Comments by Geoff

1. Kids are awesome everywhere

Comment #390195 by Geoff on June 22, 2009 at 5:31 pm

Saeed bumps!

2. Correspondence regarding the Templeton Foundation

Comment #390167 by Geoff on June 22, 2009 at 3:36 pm

There's an article of hers on the Grauniad site dated yesterday...

3. The Joke's on Him: Bill Maher could use a lesson in civility from Michael Moore

Comment #265582 by Geoff on October 17, 2008 at 3:57 am

Someone should tell him that a string of weak ad hominems does not constitute a film review.

4. Coming soon: 'In God We Trust' tags

Comment #257221 by Geoff on September 30, 2008 at 8:02 am

I hope they'll paint out the letter 't' before the cars are consigned to the scrap heap...

5. 'God as Science Fiction'. Richard Dawkins at the Edinburgh Book Festival

Comment #257217 by Geoff on September 30, 2008 at 7:58 am

I thoroughly enjoyed that interview; refreshing to hear discussions about topics different from the usual ones we've been getting recently.

sbooder, I entirely agree with you; I've been having a similar discussion on the forum section where I've been arguing exactly that.

For a group to succeed, I feel, there has to a positive rather than a negative commonality.

6. An idea ready for takeoff

Comment #255838 by Geoff on September 28, 2008 at 11:19 am

We need to get as many Xtian organisations as possible to condemn or ban it. It would be good to get it banned in Turkey, too, if possible...

7. Saudi Arabia Bans Dog Walking in Capital

Comment #228397 by Geoff on August 12, 2008 at 2:35 am

the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice

...says it all, really.

8. Interview with Paula Kirby on 'The Right Hook'

Comment #227669 by Geoff on August 10, 2008 at 12:52 pm

I've been on the fora, rather than here, recently, but just popping in to add my congratulations to Paula for yet another job well done!

9. Richard Dawkins slaps creationists into the primordial soup

Comment #213929 by Geoff on July 19, 2008 at 8:34 am

28. Comment #213811 by Steve Zara

Hoho, masterly slap down there of Germaine "I'm an intellectual you know" Greer and British TV.

And a rather odd and inappropriate one. This is the same British TV that recently produced the wonderful "Live in Cold Blood" by David Attenborough, and which presents the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, and which had a recent documentary on the ideas of Stephen Hawking.

The entire intellectual output of British TV should not be judged by Celebrity Big Brother.

To be fair, Steve, Kate was only having a go at C4, and BB in particular, not British TV as a whole.

...especially when he shares a channel with Big Brother

I utterly despise Big Brother and I'm really sorry to be associated with it on Channel 4.

10. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208218 by Geoff on July 10, 2008 at 6:05 pm

Here's mine, hard copy to follow:

FAO: President Robert H. Bruininks

Dear Sir,

I am writing this note in support of PZ Myers, in particular regarding the hate campaign that Bill Donohue is trying to whip up against him.

You will by now, no doubt, be aware of the difference between the methods of the "tolerant, loving, forgiving" Christians (and their associated death threats), and the methods of the "godless, heathen, bound-for-hell" atheists, so I don't think I need to elaborate.

Although not a regular reader of his weblog, I fully support his campaign to expose the irrationality of many, if not all, religions. The reaction of the Catholics (and other Christian sects) to his "cracker" story simply reinforces his and my belief that their only remaining weapon these days is hate - which surely should sit uncomfortably with their alleged beliefs.

Bill Donohue, of course, has made a career out of persecuting those who, allegedly, insult his faith. A noted racist, avowedly anti-Semitic, who has defended the numerous convictions of Catholic priests for sexual abuse of minors, Donohue clearly sees his position as equivalent to a modern day "Witchfinder-General".

Please treat his campaign with the contempt it so clearly deserves.

Regards,

Geoff Newman

11. McDonald's Makes Jesus Cry

Comment #206714 by Geoff on July 8, 2008 at 5:17 pm

I hope some of those comments have been forwarded to FSTDT.

12. Origin of the Novel Species Noodleous doubleous: Evidence for Intelligent Design

Comment #206702 by Geoff on July 8, 2008 at 5:03 pm

Conclusion

Although it is considered unethical to destroy incipient life-forms, thereby causing them to go extinct, the experimenter was hungry, so he ate them anyway.

Brilliant.

