1. China finds major dinosaur site

Comment #313633 by Aidan86 on January 6, 2009 at 12:18 pm

We're told that scientists ~know~ deep down that evolution is false. So do you think that scientists are nervous and worried everytime we discover a new bed of fossils that may finally show evolution to be false?

Or just freaking excited?...!

This is awesome.

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

Comment #290224 by Aidan86 on November 24, 2008 at 8:22 pm

"...Dawkins's confrontational, firebrand style"
Have the people who say this sort of thing ever heard Richard speak or read his writing? He's surely one of the most softly spoken and polite scientists out there.

If you find what he says rude it's only because you see rudeness when someone disagrees with you - which is pure conceit.

3. In a Novel Theory of Mental Disorders, Parents' Genes Are in Competition

Comment #282949 by Aidan86 on November 12, 2008 at 11:57 pm

Okay, why do we call this a theory and call evolution a theory? Surely we only have ourselves to blame when people say evolution is "only a theory". Everyone does it. I think that needs to change.

4. Children need to be sprinkled with fairy dust

Comment #272462 by Aidan86 on October 27, 2008 at 1:25 pm

Richard:
"...I do remember spending a lot of time at my infant school trying to call down supernatural forces to protect me from bullies. I had a distinct mental image of a large black cloud with a human face, which would swoop down out of the sky and deal with the bully."

Tomorrow's headlines:
"Militant atheist Hawkins spurned God who wouldn't protect him from schoolyard bullies"
"Bullied Fundamentalist admits childhood issues the root of his atheism"
?

5. Genes might not be so selfish after all

Comment #249359 by Aidan86 on September 18, 2008 at 3:24 am

The standard of scientific journalism makes me want to cry. Not just the standard flavour-of-the-month attacks on Dawkins, but the way they just can't grasp the concept but feel the need to write boldly about it anyway....

6. Christian Couple Staying Together For Sake Of God

Comment #246688 by Aidan86 on September 12, 2008 at 8:08 pm

AfraidToDie:
Understand why I don't understand what, exactly?

7. Christian Couple Staying Together For Sake Of God

Comment #246638 by Aidan86 on September 12, 2008 at 4:12 pm

So the rational thing to do is to get a divorce when you are going through a rough patch? I think one of the biggest dangers we face when we get rid of religion is that of throwing the baby out with the bathwater and not taking things like marriage seriously.

8. The Science of Religion and the Religion of Science

Comment #200634 by Aidan86 on June 28, 2008 at 2:20 am

It seems Derose has been dede-ed in the description...

9. New discovery proves 'selfish gene' exists

Comment #197337 by Aidan86 on June 21, 2008 at 7:16 pm

Doesn't this article miss the point of Richard's book? I thought the main thesis of the Selfish Gene was that natural selection occurs at the level of the gene, not that there is some specific selfish gene in our dna. This might be interesting research, but it's a different idea really, as far as I can tell.

10. Physicists in Congress Calculate Their Influence

Comment #193629 by Aidan86 on June 15, 2008 at 9:24 pm

"Then there was the time he rose to defend A.T.M. research against a colleague who thought it should be left to the banking industry. In this case the initials stood for asynchronous transfer mode, a protocol for fiber-optic data transfer. "

Is that a joke, or did this actually happen? If it's actually true, and if there are records to back this up, then the member should be held publicly accountable for arguing against something when s/he did not even understand what the acronym stood for - and taking a salary from the American people for doing so.

11. Character Attacks: How to Properly Apply the Ad Hominem

Comment #187796 by Aidan86 on June 2, 2008 at 5:03 pm

The Spitzer and Clinton examples were relevant - anti-corruption legislation put in place by a corrupt man is likely to be ineffective because it could likely be designed to hide his own corruption. And if a president is shown to have lied, it could put their dedication to the truth into question.

