Read all about it at Evolving Thoughts, blog of eccentric Australian philosophy mogul John Wilkins!
Previous Carnivals of Evolution:
If you missed any of these you’ll definitely want to go check them out!
Ken Ham, president/CEO of Answers in Genesis (USA), which is headquartered in Kentucky has attacked an exhibit at the Kentucky Horse Park on horse evolution in a recent post to his blog “Around the World with Ken Ham” and it is yet another glittering example of creationist scholarship.
Reading it immediately brought to mind the words supposedly* whispered by Thomas Huxley as he rose to respond to Samuel Wilberforce in their exchange at the 1860 Oxford evolution debate:
“The Lord hath delivered him into mine hands”.
The reason this came to mind was that it is clear from his comments that he has not bothered to educate himself on the subject and is just mindlessly repeating tired, long refuted creationist clichés on the subject of horse evolution. In other words, he’s lobbing softballs at defenders of science like me.
Alright, without further ado let’s saddle up and ride forth into the mind of Ham:
Now I have no illusions about my blog being another Pharyngula or anything but with at least a couple hundred views a day, from around the world, you’d think I’d be getting few more comments.
Where are all the would-be “creation scientists” eager to show me the error of my ways? Here I am writing post after post spanking the heck out of their intellectual leaders and rather than reasoned defenses or even primal screams of rage I get:
Fine, let’s try Chuck & Beans advice:
inteligent design ain’t science!
Now I know this might seem like little more than a blatant cry for attention (which of course it is) but I am honestly curious about the seeming lack of comments around here. Is there a ‘visits per day’ threshold that one has to cross in order to overcome some sort of comment inertia? Has there been any research on this?
Oh, and hat tip to Scott Weitzenhoffer for the cartoon.
And it’s just lousy with bugs! This month the Carnival of Evolution hive is infesting Splendour Awaits, weblog of photographer and amateur insect enthusiast Adrian Thysse.
Creep or crawl your way over there and check out all the invertebrate wonderfulnessness!
Note: The Carnival is trying something a bit new this go around by presenting the article summaries and links in Google Docs – Presentation (a slide show format). If you have any difficulties seeing the slide window, please try another browser (Google Chrome worked best for me).
Previous Carnivals of Evolution:
If you missed any of these you’ll definitely want to go check them out!
A few months back Frank Sherwin, “Senior Science Lecturer” at the Institute for Creation Research, launched an amusing attack on evolution that is nigh on word-salad; this time focusing on insects, and how they are supposedly problematic for evolutionary theory.
As usual it is stated with the confidence and the faux authority that is typical of “creation science” practitioners but when you actually look at it and try to make sense of what is being said it quickly becomes apparent that much of it is really unintelligible nonsense.
Ladies and Gentlemen… Mesdames et Messieurs… Damen und Herren… The Carnival of Evolution XLIV! This month the carnival is inhabiting The Atavism (great name) and is cleverly set up as a scientific symposium. See for yourself.
Previous Carnivals of Evolution:
If you missed any of these you’ll definitely want to go check them out!
Oh no, not again…
Yep, it’s time for the Carnival of Evolution (#42)!!! This month it is being held at The Ocelloid and in case you can’t tell there is a Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy theme. So grab your towel, pour yourself a Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster and head on over for the latest batch of evolutionary goodness.
It’s either that or Vogon poetry…
Previous Carnivals of Evolution:
Life! Don’t talk to me about life.
And it’s a doozy! I know I say something like that every month and I mean it, but this time it’s truer than ever. This months host is the estimable Larry Moran (Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto) on his excellent blog Sandwalk.
There are lots and lots of great links to evolution related articles for you to peruse (even if none of them are mine because my opus on creationists and arthropods keeps getting longer and longer).
As a bit of housekeeping I am going to list links to the past CoE below so I can clean up the blog a bit (all those green glowy spheres make me feel bad about not being more productive /honest self reflection).
If you missed any of these you’ll definitely want to go check them out!
This is the latest in the wonderful Inside Nature’s Giants television series (U.K.) and while it unfortunately (at least as far as I’m concerned) spends more time on environmental issues than anatomy, it is still definitely worth watching; so here you go, enjoy:
Premise Media, the production company that produced the creationist pseudo-documentary “Expelled“, has gone bankrupt and is putting the film up for auction. The opportunity having presented itself, the TalkOrigins Archive Foundation is making a run at acquiring it.
Getting the rights to the film and related production material (unedited interviews of scientists etc.) could be an invaluable source of ammunition in the defense of science education against the attacks of intelligent design creationists, so if you’re able please consider making a donation to the Foundation (if the bid is unsuccessful your money still goes to a worthy cause) .
Update: TalkOrigins lost the biding war. Oh well, it would have been interesting.
Playing Chess with Pigeons 