1. Autism and Vaccines: Why Bad Logic Trumps Science

Comment #243814 by King of NH on September 7, 2008 at 12:25 pm

I think Apathy personified made a very valid point. In the main article it was not made clear what study was used. He simply asked about one of the correlative studies that may have been used or might have been not studied for various reasons.

The correlation IS a crucial fact, jt512. Facts are the little pieces that make up an argument, and this would be one of those little pieces. The correlation does not equal causation is an important rule.

Asking for more scientifically gathered data on something is not rejecting science, it's doing science. Don't attack people for refusing to take science's word for it, they shouldn't. None of us should. They tell me the world is round. I say, "Prove it." They prove it.

2. Gay support group gets straight 'no' from Brethren

Comment #243805 by King of NH on September 7, 2008 at 12:10 pm

I thought Jesus was gay. I mean, he's the guy that walked all around the desert with just 12 other men, right? Never got lucky with a woman? No children? Remember that he turned water to wine (diffcult) instead of water to beer (easy). Not to type cast or be calling out stereotypes, but if Jesus was straight, so is Hagard.

3. Face to faith

Comment #243712 by King of NH on September 7, 2008 at 3:20 am

I was raised Catholic and always wanted to be a priest. Then in about 5th grade I read the Illiad. We were discussing it in class (a Catholic School) and people thought it was funny what people used to believe. I mentioned how people of the future would think our "God" was so silly. ---silence--- This was obviously a terrible thing to say, and I caught a bit of trouble for it. Which of course only made me think on why it was such a terrible thing to think on. The idea evolved and I never did become a priest.

4. Yale Researchers Find 'Junk DNA' May Have Triggered Key Evolutionary Changes In Human Thumb And Foot

Comment #243709 by King of NH on September 7, 2008 at 3:04 am

The 'junk' metaphore was another one of those badly used metaphores. Dawkins is right, scientists need to hire some poets and artists to help with these awfully misgiven attempts to make science more easily understood.

If there is 'junk' DNA, then there is 'purposeful' DNA, it would seem by simple comparison. But as we know (I hope) there is no purpose driving the assembly of DNA, just the laws of physics. The junk refers to DNA segments that either did, but no longer, work with RNA to make proteins, ot to DNA that might, but does not yet. The junk in the DNA is like the junk in Beachbum's garage. It was once, and might be again, useful. For now, it sort of collects and sits there.

It seems to follow that as junk DNA enters and leaves the DNA strand of a species it will urge evolution: "When has a species added genes?"

Anybody know any good 'beginner' books about genetics? I want to learn more but it gets so complex so fast!

5. Bettany and Connelly to Star in Creation

Comment #243447 by King of NH on September 5, 2008 at 9:53 pm

I fear Darwin may be viewed in a bad light when people will realize he married his cousin.

6. Mammoths moved 'out of America'

Comment #243025 by King of NH on September 5, 2008 at 2:07 am

Nails:
If the mammoths died out 10,000 years ago, how have they collected DNA samples from 4,000 to 40,000 year old samples?

7. How 'Secondary' Sex Characters Can Drive The Origin Of Species

Comment #242525 by King of NH on September 4, 2008 at 2:13 am

I drive a Honda Metro (a 49cc, 100mpg scooter). I did feel a little, um, girly I think is the scientific term. Now I know why my wife thought it was a good buy (and I thought she was concerned with the environment, or at least gas prices).

8. Scientists Develop New Computational Method To Investigate Origin Of Life

Comment #242520 by King of NH on September 4, 2008 at 1:40 am

I wonder if their tracing the history of the human RIV (Religious Indoctrination Virus) that causes the debilitating MOSS (Moral Outrage of Scientific Scrutiny) disease. We could be one step closer to a cure! If I read this article right, we just bury the sufferer under a baobab until they become bacteria?

Sorry, cheap shot, I know.

This is awesome. By removing the human factor from the pattern recognition, we should get much cleaner results. Humans are fantastic at finding patterns, and much better than computers at it. That's the problem. Like the Bad Astronomy story: "I saw Lenin on my shower curtain." The human mind puts patterns on everything, whether there is a natural one there or not.

9. Origins - The BIG Questions: 2008 Skeptics Society Conference

Comment #242512 by King of NH on September 4, 2008 at 1:26 am

While I do feel bad for the insulting regression science will go through to appease the 'believers' at an event such as this, it is an important event.

