A Monkey of Moderate Intelligence

Homer Simpson's Evolution.

2008-05-11T22:30:00.000-07:00

The intro to tonight's Simpsons involved the slow, gradual process of evolution to get to a modern Homo sapiens homerus. I found it pretty damn entertaining. The other characters shown briefly provide good comic bits, especially Moe, who is walking in the opposite direction in the sequence, so he "devolves" into more rodent-like creatures. Enjoy.

Founding great new relations with the Islamic world.

2008-05-09T21:04:00.000-07:00

Not that I really give a Rattus norvegicus' colon about Islam or pissing them off, but I can understand how they think the US is the "Great Satan" when fundamentalist crack-pots like this guy are the "spiritual advisers" of a presidential candidate.

For all the bullshit coverage of Obama's "problem" with Rev. Wright (a crap issue at that), it pales in comparison to McCain's endorsements from Parsley and Hagee. And McCain hasn't had to answer any questions on this at all! What hypocrisy! People like Rod Parsley are one of the reasons I will not be voting Republican this year. Spread the word on this, and maybe it will become known to more than the few who follow this intently.

Bad Religion Frontman to be Honored

2008-04-25T15:42:00.000-07:00

I got the following from Jay, the bass player in Bad Religion. I wish I could go. I love BR, and have always wished I could take a course with Greg Graffin, even if it would likely be mostly over my head.

Bad Religion's Greg Graffin to Be Honored for Lifetime Achievement in Atheism, Punk Rock, and Science

"Cultural Humanism" Awardee is Seminal Punk Singer, Earned Ivy-League PhD in Evolution

CAMBRIDGE, MA - Harvard University's prominent community of atheists and agnostics is poised to honor a rock star and scientist whom they argue is an ideal role model for the nation's millions of non-religious youth.

The Humanist Chaplaincy at Harvard has gained considerable national attention in the past year for its unique approach to building a culture and community for the non-religious, and this April 26 it will give its highest honor, the "Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism," to a unique figure: Dr. Greg Graffin, frontman of the influential punk rock band Bad Religion. Graffin, whose "day job" since 1980 has been recording and extensive worldwide touring with a band boasting such hits as "How Could Hell be Any Worse" and "American Jesus," earned his PhD in Zoology at Cornell and is a member of the UCLA's Faculty in Biology, teaching Life Sciences courses covering Darwin and natural selection. Graffin will give an acoustic performance after accepting the award.

"I always put education high on my list of priorities because I thought, Wouldn't it be neat if you can have a singer of your favorite band who also has something more to offer than looking cool - which I don't - or dressing cool - which I don't;" Graffin said. "Those are the things that I try to inspire young people to do, whether it is in the lecture hall or on stage on the Warped Tour."

But Bad Religion, considered among the most influential modern punk bands, has been known for inspiring young people towards a particular set of ideas: those of atheism and Humanism. Graffin's lyrics make plain his passionate disbelief in God. Yet the Harvard Humanists cite his faith in the ability of music and science to improve the world as making the singer unique.

"Graffin is proof positive that atheists can be great ethical role models: young people idolize rock stars, and what more could you want from one than his lifelong dedication to science, education, and Humanism?" said Greg Epstein, Humanist Chaplain of Harvard University.

The award, intended to honor a Humanist or atheist having made a lasting impact on US culture, was presented last year to renowned novelist Sir Salman Rushdie before a sold-out audience of 1100 that Rushdie likened to a celebration of "Atheistmas," and will once again be conferred at Harvard's Memorial Church, the official University Chapel. Graffin was selected for this year's award by the Harvard Secular Society, an undergraduate student group affiliated with the Humanist Chaplaincy. The event is co-sponsored by Newbury Comics, Harvard Book Store, & the Cambridge Forum.

Date: Saturday, April 26, 2008

Time: 8:00pm - 10:00pm

Location: The Memorial Church, Harvard

'9/11 Conspiracy Theories Ridiculous' - Al Qaeda

2008-04-24T19:54:00.000-07:00

Ahh, The Onion. This is priceless. Take that, you 9-11 Truth nutjobs.

Inappropriate Corporate Logos

2008-04-24T10:01:00.000-07:00

Ahh, thank you Keith Olbermann. The above is the new logo for the Office of Government Commerce in the UK. Now, it's all right, if a little too trendy and Gucci-like. But that's not my issue. Look at it sideways. Turn your head to the left and give a good look.

