1. Police: Girl Dies After Parents Pray for Healing Instead of Seeking Medical Help

Comment #152954 by tooltroll on March 31, 2008 at 7:00 pm

Murder 1. Pure and simple.
The parents had ample time to premeditate denying their daughter treatment. The negligent fucks should fry, and the surviving children placed somewhere their basic medical and educational needs aren't grossly neglected. As for the parents' 'pain', it's self-inflicted. Fuck 'em.

2. Atheists An Increasingly Outspoken Minority

Comment #129965 by tooltroll on February 19, 2008 at 8:23 pm

"Where do you place your trust in times of need? Where do you place your hope in the time of a crisis of confidence?" Hanson said."

Oh Lawdy, Lawdy! Jeebus take th' wheel, 'cuz I'se jus' a po' incomp'tent hoomin bean!

Taking absolutely no responsibility for yourself. . . that's a good attitude.

3. Potentially Habitable Planets Are Common, Study Says

Comment #129930 by tooltroll on February 19, 2008 at 7:18 pm

. . . but when they finally discover one, the sea will be exactly the wrong shade of pink. . .

4. Machines 'to match man by 2029'

Comment #128699 by tooltroll on February 17, 2008 at 5:12 pm

71. Comment #128693 by NakedCelt on February 17, 2008 at 4:44 pm

Nanos in the brain? Maybe.

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated.

5. Machines 'to match man by 2029'

Comment #128571 by tooltroll on February 17, 2008 at 12:11 pm

. . . but don't worry, folks! The theists are hard at work, researching artificial stupidity, ignorance, and intolerance, so don't pack up and go home yet!

6. The argument from oranges

Comment #128442 by tooltroll on February 17, 2008 at 2:43 am

Now I have a reason to learn to defend myself against assailants armed with fresh fruit. . .

7. Smaller Version of the Solar System Is Discovered

Comment #127934 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 6:44 pm

9. Comment #127868 by Steve Zara on February 15, 2008 at 5:04 pm
...If warp drive ever works, it is going to be a lot like railway travel. The superluminal "track" will have to have been set up beforehand. More Casey Jones than James Kirk.

Naw, they'll just do a phase inversion of the antimatter deflector grid, and cross-circuit it with the subspace relays, to create quantum friction with the superluminal aether.

Or Scotty will fart, one or the other. . .

Seriously though, considering that a few decades ago, the very notion of warp drive was strictly fiction, I think that by the time we get to that level, we'll have figured out a practical means of control.

Now, the transporter, on the other hand, I consider a malodourous slab of fresh tripe.

IMO, if we ever attain transporter-type technology, it'll be more of a Stargate thingy that can pucker space to meet up with a distant locale, rather than something that dissolves you, transmits you, and reassembles you (in the case of Star Trek, without even a receiver, which makes no sense to me.) Of course, this would make warp drive obsolete. . .

8. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127917 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 5:54 pm

104. Comment #127810 by Skepticon on February 15, 2008 at 4:12 pm

I've often thought it's time for an Ayn Randian style strike -- let's stop thinking for a month and see what happens. Then they'll come begging for the nerds to turn on the power!

Who's with me!

I'm with you.
I've always said that without people like me, who actually make/do useful things for a living, all the chair-bound, middle-management, bureaucratic paper-pushers would still be living in caves and shitting in their own water supply. (Usually at excess volume, towards some elitist prick with more money than brains, who thinks the size of his wallet makes him my 'better.')

9. Smaller Version of the Solar System Is Discovered

Comment #127909 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 5:46 pm

. . . and I, for one, welcome our new alien overlords!

10. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127904 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 5:28 pm

129. Comment #127893 by Sally Luxmoore on February 15, 2008 at 5:22 pm

Re: Mutagen .

Well. You learn something every day if you're not careful.
I'll be keeping well clear of you in future, Tooltroll.

Sigh. . . it's not easy being green. . .

11. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127881 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 5:11 pm

121. Comment #127862 by Sally Luxmoore on February 15, 2008 at 5:00 pm

What does mutagenic mean?

It causes mutations. Sorry. Lame 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' reference. . .

12. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127875 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 5:09 pm

119. Comment #127860 by righton on February 15, 2008 at 4:56 pm
I usually have to type fast since I have other things to do, like work.

