1. Face to faith

Comment #181506 by HourglassMemory on May 17, 2008 at 10:24 am

"It is vital that children are taught humanism's answers to life's 'ultimate questions', says Andrew Copson."

It is also vital to tell children that the answers for these questions shouldn't rule one's life. Both religious answers or not. But of course, especially for religious answers.

If we ever get to know the answers for these things, it's going to be through science. And when we get that, if we get those answers, then....they'll just be a curious little fact about existence. We'll still have to go on with our daily lives and raise our children and have parties and entertaining discussions and do films and play instruments and learn more things about the universe.

The reason why religious people focus so much on the answers for these ultimate questions is because they've hammererd into their heads, or got it hammered into their heads by people who themselves got this hammered into their heads, that the answers actually concern us. That the answer is going to contain the word "Humans".
And, of course, they believe so because ... oh! others have said so!

2. Texas Megachurch Minister Busted in Internet Sex Sting

Comment #181502 by HourglassMemory on May 17, 2008 at 10:18 am

Surprise!!!!
....these men always think THEY won't get caught.
Why not NOT do this sort of thing if they preach against it?
It's so sad seeing people saying something and then doing what they condemn. And then they're caught.
...Not to mention that god is watching everything.
Not only do they believe there's an omnipowerful voyeur, but they would also have some strange sort of exhibitionism.

3. The amazing intelligence of crows

Comment #181174 by HourglassMemory on May 16, 2008 at 2:28 pm

I love TED lectures.
They should realease those past lectures in just one blow.
There's stuff from 2002 and even 1980's. Where someone went for about an hour talking about the innovations of the future and somebody else talking about architecture.
Where's the rest of it?

Aren't all the lectures taped?
Because you sometimes hear the people giving a lecture, mentioning for a brief moment something like "As you saw with xxx's presentation.." or "I must say how amazing the things that xxxx showed just now..."
I want to see those lectures as well!

Why are TED lectures released drop by drop?

4. The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, ed. Richard Dawkins

Comment #181083 by HourglassMemory on May 16, 2008 at 12:06 pm

I hate it that I have have to wait this book to either be put on sale in my country, in english, or be translated and be put on sale in some obscure corner of the bookstore.
My parents aren't very persuaded by the whole online buying thing.

5. UC Berkeley is going to court over Evolution website

Comment #180654 by HourglassMemory on May 15, 2008 at 1:05 pm

That's the only statement?
It's a fact!
It really is JUST BECAUSE it's religion, isn't it?...
It's automatic behaviour.

6. Richard Dawkins discusses Einstein's new letters

Comment #179731 by HourglassMemory on May 13, 2008 at 3:28 pm

I was thinking how wonderful the Internet is.
This letter thing only came out, what, yesterday? Two days ago?
And now here we are, listening to Dawkins' opinion in a matter of hours.

It's pretty cool.

7. Vatican: It's OK to believe in aliens

Comment #179727 by HourglassMemory on May 13, 2008 at 3:18 pm

It would be rather interesting having aliens invade earth and one of the first things they did was disprove god and actually give an explanation that everyone could grasp and say "oh yeah...that's actually better than a god explanation...how silly of us."
Of course if we, the human species, by definition, think that god's creatures have fallen because of human sin, they have a lot of reasons to hate us: first, because we say they're full of sin as soon as they arrive. And second they'd want to kill the species that gave them the sin.
That damn Eve!

Even with extraterrestrial interactions, religion ruins it all for us.

8. Childish superstition: Einstein's letter makes view of religion relatively clear

Comment #179199 by HourglassMemory on May 12, 2008 at 9:29 pm

Wow.
If it's old news, it's only old in the sense that he expresses what we already supposed he thought.
But you have it here, Einstein saying that religions are childish superstisions and that god for him is an expression of human weakness.

It's like someone just recently interviewed him.

9. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #178999 by HourglassMemory on May 12, 2008 at 11:19 am

"Makes a strong case that extreme religious believe -- hell, religious belief of any kind -- eventually leads to mental illness." by Bruno

One thing I've noticed is that everytime a religious person starts becoming really passionate about something, they start behaving and talking in a way that makes the idea of "Mental Illness" pop in everyone's mind right away.

10. On Fitna, the Movie

Comment #178605 by HourglassMemory on May 11, 2008 at 5:25 pm

Here's a link for the video.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=064_1207316350&p=1

11. 'My daughter deserved to die for falling in love'

Comment #178603 by HourglassMemory on May 11, 2008 at 5:23 pm

If only we could get the women to fight back.