1) What if (BIG if) there is some evidence on their side? I strongly doubt it, but let them share.

2) Whether sound or not, someone must deal with the claims. Always refusing to acknowledge their stupid questions reinforces the idea of the closed society of science, the Ivory Tower. Let them poor out their life's work, then laugh: "Silly theist, tricks are for kids."

3) The worst that can come of this is a good laugh at the profound ignorance of the 'godidit' crowd the likes of Expelled, The Atheists' Nightmare, The Dawkins Delusion, and the greatest tragic comedy ever read by a godiditite, The Holy Bible.

10. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #241805 by King of NH on September 3, 2008 at 5:07 am

I've never understood why Americans love the rock star style of politics so much.

11. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #241785 by King of NH on September 3, 2008 at 4:28 am

Bush did get a very high aproval rating following 9-11. But I don't think that it was Bush with the rating as much as America itself, with Bush (not having yet stuck it to us in full force) as the figure head. Now as 8 years of policies are in hind-sight, we can see how sore he made our bums. Regardless if we love our country, roughly 80% of us can agree we hate Bush.

12. Palin: average isn't good enough

Comment #241695 by King of NH on September 3, 2008 at 1:37 am

"Obama will bankrupt America..."
"Obama is a communist..."
"Obama is a celebrity...(not sure why this one's insulting, but I'm not a freakin' idiot, so maybe it's below my head)"
"Obama hates whites..."
"Obama is a Muslim..."

We've heard it, but we've also heard how Jesus loves us, Allah hates us, and "You may already be a Buddha." How about some credible evidence and logical arguments? Or is that too tough for McCainites?

13. Palin's Church May Have Shaped Controversial Worldview

Comment #241669 by King of NH on September 3, 2008 at 1:10 am

Talkymeat:
The idea that someone who is that comfortable with the idea of the end of the world might end up one not-really-all-that-unlikely heart attack away from the go codes for the largest nuclear arsenal on the planet is genuinely terrifying.

14. Palin's Church May Have Shaped Controversial Worldview

Comment #241639 by King of NH on September 3, 2008 at 12:12 am

*cry*

Prof. Dawkins... If I send you my resume, do you think you could fast lane some British citizenship for me? I'm awefully sorry about the whole 1776 & 1812 stuff. Really. Does the queen still talk about us? I think we've learned our lesson.

Luckily, most liberals and Democrats won't be "praying" for Obama to be elected, we will be giving effort.

I think the church's message was clear:
Vote Obama/Biden in November, it's the godless thing to do!

15. Manitoba dig uncovers 80-million-year-old sea creature

Comment #239080 by King of NH on August 29, 2008 at 3:00 am

You fools! Look at it again. Can't you see it's a boat with two fossilized sails? It's noah's arc!!!

16. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #237667 by King of NH on August 27, 2008 at 12:31 am

"Good," said Mr. Campbell, an Anglican who attends church most Sundays. "Can't test it. Can't prove it, can't disprove it. It's not a question for science."

17. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #237148 by King of NH on August 26, 2008 at 3:50 am

beeline:

Er, I think he called him 'chicken-hearted' which strikes me as tremendously disrespectful.

I despise that chicken-hearted answer (emphasis mine).

18. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #236751 by King of NH on August 25, 2008 at 9:19 am

PZ was not attacking Campbell, or teachers like him. What he was attacking is a culture, OUR culture, that insists on these tactics of "respecting" religion always. I doubt PZ expects high-school science teachers in the deep south to go gun-ho tomorrow and tell their students religion is bogus. What he was arguing is a shift in society that will allow science to be science.

If PZ was attacking Mr. Campbell, he would have been clear in his intent. I saw nothing in PZ's article that would imply he did not have respect for Mr. Cambell. Stop supplying "underlying messages" for people. It's rude, it's ignorant, and it's normally wrong.

19. Richard Dawkins on Talkback Radio

Comment #236651 by King of NH on August 25, 2008 at 2:27 am

Listening to these Q&A sessions with Prof. Dawkins, I hear the same questions over and over, the same arguments against evolution.

