Comments by gyokusai

1. It's no wonder evangelical atheists need to shout so loud

Comment #238184 by gyokusai on August 27, 2008 at 5:56 pm

This article is so enormously stupid that I was tempted to call Poe's Law. But then I checked Cooper's creds at Wikipedia ... and hey, whaddayaknow! He's an advocate for Quebec separation and a climate change denier! And a crook to boot---just read the later part of the Wikipedia entry.

Okay. Not everything outrageously bizarr is based on Poe's Law. Sometimes it's simply based on good old, solid crookedness. Who would have thought!

^_^J.

2. Richard Dawkins on Talkback Radio

Comment #236961 by gyokusai on August 25, 2008 at 3:18 pm

It's not only that those questions are launched from the very top levels of moronicity, they're also breathtakingly arrogant in so many different ways. And they're not questions at all! They're statements. Assertions. And this kind of stuff is oozing its way into our school systems. Unbelievable.

If for nothing else, Richard would already be my personal hero for confronting these smug assertions and statements again and again and again instead of running amok and blazing away with an M-60.

^_^J.

3. Richard Dawkins, the naive professor

Comment #225925 by gyokusai on August 7, 2008 at 2:00 pm

Richard sez:
Does anyone understand that? I'm far from sure that I do.

Well what you surmise, sadly, makes sense. And, equally sadly, there's no point in doubting your own reasoning here just because this is so completely, irredeemably nuts.

This "balanced reporting" meme is a malicious virus, residing in media heads, that Britain seems to have caught, at last, from our most Christian nation. Where it's still running amok unabated.

^_^J.

4. Richard Dawkins, the naive professor

Comment #225873 by gyokusai on August 7, 2008 at 1:04 pm

Mango sez:
A far better strategy would have been to leave all references to his personal atheism at home and let the public mull over the facts of evolution.

Why yes, terrific idea! Why hasn't anyone thought of that before! Let's all go at once and ... oh, wait.

^_^J.

5. More reviews of 'The Genius of Charles Darwin'

Comment #225861 by gyokusai on August 7, 2008 at 12:49 pm

Richard sez:
Depressing as the Telegraph review was, the comments posted after it are mostly very encouraging.

Indeed! Actually, the majority of the commenters take this "critic" and his several igors from the comment section and mop the floor with them rather efficiently. Of course, some of these skilled, rational folks out there might be straight from this 'ere crowd ... or so I figure :-)

Either way, your terrific presentation resonated positively, and loudly. And this was only part I. Change will come. Yes!

Can't wait for the second part to appear.

^_^J.

6. Interview with Paula Kirby on 'The Right Hook'

Comment #225526 by gyokusai on August 6, 2008 at 5:42 pm

Father McVerry sez:
Jesus opposed a religion that imposes laws and rules and regulations and says that if you love God you must obey them

Sheesh ... do these people ever read the Bible? Most of the points Jesus argues when he's tussling with the usual suspects is actually a stricter interpretation of the laws! In fact, Jesus's stance on the 613 commandments, in its solid strictness, is much more reminiscent of Shammai (a contemporary and president of the Sanhedrin) than of Hillel (Shammaiâ€™s predecessor). Whereas for these latter dudes, I should note, there's indeed evidence that they actually existed.

Anyways, good work, Paula!

Cheers,
^_^J.

7. Islam subway ads cause stir in New York

Comment #216001 by gyokusai on July 22, 2008 at 4:36 pm

And, come to think of it, this New York Post piece is sheer demagogic garbage.

I remember dimly a time when this newspaper had quite a decent rep. As of now, it's a piece of shit.

^_^J.

8. Islam subway ads cause stir in New York

Comment #215997 by gyokusai on July 22, 2008 at 4:29 pm

thewhitepearl sez:
I wonder what the uproar would be if the atheist community tried the same thing.

So true.

^_^J.

9. Good Science Writers: Richard Dawkins

Comment #215991 by gyokusai on July 22, 2008 at 4:24 pm

The article reprint's topsy turvy.

^_^J.

