Comments by Duff

Comment #314331 by Duff on January 7, 2009 at 3:27 am

I don't think there is any such thing as a "dormant" black hole. Just a black hole which isn't getting anything to eat at the moment. A mass of x number of suns can never be dormant.

2. Assassins of the Mind

Comment #313609 by Duff on January 6, 2009 at 11:43 am

Yeah, stop piling on Iran! We all know it was those dastardly Norwegians who issue those fatwas!

3. 15 Evolutionary gems

Comment #311485 by Duff on January 3, 2009 at 2:09 pm

Steven Mading,
Is it up to me, a non-scientist, to tell you it is not what you think. Think ornithology.

4. Would you Adam and Eve it? Quarter of science teachers would teach creationism (Response by Dawkins and Jones)

Comment #305661 by Duff on December 23, 2008 at 12:20 pm

I've always thought a short lesson on the various proofs of both would be elucidating. One one side of the black board list the sciences (nearly every science known to man) and a brief review of the evidence from each science, and then on the other side list the proofs of creationism as provided by science or any other source which could be considered proper evidence. Even the students could suggest their own proofs.

It would be a good way to talk about what constitutes evidence and it would be a pretty shocking lesson to any young creationist and one no "thinking"(the key work here) person could argue with.

5. Is Yahweh a Moral Monster?

Comment #304755 by Duff on December 22, 2008 at 3:55 am

Being an apologist for religion is like picking berries. Pick and choose, pick and choose. Take the good and leave the bad.

6. Jimmy Carr on Richard Dawkins

Comment #304164 by Duff on December 20, 2008 at 1:16 pm

Rev. Wheloch,
But those C listers are adddddinng uppp. If you are a smart, sentient fellow, it must be a bit unnerving to feel an ever-growing bunch of exceedingly intelligent, articulate atheists breathing down your neck, poking their evidence in your face, and you, on your knees before your here-to-fore not very helpful god, hoping and praying that those things you've been reared to believe are something more than hopeful myths.

7. 'Seeing' The Quantum World: How A Quantum Computer Would Work

Comment #303917 by Duff on December 19, 2008 at 5:29 pm

In 25 years our children will laugh at the things we consider "unintelligible", "strange" and "quantumilly inexplicable", if I may coin a word.

We will advance, one funeral and one quantum computer type device, at a time.

8. We can't hide in our labs and leave the talking to Dawkins

Comment #290340 by Duff on November 25, 2008 at 3:20 am

I think the good professor once called himself an "intellectual pugilist". So maybe we shouldn't get all worked up when someone else calls him "militant" or a "firebrand".

When I grow up, I want to be an Intellectual Pugilist!

9. Educated Catholics have sown dissent and confusion in the Church, claims bishop

Comment #285331 by Duff on November 17, 2008 at 3:09 am

Oh, the evilness out there in the world! It proves that...Education Poisons Everything!!!

10. 'Child-witches' of Nigeria seek refuge

Comment #281910 by Duff on November 11, 2008 at 3:37 am

Thank Dog Sarah Palin had her witches thrown out. Just think how dangerous she would have been as president with witches haunting her body. Whew!

11. Quentin Letts ranks Dawkins 30th on list of 'people who have wrecked Britain'

Comment #278173 by Duff on November 4, 2008 at 12:40 pm

You have to admit he got one thing right. Religious people are like voles and dormouses?.

12. Paddy Power offers odds of 4-1 that God exists

Comment #278165 by Duff on November 4, 2008 at 12:35 pm

Its pretty clear to me that the LHC will never start up. There is no way god is going to allow himself to be discovered just yet. The whole religious system doesn't work unless people have faith in impossible things. Finding god would blow the whole system.

There is prooooof of god hidden there in the sub-sub atomic particles and it ain't gonna be found by no stinkin scientists. Only when he is ready will god allow himself to be found.

13. No-God squad climb aboard the atheist bus

Comment #270683 by Duff on October 24, 2008 at 12:57 pm

Zara,
"Religion is what you feel; Science is what is real". I like that very much!

I'm perhaps more in their face. I'd like to see:

"Saintliness doesn't suffice to make you intelligent."

A nod to Bertrand Russell's description of St. Bernard.

