51. Former state science director sues over intelligent design e-mail

Comment #203397 by moderndaythomas on July 2, 2008 at 8:01 pm

dr joneZ said:

Even Will Smith has the bloody Scientologists teaching at his new self-funded private school for his own kids

The tragedy of a nation that fails to educate its citizens is that in its place you have celebrities.
Many of whom are poorly educated themselves, or English Lit majors (humor), and are removed from any semblance of reality. Their self tailored, insulated, fashion driven existence allows them to, in effect, disavow the natural world without consequences.
In short, they're flakes.

52. Your Brain Lies to You

Comment #201195 by moderndaythomas on June 29, 2008 at 12:15 pm

TeraBrat.

Stupid stuff really. No one else should bother to read it.

Too late. You're supposed to put that stuff at the top.

53. Your Brain Lies to You

Comment #200829 by moderndaythomas on June 28, 2008 at 9:42 am

TeraBrat.

If I were American, I'd vote for the man. His position on keeping church and state separate sounds promising. As I had said weeks ago, he all but told the church to piss off.

54. Psychiatrists: Least Religious But Most Interested In Patients' Religion

Comment #200807 by moderndaythomas on June 28, 2008 at 8:59 am

Bonzai

I realize that I'm generalising here. And getting a little help irregardless of the presence of faith when you need it is never a bad thing.

But if you're needy you're needy, and those that ardently seek religious guidance for purpose and identity, will no doubt consider other sources of guidance.
And a psychiatrist that accomodates these belief engines will have more immediate success with their patients. But what about the long run?

55. Psychiatrists: Least Religious But Most Interested In Patients' Religion

Comment #200785 by moderndaythomas on June 28, 2008 at 8:39 am

On further contemplation (beer-less I might add) I have to wonder about the degree that one must take this as a serious sample of the general population.

"several recent studies have found that religiosity is often associated with improved mental health outcomes such as quicker recovery from depression. Now most training programs teach developing psychiatrists about the potentially beneficial influence of religion and spirituality on patients' mental health."

I don't feel the need to, or have ever felt the need to see a psychiatrist. I'm confident and at peace with the idea of solving my own problems.
And I've seen some shit!
I'm also sure that many others are too.

My point is this. Are the religious then more likely to consult a psychiatrist than the agnostic or atheist?

Are they more needy and misguided?

Are they the more likely to seek others to guide them?

I think that the answer would most probably be yes.

Then having said that, would it be in a psychiatrists best interests to correct this problem?

56. Psychiatrists: Least Religious But Most Interested In Patients' Religion

Comment #200776 by moderndaythomas on June 28, 2008 at 8:22 am

Almost all physicians agreed that religion and spirituality often give patients a positive, hopeful state of mind. More than 75 percent of psychiatrists and non-psychiatrist agreed that religion "often or always" helps patients cope with their illnesses.

Ignorance is bliss.

I find my solace in a hot meal and a frosty mug of Alexander Keith's. Then on contemplation, I take measures to improve things.

The Simpsons help too.

57. Texas Supreme Court rules church can't be sued in exorcism

Comment #200770 by moderndaythomas on June 28, 2008 at 8:14 am

Won't be long before we're burning women at the stake again. A few more failed crops, a more resistant strain of bacteria, diminishing education. Hope you girls can run fast.

I'm going sailing.

edited for terrible spelling.

58. The $10,000-a-Month Psychic

Comment #200766 by moderndaythomas on June 28, 2008 at 8:07 am

A big Hollywood producer says Day advised him in 2006 to pass on a can't-miss animated film, predicting it would bomb at the box office.

I make these predictions all of the time! I gotta get my name out there.
Does any one have a "plumb bob" that I can borrow?

59. Your Brain Lies to You

Comment #200759 by moderndaythomas on June 28, 2008 at 7:59 am

qomak said:

they believe that thousands of years ago when people were much more ignorant and superstitious miracles happened and got narrated perfectly after generations.

Ken Miller has to find his own compromise in order to call himself a biologist and a Catholic. Miracles do not fit into this and consequently, to Miller, the Biblical references are nothing more than metaphor.
If he wants to call himself a Catholic, he can call himself a Catholic so long as this doesn't clash with the ultimate facts of science.

He seems to pull this off, but to the average persone, the evidence for evolution is not taught against creation because of its religious status.
Even if the evidence were given, it would have to be in bite size portions and the receiving party would have to take it on faith just as they do the Book of Genesis.
One source tells me this, one tells me that, which one do I "believe"? Which one helps me out in my time of need?
To the poorly informed there is no contest here.

