Comments by epeeist

2551. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #95309 by epeeist on December 8, 2007 at 1:12 am

Comment #95251 by Ruht

God's offered free salvation unto all men ever since he created them. Those who choose to receive it, get it. Those who refuse it, don't get it.

So the native Americans who believe in the Great Spirit will be saved since they believe in a single god? Will the Hindus get salvation because they believe in multiple gods? Presumably the Buddhists won't since they are atheists even though they have a fine ethical system?

2552. Islam's Silent Moderates

Comment #95154 by epeeist on December 7, 2007 at 1:09 pm

On a small scale you might want to read this article - http://www.tamesideadvertiser.co.uk/news/s/1026293_savage_attack_on_boy_by_imam

While it is a fairly nasty story it does show that there may be a small amount of hope for the future.

There was a letter to the newspaper condemning the attack, but it wasn't by a Muslim.

2553. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #94921 by epeeist on December 7, 2007 at 2:10 am

Comment #94852 by Ruht

How did the banana 'evolve' alongside of the size of the average human mouth? the apple? the orange? Etc.?

- You might want to look at this courgette (zucchini) - http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/images/uploaded/scaled/13_Marrow_s.jpg

2554. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #94912 by epeeist on December 7, 2007 at 1:54 am

Comment #94849 by Ruht

As for "trolling" me, that's fine; many in here have already checked out my The Hidden Manna thread, and they will never forget it for the rest of their lives; halleluiah.

I had a glance. How many subscribers have you got to your site, looks to be you and a couple of other people to me.

You persist in not answering my questions - what is going to happen to the Hindus, Buddhists and believers in the Great Spirit after the Rapture?

Oh - Yuletide greetings to you.

2555. Nurses Told to Turn Muslims' Beds to Mecca

Comment #94676 by epeeist on December 6, 2007 at 8:47 am

Comment #94675 by Abdullah

"there is no god, but Allah and Mohammad is the prophet of Allah".

PBUHT (Praise be upon his teddy)

2556. Sherri Shepherd needs to go away now

Comment #94665 by epeeist on December 6, 2007 at 7:55 am

Comment #94657 by glittergulch

She said she didn't ever think about it but she DID think about how she was going to feed her kid. Because, you know, you can't do both.

But I thought women could multi-task much better than men?

[fx]Creeps away and hides under desk[/fx]

2557. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #94616 by epeeist on December 6, 2007 at 4:07 am

Comment #94512 by Ruht

Evolution has been PROVEN wrong in here by me over and over again, and basically the only thing your types can come up with is to call me a 'troll," and to try and get me banned.

You have been given evidence both by me and by steve99 to demonstrate that evolution, and specifically macro-evolution happens. You didn't even bother looking or commenting on it. All you did was dismiss it.

Here is a reference to a book on the scientific method - "The Logic of Scientific Discovery" by Karl Popper. I invite you to go and read it.

Until you can come back with a reasoned argument as to why the arguments in the Theobald paper are wrong or show that the steve99's example of marsh grass evolution is false then why should we take you seriously?

Oh, and what is going to happen to all those Hindus, Buddhists and followers of the Great Spirit during and after the Rapture?

2558. Fox: 'Atheist Outrage' over holiday 'Tree of Knowledge'

Comment #94589 by epeeist on December 6, 2007 at 2:59 am

Comment #94569 by Mark Till

A better message might've been to point out that Christmas really isn't a Christian festival - Jesus not having been born on the 25th December, the iconography mostly borrored from paganism, "Mithras", etc., etc.

Terry Pratchett got pretty close to the original north European festivities in the "Hogfather". Have a glance at Wikipedia for "Yule" and the "Boars Head Carol"

2559. Chimps beat humans in memory test

Comment #94185 by epeeist on December 5, 2007 at 1:34 am

The thing that worries me is that some management type is reading this who is looking to replace outsourced workers in India or Manila because they are becoming too expensive...

