101. Dusty Clues: Study suggests no dearth of Earths

Comment #122204 by sarah95 on February 4, 2008 at 11:18 pm

This sounds pretty interesting...not an earth-shattering(pardon the pun) breakthrough, but definitely giving exiting hints. I wish Carl Sagan were still around to comment on developments like this.

102. Admitting that you have no religion is not politically correct

Comment #122075 by sarah95 on February 4, 2008 at 3:29 pm

Just this past week I started gearing up for starting a group like this on my campus. I talked to other club leaders and I'll be meeting with a professor interested in being our advisor later this week. I'm tempted to just adopt the same mission statement, along with an announcement of solidarity with the Laurier Freethought group. I know that many of you are shocked at this pandering by the University, but it's a policy to be a pussy on my campus. Everyone is so goddamn tolerant that you're literally punished for offending anyone in the slightest way. To see what I mean, you can watch this video:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=hrR3Co8VAlo
done by the skepticists Penn and Teller on their show "Bullshit". The episode is about college bullshit, and my University is featured. Why not go to a different college, you might ask? Because my options are either go to school in my hometown and be hounded by my clinging mother, or go to school here for the next cheapest tuition in the state.

And if anyone has any tips on starting successful freethought groups, feel free to contribute them in this thread!

103. Atheists to celebrate at Darwin Day in Coconut Creek

Comment #122058 by sarah95 on February 4, 2008 at 2:59 pm

Steve Zara's post: (first quoting Epinephrine then reacting)
" '[I'd celebrate, not because I'm an atheist, but]because of how much Darwin has contributed to the world (not just biology - everything has been influenced by the meme of evolution).'

I may be over-reacting. This just makes me uncomfortable. I don't think any sign of exclusivity in terms of scientific knowledge is healthy. "


I think you are over-reacting, at least to the specific quote you prefaced with. Epinephrine was saying that he didn't celebrate Darwin Day because of atheism, but for scientific reasons. Just because our opponents and the media don't understand this doesn't mean we have to stop. We just need to be clear. I think that appeasing people with an image is a bit over the top. All we need to do is be ourselves and be REASONABLE. Constantly comparing ourselves to others can lead to an image obsession. And, when Epinephrine said his support for Darwin Day was scientific and not atheistic, you accused him of "exclusivity". I agree that exclusivity is bad, but that's not what his quote was about at all.

I'm really glad I submitted this article because it kind of shows how the media is always trying to connect atheism and evolution, and trying to make us look religious. We know we're not religious (regardless of D-Day issues) and as long as we stay true to ourselves, stay reasonable, and explain ourselves clearly, we've done all we can do. I'm certainly glad that posting this article has stirred some debate and discussion; so often we just get used to agreeing with each other, that we need to delve into some issues(like PR) that are worth discussing.

104. Putting Candidates' Religion to the Test

Comment #121723 by sarah95 on February 4, 2008 at 3:27 am

What would really be wonderful was if Dawkins, in an especially barbed state, were allowed to ask the questions and verbally confront the candidates for any insufficient explainations given....yes, quite a lovely daydream to see the moderately to extremely religious politicians of the day cower in the shadow of RD's sharp and incisive intellect...

and then I wake up.

105. Sprinting down the evolutionary highway

Comment #121717 by sarah95 on February 4, 2008 at 3:10 am

Wow. It seems as though the human brain may go in the same way as the ipod: smaller and more efficient all the time!

"...American researchers have found evidence of recent mutations on about 1,800 genes, or 7 per cent of the human genome; traits such as lighter skin and blue eyes in northern Europeans and partial resistance to certain diseases in areas of Africa..."

I wonder how many of the 1,800 mutated genes have actually been changed enough to make the effect of that gene significantly different, and how many (if any) weren't significantly effected by those mutations. This is where my relative ignorance of mutation really shows. And another question: Did all the observed mutations happen on loci containing mostly coding or non-coding DNA? Ah, I'm so confused (but facinated at the same time)!

"...say those who can now access the complex inner workings of Homo sapiens' 25,000 (or so) genes. They say adaptation appears to be built into our DNA to respond to changing environmental, even cultural, stresses..."

I'm not quite sure what they're saying here. Is the "adaptation built into our DNA" just the increased rate of mutation, or something else? I understand that they're implying that the population bomb is a possible cause of this accelerated evolution, but what, if anything else, is helping?
And as for the "cultural stresses" that our genome appears to be adapting to, I wonder what RD would have to say about that...something interesting, no doubt.

"..."We are more different genetically from people living 5,000 years ago than they were different from Neanderthals," said one of the study's co-authors,..."

