…but my university actually supports me. There’s a profile of yours truly that’s part of a random rotating collection of links on UMM’s main page (if you don’t see it there, reload the page; it’ll appear eventually.)
I am aware that I am slightly harsher and more radical than many of my colleagues on some issues (others have their own domains of expertise and radicalism), but one of the great things about UMM is that even if they don’t explicitly endorse all of my opinions—and that acknowledgment on the main page is not an admission that this university is a hotbed of militant atheist evilutionists—they are appreciative of the diversity of ideas that make up a great university.
Hello, PZ! Nice digs!
By the way: What did you think of Mister Thirty-Five Percent’s declaring yet another war based on imaginary evidence — in this case, the totally non-existent threat of human-animal cloning?
Yupper: This year’s version of “aluminum tubes” is all about the dire threat that something Michael Crichton writes about might not be a total crock of shit. Geezo peezo, it used to be that Bush’s scary straw men were at least partially reality-based. Now he’s gone off to Mars (forgive me, Barsoom) for his source material. (He must fear human-Martian hybrids, I guess. Get thee behind me, Dejah Thoris!)
Too bad for Bush that most of us ain’t buying it any more.
Yeah, that was an irritating political move by Bush, equating embryonic stem cell research to the creation of human-animal hybrids. I guess he wants people to think everyone doing biology research is like the mad geneticist in South Park, up on a stormy hill using lightning to bring his 4-assed monkeys to life…
Paul Zachary (PZ) Myers is the eldest of six children and grew up in Kent, Wash., a city of about 85,000 people located 20 miles southwest of Seattle.
i always wondered what the “Z” in “PZ” stood for.
A few slips in that profile: “Myers received statewide media attention this fall after meeting a Minneapolis-based City Pages reporter at a meeting”
Myers went on to have supper at a supper.
More importantly: “…Pharyngula (pronounced far-ING-ula, which means, “relating to or located or produced in the region of the pharynx, or throat)…”
Pabulum. :)
Hey PZ,
Seattle, (remember that area of the world?) is also Café Scientifique location! We’d love it if ya wanted to visit the homeland and talk………
The article didn’t mention that you’re the faculty sponsor for the UMM IDEA Club!
Hey, what’s up with that?
Noooooo! The secret of the “Z” is revealed!
When I was growing up there, Kent was a small place — 15000 residents. It’s growed.
And yeah, I hope to get back to Seattle for a visit. Not sure if I’ll do it this summer, but maybe the next…
Where do they acknowledge that? Is it Top Secret, like the Wedge Document?
If you have a little free time for 19th century history, search on the phrase “godless Cornell”.
Better than Ezra? I think not.
I’m an atheist critic who finds your brand of atheism both strident and silly, a tilting at windmills.
OTOH, your writing is pungently witty and it’s a very good thing that your university supports you this way. I think you know that not all university administrators are capable of this sort of courage and wisdom.
Thanks PZ, will be looking at the Seattle Café Scientifique schedule for your name.
Sorry Enron Zey, I disagree.
All manner of stupidities must be challenged or the nutcases win by default….
‘I’m an atheist critic who finds your brand of atheism both strident and silly, a tilting at windmills.’
But he’s honest and his arguments are most often difficult to fault.
I’m an agnostic critic, and I’m not sure what I think of your brand of atheism.
Interesting. I didn’t realise there were enough agnostics around that one could make a living by criticising them.
I’m an atheist critic who thinks 90% of what PZ writes about religion is right on the money.
Why does your profile say your blog is in its second year, when it’s going to be three years old this summer?
“slips”
Oh, I know, I know: “Get involved connect with faculty.”
“tilting at windmills”
What GH said, in spades. And as long as there are people who acts like windmills…
Tilting at windmills?
No way!
PZ tilts at windbags.
Really? And you’re talking about Bush two, right?
Yes, it’s very nice that UMM are supportive of you, PZ. That’s in marked contrast to Lehigh’s disavowal of Behe and the reaction to the participation in the ID fiasco of Steve Fuller of Warwick University, UK.
It’s very noticeable that the ID creationists tend to be non-scientists (Fuller, Dembski et al) or not doing genuine scientific research (Behe) but instead concentrate on publishing books and raking in money. Such transparent priorities.
PZ tilts at windbags.
They Might Be Blimps?
From the bio:
He studies an animal model by exposing zebrafish to alcohol.
Wowwie wow! If I knew that science could be so much fun, I might have actually studied in school. As it is, I have no one to experiment on but myself. That, plus the random hobos I pull into my laboratory each night. But I hardly think of them as animals anymore.
It’s nice to see that one organization at least can write your name down without mispelling it. :)
You may want to ask them to fix that profile: in several places, the possessive form of your last name is spelled “Myers'”. Since you’re neither Jesus nor Moses, that should be “Myers’s”, like the rum.
How do you know I’m not Jesus?
Wow – Fuller has a degree of Master of Philosophy on the history and philosophy of science, and he is still a _Wally_: “what does and does not count as science is the result of a power struggle”.
He has somehow managed to gain no knowledge of how science is done – facts doesn’t count for him. At all: “evolutionary theory is being taught as dogma”.
What a tragic character.
So, when you return to your roots for a visit…look for the ‘Volcano Evacuation Route’ signs that have sprung up.
BTW Seattle is growing teh suck, what with all the zombies moving here to work for Microshaft/Boing/etc….almost makes one wish for another major economic downturn to get’em to leave.
The secret of the “Z” is revealed!
What’s really ironic is that “Zachary” is a form of a name that means “Yahweh remembers” (or possibly, “Remember Yahweh”). And “Paul” means “humble”, it says here.
http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=paul
http://www.behindthename.com/php/view.php?name=zechariah
Maybe “PZ” should be changed to “Polypod Zoologist”?