There's allways room for human-shaped, cell Jello

Absolutely fascinating, but I feel terrible for the guy. To lose one's memories could be a very sad thing (though hopefully it wasn't too bad for him, as he wouldn't remember having lost them... *insert confusion*)

Ummm.... the 'educated' people are 'egocentric'.

One would think that believing that the creator of the universe has a special interest in your life, in one individual among the infinite number of lifeforms in the universe, is the height of egocentrism.

But maybe it's just me...

[sarcasm]
Duh, obviously the correct Bible is the one I use. Any discrepencies only prove that their bible is wrong and that I've been using the right one and am a real christian
[/sarcasm]

This is just the first step to ... ROBO NIXON!!!

Dun dun duuuuuhhhhh

Meh, this is kind of a non-news issue. Temples, mosques, etc are getting build all over Canada (Alberta especially it seems). I have quite a few Ismaili Muslim friends in Edmonton, and in all honesty, they're the kindest and most open bunch of religious people I've probably ever met. I'm fine with 'bat-shit crazy' beliefs being allowed their place in Canada as long as its harmless bat shit crazy (ie not anti-science or pro-kablooie)

Re: Daemonion

Lol, I poured a 7-up libation to Apollo before my Roman Art final exam in my undergraduate. Got an 'A' in the class.

Coincidence?..... well yeah, probably. But the pagan gods are so cool that it never hurts to throw a little liquid their way.

I love how whenever there's an oil issue so many Americans look to the Saudis. Except Canada supplies the majority (something like 60 or 65% of US oil). Usually the same ones who want NAFTA removed which is hilarious since oil is a protected commodity in the agreement and without it Canadian oil could be heavily tariffed.

It reminds me how Beth Din is allowed in Canadian law. Yeah its 'voluntary' if you don't mind being ostracized from your community if you decide you don't want to be part of it. Not to mention it has faced numerous allegations of misogynist conduct. I know what you're thinking; 'Sexism in a fundamentalist set of laws?!? Say it isn't so!'

I remember catching him on 'Just for Laughs' or some other comedy channel special years ago. He's fantastic and I would have loved to see him live.

I think I'll use a couple of his lines next time a poofist tries to convert me.

Richard's comment about the work possibly being an attempt (albeit a very stunned one) to make evolution a Welsh 'discovery' is probably a good example of what's happening.

It reminds me a lot of Chinese scholarship and Far Eastern studies. I've read a number of bad articles and books that make outrageous (and usually unsupported) claims that try to make a discovery or acheivement Chinese when it really hasn't. Two examples are the fellow who wrote a book claiming that the Chinese were the first to reach North America based on a couple obscure old passages about a Chinese junk and how far it had sailed (I can't remember the author at the moment). Another was a news paper article that featured a Chinese scholar claiming that the Chinese invented golf because and ancient work mentioned a game that involved hitting balls with sticks.

Not to sell the history of innovation in China short, they did some amazing things, especially in the field of metallurgy in antiquity. But there is a definte attempt to make outrageous claims of 'we made/found/discovered' it first coming out of some writers.

I had to read up on this when I did my Anthropological Theory class in the last year of my undergrad. Like Mitchel said, there were a lot of people who influenced Darwin (and Wallace most likely) in coming up with the theory of Evolution by natural selection.

The reason Darwin is usually given the tip of the hat is the sheer volume of evidence Charles compiled and studied (for example his work on pigeon breeding) where as Wallace didn't have as much material.

Finally I would suspect that Darwin's view that humanity was a product of evolution helped make him the 'face' of evolutionary theory. It certainly would have pointed the religious animosity towards him, as Wallace thought humans were excluded from the evolutionary process.

Of course, none of this matters as evolution never happened, we were all poofed into existence by a designer
*Cue troll* *cough 'artful' cough*
:D

Re: KrisRamJ

Ugh, this reminds me of why I really am against home-schooling. As much as I love my mom, if she taught me biology, science, math, etc. I'd have felt cheated.

Unless a parent has the credentials to teach in a public school, they probably should leave the job to a professional.

Hmmm.... Does this mean that since I have my wisdom teeth in and there's not a problem and I have the space for them.... I'm some kind of ape-man?!?
*Sob*
Damn you Darwinists! Now I'll never get a job other than as an extra for the next planet of the apes movie... (mutters into to some random and completely nonsensical anti-evolution rant :)

Seriously though, I'm pretty sure we could come up with a remarkably long list of traits that are no longer advantageous in our species.

So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure,
How amazingly unlikely is your birth,
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space,
'Cause there's bugger all down here on Earth

MaxD,

Now, now, you know that this was clearly Satan tempting the man
-or-
that priest never truly believed the absolutely 100% crystal clear, never misinterpreted words of Jebus
-or-
he was secretly an atheist undercover and it's all part of the atheist majority in the US's conspiracy to make Christianity suffer.

re: devolve

It's been a while since I brushed up on primate behaviour, but if I remember correctly the only in-group instances of similar behaviour is chimpanzee males fighting to become alpha and have breeding rights (thought I don't think its usually to the death, submission usually occurs). There have been several instances of inter-group raiding and murder however.


India's caste system is incredibly brutal, I've read about other instances, such as the Japanese Eta (burakamin), where caste/class can result in phenomenally abusive cultural engagements, but India seems to take the cake time and time again. Hopefully as India modernizes this system will quickly disolve, but I'm not betting on it.