10. Jefferson Bible reveals Founding Father's view of God, faith

Comment #214393 by gyokusai on July 20, 2008 at 11:23 am

Thomas Jefferson set to work with scissors, snipping out every miracle and inconsistency he could find in the New Testament Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John [...] "I have performed the operation for my own use," he continued, "by cutting verse by verse out of the printed book, and arranging the matter, which is evidently his and which is as easily distinguished as diamonds in a dunghill."

HATE CRIME! HATE CRIME! Where is Mad Bill Donohue when we need him?

LOL
^_^J.

11. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208215 by gyokusai on July 10, 2008 at 6:01 pm

Richard Dawkins sez:

Would contributions from those of us who aren't in the USA help?

I don't know, but I have just written. It surely couldn't do any harm, and I think it would probably help in showing that PZ Myers has a high international reputation.

Richard

Thank you! That was all the encouragement I needed! :-)

Re: in support for pz myers

Dear President Bruininks ---

As undoubtedly many others already did, I'm writing you now on behalf of Mr. Myers.

I cannot speak for the whole "Pharyngula" community in Germany, but Mr. Myers's reputation as a scientist and, especially, secular scientist, is immense around here. His "Pharyngula" blog is always one of the first Web addresses referred to if someone voices their opinion that the United States are on their way back to a new edition of the fundamentalist dark ages. An opinion, I might say, apt to be singularly fueled by the preposterous campaign Mr. William A. Donohue and his Catholic League recently started, against Mr. Myers and his standing as an outspoken, rational scientist---particularly in case this campaign turned out to be successful in even the slightest fashion.

We all savor Mr. Myers's highly informed and articulate articles on evolutionary biology. We all have come to be in awe of both marine cephalopods and Mr. Myers's ability to alert us to the various attempts at subverting science, and, not to forget, his wit and his elaborate rhetorical skills, always fair and appropriate to the subject matter. Mr. Myers has become our hero in our common cause for a scientific world view and a more secular, rational world, where there is less needless suffering through scandalous superstition and fanatical witch hunts against those who either relish a different creed or, purely and simply, reality.

Sincerely,
J. Martin
[full personal specs]

There's a reason why this Catholic League lunatic's widely known as "Mad" Bill Donohue, right ...

^_^J.

12. Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection

Comment #204962 by gyokusai on July 6, 2008 at 9:56 am

Roland_F sez:

26. Comment #204821 by gyokusai
Bar-Kochba's name was Simon, though, which is quite fitting---and again I wonder why this isn't mentioned too, it just glares at you!

Bar Kochba was nearly 2 centuries later than the stone plates are possibly dated, maybe that's why a connection is not made.

Some of the dead sea scrolls (dated to be 1st century BC) contain also several times a messiah which resembles remarkably the Christian Jesus story. (see Herbert Braun: "Qumran und das neue Testament")

And there was Jeshu ha Notzri a messiah and preacher running around in Judah with some disciples and he was killed on the day before Passover 88BC and hanged with outstretched arms from a tree.

And of course Horus was crucified in-between 2 thugs and resurrected after 3 days as were several other ancient demi-gods and gods of course usually born from a virgin.

Right, and I agree wholeheartedly that there's already overwhelming evidence against the "uniqueness" of Paul's concatenation of cherry-picked elements from the religious buffets of his time, even without this stone.

But, two centuries apart or no, such connections are constantly made in Jewish exegesis, and the view that Jewish history within the larger scope of god's "plan" should not be seen as a mere historical chain of events on a serial timeline, is vehemently encouraged. Midrash exegesis, e.g., works that way. So I think it is conspicuous that Simon Bar-Kochba isn't mentioned, plus the missing bit apropos Aramaic.

Cheers,
^_^J.

13. Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection

Comment #204821 by gyokusai on July 5, 2008 at 8:45 pm

What I find rather curious is why this text, since it's not just containing quotations from the Bible, is in Hebrew rather than Aramaic. It's even curiouser that the article doesn't mention this curious fact.

Then, we do know about Bar-Kochba and others, and there's a lot of evidence that these people believed to be a messiah. But in the traditional way, as a worldly messiah who would bring peace, to Israel, and preferrably to the world, in a messianic age: but as a worldly affair, no transcendence, sacrifice, or heavenly kingdoms involved. Bar-Kochba's name was Simon, though, which is quite fitting---and this is another thing that glares at you but isn't mentioned in the article as well. I wonder.

