Comments by King of NH

1. Manitoba dig uncovers 80-million-year-old sea creature

Comment #239080 by King of NH on August 29, 2008 at 3:00 am

You fools! Look at it again. Can't you see it's a boat with two fossilized sails? It's noah's arc!!!

2. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #237667 by King of NH on August 27, 2008 at 12:31 am

"Good," said Mr. Campbell, an Anglican who attends church most Sundays. "Can't test it. Can't prove it, can't disprove it. It's not a question for science."

Why can't it be tested? What makes god immune from investigation? Are there other things that are immune from investigation? I think the idea of a god HAS been tested, it has failed that test, and therefore is as valid a concept as a rising sun: true only in poetry.

What, other than religion, can claim this exemption from academic scrutiny? Why do we respect a non-existant border?

3. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #237148 by King of NH on August 26, 2008 at 3:50 am

beeline:

Er, I think he called him 'chicken-hearted' which strikes me as tremendously disrespectful.

PZ Meyers:

I despise that chicken-hearted answer (emphasis mine).

I find misquoting people tremendously disrespectful. Especially since you later copied the same quote.

Could you please make up a new statement attributed to PZ that says Mr. Campbell was a coward? It's not actually in the article, but that matters little, eh?

Misquoting and purposefully misunderstanding... No better than the fundamentalists.

4. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #236751 by King of NH on August 25, 2008 at 9:19 am

PZ was not attacking Campbell, or teachers like him. What he was attacking is a culture, OUR culture, that insists on these tactics of "respecting" religion always. I doubt PZ expects high-school science teachers in the deep south to go gun-ho tomorrow and tell their students religion is bogus. What he was arguing is a shift in society that will allow science to be science.

If PZ was attacking Mr. Campbell, he would have been clear in his intent. I saw nothing in PZ's article that would imply he did not have respect for Mr. Cambell. Stop supplying "underlying messages" for people. It's rude, it's ignorant, and it's normally wrong.

5. Richard Dawkins on Talkback Radio

Comment #236651 by King of NH on August 25, 2008 at 2:27 am

Listening to these Q&A sessions with Prof. Dawkins, I hear the same questions over and over, the same arguments against evolution.

Perhaps Dawkins should have a Q&A collection, maybe written down somewhere. If Dawkins were to write a few books - like some on evolution, atheism, science - than people could read them before asking old and foolish questions publicly. Not to brag, but I think that's a great idea.

Some titles you can feel free to use, Prof:
The God Illusion
The Great Grandparents' Tale
Science Writing of Today
Growing Up in the Vast Space
The Root of All Bad

6. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #236642 by King of NH on August 25, 2008 at 1:19 am

Sorry for this longer post, but it's hillarious and relevant. The "Ten Questions to ask your Biology teacher" can be found at http://www.arn.org/docs/wells/jw_10questions.htm

Because I know many of you hate to link bounce, and because it's rude to make people, here are what I have retitled "Letterman's Top Ten Reasons Creationists are IDiots." I'm not even a science major (thinking of redeclaring as such, though) and I can answer each of these off hand. This is bad, but here you are:

ORIGIN OF LIFE. Why do textbooks claim that the 1953 Miller-Urey experiment shows how life's building blocks may have formed on the early Earth â€" when conditions on the early Earth were probably nothing like those used in the experiment, and the origin of life remains a mystery?

DARWIN'S TREE OF LIFE. Why don't textbooks discuss the "Cambrian explosion," in which all major animal groups appear together in the fossil record fully formed instead of branching from a common ancestor â€" thus contradicting the evolutionary tree of life?

HOMOLOGY. Why do textbooks define homology as similarity due to common ancestry, then claim that it is evidence for common ancestry â€" a circular argument masquerading as scientific evidence?

VERTEBRATE EMBRYOS. Why do textbooks use drawings of similarities in vertebrate embryos as evidence for their common ancestry â€" even though biologists have known for over a century that vertebrate embryos are not most similar in their early stages, and the drawings are faked?

ARCHAEOPTERYX. Why do textbooks portray this fossil as the missing link between dinosaurs and modern birds â€" even though modern birds are probably not descended from it, and its supposed ancestors do not appear until millions of years after it?

PEPPERED MOTHS. Why do textbooks use pictures of peppered moths camouflaged on tree trunks as evidence for natural selection â€" when biologists have known since the 1980s that the moths don't normally rest on tree trunks, and all the pictures have been staged?

DARWIN'S FINCHES. Why do textbooks claim that beak changes in Galapagos finches during a severe drought can explain the origin of species by natural selection â€" even though the changes were reversed after the drought ended, and no net evolution occurred?

MUTANT FRUIT FLIES. Why do textbooks use fruit flies with an extra pair of wings as evidence that DNA mutations can supply raw materials for evolution â€" even though the extra wings have no muscles and these disabled mutants cannot survive outside the laboratory?

HUMAN ORIGINS. Why are artists' drawings of ape-like humans used to justify materialistic claims that we are just animals and our existence is a mere accident â€" when fossil experts cannot even agree on who our supposed ancestors were or what they looked like?

EVOLUTION A FACT? Why are we told that Darwin's theory of evolution is a scientific fact â€" even though many of its claims are based on misrepresentations of the facts?

7. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #236637 by King of NH on August 25, 2008 at 12:52 am

Layla Nasreddin: Speaking of which, I wonder what is taught in parochial schools about evolution...or not. Do the new standards apply to them, I wonder, or just public schools? Catholic schools would probably teach it, I suppose, since they have a reputation (in the US, anyway) for producing better educated students than most public schools (!).

I went to a parochial school, Catholic, St. John Regional School of NH, proudly. It was a great school that is, ironically, probably responsible for giving me the education that turned me atheist.

A nun was my fourth grade teacher, and she stated evolution is an undeniable fact, only a fool would deny it given the overwhelming evidence. She told us not to mix religion an science because science will win and we will lose (as a nun, she obviously felt religion was an important piece of a complete person). I learned Darwinian evolution was true, I learned the universe was unimaginably vast and billions of years old, and I learned the earth is billions of years old.

As a side note: My grandparents also both attended St John. My grandmother was still in school when the nuclear bombs were dropped on Japan. The morning the news came out about the Hiroshima bomb, she had physics class. The teacher, working from text books less than up-to-date, began her class the only way she could: "Whatever you heard on the radio this morning or read in the papers, for this class the smallest unit of matter is the atom and it cannot be divided."

8. Study: Conservatives Grow Wary Of Mixing Religion, Politics

Comment #235681 by King of NH on August 23, 2008 at 11:37 am

But what party is atheist friendly? What party supports those of us that choose to give up childhood fantasies and actually propell the nation forward with moon landings, nuclear energy, improved crop yeilds, computers, genetic medicine, virus defense, and global aid (looking at you, Gates [thumbs up])?

But polls are unreliable. If you asked me at five in the morning who I supported for president: McCain, Obama, Nader, or a Dunkin' Donuts Cinnamon Coffee with light sugar and cream... This would be an odd election year.

9. The rise of Miliband brings at last the prospect of an atheist prime minister

Comment #234727 by King of NH on August 22, 2008 at 12:32 am

I'll help you out, England. As an atheist, I'm putting in my claim to the throne. I take this claim from the fact that my father's line is Norman in name, and I've been called a bastard, so precedence entitles me. Once crowned, I will disolve the CofE, take their money, and build a wall surrounding the US Bible Belt and make them pass a test before they can expose their mind to the rest of the world. Everybody will be happy! C'mon... c'mon...

10. Supernatural science: Why we want to believe

Comment #234718 by King of NH on August 22, 2008 at 12:18 am

All I have to do is look at a tree, and I know bigfoot exists. Bigfoot believes in you. WWBFD? Accept Bigfoot as your savior and repent! For the Loch Ness Monster gave his only begotten Sasquach... In the begining, there was Yeti. Bigfoot sheds for your sins. He's got the whole world, in his (big, furry) hands. Our Sasquach, who art a Bigfoot, Yeti be thy name, also. I think we should have Bigfoot's foot prints on display at the US Supreme Court, since our laws are based on the Ten Cuticles.

11. Judge says UC can deny class credit to Christian school students

Comment #228980 by King of NH on August 13, 2008 at 12:21 am

I remember when I first started college in Georgia (US). I was in a world lit. course studying Gilgamesh. My professor asked us to compare and contrast Utnapishtim's flood and Noah's flood. More than 4/5ths of my class stood in all seriousness and claimed Utnapishtim was myth, Noah was real. I got in a little trouble for laughing out loud, but in my defense, I did think they were joking. Later, at the local bar, my professor and I continued to laugh. He transferred a few semesters after, and I transferred the following semester. Religion is destroying education.

12. CBI wants more pupils in science

Comment #228417 by King of NH on August 12, 2008 at 3:22 am

I just hope that the arts are not neglected in the push for science. Then again, the arts have already slid with the "don't hurt their fragile feelings" push. I hate to say it (not really) but 99% of you... Your kid's drawing is crap and his/her grammar is only slighly better than a drunken bonobo's. But back to the sciences.

I agree with Dawkins. So long as we have people in our society squashing science (I'm looking at you, Hamm, Comfort, and Ratzinger) we will have young people that steer away. If the government is serious about encouraging science, it will stop encouraging these fools.

13. The HMS Beagle Project

Comment #228410 by King of NH on August 12, 2008 at 3:07 am

< drool > I would love to sail that ship. And a circumnavigation to boot! That's still a rare chance today. < /drool >

14. The best way to undermine the jihadists is to trigger a rebellion of Muslim women - and establish energy independence

Comment #226494 by King of NH on August 8, 2008 at 6:57 am

Remember women of America:

This November, piss of religious fundamentalists and let them see you casting your own educated vote!

15. Darwin's bulldogs

Comment #226485 by King of NH on August 8, 2008 at 6:44 am

Muslim children

Whoops.

Otherwise, the times has almost redeemed themselves.

Nice catch. My consciousness has been raised, Thewhitepearl.

16. Dawkin 'bout a revolution

Comment #225660 by King of NH on August 7, 2008 at 7:13 am

I like the slogan, since it sums up the feeling I think many of us have in a kinder way then we'd put it (like "There is no God, so pull your head out of your ass and grow up!). I'd toss in for a pledge if this will be more than a bus rolling around London. Why not start a campaign to raise the awareness that atheists are not morally deprived? Why not let closet atheists and fence sitters know that it's okay? Every day I see the steeples of churches, the hateful church slogans, and stupid little fish. I want to see in your face, but tasteful, atheist signs. I want to get together and scream from the mountains that there are atheists, there are a lot of us, and we will not be slandered defenselessly by the likes of Bush Sr.. If you disagree, that's your right and I probably respect your reasons. If you do agree, we can start with a bus rolling around London!

17. Praying for health

Comment #225654 by King of NH on August 7, 2008 at 6:56 am

Correlation does NOT mean causation. Basic high-school level probs and stats. Countries with high religious and/or linguistic diversity also tend to have little technology that might prevent disease. I think there is probably a better causation hypothesis in there.

In the US, being so very in love with the automobile, there is an unstoppable mixing of people from one ocean to the next. Very few towns could ever boast of a single day without an out of state plate on the road. Yet this seems to have the opposite effect of the idea Mr. Fincher has proposed. Americans seem to be rather strong against communicable disease today. Now, this is more of anecdotal evidence and poorly constructed correlation/causation, but it would need to be explained in an article like the one above. I think the same could be found in Europe today as well. Europeans seem to have gone a healthy length of time without a plague. Perhaps ethnic mixing has brought us into contact with too many human compatible diseases to be really vulnerable to any current strains. If this were the case, religion has one more strike against it, not a point for it.

18. Call to teach biblical creation as science

Comment #225642 by King of NH on August 7, 2008 at 6:36 am

"Evolution is a theory â€" it is not a proven fact...

[Here, I scream very loudly whilst smashing my skull against the desk. What I scream is this:] We've been over that! How can you claim to be intelligent when you cannot grasp one simple concept!?!? [I then give up in a fit of choking tears and ask any available gods to end my misery. No gods, it turns out, were available for this request. In exchange, I now direct my prayers to the creators of RichardDawkins.net and ask for some good news]

19. Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture 2008

Comment #224993 by King of NH on August 6, 2008 at 4:25 am

What does Steven Pinker's talk have to do with Douglas Adam's memorial?

I'm not sure I follow the question. Why wouldn't a memorial lecture for Adams be an intellectual lecture? Adams was, from my best experience, a very academic person, so Stephen Pinker's work probably would have thrilled him. In addition, the Hitchhiker's series uses many twists of language. But I think we should remember that Douglas Adams was not the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Universe, he was a man with, like the rest of us, a life outside of work. A memorial lecture in his honor need not include infinite improbability drive and depressed robots.

20. Is our universe fine-tuned for life?

Comment #224921 by King of NH on August 6, 2008 at 3:04 am

< fingersinears > La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la < / fingersinears >

It's funny how much lip service is given to the idea of uniqueness that this world of ours has. I think the laws of physics can explain such a "fine tuned" look, and chemical reactions can quite easily grow to the complexity of life. Our universe seems "fine tuned" for life because we happen to be the life that grew here. If it were a much different universe, and we were much different, we would claim that universe was fine tuned.

All that aside, it's very interesting to see that our universe is theoretically nothing special. Christians might hate the loss of their special place, but I feel great! The multiverse is an awe inspiring place.

21. Do they really think the earth is flat?

Comment #224556 by King of NH on August 5, 2008 at 5:29 am

"I came to realise how much we take at face value," he says. "We humans seem to be pleased with just accepting what we are told, no matter how much it goes against our senses."

He's absolutely right. I remember as a child, I heard a voice that said I should be kind to the other children, since they can feel pain and sadness just like I can. What rubish that was! I now know that I am, in fact, the only sentient creature in existance, and the rest of humanity is only in my imagination, a vast conspiracy of my right hemisphere to make my left hemisphere look stupid. Since people like flat-earthers, young earth creationists, and IDiots annoy me, I hurl insults at them for pleasure, knowing they are imaginary and not really insulted. I mean, they have no rights until they prove to me that they in fact exist.

I know you might wonder why I bothered to post to you imaginary people, since none of you are real. This is what scares me the most. What if you are real, I am not, and this post is actually your subconcious telling you the truth. Oh crap! I'm a genious, this is brilliant! (I know that it is actually crap, and something normally thought up in a haze of THC and LSD, so please don't try to prove errors in my thinking)

22. 'Major discovery' from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution

Comment #223370 by King of NH on August 2, 2008 at 5:20 am

That'll help, but the sun is never in the right position...The midday sun, which gives the highest energy density irradiation, sadly shines on the roof.....

The midday sun only shines on the roof between the tropics. In the farther nothern hemisphere (and presumably southern, though it is less populated and consequently less energy demanding), the winter months bring a large amount of sun to southern exposed buildings. This extra sun is already used to help heat homes. My aunt's house was built to absorb the winter sun through small, but numerous windows while large eaves block the summer sun. A large skyskraper with a good south facing facade of solar panels could significantly decrease it's heating oil requirements. If it only did this well, it could save millions of barrels. But I think it could produce more than just that. Plus, if done well, it could give a very pleasing face lift to some unsightly archtecture.

23. MnIndy interview: Unrepentant science-heathen PZ Myers still intends to prove 'this cracker is nothing'

Comment #223366 by King of NH on August 2, 2008 at 5:09 am

532 comments, not including this one, number 533. And all this, plus the 10,000 or so comments on PZ's page, over a cracker?

PZ was wrong! It's that simple. A rusty nail through a cracker? Pepperoni and cheddar, PZ! Or be unique with a jalapeno jelly, if you really must. But a rusty nail and qaran page... ...on a cracker? Just doesn't sound appetizing at all. I must be missing some grander point.

24. 10 Big Questions for Maverick Geneticist J. Craig Venter on America's Energy Future

Comment #223359 by King of NH on August 2, 2008 at 4:54 am

First, second and third generation biofuels are disgusting and irresponsible considering the current food crisis.

I read an article in National Geographic about biofeul made from the leftovers of agriculture. The process can be used to turn the corn or wheat stalks (or autumn leaves and grass clippings, really) into feul. It works brilliantly, but currently requires more energy into the system than the energy that comes out (a ratio also unfavorable to corn and sugarbeet biofeuls, a fact hidden well by American corn lobbyists).

And I see Lev-CapeTown has already beaten me to this. I hate being Johnny come lately. Oh well.

25. Richard Dawkins branded 'secularist bigot' by veteran philosopher

Comment #223356 by King of NH on August 2, 2008 at 4:45 am

Prof Flew, a former Reading University philosophy professor, was known as "the world's most notorious atheist" before he became convinced of the existence of a "divine intelligence" in 2004 (which would be at the age of 81)

And my grandmother became convinced of little green men nibbling on her toes in 2002. I don't think this has any bearing on the actual existence of little green men.

And why, oh why, do these idiots insist that we be thoroughly learned about their "emperor's linen" before we can judge if it's there? I can easily make the assumption there is no god without your whiny complaint that I didn't know your god told the soldiers to bury their shit so he wouldn't step in it (Deut.). Prof. Flew is a babbling idiot, not a philosopher, if he never had the brain cells to think that one through.

26. Workers' Religious Freedom vs. Patients' Rights

Comment #222934 by King of NH on August 1, 2008 at 6:03 am

It's not so much that people shouldn't have the right to decide between right and wrong, and should not have to do wrong. We all know this: think the My Lai Massacre, or the Abu Ghraib prison. We don't just allow this kind of individual thought, we demand it. So I would like to dismiss the idea that medical workers have no right to refuse to perform morally reprehensible actions.

That being said, I abhor this bill. This bill is not asking for permission for people to refuse to do "evil." This bill is asking permission for people to suspend rational thoughts regarding morality and simply say, "I won't do what Jill says because Sally said I shouldn't. I like Sally more than Jill, so I expect the law to protect me." There is a new term for this reasoning I have seen used: WTF?!? If someone could give a concrete reason, with logic and thought, and no appeal to supernatural commandments channeled through red-faced preachers, as to why abortion should be denied, then I am absolutely willing to listen. But they do not want to provide reasons; they simply want legal protection to behave willy-nilly.

So do I agree we have the right to legal protection when we behave in a way that might conflict with our job, if that behavior can be demonstrated as proper? Yes, but then we, in America, already have that protection.

Do I agree that the demonstration of what is proper can be based on a 2000 year old incomprehensible, inconsistent, and culturally specific book? No! Or a barely educated, self-righteous hick who bought a pulpit at a flea-market for two shotgun shells and a pig? No!

We have every right, and every obligation, to behave morally before we behave according to our employers' wishes. But we are also expected to stand behind our convictions, alone, and explain them. This individual responsibility is what they ask to be removed. It is sickening and revolting.

(PS: If you disagree, talk to Dawkins. He told me to think this way)

(PPS: The PS was fricken stupid? Yes, I know)

27. Obama Should Re-Think His Faith-Based Agenda

Comment #221012 by King of NH on July 29, 2008 at 9:13 am

I don't think McCain was either very liked by conservative Christians in the past or doing his best too woo fundamentalists now, I don't see why Obama needs to do so.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9izhjnaLa3M

Maybe you're right, McCain doesn't pander to the religi--- wha? Oh, he does? And with a little slap down for the secularist. Nice. I hate this man more and more every time he opens his mouth. But the sad part is, last time he ran, I liked the guy. But then, he's changed every core value I admired in him then to the extreme opposite for this election.

28. Obama Should Re-Think His Faith-Based Agenda

Comment #220780 by King of NH on July 29, 2008 at 3:59 am

The sad part is that since it's the Christian Reich that rules America, Obama doesn't have a choice about his faith stance if he wants to win. If you aren't Christian you will not win, period, that's the American way.

Unfortunately, this is true. If Obama doesn't at least pretend to embrace Christians (Christians specifically) than McCain will take the White House. That would be a tragedy unparalleled in American history (unless you count the last election... oh, and the one before that... and a few in the 80's... or Iraq... Vietnam... okay, okay, it'll be bad, real bad). Not only doesn't Obama have a choice, neither do I. Obama could go a lot further in embracing the zealots before he would compare to McCain's "the is a Christian nation, and if you don't like it get the &$% out" speech (I'm paraphrasing). I do think that Obama is using more of an apeasment strategy though. Give them something that makes them feel good, and keep the prize locked up with the sanity key. Until Myers or Dennet run, Obama is the closest thing to a secularist we have, and I think he'll not just be 'not as bad' but rather a good president.

29. Losing Sight of Progress

Comment #215433 by King of NH on July 21, 2008 at 10:27 pm

The mistaken view of 'backward' evolution does disprove the hand of god, but explaining the error also helps those who are eager to understand evolution see it for what it truely is - unguided with no goal. Humans are not an apex of evolution, but a unique roll of dice, and as Einstein argued, god couldn't have rolled them (I know I am misquoting Einstein with that). The next step in human evolution could resemble Lucy, as today it seems the stupid people breed in much larger numbers than smart ones.

Another example of 'reverse' evolution is the domestic dog. While it evolved further along the timeline than it's wild ancestor, it has less strength, stamina, and intelligence. New research points to these adaptations beginning before becoming fully domesticated, making it evolution by natural selection, a selecting for dogs more able to mingle with humans, and then live with humans (in other words, unlike most domesticates, dogs and humans domesticated one another, so to speak, for mutual benefit). Evolution can Select for a dumming down when that is part of the genetic package that best suits the needs of the species.

30. Richard Dawkins slaps creationists into the primordial soup

Comment #213813 by King of NH on July 19, 2008 at 12:58 am

He does not see why literature and science should be enemies.

I couldn't agree more. Working through college, I have a need to understand the distinction, but I find it to be one of convienience and not effective outside of course requirements. Sagan, Dawkins, Darwin, Verne, and Melville have demonstrated this.

Off conversation from this string, I know, but more on the above quote:
http://athome.harvard.edu/programs/wilson/

31. Bush Bureaucrats at Dept. of Health and Human Services Redefine Contraception as Abortion

Comment #213040 by King of NH on July 18, 2008 at 3:47 am

This bill seems to be a Trojan horse working religion into government. We need to fight this where the rubber meets the road.

32. MnIndy interview: Unrepentant science-heathen PZ Myers still intends to prove 'this cracker is nothing'

Comment #211390 by King of NH on July 16, 2008 at 12:19 am

Myers: The response has done nothing but confirm it: I have to do something. I'm not going to just let this disappear.

I agree with PZ. This can be seen as one of many battles against stupidity and nonsense. Will these fruitcakes retaliate against harming a cracker by harming a human being? What will the courts decide should things escalate? What about popular opinion? I say, let's go forward. PZ, I'm with you 13%! It would be 100%, but really, what am I gonna do? I figure (using ID math) that online cheering and moral support is 13% of the value of tangible assistance.

33. Fury at funeral songs ban

Comment #211381 by King of NH on July 15, 2008 at 11:58 pm

Sad, sad, sad

Religion pays such lip service to being there to comfort and console in times of need. Now, they want to hit people when they're down because their imaginary god tells them to. They just lost a family member. Let them mourn.

Message to the Bishops: There is no god, none. Your rules are stupid and they hurt people. Stop playing games and get a real job.

34. Disproving Conventional Wisdom On Diversity Of Marine Fossils And Extinction Rates

Comment #210573 by King of NH on July 14, 2008 at 8:21 pm

This is real "Academic Freedom." When science finds they really do have weakness in one idea (proliferation of species diversity) and strengths in another idea (plateau of species diversity) it is taught, discussed, and corrected. So why do we need a bill telling scientists to do what they apparently do already, quite willingly?

35. Man Sues Church Over 'God Injury'

Comment #210068 by King of NH on July 13, 2008 at 9:26 pm

I consider persistent mis-spelling and ignoring of grammar, especially after it has been pointed out, to be a form of low-grade rudeness.

As a soon to be grammarian, purposefully poor grammar is irritating to me, also. If someone expects what they say to be respected, then they must also respect what they themselves are saying. That is, place the effort on making something eloquent, clear, and tff.

36. Weak US dollar hits papal profits

Comment #209208 by King of NH on July 11, 2008 at 9:22 pm

Wow. Looks like even the imaginary friend market is suffering. Any market reports from the competition yet? I hear Muhammad is still popular, though exports are down. Maybe Shiva the Destroyer could hire Dick Cheney as their spokesperson? I know Hinduism has long been a strictly local producer, but the imaginary friend market is sure to rebound and may have a void or two. I'm still investing my money in Ninsun. She's an older IF producer, but has a proven resilience.

37. An Irishman's Diary

Comment #209201 by King of NH on July 11, 2008 at 8:34 pm

gkatheist:

...and one thing that they pound into our brains is the fact that language change = language use.

This is a liberal view. While language must, and will, change, not all change should be accepted. While many new uses for words will work just fine, as well as adaptations of grammar, often these lead to unforseen confusion. The serial or Oxford comma, for example, or the apostrophe s. Should we just accept phrases such as "Its going to break it's rotor," or "There is there house," since they are such common mistakes? Absolutely not.

38. Thousands Flock to Revival in Search of Miracles

Comment #208470 by King of NH on July 11, 2008 at 1:14 am

One of them is Bill Wise. He patiently tended his desperately ill baby daughter throughout the long night's revival. He listened for a call from Bentley offering a cure for his child's condition. But it never came.

This is wrong. This is why religion is sick. Religion doesn't help people cope, it helps them hide from reality, an overall devastating strategy. Whose lack of faith will Mr Wise blame for his daughter's death?

Bently should be thrown in prison for false medical claims. I would be if I sold homemade pills as a cure for anything.

39. Religious bigotry upheld in court

Comment #208359 by King of NH on July 10, 2008 at 9:37 pm

"Gay rights should not be used as an excuse to bully and harass people over their religious beliefs," she said.

Of course, religious rights are a perfect excuse to bully and harass gays.

40. IT'S A GODDAMNED CRACKER!

Comment #206886 by King of NH on July 9, 2008 at 12:01 am

The wafers are nasty, too... Like cardboard. Yuk!

41. Landlords protest after pub swearing ban gets them sacked

Comment #206825 by King of NH on July 8, 2008 at 9:15 pm

Oh, foul language...

I thought it was maybe a rule against making promises when drunk (I swear babe [refering to some indescretion]! -or- I swear I'll buy the next round). That made sense, and I didn't see what the problem was. This would be a good ban.

But foul language? Odd. The Landlords might be offended by "Fuckin' good beer" but I'm rather offended by "God bless you." Who's to decide what the more offensive? Answer: the customer. Now shut up... ...bitches.

42. Atheism on the buses

Comment #206820 by King of NH on July 8, 2008 at 9:06 pm

In most of NH they don't allow billboards, and the bus and trolley have no outside adverts. It's hard to make any statements large enough to gain attention. The Scarlet Letter seems the best choice (especially since the book was written here).

43. Degrees of religion

Comment #205998 by King of NH on July 8, 2008 at 2:40 am

This type of wishy-wash is almost worse than outright fundamentalism. Kia should read The God Delusion and Varieties of Scientific Experience. Then she might see how a willful and purposeful ignorance is an evil unto itself, perhaps the greatest threat to human civilization. Where action is needed, she will pray. Where education is needed, she will pray. Where support is needed, she will pray. I pity her, but I despise her worldview.

44. Teaching Evolution in Mexico: Preaching to the Choir

Comment #205973 by King of NH on July 8, 2008 at 1:48 am

I was saved by Dawkins from a missionary. I was watching a YouTube of his when someone knocked on the door. I opened the door, with Dawkins still yelling about how foolish religion is blaring in the living room, and a young woman dressed like Jackie Kennedy clutching a Bible just smiled, said "nevermind," and walked off. She was very courteous, for someone that threatens eternal hell on her neighbors for a hobby.

But Mexico is kicking American ass in science. One of the richest nations in the world is so unwilling to support science that its poorer neighbor will soon overtake it. When will the average American wake up and see that we are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the world, literally. I am embarassed to see 40% of Americans thinking Genesis is literally true. Holy $%#^! This is exactly like 40% of Americans believing in Santa Clause (I felt inspired by Santa to get you that, Santa is real).

AAAAaaaaarrrrRRRRrrrggggggghhhh... gh..ghh gh ... grow up

45. Merger of U.S. earth science agencies proposed

Comment #205870 by King of NH on July 7, 2008 at 8:36 pm

This does smell of budget cuts, but the truth is that these budgets have been getting cut. By pooling their resources, the agencies can work together to make strides visible and supportable by the tax-payers, ensuring better budgets by public will.

Ideally, I would like to see them remain separate and duke it out in REAL science, may the best brain discover the most. But since science is under such an attack in this country, I think it would be best to circle the wagons and win one battle at a time.

46. The Boundaries of Belief

Comment #205855 by King of NH on July 7, 2008 at 8:22 pm

So now we know what type of atheist McAllister used to be.

47. Does the Pope wear Prada?

Comment #204345 by King of NH on July 4, 2008 at 8:47 pm

He said the practice "aids the devotion of the faithful, and makes it easier to enter into the sense of mystery".

or: He said the practice "aids the brainwashing of the faithful, and makes it easier to surrender critical and individual thought".

Not much of a trecky, but I do remember something about 'Borg' and "resistance is futile."

jenlaferriere:

I also grew up Catholic. Chruches are beautiful places. But I also live in New England and have seen many beautiful buildings of Academia, built for much nobler reasons. There is a humbling feeling standing on Harvard's campus looking up the massive stairs of the library.

48. Christians challenge teaching of evolution

Comment #204342 by King of NH on July 4, 2008 at 8:41 pm

"We're a Christian organisation so we believe that God made the planet and God made the cosmos ... Science takes a theory and tries to establish it as the truth, and that's all this is."

[fuming, smoke shooting out my ears]

A theory is not a guess! NOT A GUESS! Creationism, ID, are NOT theories; they are uneducated, unsupported, unreasearched, and disproven ideas with no realtion to truth.

Evolution has been established as truth by 150 years of intense research and scrutiny during which it has withstood every attack and predicted discoveries yet to be made even today.

49. Group Asks for Divine Intervention to Ease Oil Prices

Comment #204339 by King of NH on July 4, 2008 at 8:33 pm

"There is little, if anything, the average person can do to reduce gas prices generally," Neurohr told Cybercast News Service. "What they can do is reduce their personal dependence on gasoline by carpooling and utilizing public transportation."

What? That's a stupid idea. Give up my 35 foot 8 wheel drive monster truck? How will I get around Manhattan then? No, the obvious answer is to pray to God that he will smite the godless holders of our heavenly petrol and give it to the poor, suffering, Christian, white, middle-class, American heterosexuals that have already been oppressed so much since the civil rights movement (our wives have started voting, damn it!!!). Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm switching my florescent bulbs with 1million candle power ones, woohoo!

50. Science is thrilling - except in our schools

Comment #203852 by King of NH on July 3, 2008 at 8:38 pm

I became an English major because I love the sizzle of a freshly flipped burger.

But I love science, mostly because of my university experience with core classes. I had a two hour break between my biology class and my world lit, and would hang out with my professor for most of it digging deeper into how the Kreb's cycle works, how much energy is locked in ATP... The was excitement in seeing real science and having such fundemental questions answered, questions I could only take wild guesses at before higher education. High school education alone left so many gaps of understanding between the memorized facts that I didn't know 'science' at all.

I have often thought of changing my major to science, but I am still fascinated by the history, structure, and origin of language; a subject explored by the science end but rarely approached from the other, liberal arts end. I hope my passion for both will help me bridge the entire subject in my graduate studies.

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