All Right! Now that's a logo to respect!

Hypocrisy on Florida License Plates

2008-04-24T08:43:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/04/24/license.plate.ap/index.html

Florida may be on the verge of approving license plates that feature a stained glass cross and the words "I Believe", a less than subtle endorsement of christianity in the state. While they may argue that it does not violate the Establishment Clause in the US Constitution, I disagree. The state congressman who is sponsoring this says that he wouldn't support similar plates for other religious views.

Rep. Edward Bullard isn't sure all groups should be able to express their preference. If atheists came up with an "I Don't Believe" plate, for example, he would probably oppose it.

What hypocrisy!

While some christians also oppose the plates, their reasoning isn't exactly reassuring.

Rep. Kelly Skidmore said she is a Roman Catholic and goes to Mass on Sundays, but she believes the "I Believe" plate is inappropriate for the government to produce.
"It's not a road I want to go down. I don't want to see the Star of David next. I don't want to see a Torah next. None of that stuff is appropriate to me."

Great. So she opposes the plates because she doesn't want to see other religions get the same thing and force here to see the Star of David, or the Torah, or sacred cows, or crescents, or Buddhas, or Darwin fish (since the religious right is so certain in their claims that Darwin is a religious faith).

Gah! Come on, ACLU. Get your shit together and make sure this doesn't happen.

Horrendous Astronomy

2008-04-23T16:30:00.000-07:00

A new movie is in the works. OK, technically it's a mini-series, but what's the difference.

"...the effects-heavy "Impact" chronicles the aftermath of a meteor shower during which a piece of a dwarf star lodges itself in the moon. That triggers a series of anomalies on Earth, including cell phone service interruption, exaggerated tides and the occurrence of sporadic weightlessness. Astrophysicist Alex Kinter (Elliott), with a help of a female astronomer, discover that the moon has been dislodged from its orbit and is on a collision course with Earth."

*bangs head against wall, over and over again*

Simply terrible. On the humourous side, I find it funny that the first anomaly listed is interruption of cell service. The other two are potentially deadly. But oh no! I can't use my cell phone! The world is gonna end! Gah...what rot. We have become a truly phone obsessed society that will one day........ oops, hold on. I gotta take this call.

Documentary about scientific theory being repressed getting no hype.

2008-04-18T08:37:00.001-07:00

I love Dawkins at the end, providing the reductio ad absurdum argument.

Ms. John Lennon should be apalled.

2008-04-16T20:16:00.000-07:00

That propaganda-ist film, Expelled, may be in for more legal troubles for using someone else's material without obtaining permission.

First, there was the news that there sequence travelling through a cell is an almost exact clone of a film put together by Harvard and XVIVO. Only the colour of the animation changed. They even kept the music the same!

Now comes news that their use of John Lennon's song "Imagine", complete with the wonderful line "Imagine no religion" (which must infuriate the fundamentalist, creationist kooks who put together this film), is used in the movie. Many, including myself, have found it odd, and maybe a bit infuriating, that they somehow got the rights to use this great song for their hit-piece. Turns out, they didn't get the rights.

Please, Ms. Ono/Lennon, do the right thing and sue the pants off these people. They think they're above the law and then complain when they get called on their cheating/lying ways. It's time to put them in their place!

God must really hate black people

2008-04-16T15:34:00.000-07:00

A family of Minnesotans were involved in a horrific plane crash in the Congo.

Barry and Marybeth Mosier were on their way to visit their son Keith, 24, in Kinsangani, Congo, with two younger children when their plane crashed on takeoff Tuesday in Goma. At least 36 people died as the plane plowed through a market and burned. Most of the people who died were on the ground, according to the U.N. mission in DR Congo.

…Mosier said, he and his wife were carrying their son Andrew, 3, in the shoving "mass of humanity" trying to escape the burning plane. They got out through the opening in the fuselage.

…"Outside the plane, she was wandering around. ... It was total chaos," he said. "People were screaming and yelling because the plane had landed on this market. All of a sudden, out of the blue, all of these people who were just standing there are now dead.

"So there's parts of bodies and people burning and people screaming and yelling, and she was out there by herself."

It sounds like a nightmarish event, and I'm glad they survived. I wish a few more people hadn't died horrible, painful deaths in such a catastrophe, but this was a family of despicable missionaries, so you know what's coming next.

"We couldn't believe that our family of four could all escape a plane that was crashed and on fire, but by God's mercy, we did," he said.

