1. Richard Dawkins on Harun Yahya's Atlas of Creation, and other videos from the CEMB conference

Comment #264921 by gyokusai on October 15, 2008 at 12:52 pm

Oh boy, my head hurts---could anyone please go and make the trollophone stop ringing?

I see some perfect candidate specimens here who, in time, would make a great contribution to the richness of the fossil record in PZ's dungeon.

^_^J.

2. Richard Dawkins at Conservative Party Conference 2008

Comment #263986 by gyokusai on October 13, 2008 at 12:58 pm

And my friend said, "Richard Dawkins is a god!"---I think he missed the point somehow [Part 3, 3 min or so in]

3. 'Intelligent' computers put to the test

Comment #262191 by gyokusai on October 8, 2008 at 5:09 am

Telltale sign:

KW: Does that worry you?

Subject: Don't worry, we'll work everything through.

4. Have-a-go deaths are never a waste

Comment #258658 by gyokusai on October 2, 2008 at 9:04 am

I have a 4d cell maglite in my car because I'm afraid of the dark...

5. Why There Almost Certainly Is a God, By Keith Ward

Comment #255773 by gyokusai on September 28, 2008 at 7:19 am

@justaperson ---

Brilliant.

^_^J.

6. Why There Almost Certainly Is a God, By Keith Ward

Comment #255762 by gyokusai on September 28, 2008 at 6:52 am

Apropos this quantum nonsense, it reminds me of a remark by Steven Pinker, in his essay "The Mystery of Consciousness" in Time Magazine, Friday, Jan. 19, 2007:

Some mavericks, like the mathematician Roger Penrose, suggest the answer [to how consciousness forms] might someday be found in quantum mechanics. But to my ear, this amounts to the feeling that quantum mechanics sure is weird, and consciousness sure is weird, so maybe quantum mechanics can explain consciousness.

7. Why There Almost Certainly Is a God, By Keith Ward

Comment #255742 by gyokusai on September 28, 2008 at 5:12 am

While poorly argued and badly written books undeniably number among these "fleas", there are others containing nimble logic and thoughtful prose which even hard-line atheists should still find it rewarding to engage with --- if only they would.

8. Zehirli Yilanlar, Kaygan Yilanbaliklari ve Harun Yahya

Comment #252637 by gyokusai on September 23, 2008 at 12:56 pm

Your backslashes didn't survive in 2- ...

^_^J.

Ah, there they are :-)

Oh, and Drool #22 sez you can escape them with second backslashes, like this:

c:\windows\system32\drivers\etc\hosts

You just have to renew them with every edit ...

9. Zehirli Yilanlar, Kaygan Yilanbaliklari ve Harun Yahya

Comment #252581 by gyokusai on September 23, 2008 at 11:28 am

Way cool. Thanks, Josh!

^_^J.

10. Genes might not be so selfish after all

Comment #249209 by gyokusai on September 17, 2008 at 5:47 pm

Yeah this curious "twin" bit left me scratching my head, too.

11. Genes might not be so selfish after all

Comment #249200 by gyokusai on September 17, 2008 at 5:36 pm

I think it was John S. Wilkins who recently posted an entry at his blog Evolving Thoughts with a collection of "Science Journalism Narratives," and asked for more in the comments.

This article strikes me as being much more about one of those standard narratives of Science Journalism or other, than about its alleged topic.

^_^J.

12. It's no wonder evangelical atheists need to shout so loud

Comment #238184 by gyokusai on August 27, 2008 at 5:56 pm

This article is so enormously stupid that I was tempted to call Poe's Law. But then I checked Cooper's creds at Wikipedia ... and hey, whaddayaknow! He's an advocate for Quebec separation and a climate change denier! And a crook to boot---just read the later part of the Wikipedia entry.

Okay. Not everything outrageously bizarr is based on Poe's Law. Sometimes it's simply based on good old, solid crookedness. Who would have thought!

^_^J.

13. Richard Dawkins on Talkback Radio

Comment #236961 by gyokusai on August 25, 2008 at 3:18 pm

It's not only that those questions are launched from the very top levels of moronicity, they're also breathtakingly arrogant in so many different ways. And they're not questions at all! They're statements. Assertions. And this kind of stuff is oozing its way into our school systems. Unbelievable.

If for nothing else, Richard would already be my personal hero for confronting these smug assertions and statements again and again and again instead of running amok and blazing away with an M-60.

^_^J.

