Pharyngula

Pharyngula has moved to http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/

Sunday, July 31, 2005

Does this mean I'm famous now?

I just saw on Red State Rabble that I'm mentioned on something called "Blogwatch" in the upcoming issue of Newsweek. I guess someone was amused by my tussle with George Gilder and its recent sequel.


Trackback url: http://pharyngula.org/index/trackback/2657/N5O54vNE/

Comments:
#33309: — 07/31  at  08:46 PM
Congrats PZ! If they print the article in newsweek, I strongly recommend upgrading the software on this site because it will be visited by ALOT of people.

-----
"As with all of ID, the important thing is first to have the concept. Production can then follow as a matter of course.” -Dembski



#33314: — 07/31  at  10:50 PM
"Intelligent Design theory of human evolution??????"
Isn't that an oxymoron? (or some kind of moron, anyway...)



's avatar #33317: — 07/31  at  11:37 PM
Geral is right. Since Pharyngula is an effective instrument of scientific extension as well as an educational tool, may I suggest that the University of Minnesotta assume the provision of blogging infrastructure? I don't know about them, but my institution has a great variety of semi-official funds and budgets for these kind of things. Like people publishing books, giving lectures, going to congresses, etc.

Quod natura non sunt turpia



#33318: Federico Contreras — 08/01  at  12:23 AM
Congrats, finally liberals have one liberty tooth that does not require gunpowder...



#33320: — 08/01  at  01:14 AM
Wile the description was short, it seemed entirely positive. Unlike the Boston Globe article.



#33321: Linkmeister — 08/01  at  01:18 AM
Blogwatch is typically a one-inch-high squib at the bottom of one of the pages at the front of the book (I'm a subscriber). What's interesting here (besides the recognition of our host) is that it's strayed somewhat from the usual "all politics or interesting food" blogs it normally looks at.

That said, amp up the servers!



#33322: — 08/01  at  01:25 AM
Maybe this is the next best chance for a positive public voice. A voice for scientific virtue, a voice for atheistic reason, and a voice that will not back down from a fight. This is hands down, one of the best blogs on the web and it is no surprise that is has drawn the attention of the national media.

Sycophantic praise aside, it would be SWEET to see some big name ID yahoos dragged into some sort of gladitorial brain brawl as a result of this public acknowledgement. Of those who have followed this blog for the last six months, who wouldn't drop thirty bucks to see Micheal Behe cornered in the ring and metaphorically (or not) eviscerated for all to see.

Whoo, someone's got their first taste of bloodlust!



#33323: — 08/01  at  01:51 AM
Not that anyone lives or dies by what they blithely scan through in Newsweek, but this recent recognition most certainly marks a turning point for Pharyngula. Now all the planet shall recognize PZ Myers as the intelligent public voice of scientific virtue, atheistic reason, and one who will not back down from a serious nerd fight. Anyhoo, this is one of the best blogs on the web and it is no surprise that has drawn the attention of the national media.

Sycophantic praise aside, it would be SWEET to see some big name ID yahoos dragged into some sort of gladitorial brain brawl as a result of this public acknowledgement. Of those who have followed this blog for the last six months, who wouldn't drop thirty bucks to see Micheal Behe or William Dembski cornered in the ring and metaphorically (or not) eviscerated for all to see?

Whoo, someone's got a taste of bloodlust!



#33324: — 08/01  at  01:53 AM
Whoops! Sorry about the redundant post there folks.

Please ignore that first one if ya' don't mind.



's avatar #33325: Virge — 08/01  at  02:13 AM
Weren't you already famous when you got your own court jesters bards?



#33331: — 08/01  at  06:16 AM
I just came across a bunch of Gilder's essays, if people have any interest in reading his other stuff.



's avatar #33332: PZ Myers — 08/01  at  06:22 AM
Actually, I'll be surprised if I get much traffic from this. I think it's unusual for people reading print media to start typing urls from it into their browser.

The University of Minnesota does have institutional support for MovableType. I've just gone my own way.

And oh, yeah...all of my success I owe to my wandering minstrels, who sing of my site hither and yon. Although Ratty does need to get that site back together soon.

PZ Myers
Division of Science and Math
University of Minnesota, Morris



#33333: — 08/01  at  06:33 AM
Completely irrelvant to the debate about traffic, but rather relevant to the subject of Gilder, I found a rather interesting profile of him.

Would it suprise people to hear that he has written anti-femist and anti-Civil rights books? From the article:


But George Gilder has not always been a futurist. In fact, he worked for a long time to keep the world from moving forward at all. In the '70s he published a series of books attacking the feminist and civil rights movements. In a book called Sexual Suicide, Gilder argued that women's liberation would lead to the end of the human race. If women achieved economic equality, a "social breakdown" would result. "Women control not the economy of the marketplace but the economy of Eros," Gilder wrote. "A marginal bias in favor of men in the labor force will best promote economic and social order."

Even more extreme was a 1978 title called Visible Man (the opposite of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man). Here Gilder argued that racism does not exist; we live in a "post-racist" society where the black man's only obstacle is himself, his broken family, his undisciplined "ghetto reflexes." Gilder was an early enemy of welfare and argued in Visible Man that federal money only perpetuated a society in which black people were "all rocking away their lives as they await the green tide of government checks." To top it off, Gilder's main focus is a black man accused of raping a white lesbian, so George gets in some good hate speech on all fronts. At the lesbian bars the brave journalist Gilder looks at the monster women, "breasts untouchable, braless, an insult or incitement to all the neighborhood blacks." Later in the book Gilder talks about a guy called "Sambo," who "sells watermelons from the back of a truck."


It seems like Gilder is a total package.



's avatar #33334: moioci — 08/01  at  07:02 AM
I'd like to hear his daughters' take on that.



's avatar #33335: Raven — 08/01  at  07:12 AM
Would it suprise people to hear that he has written anti-femist and anti-Civil rights books?


Back when I worked at Microsoft (late 80s-early 90s), he had a coterie of very vocal fans based on that aspect of his, as much as on his tech writing.

Heh--I wonder what they now think of him, since the crash smile.



#33339: Will — 08/01  at  07:41 AM
Prime time for a practical joke! On the day the issue hits the stands, post a long, ranting satire piece about how you have embraced Creationism citing all of its compelling evidence. Most Newsweek readers would be sure to become regular readers after that, until they realize you're...um...sane.



#33366: — 08/01  at  11:00 AM
You are also mentioned on this creationist website (although not by name) for your Bisonalveus browni post.



#33368: Socar — 08/01  at  11:14 AM
Under ordinary circumstances, I'd play a giant practical joke on Mr. Gilder, myself. He could use a bit of public ridicule, I think. But outspoken racists, and their adherents, scare the pants off me. They tend to be given to irrational behaviour and emotional outbursts. Couple that with a distinct lack of humour, and you've got a recipe for disaster. Us rats, we're not into disaster.

(Oh, and PZ, I just took my site down yesterday! Give me some time, here--I'm on it. I've just got to take out the bits that would upset my mother. She's getting more Internet savvy these days, and, well, one doesn't want to upset one's mother.)



Trackback: Sensible people and their 15 minutes of fame Tracked on: I am ... unhindered by talent (216.35.197.11) at 2005 08 05 13:53:48
Every now and then the universe provides small signs that not all is lost and the looneys don’t completely run the show. The fact that March of the penguins is selling out in Madison (and that the Wisconsin State Journal had the sense to quote...



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