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Evolution, development, and random biological ejaculations from a godless liberal
Site URL: freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula
Feed URL: freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/feed
Posts: 30
Followers: 2
Mix Harvard and the NY Times to get perfect mush
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/05/03/mix-harvard-and-the-ny-times-to-get-perfect-mush/
Published: May 3, 2025 15:55
Harvard privilege + NY Times centrism gets this kind of crap published: I Teach Computer Science, and That Is All. It’s an op-ed by a clueless Harvard professor explaining that while it’s deplorable that Trump is dismantling the educational system in the…
1/3 done
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/05/02/1-3-done/
Published: May 3, 2025 01:24
It’s been a heavy grading day, but at least I can say I’ve got one of my three classes done, and it was the largest one. Can I get the other two done tomorrow? Before I go to the local humane society fundraiser in the evening? Yes, I will. It shall be…
I wish I could make stuff up and call it science
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/05/01/i-wish-i-could-make-stuff-up-and-call-it-science/
Published: May 1, 2025 16:22
I took a break and went looking for some light entertainment, which is reliably discovered in the fringes of arXiv. Here we go: Ground to Dust: Collisional Cascades and the Fate of Kardashev II Megaswarms. Extraterrestrial intelligences are speculated to…
Oh no, I’m an accountant!
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/05/01/oh-no-im-an-accountant/
Published: May 1, 2025 15:41
I got up this morning and started punching new numbers into a spreadsheet. I go to work and pull up a couple more spreadsheets and start collating columns. I’m going to meet with students this afternoon and get more data that I can enter into more tables…
Winding down
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/30/winding-down/
Published: April 30, 2025 18:46
Today was the very last day of lecture. It wasn’t even me lecturing — the students were doing presentations on ethics and and genetics. They were all very good! One of the virtues of working at a liberal arts university is that our students are good at…
I wish I could laugh anymore
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/29/i-wish-i-could-laugh-anymore/
Published: April 29, 2025 19:38
It’s from McSweeney’s. It’s a joke. Ha ha, it’s satire that exaggerates a potential problem, therefore it’s funny. Ha ha. Except…it includes a link to an article on the American Association of University Professors site. Similarly, the University of North…
Republican madness reigns
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/29/republican-madness-reigns/
Published: April 29, 2025 15:52
Republicans in Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District have a new party chair. It’s Bret Bussman! Here’s the part of his CV that he shares with the citizens. Terri and I live in Browerville and have since 2016. We have 3 grown sons. I am a 20-year Active…
How about that Canadian election, eh?
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/29/how-about-that-canadian-election-eh/
Published: April 29, 2025 12:41
The Liberals won, the Conservatives lost. I don’t think there’s any question that Canadians don’t want to become our 51st state.
How to write gooder
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/29/how-to-write-gooder/
Published: April 29, 2025 12:30
I can feel the end of the semester coming. It’s creeping this way, like the small spiders emerging in my garage, anticipating a fabulous summer and fall of freedom. It’s not quite here yet, though. This week it’s all about giving advice on final lab…
I might be slightly optimistic about possibilities in the future
Published: April 29, 2025 12:15
That’s about as enthusiastic as I can get right now, but we do have some Democrats who actually get it. JB Pritzker is setting the tone. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) on Sunday called for mass protests against the Trump administration and blasted…
So, you’re telling me I shouldn’t expect my tax refund check any time soon?
Published: April 28, 2025 16:01
The IRS does not cope well with chaos. At the Internal Revenue Service, the internet has become so patchy since President Donald Trump ordered remote workers back to overcrowded offices that staff are resorting to personal hotspots, crashing their…
Long-legged, pointy, & venomous…my kind of girl
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/28/long-legged-pointy-venomousmy-kind-of-girl/
Published: April 28, 2025 15:23
Science is being murdered in the USA, and we know who is doing it
Published: April 28, 2025 11:49
You should know that the National Institutes of Health was the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world. It was huge. It wasn’t just a gigantic research complex located in Bethesda, it administered the funding for most of the biological…
The fascists are already here, and they’re in control
Published: April 27, 2025 12:14
Mona Eltahawy has witnessed the dictatorship in Egypt, so she has some expertise in diagnosing what’s happening in the US. She says that the US has become a fascist state. She’s right. I moved to the United States from Egypt in 2000 and I have spent the…
America!!!
