Recently in Steve Steve Category

On Feb 12, I had the opportunity to drop in on some friends in Lexington, Kentucky to help celebrate Darwin Day there. The occasion was the Darwin Day presentation by Dan Phelps (pictured here) entitled “The Anti-Museum: An Overview and Review of the Answers in Genesis Creation Museum”, and the following panel discussion. The presentation was a summation of Dan’s review of the Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky. This review has been published by NCSE, and may be read at the NCSE web site.

Today is Darwin Day. Get out and learn some biology!

If you have links to Darwin Day events or posts, send them in. There is also a Darwin Day carnival being run by ScientificBlogging.com.

By way of GrrlScientist, I notice that Fieldiana (the journal of the Field Museum is now freely available online. For us here at the Panda’s Thumb, it means that DD Davis’ classic study “The giant panda: a morphological study of evolutionary mechanisms” of 1964 can now be enjoyed by one and all. Over three hundred pages, detailing everything you’d want to know about giant panda morphology. Steve Steve urges you all to check it out!

Last January Prof. Steve Steve, Bora, and I met Congressman Brad Miller (D-NC) at the NC Science Blogging Conference. We took the opportunity to explain to him NCSE’s Project Steve and our Project Steve Steve.

Rep. Miller is the Chairman of the House Science and Technology subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation and promised us that he’d ask science skeptics that testify before him “How many are named Steve?”.

Today, he did it:

Do you all know any climate skeptics … named Steve?

During a hearing about the impact of global warming on the arctic he unexpectedly asked the panel if they knew any Steves that agreed with them. The global warming skeptics couldn’t name any off the top of their head, while the global warming researchers named two.

Miller also gave the Panda’s Thumb a plug for good measure.

The discussion about Steves begins a bit before one hour, fourteen minutes (1:14) in the RealPlayer clip of the hearings. It continues for a few minutes.

I’d love to see the clip on youtube if anyone can extract it. If not, a transcript would be nice. (A lot of people don’t like dealing with RealPlayer.)

I guess that Miller had a good time bringing up Project Steve because he directed his staff to email us about it.

Hopefully, more politicians will follow his example when dealing with “expert” testimony.

I recently had several photo shoots in Pennsylvania and Scandinavia.

evolgen: You Call This a Blog?

Aardvarchaeology: Prof Steve [Steve] Hits Scandinavia

Aardvarchaeology: Professor Steve Steve Studies Norwegian Archaeology

Aardvarchaeology: Stockholm Blogmeet 11 September

With great pleasure I hooked up via teh internet with those crazy cats at the AtBC (After the Bar Closes) disscussion forum last month, to visit the Darwin Exhibition at the Field Museum in Chicago! (I love people who diss creationism.)

Before I describe our adventure, I want to remind you that you can join my Facebook group, or friend me on MySpace. The Facebook group also serves as the fan group for PT. I also have a gallery of pictures from my adventures that you can look through. I working on collecting all my pictures there.

Also don’t forget to submit your best science blogging posts to the 2007 Science Blogging Anthology and join us at the 2008 Science Blogging Conference.

I recently had the opportunity to return down-under to visit with some esteemed colleagues at Evolution 2007.—I last visited the Evolution meeting in 2005 when it was held in Fairbanks, Alaska.—Prior to the start of this meeting, I blazed across the South Island, in a stylish “rental car”—more like a cardboard box with bicycle tires—with two old drinking companions from the University of Arizona. No sooner had I begun my adventure than I had a close encounter with a truck full of sheep driving down the wrong side of the road. It was a close shave. Now, it turns out those crazy Kiwis drive on the left. Don’t they know “left” and “sinister” are synonymous in certain languages?

I didn’t let their harebrained traffic laws hinder my opportunity to explore as much of the South Island as possible. During my travels, I had the opportunity to become the first panda (and the first J.D.-M.D.-Quintuple Ph.D.) to climb a glacier.