2560. Fear of censure deflects The Golden Compas

Comment #93851 by epeeist on December 4, 2007 at 10:10 am

In no particular order - David Lindsay "A Voyage to Arcturus", E.R. Eddison's "The Worm Oroborus", Arthur C. Clarke's "Childhoods End", Walter Miller's "Canticle for Leibowitz", Roger Zelzany's "Lord of Light", Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle", J.R.R. Tolkien's "Silmarillion", Daniel Keyes "Flowers for Algernon", William Morris "The Wood Beyond the World" and "The Well at the World's End"

2561. Daniel Dennett Debates Dinesh D'Souza

Comment #93723 by epeeist on December 4, 2007 at 2:35 am

Comment #93600 by tommcc

Was he auditioning for pantomime season? what part could he play?

The back end of Jack in the Beanstalk's cow?

2562. Evolution Debate Led to Ouster, Official Says

Comment #93703 by epeeist on December 4, 2007 at 12:44 am

It has made the NY Times - http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/04/opinion/04tue3.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=slogin

2563. Sudan demo over jailed UK teacher

Comment #93380 by epeeist on December 3, 2007 at 2:14 am

Comment #93378 by Flagellant

Unusually, too, leaders of Mohammedan communities have been unequivocal in expressing criticism of the prosecution in Sudan and they have been unanimous in their support of Ms Gibbons. I know of no UK Mohammedan comment that has not been conciliatory.

I agree with just about everything you and Corylus say. While there has been virtually unanimous support by the UK Mohammedan population it only takes one loony (all right, extreme loony) to decide that she should be punished further. I would be interested to know whether she receives any threats once she returns to the UK.

2564. Sudan demo over jailed UK teacher

Comment #92643 by epeeist on December 1, 2007 at 2:53 am

Comment #92628 by Nefrubyr

(From the BBC)

I have just had a glance at the HYS for this on the BBC web site, they have had over 16,000 posts on the topic. I was going to add a post, but they have over 10,000 sitting in the moderation queue.

The HYS posters are never, IMHO, the most rational of people but this certainly seems to have got them stirred up.

2565. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #92621 by epeeist on December 1, 2007 at 1:13 am

Comment #92548 by Ruht

We are in the latter days

So what is going to happen to all the Buddhists, Hindus and believers in the Great Spirit when the Rapture comes?

Is your omnibenevolent god going to take them up to heaven too?

2566. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #92431 by epeeist on November 30, 2007 at 1:40 pm

Comment #92362 by Ruht

I've read numerous mumbo jumbo about evolution; I don't need to read the entire world library on it in order to further prove it wrong.

There was enough material at the site to keep the average biologist busy for about two weeks, you have dismissed it in the space of four hours.

Conclusion - you are either as bigoted as those believers in Islam who are calling for the death of a woman because she allowed a bear to be called Mohammed or as thick as pigshit.

EDIT: Sorry - there are another couple of conclusion, i.e. you are both bigoted and thick or a troll.

2567. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #92247 by epeeist on November 30, 2007 at 6:05 am

Comment #92209 by Ruht

And for the "fourth time" I will say it to you:

Creational evolution is IMPOSSIBLE, just as I pointed out in my numerous other posts but which were never answered by you so-called "clear thinkers."

So you didn't even go to read it. That's it then, I have marked your post as a troll.

2568. 'Teddy' teacher jailed in Sudan

Comment #92236 by epeeist on November 30, 2007 at 5:45 am

Comment #92231 by hungarianelephant

My guess is that it would be along the lines of: "These Brits will make a fuss but they don't have the cojones for action.

Hopefully it might be more on the lines "These Brits are our second biggest aid donors and the chairman of the Anglo-Sudan working party in the House of Commons has just said they would be looking at the topic of aid again. We stand to lose money for our Swiss bank accounts, so sort it out."

2569. 'Teddy' teacher jailed in Sudan

Comment #92228 by epeeist on November 30, 2007 at 5:24 am

Just listening to the news on R4. It was pointed out that the aid being provided is being used to make people convert to Islam.

