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Matt Young

@opticist.bsky.social
96 followers 38 following 292 posts

opticist, sometime photographer, evolutionist (yes, that is a word), author of books and articles, retired physics professor, atheist (or at least strong agnostic), contributor to The Panda's Thumb, victim advocate, nudnik

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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Schmitt did not make a fool of himself - he only made it apparent to other people.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Me too.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"Shame" is too kind.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Presumably that is the genitive of coatimundus?
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Thanks for reposting! Assuming that your question is serious, not that I know of. The Ark pays a safety fee, in case police or firefighters have to drive there, and the fee is expiring. Locating the fire station there may somehow be related. Dan would know.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
We just ran a piece by Dan Phelps, Williamstown secret deal may get a free fire station for the Ark suggesting that the proprietors of the Ark Park in Kentucky may have discovered a new mechanism (I almost wrote scheme) for extracting funds from the government. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
A photograph of Ken Ham of Ark Park fame and 2 of his colleagues meeting with the mayor of Williamstown.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Nice pun!
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Worse than that - they destroyed the city.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
I have just learned that XO females have Turner syndrome, so Eve was most likely infertile. Where was Lilith at the time?
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
No idea what went wrong, but the head should read "... because life is an 'idea'?"
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
2nd place in the Panda's Thumb Photography Contest, by Al Denelsbeck. I posted the winner on July 29. The artifact on the right picture, which is shown in more detail on the Thumb, may be due to aliasing. See "alt" for more. The insect is *not* a mantis. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
Side by side pictures of 2 green mantisflies exposed with different focal lengths. The eyes in the right photo display some kind of artifact, possibly due to aliasing. The artifact is not the result of interference.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
I forgot to credit that article to Dan Phelps.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
John Harshman's picture of a common potoo, third place in the Panda's Thumb Photography Contest. Look closely; it is a bird. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Article in Panda's Thumb by Joe Felsenstein, commenting on a weird claim by Eric Hedin, in which he "imagine[s] that" evolution cannot occur, so life must be an Idea in the mind of God. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org
Is evolution defied because life is an
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Splendid pictures of ichneumonid wasps by Malcolm Schongalla. Honorable Mention in Panda's Thumb Photography Contest. Wasps are on the same log, laying eggs on horntail larvae, which the wasp larvae will eat. Darwin found it disturbing. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Latest post on The Panda's Thumb. Includes data showing that Ham's Ark Park has never lived up to its, um, expectations. Instead of addressing the fact, Ham notes that Enquirer's circulation is down. His, by contrast, was never up. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org
Ken Ham's attack on the press
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 09/08/2026
A fruitless gesture (and a fund-raising scheme), but: Done!
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Signed, tho I am afraid it was a futile gesture. Thanks for the post!
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Can We Keep One Small Corner of America Technology-Free? www.nytimes.com/2026/08/02/o... Tl;dr. But I think the same of soccer. A bad call is no different from a bad bounce; they happen. OK, allow a couple of challenges a game or a half, but let the umps umpire and the officials officiate.
nytimes.com
Opinion | Can We Keep One Small Corner of America Technology-Free?
Baseball isn’t supposed to be perfect.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
The *first* thing to go is your memory. The second is, um, ....
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
Joe Felsenstein shows how Lamarck, the first evolutionary biologist, is misrepresented and misunderstood by creationists, in this post in The Panda's Thumb on Lamarck's 282nd birthday. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org
An unhappy birthday: Lamarck is misrepresented
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
A piece by Daniel Phelps cross-posted from the blog Righting America, with a commentary by William Trollinger - shows how Kentucky taxpayers were taken for a ride, and not in an ark. The ark in the photo seems to be in drydock. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
Noah's Ark, evidently in drydock. Photograph by Cimerondagert, Bow end of Ark Encounter. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ark_Encounter_005.jpg. CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Gert Korthof (biologist and proprietor of wasdarwinwrong.com) has won the XVI-th Panda's Thumb Photography Contest with this photo of a spider in its web, supplemented by 2 shots of a web illuminated by sunlight. The origin of the color is a mystery, at least to me. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
Spider in the center of its web. Close-ups of the strands taken at the right angle show colors in short bands.Sticky capture thread.Radius thread.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 15/07/2026
Oy. I suspect that Braterman is right that Vought and Miller are likely behind it all. They are in some ways scarier than Trump, in that they have a clear agenda and will not chicken out. 3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily...
3quarksdaily.com
Trump's Religious Liberty Commission and the dismantling of the Constitution - 3 Quarks Daily
by Paul Braterman
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
