Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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While it cannot be proved retrospectively that any experience of possession, conversion, revelation, or divine ecstasy was merely an epileptic discharge, we must ask how one differentiates "real transcendence" from neuropathies that produce the same extreme realness, profundity, ineffability, and sense of cosmic unity. When accounts of sudden religious conversions in TLEs [temporal-lobe epileptics] are laid alongside the epiphanous revelations of the religious tradition, the parallels are striking. The same is true of the recent spate of alleged UFO abductees. Parsimony alone argues against invoking spirits, demons, or extraterrestrials when natural causes will suffice.
[Barry L. Beyerstein, "Neuropathology and the Legacy of Spiritual Possession", The Skeptical Inquirer, Vol. XII, No. 3, pg. 255]
May 31, 2007
Category: Politics
Errm, why haven't we started the impeachment proceedings on George W. Bush yet? Friends of his from Texas were shocked recently to find him nearly wild-eyed, thumping himself on the chest three times while he repeated "I am the president!"...
Posted by PZ Myers at 11:00 PM • 56 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Creationism
Earlier, I was mildly perturbed that Canada was leading my country in the cheesy science "museum" race; this is, of course, a race to the bottom. Scott Hatfield has come to my rescue, though, and sent in some photos of...
Posted by PZ Myers at 6:57 PM • 55 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Creationism
Ha ha, pathetic Canadians. They've put up their own creation "museum"—just look at it. It's feeble. It's like someone took a cheap suburban ranch-style home and put a sign on it and started charging admission to come take a...
Posted by PZ Myers at 3:22 PM • 38 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Kooks
Laura Mallory wants to ban the Harry Potter books from public schools, and she took her case to court. This is a perfect example of a mixed message: At Tuesday's hearing, Mallory argued in part that witchcraft is a...
Posted by PZ Myers at 2:30 PM • 86 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
Suddenly, it makes sense. Schizophrenia is a methodology. Now we also know who is watching....
Posted by PZ Myers at 12:56 PM • 22 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
Sam Brownback has an op-ed in the NY Times today, in which he explains with much straining at gnats why he was one of the Republicans who did not believe in evolution. Short summary: he reveals his own misconceptions...
Posted by PZ Myers at 12:13 PM • 194 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Environment
Long time readers will know how fond I am of the Index to Creationist Claims, a long list of common creationist arguments linked to short, pithy rebuttals with references. Now the gang at Gristmill have done the same thing for...
Posted by PZ Myers at 10:56 AM • 22 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
If you're concerned about the military appropriation of an important fossil site, here's more information. It's not just some old rocks, it's a historical and ecologically significant site that's about to be overrun by a bloated military. The Picket Wire...
Posted by PZ Myers at 9:31 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Academics
People keep > Professors Who Blog > May 15, 2007" href="http://techlearning.com/showArticle.php?articleID=196604461">keep interviewing me for articles on academic blogging. I'm always giving the same answers. I've got to start getting more creative—next time, I'm going to have to say something about...
Posted by PZ Myers at 7:40 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
I'm not a fanatic about gun control—guns are dangerous tools, but so are chainsaws—but sometimes…man, sometimes I think we ought to put more restrictions on them to keep them out of the hands of dangerously stupid people. Take this story,...
Posted by PZ Myers at 6:00 AM • 143 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
The World's Fair 12.14.2009
Starts With a Bang 12.14.2009
Casaubon's Book 12.15.2009
Gene Expression 12.15.2009
The Island of Doubt 12.15.2009