1. Biologist Teaches the Nation's Judges About Genetics

Comment #202983 by hexhunter on July 2, 2008 at 7:47 am

Well it's either Genes or Memes isnt it. All crimes come down to the theory of illness, a crime is either cause by a Physical, Mental or Social effect, often several of them.

So it's true you can't help what your Genes predispose you to do, but then you can't fully control what ideas and Memes you are exposed to either.

This is why all prison/punishment systems are wrong, especially ones where they have capital punishment, all criminals are ill, and all illnesses can be cured, science just hasn't got that far yet...

- Deus X Machina

2. Stop distorting young minds!

Comment #200060 by hexhunter on June 26, 2008 at 6:07 pm

"What appalled me however is that admission was based on a points system that was heavily weighted in favour of the church goers."

Isn't that meant to be illegal now, or is that law only for people in jobs, so you can't be denied a job for being Atheist, but you can be denied a place in a school...

Ironic, when it comes to paying money, you can't descriminate, but when you're recieving money, you can desciminate all you wish...

- Deus X Machina

3. World Youth Day condom protest against Pope

Comment #199053 by hexhunter on June 25, 2008 at 6:19 am

Linda said:

A few years ago when the other pope came to Toronto for a 'youth' conference a group tried to hand out condoms to the kids but this was quickly stopped by the police. I for one was pretty darn upset and telephoned our MP immediately. He was all gaga for his 'holy father' and didn't want anything to rock the dog and pony show. After a few more calls to the mayor's office etc. condoms were then allowed to be distributed. I'm sure it wasn't just me complaining however it is worth remembering that speaking up is the only way to put things right.

On the Sunday of that weekend a huge outdoor mass was held. It seemed a delicious twist of irony that the weather didn't co-operate and there was a very heavy rainfall. After the rain stopped the silly kids stuffed their rain gear into the port-a-potties, which were then dumped into the sewage system. The result was that it blocked up and over flowed into a local furniture store destroying the inventory. The first photos of the mishap were on the web but they quickly disappeared as all Toronto media wiped the mess from the news.

http://www.wcr.ab.ca/news/2003/0113/wyd-flood011303.shtml

Good luck Australians.

4. It Doesn't Take an Einstein

Comment #196143 by hexhunter on June 19, 2008 at 10:55 am

Indeed, Sciros is correct, though I prefer to distinguish the "Jewish Race" as Hebraic(sp?), just another race, along with us White, Black, Asian, Arab and Oriental people... Not that there are any clear lines when it comes to Race, and good thing too...

- Deus X Machina

5. Kenneth Miller on Colbert Report

Comment #195040 by hexhunter on June 17, 2008 at 3:28 pm

What's with the afront to Colbert, he and his progenitor, Jon Whatever-his-name-is from the "daily show", are the most reliable and probably most watched news shows in America...

6. Blogger spreads the gospel of science

Comment #189386 by hexhunter on June 6, 2008 at 6:53 am

I remember when someone on the internet asked me where I lived and I said London, he replied "London Ontario?". How could he assume first that I lived in the 2nd or 3rd most populated and famous cities named London?

PS I like how off topic these comments are, not much mention of Atheism so far...

7. Mark Steyn vs. the 'Sock Puppets'

Comment #185712 by hexhunter on May 28, 2008 at 10:40 am

I thought Canada was in teh Commonwealth, does this not mean that they have a House of Lords and a Monarch like us? Aren't there processes to keep bad laws like this out of practice?

I know this sounds strange, but in essence, the Queen is our walking constitution. Someone should let her know that Canadians Freedom of Speech is being impeached(?) like this.

How did this get through their house of lords and commons anyway? Are they ALL religious???

- Deus X Machina

8. Five Things Humans No Longer Need

Comment #184237 by hexhunter on May 24, 2008 at 4:45 am

ABC news? Guess New Scientist are sharing their features with other companies now...

9. Richard Dawkins discusses Einstein's new letters

Comment #180609 by hexhunter on May 15, 2008 at 10:19 am

Atheism meant a different thing back then to what it means now to us, hell, 10 years ago it meant a different thing.

Basically, Atheism is not believing in a Thiestic god, a god which created Humanity or alters Humanity, I don't think anyone here believes that he seriously believed that, so he can be considered an Atheist. Whether he was Panthesist or Deist is a different matter...

Of course, he would have been Agnostic too, that is, he knew that God could not be proven or disproven, at his time anyway...

10. A New Pope

Comment #177523 by hexhunter on May 9, 2008 at 8:27 am

I don't remember this from Time Trumpet. Adam Buxton is Adam from Adam & Joe though, and he is in Time Trumpet.

- Deus X Machina

11. Gay scientists isolate Christian gene

Comment #177447 by hexhunter on May 9, 2008 at 5:39 am

Brilliant, only got it a minute in but loved it.

:D

12. My Response to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Comment #177439 by hexhunter on May 9, 2008 at 5:16 am

I'm amazed that Boteach lived in the UK for 11 years. He seems to think that we are all Royalist Super-patriots. The way that he says "England" pisses me off too.

13. How to reconcile Richard Dawkins?

Comment #172992 by hexhunter on April 30, 2008 at 8:18 am

I am massively confused, since when was the Troubles not a religious issue? I understand that the territory was a difficult meeting point for the British and Irish, but why would 2 civilised, post-war nations be so violent?

Surely without religion it could have been handled with the diplomatic efforts which finally ended it?


-Deus x Machina

14. Orangutan attempts to hunt fish with spear

Comment #172913 by hexhunter on April 30, 2008 at 6:58 am

This is clearly an arguement about semantics, why don't you look in a dictionary and see what that says.

-58. Comment #171964 by Didaktylos on April 29, 2008 at 3:36 am

"They'll all be getting jobs in libraries next."

- Ook Eek Eek
I think the Librarian has a little more than intelligence, like magic, and bananas.

- Deus X Machina

15. Yoko Ono sues over use of John Lennon videos

Comment #170102 by hexhunter on April 27, 2008 at 11:31 am

I believe I also read on Wikipedia that The Killers were lied to about the premise of the film, whether they'll decide to sue or not though, I've no idea...

-Deus Ex Machina

16. Richard Dawkins on The Big Questions

Comment #118872 by hexhunter on January 31, 2008 at 5:25 am

Should enjoy/get really annoyed watching this, I saw it in the upcoming events section literally a few hours after it finished...

17. Man-sized sea scorpion claw found

Comment #89929 by hexhunter on November 22, 2007 at 7:18 am

Sounds like the crocodile might have filled it's niche, just like herds of reptiles becoming herds of cows, and reptilian flying animals becoming birds.

I think what he actually meant about size was that big animals go extinct easier than their smaller cousins, which is why there are still Lizards, despite the lack of Dinosaurs.

18. Der Digitale Planet (lecture)

Comment #53910 by hexhunter on July 4, 2007 at 5:19 am

All of the lecturers were good, but I now understand why Douglas Adams's death was such a blow for science, he really had the power to communicate, most scientists stumble on questions and find it difficult to explain things, but he could have made public understanding of science so much better in the UK.

I must also ask for somebody to upload the discussion from this event, even if it's not in English...

19. Call for 'post-9/11' RE teaching

Comment #50660 by hexhunter on June 19, 2007 at 9:26 am

I agree with Chezzyd, actually, I think the A-level course is something like that, it covers a religion, and a range of ethical topics, also a few philosophy subjects.

I think the GCSE course should cover philosophy, sociology, ethics, history of religion (egyptian, greek, roman, christianity/islam/judaism in the past), religious studies (religion vs atheism, comparative theology, religious texts and religious people)...

Its quite a bit but our course was only a half GCSE, with a max grade of a D. also, the exams are confusing, I think coursework should probably involve research on different views on a subject, like euthanasia, comparing them, being critical of all of them, and finding and explaining what you think to be the best answer...