Comments by b0ltzm0n

1. Theocratic Sect Prays for Real Armageddon

Comment #240689 by b0ltzm0n on August 31, 2008 at 9:54 pm

Comment #240387 by Koreman on August 31, 2008 at 12:28 pm

What an utterly disgusting man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUTCWLoD4-4

I imagine an alternate version of this video where the guy with stage 4 cancer does a knee block followed by an upper cut, leaving Bentley unconscious on the stage. And then he says, "Shit, I still have cancer... but I do feel a hell of a lot better now!"

2. Central Texas Man's Death Sentence Upheld Despite Bible In Jury Room

Comment #234158 by b0ltzm0n on August 20, 2008 at 11:24 pm

15, Well the death penalty sure has good odds of detering the cold-blooded killer from going after 14's 5-6 innocent victims!

3. An atheist plays God's advocate

Comment #227203 by b0ltzm0n on August 9, 2008 at 1:35 pm

Evolution "is one reason I don't believe in God", announced Dawkins at the start. Darwin "made it possible no longer to feel the necessity to believe in anything supernatural",

I believe Richard stated that the lawyer for the show made him add this little "disclaimer" to the introduction.

4. Vicar supports Life of Brian ban

Comment #222413 by b0ltzm0n on July 31, 2008 at 12:20 pm

We should pool our money and put up a billboard right across from St Michael's Church. Solid black background with big, bold, white letters reading:

Blasphemy: It's a victimless crime.

5. Catholics To Pope: Lift Birth Control Ban

Comment #220681 by b0ltzm0n on July 28, 2008 at 9:27 pm

When the artificial social conditioning fails, as it inevitably will in many cases, the natural reversion is to promiscuity among males and non-use of condoms. As such, catholic doctrine runs counter to the former, but shores up the latter, and if people need an excuse to ignore the need for condoms their religious dogma will provide it.

Well said! Thanks Carto!

6. Sydney brothels say Pope's visit will give business a leg-up

Comment #219370 by b0ltzm0n on July 26, 2008 at 9:14 pm

Some people get an ego boost from sex, I never do.

I'm reminded of that old joke:

Q: What's the height of conceit?
A: Having an orgasm and calling out your own name!

7. Richard Dawkins slaps creationists into the primordial soup

Comment #216256 by b0ltzm0n on July 22, 2008 at 9:23 pm

675. Comment #216248 by Robert O'Brien

I don't suffer fools gladly. Neither did Jesus, judging from his interactions with the Jewish authorities of his day.

I just had this vision of Jesus as Rambo, simultaneously curing a blind man and punching the head off of Judas... ok, so maybe I've had too much NyQuil.

8. Richard Dawkins slaps creationists into the primordial soup

Comment #216243 by b0ltzm0n on July 22, 2008 at 9:17 pm

668. Comment #216238 by Robert O'Brien

Now that I've laid your bull**** to rest, kindly slither back under your rock and take your fellow stooge, Goldy, with you.

You're a Christian? Wow, I guess they let anyone into the club these days. Didn't you get the memo about "turning the other cheek?"

9. Richard Dawkins slaps creationists into the primordial soup

Comment #216221 by b0ltzm0n on July 22, 2008 at 8:50 pm

I take it you haven't heard of the park over in our side of the world? That "depicts" human footprints right alongside dino prints?

they're pretty fucking ridiculous looking. like cartoonish...I went when I was younger , still indoctrinated and it still looked fake to me.

heh, I thought about that as I was typing my post. I should have started with, "If someone credible showed me evidence..."

10. Richard Dawkins slaps creationists into the primordial soup

Comment #216200 by b0ltzm0n on July 22, 2008 at 8:25 pm

Their m.o. has always been to throw every piece of **** they can at the wall and desperately hope that something sticks.

This is physical evidence which scholars agree is from a time pre-dating Christianity. And it doesn't intrigue you? Hell, if someone showed me evidence of human fossils in a dinosaur dig my curiousity would be peeked for sure!

11. Richard Dawkins slaps creationists into the primordial soup

Comment #216189 by b0ltzm0n on July 22, 2008 at 8:17 pm

What would it mean for Christianity if the resurrection of Jesus, which many Christians consider to be a unique defining event in their mythology, turns out to be a common part of Jewish tradition/myth of that time?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/06/world/middleeast/06stone.html

12. Islam subway ads cause stir in New York

Comment #216180 by b0ltzm0n on July 22, 2008 at 8:08 pm

This could be another good Subway poster for riders to ponder:

http://www.irreligion.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/12/occamsrazorbu0.jpg

13. Islam subway ads cause stir in New York

Comment #216018 by b0ltzm0n on July 22, 2008 at 5:03 pm

I wonder how much it would cost for us to get some Imagine No Religion posters put up in the subway.

http://www.atheistsunited.org/images/ImagineNoReligion.jpg

If RD started a fund for it I'd gladly donate.

14. Richard Dawkins on Al Jazeera English

Comment #215408 by b0ltzm0n on July 21, 2008 at 8:16 pm

I think PristinePanda's subject was summmed up by some famous scientist many year ago:

"Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid; humans are incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond imagination."

Basically, when machines of our making become smart enough to improve themselves this will start an exponential increase in our understanding of everything, in ways that we aren't capable of predicting. Fun times!

15. Surgeon General Nominee Dismisses Homosexuality Paper

Comment #215224 by b0ltzm0n on July 21, 2008 at 1:59 pm

Given his mindset, I think it's not much of a stretch to envision him thinking along the lines of 'when you strike two sticks against each other, sooner or later one of them breaks'. If you get what I mean.

For some reason your post made me think of the Large Hadron Collider... not sure why.

16. Nine face stoning death in Iran

Comment #214666 by b0ltzm0n on July 20, 2008 at 6:30 pm

@Comment #214657 by Cartomancer

It's about men trying to make sure other men don't put there dicks where they feel they don't belong. Control, control, control.

17. Nine face stoning death in Iran

Comment #214654 by b0ltzm0n on July 20, 2008 at 6:22 pm

Does "how" someone is put to death by the state determine the civility of that state? I'm on the fence, and happen to be living in the most pro-death penalty state in the USA (Texas). Someone help me off this fence please.

18. Texas State Board of Education approves Bible course for high schools

Comment #213631 by b0ltzm0n on July 18, 2008 at 5:29 pm

Yeah TWP, and what's worse is that I feel so powerless to do anything about it. How do you fight something like this?

19. Texas State Board of Education approves Bible course for high schools

Comment #213621 by b0ltzm0n on July 18, 2008 at 5:00 pm

Now I remember why I cancelled my subscription to the Dallas Morning News. If I actually had this kind of news show up on my doorstep I'd probably have a heart attack one day. At least reading the news here for the first time I can wallow in the horror with the rest of you.

Fixed:

"My interest is keeping the focus on indoctrinating kids and spending less money on lawsuits."

20. The Return of Religion

Comment #212932 by b0ltzm0n on July 17, 2008 at 9:20 pm

artists such as portishead and ralph myerz...

Portishead is great! One of my favorite all time songs is Teardrop, which she did with Massive Attack. The video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG8eQBSp9Ao

Her voice is heaven!

21. The Return of Religion

Comment #212929 by b0ltzm0n on July 17, 2008 at 9:06 pm

Since this thread has been about nothing and everything, I'd like to throw a personal theory/observation out at you all.

I just read in the news that Mississippi was named the "fattest state in the nation". The top five were all southern states. Now, several factors have been attributed to these states having such high obesity rates including southern food/eating habits, poverty, etc.

But religion wasn't mentioned and I think it is a very legitimate factor. Any takers as to why?

I moved from Los Angeles to the Dallas area about a year ago and was astonished by how much more rotund the average Texan was than the average Californian. I'm not sure how religion might factor in though. I just assumed that everyone in California was shallow.

22. The Return of Religion

Comment #211759 by b0ltzm0n on July 16, 2008 at 9:40 am

God has fled, but he is not dead. He is biding his time, waiting for us to make room for him.

So much for omnipotence. This guy's god sounds like someone my kid sister could beat up.

23. Thousands Flock to Revival in Search of Miracles

Comment #208735 by b0ltzm0n on July 11, 2008 at 7:33 am

Let's see him heal amputees.

God hates amputees. Didn't you get the memo?

24. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208125 by b0ltzm0n on July 10, 2008 at 3:43 pm

I'd say it's probably best to just make sure and make the title of your email to the point. Something like:

"In support of Associate Professor Myers"

or something to that effect. Likely the prez isn't going to take the time to read thousands of emails, but may be forced to scroll through all the email headers.

25. Harper says new mosque shows 'the true and benevolent face of Islam'

Comment #205217 by b0ltzm0n on July 6, 2008 at 8:55 pm

I wonder if that means that they wear magical underwear as well?

haha! my first thought was of magic underwear as well!

Sometimes I just look around at this crazy world and think, "there must be a god because there's no way all this craziness could be unscripted!"

26. Faith schools undermined by 'Government witch hunt'

Comment #201733 by b0ltzm0n on June 30, 2008 at 7:49 am

Could I set up a Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster faith school in Britian, complete with a beer volcano and strippers, all at tax payer expense?

27. An Interview with Prof. Richard Dawkins

Comment #199525 by b0ltzm0n on June 25, 2008 at 10:28 pm

Quit with your cheerful 'Cheers!' and we may begin to make a start. Smart arse.

I think you and I will continue to disagree, and I am now at the point where I am utterly divorced from trying to find supporters of my ideas. Never was good at or interested in politics.

But this one is a biggie. I tire of little piss-ants like yourself simply licking the sticker.

Perhaps I am wrong about you.

I'll step back and watch.

Styrer

I never was very good at metaphors, but my ex-boss excelled. He once said, "if you want to chop down a tree it takes a bunch of small, precise knicks, not one fell swing". I fully believe that's game we're in now. There are times and places for in-your-face-fuck-you-and-sit-the-fuck-down statements. And there are times and places and people to whom pandering can do a great deal of good for our cause. I think and act locally because it's the greatest impact I can have. And I'm not offended in the least by being called a piss-ant. You'd be amazed at what a few million piss-ants can accomplish! Chee... er.... Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!!!

28. An Interview with Prof. Richard Dawkins

Comment #199522 by b0ltzm0n on June 25, 2008 at 10:10 pm

Comment #199520 by Styrer

Because I'm not like you. I'd rather have a chance at convincing people rather than polarizing them.

But please, let's not fight here. We're on the same side, but just have differing opinions on how the fight should be waged. I'm of the opinion it will take all kinds, as there are all kinds of "faithful". Cheers!

29. An Interview with Prof. Richard Dawkins

Comment #199512 by b0ltzm0n on June 25, 2008 at 9:48 pm

Comment #199507 by Styrer

I'd rather my neighbor here in Plano, TX subscribed to the idea that all of us "ARE GOING TO FUCKING HELL TO BURN FOREVER IN THE ABSENCE OF HIS DEITY.", but still had a chance to read about and potentially accept evolution.

I am thinking VERY long term, inspired by a desire to make progress in steps, rather than impotently banging my dick against the brick wall known as "atheism". People react with visceral disgust in this town if I say I'm an "atheist". If I talk to them in terms they can understand they tend to be more receptive to the ideas. Cheers!

30. Fossil of most primitive 4-legged creature found

Comment #199506 by b0ltzm0n on June 25, 2008 at 9:29 pm

Yeah, but what about the gap between Ventastega curonica and actual four-legged land dwellers? See, I told you Darwin was full of shit!

31. An Interview with Prof. Richard Dawkins

Comment #199501 by b0ltzm0n on June 25, 2008 at 9:15 pm

Nicholas Newman

And finally. What is your next book about?

Richard Dawkins

It will be about the evidence for evolution.

Not to pander to Christians, but perhaps Richard should consider co-authoring it with Ken Miller. Richard's book will definitely appeal to people on his/our side of the fence, and get a fair shake from those in the straddle position, but it might help the appeal toward "dyed in the wool fai.. religious folks" if he had "and Catholic Evolutionary Biologist Kenneth Miller" or something on the cover. Just my 2 pennies inspired by 3 glasses of a 4 dollar bottle of red wine.

32. World Youth Day condom protest against Pope

Comment #198729 by b0ltzm0n on June 24, 2008 at 12:02 pm

The Raelians may be a little wacky, but they are relatively harmless...

Someone probably said the same thing about Christians a couple thousand years ago.

33. Award-winning comedian George Carlin dies

Comment #198088 by b0ltzm0n on June 23, 2008 at 7:29 am

Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

Death is caused by swallowing small amounts of saliva over a long period of time.

I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it.

I'm always relieved when someone is delivering a eulogy and I realize I'm listening to it.

I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.

If God had intended us not to masturbate he would've made our arms shorter.

As much as I'd like to give credit to TGD for opening my eyes, it was actually Carlin's "Brain Droppings", specifically the piece about Sun Worship, that got me off the fence. He will be missed.

34. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #194358 by b0ltzm0n on June 16, 2008 at 4:14 pm

Don't you want eternal life?

That's something I've been thinking about lately. The big carrot that religions the world over have offered since lying began, eternal life, is the one thing that science is pushing us towards in a very real way. What happens when scientific progress takes away the big carrot of religion?

35. Physicists in Congress Calculate Their Influence

Comment #194053 by b0ltzm0n on June 16, 2008 at 10:40 am

Sherwood L. Boehlert, the upstate New York Republican who until last year was chairman of the House Science Committee...

(For his part, Mr. Boehlert said, his last exposure to science was in a high school physics class, "and I got a C.")

Does anyone know how congress decides who gets to be Chairman of the House Science Committee? Is it a lottery? Do they pick the guy wearing the bow tie?

36. Reality wins in Texas!

Comment #189862 by b0ltzm0n on June 7, 2008 at 11:44 am

I'm in Dallas and have an acquaintance who works for The Dallas Morning News. From what I gather the paper tries not to lean in any political direction, so maybe they'll do a story on this...

37. Physicist Claims First Real Demonstration of Cold Fusion

Comment #187651 by b0ltzm0n on June 2, 2008 at 12:23 pm

As a nuclear physicist...

Bah, thanks for killing the fun fynbo! =P

38. Teacher tortures, kills boy

Comment #186733 by b0ltzm0n on May 31, 2008 at 8:25 am

The kid was blind, and was beaten for not learning the Qu'ran? Does the Qu'ran come in brail?

39. We happy hooligans

Comment #185729 by b0ltzm0n on May 28, 2008 at 11:30 am

We rational, logical, skeptical and happy hooligans

40. Richard Dawkins lecture at ASU's Tempe Campus

Comment #183814 by b0ltzm0n on May 22, 2008 at 10:47 pm

Lying in bed listening to this lecture while falling asleep, I shed a tear when Richard read from Unweaving the Rainbow... powerful stuff. Cheers!

41. Proving ID is Creationism

Comment #182729 by b0ltzm0n on May 20, 2008 at 10:50 pm

and the NC"S"E claims they're not about atheism

Well, I would hope they're "pro-science" and anti-non-science (aka creationism aka ID). If the NCSE being anti-non-science makes them "about atheism" to you, then so be it. But that's your correlation, not mine. And it's a telling correlation indeed. Cheers!

42. Missing matter found in deep space

Comment #182719 by b0ltzm0n on May 20, 2008 at 10:38 pm

I'm surprised about the oxygen. Why oxygen? Hydrogen and helium I could understand, that's left over from the big bang. Iron or nickel I could understand; other elements tend toward iron and nickel in nuclear reactions because they are the most energetically favorable elements.

I've read in a few different places over time that the first stars in the universe were very massive and short lived, and only fused carbon and oxygen before going bang. JWST will hopefully provide a definitive answer! Cheers!

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/First_Supernovae_Quickly_Seeded_Universe_With_Stuff_Of_Life.html

43. Missing matter found in deep space

Comment #182691 by b0ltzm0n on May 20, 2008 at 9:29 pm

To quote Carl Sagan:

A religion old or new, that stressed the magnificence of the universe as revealed by modern science, might be able to draw forth reserves of reverence and awe hardly tapped by the conventional faiths. Sooner or later, such a religion will emerge.

I really hope our species grows up sooner than later. Thank "goodness" for people like Richard and Carl.

44. Texas Megachurch Minister Busted in Internet Sex Sting

Comment #181865 by b0ltzm0n on May 18, 2008 at 1:48 pm

heh, I live in Plano. I drive by that Church every so often. I know a couple women that go there and they refer to it as "Church Depot". In private they admit to not being "true believers", but say it's a great place to go and hook up with "sexy Christian single (or married) men".

45. The amazing intelligence of crows

Comment #181087 by b0ltzm0n on May 16, 2008 at 12:14 pm

My only question is: How does crowe taste?

I mean, this is a species that seems to be getting a free ride off of our species. And if they're experiencing exponential growth and are always living in and near our habitats, well that sounds like a viable food source to me. Though I'm not sure I like the sound of Crowe McNuggets... but I'll leave that up to the marketing folk to deal with...

Oh, and all the adaptation stuff was cool too. =P

46. Bible Theme Park Faces Opposition in Tennessee

Comment #180814 by b0ltzm0n on May 15, 2008 at 9:51 pm

And, just for shits and giggles, once a day they flood the entire fucking park and drown every fucking person there as a way of depicting the great flood.

Oh what fun! I would go and watch... from a safe distance!

47. Richard Dawkins discusses Einstein's new letters

Comment #179785 by b0ltzm0n on May 13, 2008 at 6:21 pm

I second what Tack said. I recently heard, if I remember correctly, that Dawkins thinks science can prove God does not exist. Haven't had a chance to research this, but for now, I tend to disagree.

You can never prove something doesn't exist, but you can surely come closer and closer to being sure something doesn't exist. The more we learn the less theistic gods stand up to scrutiny.

All we can do is continue to clear the fog of ignorance using the best tools at our disposal, and the scientific method seems to be a pretty good tool! Cheers!

48. Churchgoing on its knees as Christianity falls out of favour

Comment #177757 by b0ltzm0n on May 9, 2008 at 3:56 pm

Great news! Now that Prof Dawkins has taken care of this generation of British Christians I expect to see his next book, "The Allah Delusion" hit book stores soon!!!

49. Trouble ahead for science

Comment #177098 by b0ltzm0n on May 8, 2008 at 2:47 pm

I'm not sure which bothers me more; the idea that Ken Miller really is a Catholic, or that maybe he just says he's a Catholic so that he can claim to be a god-fearing supporter of Evolutionary Theory to help Our Side(TM).

50. The History Channel might do something right

Comment #176475 by b0ltzm0n on May 7, 2008 at 12:36 pm

In the pre-Cambrian era, insects, in particular the dragonfly, would take the compound eye to new heights.

I'm not sure if someone mentioned this or not, but I believe I read that there's no pre-Cambrian "era". It's just the Precambrian, starting about 550 million years ago and reaching all the way back, and encompassing several eras.

http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/precambrian/precambrian.html

More Pages: 1 2 | Next