Also that Sharia law is only meant to apply to Muslim citizens. Gillian Gibbons should not have even been charged.

2570. 'Muhammad' teddy teacher arrested

Comment #92178 by epeeist on November 30, 2007 at 2:39 am

Comment #92170 by RealityCheck

Who loses out here? It's back to the stone age for those kiddies. Mohammed bear will probably be burned at the stake, while Gibbons returns to civilisation and makes a few hundered grand from the foreign press.

It goes wider than this though. How many people who volunteer for organisations like VSO are going to ask not to be sent to Islamic countries after this? How many people who donate to charity are going to look at where their money goes? Britain donates a substantial amount of aid to the Sudan, what odds this gets reconsidered after this particular farrago? People were rightly becoming less tolerant of Islam and its demands, how many more people are now going to say "enough" and start pushing back?

2571. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #92155 by epeeist on November 30, 2007 at 1:34 am

Comment #92145 by Ruht

The theory of evolution is absurd, and is proven wrong to anyone who has the true intelligence to see it or admit it.

For the fourth time Ruht I am going to present you with this link - http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc

This shows a large amount of evidence for (macro-) evolution. Since you seem to have ignored it and all the other evidence that has been presented to you on this site I think we have to assume that you are just another troll who is either incapable of assessing such evidence or so bigoted that they just ignore it.

2572. Pupil defends teacher in Muhammad teddy furore

Comment #91708 by epeeist on November 29, 2007 at 2:59 am

To quote Robert Heinlein - 'Of all the strange "crimes" that human beings have legislated of nothing, "blasphemy" is the most amazing - with "obscenity" and "indecent exposure" fighting it out for the second and third place.'

2573. Dutch lawmaker planning film criticizing the Quran

Comment #91507 by epeeist on November 28, 2007 at 1:21 pm

Comment #91498 by phil rimmer

So, how does that work precisely in the Netherlands, or France or the UK? "They" recognize "our" right to free speech so long as we watch what we say?

They recognise our right to free speech would be sufficient.

2574. Dutch lawmaker planning film criticizing the Quran

Comment #91487 by epeeist on November 28, 2007 at 12:41 pm

Just been watching the BBC news with a clip on the Gillian Gibbons/Teddy issue. The commentator made the point that there were "cultural sensitivities" to be taken into account.

For the moment let us accept that. However, this means that the issue cuts both ways. There are "cultural sensitivities" on our side of the divide too. Culturally we value free speech and the right to criticise where appropriate. So, they can have theirs, providing we can have ours.

2575. 'Muhammad' teddy teacher arrested

Comment #91405 by epeeist on November 28, 2007 at 8:39 am

She has now been charged with insulting religion, inciting hatred and showing contempt for religious beliefs.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7117430.stm

2576. Golden Compass author hits back

Comment #91377 by epeeist on November 28, 2007 at 7:30 am

Comment #91372 by annabanana

*ehem, this is an e-mail that has been going around my office. The person who sent it to me is Catholic and the person who sent it to her is Protestant:

Sounds like a possible disciplinary matter to me.

2577. Bankrolling Ali's Asylum

Comment #91126 by epeeist on November 27, 2007 at 10:15 am

Comment #91096 by Dianelos Georgoudis

Harold Koenig's "The Link between Religion and Health" and Arthur Brooks's "Who Really Cares" quote dozens of scientific studies that document both the physical and ethical benefits of religious belief.

We have been through this - the Arthur Brooks study doesn't explicitly differentiate between religious charity and non-religious charity. It uses a suspect statistical methodology, at least as suspect as the one you criticised me for raising.

You are trolling.

2578. 'Muhammad' teddy teacher arrested

Comment #91084 by epeeist on November 27, 2007 at 7:11 am

Comment #91073 by Vinelectric

If you're atheist you can't hold position of power in the US and I don't imagine Christian Rome appointing a pagan as head of state so I don't think why you'd expect medieval Islamic empires to be any different.