60. Your Brain Lies to You

Comment #200748 by moderndaythomas on June 28, 2008 at 7:39 am

Apparently, it pays for consumers of controversial news to take a moment and consider that the opposite interpretation may be true.

Here's something that will never be uttered from the pulpit.

ideas can spread by emotional selection, rather than by their factual merits

This is not news, I not only have to worry about saying the wrong thing about Christianity in general public, but also about such things as Horoscopes, and Big Foot.
A gal in my line of work usually avoids having lunch at the same time I do because I ask embarrassing questions.
Upon passing her when she was having a bad day I couldn't resist asking her "It's not Friday the thirteenth or a full moon, what are you going to blame it on now?"

I'm such a jerk.

edit: not really, we're fine together, she just avoids reading the horoscopes in front of me, and I clench my teeth a lot when people are wrong.
Pick your battles.

61. A secular world is a sane world

Comment #200554 by moderndaythomas on June 27, 2008 at 9:47 pm

I like here how Pat doesn't attack a person's chosen brand of faith so much as the political and social power that has been allowed religion.

If we don't shake off religion, we won't shake off Islam.

He goes on to clarify that Islam is part and parcel to any and that that special status reserved for by Islam is what must be squashed.

By legislating religion out of the public life and back into the private domain where it belongs.

I agree here but only in principle. Ignorance sadly is every bodies right.

62. Sarcasm Seen as Evolutionary Survival Skill

Comment #198298 by moderndaythomas on June 23, 2008 at 2:14 pm

Oystein Elgaroy:

Of course sarcasm is an evolutionary survival skill! It is the only way of communicating with the in-laws.

LOL. I wish I'd thought of that.

63. Carlin on Religion

Comment #198275 by moderndaythomas on June 23, 2008 at 1:18 pm

I've seen this, I don't know how many times, and it never fails to make me laugh till I cry.

Bravo George.

64. Award-winning comedian George Carlin dies

Comment #198263 by moderndaythomas on June 23, 2008 at 1:03 pm

someonefree:

Shit.Fuck.
Piss.
Cunt.
Cocksucker.
Motherfucker.
Tits.

Man I'm going to miss that motherfucker, as will most of NYC. :(

Without him I wouldn't have been able to piss off near as many high school teachers as I did.

65. How Darwin won the evolution race

Comment #198178 by moderndaythomas on June 23, 2008 at 10:10 am

What is it that's said of "On the Origin of Species"? "The most famous book the no one has read"

If you could only spoon feed your average christian the crib notes.

66. Sarcasm Seen as Evolutionary Survival Skill

Comment #198172 by moderndaythomas on June 23, 2008 at 10:00 am

What a great evolutionary edge is sarcasm.

Flipping people the bird with a smile on my face has always made me friends.

67. Sarcasm Seen as Evolutionary Survival Skill

Comment #198168 by moderndaythomas on June 23, 2008 at 9:55 am

Imagine two ancient humans running across the savannah with a hungry lion in pursuit.

Then again which one's more likely to invent the faster sneaker?
The joker or the serious one?

68. Award-winning comedian George Carlin dies

Comment #198161 by moderndaythomas on June 23, 2008 at 9:41 am

Evidently only the good don't die young.

He had all the best profanity and he used it all in the best places.

So long.

69. Sarcasm Seen as Evolutionary Survival Skill

Comment #198149 by moderndaythomas on June 23, 2008 at 9:30 am

My parahippocampal gyrus is working just fine thank you very much and sometimes I just don't find people funny.
Not intentionaly funny anyway.

we easily distinguish between enemies and friends.

Easily or readily?

Maybe sarcasm is only a side-effect without any evolutionary advantage. Such study should address also this possibility.

I don't think that the purpose of this article is to claim that sarcasm gives us an evolutionary advantage, but rather to show that it at least has a role in our social fabric.
One that was not selected against or purged from the species long ago.

Edit: I just love the word purged.

70. White Patches Found in Mars Trench Are Ice, Scientists Say

Comment #197833 by moderndaythomas on June 22, 2008 at 6:13 pm

And maybe, just maybe a hint of life.

This is real drama. As I've said on an earlier thread, what would that life be like?

Simple, yes but what about it's genes?
Would they be strings of nucleotides?
And if so, how similar and related to the life found here?

71. White Patches Found in Mars Trench Are Ice, Scientists Say

Comment #197717 by moderndaythomas on June 22, 2008 at 2:30 pm

Here is the latest weather from Mars

-32 Celsius. That's a balmy Winnipeg summer day where I was raised.

Where I used to walk uphill both ways to go to school.

Edit: some might think that I'm serious, Winnipeg gets down to -50 at times in the winter, not the summer.