Perhaps Dawkins should have a Q&A collection, maybe written down somewhere. If Dawkins were to write a few books - like some on evolution, atheism, science - than people could read them before asking old and foolish questions publicly. Not to brag, but I think that's a great idea.

Some titles you can feel free to use, Prof:
The God Illusion
The Great Grandparents' Tale
Science Writing of Today
Growing Up in the Vast Space
The Root of All Bad

20. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #236642 by King of NH on August 25, 2008 at 1:19 am

Sorry for this longer post, but it's hillarious and relevant. The "Ten Questions to ask your Biology teacher" can be found at http://www.arn.org/docs/wells/jw_10questions.htm

Because I know many of you hate to link bounce, and because it's rude to make people, here are what I have retitled "Letterman's Top Ten Reasons Creationists are IDiots." I'm not even a science major (thinking of redeclaring as such, though) and I can answer each of these off hand. This is bad, but here you are:

ORIGIN OF LIFE. Why do textbooks claim that the 1953 Miller-Urey experiment shows how life's building blocks may have formed on the early Earth â€" when conditions on the early Earth were probably nothing like those used in the experiment, and the origin of life remains a mystery?

DARWIN'S TREE OF LIFE. Why don't textbooks discuss the "Cambrian explosion," in which all major animal groups appear together in the fossil record fully formed instead of branching from a common ancestor â€" thus contradicting the evolutionary tree of life?

HOMOLOGY. Why do textbooks define homology as similarity due to common ancestry, then claim that it is evidence for common ancestry â€" a circular argument masquerading as scientific evidence?

VERTEBRATE EMBRYOS. Why do textbooks use drawings of similarities in vertebrate embryos as evidence for their common ancestry â€" even though biologists have known for over a century that vertebrate embryos are not most similar in their early stages, and the drawings are faked?

ARCHAEOPTERYX. Why do textbooks portray this fossil as the missing link between dinosaurs and modern birds â€" even though modern birds are probably not descended from it, and its supposed ancestors do not appear until millions of years after it?

PEPPERED MOTHS. Why do textbooks use pictures of peppered moths camouflaged on tree trunks as evidence for natural selection â€" when biologists have known since the 1980s that the moths don't normally rest on tree trunks, and all the pictures have been staged?

DARWIN'S FINCHES. Why do textbooks claim that beak changes in Galapagos finches during a severe drought can explain the origin of species by natural selection â€" even though the changes were reversed after the drought ended, and no net evolution occurred?

MUTANT FRUIT FLIES. Why do textbooks use fruit flies with an extra pair of wings as evidence that DNA mutations can supply raw materials for evolution â€" even though the extra wings have no muscles and these disabled mutants cannot survive outside the laboratory?

HUMAN ORIGINS. Why are artists' drawings of ape-like humans used to justify materialistic claims that we are just animals and our existence is a mere accident â€" when fossil experts cannot even agree on who our supposed ancestors were or what they looked like?

EVOLUTION A FACT? Why are we told that Darwin's theory of evolution is a scientific fact â€" even though many of its claims are based on misrepresentations of the facts?

21. A Teacher on the Front Line as Faith and Science Clash

Comment #236637 by King of NH on August 25, 2008 at 12:52 am

Layla Nasreddin: Speaking of which, I wonder what is taught in parochial schools about evolution...or not. Do the new standards apply to them, I wonder, or just public schools? Catholic schools would probably teach it, I suppose, since they have a reputation (in the US, anyway) for producing better educated students than most public schools (!).

22. Study: Conservatives Grow Wary Of Mixing Religion, Politics

Comment #235681 by King of NH on August 23, 2008 at 11:37 am

But what party is atheist friendly? What party supports those of us that choose to give up childhood fantasies and actually propell the nation forward with moon landings, nuclear energy, improved crop yeilds, computers, genetic medicine, virus defense, and global aid (looking at you, Gates [thumbs up])?

But polls are unreliable. If you asked me at five in the morning who I supported for president: McCain, Obama, Nader, or a Dunkin' Donuts Cinnamon Coffee with light sugar and cream... This would be an odd election year.

23. The rise of Miliband brings at last the prospect of an atheist prime minister

Comment #234727 by King of NH on August 22, 2008 at 12:32 am

I'll help you out, England. As an atheist, I'm putting in my claim to the throne. I take this claim from the fact that my father's line is Norman in name, and I've been called a bastard, so precedence entitles me. Once crowned, I will disolve the CofE, take their money, and build a wall surrounding the US Bible Belt and make them pass a test before they can expose their mind to the rest of the world. Everybody will be happy! C'mon... c'mon...

