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Comments by epeeist


901. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #156158 by epeeist on April 7, 2008 at 1:19 am

Not sure whether it should go on this thread or the perpetual "Fleabytes" one, but I picked this up today. Not particularly new, but it does spell out a solution to the chirality issue.

http://www.physorg.com/news126694357.html

902. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #156017 by epeeist on April 6, 2008 at 1:45 pm

Comment #156012 by sdbranum

I've got life to get on with now.
Time of death 20:46 UTC, reason "I have to rush".

903. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #156011 by epeeist on April 6, 2008 at 1:36 pm

Comment #156009 by Mark Smith


You replied to my suggestion that you post something substantive by lumping me in with a highly generalised and negatively stereotyped 'you' and by making entirely unwarranted assumptions about me. But the approach you are taking will not lead to constructive debate.
I think the assumption that he came here to take part in constructive debate. Quarrel dialogue, yes. Persuasion or critical dialogue, obviously not from his first post.

904. Dawkins warns of human extinction

Comment #156003 by epeeist on April 6, 2008 at 1:28 pm

Comment #155993 by Vadjong

So, where on earth do we find enough energy to make one big enough to be dangerous ?
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080406

905. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #156000 by epeeist on April 6, 2008 at 1:25 pm

Comment #155992 by sdbranum


Though it depends upon the various sects, most recognize the Humanist Manifesto as authoritative
You mean this? http://contenderministries.org/humanism/manifesto1.php

Not my style personally.

906. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #155996 by epeeist on April 6, 2008 at 1:19 pm

Comment #155986 by sdbranum

what ID enthusiasts believe, then proceed to trash argument the person or persons never made nor intended. Among bo9th Christians and Atheists, there are those who believe what they believe because that is what they have always been told, or they have placed their trust in someone they believe to have performed rigorous research
Dear oh dear, ID and rigorous research in the same paragraph.

Is this another to add to Al-Rawandi's list, i.e. death by oxymoron?

907. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #155991 by epeeist on April 6, 2008 at 1:14 pm

Comment #155969 by BillySands

Nope, and it doesn't take much intelligence to use a word processing programme. Did a grown up or your carer show you?
Hey come on Billy, give the man a chance.

It seems he can cut and paste from Wikipedia (okay, whether he can do it by himself is moot). Standard theist practice though, don't attribute what you get elsewhere.

A bit like the bible filching Ningizzida the Lord of the Tree of Life or Utnapishtim and pretending it was all their own invention.

908. Dawkins warns of human extinction

Comment #155831 by epeeist on April 6, 2008 at 2:36 am

Comment #155825 by elmeraho


Some of the Parts is available online here.
I award this site the first prize for being the most inaccessible website I have seen this year.

The implementer deserves to be beaten about the head with a hardback copy of the WCAG.

909. Fleabytes

Comment #155701 by epeeist on April 5, 2008 at 9:28 am

Comment #155690 by robotaholic

haha, jehovah's witnesses just knocked on my door while i was getting up and i went to the door and they started talking and it was just gibberish
I keep random pamphlets from the Mormons, Scientologists and Christians Scientists about, as well as old copies of "The Watchtower". Depending who calls I try to cross-sell with a pamphlet from a different organisation.

I keep meaning to add to the pile with information from the NSS but I haven't got around to it as yet.

I was accosted a while back by a young lady with a long skirt and a silly triangle of a head scarf. Tried to tell me about the truth of the bible, I made some random remark about it conflicting with the distance of the stars and lake Suigetsu varves and her whole team (who were all listening by this time) suddenly decided they were in a rush.

In true Al-Rawandi fashion I declared a time of death and the cause to be "I'm in a rush", which I think is number 10 on his list.

910. Dawkins warns of human extinction

Comment #155344 by epeeist on April 4, 2008 at 11:07 am

Comment #155340 by Artful_Dodger


As for the resurrection, it is the most plausible explanation for the empty tomb and the post-mortem appearances of the risen Christ.

Alternatively
  1. It never happened
  2. It was misreported, either inadvertently or deliberately for the purposes of spreading a cult
  3. The body was moved by the authorities to avoid bits of it being used as trophies or political confrontations
  4. It was moved by the members of the cult so that they could proclaim a miracle
All of this in two minutes without putting any real effort into it.

911. Dawkins warns of human extinction

Comment #155323 by epeeist on April 4, 2008 at 10:22 am

Comment #155311 by Cartomancer

In fact you'd be hard pressed to find a mythical hero figure worthy of his salt who didn't ascend to the heavens...
Spoken by a man who comes from Glastonbury I believe. Not too far from the Isle of Avalon...

912. Dawkins warns of human extinction

Comment #155279 by epeeist on April 4, 2008 at 9:47 am

Comment #155264 by Artful_Dodger


So how do you resolve the question of which God to believe in?
Jesus of Nazareth
Sorry, he's just a metaphor.

913. Dawkins warns of human extinction

Comment #155223 by epeeist on April 4, 2008 at 8:43 am

Comment #155198 by al-rawandi


I must pronounce time of death....

8:10 am.

Cause:

Pascal's Wager.
Sorry doctor, I am afraid you are wrong. The patient actually died yesterday, the cause of death was "fundie post-and-run" syndrome complicated by "skip-threads-to-avoid-answering-difficult-questions".

The "Pascal's wager" thing was just an after effect of rigor mortis.

914. Pastor attacks scientist's talk

Comment #155063 by epeeist on April 4, 2008 at 5:56 am

Comment #155038 by VanYoungman

Robertson may be an asshole, but logic dictates he makes a valid argument.
In the hope of helping the Rev. Dark out - shouldn't that be "logic requires", rather than "logic dicates".

915. Pastor attacks scientist's talk

Comment #154998 by epeeist on April 4, 2008 at 4:01 am

Comment #154973 by The Reverend Dark


Your answer to metaphorical vrs literal is not an answer, you were not asked for the general, but the specific. Specific verse. Specific event.
And in addition he was asked how he could decide these specific instances were literal or metaphorical. And by what authority could he declare something that is purportedly either directly or indirectly the word of god to be literal or metaphorical.

AD - you are engaging in something that anyone who has had to give a lecture or presentation of any kind as "hand waving", i.e. trying to distract your audience so they don't realise that you either don't have a clue as to what you are talking about or are knowingly dispensing bullshit.

However, I think in your case it is more a case of "not waving but drowning".

916. Upside-down church sculpture on hit list

Comment #154926 by epeeist on April 4, 2008 at 1:48 am

Comment #154773 by riki


There use to be a sculpture of a prostitute in Sydney. A number of people didn't like it and kept knocking it's head off.
Try this one in Dublin - http://www6.worldisround.com/photos/1/602/175.jpg

Hint - her wheelbarrow is full of cockles and mussels. There are apparently contradicting views about it ;-)

917. Pastor attacks scientist's talk

Comment #154913 by epeeist on April 4, 2008 at 12:54 am

Comment #154912 by scottishgeologist


An old Phillips drilling superintendent told me years ago "hey, boy, opinions are like assholes - everybody's got one - and yours stinks!"
I wonder whether anyone looks at the bottom of the Guardian "Comment is Free" page to see the end of the C.P. Scott quotation "but facts are sacred".

918. Pastor attacks scientist's talk

Comment #154909 by epeeist on April 4, 2008 at 12:50 am

Comment #154902 by MaxD


Your diligence on this metaphor point is really quite something! Artful Dodger sadly isn't as deft as his namesake would suggest.

Devolved, Bizarro Dawkins, Gimlibengloin, Artful_dodger are all one trick ponies. Pin them into a corner and they disappear for a while until, as Steve Zara has said, their reset button gets pushed and they reappear as though nothing had happened.

Billy Sands and I are still waiting for devolved to reappear from around 18 months back. I have some queries on a flood I want answered and Billy wants to raise some questions on opsin genes.
I think it was a meta-litero scalding. And this as we all know is the very worst kind.
That only raises the next bit of my questions to AD - how can you tell, and who gave you the authority to determine this ;-)

919. Pastor attacks scientist's talk

Comment #154900 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 11:39 pm

Comment #154738 by Artful_Dodger

After the scalding Dawkins got the last time
Would that be a literal scalding or only a metaphorical one?

Isn't it about time you actually answered some questions rather than doing the standard post-and-run fundie thing.

920. Pastor attacks scientist's talk

Comment #154646 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 2:33 pm

Comment #154642 by andydjw


Mr Robertson said he could have written a better case for atheism
That would be nice. He could actually tell us what all the tenets are that are supposedly the basis of our fundamentalist beliefs.

921. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #154476 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 10:33 am

Comment #154464 by Steve Zara

They were deceived.
No, they were lied to. Deceived is far too nice a word.

922. Fleabytes

Comment #154402 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 7:21 am

Comment #154400 by al-rawandi


More childish nonsense. Perhaps we could discuss something substantive instead of referencing vapid American pop culture?

Really people, don't rob me of my intellectual stimulation in life.
So what are the odds of Yorkshire finishing above Lancashire in the county championships this year?

And do you think that the Duckworth-Lewis rules ought to be amended?

923. Fleabytes

Comment #154397 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 7:16 am

Comment #154387 by The Reverend Dark

PS: Epeeist - polite, but reverent applause for an excellent re-branding riff, especially as you bring C.S. Lewis into it from an unexpected, uncomfortable, direction.
Thank you for that. To attempt to close the circle, Tolkien (in a quotation that I can't find to hand at the moment, though I believe it was in the introduction to the single volume of "The Lord of the Rings") claimed that he disliked allegory in all its forms. An interesting comment since that is really all that Narnia is (I particularly dislike the last volume, both sanctimonious and racist). Telling too, in that Tolkien and Lewis were drinking buddies, well known in the "Eagle and Child" on St. Giles.

924. Fleabytes

Comment #154383 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 6:52 am

Comment #154378 by annabanana

Sorry to be OT, but does anyone else find it funny that when mlearnedfriend's name is abbreviated as MLF it's really close to MILF?
Haven't you already apologised once for being OT?

Perhaps we could call him "Trumpkin", aka "Dear Little Friend", aka "DLF" from the Narnia Chronicles.

Should young ladies like yourself be aware of what MILF stands for?

925. Fleabytes

Comment #154374 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 6:34 am

Comment #154363 by Philip1978


Well, Mylearnedfriend is in Scotland, you are "up north" and I am in Southern Jessie land, I reckon if we meet half way I could make an afternoon pint but it would have to be a swift one!
I wasn't sure whether MLF would be allowed out to play on a Sunday afternoon.

Does Cambridge count as "Southern Jessieshire"? I was there with my elder daughter last week and had a nice pint of Greene King IPA followed by an even nicer pint of Old Speckled Hen. Not a patch on Timothy Taylor's Landlord though ;-)

926. Fleabytes

Comment #154369 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 6:29 am

Comment #154361 by gimlibengloin


Talk about wishful thinking. Maybe you're the one suffering heatstroke. You need to get in out of the sun.
Ah, this would an ad hominem would it?

927. Fleabytes

Comment #154355 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 6:11 am

Comment #154353 by Roland_F

The 3 woman where Jesus mother Mary, Sister Salome and wife Mary Magdalene
Hmm, hadn't cottoned that one before. Are they there in the form of the triple goddess, crone, wife and maid?

928. Fleabytes

Comment #154354 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 6:07 am

Comment #154349 by Philip1978

Mylearnedfriend

Beer is good and I would happily have a pint with you!
Me too. Would Sunday afternoon suit?

929. Fleabytes

Comment #154331 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 5:37 am

Comment #154321 by BillySands

If a evolutionist acknowledges the lack of evidence for evolutionary development in the rocks then that is strong evidence for such absence. The creationist then argues that such absence is a direct prediction of creation but not of evolution. The Genesis account predicts it whereas the evolutionists have to pull of all sorts of torturous contortions to accommodate it.

1. The evolutionist is not saying the fossil record is useless

2. How on earth does this confirm the creationist view - and 4 billion species on an ark?

If the fossil record was a problem because of its incompleteness, then it would not be neat - you would have groups in the wrong strata - and there are no cases of rabbits in the cambrian, ordovician, siluriuan, devonian...... get the picture - infact, change rabit for any modern species. You are the contortionist.

As usual creationists tend to be fairly loose with their quantifiers.

If creation is correct then there would have to be no fossil record, no fossil stratification, no varves or ice cores older than 6000 years, no consilience between dating methods.

These are predictions from their hypothesis, they are false. Ergo, their hypothesis is also false.

930. Fleabytes

Comment #154325 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 5:25 am

Comment #154310 by Bonzai

Being a computer person who knows AI maybe you can write a little subroutine to generate automatic reply when it detects certain key creationist phrases and user names like "wooter".
Fuck, you just had to do it, didn't you. He hasn't posted since March 31st, he has bound to come back once his name is invoked ;-)

931. Fleabytes

Comment #154309 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 5:03 am

Comment #154303 by Steve Zara

I have just run out of energy for dealing with idiotic creationists in debates here.
Especially as this one is using a name which identifies him as one of the maggots that came to life in the frost giant Ymir's flesh. They later turned into dwarves.

Amusing that he uses the name presumably assuming Professor (not Mr.) Tolkien made it up. The name comes from the "Gylfaginning" in the "Prose Edda" of Snorri Sturlson. This describes how Odin deceives King Gylfi of Sweden.

So a name from one mythos, and belief in another.

932. Fleabytes

Comment #154268 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 2:44 am

To bring it sort of back to topic - is there a report from the talk RD gave at UHI available as yet?

933. Fleabytes

Comment #154227 by epeeist on April 3, 2008 at 12:04 am

Comment #154066 by Corylus

On the music debate, one of my favourite pieces of music is Faure's requiem (unsure about his religious affliations but the language is obviously religious).
Look at the words and compare with other Requiems. It looks as though he was somewhat ambivalent about religion in that he leaves bits out he doesn't particularly like.

Nice analysis of DAR by the way.

934. Fleabytes

Comment #154062 by epeeist on April 2, 2008 at 1:38 pm

Comment #154058 by ForestMist

maybe I am reading too much into it, but I still don't understand what difference it makes as to whether a musician is atheist or not.
I shouldn't worry about it. It is perfectly possible to listen to something like Josquin's Missa L'Homme Arme (which I happen to be doing at the moment) and enjoy it purely for the music.

One of the few pieces I cannot listen to is Elgar's "Dream of Gerontius". Newman's words fill me with loathing.

935. Fleabytes

Comment #154053 by epeeist on April 2, 2008 at 1:11 pm

Comment #154043 by gimlibengloin


I think your getting too upset about this. Billy's point was that Jeremiah 4:10 is evidence that God lies. My point was it simply records what people like Jeremiah said whether what they said was correct or otherwise. For example the book of Job contains much of what Job said concerning God but near the end in chapter 38:2 God tells Job "You don't know what you're talking about" (my paraphase).
In the absence of Billy. I suspect that his point that in the holy book you happen to believe there are passages (not evidence) that indicate that your god lies.

What you now seem to be doing is fudging the bits you don't like while still claiming "honesty, transparency, integrity" for the bits you do.

"The fossil record is like a film of evolution in which 999 of a thousand frames have been lost on the cutting room floor".


Quite a good analogy. In a short film that would make it almost unintelligible. However, if we let one frame be a year then even allowing for this loss we would still get a film over 40 hours long running from the estimated start of life until now. So still a lot of information and evidence.

Considerably more than for your god in fact.

936. Fleabytes

Comment #154035 by epeeist on April 2, 2008 at 12:31 pm

Comment #154032 by al-rawandi

Slaves to the fad.... all of you.
I would hardly call http://www.gothicvoices.co.uk/soundLinks/agincourtCarolHQ.ram faddish.

937. Fleabytes

Comment #153989 by epeeist on April 2, 2008 at 11:05 am

I don't follow this new-fangled pop music. You don't get many openly atheist composers until after the Baroque era. Mozart refused a priest on his death bed, his letters indicate he had lost his faith. Beethoven was a pantheist, Brahms though not an atheist was irreligious. Saint-Saens was an atheist, as were Berlioz and Paganini. Bizet and Debussy were pagans. Delius and Schubert thought Christianity to be untrue.

938. Fleabytes

Comment #153807 by epeeist on April 2, 2008 at 5:40 am

Comment #153801 by Steve Zara


I suspect much of what you said will have gone way over David's head (some went over mine), but it is great to see such an informed response.
Some of the things I have posted have gone over David's head and most of these have had about 10% of the difficulty of MPhil's post.

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

Comment #153101 by epeeist on April 1, 2008 at 3:24 am

Comment #153095 by Bonzai

But I wouldn't equat the COE with the Islamism that is apparently festering in your country. COE Bishops who opposes same sex marriage are not even in the same league as Mullahs who preach that we should be beheaded and mean it.
Not convinced you are right on this one.

The problem, as always, is the automatic deference that seems to be given to any religion without any thought as to why this should be done or what the consequences are. This not only applies to CofE bishops but teachers, magistrates and a variety of other people. It is starting to change, but it has taken a long time and there are still apologists. Blair and Prince Charles have a lot to answer for.

On top of that I get the feeling that because the current government is largely discredited any claims they make on security are seen to be either pushing their own control freak agenda or crying wolf.

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

Comment #153059 by epeeist on April 1, 2008 at 1:48 am

Comment #153052 by Bonzai

Given all that I sometimes think one has to be insane to have children. At least steve doesn't have any (and neither will I)
It wasn't as obvious (to me at least) when they were conceived.

Having said that I am proud of what my daughters are doing in terms of women's rights. It might be small but their determination to assist both directly and indirectly in the education of women and their support for things like micro-banking does make a difference. I would like a view from Al-Rawandi as to whether subversive efforts like this can generate changes. It certainly seems to do in India where my elder daughter will be working later this year.

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

Comment #153050 by epeeist on April 1, 2008 at 1:03 am

I think Steve Zara's depression may get deeper in the future. Both he and I were born in a kindly era after the second world war where it was possible to break out of the class structure that had been there before. If I had been born 50 years earlier then I suspect I would have ended up a miner as both my grandfathers were.

I don't things are going to be as easy for my daughters. The obvious threat of Islam has been raised here. The quest for an American theocracy seems to have gone quiet for the moment, but I can't imagine them giving up and going away. A rapture ready administration with the amount of nuclear weapons the States has would be frightening.

However, the more likely problems are going to be resource conflicts as peak oil occurs, global warming kicks in and makes areas unfit for agriculture. This and increase in populations in some countries is going to lead to the attempt by large numbers of people to emigrate to more prosperous countries with the concomitant resistance in the destination countries.

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

Comment #152752 by epeeist on March 31, 2008 at 1:12 pm

Comment #152664 by hungarianelephant


If I were a jihadist, I would be most encouraged by the political progress to date, and draw further lesseons from the capitulation to the IRA.
And the seeming readiness of the British Secretary of State for Defence to open discussions with the Taliban.

The comparison of Islamic extremists with the IRA is fairly poor anyway (not picking you up on this hungarianelephant). The IRA were at least aiming for a democracy.

943. In His Name We Pray, Ramen

Comment #152099 by epeeist on March 30, 2008 at 5:37 am

Comment #152097 by Henri Bergson

Why has this website not yet mentioned Geert Wilders' anti-Islam film?
There have been some comments about it on various threads.

Do you think it should have its own thread, and if so why?

944. Iowa county board gives initial OK for ghost hunters to investigate asylum

Comment #151368 by epeeist on March 28, 2008 at 2:57 pm


The Johnson County Board of Supervisors took the initial action on the request from the Johnson County Historical Society, which gives tours of the 153-year-old building.
Why are they looking for ghosts in such a new building?

945. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #151285 by epeeist on March 28, 2008 at 11:45 am

Comment #151278 by craigyk


Yes, a 3D object *intersecting* our 2D world would be visible. And you bring up the point that if God isn't intersecting then he can't influence our universe, but that isn't necessarily true either. I mentioned the fact that he could approach our 2D world tangentially, just as your 3D sphere starts as a point.
"Prefer probable impossibilities to improbable possibilities".

946. Fleabytes

Comment #151282 by epeeist on March 28, 2008 at 11:35 am

Comment #151271 by The Reverend Dark


The ceremony made me more angry than I can remember being in a long time. Jesus came up more often than the deceased. Jesus this. Jesus that. God dropped in occasionally; and the holy spirit flitted past with a single mention. He spoke of her being forgiven for her lapses.
My aunt died last year, a devout Catholic. I felt exactly the same emotions as you. It was blatantly obvious that he had a book with "Say name here" and was more interested in selling Jesus than commemorating my aunt.

947. Expelled Overview

Comment #151262 by epeeist on March 28, 2008 at 10:46 am

Comment #151049 by clearmind


Jon, you are losing it. Take it easy and check your answers again?
Is it just me, I detect a significant improvement in spelling and grammar in this post.

No improvement in content needless to say.

948. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #151259 by epeeist on March 28, 2008 at 10:41 am

Comment #151251 by Jason_29


Interesting point that the Christian God requires mystery to understand.
You misread it, believers have to resort to mystery because they have a morass of contradictions in a holy book and nothing empirical to offer.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but so does evolution? But it's not a mystery because it just hasn't been discovered yet.
Evolution is a proven fact, you can see instances of it both in nature and in the laboratory.

But I suspect you are equivocating between evolution and the theory of evolution. The latter is a scientific theory which has been tested many times and has stood up to those tests. It is still only contingent of course, but if it is to be falsified it will take someone with a serious amount of acumen to do it, and if it is ever done then it will require a new theory to be offered. The attacks by the Discovery Institute and its minions are nowhere near doing this.

949. Fleabytes

Comment #151250 by epeeist on March 28, 2008 at 10:14 am

Comment #151242 by clodhopper

Bring on the LHC I say!
Can't operate yet - the lawyers need to sort it out first - http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/03/27/823924.aspx

950. Sue Blackmore debates Alister McGrath

Comment #151247 by epeeist on March 28, 2008 at 10:10 am

Comment #151235 by Bonzai


You shouldn't be too literal in reading my posts. I am not a fundamentalist.
[AOL]Me neither[/AOL] (yeah, I know it isn't quite right).

I find this attempt to put a single label on people intensely irritating. I suspect to someone like scooternyc I am a "liberal fascist", as a lapsed member of a Trotskyist organisation who has worked for a British bank I would hate to think what my former colleagues would label me as.

People are (mostly) incredibly complex and multi-dimensional. Reducing them to a single label looses an enormous amount of information about them and, as I think Dr. Benway as said, says more about you than about them.

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