Open thread: PZed’s in the UK


I’m wandering off in the UK, and I have no idea how much net accessibility I’ll have…so I’ll just set up an open thread and let you all chat away. If I can, I’ll try to put up travel photos now and then.

Comments

  1. J. Peiper. says

    Spkng f trvlng, yr bddy Rchrd Dwkns wll b n Lwrnc Knss Mn th 16th/

    Jst n tm t njct sm nw lf nt th D crwd.

    Thngs wr gng sth, nd nw K s brngng Dwkns fr n nt rlgs rnt, dsgss s scnc, t njct sm nw lf nt th Dsts.

    f thy ply thr crds rght, ths s jst wht thy nd bfr th lctns.

    s lng s w hv ppl lk Dwkns, w cn b sr f th flr f thsm s scl frc.

    Crry n!!!

  2. says

    Peiper: have you actually seen Dawkins? He’s much better in person than his reputation would have you believe. A lot of people have bought into the “Dawkins is far too sure of himself” line of argument, which doesn’t really jib with what Dawkins himself actually says.

    He doesn’t really make for much of a bugbear. And I really dislike the idea that atheists need to smother their more outspoken proponents. That smacks of intimidation, and is the sure path to marginalization. “Oh, I’m an atheist, but Dawkins is positively religious about his atheism!” Well actually he isn’t.

    More generally, the “let’s not piss off the wackos” attitude is a huge part of why the wackos have been running things for the past five years. The wackos are going to be pissed off. That part is not negotiable. Deference borne of fear of wackos only makes atheists (and/or leftist) look weak.

  3. Baratos says

    I have come to the conclusion that wackos NEED to be angry at somebody, or they die. Without an outside group to hate, they would have to direct all that rage at themselves and commit suicide.

  4. G. Tingey says

    “Deference borne of fear of wackos only makes atheists (and/or leftist) look weak.”

    How true these words are – even today!

    Here deference to “the muslims” and “we must respect people’s religious beliefs” are the problem – or rather another aspect of the same problem.

  5. steve s says

    “I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the gospel as they are in Palestine, Pakistan and all those different places,” Fisher said. “Because, excuse me, we have the truth.”

    “A lot of people die for God,” one camper said, “and they’re not afraid.”

    Yeah, that’s what I want to see. More Palestine type behavior around here.

  6. George says

    When the cat’s away…

    Party at Pharyngula! Woo-hoo! Look, I’ve found the world’s worst priest joke:

    There once were two priests, father Dick and father Ray.

    One day after a very long mass, the two priests decided to hit the showers, halfway through there showers the priests realized that there was no soap.

    So, father Ray says to Father dick “I have extra soap in my room, I’ll go get some”.

    So he leaves to fetch the soap and doesn’t bother to get dressed becuase who would still be in the church at such a late hour? So he comes back from his room with two bars of soap and is walking down the hall when suddenly he hears voices coming around the corner, so with his quick thinking he froze to the wall, stiff as a statue.

    The voices turned out to be that of three nuns, who, when saw him standing there like a statue stopped to look at and admire him complimenting at how realistic he looks and what a nice body he has.

    When suddenly one of the nuns reaches out and grabbed his penis.

    Startled, he dropped a bar of soap, with this the nun said “Oh look, a soap dispencer”, wanting to test the first nuns theory the second nun reaches out and also grabs his penis, again he drops a bar of soap.

    With this the nun says “Yes it’s true, it is a soap dispencer”.

    Wanting to get her share of soap and excitement too, the third nun reaches out and grabs his penis.

    But nothing happended for he was all out of soap, so she goes on yanking and pulling his penis for the next few minutes until, to her delight, she squeals “Oh! Look, handcream!”

    http://www.thejokeyard.com/religious_jokes/hand_cream.html

    I bet you can’t top that.

  7. Chet says

    I have seen Dawkins, he always starts out nice, and then gets more and more enraged. He makes the most dismissive comments, and then at the end apologizes for getting carried away.

    Its always the same sthich, cause I have seen him do the same things on videos.

    And this guy is a professor of “Public Understanding” of Science.

