1. Zehirli Yilanlar, Kaygan Yilanbaliklari ve Harun Yahya

Comment #260021 by kaph on October 4, 2008 at 12:37 pm

bleu,

To err on the right side. :) See, you tried to use Turkish characters, and my computer reads them as: çöğşı

Sorry for the late reply, I was out of town.

2. Zehirli Yilanlar, Kaygan Yilanbaliklari ve Harun Yahya

Comment #255399 by kaph on September 27, 2008 at 12:45 pm

uhm... I know I shoot myself in the foot by saying this (see my comment above), but why do we care who he is?

3. Zehirli Yilanlar, Kaygan Yilanbaliklari ve Harun Yahya

Comment #254801 by kaph on September 26, 2008 at 8:26 am

isthatclear = adnan oktar on speed.

4. Zehirli Yilanlar, Kaygan Yilanbaliklari ve Harun Yahya

Comment #254610 by kaph on September 26, 2008 at 2:14 am

Get a life man. You cannot win this battle. Worse, you are losing it by lying and distorting more and more. This is gonna end up misery man. You either will lose your mind or catch a sickness because your pointless efforts.

And it's Adnan Oktar who's been diagnosed seven times with paranoid schizophrenia. Or was it eight?

Oh the sweet irony of it...

5. Zehirli Yilanlar, Kaygan Yilanbaliklari ve Harun Yahya

Comment #254498 by kaph on September 25, 2008 at 7:25 pm

Corylus,

Thanks mate. Sorry I haven't been around for a while to thank. Early autumn cold and stuff. Most of the credit is Richard's though. He was the one who came up with the idea, I merely translated. :)

Kutluhan

6. Zehirli Yilanlar, Kaygan Yilanbaliklari ve Harun Yahya

Comment #254496 by kaph on September 25, 2008 at 7:16 pm

Aziz,

Thanks for the effort. I hadn't known any coding whatsoever, and judging by the fact that people manage to read eksi sozluk everyday, and to be on the safe side in case some computers outside Turkey fail to display the characters correctly at the time when the translation was first published, I chose to use the Anglicized equivalents. But hey, very nice to know, and nice to have you around! :)

Kutluhan Celik

7. Zehirli Yilanlar, Kaygan Yilanbaliklari ve Harun Yahya

Comment #252777 by kaph on September 23, 2008 at 3:20 pm

oh, and epeeist,

I never fail to be astonished by your infinite patience. I tip my hat to you. *bows*

8. Zehirli Yilanlar, Kaygan Yilanbaliklari ve Harun Yahya

Comment #252771 by kaph on September 23, 2008 at 3:18 pm

both openDNS and switching one's DNS to anything between 4.2.2.1 and 4.2.2.6 - or adding every single one in between - do work.

regardless, it's only a matter of time before Turkish press picks up on this. And let me just say, "THAT's how banning a website backfires up your..."

Ahem...

9. Turkey bans biologist Richard Dawkins' website

Comment #249339 by kaph on September 18, 2008 at 2:10 am

As a Turk, (and yes, I am in Turkey and can access the website, the ban still isn't in force in certain areas, and can easily be bypassed using different DNS servers) I felt obliged to respond in this thread. Apologies for not being around for a while to those who got to know me during the past months, but I'll present my excuses below.

Well, first, I must say that I find the comparison between Istanbul and London or Berlin utterly disturbing. I have studied in London for the past year, I am a native of Ankara, and I visit Istanbul at least half a dozen times every year. My impression of London was one of various cultures, with the fundemantalist Islamic ones at the very top, whereby the ratio of people wearing the burqa or some sort of head covering distinctly for religious purposes to the total population of the city is vastly higher than that in Istanbul or Ankara. Oh, and I have lived in Finchley and studied at King's College. Should be fair enough.

