You simply have to check out this video. Stop what you’re doing right now and click play. If you’ve been following all the stuff about the Expelled film coming out, you’ll really appreciate how the video artist makes fun of the claim that scientists are “Expelling” religious people. Jeez, literally. A lot of scientists are religious, and have no truck with their brand of pseudoscience and pseudo-philosophy.

And I’m trying to see if I can get a higher quality audio clip of the song being used. Hilarious!

This is one of those occasions where I think “Great Darwin’s Galapagos” is warranted. Go ahead, try it on, and spread this thing around! No really, start clicking on those pretty buttons below the post. They’re not there for looks!
(Mind nod to Reed Cartwright at The Thumb)

Tuesday, the 11th of March, 2008, Professor Richard Dawkins came to Madison, Wisconsin. As I mentioned before, he was here for two talks, and I was going to try to get him on my show for an interview. It was a busy day for me in class, and in lab as well, plus my backpack was broken and I had to use two shoulder bags all day, but I carried around my books, notes, computer, and recording equipment for what was a jam-packed day.

First, there was the talk in the afternoon, of which I caught the latter half. It was a casual affair, a discussion between Dawkins and mostly students. If you want a more complete description of this event, visit Missives from the Frontal Lobe or The Uncredible Hallq. My reason for being there was to approach Dawkins after the discussion to ask him for an interview.

Read More…

The month of March began just like any other month. I submitted my latest progress report to my advisor, I flew back from Washington D.C., well, ok not every month starts with me flying back from Washington DC. Actually, this was the only month where this was true. Anyway, March began like any other month, but then something odd happened. Call it a feeling that something was not right about my website statistics. A post of mine, called Return of the Science Guy, written two years ago, suddenly had 100 hits and climbing. In terms of a whole month, that’s not too significant for your average recent post, but 100 hits already on the 4th of March, and an old post like that that never got too much attention? Had to be a referral. But from where?

At the same time, there was a similar rise in people linking over from one page, a forum called The Magic Cafe. It would seem that a magician took notice of my take-down of Mentalist Adrian Saint, a stage magician who claimed that he predicted the Super Bowl two years ago using statistics, when it was all just a trick stereo. Intrigued, I took a look at the forum page in question, titled, Why We Should Be Careful.

The forum topic was discussing whether or not they thought open magic forums were a good idea, given that people can look up how tricks are done. It started when one magician did a google search and my website popped up. They talked about code words to use to fool people who aren’t “in the know,” suggested that I’m a boring writer, or defended online magic forums. But then, someone named magicman02 swoops in to attack me personally. They claim they are a friend of Adrian Saint, and that they know something about me:

Hey guys, I know this performer who the article is about. He did a great job with the publicity of this event. This guy who wrote the article is an a**hole and stalked the poor guy. He told numerous times that he didn’t have any supernatural powers, but this guy keep stalking him over and over again. Some people are just a**holes

Hey readers, I know this commenter. The handle, magicman02, belongs to Amir Ghasri, Mentalist Adrian Saint himself. Oh no! He called me a stalker! It’s time for some Monday Madness. Read More…

Last week I posted my interview with Sheril Kirshenbaum, and we joked about what’s the coolest marine invertebrate - Cephalopods or Echinoderms? (Squids and such or Sea Cucumbers, Starfish, etc?) Well it turns out it’s the big Buzz in the Blogosphere at scienceblogs.com. (Mind nod to Sheril)

 

Invertebrate Wars

the buzz in the blogosphere

03.23.2008

Who knew spineless creatures could cause such a stir? On Thursday, the Intersection’s Sheril Kirshenbaum claimed that sea cucumbers “would eat squid for breakfast,” prompting a lively debate among sciblings over the “coolest” class of marine invertebrates. Read More…

On Thursday, PZ Myers was EXPELLED from Expelled - No Intelligence Allowed, a creationist documentary supposedly about expelling people from academia for their personal beliefs.An irony widely recognized in the blogging community as an Epic Fail, now the news media is picking up the story.

PZ Myers put up another post about the event, and there’s an article written about it in the New York Times.

Read No Admission for Evolutionary Biologist at Creationist Film. Here’s a couple choice bits: Read More…

What happens when someone who was interviewed for a creationist propaganda tries to see how he is portrayed in the film? He gets Expelled. I guess some weeks the Madness in this world takes a little while to come forth. But when it does, it really comes out. In a special Thursday edition of Monday Madness (on Friday), I give you Thursday Madness: No Intelligence Allowed. Read More…

Episode 78 of the Mindcast is up!

Download it here. Or subscribe to the Podcast (iTunes).

Update: 4-11-2008: Science Debate 2008 is hosting an edited copy of the interview, with just the stuff about the debate. You can download it here.

Show topics: Read More…

For those of you who may have visited my blog in the last two hours, or read my blog feed, a post went up that wasn’t supposed to. If you saw a glimpse, do wait for me to finish it up. If you didn’t see it, come back next week, this is gonna be good.

Dear readers, on this day, the 7th of March 2008, I, Karl J. Mogel have received my first crackpot email. Yes! In an email titled: Inoculated Mind vis a vis  True freedom of inquiry vs. the politically enforced reductionism of scientific materialism, I was treated to a series of links. Were they links to pure wisdom? Links to new items from my favorite Ebay sellers? Links to great deals on penis-enlargement pills? No, they weer links to pure, unalloyed, crackpottery. Let’s take a look, shall we? It’s time for some Monday Madness! Read More…

Richard Dawkins is coming to my humble city of Madison, Wisconsin! Sweet. I last met Dawkins in San Francisco one and a half years ago at the Palace of Fine Arts. It was there that I learned that if you don’t know what question to ask a big speaker, don’t wait to get in line - think of it in line! Doesn’t always pan out… but at least you get the chance.

Many people in Madison already know about the Tuesday night talk, but Dawkins is doing a little more than that while he’s here. Here are the events I’ve found relating to his visit: Read More…