1. Landlords protest after pub swearing ban gets them sacked

Comment #206723 by riki on July 8, 2008 at 5:35 pm

They should give the gambling industry a try next time. If that fails they could always open a brothel.

2. Crack annoyance squad wanted

Comment #203624 by riki on July 3, 2008 at 9:07 am

Sounds like an open invitation to the Chaser team.

3. Stephen Hawking's explosive new theory

Comment #201770 by riki on June 30, 2008 at 8:46 am

There was also an article in New Scientist a few days ago

Hawking 'close' to explaining universe's inflation
http://space.newscientist.com/article/mg19826624.300

4. Aliens need Christ's redemption, too

Comment #201684 by riki on June 30, 2008 at 3:42 am

Letme guess, the Alien's were cast out of an alien garden of eden, so they too are not free from original sin. In which case maybe we'll find naked aliens somewhere in the universe, who have no idea their naked. But what will they make of us in our space suits?

Actually alien's might not understand the concept of nudity. So maybe he's onto something here.

5. Common New Atheist Fallacies

Comment #200509 by riki on June 27, 2008 at 6:42 pm

I want to know what the "Columbo Tactic" is. Have they been studying Inspector Columbo, to help dumb people appear more intelligent?

6. A secular world is a sane world

Comment #200507 by riki on June 27, 2008 at 6:32 pm

One of Pat's best videos, direct and to the point.

7. Saudi Marriage Officiant : 'It Is Allowed To Marry A Girl At The Age Of One'.

Comment #198940 by riki on June 24, 2008 at 7:56 pm

Nothing surprises me anymore. Speaking of which apparently God was arrested today for selling cocaine near a church.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=3e885a23-b0c3-42c0-882d-fbf14dbab0f9

8. Rare dinosaur mummy's arm and tail unveiled

Comment #194709 by riki on June 17, 2008 at 7:51 am

Glad to hear it's coming to Japan.

9. Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound

Comment #190600 by riki on June 9, 2008 at 9:31 am

@ robotaholic

When you just let go and "believe" it will all make perfect sense. :)

10. Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound

Comment #190590 by riki on June 9, 2008 at 9:24 am

The simplest proof (yet one that no atheist has ever been able to counter effectively) is that a universe of this size and magnitude does not somehow build itself, just as a set of encyclopedias doesn't write itself or form randomly from the spill of a massive inkblot.

11. Trailer for Religulous

Comment #190581 by riki on June 9, 2008 at 9:12 am

I normally hate the flicks that come out of Lionsgate, but at last something decent.

12. Faith no more as World Youth Day fans flames of disbelief

Comment #189841 by riki on June 7, 2008 at 10:56 am

Technology is also forcing kids to think more critically and methodically.

13. Faith no more as World Youth Day fans flames of disbelief

Comment #189816 by riki on June 7, 2008 at 10:26 am

I think a large proportion of Australians would tick the Christian box on a census. But I think for the average Aussie that means about as much as a Christmas card and a few Easter Eggs.

14. Town moves against Islamic school

Comment #184832 by riki on May 26, 2008 at 9:17 am

Pauline Hanson is an idiot. There's another article here as well
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/12/20/2124578.htm

15. How Are Humans Unique?

Comment #184454 by riki on May 25, 2008 at 10:19 am

Publishing is probably the animal equivalent of a dog marking it's territory.

16. Does Time Run Backward in Other Universes?

Comment #184280 by riki on May 24, 2008 at 9:41 am

Nah time is an illusion. btw who's got the remote?
http://video3000.de/

17. The Faith of Flanders

Comment #184269 by riki on May 24, 2008 at 8:59 am

None of this means anything to me. I watch about 20mins of TV a week, and that's on the exercise bike at the gym.

18. Kenya mob reportedly burns 11 'witches'

Comment #183795 by riki on May 22, 2008 at 8:54 pm

@ acs

The news article mentions people being identified as witches, due to pre-existing disputes and grudges.

19. Kenya mob reportedly burns 11 'witches'

Comment #183605 by riki on May 22, 2008 at 10:37 am

An update from BBC, regarding arrests

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7415502.stm

20. Kenya mob reportedly burns 11 'witches'

Comment #183494 by riki on May 22, 2008 at 7:22 am

A few video links

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZVVbGEOoCM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_Ck9xSq4y8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EWwFVfd9kY8&feature=related

21. Kenya mob reportedly burns 11 'witches'

Comment #183474 by riki on May 22, 2008 at 7:00 am

I've heard other stories from Africa, were self-professed witches or witch doctors create good luck charms using human body parts taken from live children. The intension being to inflict the most amount of pain on the most innocent of victims, to conjure up the strongest mojo.

22. In God's Name

Comment #182888 by riki on May 21, 2008 at 5:10 am

I can't watch this shit. I'd rather garotte myself.

23. In God's Name

Comment #182856 by riki on May 21, 2008 at 3:54 am

I couldn't bare to watch.

24. Missing matter found in deep space

Comment #182804 by riki on May 21, 2008 at 1:56 am

It's odd that they've found the "Missing matter" but then in another science news, they've lost a void that's almost one billion light years wide.

25. Geeks and Guinness: the formula for sexy science

Comment #182378 by riki on May 19, 2008 at 10:10 pm

That link should be http://www.cafescientifique.org/

26. Surviving an unholy school war

Comment #181771 by riki on May 18, 2008 at 7:49 am

The endless joy that religion brings. Looks like the inquisition is still alive and kicking.

Afghan student in torture claim

An Afghan student journalist who was sentenced to death for blasphemy has told an appeals court that he confessed after being tortured.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7407229.stm

27. Surviving an unholy school war

Comment #181763 by riki on May 18, 2008 at 7:19 am

In contrast I went to about eight different public schools throughout Australia during the 70's and up to the mid 80's but only remember one incident of a student receiving the cane.

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

Comment #181265 by riki on May 16, 2008 at 7:50 pm

New Scientist have just posted a follow up article on this. "Was Einstein religious?"

http://www.newscientist.com/blog/space/2008/05/was-einstein-religious.html

29. Pelosi, Reid shunning Ten Commandments?

Comment #181256 by riki on May 16, 2008 at 7:11 pm

I hope they do find new earth like planets soon. Then these nut jobs can fire up their Noah's Ark 2 spaceship and begin carving out their own little Christian paradise.

30. Richard Dawkins Interview on TVOntario

Comment #181011 by riki on May 16, 2008 at 9:34 am

I can't bare to watch.

31. Malaysia woman scores rare legal win to quit Islam

Comment #180949 by riki on May 16, 2008 at 7:41 am

I started a thread about this a few weeks back.

http://richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=43640

32. Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

Comment #180377 by riki on May 14, 2008 at 5:31 pm

New Scientist have also done recent articles on this

• Did God create little green men?


• ET poses no problem for Vatican

33. Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

Comment #180100 by riki on May 14, 2008 at 8:13 am

With all this talk about aliens, I wish NASA would hurry up and let up know what the big announcement is.

I'm guessing it's more in the Black Hole department.

34. Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

Comment #180035 by riki on May 14, 2008 at 6:12 am

@ Vergil

You don't need to be overly intelligent or a clear thinker, or even remotely interested in Science to be an atheist. It probably takes some brain power though to shake it off if you've been indoctrinated as a child.

35. Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

Comment #179975 by riki on May 14, 2008 at 3:44 am

Just to recap, the son of God died on the cross, because a talking snake convinced some woman to eat an apple. Adam and Eve are booted out of the garden, and produce two sons, Cain and Able. Cain kills Able and then goes to live in the land of the Nomads. Where exactly did the Nomads come from?

The strangest bit for me is that people believe this garbage, while at the same time doubting the credibility of scientific research.

36. Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

Comment #179780 by riki on May 13, 2008 at 6:01 pm

This brings up so many questions

Did Jesus also die to save alien souls?

Did he die just once on earth or did he do a tour of the cosmos?

Do aliens have souls or are they souless like dogs and other lowly animals?

Does this mean that there could be aliens in heaven?

Do aliens need to be Catholic to get into heaven?

Were the aliens also created in the image of God?

Could the aliens be free from original sin?

If the aliens were created in the image of God and free from sin, if we procreate with an alien, will the baby be half-n-half? As in on half free of original sin.

37. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #179166 by riki on May 12, 2008 at 8:00 pm

You never know, the thought of god fearing Christians praying for cheaper petrol may tug on the heart strings of some oil-rich Arab zillionaire.

38. The Stupidity of Dignity

Comment #178971 by riki on May 12, 2008 at 10:25 am

I only understand the dignity argument when it refers to keeping people alive in a vegetative state. But that's obviously not the case here.

39. 3QD interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #178715 by riki on May 12, 2008 at 12:46 am

I was thinking the other day, any arguments that require references to either Hitler or the Nazis, should be flagged as idiotic without further consideration.

40. Evolution: What is 'Natural'?

Comment #178604 by riki on May 11, 2008 at 5:24 pm

On the subject of nature, I enjoyed the TED talk by Michael Pollan
The omnivore's next dilemma

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

Comment #178203 by riki on May 10, 2008 at 9:36 pm

Not everyone's familiar with the Daily Mash and the types of articles they publish, or the Cardinal. Think cultural and geographic differences. He doesn't register at all in the news, here in Japan.

If you read the first three paragraphs you could be easily mistaken for thinking, they're referring to direct quotes.

There's enough BS in the first three paragraphs, to make you skim through the rest, easily missing the more ridiculous parts at the end.

Plus if you're reading the republished article on the RDF website, you're also reading it out of context and missing some important visual cues, that it's meant to be funny.

I'm not surprised that people misunderstood.

42. British Airways takes beef off the menu to avoid offending Hindus

Comment #178177 by riki on May 10, 2008 at 5:37 pm

Couldn't they compromise with a nice beef curry? In any case I guess chicken is better than Tofu.

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

Comment #178168 by riki on May 10, 2008 at 4:44 pm

btw looks like the Daily Mash site is currently down. But you can see a cached version here.

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

Comment #178037 by riki on May 10, 2008 at 10:27 am

So did the Cardinal actual say the following, or is the article completely baseless?

"Those without faith should not be shunned or abused. Jesus and Beelzebub are already cooking something up for them, don't you worry about that."

I would research, but to be honest I've got better things to do.

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

Comment #177870 by riki on May 9, 2008 at 9:32 pm

The fact that an all-knowing, all-powerful God would let "nice" people burn in hell for eternity, shows that he's worshiping an evil, vindictive god (that truly loves us all of course).

You can do evil things and still avoid the trip to hell, just as long as you ask God for forgiveness. And religious people somehow seem to think they have some monopoly on morality. How exactly does that work?

Lets face it, even if we were all God-Fearing Christians, they'd still be preaching the "you're going to burn in hell" line.

Religion is not only the most absurd piece of BS that anyone could possibly dream up, but they actually expect you to believe this crap.

There's a very good reason why that don't try to hide the BS, and that's because they're looking for people with week minds.

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

Comment #177838 by riki on May 9, 2008 at 7:57 pm

I guess hell is were the party is. Hanging out with Princess Di, smoking crack and singing Christmas carols

Just think of the alternative, eternity in paradise with Ben Stein and his idiot friends.

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

Comment #177834 by riki on May 9, 2008 at 7:49 pm

I believe in heaven-on-earth and life-after-birth!

48. Churchgoing on its knees as Christianity falls out of favour

Comment #177341 by riki on May 9, 2008 at 12:18 am

Personally I think immigration policies (for any country) should have stops and checks to ensure some degree of integration.

49. Trouble ahead for science

Comment #177202 by riki on May 8, 2008 at 6:33 pm

I liked this quote in NS today

http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13858-europe-recruits-astronauts-for-possible-moon-missions.html

"We want the youth of Europe to be interested in science, mathematics and engineering, and go into these careers whether it's in space or not," he said. "The astronauts are a focal point â€" they're icons for that inspiration."

50. The History Channel might do something right

Comment #176624 by riki on May 7, 2008 at 7:48 pm

Ars Technica posted this article yesterday which may be of interest.

'Evolution: what's the real controversy?'
http://arstechnica.com/journals/science.ars/2008/05/07/evolution-whats-the-real-controversy