    The fool will help you snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, which is a British thing..

  8. says

    “Oh! Look, handcream!”

    The reason the nuns were searching for a dispenser is because they’d been in the bath. One asked, “Wears the soap?” and the reply was, “Yes it does, rather.”

  9. Umilik says

    “I hope you brought a lot of money. I was just over there and everything costs about twice as much as it should”

    That’s because of the weak dollar ….
    Thanks to the Iraq war and the lunatics who started it……..

  10. Umilik says

    “I hope you brought a lot of money. I was just over there and everything costs about twice as much as it should”

    That’s because of the weak dollar ….
    Thanks to the Iraq war and the lunatics who started it……..

  11. says

    Peiper: have you actually seen Dawkins? He’s much better in person than his reputation would have you believe. A lot of people have bought into the “Dawkins is far too sure of himself” line of argument, which doesn’t really jib with what Dawkins himself actually says.

    And if anyone wants to see this for themselves, many parts of his multi-part series “Root of All Evil” can be seen on either YouTube or Google Video; just go there and search.

    And BTW, Dawkins said, on CBC Newsworld’s Big Picture, which showed part 1 and had a discussion after with many relgious people, including extremely conservative ones, that the title was at the insistence of the producers, who felt (and you know this is so) that a more nuanced title just wouldn’t work in terms of getting interest.

  12. says

    “… now I am become Seth, enjoyer of girls…”

    Kim Jong-il
    Yongbyon, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
    October 9, 2006

  13. says

    Good news from Michigan!

    The state board that defines public school curriculum has rejected right-wing efforts to include ID in Michigan science classes.

    Can I get a “woo hoo”?

    p.s. in the interest of full disclosure: the ID campaign has the enthusiastic support of Republican gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos (R-Awmay), and of his wife Betsy DeVos, the head of the Michigan Republican Party.

  14. Junk Jungle says

    I would just like to make the observation of the banner atop Mt. Pharyngula. It’s a bat flying in front of a moon…BRILLIANT!

    : Brilliant!

  15. JScarry says

    Since this is an off-topic thread, I thought you might be intereseted to know that one of the favorite books of Linus Torvalds is Dawkin’s “The Selfish Meme”. Someone asked a bunch of great programmers some basic questions and posted their answers here. The same questions would be interesting if posed to well-known bioligists.

  16. melior says

    Sean goes to confession and tells the priest, “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned…I’ve been with a woman”.

    The priest responds, “Is that you, Sean? Was it Mary O’Donohue?”

    “It’s me, Father, but I won’t say who it was.”

    “Was it Eileen Sullivan?”

    “Father, I won’t say.”

    “Was it Maureen Fitzpatrick?”

    “Father, please! I won’t say.”

    The priest gives Sean his penance and send him on his way. On the way out, Sean runs into his friend Mike who asks him, “What did he give you?”

    Sean replies, “Three Our Fathers, three Hail Marys and three sure things.”

  17. says

    E = (mc)/2

    Ha Kyong Won
    Yongbyon, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
    October 9, 2006

    Um, I’m not sure what the conventions are in the absence of an easy way to make superscripts, or what they might be for mathematical expressions in DPRK, but I’m pretty sure energy is not equal to half of mass times the speed of light in a vacuum.

    E = m(c)^2 is more in line with what I’ve seen.

    Your point, of course, is “what do you think of North Korea’s shiny new Nuke?”

    Personally, I think Dear Leader is a dangerous lunatic, and now he has The Bomb. Great. Now what?

  18. Rainbow Serpent says

    Ah, “Just Like Heaven”… They sure don’t make ’em like they used to. Pure pop perfection. That fact that the good Dr. is a fan just makes it that much better.

    Cheers,
    –N

  19. says

    My own mother would probably disown me for the fit of shameless blog-whoring that is about to follow, but the combination of an open thread regarding a visit to the UK, mention of Richard Dawkins and four pints after work has weakened my resolve.