14. A 'values' voter speaks her mind on Obama

Comment #267753 by Duff on October 21, 2008 at 3:52 am

Did anyone else notice that in spite of all the rightfully horrible things one could say about this woman, she is, however, perfectly qualified to be a republican vice presidential candidate?

15. Mysterious Snippets Of DNA Withstand Eons Of Evolution

Comment #262149 by Duff on October 8, 2008 at 3:45 am

As I read this article, I asked myself, where have I recently read this very same thing. Well, I realized it isn't that different from a treatise in Professor Dawkin's The Ancestor's Tale which I am currently re-reading.

16. Bill Maher's Religulous Opens Today

Comment #259946 by Duff on October 4, 2008 at 8:48 am

Criticize Maher all you want for this or that imperfection, but he has the inclination, the ability and the name to put a film out there we all agree needs to be done, and we should stop being petty and talk it up.

Maher kicks ass!

17. Christian group calls for a Christian university in Britain

Comment #259874 by Duff on October 4, 2008 at 3:56 am

I have it on good authority that the bible is the founding document at the LHC. And, that the reason the machine had to be shut down was because in its construction some of the people involved relied too heavily on Revelations, rather than Genesis. They have committees of priests in right now sorting it all out.

18. Catholic priests cane YouTube over blasphemous vids

Comment #259195 by Duff on October 3, 2008 at 3:56 am

I'm not so sure urinating on a holocaust memorial is in the same league as the cracker business, but I should think someone could make a nice video of a priest blessing a cracker and of a Taliban wacko wacking a girl with a stick, or something, and an orthodox jew doing something stupid to somebody. Then, they would all be made to look equally idiotic.

19. Seeing Red and Blue Can Divide a Species - of Fish

Comment #259187 by Duff on October 3, 2008 at 3:43 am

Professor Dawkins goes into great detail about the evolution of colorvision in his chapter The Howler Monkey's Tale in his book, The Ancestor's Tale.

20. The God Delusion's cameo in season premiere of 'Family Guy'

Comment #256724 by Duff on September 29, 2008 at 12:34 pm

Elli,
Not sure I agree the Simpsons is a children's show. Pretty sophisticated, both of these animated shows. To show how out of it I am, I chided my post teen daughter for always watching Family Guy. She said, "Dad, this show blasts all the people you can't stand." It turns out she is correct. As usual.

21. Blinded by a divine light

Comment #256304 by Duff on September 29, 2008 at 3:53 am

Mark Jones,
In the religious community, change comes when the collections dry up because the parishioners don't like what's being preached. A little adjustment to the dogma does wonders for the pastors income.

22. Why albino monks won't conduct stem cell research

Comment #252402 by Duff on September 23, 2008 at 3:46 am

This is going to be very fun! The religious "scientists" competing with the "lay scientists". I wonder who will win. Can you say, Galileo?

23. Jewish 'ultras' defend morals with menace

Comment #251754 by Duff on September 22, 2008 at 3:23 am

This sort of religious bullying goes on in Brooklyn as well. The Lubavichers and other ultras may not be so blatant, but women are second class citizens in parts of the US also.

The Taliban and the ultra Jews are more recognizable by their stupid haberdashery, but they are only more ridiculous than the ultra christian fundamentalist by a matter of a degree. Christian fundamentalists are often known to overpower their recalcitrants and "cast out the devil". There is not a dimes worth of difference between them all.

Does anyone deny that religion is the only socially acceptable mental illness???

24. Evolution fine but no apology to Darwin: Vatican

Comment #250641 by Duff on September 20, 2008 at 3:49 am

"...as if history was a court eternally in session." As if!

25. Letter from Sir Richard Roberts asking Reiss to step down

Comment #248294 by Duff on September 16, 2008 at 3:30 am

When a student in a science class advances an ID proposition, it is not the teachers business to reply in a reasoned way why ID has no place in science. It is the teacher duty to roll on the floor in laughter.

26. Pope condemns 'pagan' love of money, power

Comment #247772 by Duff on September 15, 2008 at 3:41 am

What a bunch of disbelieving, heathenistic dunces you all are. Don't you realize that the catholic church is about to give away all its wealth to help the poor? Don't you realize the pope was making an announcement to that effect.

I'll bet you all five bucks and a chocolate bar, we will hear a follow-up announcement within a week that this pope, unlike the last hundred, or so, is finally going to give it all away. I know it! I just know it! You gotta believe.

27. Our scientists must nail the creationists

Comment #247155 by Duff on September 14, 2008 at 3:45 am

blackjak,
And god set it all up so he could finally get to us, the object of his creation, right? Some prelude. Some object.

If I were omnipotent and wanted to create something which would take 14 billion years, I think I would come up with something a little more awesome than us impossibly imperfect humans. What a wanker you are. Ånd your god.

28. Knowledge regained

Comment #246937 by Duff on September 13, 2008 at 2:37 pm

Bertrand Russell held that questions of value/god can't be decided by science because they can't be intellectually decided at all, "...and lie outside the realm of truth and falsehood. Whatever knowledge is attainable, must be attained by scientific methods; and what science cannot discover, mankind cannot know."

lolmahmood,
Prolific breeders do tend to survive, but as these religious breeders are mostly segregated in specific countries or regions, or tribes, they can easily find themselves isolated there, and just like being separated by a mountain range or an ocean, they become cut off from evolutionary pressures, ie, competition which would have made them more more advanced and competitive. Before they know it, they are behind the power curve and are doomed to oblivion. With any luck.

29. Knowledge regained

Comment #245807 by Duff on September 11, 2008 at 12:38 pm

Darwin posited descent with modification through variation and natural selection. However, those variations have to be good for the organism or it will eventually become extinct.

If muslims and fundamentalists wish to live in the 12th century they will find themselves modified - in this case disadvantaged compared to other humans - to a degree that will make it impossible for them to compete and they will eventually be selected against.

You don't survive with the fittest if you have none of the skills/science practiced by fitter humans. Religion poisons everything.

30. 'Rare' mammoth skull discovered

Comment #241565 by Duff on September 2, 2008 at 2:08 pm

I am currently re-reading Origin of Species and I assure you, Darwin was quite convinced he was right. He was so convinced that a good portion of the book is devoted to the criticisms of his theory and a constant recounting of how he could be proven wrong. Of course, no one did and no one ever has.

He was dead certain of his data.

31. McCain's VP Wants Creationism Taught in School

Comment #240275 by Duff on August 31, 2008 at 8:20 am

She may be smart and she may be pretty, but as good ole Henry Higgins said, "She has a voice that shatters glass." If she is elected, you will learn to hate that voice!

32. Genesis and the origin of the Origin of the species

Comment #239616 by Duff on August 30, 2008 at 3:46 am

The rabbinical version of "thats not my god" shtick.

33. What Binti Jua Knew

Comment #235768 by Duff on August 23, 2008 at 2:09 pm

The issue is that if they are given "rights", it will be more difficult to experiment on them. Not as simple a question as it appears on the surface. There are two competing spheres at work here: science and humanity. Care to choose a side?

34. Channel 4 announces return of Undercover Mosque

Comment #235760 by Duff on August 23, 2008 at 1:58 pm

Kuffars of the world, UNITE!!

I'm afraid the kuffars of the world outnumber, and certainly out think, the primitive religious tribe which wishes to drag us back into the 11th century.

Those goatherds want to kill the kuffar? Bring it on, Pal.

35. Scientists Create Blood From Stem Cells

Comment #233970 by Duff on August 20, 2008 at 4:47 pm

Its not right that man is creating blood, of any type. It says so in the bible...doesn't it? The bible doesn't believe in any kind of modern science. If dog didn't announce it 2000 years ago, it isn't right. Dammit.

36. Pastor Rick's Test

Comment #233965 by Duff on August 20, 2008 at 4:43 pm

I give Rick Warren about six months before we find him either "cavorting" with a male/female prostitute, or spending "church" money on his personal G5 Gulfstream. What do you bet?

37. Petrol pump pilgrims keep faith

Comment #232045 by Duff on August 17, 2008 at 2:14 pm

God was, in fact, responsible for the price of gas going down. He had previously been listening to the prayers of the CEOs of the oil companies, and now, in his infinite benevolence, he decided it was the turn of the Prayers For Lower Prices folks.

god IS GREAT!