Rubbish - the likelihood of you being elected might be small, but there is no law against you holding power.

2579. Science and Religion BOTH make faith claims

Comment #91036 by epeeist on November 27, 2007 at 3:33 am

Comment #81869 by sidfaiwu

Science:
1. Inductive reasoning is valid. That is, the past is a good predictor of the future.

To quote another poster - not since Popper.

Science doesn't use inductive, but deductive logic. As such theories are considered contingently valid, i.e. the theory may not be sound.

Continued critical tests of a theory that do not falsify it add to the corroboration of the theory, but do not prove it true.

2580. The absurd world of Martin Amis

Comment #90437 by epeeist on November 25, 2007 at 6:35 am

Let's not get into a flamefest between Xenocratic and Fanusi.

We have two comments from the first and one so far from the second and we are immediately in to ad hominem attacks.

2581. Tony Blair: Mention God and you're a 'nutter'

Comment #90424 by epeeist on November 25, 2007 at 5:20 am

Comment #90422 by Rtambree

Aren't Brown and Cameron also theists?

Brown is a "son of the manse". but doesn't seem to openly "do god". His influence on Blair I suspect wasn't great ;-)

Cameron claims to want to go to church more than "Christmas and Easter", but doesn't appear to do so. He is, I think, rather more influenced by Blair rather than the other way around.

2582. Tony Blair: Mention God and you're a 'nutter'

Comment #90421 by epeeist on November 25, 2007 at 4:43 am

Comment #90413 by Northern Bright

The whole point here is that we didn't KNOW how much of a nutter Blair was! By the implication of his own admission, we wouldn't have elected him if we had.

I think we let him off too lightly if we don't also look at the people who could directly influence him, i.e. his wife and Carole Chaplin. And the equally religious indirect influences like Ruth Kelly.

2583. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #90287 by epeeist on November 24, 2007 at 1:46 am

Comment #90282 by Goldy

Well, there's a simple reason for that - you're a fuckwit with the brains of an asparagus.

The likes of devolved and Bizzaro Dawkins at least had the nouse to be able to find and quote from AiG.

This one doesn't appear to be able to find his arse with both hands.

2584. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #90280 by epeeist on November 24, 2007 at 12:24 am

Comment #90278 by Ruht

The theory of evolution is nothing more than one more invention of a rebellious people who refuse to come to God. Your ilk is no different than any other such types throughout history; although yours is an end-time manifestation that aids in the Biblical prophecies referred to in the scriptures.

Does this mean you aren't going to read the contents of the link I gave - http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc

Incidentally - my daughter went out to a place called Dharamsala, which is where the Dalai Lama is exiled. What happens to them and all the other Buddhists after the end times? Of course they are living in India where the majority of people are Hindus, I presume they won't be part of the people who are taken up in the rapture?

2585. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #90279 by epeeist on November 24, 2007 at 12:22 am

Comment #90232 by Bonzai

"Infinite" is not a single entity, there is a whole hierarchy of infinities. After omega 0 comes omega 1, omega 2... omega omega etc.

Small piece of pedantry - it should be aleph, not omega

Not that our new friend will know the difference.

2586. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #90150 by epeeist on November 23, 2007 at 7:25 am

Comment #90147 by _J_ on

I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again. I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky. I never told anybody to lie, not a single time; never. These allegations are false

Unfortunately I think the anonymous source spoke the truth.

It is my understanding (happy to be proven wrong on this) that he got his interrogators to define what they meant by "sexual relations" and that this did not cover the act performed by Miss Lewinsky.

A fairly nasty piece of sophistry and he deserved all he got thereafter (IMHO), but strictly his response is truthful.

2587. You can't be moral without God!

Comment #89996 by epeeist on November 22, 2007 at 11:00 am

Comment #89989 by Peacebeuponme

Tibor - do you really swallow that mush from Aquinas? Its a bit woolly don't you think?

