Category Archives: Uncategorized
The fallacy of the creationist distinction between micro- and macroevolution
I’ve belabored this issue before, but there’s always a new crop of readers who might need a lesson. I’m talking about a common creationist trope: the claim that microevolution can occur, usually defined as “evolution within a species” or “evolution within a kind” (whatever a “kind” is), but that macroevolution—seen as a transition from one “kind” to another—doesn’t occur. So antibiotic resistance in a bacterial species, or a change in coat color of a mouse, is fine, because that’s just “microevolutionary change”. Ditto with the evolution of different species of cats, which is simply microevolution within the “cat kind.” And ditto for the creation of different breeds of dogs by artificial selection: breeds so different that, if they were found as fossil skeletons, some would be seen not just as different species, but as different genera. Nevertheless, creationist see that as simply change within the canid “kind”, so that artificial…
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The Killings Times’ Quite Large 2017 Crime Drama Preview
Right, it’s back to business. We’ve had Sherlock to kick 2017 off in big, thrillery style and this week is jam-packed full of new crime dramas. But it’s not just this week that’s jam-packed with stuff, oh no. The whole bloody year looks as though it’ll be rammed with crime drama. So I’ve scoured the internet and asked some of my contacts for the lowdown on what we can expect. And what can we expect? Lots and lots and lots. You’ll find over 30 crime dramas over the jump, some with estimated transmission dates (don’t hold me to many of them, please) and the one thing you can say about 2017 is that there will be some HUGE – some of the genre’s real big hitters – making a return. Strap yourselves in because you may as well sack off family, friends any kind f social life you had planned.
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Fargo announces April transmission date; Channel 4 onboard for UK
As long-time readers of the site will know, Fargo is one of my favourite series. With Noah Hawley and a cast that includes Ewan McGregor (in two roles), David Thewlis, Carrie Coon and Mary Elizabeth Wanstead series three is really starting to gear up. It usually transmits around the end of the year, but this time around FX (the show’s US network) sprung a surprise yesterday – series three will air in the spring. This spring.
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COOTER ADDRESSES THE FAKE NEWS EPIDEMIC
By Cooter Jackson, editor in chief
MUD LAKE, NV—Greetings friends. Cooter here.
I’m here today to discuss with you a very serious topic, one which has far reaching consequences for the future of our democracy, and of our very fate as a species. The Lizard People? No. The Mole Men? No. The Xarthax confederation? No, not today. I’m talking about the scourge of fake news.
I know what you’re thinking: Cooter, say it ain’t so! Surely the world is a basically honest place. Surely all journalists and news organizations hold themselves to the same high standards as the Mud Lake Proboscis! Surely the fourth estate of this great nation feels the immense weight of this sacred responsibility upon its shoulders, surely all journalists hold The Truth to be sacred above all else, and give that truth to the people, even if it’s bitter, unpleasant, boring, or unflattering to sponsors.
I’m…
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Whoopsiedangleplop Highlights of Thur/Fri am 5-6th January 2017
0230hrs: Woke with Little Inchy bleeding merrily away. Decided to add the bloodied clothing to the laundry bag and go down to the laundry room, and get the washing done straight away.
During which I managed to knock my head on the top left-hand corner of the dryer, cut my finger of the cracked metal on the filter cage, trap my finger between the door and the sink cupboard and bang my elbow on the sink drain corner.
Noticed one of the chairs had gone missing in the foyer.
You can see the fading on the carpet where it once stood.
It reappeared later in the day?
The only highlight of the day was I got to visit Olive before I went out. She was not very well, and was now waiting further surgery. I love that woman.
Caught the bus to the clinic. Where the investigating medical team, as they got…
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Dear ‘sane’ members of the republican party,… yes… both of you…
Hey, we feel your pain, believe me. We realize that your party has been hijacked by idiots, mouth breathers, mutant pig-boys, the mentally ill and the terminally-short-on-morals racist riffraff that started gravitating towards you when Sarah Palin made her entrance… and the Tea Party started acting like their party was your party.
I mean, it must have felt like waking up in a lifeboat full of zombie pirates.
And your ‘leadership’ sure hasn’t helped you much. They sold out to Trump not too long after calling him some pretty horrendous names… which were all true, by the way… because, hey, expediency and holding onto power ‘trumps’ actually caring about this country for people like them.
But now is the time to stand up and make a difference. You know, deep in your heart, despite all the years of FOX ‘news’ brainwashing, that Hillary isn’t going to ruin this country. And…
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The Hilarious Story of the Palmarian Church
Origins:
“In March 1968, four Spanish schoolgirls (only known as Ana, Josefa, Rafaela and Ana María) stated they saw an apparition of the Virgin Mary by a little tree on a piece of farmland called La Alcaparrosa near Palmar de Troya. Many people came to witness the supposed apparitions, and a number of miracles similar to those alleged to have happened at Fátima, Garabandal and Međugorje were said to have occurred. The seers had many supporters, including priests. Several other people reported visions at the site, including Clemente Domínguez y Gómez, an insurance broker from Seville. He gradually became the “principal seer”
then
“In 1975, Domínguez formed a new religious order, the Order of Carmelites of the Holy Face, which claimed to be “faithful to the holy Pope Paul VI”. It claimed that Paul VI was detained in the Vatican by evil conspiring cardinals. The order was initially run by…
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Of religion and successful marketing: The doctrine of finding solutions to nonexistent problems
If you follow American politics, by now you’re privy to the case of the many bathroom bills introduced by religious conservatives in various states.
The recent, rather unsurprising revelation that all of the anti-trans propaganda is nothing but propaganda reminded me of the utter effectiveness of the Goebbels model. Particularly the fabrication of anxiety. Or as Doob put it in Goebbels’ Principles of Propaganda:
Propaganda to the home front must create an optimum anxiety level.
- Propaganda must reinforce anxiety concerning the consequences of defeat.
- Propaganda must diminish anxiety (other than that concerning the consequences of defeat) which is too high and cannot be reduced by people themselves.
Goebbels, of course, was not alone- nor was he the brilliant creator of modern marketing. Long before him monotheistic religions had already put those principles into practice with extraordinary success. The creation of anxiety has been the backbone of interpersonal manipulation forever.
We can…
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The Cretonia Times-Picayune 