Mosier said he believes the family made it for a reason.

"I think the Lord has a plan for us, otherwise we wouldn't have survived," he said. "He still has work for us to do."

Their god has no mercy to spare for the innocent people in the market, of course, and their lives must have been totally useless for their god to be able to dispense with them in such a brutal fashion. Or perhaps they were wicked and deserved a flaming extinction with lots of fear and screaming?

In a just theistic world, I think their god would despise such smug, self-satisfied Christians.

NCSE Site moving on up!

2008-04-16T09:14:00.001-07:00

Well, the campaign seems to be working. There has been a push to get the site Expelled Exposed, the NCSE (National Center for Science Education) website dedicated to countering the propaganda in the new Ben Stein lie-fest, Expelled, into the top of the Google. As of 9:15, when you do a Google search for Expelled, the first hit is for the movie, 3rd is PZ's blog post about being booted from a screening, and now on the first page, in the 8th spot, is Expelled Exposed! It's a great site, including movie reviews from a number of sources, information countering lies in the film, and great resources for anyone with questions about the people the movie claims were fired for supporting ID creationism.

Check it out!

Creationist Propaganda Film

2008-04-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

Friday, we get the premiere of the creationist, piece-of-shit movie, Expelled. As their hypocrisy has hit the airwaves, including banning scientists who oppose the film from attending screenings (and they were in the movie!!) and telling people screenings are cancelled while moving the time and informing just those who would be favorable, news of lawsuits pend. Apparently, the film contains clips from a Harvard movie on the cell, and from a PBS production, both without obtaining copyright permission. These Expelled morons will stoop to all sorts of lows! I'll go see it, just to see what the controversy is about, and maybe take my son to enlighten him to the fallacies there in. But the movie sounds like pure crap, and I may wait to check it out from the library. As a teacher, I want to know what crap brain-washed students may present in class, and I want to be prepared to counter with an understanding of where their ideas came from.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2008-03-16T21:55:00.000-07:00

Enjoy the day, and have a green beer. I'm gonna try to get a little Irish in me. Thinking some Bailey's should do it.

Holy Grail....in ~5 seconds.

2008-03-09T22:30:00.000-07:00

This is just random, but immensely funny. Enjoy!

The Golden Compass

2008-03-08T21:38:00.000-08:00

A little while ago, I was disappointed to hear that the final two books in Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" series were not going to be made. I understood the economics of it, seeing how it brought in less than 100 million domestically, and cost more than that to make.

But now the news comes out that the film has grossed over 200+ million worldwide, with a huge release in Japan and China, where it just premiered. And sales of DVDs have yet to occur, where many (including myself) will increase profits for the feature. I hope this news may force the hand of the film makers and encourage them to finish the trilogy. Don't cave to pressure from the church!

An Atheist's Creed

2008-03-07T13:21:00.000-08:00

For those that feel that atheists believe in nothing, this is a response. (Thanks to PZ Myers, of Pharyngula fame.)

I believe in time,
matter, and energy,
which make up the whole of the world.

I believe in reason, evidence
and the human mind,
the only tools we have;
they are the product of natural forces
in a majestic but impersonal universe,
grander and richer than we can imagine,
a source of endless opportunities for discovery.

I believe in the power of doubt;
I do not seek out reassurances,
but embrace the question,
and strive to challenge my own beliefs.

I accept human mortality.
We have but one life,brief
and full of struggle,
leavened with love and community,
learning and exploration,
beauty and the creation of new life,
new art, and new ideas.

I rejoice in this life that I have,
and in the grandeur of a world that preceded me,
and an earth that will abide without me.

2008-02-28T22:14:00.000-08:00

Creationist arguments, this time showing how ignorant Big Science is, by exposing the fraud of Leap Year/Leap Day:

"We have leap years because the earth is slowing down in its orbit, which proves that the earth can't be old — a million years ago the earth would have been whirling around the sun so fast it would have flown out of orbit!"

Happy Leap Day. I'm gonna go bang by head against a wall in an attempt to figure out where these people are coming from. (For an extremely detailed look at Leap Year, see this Bad Astronomy post by Phil Plait.)

3-D Tattoo

2008-02-22T15:26:00.000-08:00

OK, so I'm not going to get into having a tattoo, seeing how I have several myself. It's a growing art form, with an increasing number of people in society possessing a tat in some form or another. And yet, isn't this taking things a little far?

