracy that ruled a province for some years. Prairie communities might have churches as half the buildings in town. Because the populations were/are sparse, the community villages and towns can’t isolate parts. People have to interact, intersect marriages happen.

[Read more…]

OK, I’ll bite

A creationist on twitter is pestering me to ‘debate’ her. Here’s a sampling of her arguments and style.

No way can we have a conversation about that in a 140 character limit. So I’m telling her to come here and expand on her ideas, if she can.

But first, I’d like her to answer a little quiz to see if she’s worth wasting time on.

  1. What is a typical mutation rate? (be specific about the units!)

  2. Are most mutations deleterious, neutral, or beneficial?

  3. What is the difference between phenotype and genotype?

  4. What is the difference between mutation and “deformity”?

  5. What is “elephant disease”?

That’s a start. I’m going to tell her on Twitter to come here and address these very simple questions. Anyone want to take bets on whether she bothers?

Happy Blasphemy Day!

I hope you’ve been spending your Blasphemy Day thinking irreverent thoughts and committing sacrilegious acts. I’ve been at a humanist conference where we damned religion to heck, and I’m about to board an airplane where I will spend the flight putting finishing touches on a profane pro-science and anti-religion (anti-moderate religion, even) column for Free Inquiry, and I’ll try to find a few minutes to cuss out the non-existent angels who are not holding my airplane up in the sky.

But also, this is serious business. Consider the young Greek man who has been arrested for mocking a cleric; Alexander Aan, arrested in Indonesia for denying the existence of god; Alber Saber, arrested in Egypt for linking to a stupid movie that mocked Mohammed; Rimsah Masih, accused of desecrating the Quran and facing hateful death threats; Asia Bibi, sentenced to death for blasphemy in Pakistan; and too many others to list. Consider that the European Union has just called for “full respect of religion” and “the importance of respecting all prophets” — blasphemy laws are spreading.

So blaspheme today! Assert your right to deny bullshit loudly and honestly!