1. The 'Great Debate' in Texas

Comment #281602 by OhioLen on November 10, 2008 at 5:40 pm

Dhamma wrote:

If it is actually true that Berlinski doesn't believe a word of it, and simply does it for the money, then I've lost all hope for humanity. How could anyone lower themselves that much?

If it will be revealed as true, which I doubt, I hope the DI toss him out of there asap. Fortunately it would hurt them significantly, but not even I want them to lose in this way.

You know, I kind of hope his thinking is something along these lines:

[A] wise general makes a point of foraging on the enemy. One cartload of the enemy's provisions is equivalent to twenty of one's own, and likewise a single PICUL of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one's own store.
-- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

2. Death for apostasy?

Comment #266520 by OhioLen on October 19, 2008 at 7:40 am

I have several friends and family members who are non-believers and apart from some efforts to return them to the straight and narrow or at least go through the motions of religious observance, they have not come into any physical danger.

Translation: won't you please get back into the closet?

3. 'All Terrorists are Darwinists': An Interview with Harun Yahya

Comment #252851 by OhioLen on September 23, 2008 at 5:03 pm

Yet it is a scientific fact that evolution is wrong. Anyone reading my Atlas of Creation comes to the same conclusion.

Isn't that the same book that had a fishing lure (hook and all) posted as photographic "evidence" that the depicted insect had not evolved?

Silly ape.

4. Genes might not be so selfish after all

Comment #249244 by OhioLen on September 17, 2008 at 8:59 pm

And of course the tons of prescription medications that get flushed down the toilet every year, along with all the other toxins we dump into the air and water, have absolutely nothing to do with this.

Color me unimpressed. This article is trash.

5. Our scientists must nail the creationists

Comment #248164 by OhioLen on September 15, 2008 at 7:19 pm

2. Comment #247052 by robotaholic
the last few articles put up on this website have taken jabbs at Palin and McCain...ha ha, If they win, ha ha is all I have to say- she may believe in jebus but at least she doesn't THINK she's jebus ha ha

As mayor of Wasilla AK, she engaged in attempts at book-banning in the public library and packing the local school board with creationists. That infamous church video has her talking about the Iraq war as a "task that is from god." I don't see anything at all funny about the VERY REAL possibility that this nutbar has a chance to wreak that kind of havoc at the national level.

McCain is 72 years old, a multiple-cancer survivor and a "broken" (his word, not mine) torture victim. Actuarially speaking, he has a far higher chance of dropping dead in the next four years than another man his age without such pre-existing conditions. This chance is of course multiplied when compared with a man of Obama's age. If McCain wins and his health subsequently fails, Palin will be in charge of both the world's deadliest military and the world's largest economy. To date she has exhibited no experience (and less interest) in foreign policy, and her grasp of economic matters seems weak at best. Ha ha?

46. Comment #247205 by thewhitepearl on September 14, 2008 at 5:40 am
eh last time I checked there were third party parties. Independent is a good one.

No it isn't. The "independents" that the TV talking heads are always yammering about are not actually a political party. They are voters who do not identify with any particular party. There is such a thing as the "Independent Party;" in fact there are a few of them, but all are fringe groups at best.

6. Yale Researchers Find 'Junk DNA' May Have Triggered Key Evolutionary Changes In Human Thumb And Foot

Comment #243873 by OhioLen on September 7, 2008 at 3:18 pm

How about instead of the dismissive "junk DNA," we think of it instead as "legacy code?"

7. Secularists have a right to maintain their ethos

Comment #240425 by OhioLen on August 31, 2008 at 1:16 pm

"They keep the law and behave decently because they believe that humanity is the highest form of life."

That "highest" bit doesn't sit right with me. Life is life and despite our delusions of grandeur, bacteria and viruses rule the world.

8. Atheists: The Last Political Outcasts

Comment #238758 by OhioLen on August 28, 2008 at 2:39 pm

Re voting for Jesus: someone's car is parked about a block away with a "Vote the Bible" bumpersticker on it. Makes me wince every time I see the damn thing.

9. Museum in censorship row over Darwin sign

Comment #238715 by OhioLen on August 28, 2008 at 1:46 pm

{'He used the same layers of fossils that had supported the Genesis view of evolution to show the slow changes that are taking place over the millennia of earth history, each small change enabling a species to the rigours of it's (sic) environment" the struggle for survival through natural selection leading to the survival of the fittest.}

FAIL.

