Comments by ridelo

Comment #102013 by ridelo on December 21, 2007 at 11:45 am

RD makes me feel uneasy as an atheist: his patience is close to godlike. Is he only human?

Comment #96188 by ridelo on December 10, 2007 at 6:17 am

About the fine-tuning of the universe: I never forget that example of Douglas Adams of a 'thinking' pool: "Oh, look how nice I fit in this bowl I'm lying in. There has to be Somebody Who created it just for me!"

103. Richard Dawkins on 'Have Your Say'

Comment #96179 by ridelo on December 10, 2007 at 5:58 am

A prophesy: "The more the religionists will realize they're wrong, the harder they will shout."
See Dinesh D'Souza, Father Morris

104. Ask The God Delusion author Richard Dawkins

Comment #95012 by ridelo on December 7, 2007 at 7:08 am

D'Souza's shouting style of speaking reminded me a bit like Hitler orated before his audiences. Dennett was much better but I'm afraid D'Souza would get the better percentage of yea-sayers.

105. Beyond Belief 07: Enlightenment 2.0

Comment #94255 by ridelo on December 5, 2007 at 5:23 am

Somebody knows how to play those .flv files on an iPod? Or to convert them to .mp4 files?
Thanks!

106. Daniel Dennett Debates Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #93459 by ridelo on December 3, 2007 at 7:22 am

I agree with willxiv (comment 315). It would be way better if Dennett and D'Souza would debate in written form like Sam Harris and Andrew Sullivan (http://richarddawkins.net/article,536,God-Is-Not-a-Moderate,Sam-Harris-and-Andrew-Sullivan-Beliefnetcom)
It would then be crystal clear how hollow D'Souza's arguments would be.

107. Double-checking Dawkins

Comment #93447 by ridelo on December 3, 2007 at 7:04 am

Somewhere in the eighties I read an article about a university in California were they got a huge display of the periodic table of elements. They could display groups, periods etc. with lights. I decided to simulate that on my new TRS80 from Tandy.
Later I enlarged the program on an Atari ST computer and added other features. One was to let the PC play notes with a frequency depending on the values (atomic weights, electronegativities, melting points etc.)
Bit stupid, but fun...

108. Daniel Dennett Debates Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #93426 by ridelo on December 3, 2007 at 6:23 am

I wonder if D'Souza is honest in his arguments. He certainly is enthusiastic and eloquent. I find it hurting that somebody who isn't a fool can err so much. He promised to read Dennett and hopefully also Dawkins (not only TGD) more attentively. I hope so. And not only with a hidden agenda to search for more straw men. It would be wonderful if he could be converted.

109. Daniel Dennett Debates Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #93420 by ridelo on December 3, 2007 at 6:04 am

Comment 21:

Dennett thanks goodness that he is alive. Some people thank God they are alive. Couldn't you see this as exactly the same thing? I asked him this very question (after the video cut off) and he responded with "yes, in fact you can see god = goodness")

In which case, goodness exists is to say god exists, which is to say that God isn't manmade.

Goodness exists, but it's an unfinished job. And it's definitely manmade.

110. Daniel Dennett Debates Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #93416 by ridelo on December 3, 2007 at 5:49 am

Pascal's wager: suppose there is a god and in all honesty I can't believe in him because I find too little evidence for him during my lifetime. Then I die. Would that all loving god send me to hell for being honest?

111. Interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Comment #92194 by ridelo on November 30, 2007 at 3:16 am

Comment #92112 by Theocrapcy

We don't need Saudi oil????

112. A New Flea in Town!

Comment #92126 by ridelo on November 29, 2007 at 10:57 pm

I wonder how many people have read some of the fleas without bothering to read TGD.

113. Pupil defends teacher in Muhammad teddy furore

Comment #91793 by ridelo on November 29, 2007 at 10:36 am

I called my teddy bear Darfour.

114. Stem cell breakthrough

Comment #91011 by ridelo on November 27, 2007 at 1:00 am

To Mr DArcy: I know.
But I would like to hear the religionists standpoint.