The court in Turkey is, AFAIK, the one where Oktar had filed suit against the other websites he had had problems with. The cynic in me suspects of cronyism. Nonetheless, there is only a preliminary injunction, and this is not a final verdict. Granted, this is a violation of habeas corpus, but this is a serious glitch in the Turkish legal system and is often abused by people like Oktar.

Notwithstanding the fact that the AKP (current govt.) has so far been a favorite of governments of EU member states, not to mention a visit by the Queen, another by the Pope, the "Alliance of Civilizations" program between Zapatero and Erdogan, and Berlusconi's being a family friend of his, the cries yearning for swift generalization are drastically mislead, I'm afraid. When one does a little research on the recent political history of Turkey, one finds that just last year, there were several rallies with people in their millions against the government because this government has strongly Islamist roots.

I trust that reasonable people who are among us in this and other threads will remember the news piece about how shari'a courts operate in Britain. This is not to pursue ad hominem but to make a point. I am confident that the proportional, or even nominal figures for those courts would show trivial or no appeals by Turkish people living in Britain.

Now, to my excuses for not being around for so long:

Well, aside from the dissertation (oh yes I'm done with it :)) I had to get back to Turkey to apply for programs in yet other graduate schools, only to see that RD.net was banned. I e-mailed Richard and Josh and offered voluntary help, and have been translating the news bulletins from Turkish since they began to appear on 13 September. (I could forward them to those who'd like) I have also contacted people I know for legal advice and will try to get the official document (on the preliminary injunction) brought to me by the weekend. (The court's in Istanbul, I'm in Ankara.)

Oh, and here's a big thank you to Richard and Paula whose support I really appreciate :))

All right, a few more points and off I go for breakfast:

hien;

Everyone in charge of Turkey monitoring process should know about this bizarre ban, it is very indicative of the whole country

Well no, it isn't. Evidence? Well log on to http://sourtimes.org/show.asp?t=richarddawkins net in erisime kapatilmasi (you need to have plus signs between the words, so that you have the last plus sign right before the word "kapatilmasi". Tried to do that through editing, but didn't work.) and have a translator translate the posts in that "forum" from Turkish. Or if you trust me, I could do that too. It's often very easy - and at times, suspiciously reliable - to make generalizations over court decisions, but you have to remember that it was the Supreme Constitutional Court which ruled that the current islamic rooted government has been the focus of activities in violation of secularism, by a vote of 10 to 1. Neither that, nor this ban on RD.net suffices for anyone to make sweeping generalizations.


geehigh;

Although it's easy to blame the Islamic government of Turkey for this banning, this nonsense is far more likely to be an example of the quirky Turkish legal system. I'm sure an appeal would overturn this just as easily as it was granted in the first place.

It will. Just you wait :)) And I strongly agree with your comments on how the Turks get fed up with their governments one policies hit their pockets.

--

OK then, this is it for now. Any sort of translation etc. you need from here, just let me know.

10. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #218312 by kaph on July 25, 2008 at 8:03 am

New way of supporting PZ, just a thought: Everybody take a picture of yourself, with a liquor of your choice, some crackers, and a banana peel. Optionally you could include TGD, The Koran, The Bible etc. and put that photo on your blog.

This is either a good idea or I'm back in my teens.

11. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #217515 by kaph on July 24, 2008 at 12:02 pm

Quick heads-up

The cracker's dead people. Officially announced by PZ on his blog.

Impaled by a rusty nail
Thrown into the trash along with the Koran and The God Delusion; where a banana peel and some coffee grounds were already waiting.

12. Anti-Darwinists turned away by Israeli academia

Comment #216065 by kaph on July 22, 2008 at 5:47 pm

Village_Idiot,

I don't take offense for such remarks or conversations, so by all means, do go on.

I was quite surprised to see how you thought that I had been angry. On the contrary, I have been very much intrigued by your points. I would love to see how facts would slap me in the face though.