14. Richard Dawkins, the naive professor

Comment #225925 by gyokusai on August 7, 2008 at 2:00 pm

Richard sez:
Does anyone understand that? I'm far from sure that I do.

15. Richard Dawkins, the naive professor

Comment #225873 by gyokusai on August 7, 2008 at 1:04 pm

Mango sez:
A far better strategy would have been to leave all references to his personal atheism at home and let the public mull over the facts of evolution.

16. More reviews of 'The Genius of Charles Darwin'

Comment #225861 by gyokusai on August 7, 2008 at 12:49 pm

Richard sez:
Depressing as the Telegraph review was, the comments posted after it are mostly very encouraging.

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

Comment #225526 by gyokusai on August 6, 2008 at 5:42 pm

Father McVerry sez:
Jesus opposed a religion that imposes laws and rules and regulations and says that if you love God you must obey them

18. Islam subway ads cause stir in New York

Comment #216001 by gyokusai on July 22, 2008 at 4:36 pm

And, come to think of it, this New York Post piece is sheer demagogic garbage.

I remember dimly a time when this newspaper had quite a decent rep. As of now, it's a piece of shit.

^_^J.

19. Islam subway ads cause stir in New York

Comment #215997 by gyokusai on July 22, 2008 at 4:29 pm

thewhitepearl sez:
I wonder what the uproar would be if the atheist community tried the same thing.

20. Good Science Writers: Richard Dawkins

Comment #215991 by gyokusai on July 22, 2008 at 4:24 pm

The article reprint's topsy turvy.

^_^J.

21. Jefferson Bible reveals Founding Father's view of God, faith

Comment #214393 by gyokusai on July 20, 2008 at 11:23 am

Thomas Jefferson set to work with scissors, snipping out every miracle and inconsistency he could find in the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John [...] "I have performed the operation for my own use," he continued, "by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter, which is evidently his and which is as easily distinguished as diamonds in a dunghill."

22. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208215 by gyokusai on July 10, 2008 at 6:01 pm

Richard Dawkins sez:

Would contributions from those of us who aren't in the USA help?

I don't know, but I have just written. It surely couldn't do any harm, and I think it would probably help in showing that PZ Myers has a high international reputation.

Richard

Re: in support for pz myers

Dear President Bruininks ---

As undoubtedly many others already did, I'm writing you now on behalf of Mr. Myers.

I cannot speak for the whole "Pharyngula" community in Germany, but Mr. Myers's reputation as a scientist and, especially, secular scientist, is immense around here. His "Pharyngula" blog is always one of the first Web addresses referred to if someone voices their opinion that the United States are on their way back to a new edition of the fundamentalist dark ages. An opinion, I might say, apt to be singularly fueled by the preposterous campaign Mr. William A. Donohue and his Catholic League recently started, against Mr. Myers and his standing as an outspoken, rational scientist---particularly in case this campaign turned out to be successful in even the slightest fashion.

We all savor Mr. Myers's highly informed and articulate articles on evolutionary biology. We all have come to be in awe of both marine cephalopods and Mr. Myers's ability to alert us to the various attempts at subverting science, and, not to forget, his wit and his elaborate rhetorical skills, always fair and appropriate to the subject matter. Mr. Myers has become our hero in our common cause for a scientific world view and a more secular, rational world, where there is less needless suffering through scandalous superstition and fanatical witch hunts against those who either relish a different creed or, purely and simply, reality.

Sincerely,
J. Martin
[full personal specs]

23. Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection

Comment #204962 by gyokusai on July 6, 2008 at 9:56 am

Roland_F sez:

26. Comment #204821 by gyokusai

Bar-Kochba's name was Simon, though, which is quite fitting---and again I wonder why this isn't mentioned too, it just glares at you!

Bar Kochba was nearly 2 centuries later than the stone plates are possibly dated, maybe that's why a connection is not made.

Some of the dead sea scrolls (dated to be 1st century BC) contain also several times a messiah which resembles remarkably the Christian Jesus story. (see Herbert Braun: "Qumran und das neue Testament")

And there was Jeshu ha Notzri a messiah and preacher running around in Judah with some disciples and he was killed on the day before Passover 88BC and hanged with outstretched arms from a tree.

And of course Horus was crucified in-between 2 thugs and resurrected after 3 days as were several other ancient demi-gods and gods of course usually born from a virgin.

24. Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection

Comment #204821 by gyokusai on July 5, 2008 at 8:45 pm

What I find rather curious is why this text, since it's not just containing quotations from the Bible, is in Hebrew rather than Aramaic. It's even curiouser that the article doesn't mention this curious fact.

Then, we do know about Bar-Kochba and others, and there's a lot of evidence that these people believed to be a messiah. But in the traditional way, as a worldly messiah who would bring peace, to Israel, and preferrably to the world, in a messianic age: but as a worldly affair, no transcendence, sacrifice, or heavenly kingdoms involved. Bar-Kochba's name was Simon, though, which is quite fitting---and this is another thing that glares at you but isn't mentioned in the article as well. I wonder.

[Took my "EDIT" remark back concerning the rumors surrounding Bar-Kochba's death; I couldn't find the source I had in mind. Might have been in another language than English.]

^_^J.

25. Richard Dawkins Public Lecture - Liverpool 08

Comment #197822 by gyokusai on June 22, 2008 at 5:54 pm

SmartLX, exactly; that's what I was about to post after I watched for 20 minutes or so.

But why is it that people who postproduct such "webcasts," as it was indeed called in the introduction, for the, *gasp*, Web, are often so singularly inept at doing so? The sound quality is abysmal, there are gaps, the format (ratio) is all wrong, the sound trails subtly at times (especially so in the youtube version), and they not only show Richard's slides at the wrong times, but go unfailingly fullscreen on them as soon as Richard is about to deliver something funny via gestures or facial expression.

This is really driving me mad. But anyways, I heard a recording of that lecture before, maybe it was the one from Arizona, and the lecture itself is just phantastic.

^_^J.

26. Is the Universe Actually Made of Math?

Comment #195741 by gyokusai on June 18, 2008 at 6:18 pm

Oh, and not to forget:

I have this sort of crazy-sounding idea that the reason why mathematics is so effective at describing reality is that it is reality.

27. Is the Universe Actually Made of Math?

Comment #195716 by gyokusai on June 18, 2008 at 5:45 pm

Well I also checked Tegmark's paper at arXiv.org, and I think the problem is not so much that it's nutty but that it's yet another variation of Plato's "ideal/perfect forms" metaphysics. Rare with cosmologists, until now, but you can only pray this from a mathematician's cold dead fingers. (Read Penrose's The Emperor's New Mind for a treat in that direction.)

Philosophy, ditto. There you thought it's been crushed beyond recognition, and again it rears its ugly little head---in, like, Taylor's Sources of the Self. And wouldn't you know it? Eight years later Taylor's awarded the Templeton Prize for, quote, progress towards research or discoveries about spiritual realities, unquote.

Sheesh.

And now for something completely different:

Sometimes it's quite comical. I will be thinking about the ultimate nature of reality and then my wife says, "Hey, you forgot to take out the trash." The big picture and the little picture just collide.

28. Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'

Comment #192155 by gyokusai on June 12, 2008 at 1:50 pm

Yeah, rod-the-farmer, I was thinking about education instead of intelligence, too. Referring to "intelligence" in this context reminds me of referring to "nutritional value" or "energy balance."

But I'm not sure that even education would hold up, under scrutiny. You have so many variables here like indoctrination, tradition, group pressure, and what have you, which are all known to be able to persistently override "intelligence" as well as education.

^_^J.

29. Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'

Comment #192146 by gyokusai on June 12, 2008 at 1:43 pm

Well, sounds like total bollocks to me.

^_^J.

30. 'In Our Time': Trofim Lysenko

Comment #189871 by gyokusai on June 7, 2008 at 12:06 pm

Fascinating. Moreover, what amazes me are these interspersed bits of information about Lysenko having at least not completely been wrong, after all.

I would really like to read/hear more about this.

^_^J.

31. Edgar Mitchell ushers in the Next Epoch in Evolution

Comment #183253 by gyokusai on May 21, 2008 at 3:50 pm

Everything New Age is double- and triple-woo, yes, but not necessarily everything postmodern too. Anyways, Penrose indeed has toyed with "quantum physics explanations" for consciousness for quite some time now.

Doesn't make it more palatable, though, at least not for me. Adding to this is the fact that in Penrose's books, Platonic metaphysics always enters through the backdoor. Well, mathematicians, what can one say ;-)

^_^J.

32. Edgar Mitchell ushers in the Next Epoch in Evolution

Comment #183212 by gyokusai on May 21, 2008 at 2:13 pm

qomak sez:
As far as I know no major neurologist is trying to connect quantum theory to consciousness so can someone with more solid background say something on this article please?

His collaboration with mathematical physicist Roger Penrose led to the development of the 'Orch-OR' theory of consciousness.

33. Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear

Comment #179288 by gyokusai on May 13, 2008 at 3:56 am

We have a thorough discussion on this on Pharyngula right now, and we found out some interesting things indeed about Brooke (mostly from comment #60 onwards). Just a teaser:

Darwin thought the Christian doctrine of damnation damnable, yet in his response to the sublime still supposed he deserved to be called a theist.

34. Sexpelled: No Intercourse Allowed

Comment #162928 by gyokusai on April 17, 2008 at 5:12 pm

Thank you Josh, Richard! Not only for this brilliant and funny clip, but also for the accompanying blurb (and especially the bit with the "ATT" theory)!

^_^J.

35. In search of the God particle

Comment #156887 by gyokusai on April 8, 2008 at 11:14 am

At the comments section of the timesonline.co.uk article, the goddidits' unbridled bigotry and the dogooders' feed-a-hungry-child-instead self-pompousness are really battling it out for world-dominance. Unbelievable.

^_^J.

36. Sean Carroll on the Today Program

Comment #154118 by gyokusai on April 2, 2008 at 5:37 pm

Is it just me, or are there others here who also think this interviewer was rather obnoxious? I mean, just listen to this nugget:

Are we getting any closer to the resolution of the ancient debate that goes back to, I suppose, the Scopes trial in 1925 and [pause] evolution versus, if you like, creationism, because, in a way, ultimately there has to be a leap of faith that says, 'this was natural selection that drove it' rather than [pause] intelligent design, or these alternative theories ...

[the Scopes trial:] Could you have a better argument now against the creationists? [...]

37. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152437 by gyokusai on March 31, 2008 at 2:52 am

Perhaps in Europe, where freedom has little meaning anymore. I guess we Americans are too fanatically devoted to our 1st Amendment to start banning a work simply because it incites violence.

38. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152313 by gyokusai on March 30, 2008 at 5:03 pm

kaeru sez:

But... what was his point? After the Danish cartoons, Submission and "Muhammad" there is nothing left to prove, or so I thought.

39. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152309 by gyokusai on March 30, 2008 at 4:49 pm

Here's an excellent article from the online edition of the renowned German news magazine Spiegel. Hopefully they'll release the article in English too; as soon as they do, I'll post the link:

Der Populist, der keiner ist von Henryk M. Broder

I'm too tired now for a paraphrase-translation, so if anyone else'd like to have a go at it, be my guest. It's pretty much the sentiment you'd expect to hear from most people posting here on the RD site.

^_^J.

40. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152296 by gyokusai on March 30, 2008 at 4:14 pm

irvine.intervention sez:

How do you see the sound of paper ripping - unless you're a synesthete?

41. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152287 by gyokusai on March 30, 2008 at 3:53 pm

"Behead those who say Islam is violent!"

42. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152278 by gyokusai on March 30, 2008 at 3:38 pm

In one scene,the sound of paper ripping can be seen as a reader pages through the Quran.

43. Beware the Believers

Comment #152238 by gyokusai on March 30, 2008 at 2:10 pm

Brian sez:

I go on record as being very certain that this clever little vid is firmly on the side of pro-science. I shall be suitably embarrased, shocked and ruefully conscious (once again) of how easily I am enthused, if proven wrong:-)

44. Beware the Believers

Comment #151960 by gyokusai on March 29, 2008 at 6:52 pm

Richard Dawkins sez:

Oh goodness, I'd hate it if anybody thought I didn't like it because I was being made fun of. I didn't even notice that I was being made fun of. I evidently understood so little that I actually felt quite flattered by my apparent role in the video.

45. Beware the Believers

Comment #151802 by gyokusai on March 29, 2008 at 12:35 pm

Richard Dawkins sez:

OK, thank you, now I'm starting to get it. I still don't find it funny but I'm starting to get the point. Sorry to be so slow.

46. Beware the Believers

Comment #151696 by gyokusai on March 29, 2008 at 8:18 am

When you read the lyrics critically as if you were reviewing a scientific paper or a piece of literature, and especially take linguistic patterns into account (not counting the rap form), there is no way in heck this video could have been made by anyone from the ID crowd.

Secondly, to reverse-quote Ripley from Aliens: "Did IQs just rise sharply (in the ID camp) after Richard and PZ left the 'Expelled' presentation?"

I admit the message is not entirely clear and certainly pokes a lot of fun at "us" too---but most satirical messages are not "clear" in this sense, which is precisely what satire is most often about---but one of the things that convinced me was the "machine" which is, as others have already pointed out, nothing but the wonderful, incredible, ever-moving, and awe-inspiring Scientific Method.

Over at Pharyngula, some people have thankfully updated the lyrics, i.e., Brian, MC Escher, Chris, Viscount (who pointed out the "Dawk" bit), and others. So here's an update: Enjoy!

[EDIT: And, hey, does this line sound "creationist" to anyone:
We might have lost at Scopes, beaten down by the dopes, and the stooges of popes, but in losin' we coped, becomin' more than we hoped, creationists slipped on the soap of their own slippery slope.
Not to me, it doesn't.]

My name is D to the I to C to the K, Yeah I'm the Dickie D,
I gots my PhD and comin' your way on the Youtube to bust your world view so just listen to me and don't you argue.

You see, this battle's been ragin' since Zeus was on the bottle, 'tween Science like Democritus and Faith like Aristotle,
who said the mover was unmovin' like some magic trick but
that's no good logic, my posse is far too quick for this
religious schtick.

Coz science is the only way to know y'all, you stand with me y'all, or you can fall y'all

So go ahead and take your pick...

ES: Yeah you tell him Rick ...
Darwin: Coz if you don't know me ...

RD: YOU DON'T KNOW DICK!!

Chorus: Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the PhD,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the PhD,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!

SH: On the shoulders of midgets we built up this machine,
DD: YEAH!!!

RD: Science silenced that watchdog wingnut Paley
growing stronger and harder almost daily, storming Wilber by force as we framed the discourse that faith and science are split in schismatic divorce.

Then Darwin took to the seas to see what no one had seen, and ever since then we've been increasingly keen, they may never adore us, but they'll no longer ignore us,

give it to 'em PZ hit these *BLEEP* with the chorus!!!

Chorus : Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the PhD,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
The Dick to the Dawk to the PhD,
he's still smarter than you he studied biology!


Then there was Darrow dukin' it out with the straight and the narrow,
a ragin' bull in the ring, he did his thing, and took it on the chin like he was Bobby De Niro.

We might have lost at Scopes, beaten down by the dopes, and the stooges of popes, but in losin' we coped, becomin' more than we hoped, creationists slipped on the soap of their own slippery slope.

What was impossible, improbable, is now wholly unstoppable untoppleable, the Dick Dawk'll roll up as you creationists foldup

you haters talkin' bull,
don't you know that this Dick is un-*BLEEP*-frickin' blockable ...

Chorus: Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
The Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's still smarter than you he studied biology!

Now the machine of our making, sees culture ripe for the taking,

Coz I'm the rappinest, rabidest atheist who unlike the Catholic, Muslim, or even the Jew, believes that no God but science could ever be true, hell if I was dyslexic I'd even hate "dog" too.

Time to open your eyes, get yourself wise, the age of sciences'll rise to be religion's demise,

and while you churchies all cry, shouting 'why God oh why,'I'll still be poppin' my collar earning more dollars than Allah.

Hollah!

Chorus: Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
The Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's still smarter than you he studied biology!

Chorus: Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
The Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's still smarter than you he studied biology!

[repeat chorus]

47. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #150687 by gyokusai on March 27, 2008 at 9:03 am

Richard, you keep making the world an even more interesting and fascinating place, and I wish you love, health, and everything to be able to keep doing that for many, many, many years to come.

Thank you for everything and Happy Birthday!

***^_^J.

48. New atheists or new anti-dogmatists?

Comment #117341 by gyokusai on January 28, 2008 at 3:20 pm

Ultraviolet G sez:
>>HeyBishop

..do the thing with the knife!

49. Launch of 'Atheists in Foxholes' Book Anthology

Comment #116089 by gyokusai on January 25, 2008 at 1:26 pm

Yes, I also think it's not about flags or even countries, but for far more valuable things one should fight for and has fought for. And the Constitution was (and is) a good start. I really hope this project will take off.

^_^J.

50. Three Little Pigs 'too offensive'

Comment #115203 by gyokusai on January 23, 2008 at 6:36 pm

al-rawandi sez:
gyokusai,

I sez, most Pigs are smarter than most of the religiose idiots wandering around the streets of any given country.

I hunt wild boar, because as of yet, it remains illegal to hunt the religiose (I am lobbying for a change).