115. Stem cell breakthrough

Comment #90757 by ridelo on November 26, 2007 at 9:20 am

If it ever becomes possible to grow a baby from a scraped-off skincell will that baby than have a soul?

116. Romney's Mormonism is fair game

Comment #89933 by ridelo on November 22, 2007 at 7:34 am

BaronOchs: Much, much obliged! I suppose you type almost as fast as Hitch speaks!

117. Romney's Mormonism is fair game

Comment #89873 by ridelo on November 22, 2007 at 2:40 am

I love Hitch.
But I'm an English reader not a speaker and I find it difficult to understand him because he talks so fast.
Can I find somewhere 'write-outs' of these interviews?

118. Same Flea, Different Name?

Comment #86177 by ridelo on November 8, 2007 at 2:38 pm

From Comment #85852 by ksskidude on November 7, 2007 at 10:22 am

In communist, atheistic Russia, Stalin and his minions managed to wipe out at least 30 million fellow countrymen. In communist, atheistic China, Chairman Mao perpetrated similar slaughter during the Cultural Revolution.

I always ask myself how they can think that people who were superstitious (and)(or) religious (what's the difference?) for thousands of years could become atheistic overnight. In a time that almost every Russian or Chinese was an analphabetic. If they had had the Net in those days...

119. Response to Theodore Dalrymple

Comment #85336 by ridelo on November 5, 2007 at 1:56 pm

I think it would not be a bad idea if Sam Harris and Theodore Dalrymple should set up an Internet discussion - like the one between Sam and Andrew Sullivan - after the smoke of the gunfight has cleared away. A lot of misunderstandings could also be cleared away.
Du choc des idées jaillit la lumière.

120. You big, fat pile of bacteria

Comment #84866 by ridelo on November 4, 2007 at 1:05 am

Comment #84832 by steveroot on November 3, 2007 at 9:02 pm

Thanks, Steve!

121. You big, fat pile of bacteria

Comment #84828 by ridelo on November 3, 2007 at 7:01 pm

At the other side of the spectrum: I visited an elderly person in a geriatric clinic. They had a few cases of the 'hospital bacterium' there and they allowed young children (babies!) to come there with their parents.
The nurses were wearing masks when they attended the affected rooms but they said that healthy people shouldn't be afraid of contamination.
Am I a germophobic when I disapprove of this behavior?

122. Rome playing politics

Comment #84726 by ridelo on November 3, 2007 at 10:54 am

I saw Zapatero on the Belgian TV. And I thought: 'I like this man.', because he reminded me a bit of Jacques Rogge, our own 'mister clean of the Olympics'.
Now I know why.

123. What the New Atheists Don't See

Comment #84439 by ridelo on November 2, 2007 at 3:45 am

The British parliament's first avowedly atheist member, Charles Bradlaugh, would stride into public meetings in the 1880s, take out his pocket watch, and challenge God to strike him dead in 60 seconds. God bided his time, but got Bradlaugh in the end.

Even if Bradlaugh had died in those 60 seconds, it still could be by natural causes...

124. Are the 'New Atheists' avoiding the 'real arguments'?

Comment #84405 by ridelo on November 2, 2007 at 2:29 am

Great! And the walls came tumbling down.

125. Evolution to be taught in SA schools

Comment #82936 by ridelo on October 28, 2007 at 9:55 am

Any animal that evolved under lavish sunshine is in some way protected against it. Being black is one way to do it. Nothing to be proud or ashamed of.

126. Face to faith

Comment #82880 by ridelo on October 28, 2007 at 5:44 am

It's a pity Stephen Jay Gould isn't among us any more to see what the religionists baked from his NOMA statement.
It's just like what they've done with Darwin who so to speak recanted on his deathbed. If Gould had lived long enough I suppose he would have sided with Dawkins.

127. The New Atheists on Organized Freethought

Comment #81964 by ridelo on October 25, 2007 at 1:03 pm

upsidedawn:
You made me curious and I looked for the definition for atheism in "van Dale: Groot Woordenboek de Nederlandse Taal".
Atheïsme: ontkenning van het bestaan, de bestaanbaarheid of bewijsbaarheid van een (persoonlijke) God.
Or:
Atheism: negation of the existence, the "existencability" or the provability of a (personal) God.

