1. The History Channel might do something right

Comment #176219 by darlets on May 7, 2008 at 12:14 am

I think it would be cheaper in N.Z and Australia also.

As long as you didn't waste money marketing it at the U.S I think you could re make the initial investment in the E.U and Asian markets.

(Assuming someone front money as an investment not a donation.)

If it takes off in America great, but I'd aim it outside the u.s to start with.

2. The History Channel might do something right

Comment #176209 by darlets on May 6, 2008 at 10:55 pm

Slightly off topic, but how do we get more stuff like this made?

Krause put the price tag on a movie at $50 million in his chat with Dawkins.

Is there room for a science movie in the market?

Is there anything people can do at a grassroots level to try and increase the amount of science content produce in a movie or documentary format?

Ideas/Suggestions?

3. Research Volunteers Needed

Comment #175659 by darlets on May 5, 2008 at 7:50 pm

I would hazard a guess that they are also trying to find truly neutral question, that gets the same response by both groups.

So you can ask a neutral question and see if the same part of the brain is used in both groups.
Then ask a question they disagree upon and see what part of the brain lights up like a Christmas tree.

Also do atheist use the same part of the brain to answer
Can pigs fly?
Can Jesus fly?

What part of the brain do xtians use to answer yes to the second question.

Can Alexander the great do miracles V can Jesus do miracles?

Also as fair as I understand survey it's also important to ask a few reset question in between the real question.

If I ask you 10 question about the state of world poverty and human suffering then ask how happy you are feeling, you might be getting skewed answers on the last question.

4. Research Volunteers Needed

Comment #175230 by darlets on May 5, 2008 at 12:56 am

This is great. I'm sending it to all my Christian friends.

I was at a dinner party on the weekend and the conversation turned to God.
My statement
"If you're being intellectually honest you can't say you're 100% certain of God's existence"
was followed by
"I'm 100% certain God Exists!"

:\

5. Yoko Ono sues over use of John Lennon videos

Comment #169296 by darlets on April 25, 2008 at 6:19 pm

the poll is currently

~680 Yes
~38000 No

6. Discussion on PZ Myers being expelled from Expelled

Comment #148080 by darlets on March 22, 2008 at 1:43 am

can Harvard sue these guys already!!!

7. Science Debate 2008

Comment #129077 by darlets on February 18, 2008 at 3:43 pm

If this idea got up in the U.S, you'd hope that it would spread to other countries.

Fingers crossed.

8. Hitchens and Boteach Debate on God

Comment #126666 by darlets on February 13, 2008 at 8:34 pm

I chopped up Hitchens opening statements into four parts.

Might be easier if you want to mail parts of it to people. To get them interested in watching the entire thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edsgZoaOl0Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-kH7inwM-w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdXpIk2zaKE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmEw_-5Q1I8

9. The Science behind the Large Hadron Collider

Comment #116499 by darlets on January 26, 2008 at 4:14 pm

First and foremost I hope it gets off the ground. It's looking good thus far. There's been a lot of technology developed due to this undertaking. Not least of which is the WWW.

http://1997.webhistory.org/www.lists/www-talk.1993q2/0259.html

Also the development of share computer resources for research.
http://gridcafe.web.cern.ch/gridcafe/GridatCERN/gridatcern.html

That in itself is going to benefit humanity if they can get it off the ground.

What will they find, nobody knows. But as long as they get it up and running and get data it will tell us something more about the universe. Another step forward.

As well as CERN (may 2008 start date) we have
the upgrade to hubble later this year,

The Planck Surveyor (Launch date July 31st 2008)
http://www.esa.int/esaSC/120398_index_0_m.html

James Watt Space Telescope going up in 2011

Fingers crossed they all get up and running.

10. Growing Up in the Universe: 2-Disc DVD Set

Comment #112236 by darlets on January 16, 2008 at 3:49 pm

Is there an official way of donating to TGD or the DVD to libraries? It would be good to have an official count.

We could also try and do an annual donation library drive, with the deadline being Richard Birthday
March 26th.

Anyone interesting in trying to help organize donating 2000 copies of TGD to libraries between now and March 26th??????