As it seems, however, you have refrained from saying something about the points I made in my last post. That's a shame. This is the second time you avoid discussing the issues we have previously presented.

Nonetheless, if you insist on ending the discussion despite the fact that I haven't taken any offense, feel free.

All the best

13. Anti-Darwinists turned away by Israeli academia

Comment #214607 by kaph on July 20, 2008 at 4:51 pm

Village_Idiot,

First, I must appreciate the gentlemanly brilliance and eloquence with which you have composed your response. Many thanks.

Secondly, attacks against foreign missions in a country, as deplorable as they may be, do not reflect "cultural backwardness". It would have been better of course, if you took the trouble to refer to the nationality and occupation of those killed. If what you said about "cultural backwardness" were true, France would be the first country to be dubbed "culturally backward", as shown by attacks against the Turkish mission in the 70's, and yet we all know about the fascinating French culture to varying degrees.

With all my optimism and trust in your bona fide, I sincerely believe you got confused when you said "embassy", as it's perfectly clear that there are no embassies in Istanbul. Embassies, Village_Idiot, are located in capital cities of their host countries.

Moreover, in a second reference to what you've said if I may, relating a country's "cultural backwardness" to the probability or occurrence of attacks on foreign missions on its soil is so staggeringly vacuous that one can hardly refrain from giving the sad example of the attack that took place in Athens last year. Now that, was an attack on an embassy, not a consulate, and it did damage the building, which is legally American soil. The logic you put forth classifies Greece as a more "culturally backward" country than Turkey, since the attack was carried out against a target of higher value and inflicting more damage. Here's the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/13/world/europe/13athens.html?n=Top/Reference/Times Topics/Subjects/I/International Relations

I have been to Athens just last year, and was fascinated by the city and its people. I would never say that Greece is a culturally backward country. It saddens me to see that if you're as consistent as any one of us would expect, you would.

Thirdly, your wording suggests that a country of more than 70 million people all attempted to "investigate" Richard's book, which is clearly not the case. Assuming you tried to refer to the prosecutor in question, I can only say that in Turkey, prosecutors are free to notify courts of anything they suspect might be in violation of Turkish law. This is followed by examination of the issue at hand by the courts, and then handing of the verdict. It was the same Turkish law that acquitted the book, thereby disproving arguments by a prosecutor, and you cannot induce a generalization when the general will has collectively refuted the individual's claim.

Finally, let me say that I am convinced that your resorting to personal humiliation attempts (e.g.: "Your 'time' analysis is pathetic...") as a retort to my post only clarifies your quailities.

Thanks again for your time.

14. Anti-Darwinists turned away by Israeli academia

Comment #212831 by kaph on July 17, 2008 at 6:21 pm

VillageIdiot,

I can't thank you enough for being so kind and sparing some of your precious time to push nonsensical stereotypes through our throats. We prefer to call what you call esophageal stricture simply "good taste", and broadly "refusal to eat bullcrap".

If I could please ask you to delve into the legal matter you have so elaborately researched and seek the verdict; I'm sure you won't have any difficulty realizing that The God Delusion was in fact acquitted. The unfortunate - and I believe, unintended - speed at which you induced a "cultural backwardness" that span exactly five hundred years suggests that you might also believe that Rowan Williams is actually the Ayatollah of Canterbury.

Same applies for Orhan Pamuk, in whose case not only the defendant, but also the plaintiff and the article according to which he was prosecuted have been extremely controversial. The charges against Orhan Pamuk were dropped on January 22, 2006. That's almost thirty months ago. Nonetheless, judging by the fact that you're a very busy and selective person, I cannot blame you for failing to be "Mr. Current Affairs".

As regards YouTube, may I humbly recommend that you at least establish some sort of communication with a few Turks who live in Turkey and gain insight on how they have managed to bypass the DNS "bumps" - I hesitate to call them roadblocks, let alone bans - imposed on their connections, and how they enjoy watching whatever they like as I type these lines? May I also suggest that you prefer the reaction by the online community in Turkey instead of one prosecutor when you attempt to induce "cultural backwardness" of a country?