72. On this Day: Galileo Sentenced for Believing Sun Is Center of Universe

Comment #197708 by moderndaythomas on June 22, 2008 at 2:12 pm

-- An inquisition and/or trial is not a debate.

Sounds like my marriage.

73. On this Day: Galileo Sentenced for Believing Sun Is Center of Universe

Comment #197703 by moderndaythomas on June 22, 2008 at 2:10 pm

lozzer

Good dog indeed. As long as there's something around that is tastier than your shin. Cookie?

74. Christianity 'could die out within a century'

Comment #197693 by moderndaythomas on June 22, 2008 at 2:00 pm

Oh, what to say here? Good riddance?

I won't be holding my breath though.

75. Gay brains structured like those of the opposite sex

Comment #197229 by moderndaythomas on June 21, 2008 at 12:06 pm

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

Comment #197206 by moderndaythomas on June 21, 2008 at 11:02 am

Dane said: I think we should ban the Ontario Square and Round Dance Federation's license plate too.

I think so, is it not enough that we have to worry about creation taught in our schools, now it's square dancing! Oh the humanity!

bachfiend said: It seems to me that a 16% increase in something that isn't particularly common isn't going to make it particularly common.

And you wouldn't bother buying a lottery ticket with a 16% chance of winning then would you?

edit: and clearly you don't drive at rush hour.

tahustvedt said: 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.

No kidding? Well Jackie Chan can kick Chucks ass and he's Buddhist isn't he?

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

Comment #197152 by moderndaythomas on June 21, 2008 at 8:29 am

ferr0084 said: Everybody knows Newton was crackers...

Right, but we teach the laws of motion to our kids, we don't teach them to be socially awkward and recluse.

You can drive fast and hope that you'll stop on a dime when the time comes to stop, or you can pay attention in class to the teacher that is teaching motion and velocity gaining a healthy respect for the laws of physics that can keep you alive.
Thank you Isaac Newton!

Say it.

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

Comment #197148 by moderndaythomas on June 21, 2008 at 8:18 am

I can't imagine what the creationist points would be like if life were to be found in the soil of Mars.


Would it have DNA? or another self replicating molecule?
Would it have a nucleus?
Would there be common descent? and how far back would that common ancestor be?

The hair on my arms raises just thinking about it. Nothing that would come close to such a discovery.

I'm holding my breath.

79. Science teacher dissed evolution

Comment #197146 by moderndaythomas on June 21, 2008 at 8:07 am

Freshwater burned crosses onto students' arms, using an electrostatic device, in December.

I would have beaten this mother fucker to within an inch of his life had this been done to my kids!

80. We Urgently Need Your Help Now!!

Comment #197142 by moderndaythomas on June 21, 2008 at 8:01 am

Frankus1122 said: All the talk of the harm to US science and harm to the world of science in general will be lost on the politician. They care about votes and staying in power.

Absolutely!
they would, if pressed to answer honestly, (is this possible?) prefer the under informed, overly faithfull and utterly obedient religious right to cater to rather than the overly informed, passionately skeptical, critical thinker that is difficult to fool.

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

Comment #197132 by moderndaythomas on June 21, 2008 at 7:47 am

From epeeist's link: Teachers would be required to teach the standard textbook but could use supplementary materials to critique it.

What an utter wast of valuable classroom time. When they could be mastering the rules of logorithms or Mendell's genetics, they then are infected with a teachers personal religious ideals!

This is sad.

82. We Urgently Need Your Help Now!!

Comment #196995 by moderndaythomas on June 20, 2008 at 9:34 pm

If he does sign it, what steps could be taken to get it undone?

Your voice. It's a shame that I can't volunteer mine (Canadian). But if I may be allowed to embellish a little; if nothing can be done........

Don't let your neighbors know what you're thinking, don't let your teachers know what you're reading, and memorize a few biblical verses in case your stopped on the street.

In other words, do as the German people did under the Nazi party seventy years ago.

But then again I'm probably over reacting. You still have excellent freedom of speech in your country, use it!

83. Astronomers find batch of 'super-Earths'

Comment #194276 by moderndaythomas on June 16, 2008 at 3:09 pm

MelM .

Right, 9.4 times the mass of Earth would make it rather difficult to get up off my seat and fetch a Keith's....that's beer.

84. Astronomers find batch of 'super-Earths'

Comment #194183 by moderndaythomas on June 16, 2008 at 2:05 pm

but wouldn't it be a shame if the cosmic observer aboard Sagan's spaceship would have to wait several hundreds of millions of years for the next technological society to arrive before watching them achieve the possibility of interstellar travel?

