1. I don't believe in atheists

Comment #143641 by clatz on March 14, 2008 at 9:05 am

Does anyone have a link to the debate between Hitchens and Hedges?

I want to see this idiot in the flesh.

EDIT: Here we go http://www.zombietime.com/hitchens-hedges_debate/

2. 'Frog from hell' fossil unearthed

Comment #129372 by clatz on February 19, 2008 at 3:15 am

Imagine what sort of prince he would have turned into!

Sorry.

:-)

3. Study: Religion colors Americans' views of nanotechnology

Comment #128456 by clatz on February 17, 2008 at 3:37 am

Dietram Scheufele was involved in an earlier survey on nanotechnology.

This time only 16% of respondents felt they were "somewhat informed" about nanotechnology.

http://wistechnology.com/article.php?id=2189#Scene_1

4. Study: Religion colors Americans' views of nanotechnology

Comment #128439 by clatz on February 17, 2008 at 2:30 am

Did the survey point out that without nanotechnology we can never hope to build the space elevator?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_elevator

They posit that the respondents were well informed about the technology, and it's benefits. Were they?

I doubt the general public knows much about nanotechnology at all, in any country. Without giving us any information on the respondents level of understanding this whole article is a waste of time (that's not to say the survey is, just the summary of it).

5. A Tyrannical Romance

Comment #126446 by clatz on February 13, 2008 at 9:06 am

What an article!

Felt slightly violated during half of it, and perverted during the rest.

Cloacal kiss anyone?

6. Inventor Doesn't Dare Say 'Perpetual Motion Machine'

Comment #124292 by clatz on February 9, 2008 at 3:38 am

Whilst looking up the youtube videos I came across this machine:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us7YB7eiOeQ

Very cool!

7. Inventor Doesn't Dare Say 'Perpetual Motion Machine'

Comment #124054 by clatz on February 8, 2008 at 8:43 am

I don't get it. Though it wouldn't be the first time that has happened after reading something on this site ;-)

Is he saying the system generates 50W of power? i.e the difference in power drawn by the motor in the two states.

Surely he is just making the motor more efficient. So perhaps one state is simply hotter than the other. I'd like to see the system run in both states with the thermal camera.

8. Happy Birthday Josh Timonen!

Comment #118856 by clatz on January 31, 2008 at 4:45 am

Happy Birthday Josh

It's been said before, but it can never be enough ... thanks ever so much for all of your good work.

9. Belief in Belief

Comment #117516 by clatz on January 29, 2008 at 2:49 am

43alley I salute you!

Great stuff, keep em coming.

10. Questions Delay Creationist Master's Degrees

Comment #113037 by clatz on January 18, 2008 at 1:38 pm

The A-Team, I like it!

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

Comment #111541 by clatz on January 15, 2008 at 1:21 am

Mr Scales,

My grandfather was a captain in the Royal Navy during WWII (supporting convoys in the Atlantic), and I can assure you that your efforts and of those of the Allies is very much appreciated.

Thank you for your generous support of the RDFRS. You are clearly a man that stands up for what he believes in.

I hope your operation goes well and you are back up and at em in no time.

Clayton Smith

PS I little more on George can be found here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/12/10/nold310.xml

12. The Group Delusion

Comment #110310 by clatz on January 11, 2008 at 1:02 am

I am saddened to read this, it sort of feels like two friends arguing and there is the possibility that they will not be on speaking terms when the dust settles! Perhaps you are there already.

Professor, I agree that these publications are not necessarily the place to make the claim they did (that you admitted a mistake, for which you say you haven't) and certainly not without the sort of explanation they subsequently provided.

Who knows they may have been under the same constraints you were. However I hope the matter could be straightened out amicably and without the neighbours having to hear it :-)

13. Richard Dawkins on The Late Edition with Marcus Brigstocke

Comment #109937 by clatz on January 10, 2008 at 5:16 am

StephenP,

Stirling idea, might have to drop Dan though, I think they only have three guests (plus Alan).

14. It was a bad year for God.

Comment #109422 by clatz on January 9, 2008 at 3:22 am

Again with the silly competitions.

You could also have descriptions of various gods and people have to guess which god/deity it is.

i.e. ability to walk on water would be a bit of a give away really, but what about "sun god"? That's a bit tougher could be; Ra, Istanu, Sûrya or even David Hassellhoff (at a pinch).

Poor. Anyway many people are put off because they feel threatened when it comes to questioning their beliefs. So anything to lighten things up when promoting the book is a good thing in my mind.

15. It was a bad year for God.

Comment #109413 by clatz on January 9, 2008 at 2:55 am

I can't think of any great ideas for promoting the book.

I suppose you could have a competition voting for the best god of all time?

The winner get's a signed copy of TGD and to go to dinner with the number 1 god, if he/she shows up :-)

PS My money is on Zeus.

16. It was a bad year for God.

Comment #109405 by clatz on January 9, 2008 at 2:33 am

AndreG,

You can have this argument with yourself if you like, by simply considering one of the thousands of other gods various peoples believe in.

Humans are quite capable of seeing other peoples belief's in the supernatural as bogus, but only if we are far enough removed from the peddlers of that belief. Why do you think that is?

Think of ghosts, do you believe in them? If you met someone that said they did, what evidence do you think they would have? None of any substance, nothing repeatable, nothing that would stand up to any scrutiny. They may swear black and blue that they have seen a ghost, but that's no reason for you to believe in ghosts yourself.

17. Did mozzies, not a meteor, do for the dinosaurs?

Comment #108575 by clatz on January 7, 2008 at 9:12 am

I've seen many an animal on the savannah swot away pesky flies with their tales, perhaps that's how the Stegosaurus went...ouch

18. CBC News: Sunday - Richard Dawkins

Comment #100106 by clatz on December 18, 2007 at 8:44 am

Fancy Darwin talk?

Halarious, this guy would have been king of the playground.

19. Fox News Discussion on 'The Golden Compass'

Comment #85750 by clatz on November 7, 2007 at 2:32 am

This is the sort of thing my wife would stop me watching before I put the remote through the telly ;-)

20. The Year of Living Biblically

Comment #84861 by clatz on November 4, 2007 at 1:34 am

Check out the link below the article to a film on christian boot camps:

http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1316

Run for the hills people!

Scary.

21. Are the 'New Atheists' avoiding the 'real arguments'?

Comment #83911 by clatz on October 31, 2007 at 4:02 pm

Superb.

22. Deep in the Sea, Imagining the Cradle of Life on Earth

Comment #79031 by clatz on October 16, 2007 at 12:04 am

And some people think science is boring!

If they only knew ...

23. The Problem with Atheism

Comment #75889 by clatz on October 4, 2007 at 1:10 am

For those of you who do not want to be labelled Atheist, what do you propose to define yourself as come census time?

One major beef I have had with friends is that they just put down the same religion as their parents, even though they really are agnostic. None of us would do that of course, but my point is that these people think it doesn't count, so they effectively put down anything.

It might seem like a trivial matter, but if people at least put down "no religion" then maybe society would pay more attention to our view point.

As an example of what can be achieve by employing a word is the so called Jedi phenomenon: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedi_census_phenomenon.

At least in New Zealand this raised conciseness about what we are defined as, and I think the significant numbers showed at lot of people were no longer happy with the status quo.

The numbers of Jedi fell dramatically in the following 2006 census, but what the article does not point out is that the number of people with "no religion" increased from 29.6 to 34.7%:

http://www.stats.govt.nz/census/2006-census-data/quickstats-about-culture-identity/quickstats-about-culture-and-identity.htm?page=para012Master

The government has to pay attention to that!

24. The Problem with Atheism

Comment #75669 by clatz on October 3, 2007 at 8:52 am

I don't understand his alternative to labelling ourselves as Atheists.

We can't expect to change anything if we operately individually. Sure it might make for an effective debate strategy, removing the label might very well remove some of the theists amuinition, but it deprives us of all of the benefits of being in a collective.