Despite an attempt on my life when one of my companions “fell” in an ice river, I reached the top unscathed. With the help of my guide, Rebecca, I left a University of Ediacara flag upon the Glacier to memorialize my illustrious achievement.

I recently finished up my trip with Bora to the Bay Area by attending Science Foo Camp at Google’s Headquarters, where I met several famous people.

Bora has many pictures of our last days in the Bay Area.

1. Last day in San Francisco

2. Science Foo Camp—Friday

3. Science Foo Camp— Saturday Morning

4. Science Foo Camp—Saturday Afternoon

I want to remind you that you can join my Facebook group, or friend me on MySpace. The Facebook group also serves as the fan group for PT. I also have a gallery of pictures from my adventures that you can look through. I working on collecting all my pictures there.

Also don’t forget to submit your best science blogging posts to the 2007 Science Blogging Anthology and join us at the 2008 Science Blogging Conference.

And yes that is me allowing Martha Stewart to examine my kimono.

I’ve been a busy little bear this summer, and no, I’m not talking about my duty to return Ailuropoda to its once great numbers. I’m referring to my travels around the globe these last few months. I’ve been to so many interesting places that you’d think that I can exist in multiple places at the same time. Call me the Quantum Panda ™ if you want to. My reports from Evolution 2007 will be up later in the week, but I can now give you some links to blog posts done by some of my companions.

But before I do, I want to remind you that you can join my Facebook group, or friend me on MySpace. The Facebook group also serves as the fan group for PT.

Now to the blog posts.

From Sandra Porter at Discovering Biology in a Digital World:

Professor Steve Steve caught experimenting with human subjects!—Don’t look at me like that. I have IRB approval from UE.

Professor Steve Steve bears all at Virginia Tech—Strike a pose. Vogue!

Meanwhile Bora of A Blog Around the Clock and I have been busy in SF:

Professor Steve Steve is helping me work—Is it working hard or hardly working?

Professor Steve Steve at PLoS—PLoS: Pandas Love Open Science

San Francisco—a running commentary—I saw a flock of seagulls in the bay.

San Francisco—a running commentary #2—And I ran so far away.

Professor Steve Steve meets Harry Potter—Not to spoil the ending, but I had no idea that it was all a dream, and Harry would wake up and find Ron in the shower.

Hi, Michelle!—I meet the most interesting people for lunch.

Framing San Francisco—Bamboo frames are my favorite.

A looong time ago, I mentioned that I spent St. Patrick’s Day weekend in Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, at a symposium I helped to plan (but neglected to blog! Oops). Along with other scientists, theologians, philosophers, and generally interested persons, we worked for a bit over a year to put this symposium together. Why?

The principal aim of the conference is to clarify the causes of the conflict between science educators and those who wish to have Intelligent Design taught in public schools. We do not claim to be neutral on this issue. We are convinced that ID is not good science and should not be presented as such. Our position is consonant with that of the National Center for Science Education and the Iowa Academy of Science. We believe that the polarization of opinion on this issue has created misunderstanding and confusion and that a clarification of terminology and concepts is essential for productive dialogue and decision making.

How did it turn out? I have the write-up over at Aetiology…

On June 17, I had the opportunity to return to Ken Ham’s House of (take your pick - Horrors, Thrills, Bible Stories) and really poke around the place. My friends Jason, Tara, and Wesley were there, along with some other great folk. I really learned a lot from the place, and I thought I would share some of my adventures with readers. Let’s take a look. (Warning - lots of images below the fold, may load slowly, especially for dial-up connections.)

I was back in Ohio last week to celebrate my grandparents’ 60^th wedding anniversary. While I was in the area, a number of the PT regulars also met up south of Cincinnati to take our own tour of Answers in Genesis’ Creation Museum. (Wesley has a picture of the group here; I’ll also try to scan in another “official” picture tomorrow).

My brain still hurts. My thoughts on everything over at Aetiology (with photos, of course).