[Took my "EDIT" remark back concerning the rumors surrounding Bar-Kochba's death; I couldn't find the source I had in mind. Might have been in another language than English.]

^_^J.

14. Richard Dawkins Public Lecture - Liverpool 08

Comment #197822 by gyokusai on June 22, 2008 at 5:54 pm

SmartLX, exactly; that's what I was about to post after I watched for 20 minutes or so.

But why is it that people who postproduct such "webcasts," as it was indeed called in the introduction, for the, *gasp*, Web, are often so singularly inept at doing so? The sound quality is abysmal, there are gaps, the format (ratio) is all wrong, the sound trails subtly at times (especially so in the youtube version), and they not only show Richard's slides at the wrong times, but go unfailingly fullscreen on them as soon as Richard is about to deliver something funny via gestures or facial expression.

This is really driving me mad. But anyways, I heard a recording of that lecture before, maybe it was the one from Arizona, and the lecture itself is just phantastic.

^_^J.

15. Is the Universe Actually Made of Math?

Comment #195741 by gyokusai on June 18, 2008 at 6:18 pm

Oh, and not to forget:

I have this sort of crazy-sounding idea that the reason why mathematics is so effective at describing reality is that it is reality.

Let your mind wander for a minute. Whose upside-down "reasoning" in which fields does this remind you of?

^_^J.

16. Is the Universe Actually Made of Math?

Comment #195716 by gyokusai on June 18, 2008 at 5:45 pm

Well I also checked Tegmark's paper at arXiv.org, and I think the problem is not so much that it's nutty but that it's yet another variation of Plato's "ideal/perfect forms" metaphysics. Rare with cosmologists, until now, but you can only pray this from a mathematician's cold dead fingers. (Read Penrose's The Emperor's New Mind for a treat in that direction.)

Philosophy, ditto. There you thought it's been crushed beyond recognition, and again it rears its ugly little head---in, like, Taylor's Sources of the Self. And wouldn't you know it? Eight years later Taylor's awarded the Templeton Prize for, quote, progress towards research or discoveries about spiritual realities, unquote.

Sheesh.

And now for something completely different:

Sometimes it's quite comical. I will be thinking about the ultimate nature of reality and then my wife says, "Hey, you forgot to take out the trash." The big picture and the little picture just collide.

Sorry to say that, but this is about as funny as a '90s Garfield cartoon.

^_^J.

17. Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'

Comment #192155 by gyokusai on June 12, 2008 at 1:50 pm

Yeah, rod-the-farmer, I was thinking about education instead of intelligence, too. Referring to "intelligence" in this context reminds me of referring to "nutritional value" or "energy balance."

But I'm not sure that even education would hold up, under scrutiny. You have so many variables here like indoctrination, tradition, group pressure, and what have you, which are all known to be able to persistently override "intelligence" as well as education.

^_^J.

18. Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'

Comment #192146 by gyokusai on June 12, 2008 at 1:43 pm

Well, sounds like total bollocks to me.

^_^J.

19. 'In Our Time': Trofim Lysenko

Comment #189871 by gyokusai on June 7, 2008 at 12:06 pm

Fascinating. Moreover, what amazes me are these interspersed bits of information about Lysenko having at least not completely been wrong, after all.

I would really like to read/hear more about this.

^_^J.

20. Edgar Mitchell ushers in the Next Epoch in Evolution

Comment #183253 by gyokusai on May 21, 2008 at 3:50 pm

Everything New Age is double- and triple-woo, yes, but not necessarily everything postmodern too. Anyways, Penrose indeed has toyed with "quantum physics explanations" for consciousness for quite some time now.

Doesn't make it more palatable, though, at least not for me. Adding to this is the fact that in Penrose's books, Platonic metaphysics always enters through the backdoor. Well, mathematicians, what can one say ;-)

^_^J.

21. Edgar Mitchell ushers in the Next Epoch in Evolution

Comment #183212 by gyokusai on May 21, 2008 at 2:13 pm

qomak sez:
As far as I know no major neurologist is trying to connect quantum theory to consciousness so can someone with more solid background say something on this article please?

