1051. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #209592 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 5:43 pm

Laurie

The capitalist Al only posts when he is supposed to be working, so we won't hear from him until Monday A.M. (would grab hat and leave, but it's only Saturday).

1052. France rejects Muslim woman over radical practice of Islam

Comment #209589 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 5:33 pm

I'm a bit reclusive myself, guess I can't emmigrate to France.

Oh, and I don't like the argument that such and such country had more people die in this or that war. The idea is NOT to die, but to kill the other guy. Poor way to judge one's contribution if you ask me.

1053. Forget not to smite

Comment #209567 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 4:02 pm

Wasn't Richard smote last week?

1054. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209566 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 3:58 pm

Yes mom.

1055. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #209542 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 2:54 pm

A good show of progress would be if he knocked it off with the CAPS.

1056. France rejects Muslim woman over radical practice of Islam

Comment #209533 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 2:31 pm

D'Arcy

"ban the bra"

Except in Ireland, where it was "Erin go braless"

1057. France rejects Muslim woman over radical practice of Islam

Comment #209516 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 1:42 pm

I just know that if I felt like wearing a burka (drag, I suppose), I'd do it. Fuck what anyone else thinks. You have a government restricting what one can wear. That is stupid. How does this change ideas, if anything it would, I think, make people want to wear the damn things more.

1058. France rejects Muslim woman over radical practice of Islam

Comment #209500 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 12:45 pm

Bonzai

So she remains in France, unable to vote, while her husband who is probably a real a-hole, gets to vote. Doesn't make much sense.

1059. Children Are Naturally Prone To Be Empathic And Moral

Comment #209498 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 12:41 pm

I can only speak of my two children. At a very young age, they showed a high degree of empathy. I think once they started school it was masked, because they had to toughen up,but not lost. I think they always wanted to please, but morals have to be taught IMHO.

[edited for clarity]

1060. France rejects Muslim woman over radical practice of Islam

Comment #209492 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 12:31 pm

I think this is a bit reactionary, are they going to toss out the husband? It's his views on women that is at least half the problem. They should toss the kids out too, can't have them spreading their evil ideas.

1061. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #209475 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 11:50 am

Gee, I've spent 20 years in the military, ASA, CI, DIA, then NSA and CIA. I've been called a lot of things in my life, but never a commie. I don't think any of those agencies would have hired me if I was.

As far as moving to N. Korea or Cuba, I think I've paid my dues to live where I do. Have you Fanusi? By the way, I don't live in a capitalist nation, I live in a mixed capitalist/socialist nation. It is called the USA.

[edit] Now that I think of it I have been called a commie before, and a Nazi...some people just have to fling labels around, like the Republicans calling anyone who disagrees with them a
L I B E R A L, oh horrors, anything but that.

1062. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #209308 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 2:48 am

All

Almost 3 A.M. here. Will leave my share of this discussion in the capable hands of Goldy and Laurie, if he is still around.

twp

I know it's later where you are, but you're young enough to take the lack of sleep. TTFN

[edit] Just wondering if you were paying 100% of your education, or if some socialist funding was helping you. (closes eyes and laptop)

1063. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209305 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 2:38 am

Clod

I'm specifically referring to their damn crackers, not to the rest of the BS they push into the public domain.

[edit] Once it comes out of the church doors, the gloves are off. Unless they're doing something illegal in church like buggering kids.

1064. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #209300 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 2:33 am

twp

What University do you attend?

1065. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #209295 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 2:28 am

Fanusi

Capitalism doesn't have a track record for solving social problems, so the answer to your question is: all of them.

1066. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209279 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 2:07 am

Aqua

Thanks.

1067. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #209269 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 1:53 am

Fanusi

Capitalism doesn't solve social problems. What we have, in the west, is capitalism mixed with a lot of socialism, eg. social security. As capitalism increases, social problems increase as well. Pure capitalism would lead to a disaster, many very rich and many very poor with no security net. And don't say Stalin was a communist, in reality he was a fascist working under the guise of a communist system.

1068. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209258 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 1:37 am

Steve

Personally, I feel as long as the religious people keep their practices in their churches, I have no problem with it. I don't see the catholics going door to door, trying to sell crackers to people who don't want them, so I say leave them alone in this sense. On the other hand, PZ has every right to make fun of this silly pratice on his site.

[edit] The problem is that the religious feel that they are above criticism, and no one can make fun of their beliefs. When Sinead O'Conner ripped up a picture of the pope on SNL, it ruined her career.

1069. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209251 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 1:16 am

I think PZ was just throwing some red meat out to people on his site, and not trying necessarily to inflame the catholics.