After having dinner with Dr. Irene Pepperberg, Prof. Steve Steve was pandanapped by a man in a top hat. Perhaps one of those intelligent-design activists at Telic Thoughts, who recently accused the professor of being a panda puppet. They seem to be more familiar with him than they should be.

I know it would mean a lot to Prof. Steve Steve if you friended him on Myspace or joined his fan club on Facebook.

Three weeks ago I attended the the 2007 Drosophila Conference at the Philadelphia Marriott Hotel. RPM of evolgen was nice enough to allow me to stay in the hotel with him, sleeping on the floor and giving me the bed. RPM took losts of picture and has posted a four part series on his blog.

Steve Steve has the Smarch of his Life – Volume 1: Marriott Hotels Suck

Steve Steve has the Smarch of his Life – Volume 2: Visiting the Poster Session & Grabbing a Beer

Steve Steve has the Smarch of his Life – Volume 3: 12 Drosophila Genomes

Steve Steve has the Smarch of his Life – Volume 4: The Morning After

Hi all,

Last weekend I meet a few friends for lunch in Raleigh’s Cameron Village. We had a great time sitting out side drinking coffee and eating sandwiches. I really want to do it again, both in Raleigh and other great towns. On that note, I’ll be tagging along with Evolgen’s RPM to the Fly Conference in Philadelphia next week. If any of my fans will be at the conference or just in the area, go drop RPM a line and see if we can meet up for cheese steaks and bamboo beer.

Now for some pictures of the Raleigh meetup. [Note: You can find many of my pictures in my gallery, including ones from the Science Blogging Conference, where many people were begging me for photos.]

Nic George, a postdoc at NCSU, is agreeing here to be my vassal. I made him a offer he couldn’t refuse.

A Blog Around the Clock and The Intersection have recently posted some pictures that I took of Prof. Steve Steve: gallery.

Professor Steve Steve - new pictures

Prof. Steve-Steve Drinks Me Under the Table

In the next few days, I’ll post pictures from the Triangle meetup.

I’m just here reminding y’all that Prof. Steve Steve will have lunch at Cafe Cyclo in Raleigh, NC’s Cameron Village today (Saturday). Come by at 1 PM if you want to hang out with a septuple-PhD.

Directions

Greetings again!

I’ve just returned from the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS for you acronymophiles) in San Francisco. What a city! I mean, sure, I hang out here a lot with the NCSE folks, but I rarely have a chance to schmooze with other scientists of my caliber from out of town. I mean, not that anyone I met has quite my qualifications, but I had a lot of fun meeting people (including the hottie in the picture) and, of course, hearing more about evolutionary biology in the meantime. Read all about it over at Aetiology.

Prof. Steve Steve and his trusty sidekick Nick Matzke plan to be at the NCSE booth at the AAAS Annual Meeting at the Hilton in downtown San Francisco from 10-5, Saturday, February 17. I know many PT people and ScienceBloggers are at the meeting, so stop by and see us! (transport info)

Prof. Steve Steve, and perhaps Nick, will also be in attendance on Sunday and Monday. It looks like Saturday and Sunday have free Exhibit Hall admission on account of 2007 Family Science Days.

As with every AAAS meeting, the true goal is to get invited to the Science Journalists’ Party, which I hope is Saturday night. They always throw quite a bash, although it will be hard to trump the molten chocolate fountain from the DC meeting a few years back.

Reed and I went to a flock party that was held at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science last night. We had a great time and got to talk with Dr. Randy Olson, who is the filmmaker behind Flock of Dodos, a documentary about intelligent design’s culture war with evolution.

Reed has posted a more detailed report on his blog. I just want to mention the film’s two important points:

• that the intelligent design movement consists of nothing but lies invented for a public relations campaign and seeks nothing less than the overthrow of the cultural legacies of the enlightenment, and
• that scientists are utterly unable to communicate their profession to normal people, which only helps the crusade of anti-intellectualism.

