Comments by notsobad

351. Discovery Challenges Finding of a Separate Human Species

Comment #142318 by notsobad on March 12, 2008 at 10:01 am

Speaking about isolated islands, don't forget about the tragedy of the commons.
Isn't gigantism possible only on larger islands and without humans?

352. Discovery Challenges Finding of a Separate Human Species

Comment #142257 by notsobad on March 12, 2008 at 7:46 am

And this happens to everybody who doesn't embrace Jesus...

353. Seven new deadly sins: are you guilty?

Comment #141595 by notsobad on March 10, 2008 at 8:03 pm

Bishop Girotti said that mortal sins also included taking or dealing in drugs

So the god now judges people by their own laws in the 21st century?
Or does he by drugs mean everything addictive including his religion?

354. Oklahoma: One Step from Doom

Comment #141562 by notsobad on March 10, 2008 at 4:19 pm

bentleyd:

notsobad, I think you're confusing ideologies. The conservative, right wing, Republicans are the religious nutters. But at least they are the anti-union, free-market, small gov't party.

My main point was that ignorant and anti-education and progress people are most likely to end with the least-paid jobs.

355. Richard Dawkins' US Tour begins this week

Comment #141547 by notsobad on March 10, 2008 at 3:28 pm

wooter:
So for believers, death is just passing from one room to another... For us, we are at the beginning.

Why do religious burial ceremonies seem to be the most whiniest and over-dramatic ones then?

356. Seven new deadly sins: are you guilty?

Comment #141355 by notsobad on March 10, 2008 at 9:42 am

If they consider gluttony as a deadly sin, why are so many of them obese?

357. Should Galileo's tomb be opened for DNA tests?

Comment #141353 by notsobad on March 10, 2008 at 9:41 am

clone him!

358. Oklahoma: One Step from Doom

Comment #141343 by notsobad on March 10, 2008 at 9:35 am

And the same people will whine "They tookar jabz" when the local factory is closed because these half-wits want to get paid loads of money for work 95% of the world can do better and cheaper.

359. Out of the Blue

Comment #140812 by notsobad on March 8, 2008 at 4:46 pm

How about we did something about those million of brains around us that go wasted because of poor or no education first.

360. Contribute to science directly by volunteering some of your computer's processing power!

Comment #140497 by notsobad on March 7, 2008 at 2:42 pm

SETI?
I like sci-fi too but why not support something practical?

361. Contribute to science directly by volunteering some of your computer's processing power!

Comment #139894 by notsobad on March 6, 2008 at 4:13 pm

I suggest you monitor your CPU temperature, especially if you have an older CPU and fan.

362. Hebrew University researcher: Moses was tripping at Mount Sinai

Comment #138704 by notsobad on March 4, 2008 at 5:46 pm

If Moses existed...

363. What's the Point of the Archbishop of Canterbury?

Comment #138597 by notsobad on March 4, 2008 at 3:38 pm

money

364. Church exhumes Padre Pio

Comment #138566 by notsobad on March 4, 2008 at 2:22 pm

The Vatican has been accused of "tampering with the dead''

And it only took 2000 years!

If they actually found Jesus' grave, he would be able to supply all the electricity in Israel by spinning in it.

365. Fleas on the Horizon: In Defense of God

Comment #138047 by notsobad on March 3, 2008 at 8:01 pm

The insecurity rises...

Blogger and political columnist Vox Day comes at the issues from a nontheological perspective in The Irrational Atheist (BenBella, Feb.), relying on factual evidence to counter atheist claims ... that the Bible and other sacred texts are unreliable and fictitious.

The Bible and other texts? It must be busy on Mount Olympus.

366. God, power and money

Comment #137927 by notsobad on March 3, 2008 at 3:29 pm

Too many stupid people have too much money obviously.

367. Darwin's dangerous idea

Comment #137324 by notsobad on March 2, 2008 at 4:46 pm

This is not to say that there is no God (and Darwin never suggested so), only that the idea of God itself must be rethought in a post-Darwinian world.

Actually, that is to say after rethinking.

368. Ayaan Hirsi Ali to get EU protection

Comment #136976 by notsobad on March 2, 2008 at 4:46 am

No. In every state you MUST pass an FBI background check.

...which people like Seung-Hui Cho had no problem passing.

369. Ayaan Hirsi Ali to get EU protection

Comment #136609 by notsobad on March 1, 2008 at 1:46 pm

jshuey:
Nowhere in the US can anybody buy a gun over the internet, per se. You can order a gun on the internet in a handful of instances, but it must still be delivered through a local dealer who is charged with doing the same background check as if you had walked into his shop to buy a gun.

Yes, but in some state, citizenship and adult age is all you need to buy a gun.

370. Ayaan Hirsi Ali to get EU protection

Comment #136428 by notsobad on March 1, 2008 at 6:55 am

Al, perhaps because here in the USA, if I say Islam sucks, (and I do), I do so knowing I can carry a 9mm on my person should anyone violently object, (and I do).

