1. Cathedral seminar to equip clerics to deal with Dawkins

Comment #252765 by tahustvedt on September 23, 2008 at 3:13 pm

I'm not surprised.

I know of a devout christian who goes to meetings in his church groups where they discuss how to best respond to "atheist claims" here in Norway.

2. Does faith have a place in medicine?

Comment #250772 by tahustvedt on September 20, 2008 at 10:05 am

"They are proposing a tacitly atheist set of rules,"

Not really. More like an attempt at avoiding irrational religious rules.

3. To learn biology, just pick up the console

Comment #231394 by tahustvedt on August 16, 2008 at 8:25 am

An evolution-simulator (according to evolution as we know it in nature) would be one where you as a player manipulate the environment.

I haven't played the game so I may be wrong, but if I understand the concept of Spore correctly it's not even an artificlal selection simulator. The player creates new properties with each evolutionary step, whereas in artificial selection humans select already existing specimens with the properties preferable to us. Do the creatures evolve as a reaction to the environment in the game?

I'll give the demo a try. It looked like a fun game when I saw the demonstration on TED.

4. Richard Dawkins on Al Jazeera English

Comment #216529 by tahustvedt on July 23, 2008 at 9:15 am

Copernic.

He means we should not base our moral standards on "survival of the fittest". We are intelligent enough to be tolerant and altruistic.

5. Richard Dawkins on Al Jazeera English

Comment #215594 by tahustvedt on July 22, 2008 at 7:02 am

Good interview and interviewer! :)


55. Comment #215457 by isthatclear:

Blah blah...

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

Comment #213633 by tahustvedt on July 18, 2008 at 5:35 pm

Bah. Life doesn't begin at conception/fertilization. Life continues at fertilization. Life began 3.5 billion years ago (or thereabout).


Imagine how disastrously overpopulated a welfare country like USA would become if contraception was banned.

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

Comment #207321 by tahustvedt on July 9, 2008 at 2:00 pm

I have to ask... How old are you, ertu?

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

Comment #207286 by tahustvedt on July 9, 2008 at 12:53 pm

http://www.ebaumsworld.com/pictures/view/12903/

9. Tablet Ignites Debate on Messiah and Resurrection

Comment #205141 by tahustvedt on July 6, 2008 at 4:39 pm

Who says a day can't be millions of years?



Or something...

10. Merger of U.S. earth science agencies proposed

Comment #204587 by tahustvedt on July 5, 2008 at 9:59 am

Sounds like a good thing for understanding of the climate.

I have been sceptical about the maturity of climate science because there are so many individual fields of science that need to be understood to have a reliable theory.

11. Group Asks for Divine Intervention to Ease Oil Prices

Comment #204141 by tahustvedt on July 4, 2008 at 8:26 am

Damnit! Now I have to want the prices to go up so that these people don't get an excuse to say goddidit. lol



They say they are really suffering beause of high gas prices. I wonder if they have any idea what it means to really suffer.

12. New Zealand man sells his soul to 'Hell'

Comment #203772 by tahustvedt on July 3, 2008 at 2:31 pm

Hell

13. New Zealand man sells his soul to 'Hell'

Comment #203758 by tahustvedt on July 3, 2008 at 2:03 pm

There's a place in Norway called Hell. It's nearby the place I went to boot camp. Fitting, because boot camp is almost Hell. I took the train through Hell station many times and there's a sign that says: "Hell. Gods ekpedisjon." Which I thought was funny.

(Gods is norwegian for goods, and ekspedisjon is norwegian for expedition)

Hell was cold and wet, BTW.

14. New Zealand man sells his soul to 'Hell'

Comment #203748 by tahustvedt on July 3, 2008 at 1:33 pm

Isn't that fraud? :)

I wonder if there're any legal implications with selling my soul multiple times.

15. Obama Wants to Expand Role of Religious Groups

Comment #203197 by tahustvedt on July 2, 2008 at 1:00 pm

Why can't they invest money in a humanist-based initiative to fight poverty and perform community aid work?

I know the answer, I'm just venting.

16. Jesus and Mo on Militant Atheists

Comment #202292 by tahustvedt on July 1, 2008 at 8:34 am

Hehe. Great humor.

This one was hilarious: http://www.jesusandmo.net/2008/05/01/bang/

17. Common New Atheist Fallacies

Comment #201269 by tahustvedt on June 29, 2008 at 2:22 pm

I thought it was funny that he talked to the audience as if they were children.

18. Non-voters: It's all in God's hands

Comment #200397 by tahustvedt on June 27, 2008 at 1:38 pm

I'm sure most of you have seen this: Intelligent people less likely to believe in God

IQ is really a factor of how fit a person is to navigate a respective society and deal with challenges in life, is it not?

Perhaps a connection.

19. Creationist critics get their comeuppance

Comment #200282 by tahustvedt on June 27, 2008 at 8:49 am

Did you see what Conservapedia wrote on the front page after Lenski's second reply?

Lenski's latest response to a request for his data is revealing ... about Lenski's attitude. Take a good look at the attitude our tax dollars are paying for.

20. Creationist critics get their comeuppance

Comment #199755 by tahustvedt on June 26, 2008 at 10:24 am

Hahaha. Owned

They're desperate, walking around in blinkers in an attempt to deny reality.