Not only is it an absolutely terrible attempt at explanation, it's poorly written to boot. That rambling drivel should have been proofread before it got dropped off at the sign-maker's shop.

If I had seen that mess posted in a museum, I would have bitched about it myself.

10. Priest Antonio Rungi wants beauty contest - for nuns

Comment #236501 by OhioLen on August 24, 2008 at 5:55 pm

Someone help me out here...I seem to recall something about some "deadly sins." Does this fall under Pride or Envy?

11. Robot with a Biological Brain: new research provides insights into how the brain works

Comment #236451 by OhioLen on August 24, 2008 at 3:57 pm

My question: if "cultured neurons" have the ability to learn, does that include the ability to replicate in order to accommodate increasingly complex neural relationships?

12. Sincerity no substitute for evidence

Comment #233931 by OhioLen on August 20, 2008 at 3:30 pm

From original article:

"...most people for most illnesses simply get better on their own (whether they take nothing, a sugar pill or unbelievably diluted water)..."

How do you dilute water?

13. Rushdie condemns cancellation of Muhammad novel

Comment #230823 by OhioLen on August 15, 2008 at 7:52 am

As I understand it, RH had to pay a cancellation fee of $100K and the author retains all rights to the book. I read it from one of the links in another thread on the topic here, but don't remember which.

14. Richard Dawkins, the naive professor

Comment #226159 by OhioLen on August 7, 2008 at 6:49 pm

The article is a waste of time, but I still love this little scrap of text:

"...bonkers tin-hut preacher from the Quivering Brethren..."

You gotta admit, that's funny. :D

15. Evangelically Serious Science

Comment #223691 by OhioLen on August 3, 2008 at 7:21 am

"Comment #223642 by MRA on August 3, 2008 at 2:43 am
Gnomish - you could try writing to BBC America - they broadcast Channel 4 shows in the US from time to time."

The thing is, BBCA isn't carried by all providers in all markets. It pretty much depends on whether the cable/satellite company has it in their lineup.

When the "Free Catch-Up" is made available, will RDF post a link to the URL for non-UK folks? Please? :D

16. Is Killing Liberals a Hate Crime?

Comment #222662 by OhioLen on July 31, 2008 at 5:00 pm

Setting the merits of hate crime legislation itself aside for a moment, the headline is misleading. While this madman was clearly after liberals, the fact remains that in his mind, Liberal = UU. A strong case can be made that his actions were indeed a hate crime under the "religious" inclusion in the statute.

If the crime doesn't quite fit the full set, does it fit any subset? If so, then hate crime.

At least, that's' how I'd look at it if I were a prosecutor.

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

Comment #213190 by OhioLen on July 18, 2008 at 9:07 am

" 24. Comment #213022 by Szkeptik on July 18, 2008 at 2:57 am
Why won't someone bomb the Vatican? That would be a good deed."

No, it would not. It would be an atrocity. What could you have been thinking?

18. Prayer refusal pupils 'disciplined'

Comment #204661 by OhioLen on July 5, 2008 at 1:04 pm

" Comment #204627 by thewhitepearl on July 5, 2008 at 11:48 am
I don't think this article is telling the complete story..I have a feeling that there is more to this."

Ding ding ding...we have a winner!

On reading it carefully, there is not enough information to derive any conclusions. Read one way, it should piss off Christians afraid of exo-indoctrination. Read another way, it should piss off atheists outraged at the fuss over a mere demonstration, in a class meant to promote understanding. The truth almost certainly lies somewhere in the middle.

Oh, and NineBerry: where does that article provide any information at all about the teacher's religion?

19. Mayor challenges pope during Genoa visit

Comment #182248 by OhioLen on May 19, 2008 at 2:03 pm

mordacious1 wrote:
"I wish the news media would quit reporting on every thing he says. If they did I think he would fade into obscurity."

It would be nice, but as long as the Catholic Church exists, it will never happen. The Pope is not only a religious figure, he's also officially the head of a sovereign state (the Vatican). Even without the religious aspect, if (for example) Cincinnati's mayor criticised a foreign Head of State during an official visit, it would be stunningly rude and thus newsworthy.

20. Evolution's Critics Shift Tactics With Schools

Comment #174833 by OhioLen on May 3, 2008 at 3:57 pm

I'm half inclined to say "to hell with it, let them teach their nonsense instead of hard science." Then when the USA's economy collapses because we can't keep up with the rest of the world, maybe these morons will get a clue.

Reality doesn't care what their religious beliefs are, but it might take reality to demonstrate it.