This would be the famous american work ethic. . . Sit on your ass surfing the net and get paid for it. Must be nice. I, however, actually WORK for a living, so this must be my day off, since I'm online, and not actually doing something useful. How about you, righton? Oh, that's right- you're stealing your employer's time and computing resources, by taking valid points I'm trying to make, and twisting them into "Rome fell because of bad punctuation." I don't believe you have degrees, much less have written a paper: your obvious lack of facility with the language shows that. I DO, however, believe I won't waste any more time on trying to show you what you refuse to see. Your patriotic dogma is as repugnant as any other.

13. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127861 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 4:58 pm

115. Comment #127852 by SPS on February 15, 2008 at 4:50 pm

tooltroll,

Consider a look at ParEcon.

I'd love to, but the link appears to be broken.

116. Comment #127853 by Sally Luxmoore on February 15, 2008 at 4:50 pm

...it wouldn't hurt to remember whose comment board it is. You don't hear Richard Dawkins speaking ungrammatically and I would stake money on his having little need of a spellchecker or a grammar check. It is not a waste of time to pay attention to those things if you want to be taken seriously.
So I suppose that means I'm leaning towards Tooltroll. Hope that green doesn't rub off.

Heh. Don't worry- it's non-toxic. . . slightly mutagenic, though. Stay away from rats, turtles, warthogs, and rhinos for about a week. :D

14. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127845 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 4:38 pm

108. Comment #127826 by righton on February 15, 2008 at 4:24 pm

Did not major in english but I do have a masters degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Oh ya, and I also have my name on one research article along with a first author paper coming out later this year.
My punctuation on a blog has nothing to do with my inteligence.
America is like Rome. The roman empire fell, therefore America will fall.

1. This is a comment board, not a blog.
2. Your spelling and punctuation have everything to do with others' perceptions of your intelligence.
3. Those who refuse to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
4. I can claim a masters of fatchickonomy, a doctorate in fatchickology, and authorship of an entire body of literature, none of which can be reliably verified through this forum, so bringing them up would just make me sound like an overeducated prat with his back to the wall, desperately trying to defend my obtuse notions.
5. Lemon curry?!?

15. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127831 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 4:28 pm

107. Comment #127819 by Sally Luxmoore on February 15, 2008 at 4:19 pm

So -Tooltroll -

I suppose we can take it, then, that your green-ness is not envy ?

Which, in your view is the best system?

Well, that's where it all falls to the ground, doesn't it? No matter the system that's been tried, whether religious, economic, political or otherwise, human nature seems to have a way of corrupting it.
A true communism, perhaps moderated by capitalist elements, would be my first approximation, but how to keep the corrupt and power-hungry from gravitating to the top and twisting it to their own benefit? That's the real question.

(. . . and no, it's not envy. Me father was a troll. . .)

16. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127817 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 4:16 pm

I fucking care. More about the confusion caused by improper punctuation than an occasional misteak or tyop, since "were" and "we're" mean different things, as do "your" and "you're." I won't even get into "there," "their" and "they're" since you don't care (by your own admission) if you come across as an illiterate moron, but how do you expect people to respond if you can't be bothered to be intelligible?
In any case, you are reinforcing my point with every misspelling and misuse of punctuation: That the US educational system is tripe. Thank you.

17. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127802 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 3:57 pm

YES! Compare you to Rome. Same crap, different year. As for 'my' media, it comes from all over the world, from reliable, reputable sources, including some in the US who are staunch enough to try to get at the truth.
And for gawd's sake, learn to spell!

18. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127784 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 3:47 pm

97. Comment #127776 by righton on February 15, 2008 at 3:42 pm

I think it's really funny when people say america is a falling empire.

Yeah, we're on the edge of failure and destruction over here.
[corrections mine -tt]

You don't see it because you're inside it. The american media gives you nothing to compare it to.

19. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127743 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 2:52 pm

. . . and another thing:
What's worrisome, as I pointed out earlier, is the american propensity for exporting their defective system to other countries. At least when the Soviet Union fell, it didn't try to take the rest of the world along with it. Not so American Capitalism! With their fingers in everybody's pies, as enforced by decades of gunboat diplomacy, they're doing their best to ensure they've got all the world's marbles when they gurgle down the drain. Said death-gurgle is not as far off as one may think: Compare US contemporary culture to Rome before the fall (and any number of other imperial states.)
I offer as example Whoopi Goldberg's comment on 'The View' the other day, relating to the Obama/Clinton debacle: "What do I do?" she says, torn between voting for a black (man) and a (white) woman. Does it not occur to anyone that perhaps they should vote for the most competent person, regardless of what special interests you and/or the candidates represent? It might as well be a junior-high class election, since it's all just a popularity contest. The most powerful country on Earth, run by teenage drama-queen mentalities. . .
Scary, no?