24. Supernatural science: Why we want to believe

Comment #234718 by King of NH on August 22, 2008 at 12:18 am

All I have to do is look at a tree, and I know bigfoot exists. Bigfoot believes in you. WWBFD? Accept Bigfoot as your savior and repent! For the Loch Ness Monster gave his only begotten Sasquach... In the begining, there was Yeti. Bigfoot sheds for your sins. He's got the whole world, in his (big, furry) hands. Our Sasquach, who art a Bigfoot, Yeti be thy name, also. I think we should have Bigfoot's foot prints on display at the US Supreme Court, since our laws are based on the Ten Cuticles.

25. Judge says UC can deny class credit to Christian school students

Comment #228980 by King of NH on August 13, 2008 at 12:21 am

I remember when I first started college in Georgia (US). I was in a world lit. course studying Gilgamesh. My professor asked us to compare and contrast Utnapishtim's flood and Noah's flood. More than 4/5ths of my class stood in all seriousness and claimed Utnapishtim was myth, Noah was real. I got in a little trouble for laughing out loud, but in my defense, I did think they were joking. Later, at the local bar, my professor and I continued to laugh. He transferred a few semesters after, and I transferred the following semester. Religion is destroying education.

26. CBI wants more pupils in science

Comment #228417 by King of NH on August 12, 2008 at 3:22 am

I just hope that the arts are not neglected in the push for science. Then again, the arts have already slid with the "don't hurt their fragile feelings" push. I hate to say it (not really) but 99% of you... Your kid's drawing is crap and his/her grammar is only slighly better than a drunken bonobo's. But back to the sciences.

I agree with Dawkins. So long as we have people in our society squashing science (I'm looking at you, Hamm, Comfort, and Ratzinger) we will have young people that steer away. If the government is serious about encouraging science, it will stop encouraging these fools.

27. The HMS Beagle Project

Comment #228410 by King of NH on August 12, 2008 at 3:07 am

< drool > I would love to sail that ship. And a circumnavigation to boot! That's still a rare chance today. < /drool >

28. The best way to undermine the jihadists is to trigger a rebellion of Muslim women - and establish energy independence

Comment #226494 by King of NH on August 8, 2008 at 6:57 am

Remember women of America:

This November, piss of religious fundamentalists and let them see you casting your own educated vote!

29. Darwin's bulldogs

Comment #226485 by King of NH on August 8, 2008 at 6:44 am

Muslim children

Whoops.

Otherwise, the times has almost redeemed themselves.

30. Dawkin 'bout a revolution

Comment #225660 by King of NH on August 7, 2008 at 7:13 am

I like the slogan, since it sums up the feeling I think many of us have in a kinder way then we'd put it (like "There is no God, so pull your head out of your ass and grow up!). I'd toss in for a pledge if this will be more than a bus rolling around London. Why not start a campaign to raise the awareness that atheists are not morally deprived? Why not let closet atheists and fence sitters know that it's okay? Every day I see the steeples of churches, the hateful church slogans, and stupid little fish. I want to see in your face, but tasteful, atheist signs. I want to get together and scream from the mountains that there are atheists, there are a lot of us, and we will not be slandered defenselessly by the likes of Bush Sr.. If you disagree, that's your right and I probably respect your reasons. If you do agree, we can start with a bus rolling around London!

31. Praying for health

Comment #225654 by King of NH on August 7, 2008 at 6:56 am

Correlation does NOT mean causation. Basic high-school level probs and stats. Countries with high religious and/or linguistic diversity also tend to have little technology that might prevent disease. I think there is probably a better causation hypothesis in there.

In the US, being so very in love with the automobile, there is an unstoppable mixing of people from one ocean to the next. Very few towns could ever boast of a single day without an out of state plate on the road. Yet this seems to have the opposite effect of the idea Mr. Fincher has proposed. Americans seem to be rather strong against communicable disease today. Now, this is more of anecdotal evidence and poorly constructed correlation/causation, but it would need to be explained in an article like the one above. I think the same could be found in Europe today as well. Europeans seem to have gone a healthy length of time without a plague. Perhaps ethnic mixing has brought us into contact with too many human compatible diseases to be really vulnerable to any current strains. If this were the case, religion has one more strike against it, not a point for it.