Check out the lecture of Stuart Hameroff from the Beyond Belief 2006 conference, Session 4:

His collaboration with mathematical physicist Roger Penrose led to the development of the 'Orch-OR' theory of consciousness.

The connection between quantum physics and consciousness sounded like utter woowoo. Not only to me, apparently: Lawrence Krauss's first comment after the lecture: "[...] As from a physicist's perspective, I think everything you said is nonsense. Maybe I'm being too polite."

^_^J.

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

Comment #179288 by gyokusai on May 13, 2008 at 3:56 am

We have a thorough discussion on this on Pharyngula right now, and we found out some interesting things indeed about Brooke (mostly from comment #60 onwards). Just a teaser:

Darwin thought the Christian doctrine of damnation damnable, yet in his response to the sublime still supposed he deserved to be called a theist.

Yes, it's from the Einstein expert.

Check out our discussion at:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/05/einstein_on_gods_and_judaism.php

^_^J.

23. Sexpelled: No Intercourse Allowed

Comment #162928 by gyokusai on April 17, 2008 at 5:12 pm

Thank you Josh, Richard! Not only for this brilliant and funny clip, but also for the accompanying blurb (and especially the bit with the "ATT" theory)!

^_^J.

24. In search of the God particle

Comment #156887 by gyokusai on April 8, 2008 at 11:14 am

At the comments section of the timesonline.co.uk article, the goddidits' unbridled bigotry and the dogooders' feed-a-hungry-child-instead self-pompousness are really battling it out for world-dominance. Unbelievable.

^_^J.

25. Sean Carroll on the Today Program

Comment #154118 by gyokusai on April 2, 2008 at 5:37 pm

Is it just me, or are there others here who also think this interviewer was rather obnoxious? I mean, just listen to this nugget:

Are we getting any closer to the resolution of the ancient debate that goes back to, I suppose, the Scopes trial in 1925 and [pause] evolution versus, if you like, creationism, because, in a way, ultimately there has to be a leap of faith that says, 'this was natural selection that drove it' rather than [pause] intelligent design, or these alternative theories ...

or,

[the Scopes trial:] Could you have a better argument now against the creationists? [...]

Now if anyone asked me to explain why this is inflationary b.s. on the big bang scale, I just wouldn't know where to start.

^_^J.

26. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152437 by gyokusai on March 31, 2008 at 2:52 am

Perhaps in Europe, where freedom has little meaning anymore. I guess we Americans are too fanatically devoted to our 1st Amendment to start banning a work simply because it incites violence.

Err which works that incite violence are you guys talking about, exactly?

If I go to the organized woo-woo section of any bookstore, there's massive amounts of violence-inciting works for sale. In Europe and elsewhere.

When a video that calls for less violence of exactly this sort is denounced as a violent-inciting work, and everyone publicly bows to this pearl of wisdom, then the time is not far when we can kiss our 1st amendment goodbye anyway.

Again, I'm not endorsing this video. I'm just telling.

^_^J.

27. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152313 by gyokusai on March 30, 2008 at 5:03 pm

kaeru sez:

But... what was his point? After the Danish cartoons, Submission and "Muhammad" there is nothing left to prove, or so I thought.

It's not supposed to prove anything about Islam. It's supposed to prove a lot about Western cowardice instead: as Broder correctly states in his (German language) article I linked to above, Wilders managed to reveal "new levels of lameness" (my wording, not his) in provoking knee-jerk reactions from the Western media and public apologies from politicians for months before anyone was even sure the movie would ever exist!

And boy, did proving that point ever work out.

^_^J.

28. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152309 by gyokusai on March 30, 2008 at 4:49 pm

Here's an excellent article from the online edition of the renowned German news magazine Spiegel. Hopefully they'll release the article in English too; as soon as they do, I'll post the link:

Der Populist, der keiner ist von Henryk M. Broder

I'm too tired now for a paraphrase-translation, so if anyone else'd like to have a go at it, be my guest. It's pretty much the sentiment you'd expect to hear from most people posting here on the RD site.

^_^J.

29. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152296 by gyokusai on March 30, 2008 at 4:14 pm

irvine.intervention sez:

How do you see the sound of paper ripping - unless you're a synesthete?

