CBEB’s

Charles Darwin’s birthday is just a few days away, and I’m going to celebrate it Church Burnin’ Ebola Boy-style. In addition to the Grand Opening of Blogging on PseudoScientific DoucheBags, I’ve got something special planned for CBEB’s.

See below for more details…
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If this was an Intelligent Design site, I could claim that the evil Darwinists were trying to silence me, but the sad truth is my hosting company did some routine maintenance that went into overtime. I’ll be working on things at bpsdb.org throughout the day, but I’ll have some stuff up here later in the evening.

In the meantime, head on over to Uncommon Descent and watch DaveScot make an ass out of himself more so than usual.

Last week’s prediction contest is officially over, and we don’t have a winner. Apparently our prediction skills aren’t nearly as awesome as Denyse O’Leary’s. No one thought of the obvious DI Fellow to issue the press release: Dr. Geoffrey Simmons. For that matter, picking the dark horse, Anika Smith, might have been an acceptable choice, too. Oh well… the money I saved buying one of you fuckers a T-shirt payed for bpsdb.org, anyway. Better luck next time.

I’ve set up a basic Wordpress blog with a few items for discussion. The general plan is to go live with the site Tuesday, February 12 (Darwin’s Birthday). Until then, there are some posts up for ideas/suggestions.

Unless you’re reading the front page, every other post and page on this site is generating a 404 error. For the past three days, CBEB’s has been the target of a rather feeble DDoS attack, but it looks as if the database for this blog has been screwed up.

Be patient… things will be back in order soon enough.

Below the fold are two excerpts from the 1930 newsreel, “The Singing Brakeman”. This is the only footage in existence of Jimmie Rodgers performing (I think there’s newsreel footage of him with Will Rogers), and I’m showcasing two of his greatest songs, “Waiting for a Train” and “T for Texas (Blue Yodel #1)”. Known as “The Father of Country Music”, Rodgers influenced countless artists, even outside the realm of country; Howlin’ Wolf’s distinctive howl was based on Rodger’s yodeling. After his death from tuberculosis in 1933, there was a boom in artists who weren’t necessarily Jimmie Rodgers Impersonators, but more like Jimmie Rodgers Tribute Bands. Among those who started out in this field were Hank Snow and Ernest Tubb. Rodgers’ widow would eventually present Jimmie’s famous guitar to Ernest Tubb, while Hank Snow named his son Jimmie Rodgers Snow in honor of his hero.

Although these clips portray Rodgers at his down home folksiest, his status as The Father of Country Music is a bit misleading. Not that it isn’t a fair assessment, but Rodgers was essentially a popular music artist whose music was marketed to rural whites. He recorded a little over 100 songs throughout his career, and there is a wide variety of styles on display in his catalog. Some of his recordings feature bizarre whistling, musical saws, obviously stoned-out-of-their-mind jazz musicians (check out “Desert Blues”) , and Lilian Armstrong and her husband, Louis Armstrong played on Rodger’s “Blue Yodel #9″. The label “country music” puts off a lot of people, but the music of Jimmie Rodgers truly transcends the clichés normally associated with the genre. Sure, he sang about momma, trains, jail and all that good stuff, but he did it with great style.
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After watching yesterday’s glorious Crash & Burn by Casey Luskin, I’m in the mood for something light. A wafer-thin mint, if you will. I realize that addressing anything posted at Reasonable Kansans is sort of like pulling the wings off of flies, but this burst of stupidity from “For the Kids” can’t go by unnoticed. Under the headline “Articles to Ponder“, FtK posted the following (I’ve quoted the post in its entirety):

Creation science and peer review

Are Creationists anti-science?

Creationism, Science and Peer Review

Do Creationists reject science?

Coming up with an original thought probably causes FtK’s ears and eyes to bleed, so it’s impossible to figure out what, exactly, she thinks there is to “ponder” about these links. The only thing those links make me ponder is how depressing it is to realize that it’s the 21st Century and there are still people who think creationism is the least bit scientific.

Creationists love to bring up the “Evolution is a religion” strawman, yet all the major Creation Science [sic] organizations exist solely to proselytize. Is Answers in Genesis seeking grants to conduct scientific research? No, they’re soliciting prayers and asking readers to “Support the Ministry“. Is the ICR producing any groundbreaking research? Sure they are; they’ve turned the world of botany on its ear with the stunning discovery that plants aren’t really alive.

And what about Creation Science [sic] and peer review? Answers in Genesis recently started their own “peer-reviewed” journal with laughable results. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what is passed off as “science” in the world of creationism:

Mutations in the ebg system are clearly not an example of evolution but mutation and natural selection allowing for adaptation to the environment.

Yes, and a BLT is clearly not an example of a sandwich; it’s nothing but bacon, lettuce and tomato stuck between two pieces of toasted bread.

Personally, I have a hard time accepting the concept of gravity because the thought of a battleship falling out of the sky and landing on my head scares the crap out of me. So if someone doesn’t want to accept the theory of evolution, that’s fine and dandy with me. But to think that creationism is somehow a viable alternative to modern biology requires a buttload of cognitive dissonance.

The really amazing thing is, that while vociferously denying evolution, many creationists simultaneously endorse some brand of hyper-evolution.

In other FtK news, I fucked up and invoked her name on the Casey Luskin thread at AtBC and like a bad penny, she showed up and proceeded to try to take a bullet for Casey. How did FtK defend Casey’s “honor”? By trying to create a diversion, of course. Rule #1 in the For the Kids Playbook: If they’re talking about Casey Luskin, mention Eugenie Scott. Rule #2 in the FtK Playbook: When people point out how stupid you sound, say something even stupider:

Hey, Dave, is your favorite bird the “red herring”. Just curious.