I would also like to take this opportunity and invite you over to drink some serious Turkish backwardness, at a humble 45% ABV. Many connoisseurs prefer diluting it 1:3 by water, but feel free to drown several glasses in one go.

denizb,

There are no such things as secular armies. There are armies that uphold the constitution of the state they serve, which, in Turkey's case, include secularism as the pillar of Turkish constitution that's under the greatest threat. Turkish Army's "being in bed" (I prefer the term "alliance") with that of the US and 24 other countries has nothing to do with secularism, as anyone in his right mind could imagine by looking at the support the AKP has so far received from Washington, much to the dismay of the armed forces.

As for your blaming of PKK's attacks on civilians on Turkish pharmaceutical companies, I can only say that such an assertion needs an experiment where you should have the Kurdish population that lives outside the region where terrorist attacks occur almost every week. If you deny the fact that there are currently many Kurdish artists, politicians, authors, columnists etc. who make a decent living without meddling in terrorism, then you're clearly misled. The Kurdish language schools you have referred to were opened and they went out of business purely because of economic reasons, which are related to the fact that local sheikhs adamantly refuse to send their daughters not only to that, but to any sort of school simply because they are girls. I wonder if you have anything to say about the link between extremist Islamism, the feudal sheikh structure and the PKK's ethnic terrorism; before you begin your rant next time.

The PKK is recognized as a terrorist organization by the EU, by the US, and by Turkey, though this list is not exhaustive.

As regards conscientious objectors, I can point out the fact that the ongoing issue is highly controversial in Turkey, with the ECHR having decided against Turkey in one case, and the Turkish authorities decided not to uphold a previous decision by a court and freed one imprisoned conscientious objector in March 2006. As regards conscription, I can easily refer to South Korea and Cyprus which are not "culturally backward" countries. I hope you realized how irrelevant you have become when you talk about terrorism as a response to a discussion pertaining to culture.

The mere fact that there hasn't been a coup against Islamist parties should serve as due proof to silence Islamist paranoia and whining about the military. Let me remind you of the massive rallies that took place from Spring to Summer of 2007 against the current government, and the fact that the current government is imprisoning a wide array of people from all walks of life (from retired generals to chamber presidents, columnists and authors) without any charges. One of the imprisoned was forced to stay in prison for over a year without charges, and he was let free a few weeks before he died of cancer.

That's a violation of habeas corpus.

Implying that the alternative people expect in lieu of the AKP is a military dictatorship is akin to saying that if something is irreducably and inexplicably complex, it must have been created by some sort of intelligent agent (read: god). Which is not necessarily true.

Blaming Iran or the US for failures in Turkish democracy is not going to get Turkey anywhere. The threat from the remains of a staunchly Islamist empire coupled with the threat from Islamic rebellions were much greater before the Iranian revolution of 1979, than the threat posed by Fethullah Gulen or a regime headed by Ahmadinejad after the revolution. If only those who consider themselves to be liberals realize the threat the Islamists pose to the regime in Turkey first, and to anyone not wearing a burqa then. And blaming the fundamentalist tendency in Turkey on the Turkish military establishment is downright stupid.

Following up on your replies to other posts, if I may:

My point was that just because Tayip Erdogan's party is an islamist party, it doesn't automatically mean that they are here to bring in sharia law.

When the ECHR ruled in favor of Turkish legislation that had banned wearing headscarves and religious symbols at universities and public premises, Tayyip Erdogan said that it was not the ECHR who could decide on the matter, but it was the ulamah. (Religious "wisemen", al rawandi, might need your help here in pronunciation-spelling. I don't speak Arabic.)

