It’s true…it’s a webcomic that jests at the expense of Pharyngula and you readers. We must be offended! Are there any legislatures we can fire up to condemn webcomics?
It’s true…it’s a webcomic that jests at the expense of Pharyngula and you readers. We must be offended! Are there any legislatures we can fire up to condemn webcomics?
With humor, of course. Here’s the opening of his talk at the University of Oklahoma last night.
He also responded by donating funds from the RDF to Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education…which brings up an important point. There are lots of smart Oklahomans who are really angry at the stupidity of these ignorant legislators. Listen to the audience in the video clip, too: they are laughing at the creationist clowns.
Keep laughing. And vote the fools out of office. Oklahoma can be a state standing up for reason.
One of the mysteries of my email is that there are noticeable waves of like content that come through. Right now I’m getting a lot of hate mail that rants and raves about how clever I must think I am … which is definitely not a theme that I’ve been pushing, so all I can assume is that somewhere out there is a website or email chain that is talking about my horrible egotism.
Either that, or they’re all just suddenly feeling very inadequate and are lashing out.
As I mentioned the other day, the Oklahoma legislature was contemplating a resolution to condemn Richard Dawkins. It turns out that that was a moderate compromise — the original version of the resolution attacked the University of Oklahoma department of zoology. Look closely at the language in this motion:
WHEREAS, the University of Oklahoma is a publicly funded institution which should be open to all ideas and should train students in all disciplines of study and research and to use independent thinking and free inquiry, not indoctrinate students in one-sided study and thinking; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Zoology at the University of Oklahoma has, as evidenced on the departmental homepage, been framing the Darwinian theory of evolution as doctrinal dogmatism rather than a hypothetical construction within the disciplines of the sciences; and
WHEREAS, not only has the Department of Zoology at the University of Oklahoma been engaged in one-sided indoctrination of an unproven and unpopular theory but has made an effort to brand all thinking in dissent of this theory as anti-intellectual and backward rather than nurturing such free thinking and allowing a free discussion of all ideas which is the primary purpose of a university;
Realize that John West and Casey Luskin toddled into Oklahoma a few weeks ago, and put 2 + 2 together. The DI has been coaching the infantile minds of creationist legislators again.
(via Deep Sea News)
After all the gasps of outrage at the Catholicchurch’s response to that tragic story of a 9-year old rape victim’s abortion, the church has seen the light of reason and…actually, no. They just made it worse. The Roman Catholic Church of Brazil has excommunicated everyone involved in the abortion, except the child, who was excused on grounds of her age. Old enough to be raped and bear children, but not old enough to be responsible for decisions about her reproductive tract, apparently.
Remember this when anyone tries to tell you about their god of love, their religion of mercy, their source of all moral virtue.
Those involved who have been excommunicated ought to take this opportunity to rethink whether they even want to be associated with such a contemptible organization.
The president of Brazil has now spoken out against the church’s decision.
If you ever wanted to peer deeply into the decayed and shriveled eyes of Otzi, the 5,000 year old iceman, now you can. High resolution images of Otzi are available on the web, and you can pan and zoom all over his body. You can also find 3D images, and special closeups of his tattoos.
That question has an answer: they crouched like birds. A 198 million year old fossil trackway from Utah has preserved a print of a theropod dinosaur taking a break, resting with hands curled inward and knuckle down, and legs bent. Except for the forelimbs, of course, it’s very birdlike.
Here’s the section of the trace fossil they used to reconstruct the animal’s posture.
Milner ARC, Harris JD, Lockley MG, Kirkland JI, Matthews NA (2009) Bird-Like Anatomy, Posture, and Behavior Revealed by an Early Jurassic Theropod Dinosaur Resting Trace. PLoS ONE 4(3): e4591. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0004591
A plexiglass box full of blinking circuitry might be your image of the future of artificial intelligence, but I’ll have you know the real deal will be the achievement of maximum cephalopod density in a convenient cubical container. The tentacles snaking out the sides will just be a bonus.
I am hoping to go see Watchmen this weekend, but I have been informed that there is something seriously wrong with it.
Spoiler below the fold.