Happy Birthday to Panda's Thumb!

Posted by Wesley R. Elsberry on March 23, 2005 05:53 AM

Today, March 23, 2005, marks the Panda’s Thumb weblog first year of service. Now we have nearly 900 posts, nearly 22,000 comments, and over 450,000 visits logged by Sitemeter. We’re around ranking #508 in the “Truth Laid Bear Ecosystem”. Site traffic runs about two-thirds that of the TalkOrigins Archive. Happy Birthday, Panda’s Thumb!

This past year, PT brought its readers the first public notice of the Stephen C. Meyer article in the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington. As a scoop, it was a doozy, leading notice in Nature, Science, and other venues. PT also led with a technical critique of a paper by Michael Behe and David Snoke on evolving complex adaptations. (Both of these are also linked in the “Must Read” sidebar on the right of the PT main page.) This sort of leadership did not go unmissed: Panda’s Thumb ran high in the vote tallies for the Koufax Awards in the “Best Group Blog” category.

We’ve had a lot of laughs at the expense of the Discovery Institute Media Complaints Division, but we’ve also kept in touch with the serious side of all this, which is the integrity of science education in our public schools. There is humor to be had while we take care of serious business, and we’ll be keeping this in mind in the coming year. I’m not sure what to say to the Panda’s Thumb Bar Crew besides, “Thanks, and another round, please.”

Trackback URL: http://www.pandasthumb.org/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/888

Comment #21565

Posted by Paul Flocken on March 23, 2005 06:06 AM (e) (s)

Happy Birthday PT.
Three Cheers.

Hip-Hip Hooray
Hip-Hip Hooray
Hip-Hip Hooray

May we be cheering you 150 years from now as we do Darwin’s great contribution that started it all.

Sincerely,
Paul

Comment #21567

Posted by rampancy on March 23, 2005 06:21 AM (e) (s)

Here’s to another year of fighting the good fight guys. PT ranks right up there with Slashdot and Engadget as the first sites I go to every morning.

Comment #21568

Posted by Wayne Francis on March 23, 2005 06:22 AM (e) (s)

happy birthday …. I was on here at 12:15am (bathroom wall) wishing you a happy birthday :)

Comment #21577

Posted by afarensis on March 23, 2005 07:36 AM (e) (s)

Happy Birthday!
Keep up the good work.

Comment #21579

Posted by Engineer-Poet on March 23, 2005 07:41 AM (e) (s)

Here’s to Panda’s Thumb:  may it remain a light of reason’s light in the darkness of supersition until light shines everywhere…

and may its battle be won and become of historical interest as soon as possible!

(I know, I know.  But we really do have better things to do, if the anti-science clowns would just grow brains.)

Comment #21580

Posted by timfc on March 23, 2005 07:41 AM (e) (s)

Kids…  It’s time to take your fight to the pages of the Washington Post.

Jay Matthew’s, the Education writer has an editorial today in which he basically says:  throw ID into the class with evolution and let the kids debate em.

write! write! write!

Comment #21589

Posted by the Ticktockman on March 23, 2005 08:43 AM (e) (s)

I’ve been lurking here for some time, but now seems an appropriate moment to thank the contributors for their efforts and the energy with which they pursue the goals of the site.  Cheers,

-TTm

Comment #21591

Posted by Ed Darrell on March 23, 2005 09:01 AM (e) (s)

Here’s to the folks at Panda’s Thumb!
They celebrate their inaugural year.
For their work, the world’s a little less dumb.
That’s a cause of good cheer!

Comment #21592

Posted by Maastrictian on March 23, 2005 09:13 AM (e) (s)

Congradulations!  Keep up the good work.

—Chris

Comment #21612

Posted by NelC on March 23, 2005 12:38 PM (e) (s)

Many, many happy returns!

I hope your birthday is troll-free….

Comment #21613

Posted by Greg on March 23, 2005 12:43 PM (e) (s)

Panda’s Thumb has become a mainstay of my day, often the only real intellectual stimulation I get, and the source of innumerable facts and ideas I use in frequent debates.  I’m glad there is an official opportunity like this to thank you and wish you continued success.

Comment #21616

Posted by 386sx on March 23, 2005 01:03 PM (e) (s)

Cheers!

Comment #21620

Posted by Chasmosaurine on March 23, 2005 01:39 PM (e) (s)

Congratulations! Kudos for enlightening the world, and staving of the forces of darkness. As a theistic evolutionist, I find myself having to constantly fight those who misuse the faith in order to spread their own tale of lies. This is a place I frequently turn to in order to keep myself informed about the war.

Comment #21621

Posted by Chasmosaurine on March 23, 2005 01:41 PM (e) (s)

Congratulations! Kudos for enlightening the world, and staving of the forces of darkness. As a theistic evolutionist, I find myself having to constantly fight those who misuse the faith in order to spread their own tale of lies. This is a place I frequently turn to in order to keep myself informed about the war.

Comment #21622

Posted by Joshua White on March 23, 2005 01:43 PM (e) (s)

Happy birthday and many more!

Comment #21635

Posted by Boyce Williams on March 23, 2005 03:17 PM (e) (s)

Congrats, PT is clearly an “intelligent design.”

Comment #21669

Posted by Frank J on March 23, 2005 06:08 PM (e) (s)

Wesley R. Elsberry wrote:

This past year, PT brought its readers the first public notice of the Stephen C. Meyer article in the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington.

Happy birthday PT! The years sure go by fast when one has lived more than half as long as Dr. Mayr. Speaking of whom, perhaps by the time PT turns 100 there may be another “peer reviewed” ID article.

Comment #21684

Posted by Henry J on March 23, 2005 09:09 PM (e) (s)

Re “Congrats, PT is clearly an “intelligent design.”

But was it front loaded?

Henry

Comment #21706

Posted by jonas on March 24, 2005 07:06 AM (e) (s)

And some more congrats! It’s really beneficial (and hopefully adaptive for some people) to have you on the web.

Comment #21718

Posted by Savagemutt on March 24, 2005 08:51 AM (e) (s)

Happy Birthday, PT!

Thanks for helping to educate a guy who didn’t pay enough attention in high school.

Comment #22648

Posted by William Dembski on March 30, 2005 06:57 PM (e) (s)

A big happy birthday from me too. I’ll be cooking up some chunky BBQ beef joints (perfect examples of intelligent design!) down at Brazos tonight in honour of my worthy PT adversaries!

Comment #22649

Posted by William Dembski on March 30, 2005 07:04 PM (e) (s)

A big happy birthday from me too. I’ll be cooking up some chunky BBQ beef joints (perfect examples of intelligent design!) down at Brazos tonight in honour of my worthy PT adversaries!

Trackback: A Weblog Birthday

Posted by The Austringer on March 23, 2005 02:18 PM

I write articles at the Panda's Thumb weblog (PT), and today marks its first year of operation. It has been well received this year. The main focus of PT is discussion of evolutionary biology and critiques of antievolution claims. There are some pla...