Good luck, Dave!

It’s the end of our semester, and there’s another transition here: one of our colleagues, Dave Hoppe, is retiring, to our regret but to his happy progress. We all got together for a retirement dinner yesterday, so here’s the happy crew, the entire UMM biology discipline.

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From left to right: Chris Cole, Tracey Anderson, Margaret Kuchenreuther, Dave Hoppe, PZ Myers, Timna Wyckoff, Pete Wyckoff, Van Gooch

We hope Dave can still drag himself away from his lakefront home to say hello to us all now and then!

Biology needs to explain gravity?

Is your lunch hour safely over? If not, wait a while before watching another interview with Ben Stein. I can’t believe what an idiot this man is; it’s not just that he’s ignorant, but that he has these bizarrely inappropriate notions about biology. He complains about “Darwinism” because it doesn’t explain why are there laws of gravity and thermodynamics, or where physics and gravity come from (Bonus lunacy! He claims Darwin said gravity was intelligently designed!). He keeps making these insane assertions in interview after interview, too; does he ever think, or notice that gravity is not a product of biological processes? Did someone tell him gravity was produced by sucking or something?

We all know, after all, that gravity is actually produced by the 4th dimension, which is not what you think it is. Just ask a smart rabbit, who even shares some other sentiments with Stein.

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(Whatever you do, don’t send that comic to Ben Stein — he might think it’s a serious hypothesis.)

The Molly month of May

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We’re all caught up on the new Molly inductees: for March, it’s Glen Davidson, and for April, brokenSoldier. Give them your attention when they comment!

Of course, now we have to gather nominations for May. Who are the commenters who make you perk up and think? Name them in the comments to this post.

Minnesota does the right thing

California may inspire a whole series of legislative actions. Minnesota has introduced a bill similar to California’s.

The Marriage and Family Protection Act was introduced by Rep. Phyllis Kahn, DFL-Minneapolis, and Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, on Friday. The bill would make marriage a gender-neutral proposition in Minnesota, allowing same-sex couples to marry. It would also protect religious institutions that have moral objections to same-sex marriage from being compelled to perform such ceremonies.

I love the title of the bill — that will have the wingnuts chewing their tongues in a frenzy.

Get cracking, SCarolina!

You’ve got another of those wretched “academic (non)-freedom” bills in your state. They’re like lice, crawling out everywhere.

Senate Bill 1386, introduced in the South Carolina Senate on May 15, 2008, and referred to the Senate Committee on Education, is the newest so-called “academic freedom” bill aimed at undermining the teaching of evolution, joining similar bills currently under consideration in Louisiana, Michigan, and Missouri. Similar bills in Florida and Alabama died when the legislative session in those states ended. The South Carolina bill contends that “[t]he teaching of biological and chemical evolution can cause controversy, and some teachers may be uncertain of administrative expectations concerning the presentation of material on these scientific topics” and that “public school educators must be supported in finding effective ways to present controversial science curriculum and must be permitted to help students understand, analyze, critique, and review the scientific strengths and weaknesses of theories of biological and chemical evolution in an objective manner.”

We are such bad boys

I wish I hadn’t missed this when it come out a few years ago. A professor of sociology and comparative religion asked why women were more religious than men, and he ruled out socialization and cultural differences somehow, to come to a surprising conclusion.

“We looked for an obvious simple explanation, but nothing worked except physiology,” said Stark. “People studying crime also have looked at socialization and they can’t find a reason that explains the gender difference except a physiological one. Not being religious is similar to any other shortsighted, risky and impulsive behavior that some men – primarily young males – engage in, such as assault, robbery, burglary, murder and rape.”

Did this guy just compare atheism to murder and rape?

So not believing in Jesus is just like sticking a knife in someone?

Don’t cross me, man. I’m dangerous.