That's assuming it's inevitable. I think the jury's still out on this one.

In fact, now that this thread is almost all Sagan, I recall his analogy to life in the universe liken to a Christmas tree with its lights flashing individually.
One light on here and then it's out then another on there and then that one's out, etc.

85. Astronomers find batch of 'super-Earths'

Comment #194158 by moderndaythomas on June 16, 2008 at 1:25 pm

In "Contact" the bible-thumping character's first reaction to the proof of extraterrestrial life was "we don't even know if they believe in god."

One of the most frustrating parts to the book. I've always wondered what thought provoking fiction we all lost when Sagan died.

86. Gay brains structured like those of the opposite sex

Comment #194153 by moderndaythomas on June 16, 2008 at 1:16 pm

What would make you pinpoint it down to a special event like NYE?

I have an overactive imagination.

Damn, there it goes again.

edit: reading this a week later I realise that I am such a cad! Forgive me.

87. Astronomers find batch of 'super-Earths'

Comment #194103 by moderndaythomas on June 16, 2008 at 12:22 pm

squinky.
Your albatross analogy is wishful thinking.

Alas, you got me.

I wasn't claiming that they gave birth to flying eggs, merely that where there is wind, there is lift and where there is lift there is flight.
And here an organism can thrive.

edit: even a simpler organism. Which by the way might find it easier to stay aloft considering it is under less weight restrictions.

88. Gay brains structured like those of the opposite sex

Comment #194081 by moderndaythomas on June 16, 2008 at 12:00 pm

thewhitepearl.
Why are you in church in the first place, if you dont mind me asking?

I'm a victim of circumstances. I took a wrong turn. I was looking for the john. I married a christian.

In any case I only wind up there nowadays for weddings, funerals, and the occasional easter(moderndaythomas, hello? LOL)

And just where were you when that picture of yours was taken I wonder? If you don't mind me asking.
I'm guessing New Years Eve somewhere.

edit: oops, was I flirting? I may be a science geek but I'm not dead. Sorry.

89. Astronomers find batch of 'super-Earths'

Comment #194044 by moderndaythomas on June 16, 2008 at 10:24 am

I can thoroughly recommend "Evolving the Alien" by Jack Cohen and Ian Stewart. It puts to rest the idea of the Goldilocks zone.

This brings to mind something that I had read from one of Sagans books. In it he imagines what life evolving on (in) a gaseous planet such as Jupiter would be like.

I recall thinking that it would be difficult to do anything when you couldn't set foot on a crusty surface, but just think about the albatross.
Here's a bird that lives in the windiest places on the earth. It can stay aloft indefinitely. It needs not expend energy in flight, all it has to do is extend its wings and the wind does all the work.

90. Only a Theory

Comment #194041 by moderndaythomas on June 16, 2008 at 10:08 am

Steve Zara said; Odd that a designer would have invented the same thing twice, when either one would have done the job?

Reading this Steve, I'm reminded of the kidney. I'll try to explain this so that no one will get confused that isn't familial with this particular organ but I make no promises. I would make a poor teacher.

The nephron of the kidneys is responsible for the filtration of the blood and formation of the urine. The portion of the nephron of interest here is the "loop of nephron"; a tube that narrows and makes a u-turn through a partof the kidney (the renal medulla) that is high in sodium ions (salt).
Active reabsorption of sodium from the medulla into the surrounding capillaries creates osmotic pressure that moves water from the filtrate in the nephron to the blood. This is a healthy process.

Here's the point. As the filtrate moves down the loop into the region of high sodium, water diffuses out of the loop toward the higher gradient of solute in the capillaries. Now the nephron turns to head back up and it's in this part that sodium is actively passed out into the renal medulla.
It's here that a hypertonic environment is created but earlier in the nephron where water diffuses across.
This is backwards; a designer wouldn't draw up a schematic of the nephron with this process in this order.
Unless I'm mistaken (and it happens more than I like to admit) it would make more sense, if I were to design a nephron, to have the sodium transported out into the medulla first with the goal of water diffusion coming later.


This is just one of the interesting and messy ways in which an organism works that doesnt jibe with an intelligent designer.

91. Gay brains structured like those of the opposite sex

Comment #193970 by moderndaythomas on June 16, 2008 at 8:53 am

I can think of a few men in the church that I occasionally find myself(&*/#&*)! that are serious candidates for being gay.
Poor bastards, how very confused and unhappy they must be.

If I didn't have my man bubble up, I'd hug 'em. But then again when I'm there I just feel like strangling everybody, so.....