Likewise, I want to suggest that y’all visit Reed’s blog and respond to his challenge about coming up with some sound bytes that frame the issue in our favor. Comments will be disabled here to encourage our readers to leave them at DRN. Don’t forget to try out the “quote comment” feature while you’re there.

Read the full report at De Rerum Natura.

Interesting choice of headline. Prof. Steve Steve is pleased:

Baby pandas! Baby pandas! Baby pandas! POSTED: 10:07 a.m. EST, January 3, 2007

BEIJING, China (AP) – A mini-baby boom last year has pushed up the number of pandas bred in captivity in China to 217, state media said Wednesday.

Some 34 pandas were born by artificial insemination in 2006 and 30 survived – both record numbers for the endangered species, Cao Qingyao, a spokesman for the State Forestry Administration, was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News Agency.

The previous record was the 21 baby pandas born in China’s zoos and breeding centers in 2005.

National Geographic a photo of them all lined up a few months back…

In the spirit of the season, Tom Lehrer, Weird Al Yankovic and overwhelming evidence, and as we can’t do flash animations with flatulence noises, once more the Panda’s Thumb Offensive Morris Dancing Troop and Precision Yodelling Team bring you …

The Twelve days of DISCO redux:

On the first day of DISCO the DI gave to me … No original peer-reviewed work.

On the second day of DISCO the DI gave to me … A Dover Pro-Science Victory, and no original peer-reviewed work.

On the third day of DISCO the DI gave to me … Judge Jones Bashing, A Dover Pro-Science Victory, and no original peer-reviewed work.

On the forth day of DISCO the DI gave to me … More Science-Free Books, Judge Jones Bashing, A Dover Pro-Science Victory, and no original peer-reviewed work.

On the fifth day of DISCO the DI gave to me … More Sternberg Spin! More Science-Free Books, Judge Jones Bashing, A Dover Pro-Science Victory, and no original peer-reviewed work

On the sixth day of DISCO the DI gave to me … Clogging Student Blog sites. More Sternberg Spin! More Science-Free Books, Judge Jones Bashing, A Dover Pro-Science Victory, and no original peer-reviewed work

On the seventh day of DISCO the DI gave to me … Clueless Dover Denial, Clogging Student Blog sites. More Sternberg Spin! More Science-Free Books, Judge Jones Bashing, A Dover Pro-Science Victory, and no original peer-reviewed work

On the eight day of DISCO the DI gave to me … No Biologic Institute Research, Clueless Dover Denial, Clogging Student Blog sites. More Sternberg Spin! More Science-Free Books, Judge Jones Bashing, A Dover Pro-Science Victory, and no original peer-reviewed work

On the ninth day of DISCO the DI gave to me … More Judge Jones Bashing, No Biologic Institute Research, Clueless Dover Denial, Clogging Student Blog sites. More Sternberg Spin! More Science-Free Books, Judge Jones Bashing, A Dover Pro-Science Victory, and no original peer-reviewed work

On the tenth day of DISCO the DI gave to me … Conspiracy Paranoia, More Judge Jones Bashing, No Biologic Institute Research, Clueless Dover Denial, Clogging Student Blog sites. More Sternberg Spin! More Science-Free Books, Judge Jones Bashing, A Dover Pro-Science Victory, and no original peer-reviewed work

On the eleventh day of DISCO the DI gave to me … A Cheesy Flash Animation, Conspiracy Paranoia, More Judge Jones Bashing, No Biologic Institute Research, Clueless Dover Denial, Clogging Student Blog sites. More Sternberg Spin! More Science-Free Books, Judge Jones Bashing, A Dover Pro-Science Victory, and no original peer-reviewed work

On the twelfth day of DISCO the DI gave to me … A Cobb county pro-science Victory, A Cheesy Flash Animation, Conspiracy Paranoia, More Judge Jones Bashing, No Biologic Institute Research, Clueless Dover Denial, Clogging Student Blog sites. More Sternberg Spin! More Science-Free Books, Judge Jones Bashing, A Dover Pro-Science Victory, and no original peer-reviewed work

Dear everybody,

I have braved the intellectual desert that is philosophy in order to bring enlightenment to these poor philosophers of science at the Philosophy of Science Association conference in Vancouver. I allowed the lovely Janet Stemwedel to host my report and the photos she took of me instructing various people in the real truth about science.

