201. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264906 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 12:35 pm

Because 3 plus 3 does equal 7 for very large values of 3.

202. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264883 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 11:21 am

Maybe some of the things he wrote are generalizations or maybe lies, but that doesn't discount the things that are true.

203. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264879 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 11:08 am

Yeah you're right you can link back to Gorilla Mask from that website.

204. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264867 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 10:33 am

Thanks TWP - since I work at home I don't think of things like that.

No expert, but it doesn't seem that you can get from the link back to Gorilla Mask unless you already know of the connection.

205. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264864 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 10:25 am

Al - Actually Root2Squared first posted it a few pages back and I just repasted. I'm afraid to ask: Not Safe For Women? Nationalist Socialist Fat Watchers?

Edit: Al - Do you know if Gorilla Mask created the page or just linked to it? These things get so weird. My friend sent me some dumb video of a harmonica virtuoso that turned out to be hosted by a particularly yucky (to me) porn site - then I noticed she'd also sent it to her church's pastor. That's what you get and served her right, associating with people like that.

206. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264858 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 10:12 am

TWP - no - missed that one!

207. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264854 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 10:06 am

It promises to be updated every day until the election - I can hardly imagine what else could be added!

208. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264853 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 9:56 am

Now the fiend seems to think it is entitled to both canned wet food and my hand as dinner.

209. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264844 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 9:45 am

SSO - I dunno - is it a Fourbucks latte?

H4D - I clicked on EVERYTHING - including the carpet ("genuine baby seal") and the globe gives you about 4 different "-stans" - like "North Koreastan"

I wasn't the first to post that link -

It promises to be updated every day until the election - I can hardly imagine what else could be added!

Edit: Root2Squared first posted the palinaspresident link a couple of pages ago. (I might have known!)

210. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264837 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 9:29 am

awww, Bambi and Thumper...how sweet.

211. [UPDATED] Richard Dawkins on Harun Yahya's Atlas of Creation

Comment #264801 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 8:31 am

Why is the tiger on the replytodawkins website wearing a party hat?

Edit: Because the website designers there are no more careful than the designers who selected the famous fishhook photo for AoC.

212. [UPDATED] Richard Dawkins on Harun Yahya's Atlas of Creation

Comment #264798 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 8:25 am

Consider the following without prejudice and ignorance:

213. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264783 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 8:09 am

Comment #264778 by hawt4dawk

Yikes!! Hadn't seen that one in Johnstown PA. Hearing excerpts of Obama's rallies on the radio, I notice he gets 'em laughing - a lot healthier, I think.

214. [UPDATED] Richard Dawkins on Harun Yahya's Atlas of Creation

Comment #264765 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 7:53 am

Comment #264712 by tieInterceptor

Thank you for that YouTube link - I've been looking for something like that to share with friends for a long time.

215. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264754 by Caudimordax on October 15, 2008 at 7:26 am

LGS -

p.p.s. I heard Paul Krugman this morning on PBS radio berating himself for not seeing the financial collapse on Wall Street. How could he? His not a serious economist.

216. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264551 by Caudimordax on October 14, 2008 at 6:49 pm

Ummm - isn't it Keith OLbermann?

217. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264550 by Caudimordax on October 14, 2008 at 6:46 pm

Steve Zara - *shriek!!!*

Oh gosh, I LOVED that homeopathy thing. (I find myself frequently confronted with this - the person in front of me at the health food store having it explained to him that "it's like reverse logic." So, like, nonsense?)

But, I think DP is just breathing his last sighs having been well and truly and finally ticked off by Al-Rawandi. (This should get him going again)

218. Richard Dawkins at Conservative Party Conference 2008

Comment #264394 by Caudimordax on October 14, 2008 at 10:39 am

I didn't mean to imply that I thought it was a witchhunt, just a death-spiral of bad feeling all around.

219. Richard Dawkins at Conservative Party Conference 2008

Comment #264372 by Caudimordax on October 14, 2008 at 10:07 am

TWP

I wonder though, how it is that someone "discovered" he had been posting on nicedoggie.net

220. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264352 by Caudimordax on October 14, 2008 at 8:53 am

Al - I don't know what the mechanism is, but alcoholism is also a huge problem on reservations in the lower 48. (Edit: maybe it's the no jobs, no prospects, no hope of a future?)

