Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
No, this is not a frog:
The amazing video below shows what it is: an artwork envisioned and created by Johannes Stötter:
There are more examples of bodypainting on his site, but this is the coolest.
h/t: Gregory
There were lots of creationist and hyper-religious comments this week, and here are three that I didn’t allow through (note, though, that if you claim this is “censorship,” the commenters did get their say! I don’t, however, allow trolling.). If you haven’t done this already, I urge you to read my “Roolz” (left sidebar) about “censorship” and other website matters.
From reader “Stephen,” commenting on “Peter Hitchens replies to me; I answer him“:
Macro evolution is a fairy tale. Atheists are not very bright people.
This person probably has no idea what macroevolution is, much less that it’s been documented many times in the fossil record.
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From reader “D,” commenting on “Neil deGrasse Tyson loses it in a discussion about science“:
It’s a shame Mr Tyson is so influential. He ridicules those who recognize that the origin of life is still unknown to science and yet, he claims to be open minded.
He claims to be a scientist and yet, he teaches theory as fact and denies the existence of facts that have been scientifically proven. Even Darwin came understand the flaws in his theory.According My Tyson, Darwin was also stupid.
I know. This is just my stupid opinion.
I didn’t see the first episode of the new “Cosmos,” but I doubt that Tyson misused the scientific notion of “theory,” or claimed that Darwin was stupid. As for Darwin coming to understand the flaws in his theory, he was certainly aware of some of its problems (he never fully came to terms with genetics, whose basis was murky at the time), but he certainly didn’t see as flawed his major contentions of evolution, common ancestry, gradualism (as opposed to instantaneous transformation), lineage splitting, and natural selection.
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From reader “Ellie,” commenting on “Why was God a stay-at-home“:
God is very patient with us. If I were he I would just get mad and blow up the world. But he didn’t, and instead sent Jesus to die.
I love Jesus, and I am sooooo glad that he does love the world.
Three comments. First, God didn’t blow up the world but he did get mad and flooded the world, killing all but eight people. And what kind of God would show his mercy by sending his son to die? And if Jesus really loved the world, he wouldn’t require that people go to God only through belief in him, Jesus, and the rest could fry for eternity.
Just for fun, let me reproduce Sam Harris’s characterization from Christianity in his published exchange with Philip Ball:
“In its most generic and well-subscribed form, Christianity amounts to the following claims: Jesus Christ, a carpenter by trade, was born of a virgin, ritually murdered as a scapegoat for the collective sins of his species, and then resurrected from death after an interval of three days. He promptly ascended, bodily, to “heaven”—where, for two millennia, he has eavesdropped upon (and, on occasion, even answered) the simultaneous prayers of billions of beleaguered human beings. Not content to maintain this numinous arrangement indefinitely, this invisible carpenter will one day return to earth to judge humanity for its sexual indiscretions and sceptical doubts, at which time he will grant immortality to anyone who has had the good fortune to be convinced, on Mother’s knee, that this baffling litany of miracles is the most important series of truth-claims ever revealed about the cosmos. Every other member of our species, past and present, from Cleopatra to Einstein, no matter what his or her terrestrial accomplishments, will (probably) be consigned to a fiery hell for all eternity.”
When is this stuff going to end? I’m absolutely convinced that anti-gay bigotry is attributable almost entirely to religion, mainly because those who practice it often explicitly cite their “religious beliefs.” It’s one of those things, like opposition to stem-cell research, that there hardly seems to be a secular justification for.
So, here are two brief bits of bigotry called to my attention by reader Ginger K; both are reported by GayStarNews.
First, a preacher in New York City, of all places, has advocated the stoning of gays, and in no uncertain terms.
James David Manning, a pastor from New York City, is calling for Christians to stone gays.
Manning’s ATLAH World Missionary Church has a new announcement:
‘Jesus would stone homos. Stoning is still the law.’
According to the site Joe My God Manning said in a YouTube video that Christians who do not attack gays are ‘advocating lawlessness. Stoning of the homos is now in order. Stoning is still the law.’
The video clip has been pulled down from YouTube because it violates the site’s hate speech codes.
The pastor, whose church is located in the Manhattan neighborhood Harlem, proudly preaches anti-gay bigotry. At the end of February he railed against ‘homo demons.’
To be fair, the preacher is only following God’s dictates in the Old Testament, in particular Leviticus 20:13:
If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them.
I wonder how literalists deal with that passage, as well as the many other odious orders of God outlined in Leviticus. And I wonder how William Lane Craig, who accepts “divine command theory,” would react.
Here’s the sign for the ATLAH church: it’s scary! And you can see the remnants of the original video (now taken down) on the church’s website:
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Meanwhile, in Indiana (what’s with that state?), owners Randy and Trish McGath of the 111 Cakery have refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple. But of course they harbor no hate—they’re just following God’s orders.
The couple, owners of 111 Cakery in Indianapolis, posted a lengthy Facebook message on Thursday (13 March) explaining they have ‘zero hate’ but that their Christian beliefs led them to decline to make a cake for Mike Stephens and Shane Laney.
. . . In their Facebook post, the couple stresses that as Christians they have ‘sincere love’ for people and a ‘commitment to treat every person that walks through the door with respect and kindness.’
The trouble was, they would not be able to ‘find the inspiration’ to make a cake for such an occasion.
‘It was not that we wanted to deny them a cake, it’s just tough to create something that goes against your beliefs,’ they wrote. ‘Was this the right thing to say? Maybe not. But this phone call caused us to do a lot of soul searching because we want to be right with our God as well as respect others.’