38. Unintelligent Design

Comment #232044 by Duff on August 17, 2008 at 2:09 pm

YESPAM,
I thought the same thing. But, I suppose, there have been a fair number of the "soon to be dead" divers who were observed by other divers, or people on the ground, who having watched this "operation" as it proceeded, were struck by the "fact" that the divers seemed to have forgotten to pull. Maybe most of them pulled, but it was too late. Who knows?

Did we get off topic???

39. Religion out of medicine, a new message for Ontario doctors

Comment #232037 by Duff on August 17, 2008 at 1:58 pm

Anything that could possibly...nudge "superstitious" types out of medicine and into a more appropriate field would be a positive evolution. (pun intended.)

I hear catholics make excellent plumbers and a friend tells me southern baptists are found in great numbers in the trucking industry.

Perhaps the 21st Century will finally be a thorough Enlightenment and we can push Religious Fuckwittery into the cellars and the church crypts where it belongs.

40. The HMS Beagle Project

Comment #228441 by Duff on August 12, 2008 at 3:51 am

Before you sign up to sail on the new Beagle, I suggest you read the final chapter of the book where Darwin talks about the five year trip. If you have a proclivity for sea sickness, his thoughts will discourage you. As for me, I'm looking for a Beagle following circumnavigation on a very large, very comfortable cruise ship.

41. Praying for health

Comment #225580 by Duff on August 7, 2008 at 3:22 am

So religion is tribalism. What else is new?

42. Escape or betrayal.

Comment #218182 by Duff on July 25, 2008 at 3:20 am

Black Mamba,
Another "its not my religion you're talking about" response. If your religion weren't so dangerous, you would be rib-cracking, bloody hilarious!

43. Host Desecration is Old Anti-Semitic Nonsense

Comment #210169 by Duff on July 14, 2008 at 3:37 am

You people are wrong wrong wrong! The cracker is jesus only for as long as it takes the average priest to put it in the parishioner's mouth. If it takes longer than 5.98 seconds, jesus dissolves back into his previous state as just a cracker. For that reason it would be impossible to get a cracker out of the church and into a petri dish while it had any jesus active in it. If, however, you could get a priest into the lab...

44. An Irishman's Diary

Comment #209044 by Duff on July 11, 2008 at 2:26 pm

Cartomancer,
I scored 100 percent on everything. Would my saying that count as "educated one-upmanship"? I love your term and agree that it perfectly describes the article!

45. Thousands Flock to Revival in Search of Miracles

Comment #208571 by Duff on July 11, 2008 at 3:32 am

I'll bet you all a dollar that in a couple of years, if not sooner, this "man of god" is caught doing something illegal. Probably doing drugs or not paying his taxes. They are all criminals.

46. Prayer refusal pupils 'disciplined'

Comment #205301 by Duff on July 7, 2008 at 3:25 am

Dr. Doctor,
Wasn't it: "teacher leave them kids alone"?

47. Can't Darwin and God get along?

Comment #202823 by Duff on July 2, 2008 at 3:31 am

It is very hard work being a religious apologist. Excruciatingly difficult. I almost feel sorry for this poor guy.

48. Aliens need Christ's redemption, too

Comment #201677 by Duff on June 30, 2008 at 3:28 am

You folks just relax. The Mormons have already got this covered. They believe there are indeed "worlds without number" and each of those worlds is run by a god who was once a good Mormon on this earth and got promoted to be the god of that particular world. So that means those "aliens" are just like us here on earth, but maybe just a little bit more white and dressed a little more conservatively than the average earthling. And...oh yeah...the righteous males will have more than one wife. Sorry, girls.

49. The $10,000-a-Month Psychic

Comment #200912 by Duff on June 28, 2008 at 1:01 pm

Back in the 70s, in NYC, I had the fascinating experience of attending a few, large group sessions in the apartment (in the infamous Dakota) of "Reverend Rose". She was a very famous "psychic" in New York and used a few of what are now blatant scams to fool all of us young people.

In retrospect, she was one of the more impressively "intuitive" people I've ever met. She could "peg" people from just a look as well as anyone. She would have been a great detective. She made a great living.

50. Kenneth Miller on Colbert Report

Comment #195305 by Duff on June 18, 2008 at 3:41 am

Atheistjon,
You have succeeded in depressing me this morning. What a downer you are. Cheer up, pal.