92. Astronomers find batch of 'super-Earths'

Comment #193958 by moderndaythomas on June 16, 2008 at 8:43 am

42 light-years away towards the southern Doradus and Pictor constellations.

That's a Sunday drive.

93. Vatican bans Dan Brown film Angels & Demons from Rome churches

Comment #193952 by moderndaythomas on June 16, 2008 at 8:36 am

scholars have been quick to point out the book's factual errors.

Based on........testimony?

On both accounts it's just testimony. One fantasy debunking another, no?

On another note, isn't Hanks a Scientologist?

94. Only a Theory

Comment #193362 by moderndaythomas on June 15, 2008 at 1:01 pm

On legislation to teach the controversy in classrooms Kenneth Miller: "An intellectual welfare for an idea that can't make it on its own"
"analyze the strengths and weaknesses of everything"

That is beautiful!

I said this before, teach the controversy. Teach it all!

Creationists are dogs that shit everywhere, rub their nose in it.

95. As the world becomes smaller, the need to understand each other's faith grows

Comment #193350 by moderndaythomas on June 15, 2008 at 12:26 pm

Eclectic said: You can bet comparative religion really will not be taught objectively in those. Wealthy Christian creationists such as Peter Vardy will get the usual Intelligent Design rubbish into the Christian schools, and ghettoing Muslim children together is hardly going to encourage integration.

Very good point.
Creationists fancy comparing atheists to Nazis when their first instinct is to make second class anyone not Christian (or at the very least look down in pity of them).

There's only so many ways to spin "if you're not Christian, you're going to hell".

When my 12 year old daughter was learning human origins (I was very involved with this one), Homo erectus and heidelbergensis looked so modern that I had to ask her if she thinks they had souls?

Because according to the Bible, they would be denied theirs. Similarly, so would the first cloned human being.

96. Behe's Empty Box

Comment #193343 by moderndaythomas on June 15, 2008 at 12:05 pm

Layla Nasreddin.

On Dawkin's review of Behe's second book:

"the book of a man who has given up. Trapped along a false path of his own rather unintelligent design, Behe has left himself no escape. Poster boy of creationists everywhere, he has cut himself adrift from the world of real science."

Pure poetry.

97. Behe's Empty Box

Comment #193324 by moderndaythomas on June 15, 2008 at 10:16 am

Science in general is the measure of nature placed in the context of data to utilize in the persuit of advancing hypothesis to theories.
Placing competing hypothesis on a "scale" together with supporting data is part of the scientific method.
The heavyer of the two wins.

Why it is not prudent to practise this kind of scientific scrutiny in science classrooms with evolution on one side and creationism (or to play the three dressed up as a nine game, Intellegent Design)on the other is beyond me.

Religion is exempt from ridicule because of its status, but not ID!

Teach the controversy indeed.

98. Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound

Comment #193318 by moderndaythomas on June 15, 2008 at 10:00 am

Count von Count said: I have to admit I don't think as much progress was being made as could have been made. When we argue against such misinformed ideas and silly conceptions, we lower ourselves a level and bring our opponent up a level.

Absolutely! I'm also responsible for engaging in some dialogue with this man and to no avail. Also, as many of you may now know, he's submitting some sort of article to the same paper with copies of some responses (most likely the more scathing ones) to prove his point that atheism is evil.

His last relay to me: I hope these tactics are not representative of atheists in general......

My last note to him was this: I'm having a change of heart Yomin. You can continue to write in your style as long as you wish as far as I am concerned. Keep up the poor work and don't read up on anything, it just gets in the way of your point.

This man will appear a fool all by himself. He needs not anyone else to aid him. To me, it's the poorly informed that listen to him that need help. That's the sad thing.

99. Unlike Others, U.S. Defends Freedom to Offend in Speech

Comment #192666 by moderndaythomas on June 13, 2008 at 9:56 pm

Colwyn Abernathy wrote: The solution to a bad idea is a better one, not forcing the bad idea to be quiet.

The trick if I'm not mistaken is to protect the better one at all costs because ....... knowledge is in every country the surest basis of public happiness?
One of you own forefathers once said that, I think.
You were on to something there George.

All in all, speak your mind in my books, just don't expect people to sit still when you're full of shit.

100. Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound

Comment #192662 by moderndaythomas on June 13, 2008 at 9:35 pm

A guy goes away for a few days and look what I miss.

Prior to my leave, I had begun immediately reading through Yomins article and systematically copying and pasting with my critique following.
I had sent it to both Yomin and the editor of the "paper".

Upon returning I had gotten what seems to be the same response that many of you have gotten and had in addition some personal dialogue with the man as well.

An amazingly ignorant human being. Full of shit really.