Took 11 comments---way more than I expected! But it was worth the wait, for such a clever line. Thanks! :-)) [no irony, I mean it!]

^_^J.

30. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152287 by gyokusai on March 30, 2008 at 3:53 pm

"Behead those who say Islam is violent!"

That pic was a spoof.

^_^J.

31. Anti-Quran Film Fitna Pulled From Web Due to 'Threats'

Comment #152278 by gyokusai on March 30, 2008 at 3:38 pm

In one scene,the sound of paper ripping can be seen as a reader pages through the Quran.

Directly followed by a written statement that the ripping sound was from a page ripped from the telephone book, and that it is up to Muslims themselves to "rip out" the violent passages from the Koran.

This is not an endorsement, I'm just telling.
^_^J.

32. Beware the Believers

Comment #152238 by gyokusai on March 30, 2008 at 2:10 pm

Brian sez:

I go on record as being very certain that this clever little vid is firmly on the side of pro-science. I shall be suitably embarrased, shocked and ruefully conscious (once again) of how easily I am enthused, if proven wrong:-)

Wholeheartedly sustained & supported.
I'd like to go on record with that too.

^_^J.

33. Beware the Believers

Comment #151960 by gyokusai on March 29, 2008 at 6:52 pm

Richard Dawkins sez:

Oh goodness, I'd hate it if anybody thought I didn't like it because I was being made fun of. I didn't even notice that I was being made fun of. I evidently understood so little that I actually felt quite flattered by my apparent role in the video.

Thank goodness! And yes there's reason to feel flattered, I think, even if you don't find it funny.

And it's not an age thing, I guess. My (atheist) mother couldn't stop laughing when I showed her the clip. My (atheist) father, same age as hers, reacted pretty much the same way you did. (I translated it up-front for both, I have to admit.) I guess it's rather a culture/generation/temperament thing than an age thing. [EDIT: my mother's always been more interested in and/or exposed to (by us children) outrageous contemporary fads than my father.]

Anyhow, how could it be an "age thing" when you just got a year younger again, dangit!!

;-)

Cheers,
gyokusai

34. Beware the Believers

Comment #151802 by gyokusai on March 29, 2008 at 12:35 pm

Richard Dawkins sez:

OK, thank you, now I'm starting to get it. I still don't find it funny but I'm starting to get the point. Sorry to be so slow.

Richard ---

Actually we should apologize here, namely for being totally inconsiderate. It is not us who are depicted here as a menacing, self-aggrandizing bully.

But consider this. Satire---which is seldom as "clear cut" as some posts here make it out to be after my first comment---often purports to speak from the very position it actually attacks. In fact, Swift, Defoe, and many other classical satirists often make it their point to pretend to take the "strawman position" the other side put up. And what I called the "wonderful, incredible, ever-moving, and awe-inspiring Scientific Method" is of course depicted here as the menacing "machine" that, in the deluded creationist mind, mindlessly suppresses deviating thought.

But they can't keep identifying with this fake strawman position for long. Try to watch the video from an ID perspective, and it becomes quite obvious why this piece doesn't show up on the ID camp's blogs: the purported position gets utterly busted from within.

But sorry, again. It's not our very image that's being put up and made fun of in the video.

^_^J.

35. Beware the Believers

Comment #151696 by gyokusai on March 29, 2008 at 8:18 am

When you read the lyrics critically as if you were reviewing a scientific paper or a piece of literature, and especially take linguistic patterns into account (not counting the rap form), there is no way in heck this video could have been made by anyone from the ID crowd.

Secondly, to reverse-quote Ripley from Aliens: "Did IQs just rise sharply (in the ID camp) after Richard and PZ left the 'Expelled' presentation?"

I admit the message is not entirely clear and certainly pokes a lot of fun at "us" too---but most satirical messages are not "clear" in this sense, which is precisely what satire is most often about---but one of the things that convinced me was the "machine" which is, as others have already pointed out, nothing but the wonderful, incredible, ever-moving, and awe-inspiring Scientific Method.

Over at Pharyngula, some people have thankfully updated the lyrics, i.e., Brian, MC Escher, Chris, Viscount (who pointed out the "Dawk" bit), and others. So here's an update: Enjoy!