It isn't even woolly, it is petitio principii, which someone like Aquinas should have been ashamed of proposing.

And even if it were true then it would still be arbitrary - it is God's sense of the good, not an objective one.

For all we know God might really see women as only worth half a man, might see the people contracting AIDS as preferable to using condoms.

2588. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #89975 by epeeist on November 22, 2007 at 9:03 am

Comment #89972 by Ruht

Who said he 'needed' to?

Perhaps he just wanted to.

But if he is omniscient then he would have known what he was going to do, so he can't have changed his mind can he?

Have you read the information in the link I gave in post #89963 as yet?

2589. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #89963 by epeeist on November 22, 2007 at 8:31 am

Since you appear to be back Ruht I thought I would post this again. It appears a couple of pages back amongst some inconsequential chit chat about fencing.

It contains some evidence for evolution - http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc

2590. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #89920 by epeeist on November 22, 2007 at 6:17 am

Comment #89918 by steve99

I find that mentioning this stuff usually results in a period of thoughtful silence from creationists, as a pet argument has been demolished. Of course, what usually follows is an attempt to redefine 'species' and 'mutation' and so on...

Not to mention "kind" and "baraminology"

2591. Ofcom backs Channel 4 over mosque probe

Comment #89903 by epeeist on November 22, 2007 at 5:10 am

Comment #89896 by Mat

It is also arguable that being anti-Muslim is not the same as being racist.

It is a card that is often played, but it is simply a piece of equivocation. There are black Muslims in both Africa and America, Asiatic Muslims in Pakistan and Bangladesh, Oriental Muslims in Indonesia as well as Semitic Muslims in the Arab states. White Muslims as well, just look at Cat Stevens.

2592. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #89890 by epeeist on November 22, 2007 at 4:12 am

Comment #89888 by _J_

To develop which theme, and thereby add further proof to the already towereing mountain in favour of god: forget the banana, take a fundamentalist theist. You can have a whole fruitcake.

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I plead guilty to the sin of being cryptic that Dianelos (of blessed memory) accused me of.

I was thinking of this - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF3L359yKjs&feature=related

Shame Ruht went away. Was just fashioning another response. Though steve99 pretty much covered it already. And Ruht seems to have been a very selective reader.

I was waiting for him to come back and claim the Theobald paper was fallacious. There is about 2 weeks worth of reading in it for somebody who has a clue what they are talking about...

2593. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #89887 by epeeist on November 22, 2007 at 3:45 am

Comment #89885 by BAEOZ

Wow, I didn't thing they fought long enough for hydration to come into it. I thought it was more like the 100m dash or something.

Well if you have around 200 fencers then you fence a seeding round against half a dozen others, then you start fencing elimination rounds down to 128, 64...

The seeding round is fenced to first of 5, the elimination bouts to first to 15. A competition takes place over a complete day, so hydration and nutrition are pretty important.

To bring it back to topic (sort of), this is why the banana is an obvious indicator of god. No other fruit provides all you need for a good day's fencing ;-)

2594. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #89881 by epeeist on November 22, 2007 at 3:19 am

Comment #89878 by BAEOZ

Why is it that fencers are confined to strips? Why don't they have, for instance, a large circle to move about in?

Because 2 blokes who can do the 10 meter dash in world record time would just jump about for ages in a big circle or area, before 1 got buggered enough for the other to reach him. It increases the skill level I imagine. Of course, I have no idea what I'm talking about.

:-)

Its much more mundane than that. Normally you are rigged up to an electronic scoring system through a series of long bits of wire. Move in a circle and you would tend to get tangled up.

The other thing is refereeing. Two of the weapons (foil and sabre) are conventional, i.e. if I am attacking you then I have the priority and you have to make a successful defensive action before the priority passes to you. It is relatively easy to see if people are moving laterally in front of you, more of a problem with people moving around in circles.