Somewhat better, but nevertheless also: Grrrr!

128. A new website addition: Debate Points

Comment #81651 by ridelo on October 25, 2007 at 2:07 am

Well, I'm not very good at debating and surely not in a foreign language (English for me), but I suppose this part of the site will be kind of a summary of the whole thing. Therefore I propose to make it multilingual. I would be happy to cooperate as translator to Dutch.

129. Egypt's fight against female circumcision clashes with tradition

Comment #80637 by ridelo on October 22, 2007 at 12:31 pm

Not quite about circumcision but you should see this: a discussion of a Dutch stand-up comedian with three muslima's about the right to insult (subtitled).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knRLJp-nqSg

130. Neanderthals May Have Had Gene for Speech

Comment #80103 by ridelo on October 20, 2007 at 1:14 am

Rational_G:
To me it looks more like: "It takes a universe to raise one intelligence."
Call me a pessimist.

131. Neanderthals May Have Had Gene for Speech

Comment #80039 by ridelo on October 19, 2007 at 3:26 pm

How contingent we are! Who can still believe that we were wanted? And it makes SETI also even more a quest with an improbable positive result. My feelings of loneliness grow in this desolate galaxy.
It would be even more dramatic if we would screw up here.

132. Help Counter the New Atheist Crusade to 'Evangelize' America!

Comment #79490 by ridelo on October 17, 2007 at 12:35 pm

I tried to watch the video (http://www.coralridge.org/) but on reaching Christopher Hitchens' image it restarted again and again.

133. Ban teachers from religious dress, Quebec group says

Comment #77734 by ridelo on October 10, 2007 at 10:57 am

Maybe it's time to introduce something new qua religious headdress. I suggest something that looks like an inverted spaghetti bowl.

134. Religion as a Force for Good

Comment #74883 by ridelo on October 1, 2007 at 1:52 am

On comment #74743 by wilk1978 on September 30, 2007 at 8:03 am

Some people on this board, such as ridelo, are going a step further. Not only do they think that the author exaggerates the positive role that religion has played, they think that it places such as Burma, the religious, superstitious nature of society has enabled the tyrants to hold on to power. It seems to me that this has not been the case in Burma at all. There is widespread resentment against the regime, but the main reason there hasn't been a democratic revolution is not because these poor, superstitious people are happy with tyranny, but because the regime has guns and tanks.

Surely the regime in Myanmar has guns and tanks just like pre-war Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan etc. But after Western Europe experienced a terrible war with millions of deaths I could grow op in a society with ever less religious influence and ever more peace. I'm 67 now, living in Belgium and having had the luck never to experience war consciously. I wish the same experience to the rest of the world.
Our brand of catholicism here is a very tamed one. We've got laws permitting abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Hopefully it will stay that way. But I fear irrationalism can stick up its ugly head anytime. Astrology, numerology, homeopathy, prayer healings etc. are rising again. Bad omens!

135. Religion as a Force for Good

Comment #74691 by ridelo on September 30, 2007 at 1:54 am

mmurray:

I am not sure I see the connection. What about German, Italian and Spanish fascism ? Chile under Pinochet ? The other Latin American right wing dictatorships which probably, like Chile, were CIA operations. The various countries taken over by communism such as Russia and China -- the result was not perhaps what we mean by a military junta probably worse.

Well, I suppose that up to these days there haven't been around many non-superstitious societies. Where could you say that religion or some kind of totalitarian ideology was really waning and the military could grasp power? Not in prewar Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, Japan or China. And now we have seen the same scenarios in the Middle East.

The dawning of the age of reason has yet to come. Here we're making a good start.

136. Religion as a Force for Good

Comment #74675 by ridelo on September 30, 2007 at 12:13 am

Methinks that a military junta can only take foothold from within in a society that is ridden with superstition. Is there anybody who knows if that ever happened in a 'moderately' rational society?
For the moment I can't see it happen in most West European countries, but what if irrationalism (not necessarily religious) will grow?

