Compliments to the Panda's Thumb

Posted 28 November 2005 by PZ Myers

The latest issue of Science (volume 310, number 5752) says some nice things about The Panda's Thumb in their Netwatch section:

WEB LOGS: THE DARWIN BRIGADE
Darwin's contemporaries Thomas Huxley and Joseph Hooker championed his theory in print and in lectures. If they were alive today and had a little attitude, they might craft something like The Panda's Thumb, a Web log in which a cadre of Darwin's modern-day defenders pummels antievolution pseudoscience such as "intelligent design" (ID). The site gets its name from a Stephen Jay Gould essay about the giant panda's adaptation for stripping bamboo leaves--it's a jury-rigged feature a clever designer wouldn't engineer. Panda's Thumb regulars--who range from Ph.D.s and grad students to a businessman and a lawyer--comb the news media for follies to expose and errors to correct. The site provided blanket coverage of the recent trial on the Dover, Pennsylvania, school board's decision to require teaching of ID (Science, 18 November, p. 1105). Panda's Thumb also highlights evolution-related research, such as a study showing that the antibiotics produced by our immune systems may not be a panacea for drug-resistant bacteria.

www.pandasthumb.org

26 Comments

k.e. · 29 November 2005

Alleluah to that PZ First A Reading from the Book of Armaments

The Book of Armaments, Chapter 4, Verses 16 to 20: The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch Then did he raise on high the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, saying, "Bless this, O Lord, that with it thou mayst blow thine enemies to tiny bits, in thy mercy." And the people did rejoice and did feast upon the lambs and toads and tree-sloths and fruit-bats and orangutans and breakfast cereals ... Now did the Lord say, "First thou pullest the Holy Pin. Then thou must count to three. Three shall be the number of the counting and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither shalt thou count two, excepting that thou then proceedeth to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the number of the counting, be reached, then lobbest thou the Holy Hand Grenade in the direction of thine foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it." -- Monty Python, "Monty Python and the Holy Grail"

I think a Hym is called for "All things Dull and Ugly" http://www.mp3.com/monty-pythons-flying-circus/artists/168882/songs.html And timeless tales for Children at Christmas "Old Turtle The Broken Trith" For Fundies "Lolita" By Nabokov

Nick (Matzke) · 29 November 2005

And there was much rejoicing.

k.e. · 29 November 2005

opps hahahahah
"Old Turtle The Broken Truth"

John Wilkins · 29 November 2005

No bloody mention of philosophers, no sir. It's discrimination, that's what it is. I'm going to get the Anti Philosophodefamation League onto this, right away.

Tara Smith · 29 November 2005

What, you're not counting yourself among the PhDs now? Need a special category? :)

k.e. · 29 November 2005

The Philosophers have all been an a Teddy Bears picnic enjoying the dying embers of Postmodernism-... Bastards

Renier · 29 November 2005

Why could Science Mag not have mentioned AnsweringGenesis or the DI? The evil atheists are at it again! Conspiracy! Fire! Rape! Murder! It just shows you how biased Science is to science...

Congrats to PT!!!

GT(N)T · 29 November 2005

In all seriousness. Thank you to all who make this site so valuable.

Renier · 29 November 2005

Yes, it is a really great site, and a lot of hard work has gone into it.

Corkscrew · 29 November 2005

How is one supposed to go about submitting a story to PZ? I thought this might be of interest.

Aureola Nominee, FCD · 29 November 2005

Corkscrew:

Gosh darn, El Reg attributed the "blind watchmaker" analogy to Paley!

I swear I laughed out loud when I read that...

Bob O'H · 29 November 2005

No bloody mention of philosophers, no sir. It's discrimination, that's what it is. I'm going to get the Anti Philosophodefamation League onto this, right away.
— Doctor of Philosophy John Wilkins

I'll pass over the obvious point that you're not called Bruce, and instead suggest that they mistook you for a lawyer. Both professions get paid to stand up asnd advocate whatever wierd idea it is they're working on at the moment, the only difference is that philisophers don't have the chutzpah to charge as much. Bob

Bayesian Bouffant, FCD · 29 November 2005

That's it, one paragraph of text? And the only names mentioned - Gould, Huxley and Hooker - are not even regular contributors, lately. Salvador Cordova got more text than that in Nature, and his picture too!

steve s · 29 November 2005

Corkscrew, that article is awesome. I swear, it would be nice to have such a snarky press here, instead of these dimwitted 'objective' equivocationists.