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/26/america-2/
Published: April 26, 2025 18:38
This house a few blocks away from my home is so perfectly emblematic of what MAGA has done to the United States of America: the flagpole with a Betsy Ross flag, faded and tattered and disintegrating, flying in front of a house with “JESUS” crudely painted…
I get email
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/26/i-get-email-103/
Published: April 26, 2025 12:59
I intensely dislike accusations of ad hominem from people who don’t understand what ad hominem is. Hello professor, I read your blogs from time to time getting different perspectives on important issues. The recent article about Krauss, there is allot of…
The most discouraging xkcd ever yet
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/26/the-most-discouraging-xkcd-ever-yet/
Published: April 26, 2025 12:20
I had to change the title because there is no reason to think we’ve reached the bottom yet. Commencement is coming up in a couple of weeks. I’ve been encouraging all these students to go into science careers, and now I feel like I’ve been throwing them…
“Anatomically fulsome”
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/25/anatomically-fulsome/
Published: April 25, 2025 12:24
A couple of medieval scholars are arguing over a dick pic. Apparently, the Bayeux tapestry depicts more than just a battle — it has numerous images of penises. The Oxford professor George Garnett drew worldwide interest six years ago when he announced he…
Visited by an alien
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/25/visited-by-an-alien/
Published: April 25, 2025 11:33
I got a new toy! It’s a $30 trail cam that will probably cost $300 once the tariffs take effect, but I got it because I was curious about what has been going on in my back yard. There is a burrow under my deck, and every year we’re surprised by who takes…
KRAUSS SMASHED
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/24/krauss-smashed/
Published: April 24, 2025 21:07
Recall that I sneered at this new book coming out, The War on Science, edited by Lawrence Krauss. It’s a strangely focused book, given that it’s quite clear that it is the Republicans who have accelerated their attacks on education and science, yet Krauss…
Social Media is trying to make me cry
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/24/social-media-is-trying-to-make-me-cry/
Published: April 24, 2025 14:42
I should just get off the internet altogether, maybe. Get a tarpaper shack with no electricity or running water somewhere. For those who don’t know, the NY Times Pitchbot posts humorous, sarcastic versions of the kind of centrist bullshit the NY Times is…
It’s a race to the end
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/24/its-a-race-to-the-end/
Published: April 24, 2025 14:24
There’s a week and a half until the end of the semester…will I make it? I’m giving myself a 50% chance of crawling across the finish line and then curling up into a soggy ball of tears, vs. a 50% chance of exploding before the end of the term and then…
What do you think I am, Vernonia amygdalina?
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/24/what-do-you-think-i-am-vernonia-amygdalina/
Published: April 24, 2025 11:47
I don’t think my flesh would be particularly bitter — maybe fatty and stringy, not particularly meaty in flavor or texture. This just-so story fails with the non-existence of the property it seeks to explain. Go eat a tasty teenager anyway. Although, if…
That isn’t ominous at all
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/24/that-isnt-ominous-at-all/
Published: April 24, 2025 11:31
The federal government (innocently, I’m sure) checking on college faculty to identify which ones are Jewish. Most professors at Barnard College received text messages on Monday notifying them that a federal agency was reviewing the college’s employment…
An ugly word: “warfighter”
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/23/an-ugly-word-warfighter/
Published: April 23, 2025 19:37
I’ve been hearing this word “warfighter” a lot lately, often coming out of the mouths of macho assholes like Pete Hegseth. It implies that the role of the military is simply fighting, fighting, fighting — and I’d rather see the military as a stabilizing…
Our government is occupied by pure evil
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/23/our-government-is-occupied-by-pure-evil/
Published: April 23, 2025 17:11
Law? We don’t need no stinkin’ law. We’re trying to banish children here. Kids are being hauled into court and told by a judge that they are trying to decide whether to kick them out of the country. “The reason we’re here is because the government of the…
This is a good time to say “NO!”
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/23/this-is-a-good-time-to-say-no/
Published: April 23, 2025 13:04
There’s a letter floating around among American universities. It’s a good letter that expresses some commendable statements, but is a bit light on specific actions they’re going to take. They “reject the coercive use of public research funding,” which is…
Another mammoth resurrected!
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/23/another-mammoth-resurrected/
Published: April 23, 2025 12:38
David Futrelle has brought back We Hunted the Mammoth! Go read it! The latest post is about JK Rowling and Graham Linehan. OK, maybe you should run away instead — nothing good can come of those two nitwits. There is a healthy dose of schadenfreude here,…
Now that’s a good science fair project
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/23/now-thats-a-good-science-fair-project/
Published: April 23, 2025 11:55
Good question. I’m impressed. It’s an original idea, executed simply, and that’s what I like to see in a science fair question. It’s simple but a little bit icky: he put lipstick on a cat’s butthole and had it sit down on various substrates and asked if it…
Earth Day (or is it Air Day?)
https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2025/04/22/earth-day-or-is-it-air-day/
Published: April 22, 2025 12:47
I get excited when I find a couple of delicate strands of silk*, but then Mary has to come along and gloat about all the birds she saw just yesterday: American Crow, American Goldfinch, American Robin, Black-capped Chickadee, Blue Jay, Brown-headed…