1. Catholics To Pope: Lift Birth Control Ban

Comment #220831 by annabanana on July 29, 2008 at 5:34 am

thewhitepearl,

Yes. Depo Provera has several side effects which in my opinion should classify it as an un-safe form of birth control, but that's a different argument for a different day.

2. Catholics To Pope: Lift Birth Control Ban

Comment #220829 by annabanana on July 29, 2008 at 5:29 am

Steve Zara,

Indeed. Maybe if the Catholic church were to have a change of heart on this matter, they wouldn't be losing parishioners at such an alarming rate (although, I hope they would continue to decrease in size). It might be a more appealing religion if the doctrines weren't so difficult to stand by at this point in history.

3. Catholics To Pope: Lift Birth Control Ban

Comment #220823 by annabanana on July 29, 2008 at 5:16 am

I realize my comments are probably a bit late, but I think Cartomancer hit the nail on the head with his first comment. My mom is a public health nurse and sees a lot of hispanic people who have (legally or not) come to the US to work. The women all come in to get the Depo Provera shot so that no one will know that they are taking birth control (the shot lasts 3 months or something like that) because they are mostly Catholic. So they're preventing births, but not STDs. I think this tends to be very common among less-educated, less-fortunate groups; what they learn about are the church's doctrines, not sexual health, so they stick with what they know to a certain extent. These are the groups that are really bearing the consequences of the church's opinions on such matters.

4. Richard Dawkins slaps creationists into the primordial soup

Comment #217273 by annabanana on July 24, 2008 at 5:58 am

Oh, sorry, Quetz, I didn't realize it was so...um...lively...over there.

5. Richard Dawkins slaps creationists into the primordial soup

Comment #217270 by annabanana on July 24, 2008 at 5:53 am

Hm...it must be slow over on the FCOS forum. It seems that Richard has gotten bored and come back over to prod the atheists a bit. I think it would be considering feeding the troll to engage with him at this point.

6. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #215640 by annabanana on July 22, 2008 at 8:16 am

and the letter "M".

7. The brain in love

Comment #215633 by annabanana on July 22, 2008 at 8:11 am

I only wish I had been on Holiday. Sadly, I have been trying to get some work done lately. This site is addictive! I had to take a break so I could do some work, haha.

Bummer, Tyler. Due to recession, my paycheck is also worthless and I can't afford $0.10. Oh well, c'est la vie.

8. The brain in love

Comment #215604 by annabanana on July 22, 2008 at 7:23 am

I sort of share thewhitepearl's sentiments on having children, although not entirely. I definitely am not the "motherly" type and I don't think anyone who knows me would describe me as having any parent-like tendencies. I am entirely too selfish to have children at the moment and I have no desire to whatsoever. However, I have not entirely dismissed it for two reasons. 1)I don't know how I will feel in the future. I could very well end up wanting to have children later in life (due to some genetic "need" or some such thing). 2) The ridiculously ignorant stupid part of the populace are reproducing at an astronomical rate and I would almost feel guilty for NOT injecting some of my own genes (which I feel are decent) into the gene pool.

$0.02

9. God hates Mars

Comment #199737 by annabanana on June 26, 2008 at 9:13 am

Haha, ah yes, I've made a mistake. You're right. I definitely should have said I have an intolerance to apples. I guess it's still an allergy, so I could have said that, but it isn't nearly as severe as my allergies to milk, eggs, soy, and nuts...among other things.

10. God hates Mars

Comment #199733 by annabanana on June 26, 2008 at 9:05 am

Nope, not chocolate.

http://www.skittles.com/

11. God hates Mars

Comment #199727 by annabanana on June 26, 2008 at 8:55 am

Thanks epeeist!

Hungarianelephant,

My mom definitely breast fed me for a long time...after that it was on to apple juice...unfortunately, I am now intolerant to apples. :(

Really, the only thing that I hate about having all the food allergies is that sometimes I can't go out to eat with friends or have anything to eat at certain special events like weddings, etc. b/c I can't eat most of the stuff. It's the social aspect of it. I couldn't care less about eating the stuff. I mean, occasionally, I'll see something and think "gah, I wish I could eat that" but for the most part its no worries. Although, I think if they came up with a cure for allergies, I'd probably gain a LOT of weight. ;)

12. God hates Mars

Comment #199718 by annabanana on June 26, 2008 at 8:36 am

Vaal,

It's supposed to be a loggerhead turtle, and I'm sure that all the loggerhead turtles in the world would be upset to know that you compared them to DR! ;-)

Epeeist,

I am allergic to milk...technically I could have chocolate if I could find a milk-free AND soy-free kind (I'm also allergic to soy), but the problem is that dairy is usually substituted with soy...anyway...there's probably some version somewhere that I could eat now, but I've been allergic to the milk since before I can remember and so I grew up not eating chocolate just because there weren't as many options for people with dietary restrictions then, and I'm too lazy to pursue it now. :)

13. God hates Mars

Comment #199654 by annabanana on June 26, 2008 at 6:35 am

I think Phil Plait said it all with "a remarkably logic-free screed".

Sadly, I will not be participating in the chocolate discussion since I am allergic. Maybe we can talk about skittles instead? :)

14. Gay brains structured like those of the opposite sex

Comment #193920 by annabanana on June 16, 2008 at 8:08 am

Good point, Spinoza.

15. Gay brains structured like those of the opposite sex

Comment #193906 by annabanana on June 16, 2008 at 7:56 am

epeeist,

I seem to recall reading about a study that looked at the responses of both hetero and homosexual people to the smell of the sweat of their preferred partners' gender...

16. Vatican bans Dan Brown film Angels & Demons from Rome churches

Comment #193905 by annabanana on June 16, 2008 at 7:53 am

Filming movies about the Bible (mostly fiction)in the Vatican = ok

Filming movies about other fiction in the Vatican = bad

Totally makes sense... :-/

17. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #188737 by annabanana on June 4, 2008 at 12:52 pm

Mitchell,

Where you not saying to kill the deer to prevent accidents? Are you talking about me saying all? Well how does that effect my reductio exactly? Ok, pull some of your teeth to help prevent cavities. Better?

18. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #188701 by annabanana on June 4, 2008 at 12:00 pm

mordacious1,

Dealing with allergies is not fun. I am allergic to all dairy products (because of the whey and casein), eggs, all nuts, all legumes, shellfish, apples, and have a mild intolerance for citrus fruits (although, I can eat them in moderation). It can be rather stressful, especially since a lot of socializing occurs while eating, particularly out at restaurants.

I do struggle with whether or not I find that eating meat is ethical or not, but I suppose I have to err on the side of survival.

19. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #188660 by annabanana on June 4, 2008 at 10:53 am

Mitchell,

Epeeist responded specifically to your claim that it is necessary, and rightly corrected you, to say that it was not is.

20. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #188191 by annabanana on June 3, 2008 at 10:23 am

Nah, just an ideal opportunity to wind Al up. Couldn't resist it.

21. Storm erupts over 'virginity' divorce

Comment #188185 by annabanana on June 3, 2008 at 10:19 am

epeeist,

Annabanana - PM for you.

22. Senate bill allows display of Lord's Prayer, 10 Commandments

Comment #186500 by annabanana on May 30, 2008 at 11:19 am

Pattern Seeker,

I really don't think it's that bad here. Maybe you should try Columbia. :)

Anyway, I went to public school all the way through (with the exception on kindergarten) and it was as secular as it could be, so to me, this is a strange development that I had no idea had been brewing. Also, despite being one of the states that gets lumped into the Bible Belt, we haven't really had much opposition to teaching evolution in schools or people who want abstinence -only sex education. I learned both about evolution and condoms in school, I'm happy to report. ;-)

23. Senate bill allows display of Lord's Prayer, 10 Commandments

Comment #186466 by annabanana on May 30, 2008 at 10:15 am

I'm curious to hear what Annabanana has to say. She actually lives in South Cackalacky. Anna?

24. Richard Dawkins Responds to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Comment #183903 by annabanana on May 23, 2008 at 6:32 am

Maybe if I could understand what clearwooter was trying to say, I would be insulted...actually probably not...

25. Richard Dawkins Responds to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Comment #183507 by annabanana on May 22, 2008 at 7:41 am

epeeist, I did actually mention my weight once. In pounds and kilograms.

26. Richard Dawkins Responds to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Comment #183496 by annabanana on May 22, 2008 at 7:23 am

Sorry, that would be 4 feet, 11 inches.

27. Richard Dawkins Responds to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Comment #183464 by annabanana on May 22, 2008 at 6:47 am

Hungarianelephant,

Both! I'm only 59 in. (and too lazy to convert that for anyone who's used to metric).

28. Richard Dawkins Responds to Rabbi Shmuley Boteach

Comment #183452 by annabanana on May 22, 2008 at 6:38 am

Whoa! Lovely that clearwooter decided to grace us with his presence and insult and disrespect people who are not even participating in the argument. Although, I'm sure that it really had little to do with me and more to do with trying to get under al-rawandi's skin. I would like to point out, however, that whatever I (or anyone else who posts here) do in my private life is my own decision and I am mature enough to have made those decisions while a girl of around 9 is not capable of making such decisions and coercion by the prophet into acts usually engaged in by sexually mature adults was indeed a sickening thing.

29. Teenager faces prosecution for calling Scientology 'cult'

Comment #182603 by annabanana on May 20, 2008 at 3:57 pm

Valiant,

Operative word being *could*. I didn't say that it necessarily did apply, but it's not exactly uncommon for someone to join some church or religiously affiliated group and cut contact with members of the family who aren't religious enough for their liking.

30. Teenager faces prosecution for calling Scientology 'cult'

Comment #182598 by annabanana on May 20, 2008 at 3:39 pm

The church continues to attract controversy over claims that it separates members from their families and indoctrinates followers.

31. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #182245 by annabanana on May 19, 2008 at 1:58 pm

Thanks Goldy, I have vdub.

32. The Neural Buddhists

Comment #181117 by annabanana on May 16, 2008 at 12:51 pm

I think if he ever re-deconverts (or for the first time...since this time is the only "real" time he's converted to Christianity), he'll never tell us because he'll be too embarrassed.

33. The Neural Buddhists

Comment #181099 by annabanana on May 16, 2008 at 12:30 pm

Yeah, the whole "God loved us first" thing is weird. What proof of this does he have? Oh, right, scripture...yeah...very convincing...especially since he used to rip people new ones when they did quote scripture. But, oh, ever so conveniently, he deleted all of his posts so that we couldn't use his old arguments against him.

Anyway, I think it would have been much more entertaining and perhaps attention-grabbing as well if he had made up some fantastic revelation story. I guess the fact that he didn't suggests that he might actually believe the crap he's told us.

If I were going to make up a conversion story I think it would involve talking pink elephants or something. It would be way cooler and more imaginative than that crap in the Bible.

34. Group finds Starbucks logo too hot to handle

Comment #180928 by annabanana on May 16, 2008 at 6:31 am

I think I'll go have a cup of slutbucks today. Sounds delish. Slutbucks sounds like some new form of currency.

"How much for a little somethin' somethin'?"

"Oh, about 500 slutbucks"

35. Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks

Comment #180546 by annabanana on May 15, 2008 at 7:28 am

MaxD,

Well, a;kdfuo992myo, but generally ,couahthiwy78gowng. So, yes.

36. Losing Our Spines to Save Our Necks

Comment #180538 by annabanana on May 15, 2008 at 7:12 am

;lakjfoiasdnf/./as=dfaisldfpokanf...

makes more sense than what clearmind says, at least.

37. The Neural Buddhists

Comment #180522 by annabanana on May 15, 2008 at 6:51 am

Incredulous, Quetz, MaxD,

I also edit my posts for spelling and grammatical errors. If it doesn't change the meaning of your post, I certainly don't have a problem with it. I understand that Richard may have accidentally hit submit before he decided what he was going to say, but since he changed what he had blockquoted, I think he should have indicated the editing, but of course, that just MHO.

Richard Morgan,

I'm with MaxD. I think you should share your conversion/epiphany story with us. Certainly risking a bit of meaningless, internet ridicule is worth it if it will help others to understand, correct? Also, I believe you once told me that you didn't let insults and things on internet fora bother you, so why are you suddenly worried about it now? Perhaps the real reason that you don't want to share your experience is because you are embarrassed or it isn't as solid as you would have everyone believe.

38. The Neural Buddhists

Comment #180272 by annabanana on May 14, 2008 at 1:10 pm

epeeist,

You'll have to ask RM as he hold the rights.

39. The Neural Buddhists

Comment #180262 by annabanana on May 14, 2008 at 12:54 pm

Also, I googled "Richard Morgan epiphany experience" and all I got was something about a science fiction writer named Richard K. Morgan.

40. The Neural Buddhists

Comment #180258 by annabanana on May 14, 2008 at 12:50 pm

Richard Morgan,

Not to put you in an awkward position, but

if you are motivated by a genuine sense of inquiry concerning my epiphany experience, then I would be happy to send you a copy. But if you are just looking for another opportunity to mock and insult me, I think I'll have to ask for a rain-check on this one.

41. The Neural Buddhists

Comment #180252 by annabanana on May 14, 2008 at 12:40 pm

Richard Morgan,

Your response to Lucas' post (#75) initially looked something like this:

Lucas: a most interesting post!

But the hardline atheism we tend to talk around here is unnecessarily strict and closed.

It cert

42. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #180226 by annabanana on May 14, 2008 at 12:01 pm

AtheistJon,

You're depressing me. You may be right, but still...do you have to be so apocalyptic?

43. The Neural Buddhists

Comment #180192 by annabanana on May 14, 2008 at 10:59 am

Richard Morgan,

Why did you edit your post?

44. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #180113 by annabanana on May 14, 2008 at 8:23 am

Why don't we just load rockets up with the nuclear waste and shoot it at the sun, or random directions into space? That would get rid of it no?

45. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #180109 by annabanana on May 14, 2008 at 8:20 am

Shaden,

Assuming that as you say, all of the other problems with nuclear power can be solved and/or improved, what to do about the limited fuel supply? This is from the wiki article I linked to you yesterday:

The world's present measured resources of uranium, economically recoverable at a price of 130 USD/kg, are enough to last for some 80 years at current consumption

46. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #180098 by annabanana on May 14, 2008 at 8:09 am

Why does everyone assume there is a solution.

47. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #180093 by annabanana on May 14, 2008 at 8:01 am

Luckily nuclear power plants don't release CO2.

48. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #180078 by annabanana on May 14, 2008 at 7:30 am

I forgot to add that cleaning up the particulate matter in the atmosphere seemingly will cause global warming to proceed faster since the particulates are reflecting some of the sunlight back into space...so if we clean up all of the particulate we have to address greenhouse gases ASAP or we may have a situation on our hands.

49. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #180074 by annabanana on May 14, 2008 at 7:18 am

Shaden,

I'm working on that article and doing some more digging. Two quick things.

1) The authors are business men and journalists, not scientists. This isn't to say that they are incapable of coming to the correct conclusion, but I just wanted to point out that they are not "experts". So this article is "sciency" as Dr. Benway would say, not scientific.

2) The first figure that they offer is an estimated 15,000 premature deaths per year per a Harvard School of Public Health Study. This does not have a footnote, so I googled it and it seems that this number comes from estimating the number of deaths that would be prevented if pollutants like particulate matter are better controlled. Particulate matter mostly affects people who already have heart and lung disease (although there is some evidence to suggest that PM causes heart and lung disease). Anyway if you go here: http://www.epa.gov/air/emissions/pm.htm you will see that industrial facilities emit just as much particulate matter as power plants, so as it is now, we've got just as much to worry about with industrial facilities as we do with power plants. That's not to say, of course, that cleaning up PM from power plants is pointless simply because the industrial facilities emit the same amount, but as AtheistJon has already pointed out, it would be near to impossible to completely replace coal-fired power plants with nuclear power plants for several reasons.

Anyway, I have some more digging to do. That's all I've gotten so far.

50. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #179689 by annabanana on May 13, 2008 at 2:02 pm

Shaden,

While the actual process of nuclear fission itself does not create emissions, the mining and processing of the uranium needed for the process does. Also, the control devices that are used to clean up emissions from coal-fired power plants are getting better and better along with emissions standards and regulations. I would have to have some more convincing before I thought nuclear power to be a better option. If you know of a resource where I can learn why it's better, please direct me there. From what I've read, it seems like it would be tit for tat.