137. Teacher: I was fired, said Bible isn't literal

Comment #74248 by ridelo on September 28, 2007 at 1:05 am

As a retired science teacher it is for me a real eye opener to read all those interesting posts here about what science really is about.(I find it a pity that internet was not invented 20 years earlier!)
I see now that my (and most of my colleagues) science teaching was too technical and too little philosophical.
Hopefully the next generation will use it for the best. At least they have the opportunity.

138. Teacher: I was fired, said Bible isn't literal

Comment #74178 by ridelo on September 27, 2007 at 2:34 pm

scottishgeologist

Thanks for the links to Bill Bailey, but for me (Flemish) he's a lot more difficult to understand than Dave Allen.

139. Teacher: I was fired, said Bible isn't literal

Comment #74160 by ridelo on September 27, 2007 at 1:41 pm

scottishgeologist

Thanks for the kudos but it was sheer luck. I only looked for Dave Allen and saw a(n) (not sure about the n!) Dave-Allen-on-religion item. I'm looking forward to enjoy some more Dave Allen's on YouTube!
He was one of my comic heroes in the seventies and eighties. I liked the comedy on BBC better in those days than now.

140. Teacher: I was fired, said Bible isn't literal

Comment #74131 by ridelo on September 27, 2007 at 11:11 am

Like Dave Allen? Look here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxo81Ok9Urk

I never forgot his sketch where he entered a church as a South African white minister during Apartheid en saw a black man kneeling on the floor. Irritated he asked: "What are you doing here?"
The man answered: "Scrubbing the floor, minister."
The minister: "All right then. It's OK as long as you don't pray."

141. Teacher: I was fired, said Bible isn't literal

Comment #74030 by ridelo on September 27, 2007 at 5:13 am

You can't prove a negative. But a positive you definitely can. I got as a young boy a proof of God's existence when my mother some day opened the door of the loo and I heard her screaming: "Oh, my God, you here!"

142. Young Muslims begin dangerous fight for the right to abandon faith

Comment #69437 by ridelo on September 11, 2007 at 8:52 am

One reason to learn Dutch: Hans Teeuwen about religion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHnC_MHIbLU

Some may find it offensive...

143. Young Muslims begin dangerous fight for the right to abandon faith

Comment #69351 by ridelo on September 11, 2007 at 1:13 am

If the text to translate is too long I can also help. Possibly you'll find some 'dutchisms' in the translation but doubtless you'll find somebody to weed them out.

144. 'Incredibly lucky' find yields important fish fossil

Comment #68732 by ridelo on September 8, 2007 at 10:43 am

You have to have got a lot of deluges to lay down a layer of 1,300 metres in 6,000 years time...

145. India to charge writer Nasreen with 'hurting Muslim feelings'

Comment #67446 by ridelo on September 3, 2007 at 1:14 pm

I prefer that they hurt my feelings in stead of my body...

146. Review of Darwin's Angel: An Angelic Response to the God Delusion

Comment #66979 by ridelo on September 1, 2007 at 7:16 am

For a start, only religious nutcases take the Creation story literally

Maybe some angel could explain us which part of the bible has to be taken literally and which part not. Would be a great help.

147. A Daddy Longlegs Tells the Story of the Continents' Big Shifts

Comment #66445 by ridelo on August 30, 2007 at 2:40 am

I ask myself: "How can they know how so small an animal looked some millions years ago? Was it then also almost legless that it couldn't migrate?"
I suppose it's no easy task to find fossils of mite harvestmen. Or are they preserved in drops of amber, like the insects from Jurassic Park?

148. Democratic Candidates on a Personal God

Comment #64413 by ridelo on August 20, 2007 at 3:00 am

I cannot play the video. Even if I go to the original site.

149. Arrogance, dogma and why science - not faith - is the new enemy of reason

Comment #61925 by ridelo on August 7, 2007 at 12:23 pm

Never seen such an army of straw men.

150. They let anybody onto the faculty at Oxford nowadays

Comment #60812 by ridelo on August 2, 2007 at 11:45 pm

I'm envious about how PZ always knows how to poke his finger on the sore spot. Splendid article.
Oops, maybe I will be accused of belonging to his claque also!

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