12. Computer game's high score could earn the Nobel Prize in medicine

Comment #178421 by HourglassMemory on May 11, 2008 at 11:40 am

I think it's really cool that it's something done by a group of people.
You just do things so much faster!
And who knows, it could discover something!
The whole Nobel Prize thing isn't an outrageous claim, I think. After all in the will by Nobel, according to Wikipedia it says :"shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind."
A discovery made on this game could have a great benefit for mankind. So in a way, it could be awarded to a player, or a group, or to those who created the game.
Does it really matter if you have a academic backround? Or that you just discover something?
Doesn't this game open up something that was once only done in academic surroundings?


I love the "group effort" feel to it.
I love it that it's human brains all joining together for a sort of quest to help capable people to find something out.
If two brains are better than one, imagine billions.

I hope the game is easy to understand. It's about half way downloading for me.

Perhaps more games like this could be made.
A way to make the problems that face scientsits today, maybe stuff to combat climate change, where people give you the tools, and the game allows you to experiment. Perhaps playing with fotovoltaic cells and photons or something, with all its chemical rules, based on the forces and such, incorporated already into the game and then let people play with the simulator.

13. Evolution: What is 'Natural'?

Comment #178407 by HourglassMemory on May 11, 2008 at 11:13 am

Was this a debate?
A discussion with more scientists and experts?

Someone would have to ask the person who put it on Youtube, where he or she got it, and try to find out the whole, complete thing.

I would very much like to see it.
"Science, technology and our future: the big questions" is a pretty interesting subject.

The video response to that video is also interesting(funny) to watch.

14. Atheists are nice people who will roast in hell, says Cardinal

Comment #177818 by HourglassMemory on May 9, 2008 at 7:02 pm

I have to say that the article made me laugh and made me feel sorry for the unused intellect of the man.
I wonder how old he is...

15. My Response to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Comment #177160 by HourglassMemory on May 8, 2008 at 5:04 pm

I coudln't have said it better myself.

I always got rather curious as to why people like D'Souza begin to raise their voice and start speaking to the crowd instead of the person they're debating (if they're debating).

I've recently watched a debate on Youtube with D'Souza and Peter Singer and everytime D'Souza came up, I would jump a bit of his speech, and you could actually notice the rising of his voice. Then it would end in cheers from the crowd.

People love that sort of stuff, I wouldn't blame them.
But I also appreciate that a debate or a talk on a subject should have more than 50% of its time, performed in a calm way. Actually if I could choose either format, I would go for the calm one. And just let the information sink in logically.

Shrieking means you're directing your speech to the crowd and want to arouse them enough to get a cheer to taunt the "adversary". This is usually done in the typical "I know more than you, Mr.xxx and I will indirectly do it with my loud voice, attempting to show the crowd authority and passionate well-thought out conviction" format.
I honestly find that rather childish.

I also have to say that this particular passage made me laugh.
"But throughout your speeches you periodically rise to climaxes of shrieking rant, and that is just like Hitler."
It's an innocent poke by Dawkins.

16. Faith in Britain today

Comment #177076 by HourglassMemory on May 8, 2008 at 2:14 pm

What makes people think that human emotions are the key to divine truths?
Just because it affects people deeply? Just because they ARE emotions?

Applying our recently aquired capability to think, and join them to our emotions(mechanisms that helped our ancestors cope with the world when we didn't have thinking), and try to perceive reality and claim things about reality, through that method... you're bound to generate some peculiar conclusions.

17. Trouble ahead for science

Comment #176970 by HourglassMemory on May 8, 2008 at 12:02 pm

I find myself opening my mouth and really not believing, when I encounter people my age, who fall for this sort of thing.
It's creepy.
I remember being a kid and taking things like SCIENCE for granted in its authority (which I don't think would harm anyone), but then I see people like Ben Stein, and OLDER, who say things that even I as a kid wouldn't think about.
It's incredible.

People just need a tremendous dose of critical thinking skills shown to them.
Conspiracy theories and crap like Ex(crement)pelled need to be debunked in 5 hour long films so you don't leave any argument behind. And books like Vincent Bugliosi's "Reclaiming history", a 1632 page book debunking all JFK conspiracies need to be put out there.
And then New Age stuff and ghosts and supernatural nonsense.
There has to be one gigantic mass production of critical thinking media.
Perhaps "The Skeptologists" will be the first of many(if it gets accepted)

18. The detail in the Devil

Comment #176086 by HourglassMemory on May 6, 2008 at 2:13 pm

Next thing you know Science and Reason were Satan's tool all along!

