WHILE DARWIN CENTRAL has usually concerned itself with the bloviations of politicians who say silly and stupid things about science, we should stop and note that this is, in fact, very much a two-way street. You don’t have to look very hard to find scientists saying silly and stupid things about political matters — hell, you’ve got a 50-50 shot with any random Pharyngula post — but today we at least have something fresh.
Aug 18th, 2006 by Black Ops | 3 Comments »
Aug 7th, 2006 by Black Ops | 1 Comment »
WE TRUST THAT OUR READERS are familiar with the basic informal logical fallacies. Our occasional favorite is the argument ad verecundiam, or as it’s often translated, the appeal to authority. This is, of course, not an entirely correct rendering of the fallacy — a more correct label would be the appeal to inappropriate authority.
Aug 5th, 2006 by Black Ops | 2 Comments »
WELL, MAYBE WE could have known her better, if we’d really wanted to — we hear her book is a hoot. Nonetheless, goodbye, goodbye, goodbye, dear dreary lady. Parting is such a brief candle…
Connie Morris, 2003-2006
(Which is about three years too long, if you ask us)
Jun 14th, 2006 by Black Ops | Comments Off
IN CASE YOU THOUGHT we were being unusually cruel or unkind in our mocking of Coulter’s latest excreta, confirmation of our take comes from the inimitable Right Wing Professor, in his review of Godless:
One of the curious things about book reviewing is that it’s harder to review a bad book than a good one, and Ann Coulter’s Godless is a really bad book. It shows all the signs of having been hastily written, it’s poorly researched, tendentious, and full of falsehoods, half-truths and distortions.
And those are the parts he liked.
Jun 14th, 2006 by Black Ops | 11 Comments »
THE EVOLUTIONISTS’ PROOF is their capacity to concoct a story. They say the whale “evolved” when a bear fell into the ocean. The bat “evolved” when squirrels developed flaps that helped them leap longer distances and fall to the ground more slowly. This isn’t a joke.
– Godless, pp. 228-229
Oh, it’s a joke alright. Unfortunately, the joke’s on Ann.
Jun 13th, 2006 by Black Ops | 29 Comments »
THERE IS NO REASON TO EXPECT, for example, that the first place our eyes ever appeared was on the front of our faces. Why don’t we have ancestors with eyes on the bottom of their feet, on their arms, or on top of their heads? Eyes might be best positioned in the front of our heads, but eyes on the bottom of our feet are better than no eyes all, and so should have stuck around at least for a while in the fossil record. But they’re not there.
– Godless, p. 218
Jun 6th, 2006 by Black Ops | 2 Comments »
WELL, HERE IT IS, the sixth of June already, and that means a couple of things to us here at Darwin Central. We’re a few short weeks from the official beginning of summer. Some awful movie is opening today, taking full advantage of the 6/6/06 hype. Oh yeah, and an equally awful book is being released today. Awful for different reasons than the movie, to be sure, but awful nonetheless.
Jun 6th, 2006 by Black Ops | Comments Off
SO REPORTS OUR OWN eye in the sky, the inimitable Right Wing Professor, in his review of the review — a meta-review, if you will — of Ann Coulter’s latest core dump, “Godless”. To wit:
RWP weeps for the demise of Human Events, a once proud conservative magazine, which like so much of the right seems to have turned to anti-intellectualism and bomb throwing.
Indeed. And these are the folks who would have you believe that they’re the intellectual heirs of such giants as Oakeshott, Hayek, Friedman, Kirk. We think not. “Anti-intellectualism”, with a populist bent, covers it quite nicely. We are at least relieved that another giant, Ronald Wilson Reagan, is no longer around to see what’s become of his favorite magazine.
Jun 2nd, 2006 by Black Ops | 2 Comments »
“INDIAN COWBOY”, that is. If you’re not a blinkered leftist, it’s pretty easy to figure out that what at first blush might appear to be a contradiction really isnt. Anyway, the idea that someone who supports good science doesn’t have to also be a flaming leftist (we don’t like the term “liberal”, since they’re usually anything but), is likely enough to toss certain quarters into a bit of a tizzy.
May 17th, 2006 by Black Ops | Comments Off
EVERY YEAR, the vise squeezing those creationists who cling to the notion that the Creator is hiding somewhere in the holes of science, lurking in the dark, unexplored recesses where only the faithful may tread, gets just a little bit tighter. Another hole closes, another gap is filled, and the box they hold their deity in gets just a bit more restrictive.