Philip - Did you notice that on the site you linked to about "pray away the gay," you can vote: favorable or not on Palin, favorable or not on "curing" gays. I thought the results were bizarre: 57% to 43% favorable to Palin, 60% to 40% UNfavorable to trying to cure gayness.

221. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264347 by Caudimordax on October 14, 2008 at 8:32 am

Besides insulting Obama with a Step-N'-Fetch-It, "darkie musical" swipe, people who know her say she refers regularly to Alaska's Aboriginal people as "Arctic Arabs"; how efficient, lumping two apparently undesirable groups into one ugly description ; as well as the more colourful "mukluks" along with the totally unimaginative "f**king Eskimo's," according to a number of Alaskans and Wasillians interviewed for this article.

222. Richard Dawkins at Conservative Party Conference 2008

Comment #264340 by Caudimordax on October 14, 2008 at 7:41 am

ukvillafan - You'll find the Fanusi stuff on "Palin: Average Isn't Good Enough," somewhere in the 3600s through 3900s.

Edit: Things got very heated when someone discovered that Fanusi had also been posting on nicedoggie.net.

223. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264308 by Caudimordax on October 14, 2008 at 5:50 am

Galactor - I don't know if anyone read my post (several hundred ago) but worse (or better) definitely could have happened. My brother-in-law's friend saw Palin at her hotel in Philly wearing a RANGERS jersey and gave her an Eagles jersey to wear instead. Need to have a chat with that "friend."

224. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264037 by Caudimordax on October 13, 2008 at 2:52 pm

In the summer of 1867, the Klan became the "Invisible Empire of the South" at a convention in Nashville, Tennessee attended by delegates from former Confederate states. The group was presided over General Nathan Bedford Forrest, who is believed to have been the first Grand Wizard -- the title for the head of the organization. Lesser officers were given such names as Grand Dragon, Grand Titan, and Grand Cyclops.

225. Why Evolution is True

Comment #264034 by Caudimordax on October 13, 2008 at 2:38 pm

Comment #264013 by rod-the-farmer

I thought pretty much everyone agreed that evolution is true. Only the cause of evolution was in dispute.

226. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #264032 by Caudimordax on October 13, 2008 at 2:28 pm

In fact the KKK has both grand dragons and a grand wizard, grand dragons (and grand titans) being in rank beneath the leader, or grand wizard. Quite a few of their practices - such as cold-blooded murder - are outside of mainstream christian belief ;-)

227. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263930 by Caudimordax on October 13, 2008 at 11:05 am

TWP -

But on a serious note there is something about using "you people" to address a group of individuals that bothers me.

228. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263923 by Caudimordax on October 13, 2008 at 10:48 am

There we go again with "you people".

229. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263911 by Caudimordax on October 13, 2008 at 10:29 am

And to borrow a phrase from our mutual acquaintance...BASIC is so 1980s ;)

230. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263904 by Caudimordax on October 13, 2008 at 9:49 am

Is this what you meant?

Because they (geniuses) deal in the realm of reality and fact. They (geniuses) think with their heads and not with their intuition. (Whereas with "average" Americans)It all boils down to namby pamby "feelings".

Edit: changed "people" to "average" Americans

231. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263887 by Caudimordax on October 13, 2008 at 9:05 am

Please, somebody prove me wrong about what I said about her, I really want to know where I have gone wrong with the facts.

232. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263875 by Caudimordax on October 13, 2008 at 7:27 am

Comment #263873 by hungarianelephant

In discussing the denial of his admission to the Illinois bar, Mr. Martin said the psychiatric exam listing him as having a "moderately severe personality defect" was spitefully written by an evaluator he had clashed with.

233. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263871 by Caudimordax on October 13, 2008 at 7:14 am

The Man Behind the Whispers About Obama

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/us/politics/13martin.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin

He is a law school graduate, but his admission to the Illinois bar was blocked in the 1970s after a psychiatric finding of "moderately severe character defect manifested by well-documented ideation with a paranoid flavor and a grandiose character."

234. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263815 by Caudimordax on October 12, 2008 at 6:56 pm

Unfortunately I occasionaly have to read a DP post to figure out what everyone is talking about - and I must say, this really made me lose it:

Thanks you. You people think this is easy but its not. Its about time I get some credit.

235. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263493 by Caudimordax on October 11, 2008 at 1:56 pm

McCain's citizenship questioned:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23415028/

Edit - R2S - vacuum cleaner - spewed coffee

236. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263415 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 9:03 pm

MG - No, no, no! I'm not saying you should ignore anyone! Just read what the article has to say about the flawed conclusions drawn from the studies that were done. (and use the updated link)

I, too, am very dubious about various conspiracy theories out there. But sometimes interested parties DO try to influence things - just as you suggested that the Atkins franchise had an interest in their view being accepted. Corn subsidies in the US are worth billions.

I totally, abjectly apologize to everyone for getting us off on this track and I can't believe I'm still awake.

237. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263408 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 8:39 pm

Righton - Good point - You're absolutely right - just saying that (I know this gets into the whole minority view of global warming yada yada yada) sometimes the minority view isn't wrong just because it's the minority. The whole point Gary Taubes is making in his article - and in his book - is that when it comes to the low fat hypothesis, science has abandoned objective research and embraced dogma.

BTW Everybody - I just tried to access that article on the "Science" website and it seems that they now want you to subscribe. Here's another link:

http://www.nasw.org/awards/2001/01Taubesarticle1.htm

238. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263404 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 8:24 pm

Any papers on mouse studies with high fat diets that you know of?

239. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263402 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 8:20 pm

MG -

Since this seems to be a minority view, not held by the majority of scientists and health professionals in the relevant fields.

240. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263399 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 8:13 pm

eating a very high fat meal everytime you eat. Do you think that could have adverse health problems.

241. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263397 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 8:06 pm

MG- I really shouldn't have gone down this path.

Actually the Atkins "franchise" is pretty much out of business - and a low carb diet doesn't actually require any special foods, just real meat, real dairy, and real vegetables. "Low fat" diet foods mostly contain a chemistry set's worth of chemicals and corn products.

As far as special interests, it was the corn growers who jumped all over the "killer fat" thing in the sixties and went to Washington to get the FDA to promote margarine as a "healthy" substitute for butter. Trans fat, anyone?

Seriously, read the article from "Science," then make up your mind one way or the other.

(Also take note of how excited people get over this issue - almost like religion!)

242. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263394 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 7:57 pm

Like I said, I do not think we should have a general principle, but rather, we should look at the specifics and determine what makes the most sense in each case.

243. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263391 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 7:47 pm

This thread has taken on leviathanic proportions.

244. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263388 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 7:38 pm

Righton -

I would still say that excessively high fat diets likely cause adverse health effects over time.

245. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263385 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 7:27 pm

Was it fat or cholesterol? I vaguely remember something like that. It is not a hard science.

246. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263382 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 7:19 pm

Bonzai - I'm not familiar with statistical notation - but there have been studies - like the Harvard Nurses Study - 90,000 participants - that set out to prove high fat diets caused breast cancer, and ended up proving the opposite.

Edit: Shouldn't have said "proving the opposite," rather "suggesting" the opposite.

247. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263380 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 7:13 pm

Hell, I'm gonna go for it - here's the opening paragraph of the Science article:

Mainstream nutritional science has demonized dietary fat, yet 50 years and hundreds of millions of dollars of research have failed to prove that eating a low-fat diet will help you live longer. Indeed, the history of the national conviction that dietary fat is deadly, and its evolution from hypothesis to dogma, is one in which politicians, bureaucrats, the media, and the public have played as large a role as the scientists and the science. It's a story of what can happen when the demands of public health policy--and the demands of the public for simple advice--run up against the confusing ambiguity of real science.

248. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263376 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 7:05 pm

there is a significant correlation between high fat diet and heart attacks.

249. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263372 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 6:50 pm

But the whole question of "healthy life style" has yet to be decided. Don't get me started, but the "low-fat" thing is as close as there is to religion in science - many studies were done showing NO correlation between fat consumption and heart disease, and the people doing the studies concluded that the studies were flawed because they didn't produce the results they expected. That's bad science.

I fully expect to be labelled as a flaky whacko for this, but I will cite papers, etc., etc. But too tired tonight.

Edit: So since there's some controversy about "healthy diet," who gets to decide who gets covered under "your fault" insurance?

250. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #263371 by Caudimordax on October 10, 2008 at 6:42 pm

Cerebate - not answering your serious question, but I remember some time ago discussions about whether insurance companies would start blaming people for their health problems - we called it "Your Fault" insurance (play on "no-fault" car insurance).