I will say no more on this. And I honestly hope you don't force me to.

black wolf

The Turkish people don't have to choose between Islamism and military rule. There are over 50 other parties to choose from. Turnouts at elections are quite high, in the vicinity of 70-80 %. Whatever non-AKP party they choose will not mean a military rule.

15. Anti-Darwinists turned away by Israeli academia

Comment #212414 by kaph on July 17, 2008 at 7:25 am

VillageIdiot,

so now we have a scale that shows how far each country culturally is in terms of years with respect to an arbitrarilty selected given country, right?

Quite surprising to see such stereotype... tsk tsk...

16. France rejects Muslim woman over radical practice of Islam

Comment #211572 by kaph on July 16, 2008 at 7:19 am

Someone's got balls:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7509339.stm

17. Turkey: Creationism Documentary

Comment #210346 by kaph on July 14, 2008 at 9:58 am

Reminds me of the mayor of Ankara, when he paid for an exhibit (yes, by public funds) that "disproves evolution", placed right inside the major underground station (cf. Paddington or King's Cross for London).

Depressing. Very depressing.

18. Pope confirms sexual abuse apology

Comment #209713 by kaph on July 13, 2008 at 4:38 am

This from the BBC:

Pope Benedict will close his trip by presiding over an open-air Mass on 20 July at Sydney's Randwick Racecourse, which is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of pilgrims.
The Pope's visit - his ninth outside Italy - has created controversy with demonstrators vowing to protest against the Church's stand on homosexuality and birth control.
In response, authorities in the state of New South Wales have introduced new laws bringing the threat of heavy fines to anyone causing annoyance to pilgrims.

(emphasis added)

So if you "annoy" these people, they fine you. Brilliant.

19. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208254 by kaph on July 10, 2008 at 7:02 pm

Actually it was a comment: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/07/its_a_goddamned_cracker.php#comment-969263

Even otherwise, that's still within the 1st amendment.

Purloined wafers. Well, technically no, they may well be not stolen, since they're for consumption at the church. As with our recent fellow in Florida, once given the cracker, the recipient can run away and having been wilfully given to him with no intention whatsoever of its return, the cracker is AFAIK the recipient's property. He is fully entitled to send it to PZ, - whence the same logic on possession applies - who can add gasoline and have himself a cracker grill...

Seriously. This argument might not prove that what PZ says/does isn't offensive, but the creotards had better begin thanking their gods for not having us begin listing everything we find offensive in their behaviour.

Having boiled the entire thing down to taking offence, let's have them read their 1st amendment and put up with witty individual flashmob activity.

20. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208202 by kaph on July 10, 2008 at 5:39 pm

Um, well, then nobody should go demonstrating on the streets against a government b/c somebody is the Prime Minister?

21. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208191 by kaph on July 10, 2008 at 5:25 pm

Edouard,

Absolutely right. He won't be in jeopardy, but the US is a country where Ayaan Hirsi Ali chose to seek protection from extremists of one kind, and most of us know of the pressure Stephen Walt and John J. Mearsheimer had to endure after "The Israel Lobby" was published.

If, however, the U of Minnesota chooses to publicly back PZ's 1st amendment rights, and provides even a symbolic sort of personal security, I say that's enough of an achievement by all our letters, and an incredible boost for the university's fame and reputation.

22. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208179 by kaph on July 10, 2008 at 5:10 pm

Dude,

Yes, and no.

Yes, because obviously, that could be the headline of a Minneapolis paper the day after PZ gets fired.

But no, because if it weren't for some dumbasses and their obsession with wafers and witch hunts, "stealing" a wafer would not stir anyone. I guess everyone expected that story to fade away like many others did after their time. The cracker/wafer/eucharist isn't the important thing, it's their realization of how fragile their sets/systems of faith really are, and how easily that fragility can be displayed.

When PZ says that it's a fracking cracker, he merely remarks on the king's clothes, and none of them wants to know that king naked. Fear gets the best of them.

23. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208170 by kaph on July 10, 2008 at 4:56 pm

By the way, President Bruininks is apparently fond of horses. Send the letters in fancy envelopes with pictures of horses on them :)

24. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208168 by kaph on July 10, 2008 at 4:54 pm

Steven,

You're right, that is quite an important question; however, if someone has become the president, he has already proven himself as a patient and reasonable academic. I'm also guessing, judging by his bio that since he's so interested in education, he is probably also interested in preserving the students right granted by the first amendment.

All in all, I guess if he's been so vulnerable into giving in to creotards, none of our letters could change his mind anyway. We're just assuming that he's at least somewhat reasonable, and that is precisely what we're aiming for when we take extra care in grammar and politeness in our letters.

25. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208158 by kaph on July 10, 2008 at 4:42 pm

dudenextdoor,

either

you're sending snail mail too,

or

you geniunely believe this is insane. Well, call me a dreamer but I think a bunch of envelopes waiting to be opened would have a greater influence on President Bruininks. I don't know where you live, but from London it costs less than £1, and assuming there will be more people still sending e-mails a week from now, your envelope could arrive just about in time.

If you really want to impress, send him regular mail at this address:

I really really do want to impress.

26. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #208153 by kaph on July 10, 2008 at 4:34 pm

al,

Seems you haven't forgotten Turkish at all. The problem with the English- and French-configured keyboards is the dotless lower i and the dotted upper I (in Turkish, there are two types of i's) and the dotted s (for the "sh" sound). There's another variant of g, but that's a little complicated. All other umlauts and ç as in François are easy.

but I digress... Bullseye on the lal masjid, which earns you your bonus: al-Azhar of Cairo. It was Cairo, right?

Incidentally, al-Azhar does not teach law, it teaches sharia law and one of its alumni is now in charge of the state archives of Turkey. Makes you wonder...

As for Arab philosophers, I can't say I know much about them, but I'm sure there'll be considerable potential tomorrow if somehow we manage to rid the regimes from their indiscriminately and unfairly used baseless and ridiculous authority in places like Saudi Arabia. Takes time, but they'll get there. Or am I just being overoptimistic?

27. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208142 by kaph on July 10, 2008 at 4:16 pm

People,

I'm in London and planning to send a handwritten letter by RoyalMail to the president's address, w/ my full name etc. on the envelope.

How about gathering a few people and recording a video of us putting the envelopes in postboxes across London, and posting that recording on YouTube, and then adding the link to the e-mails we send to him? Surely in a place like London or any other major city where we can easily gather a dozen of us, that would be quite nice.

Or, call me an insomniac and I'll sadly return to my original one snail one electronic mail plan :(

28. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #208059 by kaph on July 10, 2008 at 2:36 pm

al,

sagol iyiyim, sen nasilsin? :)

that's much better, thank you... even better would be afghanistan or even a mosque in east london but people should have got the idea, so no worries.

joe,

I am putting all benevolence I have in believing that you're trying to come up with a proper response to my last post, but while you're at it, you might want to answer a couple more.

If you believe that koran has "originated" science and saved Europe from dark ages, well, I thought maybe you could explain to us how it was utterly incapable of using that science for the benefit of muslims, or for sewing Ghazali's filth inside his mouth. After all, when one cares to look at any human development index, rankings of countries by literacy, or freedom of the press, one cannot but stand in awe at how beautifully secularism is positively related to greater welfare, even amongst countries with predominant muslim populations. (cf. Turkey and Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia)

Oh but when your idea of welfare prohibits women from driving, well I say don't be jealous of people who have heavier and braver balls just because they have them on their chest.

29. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #208030 by kaph on July 10, 2008 at 2:07 pm

al rawandi,

Tell me, how is English your first language (it is isn't it) yet you it reads like you are a Turkish high school student? What the hell happened to you, shit like "I am on the truth". What the fuck does that mean anyway.