19. The History Channel might do something right

Comment #176082 by HourglassMemory on May 6, 2008 at 2:08 pm

Bring it on, then!

When it comes out in dvd, the whole thing, I might buy it. But only if it looks good...and if it comes out in my country...

20. Is Liberal Catholicism Dead?

Comment #175907 by HourglassMemory on May 6, 2008 at 8:25 am

by ~Manic-Depressive
"Human beings crave certainty. A bad explanation is preferred over no explanation. It's all so sad... "

I think that human beings craving STABILITY would be a better way to put it.
A mind needs to have stability. Faith makes it stable. WAY too stable.
It's like you then forget what it is to have a dynamic changing mind.

It's a curious situation in which human beings find themselves.
The only thing that we seem to want, stability, is the thing that bores us the most when we acquire it. To want stability and right away only finding thrill and pleasure in change. It seems we have been put in quite a circular position.

21. What really goes on at the Large Hadron Collider

Comment #175680 by HourglassMemory on May 5, 2008 at 9:10 pm

I'm constantly visiting TED's website to see if there are any new talks.
This one is no exception. I've watched this a few day ago. I love hearing presentations like this.
Brian Greene with his explanation of String Theory is also extremely fun to watch, and damn informative.

22. Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks

Comment #175427 by HourglassMemory on May 5, 2008 at 11:50 am

It's curious that Islam can actually keep its existence safe by indirectly making people not criticise it everywhere in the world.
People innocently don't want criticisms of Islam being put out there(for fear of being killed), and that is Islam surpressing the minds of people, across oceans.
This is the indirect surpression on people that Islam creates. It makes people in a modern society actually quiet criticism. A Muslim fanatic could very well rub his hands seeing this.

It's a terrific strategy if you're a religion.

23. Research Volunteers Needed

Comment #175346 by HourglassMemory on May 5, 2008 at 9:36 am

Doen all four!
And I've put it on two other forums.

24. Shaw TV Interview with Richard Dawkins

Comment #175137 by HourglassMemory on May 4, 2008 at 2:38 pm

There were 2 or 3 questions that were new.
I didn't have a problem with the lady interviewing him. Sure she was sort of random, but who cares? She asked questions.

And where was Dawkins going to after the interview? I think he was going to give a talk.
She talked about it in the last seconds...

25. Truly Bizarre : Indians Throw Babies 50ft From Roof To Thank God.

Comment #174731 by HourglassMemory on May 3, 2008 at 11:17 am

*Sigh*
That's all I say.

26. Orangutan attempts to hunt fish with spear

Comment #171068 by HourglassMemory on April 28, 2008 at 9:40 am

Another trap by Satan!

Now, seriously, that is quite a picture!
It's quite extrodinairy seeing an organutan doing that.
It's eerie but fascinating at the same time.

27. Tyrannosaurus rex protein proves dinosaurs evolved into birds

Comment #168645 by HourglassMemory on April 25, 2008 at 8:52 am

I love this sort of news.
I love it when the knowledge of science is furthured [(spell.?) is this an actual word?]and is made stronger.

28. Investigating Atheism

Comment #166811 by HourglassMemory on April 23, 2008 at 12:43 pm

Shouldn't we wait 200 years for this or something?

Anyhow, anything like this is helpful to people.

29. Mecca should become core to measure time zones: scholars

Comment #165193 by HourglassMemory on April 21, 2008 at 7:43 am

Humans are quite interesting. They can make "evidence" for anything.
Talk about self-centered! These people think about nothing else.
There's no mind dynamics in these brains.

30. The Child Preachers

Comment #163649 by HourglassMemory on April 18, 2008 at 5:35 pm

I wonder if these kids, one day, will feel extremely threatned due to criticism and will begin to take insane action towards it.

All you need is to provoke. The seed is there, as you can sadly hear.
Then all they have to do is be passionate and do something stupid and inane.

Why do religious people look insane when they're passionate?

One thing you don't want to see "adapting" in evolutionary terms, is religion, to changing cultures. It just spreads the virus further.

31. Science Debate 2008

Comment #162995 by HourglassMemory on April 17, 2008 at 7:25 pm

The debate will not be happening.

the official site shows recent links. One of them is from TIME.
http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2008/04/the_debate_that_didnt_happen.html


Here's the official site of the Science Debate 2008, presenting other recent articles on the matter:
http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php


EDIT: I'm not sure if, in the main page, where it says "Invitation II" is a sort of new arrangement and proposal.

Here they mention that the debate will take place in May.
http://www.sciencedebate2008.com/www/index.php?id=29

I'm confused, wasn't it supposed to happen tomorrow, Ap. 18 ?

