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Comments by Darwin's badger


51. Lungless frog discovered in Borneo

Comment #158850 by Darwin's badger on April 11, 2008 at 5:52 am

Bluebird, my son is also covering evolutionary biology at the moment, and he came out from school yesterday with a big grin on his face. "I knew everything that the teacher knew, plus loads of stuff that she didn't," said he. I told him about the frog this morning and he was really interested, so a big "Thank You" to the original poster of the article, and of course, to Richard Dawkins for making evolutionary biology so interesting that my son enjoys hearing me talk about it and wants to pass on what he hears! He doesn't share my enthusiasm for Reeves & Mortimer yet, but give it time...I've only just got him into Alan Partridge, so I'm hopeful of a conversion in the not-too-distant future. :)

52. Scientists take drugs to boost brain power: study

Comment #158843 by Darwin's badger on April 11, 2008 at 5:42 am

I'd be very wary of taking anything that I didn't precisely know the long-term risk of. Mind you, I'm in my thirties. When I was student age, I'd have given plenty of things a go that I wouldn't go near now. At least they're using them to learn, not to get out of their faces.

53. Reviews of Expelled

Comment #158471 by Darwin's badger on April 10, 2008 at 3:12 pm

Man, Mathis is a sleaze. It's ironic that the person that the religious right are happy to get behind is the very antithesis of truth and honesty. Lying for Jesus? Why the hell not.

54. Reviews of Expelled

Comment #158139 by Darwin's badger on April 10, 2008 at 6:02 am

Comment #157991 by mundusvultdecipi on April 10, 2008 at 12:02 am
I am constantly amazed that there is not more of a backlash whenever the holocaust is invoked in such a cavalier manner, is it just me or does anyone else find it incredibly offensive to play fast and loose with such an horrific historical event ? We saw it invoked again, recently, with that eccentric UK bishop who thought books critical of christianity were somehow akin to holocaust denial.


My only surprise is that Stein, Mathis et al didn't attempt to pin the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event upon Darwin somehow. After all, if he's that evil, surely he has the ability to travel in time, wreaking havoc along the way?




Bugger, I've just remembered that they don't believe in 65 million year-old dinosaurs either. That'll be why Darwin escaped. However, I did hear that his time-travelling vehicle-of-choice was a white Fiat Uno, and he had a penchant for Parisian underpasses...

55. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #157560 by Darwin's badger on April 9, 2008 at 9:05 am

Yep, Keith is this forum's version of Viz's "Raffles, the gentleman thug". :)

(Link for those who aren't familiar with the character)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raffles,_Gentleman_Thug

56. Hitchens vs. Hitchens

Comment #157458 by Darwin's badger on April 9, 2008 at 5:54 am

I know what you mean, I feel the same about some people and it takes a lot of discipline to adhere to sometimes.

Serdan, everything I know about it is via the internet - wikis, etc. I'm not an expert by any means.

e.g. Wikipedia: LaVeyan satanism was founded in the 1960's, based on occult influences from Crowley and philosophy from Rand and Nietzsche.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laveyan_satanism
Theistic satanists are not atheists and view satan as a deity and/or force.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theistic_Satanism

etc.

I couldn't give a monkeys, to be honest. I don't think either one is particularly humanistic.

57. Hitchens vs. Hitchens

Comment #157421 by Darwin's badger on April 9, 2008 at 4:34 am

Serdan,
it depends on whether or not one is referring to theistic satanism or not. LaVeyan Satanism is a relatively new take on a centuries-old tradition.

58. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #157384 by Darwin's badger on April 9, 2008 at 3:08 am

Keith, I couldn't agree more. I like it a little frisson from time to time.

Steve Z, loved the clip! "I can't feel my hands!" :)

59. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #157370 by Darwin's badger on April 9, 2008 at 2:12 am

Comment #157350 by Paula Kirby on April 9, 2008 at 1:03 am

Wouldn't that constitute disagreeing with me, Cartomancer? According to Mike, that's not allowed on this forum! ;-)
Not that I'm agreeing with you or anything, but surely as dictator/trix, you'd be free to choose any title you so wished? Furthermore, current convention is to use the term "actors", regardless of their sex; therefore, the term "dictator" could be deemed to be politically correct.

Your loyal subject,
DB
:)

60. Hitchens vs. Hitchens

Comment #157367 by Darwin's badger on April 9, 2008 at 2:00 am

5. Comment #157210 by Peacebeuponme on April 8, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Gonna finish this off tomorroew. Peter trots out the old "without god everthing is permitted". Embarrassing for him.

I thought he did well on the Iraq bit. Hate myself when I slightly side with him on anything.

