1. God hates Mars

Comment #199428 by noodly_noodleson on June 25, 2008 at 6:41 pm

'Science is like a blabbermouth who ruins a movie by telling how it ends. I say there are some things we don't want to know! Important things!' -- Ned Flanders

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

Comment #199361 by noodly_noodleson on June 25, 2008 at 3:15 pm

Cartomancer:

I'm beginning to wonder if the best option might not be to just abolish the official legal institution of marriage altogether.

I for one am sick and tired of people and their marriages. Limiting yourself to one sexual partner (in theory) for the rest of your life (in theory) does not make you special. Why, there are plenty of people who find themselves limited to no sexual partners, and we don't give them preferential treatment.

Oh but...yes...best of wishes to your friends, esuther, I'm sure they are lovely!! :D

3. Holiday in Hellmouth

Comment #190774 by noodly_noodleson on June 9, 2008 at 2:33 pm

Drool,

Yes, that was the joke.

the country flags operate on the assumption that people on the internet cannot read their own language

4. Holiday in Hellmouth

Comment #190684 by noodly_noodleson on June 9, 2008 at 11:31 am

Drool,

Similar to putting little illustrations on emergency exits and rubbish bins for the benefit of foreigners, the country flags operate on the assumption that people on the internet cannot read their own language and need a picture in order to correctly identify it.

5. Holiday in Hellmouth

Comment #190645 by noodly_noodleson on June 9, 2008 at 10:24 am

Well I'm rather busy right now (can't exactly tell my supervisor to judge my work by 'my standards', not hers), and clearthinker seems to think that begging the question is a legitimate form of argumentation, so I'll just copy/paste some of the moral standards of the biblical god:

'On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord! ' Exodus 12:12

'Give the following instructions to Aaron: In all future generations, none of your descendants who has any defect will qualify to offer food to his God. No one who has a defect qualifies, whether he is blind, lame, disfigured, deformed, or has a broken foot or arm, or is hunchbacked or dwarfed, or has a defective eye, or skin sores or scabs, or damaged testicles. No descendant of Aaron who has a defect may approach the altar to present special gifts to the Lord. Since he has a defect, he may not approach the altar to offer food to his God. However, he may eat from the food offered to God, including the holy offerings and the most holy offerings. Yet because of his physical defect, he may not enter the room behind the inner curtain or approach the altar, for this would defile my holy places. I am the Lord who makes them holy.' Leviticus 21:17-23

'So kill all the boys and all the women who have had intercourse with a man. Only the young girls who are virgins may live; you may keep them for yourselves.' Numbers 31:17-8

'Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was going up the road, some youths came from the city and mocked him, and said to him, "Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!" So he turned around and looked at them, and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the LORD. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths.' 2 Kings 2:23-4

'No one whose testicles are crushed or whose male organ is cut off shall enter the assembly of the Lord.' Deuteronomy 2:1

'Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn "a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law--a man's enemies will be the members of his own household." Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.' Matthew 10:34-37

According to CS Lewis, the entirety of the Christian narrative is god's divine example of how humans are supposed to act. We see Christians hating gays and shunning pretend wizards, so why no virgin rape? Why no death sentences for bald jokes?

Why take its veracity for granted when even its most strident proponents won't argue the merits of every claim?

6. Holiday in Hellmouth

Comment #190001 by noodly_noodleson on June 8, 2008 at 6:03 am

Comment #189966 by clearthinker

I of course totally agree with you that the trivilisation of prayer and the self obcession in your example are reprehensible. However I do have a question for you -

Have you ever bought a CD or gone to a concert? If your statistics are correct then approxximately 1000 children died during your listening of that CD. That money could have been spent on the poor, and the time used to campaign for the poor -

Does that make you
a) a music lover
b) a bastard
c) ?

Why yes, I bought a cd just this past week.
Now to your analogy, am I:
a) a music lover
Why, yes I am.
b) a bastard
Probably a bit of a bastard, yes.
c) (nonexistent)
I would hope I am not, as my entire life is predicated on the assumption that I exist.

