Comments by kkelly

Comment #235715 by kkelly on August 23, 2008 at 12:30 pm

I'm sure all the spending on healthcare for PVS patients would be more than enough to cover great ape conservancy.

152. Kamikaze bacteria illustrate evolution of co-operation

Comment #235696 by kkelly on August 23, 2008 at 12:04 pm

Why is he allowed to continuously spam the boards with the same VERY LONG copy/pastes? This is the worst kind of trolling because it isn't fun for anybody.

153. Why Dawkins is right and his critics are wrong

Comment #235375 by kkelly on August 22, 2008 at 11:16 pm

I don't think Dawkins is unscrupulous enough to deceive them by telling them that some can reconcile theism with natural selection, OMITTING that it's logically incoherent. I however am, and if that is the only way to combat their fundamentalist beliefs, so be it. But I don't know that it would be more effective than just showing them the evidence, because it's the fundamental biblical literalism that they are holding on to in face of blatant evidence to the contrary, not theism in general.

154. Why Dawkins is right and his critics are wrong

Comment #235370 by kkelly on August 22, 2008 at 10:55 pm

teenagers aren't "children".

155. Why Dawkins is right and his critics are wrong

Comment #235353 by kkelly on August 22, 2008 at 8:41 pm

201, uh no, these people really are that stupid sober.

156. Kamikaze bacteria illustrate evolution of co-operation

Comment #234951 by kkelly on August 22, 2008 at 9:51 am

5, get bent :)

157. Kamikaze bacteria illustrate evolution of co-operation

Comment #234947 by kkelly on August 22, 2008 at 9:42 am

1, gene expression is continually regulated, so yes it's possible to get all to express that gene. In this case, the environment of the gut tissue coinhabited with other species of competing bacteria turns the expression on.

158. Supernatural science: Why we want to believe

Comment #234670 by kkelly on August 21, 2008 at 9:25 pm

This all makes my intricately arranged dead mice Cinco de Mayo diorama seem normal.

159. A flea we missed?

Comment #234644 by kkelly on August 21, 2008 at 8:29 pm

1017, I've always prefered the root "fucking retard" but to each his own.

160. A flea we missed?

Comment #234640 by kkelly on August 21, 2008 at 8:27 pm

1016, you're right, she was terrifying.

161. A flea we missed?

Comment #234632 by kkelly on August 21, 2008 at 8:14 pm

1011, would you stop calling people weak-minded? The backlash started while she was still here, and it went on because she wasn't here to relent and put the matter to rest, not because people were finally free from the terror of online words directed at them.

162. US school district sued over homophobic 'witch hunt'

Comment #234628 by kkelly on August 21, 2008 at 8:00 pm

62, it's either that or meth lab.

163. A flea we missed?

Comment #234624 by kkelly on August 21, 2008 at 7:56 pm

Coretemp and bonzai criticized her while she was still here. No coincidence, just an incidence. And she expressed being open to retiring the schtick when she asked if others felt that way. I do feel bad for participating in the anti-TWP brigade because it was unnecessary and excessive.

164. Bill Maher on Religion

Comment #234571 by kkelly on August 21, 2008 at 3:30 pm

I suspect Bill Maher gets these insane beliefs from the LA bimboes who live a "conscious lifestyle" he dates. PETA? anti-vaccines? These have empty-headed trophy sextoy written all over them.

165. Supernatural science: Why we want to believe

Comment #234565 by kkelly on August 21, 2008 at 3:18 pm

5, Yes. Television shows on the supernatural almost always distort and omit. The con artist Erik von Daniken who wrote the book on extraterrestrial influences on ancient civilizations is treated as a respected archeaologist. Flying "rods", obviously insects and proven to be, are treated as likely mysterious life forms. As a kid I believed, or thought possible, supernatural claims solely BECAUSE these programs masquerade as honest and scientific.

166. US school district sued over homophobic 'witch hunt'

Comment #234430 by kkelly on August 21, 2008 at 10:51 am

11, are you joking? He's alluding to an email Dawkins read aloud in Genius of Darwin.

167. Central Texas Man's Death Sentence Upheld Despite Bible In Jury Room

Comment #234423 by kkelly on August 21, 2008 at 10:35 am

21, It served a deterrent purpose in the environment we evolved in, but you can't say it ALWAYS serves that purpose in every environment humans find themselves in (black skin protects from diseases of sun overexposure, but in northern climes it's a detriment). The further in time and proximity you are from the exactor of vengeance, the less of a deterrence it is. We evolved in small groups where vengeance for transgressions was swift and consistent, and today the threat of revenge is most effective in close interactions where those you're transgressing upon are more likely to discover that, and act accordingly. You don't punch the big guy at the bar who's insulting you because you know you WILL reap the consequences. You might insult him when he's not around because you know you probably won't.

The threat of capital punishment by the impersonal state YEARS down the line is not going to deter you from acting on your murderous desires. Now, if the state executed murderers immediately upon arrest and before conviction, then yes, it probably would be a deterrent.