It's worth noting here that Dr. Thomas D. Schneider is a real person, and a genuine research biologist too.

http://www-lmmb.ncifcrf.gov/~toms/schneider.html

There's an ongoing "debate" in the fora with a cretinist who is misrepresenting Schneider's data from an earlier published paper:

http://richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=50132&start=0

And Dr. Schneider has contributed to the thread.

13. Dawkins on Darwin

Comment #201111 by Geoff on June 29, 2008 at 4:07 am

25. Comment #201098 by rod-the-farmer

Here is a question I would like to hear answered by others on this site. I am trying to come up with the single most convincing evidence for an old Earth, in the sense that this one piece would have the most effect on YEC types. Something that would show that evolution by natural selection, while quite slow in some areas, has an enormous amount of time in which to operate. What I have come up with is the combination of plate tectonics and the matching coastlines of South America and Africa, particularly if you examine the continental shelf. We can already detect their on-going slow separation, and by extrapolation, they have been moving apart for much longer than 6,000 years or so.

We've all tried that, rod. Their latest idea is something they call the hydroplate theory, which actually does have the continents whizzing around at amazing speeds. I'm afraid their reality denial is such that no amount of real science will shake them.

14. New discovery proves 'selfish gene' exists

Comment #197265 by Geoff on June 21, 2008 at 1:42 pm

Like others, I want to see the published paper first, before commenting. This is just a "teaser"; no substance.

15. Proving ID is Creationism

Comment #182843 by Geoff on May 21, 2008 at 3:17 am

Old news to most of us, I guess, but the more ways this gets publicised, the better.
They could have mentioned the wedge document, too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wedge_strategy

16. Mayor challenges pope during Genoa visit

Comment #182131 by Geoff on May 19, 2008 at 9:00 am

I'm with rod-the-farmer on this one - the vast majority of the anti abortion lobby seem to think a fertilised ovum is an "unborn child" and quite deliberately use that emotive phrase in their propaganda.
As far as they're concerned, abortion is a sin right from day one.
The pro-choice lobby have their differences, true, but as rod says it's typically over the latest time it should be allowed.

17. Texas Megachurch Minister Busted in Internet Sex Sting

Comment #181490 by Geoff on May 17, 2008 at 9:42 am

Nothing in the ten commandments that suggests he did anything wrong.

Good job we get our morals from the bible really, otherwise people might think what he did was immoral.

18. These dim-wits believe in anything but God

Comment #181486 by Geoff on May 17, 2008 at 9:37 am

But to bin what the Judeo-Christian tradition has bequeathed us in terms of responsibility for the stranger, care for the vulnerable, collective consciousness and our sense of what is right and wrong is utterly ludicrous.

That has to be satire, surely?

19. Pelosi, Reid shunning Ten Commandments?

Comment #181467 by Geoff on May 17, 2008 at 9:04 am

24. Comment #181312 by RightWingAtheist

In the future, please address your comments to ALL makers of dairy products.

Especially the cheesemakers...

20. Indian village proud after double 'honor killing'

Comment #181425 by Geoff on May 17, 2008 at 8:11 am

33. Comment #181272 by Teratornis

This is an interesting story, but everyone is probably wondering: what does this story have to do with peak oil?

err....nope!

;)

21. The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, ed. Richard Dawkins

Comment #181400 by Geoff on May 17, 2008 at 6:27 am

35th post!

22. Turkish Islamic author given 3-year jail sentence

Comment #181023 by Geoff on May 16, 2008 at 10:01 am

Ah, Harun Yahya!

Time to mention the "Atlas of Creation!" fishing lures again!

http://forbiddenmusic.files.wordpress.com/2008/01/yahya_lure.jpg"

23. God seekers go public

Comment #179462 by Geoff on May 13, 2008 at 9:35 am

anna, I suggest you start your new drug regime with caffeine and alcohol.

Have an Irish coffee.

24. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #179286 by Geoff on May 13, 2008 at 3:56 am

47. Comment #179233 by AllanW

It's waaaaaay past time;

Teratornis! Paging Teratornis! Your prescence is requested on a thread to do with oil prices! Teratornis! Oh! wherefore art thou, Teratornis?

Has he run out of gas?

25. Evolution: What is 'Natural'?

Comment #178951 by Geoff on May 12, 2008 at 9:45 am

193. Comment #178914 by irate_atheist

'argumentum ad mistakum'

"argumentum ad erratum"?

