Comment #296351 by Luthien on December 3, 2008 at 1:21 pm
LOL Cartomancer, I have such a beautifully vivid picture in my head now. Can I be invited? <3
2. 'Atheist bus' more like a bandwagon on highway to hell
Comment #293993 by Luthien on November 30, 2008 at 1:19 pm
...there is a group within the DUP that has been pushing to get creationism taught in schools and exhibited at every museum in the province.
3. SC priest: No communion for Obama supporters
Comment #284872 by Luthien on November 16, 2008 at 3:59 am
Right! No canibalistic rituals for you guys till you stop with the intrinsic evil supporting!
Reality. You are are doing it wrong.
4. Teaching hate in UK schools
Comment #275354 by Luthien on October 31, 2008 at 5:17 am
Go Paxman!
About time someone faced them down like this.
"the audience will make up their own mind about what you've just said."
Priceless :-D
5. Portrayal of Religion in the Media: Religion is Political
Comment #274419 by Luthien on October 30, 2008 at 3:51 am
Great article. I think we all need to stand up and be counted if we are to effect any change. The Athiest bus thingy is the perfect thing to do this. Many of my friends were extremely enthusiastic about it, even those who I didn't expect to even care.
Comment #263634 by Luthien on October 12, 2008 at 5:38 am
NewEnglandBob said:
That rewards those irresponsible enough to take out a mortgage they could not afford.
7. Artist Builds Temple of Science
Comment #257546 by Luthien on September 30, 2008 at 3:58 pm
I do like the idea of the CMB stained glass. I think I might have a go at making some fused glass like that.
8. Pullman defiant over US protests against Northern Lights
Comment #257069 by Luthien on September 30, 2008 at 2:28 am
Does anyone agree with me that the Amber Spyglass was a terrible morass of flabby, divergent story-line- a desparate effort to tie up the inconsolable threads- which completely destroyed the singular clarity and perfection of the first two books?
9. Jewish 'ultras' defend morals with menace
Comment #251816 by Luthien on September 22, 2008 at 7:17 am
58. Comment #251789 by Caudimordax on September 22, 2008 at 5:43 am
No Religion said it's about birth control. I think it's about paternity control - that guy in the article has 11 kids! He needs to be absolutely sure they're all his. With human females not having an obvious estrus, it's necessary to keep them locked down at all times.
10. Turkish edition of The Ancestor's Tale sells out within a day!
Comment #250791 by Luthien on September 20, 2008 at 10:53 am
Hey, I support Turkey's EU Application! I think if we let them in it will be easier to hold them to our standards on free speech. If there were 10 countries like Turkey I would be against it though, as it might tip the balance against the freedoms we enjoy. It's easier to liberalise a country if you have a large affluent middle class who want to read such things as The Ancestor's Tale, and the effect of member status on their economy might help this along.
Edit:
@Mulder: A friend of mine is Turkish, and he is as European in his outlook as I am (he would say he is a muslim, but also says he is not religious). Turkey definitely belongs with us culturally.
11. 'Spore' Its for the Little Guys
Comment #244519 by Luthien on September 9, 2008 at 3:55 am
Anyone who is worried that this misrepresents the process of evolution is not giving kids enough credit. The process of evolution by natural selection is so blindingly obvious that it is impossible not to get it, but the catch is you have to be thinking along a certain line first. I think this gets you thinking along those lines.
Plus, a conclusion that you come to yourself is much more robust than something you are just "told" by someone else.
12. How 'Secondary' Sex Characters Can Drive The Origin Of Species
Comment #242093 by Luthien on September 3, 2008 at 11:32 am
Hey, that explains all those men with the big fancy cars...
For the record, my bloke doesn't even own a car *smug grin*
13. Better Know a Lobby - Atheism
Comment #241028 by Luthien on September 1, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Or is it just that you kind of know it is SUPPOSED to be funny and therefore you kind of think well, perhaps it is funny? Like South Park. Not witty, not clever, but you know it is SUPPOSED to be funny, so you'd better say how hilarious it is or you won't be cool?
14. No atheist burials in Co Donegal
Comment #239468 by Luthien on August 29, 2008 at 5:19 pm
'oh no, she can go in with the Protestants'
15. Catholic leaders block contraceptive advice for 30,000 Scots girls
Comment #232719 by Luthien on August 18, 2008 at 2:21 pm
If it's anything like the catholic school I went to as a teen they won't be getting any teaching about contraception anyway! The teacher handed out leaflets about it while telling lots of embarassed teenage girls that it was a sin and she was only handing out the leaflets because required by law. People were puting them in the bin without reading them, cause they didn't want to bring them home, and we certainly didn't get an opportunity to read them in class.
Comment #232528 by Luthien on August 18, 2008 at 9:21 am
3. Comment #231891 by yesspam on August 17, 2008 at 9:25 am
(6% of all skydiving fatalities, for instance, are from divers that forgot to pull their ripcords),
How do they know?
17. Rushdie condemns cancellation of Muhammad novel
Comment #230829 by Luthien on August 15, 2008 at 8:26 am
On the brighter side, I just saw the following...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7554892.stm
Egypt's Jane Austin perhaps? Certainly interesting to see this type of thing catch on :)
18. Rushdie condemns cancellation of Muhammad novel
Comment #230816 by Luthien on August 15, 2008 at 7:33 am
Excellent idea, bucketchemist, she should do that!
I have bought a few books from lulu.com myself (Sci-Fi), and they were all excellent! I would definitely recommend them.
The other idea from esuther about setting up a coalition to deal with these situations, I agree! How do we do this, and how can I help? I am quite sure that this would easily pay for itself in sales, after all, you still have to buy a book if you want to burn it ;)
19. Judge says UC can deny class credit to Christian school students
Comment #229263 by Luthien on August 13, 2008 at 9:37 am
2 plus 2 equals 3 because I really believe it?
20. Judge says UC can deny class credit to Christian school students
Comment #229261 by Luthien on August 13, 2008 at 9:34 am
If anyone thinks thatthe matter involves just a handful of nutters, belief in creationism is rampant in Northern Ireland amongst Presbyterians and other Calvinistic religious denominations.
Roger Stanyard
British Centre for Science Education.
21. How Our Culture Keeps Students Out of Science
Comment #226556 by Luthien on August 8, 2008 at 9:28 am
Also I think it's important to note as some have, that computer science is applying the term "science" with a broad brush. The comp sci graduate is likely to be supporting some non-descript business app - wondering why a damn variable is not being populated in some billing software. Fun fun! I know a good many CS folks, and wouldn't apply the label scientist to them.
22. Rochester Physicist's Quantum-'Uncollapse' Hypothesis Verified
Comment #226343 by Luthien on August 8, 2008 at 2:01 am
Annoyingly, it doesn't say precisely what a "weak" measurement is, nor spell out precisely how it differs from a "strong" one.
23. Rochester Physicist's Quantum-'Uncollapse' Hypothesis Verified
Comment #225794 by Luthien on August 7, 2008 at 11:35 am
I read about this experiment last year in New Scientist. Here is a quick snippet from the magazine (I have them all in a rack in my livingroom):
"To sneek a peek at the qbit's state midway through collapse, the researchers induce a steadily increasing voltage across a wire ring. This is like teasing the qbit into "thinking" about tunnelling by making it easier to cross the barrier. Then at a certain threshold they drop the voltage back down again. It is equivalent to opening the box and then quickly closing the lid. Because quantum processes take a finite time, lowering the energy barrier then raising it again acts as a "weak" form of measurement. If we don't see the qubit tunnel it means that there is some finite probability that the qubit is in the lower enery state. In ohter words, we have gained information about a quantum system without destroying the delicate superposition. The more times we risk leaving the barrier down without the qubit tunnelling, the more certain we are of it's low energy state. Now it is time to undo any harm we have inflicted in the process. To do this, the physisists fire another kind of microwave pulse, known as a pi-pulse, at the qubit. This inverts the quantum states of the qubit: the higher energy level is now the lower level, and visa versa. The voltage is then ramped up and dropped again. If the qubit doesn't tunnel this time, it becomes more likely that it is in what is now the lower energy level. Where the first weak measurement pushed the superposition one way, the second pushes it by the same amount the other way, which means we end up right where we started." Cover Story in New Scientist, 12th May 2007 (issue 2603)
Comment #225769 by Luthien on August 7, 2008 at 11:08 am
The best way to undermine the confidence and beliefs of jihadists is to trigger a rebellion of Muslim women, their mothers and sisters and daughters.
25. Richard Dawkins, the naive professor
Comment #225759 by Luthien on August 7, 2008 at 10:59 am
Nature is too cruel to have been invented by God! A wet, mawkish, bunny-hugging argument.
26. Call to teach biblical creation as science
Comment #225606 by Luthien on August 7, 2008 at 5:28 am
Northern Ireland is the closest thing to the Bible Belt in the US and there are strong links between Fundamentalist Protestant groups here and those in the States.
27. Call to teach biblical creation as science
Comment #225604 by Luthien on August 7, 2008 at 5:17 am
What is it with the Northern Ireland assembly these days? First we have a raving homophobic bigot like Iris Robinson as the head of the Health Committee and now we have a grinning creationist moron like Mervyn Storey as the head of the Education Committee. It's almost as if they chose these people for their positions solely on the depth of their incompetence.
28. Embracing goodness, without God
Comment #224080 by Luthien on August 4, 2008 at 5:02 am
"And I am a good person. I'm a very caring person. I care for my cats and other people."
29. Why Islam Is Unfunny for a Cartoonist
Comment #223538 by Luthien on August 2, 2008 at 4:43 pm
The statement that Amseterdam could be majority Muslim withing a decade is pretty firghtening.
White Pearl- I used to be emphasize with you when you criticized any dumb ass sexual remarks from the guys, but by the looks of your recent avatar, it looks like your begging them on. C'mon- you can't have it both ways.
Comment #223368 by Luthien on August 2, 2008 at 5:13 am
0. Comment #223146 by MattusW on August 1, 2008 at 3:13 pm
That part where he says he was a victim of abuse, do you think he might have been trolling the reporter?
"We're waiting," Weev said. "We need someone to show us the way. The messiah."
31. Breeding for God
Comment #221523 by Luthien on July 29, 2008 at 5:40 pm
In ethnically divided Northern Ireland, sectarian conflict fuels far higher religiosity than in other parts of Britain.
32. France rejects Muslim woman over radical practice of Islam
Comment #209573 by Luthien on July 12, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Except in Ireland, where it was "Erin go braless"
Comment #206505 by Luthien on July 8, 2008 at 12:26 pm
Signed! It's worth a fiver just for the entertainment value!
34. Senate bill allows display of Lord's Prayer, 10 Commandments
Comment #187526 by Luthien on June 2, 2008 at 9:28 am
34. Comment #186427 by stephenray on May 30, 2008 at 9:21 am
Tom Paine said christianity was an amphibious fraud?
As in, able to go on land and water?
What did he mean by that?
35. Religion is a product of evolution, software suggests
Comment #185173 by Luthien on May 27, 2008 at 6:26 am
People are gullible by default...
36. Teenager faces prosecution for calling Scientology 'cult'
Comment #182580 by Luthien on May 20, 2008 at 2:57 pm
They are right, this stinks!
37. Group finds Starbucks logo too hot to handle
Comment #180915 by Luthien on May 16, 2008 at 4:57 am
Ooh. This is fun. What other innocuous imagery can I find to be offended by? If only there were some group insensitive enough to use an execution/torture device as their logo.
Comment #176149 by Luthien on May 6, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Hey, I used to be an expert in demonology, but then I respeced to an SM/Ruin build and never looked back. I only use my imp for the health buff now, though my felhunter is still useful for soloing (but only really on casters).
/target Dr. William Bradshaw
/cast curse of doom
/cackle
Anyone else here have a warlock? (or even know what I'm talking about?)
39. Judge orders La. school district to stop Bible giveaways
Comment #168161 by Luthien on April 24, 2008 at 4:18 pm
50. Comment #167641 by old-toy-boy on April 24, 2008 at 8:28 am
Let me see if I (a Brit), have this right. In the U.S, you cannot preach/promote religion in state schools, even teaching 'about' world religions (plural) is discouraged because it may be mistaken for preaching religion, yes? onsequently hhanding out free religious books in schools is not allowed... So handing out non-religious books should be OK... (you can probably guess where this is leading...) you can not get much more non-religious than books like 'The God delision", Or 'The Blind Watchmaker'.
(Have I just evolved an argument to exploit a niche?)
40. Flea of the week
Comment #164097 by Luthien on April 19, 2008 at 2:05 pm
Aquaria said:
Oh man... No wonder everyone thought I was weird as a kid. I always wanted books! The first time I ever went to a bookstore (a rare treat in hickistan) was the only time I felt anything close to a religious experience as a child.
41. Yoko Ono, Filmmakers Caught in 'Expelled' Flap
Comment #162583 by Luthien on April 17, 2008 at 5:09 am
Decius, I absolutely LOVE your avatar! Where did you find it??? <3 <3 <3
42. Did pre-big bang universe leave its mark on the sky?
Comment #158973 by Luthien on April 11, 2008 at 9:10 am
25. Comment #158882 by sidfaiwu on April 11, 2008 at 6:29 amJanChan:
Wait, if big bangs are hereditary, what's stopping natural selection to act upon them?
Mostly the fact that universes don't have environments. There is nothing 'outside' the universe that can cull the 'weaker' universes.
43. The simple falsehood at the heart of Expelled
Comment #158233 by Luthien on April 10, 2008 at 8:41 am
Hehe, that is very well put. I shall have to remember that point next time I hear that silly nonsense from a creationist ;-)
44. Expelled producers accused of copyright infringement
Comment #158229 by Luthien on April 10, 2008 at 8:36 am
rushfan2112:
Hopefully Yoko Ono might do something with the use of "Imagine" in the film...I doubt very seriously that she gave permission for that.
45. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'
Comment #152478 by Luthien on March 31, 2008 at 6:04 am
FYI, Pat Condell's latest offering:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W3_qelW5qp4
46. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!
Comment #149918 by Luthien on March 26, 2008 at 10:30 am
*sings*
Happy birthday to you,
You were born in a zoo,
With the monkies...
Only kidding! :-P
Hope you have a great birthday (and many more).
47. Police: Girl Dies After Parents Pray for Healing Instead of Seeking Medical Help
Comment #149832 by Luthien on March 26, 2008 at 9:31 am
11. Comment #149743 by Rover on March 26, 2008 at 7:41 am
...Maybe if they get cancer, they can pray for a miracle and just forget about the chemo?
48. Wicked untruths from the Church
Comment #149681 by Luthien on March 26, 2008 at 5:36 am
Atheism may lead to a realisation of the danger of religious dogma which includes ignorance, bigotry and intolerance.
49. Wicked untruths from the Church
Comment #149653 by Luthien on March 26, 2008 at 3:53 am
Thoughtsoncommontoad said:
Is anyone else uneasy about number 2 "Creating a child with the correct tissue match to save a sick brother or sister." or is it just me?
50. First 'Rule' Of Evolution Suggests That Life Is Destined To Become More Complex
Comment #146525 by Luthien on March 19, 2008 at 7:00 am
My definition of Evolution by natural selection:
Hey, whatever works for you!