1. I am creating artificial life, declares US gene pioneer

Comment #76550 by MaxieZ on October 6, 2007 at 7:52 am

I have no objection to the science here. I think it's amazing and I certainly think Craig Venter deserves a great deal of respect. I just fear it could be dangerous if not properly used. We still don't know a lot about all the varying dependencies in a given ecosystem. and I can't help but feel that introducing a new species into nature is on par with allowing one to go extinct. I could be wrong.

2. I am creating artificial life, declares US gene pioneer

Comment #76500 by MaxieZ on October 6, 2007 at 2:24 am

Is it wrong to be just a touch worried about this? It's not an ethical concern I have as much as a humanist concern. For example...let's say we create a bacteria that eats co2 or methane to prevent future global warming. What happens when the tilt goes the other way and plants that we need start dying? Do we create new living things that eat the things we created?

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly?

Maybe I'm being paranoid...

3. Radical Christians in Iraq

Comment #71483 by MaxieZ on September 18, 2007 at 9:29 pm

In my late teens and early 20s I was a pretty dedicated evangelical Christian. I learned about Voice of the Martyrs around this time. They are a very morbid group. I'm not sure how much of what they say is true, but they like to tell you horribly graphic stories about how Christians are being killed all over the world. I recall a tale of a man being beaten to death with his own arms after they were violently removed.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18176156/

When this story was released, they ran a version listing graphic torture that had been done to the men (though they seem to have removed this page now) in great detail.

It's like they get a sadomasochistic pleasure out of telling and listening to these stories.

4. 'Root of All Evil? The Uncut Interviews' Released on DVD

Comment #67891 by MaxieZ on September 5, 2007 at 4:35 am

I really want more Yusef Calcuta (sp?) (Joseph Cohen). Mr. "I hate atheists"

5. Some stars and planets in scale

Comment #18576 by MaxieZ on January 21, 2007 at 6:18 pm

Klmgy: Perhaps God is really Led Zepplin and those are all just stairways to heaven

6. Some stars and planets in scale

Comment #18565 by MaxieZ on January 21, 2007 at 5:42 pm

Check out this picture of Saturn

http://ciclops.org/view.php?id=2230

There is a small dot you can see in the rings...it's earth

7. Evangelical Scientists Refute Gravity With New 'Intelligent Falling' Theory

Comment #18051 by MaxieZ on January 18, 2007 at 4:39 am

I think this is a great piece really.

Beautifully intelligently designed if you'll forgive my pun.

Gravity is accepted by almost everyone these days. No one honestly questions it as fact.

Yet all we really "know" about it is that there is a relationship between mass and gravity and...well it works every time we drop something.

Compared to Evolution, this really is a theory in crisis.

We do know the underlying cause of evolution. It's natural selection and survival of the fittest. Apart from saying "mass has gravity" we don't know what is the cause of it. It's just there. Can you imagine, if we stated that animals just evolved....just cause. If there were no explanation as to why? I doubt seriously it would have survived.

8. Christian Shrine Needs Two Exits, Israel Says

Comment #17874 by MaxieZ on January 17, 2007 at 6:21 am

Not that this needs proving, but there are plenty of church fires that I'm aware of. Especially in the bible belt (where I live).


There was this string about a year ago:

http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/02/12/church.fires/index.html

Granted that's arson, but I'd like to think God could still intervene despite some pesky kids (It turned out to be teenagers doing it. Not a hate group)

In 1902 a Birmingham, Alabama church fire, killed 115 on September 20


Here's are two pages listing church fires
http://gbgm-umc.org/advance/Church-Burnings/firenews.html
http://www.greatdreams.com/church_fires.htm

I've even heard as a result of this people use the phrase "Die in a church fire" as one would call someone a "jerk" (though "Die in a church fire" is obviously a touch more harsh :) ).

About a year ago we had a mega church burn to the ground in the suburbs of Atlanta. I can't remember the cause, but it wasn't arson.

And then we have all the churches destroyed by Katrina (Not fires, but if God is punishing New Orleans for a lesbian comedian living there, you'd think he could spare his property. He at least had that kindness for Lot).

Of course all of this is evidence, which has no place when dealing with religious matters. There are, of course, no church fires

9. Without God, Gall Is Permitted

Comment #16236 by MaxieZ on January 5, 2007 at 4:48 pm

"Few acquaintances of Dr. Richard Dawkins, the world's most voluble public atheist, wonder, as they might have a hundred years ago: Can I leave my wife unchaperoned in this man's company?"

I can't help but point out how safe it is to leave your children in the hands of priests.

While I can't say how successful the new perceived attitude of atheists will be in winning over the faithful (and I mean that in the way faith is ugly), I see no harm in anyone trying a different approach. Unless, of course, the 1st amendment doesn't apply to a lack of religion