But I don't see how the Swaggart argument is relevant. That's like the fat doctor. Just because he didn't live up to his own ideals of fidelity does not mean that those ideals aren't worth striving for. Sure you can attack him based on his transgressions, but you can't attack his message or argument.

12. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #186536 by Aidan86 on May 30, 2008 at 2:23 pm

The woman lied about her sexual history. Their religion is irrelevant and the annulment is justified.

13. Richard Dawkins lecture at ASU's Tempe Campus

Comment #184231 by Aidan86 on May 24, 2008 at 3:48 am

Hitler. Was. Not. A. Vegetarian.

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

Comment #178560 by Aidan86 on May 11, 2008 at 3:36 pm

"PC gone mad!" ??
Oh God, please....

The decision was not made to avoid offense. It was to offer more of a choice to more people. Perfectly reasonable.

But there's nothing like a good healthy dose of "PC gone mad!" outrage, hey...

15. Sexpelled: No Intercourse Allowed

Comment #162978 by Aidan86 on April 17, 2008 at 6:35 pm

Personally I believe in Sex-Theory. But I also believe that storks probably guide the sexual process.

16. School bars same-sex partners at formals

Comment #161444 by Aidan86 on April 15, 2008 at 9:54 am

RobDinsmore:
The change in attitudes towards gay people where I live over the last 5 years alone has been pretty remarkable. That change would only be more pronounced in an enlightened state like Massachusetts.

The public school I graduated from 5 years ago barred same-sex partners. This would be unthinkable in a public school today.

17. The Atheist Next Door

Comment #157468 by Aidan86 on April 9, 2008 at 6:12 am

Surely the question "where do you put your trust" is irrelevant to whether or not there is a God. It's a question that can only be answered once you have decided if God exists and has no bearing on the decision itself.

18. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152348 by Aidan86 on March 30, 2008 at 7:04 pm

Enlightenme, I don't know what the MCB website is, but that cliched picture of a guy holding a "Behead those who say Islam is violent" is an obvious photoshop job of a picture of "Behead those who insult Islam" poster. Not that the sentiment's any nicer, it is just less ironic.

19. In His Name We Pray, Ramen

Comment #151858 by Aidan86 on March 29, 2008 at 3:11 pm

newskin:I agree to an extent, but creationists hardly do a good job of explaining the existance of dinosaurs which is what i think the author was getting at.
---
But they do go to great lengths to explain in great (nonsense) detail how we coexisted, how they are in fact the dragons of the bible, how they were originally vegetarian, how man killed them off, etc. When a creationist reads such a misrepresentation of their position "they don't even believe in dinosaurs!" they feel justified in their beliefs, and feel even more strongly that they need to push for creationism to be taught properly in schools.

That's why we should show creationism for what it is. It's funny enough without having to lie about it.

20. Beware the Believers

Comment #151851 by Aidan86 on March 29, 2008 at 3:02 pm

The real humour of this comes from a parody of the religious conspiracy that "big-science" is silencing creationists when they are on to something. Dawkins and his big-science creationist expelling machine was a hilarious representation of this.

The rap afterwards is just a silly bit of fun and fan-worship.

21. In His Name We Pray, Ramen

Comment #151838 by Aidan86 on March 29, 2008 at 2:40 pm

Duff, Gimlibengloin has a point, the article severely mischaracterises the creationist position. This should be their tactic, not ours. Bad article, in my view.

22. Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science

Comment #125137 by Aidan86 on February 11, 2008 at 2:39 am

What is the UK convention for a Professor's title after retirement? Do we still say "Prof. Dawkins" or will it become "Professor Emeritus Dawkins"?

23. Are Darwin's Theories Fact or Faith Issues?

Comment #120389 by Aidan86 on February 1, 2008 at 2:55 pm

Money quote from a Christian at the Uncommon Descent site:

"In my opinion we should just close our eyes and pretend that this debate never happened."

24. Heath Ledger Death: Baptist Group To Protest At Memorial

Comment #115784 by Aidan86 on January 24, 2008 at 7:14 pm

In a way I'm glad that they're drawing attention to the hugely important role Heath played in making our cultural output more inclusive of gay people.

25. Way of the Master Radio talks about Dawkins' Christmas Comments

Comment #100312 by Aidan86 on December 18, 2007 at 1:40 pm

Matt: "Even if they did, to most reasonable people these days (and I hope most atheists), it wouldn't be a dent on their characters."

Of course it would be a dent on their characters, and I hope most atheists ~would~ see that. To spend their lives publicly calling homosexuality an abomination and including it amongst the most evil things that are caused by evil secularism and evolutionary thought while participating in gay activities secretly themselves?! That would be the worst sort of damaging hypocrisy.

Re the radio show: How boring. And who knew Richard sings by whispering in an American accent...

26. Jail for creationist row killer

Comment #98572 by Aidan86 on December 13, 2007 at 9:56 pm

The victim was a biomedical scientist, arguing the case for evolution. It's a sad case, but one has to remember that the scientist allowed the argument to become physical. No intellectual argument should ever become physical and the victim it seems played a part in this.

27. An Open Letter to Richard Dawkins

Comment #98393 by Aidan86 on December 13, 2007 at 2:43 pm

Ohhh I just found out he's a contributer for Fox news. That explains everything.

28. An Open Letter to Richard Dawkins

Comment #98391 by Aidan86 on December 13, 2007 at 2:42 pm

When I heard this guy talking at Richard on the radio show he just came accross as a little kid who liked to argue and knows he's right. He made the most appallingly flawed assertions and I don't think he could have possibly read much on the subject. Annoying to listen to.

29. Talking Action Figure Jesus

Comment #73333 by Aidan86 on September 24, 2007 at 7:00 pm

...So when will they be releasing the Muhammad doll?

30. Out of Thin Air

Comment #72961 by Aidan86 on September 23, 2007 at 4:09 pm

LawJik: "Great read, supports Darwin, not sure why these people with imaginary friends would lead skeptical people towards such a great pro-evolution/reason article..."

Because it helps them to prove that the theory of evolution is still an open question, rather than settled science.

Once that's established, they merely have to provide some sensational sounding claims about creationism and people are hooked.

31. Against the grain: There are questions that science cannot answer

Comment #71952 by Aidan86 on September 20, 2007 at 1:39 am

This is the poorest excuse for journalism I've seen in some time. Dawkins has addressed all of those points very clearly and a simple Google search shows this. What is the point of publishing something like this, it adds nothing new to public discourse!

32. Interview with Michael Behe

Comment #61119 by Aidan86 on August 3, 2007 at 6:35 pm

"...all you have is wood, a piece of metal and a spring, and there's no possible use for any of that stuff." LOL, perfect Colbert style response that actually gets to the heart of why the reducible complexity argument is bunk.

"Darwin's Einstein" was another good one. lol.

33. Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73

Comment #41296 by Aidan86 on May 15, 2007 at 8:08 pm

Jack, I was jokingly making the point that there is nothing nice to be said about Falwell. (Besides what makes you think I want to impress the girls anyway..)

34. Television evangelist Falwell dies at 73

Comment #41281 by Aidan86 on May 15, 2007 at 7:12 pm

Well my mother always used to say "If you can't say anything nice..." so:

...

35. BBC man says 'I was wrong to lose it. But these scientologists are truly scary'

Comment #40835 by Aidan86 on May 15, 2007 at 4:38 am

"South Australia took an unprecedented action when it banned Scientology in that state. I don't know if other places have done the same. It is a dangerous cult. It subverts minds far more effectively and quickly than ye ol' religions."

The Scientology Prohibition Act has long since been repealed here in South Australia.

