Comments by Geoff

Comment #141325 by Geoff on March 10, 2008 at 9:18 am

Comment #141295 by Mitchell Gilks
Mostly ones I've found on the fora. I remembered the vibrator one from ages ago, just googled it

402. Seven new deadly sins: are you guilty?

Comment #141318 by Geoff on March 10, 2008 at 9:09 am

Lust & Sloth have always been my favourites.

403. Fleabytes

Comment #141309 by Geoff on March 10, 2008 at 9:00 am

http://lolcats.com/images/u/07/39/lolcatsdotcom6rfzyrg2hq73u3rt.jpg

404. Fleabytes

Comment #141304 by Geoff on March 10, 2008 at 8:50 am

Doc B:

You have two sides, one out in the field and one in.

Each man that's in the side that's in, goes out, and when he's out, he comes in and the next man goes in until he's out.

When they are all out the side that's out comes in and the side that's been in goes out and tries to get those coming in out.

Sometimes you get men still in and not out.

When both sides have been in and out including the not-outs, that's the end of the game.

405. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #141292 by Geoff on March 10, 2008 at 8:39 am

Well done Mitchell! I wasn't really reading most of the recent posts, as I was trying to deduce who you were! I was beginning to think it was Cartomancer.

wooter:

http://forums.govteen.com/showthread.php?t=176476

406. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #141290 by Geoff on March 10, 2008 at 8:37 am

Well done Mitchell! I wasn't really reading most of the recent posts, as I was trying to deduce who you were! I was beginning to think it was Cartomancer.

wooter:

[url=http://www.thechurchofgoogle.org][img]http://www.thechurchofgoogle.org/Images/promo_material/cog_member.png[/img][/url]

407. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #141138 by Geoff on March 10, 2008 at 5:23 am

Quetz: I know, I was just looking for an excuse to post it again! ;)

408. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #141135 by Geoff on March 10, 2008 at 5:15 am

hungarianelephant: not totally random; they all seem to start with W.

409. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #141128 by Geoff on March 10, 2008 at 5:08 am

Quetz:

This one?

http://forums.govteen.com/showthread.php?t=176476

410. Out of the Blue

Comment #141120 by Geoff on March 10, 2008 at 4:30 am

But surely we (humans) would be its gods. We would have created it - and unlike the "other " gods, we'd have evidence to prove our existence.

411. Oklahoma: One Step from Doom

Comment #141105 by Geoff on March 10, 2008 at 3:19 am

The best way to show this up is exactly the method suggested in the article. Get someone to use FSM, or a teapot...

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/article.html?in_article_id=111655&in_page_id=2

...in exactly that way.

412. Fleabytes

Comment #141021 by Geoff on March 9, 2008 at 5:09 pm

Superb, Richard! I thought that last flea was going to escape, for a minute.

That's taken over from the comet as my favourite.

413. Richard Dawkins' US Tour begins this week

Comment #141014 by Geoff on March 9, 2008 at 4:50 pm

Amateur recording here:

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-6109927456606866553

Poor quality, but better than nothing!

414. Richard Dawkins on five of his favorite books

Comment #141012 by Geoff on March 9, 2008 at 4:39 pm

ivo, agreed about the fantasy. As you quite rightly point out. the difference between ourselves and the theists is that we recognise LOTR (for example) as fastasy, whereas they think their book is "non-fiction".
Pat Condell put it well, with the blank sheet of paper that was the non-fiction version of the bible.

Other than LOTR, though, I do tend to prefer sci-fi to fantasy.

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

Comment #140980 by Geoff on March 9, 2008 at 11:21 am

Sounds good; welcome to the team!

416. Richard Dawkins on five of his favorite books

Comment #140979 by Geoff on March 9, 2008 at 11:15 am

IainM, yeah, but the original article related to fiction books.

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

Comment #140958 by Geoff on March 9, 2008 at 7:53 am

I havenot yet decided on what project I want to help out w/

Have a read through the list in the opening article. There's a pretty wide choice. Just pick one to start with, you can always add more later if you feel confident.

I am rather sure tho I want it to be running only when I am not doing anything online.

That's pretty much how it works.

Good luck!

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

Comment #140950 by Geoff on March 9, 2008 at 7:07 am

babrock: I'll try.

Click on this link

http://boinc.berkeley.edu/download.php

From that page, click on "Download BOINC"

Click on "run" in the file download box that will appear.

Once it's downloaded, just follow the instructions in the install wizard (mostly involves clicking "next").

Choose whichever project(s) interest you, and join from their webpage.

there will be a "join a team" option on each webpage - Search for "Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science".

That's it, really - don't bother changing any of the settings.

419. Fleabytes

Comment #140948 by Geoff on March 9, 2008 at 6:59 am

http://richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=34111

420. Fleabytes

Comment #140934 by Geoff on March 9, 2008 at 6:07 am

You guys are definitely going for breaking 5000 posts, aren't you? ;-)

I think we have much greater ambition than that...

421. Fleabytes

Comment #140912 by Geoff on March 9, 2008 at 5:26 am

Steve, thanks for the pics.
I took a look at some of Jon's other (377) pics; they're excellent. Is he a professional photographer?

422. Ben Stein Wins Intelligent Design Money

Comment #140885 by Geoff on March 9, 2008 at 3:32 am

irate_atheist: there are some people for whom "fucktard" is insufficiently descriptive.

More strident, by all means.

423. Fleabytes

Comment #140884 by Geoff on March 9, 2008 at 3:29 am

Steve, there are probably as many different motivations as there are theists, but one factor that seems to crop up a lot is that they think they have some "killer point" that we've never heard before, that will convince us of their "truths".

We don't see that many that just come on to "save our souls", I think - maybe they're quite content for us to burn in hell, I dunno.

Perhaps reversing the concept might give some insight: I don't go on the theists message boards, but I know some of us do. Why? Same reasons in reverse?

424. Fleabytes

Comment #140880 by Geoff on March 9, 2008 at 1:58 am

4264. Comment #140815 by LorienRyan

I always go for the turkish delight first, don't know what that says about my psyche, but I'm sure even if I knew the rational argument as to why I did, I wouldn't care.

I always go for the nutty ones...

425. Fleabytes

Comment #140800 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 4:09 pm

Not every article that is submitted is posted on the site: I've sent lots, and only had maybe 10% of them posted.

426. Out of the Blue

Comment #140798 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 4:05 pm

babrock: to some degree it's a feature of this site that we tend not to use txt spk or chatroom acronyms (much).

I don't think, for example, that you'll see many LOL's or ROFL's on here (in comparison to most message boards).

I do find your posts quite difficult to read, although I do usually make the effort, and I think that's all people are really saying; we could read them easier (and therefore are perhaps more likely to give them the attention they deserve), if, for example, you said "the" instead of "t".

427. Fleabytes

Comment #140781 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 3:26 pm

Richard, the answer to your question is clearly "yes". I never could get the hang of Thursdays.

Paula, I was even more careful than usual when typing that sentence.

Cartomancer: quick breeze block? Surely an antique crossbow would be more effective...?

Steve (#4243): If I ever find any bits of your mind, I'm copying them onto my HD before returning them; they work far better than mine.

428. Fleabytes

Comment #140772 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 2:53 pm

But lions have to eat, Paula...

429. Fleabytes

Comment #140761 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 2:30 pm

Steve and Paula preparing to throw Christians and/or their ideas into the nearest waste disposal unit...

...or feed them to the goats?

430. Fleabytes

Comment #140755 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 2:22 pm

veronad: Only had time to skim it quickly, but it mainly looks like NOMA to me; I don't see much new in it.

The statement in his conclusion seems strange, though:

The atheist, then, can marshal
an array of evidence that there is no God, and the theist that there is.

Does he provide that evidence anywhere in the article, because nobody else ever has, to date?

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

Comment #140752 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 2:18 pm

veronad: You've done all you can in sending it to that address; as I understand it, it's up to Josh to decide which ones he puts on the site, from the many that are sent to him.

I've sent loads, and seem to get roughly 10% of them posted.

Your other option is to start a new thread on the fora (in an appropriate section). Having said that, I've skimmed the article, and it doesn't seem to be saying much new (with a very cursory glance, admittedly) - basically NOMA?

One very curious statement in his conclusion, though:

The atheist, then, can marshal
an array of evidence that there is no God, and the theist that there is.

Does he provide any such evidence? Nobody else ever has.
It looks to have a lot of "perception" arguments that MPhil or Steve Zara would probably analyse far better than I, but I have to say I don't see much "meat" in there.

432. Out of the Blue

Comment #140746 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 1:52 pm

HeyBishop: Skynet's a real possibility; how smart does one have to be to be in control of loads of nuclear weapons...?

433. Out of the Blue

Comment #140718 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 12:23 pm

Here I am, brain the size of a planet...

434. Fleabytes

Comment #140714 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 12:17 pm

Paula, it grieves me to have to say that you are talking bollocks here:

...even Christians would find it hard to come up with greater absurdities than QM apparently represents...

I can provide data that disprove your assertion, if you like...?

435. Out of the Blue

Comment #140669 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 9:57 am

Steve: very true, but he does make that point towards the end of the article. A very timely article, given some of our recent topics under discussion.

To an extent, he's relying on Moore's Law for that.

I'd love it to happen, but I'm not that optimistic - yet. He's talking in terms of ten years.

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

Comment #140636 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 6:44 am

jac, I'd just like to pick up on your point about GW not being mentioned in TGD.

Dawkins talks about abortion and child abuse and homosexuality in his book as well...

Well yeah, because these are directly addressed by various theists; indeed abortion and homosexuality are proscribed in many dogmas, and the "child abuse" issue has two connections; both the prevalence of ugsome sexual abuse by priests and, of course, his quote about religious labelling.

GW, by contrast, has little, if anything, to do with theism, and thus one wouldn't expect it to be included.

437. Fleabytes

Comment #140629 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 4:39 am

I tried reading "The Emperor's New Mind" some years ago; most of it whooshed happily over my head. I really must try and re-read it.

438. Fleabytes

Comment #140623 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 3:22 am

clodhopper: "all of the above". (two dogs!) This site is where I practise my procrastination regarding all things domestic.

439. Christopher Hitchens on Real Time with Bill Maher

Comment #140619 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 2:47 am

Quetz: does that make him a flocktard?

440. Fleabytes

Comment #140613 by Geoff on March 8, 2008 at 2:20 am

I've always used "fora". My current campaign amongst my fellow guitarists is "plectra".

Steve, I do venture over there quite a lot (though mostly to lurk!). I'm not sure "useful" is exactly the right description, although I've learned as much over there (and had as many WOW moments, particularly reading the "book of Calilasseia"). Mostly, like here, it's fun! More structured, perhaps, but the "off topic" section is particularly wild and woolly.
The ugsome cretinists that pop in occasionally are referred to as "chew toys", which is a rather nice analogy. I'd love wooter to wander in, but so far I haven't seen him...

Richard: I've been married to a Brazilian for 25 years! That started as a "passionate affair"...

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

Comment #140513 by Geoff on March 7, 2008 at 3:43 pm

notsobad: Wishful thinking, mostly!

442. When blasphemy bit the dust

Comment #140496 by Geoff on March 7, 2008 at 2:41 pm

One small step. Long way to go, though. Still, at least we're headed in the right direction.

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

Comment #140493 by Geoff on March 7, 2008 at 2:37 pm

I'm in, but my old account seems to have disappeared. Oh well, we've already gone up one more position!

444. Fleabytes

Comment #140431 by Geoff on March 7, 2008 at 9:52 am

4098. Comment #140423 by irate_atheist

4094. Comment #140417 by Steve Zara -
I am not out to mock.

I am. As well as harass, badger, humiliate, abuse and insult.

And a splendid job you do, too, if I may say so?

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

Comment #140429 by Geoff on March 7, 2008 at 9:48 am

Enlightenme #2 Only Brin's sci-fi, I'm afraid; Haven't read any of his non-fiction. Coincidentally I'm reading "Foundation's Triumph" now! (I always have a fiction and a non-fiction book on the go, depending what mood I'm in).

446. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #140421 by Geoff on March 7, 2008 at 9:28 am

Philip, that was splendid, many thanks.

447. Fleabytes

Comment #140395 by Geoff on March 7, 2008 at 8:52 am

Oh no, another 8 pages to read through! I had loads of comments, but again I've forgotten them all - should really make notes as I'm going through them.

doesn't seem like that long since we were celebrating P2k. Paula, your wardrobe must be getting pretty full by now!

448. Lords Approve Abolition Of Blasphemy

Comment #140157 by Geoff on March 7, 2008 at 2:39 am

Always nice to see Richard's quote getting another airing.
I wonder if truth is a defence against blasphemy as it is with libel & slander? In which case, of course, it wouldn't be blasphemous.

Great news, though; now we can legally point out that god is a fucktard.

449. Fleabytes

Comment #139681 by Geoff on March 6, 2008 at 11:47 am

Hadn't really thought about the use of "tolerance" before, but Steve, you're absolutely right. Consciousness raising!

I'm not sure I can think of a word that would meet with general approval - Acceptance? Inclusion? dunno if those are any better.

450. Crossing the Divide

Comment #139675 by Geoff on March 6, 2008 at 11:39 am

A story that's both sad and heartening at the same time.

Yet more evidence that education is the key.