Heil Darwin!!!

Remember, this is a woman who operates a blog named “Reasonable Kansans”. A woman who tells people to “shut the fuck up”, “drop dead” and says this about Abbie at ERV:

You have got to be the most hateful, foul mouthed, frothing bitch in the biosphere.

Always keep this in mind when reading anything written by FtK: to her, the Golden Rule is “Do as I say, not as I do”.

Because Intelligent Design provides us with a never ending cycle of asshattery, because there are so many variants of woo available on the internet and because there are those of us who love vivisecting all forms of pseudoscience, it had to be done.

Inspired by Casey Luskin’s recent bout of Douchebaggitude, I created a little graphic “riffing on” - as Denyse O’Leary would say - BPR3’s “Blogging on Peer-Reviewed Research” icon. Here is the “Blogging on Pseudo-Scientific Douche-Bags” graphic, Mark II.

Note the URL: I registered bpsdb.org earlier today (don’t bother visiting the link - there’s nothing there at the moment). I might not do anything at all with the domain, but if others are interested in participating, it might be worth the effort. I’m not looking for writers or anything; if you’ve already got a blog and like to read and/or write about Pseudoscientific Douchebags, then bpsdb.org might possibly serve as a Clearinghouse for all sorts of anti-woo blogging.

This is just a germ of a thought at the moment; it was only 10 bucks to register the domain, so if nothing happens, it’s no major loss. But if any of you think this is something worth pursuing, let’s hear it.

UPDATE: I think at least one ScienceBlogger is on board with this, so the idea is becoming more appealing. As soon as bpsdb.org propagates, I’ll set up a basic Wordpress blog where interested parties can discuss all the pretty details. Plus, if a majority of people think my photoshopping skills suck, I’ll have a contest to produce a suitable BPSDB graphic.

It would be kickass to be able to get this thing off the ground by Darwin’s birthday.

In the meantime, if anyone wants to help spread the word, here’s the code for the current bpsdb.org graphics

Large Graphic (250×196 pixels)
<a href=”http://www.cbebs.org/”>
<img src=”http://media.cbebs.org/bpsdb_01.png” alt=”BPSDB” align=”left” height=”186″ width=”250″ />
</a>
Small Graphic (125 ×93 pixels)
<a href=”http://www.cbebs.org/”>
<img src=”http://media.cbebs.org/bpsdb_01s.png” alt=”BPSDB” align=”left” height=”93″ width=”125″ />
</a>

Also, feel free to host the image on your own site, if you wanna save me a little bandwidth.

I was going to post a couple of Devo videos and call it a day, but after being tagged as an Enemy of Intelligent Design, I figured it would be best if I remain vigilant.

Over at Bloggers for Peer-Reviewed Research Reporting, they’re discussing whether or not uberdouchebag Casey Luskin’s theft appropriation of the BPR3 graphic is acceptable. Survey says… hell no!

Desperate to make his bullshit seem legitimate, Discovery Institute shill and all-around assclown Casey Luskin simply did a right-click and “Save Image As” on the BPR3’s icon and used it to prop up his DI propaganda.

Casey Luskin - who recently sent out one of those cease-and-desist letters that are usually issued under the Church of Scientology’s letterhead - actually lifted a graphic from an another website. What a douchebag.

Perhaps the ignorant rubes at Uncommon Descent think Luskin is actually “Blogging on Peer-Reviewed Research”, but the rest of the world knows he stamped that graphic on yet another quote-mined Discovery Institute press release in the futile hope of lending authenticity to his douchebaggery.

If you think that Luskin will remove the graphic until he goes through the proper channels to get BPR3’s approval, think again. If he takes down the graphic at all, look for him to write a 500-word press release bitching about how he’s being persecuted by “Darwinists”. Through the lens of Luskin’s douche-colored glasses, there will need to be a sequel to Expelled focusing on his rough treatment at the hands of the evil materialists.

I swear, every day it’s something new with these nitwits. They complain about how they’re being shut out of academia, yet every single thing they do seems to be a calculated move to make themselves look like crackpots. How deluded does one have to be to still think that Intelligent Design is anything other than a perpetual motion machine that produces an endless supply of idiocy? Although that was a rhetorical question, here’s a rhetorical answer: Salvador Cordova.

p.s. - if anyone wants to use the “Blogging On Pseudoscientific Douchebags” graphic, here’s the code:

<a href=”http://www.cbebs.org/”>
<img src=”http://media.cbebs.org/bpsdb01.png” alt=”BPSDB” align=”left” height=”87″ width=”117″ />
</a>

Here are two videos from Devo’s 1974 short film In The Beginning Was The End: The Truth About De-Evolution. To give you an idea of how fucked up this music must have seemed at the time, 1974 was the year Terry Jacks’ “Seasons in the Sun” was a #1 hit. Filmed years before Devo released their debut album, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO!, this is a four man Devo line-up, featuring Mark Mothersbaugh (synth, vocals on “Jocko Homo”), Gerald V. Cassale (bass), Bob Mothersbaugh (guitar, vocals on “Secret Agent Man”) and Jim Mothersbaugh (drums). Drummers don’t get a lot of credit, but Jim Mothersbaugh’s drumming only underscores what a vital element his replacement, Alan Myers, was to Devo’s sound. In Jim’s defense, in these clips he is playing some extremely primitive electronic percussion - after he left Devo, he worked for Roland, developing MIDI technology.

First up is “Jocko Homo”. Below the fold is Devo’s cover of “Secret Agent Man”. Listen for the intro to “Smart Patrol” at the beginning of “Secret Agent Man”…

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