26. Evolution: What is 'Natural'?

Comment #178949 by Geoff on May 12, 2008 at 9:43 am

94. Comment #178693 by Artful_Dodger on May 11, 2008

Popping briefly back to page 2...

Isn't that what the Jesuits used to say? Sounds like a very "rational" project! The premise of course is that atheism is the default "mechanism". Gradgrind would be proud of you. "Let's set up schools where children will be exposed to facts, pure and simple. We will have to careful of the reading material we admit onto the shelves! Encyclopedias and text-books with spadefuls of information. Fiction which depicts kids acceding to glory in sport and setting an example of achievement and supremacy. But at all costs we must keep them from reading the kind of fantasy that might encourage them to feel deep down that there might be more to existence than can be accounted for by the empirical sciences. No Lord of the Rings or anything of that ilk, unless it be heavily anotated by scholars who will be able to explain away any longings that such literature might awaken!

Not at all: quite the opposite in fact.

As long as they are taught to distinguish between fact and fiction.

I love LOTR, but I don't waste much time arguing that while Anduril, Lothlorien & Rivendell undoubtedly exist, the rings of power are metaphorical.

Your book is a poorly written collection of Bronze age myths, stories and superstitions, with less relevance to real life than Aesop's fables.

27. Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Paula Kirby

Comment #178253 by Geoff on May 11, 2008 at 3:07 am

The usual garbage.

If he cannot make the distinction between false religion and true Christianity, it is possible that this is the fault of the Christian church more than his fault...

...He doesn't even deign to consider the Christian God...

and "fulfilled prophecies"? WTF? That guy is a danger to himself and others.

Thanks for that Paula; you just wasted 10 minutes of my time with it!

;)

28. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #178044 by Geoff on May 10, 2008 at 10:38 am

I think something similar has already been proposed, but for Kent Hovind instead:

Hovind Factor = (X s i p) x (m 1)

where:

Belief in scripture - "X"
0 - No doctrinal belief required
1 - Metaphorical use of Biblical/Qu'ranic quotation
2 - Belief in scripture as the infallible word of God. Timeless, inerrant and absolute. (AiG/The flud etc.)

Scientific Illiteracy - "s"
0 - Full understanding of detailed, advanced scientific principles
1 - Overall grasp of principles with some understanding of specific area being discussed
2 - Vague understanding of general principle but with poor grasp of many details
3 - No understanding or knowledge of area being discussed
4 - Rejection of basic scientific facts/laws/robust theories and/or denial of any evidence that contradicts scripture
5 - Robert Byers (Extreme, moronic and puerile level of 4 above)

The idiocy scale - "i"
0 - no discernible stupidity
1 - slightly silly, but understandable
2 - foolish
3 - daft
4 - rather funny in a slightly worrying sort of way
5 - very funny in a very worrying way
6 - scary stuff
7 - very scary
8 - unlikely to be accepted by anyone with more than two functioning neurons
9 - Moronic. Stark-bollock-naked, off-the-wall, wing-nut
10 - Kirk Cameron or VenomFangX

Paradox - "p"
0 = Statement is logical and self-consistent
1 = Statement acknowledges slight flaw in internal logic but glosses over it with babble.
2 = Statement relies on an assumed divine intervention to explain self contradiction.
3 = Self contradiction invalidates statement completely, and is left unaddressed.

and

Mendacity - "m"
0 - Total honesty
1 - Statement maker knows they are telling enough of a porkie to try to mislead a generally credulous audience
2 - Statement maker knows they are lying enough to try to mislead an educated audience, or they are repeating a lie that they have previously been corrected on.
3 - Whopper! (including plagiarism)
4 - Complete, burn-in-Hell, perjury grade, super-lie - for example, one that is strategically designed to mislead authorities or the general public (e.g. as witnessed in the Dover trial and Expelled).

Using this formula, a completely honest statement of scientific merit would score a Hovind Factor of zero.

The maximum Hovind Factor, HFmax, is a completely insane statement which contradicts all scientific evidence but adheres totally to religious doctrine and which the person making the claim knows to be untrue - while at the same time the statement also completely contradicts itself - would score (2 5 10 3) x (4 1) = 100.

EDIT: formula should have "plus" signs inside the brackets!)