Well, maybe they should reexamine their beliefs! Is that unheard of, or do they have to slavishly follow what they see as the will of God? Here’s their Facebook post:
It’s pretty bad to hear these people try to rationalize their decision as having no hate content, and simply the result of a “lack of inspiration.” But one admission is telling: they see that there’s a big conflict between being “right with their God” and “respecting others.” Clearly, God doesn’t want them to respect others (see Leviticus above).
What’s almost as bad is what follows this comment:
I’m not sure whether this refusal to provide service is illegal, but—based on the proposed Arizona law that would have allowed such discrimination, but was deep-sixed on constitutional grounds—I suspect it is.
The bakery owners are, as reported in the article, getting a lot of pushback on Facebook (I haven’t read the comments), and Mike and Shane are having their cake made elsewhere. In the meantime, I suspect they’ll soon have more cause to reexamine their beliefs.
Reader George made a version of one of my staple “I-don’t-want-to-cook” dishes, the famous “Ceiling Cat Special” that I described in an earlier post. Here’s his photo and email:
I don’t cook, but I asked my wife to prepare your dish for me and it was delicious! I wasn’t brave enough, though, to add yogurt and went with sour cream instead. My wife also added cilantro, I had a lager instead of ale, and I asked her not to mix everything together–yes, memes do evolve.
Actually, CCS version 1.0 was made with sour cream, but I substituted yogurt to make it a bit healthier (yes, I do occasionally think about that!). I couldn’t use cilantro as I’m one of those folks to whom it tastes like soap, but, aside from that, George’s version is nicely plated and (sans the cilantro) probably better than mine.
It snowed here again last night! Just when you think spring has arrived, Ceiling Cat hits us with a reminder that He’s in charge. Fortunately, it was only a light dusting. In the meantime, we have Hili, who seems to be worried about Russia. . .
Hili: I’m looking anxiously to the East.
A: You are not alone.
In Polish:
Hili: Z niepokojem patrzę na wschód.
Ja: Nie ty jedna.
A week ago I wrote about the upcoming movie “Noah” with its all-star cast including Russell Crowe in the title role and also featuring Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins, Nick Nolte, and Emma Watson. It’s gonna be a stinker, folks—at least that’s Professor Ceiling Cat’s prediction. And it’s already been condemned by Christians for its (get this) historical innacuracy, and by Muslims for merely depicting Noah, a messenger of Allah.
Below is a clip of Bill Maher “discussing” the film, which of course turns into a diatribe against the Old Testament and Biblical morality. I think I see Andrew Sullivan sitting at the desk.
“Isn’t life hard enough without making shit up to fuck with yourself?”
If anybody sees this film, I will gladly publish their review (but check with me in advance). I’m not wasting any money on it.
h/t: Hempenstein
I usually put up one big post at the end of a trip, recounting my travels and showing the high spots, including noms. But I often intend to add further posts, but never get around to it because of the press of time. (I still have yet to post my photos from Auschwitz, and that was last fall). But here is the second—and penultimate—batch of pictures from my trip to Boston and Cambridge.
An afternoon’s trip to Concord and Lexington yielded a bunch of historical stuff. Here, for example, is Ralph Waldo Emerson’s home:
And the Alcott family home, which of course housed Louisa May Alcott (1832-1888), author of Little Women. I never read the book, but it seems that every other American has. Several women have told me that the scene in which Beth dies always brings them to tears.
Below is the “Old Manse” in Concord. It was built in 1770 by Reverend William Emerson, the father of author and Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson, and was later rented by Nathaniel Hawthorne. It’s only a few hundred yards from The Old North Bridge (see below), where the most important initial battle of the Revolutionary War took place in 1775—a battle witnessed by Rev. Emerson and his family.
Hawthorne and his wife lived there from 1840-1842, and Henry David Thoreau put in a vegetable garden for the couple. The house features in several of Hawthorne’s stories.
“The rude bridge that arched the flood”: the Old North Bridge in Concord, where the first important battle of the American Revolutionary War took place on April 19, 1775 (there was a skirmish earlier in the day in Lexington, but the bridge was where the first British troops were killed). This is of course a reconstruction, but the appearance is accurate and it’s at the exact location:
A monument erected in 1836 at the site, commemorating our brave resistance to “British aggression”:
The famous “Minuteman” statue, commemorating the American farmers who put aside their ploughs and took up their guns to repel the British:
An artsy shot of ice below the bridge:
Finally, a visit to Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, where many of the authors I mentioned above are buried, with their graves close together on a hill called “Author’s Ridge”
Henry David Thoreau; the family plot and Henry’s small tombstone:
Ralph Waldo Emerson:
Louisa May Alcott, also marked by a small stone in the Alcott family plot:
Nathaniel Hawthorne (left) and his wife Sophia:
After a literary and historical visit in snowbound Lexington and Concord, what better treat than ice cream? (In Boston it’s consumed year round, regardless of weather.) And what better place to get ice cream than Christina’s Homemade Ice Cream in Inman Square, Cambridge? I will defend to the death my opinion that this shop has the best ice cream in the U.S., as well as the best flavor: burnt sugar, which tastes exactly like its name. It’s a revelation.
Below I am pointing to my favorite flavor, which I had in a cup alongside a scoop of ginger-molasses ice cream, a flavor that would be the best in any other shop but took a back seat to the transcendental burnt sugar. For once I had a cup instead of a cone, for I heard the server tell someone else that you get more ice cream in a cup, and for the same price. I do love a good cake cone, but I love ice cream more.
Enlarge the photo see all the great flavors. I also love green tea, which you can get along with a scoop of azuki bean ice cream to make a Japanese melange:
Tomorrow: A visit to Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts.
Since these photos are by Stephen Barnard, “wildlife” usually means “birds”. Here we have, in order, a bald eagle, a marsh wren, and a song sparrow:
