Comments by DamnDirtyApe

Comment #146713 by DamnDirtyApe on March 19, 2008 at 9:51 am

Lisa Simpson:

As intelligence goes up, happiness often goes down. I made a graph. I make lots of graphs.

Comment #145156 by DamnDirtyApe on March 17, 2008 at 10:18 am

A few Jefferson quotes can undermine most of what the former press secretary of one of America's worst presidents is saying:

There is no act, however virtuous, for which ingenuity may not find some bad motive.

Bigotry is the disease of ignorance, of morbid minds; enthusiasm of the free and buoyant. Education & free discussion are the antidotes of both.

The Newtonian principle of gravitation is now more firmly established, on the basis of reason, than it would be were the government to step in, and to make it an article of necessary faith. Reason and experiment have been indulged, and error has fled before them.

The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.

In conclusion, Snow is nothing. He also missed the point that we atheists are technically agnostics (in the same sense we are teapot agnostics that is) as well. I think he's just trying to appeal to his former base and keep idiots throwing money at him.

403. Immune system differences found

Comment #145007 by DamnDirtyApe on March 17, 2008 at 7:01 am

This sounds similar to genetic alcohol tolerance. Its certainly shows we're still evolving. Now, bring me my beer! I don't care if its only 2 in the afternoon! on a monday!

404. 'Anonymous' takes anti-Scientology to the streets

Comment #144619 by DamnDirtyApe on March 16, 2008 at 12:43 pm

Yay... its all good stuff...

Scientology's a good start. I think they should work backwards chronologically. They can go after Mormonism next...

405. Bulldozers tear down giant religious teapot

Comment #144196 by DamnDirtyApe on March 15, 2008 at 9:46 am

No! This will not stand! If the Scientologists can get credit, the teapot will not be denied!

406. Ban anti-Catholic books in schools, says bishop

Comment #143195 by DamnDirtyApe on March 13, 2008 at 3:49 pm

Because of the way this discussion has gone, and my friend sent me this link earlier, i felt COMPELLED to spread the good news:

The LOLcat bible! I can has rapture?

http://www.lolcatbible.com/index.php?title=Judges_19

407. Beauty ad banned after Christian outcry

Comment #142374 by DamnDirtyApe on March 12, 2008 at 12:12 pm

Ahem, blasphemy laws abolished... how the heck does this stand?

408. Seven new deadly sins: are you guilty?

Comment #141629 by DamnDirtyApe on March 11, 2008 at 1:21 am

What about the cross-breeding of pets, plants we have been doing for thousands of years?

Their 'sin' of genetic manipulation is a little late.

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

Comment #141444 by DamnDirtyApe on March 10, 2008 at 12:35 pm

I concur with the cloning idea.

1. Clone Galileo.
2. ???
3. Profit!

410. Oklahoma: One Step from Doom

Comment #141099 by DamnDirtyApe on March 10, 2008 at 3:05 am

I suspect this is going to be a cause of genuine amusement in the near future.

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

Comment #139306 by DamnDirtyApe on March 5, 2008 at 2:44 pm

I recommend the movie 'Human Traffic' folks... They reach a state of enlightenment by combining a vast quantity of drugs with a discussion of the Star Wars Trilogy.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0188674/

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

Comment #139010 by DamnDirtyApe on March 5, 2008 at 2:58 am

Bwahahahaha 'He Put something into space and it crashed...'

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

Comment #138436 by DamnDirtyApe on March 4, 2008 at 10:13 am

At the very least, this answer the question 'what were these guys smoking when they came up with this crap?'

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

Comment #138396 by DamnDirtyApe on March 4, 2008 at 9:05 am

There's certainly a correlation between schizophrenia, alleged 'religious experiences', and drug use...

415. Please Call Earth. We Still Haven't Found You.

Comment #138145 by DamnDirtyApe on March 4, 2008 at 1:51 am

Silence, Humans!

The aliens clearly only wish to speak to us. Kindly expire so we may properly manage this sphere.

416. Ayaan Hirsi Ali to get EU protection

Comment #136394 by DamnDirtyApe on March 1, 2008 at 4:46 am

Any chance the site admins might implement 'tagging' like on slashdot.org? Because this article would most definately be tagged 'suddenoutbreakofcommonsense'.

417. US Treaty with Tripoli

Comment #135453 by DamnDirtyApe on February 29, 2008 at 1:56 am

I concur that this will not change the atitudes of the hardcore faithful, this type of document NEEDS to be preserved. The most likely tool of control over the american people is their own history. Who controls the past controls the future, and if these types of historical document are accidentally 'lost' one day... It could be a very dangerous time.

418. Add another flea to the list...

Comment #132902 by DamnDirtyApe on February 25, 2008 at 11:44 am

I recommend the title 'The madness of reason' for the next flea if they are present here.

I concur: Sweden. Like Canada, it sounds like a mighty fine place to live.

Buuut the UK's not all bad :p . And even my brother manages to work on proteins at the University of Utah, regardless of how crazy those folks are (banning BEER? NOOOOOOOO!!!!!)

419. Over half of Britons claim no religion

Comment #132633 by DamnDirtyApe on February 25, 2008 at 4:12 am

ROLL ON THE 2011 CENSUS!

420. The coming religious peace

Comment #131919 by DamnDirtyApe on February 23, 2008 at 3:46 pm

That graph is almost as awesome as the one for Moore's Law.

421. Whale Evolution

Comment #130953 by DamnDirtyApe on February 21, 2008 at 2:34 pm

Jaw dropping stuff...

422. State Approves Evolution As 'Scientific Theory'

Comment #130316 by DamnDirtyApe on February 20, 2008 at 9:37 am

This sounds like a win to me.

Adding the word 'Science' on the front sounds like idiot proofing. :)

No joe bloggs is stupid enough to argue against the 'Scientific theory of gravity'. Maybe they'll figure it out...

423. Holy missing link! Ancient bat flew without 'sonar'

Comment #129398 by DamnDirtyApe on February 19, 2008 at 4:03 am

Same bat-channel, different bat-time...

I wonder if those flying squirrels might one day develop echo-location, or some other crazy ability.

424. Machines 'to match man by 2029'

Comment #128884 by DamnDirtyApe on February 18, 2008 at 6:55 am

It is inevitable.

425. Blasphemy

Comment #126733 by DamnDirtyApe on February 14, 2008 at 4:28 am

From that constitution:

Article 35
The citizens of Afghanistan have the right to form social organizations for the purpose of securing material or spiritual aims in accordance with the provisions of the law.
The citizens of Afghanistan have the right to form political parties in accordance with the provisions of the law, provided that:
1. The program and charter of the party are not contrary to the principles of sacred religion of Islam , and the provisions and values of this Constitution. 2. The organizational structure and financial sources of the party are made public. 3. The party does not have military or paramilitary aims and structures. 4. Should have no affiliation to a foreign political party or sources.

Spot the problem!

426. The Passion of 'Anonymous'

Comment #125335 by DamnDirtyApe on February 11, 2008 at 8:53 am

There was on in Manchester in the UK!

must have been about 40-50 folks (presumably students) in sunglasses, transformers masks, 'v for vendetta' Faulkesian masks...

As for the notion of Anon getting in trouble - how the heck will the church of Scientology sue ALL of them?

427. Why Darwin matters

Comment #124187 by DamnDirtyApe on February 8, 2008 at 3:59 pm

Hee hee. That's an amusing point Cartomancer. I'm totally picturing a bizarre future situation where people in the future believe Stephen Dawkins went to the Galapagos in his hover-wheelchair and discovered evolution despite his crippling disease.

Hopefully the future won't be that stupid...

428. Sharia law in UK is 'unavoidable'

Comment #123811 by DamnDirtyApe on February 7, 2008 at 4:37 pm

ARGH! This. Is. So. Rediculous. I. Have. To. Type. Like. This. About. It.

429. Admitting that you have no religion is not politically correct

Comment #122253 by DamnDirtyApe on February 5, 2008 at 2:30 am

I was about to say 'this wouldn't happen at my unversity' but after looking on the student society pages quickly - there are no dedicated secular student groups. The closest we get are a few secularish* charities and persuits. There's plenty of representation for religions, sports, and pirates...

This is in Southern England by the way.

*sorry for inventing and embiggening words.

430. Female Muslim medics 'disobey hygiene rules'

Comment #121693 by DamnDirtyApe on February 4, 2008 at 2:07 am

Can't stand the mail-express-o-graph, but they have a fairly accurate reading on the crazy-o-meter with this one...

431. Sentenced to death: Afghan who dared to read about women's rights

Comment #118794 by DamnDirtyApe on January 31, 2008 at 1:55 am

Can we remove agn's comments please?

Execute the criminal perverts of the Afghan Senate and the religious judges.

Every single one them.

If leaders of Muslim countries are to remain criminal and vile, they are to be killed outright, and we have every moral justification to cleanse this planet of such vermin.

I don't think there has ever been any moral justification for mass murder, and this of all places is certainly not where such action should be advocated.

I don't care what they did, that's not the answer. Figure this out like civilised people.

432. Heath Ledger Death: Baptist Group To Protest At Memorial

Comment #115932 by DamnDirtyApe on January 25, 2008 at 4:28 am

Do we even need to bother to comment on these people?

433. The real danger in Darwin is not evolution, but racism

Comment #115355 by DamnDirtyApe on January 24, 2008 at 4:46 am

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godwin's_law

That should cover it...

434. Gigantic fossil rodent discovered

Comment #112899 by DamnDirtyApe on January 18, 2008 at 8:58 am

In other news, four giant turtle fossils were found in close proximity.

*spot the gag.

435. Huckabee Wants A 'Faith-based' Constitution

Comment #111916 by DamnDirtyApe on January 16, 2008 at 2:20 am

Just as long as the new constitution meets the standard of the Buddah, Allah, Thor, Cthulhu, Xenu...

Man, I can't wait for the 2011 census in the UK...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_England_from_the_2001_United_Kingdom_census#Religion

Given we've probably got at least 15% of the pie, maybe as high as 21% back then, i'm hoping that figure shoots up dramatically. I'm sure there might be confusion with new religions like 'pastafarian' or 'CofFSM' being put down as 'other' though. We might need to keep it simple.

Maybe that's something we need to organise for. Have a big campaign to promote no religion for the next uk census. I'd hope for nearly 30% as 'no religion'. Let's stand up and be counted to make sure that this type of nonsense doesn't infect politics in the uk. We're the largest minority and lets make it count.

436. Archbishop of Canterbury Praises Richard Dawkins

Comment #105988 by DamnDirtyApe on January 2, 2008 at 8:54 am

As Eddie Izzard once said, the CofE is very much the 'cake or death' religion.

437. Three wise men just legend: archbishop

Comment #101255 by DamnDirtyApe on December 20, 2007 at 6:41 am

My 'sudden outbreak of common' sense is tingling!

438. Interview with Richard Dawkins: On Christmas

Comment #100673 by DamnDirtyApe on December 19, 2007 at 5:00 am

The point is its an enjoyable fiction. Which If all religion became, i'd have no problem with it whatsoever. In fact we should encourage religion to be like this. Its like comparing a harmless fantasy to an enforced doctrine.

439. Dawkins: I'm a cultural Christian

Comment #100057 by DamnDirtyApe on December 18, 2007 at 6:59 am

If anything I'm a "cultural rationalist". What counts as of cultural importance to me includes very little, if anything, that can be ascribed to christianity. The traditions I revere go back to the ancient Greeks and the Renaissance.