29. Justice In The Brain: Equity And Efficiency Are Encoded Differently

Comment #178005 by Geoff on May 10, 2008 at 8:20 am

But there wasn't an option to ask god which option they should choose! How could they possibly make a moral judgement without their scripture to help them?

[/sarcasm]

Interesting study, though.

30. Atheists are nice people who will roast in hell, says Cardinal

Comment #177945 by Geoff on May 10, 2008 at 3:04 am

The BBQ sounds good, but as evil atheists, shouldn't we be roasting babies and virgins instead?

I can probably find some babies to bring, but the virgins may be more elusive...

31. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #176401 by Geoff on May 7, 2008 at 8:45 am

Seeker, I'd just like to make one last, probably futile, effort to address your profound misunderstanding of radiometric dating.

Different radioactive elements have different half-lives. You were provided a link to a table earlier showing a sample of some of them (there are many, many more).

Because they all have such different half-lives, they are all used to measure different age ranges.

As an analogy, think of measuring different distances. Imagine you are given a micrometer, a yardstick, a laser rangefinder and a telescope.

Which of those would you choose to measure the distance to Alpha Centauri, the thickness of a wire, the length of your desk and the height of a skyscraper?

The reason why ¹⁴C is not used for dating dinosaur fossils is the same reason you wouldn't use the micrometer to measure the height of the skyscraper.

EDIT: typo.

32. The detail in the Devil

Comment #176156 by Geoff on May 6, 2008 at 5:35 pm

33. Regulating Evolution: How Gene Switches Make Life

Comment #176151 by Geoff on May 6, 2008 at 5:18 pm

I don't see much new in this, unless I'm missing something (which wouldn't be the first time).

Cancer researchers, for example, have been studying this concept for years. It seems to me simply an extension of the "Hox" gene concept, which we've known about since the early 80's, and of Pax6 genes (responsible for eye development), known since the mid-90's.

34. Rover instrument to sniff out life on Mars

Comment #176144 by Geoff on May 6, 2008 at 5:04 pm

"The chances of anything coming from Mars are a million to one"...he said.

But still they come.

35. What really goes on at the Large Hadron Collider

Comment #176140 by Geoff on May 6, 2008 at 4:58 pm

He's exactly the right kind of guy to be up there "promoting the public understanding of science".

Popularising? Yeah, why not? He clearly knows his stuff, but can put it across in a way that not only attracts funding, but attracts people to science.

And he has my accent, which is another plus.

Well done Brian Cox.

36. The emerging moral psychology

Comment #175592 by Geoff on May 5, 2008 at 4:48 pm

8. Comment #175569 by Cartomancer

Lets do a little study to see whether philosophy or science can help people to lead more moral lives.

Find two identical deserted islands. Strand a group of scientifically illiterate philosophers on one of them with five works of ethical philosophy. Strand a group of philosophically illiterate scientists on the other with five works of cognitive psychology. Check back at regular intervals to observe the moral progress or decline. First island to achieve a perfectly harmonious, maximally happy and productive society wins.

Um. Not sure how long the philosophers would survive...meanwhile the scientists have built a boat and reached the mainland!

37. Neanderthals were separate species, new study finds

Comment #175484 by Geoff on May 5, 2008 at 1:45 pm

Mitochondrial DNA studies have pretty much established that they were separate species to Homo sapiens.

38. Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks

Comment #175466 by Geoff on May 5, 2008 at 1:23 pm

70. Comment #175459 by clearthinker

This is the best and most stimulating article I have read on this website. Congratulations to Sam Harris. The question is what can be done about it?

I think this idea is certainly a start:

The lesson we should draw from the Fitna controversy is that we need more criticism of Islam, not less. Let it come down in such torrents that not even the most deluded Islamist could conceive of containing it.

Having said that, the same should be applied to all religions. For too long they've had an effective immunity from criticism. As Richard says in TGD, criticism that would seem perfectly normal, acceptable and innocuous if it were aimed at, say, a film, a political party or a restaurant, suddenly becomes deeply offensive when aimed at any religion.

39. Research Volunteers Needed

Comment #175455 by Geoff on May 5, 2008 at 1:01 pm

Done all four.

I agree with most of the comments above, especially the one about "place of orgin" (rod? I forget). The one about the 3 sectors of the US Govt., for example, had to be a "don't know".

Frequent use of the word "many", too, which I often found unclear.

Interesting, though.

