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The queen of incompetent bigotry is “winning,” big time

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/25/the-queen-of-incompetent-bigotry-is-winning-big-time/

Published: March 25, 2026 14:52

Bari Weiss has made a lot of bad decisions since being put in charge of the news division at CBS. One of her most amusing was promoting Tony “Two-Cuts” Dokoupil to be the head newscaster for the evening news. It seems the primary motivation for promoting…

I must be doing something right

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/25/i-must-be-doing-something-right-2/

Published: March 25, 2026 11:00

Ed Brayton and I set up freethoughtblogs as a cooperative venture. Although we did try running ads to bring in some revenue, ads proved to be intrusive and obnoxious — blog ads tend to play all kinds of stupid games to get your attention — so we gave up on…

I’m still cranky about Project Hail Mary

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/24/im-still-cranky-about-project-hail-mary/

Published: March 24, 2026 23:40

I’m also triggered by the phrase “scientifically accurate.”

We need to topple a wanna-be king

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/24/we-need-to-topple-a-wanna-be-king/

Published: March 24, 2026 11:43

It’s happening again this weekend. NO KINGS. Protest on Saturday. I signed up to participate in the march in Morris at 1:00 Saturday afternoon. Then I saw there’s another march in Cyrus, less than 10 miles away, at 2:30, so I signed up for that one, too. I…

Hell is an American airport

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/23/hell-is-an-american-airport/

Published: March 23, 2026 18:24

Today is the day the Trump administration is sending ICE into our airports, to help reduce long lines. Does anyone actually believe that? Donald Trump and his border czar, Tom Homan, have followed through on promises from the president’s administration to…

Madman at the wheel

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/23/madman-at-the-wheel/

Published: March 23, 2026 14:37

On Friday, we got one confusing message from our president. “I don’t want to do a ceasefire. You know you don’t do a ceasefire when you’re literally obliterating the other side,” he told journalists at the White House. However, later on Friday night, he…

I don’t like this feeling of deja vu

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/23/i-dont-like-this-feeling-of-deja-vu/

Published: March 23, 2026 12:10

I’m a child of the 1950s, and I grew up with those stupid duck-and-cover drills and a general feeling of fear. The threat was that a foreign power might decide to shut down the US for their advantage, and the fear would escalate with the amount of…

The last Andy Weir movie I will ever waste money on

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/22/the-last-andy-weir-movie-i-will-ever-waste-money-on/

Published: March 22, 2026 15:18

The commenters here are persuasive. I dissed Andy Weir and his new movie, and I was told that it was entertaining and I should give it a chance. So I did. I went to the theater to see Project Hail Mary. I loathed it. Sorry. The premise is garbage. Weir…

How to respond to a death

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/21/how-to-respond-to-a-death/

Published: March 21, 2026 22:21

Robert Mueller has died. It’s not that I have strong feelings about this guy, but I was pleased to see that Donald Trump did have strong feelings. Remember this! When the old orange dotard finally dies, he has nicely set an example of the appropriate…

You tryin’ to tell me P is evidence of P?

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/21/you-tryin-to-tell-me-p-is-evidence-of-p/

Published: March 21, 2026 18:26

I am not impressed with Alex O’Connor or Joseph Schmid.

Noah, or Snow White?

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/20/noah-or-snow-white/

Published: March 20, 2026 17:56

I have a lot of different genetics texts, and I sometimes browse through them to get different perspectives, or in this case to get ideas for exam questions. I was skimming through Cummings’ Human Heredity: Principles and Issues when I ran into this…

Just don’t call it “war”

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/20/just-dont-call-it-war/

Published: March 20, 2026 15:10

Also, please don’t send my son there. The artist left out one important excuse: Don is a stupid dumb-dumb with anger and ego issues who threw the country into war for no good reason.

Fascinating things I learned today

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/20/fascinating-things-i-learned-today/

Published: March 20, 2026 13:00

We get helium as a byproduct of liquified natural gas processing. So it’s a nice side effect of our dependence on oil. I did not know that. Helium is heavily used by the semiconductor industry. Making all those fancy high end chips requires helium in the…

What’s with all the pedos nowadays?