Being a Turk myself, I can safely say most Turkish high school students read/write/speak better English than him. Plus they have cans of top-notch beer they're more than wiling to share with you all. Drink before you compare :)

30. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #208009 by kaph on July 10, 2008 at 1:24 pm

Joe, you retard,

DO NOT FORGET THAT IT WAS THE MUSLIMS WHO TOOK EUROPE OUT OF THEIR DARK AGES AND ORIGINATED THE SCIENCES AND HOW IT WAS THE BOOK OF GOD , THE QU'RAN THAT INSPIRED IT ALL

Bullshit. Textbook definition. "Originated the sciences"? What the hell does that mean? Are you that incapable of using your powers of observation? You retard, you say that a book that not only advocates faith, but calls for violent punishment of its absence; "originated" science, at the core of which lies questioning, enlightened suspicion, validation, and proper evidence. No, Joe, proper. Not blinded-by-faith type evidence.

So your allah orders his subjects to use their minds and prove his non-existence. How very selfless of him.

Oh, by the way, whatever muslims contributed to science as we know it - not those damn "how to internalize and memorize hundreds of pages" type rote learning, again, proper, Joe - was largely a repetition of Greek contributions long before mohammad was but a lousy sperm waving its towelclad tail, which, I might add, was a product of people who worshipped gods in their dozens.

I would point out how inversely related faith and intellect are, but since you obviously lack one of the two, I'd like to direct a more intelligible reader to Richard's TED talk where he provides evidence - again, Joe, not "x=y, because i said so" dipshit; proper evidence - of that inverse relationship.

Joe, science is corrosive to religion. It's corrosive to you. Saying that koran brought all the science is like saying Hitler invented democracy. (Hail Godwin!)

One last thing, Joey boy, your f**king caps lock deserves better people than you.

31. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #207026 by kaph on July 9, 2008 at 5:21 am

Prove that you haven't got a 240 V stick buzzing up somewhere inside your body every 5 minutes; that the white bearded wise old man in your dreams actually does not exist; and that there is not a china pot hovering in orbit somewhere between Earth and Mars, clearmind, and I'll prove that Prof. Dawkins isn't a paedophile.

Very sad to see so many neurons wasted in your brain.

Have you still not realized that the burden of proof is yours, and not ours?

32. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #206744 by kaph on July 8, 2008 at 6:01 pm

Hate to comment now that we're approaching yet another validation of Godwin's law, but couldn't help it. Read on and find out why. But first:

@Richard:

Kudos on finally bringing up this f**tard and his acolytes. Splendid work. I was inexplicably happy when I saw that - not what, but that, as I had an idea of the content - you wrote something about him. That's the kind of s**t we have to put up with back home in Turkey. He (or should I say 'they') send this to schools and even universities where - incredibly - it changes people's minds. Now that you've pointed that out, rest assured you'll get more and more reactions every day. Another blow to the distribution/translation of TGD on the horizon? Who knows? But great work anyway. A huge thank you from a Turk who doesn't have his caps lock key stuck.

@Fellows who have put up with BS by ertu et al.

Are you on tranquillizers or what? At least 300-400 comments after first trolling and excluding them, and you're still up and arguing? What kind of patience is that? Totally unbelievable. I take my hat off to you all. No racism, which Turks suffer heavily from on the web, despite repeated provocative attitude. Seriously. I would not have written anything here had it not been for an extraordinary patience on your part and the need I felt to thank Richard.

@ ertu and his assorted dumbass trolls:

Get a life! But wait: You never will! Just let your brains rot in whatever nonsense you've been reading, and keep those filthy hands to yourselves, and away from any proper discussion. One last appeal to the miniscule bits of what's left of your sad sordid stupid little brain: forget the whatever dozen women you were promised. Forget all that BS. Get a good - and I do mean good - book on biology and read. I know this is in vain, but hey, just so you know, there are other things to read out there. Read. Not copy and paste.