Here is me avoiding that Wilkins guy and having fun, before it went downhill, as these things do, but it has some famous philosophers (if that’s not a contradiction in terms) with me. And here is some more of me with other philosophers, who are only famous to other philosophers. That Wilkins guy keeps getting into the shot, though, so close one eye to avoid seeing him.

Okay, cubs, it’s time to play everyone’s favorite game, “Who Said Something Stupid?” Rules are simple: in your comment to this post, identify the dim bulb who uttered each of the following outrageous statements. Creativity in your guess will be rewarded, but points will be deducted for snorts and guffaws that lead to spewing coffee on your keyboard.

After finding the author of the quote, place your vote for the stupidest statement of the month. Winners will be decided by me at an arbitrary point in time, and will be notified telepathically. The prize for correctly identifying all of the authors will be a sincere pat on the back (i.e., with claws retracted) and a virtual pint of virtual Pilsener at the virtual Pub.

The prize for the author of the winningest statement will be the negative attention of a small number of people for a fairly short period of time. And the perpetual linking of his or her name with his or her stupid comment on web archives everywhere.

Ready? Let’s play!

Butterstick, my youngest, was talking the other day about this new website he found, Myspace. After checking out the site and seeing all the cool people I can be friends with, I decided to sign up.

So if you want to become my friend, an official Pandit, you can do so on Myspace.

Hi, everyone! This is Prof. Steve Steve blogging the Evolution 2006 meeting here on Long Island at SUNY-Stonybrook, home of Douglas Futuyma, Massimo Pigluicci, and other muckety-mucks of evolutionary biology like me. I am a special guest for the spiffy day-long symposium on the Kitzmiller v. Dover case that showed that the ID movement had no clothes, which of course I helped to win. Many of the experts and lawyers, as well as a plaintiff and reporter, are going to be speaking at the symposium.

My buddy Nick Matzke is also here, unfortunately that idiot forgot to bring a camera so this will be a picture-free blog by Prof. Steve Steve. If anyone else has a camera, don’t bother trying to find me at the meeting, because I am currently practicing my invisibility superpower and hanging out with the Invisible Pink Unicorn. Don’t believe me? Invisible Pink Unicorns and Invisible Prof. Steve Steves are not testable hypotheses, you say? Well, do you hold a B. Amboo Chair in Creatoinformatics at the University of Ediacara? Are you a J.D.-M.D.-quintuple Ph.D., seven-time Nobel nominee, often called the Izaak Walton of information theory and the Ulysses S. Grant of drinking contests? I didn’t think so. It takes special training, like mine, to understand IPU and IPU-like phenomena.

Dr. Reed and I are at the University of Washington, Seattle this week attending the Summer Institute in Statistical Genetics.

Anybody got suggestions for what we can do with our down time? We are staying on campus and don’t have a car.

This should have happened last week, but longtime PT contributor and author of the much-beloved “The Quixotic Message”, or “No Free Hunch”, and also the equally beloved Quixotic References, formerly known as theyeti, and catcher of broadheaded skinks and legless glass lizards, mild critic of hydrogen as an alternative fuel, HAS SUCCESSFULLY DEFENDED HIS PHD!!! (although he somehow lost his original post announcing this). He somehow managed to do this while writing all of these great PT posts, including classics like Phillip Johnson’s Bold Stand and Phillip Johnson’s Bold Stand, Redux.

More importantly, Steve can now finally achieve his true reason for getting a PhD, which was to join the list of Project Steve Steves.

I don’t actually know what Reuland’s PhD was about, something biomedical I think, but for now I think I will assume it had something to do with getting Sunbeams From Cucumbers.