[EDIT: And, hey, does this line sound "creationist" to anyone:
We might have lost at Scopes, beaten down by the dopes, and the stooges of popes, but in losin' we coped, becomin' more than we hoped, creationists slipped on the soap of their own slippery slope.
Not to me, it doesn't.]

My name is D to the I to C to the K, Yeah I'm the Dickie D,
I gots my PhD and comin' your way on the Youtube to bust your world view so just listen to me and don't you argue.

You see, this battle's been ragin' since Zeus was on the bottle, 'tween Science like Democritus and Faith like Aristotle,
who said the mover was unmovin' like some magic trick but
that's no good logic, my posse is far too quick for this
religious schtick.

Coz science is the only way to know y'all, you stand with me y'all, or you can fall y'all

So go ahead and take your pick...

ES: Yeah you tell him Rick ...
Darwin: Coz if you don't know me ...

RD: YOU DON'T KNOW DICK!!

Chorus: Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the PhD,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the PhD,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!

SH: On the shoulders of midgets we built up this machine,
DD: YEAH!!!

RD: Science silenced that watchdog wingnut Paley
growing stronger and harder almost daily, storming Wilber by force as we framed the discourse that faith and science are split in schismatic divorce.

Then Darwin took to the seas to see what no one had seen, and ever since then we've been increasingly keen, they may never adore us, but they'll no longer ignore us,

give it to 'em PZ hit these *BLEEP* with the chorus!!!

Chorus : Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the PhD,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
The Dick to the Dawk to the PhD,
he's still smarter than you he studied biology!

Then there was Darrow dukin' it out with the straight and the narrow,
a ragin' bull in the ring, he did his thing, and took it on the chin like he was Bobby De Niro.

We might have lost at Scopes, beaten down by the dopes, and the stooges of popes, but in losin' we coped, becomin' more than we hoped, creationists slipped on the soap of their own slippery slope.

What was impossible, improbable, is now wholly unstoppable untoppleable, the Dick Dawk'll roll up as you creationists foldup

you haters talkin' bull,
don't you know that this Dick is un-*BLEEP*-frickin' blockable ...

Chorus: Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
The Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's still smarter than you he studied biology!

Now the machine of our making, sees culture ripe for the taking,

Coz I'm the rappinest, rabidest atheist who unlike the Catholic, Muslim, or even the Jew, believes that no God but science could ever be true, hell if I was dyslexic I'd even hate "dog" too.

Time to open your eyes, get yourself wise, the age of sciences'll rise to be religion's demise,

and while you churchies all cry, shouting 'why God oh why,'I'll still be poppin' my collar earning more dollars than Allah.

Hollah!

Chorus: Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
The Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's still smarter than you he studied biology!

Chorus: Yeah he's the Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's smarter than you he's got a science degree!
The Dick to the Dawk to the phd,
he's still smarter than you he studied biology!

[repeat chorus]

^_^J.

36. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #150687 by gyokusai on March 27, 2008 at 9:03 am

Richard, you keep making the world an even more interesting and fascinating place, and I wish you love, health, and everything to be able to keep doing that for many, many, many years to come.

Thank you for everything and Happy Birthday!

***^_^J.

37. New atheists or new anti-dogmatists?

Comment #117341 by gyokusai on January 28, 2008 at 3:20 pm

Ultraviolet G sez:
>>HeyBishop

..do the thing with the knife!

Jinx! Only my first thought was:
HeyBishop ... do you need something else? ... Hello, Bishop?

^_^J.

38. Launch of 'Atheists in Foxholes' Book Anthology

Comment #116089 by gyokusai on January 25, 2008 at 1:26 pm

Yes, I also think it's not about flags or even countries, but for far more valuable things one should fight for and has fought for. And the Constitution was (and is) a good start. I really hope this project will take off.

^_^J.

39. Three Little Pigs 'too offensive'

Comment #115203 by gyokusai on January 23, 2008 at 6:36 pm

al-rawandi sez:
gyokusai,

I sez, most Pigs are smarter than most of the religiose idiots wandering around the streets of any given country.

I hunt wild boar, because as of yet, it remains illegal to hunt the religiose (I am lobbying for a change).