32. Evolution: 24 myths and misconceptions

Comment #162973 by HourglassMemory on April 17, 2008 at 6:29 pm

Thank God an issue like that is coming out!

33. Sexpelled: No Intercourse Allowed

Comment #162971 by HourglassMemory on April 17, 2008 at 6:26 pm

The video is quite amusing.
what I was left wondering, though, was what interview that was, where dawkins appears with the 2Modern Science Writing" next to him.
Could somebody tell me that? And if possible, give a link to that interview?

34. Yoko Ono, Filmmakers Caught in 'Expelled' Flap

Comment #162394 by HourglassMemory on April 16, 2008 at 9:06 pm

When you think they can't get any worse, they do.
Such shame.

35. Evolution fray attracts top scientist

Comment #162196 by HourglassMemory on April 16, 2008 at 9:58 am

This whole "Just a theory" is so annoying.

When will people realise that basically everything humans know about the world is a "theory"?
That's what you get when the majority of the population doesn't think about these issues and doesn't get itself educated.

If I'm not mistaken, Dawkins' next book is going to be about this very issue and is going to be called "Only a theory".
Boy, does he know what to publish!

I hope the book in the end says something like "Got it?!"

It's such a simple idea, Evolution. It's amazing how limited the view of many people is about geological timespans and what can happen during those periods.

And the controversy....you don't have to be an expert on Evolution to see that there is no controversy.

This "Let's stay in the middle ground and teach both."
It really IS like putting flat Earth stuff in Science classes.
ID is something that takes Science where it doesn't need to go. It says there's design where there's no need to postulate that. It's unscientific. It's ignorant. It's not how science works. to postulate design is to put the cart in front of the horses. And it really is ignorant to postulate when you have a tremendous mountain, or I would say, an entire mountain range, of data that fits perfectly together.
When people say there's design, it's because they honestly, and often innocently, haven't looked at the evidence. They don't get the theory.
Ken Miller, for example, GETS the theory.
An of course, they want there to be a designer, yadda yadda yadda. I won't go there.

And the whole point of view in "Expelled" is just so ironic and you can't help but to put their talk of others, on them.

Kroto has all my support!

It's a shame so many people are innocently ignorant to the point of saying "Let's have both".
This is not a self-righteous view of the problem, it's just how it is, and people don't see it.
they want the middle ground.
I think it's alright to ask for the middle ground when there is actually something on the other side.

36. Science Debate 2008

Comment #160782 by HourglassMemory on April 14, 2008 at 11:41 am

I really really really do hope America gets to do this. And makes people watch it. It's a way to get tons of ignorant americans thinking about science at least once in their lives.

I hope it does, then, do it in the future, again and again.
In a way, I want to see how much importance people give to Science.
I woudln't be surprised though, if this turned out to be the least watched debate of all.

It is also an oportunity to try and make Science something that isn't just the stuff in schoolbooks and "facts kids don't need to know".
A lot of the science I know ... I really have no use for it....but I want to know it!

I think most people just don't get that little bug inside them that gets them really ticking to find things out and be grateful for Science's achievements and importance.
That and critical thinking.

But of course this debate wouldn't be a lecture to inspire....but just to see how much importance the candidates give to Science in general.


I think this debate is tremendously important.

37. Richard Dawkins' secular army must be stopped. God is behind some of our greatest art

Comment #160667 by HourglassMemory on April 14, 2008 at 9:09 am

Keep the myths because it inspires architecture and paintings and music?
I think the great age of architecture and painting and music inspired by religious beliefs has passed. I haven't seen any amazing gothic cathedrals being built lately, or paintings worthy of a place in the walls of the Louvre.

Now with science, we could have an age of architecture and paintings and music inspired by Science and its history.
We have the opportunity of making something different! Something new! And people want to go back to Rococo churches. *sigh*

I'm still waiting for a giant painting depicting a meeting of history's most important intellects.

38. Ancient serpent shows its leg

Comment #159603 by HourglassMemory on April 12, 2008 at 3:46 pm

Roy_H
"There was the recently discovered Tiktaalik and now another nail in the creationist's coffin lid
YES! "

I think the lid is nothing but nails.

39. Russell T Davies: Return of the (tea) Time Lord

Comment #155873 by HourglassMemory on April 6, 2008 at 7:42 am

Ha!
Can't wait!

40. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #154779 by HourglassMemory on April 3, 2008 at 5:40 pm

Tsk, tsk, tsk.
No surprise there.

I'm glad they're out of the cave.

41. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #149999 by HourglassMemory on March 26, 2008 at 11:44 am

Richard!!!! Happy Birthday!
From the country where Fátima's massive sun-staring competition took place.

How much I would like to just give you a handshake!
Were it not for the likes of you and James Randi and Neil deGrasse Tyson and TED lectures and so many others who you would undoubtedly support, I would be in a very deep hole full of you know what.
You deserve so many many more of these!

*Raises glass and says something intelligent*

Keep at it!

42. Religion 'linked to happy life'

Comment #146947 by HourglassMemory on March 19, 2008 at 3:15 pm

Religious people might be the happiest, but many of them have needless worries.

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

Comment #143268 by HourglassMemory on March 13, 2008 at 7:51 pm

"So, if we ban everything, the planet will be a better place??? ...right?"

Well when you think about it, dragonfirematrix, it is, after all, the quickest way for them to find THEIR peace of mind.
If only the entire world agreed with them, we would be at peace a long time ago, living like robots, as if going through cleansing process to get into heaven.

And now that I think of it...
Imagine if nothing suicidal happnened, like someone thinking about the apocalyspe and the return of the messiah.

Imagine all this unspecified number of generations, constantly coming out from previous generations and doing this repetetive life style, praying to god and banning, if not outright killing deviant minds, for an unspecified number of milleniums.
This is Peace, in their mind.

How boring can you get? It's like these people don't think of the consequences of their 'oh so ideal actions and duties.
Ack!

For one thing, I'm glad people like us exist. They make things more interesting, if not outright change the course of humankind for the better.

44. Deadly Sins 101

Comment #143101 by HourglassMemory on March 13, 2008 at 12:57 pm

My god!
It's like these people don't think!
"Polluting is a sin."
Give me a break. Cows farting 'Pollute the environment'. Dogs dropping their excrements on a pretty lanscape, are 'polluting the environment'.
You just by talking are throwing into the athmosphere "the evil Co2".

The whole issue is just so relative and so human based and it's extremely complex.

These people don't spend nights and days thinking about these issues seriously, ala Descartes/Kant....they just think "mmmm let's make this a sin...perhaps people will do less of it."

It's such a bad method. That sort of stuff doesn't work anymore.

It doesn't motivate people.
It might work in the minds of those afraid of hell, which scares me because their 'good behaviours' hang, then, by a thread of delusion. By a story. By archaic concepts.


This Sin stuff doesn't work in the 21st century.

45. Two More Fleas

Comment #142525 by HourglassMemory on March 12, 2008 at 3:57 pm

When I looked at the cover of the first of the new two fleas, I thought to myself: "Don't tell me that someone has actually come out and claim that reason and science have been the Devil's plan all along to get people into Hell!"

Actually I woudln't be surprised if a large group of people started claiming that, in their to keep their beliefs, and wonder about celestial conspiracies.
Oh well...More free publicity for Dawkins' book I guess. What worries me is that half the people might actualy be convinced by one of these books and go back to the "Agnostic 50/50 position", not to mention go religious again.
I don't want to think about it...

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

Comment #141537 by HourglassMemory on March 10, 2008 at 3:10 pm

The man responsible for creating modern science should now suffer the consequences. *grin*
Who knows, Galileo could even agree to have his body tested if he knew what new sciences would arise. I'm sure he would love today's science, and I'm sure he would volunteer to let it gain more ground.
Well, why not? Not only do you gain new knowledge of the man....but you get to see the bones of the genius, and without a doubt it'll be filmed and have pictures out there.
I wonder if he's enveloped in clothes of the time. that would be pretty interesting to see.
It's like a time capsule.

And people aren't stupid. They can do it in a respectful way.

47. Lords Approve Abolition Of Blasphemy

Comment #139875 by HourglassMemory on March 6, 2008 at 3:37 pm

I can only say one thing:
Good.

48. Richard Dawkins' US Tour begins this week

Comment #138014 by HourglassMemory on March 3, 2008 at 6:37 pm

Why do I have to live on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, and not even in the Uk????
My only way to enjoy any of his lectures is to watch them through the Internet.
I hope SOMEONE films these talks.

49. Fleas on the Horizon: In Defense of God

Comment #137978 by HourglassMemory on March 3, 2008 at 5:15 pm

My God! These are Trekies who mean business!

50. Survey shows Non-Religious Outnumber Those of Every Single Faith (But One)

Comment #137809 by HourglassMemory on March 3, 2008 at 1:49 pm

Here's Freedom From Religion Foundation's Radio, where the main topic is this poll.
http://ffrf.org/radio/podcast/