In hindsight, perhaps this is even a more appropriate generalisation. After all, I think we care a great deal about all history. I'm pretty sure most of us have been to a few museums in our time, visited a few historic sites. I've got a list of places worldwide I want to go, not just our own native history. I'd like to see the Pyramids, the Colluseum of Rome, the city of Petra, the Terracotta army and the imperial mausoleum. Does that make me a cultural Egyptian/Roman/etc?

I think 'cultural rationalist' is the only term needed for all of these. Let's all remember our collective histories, all our achievements, and the crazy wonders we built. Sure the Egyptians were loonies literally building their own stairways to heaven, and the emperor of china was suffering from a bad case of self-inflicted murcury poisoning, but out of this people still built increadible things.

We're must preserve and protect our and others history because we learn from it, and because its great. I'll be celebrating christmas. We can track santa's progress with NORAD!

440. Dawkins: I'm a cultural Christian

Comment #100001 by DamnDirtyApe on December 18, 2007 at 3:38 am

Disclaimer: i'd love to take credit for the Dr Who Line but its a classic a good friend of mine created.

441. Dawkins: I'm a cultural Christian

Comment #99745 by DamnDirtyApe on December 17, 2007 at 1:20 pm

I've no problem with this. I'm in Canterbury, and I'd certainly not like to see the Cathedral fall to bits.

Anyway, xmas is pretty secular really, its basically a compromise between a lot of different festivals from older times is the winter solstice. Sure I went to a xian school when I was a kid, but the whole thing is just stories to me. Exactly like the tooth fairy, and of course father christmas.

I've come to realise that Christmas is that special time of year when we remember the one who died, came back to life, and saved us all - Doctor Who.

Yeah, JC turned water into wine, but did he travel through time and space?

Otherwise, I'm just waiting for the half-baked fundamentalist jump-to-conclusions in response to the good professor's remarks.

442. When did the police start collaring television?

Comment #63150 by DamnDirtyApe on August 13, 2007 at 9:07 am

I saw the program, while I was slightly hesitant about the editing, I generally thought it was reflective of reality. The remarks weren't really out of context. If anything, they were put into the correct context in all its unpleasantness.

It was described as 'Distorted'. Well, if that's classed as distorted, they might as well paint every instance of undercover journalism with the same brush. I mean the same could be said about hidden camera stings for dodgy builders on the ground the program only shows the dodgy builder building dodgily, and not the rest of the time when the builder was behaving himself.

I think they did raise legitimate concerns about radicalisation, which considering the events at Glasgow airport is clearly happening. If that type of language isn't an influence on those types of events I don't know what is.

443. Leading Article: Divine inspiration

Comment #61653 by DamnDirtyApe on August 6, 2007 at 6:05 am

jonecc - well, maybe not the majority, but according to the last national census, certainly the largest minority.

But considering the Anglicans are a big slice of the pie - I see your point.

444. CNN Debate on Koran in Toilet

Comment #60215 by DamnDirtyApe on August 1, 2007 at 10:30 am

I basically agree. I'm glad this stuff isn't taken lying down. Reminds me of the guys protesting the Denmark Cartoons - several of which were arrested in the UK and jailed for having placards saying 'behead those who insult Islam'.

Religion must never be beyond reproach.

445. Butterfly shows evolution at work

Comment #56501 by DamnDirtyApe on July 16, 2007 at 4:17 am

Crocoduck... Platypus, perhaps?

446. NEXT MONDAY: Bill O'Reilly interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #33160 by DamnDirtyApe on April 19, 2007 at 1:52 pm

Either that, or it will expose an audience to Bill O'reilly's opinion of Dawkin's ideas.

447. NEXT MONDAY: Bill O'Reilly interviews Richard Dawkins

Comment #33150 by DamnDirtyApe on April 19, 2007 at 1:45 pm

Yikes. There may be some turbulence.