    I’m off to see Dawkins read from The God Delusion in Birmingham tomorrow. Meeting the bloke is enough to get me flapping buffoonishly, as I can thank The Blind Watchmaker for inspiring me to take a biology degree, something I’ve just started blogging about at Back Off, Man. Exponentially ratcheting up the delirium however is the fact that in The God Delusion he quoted something I wrote! Plus he called me eloquent, something that can be safely filed under ‘Can die happy now’.

  20. Skeptyk says

    Oh, PZ, that Cure video made me so happy. And it raises your geek cred, as well. May you have a fine wander.

  21. rupertg says

    If you’re at a loose end in London at any point and feel the urge to eat cephalopod in a fine pub with excellent beer, my local does superb tentacles in chorizo sauce and keeps splendid Old Speckled Hen, Landlord, Bombardier and whatever guest ales they’ve got in at the time. It’s also very reasonable, for London.

    (It’s the Oxford in Kentish Town, about fifty yards down from the tube)

    R

  22. Will Von Wizzlepig says

    … I watched the whole video…

    …waiting to see a squid, or octopus, or cuttlefish, or something vaguely Pharyngula.

    Alas.

    There was no such creature- however, the band’s hair looked a bit squiddy.

    Here’s a flamboyant cuttlefish video on youtube to make up for it…

  23. lazybratsche says

    TheBrummel:

    I think you just got wooshed. I believe the mistaken equation was intentional…

    Either that, or my sarcasm detector needs to be adjusted.

  24. R O'Brien says

    Bn:

    Dwkns s fll f xcrmnt; nly Pz s lwr n th ttm pl f bnxs, thstc cdmcns. (H s th nfmm f th st, f y wll.) Hs ndrsmnt nd 10 pnc wld nt gt y gmbll frm gmbll mchn.

  25. says

    His endorsement and a 10 pence would not get you a gumball from a gumball machine.

    What is “a 10 pence”? I assume you mean either “10 pence” (a sum of money worth one tenth of a pound) or “a ten-pence piece” (a coin with a calue of 10 pence), but as written, it makes no sense.

    Replace it in that sentence with “a 10 cents”, and you may see how clumsy it is.

  26. rrt says

    I…like the Cure, but…as an MTV-deprived child, I’m not sure I’ve ever actually seen a video. I’m with Diane on this one. Holy…Freaking…Hair.

  27. says

    That video takes me back a ways, to when I was on a school trip to Berlin. The Cure were playing there. Looking back at the poster that caught my eye, it must’ve been the Seventeen Seconds tour.

    Alas, I’d never heard them before, and as a student didn’t have the money to risk it on unknown bands.

    And for the record, their best album is Pornography, with either The Top or The Head on the Door in second place.

  28. says

    What is “a 10 pence”? I assume you mean either “10 pence” (a sum of money worth one tenth of a pound) or “a ten-pence piece” (a coin with a calue of 10 pence), but as written, it makes no sense.

    Replace it in that sentence with “a 10 cents”, and you may see how clumsy it is.

    Thanks dude. I was replacing “a dime” in the original saying (in an effort to be culturally sensitive :D), hence the confusion.

  29. says

    Ye gods, it’s a sub-Jsn. Strangely enough I was reading the discussion page of PZ’s wikipedia page the other day (on a whim after recalling a comment round these parts wondering how long it’d take the resident donuts to start vandalising it), and the two names that kept springing up were Jinx and this character. The former, at least, has a certain lovable desperation.

  30. R O'Brien says

    Strngly ngh ws rdng th dscssn pg f PZ’s wkpd pg th thr dy…nd th tw nms tht kpt sprngng p wr Jnx nd ths chrctr.

    Yh, Pz hs sm dtfl sycphnts wh hv ppsd my ttmpts t pst hs pblctn rcrd.

  31. guthrie says

    Sure, your just unhappy that people disagreed with you. Have you found an argument you can win yet?

    I note you stood by whilst badgerpatrol slagged off PZ.

  32. guthrie says

    At last, a semi sensible answer.
    And in answer to it, I wonder if you understood the critiscisms of what you were suggesting. Have you looked at other peoples entries and seen how such things are done on them? In order to make your case, it would help to have some other examples of what you are trying to do.