Apparently, this guy wasn't content with the tattoo of a busty cowgirl on his calf. He felt it needed a little something more. So he had implants put into the tattoo. Or, more precisely, into his leg to give the effect of boobs in his tattoo. Unfortunately for the poor guy, they ruptured, and he tried to stitch things up himself. Fortunately, he eventually saw a real doctor, who put him on medication to heal him up.

See more at: http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/02/18/4856191-sun.html

Way to go, Pat. Credibility = Zero.

2008-02-22T11:54:00.001-08:00

Wonderful discussion here from Pat Robertson. In retrospect, either God lied to him, or Pat made the whole thing up. No terrorist attack with tremendous loss of life, and the whole thing about not inter-marrying with the heathens. Classic. No wonder people worldwide listen and respect this guy. I feel nauseous just listening to him. Maybe he should seek humility and leave the rest of us alone.

UPDATE: UFO Sighting

2008-02-20T21:25:00.000-08:00

Oh, damn. That UFO was just the lunar eclipse tonight. Silly me.

Watched it through the telescope. It was an awesome sight, and framed by Saturn on one side, and one of the brighter stars in Leo on the other made for some spectacular stargazing.

UFO Sighting

2008-02-20T21:18:00.000-08:00

So I was outside this evening, and saw what just had to be an alien spacecraft. After hearing so many descriptions of UFO behaviour, this had to be my first experience. There was a large, semi-crescent shaped object, probably a hundred miles wide, that just hovered in the sky. It faded out, in a way that no human vehicle could, then suddenly re-appeared about an hour later. It seemed to grow rapidly in size, probably flying quickly in my direction at many hundred of miles an hour. It made absolutely no sound, and the whole experience was creepy. Totally unexplainable.

Snuggly, the Security Bear

2008-02-16T10:23:00.001-08:00

I just heard this on "The Rachel Maddow Show" on Air America Radio yesterday. Outstanding! Nice commentary on politics today. More science/skepticism to com ein the following days, but for now, enjoy this video.

The Republicans have officially lost my vote.

2008-02-11T20:21:00.000-08:00

Well, the Republicans are down to Mike Huckabee and John McCain. One is a Baptist minister who feels that evolution is false and the Earth is 6000 years old, the other a former Navy pilot and POW from Vietnam. Huckleberry thinks we should be able to change the Constitution to fit the Bible. His evangelical Christian ways and how they will sway his political policies has him out in my book.

I had thought that McCain was not a terrible guy, and was a reasonable candidate. Then, in an attempt to appease conservatives at CPAC last week, he stated how liberty is given to us by the Creator (he means God, but doesn't want to offend people by saying this directly) not by nations or government.

Well, I was more than likely to vote democrat anyway, but now there is very little likelihood of my vote going anywhere but Demo. While both Obama and Hillary are admitted Christians, they both respect the secular foundations of this country. The right will completely alienate the freethinkers/humanists/atheists, all but rejecting that we even have rights equal to others.

PZ Myers debates a Creationist, skewers the poor guy.

2008-02-02T15:51:00.000-08:00

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/01/was_that_fun_or_what.php

Absolutely fabulous. I'm going to find the audio of this to enjoy just how flustered the other guy must have gotten.

Creation Museum preaches "Super Evolution"...huh?

2008-02-02T15:38:00.000-08:00

What the crump is this? So the wacky-as-shit creationists think Darwinian evolution is wrong, and reject all teh supporting evidence in the time since then, yet this is their explanation for the diversity of species today. Remember, this is the Bible-as-fact group known as "Answers in Genesis" that sponsored this so-called museum. AHHH the hypocrisy and stupidity.

Notable Atheists

2008-02-02T15:36:00.000-08:00

Great video!

Tai Ji Class, for College Credit?

2007-11-21T17:26:00.001-08:00

OK, I know it's Evergreen, the hippie feel-good school of Washington, but this is a little much. I just got a flyer for their extended education courses for winter term. Included in the course catalog is this course, which is worth 2 credits.

"Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain, Tai Ji Workshop"

It is described as a unique opportunity to study with Chungliang Al Huang: a philosopher, calligrapher, dancer, bamboo flute player and Tai Ji master. Chungliang is the embodiment of energy and wisdom: a matchless catalyst of East meeting West. The workshop will show people how to incorporate Tai Ji into their business and everyday lives. The participants will learn how to create an energy that transcends daily life activities in order to make them more successful in their professional and personal lives.

What a load of crap! This is a joke, shouldn't be worth any credits, and is paid for by public money, since it is a state university. Damn Hippies!

And the picture is from a billboard alongside I-5 south of Chehalis. It usually has statements that are of an extreme conservative, fundamentalist point of view. It's privately owned and maintained, so nothing can be done about it. Morons.

An Unfortunate End for Two Podcasts.

2007-11-19T19:07:00.000-08:00

It is with much regret that I bid farewell to two of my favorite podcasts. Logically Critical and Dogma Free America are both calling it quits. The hosts cite the time needed to produce the shows as the primary reason for ending the shows. I only wish it wasn't so.

Logically Critical promoted rational thinking, and took a very humorous approach to presenting the material. Shows included topics on "Why Atheism?" "Wacky Bible Stories" and "Ode to a Superhero" and they always included funny references to TV shows and movies of all ages. Dogma Free America was put together to inform about news stories of extreme dogmatic thinking. Malaysia, Australia, and the Southern US were often locales for these news stories, and the unfortunate thing was the truth of the news.

Both shows are still well worth checking out. While they are still up on I-Tunes, give them a listen.

More Credulous Programming From the History Channel

2007-11-09T20:52:00.000-08:00

From the moment I saw the ad for this show, I dreaded what the final product would be like. Monsterquest is produced by The History Channel, and the first episode I witnessed was about a Sasquatch sighting in Canada, north of Ontario. Ottowa. The show consisted of interviews with witnesses, who provided poor testimony at best, and a couple true believers, one with unfortunate authority provided by his position as a professor at University of Idaho.

Their evidence was flimsy, and the conclusions were pretty bad. Of particular note was the tissue that was analyzed. When evaluated by an independent lab, the result was that it was note of animal origin (likely synthetic) and they couldn't find any DNA. But the believers used their own method to extract DNA, by repeatedly adding chemicals and agitating the sample until something appeared. This "sample" tested as somewhere between chimp and human DNA, basically one gene was mutated, and somehow they managed to say it was halfway between humans 23 chromosomes and chimp 24.

MonsterQuest was yet another History Channel production that promotes pseudoscience in the worst way. Please, avoid this like you would avoid a mangy bear.

New Bigfoot/Sasquatch Sighting

2007-11-04T21:14:00.001-08:00

The bad photo taken at night is the most recent photo of Bigfoot, taken with a motion-sensitive camera. Hard to see what it really is, and I always thought Sasquatch was supposed to be a biped. I personally agree with Dr. Steven Novella (of The Skeptic's Guide to the Universe fame) in his assessment that, if you absolutely had to pick a supernatural creature to compare this to, I'd chose a werewolf. Most credible people think it's a mangy bear.

Of course, everyone should know that good ol' Sasquatch, also known as Squatch, is drumming for the Presidents of the United States of America, and being a Sonics mascot while their still in Seattle.

Ben Stein and Intelligent Design

2007-11-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

Ben Stein, he of "Bueller" fame, is apparently heading up a film on ID. The film is entitled Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed and focuses on ID, the "flaws" in evolutionary theory, and the controversy of how this aspect of science is taught in public schools. From the run-up I've heard about, this type of film is exactly what rational, pro-evolution thinkers need to come up with. Unfortunately, the first major volley in the evolution-ID wars to hit the big screen will come from the ID camp.

Ben Stein is a household name. Most people look at him as a very intelligent, reasonable person, and many will probably leave with the opinion of "If Ben Stein supports ID and thinks evolution is all wrong, and he's a smart guy, then he must be right, so I guess ID is correct." ID has the financial backing (from groups like the Discovery Institute) to put out big-budget movies, hire the notable names, and get people talking about the controversy. Stein was recently on "The O'Reilly Factor" where he and Billo were casually laughing and joking about those silly "Darwinists" and discussing how damaging the ideas of evolution are to society. It made me ill to watch.

The time has come to fight back, utilizing the same methods and funding that ID has. Some form of significant funding needs to help produce an entertaining, engaging, and educational film that illustrates the true nature of evolutionary theory. Science is getting it's collective ass kicked by IDers in the public realm because science feels that the facts simply speak for themselves. When presenting the case for evolution, most scientists feel they are getting their point across in a dynamic fashion. (Sorry guys, but we're not always the most effective at engaging the target audience.) Most refuse, or struggle mightily, to get funding and consult some media specialists to make a "trendy"film that entertains and teaches that evolution is a fact!!

