martin

Martin

Author's details

Date registered: September 27, 2011

Latest posts

Vote for us for Best Atheist Podcast — March 7, 2011
Open Thread / Show #699: Tracie & Matt — March 6, 2011
Fan mail…oh the irony… — February 22, 2011
Facebook friends…not always friendly. — February 19, 2011
Anonymous, Westboro and free speech. — February 19, 2011

Author's posts listings

Jan 06 2010

Video games were invented by THE DEVIL!!

Categories:

critical thinking, stupidity, video games

by martin

Oh look, this is original! Some crazy lady blogging for the Orange County Register, who aptly calls herself “Frumpy Middle-Aged Mom,” thinks that video games are horrible influences on her kids! And she blames Grand Theft Auto for the misgivings that negligent parents had after they allowed their underage kids to play it! (Props to …

This post has no tag

18 comments

Jan 05 2010

Scientist portrayal in Avatar

Categories:

anti-intellectualism, movies, science

by martin

I’ve seen Avatar twice now. I already reviewed it on my personal blog. I didn’t love it exactly, but I had to see it a second time because, despite its flaws, I knew my seven year old would think it was awesome. He did. However, I do want to add one quick thing about it. …

This post has no tag

27 comments

Jan 05 2010

Why I usually don’t argue with YouTube videos

Categories:

debate, video

by martin

This isn’t terribly important but I’m airing a minor grievance. People frequently email the TV crew to say “I saw this video on YouTube. Can you refute it?” Here’s why I usually refuse. Frankly, I hate dealing with videos. Text is an asynchronous mode of communication, whereas video is synchronous. (“Synchronous” is a fancy-schmancy computer …

This post has no tag

18 comments

Nov 23 2009

You blog readers are so very silly

Categories:

meta-post, video

by martin

After I wrote my last post about Nazis disapproving of Darwin, Ruud pointed out that another reader had converted the post into film format on YouTube. No reading, no dramatic enactment, just the text of the post — written in an old timey, grainy black and white film format, with German music playing over it. …

This post has no tag

1 comment

Nov 20 2009

Another reason not to blame Darwin

Categories:

Hitler was not an atheist, ID/creationism

by martin

Atheist Experience viewer Ruud from the Netherlands just drew my attention to another excellent reason why it’s is ridiculous to blame evolutionary theory for Nazism extermination. Checking out the Index to Creationist Claims, I see that it’s already on there, but since it was new to me I thought I’d share it. The University of …

This post has no tag

8 comments

Nov 18 2009

Don’t fear to let bad guys talk

Categories:

free speech, terrorism

by martin

There are many lines that you can expect to hear on just about every episode of The Atheist Experience. One is “Tell me what you believe and why you believe it.” Another is “Promoting positive atheism and the separation of church and state.” However, I think one of the most important repeated lines is: “If …

This post has no tag

42 comments

Nov 17 2009

We get creationist email #2

Categories:

counter-apologetics, email debate, ID/creationism

by martin

This is a follow-up to this dialogue. Martin has politely asked me if I would increase my blogging activity over the next few weeks, so that we can make up for the lack of new shows. Since I enjoy writing posts that react to something else, I’ll probably carry on with this sort of thing …

This post has no tag

10 comments

Nov 13 2009

We get creationist email

Categories:

counter-apologetics, email debate, ID/creationism

by martin

I’ve alerted the author that I will be posting this, and even obtained his consent, so… everybody wave hello! From: thelambstruthI’m a creationist fundie first off, and I was wondering how one could be an evolutionists. Hello, creationist fundie, nice to meet you. The reason someone would accept evolution is pretty straightforward: It’s because neo-Darwinian …

This post has no tag

20 comments

Nov 10 2009

Antichrist gonna getcha

Categories:

end times theology, faith is not a virtue

by martin

This morning I was listening to Christian radio. (Yeah, I still do that. I’m not going to apologize for it, he said defensively.) Thanks to my long commute, when I’m bored of the available audiobooks and podcasts, I occasionally switch to NPR or Christian talk for a few seconds to check if they say something …

This post has no tag

19 comments

Oct 21 2009

Can beliefs be inconsistent?

Categories:

AE TV show, epistemology, logic

by martin

Last night I listened to the podcast of last week’s show with Matt and Don. I am looking forward to being back in the “other” studio again, but not next weekend as scheduled, since I have plans to fly to Pennsylvania. One of the responses to the callers caught my attention. Matt and Don, beginning …

This post has no tag

35 comments