Comments by Aquambulus hirsutus

1. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #214267 by Aquambulus hirsutus on July 20, 2008 at 4:47 am

Did anyone *actually* read Joe Morreale's recent voluminous submissions in their entirety?

I didn't, and the scrolling gets to the point of inducing RSI. I'd label his posts as spam, but not sure if that's the right thing to do as technically it isn't spam. What do others think? (Incidentally, Radesq, you nearly had me fooled.)

2. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #213401 by Aquambulus hirsutus on July 18, 2008 at 12:30 pm

I agree. But I can't find Dr. Naik's email, so I was hoping Joe would give it to me and I would set up the debate.

See http://www.irf.net/irf/drzakirnaik/index.htm

Looking forward to your debate.

3. Periodic Table of Videos

Comment #210981 by Aquambulus hirsutus on July 15, 2008 at 10:41 am

Comment #210929 by eddington on July 15, 2008 at 9:09 am
The reason why brainiac faked the caesium experiment is because when they tried it first time not a lot happened.

The cheating bastards... Thank you, Eddington.

Theodore Gray (what's not to like about the man?) also has more information:
http://theodoregray.com/PeriodicTable/AlkaliBangs/index.html

4. Periodic Table of Videos

Comment #210681 by Aquambulus hirsutus on July 15, 2008 at 1:19 am

Comment #210660 by gcoupe on July 15, 2008 at 12:26 am

@ Aquambulus Hirsutus

You're confusing three different videos here. The one that Ben Goldacre is talking about that was faked was done for a British TV programme: Brainiac. He also mentions the very real explosions captured in the video of Theodore Gray dropping a kilo of sodium into his lake.

Sorry if I didn't make myself clear. My post was in reply to Decius' youtube link - see post 210423 above. As far as I can tell that is the exact footage that Goldacre says was faked.

And yes, he also mentions Gray's wonderful sodium adventure, but provides an outdated link to it. I gave a working one as a service to other readers, not to suggest that it was faked.

The video that's on the Periodic Table of Videos site is yet a third video, and I have no reason to believe that any of that was faked, despite apparently having a real professor who looks as though he and his office have been sourced from central casting...

True, and again I didn't suggest that it wasn't genuine. But I share your doubts about that professor. Surely that's a wig?

5. Periodic Table of Videos

Comment #210466 by Aquambulus hirsutus on July 14, 2008 at 4:00 pm

As someone who knows sweet FA about chemistry, I vote for Helium:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/03/2006_darwin_award/

http://www.snopes.com/travel/airline/walters.asp

6. Periodic Table of Videos

Comment #210458 by Aquambulus hirsutus on July 14, 2008 at 3:32 pm

Comment #210456 by decius on July 14, 2008 at 3:24 pm

Interesting, although I don't understand the need to fake what would naturally occur. Were they possibly denied the purchase of materials?

Don't know, but sounds plausible.

I hope Phil Rimmer will provide footage of real Cs explosions once he gets his order delivered.

7. Periodic Table of Videos

Comment #210455 by Aquambulus hirsutus on July 14, 2008 at 3:18 pm

Comment #210423 by decius on July 14, 2008 at 2:02 pm

Well, this is an absolute classic. See the super-alkaline metals reacting with water.

Apparently that video was faked -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2006/jul/22/badscience.uknews

(The qurl.com link in the article doesn't work any longer - use this one instead: http://www.theodoregray.com/periodictable/stories/011.2/index.html)

8. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209275 by Aquambulus hirsutus on July 12, 2008 at 1:58 am

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[edit] Bloody hell, that took 3 attempts.

9. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208783 by Aquambulus hirsutus on July 11, 2008 at 8:47 am

Dear President Bruininks,

I apologise to you and your staff for yet another email in what must be a deluge. However, anyone who takes freedom of speech seriously has to speak out when a hate mail campaign aims for the dismissal of PZ Myers, the greatly respected, and deservedly popular, scientist and blogger. Catholics, like everybody else, do not have a right not to be offended. Indeed, as a biologist very much in the public eye, Prof. Myers arguably has not just a right, but a duty to ridicule the notion of 'transubstantiation'.

I sincerely hope that you will support Prof. Myers, whose efforts continue to delight and enlighten his world-wide audience.

Yours respectfully,

Jan-Kees van Zeeland
London, UK

10. Atheism on the buses

Comment #207161 by Aquambulus hirsutus on July 9, 2008 at 9:00 am

Dhamma, nobody's paid anything yet. See Jon Worth's comment above.

I suggest "You wait aeons for the one Holy Book, and then three come along within millennia"

11. Mormons urged to back ban on same-sex marriage

Comment #199618 by Aquambulus hirsutus on June 26, 2008 at 4:32 am

For all the tea drinkers here: http://www.gcrg.org/bqr/7-3/mormon-tea.htm

12. George W Bush meets Pope amid claims he might convert to Catholicism

Comment #193830 by Aquambulus hirsutus on June 16, 2008 at 5:33 am

When you write German (which I speak) please use e for your umlauted words. If you use umlauts, it comes out gibberish in my message. Thus, it becomes difficult to eavesdrop on your private conversation.