In the 80s, science declared the creationism movement dead, after creation science was ruled to not be acceptable for the classroom by the supreme court. It came back as ID. Several years ago, ID was proclaimed to be irrelevant and essentially dead by many scientists. Two months later, it was on the cover of Time magazine. After the recent Kitzmiller v. Dover court case, science had a tremendous legal victory over ID, and many considered this case closed. Now, Expelled and Ben Stein prepare to bring ID to the mainstream audience on the big screen. What will evolution science do to respond? How will we put the final nail in the ID coffin?

Thanks to Dr. Randy Olson, make of Flock of Dodos, and Derek and Swoopy of Skepticality for some of the information used above.

Happy Halloween!

2007-11-01T19:17:00.000-07:00

Another October 31st has come and gone. So passes Halloween, Samhain, Celtic New Year, or whatever you celebrate. I'm very pleased with how my pumpkin turned out (it was a drowning victim, poor thing) and, as usual, the only ghosts and supernatural events were either kids on the street or on TV.

CSI:New York themed the show around the house from the Amityville Horror story, and a zombie in the big city. I was pleased to discover that both mysteries were solved on the show to be natural in cause, no spirits needed. At least the show got something right for once.

Looking forward to next year's pumpkin and costume planning already. Now if only I could get to Bob Novella's Haunted House/Maze in Connecticut.....

Haunt you next year!

Is It Real? Ghosts

2007-10-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

One of my new favorite shows on TV is National Geographic Channel's Is It Real? I have written on it before. The show picks a topic (UFOs, Bigfoot, Lake Monsters) and they analyze the evidence for and against the phenomena, and often ends with the show asking you to do the same and draw your conclusions. Sometimes they flat out state that the topic is bullshit.

The other day, the topic was ghosts. The program destroyed all the photographic evidence for ghosts. "Ghost orbs" are particles of dust, ghost mist is water vapor in your breath lit up in the flash, double exposures explain many mysterious images, and pareidolia the rest.

The most humorous moment occurred when the expert brought in to explore a haunted house discussed his warm-up methods in preparing to commune with the dead. The gentleman discussed his meditation to prepare to feel the vibrations of the ghosts, mentally preparing himself, and "I've got my coffee." Coffee? This is the great secret to sensing and communing with ghosts, coffee? After exploring the outer grounds of the house, he made sure to have a second cup of coffee before entering.

This is a new technique! Bad photos, electromagnetic frequencies (EMF), electronic voice phenomena (EVP), all this I'm unfortunately familiar with. But now I find out that I should see ghosts on a regular basis, since I do imbibe in the coffee often enough.

Coffee, the drug of choice for loons and believers.

The picture is apparently some spirit vapor (or ectoplasm) rising from the graves in Salem, Massachusetts. I've got a great photo just like this from Leavenworth, WA on a night that was below freezing. Funny, but I never even thought it was ectoplasm. Hmmm.

Ann Coulter Donny Deutsch Jews Perfected The Big Idea

2007-10-12T14:10:00.001-07:00

Ann Coulter: Anti-Semite

I would write more, but I feel her words speak for herself. Of particular note, she says that Jews need to be "perfected" into Christians, and when asked if that is what she really means, she confirms it. Listening to this is shocking. Dogmatic, to say the least.

The View on evolution and a flat Earth

2007-10-12T13:59:00.001-07:00

You're kidding me, right? You are one of the new hosts on a show watched by millions, many of whom blindly follow things you people say, and not only do you feel that evolution is wrong, but you're not sure if the Earth is flat or not?
Please, someone give this girl some brains! I understand that "The View" wanted to add another conservative Christian voice, but this will not help their cause. (Which is fine by me.) The Earth is round! Look at a picture from the space missions! And if your response to that is that we never went to the moon, my head might explode.

Tribute to Kent Hovind - What a fucktard

2007-10-12T13:57:00.001-07:00

Enjoy jail, "Dr. Dino." For your own case you better be right about heaven, cause your life term in jail is all you get otherwise.