You're totally right. Funny thing is, I never made that connection! So now I have a new argument in both of my arsenals---when I explain to people why I don't eat pork AND when I explain to people why I don't dig religion! LOL! Yessss ...

^_^J.

p.s. do you really hunt wild boar?

40. Three Little Pigs 'too offensive'

Comment #115138 by gyokusai on January 23, 2008 at 4:34 pm

Steven Mading sez:
Without really good means of meat preservation, pork can be a rather dangerous meat. [...]
A lot of the kosher rules can be explained the same way. Even if the reason for them is bullcrap and the useful kosher rules are packaged inside of a lot of irrelevant 'junk' rules, the extreme cleanliness imposed by the rules does tend to increase survivability. So much like a DNA mutation that contains one useful gene packaged with several bits of "junk" DNA, the junk gets carried along with the useful part.

You nailed it. Though some other and rather esoteric reasons enter the equation as well, especially when it comes to the meat/cheese divide, they're rather "after the fact" and don't really count in this "evolutionary" sense. Well put, really.

Steven Mading also sez:
Pigs are just as forbidden under Jewish kosher rules as they are under Muslim rules.

So why don't they care about the Three Little Pigs offending Jews?

Answer: Jews don't have a history of reacting with outrage and violence toward those don't bother following Jewish religious rules. It's the same reason nobody gets worried that McDonalds might be offensive to Hindus who hold cows to be sacred.

Establish a history of irrational violent outrage toward those who do not abide by your religion's strictures and watch people bend over backward to accomodate you instead of telling you to knock it off.

I wish people who gave a damn about human rights would stand up to that crap.

Well you nailed that one too! I was just about to ask, hey, there's other folks who don't eat pork! So why Muslims, exactly!?! Thanks for reading my thoughts!

al-rawandi askz:
What about Jews and shellfish? Jews have the most curious dietary restrictions.

Well fish have to have scales and fins to be kosher, and shellfish seems somewhat challenged in that department. While that doesn't seem to have any explanatory force, many if not most of the kosher rules follow a completely different logic than what's healthy and what's not. No, that's not quite it, how shall I put it ... they follow an elegant logic in completely different realms. Ah, shikes. B.S., anyways! :-) (I don't eat pork either, though, but mainly because pigs are so smart. Hey, what about offending the pigs, come to think of it? They're smarter than dogs, cats, and horses together! They're the most intelligent domesticated species on earth! And I think they're cute. Really, I'm not kidding.)

^_^J.

41. Banned From Church

Comment #115128 by gyokusai on January 23, 2008 at 3:59 pm

Once, when the congregation voted out an adulterer who refused to repent, an older woman was confused and thought the church had voted to send the man to hell.

If there's something I'm going to remember from this article for quite a while, it's this. Truly bizarre.

Deepthought sez:
I brought this up with a "biblical literalist" because he supports war and he says that it is "Thou shalt not murder"
I wonder how this changes matters and what translation he is looking at?

Well, it's the Hebrew translation, from, er, Hebrew, actually. And yes, there's a big difference between killing and murdering. For further information, ask your local legal system. This is why it's okay to fight in a war or put people on deathrow, but not to shoot your neighbor for her new car or kill the president to impress Jodie Foster. (I'm not endorsing war or deathrow here, I'm just saying.) The thing I never understood is that it's okay for Christians to go to war or put people on deathrow because the King James Bible (or the Luther Bible, for that matter), always translates "thou shalt not kill." And they have all that other great advice about, like, turning the other cheek and stuff, too. Beats me!

^_^J.

42. Top 10 Reasons to Believe Logic Over Religion

Comment #114782 by gyokusai on January 22, 2008 at 7:42 pm

Bah, Daily Garlic. Way too much testosterone for my taste, and BNCbright (#4) is right, that logic is garbled beyond repair. What this article lacks in braininess, it makes up for with cockiness, and in terms of witticism it went south pretty darn soon.

^_^J.

43. Ben Stein Bribing Schools to See His Anti-Evolution Movie 'Expelled'

Comment #112557 by gyokusai on January 17, 2008 at 1:08 pm

Pathetic.

