Not notable

The NY Times has published a list of the 100 most notable books of the year. I’m feeling inadequate because, while I read a lot of books, not one of them happened to be on this particular list. I’m thinking that I’d better rush out and get one that is on the list, How to Talk About Books You Haven’t Read, by Pierre Bayard, because that looks like it might be awfully handy at this point.

Of course, I’ve got an excuse. Most of the books I’ve read are science books, and as Chad notes, not one science book made the cut. I guess science was just un-notable and uninteresting this year. Or perhaps the NYT auto-blurb generator choked and died when confronted by difficult texts that didn’t involve depressed exotic people talking, talking, talking endlessly about their powerful love.

Cyber Scholars?

Those sneaky alumni organizations — they’ve always got new angles on how to get to you. The alumni magazine for the University of Oregon has a writeup on me and a current member of the UO faculty, Mark Thoma. Apparently, we are Cyber Scholars, professors who use the blogosphere to teach the world. I think we need some new academic robes to go with that designation — preferably something in silver fabrics, and with a jetpack.

ERV makes Dembski not-backdown and not-cry

You all remember Dembski’s recent faux pas — he was caught stealing a science video from Harvard/XVIVO for use in his Intelligent Design creationism lectures. Dembski has issued one of his patented not-pologies. He now declares that all of the allegations against him are false, but he now promises to no longer use the video. You see, he really didn’t steal it. Here’s his excuse.

The video was so good that I wanted to use it in some of my public presentations, but when I tried to purchase a DVD of it (I sent several emails to relevant parties), I was informed it wasn’t ready.

Translation: He wanted to use the really good video, but the owners said “no”, so he had to use it without their permission. Yeah, that’s the ticket. That’s not stealing. That’s appropriating-without-the-owner’s-permission, a whole different thing.

For a kinder, gentler summary, see Tyler DiPietro.

Keep an eye on ERV, I’m sure she’ll have more to say later.

As expected, ERV speaks.

I’d better not say what I’ve named my plush octopus, then

Yet another example of religious insanity:

A British primary school teacher has been arrested in Sudan, accused of insulting Islam’s Prophet by letting her class of 7-year-olds name a teddy bear Mohammed, her school said on Monday.

Colleagues of Gillian Gibbons, aged 54 from Liverpool, told Reuters they feared for her safety after receiving reports that young men had already started gathering outside the Khartoum police station where she was being held.

I don’t know why they’re blaming the teacher. Clearly, all of those 7-year-olds need to be hauled out of their homes and stoned to death.

LOLCreashun

How can you possibly make the Creation “Museum” look sillier?

This may not be a LOL image, but I thought it was hilarious.

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If you’re having trouble reading the blurry print, it says:

According to God’s Word, thorns came after Adam’s sin, about six thousand years ago, not millions of years ago. Since we have discovered thorns in the fossil record, along with dinosaurs and other plants and animals, they all must have lived at the same time as humans, after Adam’s sin.

How can you argue with logic like that that?

Creationist miscellany

  • Those clever sleazeballs at Uncommon Descent have now used some generic animation tools at JibJab to make a pointless video of Genie Scott, Richard Dawkins, and others dancing the can-can. In a particularly tacky twist, they also claim that it was “produced by the innovators at JibJab.com studios”. Uh, no. JibJab made a template; the ID loonies cut-and-paste photos into it. Special bonus sleaze points for getting the Expelled movie site to feature it.

  • Speaking of Ben Stein, did you know he hangs out with prostitutes and cries? Thanks, Kristine, for the celebrity gossip.

  • As has been frequently noted by critics, Noah’s Ark has a math problem. The frantic scribblings of creationists to cover these problems reveal that they know it, too.

  • If the religious can experience apophenia, so can we. It’s a Squidmas Miracle!

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Craft ideas for squidmas!

For those of you who just like your cephalopods natural, here’s a plush cuttlefish. It’s cute and cuddly, and I wouldn’t mind having one to snuggle up with.

On the other hand, if you like your cephalopods unnatural, you could carry out perverse and disturbing acts on ordinary stuffed animals, turning them into chthonic entities with alien properties.

They’re all fun, and all part of a happy squidmas celebration!

Sal Cordova, as played by Steve Carell

It’s easy to forget what a repellent, sniveling little turd-speck Sal Cordova is until one is reminded by a reference on a blog worth reading (it’s not as if I read Cordova’s ugly little site myself, you know). The occasion this time is that Slimy Sal has just discovered that Joan Roughgarden, the evolutionary biologist who also happens to be a Christian, is a transgendered woman. Oh, the young jackanapes sees many opportunities for hilarity and amusement in this!

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