For info on this morons ideas, read
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kent_hovind#Creationism

or

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Earth_creationism

Hangar 18 vs. Is It Real: UFOs

2007-10-04T13:59:00.001-07:00

Ahh, remember those days back when the History Channel showed history and it's programming had some basis in fact. Not so much anymore. I recently viewed a program entitled Hangar 18: The UFO Warehouse, based on personal accounts and observations from those stationed at or near Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, Ohio. This program ended with me feeling like I lied in a previous post. Bible Code II is no longer the most credulous show I have seen. It at least had a token skeptic or two. Not so for Hangar 18. Every person on the show bought into the UFO mythology completely. The evidence presented was entirely "eye-witness" accounts of things people saw, and these usually seem to be of the " I saw in a dark hangar a disk-shaped craft while passing by" sort. This program seems put together by true-believers in an attempt to legitimize themselves and to bring UFO-logy back to the forefront.

On a similar, but more rational, note: the National Geographic Channel aired Is It Real: UFOs a couple nights later. This program addressed the 4 types of close encounters.
1st - UFO Sightings
2nd - Generally crop circles
3rd - Alien meetings
4th - Alien Abduction/Probing
For each encounter, NatGeo (as they are selling themselves now) interviewed believers and summarized their evidence, then talked with skeptics/scientists who explained what phenomena was actually observed. Of particular interest was their diagnosis explaining alien abduction/probing in relation to sleep paralysis. This program I would highly recommend watching. The program explains things well, includes both sides of belief, and summarizes the evidence in the end while encouraging the viewed to draw their own conclusions. My opinion, 5 star viewing here.

W's Nightmare: Stem Cells or Fight Terror

2007-09-30T18:33:00.000-07:00

I new study has revealed that stem cells can be used to help in fighting against terrorists. The stem cells can be used to detect chemical threats (and hopefully the person who placed the chemical weapon). Now our dear esteemed president (excuse me while I gag) must deal with what must be his personal nightmare. Do I allow stem cell research, which destroys the "soul" of the baby that will never be anyway, and progress in fighting terror, or do I let the terrorists win by sticking to my stubborn, irrational Christian beliefs?

See more here: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/83602.php

Evolution shown false, peanut butter overthrows Darwin's/evolutionists work.

2007-09-23T20:28:00.001-07:00

There are so many things wrong with this video. I just hope it is some kind of a joke, because if it's not, those of us with a clue as to how evolution works are in for a long, prolonged, and painful fight to promote understanding of evolution.

Bible Code II, brought to you by the (Pseudo-)History Channel

2007-09-21T11:28:00.000-07:00

The History Channel. The name seems to imply that this network should deal in facts and historical analysis. After watching a program called Bible Code II: The Apocalypse and Beyond, I now understand this to be only partially true. It was the most credulous program I have seen in this topic.

I have read some on the Bible code in previous issues of skeptical magazines, so I was not expecting much from this program. However, the information about the show stated that it would have members form both sides of the issue, so I thought I might partake to hear the debate. I thought there would be some sort of back and forth debate, maybe give a fair shake to both sides. Those who feel that the Bible Code is false, and that similar methods can find messages in almost any piece of writing, were given about 4 minutes out of the hour long program. And even then, their points were immediately rebuffed by believers during separate interviews, and that was it.

Of particular interest to me were the comments made by Barry Ruffman, a true believer in the code who feels that it can be used to predict future events. His comments in regards to the origin of the code were laughable. Obviously, if there was a code, the bible would have to be written so that the code could be deciphered, so it couldn't just be stories, and the creator of the code and its message would have to have knowledge of the future events (such as 9/11, World War II, and the "missing" WMDs from Iraq). Ruffman suggests that this knowledge comes from one of three possible sources:

1. God, who has no bounds of time.

2. Some humans in the future who have found a way to transport messages back to the time the bible was written.

3. Aliens, who have "warped" the knowledge to the past. (Warped is Ruffman's term. I guess he thinks it lends scientific credibility.)

He also states that the code reveals the years of World War II. Losing credibility is the fact that he uses one sequence/matrix to find the beginning year, and has to use a different matrix to get the end. Don't you think that if the Bible code was really meant to reveal this information for future generations, it wouldn't take having to crack the code in two ways to get the two date?!

History Channel, please do something to maintain some credibility and stop airing fictional crap such as the Bible Code. Your name attached to this sort of thing lends authenticity to the BS, and gives the proponents of the bible code more ammunition to continue to pedal their nonsense.

Monkeys vs. Birds

2007-09-20T10:10:00.001-07:00

Perry DeAngelis would be rolling over in his grave at this. Of course, on Wednesday's The Tonight Show, Jay showed a clip of what happens later. The clip shows the monkey snacking on the bird. Faked, yes, but Perry would proclaim another victory for monkeys over birds.