But nevermind that, I agree with your assessment that God is just as concerned with his own amusement and blind to world suffering as the average human being.

7. Holiday in Hellmouth

Comment #189952 by noodly_noodleson on June 7, 2008 at 9:53 pm

I once out of curiosity attended an evangelical Christian prayer meeting. Half way into it one of the girls pulled out a cd player she claimed wasn't working properly and asked everyone to pray over it. Five minutes of intense grunting and wild gesticulations later, and it worked perfectly.

If my statistics are correct, approximately 105 children died from starvation during those five minutes.



Your call: Is God:
a)a music lover
b)a bastard
c)

8. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #189162 by noodly_noodleson on June 5, 2008 at 3:18 pm

bonzai (Comment #189153),

Oh that makes a lot of sense. PM for you, so I don't fog up this discussion with non-controversy.

9. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #189141 by noodly_noodleson on June 5, 2008 at 2:16 pm

Mitchell and Bonzai,

I had a Korean friend who said that they are only used in newspapers there, so maybe it is considered more official?

it is not exactly the same as the Japanese way of pronouncing it

The Japanese borrowed many of the pronunciations along with the characters, but they are all a bit off and probably silly-sounding if you speak Chinese. (Whenever I try to understand written Chinese, I always end up pronouncing it as if it were Japanese. Once I was talking to a Chinese-speaker and said "chuubun" instead of "zhongwen". haha)

EDIT: zhongwen is the Chinese word for Chinese language, chuubun is how the same characters are pronounced in Japanese. I realised that might not make sense to everyone else...

10. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #189091 by noodly_noodleson on June 5, 2008 at 12:19 pm

Comment #189005 by Mitchell Gilks

No that is inaccurate all ways around. … I think that your confusion lies in the name "Kanji" which means "chinese characters" and there are something like 80, 000 all together…I'm only learning the Japanese version, which only makes use of 3007 of them

I think you are mistaken. Kanji ("kan" meaning the Han dynasty, and "ji" meaning character, "kanji" is the Japanese word for them, the Chinese word is different) refers to all characters that originally came from China, and a small number of similar characters that were created outside China. There are over 70,000 kanji (maybe they round up to 80,000). Adult literacy in Japan is measured by the 1945 kanji learnt in school, otherwise high school graduates would be labelled illiterate. The average Japanese person knows about 3000-4000, and there are more obscure ones that are still used in Japan. So I am not sure what you mean by 3007 of the Japanese version of them. There is a national Japanese language kanji proficiency test, but 3007ji is not the highest level, 6000 is.

11. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #188975 by noodly_noodleson on June 5, 2008 at 5:03 am

Philip,
I suppose it's largely because they have changed so much througout history. Unless you are researching ancient scrolls and such, you can lead a very happy life without ever encountering most of them (or is it 'because you will never encounter most of them'?). :)

12. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #188965 by noodly_noodleson on June 5, 2008 at 4:12 am

Mitchell,

I was looking at your youtube page and just wanted to mention something.

You said there are 3007 Chinese characters. Actually there are over 70,000. In Japan, children learn about 2000 by the end of high school, and the average adult knows 3000-4000.

Good luck with studying.

13. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #188159 by noodly_noodleson on June 3, 2008 at 9:34 am

Comment #188146 by Cartomancer

Far be it from me to dissuade you from that rather pleasing stereotype, but you clearly haven't been to the Love Bar on King Edward Street in Oxford on a tuesday night...

Funny, I thought the homosexuals were all kept on that street near Westgate.... You know, because they are happier there.

14. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187750 by noodly_noodleson on June 2, 2008 at 2:16 pm

Comment #187745 by Elli

I'm not so sure you'd be a nightmare to him. You are intelligent and a woman, either of those things alone he would be willing to accept, but together they challenge his understanding of the world. So he chose to ignore you completely.

15. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187673 by noodly_noodleson on June 2, 2008 at 12:50 pm

Comment #187600 by Mitchell Gilks

It's very difficult to make money in translation. If you don't have certification, people will try to underpay you. Although it depends on your expectations...

16. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187215 by noodly_noodleson on June 1, 2008 at 1:49 pm

The website www.themustardjar.com...

is a collection of gay love stories....

I think we have stumbled onto a connection far greater than we ever imagined. My entire belief system is shattering....

17. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187196 by noodly_noodleson on June 1, 2008 at 1:17 pm

Phil:

Stop all this smutty marmite talk! Its making me..... quite....er...oh, God. I thought I had these urges under control....Help me...

Quick, pray it away, Phil, pray it away!!!

18. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187191 by noodly_noodleson on June 1, 2008 at 1:11 pm

Comment #187188 by Quetzalcoatl and
Comment #187189 by AllanW

Fiddlesticks, Allan beat me to the coprophagia joke!

19. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187187 by noodly_noodleson on June 1, 2008 at 12:50 pm

I believe that mustard-lovers would be happier if they stayed with their own kind somewhere out of sight of us decent folks. Imagine the chaos that would ensue if Max were to pass a jar of mustard to Mitchell while Colwyn and I were sitting at the next table!

20. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187148 by noodly_noodleson on June 1, 2008 at 11:17 am

Mitchell: Although I never threaten people, I have an interest in Japan. Though I'm awesome for other reasons.

Haha! Brilliant.


Coincidentally, pre-modern Japan was one of the places where there was no societal stigma against homosexual sex. It only developed after 1868, when Japan began to embrace Western culture. Likewise, before the introduction of Chinese religious thought (specifically Confucianism and Buddhism), female sexuality was not considered sinful or impure.

Note: Considering the tone this has taken, I have to agree with Allan, Don't Feed the Troll!

21. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187053 by noodly_noodleson on June 1, 2008 at 8:21 am

Appleby: I could probably take you with my centuries-old samurai sword.

Oh no, I just noticed this. It sounds like it was taken verbatim from a joke article I once read about how to be an internet tough guy: rules 1 and 2: Threaten people with violence to convince them of your physical superiority and make references to your intimate knowledge of Japan to convince them of your superior awesomeness.

22. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #187048 by noodly_noodleson on June 1, 2008 at 8:11 am

Appleby: This similarity is of no significance. Your association to them is unwarranted. I mentioned this in my first post with regard to the article above....This is a strawman.

I apologise. It was unfair of me to quote your own words and respond to them. I should have known that you only want people to respond to your very latest post, so that you are free to modify and contradict what you've said earlier.

Whom to believe is then left up to us to decide (based on experience, preference etc.).

People are free to believe whatever nonsense they choose, but you are trying to convince people of the validity your opinions even when most of the evidence contradicts them. Then you accuse everyone else of being dogmatic. If you are an atheist, you must recognise that you yourself would not find this kind of argument convincing were it coming from a theist.

I *am* talking about hypotheticals. Stop making this about me....Would you then accept the inferiority of women? Would it kill you if the "truth" (as far as we can tell) was actually that? Could you possibly accept it? This says a lot about you.

I was responding to the logical inconsistencies in your arguments, but here we have a prime example in a single paragraph. 'Stop making this about me....This says a lot about you' Actually it says nothing about me; you merely assumed what my answer would be and challenged it, which says more about you. I asked you if you accept a (real) scientific study that says men overestimate their own intelligence, you ignore the question and then challenge me to respond to your (hypothetical) study that says women are inferior to men. Well, ignoring the cogent observations several people have already about the unfeasibility of such a study, say women were proven to be inferior to men in general. My response is this: Only God slaughters empires to spite their rulers. Theory has little value unless put into action and actions which treat all members of a certain group the same (even if the assertions made are true of most of the members) are at best foolish and at worst revolting.
But yes, I would accept convincing evidence regardless of my personal feelings; that is why I am an atheist.

23. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #186929 by noodly_noodleson on May 31, 2008 at 9:10 pm

Appleby,

Actually your argument has been running in circles throughout this thread.

This is a sign of lacking the sophistication required to adapt to new, challenging ideas that may go against your cherished beliefs. Not all "-phobias" and "-isms" are bad (or will continue to be forever).I suppose if I were to say that I also believed white people are generally more intelligent than coloured people, it would just send you through the roof. That, I'm afraid, would be a kind of dogmatism on your part.

You seem to be under the impression that your opinions are somehow revolutionary, whereas the more visceral reactions you accuse everyone of having to them seem to stem in part from the fact that they are quite similar to the opinions religion has been vomiting at humanity for ages.

Perhaps I don't necessarily believe what some politically correct scientists say about the matter (one can probably find another scientist who says something to the contrary).

Perhaps I don't necessarily believe what some [atheistic] evolutionary biologists say about the matter (one can probably find another scientist who says [the Earth is only 6000 years old]).
There, fixed that for you. But do go on comparing everyone else to dogmatists.

I would be willing to accept for example, if the truth of the matter was that women are actually overall superior to men (I think you would too but strangely not the reverse, am I right?) regardless of how I feel about the issue personally.

Actually you already said that you would not necessarily accept evidence you disagree with. As Mitchell said, the studies that have been done have shown little difference in intelligence between men and women, yet you clearly don't seem happy with these results, as you keep arguing the hypothetical. How about "Sex differences in self-estimates on two validated IQ test subscale scores" (Furnham, Crawshaw, Rawles)? It states that while IQ averages are generally the same between sexes, men tend to overestimate their own intelligence and the intelligence of men in general. Would you say that's accurate?

24. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #186564 by noodly_noodleson on May 30, 2008 at 3:41 pm

In certain cultures, the emphasis on women's virginity stems from practices of filial inheritance when women were seen as vessels for men to create heirs. Eventually this led to demonising female sexuality in general. Women were (and in some places still are) little more than property to be bought, sold and thrown away if "damaged."

I don't think anyone's arguing that people shouldn't make silly contracts if they want to. The problem is the system the contract reflects.

25. Lab agrees to test Shroud of Turin for new theory

Comment #183058 by noodly_noodleson on May 21, 2008 at 10:07 am

...a relic that no modern artist or scientist could reproduce.

Does anyone know what they base this on?

26. Lab agrees to test Shroud of Turin for new theory

Comment #182821 by noodly_noodleson on May 21, 2008 at 2:37 am

" But my faith doesn't depend on that outcome."

But it seems like the outcome often depends upon one's faith.

27. Pop Goes Christianity

Comment #181609 by noodly_noodleson on May 17, 2008 at 4:23 pm

Christian Harlequin novels? Really?

"...just the thought of resisting their animal urges all night long sent waves of pleasure through her body...."

Oh that's sexy.

28. Youngest galactic supernova (not aliens) found

Comment #180266 by noodly_noodleson on May 14, 2008 at 12:57 pm

RevJimBob,

No no no. God created the supernova with the light already most of the way to earth, so that the soldiers would look up into the sky and know His divine will.

29. 'Spiritual' dentist fined $10,000

Comment #180209 by noodly_noodleson on May 14, 2008 at 11:24 am

"The patient leaves feeling different and knowing that they have been touched by Jesus Christ," Dr Gardner said in his letter.

Yeah, but the feeling wears off when you realize he's not going to call...

30. The Neural Buddhists

Comment #179705 by noodly_noodleson on May 13, 2008 at 2:25 pm

"Buddhists" ...don't believe in a soul either (at least it's not in the official teachings).


This reminds me terribly of my own writing when I was in school. When you don't have very in-depth knowledge of anything in particular, you tend to piece together fuzzy snippits of whatever you do know.

31. My Response to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Comment #177354 by noodly_noodleson on May 9, 2008 at 1:04 am

I may be a bit slow, but wasn't Shmuley's only claim to fame that he knew Michael Jackson and was willing to go on any television or radio program to talk about the fact that he knew Michael Jackson?

Of course I don't know anything about now-defunct Oxford student groups, although I will say that Shmuley certainly seems to enjoy saying the word "Oxford."

32. The Neanderthal Debate

Comment #174791 by noodly_noodleson on May 3, 2008 at 2:12 pm

Truth Seeker:

>> 16 Apr 08: Neanderthal expert Dr Chris Stringer discusses new ideas of how neanderthals and early man co-existed with Telegraph Science Editor Dr Roger Highfield. <<

I have to strongly disagree with his premise.

Dr Roger Highfield probably did no co-exist with early man and neanderthals :-)

But we still ought to teach the controversy!

33. Anti-Evolution Film Misappropriates the Holocaust

Comment #172543 by noodly_noodleson on April 29, 2008 at 5:33 pm

markg,
shmeckle?
Sounds so diminutive...

34. Sexpelled: No Intercourse Allowed

Comment #162921 by noodly_noodleson on April 17, 2008 at 5:05 pm

Kudos to these brave men for exposing the Big Sex zygotists their dangerous propaganda!

Did you know that Sex Theory has caused some of the greatests atrocities of modern times? It was Hitler's belief in Sex Theory that led directly to the Nazi eugenics program.
Not to mention the fact that belief in Sex leads to unnatural and sinful fascination with men's and women's icky parts.

This film is good news, people!
Finally, alternative opinions will no longer be excluded from public debate just because they are wrong.

35. Seven new deadly sins: are you guilty?

Comment #141810 by noodly_noodleson on March 11, 2008 at 8:34 am

lxlqlxl and Peacebeuponme,

Unfortunately many people, regardless of how intelligent they are, will ultimately use that intelligence simply to rationalise whatever they want to believe.

As for making stupid (not to mention offensive) statements, religious people are often of the mindset that as long as their beliefs are true, they can do no wrong.

Case in point, I went to school with a roman catholic girl who used to steal condoms, etc from shops and throw them away. I don't think it ever crossed her mind that stealing them might be wrong, or illegal for that matter.

36. Seven new deadly sins: are you guilty?

Comment #141668 by noodly_noodleson on March 11, 2008 at 4:11 am

...paedophilia, which had even infected the clergy itself and so had exposed the "human and institutional fragility of the Church".

Is it just me, or does that almost make it sound endearing?

37. Seven new deadly sins: are you guilty?

Comment #141497 by noodly_noodleson on March 10, 2008 at 2:14 pm

#141490 by Szkeptik

Let's congratulate the Vatican for making laws that are not worth the paper they were written on.

Would that be the Vatican's official silk paper with solid gold ink?

38. Seven new deadly sins: are you guilty?

Comment #141473 by noodly_noodleson on March 10, 2008 at 1:27 pm

The test gave me a 'gluttonous' level 3. So it's sending me to hell and calling me fat??

39. Oklahoma: One Step from Doom

Comment #141459 by noodly_noodleson on March 10, 2008 at 1:05 pm

epeeist,

Technically, it's ideology based on how much power you want to give the government, so letting the gov't control the standards for wages tends to worry people. Unfortunately the whole thing goes to hell when the party of "small government" decides they secretly like big government when it means they have the power to push their religious agenda.

40. Should Galileo's tomb be opened for DNA tests?

Comment #141453 by noodly_noodleson on March 10, 2008 at 12:57 pm

Moreoever, the organisation that had no trouble selling parts of saints and chopping up bones to send to become alterpieces in its various churchs now thinks it is wrong to mess with dead bodies?

I sense a Davinci Code-esque cover-up. Or maybe I am just bored because it's Monday.

Vaal, will that be your ten percent tithing?

41. Oklahoma: One Step from Doom

Comment #141169 by noodly_noodleson on March 10, 2008 at 6:28 am

cowalker,
Yes, a clever teacher could beat the system, but that's assuming that they want to. Don't forget, teachers would be part of the voting public that elected these people in the first place.

I say we offer a reward for any student willing to answer "God did it" for every question on every exam.

Hell, I would've done it on any question I didn't know the answer to. It's a fail-proof cheat.

42. My Saudi Valentine

Comment #126650 by noodly_noodleson on February 13, 2008 at 6:31 pm

find love somewhere around the corner, hidden in that mall or behind the tinted windows of a car.

... finding love behind the tinted windows of a car sounds seedier than Valentine's day.