The other weapon, epee, essentially has no rules (okay, you can kick, gouge or hit your opponent with the blunt end) and given the possibility of wireless fencing then using a circle has been mooted. However you get back to mundane matters again. You can't get as many circles in a hall as you can strips. UK epee competitions can have as many as 200 people taking part so this really does matter.

Final thing - as for sweating. The guys in the video would have been wearing a non-conductive T-shirt, an under-jacket to prevent a broken blade going through the armpit (broken blades are rare, injuries because of them are extremely rare), an over jacket and a metallised jacket to define the target area. The under and over jackets are Kevlar reinforced. You sweat like a pig, hydration is a major consideration.

2595. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #89875 by epeeist on November 22, 2007 at 2:41 am

Comment #89864 by BAEOZ

I saw the first few minutes a while ago when you posted it on another thread and was impressed but didn't appreciate the technical fine points.

Wouldn't expect you to, like everything else it needs a certain amount of knowledge before you can understand it.

A few points though. People who fencer sabre are the fastest human powered athletes. Over short distances (the strips is 14m long) they are faster than sprinters.

The actions are as far as possible pre-planned (I know he does this kind of move, so I will present him with the situation where he can do it and then I will have something prepared to defeat it).

It is the second bit that, as far as I am concerned makes fencing one of the best individual sports.

2596. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #89861 by epeeist on November 22, 2007 at 1:47 am

Comment #89859 by BAEOZ on November

Epeeist your link doesn't link. Please don't disembowl me for this impertinence oh great one. :)

Fixed it for you, no cost.

Did you watch the video link I posted in the now quiet "Transcendent" thread ;-)

2597. Why Science Will Triumph Only When Theory Becomes Law

Comment #89857 by epeeist on November 22, 2007 at 1:37 am

Comment #89838 by Ruht

You mean Behe's personal claims. I don't necessarily advocate certain Behe assertions, and I surely don't advocate some of them. I merely agree with him about an Intelligent Designer.

Rather than find a particular comment of yours to respond to I have just picked the last one.

You might want to go read http://www.talkorigins.org/faqs/comdesc. This gives details of multiple pieces of evidence for macro evolution.

EDIT: Fixed the URL

2598. You can't be moral without God!

Comment #89660 by epeeist on November 21, 2007 at 12:16 pm

Comment #89651 by Tibor

Well, of course we live in communities and this means that even the most selfish person has to include some altruistic elements in his behaviour, like helping others. But that's not the same as morality, because the 'exigences of sustaining relationships' means that you aim for the minimum of goodness while morality means that you aim for the maximum.

You make the assertion of "aiming for the minimum", but you don't provide any evidence for this, all I can think is that this comes from your personal experience.

You made a side swerve on my suggestion of looking at Aristotle or Plato as one source of thinking on morality. Let's give you one little bit from Plato.

Is an act moral because God commands it, or does God command it because it is moral? If the first is true then God is imposing an arbitrary code. If the second is true then God is only a conduit for morality, not the source.

2599. AAI 07 DVDs by RDFRS are Now Available!

Comment #89625 by epeeist on November 21, 2007 at 9:25 am

Comment #89617 by Quetzalcoatl

What perks does being an heir of Nietzsche offer? Do I get a membership card? An invitation to an annual family get-together?

I would settle for a season ticket to Bayreuth. I have been in the lottery for one for years with no success.

Mind you, that is probably because him upstairs has got it in for me (Okay, before anyone else gets there first "infamy, infamy, they've all got it in for me" - to be spoken in a Frankie Howard voice).

2600. AAI 07 DVDs by RDFRS are Now Available!

Comment #89606 by epeeist on November 21, 2007 at 8:32 am

Comment #89590 by _J_

I think that part of what has made me want to share this is reading David Robertson's lead article in his church's magazine (here) in which, reflecting on his legendary adventures in extra-faith relations, he describes atheism as 'a black hole which leads to the pit of despair and meaningless'.

A bit difficult to respond to a PDF ;-)

And we are the "heirs of Nietzsche", where is Henri Bergson when you need him?