Thank You Bill Maher

2007-09-19T22:55:00.001-07:00

Thank you, Bill, for your comments regarding 9/11 conspiracy nuts on your September 14th show. It seems Bill is often inundated with e-mails from these people who persist that 9/11 is a giant government set-up. They claim that the government enlisted people to crash the jets, used explosives to bring down the Twin Towers, and that the incident at the Pentagon was just a missile. So on the show just after the 6th anniversary of 9/11, Bill told the conspiracy people that the are full of crap, and should get some medication to deal with their psychosis.

Thanks, Bill. Thanks for making more of America aware of these fringe nutjobs, and for tearing into them at the same time.

Pseudoscience Rampant at the Puyallup Fair

2007-09-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

As the three week insanity that is the Puyallup Fair winds down to a close, I am again amazed at the the level of crap that it pedaled at such an event.

Yes, the fair is a great place to shop for "As Seen on TV" gadgets, saunas, specialized rain gutters, as well as useful items (mmmm....garlic!!!), but apparently they let anyone willing to pay the fee sell whatever nonsense they choose. Walking through the main plaza, I was repeatedly assaulted by chiropractors (some legit, some still convinced that AIDS isn't caused by HIV, but a bad back alignment), saw iridologists (for those unaware, these people believe that can find illness and deep mysteries of the body and "soul" by examining the coloration of the iris), quick-fix aromatherapy and homeopathy, and the dreaded Republicans. All right, so republicans aren't as involved in quackery as the rest (well, most anyway), but their straw poll with Sen. Brownback easily in the lead was scary.

There was even a sales pitch for hypnotherapy. My friends, wife, and I took in a well-done hypnosis show, with the guests on the stage acting crazy as shit. It was a very nice stage show, with good laughs and good jokes. The problem came at the end, when the blow-off featured the hypnotist pedaling his "weight-loss" and "better sleep" and "Financial success" through hypnosis DVDs and CDs. What a disappointing end to a nice act. Yes, there are marks in the audience that will fall for this, and I guess I shouldn't blame the guy for trying to make a buck, but it is a bit shameful.

So the fair ends on Sunday. If you live in the area, check it out and support the local farmers and producers. It is generally a good time (there are even some half-way decent acts at night, like Weird Al and Howie Mandel), just beware of the quacks looking to take your money. Give it the good people of Garlic Gourmay. (free plug, it's really good!)

Billy Meier - Idiot

2007-09-16T20:16:00.000-07:00

So I just finished listening to the Skeptic's Guide for this week, and am appalled by the news from the Billy Meier camp towards the rogues of the SGU, particularly Dr. Steven Novella.

Apparently, after thoroughly disproving many of Meier's claims in terms of UFOs (esp. the photos involving the UFO flying around using parabollic engines; AKA on a string and a pole.) the SGU received notice to openly debate a representative of Meier's camp on their radio show (acutally a podcast, but we'll move on), and failure to respond will be viewed as a retraction and apology. Libelous claims are alleged, so could follow if they fail to comply. (Note: not being a legal person, I can't tell you one libel from slander off hand, so feel free to tell me.)

So on that note, an open statement to Billy Meier and his followers.
All your claims are ridiculous, your "proof" has repeatedly been shown false, and you're all nuts.

Bring it on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Meier

An Introduction

2007-09-16T19:15:00.000-07:00

Hello Reader,

Welcome to the "Monkey of Moderate Intelligence" blog. This site will be feature news and commentary relating to science, pseudoscience, and skepticism. Common topics will include charlatans in medicine and quackery, evolution v. creationism/intelligent design, and religious dogma. While I have a fairly extensive science background, I do not consider myself an expert, so this blog will try to keep things in simpler terms for the reader, and somtimes just due to my limited background.

I hope you enjoy the reading. Look for posts on a semi-regular basis, but not daily! With that, I bid you farewell with a quote from a great science-fiction show, Futurama.

Farnsworth: "But, what about your super-intelligence?"
Gunther: "When I had that there was too much pressure to use it. All I want out of life is to be a monkey of moderate intelligence who wears a suit. That's why I've decided to transfer to business school!"
Farnsworth: "Noooooooooo!"

Perry Deangelis: 1963-2007 A Skeptical Rogue of some note.