20. Inventor Doesn't Dare Say 'Perpetual Motion Machine'

Comment #127707 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 2:22 pm

Sigh.

Drama. . .

It should probably be pointed out at this juncture that feeding trolls (except me) causes more problems in the long-term. . .

Just sayin'. . .

21. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127664 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 1:55 pm

The point you seem to be making is that most americans get a reasonable education. . . in which you made a 4th grade mistake in punctuation. And spelled 'lie' lye, now that I take another look. . .
Now ask 'Where else has the American educational system failed me?'
Unfortunately, you can't really answer, being a product of said system. Your teachers wouldn't have spent time on discussing the shortcomings of the institution that pays their salaries, would they?
All this, despite the fact that your folks, through their taxes, have paid to get you what your government would like to believe (and usually claims) is a superior edu-ma-cation.

22. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127652 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 1:44 pm

American's

Sigh. First, ask yourself whether you are expressing a plural or a possessive case. . . then ask yourself if your misuse of punctuation illustrates the point you're trying to make.
Again, sigh.

23. The Moral Necessity of Atheism

Comment #127574 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 12:40 pm

Apparently, it violates YouTube's god-given right to control others' thoughts.

Are we surprised?

24. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127562 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 12:20 pm

80. Comment #127559 by Acitta

Canadians like to make fun of American ignorance too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuyfmvnwoG8

Bwahahaha! Gotta love Rick Mercer! It'd be interesting to see the opposite done: An american (say, Stephen Colbert, heh) 'talking to canadians.'
Of course, we're swamped with american media, so it'd be a no-brainer. . .

25. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #127553 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 11:58 am

Part of the problem is the american notion that "all men are created equal" (I'm using it in the presently accepted sense, not the original "all (rich, white) men (but not women) are created equal" :D) Either way, it's patently untrue, which is why the US (and elsewhere) have some total morons employed in public service, from teachers to presidents. Unfortunately, this silly notion sounds so noble and enlightened that it spreads: I recently called 911 for a fire in the alley behind my house and had to contend with the idiocy of the operator on the other end, who could not initiate any kind of action without first going through the whole spiel her computer had scripted before her. Long story short, the nieghbor and I had the fire out by the time the FD wandered by.
I'd rather see INTELLIGENT people hired where intelligence is required, rather than this notion of dumbing down the job to meet lowest-common-denominator intelligence/education.

26. Why multiculturalism must be abandoned

Comment #127528 by tooltroll on February 15, 2008 at 11:25 am

260. Comment #126593 by Acitta
...Multiculturalism means people from multiple cultures sharing with one another. Multiculturalism does not mean that someone can immigrate and then demand that all of the other cultures conform to the cultural ideas that they bring...

I agree, and it constantly amazes me that people who emigrate to escape intolerance and oppression, and find new opportunities always seem to insist on bringing the intolerance and opression with them. IMHO, if an immigrant insists on living by the laws of another country, he or she should go back to that country where those laws are already in effect, rather than trying to convert his new country into his old one. Invasion by assimilation is what it is...

27. Inventor Doesn't Dare Say 'Perpetual Motion Machine'

Comment #124086 by tooltroll on February 8, 2008 at 10:11 am

Here's his patent application:
http://patents.ic.gc.ca/cipo/cpd/en/patent/2437745/summary.html
I find it slightly suspicious that the diagrams are, apparently, somehow, unscannable. Say what? Is my country's patent office using Fisher-Price scanners? Or was the scanner donated by, say, Petro-Canada, and just can't resolve images that may cut into their profits? Hmmmmmm. . .

28. Inventor Doesn't Dare Say 'Perpetual Motion Machine'

Comment #124078 by tooltroll on February 8, 2008 at 9:50 am

For thousands of years, the sun orbited the earth, which was flat, god(s) influenced our daily lives, and powered flight was impossible. Sooner or later, somebody comes along and breaks the rules, and has to fight tooth and claw to get their new facts accepted, which task is usually made much more difficult due to years (or centuries) of poseurs and charlatans making similar claims to scam others. Gradually, though, we come to understand the physical principles behind such new ideas and technologies.

I'm willing to wait and see. If this is the long awaited legitimate 'perpetual motion' machine, I'm sure in a decade or two, science will have examined and explained it, and it will be found to conform with physical laws. It might even be the type of rare event that causes us to rethink some basic physical concepts.