Just wondering whether HTML character entities will work:

ä ö ü ß

[edit] Looks like it (on my computer). So if typing ae, oe, ue or ss is too simple for you, you can use ä, ö, ü and ß. For upper case, use Ä, Ö and Ü.

13. Christopher Hitchens on Books & Ideas

Comment #123290 by Aquambulus hirsutus on February 6, 2008 at 9:21 pm

SmartLX,

http://richarddawkins.net/article,861,Wed-be-better-off-without-Religion,Richard-Dawkins-Christopher-Hitchens-AC-Grayling

14. Did mozzies, not a meteor, do for the dinosaurs?

Comment #108578 by Aquambulus hirsutus on January 7, 2008 at 9:21 am

Daily Mail alert!

Here's The Guardian's version: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/jan/07/dinosaurs

15. Happy Newton Day!

Comment #99809 by Aquambulus hirsutus on December 17, 2007 at 3:30 pm

krisking (99761),

Can you or anyone else explain to me how Daniel 12 predicts the internet?

No, of course not!! And why would it?

Thanks; glad to hear it doesn't. If you look at posts 99663 and 99674 again, I think you can see where I was coming from.

16. Happy Newton Day!

Comment #99755 by Aquambulus hirsutus on December 17, 2007 at 1:37 pm

Good for you, krisking.

Can you or anyone else explain to me how Daniel 12 predicts the internet? (Your post 99674 in reply to 99663.) I'm genuinely curious.

17. Highway to hysteria

Comment #94313 by Aquambulus hirsutus on December 5, 2007 at 9:04 am

bluebird,

I remember driving on Route 666 when it was still called that (and yes, it did make me smile). Unfortunately, the Coronado Trail wasn't on our itinerary - there's so much to see in that part of the world - but thanks, I'll keep it mind for next time.

18. Highway to hysteria

Comment #93992 by Aquambulus hirsutus on December 4, 2007 at 2:33 pm

Comment #93967 by monkey2

Get your kicks on Route 66

Or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Route_491

19. URGENT APPEAL: Please Help Protect Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #88891 by Aquambulus hirsutus on November 19, 2007 at 6:09 am

Even if we don't raise millions of dollars (and I'm not ruling out generous contributions from, say, Bill Gates or Charles Simonyi), the argument that half a body guard is more secure than no body guard at all should sound familiar :-)

20. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #88196 by Aquambulus hirsutus on November 15, 2007 at 7:18 am

No doubt the creationists would come up with inanities like "you don't prove a theory by calling it 'law'". But it's hardly the creationists that this is aimed at. Like the author, I can imagine that if 'laws of evolution' became common parlance, people who don't normally give it much thought, might mentally file it under Things That Sane People Do Not Doubt. It'd save RD and others from having to explain, each and every time, that evolution is true. Maybe biologists should vote on the subject, like astronomers did on the planethood of Pluto?

Off to print stickers saying "Laws CAN and DO get BROKEN".

21. I didn't know the FLEA CIRCUS was back in town!

Comment #85023 by Aquambulus hirsutus on November 4, 2007 at 2:30 pm

The Beattie-cover shows us some familiar faces, but also, intriguingly, between Dawkins and Dennett, our 'ancestor'.

The illustrator misheard 'Dawkins has a chip on his shoulder.'

22. Hirsi Ali Returns to the Netherlands after Losing Body Guards

Comment #76283 by Aquambulus hirsutus on October 5, 2007 at 10:40 am

Apologies to all those worrying about Dutch body guards' salaries (incidentally, (up to) 115 Euro/$160 an hour). I misread this article (in Dutch) - the $6 million includes other costs.

If anyone wants to budget for insulting muslims on their next trip to the Netherlands, let me know and I'll translate the article.

23. Hirsi Ali Returns to the Netherlands after Losing Body Guards

Comment #75764 by Aquambulus hirsutus on October 3, 2007 at 3:14 pm

Monera Man (75726)

It's rather costly - apparently, about $6 million a year in body guards' salaries alone. More information at http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/10/03/news/dutch.php

24. There Go The Dinosaurs

Comment #73758 by Aquambulus hirsutus on September 26, 2007 at 4:48 am

Mysturji (73749)

Just click the link at the top of the article (the 'Reposted from' one). It's worthwhile.

25. Airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god

Comment #70818 by Aquambulus hirsutus on September 17, 2007 at 2:26 am

At least all those 'give a goat for Christmas' schemes are paying off.

26. The Damned

Comment #37444 by Aquambulus hirsutus on May 4, 2007 at 1:16 pm

Chris Davis (37269),

You have a point, but I personally don't want a racist epithet for a handle, not even a sarcastic one. Maybe I'll put 'kaffir' up on eBay: 'username for richarddawkins.net, hardly used, powerful connotations'