1070. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209248 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 1:11 am

Clod

You left the italics open I think.

1071. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #209232 by mordacious1 on July 12, 2008 at 12:36 am

Goldy

Well, if you're able to wash the baby, the chiro must have done some good.

1072. Susskind Quashes Hawking in Quarrel Over Quantum Quandary

Comment #209216 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 10:16 pm

Hey, what happened to Edouard's post? Someone troll him by mistake? We were just talking about "theory" being used too much by physicists, nothing to get upset about. I think Steve has too much power on this site (ha ha ha).

1073. Susskind Quashes Hawking in Quarrel Over Quantum Quandary

Comment #209214 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 10:04 pm

I know just the dummy too.

David, oooooh David....

[edit] I don't know how much equipment we could put on Robertson though.

1074. Susskind Quashes Hawking in Quarrel Over Quantum Quandary

Comment #209204 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 8:46 pm

Edouard

True, they should use the word "model" instead of the overused "theory".

1075. An Irishman's Diary

Comment #209203 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 8:41 pm

If you want to see how language is "evolving" just watch Judge Judy. I preferred Judge Wapner of People's Court, because he'd spend half of his time correcting people's grammar.

1076. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209200 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 8:30 pm

Me too, I don't think they will though, other than to say there are some obscene atheists on the web.

{edit} Unfortunately, they won't direct quote you. They will turn "FUCK THE POPE" into: "There are many atheists who have stated that they really want to love the Pope".

1077. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209197 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 8:13 pm

8teist

I know they've been reading PZ's site, probably this one too. This way they can quote mine, it's what they do. My wife has a friend who is active in the church and the catholic league, and she sends emails about them occassionally eg. the Golden Compass boycott. Some have quotes from PZ's site.

You should see what I email her back. Her husband emailed and told me to stop annoying his wife. I zipped him back, that since she was using a public school email account, I paid for it, and could use it anytime I wanted.

1078. Flatfish Fossils Fill In Evolutionary Missing Link

Comment #209192 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 7:57 pm

evotruth

Thanks for the vid, must be an (erm, cough) older video.

I find the platypus the most interesting of organisms, how they've evolved, but flatfish are up there too.

1079. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209183 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 7:34 pm

steveroot

Better erase your address or, at the least, you'll lose your catholic patients. It's amazing, how once your name and address are put on line, where it might end up.

[edit] I'm sure the minions of the catholic league are monitoring this thread, or is this paranoid?

1080. An Irishman's Diary

Comment #209180 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 7:22 pm

njwong

I just took the philosophy test, Existentialism/Satre. I received 20% on religion, don't know how that could happen.

[edit] Some questions were not geared for me, I had to go ask my son what Warcraft was. I think this may have skewed the results.

1081. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #209048 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 2:28 pm

PZ, expelled from Expelled, expelled from the Republican National Convention, expelled from the univesity link to his web site, and next? Expelled from his job. Soon GW will take away his American citizenship.

Why? Because he called a cracker a cracker. First he should be castrated, shot, and sent to the Russian front.

1082. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208951 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 12:29 pm

As intelligent atheists, we can each decide when to use the "good cop" or the "bad cop" method of response. We all use both. In writing to PZ's boss, the good cop is IMHO the better, when confronting people like Robertson use the bad cop. I don't understand what the fuss is about.

1083. An Irishman's Diary

Comment #208939 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 12:12 pm

Peace,etc.

I am a language genius, not a computer genius.

1084. An Irishman's Diary

Comment #208929 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 11:59 am

Hey, I scored 100% on everything but expert which was 97%, but it did not rate me with my peers. I guess I have none.

[edit] I meant to type:

Hay, eye scoured a 100 precinct un every thing butt esprit, witch was 97 precinct, butt it did'nt reight me with my piers. Eye gus eye have nun.

1085. An Irishman's Diary

Comment #208919 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 11:40 am

Rod

Agreed, unless he was using the word loosely, as in "a group with a common purpose", like a corps of reporters, and not in the military sense. But methinks he was using it in the military sense, so he's a twat.

1086. An Irishman's Diary

Comment #208908 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 11:18 am

"addressing issues" has been in dictionaries for some time now, so one can't fault the original writer for using it. Take it up with the publishers of the dictionaries.

1087. Weak US dollar hits papal profits

Comment #208899 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 11:06 am

Crap, this must mean my stock holdings in Pope.inc have gone down. Better go check the DOW. NYSE id= cathchBS

1088. An Irishman's Diary

Comment #208895 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 11:00 am

Erm, I don't remember reading about the Romans "shooting" every tenth mutinous soldier. They indeed were advanced.

1089. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208875 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 10:44 am

Everyone has been very busy posting overnight.

