Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Schmitt did not make a fool of himself - he only made it apparent to other people. 192
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 23/09/2026Thanks 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. 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 23/09/2026We 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... 101
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 07/09/2026I have just learned that XO females have Turner syndrome, so Eve was most likely infertile. Where was Lilith at the time? 100
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026No idea what went wrong, but the head should read "... because life is an 'idea'?" 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 06/09/20262nd 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... 021
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026John 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... 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Article 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.orgIs evolution defied because life is an 100
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Splendid 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... 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 06/09/2026Latest 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.orgKen Ham's attack on the press 100
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 09/08/2026A fruitless gesture (and a fund-raising scheme), but: Done! 010
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 04/08/2026Signed, tho I am afraid it was a futile gesture. Thanks for the post! 100
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 04/08/2026Can 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.comOpinion | Can We Keep One Small Corner of America Technology-Free?Baseball isn’t supposed to be perfect. 010
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 02/08/2026The *first* thing to go is your memory. The second is, um, .... 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 02/08/2026Joe 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.orgAn unhappy birthday: Lamarck is misrepresented 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 29/07/2026A 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... 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 29/07/2026Gert 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... 010
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 15/07/2026Oy. 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.comTrump's Religious Liberty Commission and the dismantling of the Constitution - 3 Quarks Dailyby Paul Braterman 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/07/2026Panda'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... 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/07/2026CoppeDge. The text has been corrected but the url remains the same. 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 05/07/2026Latest 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. 130
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 05/07/2026This guy has a show? I thought he was suprisingly inarticulate. Or maybe I should say, "He was, like, surprisingly inarticulate." 020
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 01/07/2026Cuz it is a predator? But where is the link to the barrel-shaped eyes? 100
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 01/07/2026The 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.orgPhotography Contest XVII 001
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 13/04/2026I 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. 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 04/04/2026"... not believing in germs since he can’t see them." Can he see God then? 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 25/03/2026You mean like he acted aggressively against Putin? No. Trump never picks on someone his own size. 010
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 21/03/2026You misunderstood. Donkeys do not deserve to be compared to Trump's leadership. 001
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 21/03/2026Precisely 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. 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 21/03/2026Panda'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... 010
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 19/03/2026Forgive me, but this comment seems to me to be borderline anti-Semitic, or worse. 100
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 16/03/2026Today is National Panda Day! pandasthumb.org/archives/202... 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 12/02/2026My 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... 000
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 12/02/2026TYVM 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... 010
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 11/02/2026I 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 010
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/02/2026AIUI, 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? 100
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/02/2026Yes, 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. 110
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/02/2026I 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. 240
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/02/2026It 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. 1160
Matt Young @opticist.bsky.social · 08/02/2026Or 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. 2361