21. Mormons urged to back ban on same-sex marriage

Comment #199120 by tahustvedt on June 25, 2008 at 7:56 am

It's funny that 99% (or something like that) of the people opposing same sex marriages are religious people who base "their" opinions on prejudice.

Actually, it's not funny at all.

22. Philadelphia Set to Honor Darwin and Evolution

Comment #198796 by tahustvedt on June 24, 2008 at 1:48 pm

Ken Ham:

"Christians who believe in evolution are being inconsistent."

23. Should Strident British Atheist Richard Dawkins Dictate Education Policy to US States? Barbara Forrest Apparently Thinks So

Comment #197471 by tahustvedt on June 22, 2008 at 7:19 am

This is not about critical thinking. If it really was about critical thinking it would be redundant. Science already is critical thinking. That's why good science demands evidence.

The classroom is not the right place for deciding what is good science. Creationism has been rejected because there is no evidence what so ever to support it, and so much evidence to support the alternative (evolution). Creationism therefore has no plce in science teaching.

24. Christianity 'could die out within a century'

Comment #197466 by tahustvedt on June 22, 2008 at 6:52 am

I don't see how religion can survive understanding in the long run.

25. New discovery proves 'selfish gene' exists

Comment #197319 by tahustvedt on June 21, 2008 at 5:56 pm

phil rimmer.

I agree.

26. Should Strident British Atheist Richard Dawkins Dictate Education Policy to US States? Barbara Forrest Apparently Thinks So

Comment #197293 by tahustvedt on June 21, 2008 at 3:39 pm

We're gonna need a bigger boat.

27. New discovery proves 'selfish gene' exists

Comment #197266 by tahustvedt on June 21, 2008 at 1:45 pm

This is not the same thing as the selfish gene proposed by RD in his book though, is it?

EDIT:
I own the book in both paperback and hardcover version but haven't read it yet, I need to finish other books first. lol From what I understand from quickly looking at some pages is that the genome (replicator) selfishly uses the organism (vehicle) purely for the purpose of passing itself on. Not conciously, of course. lol

28. Bright Chunks At Phoenix Lander's Mars Site Must Have Been Ice

Comment #197252 by tahustvedt on June 21, 2008 at 1:02 pm

I thought the idea was that the polar ice caps are mostly frozen CO2 (hence no liquid as they melt), and that water ice might be found under the ground.

I don't really know what I'm talking about though. lol

29. Lawsuit filed over 'I Believe' plates in S.C.

Comment #197085 by tahustvedt on June 21, 2008 at 4:18 am

Chuck Norris said that if he became president he'd tattoo an american flag with the words "In god we trust" on the forehead of all atheists.

30. Bright Chunks At Phoenix Lander's Mars Site Must Have Been Ice

Comment #196911 by tahustvedt on June 20, 2008 at 3:21 pm

I like the names they come up with for parts of those tiny areas of the patch of land where they dig. Cheshire Cat, Wonderland, Snow White Trench, Croquet Ground. :)

If it's not water ice, what is it? Carbon dioxide ice?

31. Science teacher dissed evolution

Comment #196810 by tahustvedt on June 20, 2008 at 1:01 pm

I don't get it.

What the hell is the logic behind burning in crosses in the arms of the students?

And why is the explanation that he was burning in X's any better?

32. Lawsuit filed over 'I Believe' plates in S.C.

Comment #196783 by tahustvedt on June 20, 2008 at 12:36 pm

That is one god awful ugly licence plate design. No wonder it was rejected.

33. The Mother, The Child, The School Board And The Psychic

Comment #196217 by tahustvedt on June 19, 2008 at 1:21 pm

Oh man. I have to show this article at work as an example of how this kind of BS can do harm.

An alarmingly high number of my co-workers believe in psychics and other paranormal beliefs. They tell these incredible stories where they come to strange, irrational conclusions about how ghosts made noises in their house one night or caused them to feel chill in one corner where an ancient road supposedly passed through long ago, and how psychics found their grandfathers' wallets over the phone.

Oh, and I'm the strange one.

34. Oystein Elgaroy - the Christian defender who became an Atheist

Comment #195010 by tahustvedt on June 17, 2008 at 2:24 pm

Yay Norway. lol

That's good news. Hopefully he'll make others think about it as well.

I've never heard of fritanke.no before, I'll have to check it out.

35. Rapture site sends unbelievers their last chance ... via email

Comment #194713 by tahustvedt on June 17, 2008 at 7:53 am

Haha. Then they would have one more thing in common with lemmings.

36. Rapture site sends unbelievers their last chance ... via email

Comment #194692 by tahustvedt on June 17, 2008 at 7:37 am

Hehe. That's evil. It's along the line of televangelism and other greedy ways of exploiting christians.

37. New British Petition: Stop the Nightmares

Comment #191985 by tahustvedt on June 12, 2008 at 8:42 am

Even if it's not causing negative long-term effects on the mental health of all the exposed children it is still a horrible trick to indoctrinate them into religion and ignorance.

I would sign if I could, but I'm norwegian. I sent a link to my sister in London instead.

38. Americans pray at the pump for cheaper petrol

Comment #179645 by tahustvedt on May 13, 2008 at 1:11 pm

Christians who believe the world is only a few thousand years old are praying for cheaper, millions of years old fossil fuels. That's just funny.