I’m noticing a troubling but interesting phenomenon: the sanctification of Saint Luigi. I don’t care for this at all — it’s more than just my anti-religious attitude, but th…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

22.12.2024

A common thread among billionaires

Angela Collier points out a bizarre thing these billionaires do: these people — Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk — are all college dropouts who couldn’t even finish a…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

21.12.2024

Halfway across the state and back again

Cars are an expensive pain in the butt. It was time to do some maintenance on the Honda, but the nearest Honda dealer is in St Cloud, so I had to get up early and drive across the state on icy snow…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

20.12.2024

There is no carol that won’t wear out its welcome

I’ve been avoiding stores for a while now, because they’re all playing the same tired, horrible Christmas carols all the time — I was trying to buy almond milk and eggs the other …

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

20.12.2024

You think spider sex is crazy?

I beg to differ about spider sex — it’s perfectly normally weird, but then I have been spending a fair amount of time trying to encourage spiders to have sex. Mainly what I’m conc…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

20.12.2024

Insufferably credulous “journalists”

Ainsley Earhardt, one of the “Fox and Friends” airheads, is very excited about the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. We’re all excited about him. How wonderful is it that we do…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

19.12.2024

The Democratic Party will never change

After the humiliating and ridiculous loss in November, you’d think the Democrats would decide to shake things up and change a few of the top brass. You’d think wrong. Rep. Alexandria Oc…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

19.12.2024

A novel Xian argument

It’s only 4 minutes long, but it’s just packed with ‘clever’ arguments for god. If you don’t feel like wasting 4 minutes on this guy — and I don’t blame yo…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

18.12.2024

I do love a good spleen

David Gerard’s spleen is quite nice. That all rings true. The technology is interesting and potentially useful, the problem is the techbro cult that is monetizing it all. Here’s an inte…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

18.12.2024

If you’ve ever wondered where all those sexist gamers came from…

Sexism in gaming isn’t a new thing at all — good ol’ Dungeons & Dragons was full of it. Here’s Gary Gygax, one of the creators of the game, opining on women in gaming so…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

18.12.2024

I guess I’m supposed to be happy

Minnesota, as a state, is happier than California? I don’t quite trust these things. They always have to juggle a whole bunch of parameters to come up with a single composite score like &#822…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

18.12.2024

I think I just sold a house

This house. A notary just drove out to my house with a stack of documents from the lending company, and I signed them all, and now those documents get shipped back to Seattle for the buyers to sign…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

17.12.2024

There’s no point in even mentioning this

Another school shooting, this time in Madison, Wisconsin, which is getting a little too close to my granddaughter’s school. Although, to be honest, a shooting in Florida is getting too close …

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

17.12.2024

Scientists as scoundrels

No scientist has ever looked at the state of science funding and thought it was great. The pressure is tremendous and the success rate for grants is dismal. But hey, it could get so much worse and …

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

17.12.2024

GLADIIATOR

I feel like I need to apologize for whatever smug twit thought it was clever to put that “II” in the middle of “Gladiator”. Its appearance in the title card was, however, th…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

17.12.2024

Surprise, the Earth is a globe

I hate to mention it again, but since I mentioned “The Final Experiment” before, I guess I should note that it has been concluded. On 14 December, observers in Antarctica watched the su…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

17.12.2024

It’s a wrap

The grades for all of my classes, Fundamentals of Genetics, Evolution, and Development, and History of Evolutionary Thought, and Cell Biology lab, and Biological Communication II, have been submitt…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

16.12.2024

Benjamin Dixon murders the Young Turks

Someone call the police, this was a brutal execution. Actually, never mind. I never cared much for Cenk Uygur or Ana Kasparian, never subscribed to the Young Turks, gave them at best a little side-…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

15.12.2024

TODAY: Freethoughtbloggers discuss the problem of evil

Just in time for your Christmas shopping list! It seems obvious today that people are operating on different principles for defining good and evil. Some people seem to believe that it’s virtu…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

15.12.2024

The journal Intelligence really needs to change its name

That’s a journal I would never trust — after all, they were responsible for publishing Richard Lynn’s hacky paper on the IQ of nations. Now here’s another example of a terri…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

14.12.2024

One habit I wish we could break

I guess I need to inform my family that I don’t want them to surprise me with a shiny new car in the driveway for Christmas — you know, like those commercials where a grinning husband s…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

14.12.2024

I’m going to have to reorganize everything

One of the perks of my position is that every two years I get a shiny new computer. I got my new one installed this morning. That’s my usual work station. I’ve got a Wild M3 on the left…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

14.12.2024

Sexual dimorphism — it’s scary

This is a female Latrodectus mactans. This is a male Latrodectus mactans. I brought them together this morning. The female is plump and mature. The male has large, engorged palps. This is what they…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

13.12.2024

One more day

I’m almost finished. A lot of papers have been graded, and all that’s left now is an online final exam for my intro bio course, which has a deadline of 1:00 tomorrow. Now I wait for tho…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

13.12.2024

Why I like Seattle

I just finished a flurry of contract signing — my mother’s house is thiiiis close to being sold. We have a final hurdle of getting the lender’s approval, but my agent says there&#…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

12.12.2024

Do we really need a taxonomy of idiots?

I’m going to be a bit contrarian. Years ago, one phenomenon that was horribly popular among skeptics was the identification and labeling of logical fallacies — it sill is, as far as I k…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

12.12.2024

Two wrongs don’t make a right…but also, a pox on both your houses

A doctor explains how he feels about the killing of a CEO. I agree with him — you can simultaneously believe that killing is bad and that a corporation and its executives are bad. You can hav…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

11.12.2024

Sowing the seeds of revolution, and they don’t even know it yet

The CEO killer may have been caught. The alleged murderer is named Luigi Mangione, and he’s not quite what I expected. He is from a prominent Baltimore family, and attended a private, all-boy…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

11.12.2024

Sing it on every street corner!

Finally, a Christmas carol I can appreciate.

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

11.12.2024

Good riddance, Richard Lynn

The table to the right is a list of the bottom 10 nations for IQ, as reported by Richard Lynn in 2002. Should we really believe that the people of Ghana have an average IQ of 58? It’s a ridic…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

10.12.2024

Ask before opening fire

Have you ever had a health insurance claim denied? Before you run out and shoot an insurance executive, use the Claim File Helper to uncover the paper trail that led to the decision. ProPublica’s C…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

10.12.2024

Confidently ridiculous

Oh boy. There are places on the internet that are still full of arrogant ignorance. A creationist charged into a subreddit with some, ummm, assertions. Why is it that these guys who hate atheism so…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

10.12.2024

I wasn’t eligible to enlist for the Battle of the Somme, being -41 years old at the time

Sometimes I miss Twitter. It’s the place where you can find the dumbest arguments and most stupid people on the internet, and the idiocy has gotten even more concentrated as the smart people …

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

09.12.2024

A totalitarian police state falls and goes splat

Sometimes, life comes at you fast. One moment you’re moaning over the fact that wanna-be tyrant got elected in the USA, the next you’re watching a wanna-be tyrant getting slapped down i…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

09.12.2024

It’s a grading day

I’ve been parked in my office since 6:30, working away at grading. I’ve made good progress, and what helps is keeping the good music pounding away — I’ve found music to be e…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

09.12.2024

Time to take a break this afternoon

Let’s play a game, maybe. Last time I tried streaming, I made a lot of errors, so I’m also going to see if I can make this thing work.

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

09.12.2024

Reading the Daily Mail is not how to do research

Potholer54 has a new video, in which he explains the error of all those people who say “do your own research,” a phrase so heavily abused by conspiracy theorists and cranks that it has …

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

07.12.2024

Trying to be unambiguous

My last post was a little cryptic. So let me clarify with some illustrations. I hope that helps!

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

07.12.2024

A wicked way to end the semester

Today is the last day of classes! I don’t even have a lot to do: I have one class on Fridays, which is all student presentations, and then I’m free. Sort of. I have a bunch of grading t…

Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula

07.12.2024

My wife will be so happy to learn that I’m gay now

After all, the heterosexual men are terrible in bed. That stupid man-child. That poor woman. He thinks that any non-procreative sex is “gay”. “As soon as we’re together, it’s like no bi…

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Free Thought Blogs Pharyngula - Science

The imagery that should scare the wealthy

A common thread among billionaires

Halfway across the state and back again

There is no carol that won’t wear out its welcome

You think spider sex is crazy?

Insufferably credulous “journalists”

The Democratic Party will never change

A novel Xian argument

I do love a good spleen

If you’ve ever wondered where all those sexist gamers came from…

I guess I’m supposed to be happy

I think I just sold a house

There’s no point in even mentioning this

Scientists as scoundrels

GLADIIATOR

Surprise, the Earth is a globe

It’s a wrap

Benjamin Dixon murders the Young Turks

TODAY: Freethoughtbloggers discuss the problem of evil

The journal Intelligence really needs to change its name

One habit I wish we could break

I’m going to have to reorganize everything

Sexual dimorphism — it’s scary

One more day

Why I like Seattle

Do we really need a taxonomy of idiots?

Two wrongs don’t make a right…but also, a pox on both your houses

Sowing the seeds of revolution, and they don’t even know it yet

Sing it on every street corner!

Good riddance, Richard Lynn

Ask before opening fire

Confidently ridiculous

I wasn’t eligible to enlist for the Battle of the Somme, being -41 years old at the time

A totalitarian police state falls and goes splat

It’s a grading day

Time to take a break this afternoon

Reading the Daily Mail is not how to do research

Trying to be unambiguous

A wicked way to end the semester

My wife will be so happy to learn that I’m gay now

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