Just a thought...

We can carry guns too; we just don't allow anybody to buy it on the Internet.

371. America: slouching towards the Enlightenment

Comment #135169 by notsobad on February 28, 2008 at 4:07 pm

What Americans actually need to be more irreligious and secular is socializing and community building without religion, because that seems to be one of the main things why people "believe".

372. Add another flea to the list...

Comment #133118 by notsobad on February 25, 2008 at 4:00 pm

wyattroberts
Why do you think people who believe in God (as I do) have a "need for a supernatural crutch?"

I'll just cite the author of one of the flea books, Robertson:

[Christianity is] freedom from the depressing view that the universe is cold and meaningless and that I am just a blob of carbon, floating from one meaningless existence to another. Freedom from the power and oppression of sin. And Freedom from a philosophy which says that all that is, is chemical. It is wonderfully liberating.
http://richarddawkins.net/articleComments,2285,Fleabytes,Paula-Kirby,page12#131670

373. Fleabytes

Comment #132954 by notsobad on February 25, 2008 at 12:56 pm

Robertson:
In fact overall I am really surprised that Dawkins wishes to be associated with any of the above. There seems to be no self-policing and as a result the whole atheist cause is tainted.

He wishes that? Where is the evidence?

It may surprise you but the comment sections here "suffer" from freedom of speech and everybody talks for themselves.
The only thing that all atheists share is the lack of belief in gods/supernatural.
It's not a philosophy, way of life, nor ideology.

If someone from your congregation steals, murders or swears at people, do you and all other members take responsibility?

someone:
There is nothing you can say that would change my mind, or hurt my feelings, EVER, since in my (implicitly) closed mind you have lost complete credibility.
Robertson:
Thank you for summarizing the fundamentalist atheist mindset so neatly.

Thank you for illustrating quote mining and generalizing so neatly.

374. Add another flea to the list...

Comment #132917 by notsobad on February 25, 2008 at 12:01 pm

The subtitle is hilarious. It just shows how desperate they got.

375. How he was sentenced to die

Comment #132645 by notsobad on February 25, 2008 at 4:28 am

The Soviet Union was not, the Afghan communists might have been.
----
Anyway:
Pakistan declares war on YouTube
http://blogs.zdnet.com/threatchaos/?p=547

Pakistan has ordered all Internet service providers to block the YouTube website for containing "blasphemous" content and material considered offensive to Islam, officials said Sunday.

376. How he was sentenced to die

Comment #132598 by notsobad on February 25, 2008 at 2:57 am

And my countrymen are losing their lives for this shit hole of a nation.

Way to generalize.

Afghanistan would probably have been better off under the Soviets. At least women got to go to school and people don't get killed for blasphemy.

The Soviets only supported the Afghan communists, who could have been as bad as North Korea.

377. Evidence can't shake your faith if your faith excludes it as evidence

Comment #132595 by notsobad on February 25, 2008 at 2:46 am

He is right when he says that it's hard or almost impossible to argue and change minds of people with strong faith and dogmatic beliefs.

However, he then claims that atheists are guilty of the same flaw.

You know someone is desperate when they have to use the "you are as bad as us" argument.

378. The coming religious peace

Comment #132327 by notsobad on February 24, 2008 at 3:43 pm

We need to improve public education and social interaction in communities not based on faith if we want to replace religion with something better among certain people.

379. Fleabytes

Comment #131736 by notsobad on February 23, 2008 at 5:01 am

Robertson:
Incidentally the atheist zeitgeist (I dare not call it creed) may have moved on but it was originally not only speiest but also racist, believing that evolution meant not only the superiority of the human race, but also the superiority of white Europeans over the Africans, Chinese etc.

Atheists are actually racists.
Therefore god exists and Jesus loves me.
Q.E.D.

380. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #131333 by notsobad on February 22, 2008 at 9:06 am

According to a Eurobarometer poll from 2005, only 38% said they believed in god so this is not surprising.

381. Moral thinking

Comment #131326 by notsobad on February 22, 2008 at 8:55 am

Liberal teenagers always felt more stress than conservatives, but were particularly stressed if they could not decide for themselves whom they spent time with.

Of course, the sheep are the less stressed ones.

382. Fleabytes

Comment #131289 by notsobad on February 22, 2008 at 7:31 am

Robertson:
...the New Atheism.

fewer calories?

383. Don't blame Islam for terrorism, expert says

Comment #131281 by notsobad on February 22, 2008 at 7:15 am

US governments' imperialism is indeed to blame for a lot of conflicts though.

384. Fleabytes

Comment #131211 by notsobad on February 22, 2008 at 4:07 am

If I ever had a troll, I know where to feed him.

385. Don't blame Islam for terrorism, expert says

Comment #131171 by notsobad on February 22, 2008 at 3:11 am

The leading source of suicide attacks in the world do not emanate from an Islamic group, but rather the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, a Marxist-Leninist group.

Not anymore after Mission Accomplished.

Anyway, the question is: Why do we have so few Tibetan terrorists?