32. Call to teach biblical creation as science

Comment #225642 by King of NH on August 7, 2008 at 6:36 am

"Evolution is a theory â€" it is not a proven fact...

33. Douglas Adams Memorial Lecture 2008

Comment #224993 by King of NH on August 6, 2008 at 4:25 am

What does Steven Pinker's talk have to do with Douglas Adam's memorial?

34. Is our universe fine-tuned for life?

Comment #224921 by King of NH on August 6, 2008 at 3:04 am

< fingersinears > La la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la la < / fingersinears >

It's funny how much lip service is given to the idea of uniqueness that this world of ours has. I think the laws of physics can explain such a "fine tuned" look, and chemical reactions can quite easily grow to the complexity of life. Our universe seems "fine tuned" for life because we happen to be the life that grew here. If it were a much different universe, and we were much different, we would claim that universe was fine tuned.

All that aside, it's very interesting to see that our universe is theoretically nothing special. Christians might hate the loss of their special place, but I feel great! The multiverse is an awe inspiring place.

35. Do they really think the earth is flat?

Comment #224556 by King of NH on August 5, 2008 at 5:29 am

"I came to realise how much we take at face value," he says. "We humans seem to be pleased with just accepting what we are told, no matter how much it goes against our senses."

36. 'Major discovery' from MIT primed to unleash solar revolution

Comment #223370 by King of NH on August 2, 2008 at 5:20 am

That'll help, but the sun is never in the right position...The midday sun, which gives the highest energy density irradiation, sadly shines on the roof.....

37. MnIndy interview: Unrepentant science-heathen PZ Myers still intends to prove 'this cracker is nothing'

Comment #223366 by King of NH on August 2, 2008 at 5:09 am

532 comments, not including this one, number 533. And all this, plus the 10,000 or so comments on PZ's page, over a cracker?

PZ was wrong! It's that simple. A rusty nail through a cracker? Pepperoni and cheddar, PZ! Or be unique with a jalapeno jelly, if you really must. But a rusty nail and qaran page... ...on a cracker? Just doesn't sound appetizing at all. I must be missing some grander point.

38. 10 Big Questions for Maverick Geneticist J. Craig Venter on America's Energy Future

Comment #223359 by King of NH on August 2, 2008 at 4:54 am

First, second and third generation biofuels are disgusting and irresponsible considering the current food crisis.

39. Richard Dawkins branded 'secularist bigot' by veteran philosopher

Comment #223356 by King of NH on August 2, 2008 at 4:45 am

Prof Flew, a former Reading University philosophy professor, was known as "the world's most notorious atheist" before he became convinced of the existence of a "divine intelligence" in 2004 (which would be at the age of 81)

40. Workers' Religious Freedom vs. Patients' Rights

Comment #222934 by King of NH on August 1, 2008 at 6:03 am

It's not so much that people shouldn't have the right to decide between right and wrong, and should not have to do wrong. We all know this: think the My Lai Massacre, or the Abu Ghraib prison. We don't just allow this kind of individual thought, we demand it. So I would like to dismiss the idea that medical workers have no right to refuse to perform morally reprehensible actions.

That being said, I abhor this bill. This bill is not asking for permission for people to refuse to do "evil." This bill is asking permission for people to suspend rational thoughts regarding morality and simply say, "I won't do what Jill says because Sally said I shouldn't. I like Sally more than Jill, so I expect the law to protect me." There is a new term for this reasoning I have seen used: WTF?!? If someone could give a concrete reason, with logic and thought, and no appeal to supernatural commandments channeled through red-faced preachers, as to why abortion should be denied, then I am absolutely willing to listen. But they do not want to provide reasons; they simply want legal protection to behave willy-nilly.

So do I agree we have the right to legal protection when we behave in a way that might conflict with our job, if that behavior can be demonstrated as proper? Yes, but then we, in America, already have that protection.

Do I agree that the demonstration of what is proper can be based on a 2000 year old incomprehensible, inconsistent, and culturally specific book? No! Or a barely educated, self-righteous hick who bought a pulpit at a flea-market for two shotgun shells and a pig? No!