I know what you mean, PBUM, but in a way, that's actually one of the things that I like the most about not subscribing to a dogma. i.e. it's okay to question or disagree with someone that one otherwise completely agrees with. I'm a big fan of the SGU, but when one of them said (paraphrased) "the only scientifically accurate position to take on the subject of religion is agnostic", I couldn't have agreed less. That didn't stop me from agreeing with nearly everything else that he said, nor did my agreeing with nearly everything else that he said influence my ability to disagree with him on religion or any other hypothetical conflict of opinion. I quite like the Bible guy, can't remember his name off the top of my head - Bob Price? - when it comes to the subject of religion, but on most other things, we are very different indeed, and that's okay. I can cope with the dissonance due to my ability to separate the topic from the person; this is something that I couldn't have done before I discovered free thought and critical thinking.

Of course, you're free to disagree or agree with me in whichever way you please. :)

61. Russell T Davies: Return of the (tea) Time Lord

Comment #157334 by Darwin's badger on April 8, 2008 at 11:59 pm

Well, the good bloke/antichrist debate about Richard's cameo has been locked on www.doctorwhoforum.com - it seems that feathers are ruffled wherever the the heathen goes. Some telling comments though.

"I hate Richard Dawkins.

Firstly, he's a grumpy old man.

Secondly, he's rude to everyone who doesn't agree with him. We watched one of his videos at school and there was a bit where he was practically intimidating this imam who was reasoning perfectly his point of view.

And he acts as if everyone who is christian beleives the bits in the bible where God tells people to kill, rape and steal.
They don't.

He is so horrible. He just marched up to this very nice imam and good as told him that everything he beleived was wrong. Even if you disagree with him you don't need to be horrible.

t**t."

"On the other hand, I think he's a bit of a legend."

"I am a HUGE fan of Richard Dawkins and the thought of him being in Doctor Who sends shivers down my spine! It would be immense!"

""Doctor Who - guest starring a charmless narrow-minded git with a boring prose style" isn't exactly something to be shouting from the rooftops."

"Dawkins is the least narrow-minded person I could imagine! Very forward and liberal thinking actually. Just because he dares to question the religious nut-jobs in our society & the religions which claim they are loving when actually they have spread messages of hate and destruction for hundreds of years.
I hope he is playing a Black, Gay Christian."

"Dawkins's brand of atheism (I'm not saying all brands of atheism) is as poisonously dogmatic as some of the religious practices he denounces. The only true scientific outlook on the world is - to some measure at least - agnostic."

"If you read "The God Delusion", you'll see that Dawkins makes it quite clear that he's an agnostic, in the same way that he's agnostic about invisible, undetectable fairies living at the bottom of his garden. This doesn't mean that he has to remain completely impartial on the subject though; one can look for effects, supporting evidence etc. and make inferences from the information available, and since the information available does not support the Abrahamic God of the Old and New Testament (or spiritualism, life after death, clairvoyance or other assorted psychic phenomena), Dawkins states that he may as well be called an atheist. I'm certain that I, and most other atheists (agnostics if you prefer) that I know, would love to be proved wrong, and if sufficient evidence came to light that supported the existence of a supernatural cosmic being that listened to my every thought and granted me wishes, I'd happily change my opinion."



That's just the first three pages of an eleven-page thread. Worryingly, this was posted by someone from the Midlands, UK:

"Creationism was bought forward to me in school, as was Big Bang Theory and to me the Big Bang takes a lot more faith than believing in God."

Yikes.

If anyone wants to read it in detail, the link is: http://www.doctorwhoforum.com/showthread.php?t=174396&page=1

62. Fleabytes

Comment #157021 by Darwin's badger on April 8, 2008 at 1:44 pm

Comment #134769 by Philip1978 on February 28, 2008 at 7:37 am
I call Badger
Sorry for being so slow on the uptake, but I just noticed this, and wanted to say "Too Late!" :)

64. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #156749 by Darwin's badger on April 8, 2008 at 8:18 am

Comment #156597 by Philip1978 on April 8, 2008 at 2:23 am


If it makes you feel any better I am rather fond of classical music having played violin, cello, trumpet and clarinet when younger
All at once? :)

65. Russell T Davies: Return of the (tea) Time Lord

Comment #156336 by Darwin's badger on April 7, 2008 at 11:03 am

52. Comment #156289 by Geoff on April 7, 2008 at 8:49 am

Dunno if I qualify as "uber-straight" or not, but in my case the sexual preference of a musician/band is totally irrelevant to whether I like their music or not.
*cough* Gary Glitter */cough*

Funnily enough, the personality of the artist does bother me, no matter how able they are as an artist. I quite like some of Beck's music ("Lost Cause" is a beautiful song), but there's this nagging voice in the back of my head saying "He's a Scientologist" whenever I hear it. I find it very difficult to separate the artist from the art.

66. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #156091 by Darwin's badger on April 6, 2008 at 5:06 pm

Oh, get over yourself, Mike. Tomorrow, millions of people will die, many of them in poverty, agony and without ever knowing democracy. Why how much atheists care about the life of one highly intimidating religious proselyte should cause such a bunching of your panties, I just can't understand. Judging by the tone of your last post, the deep seated anger that you speak of exists mostly in you. For the record, I won't celebrate if he dies of his injuries. However, nor will I mourn.

67. Russell T Davies: Return of the (tea) Time Lord

Comment #156086 by Darwin's badger on April 6, 2008 at 4:45 pm

Phil Rimmer, Rusty's "Second Coming" is available on Ebay.*edit* Can't get the link to work, I don't know my html. Just go there and look. It's on Amazon too, for less than £4.

68. Russell T Davies: Return of the (tea) Time Lord

Comment #156050 by Darwin's badger on April 6, 2008 at 2:55 pm

StraightEdge, it was Peter Davison that Tennant met up with, not Colin Baker. You were one doctor out. :)

Steve Z, "Blink" was, indeed, fantastic, but there were several from that series. "Human Nature/Family of Blood" was a wonderful two-parter. However, "Blink" did give my daughter (aged 9 at the time) bad dreams, something that no other episode of new Who has done. She then spent the following week looming at her friends whenever they closed their eyes for a second. :D

69. Protests no concern for outspoken atheist

Comment #155946 by Darwin's badger on April 6, 2008 at 11:46 am

89. Comment #155747 by D'Arcy on April 5, 2008 at 2:44 pm


I wish the good doctor was right, but it seems that Ken Ham and his dollars are still wielding some influence on this side of the pool, judging by today's Guardian.



http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2008/apr/05/evolution.controversiesinscience

I don't understand why Angry Randerson insists that a crackpot like Ham is "Dawkins's worst nightmare". Ham is a gift-wrapped invitation to demonstrate the foolishness of Creationists, a YEC long-hop that I'm sure the good Prof is more than happy to dispatch to the boundary.

70. Russell T Davies: Return of the (tea) Time Lord

Comment #155901 by Darwin's badger on April 6, 2008 at 9:12 am

I actually thought that it started quite well last night, and some of the spoilers in the article suggest that it will be a good series. Great to see the Dawkmeister in there too; if there's anyone in this world that epitomises the Doctor's delight and wonder at the awesomeness of the universe, it's Richard.

71. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #155862 by Darwin's badger on April 6, 2008 at 5:51 am

Comment #155808 by AtheistAspy on April 5, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Just proves my point that most atheists are elitist assholes.
Whereas, you're better than that...oh, the irony! :D

72. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #155840 by Darwin's badger on April 6, 2008 at 3:52 am

Comment #155772 by Dr Benway on April 5, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Hmm. Now that Richard Morgan and his sockpuppet, Diogenes2008 have deleted their posts, this thread has become difficult to follow. So to recap for the latecomers:

Chorus: OMG!!1! Man hits head wif log to kill self?!! WTF?
Richard Morgan: This site is sullied day after day by this sort of heartless reaction.
Chorus: We're not mean. We're just sayin'.
Richard Morgan: You would never see David Robertson laughing and jeering at an atheist's anguished distress and madness. Never.
Chorus: Well... log part was funny.
Diogenes2008: You people are appalling and your behavior is inadmissible. Shame!
Chorus: Ok, but log bit made us laff. Not all day, just a little.
Diogenes2008: I can't bear to read this thread further.
Chorus: ?
Diogenes2008: Earlier I said I'd rather hang with Robertson than you lot. That got no reaction. Did you not hear me?
Benway: Ha!
Richard Morgan: D'oh! *delete, delete, delete*

The moral of the story: Do not fuck with the human beings. Eventually they will suss you out.

That's the funniest thing on this thread! :D

73. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #155647 by Darwin's badger on April 5, 2008 at 6:26 am

Cartomancer said:What I am laughing at is the idea of failed doomsday prophecies and the slapstick image in my head of a man hitting himself over the head with a log. The fact that these ideas and images were put into my head by Pyotr Kuznetsov's story is immaterial. In all honesty the mental picture I am laughing at must look nothing like what really happened out in Russia last month - the news report has abstracted many of the details, and my reading of it has abstracted a stage further. Why should I not laugh at the innocuous funny images inside my head? Why should I not share my amusement with others? Would anyone seriously suggest that my appreciation of these images reduces my capacity for compassion, empathy or understanding? I certainly resent such implications.
Indeed, the Kuznetsov in my head looks very much like Michael Palin, and the people in the cave are the rest of the Pythons. Arghhhh, just realised that I laughed at a mental image that included a gay alcoholic cancer victim and a long-time sufferer of depression. The guilt is too great for me to handle. Pass me the log, and goodnight.

75. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #155582 by Darwin's badger on April 5, 2008 at 1:24 am

You're missing the point somewhat, Aspy. We're all (for want of a better term) 'mentally ill', in that we all have our cognitive blindspots, our psychological perspectives skewed by our odd genes and our equally odd developmental environments. One of your blindspots seems to be that you consider this guy and bin Laden to be a false analogy, when they are both religious extremists who find it difficult to listen to reason, and who, in trying to do the right thing by the voices in their head, have caused x amount of damage to the lives of others. I don't believe that bin Laden even considers the deaths of non-believers to be 'hurting people', as we infidels are less than human to him.

I recommend that you read Festinger, Riecken and Schacter's classic in social psychology, "When Prophecy Fails", which goes into far greater detail about the mental workings of people than I'm prepared to. In the meantime, every time you hear something funny, think about whose feelings may be hurt by that joke if it has relevance to them and tut disapprovingly. ;)

76. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #155536 by Darwin's badger on April 4, 2008 at 5:22 pm

Oh, and for what it's worth, I've suffered with both unipolar and bipolar depression at different stages of my life, but still think that they're fair game for comedy. My wife was eating disordered for many years, but I still laughed at Prince Philip's comment (made to a woman who trained guide dogs for the blind), "Do you have eating dogs for the anorexic?" I was moved to tears when I watched a documentary about Tourette's syndrome a few years ago (a follow up to "John's not mad"), but when Jimmy Carr said "People with Tourette's...what makes them tic?", I laughed. Most satire, in fact, most humour is aimed at getting a laugh at someone else's expense. I won't self-flagellate just because I don't view everything I see or hear with my empathy scanner set to max.

77. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #155531 by Darwin's badger on April 4, 2008 at 5:04 pm

Human beings are funny. Sometimes tragic, but still achingly hilarious. Some of the sanctimonious comments on here make me wonder as to what the reaction would be to someone like bin Laden: Should he get a cuddle and a prescription of Haloperidol for his delusional beliefs, perhaps? Quite clearly he's lost, lonely, disconnected from reality etc., so let's just pity the poor man.

78. Upside-down church sculpture on hit list

Comment #154685 by Darwin's badger on April 3, 2008 at 3:07 pm

Oppenheim...er, hardly surprising that this exhibit bombed, is it? ;)

79. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #154681 by Darwin's badger on April 3, 2008 at 3:04 pm


Pyotr Kuznetsov was in hospital yesterday after he was discovered hitting himself over the head with a log.

Is is just me, or did that make anyone else laugh out loud? :)

80. CEAI Action Alert for Science Teachers

Comment #154465 by Darwin's badger on April 3, 2008 at 10:12 am

Pardon my French, but James Dobson is an effing c*nt. This Brackin bloke seems to be using him to give his organisation credibility?!

Mind you, Dobson did try to make Ted Bundy the "Just say no" poster boy for his anti-pornography campaign, so maybe he's working on the principle that the two negatives will make a positive. Or something.

81. BBC 'too scared to allow jokes about Islam'

Comment #154460 by Darwin's badger on April 3, 2008 at 10:04 am

Ben Elton's last book, "Blind Faith", is well worth a look for an easy read. A quick and lazy review would be to say that it's basically "The God Delusion meets 1984", but sadly, it's not as good as either of them. However, it definitely borrows from both, and, as I said, as an easy read it's not too shabby; leagues ahead of the dross that Elton has served up over the last few years, at any rate.

84. Fossil find could be Europe's first humans

Comment #150579 by Darwin's badger on March 27, 2008 at 6:18 am

Looks like a fat Patrick Stewart to me! "Number One: More cakes!"

85. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #150225 by Darwin's badger on March 26, 2008 at 3:31 pm

Many happy returns, Richard, and thank you for your fantastic contribution to both science and reason. If I may be so bold, I'd like to suggest that you acquire a cape with a big 'A' on it, to symbolise your continued fight against the scourge that is magical thinking? I think you'd look rather snazzy, actually. :)

87. EXPELLED!

Comment #147856 by Darwin's badger on March 21, 2008 at 12:41 pm

My husband has just pointed this out to me:

http://community.livejournal.com/lolscience/35199.html
Nice one, Steve! Thank 'im indoors for making me chuckle!