BWE · 29 November 2005

COngrats. Just remember that if there were no fundies we would have to look for another group that makes asses of themselves to poke fun at. The real science part of the website is great too. I suppose if the fundies were relegated to obscurity somewhere, we could spend more time actually discussing cool new discoveries in sciences like this one:
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20051126/fob1.asp
or this one:
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/nation/13248614.htm
or this one:
http://brainwashedgod.blogspot.com/2005/11/atheists-score-full-20-points-lower-in.html#links

Sorry about that last one. You can hate me if you want to.

Anton Mates · 29 November 2005

If Huxley had "a little attitude?"

Corkscrew · 29 November 2005

BWE's Third Link: In a research project funded by Christians for Truth, scientists at Bob Jones University have discovered a not so surprising trend in the general population: athiests are stupid.

How do you think they'd feel if we referred to them EVERY SINGLE TIME as "Christains"?

Corkscrew · 29 November 2005

Gah, didn't read the spoof article properly, sorry. Maybe I do have a low IQ. In my defence, I've been out in the freezing cold for the last 4.5 hours - I think it may have warped my brain.

Gary Hurd · 29 November 2005

Yeay for us!

(John, every 'family' has one secret- you are ours).

Michael Balter · 1 December 2005

As I was present at the Science staff meeting in Washington where we discussed NetWatch ideas and this one came up, I am glad to see it came to pass! I began visiting this site myself when an article I wrote became the subject of debate, but have been hooked ever since.

k.e. · 1 December 2005

Hi Michael Balter did you catch up on any of the stuff I suggested ?

Here's what I was talking about,....a review of Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS - It's not just about imperialism as many think, it is about the madness induced by modernism.
The book is Conrads revenge.
.....
Marlow goes on a journey to reach Kurtz, an agent whom Marlow expects by his reputation to be a "universal genius," an "emissary of pity, and science, and progress, and devil knows what else." As they near the inner station of the company, they are attacked, and Marlow's helmsman is killed. At the station they meet a Russian who idolizes Kurtz. Marlow finds a man who has made himself the natives' god and who has decorated the posts of his hut with human skulls.

speck · 1 December 2005

Congrats and many thanks to the people at "The Panda's Thumb". I work at an observatory in southern AZ and spend many nights lurking through the posts here.... And yes, I have seen aliens (the Border Patrol returns them safely to Mexico).

'Rev Dr' Lenny Flank · 1 December 2005

And yes, I have seen aliens (the Border Patrol returns them safely to Mexico).

Hey, I saw that movie. The little red flashy thingy was pretty cool. :>

Michael Balter · 1 December 2005

Hi Michael Balter did you catch up on any of the stuff I suggested ? Here's what I was talking about,....a review of Conrad's HEART OF DARKNESS - It's not just about imperialism as many think, it is about the madness induced by modernism.

k.e. I was reading away but put it aside to reread Heart of Darkness stop await further reading instructions stop.

k.e. · 1 December 2005

Michael Balter---
Sorry Michael... keep going all the best.
HoD is trumped by L. both are excellent of course.
I don't want to spoil it with a deconstuction right now.
It makes more sence just to read them.
If you like post your email address and I'll be happy to discuss it by email.

The HoD quote above caught my eye.... "Journey into the Heart of Darkness for there one will find solace [the explanation for the madness] that lead me to Nabokov's revenge :) even to the point of losing my engineering "helmsman" for a moment. My wive is an artist and we have had some Very interesting discussions lately.

There is a Gerhard Marcks statue "Der Rufer" that about sums up the distance the objectivists are from where I stand. Note how firmly his feet are on the ground :)

....

HotScience Editor · 13 March 2006

Congratulations for a job well done! Panda's Thumb has received Five Stars at the anti-pseudoscience site HotScience.org in its science blog roundup.

See http://www.hotscience.org/links.html.

Editor
HotScience