33. Teenager faces prosecution for calling Scientology 'cult'

Comment #183004 by kaph on May 21, 2008 at 7:54 am

jam007:

Great idea. I live in London, I can show up tomorrow. But don't you thinks tomorrow's just a little early for a demo of that sort? I mean, we'd better get more people to make more noise, and that'd take time.

styrer:

a grand sterling. mm... well being a student i for one don't have that kind of disposable funds, and while I respect the idea and your enthusiasm of having an RDF medal awarded to the kid I'd say the medal needn't be of gold, or that expensive. I don't know. It surely would look good, but when I saw a church with 48 metric tons of gold - and I mean gold - used to build its dome, I stopped respecting the metal. Not the idea. The metal.

I think a call for lawyers would be a better idea, provided they take this case pro bono , or paid by the RDF if that's possibe. I'm not very familiar with the legal system here in the UK but I'm guessing there'll be additional miscellaneous charges/costs related to the case, and that would be when a few hundred quid would surely help. Again, I think I'd better leave those grounds to those who know it better.

One last idea before I finish. Back in Ankara, where I'm from, there's an underground station below the square that's the major transportation hub - call it the King's Cross of Ankara. Now every Friday, literally hundreds of people cram the prayer hall located inside the station, so much so they can't fit in and start throwing their little carpets outside, blocking commuters' exit through the stairs. I know that's a little TMI, but with that as 'inspiration', I thought maybe we could arrange a sit-in on Tottenham Court Road, just like a flashmob.

...or hand out leaflets to commuters at Tottenham Ct. Rd. and Goodge St. stations which warn them of police charges and of what happened to the great-balls-kid, just in case they want to call Scientology a cult in London.

34. Teenager faces prosecution for calling Scientology 'cult'

Comment #182654 by kaph on May 20, 2008 at 6:56 pm

Imagine the Scientology HQ at Tottenham Ct. Rd. Then imagine the Anonymous demonstration, with a bunch of City of London police around. The bit that strikes me is this. Of all the people who are demonstrating, the only person they manage to bother was a 15 year old kid carrying a sign that calls Scientology a cult.

I bet they'd have felt terribly guilty had they not done at least something to deserve the financial AHEM spiritual wealth they gain.

I really think someone from RDF should give that kid a real medal. Seriously styrer, very well said.

35. Turkish Islamic author given 3-year jail sentence

Comment #182353 by kaph on May 19, 2008 at 8:12 pm

This guy, whose freedom of speech we are defending here, is the sole reason why Wordpress is still banned in Turkey. Turns out some blogger wasn't terribly fond of him.

He had also tried to force a ban on a Turkish online community akin to Everything2, just because he thought some of the entries under the title "Adnan Oktar" were offensive. (As of today, there are ~7.3 mn. different entries in ~1.4 mn. different titles. Just to illuminate the stupidity of that ban.) The verdict was later overruled and access to eksi sozluk was restored.

His schizophrenia is documented by several different medical reports, causing the legal circles in Turkey arguing that his "conditions" serve as immunity from law. Now I don't really know the little bits and legal details, but at least he gets reductions for the time he needs to serve. Regardless, he keeps on harassing the lawyers of the online community by fax -needless to say, hiding his number. I guess he now gets people to do that for him.

He's now convicted of leading a criminal organization. Not of creationism, which, admittedly, would be pointless; or of sending threatening letters or whatever the legal jargon for that is.

Serves him right.

36. Girl, 17, killed in Iraq for loving a British soldier

Comment #171597 by kaph on April 28, 2008 at 3:39 pm

Just to get the facts a little straighter.

for the colossal "[bad things, s**t, these sort of things] happen to women everywhere" argument: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7371043.stm

for the figures for Syria, for example - definitely no grudge or selectiveness, and I'm using someone else's research: http://www.unifem.org/news_events/story_detail.php?StoryID=462

oh by the way, hello everyone =)