88. EXPELLED!

Comment #147625 by Darwin's badger on March 21, 2008 at 2:56 am

Hats off to PZ for his reaction, and I hope that this movie bombs. Stein, Mathis and all of those behind them contribute nothing good to humanity whatsoever; in fact, they're merely taking oxygen from the rest of us.

89. The Secular Conscience

Comment #147292 by Darwin's badger on March 20, 2008 at 5:44 am

This is funny funny shit. I have no idea how long it must have taken some stoned Rasta but check it out THE RASTAFARIAN BIBLE. WROTE IN RASTA!!! It's the whole friggin bible!!

It's not written in Rasta; it's kitty pidgin, the language of the Lolcat. Look 'em up on www.icanhascheezburger.com

90. Writer Arthur C Clarke dies at 90

Comment #146461 by Darwin's badger on March 19, 2008 at 5:40 am

Shame about the monkey butlers, but thanks for all the other stuff, ACC. I won't say rest in peace because it seems a bit pointless coming from an atheist to an atheist. :)

91. Ban anti-Catholic books in schools, says bishop

Comment #143338 by Darwin's badger on March 14, 2008 at 2:49 am

Asked if that applied to works by authors such as Karl Marx and Albert Camus, he told the Commons Children, Schools and Families Committee: "Suppose you went into a school and found in the library material that said the Holocaust never took place?"


I guess Holocaust-denying books would be removed due to the fact that they fly in the face of valid evidence. Whereas that paragon of historical validity, the bible...

92. Deadly Sins 101

Comment #143335 by Darwin's badger on March 14, 2008 at 2:44 am

I can't even imagine the sort of cognitive dissonance a practicing Catholic has to go through.

Thou shalt not take the names of Festinger and Aronson in vain. :)

Have you read "Mistakes were made (but not by me)"? It's fantastic.

93. Two More Fleas

Comment #142761 by Darwin's badger on March 13, 2008 at 4:52 am

Exactly, black wolf. I tend to think of the "new atheist" (not my phrase) books as being akin to the Olympic rings; they occasionally overlap, but largely stand on their own. Dawkins' argument would not be significantly diminished if he removed Hitchens, Dennett et al from within his book.

94. Should Galileo's tomb be opened for DNA tests?

Comment #142309 by Darwin's badger on March 12, 2008 at 9:47 am

Comment #141985 by bamafreethinker on March 11, 2008 at 1:56 pm
Don't do unto dead bodies that which you would not want done to yours...

I think if I found the corpse of a total stranger on a deserted island and it was just me and the corpse, I would still want to protect it from the vultures. Perhaps its the human ability to put ourselves in another person's shoes (or corpse in this case) that causes this seemingly irrational respect - even in the absence of people who care for other reasons.

After I die, I'm hoping that there's an eco-friendly way to convert my body into energy (once any usable organs have been harvested). As far as I'm concerned, by then it's nothing more than atoms and I'd rather see them go to good use, even if it's just as a meal for scavengers.

95. Should Galileo's tomb be opened for DNA tests?

Comment #141637 by Darwin's badger on March 11, 2008 at 2:15 am

I don't understand this. It's not like the Catholic Church wanted to keep him locked up, away from the rest of the world, while he was alive.














Oh...

96. Hebrew University researcher: Moses was tripping at Mount Sinai

Comment #138388 by Darwin's badger on March 4, 2008 at 8:59 am

Also, the resemblance between Jesus and the stereotypical hippie folk singer is probably no coincidence.

97. A God blog

Comment #137064 by Darwin's badger on March 2, 2008 at 9:11 am

GBile, I think she's referring to RD's love of nature and scientific zeal, not religious believers'.

98. Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science

Comment #125539 by Darwin's badger on February 11, 2008 at 3:00 pm

Comment #125535 by Appleby on February 11, 2008 at 2:46 pm

Would the new Charles Simonyi professor have to be an atheist?


It would surely harm his application if he's a Creationist!

99. Charles Simonyi Professorship in the Public Understanding of Science

Comment #125538 by Darwin's badger on February 11, 2008 at 2:57 pm

Wishing you a happy retirement, Richard, whilst hoping that you are as busy as you find comfortable!
I'm looking forward to the next book already, although saying that, I have gained so much knowledge and insight from those that you've already written that it feels somewhat cheeky to want more. I guess that that's the beauty of getting bitten by the education bug - I only hope that my hunger for wisdom is never sated.

Thank you for your contribution to date, and here's to many more years of shrillness! :)