Panda's Thumb. Urophora cardui. A tomato I saw growing in a thistle (read the post!). And please do not forget the Panda's Thumb Photo Contest. Entries close next Monday at noon, MDT. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
No, of course it is not a tomato; it is a gall created when a thistle stem gall fly laid its egg(s). But to me it looked just like a green tomato growing out of a thistle plant.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/07/2026
CoppeDge. The text has been corrected but the url remains the same.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
Latest article on Panda's Thumb: "David Coppege makes it clear a refresher course is needed," by Joe Felsenstein. Coppege thinks he debunks natural selection. Yes, really. pandasthumb.org/archives/202... CC BY-SA 3.0.
Like Coppege's post, this one shows an image of a Tuatara. It is by Michael Hamilton and is from Wikimedia, under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 license. I [Joe Felsenstein] think that this one is better.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 05/07/2026
This guy has a show? I thought he was suprisingly inarticulate. Or maybe I should say, "He was, like, surprisingly inarticulate."
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
Cuz it is a predator? But where is the link to the barrel-shaped eyes?
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 01/07/2026
The XVII-th Panda's Thumb Photography Contest. We accept photographs related to nature, science, engineering, and so on, from the smallest to the largest. Before you enter (and I hope you will) pls click the link and read the rules. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
pandasthumb.org
Photography Contest XVII
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
I just sent the link (to the original article) to my LCSW daughter and assured her that before the day is out Prof. Coyne will be called transphobic for telling the truth.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 04/04/2026
"... not believing in germs since he can’t see them." Can he see God then?
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 25/03/2026
You mean like he acted aggressively against Putin? No. Trump never picks on someone his own size.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
You misunderstood. Donkeys do not deserve to be compared to Trump's leadership.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
What do you have against donkeys?
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Precisely why I do not subscribe or contribute to The Guardian. The real news here (at least as reported in Dr. Coyne's article) is that a bakery was vandalized and at least one anti-Semitic slogan was written on the walls, not that a chain bakery moved in near a cafe.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 21/03/2026
Panda's Thumb: Glenn Branch of NCSE reviewed "Evolution Is Wrong: A Radical Approach to the Origin & Transformation of Life," by Erich von Däniken, under the title, "He's Saying It Was Aliens ... But It Wasn't Aliens." Mr. Branch was not impressed. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
Book cover, Evolution Is Wrong: A Radical Approach to the Origin & Transformation of Life, by Erich von Däniken.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 19/03/2026
Forgive me, but this comment seems to me to be borderline anti-Semitic, or worse.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 16/03/2026
Today is National Panda Day! pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
Photograph of a plump-looking gaint panda munching a leaf of bamboo.  Photograph by Yann.fauche (Wikimedia). CC BY-SA 4.0.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 20/02/2026
He needs to read Euthyphro more carefully.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
My post linking to some Darwin Day, as well as Religion and Science Weekend, festivities includes a nice picture of Darwin at age 6. pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
Darwin at age 6, by Ellen Sharples. I think it is thought to be the oldest known, surviving picture of Darwin.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 12/02/2026
TYVM for the reminder! For links to some Darwin Day and Religion and Science Weekend festivities, and also a nice picture of Darwin, see my post here: pandasthumb.org/archives/202...
Chalk drawing of Darwin at age 6, by Ellen Sharples. I think it is considered to be the oldest known picture of Darwin at any age.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 11/02/2026
I can't resist either. From a NYT newsletter: "Propose single payer health care and call it 'Trumpcare.' The ID card is gold with his face and signature on it. He won’t be able to resist."— A comment by Kenneth from Alabama
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
They are *deadly* serious. They are not consistent.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
AIUI, which is only dimly, measles wipes out all your immunities, but only retrospectively. I presume that any immunity you acquired after getting measles is still active. Is that right?
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Yes, I was thinking of the 40's and 50's. We got vaccinated for smallpox, but the polio vaccine was not available till around 1955. Everyone I knew got all or most of the "childhood diseases." They are coming back thanks to RFK and others.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
I may misremember, but I have the impression that we all got chicken pox, measles, mumps, German measles, maybe whooping cough. Measles was very serious. My grandparents, with whom I lived, were terrified by polio, but not as many caught polio. Vaccination today is a victim of its own success.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Does he have an official taster?
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
It is certainly related, but it is not obvious that reporters have axes to grind, as do creationists. They seem rather to need a controversy because they have been taught, incorrectly, that there are 2 sides to every question. So after getting a story, they have to interview a liar for balance.
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Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
Or journalism school, which evidently teaches that there are 2 sides to every question, even when there are not. I liked it better when kids (supposedly) worked their way up from copy boy.
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