168. Central Texas Man's Death Sentence Upheld Despite Bible In Jury Room

Comment #234171 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 11:48 pm

17, We are not constrained by what nature selected us to be. Vengeance serves an evolutionary purpose, so does jealousy, hatred, and ethnocentrism; all provided a reproductive advantage in the hunter-gatherer societies we evolved in. So what? You think it's perfectly moral to key your sexual rival's car and threaten them out out of town because you evolved to?

I didn't say parts of his brain act independently of his surroundings, I said they each have their own function. I inarticulately meant that the killer isn't just a brain that kills, it's a brain that has other human mental qualities too. It isn't the killer that is being put to death, it's the person who WAS a killer.

169. Central Texas Man's Death Sentence Upheld Despite Bible In Jury Room

Comment #234153 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 11:13 pm

14, I don't think capital punishment is a deterrent. And the part of his brain that motivates/carries out his murders is not the part that dreads death and values existence. The murderer isn't simply a cold-blooded killer, and the death penalty treats him as such.

170. Life Is Short...

Comment #234140 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 11:04 pm

27, So clogging arteries isn't even a blip on your moral radar?

171. Central Texas Man's Death Sentence Upheld Despite Bible In Jury Room

Comment #234134 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 10:56 pm

12, I pity you.

172. Life Is Short...

Comment #234131 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 10:48 pm

22, thanks, that's succinct and to-the-point.

173. Life Is Short...

Comment #234126 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 10:43 pm

The way I see it is, sure, we're genetic cousins, but not mental ones. A cow doesn't value its life anymore than a late-stage Alzheimer's victim who chews cud all day long does.

174. Life Is Short...

Comment #234120 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 10:36 pm

14, I was trying?

175. Life Is Short...

Comment #234113 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 9:59 pm

12, would you rather eat a cow or Terri Schiavo?

176. Pastor Rick's Test

Comment #234103 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 9:43 pm

If it was up to me, there'd be no top.

177. Scientists Create Blood From Stem Cells

Comment #234047 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 7:45 pm

24, We're not a total embarrassment though, we still have Kwame.

178. Q&A with Richard Dawkins after lecture at UC Berkeley

Comment #234042 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 7:41 pm

OMG you're so relevant!!!

179. Scientists Create Blood From Stem Cells

Comment #234037 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 7:30 pm

In my home state, government actually restricts PRIVATELY funded research in this area.

Under Michigan law that dates to 1978, scientists are banned from research that would destroy human embryos for non-therapeutic purposes. Another measure makes it a crime -- with a penalty of up to $10 million and 10 years in prison -- to perform therapeutic cloning, the transplant of DNA from an individual into an embryo to grow tissue or organs.

Michigan's standards are among the strictest in the nation, placing it alongside such states as Louisiana, Arkansas and North and South Dakota.

But they just approved a ballot proposal for this November to reverse it.

180. Scientists Create Blood From Stem Cells

Comment #234016 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 6:27 pm

Bigjohn, your passion on this is confusing, are you against embryonic stem-cell research?

181. Scientists Create Blood From Stem Cells

Comment #234000 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 5:24 pm

Here's a recent Discover Magazine interview with Robert Lanza.
http://discovermagazine.com/2008/sep/19-fighting-for-the-right-to-clone

This seems like lifesaving technology on an unprecedented scale, yet the work has been stymied by politics. It must be frustrating to have these cells sitting around the lab, in storage, when you could be helping people.
Four years ago I was driving to work, going up a hill on a quiet little road with a speed limit of 15 miles an hour. I was in a rush and whirled into the parking lot, and there's this police cruiser next to me. I almost hit it. "Oh, jeez, now I'm screwed," I thought. I went into my office, started working, and a few minutes later a scientist from the next office over comes in and says, "Bob, there's a police officer out there who wants to see you. He has handcuffs and a gun." The whole lab is thinking he's there to arrest me. He says, "Dr. Lanza, could I speak to you in your office?" so I brought him in. It turns out that I had just published a paper showing that we could create human retinal pigment epithelial cells capable of restoring visual function in animals. The officer had a 16-year-old son who would go totally blind in two years without the therapy. By the time he finished his story, I was almost in tears because we had these cells and they had been frozen at that point for nine months.

182. Sincerity no substitute for evidence

Comment #233934 by kkelly on August 20, 2008 at 3:35 pm

108, If you're being facetious, then sorry for this explanation. But in homeopathy, they dilute all molecules of the "active" ingredient out of the solution, so it's just water molecules that they claim were somehow imprinted with the essence of the original medicinal molecules.

183. Catholic leaders block contraceptive advice for 30,000 Scots girls

Comment #232896 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 8:44 pm

79, Holy shit. Not 2 minutes ago at another forum I mentioned chinese gymnists and my dick. Spooky.