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/20/whats-with-all-the-pedos-nowadays/

Published: March 20, 2026 12:06

They’ve been here all the time, but somehow were allowed to continue to assault children. I don’t get it. This ought to be one of the greatest taboos in our society. We regard abusers of children as the lowest of the low, when they are caught, but when…

Kudos to my 2026 Genetics students!

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/19/kudos-to-my-2026-genetics-students/

Published: March 19, 2026 19:20

They have just completed the first half-semester experiment, a complementation test with two loci in flies, and we sat down in lab and did an analysis of the data. Perfect execution! We got the expected result (the genes complemented each other) and all of…

Anyone remember the Metaverse?

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/19/anyone-remember-the-metaverse/

Published: March 19, 2026 14:38

No? The huge investment Facebook made in launching a virtual reality social media platform that Mark Zuckerberg predicted would take over the internet? It was so important that Zuck renamed his whole company to Meta! How could you forget? Well, now it’s…

I’m trying to keep it light here

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/19/im-trying-to-keep-it-light-here/

Published: March 19, 2026 12:16

The world, and especially the United States right now, sucks. So I have little rituals to keep me somewhat balanced by, for instance, reading a set of webcomics every morning. Of course, I still have to complain about them, but the intent is there. The Far…

Biologists aren’t funny

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/18/biologists-arent-funny/

Published: March 18, 2026 15:55

So you might as well stop trying. In a study, some critics found that biologists are duds at getting a laugh. Everyone knows that a good joke can liven up a talk. Sadly, however, good jokes are in short supply — at least according to a survey of more than…

Republican landlord abuses tenants and spiders

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/18/republican-landlord-abuses-tenants-and-spiders/

Published: March 18, 2026 13:08

This is somewhat old news: I’ve mentioned before this strange entitled woman who has been harassing tenants, specifically by throwing tarantulas at them, but now at last she has been found guilty in the courts of the crime. A jury on Friday found Marisa…

The Newt Solution

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/17/the-newt-solution/

Published: March 17, 2026 19:31

It never fails — a Republican leader always turns out to be an absolute idiot. Behold, Newt Gingrich’s plan for getting oil tankers past the Strait of Hormuz. Easy! Just nuke UAE and Oman put a chain of craters across them. Can you see any problems with…

This is new

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/17/this-is-new/

Published: March 17, 2026 14:58

I walked back into work this morning — the place is really dead today, I think a lot of students are struggling to get back to campus, and those who are here aren’t enthused about walking across snow-choked streets. Since I’d been absent for a few days…

The mad tyrant speaks

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/17/the-mad-tyrant-speaks/

Published: March 17, 2026 12:44

Well, we know that gas prices are rising, the Strait of Hormuz is closed, oil tankers are stacking up before the strait, bombs are falling on Tehran, Tel Aviv, and all kinds of nearby countries, and honestly, I don’t know what’s happening or what’s going…

Look at that goofy nerd with the beautiful girl

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/16/look-at-that-goofy-nerd-with-the-beautiful-girl/

Published: March 16, 2026 14:18

Today is our 46th wedding anniversary. I have no idea why she agreed to it in the first place. No celebration today. We’re both just going to work, she won’t get home until 11pm, we don’t even have dinner plans.

Let’s end Spring Break for good

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/16/lets-end-spring-break-for-good/

Published: March 16, 2026 12:34

This year’s Spring Break is over, and it was a mess, as usual. The students got a full week of vacation, while I got nothing, other than a pile of grading and the need to do their lab work for them (admittedly, a small trivial bit of their work, because…

How to kick a professor off campus

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/15/how-to-kick-a-professor-off-campus/

Published: March 15, 2026 17:34

I shouldn’t have to tell my students that I don’t regard their backpacks as urinals, but apparently some professors have issues. A Macalester College student has accused her chemistry professor of pissing (“urinating,” to use the legal term) on her…

Spring break surprise

https://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2026/03/14/spring-break-surprise/

Published: March 14, 2026 22:52

Spring break is almost over, and classes resume on Monday, maybe. So of course nature is getting its revenge. We’re under a blizzard watch from 7pm tonight until Monday at 4pm, as my students are trying to get back, but already I’m hearing from some that…