Saturday, April 25, 2009
Canadian Scientists from Canadia have discovered fossilised evidence of a prehistoric ancestor to the seals of today, an animal that walked on feet. [via Pharyngula] Big deal, we've seen these kind of animals for years now.
Labels: Evolution, humour, science, YouTube
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Tekeli-Li You Bastard! Tekeli-Li!
While most American schools argue about whether pretty lies about Sky Daddies making the world should be taught in science lessons one school is aiming for the true path.
Arguing that students should return to the fundamentals taught in the Pnakotic Manuscripts and the Necronomicon in order to develop the skills they need to be driven to the very edge of sanity, Arkham school board member Charles West continued to advance his pro-madness agenda at the district's monthly meeting Tuesday.
"Fools!" said West, his clenched fist striking the lectern before him. "We must prepare today's youth for a world whose terrors are etched upon ancient clay tablets recounting the fever-dreams of the other gods—not fill their heads with such trivia as math and English. Our graduates need to know about those who lie beneath the earth, waiting until the stars align so they can return to their rightful place as our masters and wage war against the Elder Things and the shoggoths!"
As ever, he faces resistance from those with less vision than he.
"Charles sure likes to bang on that madness drum," fellow school board member Danielle Kolker said. "I'm not totally sold on his plan to let gibbering, half-formed creatures dripping with ichor feed off the flesh and fear of our students."
This man needs your support!
Arguing that students should return to the fundamentals taught in the Pnakotic Manuscripts and the Necronomicon in order to develop the skills they need to be driven to the very edge of sanity, Arkham school board member Charles West continued to advance his pro-madness agenda at the district's monthly meeting Tuesday.
"Fools!" said West, his clenched fist striking the lectern before him. "We must prepare today's youth for a world whose terrors are etched upon ancient clay tablets recounting the fever-dreams of the other gods—not fill their heads with such trivia as math and English. Our graduates need to know about those who lie beneath the earth, waiting until the stars align so they can return to their rightful place as our masters and wage war against the Elder Things and the shoggoths!"
As ever, he faces resistance from those with less vision than he.
"Charles sure likes to bang on that madness drum," fellow school board member Danielle Kolker said. "I'm not totally sold on his plan to let gibbering, half-formed creatures dripping with ichor feed off the flesh and fear of our students."
This man needs your support!
Labels: Creationism, Evolution, humour, school, United States
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Fairey Obama parody t-shirts and posters for Darwin now available. Hmmm, I wonder what the exchange rate is like these days, much as I'm glad to see the back of Shrubya the one positive thing about his presidency was that one British pound bought several American states. [via Pharyngula]
Labels: Barack Obama, Charles Darwin, Evolution, science
Friday, September 12, 2008
Evolutionary Acceleration Research Institute Ready to Start "Squirrel Smasher"
Dallas, TX – Scientists from the Evolutionary Acceleration Research Institute (EARI) announced that the first test of the Giant Animal Smasher (GAS) will begin on December 19, 2008, the 41st anniversary of the premiere of Dr. Dolittle.
...Biologists from around the globe hope the GAS will unlock the secrets of the so-called "Darwin particle" that could unlock the secrets to life.
Dallas, TX – Scientists from the Evolutionary Acceleration Research Institute (EARI) announced that the first test of the Giant Animal Smasher (GAS) will begin on December 19, 2008, the 41st anniversary of the premiere of Dr. Dolittle.
...Biologists from around the globe hope the GAS will unlock the secrets of the so-called "Darwin particle" that could unlock the secrets to life.
The Director of Education for the Royal Society believes that Creationism should be taught in British school science classes.
...[I]t was self-defeating to dismiss as wrong or misguided the 10 per cent of pupils who believed in the literal account of God creating the Universe and all living things as related in the Bible or Koran. It would be better, [the Rev Michael Reiss] said, to treat creationism as a world view.
Back in my day, we didn't get taught 'world views' in science lessons, we got taught what could be proven and left that sort of stuff to our Religious Studies lessons.
But, despite roping the Koran in there, Reiss is really asking for special exception for Christianity, as most pleas for Creationism to be stuck where it shouldn't go are. But if we were to bring in Creationism then we really should be fair and teach all the different types of Creation 'Theory', then all the beginning of the world theories of all the other world religions, then any other theories people have. Once the kids have gone through all that they probably won't have any time left for the Periodic Table or fun with sodium.
...[I]t was self-defeating to dismiss as wrong or misguided the 10 per cent of pupils who believed in the literal account of God creating the Universe and all living things as related in the Bible or Koran. It would be better, [the Rev Michael Reiss] said, to treat creationism as a world view.
Back in my day, we didn't get taught 'world views' in science lessons, we got taught what could be proven and left that sort of stuff to our Religious Studies lessons.
But, despite roping the Koran in there, Reiss is really asking for special exception for Christianity, as most pleas for Creationism to be stuck where it shouldn't go are. But if we were to bring in Creationism then we really should be fair and teach all the different types of Creation 'Theory', then all the beginning of the world theories of all the other world religions, then any other theories people have. Once the kids have gone through all that they probably won't have any time left for the Periodic Table or fun with sodium.
Labels: Christianity, Creationism, Evolution, stupidity
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Well, that's obviously it for evolution then...
Sunday, August 19, 2007
"I've been sent with a warrant from the body of Christ."
Yes, as Wikipedia has Conservapedia, so YouTube's dark shadow is GodTube.
And of course, lots of stuff about how evolution just couldn't happen.
And the already famous 'Bananas- The Atheist's Nightmare'.
And of course, lots of stuff about how evolution just couldn't happen.
And the already famous 'Bananas- The Atheist's Nightmare'.
Labels: Christianity, Conservatives, Evolution, Fundamentalists- Christian, YouTube
Tuesday, May 29, 2007
What does The Guardian have against Richard Dawkins? It's not like I particularly like him but it's like, another day, another article critical of him in Comment is Free, then when you look up the keyword 'richarddawkins' you realise that all but one of the articles are critical of Dawkins. It's a bit like the Grauniad's attitude towards transsexuals.
Labels: Evolution, newspapers, Richard Dawkins, The Guardian
Monday, May 28, 2007
Glow-in-the-dark fur clothes. And it's not real fur either, presumably because they haven't persuaded mink to breed with jellyfish yet.
A sneak peak at the soon-to-open Creation Museum.
[via Wired]
A sneak peak at the soon-to-open Creation Museum.
[via Wired]
Labels: Creationism, Evolution, fashion, Fundamentalists- Christian
Sunday, May 13, 2007
The R U Sirius Show and Neofiles With R U Sirius will be attempting to stream video and audio while the shows are recorded, today at 2 PM Pacific or 10 PM GMT. There have been a few teething problems in the past few weeks, so cross your fingers before heading to the website.
Labels: Evolution, freedom, life extension, podcasts, R U Sirius, radio, science, web toys
Monday, May 07, 2007
This am your news
Let's ease in to this gently by going with The Sun, always trying to position itself as The Onion for urban Conservatives: Paris Hilton scared of prison lesbians. Elsewhere, Pete Doherty has apparently been caught with drugs again but no doubt the trial judge will find some way to see this as proof that he's trying to stop taking drugs and he'll get off scott free.
In real news The Times reports Cameron's Conservatives finally ready to start explaining what they stand for, which is handy just after a national round of local elections which were seen as a referendum on the Labour Government. Seeing as the Murdoch stable seem happy to big up Blair while giving Brown any number of paper cuts it seems the first principle of Cameron Conservatism is to get News International onside, hence the fact that The Times seems to have been told what will be said tomorrow. There's still some scepticism apparent, as we wait to see whether Tories are desperate enough for power again yet that they are willing to go with Dave.
The Guardian has an article on New Atheists, they loathe religion far too much to plausibly challenge it, apparently. Google currently gives 'about 44,000' results for a search. The claim that Richard Dawkins goes too far in attacking religion is not a new one, nor is it particularly inaccurate. The problem is that by trying to grab a bunch of authors who have nothing in common other than having written books attacking the religiosity most commonly typified by the Conservatives of the United States and the Conservatives of a number of Muslim countries < pause for breath > and calling them The New Atheists makes it seem as though they sit together in their secret volcano base plotting each day how to defeat religion.
"What are we going to do tonight Richard?"
"The same thing we do every night Dennett, try to vanquish the religions of the world!"
Also, by ignoring completely what may have caused this small spate of anti-religious books (and their apparent popularity) Madeleine Bunting gives the unfortunate impression that religion of various denominations had been pootling along for the last decade minding it's own business and hurting no-one.
I've never really understood religious anti-Darwinism and anti-evolutionism, I'll admit I haven't read On the Origin of Species but I have read the Bible and, while it's true to say that it doesn't say that God creates evolution it says nothing to deny the possibility and would also suggest that God is a non-omnipotent being, with limits, who needs six days to make a planet and who needs a day to rest up. I haven't got a copy to hand so I'm not sure if it explicitly states that God creates the passing of time or the ability to reproduce through the interaction of people's naughty bits. Anyway, this is just a long preamble to a link to an article in the NYT in which Conservatives are battling the ultra-religious elements in their own ideology over Darwinism. I've always assumed that the urge to oppose Darwinism was no more than the desire to oppose what the Religious Right assumed the scientists stood for, birth-control, abortion, separation of church and state and so on. Can the Conservatives take the Republicans back from the Christians? Could they still have power if they aren't following an unreconstructed two-thousand year old ideology?
In real news The Times reports Cameron's Conservatives finally ready to start explaining what they stand for, which is handy just after a national round of local elections which were seen as a referendum on the Labour Government. Seeing as the Murdoch stable seem happy to big up Blair while giving Brown any number of paper cuts it seems the first principle of Cameron Conservatism is to get News International onside, hence the fact that The Times seems to have been told what will be said tomorrow. There's still some scepticism apparent, as we wait to see whether Tories are desperate enough for power again yet that they are willing to go with Dave.
The Guardian has an article on New Atheists, they loathe religion far too much to plausibly challenge it, apparently. Google currently gives 'about 44,000' results for a search. The claim that Richard Dawkins goes too far in attacking religion is not a new one, nor is it particularly inaccurate. The problem is that by trying to grab a bunch of authors who have nothing in common other than having written books attacking the religiosity most commonly typified by the Conservatives of the United States and the Conservatives of a number of Muslim countries < pause for breath > and calling them The New Atheists makes it seem as though they sit together in their secret volcano base plotting each day how to defeat religion.
"What are we going to do tonight Richard?"
"The same thing we do every night Dennett, try to vanquish the religions of the world!"
Also, by ignoring completely what may have caused this small spate of anti-religious books (and their apparent popularity) Madeleine Bunting gives the unfortunate impression that religion of various denominations had been pootling along for the last decade minding it's own business and hurting no-one.
I've never really understood religious anti-Darwinism and anti-evolutionism, I'll admit I haven't read On the Origin of Species but I have read the Bible and, while it's true to say that it doesn't say that God creates evolution it says nothing to deny the possibility and would also suggest that God is a non-omnipotent being, with limits, who needs six days to make a planet and who needs a day to rest up. I haven't got a copy to hand so I'm not sure if it explicitly states that God creates the passing of time or the ability to reproduce through the interaction of people's naughty bits. Anyway, this is just a long preamble to a link to an article in the NYT in which Conservatives are battling the ultra-religious elements in their own ideology over Darwinism. I've always assumed that the urge to oppose Darwinism was no more than the desire to oppose what the Religious Right assumed the scientists stood for, birth-control, abortion, separation of church and state and so on. Can the Conservatives take the Republicans back from the Christians? Could they still have power if they aren't following an unreconstructed two-thousand year old ideology?
Labels: atheism, atheists, Conservatives, David Cameron, Evolution, Fundamentalists- Secular, Islam, newspapers, politics, religion, Republicans, Richard Dawkins, science, United Kingdom, United States
Saturday, October 21, 2006
For that special Creationist in your life