Carto: about those "blatantly obvious" questions; remember it's also aimed at theists. If they can believe the Genesis stories, surely they can believe that buildings in America are 4000 years old, or that Bill Gates uses a computer?

40. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #175004 by Geoff on May 4, 2008 at 5:14 am

6127. Comment #174992 by epeeist

I have been musing on the state of Christianity in the UK. My thoughts, completely personal opinions with little evidence to back it up.

The CofE seems to be dying gradually. From what I can gather its regular members are getting older (http://www.whychurch.org.uk/age.php) and the number actually attending is getting smaller (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1529106/Migrants-fill-empty-pews-as-Britons-lose-faith.html)

I can certainly back that up with my own, admittedly anecdotal, experiences of my local churches (not all that far from your neck of the woods!).

"Traditional" churches, whether CofE or RC, in Wigan are virtually empty, but there is one (called "Today's Community Church") that is recruiting massively (and largely targeting the younger demographic). It's a "Happy-Clappy", Alpha Course type, and they have adverts on the sides of buses, billboard posters, their own "media bus", youth club activities; all that sort of stuff.

Mind you, I get the distinct impression that their retention rate isn't very good.

41. Was the new finger a 'natural' miracle?

Comment #174999 by Geoff on May 4, 2008 at 4:55 am

74. Comment #174724 by Dr Benway

We all need to do our part to keep drinking beer at this oasis.

typo fixed...

;)

42. Was the new finger a 'natural' miracle?

Comment #174562 by Geoff on May 2, 2008 at 4:55 pm

Some of us just go one pixie further.

43. How to reconcile Richard Dawkins?

Comment #173986 by Geoff on May 1, 2008 at 12:08 pm

249. Comment #173722 by al-rawandi

They cannot be better than:

Richard Matheson's I am Legend
John Wynham's The Day of the Triffids

Those are too good, too good I say!

Two of my favourite books! The Omega Man was a good film, too, in contrast with the recent Will Smith effort, which wasn't!

44. How to reconcile Richard Dawkins?

Comment #173630 by Geoff on May 1, 2008 at 2:09 am

Steve, I hope you reconsider, but if not, I shall miss you.

45. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #173624 by Geoff on May 1, 2008 at 1:53 am

5887. Comment #173415 by DickDawkins

I'm not familiar with his body of work other than God Delusion, which in my opinion was a very poorly written book. Gave it a chance didn't get past the first few pages, maybe I should give it a second chance and try to read it.

Just caught up on last night's chit-chat, and I'm surprised nobody commented on the above.

46. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #173254 by Geoff on April 30, 2008 at 2:42 pm

seeker_of_truth is the one needing the Calilassea dating service - I see no reason to suspect him of being another wooter clone.

In the meantime, here's quite a good resource:

http://www.asa3.org/aSA/resources/Wiens.html

Radiometric Dating

A Christian Perspective

Dr. Roger C. Wiens

47. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #173122 by Geoff on April 30, 2008 at 11:49 am

And, back sort of 'on-topic' no-one seems to have commented on the delightful intermingling of the two types of "dating" under discussion.

Congrats al & anna! Live long and prosper!

48. Is religion a threat to rationality and science?

Comment #173120 by Geoff on April 30, 2008 at 11:46 am

Somewhat of a digression, but I just wanted to share this post by "alltruism" on the fora:

[Attenborough]

Watch now as the Calilasseia stalks its prey....moving quietly through the grassy plains of the Forum Index, crawling through the Topics index...yes...he's spotted the prey, who seems to have somehow become detached from his flock and is all alone, unfamiliar with the plains of reason that he has wondered into.

Look - there he goes! See how the Calilasseia instantly incapacitates the prey - a moment of savagery..and then it's all over! The Calilasseia consumes its prey on the spot..look at the meticulous efficiency, leaving not a morsel for the other creatures of the plains of reason. They'll have to hope more prey find their way into the plains during the brief moments when the Calilasseia returns to its lair to sleep. Soon, all that remains of the prey is a few shattered bones, bleaching under the blazing sun of rational thought. Incredible!

[/Attenborough]

49. Fleabytes

Comment #173108 by Geoff on April 30, 2008 at 11:06 am

7719. Comment #173044 by Richard Morgan

Well, he can't mean me; I'm neither brilliant nor anguished.

7716. Comment #172744 by Philip1978