This is absolutely stultifying. If this suit is dismissed or Berkeley is found not culpable, they should be able to counter-sue for legal fees due to a very frivilous claim.

Interesting read. I found a lot of JL's points really weak though. When RD says 'That's tough' about evolutionary bio making us feel less special or unique(or whatever) and JL says 'That's not good enough for us anymore' and starts going on about touchy-feely nonsense I think the discussion sank a few levels.

Evolution isn't there to make anyone feel better or worse, it just is. At least that's always been my view.


Re: Stereoroid
My little brother was a skateboarder and one of his friends was grinding down a rail, slipped and burst one of his boys upon splitting himself on the rail. I guess it bleed a lot and he was rushed to the hospital. If I remember correctly the other testicle was fine but I *think* the other one was lost (although I don't remember with certainty). Lol, maybe that's why we have two, one's a backup :D

It's good to see that the anti-evolution sentiment isn't really seeping into Canada (or so I hope), but it's dissapointing to see companies refuse to sponsor it due to US media perspectives.

I'm definitely going to have to stop in Ontario on my way back to the prairies.

Not to bring the conversation down a level....

A friend of mine is doing her MA in Primatology now and was studying Oragutans for a while and apparently some females have been seen using smoothed and blunted sticks to ... uh... pleasure themselves (ie. a dildo)

I thought it was pretty funny (and interesting) when I first heard it from her (though I happily did not ask for the photographic evidence)

Dogmatism and militarism make dangerous bedmates. Religion should NEVER be a structured part of a military. In private, fine, but never as a mainstream component. When you train people to kill and give them weapons you want to make damn sure that these people have a clear head on their soldiers.

Since most religions always have militant aspects to their mythology, codifying that into military life means you can easily end up with a large group of trained and heavily armed people who are firmly convinced that they are instruments of divine will.

Bottom line is, religion (as a type of dogmatism) has a terrifying history of encouraging people not to think for themselves. Combine that with military doctrines that encourage obidience, arms and acquiesence, and atrocities are sure to follow.

It conditions a military mentality like Peter Hitchens describes on the start of the Iraq war when the Major yelled something like 'It's ass-kicking time' with 'We will rock you' playing in the background.

I don't want to make it sound like the milt. is a playground for 'good ol' boys. There are a lot of good soldiers I have known personally. But I know the young guys that I knew who went into the army as well, and they were a big part of me not wanting to enlist right away (I wouldn't put my life in their hands)


SRWB - If you don't mind my asking, what branch of the CF are you in. I'm thinking of trying to do my PhD studying the psychological effects of combat training on aggression and how martial training affects perception of enablement of violence. But I'd like to do it in a participant observational approach (ie I join up, go through basic, infantry training, etc. Instead of just asking soldiers about it).

Remnant,

Those are two of the worst 'theories' on Human development I've ever read.

You also might want to look at the roles of women in hunter gatherer societies before you make blanket statements. Women don't sit around 'doing hair', sewing, etc. like you'd have us believe.

In most hunter-gatherer groups women have actually supplied the majority of caloric intake. If you don't believe me, look up Richard Lee's work on the Kalahari !San people of subsaharan Africa.

I know your post was just a garbage pile trying to blame all the worlds ills on liberals, but I thought it'd be prudent to point out one of the outrageously innane facets of your post before the others tear it apart.

In short, your post was a fetid pool of stultifying nonsense. At least try to come up with something creative

Liberals all eat tofu! Conservatives like red meat! You guys have low testosterone levels. Come on, if you're going to represent the idiotic troll component of the website we're expecting at least a little eloquence and erudition in attempts to insult people. What's next? Penis jokes (aww... sorry didn't mean to stomp your best material)

Robotoholic

I spit water on my monitor reading that. Was not expecting it in the least. Well played.

Rod,

Fantastic! Reminds me of when I was starting as an Optician working for my Dad. A woman came into the shop with a broken pair of glasses and asked 'Can I get a screw for my glasses?' to which my Dad replied
'Hell, keep the glasses I'll screw ya for free'
I fell out of my chair laughing, but the lady didn't get it.

Whoah, can't believe this thread has been going this steadily
*Briefly scans last 4 pages*
*Throws up in mouth a little*

Al, Steve, Quetz, Max, Dicianu, Elli, Bonzai, etc.
I'm amazed you guys have the patience to reply to the miamic rot that's getting posted by our resident poofists.

Just thought I'd throw out a 'good job' on behalf of those of us who don't have the inclination to respond. It's always the same old tripe from the poofists. To modify family guy:

'Something, something, something, biblical accuracy'
'Something, something, something, conspiracy theory'
'Something, something, something, self-absorbed pitiful ranting'
etc. etc.

Lucas;
I'm thinking along the same lines, I know it's the kind of thing I'd probably get in a fight over (but I didn't want to be the first to say it as over the years I've been accused of being a bit of a barbarian).

Al,
I'm so terribly disappointed in your preference in restaurants. ;D

Re: hoops mccann, mr pickwick

Well played sirs, well played.

Though you never know, he could be the type that has to dress up like a ghost with a pointy head from time to time.

Well, he should be up on charges for burning crosses into peoples arms.

If there was a divine justice, he'd end up in prison and have the stuffing pummeled out of him at some point.

But since there isn't, hopefully he'll at least get a substantial monetary slap and a freshly-filled pink slip.

I'll never look at a budgee the same way again.

He's free to wear it of course.

Other students are free, nay, encouraged to wear a shirt saying 'Be tolerant, not a douchebag'