I dined yesterday with folks in San Francisco. The FASEB coference is going on now there. Larry Moran and John Harshman are attending, so I decided to visit with them. Both Larry and John should be familiar to readers of the talk.origins newsgroup. Harshman and I met before, at the Evolution 2005 conference in Alaska. Nick Matzke and Wesley Elsberry from NCSE came along, too.

John picked the place, Zante’s Pizza on Mission. Why there? “You can get pizza anywhere, and you can get Indian food anywhere, but if you want Indian pizza, you have to come here,” he explained. We got a large non-veggie version, and the rest of the fellows said it was delicious. I’m somewhat upset at how few restaurants there are that provide for my particular dietary needs.

Over dinner, the conversation started with how to make the point that evolutionary biology is not incompatible with faith while not encouraging a double standard on who gets to express their support of evolutionary biology. Larry is concerned that atheists are being told to keep quiet, and even being the targets of criticism, while people of faith loudly proclaim their religiosity when talking on the topic. Then, we discussed the recent breaking news – Pianka under attack by Mims, lies being made about Brian Rehm in the Dover, PA case, and so forth. Oh, and Wesley insisted that we get a picture of the group. He’s funny that way. From left to right, there’s Nick Matzke, Wesley Elsberry, John Harshman, yours truly, and Larry Moran. That John Harshman, he’s such a card. Next time, I’ll give him rabbit ears in the picture and see how he likes it.

Editor’s note: Now that Judge Jones has issued his opinion in the landmark case Kitzmiller v. Dover, Professor Steve Steve feels that he is finally free to publicly discuss his role in the case. Prof. Steve Steve is the official mascot of the Panda’s Thumb blog. For the previous adventures of Prof. Steve Steve, see the this link. For the full story of Prof. Steve Steve’s expert witness experience, please click the link below.

Editor’s note #2: Alert reader David Fickett-Wilbar has noted that the name of Matthew Chapman’s great-great-great-great grandfather and Prof. Steve Steve’s true hero, pottery magnate and Lunar Society Member Josiah Wedgwood, was misspelled as “Josiah Wedgewood.” Prof. Steve Steve attributes this to some really good bamboo beer and the prominence of the Discovery Institute’s revealing Wedge Strategy during the court case. Prof. Steve Steve notes that at least he didn’t put Alfred Russel (one “L” please) Wallace’s photo on the cover of Darwin’s Autobiography. Prof. Steve Steve also notes that his copyeditor, Nick Matzke, has been sacked.

Courtroom sketch of Prof. Steve Steve by Mary Kay Fager, courtroom artist. She is available for:

• Conventions, Fairs, Shows, Board Meetings, Shopping Malls, and Parties
• Commission work in oils, pastels, water color and ink
• Personalized work in cards, stationary, pamphlets and program covers
• Courtroom sketching

Write to: Mary Kay Fager 645 St. John’s Drive Camp Hill, PA 17011 Or phone (717)737-8088

Dear all, I must apologise for the lateness of my report on the December visit to London and the Natural History Museum. Blame Nedin, I do. I am in the midst of a walkabout in the wilds of Australia, encountering a number of highly venomous creatures, but more on that in a later update.

Anyhow, In December I travelled to London with Nedin. I, of course travelled at the pointy end of the plane, as befits my role as roving ambassador and famous panda. As you can see from the photograph, they have nice seats up the front end, plenty of leg room, and lots of bamboo shoots specially ordered. So, after a relaxing, comfortable 20 hour journey, I arrived in London, where I spent a pleasant evening going through Nedin’s duty free scotch (which was only fair as Nedin had not arranged for bamboo shoots to be available). The next morning (Saturday) we headed off to central London. Me, bright and eager, Nedin with a near visible burden of jet lag. Being a panda, I am of course, immune to jet lag. The list of attendees (as best as Nedin can remember) was: David Clark Tom Morris Jeremy Bone Bob Ding Steve (another one)