386. Don't blame Islam for terrorism, expert says

Comment #131010 by notsobad on February 21, 2008 at 5:19 pm

jimbob:
Hey, I don't blame religion exclusively---it's dogmatic ideologies in general! The "principal horrors" of the last century or so have all been religious or quasi-religious in the sense that going against political dogmatic ideologies still gets you murdered for apostasy or heresy.

indeed

And saying that they are not to blame because someone would have done it anyway and that they are not to blame because someone does equally horrible things is childish.

387. Bart Ehrman, Questioning Religion on Why We Suffer

Comment #130999 by notsobad on February 21, 2008 at 5:01 pm

Was the question of suffering really the ONLY issue that bothered him over so many years? How is it possible to be so well versed (pun intended) in the Bible and its human origins and yet have this issue alone as the one that finally tipped him over, no not quite over, just onto the fence.
This seems rather namby pamby to me.

cognitive dissonance?

388. The Lava Lizard's Tale

Comment #130957 by notsobad on February 21, 2008 at 2:48 pm

How can anybody exchange discovering this wonderful real world for religious fantasies?
And they call us cold and without imagination. Ha!

389. Fleabytes

Comment #130785 by notsobad on February 21, 2008 at 9:26 am

al-rawandi,
fair use covers that. However, if it was quote mining, it could be labeled as defamation. But I find that pointless to pursue.

390. Fleabytes

Comment #130768 by notsobad on February 21, 2008 at 9:03 am

David Robertson speaks about himself in third person. That's rich.
I wouldn't ban anybody because of my attitude towards free speech, which can be seen in my avatar, save a few exceptions like defamation and spam.
However, the reason why you were banned wasn't your being a theist and others being atheist, but it was your lying and endless rant without answering any questions yet making claims without evidence. I wouldn't ban you or flag your posts for that either, but I can understand why some did.

391. Fleabytes

Comment #130654 by notsobad on February 21, 2008 at 5:35 am

Ah, the arrogance and conceit of religion. We are NOT the end result of evolution. Evolution doesn't care; it could have been any other species that evolved to best fit the niche available.

What if human consciousness isn't the end-all and be-all of Darwinism? What if we are all just pawns in corn's clever strategy game, the ultimate prize of which is world domination? Author Michael Pollan asks us to see things from a plant's-eye view -- to consider the possibility that nature isn't opposed to culture, that biochemistry rivals intellect as a survival tool. By merely shifting our perspective, he argues, we can heal the Earth. Who's the more sophisticated species now?

392. Bart Ehrman, Questioning Religion on Why We Suffer

Comment #130632 by notsobad on February 21, 2008 at 3:39 am

Hitchens summed it up well:
[if god existed]"The designer of this planet was unbelievably lazy and inept or unbelievably callous and cruel and indifferent and capricious."

393. DLD08 - Life: a gene-centric view

Comment #130629 by notsobad on February 21, 2008 at 3:34 am

Pinker thought evolution has stopped because he has spent so much time at an university. (Venter's independence and business skills help him to sharpen his edge)

That was specifically about people stopping to evolve, which makes it rather funny when you know how some academics live.

394. Bart Ehrman, Questioning Religion on Why We Suffer

Comment #130475 by notsobad on February 20, 2008 at 4:25 pm

Eric Blair:
On the other hand, others - notably Catholics - accept it as part of the "tragic" sense of life (and of "fallen mankind") that comes with their dogma, and deal with the conundrum by devoting their lives to helping relieve suffering. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing.

If only ...

395. DLD08 - Life: a gene-centric view

Comment #130394 by notsobad on February 20, 2008 at 1:00 pm

Fascinating. I specifically enjoyed when Venter talked about ecology, because that's often overlooked.

396. Bart Ehrman, Questioning Religion on Why We Suffer

Comment #130318 by notsobad on February 20, 2008 at 9:43 am

Good interview.

The most interesting part starts at 43:30 when he talks about how he talked to god and otherwise felt in connection with god, had personal experience with god when he was a Christian.
This just shows that personal experience - the ONLY kind of evidence believers have - is subjective and unreliable.
We knew it already but it's good when theists are reminded of that.

397. Fleabytes

Comment #129762 by notsobad on February 19, 2008 at 2:50 pm

Well written.

The sad part is that some theists will read the fleas only and think that Dawkins actually wrote those vicious straw men.

McGrath:
[Dawkins] is adamant that he himself, as a good atheist, would never, ever fly airplanes into skyscrapers, or commit any other outrageous act of violence or oppression. Good for him. Neither would I. Yet there are those in both our constituencies who would.

...

398. Bill Moyers Interviews Susan Jacoby

Comment #129587 by notsobad on February 19, 2008 at 10:52 am

She is right about public education, which could be much better if only...
http://www.wetherobots.com/comics/2008-02-18-Lesson.jpg

399. Why do we believe in God? 2m study prays for answer

Comment #129460 by notsobad on February 19, 2008 at 6:59 am