36. Mozart doesn't make you clever

Comment #32396 by Aidan86 on April 17, 2007 at 2:05 am

Of course listening to Mozart passively will have no effect. It's listening to it with an understanding of what it is and what it represents that will have a positive effect on you. I'm not sure about IQ points, but there's a lot you can learn from listening to the great composers. It will greatly expand your world view and teach you a lot about human nature. There are certain things that cannot be expressed in our limited verbal language.

37. Hey Mom, I'm an Atheist

Comment #31025 by Aidan86 on April 10, 2007 at 5:08 pm

I feel sorry for the poor boy, but I also feel sorry for the mother. She is obviously very scared and in a panic about what could become of her boy who she no doubt loves very much. We need to remember that people with strong religious afflictions often don't act the way they do simply because of a hatred of atheism, but out of a misdirected love and care for their family and friends. I hope the family can sort this out.

38. The Most Hated Family in America

Comment #29652 by Aidan86 on April 3, 2007 at 8:19 pm

It seems that Fred won't be able to be the head of the church for much longer... He seemed to have difficulty remembering how many children he has and could only read out -very deliberately- pre-written diatribe... Shirley would be the obvious choice to take over, but seeing as they force the women to cover their heads in the church, I don't imagine they could let one be a minister...

39. Peanut Butter, The Atheist's Nightmare!

Comment #27828 by Aidan86 on March 27, 2007 at 2:00 am

Who needs satirists?!

40. If only gay sex caused global warming

Comment #27219 by Aidan86 on March 23, 2007 at 3:21 pm

Please padster1976... Danial Gilbert is an expert psychologist. He's taking a humourously objective look at what gets the goat of your average shallow minded global warming denier. His point is quite obviously that we are worrying about the wrong things.

The truth is that if gay sex was linked to global warming, a lot more evangelical Christians would believe in it. I think that's pretty funny - so many people are more concerned about something so insignificant as gay sex than they are about the safety of the planet.

The human physiology does give strong psychological responses to things concerning sex. Let's let Gilbert write about his field of expertise without jumping down his throat.

As a gay man, I found the article very funny and refreshing.

41. If only gay sex caused global warming

Comment #26988 by Aidan86 on March 22, 2007 at 6:10 pm

Perhaps the answer is to spread the word that gay sex ~does~ cause global warming?

42. Amazing Meeting 3, 2005

Comment #25918 by Aidan86 on March 15, 2007 at 4:44 pm

You know, it leaves a bit of a hole in your life when you discover that Father Christmas doesn't exist. Fortunately, we have James Randi, who is just as good in every possible way (and then some). James Randi: what a man!

43. Guinness 'Evolution' Ad

Comment #22119 by Aidan86 on February 13, 2007 at 12:37 am

Very nice. They got our lineage all wrong... but it's still good!

44. Richard Dawkins interview with Paula Zahn

Comment #22066 by Aidan86 on February 12, 2007 at 9:33 pm

Both videos were mere tokenism to respond to all the complaints of bias from their ridiculously one-sided previous endeavor. Richard's interview was way too short, as was the panel "discussion."

That being said, I think that the Professor and the atheist women came across very well in their limited opportunity.

45. God and gorillas

Comment #20314 by Aidan86 on February 1, 2007 at 5:53 pm

G Bile: ""God created the universe 13 billion years ago with the Big Bang. Some 10 billion years later, when things had cooled down sufficiently, he started monocellular life on the planet Earth, and set in motion "Evolution" in order to arrive, couple of billion years later, at the "Pinnacle" of creation.
Okay, along the way he had to tinker a little with bacterial flagella and the occasional eye, but finally there it was, the supreme, the unsurpassed, the zenith, just in his image, equipped with the mental tools to worship him:

the Great Ape.

Unfortunately evolution goofed a little and also produced the homo species, who messed everything up by inventing holy books and the friday prayers, but luckily they will soon be extinct, so everything will be perfect shortly.

Is this an adequate assessment of the article, or did I miss something?""

Yes, G Bile, I imagine you neglected to read the article.