Monkey what?
The Apostropher is committing blasphemy, heresy, and sacrilege with this surreal “Monkey Jesus” abomination. I must respond in kind with…Dr Monkey.
I’ve had about 8 requests for further information on saving the Australian lungfish. That’s a good start, and thanks to everyone who wrote in, but it’s not enough. Look at that beautiful finny beast to the right; do you want them all to die? And seriously, look at those fins: aren’t they spectacular? Don’t you want to know how they develop and how they evolved?
The Australian government is planning to dam the last rivers on which these spectacular vertebrates live, and that will be it for them. We’ll be left with nothing but bones and tissue samples and few relics in aquaria.
Those sure are beautiful, informative bones…but we can learn so much more from the living animal.
So let’s make one more big effort to let the Australian government know that there is international opposition to their cavalier destruction of an important and unique habitat. Losing these special creatures is a loss of scientific information and a loss of an unusual element of the Australian ecosystem.
If you’ve got a moment, write a polite and considerate letter to one or all of the following members of the Australian government. Let them know that they are planning to do irreparable damage to their environment, and the world is watching them.
It doesn’t have to be a long letter, it would be sufficient to write a brief note that says the the world values these remarkable, unique animals, and that you think more effort must be made in cooperation with the scientific community to find alternatives. Remember, though: politeness and sincerity are paramount. Don’t give them an excuse to dismiss the email as the work of cranks.
Eugenie Scott is going to have to increase the length of her list of scientists out to “destroy religion.” Larry Moran (fans of Talk.Origins will recognize the name) has posted an article, Theistic Evolution: The Fallacy of the Middle Ground.
There is no continuum between science and non-science. You can’t practice methodological naturalism 99% of the time and still claim to be a scientist. It’s all or nothing. Either your explanations of the natural world are scientific or they are not.
It’s too bad his site isn’t set up like a blog—you can’t make comments there, so you’ll have to settle for making howls of outrage here, or tracking him down on usenet to complain there.
I also like this wonderful quote:
My practise as a scientist is atheistic. That is to say, when I set up an experiment I assume that no god, angel, or devil is going to interfere with its course; and this assumption has been justified by such success as I have achieved in my professional career. I should therefore be intellectually dishonest if I were not also atheistic in the affairs of the world. And I should be a coward if I did not state my theoretical views in public.
J.B.S. Haldane
Sit down. Make sure you’re in a place where guffaws won’t disrupt the scene…although, actually, the amount of money this guy was raking in with his scam might mute the laughter a bit. Here’s more information on Hovind’s arrest.
Fewer open threads and more of this would make it clear why Atrios is popular.
I started this blog and adopted this style in part because I thought it was important to introduce a more combative and caustic discourse on our side. I’d be quite happy and comfortable in a world where politics more closely resembled an academic seminar – that is where I come from, after all – but we don’t live in that world and it’s a tragic mistake to pretend we do.
It’s a tragic mistake to think most creationists will be won over by kind and supportive conversation over a cup of coffee, too, or by any kind of smokescreen argument presented because we think it’s what they want to hear.
Phil has a live one: a woman who mangles digital images with Photoshop filters to determine if they are lizardoid aliens. Foolish earthling. Everyone knows Phil is from Zeta Reticuli.
Along similar lines, I once had someone cast a detailed horoscope for me and send it along…apparently, I am one of the most evil baby-raping SOBs on the planet, and the only thing preventing me from oppressing and enslaving and destroying everyone is an excess of sloth and stupidity. These kooks—they say the obvious and pretend it is insight.
There’s no way I can argue with a Countess.
Both were arrested for tax evasion.
I just finished a brief interview with Tom Crann of Minnesota Public Radio’s All Things Considered show, so if you hear me calling the creationists idiots while you’re driving home sometime in the next few days, don’t be too shocked. (Sorry, I didn’t ask exactly when it will be aired.)
Here’s a link to the radio program.