Reading the criticisms of the young man who was GIVEN the cracker, but refused to swallow, reminds me of the things that I did to the catholic church as a young person. Being forced to go and not wanting to, I rebelled. It took many years to get the pent up anger out of my system. Some of the things I did make this act by the young man seem tame. I won't even mention them here. It was fun at the time and the church certainly was asking for it, my young self regrets not having thought this one up.

I ran into a lady yesterday with a "I survived catholic school" bumper sticker. We talked about what we did, when we were kids, to rile up the priests and nuns, and try not to get caught. She also had some good antics.

My point is, that the catholic church should be used to this kind of behavior from young people by now. They can no longer stick them with hot pokers to get them to toe the line, just threaten them with hell. I'm sure what this young man did, has been done countless of times in the past. The fuss over it is just giving kids like I was, some good ideas.

1090. Bisexual Species: Unorthodox Sex in the Animal Kingdom

Comment #208768 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 8:24 am

Well, these penguins may not be gay. They are in the zoo, like a prison. A lot of heteros, when put in prison for a long period, develop similar relationships. How many females were available to them? Penguin females are picky and they mate for life. These two may be gay, or they may not have the opportunities they'd have in nature to mate with females. This article points this out quite well.

1091. Thousands Flock to Revival in Search of Miracles

Comment #208761 by mordacious1 on July 11, 2008 at 8:13 am

Cutting edge reporting by ABC news here.

It's easy for them to report on this kind of thing, even most xians will say, "oh, that's funny, glad I don't believe in silly things like that."

Why won't ABC news take it a step further and show how it is the bible and the moronic belief system that these people are raised with, that allows this kind of crap to exist? It's like a lot of naked people standing around laughing at the king, because he has no clothes.

1092. [UPDATED] Venomous Snakes, Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya

Comment #208368 by mordacious1 on July 10, 2008 at 9:54 pm

Goldy

Good luck with your back tomorrow, hope it helps.

1093. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208266 by mordacious1 on July 10, 2008 at 7:20 pm

Cracker?

I hardly know her.

Of course, that hasn't stopped me before.

1094. Religious bigotry upheld in court

Comment #208259 by mordacious1 on July 10, 2008 at 7:10 pm

If only I had her job. My beliefs prohibit me from marrying anyone who believes in anything supernatural. So unless two atheists want to get married, I can kick back and blog on the internet all day.

1095. Flatfish Fossils Fill In Evolutionary Missing Link

Comment #208246 by mordacious1 on July 10, 2008 at 6:52 pm

This is cool, although let me check "Ancestor's Tale". Seems like there is a chapter on this.

One gap filled in, two created.

[edit] No, just a small blurb there about flounders, definately not designed though, unless god was on a bender.

1096. Susskind Quashes Hawking in Quarrel Over Quantum Quandary

Comment #208229 by mordacious1 on July 10, 2008 at 6:25 pm

Steve

I said NEW.

(Runs for door again, crap I just got home).

1097. PLEASE WRITE IN SUPPORT OF PZ MYERS

Comment #208223 by mordacious1 on July 10, 2008 at 6:13 pm

Letter sent, I was as diplomatic as possible, given my nature. I also found out that my 13 year old daughter can't address an envelope. I KNOOOW! They don't teach that in school anymore. Who uses snail mail anyway?

1098. IT'S A GODDAMNED CRACKER!

Comment #208011 by mordacious1 on July 10, 2008 at 1:26 pm

Steve

Great, here come the "second coming" jokes.

1099. Susskind Quashes Hawking in Quarrel Over Quantum Quandary

Comment #207970 by mordacious1 on July 10, 2008 at 11:03 am

Steve

Perhaps, but Penrose has stated that a true theory of quantum gravity SHOULD replace our present concept of spacetime at a singularity. He wants a better way of talking about what we now call a singularity, but this shouldn't be a nonsingular spacetime. I haven't read anything where he has come up with a new theory.

I think they do agree with you, but my point is, that they are still discussing it. It seems they can't avoid the term either. hee hee

[edit] Grabs hat and gas mask (CA smoke from fires) and runs for door.

1100. Susskind Quashes Hawking in Quarrel Over Quantum Quandary

Comment #207951 by mordacious1 on July 10, 2008 at 10:35 am

Steve

"Can we cut back on talk of singularities?".

Nope. If you can convince Hawking, Penrose, etc. into cutting back, we can talk about it.

[edit]

bujin

I found Talbot's book, I made it to page 144 . I only picked it up because it had an endorsement on the back by Fred Wolf, who's "Taking the Quantum Leap" I enjoyed. So much for endorsements.