21. U.S. a theocratic state, says former Canadian ambassador

Comment #47013 by OhioLen on June 2, 2007 at 6:06 pm

Brian wrote:

This is what worries me. You are too dense to have even formulated the implications of your hysterical fear mongering:-(

In your first post which addressed me, you raised a strawman unrelated to anything I wrote. Now, you're playing ad hominem games.

I wasn't engaging in anything even remotely resembling "hysterical fear mongering," and this is twice now that you have wholly misinterpreted and misrepresented what I wrote. Do you have trouble with reading comprehension?

22. U.S. a theocratic state, says former Canadian ambassador

Comment #46947 by OhioLen on June 2, 2007 at 10:44 am

Would you care to explain which bodily orifice you pulled that strawman out of? I made no mention whatsoever of a first strike; I was pointing out that Pakistan is a far more likely source of nuclear technology than the former Soviet Union.

Please address what is actually written, not what you fabricated in your head.

23. U.S. a theocratic state, says former Canadian ambassador

Comment #46941 by OhioLen on June 2, 2007 at 10:20 am

USA Limey wrote:

First of all, let's look at the probability of Islamic fundamentalist terrorists actually acquiring nuclear weapons. The article you referenced casually states;

"Williams first presents evidence of bin Laden's purchase of highly enriched uranium in Sudan and nuclear devices from the Chechens and the Russian Mafia."

What rot, can't you see that guys just trying to sell a book. What is this myth that the former Soviet Union is like some nuclear Arab street Bazaar where one can go in and come out with few nuclear devices stuffed in the trunk of your car?

Forget Russia. Where do you think Iran, North Korea and Libya (remember, Qaddafi gave up his enrichment program a few years ago) got their nuclear information?

PAKISTAN.

Pakistan, where Pres. Musharraf is deeply unpopular and has survived multiple assassination attempts by radical Islamists. Pakistan, home of the biggest nuclear proliferation ring the world has ever seen (A.Q. Khan's national nuclear laboratory). Pakistan, home of the largely abandoned search for Osama Bin Laden in Waziristan province.

New York Times, 12/26/2004

When experts from the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency came upon blueprints for a 10-kiloton atomic bomb in the files of the Libyan weapons program earlier this year, they found themselves caught between gravity and pettiness.

[...]

Nearly a year after Dr. Khan's arrest, secrets of his nuclear black market continue to uncoil, revealing a vast global enterprise. But the inquiry has been hampered by discord between the Bush administration and the nuclear watchdog, and by Washington's concern that if it pushes too hard for access to Dr. Khan, a national hero in Pakistan, it could destabilize an ally. As a result, much of the urgency has been sapped from the investigation, helping keep hidden the full dimensions of the activities of Dr. Khan and his associates.

[...]

On television, Dr. Khan was forced to confess but he gave no specifics, and General Musharraf pardoned the scientist. American officials pressed to interview him and his chief lieutenant, Mr. Tahir, a Sri Lankan businessman living in Dubai and Malaysia, who was eventually arrested by Malaysian authorities.

[...]

Stephen J. Hadley, the deputy national security adviser, went to Pakistan soon after the Sept. 11 attacks and raised concerns about Dr. Khan [prior to his confession], some of whose scientists were said to have met with Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda's leader. But Mr. Hadley did not ask General Musharraf to take action, according to a senior administration official. He returned to Washington complaining that it was unclear whether the Khan Laboratories were operating with the complicity of the Pakistani military, or were controlled by freelancers, motivated by visions of profit or of spreading the bomb to Islamic nations. The Pakistanis insisted they had no evidence of any proliferation at all, a claim American officials said they found laughable.

More excerpts from the above article can be read on my site.

24. I Believe In Evolution, Except For The Whole Triassic Period

Comment #46462 by OhioLen on May 31, 2007 at 10:56 am

I stopped reading the Onion a couple years ago, when it got to the point that their satire was virtually indistinguishable from "real" news.

25. 12 Year Old Girl Prodigy Paints Pictures of God

Comment #18910 by OhioLen on January 23, 2007 at 3:19 pm

It looks like Sean Penn with REALLY big hair, a bad beard and a hunchback to me, but whatever. The kid admittedly has raw talent, but needs to work on visual perspective and/or human anatomy (those hands and arms just ain't right, among other deformities). She'll likely grow out of the Jebus phase, unless she figures out that there's a market to be exploited for that sort of thing. One has to wonder what her art will look like once she gets older and discovers boys (or girls, if she's so inclined).