184. Catholic leaders block contraceptive advice for 30,000 Scots girls

Comment #232859 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 7:04 pm

More on Gardasil, it also provides partial protection to 10 additional HPV strains associated with cervical cancer and dysplasia not covered in the vaccine, with the potential of preventing close to 90% of cervical cancer, not 70%.

I got vaccinated for the genital warts protection a month after it was available in 2006, and talked my parents into vaccinating my little brother, who was around 12 at the time. If you are a male who is not in a committed relationship, or if you have sons, I recommend you insist on this vaccine. Be one less.

185. Catholic leaders block contraceptive advice for 30,000 Scots girls

Comment #232849 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 6:02 pm

42, Secondsoprano, that was not disingenuous. There was nothing pointless or offensive about my comment so I naturally asked why he chose that one to get prickly and childish about.

186. A flea we missed?

Comment #232795 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 3:38 pm

606, Yes, I have followed the site and that is what you do. Compliment, argue with smarter people for its own sake (Just last night, with Mitchell, and today, splitting irrelevant hairs again about genetic predestination), and blockquote. I never tried to get in debates I wasn't qualified for, that's what you mainly do.

187. A flea we missed?

Comment #232738 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 2:41 pm

I enjoy Diacanu but I wouldn't call him a poet (partly because that's an insult). To be fair, the poster who made that comparison has a habit of ingratiating himself with the more articulate posters by complimenting them willy nilly.

188. A flea we missed?

Comment #232705 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 2:08 pm

My genital warts comment was in the spirit of edification. Men do not know that they too can receive and benefit from this vaccine, and all they have to do is ask for it. It's illuminating that you instinctively found that comment offensive, Steve.

189. A flea we missed?

Comment #232656 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 12:47 pm

Okay, regarding many people's humor here: I don't want to be critical because it opens my own humor up to accusations of stupidity and banality, but I cannot for the life of me see the wit or ingenuity when even the smarter ones attempt humor, barring Carto.

190. A flea we missed?

Comment #232640 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 12:26 pm

554, You're really not a fun, interesting, or stable person to talk with, and so I'll just answer your question with another, then move on: Why are you so hypersensitive that you would actually leave a site over the occasional offensive behavior of another poster who hardly ever posted while you did?

191. No credit for creationism

Comment #232630 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 12:15 pm

18, There was a major production and head writer overhaul at season 9, and the humor became less subtle, less brief, more explicitly spelled out, and more what I consider unwitty and nerdy. I consider season 9 watchable because it contains several episodes left over from season 8. "The Leader" where Homer joins a cult is one of my favorites, and that's from season 9, but I would be surprised if it wasn't written for season 8.

192. A flea we missed?

Comment #232625 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 12:04 pm

550, Steve, I have stopped being explicitly offensive after others like Decius and Carto who are very smart agreed that I was disruptive. Your opinion on this matter is insignificant because you do not offer articulate rhetoric yourself. You even said that it's very difficult for you to put words on paper, and it shows, especially with your arguments with Fanusi; mainly because those are the only posts of yours I read, but also because you largely just blockquote, then split irrelevant hairs.

You still engage me, and your rants are often sparked by innocuous, even serious posts of mine. This is not helpful.

193. No credit for creationism

Comment #232595 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 11:30 am

12, Sorry, every season past 9 is unwatchable.

194. No credit for creationism

Comment #232592 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 11:27 am

So, is UC denying matriculation until the students take a high school biology course that is approved, or is it just saying that they are not exempt from the university's biology requirement, once enrolled? Unless you take AP biology in high school and pass the test, you have to take it again in college.

195. Catholic leaders block contraceptive advice for 30,000 Scots girls

Comment #232572 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 11:04 am

10, what about that comment did you object to?

196. Catholic leaders block contraceptive advice for 30,000 Scots girls

Comment #232563 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 10:59 am

7, retirement.

197. Catholic leaders block contraceptive advice for 30,000 Scots girls

Comment #232560 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 10:56 am

Just a reminder, men can get Gardasil too if they ask their health care provider. It's not approved for men but it's prescribed as "off label". Gardasil also protects against the two strains that cause 90% of genital warts.

198. After Bibles seized, U.S. group won't leave Chinese airport

Comment #232549 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 10:48 am

Lord, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to tell the difference
Oh, and take away all self-perspective so that I never realize how pathetic and trite I am in the cases where, in your infinite mystery, you fail to answer this prayer.

199. A flea we missed?

Comment #232538 by kkelly on August 18, 2008 at 10:10 am

I'd like to abuse this opportunity created by coretemprising and place blame for my tasteless and useless contributions to this site on TWP for falsely leading me to believe that unintelligent and counterproductive banter was the norm.

You bitch. Everybody else, I apologize.

200. Unintelligent Design

Comment #232204 by kkelly on August 17, 2008 at 8:28 pm

38, okay, ...impossible unless the laws of physics as we know are inapplicable. Is that better?