11. Sam Harris debate with Rabbi David Wolpe

Comment #110624 by darlets on January 11, 2008 at 4:01 pm

this is a shorter version of Sam talking about Elvis.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szn6cG8fQl8

12. Sam Harris debate with Rabbi David Wolpe

Comment #110195 by darlets on January 10, 2008 at 3:50 pm

Short clip from the debate.
"Sam Harris Demolishes Rabbi's Argument with Elvis Joke"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjhbccXIp4c

13. Richard Dawkins on 'Have Your Say'

Comment #105090 by darlets on December 30, 2007 at 2:38 pm

Richard mentioned in the other link on this, that most of the callers were on his side. And that producer had mentioned this, it just doesn't make good T.V.

However when it's presented in the above format people get the false impression that the opposite is true.

At some point we need to make the true number of non dogmatic religious people and non religious people known. I'm not sure how we go about that but it needs to happen.

14. THE FOUR HORSEMEN - Available Now on DVD!

Comment #99109 by darlets on December 15, 2007 at 3:24 pm

I've created a thread about this but it needs to be said here too

This site is an ammunition factory in a information war. It continues to churn out intellectual feasts to consume over an hour or two and digest over a week. This is great for the target audience of this site but not for the target audience of the information war.

We need sound bites not feasts for that. To that end we as an Internet community need to break these large feasts into short, funny/poignant, easily digestible morsels. We need to recognize that not everyone loves to read or sit down for an hour and watch debates and discussions. As well as accepting that in this day and age not everyone has the time.

Awaking a questioning mind can be as simple as sending a sound bite to your friend once every week or two over a period of 6 months.

If you've got any suggestions for sound bite please post them here
http://www.richarddawkins.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=31258

15. THE FOUR HORSEMEN - Available Now on DVD!

Comment #98972 by darlets on December 15, 2007 at 4:22 am

How do we get this on TV?

If enough Aussie Atheist ask for it on SBS they might give it a go.

comments@sbs.com.au

They broadcast a weather map for four hours a day with classical music playing, surely this is a little more intellectually stimulating.

16. Interview with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #93656 by darlets on December 3, 2007 at 8:43 pm

As someone that doesn't live in the U.S, I'm always curious with interviews like this how popular/mainstream is the show the atheist author is appearing on.

How successful do people think we have been in raising the profile of atheism?

17. Can we at least demand 'Secular Communion'?

Comment #86974 by darlets on November 10, 2007 at 7:28 pm

For the first time in Australia we have a Secular Party running in the election. One of their policies it to tax churches.

I'm curious how the moderates are going to perceive that policy. Will it make them dig in their heels more or really make them choose sides?

It's going to be interesting to watch the response from the moderates when the policy and party become more widely known.

"Religious institutions receive significant advantages in terms of tax exemptions and benefits. At the same time these institutions are largely unaccountable for their receipt and distribution of funds. The policy of the Secular Party is to end these religious tax exemptions and subsidies. This will benefit the average taxpayer and a level playing field will be provided for all charities."

http://www.secular.org.au/PolicyDetails.php

18. The New Atheism rocks

Comment #86222 by darlets on November 8, 2007 at 6:42 pm

I just discovered the Australia Secular Party yesterday.

You should be able to vote for them in the senate in all the states (They have two in each state).

http://www.secular.org.au/election.php

They don' have Senators running in the A.C.T or N.T

Please note they didn't get on the ballad paper as a party so you're best to check the above link for their group or names directly.

Family first got a senator in with
210,567 votes last time. I see no reason if all the Aussies Atheists go their butt into gear we couldn't get a secular party senator or two (or twelve).

By the looks of things they don't have a lot to spend on advertising so it's all going to have to be word of mouth. So if you know anyone that may be interested in them please forward their website to them.

19. You can't be moral without God!

Comment #81473 by darlets on October 24, 2007 at 7:36 pm

Animals display morals.

Using the example shown in "March of the Penguins"

Penguins pair up to mate as it takes two penguins working together to raise their chick. As there is more female penguins than male penguins some of the females miss out.

During the film when the chicks hatch one of the chickless/mateless penguins try and steal a chick. The mothers gang up to stop this theft from happening.

Why are these Penguins performing this moral act of stopping the chicknapping of another penguins chick?
Did God build it into them?
If so why didn't God create an equal number of male and female penguins? It can't be to test them a penguins, according to the dogma, don't have souls so this isn't a test they have to pass to get into heaven.