Tomorrow, I’ll be on radio station KPFK in Los Angeles around 10am, on The Michael Slate Show. We’re going to be talking about various things, but one thing in particular: we’ll be plugging The Magic of Reality. Slate had a very good one-on-one interview with Dawkins earlier this week, and I think we all agree — getting more copies of that book into people’s heads would be an excellent idea.
While I’m recommending books, I also just finished Sean Faircloth’s Attack of the Theocrats! How the Religious Right Harms Us All-—and What We Can Do About It. It’s about how the religious right is corrupting the United States, with a nice collection of concrete examples of the idiocy these bozos — who keep getting elected! — represent. If you’re reading this blog, you know what I’m talking about, and it’s a safe bet you’d appreciate this book.
So get readin’. You can listen to the radio while you’re working your way through the books.
If you have the opportunity, discuss how obnoxious it is that baseball has to throw that “god bless America” tripe at us each and every game. Echh. It’s the reason I will not buy a ticket to a game and why I turn down the volume on my radio or TV during the 7th inning stretch.
I just ordered “Attack of the Theocrats” – and got it in less than a minute on my Kindle – LOVE my Kindle! I’ll start reading tonight.
I definitely need to check out the Magic of Reality. Apparently I don’t read anywhere as fast as PZ.
I sort of accidentally bought a kindle book called “The Family” the other day after seeing reference to it in a comment somewhere here.
Does anybody have input on that book? Did I waste ten bucks?
THX
The Family is excellent. Perfect for Halloween. It’ll give you nightmares for years.
Excellent! I’m listening to the Dawkins interview now. Another book I’ll buy.
Sorry, PZ.
You won’t be broadcasting tomorrow in LA.
As you well know, and it’s deceitful to mislead people, the Rapture occurs today so tomorrow is officially called off!
Well, their big accomplishment was a murder. They (Bushco) killed the US economy for a decade or so. The Federal Reserve is projecting the recovery to take until 2018. This only matters if you buy goods and services with money.
One more Tea Party/GOP president and you can add another decade. 2028. That is so far out that it might well be never.
Whenever religious kooks are running around, the bodies real and figurative always start piling up.
Another murder by the theocrats. US xianity.
1. Polls show two of the most hated groups in the USA now are fundie xians and the Tea Party.
2. US xianity is dying. Between 1-2 million people leave the religion every year. That new Dark Age isn’t that appealing to a lot of people.
3. The theocrats created the New Atheists. Some people have working survival instincts. Not as many as you could imagine.
Occupy Church Street
Beware that KPFK is a hotbed of trutherism, woo, and ultraPETAism.
Dawkins was talking about his new book on a recent radio broadcast for the BBC, and one of his comments about convergent evolution of eyes got me wondering. Maybe somebody knowledgeable here can help me out.
He said that eyes have evolved independently several dozen times, but I seem to remember from reading Seam B. Carroll that widely differing animal groups use similar tool kit genes for eye development, strongly suggesting a common origin.
Firstly, did I get this detail wrong? If not, what is the current thinking – have all extant eyes evolved from a common ancestral proto-eye, or, for example, have they all evolved from some other common body part for some reason?
I’d really appreciate any insight anyone can offer on this topic.
Many thanks,
Tom
Eyes evolved several times. The biochemical pathways and photoreceptor cells seem to have evolved once.
scifi #6 – OMG I’m still here today. Was the Rapture at midnight, or don’t we know the exact time God will render us Christian-free?
I feel my teeth starting to gnash a bit I think.
The Magic of Reality is a great book. Already have bought 3 copies and given 2 of them away, one to a budding K-6 science teacher, she loves it, and the other to my own 7-year-old.
I’m working my way through it with my 7-year-opld, who is not as old as the target audience; but very clever and reads really well already. And we talk about it together so I’m sure he understands it and that’s great in an of itself.
… and I feel pretty good this morning; but I don’t thing it rises to the level of rapture …
Tomorrow? *checks post timestamp, checks system time, knows that it is Friday because tomorrow is the 22nd and that is Stenger which is on a Saturday, checks show page to see that it is on 10AM – 11AM on Fridays* Silly PZ, that’s today!
Is that 10am eastern? Or central? I’m listening now and my sanity is slowing being eroded by a pledge drive.
Errr… western… that’s where California is…
I just clicked over to Amazon to check out Attack of the Theocrats! and I got to say that is the worst cover I’ve seen in a loooong time. Why go to the trouble of writing a book and then put a cartoon on it that took five minutes to draw? It looks like Pravda on an off day.
I know, “judging books by covers” and all that but editors spend more time on covers than almost any other part of a book for a reason.
Please consider buying an extra copy to donate to your local library.
savoy47 #19 – Seriously, that is the most inspiring thing I’ve heard all day. I’m also kicking myself for not thinking of if before. Maybe not an extra book, but donating the book I’ve read. I could always check it out again if I wanted to.