We have every right, and every obligation, to behave morally before we behave according to our employers' wishes. But we are also expected to stand behind our convictions, alone, and explain them. This individual responsibility is what they ask to be removed. It is sickening and revolting.

(PS: If you disagree, talk to Dawkins. He told me to think this way)

(PPS: The PS was fricken stupid? Yes, I know)

41. Obama Should Re-Think His Faith-Based Agenda

Comment #221012 by King of NH on July 29, 2008 at 9:13 am

I don't think McCain was either very liked by conservative Christians in the past or doing his best too woo fundamentalists now, I don't see why Obama needs to do so.

42. Obama Should Re-Think His Faith-Based Agenda

Comment #220780 by King of NH on July 29, 2008 at 3:59 am

The sad part is that since it's the Christian Reich that rules America, Obama doesn't have a choice about his faith stance if he wants to win. If you aren't Christian you will not win, period, that's the American way.

43. Losing Sight of Progress

Comment #215433 by King of NH on July 21, 2008 at 10:27 pm

The mistaken view of 'backward' evolution does disprove the hand of god, but explaining the error also helps those who are eager to understand evolution see it for what it truely is - unguided with no goal. Humans are not an apex of evolution, but a unique roll of dice, and as Einstein argued, god couldn't have rolled them (I know I am misquoting Einstein with that). The next step in human evolution could resemble Lucy, as today it seems the stupid people breed in much larger numbers than smart ones.

Another example of 'reverse' evolution is the domestic dog. While it evolved further along the timeline than it's wild ancestor, it has less strength, stamina, and intelligence. New research points to these adaptations beginning before becoming fully domesticated, making it evolution by natural selection, a selecting for dogs more able to mingle with humans, and then live with humans (in other words, unlike most domesticates, dogs and humans domesticated one another, so to speak, for mutual benefit). Evolution can Select for a dumming down when that is part of the genetic package that best suits the needs of the species.

44. Richard Dawkins slaps creationists into the primordial soup

Comment #213813 by King of NH on July 19, 2008 at 12:58 am

He does not see why literature and science should be enemies.

45. Bush Bureaucrats at Dept. of Health and Human Services Redefine Contraception as Abortion

Comment #213040 by King of NH on July 18, 2008 at 3:47 am

This bill seems to be a Trojan horse working religion into government. We need to fight this where the rubber meets the road.

46. MnIndy interview: Unrepentant science-heathen PZ Myers still intends to prove 'this cracker is nothing'

Comment #211390 by King of NH on July 16, 2008 at 12:19 am

Myers: The response has done nothing but confirm it: I have to do something. I'm not going to just let this disappear.

47. Fury at funeral songs ban

Comment #211381 by King of NH on July 15, 2008 at 11:58 pm

Sad, sad, sad

Religion pays such lip service to being there to comfort and console in times of need. Now, they want to hit people when they're down because their imaginary god tells them to. They just lost a family member. Let them mourn.

Message to the Bishops: There is no god, none. Your rules are stupid and they hurt people. Stop playing games and get a real job.

48. Disproving Conventional Wisdom On Diversity Of Marine Fossils And Extinction Rates

Comment #210573 by King of NH on July 14, 2008 at 8:21 pm

This is real "Academic Freedom." When science finds they really do have weakness in one idea (proliferation of species diversity) and strengths in another idea (plateau of species diversity) it is taught, discussed, and corrected. So why do we need a bill telling scientists to do what they apparently do already, quite willingly?

49. Man Sues Church Over 'God Injury'

Comment #210068 by King of NH on July 13, 2008 at 9:26 pm

I consider persistent mis-spelling and ignoring of grammar, especially after it has been pointed out, to be a form of low-grade rudeness.

50. Weak US dollar hits papal profits

Comment #209208 by King of NH on July 11, 2008 at 9:22 pm

Wow. Looks like even the imaginary friend market is suffering. Any market reports from the competition yet? I hear Muhammad is still popular, though exports are down. Maybe Shiva the Destroyer could hire Dick Cheney as their spokesperson? I know Hinduism has long been a strictly local producer, but the imaginary friend market is sure to rebound and may have a void or two. I'm still investing my money in Ninsun. She's an older IF producer, but has a proven resilience.