Then again: as far as I can guess, it would not be considered legal for public schools to go for something like Stein's Slime Money, but for Christian schools, sure, no problem. Which says a lot about nurturing Christian madrasahs in one's country! And wasn't the English government also promoting faith-based schools full throttle, recently?

All things considered, pathetic as it may be, it still spells d-o-o-m for science education.

°_°J.

44. George Scales, War Hero and Generous Friend of RDFRS

Comment #111495 by gyokusai on January 14, 2008 at 7:48 pm

Thank you, George, heartfelt, for having fought for our freedom, and for still being at it on a different battlefield! Good luck for your upcoming surgery, and get well soon!

^_^J.

45. If You Open Your Mind Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out

Comment #105300 by gyokusai on December 31, 2007 at 7:22 am

All right, all right. And yes, if it had been "husband," it might've been more funny. (Especially coming from a man.) But still! I might laugh about it freely and without thought in another 300 years or so when all this ownership stuff has really faded into history. But "husband" or "wife" is not a symmetric choice for such a joke either, given thousands of years of history packed with guys who "give" their wife to strangers or "lose" them at poker games, and such. The "I give you my wife" riff isn't exactly freshly squeezed. A far better way, b.t.w., to test whether a joke involving women might be somewhat dubious is to do some tweaking and replace them with blacks instead, which can be especially illuminating when you're black (I'm not, but my sister is.)

Yes, yes, I'm blowing this out of all proportions, but Minchin's skit was just to darn good for this ending!!! ;-)

^_^J.

46. If You Open Your Mind Too Much Your Brain Will Fall Out

Comment #104507 by gyokusai on December 28, 2007 at 4:58 pm

Hilarious, absolutely---but, alas, only up to and excluding his skit's last three words. Which is as Abrahamic/Patriarchal a phrase as it can get. Not funny.

^_^J.

47. Happy Newton Day!

Comment #98996 by gyokusai on December 15, 2007 at 6:18 am

Such seasonal opportunism continues to this day. In some states of the US, public display of cribs and similar Christian symbols is outlawed for fear of offending Jews and others (not atheists). [...] I am no lover of Christianity, and I loathe the annual orgy of waste and reckless reciprocal spending, but I must say I'd rather wish you "Happy Christmas" than "Happy Holiday Season".

In Europe, I think, this might be different again. When I worked for a free ads paper in the early nineties, for example, some people knew or at least surmised that I did not believe in God, and when my then-boss wished me the German equivalent of "Happy Holiday Season" instead of "Happy Christmas" with a genuine smile, I not only was totally delighted but suddenly felt enormously "accepted" in a way. Moreover, others from the staff who had not only overheard her "holiday" greeting but also registered the delight that had crossed my face, several weeks or months later came to me and asked me questions that I, again, was delighted to answer.

Here, the "Happy Holiday Season" greeting wasn't used at all to placate other beliefs; it even became a sort of "awareness" moment for atheism as such.

^_^J.

48. Bad Faith Awards: Vote for the winner now

Comment #94479 by gyokusai on December 5, 2007 at 6:04 pm

I'm pretty much used to thinking in terms of who could inflict the greatest possible damage and when and how---and although General Sir Richard Dannatt is a strong contender in this regard for reasons I don't want to go into, Archbishop Francisco Chimoio tops the list in the most ghastly way.

(Of course, the papal ban on condoms is helping millions along to their afterlife anyway, even w/o Chimoio ... but we should really exclude Pope Benedict XVI here so others have a chance, and give him an evilness life achievement award or something instead.)

^_^J.

49. Interview with Christopher Hitchens

Comment #93625 by gyokusai on December 3, 2007 at 6:42 pm

Carl Champagne sez:
He seemed awfully afraid to let his kids see Hitch's book. How can you take someone seriously when they not only admit to denying their children access to knowledge, but are proud of it?

Do you really think he was serious? To me, he seemed rather deadpan.

^_^J.

50. Double-checking Dawkins

Comment #92908 by gyokusai on December 1, 2007 at 6:03 pm

BaronOchs wrote:
So it's true?
I feel strangely moved

Yes, it's true. It's really easy to figure out once you have the right idea where to look (which is hard, and which this guy had).

Bravo. To John, and to Richard! At the end of his inquiry, John writes: