1. Earth's Final Sunset Predicted

Comment #135184 by ianmkz on February 28, 2008 at 4:55 pm

Earth's Final Sunset Predicted

2. Taking evidence seriously

Comment #135114 by ianmkz on February 28, 2008 at 2:43 pm

From New Scientist 02 Feb 2008

Straight-talking homeopaths

THANKS to Alex Gough for pointing us in the direction of FairDeal Homeopathy, online purveyors of homeopathic remedies. Their website is intriguing, and not at all what you might expect.

"Homeopathy is not a substitute for evidence-based medicine and proper medical opinion," it states flatly. It goes on to argue that insofar as homeopathy "works", it works through "a complicated interaction with the human body and mind known as the 'placebo effect'".

"What conditions can FairDeal Homeopathy treat*?" is the next question. The asterisk refers to a note at the bottom of the page saying "*'Treat' in no way implies 'cure'". As for the answer: "FairDeal homeopathy," we are told, "can be used to treat any self-limiting condition." Such conditions are defined as "ones that, if left alone, will get better anyway".

Is this website a spoof? When Gough asked the owners they were most offended. "A spoof?" they replied. "Tsk tsk! We dispatch homeopathic remedies* the same working day! Real pills! In real little bottles and everything! How authentic do you want us to be?" Once again, a note at the bottom of their email explains the asterisk: "*No curative properties implied. Guaranteed as effective as all other homeopathic remedies. May taste of sugar."

If you would like to purchase a FairDeal remedy for one of your self-limiting conditions, go to www.fdhom.co.uk and place your order, which will cost you only £4.99.

According to the "Testimonials" section of the website, such a remedy certainly worked for a Mr S. Scott: "I ordered your product to help treat a mild cold that I was experiencing and that evening I began to feel much better. By the time your product arrived I was nearly fully cured. I cannot recommend this enough, thank you FairDeal Homeopathy."

3. America: slouching towards the Enlightenment

Comment #135108 by ianmkz on February 28, 2008 at 2:35 pm

I find it a bit odd that Mormons are counted as Christians but Unitarians are tucked away under Other/Other. It's odd that they seem to be the only Christians (or Other/Otherians) who find the Trinity too ludicrous to be taken seriously.

4. Fleabytes

Comment #134368 by ianmkz on February 27, 2008 at 4:34 pm

And correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't every single Jew that ever existed condemned to hell according to christianity?

5. Richard Dawkins on five of his favorite books

Comment #134349 by ianmkz on February 27, 2008 at 4:07 pm

The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini
The Art of Coarse Acting - Michael Green
The People's Almanac II - Wallace, Wallace, and Wallechinsky
Winnie-the-Pooh - A.A. Milne
How to Win Friends and Influence People - Dale Carnegie

6. Fleabytes

Comment #134334 by ianmkz on February 27, 2008 at 3:53 pm

Not merely good christians... only the very best!

7. Fleabytes

Comment #134330 by ianmkz on February 27, 2008 at 3:45 pm

However, for a theist to act in such a way, they are not only trying to wind the atheist up but (in their mind) actually saying "Fuck you, go to hell" and truly beliving that to be the consequence.

This seems somewhat less than charitable.

Its also an act of extreme malevolence that is more extreme than any atheist could manage.

8. The Encyclopedia of Life, No Bookshelf Required

Comment #134004 by ianmkz on February 27, 2008 at 6:13 am

But Adam's accomplishments surely pale when compared to Noah. Adam just had to name them while Noah had to bring them all back to the Ark, then take them back to their homes all over the world when the flud was over.

9. Don't blame Islam for terrorism, expert says

Comment #130865 by ianmkz on February 21, 2008 at 12:12 pm

Leopold II of Belgium?

10. What is Evo-devo?

Comment #127811 by ianmkz on February 15, 2008 at 4:12 pm

How to reduce science to nonsense
1-Make blanket statements about how things are
2-Make the kind of analogy that wooter would dig
3-Express it in what is left of 60 seconds after you've finished goofing around

11. Help Build The Reason Project Archive!

Comment #123481 by ianmkz on February 7, 2008 at 8:50 am

My concern is that the decay rate of internet links is quite fast. I have lost great many videos and good articles because of that already.. It would be nice to have a site that would archive these materials in case the originals are no longer available..

12. Exploding black holes could expose hidden dimensions

Comment #122806 by ianmkz on February 6, 2008 at 5:48 am

I've tried to read books like Brian Greene's 'The Elegant Universe', but it was too much like reading a sales pitch - he spoke about how great the theory was at uniting quantum and relativity theory, without actually explaining it.

I recommend "The Trouble with Physics" by Lee Smolin. No equations.

13. An Altar Beyond Olympus for a Deity Predating Zeus

Comment #122459 by ianmkz on February 5, 2008 at 9:35 am

A deity predating Zeus?! Impossible. Didn't Zeus say "Thou shalt have no other gods before me"? Maybe that was someone else.

14. Math Religion Trouble

Comment #122083 by ianmkz on February 4, 2008 at 3:44 pm

Canadians? Canadians??? What the heck do Canadians have to do with a mathematicians vs biologists comparison?

Good evening. Here is the News for parrots. No parrots were involved in an accident on the M1 today, when a lorry carrying high octane fuel was in collision with a bollard ... that is a bollard and not a parrot. A spokesman for parrots said he was glad no parrots were involved.

15. Sprinting down the evolutionary highway

Comment #122068 by ianmkz on February 4, 2008 at 3:22 pm

In 2005, University of Chicago geneticist Bruce Lahn reported that two "new" gene variations involved in brain size and complexity are still a work in progress. One emerged about 37,000 years ago and is now present in 70 per cent of humans; the other, only 5,800 years old, has spread to 30 per cent.

The obvious interpretation is that the new version arose 40,000 years ago via a chance mutation in the microcephalin gene. Lahn thinks otherwise. In a paper published last year, he looked at a haplotype within microcephalin. On the basis of sequence differences between the old and new versions of the gene, he concluded that the two are so different that they must have diverged at least 1 million years ago (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol 103, p 18178).

This combination of deep ancestry on one level and shallow ancestry on another suggests that something very unusual might have happened. It is as if the new version of microcephalin split off from our evolutionary lineage a million years ago, then jumped back in 40,000 years ago. According to Lahn, that is exactly what happened. By far the most likely explanation, he says, is that the newer version of the gene evolved in a separate species of human - probably Neanderthals - and then entered our lineage through interbreeding.

16. Sprinting down the evolutionary highway

Comment #122064 by ianmkz on February 4, 2008 at 3:13 pm

When inbreeding happens it increases the chances of getting two copies of the same mutation thus causing a genetic disease.

17. Richard Dawkins on The Big Questions

Comment #121701 by ianmkz on February 4, 2008 at 2:29 am

What was the name of the thread wooter discussed his argument? I wanna just take a look at it?

So you are saying vegetables survived through natural selection.

In this case in the beginning there was a ,say, small leaf and then that leaf after mutations, replications, multiplications, became tomatoes, broccoli, avocado, beets, peppers, Brussels, cabbage Carrots, celery, cauliflowers, corn, cucumbers, asparagus, eggplant, garlic, onion, green peas, Leeks, mushrooms, okra, olives, parsnips, pumpkin, spinach, squash, turnip, yams, zucchini with different vitamins which human body needs and then , tomato thought(!), " Oh man, the human beings would need fruit as well. Let's start evolving, guys. Please no mistakes while we are evolving. Then they evolved and evolved and evolved through million years, then, fruits popped up: Apple Banana Blackcurrant -Cherry - Coconut - Cranberry - Durian - Fig - Grapefruit - Grape - Guava - Kiwi - Lemon - Lime - Loganberry - Mandarin - Mango - Mangosteen - Melon - Nectarine - Orange - Papaya - Peach - Pear - Persimmon - Pinapple - Plum - Pomegranate �" Strawberry Watermelon.
So all these fruits and vegetables with different kids of vitamins again another proof of God's blessing for us, You cannot explain with evolution, selection or any other illogical ideas.

18. Sprinting down the evolutionary highway

Comment #121694 by ianmkz on February 4, 2008 at 2:09 am

Today, the brain is about an eighth of the size it once was.

19. Are Darwin's Theories Fact or Faith Issues?

Comment #121555 by ianmkz on February 3, 2008 at 4:41 pm

I noticed that Dr Simmons' publisher identified him as a director of Physicians and Surgeons for Scientific Integrity. Does this august body know of his oddball position? Unfortunately... yes. PSSI are subtitled PHYSICIANS AND SURGEONS WHO DISSENT FROM DARWINISM. Their membership list is depressingly long - 500 or so.

20. Female Muslim medics 'disobey hygiene rules'

Comment #121435 by ianmkz on February 3, 2008 at 12:00 pm

How about a compromise. Let them do what they want with sanitation, but they can only work on other Muslims.

21. God-Man and Human-Man Team Up

Comment #121206 by ianmkz on February 3, 2008 at 5:10 am

snicker

22. God the psycho

Comment #121187 by ianmkz on February 3, 2008 at 4:41 am

Yahweh is a bit of an easy target though, isn't he.

23. Are Darwin's Theories Fact or Faith Issues?

Comment #120830 by ianmkz on February 2, 2008 at 4:38 pm

If God's design was so intelligent, why do dicks supposedly need to be circumcised?

24. Are Darwin's Theories Fact or Faith Issues?

Comment #120800 by ianmkz on February 2, 2008 at 3:00 pm

Is there any difference? Is there really any 'design' going on at all?

Design vs make
We think about it first (something which God didn't bother with - boom, straight in, day 1, hammering and sawing away he was).

25. Are Darwin's Theories Fact or Faith Issues?

Comment #120796 by ianmkz on February 2, 2008 at 2:47 pm

One more.

26. Are Darwin's Theories Fact or Faith Issues?

Comment #120788 by ianmkz on February 2, 2008 at 2:29 pm

the trouble with missing links is that every time you find one, you make two more.

27. Are Darwin's Theories Fact or Faith Issues?

Comment #120623 by ianmkz on February 2, 2008 at 6:29 am

I have mixed feelings about PZ handing Dr Simmons a book that starts off listing all the problems with modern evolutionary theory... "oooh, aaah, where's my pen, Let me get that down. " Doc Simmons won't bother with the rest of the book though. He's interested in the problems, not so much suggested solutions.

http://www.amazon.com/Developmental-Plasticity-Evolution-Mary-West-Eberhard/dp/0195122356

28. Are Darwin's Theories Fact or Faith Issues?

Comment #120415 by ianmkz on February 1, 2008 at 3:48 pm

From Pharyngula

I shouldn't have been surprised at his performance, though. I have a secret: I read part of What Darwin Didn't Know before the show, and knew exactly what kind of creationist I was engaging.

I have to share a few tidbits with you from that hilarious book. It has a chapter titled "Purposeful Design" which purports to list 81 examples of design. He has very low standards. Basically, anything that works is evidence of design.

The mouth, vagina, urethra, and anus are sealed by mucus when not in use and yet can open and close in controlled ways as needs arise.

This is a man who thinks the fact that he isn't drooling and feces aren't dribbling down his leg is a miracle from god. After reading his book, I kind of agree.

29. There Are No Ghosts in Your Brain

Comment #120379 by ianmkz on February 1, 2008 at 2:39 pm

I'm only ten minutes in, but this is brilliant!

30. Are Darwin's Theories Fact or Faith Issues?

Comment #120332 by ianmkz on February 1, 2008 at 1:34 pm

You're a better man than I am PZ Myers

31. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #120262 by ianmkz on February 1, 2008 at 11:19 am

The New Scientist online version also includes this link on Daniel Everett
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=v7Spzjh9QgA

32. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #120249 by ianmkz on February 1, 2008 at 11:04 am

The New Scientist interview is quite interesting from a religious/atheistic perspective also. It's only available online to subscribers, but here is a chunk of it.


Interview: Out on a limb over language
* 19 January 2008


Linguist Daniel Everett

How did you get involved with the Pirahã?

My wife Keren and I set out to become missionaries, but it didn't work out that way. We had to learn the language to work there but I became more and more fascinated by it, and eventually studied linguistics at "real" universities. After many years of living with the Pirahã I've learned a lot about their language and the problems it poses for linguistic theories. Their concept of truth also changed my entire religious persona. I went from being a Christian missionary to an atheist.

When did you stop believing?

In various stages. I arrived in Brazil in 1977, and by 1982 I was having serious doubts. Probably by 1985, after I had spent a year at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I had no more faith, but I didn't say anything about it for another 19 years.

Did you really not tell anyone - not even your wife?

No. When I did, we ended up getting divorced.

How did being with the Pirahã change your thinking?

They lived so well without religion and they were so happy. Also they didn't believe what I was saying because I didn't have evidence for it, and that made me think. They would try so hard to understand what I was saying, but it was obviously utterly irrelevant to them. I began to think: what am I doing here, giving them these 2000-year-old concepts when everything of value I can think of to communicate to them they already have?

Working with the Pirahã has landed you in hot water professionally as well.

Yeah. I'm in trouble for putting forward theories based on my studies with the Pirahã that challenge the established order. One of the most publicised is my claim that they don't really have fixed words for numbers or colours. Worse still, I cannot find recursion in their language - the way we embed sentences containing other statements or concepts within sentences.

This seems to conflict with the views of Noam Chomsky, one of the fathers of linguistics.

Yes. Chomsky and I have had long discussions, and somewhere in the conversation he's going to say: if you're right, there's no difference between my granddaughter and a rock; rocks don't learn language, so obviously the ability to acquire language is inbuilt. Chomsky's approach is that we have innate knowledge of a basic grammatical structure, or syntax, that is common to all human languages. Using a limited set of grammatical rules and a finite set of terms, we can produce an infinite number of sentences, including ones that have never been uttered before. For him, the killer argument is that without it, children could not acquire their native languages very quickly - hence the line about his granddaughter and the rock. Recursion is the reason that there are unlimited possible utterances in any language, so it must exist in all languages.

Why does it matter if Chomsky is wrong?

If he is wrong, it shows that the human ability to communicate is not reducible to the kind of "mathematical" system that Chomsky envisions. It means that language is something we gain by interacting with our fellow human beings, people who share our culture with us. I'm claiming that culture shapes grammar, that it can even affect the nature of what Chomsky called "core grammar" - the part of grammar that's supposed to be innate. If it's innate, it can't be affected by culture. I say it can.

EDIT:
The tribe is called the "Piraha" with the squiggle over the final a. Not a very pasteable word

33. U.S.: 'Demonic' militants sent women to bomb markets in Iraq

Comment #120231 by ianmkz on February 1, 2008 at 10:50 am

It's a shame that hell is a fiction. Some people really do deserve an eternity in the deep fat fryer.

34. Pope says some science shatters human dignity

Comment #120092 by ianmkz on February 1, 2008 at 8:56 am

Condoms are also no doubt an affront to human dignity. Nothing like a bit of AIDS to bring you closer to your creator... well the Pope's creator anyway

35. Morality and the 'new atheism'

Comment #119637 by ianmkz on January 31, 2008 at 5:50 pm

DAMMIT! Why didn't some one tell this me BEFORE I became an Atheist?

36. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #119632 by ianmkz on January 31, 2008 at 5:46 pm

Nope, and I assume if he wanted to "prove" it he would. For now, you'll just have to take it on Faith.

37. Morality and the 'new atheism'

Comment #119505 by ianmkz on January 31, 2008 at 4:33 pm

So if you're thinking of becoming an atheist so that you can murder, rape and pillage... think again.

38. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #119474 by ianmkz on January 31, 2008 at 4:18 pm

I wonder if treatment with anti-psychotic medication causes a reduction in messages from god?

39. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #119405 by ianmkz on January 31, 2008 at 3:01 pm

I bet the hits on richarddawkins.net are at an all time high thanks to the banal input of our theist friends. Advertising revenues should be good this month.

40. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #119381 by ianmkz on January 31, 2008 at 2:46 pm

Vox Day has some weird-ass apostles. His unholy Mary Magdalene being the icing on the cake.

FYI Vox, aka Theodore Beale, is "son of Robert B. Beale, a former technology executive in jail awaiting trial on Federal tax charges." Beale senior was at one time acknowledge as a Board Member and stock holder in World Net Daily - though it is not clear who the board members are at this point in time. It certainly is a possibility that his dad's money got him the gig at World Net Daily (and this lovely book review). His Mensa membership is no doubt all his own -- though I think it's a little tacky to put that on your resume, and it speaks of an inferiority complex

41. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #118524 by ianmkz on January 30, 2008 at 6:21 pm

I think Becomethearrow is trolling - alas, no one has noticed. sniff

42. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #118349 by ianmkz on January 30, 2008 at 3:55 pm

A teeny quote from the book

"Sexually abused girls are 55 times more likely to commit suicide than girls raised Catholic"
http://www.haberco.com/ath/

Presumably it continues in that vein

43. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #118299 by ianmkz on January 30, 2008 at 3:21 pm

Maybe I'm a bit behind the times, but I do feel that bloggers are not real public intellectuals. While a good argument is a good argument, there is not enough time to consume every argument about everything. Life is too short. I do... I must judge a book by its cover, its reputation, and my personal intuition as to the reliability of its source. I think I'll give The Irrational Atheist a miss.

44. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #118292 by ianmkz on January 30, 2008 at 3:08 pm

Pretty Lady... Vox Day... humble lot these believers aren't they. I'm fairly sure that Vox Day would have been burned at the stake for 16 out of the past 20 Centuries by the very church he defends. I guess he considers that Commandment about taking the Lord's name in vain as more of a Suggestion. The Ten Suggestions.

EDIT: Although, who knows, he might be a Hindu.

45. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #118175 by ianmkz on January 30, 2008 at 12:47 pm

In fact, if we removed all physical manifestations of Steve, Steve would still exist

46. The Repeater

Comment #118152 by ianmkz on January 30, 2008 at 12:20 pm

Insects catching fish?!

47. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #117759 by ianmkz on January 29, 2008 at 2:38 pm

Here's a bit from an early (friendly) review of The Irrational Atheist which gives us some of the flavour of the arguments therein:

This book is a beat down of ideologies, theories and rationalities which hold dangerous consequences to mankind. Vox shows in various ways that the attempt to take away religious belief, a faith in a divine being, leads to totalitarian slaughter in an attempt to enforce a Godless culture. Whether it's the current regime in N. Korea, the bloody hands of Mao-Tse-Tung, or the mass killing by the nation celebrating The Union of the Militant Godless, mankind is in danger when its people believe that "there is no God to whom he must ultimately answer for his deeds".

48. Pale Blue Dot

Comment #117679 by ianmkz on January 29, 2008 at 11:21 am

Since this video was put together it seems other people though it would be a good idea to do... well, exactly the same thing. It's like a new hobby: Pale Blue Dotting, like Scrapbooking. Weird.

17April 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pfwY2TNehw

18 April 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J6DCa3kpj8&feature=related

15 May 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2In7X4OoM8g&feature=related


14 October 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-lgW21hSZw


12 Feb 2007("presaging" as it were, this one)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba3X1toPT-E

And many many more...(I can only include 5 links)

49. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #117620 by ianmkz on January 29, 2008 at 8:41 am

I notice his cover is a homage to a Sam (Russell's Parrot) Harris work.

50. Scientists want rewrite of Earth's time line

Comment #117539 by ianmkz on January 29, 2008 at 4:33 am

Do slag heaps constitute Anthropocene deposits?