That's surprising. It's counter-intuitive to our mistaken perception that genetic evolution always has some outwardly obvious physical indicators(i think...).

106. Female Muslim medics 'disobey hygiene rules'

Comment #121540 by sarah95 on February 3, 2008 at 3:36 pm

Just a new and creative way for Muslim folks to effectively say "My religion is more important than your life" through their actions...I hope they're sacked and ridiculed (the second part being taken care of by us).

107. God the psycho

Comment #121059 by sarah95 on February 2, 2008 at 11:03 pm

Wonderful job, Pat!

As for that bit at the end about preferring damnation, I quite agree. If the god of the desert ever defies mathematical prediction and comes knocking on my door, I'll simply say, "No thanks, I'd much rather spend eternity studying very hot tectonics with rationalists and atheists. I don't think I'd much enjoy the company in heaven."

108. Documents detail church coverup

Comment #120853 by sarah95 on February 2, 2008 at 5:30 pm

"Reached at his Mayville home this week, Becker said he believed that his rights - both the constitutional rights afforded every citizen and church law protections for a priest - have been violated."

VIOLATED?? He's facing civil charges instead of the deserved criminal ones(as epeeist so aptly pointed out), he's raped and permanently violated scores of children, and all this sick fuck can go on about is how violated HE feels?
disgusting.

109. God vs. Gridiron

Comment #120813 by sarah95 on February 2, 2008 at 3:43 pm

" Yesterday, North Carolina Democratic congressman Heath Shuler, a former NFL quarterback, sent a letter criticizing the league's stance to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. Mr. Shuler says that if the league won't budge, he plans to draft federal legislation that would exempt churches from the screen-size restrictions.

It's unfortunate that the NFL has given exception to sports bars," Mr. Shuler says. "If they're going to give exceptions, let's give one to faith groups that are having a positive influence on people's lives." "

What a power-abusive whiny little pussy. Instead of bashing football, allow me to take a shot at that idiot of a congressman(how redundant) who was ready to DRAFT FEDERAL LEGISLATION about the way churches watch the Super Bowl. Of all the things that need to be legislated, this is it? What a fuck-tard. What makes him think that he was given his legislative power to waste time on such an issue. O, maybe all the other fuck-tards in congress gave him that impression...
And "unfair exceptions for sports bars"?? That's why they're called SPORTS bars!
Not that I care at all about football, but it seems like the Super Bowl is one of those events that all of us Americans take advantage of to look as stupid as possible.

110. Science and the Islamic World

Comment #120560 by sarah95 on February 2, 2008 at 2:09 am

How utterly sad and disgusting:

"Our female students have not issued the threat of throwing acid on the uncovered faces of women. However, such a threat could be used for creating the fear of Islam among sinful women. There is no harm in it. There are far more horrible punishments in the hereafter for such women"

"When the 2005 earthquake struck Pakistan, killing more than 90 000 people, no major scientist in the country publicly challenged the belief, freely propagated through the mass media, that the quake was God's punishment for sinful behavior. Mullahs ridiculed the notion that science could provide an explanation"

What a bleak situation.
I remember an occasion when Evangelical preachers came to my college campus, and preached on the lawns and sidewalks. They had a large crowd of students gawking at them and laughing in equal measure. One preacher told a "joke" about why women aren't on average as tall as men (because they need to be low enough to reach the sink) some nonsense about housework, and I challenged the preacher with my own interpretation of my height. I told him that I was just my height so that I could easily work at the lab tables in the science building. "I can do SCIENCE!" I exclaimed, "Can your wife do THAT?" Needless to say, his response about her teaching Sunday school was laughed off by most of the crowd.

I'm infinitely glad that all I have to deal with on my campus is a few crazy lawn-preachers here and there. Aside from that, I can pursue my Biology in peace. I wish that Arab women students could one day have it as easy as I do.

111. There Are No Ghosts in Your Brain

Comment #120512 by sarah95 on February 1, 2008 at 9:28 pm

Great talk!

Although, I do think that RD did a much better job of explaining the "religion as a by-product" hypothesis in TGD than PZ did here. But still, an engaging and interesting presentation.

I admire his patience with the audience's questions throughout instead of just at the end. It's hard to present something when you're being interrupted.

112. Pope says some science shatters human dignity

Comment #120208 by sarah95 on February 1, 2008 at 10:35 am

CORRECTION:
woops! i thought the first quote i referenced was "last" not "latest foray"...sorry.

113. Pope says some science shatters human dignity

Comment #120205 by sarah95 on February 1, 2008 at 10:34 am

"It was the Pope's latest foray into scientific issues."

we can only hope so...



"On Monday he warned against the "seductive" powers of science, saying it was important that science did not become the sole criteria for goodness."

what a lovely straw man he's built! he might consider standing it next to his christmas tree. o yes, science is aiming to be "the sole criteria for goodness"...what nonsense. it only shows how threatened he really feels.

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

Comment #120193 by sarah95 on February 1, 2008 at 10:26 am

All smashing of ID-enablers aside, PZ still did a great job!

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

Comment #120189 by sarah95 on February 1, 2008 at 10:24 am

'respected authorities on each side of the issue"??? bah!

I understand why PZ wants to totally slam down this "Discovery Institute" ID nonsense, but WHY do the people on this show want to give any credence to such STUPID non-scientists?!?!

This is just SO infuriating that time after time, people who I know don't really question evolution and know ID is nonsense just put ID people on their shows, presenting them as "experts" or equivalent to real scientists. I know it grabs your attention, but I have to doubt that this KKMS station has any sense of ethics at all.

116. Morality and the 'new atheism'

Comment #119816 by sarah95 on January 31, 2008 at 8:42 pm

What a wonderfully concise presentation of the arguments! I must have this on hand when arguing with theists.

I actually first heard about mirror neurons from Al Gore's book "The Assault on Reason". While the book is a little too sympathetic to religion, other types of non-thinking are sufficiently attacked. I would recommend it to anyone interested in or affected by(the second one being quite a large category) American politics.

The Anti-Pope: As for techniques, we should be the Dawkins-esque symbolic intellectual version of V, while remembering to still have fun:
"A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having." ~V

117. Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights

Comment #118777 by sarah95 on January 31, 2008 at 12:59 am

I really hope that people in my US Congress and in the Executive Branch at least speak out about this, if not put some pressure on Karzai. After all, we did sort of put him in place. If Bush can go on and on about fighting terror and evil dictators and ignore the opportunity to speak out about such evils as this going on in the country we attempted to liberate, then there's really no hope of liberation at all. If we can't even publicly condemn such Stone Age laws/practices in a place where we felt it proper to remove an entire Stone Age government, we are truly weak. I hope our public figures follow through on this. I intend on e-mailing my congressman about this.

118. Happy Birthday Josh Timonen!

Comment #118766 by sarah95 on January 31, 2008 at 12:43 am

Happy Birthday Josh! You've done a great service by making such an easy to use and engaging website. I enjoy it everyday!

As for the card, Professor, I agree with Ben Jennings: It's the thought that counts!

119. The Repeater

Comment #118718 by sarah95 on January 30, 2008 at 9:49 pm

Very interesting article! The pictures were definitely helpful.

I also agree with Zara and the others that the current mind should read Gould's work carefully, because his good writing made him popular, but his ideas don't stand up to much scrutiny now. This is what I hate about the situation: softies who haven't read The Selfish Gene always wrongly assume social Darwinism is implied, and that Gould is the "compassionate saviour of science", promoting this group selection idea that presents what we want to hear instead of the truth(which isn't so bad if they'd just read The Selfish Gene and pay attention!)

kmorgan: your avatar is great.

iankmz: i agree. fish-eating insects alone is enough of an astounding incentive to read this article!

120. Richard Dawkins on The Big Questions

Comment #117909 by sarah95 on January 30, 2008 at 12:54 am

Even the bumbling idiot of a bishop (or whatever the hell clergy-thingy he is) wasn't as dim-witted and nonsensical as Anne Widdecombe. She didn't make a single point in the whole thing. Why in the HELL is there even a debate about the blasphemy laws in the first place? It's 2008 for Christ's sake(pun intended)! What a nutcase! Yes, tradition is nice, even RD recognizes that, but that lady was just nonsense...didn't support her "arguments" at all. Not to mention her hellish voice.
It's sad that the only alternative to fundies is wishy washy softie moderates who sit around and whine about semantics, "progression", and the non-existent monopoly they think they have on morals and tolerance. Of course, they're not going to blow anybody up, but I can't guarantee that their whining won't make my head explode.

121. Dawkins is third most prolific internet Briton

Comment #117866 by sarah95 on January 29, 2008 at 9:38 pm

Wow! I feel so young! I'm familiar with all the musicians on this list whereas some of you old geezers(just kidding) haven't heard of Lily Allen(yuck!) and Amy Winehouse(awesome jazz/soul singer).

Great to see the professor pwning Blair, Brown, and Ozzy. I quite agree, Dawkins for Prime Minister!

Thanks for all the work Josh, you really deserve a lot of credit here.

I quite agree with Elles: RD would have made an excellent Harry Potter back in the day...if only his voice were a bit lower he might be a good dumbledore!

As for those of you asking about RD's image/popularity in the US, I can tell you that he's not quite mainstream yet, but for the people that he does appeal to, the group can be very diverse. For instance: me!(freshman in college, biology major), war veterans(I met a young man from my area who came back from iraq and decided to speak out against the war. Apparently, he's a big fan of RD and a member of our very own MN Atheists), and "non-traditional" students (a lady in her 40's who is returning to college told me about how she absolutely loves reading Dawkins because she "actually learns something" when she does, instead of just absorbing political sludge).
So, while RD's not mainstream, he certainly does appeal to a wide variety of folks.

clarification: I don't know if the term is used in the UK, but "non-traditional student" usually describes adults who go back to college later in life because they didn't get a degree when they were young.

"pwning" is a slang/internet jargon thing. It comes from the phrase to "own" someone, or beat them horrifically at some feat. However, since my generation seems unable to type correctly, the typo of "pwn" has actually become a new word itself (just imagine if Z had been the key next to O, instead of P).

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

Comment #117481 by sarah95 on January 28, 2008 at 11:38 pm

steveroot, your avatar (the smiling dog) is awesome.

(i apologize for not adressing the article, but as someone else pointed out, it's hardly even worth talking about such fuck-tarded-ness most of the time.)

123. New atheists or new anti-dogmatists?

Comment #117471 by sarah95 on January 28, 2008 at 10:57 pm

The article was great except for the use of the word sloppy. Maybe The Dogma Delusion would have been better PR, but that doesn't make The God Delusion sloppy writing. It makes it inflammatory (and rightly so). Even smart people like the author of this article can't manage to just say "Being brutally honest is just mean." Instead they have to tip toe around it by saying brutal honesty targeted at one area of absurdity(religion) is "sloppy". Oh well, at least he doesn't purposely misunderstand the four horsemen's arguments. "I didn't like your tone" is always better than "Hitler and Stalin were atheists!"

124. 'Telepathic' Genes Recognize Similarities In Each Other

Comment #116943 by sarah95 on January 27, 2008 at 9:04 pm

I agree that the word "Telepathic" shouldn't be used here.
Notsobad also aptly pointed out a terrible mix-up of the terms theory and hypothesis.
This is the sort of stuff that we need Richard for. Clear, concise, and nonsense-free explaination. The writers at Science Daily need a tutorial in non-confusion from our great Professor. Without it, their small mistakes will play into the hands of pseudo-scientific gap-worshippers(who, as Geoff observed, are prone to not reading past the title of any scientific work).

125. Richard Dawkins talks about The Out Campaign and Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #116475 by sarah95 on January 26, 2008 at 3:12 pm

I posted these two videos on youtube last night, and within 18 hours, each of them has been viewed over 200 times! The comments left on the one about the OUT campaign were positive as well.
It's good to know so many people have seen them. Hopefully some non-dawkins.net people were included in the bunch.
;)

126. Richard Dawkins on The Late Edition with Marcus Brigstocke

Comment #116245 by sarah95 on January 26, 2008 at 1:12 am

It's quite unfortunate that we didn't get to hear what his favourite packet of crisps was. I was rather curious myself. That bit at the end was very awkward, with the dancers and such, RD not knowing whether to sit or stand...brilliant.

127. Richard Dawkins talks about The Out Campaign and Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #116204 by sarah95 on January 25, 2008 at 8:42 pm

I just uploaded these to youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYurFtUH1o0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXZNo9giin8

128. Richard Dawkins talks about The Out Campaign and Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #116173 by sarah95 on January 25, 2008 at 5:21 pm

Crazymalc, you hit the nail on the head with

"Ayan and Prof. Richard = the shizzy"

I might even go so far as to say that they're off the heezy, but we wouldn't want to lend ourselves to hyperbole....oh well!

Very nice videos. Thanks a lot Sanj. I am starting an atheist group on my campus, and I think I might like to use the first clip in some way.

129. Chasers war on everything: Evangelicals

Comment #114462 by sarah95 on January 22, 2008 at 8:49 am

This is so refreshing. This would never get on American television (can we say 'oversensitivity'...), much less in a prime time slot. However, we have not just entire 24/7 channels of this tripe(separate ones for catholics and protestants), but also "The 700 Club" of Pat Robertson that airs Sunday mornings and evenings on NBC. Just insane. It makes reality shows on MTV and VH1 seem positively sophisticated.