Comments

  1. tyaddow says

    It is a FACT that God exists, evolution is just a theory, atheists have no basis for morality, America is a Christian Nation.

  6. says

    tyaddow, you forgot “the Earth is 6000 years old” and “fossils were put here by satan to trick us!”
    You could probably also add “I dont beleve in sience because I faled the 3 graid”

  13. Azdak says

    The doctor article was hysterical.

    5. If you believe in miracles, say so

    …and then inform your doctor that you don’t require medical attention after all. Have a little faith!

  14. says

    Welcome to Colorado! Unfortunately most of the godless nature-loving types leave here in the Roaring Fork Valley (Aspen to most of you.) Drop in to the ol’ bookstore if you find yourself here.

  15. Philippe says

    RE: doctor and faith article.

    At least some of the commenters are making some decent arguments.

  16. Bill Dauphin says

    For those of you who’ve been wringing your hands in fear that McCain/Palin may actually win, here are some shreds of hope:

    When even Bill O’Reilly defends Obama (however left-handedly), I think it’s a sign that the “heroic” Senator’s campaign has overplayed its hand. Nobody seems to be buying the bizarre, outlandish claims about “armies” of oppo researchers or kindergarten sex classes that McCain’s ads are making… though human snapping turtle James Carville seems to think McCain must be clueless about his own ads, since he’s “too honorable” to make such scurrilous claims. Of course, even if Carville’s assessment were correct (fat chance!!), that level of cluelessness about what others are doing in his name would clearly disqualify McCain from becoming POTUS… wouldn’t it?

    PS: If you’re worried about all those polls that show the race as very close, perhaps even with Obama trailing, calm down; they don’t tell the whole story.

    (h/t to HuffPo for all those links)

  17. Alan Chapman says

    The Flat Earth Navigation Syndrome consists of devoting time and energy to solving problems that don’t exist, such as figuring out ways to navigate around a flat Earth.

    Creation “science” is a study with no answers because it has no subject matter.

  18. tyaddow says

    Re: doctors and faith-

    There are things that doctors can’t explain and those things are god. Well then, I’m convinced. All I needed was that fresh, astute reasoning. I’ve been wondering why doctors make mistakes. Here I was thinking it was because they’re human and they don’t know everything, not to mention they have a lot of patients and a stressful job- but now I realize it’s because they’re all mean atheists that don’t prescribe prayer and expect miracles.

  19. MikeM says

    Sarah Palin’s Wasilla charged rape victims for their own medical tests. This was specifically illegal, thanks to legislation from Joe Biden. The state of Alaska had to order Palin to stop by passing its own law.

    http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/52266.html

    Come on. This one has to blow apart her candidacy. What she ordered was against Federal law.

    What color lipstick will Palin use on this pig?

  20. Raguel says

    Hey,

    I’ve always been told by biologists that there was no intelligence gene per se and/or differences in intelligence among groups could be explained by differences in environment. I recently seen on the internet (specifically Gene Expression) something about HBD. I haven’t run across yet an explanation of what “HBD” is (based on the name of the site, I’m assuming it’s a HoX gene). Anyone here know much about it?

  22. Bill Dauphin says

    OT procedural question: I’ve seen other commenters say that their comments have been held for moderation because they include links, but, despite the fact that I embed links in my comments all the time, it’s never happened to me… until today. I just wrote a comment about the presidential race with several links to HuffPo articles, and it’s apparently gone into a moderation queue. What did I do to deserve this? The only thing I can think of that’s even a little bit unusual is that one of the links was to a JPEG image (but only a link, not an embed). Did that kill my post?

    And once disappearing into moderation purgatory, do comments ever actually make it to the blog?

    Jus’ wondrin’…

  24. chadlyconqueso says

    just reflecting that it was a bunch of religious whackos that brought down the twin towers, and a bunch of religious whackos who fumbled the response.

  25. says

    For those who may be interested, I gathered in one place links to my various blog posts about Intelligent Design at http://exploringourmatrix.blogspot.com/2008/09/blogging-intelligent-design-highlights.html

    Pick a few and send them to a friend who is a Christian but can’t seem to grasp that movements like Intelligent Design and Young Earth Creationism are problematic for a variety of reasons, theological as well as scientific. Maybe one of my posts treating the subject from a Christian perspective will help…

  26. raven says

    This belongs here. Still haven’t got over my shock that Palin is running for VP. And can’t remember anyone less qualified being nominated.

    Instead of voting someone in to clean up the 8 year Bushco catastrophe, it is possible we will end up with a team to dig our country into an even deeper hole. Seems to me after all the negative facts and statistics of the present regime, McBush and Palin should be polling 20-35% instead of nearly 50%. Something is wrong here.

    National Enquirer.com

    The ENQUIRER has learned exclusively that Sarah’s oldest son, Track, was addicted to the power drug OxyContin for nearly the past two years, snorting it, eating it, smoking it and even injecting it. And as Track, 19, heads to Iraq as part of the U.S. armed forces, Sarah and her husband Todd were powerless to stop his wild antics, detailed in the new issue of The ENQUIRER, which goes on sale today.

    THE ENQUIRER also has exclusive details about Track’s use of other drugs, including cocaine, and his involvement in a notorious local vandalism incident.

    “I’ve partied with him (Track) for years,” a source disclosed. “I’ve seen him snort cocaine, snort and smoke OxyContin, drink booze and smoke weed.”

    The source also divulged the girls would do anything for Track and he’d use his local celebrity status to manipulate other guys “to get them to steal things he wanted.”

    “He finally did what a lot of troubled kids here do,” the source divulged. “You join the military.”

    And as Gov. Palin has billed the state of Alaska for various expenses related to her children, as reported by The Washington Post, The ENQUIRER’s investigation reveals that she was so incensed by 17-year-old Bristol’s pregnancy that she banished her daughter from the house.

    Another family friend revealed pre-prego Bristol was as much of a hard partier as Track was.

    I really hate to quote the National Enquirer. Oddly enough, they were the ones who first vetted Palin, seeing as how the GOP has yet to do so. And claimed correctly that her 17 year old daughter was pregnant and even who the supposed father was.

    There are persistent reports that Track was involved in a vandalism incident involving 60 school buses.

    FWIW. No idea if any of this is true of course. But this sort of thing seems to be common in Alaska, a remote area with long, very cold, and dark winters.

  27. Janine ID says

    Bill Dauphin, your bit about multiple links is the key. More then one and your comment is held for moderation. You either wait to be approved or you stick to one link per post.

  28. Azdak says

    I’ve always been told by biologists that there was no intelligence gene per se and/or differences in intelligence among groups could be explained by differences in environment.

    Given that ‘intelligence’ is a vast and nebulous construct without any decent operational definition (that I’ve seen, at any rate), it seems highly unlikely that you could reduce such a complex group of faculties to a single gene — or, really, any small subset of genes.

    Lots of studies have been done, and they all seem to indicate that both genetics and environment play a significant role in an individual’s ‘intelligence’ (usually measured via IQ tests) — as with most (all?) ‘nature vs. nurture’ debates, the answer is pretty clearly “both, not one or the other.” When someone plays a piano, what makes the music? The musician or the instrument?

    No clue on the HBD thing — I’ll let a real biologist take that on… ;)

  30. Bill Dauphin says

    Janine:

    Thanks for the response. I would’ve sworn I’d posted comments with more than one link before with no problem, but maybe I’m just misremembering. I’ll pay better attention in future.

  34. James F says

    #11 Jackal wrote:

    Hey. My spouse and I are moving to Boston, MA next week. We’d love to get in touch with some Boston Pharyngulites.

    Welcome to our fair city! Quite a few of us post here, including recent guest blogger MAJeff. We had a Pharyngufest a while back, and there’s Skeptics in the Pub in Harvard Square, just check Skepchick.

  35. says

    Bill Dauphin, your bit about multiple links is the key. More then one and your comment is held for moderation. You either wait to be approved or you stick to one link per post.

    Strangely enough I just posted one with two and it went right through. I tried to post a link to Ed’s blog on DaveScot’s “Marines Praying” flounder the other day when he was here commenting and it wouldn’t go through.

  36. freelunch says

    Jeff:

    A poe troll is someone who is making, in an exaggerated manner, statements commonly made by the opposing side in a way designed to stir up responses. At times it is difficult to tell the poes from the True Believers.

  37. Quiet_Desperation says

    Sarah Palin reminds me of Jennifer O’Neill, especially in this picture: http://drudgereport.com/sp.jpg

    My favorite woo woo theory is that Nikola Tesla caused the Tunguska event.

    My second favorite woo woo theory is that the Great Chicago Fire was caused by impacts from the fragmentation of Comet Biela.

  38. Sili says

    I seem to be out of irrelevant links for a change, so for the time being I’ll just note my displeasure upon learning that Gustav Holst’s The Planets suite was inspired by astrology and that he was deeply into the woo.

    It was the last piece of the Prom yesterday, and I did get to enjoy it anyway. I’ll blame the shock for causing to sleep today away, though.

  39. Lago says

    So there I was, totally naked, painted red with a feather duster up my ass, when the priest looks deeply into my eyes and says…

    Huh? What?…woops, sorry. I thought this was The Catholic league chat forums..

  43. says

    When PZ said “open thread” I’m sure it didn’t mean so open that your brains all fall out.

    Ooh, that was nasty of me. Must be because I’ve just come down with a cold. It’s all the fault of that LHC thing, of course.

  46. says

    So there I was, totally naked, painted red with a feather duster up my ass, when the priest looks deeply into my eyes and says…

    “You wouldn’t do that with a copy of the Qur’an!”

  47. says

    Allow me to pimp my blog, PZ.

    I wrote a piece on 911 today.

    And yesterday, I wrote a piece on the objectification of Bush by conservatives. I call these people Bush-Nationalists. I used the example of the cracker in my analogy. I shreaded a McCain flier to rile them up. I took pictorial evidence of my desecration.

    Thanks. Glad some of you enjoyed the quickie Madison flier. Damn critics….

  48. Danio says

    I recently seen on the internet (specifically Gene Expression) something about HBD. I haven’t run across yet an explanation of what “HBD” is (based on the name of the site, I’m assuming it’s a HoX gene). Anyone here know much about it?

    There is a human gene called HBD2 which has to do with the inflammatory response of epithelial cells, but what you’re most likely referring to here is Human Biological Diversity, the catch-all phrase that enters into many discussions about variance in intelligence, athletic performance, and any number of other traits that are known or suspected to have a hereditary component.

    Probably not a bad topic for an open thread, actually.

    Also, in recognition of the significance of this date in modern American History, Orac has a couple of 9/11 posts up that are worth a look.

  49. E.V. says

    Yeah, Palin’s family represents the attitude of entitlement that we’ve come to know and hate from the hypocritical elite moralists. It just doesn’t take as much effort to be elite in the reddest of Red States. Her daughter has been rumored to also have a problem with pharmaceuticals. The son has been described as a pre-frat boy thug. Such good, moral and righteous hands-on parenting.
    Palin is a vindictive mean spirited neo-con who probably cherishes Roger A. Travanti’s* invective towards those who oppose him, “I hope you all get ass cancer and die.” It’s too bad Karma isn’t real.
    McCaine deserves Palin and vice versa.

    *Fred Armisen, SNL

  51. Patricia says

    #24 – James McGrath – Nice try James. Do you have a license to fish in PZ’s waters, or are you just trying to poach? 417 comment in 2007 on your blog…ha, ha, haw!!! Trawling is very close to trolling you gawddist toad.

  52. Ben says

    Just ran across a *marvelous* blog entitled “PZ Myers is a douchebag.” I left the author this expression of my appreciation for his efforts.
    ******************************
    It must be terribly gratifying for PZ to be so feared by religious nut jobs, that one has actually set up a blog for the sole purpose of launching ad hominum attacks against him. You honor him and exalt him with this blog in a way that I’m sure you don’t understand. But it is your more subtle form of endorsement – attacking his position with arguments that are vacuous and indefensible, thereby making his opposition look foolish – that is the real genius behind this blog.

  53. G.D. says

    Completely different topic: Pharyngula is currently #76 on Technorati. While not bad, there are some really stupid blogs above it. Is it time for a campaign here? Any suggestions?

  54. Natalie says

    On the links/comment moderation – I think you have to have more than two links for your comment to go into spamgatory.

  55. E.V. says

    …when the priest looks deeply into my eyes and says…

    You have eyes in the back of your head?!!?

  59. E.V. says

    James McGrath:
    How does it feel to have wasted your life studying a non-existant deity and propagandizing disinformation about science you cannot seem to comprehend? When you look in the dictionary, do you find you’re picture under delusional? You won’t find it under rational. Twit.

  61. Ostiarius says

    If Phryngl wr crck hs (nt mch f strtch t ll) thn Ptrc wld b crck whr, pnng hr tthlss mth wd t sht tnts t pssrs by. I dn’t knw wht mks y thnk y r spcl, btch, bt, n rlty, y r nsty sknk wth lw-grd ntllgnc.

    [buh-bye, Ostiarius! Since it looks to me that you’re about to take advantage of my absence to start a filth avalanche, I think I’ll use my omnipotent invisible hand to flush you.]

  65. says

    If Pharyngula were a crack house (not much of a stretch at all) then Patricia would be a crack whore, opening her toothless mouth wide to shout taunts at passers by. I don’t know what makes you think you are special, bitch, but, in reality, you are a nasty skank with low-grade intelligence.

    awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww how cute

  71. Natalie says

    I don’t know what makes you think you are special, bitch, but, in reality, you are a nasty skank with low-grade intelligence.

    coughprojectioncough

  72. says

    chadlyconqueso | September 11, 2008 2:34 PM #23

    “just reflecting that it was a bunch of religious whackos that brought down the twin towers, and a bunch of religious whackos who fumbled the response.”

    You know, I’m middle aged now and my reactions never were that fast, but one computer game I do enjoy playing is Quake. If you know Quake well enough it’s possible to just shelter behind a wall most of the time and let the monsters get on with killing one another off.

    It’s a pity that real life isn’t like a game, really.

  79. Your Name's Not Bruce? says

    Anyone out there(in here?) read Bugliosi’s The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder? I’m not quite done but it’s a very worthwhile read. Angering yet inspiring. Perhaps this is America’s exit strategy from the Bush/Cheney nightmare?

  81. metaphysical coward says

    I consider myself agnostic on the subject of gods.
    I am not ‘an agnostic’. The author of the essay
    linked at #49 seems to want all of us who live our
    lives as if there were no gods to join some kind of
    club. No thanks.

  83. LightningRose says

    Poll crash time!

    Is A Fertilized Human Egg A Person?

    SURVEY
    A proposed amendment would make Colorado the first state to define in its state constitution when life begins. Do you believe a fertilized egg is a person?

    http://www.thedenverchannel.com/news/17438818/detail.html

    As of this writing, “no” is leading “yes” 59% to 37%, but as a surprise to PZ when he arrives in Denver, surely we improve this a bit.

  85. Patricia says

    Sorry Sven, didn’t know. Damn hair trigger acting up again.

    I beg your pardon James McGrath.

    #60 – Oh look, the trolls do have spawn. Shame it’s to small to keep.

  86. says

    Hey, does anyone remember why, in particular, the Frinktank got tossed off of Scienceblogs way back when? I’m trying to think if it was for a controversy that was “worse” than anything that’s actually happened here in the last year or so.

  88. Todd says

    MikeM #18

    From what I heard Palin wasn’t the one who initiated charging the cost of the rape kit to the rape victim, it was the Wasilla chief of police who did that while Palin was mayor. She apparently did nothing about it which is why the state legislature passed that law (and good for them). To me this shows Palin is a “true” politician – don’t do anything controversal yourself, always have someone else do it so you can distance yourself and claim reasonable doubt.

    Another example of Palin’s politics is charging the state for per diem expenses while working out of her own home instead the governor’s residence. Technically it’s legal since she was away from the capital conducting state business. However, the former governor didn’t permit it because he didn’t consider it ethical.

  92. Danio says

    Ostiarius is a very angry little troll indeed, and shows some pronounced misogynistic leanings in the bargain. Let’s see if he goes away if we starve him–how ’bout it, folks?

  96. Lana says

    Now see what happens when Teacher leaves the room? The bully boys say mean things to the girls and write rude things on the blackboard.

  98. Helioprogenus says

    I’m extremely tired of constantly running into professionals like Physicians and Lawyers who wear their stupid religious beliefs on their sleeves. It’s so infuriating knowing that these individuals who have spend their life in academic circles still come out with their reasoning in shattered pieces and their faith in some useless belief completely in the open.

    I wish the time would come when faith alone would be a dirty little secret. You don’t have evidence to substantiate your stupid belief, then keep it to yourself and while you’re at it, go fuck yourself.

    You don’t even have to be religious to have faith in useless things. Conspiracy theories are the pinnacle of faith without religion. Sure, some aspects of these theories probably have some grain of truth in them, but it’s shocking how pre-conceived notions become a large part of people’s philosophy. The 9-11 truth thing definitely comes to mind today. Not to say that there aren’t small scale cover ups going on, but a massive conspiracy on this level is like believing that there’s a cabal of jews controlling the world. Say, did you see the dude on the grassy knoll who’s actually a Mossad agent involved in covering up 9-11 who happened to have been one of the key hoaxers of the moon landing, spending his Friday afternoons planning the next Shuttle Launch to deploy those next generation space lasers, and on his free time, buries dinosaur bones that were 6000 years old in Jurassic layers to confound those idiot paleontologists. It’s fun, just like religion, you make some shit up, and claim to truly believe it, and suddenly, perhaps you’ll convince a few ignorant fools. The wonder of the human mind, so fallible, yet so gelatinous.

  102. vespera says

    @75 Ostiarius quoted: “Did I here[sic] the mewling of a high school troll?”
    and answered, “As I wrote, a vapid pos.”
    So at least he acknowledges that he’s a ‘vapid pos.’ [Cue the indignant response attacking my reading comprehension] And with a seriously inflated sense of intellectual superiority because he knows a few long words. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, we are definitely dealing with an adolescent boy here. I would bet my life on that. Hopefully he’ll grow up some day, but somehow I doubt it.

  105. says

    Anyone know what the History channel is doing with “Evolve!”? It’s not on Tuesdays anymore. The next new episode is this Sunday, but after that it’s not on the schedule at all. It’s nice for me that it’s not on Tuesdays at 10 Eastern anymore (it would conflict with “The Shield”), but it’s supposed to be a 13 episode series and it seems like they’ve only aired five so far.

  108. Sven DIMilo says

    I give up. A couple days ago a comment I tried to post got moderated into oblivion, but today everything I try gets posted. ‘course, I’m special.

  109. E.V. says

    Oh look everyone! Ostiarius has a thesaurus. Oh, he is so vastly superior intellectually. I wonder why he bothers with us…
    You’re amusing, snookums.

  110. vespera says

    Ostiarius @110: “The only thing worse than a f’ing moron is a pretentious f’ing moron.”
    That, coming from him, is especially entertaining.

  112. says

    Ostiarius –

    Cloaking your trolling in BIG WERDZ does not make you look intelligent. OH NOZ, YOU KNOW GREEK! Shut the fuck up.

    Please show some proof to back up your assertions before we concede that you have even one neuron, you apparently anencephalic fundie asshole.

  113. says

    The thing I like most about every Global Warming Story is the admission of no real certainty at some point in the article accompanied by the finding of some ill fate for a large group. “There is general consensus that everyone will die, though we don’t yet know the cause, the impact or the timing…” said Dr. John, a leading expert on climate change and statistical correlation of the unknown to the known unknown.

    Bad News: 1 billion people homeless by 2050 from global warming.

    Good News: If you are reading this online then it probably isn’t going to be you.

    http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30200-1265506,00.html?f=rss

  114. says

    Ostiarius –

    There is nothing more vacuous and vapid and stupid than religion.

    Atheism is well-reasoned and has evidence. You, on the other hand, are completely and utterly DEVOID OF ANY REASONING OR EVIDENCE, you douchebag.

  115. E.V. says

    Tell me, do you find the company of other losers on pharyngula comforting?

    Obviously, you do or you wouldn’t be here, snookums.

  117. Judge Judy says

    Tax protester Robert Beale is heading for the slammer, which is of course sad news for his son Ted aka “Vox Day”, but look on the bright side Vox – it was God’s will that was done.

  119. Todd says

    Ostiarius: Yes, in my head, bitch. Tell me, do you find the company of other losers on pharyngula comforting?

    1. Pharyngula commenters are losers.
    2. Ostiarius comments on Pharyngula.
    3. Ostiarius is a loser.

    QED

  120. Danio says

    ndt, good question. I tuned in at 10 this past Tuesday, all set to see ‘Evolve: Communication’, as listed in my newspaper TV guide, but got some other program instead. The HC website lists some upcoming shows on the weekend, but also notes that there are no new shows scheduled to air in the next two weeks. I hope this doesn’t mean they’ve pulled the plug on prime-time airing of ‘Evolve’ altogether.

  121. says

    Jackal (#11):

    Hey. My spouse and I are moving to Boston, MA next week. We’d love to get in touch with some Boston Pharyngulites.

    Boston Skeptics in the Pub meets on the last Monday of each month and has a fairly strong Pharyngulite contingent. 19 o’clock, Tommy Doyle’s, Harvard Square. The next meeting will also be a ScienceBlogs Millionth Comment Party.

  123. E.V. says

    I’d have to drop an anvil on my head to sink to your caliber of intelligence.

    My, my…such an eloquent little man.

  125. says

    Spoken like a typical sophomoric undergrad. I’d have to drop an anvil on my head to sink to your caliber of intelligence.

    HummMM. the Wile E Coyote theory of intelligence. Sounds about right.

    Ostiarius: SUPER GENIUS!

  127. Patricia says

    That counter up at the top is kind of fun. Does anyone know if we get to keep it after it hits a million?

  129. says

    Anything cerebral I would have to post would fly over your collective heads.

    Which reminds me, I’ve been looking for somebody to double-check my Latin. The “Responsum Aucili” could probably use a good copy-editor, and it is so hard to find a decent classicist these days.

    Accusaties impudentes Dawkinsi deliberavi, et is inopia litterarum gravium me exacerbavit. Sermes magnarum singularum Roderigi Hispalis, de coriis conquisitis externisque caligarum Imperatorum non legavit, per speciem, neque consideratiem donat brevem opo summa laude dignum Bellini, De Plumis Illustris Petasæ Imperatorem. Scholas totas consecratas ut libos doctos de pulchritude vestimentum Imperatoris scribans habeamus, et acta diurna omnia magna pars de more regio comprehendant. Dawkinsus totum inflate dimittat. Etiam cachinnat ad disputaties gratiosissimas suaviloquentissimasque civis eius, Mawkscribblerius, qui clare monstravit Imperatorem aut gyssypium vulgare aut polyesteram molestam non gerat, sed subucula bombycis subtilissimæ gerenda Imperatori est.

    Dawkinsus hæc reputanda alta philosopha arrogane prætereit, ut Imperatorem rude accuset nudi.

    Coram, suspicor Imperatorem fortasse potest esse leve detegi — aliter quam explicamus segnitiam manifestam in lavatorio regiæ? — sed omnes alii garriunt de veste eo, et hic inurbanus careat ingenium circumlocutiorem elegantium mei. Itaque, dum non possum agere cum natura disputatium earum, Dawkinsus reprehendendum est, propter eos mores malos.

    Donec Dawkinsus exercuerit in tabernis Lutetiæ et Mediolani, donec discerit discrimem inter calamistros agitantes et laurus difficiles, simulandum nobis est Dawkinsum non elocutus est contra iudicium Imperatoris. Disciplina ea biologica potest eum donare ingenium cognoscere genitalia pendens, sed eum non docuit æstimatiem decoram Textorum Commenticiorum.

  132. Ubi Dubius says

    “From what I heard Palin wasn’t the one who initiated charging the cost of the rape kit to the rape victim, it was the Wasilla chief of police who did that while Palin was mayor.” from Todd @ #93

    To be more precise, the police chief hand-picked by Mayor Palin after she fired the previous chief for trying to move up closing time at the bars from 5 am to 2 am.

  133. Danio says

    Posted by: JStein | September 11, 2008 4:42 PM
    On a more sober note, am I the only one who remembers what day it is?

    No, but thanks for bringing it up again. Some of the more compelling issues on this thread have, regrettably, been obscured by the poo-flinging troll.

  134. says

    “My second favorite woo woo theory is that the Great Chicago Fire was caused by impacts from the fragmentation of Comet Biela.” – Quiet Desperation, #36

    Oh – has that been disproved?

    On the same day as the Great Chicago Fire (October 8 1871) the Peshtigo, Wisconsin, fire caused more than four times the fatalities and destroyed more than 1.2 million acres of timber.

    On the same day as the Great Chicago Fire (October 8 1871) the Lower Michigan fires killed almost as many people as in Chicago and burned 2.5 million acres.

    The fires that day formed an elliptical footprint more consistent with a comet-head strike than a meteorite impact.

  135. E.V. says

    So obviously, Ostiarius is Catholic, sports wood for Palin, thinks he’s Rick James (Bitches!), uses greek as a pretension factor, vulgar but uses asterisks for “fuck”, and believes himself to be the smartest person in the room. That little profile says it all.

  137. says

    Is Ostiarius a theist? If so, I warmly invite her to read John Loftus’ new book “Why I Became an Atheist: A Former Preacher Rejects Christianity” that I posted notice of at #22.

    By rejecting Christianity in favor of a more reasoned and rational life, a person can live happier. Rejecting superstition in favor of objective reality is of benefit because doing so enables the reasoning person to live a fulfilled passionate life.

  139. Rob says

    @JStein:

    My wife found this, I’m not entirely sure where:

    I’ve been reading my friends and some of them have despaired that nobody’s mentioned 9/11 yet, and the few that have all says more or less the same thing: “Today is not the day for partisan rancour. Today is the day we remember.”

    I remember that we figured out who did it, and seven years ago he and his friends hid in the hills of Pakistan, and they’re living there still.

    I remember that gas was less than two dollars a gallon.

    I remember we were sold a war that, among all the other reasons proposed by administration mouthpieces, “stabilizing the oil supply” was whispered now and then.

    I remember that four thousand soldiers, good men and women, have died in a war for which the incidents of that day were merely an excuse.

    I remember that there was a middle-eastern faction that didn’t hate us so much then as they do now.

    I remember that, seven years ago, I lost nobody to the flames.

    I remember instead that day as the beginning of the end of my country as I had loved it. I live in a “new reality” now, one in which, citizen, you have nothing to fear if you have nothing to hide, and have nothing to be ashamed of if you’re good and law-abiding, citizen.

    I remember living in America.

  140. says

    @146; I’m glad, because sometimes when I feel like there are just theist poo-flingers (or, as I like to call them, evidence of evolution), it’s nice to see smart people too.

  141. Jams says

    Teacher fired for giving his students an article about disappearing penises.

    Does everyone remember the magical disappearing penises in Uganda story? Well, Harpers published their version of the story a while back and a high-school teacher decided to give his students the story as part of an assignment. Apparently, the principal found out and fired the teacher for giving the students “inappropriate” materials. You can read a letter from this student in Harpers most recent issue. I assume “inappropriate” was a reference to penises, but I’m not really sure.

    It’s kind of funny though. In an attempt to talk about the hysteria of one culture, he’s nailed by the hysteria of his own.

  142. Qwerty says

    Deepsix: The Onion article about God answering a little boy’s prayer reminds me of a cartoon I saw a long time ago. The cartoon shows the University of Notre Dame “Fighting Irish” five points behind in a football game with only seconds left on the clock. Then, in the sky, the hand of God draws a diagram of the winning play with the Xes and Ohs appearing as small clouds. And, needless to say, but I’ll say it: Notre Dame wins. Yeaaaaa!!!!! Catholic Universities rule!

    Notre Dame hasn’t been winning as much lately. Especially in bowl games as they’ve lost nine in a row. Perhaps God is rooting for USC?

  143. H.H. says

    Ostiarius might be Vox Dei. Same hatred of women. Same self-aggrandizing prose lacking all substance whatsoever. All bluster and no bite. Vicious tongue, dim mind.

    It’s one thing to verbally bitch slap someone when you can back it up. But when you do it because you lack any reasoned arguments, as Ostiarius does, well then it just becomes sad. Poor impotent Ostiarius. Too stupid to understand that he’s been beat. You get to act arrogant after you’ve made a successful argument, chump, not before. Guess it must suck to be a permanent loser.

  146. CJO says

    Ostiarius = Baba?

    I was almost certain it was good ol’ Robert O’Brien (see the dungeon) on a particularly unhinged bender, but now it’s gone and disavowed familiarity with Latin, something I’m not sure Robert’s fully autonomous overinflated ego would allow him to do.

    Maybe it’s a new one.

  147. says

    Ostiarius –

    Here is a list of your assertions which you have provided no proof to back up and for which there is no proof that most of us have seen:

    1) You assert atheism is vacuous.

    2) You assert that Pharyngula is a ‘****hole’.

    I am about 95% sure that you’re a Poe.

  148. Jams says

    No Rev… I will not stand still while you and your ilk conspire to disappear disappearing penises.

  155. Bride of Shrek OM says

    Paticia

    In an act of charity you should try and make friends with it. Try tickling it under the chin.

    Honestly, I’m jealous- that there Ostiarius obviously wants some hot loving from you.

  156. E.V. says

    So obviously, Ostiarius is Catholic
    No.

    Okay Greek Orthodox, same shit.
    So you’re the gate keeper? To what?

  157. E.V. says

    So obviously, Ostiarius is Catholic
    No.

    Okay Greek Orthodox, same shit.
    So you’re the gate keeper? To what?

  160. gramomster says

    Ice cream! Good! What the hell happened to the real Rocky Road, with actual little marshmallows? The “Rocky Road” of today seems to have a swirl of that marshmallow fluff garbage.
    Hate that.
    I miss Rocky Road

  163. Bride of Shrek OM says

    Rev

    I support you and your efforts for the Reappearing Disappearing Penises Appreciation Society.

  164. Danio says

    *emerges from the microscope bunker, wildly waving science geek flag*

    Here’s the PLoS paper from last year on disappearing/reappearing duck penises. The figures are just a freakshow, and must be seen to be believed.

    *returns to bunker*

  165. Jams says

    “You assert atheism is vacuous.” – Katherine

    Actually, I have to agree. Atheism is vacuous. Other than the whole non-belief in god(s) thing, there’s absolutely nothing there. I think the confusion is a result of mistaking a-theism for athe-ism.

  166. Bride of Shrek OM says

    Rev BDC

    I support you and your efforts for the Reappearing Disappearing Penises Appreciation Society.

  167. Alex says

    Just to see if anyone reads down this far… I could use a hand in a comment-discussion on another site.

    To my assertion that evolution has no predetermined “goal” (the topic of the OP is “purpose”), I get this:
    “It depends on your perspective. From an atheistic view of the universe, there is no good or bad mutations: what happens happens. But from the point of view from “life”, there are good mutations: those that help ensure the continuation of the “species.””

    And, having not had a full night’s sleep in 4 days, I’m at a loss for an intelligent response (although I do know he’s wrong =D)

    Any suggestions?

  171. PhoPas says

    I just thought to remind you that 7 years ago, thousands of innocent Americans lost their lives horribly. I know I watched the towers burn from close by.

    Sept 11, 1683 was the Battle of Vienna which ended the Islam invasion of Europe and made possible the Enlightenment, the modern civilization that we now enjoy in part on the internet.

    Sept 11, 2001 was the declaration of War upon that civilization by those who would turn us back to that point and redo the outcome.

    We must fear the feasible possibility that using technology of the 21 century they may succeed in that mad goal.

    There are things worthy of fighting for, those to be grateful to for fighting.

  172. Bride of Shrek OM says

    #167

    Also a few non-Americans too. I lost one of my best buddies that day- a proud Aussie.

  174. Bride of Shrek OM says

    Oops

    Comment # 167 looks suspiciously like I’m talking to myself. In my defence I’m not completely mad, comment reference numbers are changing- troll comments being removed.

  176. Sven DIMilo says

    Alex (#165), there are a couple of things pretty wrong with that statement. First, of course, “life” has no perspective! Second, nothing can and nothing does evolve because it benefits a “species.” If I was omnipotent, I would immediately ban the phrase “for the good of the species” from all natural history writing and programming–it’s one of the most common misconceptions about the process of evolution by natural selection. Mutations that increase the relative reproductive success of individuals can increase in frequency in subsequent generations, but no organism (other than some humans) gives two shits for their “species.” Beneficial mutations are more likely to increase in frequency than others, but are not guaranteed to do so; conversely, even deleterious mutations (which actually decrease reproductive success) can in some circumstances increase to populaiton fixation. Not only are there no predetermined goals, but what mutations are “good” and which are “bad” are a) dependent on the environment in which they are expressed (a mutation can be “good” on one side of a mountain and “bad” on the other, for example), and b) usually identifiable only in hindsight.
    So that’s my crack at it.

  178. Mike says

    Hmmm. Well, I used to be an atheist but the maturity and thoughtfulness of those posting on behalf of the cult of the giant invisible space monkey have really shaken my world view today.

  180. windy, OM says

    “It depends on your perspective. From an atheistic view of the universe, there is no good or bad mutations: what happens happens. But from the point of view from “life”, there are good mutations: those that help ensure the continuation of the “species.””

    And, having not had a full night’s sleep in 4 days, I’m at a loss for an intelligent response (although I do know he’s wrong =D)

    You can classify mutations into “good” or “bad” from any point of view you like. (Although in evolution, the individual point of view trumps the “species” point of view.)

    However, your opponent is wrong to contrast this with an atheistic point of view. The need of the individual or species has no bearing on what mutations will occur. “What happens happens” is true from every perspective.

  181. Sven DIMilo says

    Wouldn’t it be nice if comments retained their old numbers when the banned were purged? Could that be done?

  182. Benjamin Franklin says

    Ai Yai Yai!

    re the duck dicks,
    the abstract talked about “counter-clockwise spiralling male phallus without female cooperation”

    The picture that came to my mind was Ann Coulter with a strap-on doing Dnesh Desousa in the derriere.

    Must drink more!

  183. Jams says

    “From an atheistic view of the universe, there is no good or bad mutations: what happens happens.” – author unknown (originally quoted by Alex)

    This is a false dichotomy premised on an errant assumption about atheism. Atheism in no way requires that one not judge the merit of mutations. This author is mistaking atheism for nihilism.

    Also, atheism is not in opposition to life. False dichotomy number two.

    While it (whatever the original author means by it) may depend on one’s point of view, a coherant argument one way or the other remains unheard.

  185. Azdak says

    “It depends on your perspective. From an atheistic view of the universe, there is no good or bad mutations: what happens happens. But from the point of view from “life”, there are good mutations: those that help ensure the continuation of the “species.””

    I’m amused by the distinction between the worldview of “The Atheist” and “Life.” Obviously, a belief in some form of deity or lack thereof is absolutely integral to the argument. Oh, wait… no.

    Certainly, there are “good” adaptations and “bad” ones, from the point of view of the organism, but the concepts of “good” and “bad” are completely relative and dependent upon the current circumstances within the organism’s environment. What was a good adaptation for the last generation might be an irrelevant adaptation in this one or the next — or even a bad one. If you want to claim that “good adaptations” are a goal or purpose of evolution, you’d better be prepared to acknowledge that those goalposts are always moving — and that they’re never moving toward any sort of absolute.

  186. says

    Patricia (#138):

    Ha, ha! Very nice Blake. Biggus Dickus incognito?

    I just figured that out of all the writings generated by the Uppity Atheists, the “Courtier’s Reply” most definitely deserved to be translated into Latin. It’s not every day that you get to throw around words like “Mawkscribblerius”.

  187. Sven DIMilo says

    p.s. I should add to my comment presently numbered 169 above that hard-core Gouldists “pluralists” like Larry Moran would criticize me for not mentioning the idea that there might, theoretically, be something called “species sorting,” in which species can be a unit of selection (as opposed to the usual uncontroversial individual-level selection). I’m skeptical.

  188. SC says

    I know I watched the towers burn from close by.

    So did I. The rest of your comment was pure tragedy-exploiting, Huntingtonesque propaganda.

  189. Sven DIMilo says

    there are “good” adaptations and “bad” ones

    Think you mean “mutations,” not “adaptations.” Adaptations are “good” by definition (given the environment in which they evolve).

  190. Danio says

    The picture that came to my mind was Ann Coulter with a strap-on doing Dnesh Desousa in the derriere.

    So did you follow the link I left for you yesterday on the D’Souza thread?

  191. David Marjanović, OM says

    Diebold Accidentally Leaks Results of 2008 Election Early

    From America’s Finest News Source.

    ————————————

    Nice Cartoon by Tom Toles :

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/toles_main.html?name=Toles&date=09052008&type=c

    “And thank you for your endorsement.”

    ———————————-

    Who was the boring troll who called us theomachoi till he was banned? (How silly to not understand that you can’t fight against something that doesn’t even exist.)

    ———————————-

    Responsum Aucili

    Mehercle. :-o

    Accusaties

    Accusationes?

    Sermes

    Something with sermon-, but I don’t know which one you mean.

    opo

    operem

    libos

    libros

    The whole text is difficult to understand; I’ll have to compare it to the original…

  192. Azdak says

    Think you mean “mutations,” not “adaptations.” Adaptations are “good” by definition (given the environment in which they evolve).

    Ah, yeah. Thanks, Sven.

  193. David Marjanović, OM says

    Sept 11, 2001 was the declaration of War upon that civilization by those who would turn us back to that point and redo the outcome.

    We must fear the feasible possibility that using technology of the 21 century they may succeed in that mad goal.

    There are things worthy of fighting for, those to be grateful to for fighting.

    You’re paranoid. A couple of madmen are supposed to be capable of destroying all civilization? Remember — 1683 is way, way too late for them, they want 700! Sure, they could get Pakistan’s nukes, but that wouldn’t be enough. I mean, think about it.

  195. negentropyeater says

    Phopas,

    thousands of innocent Americans lost their lives horribly.

    Of course, non Americans don’t count !

    Battle of Vienna which ended the Islam invasion of Europe and made possible the Enlightenment

    Central Europe, not Europe.
    And it didn’t “make the Enlightenment possible”.

    Sept 11, 2001 was the declaration of War upon that civilization by those who would turn us back to that point and redo the outcome.

    Islam declaring war to modern civilization ? Neocon brainwashing still works well I see.
    It was a terrorist act organised by a small group of fundie nutcases.

    We must fear the feasible possibility that using technology of the 21 century they may succeed in that mad goal.

    Feeling a bit paranoïd ? The “islamists” will take over the world with modern technology ? And how when the USA and other western nations have an arsenal minimum 50 times larger than them ?

    There are things worthy of fighting for, those to be grateful to for fighting.

    Sure !
    But those don’t include invading Iraq, nor Iran in the future (in case you’ve got THAT paranoïa in your head too).

  196. windy, OM says

    Sven:

    p.s. I should add to my comment presently numbered 169 above that hard-core Gouldists “pluralists” like Larry Moran would criticize me for not mentioning the idea that there might, theoretically, be something called “species sorting,” in which species can be a unit of selection (as opposed to the usual uncontroversial individual-level selection). I’m skeptical.

    What about the link between body size and extinction risk, at least in some groups? I think that kind of species sorting is plausible, but I don’t think it’s a separate process with different causes than microevolution. The G-ists like to say that macroevolution can’t be explained by population genetics alone, but neither can microevolution!

  199. Miss Elaine says

    Can I just say how much I love all of you guys (even trolls who add fodder)! You give me something to live for.

    This is a great blog about “family values”.

    http://scienceblogs.com/transcript/2008/09/lets_talk_about_facts_this_ele_5.php

    Just a taste:
    Religion, % have been divorced

    Jews 30%
    Born-again Christians 27%
    Other Christians 24%
    Atheists, Agnostics 21%

    You can look at this by region too. The Bible belt is the nation’s capitol of divorce. The place with the lowest divorce rate? The Northeast:

  201. PhoPas says

    To SC: regarding #181

    When a plane crashes and lives are lost that is a tragedy.
    When a building burns, and people die that is a tragedy.

    Sept 11, 2001 was a premeditated set of actions designed for mass murder and terror for a purpose. A vicious sneak attack against modern civilization by a band of religious zealots. How do we know this? Simple, just listen to them, they say so and they say so clearly.

    Where they have governance they are now stoning women and homosexuals to death for violation of their scriptural laws.
    Barbaric and self righteous, they think they have a warrant from God to do these horrors.

    They will not just go away, pointing this out exploits no one.

    Since you seem to be unable to parse the difference between a death and a homicide, a tragedy and and act of war, or reason and propaganda, here is one more for you:

    They also reject evolution!

    Now I commend PZ for taking the forces of religious mis-education head on by traveling to far off places like Denver, to battle with the mighty christian creationists and the Discovery Institute. If he is unlucky they may cut off his microphone while he is speaking.

    But they will not cut off his head.

    At this point the Army is doing more than the Academy to prevent the spread of the demon haunted world.

    Regards.

  202. negentropyeater says

    At this point the Army is doing more than the Academy to prevent the spread of the demon haunted world.

    And that might be the reason why it’s not working.

    Because demons are in people’s heads, and you don’t kill them with guns !

  203. SC says

    Sept 11, 2001 was a premeditated set of actions designed for mass murder and terror for a purpose.

    And those actions had tragic results. Tragedies can have human causes.

    At this point the Army is doing more than the Academy to prevent the spread of the demon haunted world.

    That claim is contrary to the evidence.

    Just as I’m in no mood for your “clash of civilizations” ramblings, I’m in no mood to start again listing organizations in Muslim countries (and those in solidarity with them) that are working for freedom and equality and fighting oppression whatever its source – political and economic, in their countries and outside of them, Muslim or Christian. Your essentialist view of Islam ignores these groups – largely made up of women, gay people, poor people. If you’re really interested in freedom, democracy, and reason, you will seek out these organizations and work with them or lend them your support. And you’ll stop exploiting other people’s suffering to promote imperialism, which has caused immense suffering.

    But I know you’ll do neither.

    I’m having a difficult day and I’m not in the mood to have this discussion with someone who writes in paranoid talking points. Reply as you see fit; you’ll receive no further response from me.

  204. Eric Atkinson says

    There sure are a lot of leftist ass wipes commenting at this site. I guess that means Mr Meyers and friends can be smart about science and religion, but dumb as a box of hammers about politics.
    Nobama Obamanation.

  206. says

    There sure are a lot of leftist ass wipes commenting at this site. I guess that means Mr Meyers and friends can be smart about science and religion, but dumb as a box of hammers about politics.
    Nobama Obamanation.

    Way to come on in take a shit on the floor and leave.

    That comment was 100% useless.

  207. says

    BD assuming you only get 75mph winds you should be fine.

    Make sure you have all your outside furniture and grills etc. inside.

    You’ll probably lose power at 75mph winds. Maybe some slight damage to the roof (shingle etc..) but unless you get hit but a mean gust or a tree falls on the house, 75mph isn’t “that bad”.

    Now don’t get me wrong things can happen but 75mph isn’t horrible.

  208. Eric Atkinson says

    The shit was already on the floor when I got here…some big dumb monkey… any way it was pretty useless.. arrogent maybe… facist… maybe one with big ears and a law degree,.

  209. Janine ID says

    PhoPas | September 11, 2008

    At this point the Army is doing more than the Academy to prevent the spread of the demon haunted world.

    You mean leaders like retired Lieutenant General William G. “Jerry” Boykin. My god is bigger then their god. Nothing demon haunted there.

  210. Owlmirror says

    but dumb as a box of hammers about politics.

    Reality — including political reality — has a well-known liberal bias.

  211. negentropyeater says

    arrogent maybe…

    Someone who accuses every person who is not of the same political opinion as him of being “dumb as a box of hammers about politics” is certainly arrogant.

    And an idiot.

  212. Eric Atkinson says

    Reality — including political reality — has a well-known liberal bias.

    …and they say I’m arrogant.
    Reality does not conform to wishful thinking.
    It’s also funny to see the left when they start to “believe” their own dogmatic bullshit.

  214. Alex says

    @ Sven, windy, Jams and Azdak:

    Thanks for the assistance! I really must be brain-dead if I missed the individuals vs. species bit, sheesh…

    I’ll let you know if I get bamboozled by illogic again before I collapse over my keyboard! =)

  215. Travis says

    Eric:

    Reality does not conform to wishful thinking.

    Here’s some reality for you- a lot of people here are left-wing. You don’t like it, go the fuck away. Free speech and all that. I don’t defile my eyeballs with your sophomoric little right-wing net hangouts, so please don’t feel that you need to troll us.

  216. dieselrain says

    Fifty years ago: the best ice cream was at Francis’ drug store in Bargersville. Raspberry Salad sherbert and Watermelon sherbert that had real watermelon seeds in it! The Raspberry Salad was raspberry pink with pecans in it. Sure wish someone still made those two yummy ice creams (technically, sherberts)

  217. Owlmirror says

    …and they say I’m arrogant.

    You are.

    Reality does not conform to wishful thinking.

    Yet “wishful thinking” rather accurately describes the right-wing political agenda.

    It’s also funny to see the left when they start to “believe” their own dogmatic bullshit.

    It’s not funny at all seeing the right inflict their dogmatic bullshit on the world…

    It’s also rather hypocritical, given that Jesus was a liberal.

  218. Bob Vogel says

    Mike (#171) don’t let posts here stop you from thinking and being truly indpendent from that shit you were indoctrinated with. If you really have freed yourself from it, you will see this only as banter of fellow humans on ther own path, and be totally independent of it, although finding nuggets whereever they appear. On this site there are alot of them, perhaps not on this particular thread…

  221. says

    Looks like there is a real chance that the Dem gaff-machine Biden is going to be replaced by Hillary.

    While it’s probably the only way Obamassiah could win, it’s daft for two reasons. 1) It’s the epitome of desperation, and 2) it greatly reduces his chances of surviving his first term in office.

    But it will sure make for an interesting race.

  224. Patricia says

    We have no big dumb monkeys that shit on the floor here. Ours are suave, debonair and can drink you school boys under the table before momma calls bedtime.
    Dumbass trolls on the other hand frequently fling poo every where. I see we have another one.

  225. Mike says

    Bob Vogel #211: I’m sorry, I forgot that sarcasm doesn’t travel the intertubes. Unless I’m misinterpreting your post, in which case I also apologize.

  226. Danio says

    Yes, I love that story, but then again, I’m a sucker for romance.

    Aw, you big softie, you! Did you cry during 2g1c?

  228. Randy God says

    To know a person’s religion we need not listen to his profession of faith but must find his brand of intolerance…

    You are all idiots.

  230. Bride of Shrek OM says

    Danio

    Everytime I start to forget the horror that is contained in that particular “documentary” someone has to go and bring it up aaallllllll over again.

  231. Eric's friend says

    Eric, (I think, I pray, I know in my heart it’s you), please don’t be mad. I know you think what we did was wrong, but hating yourself and spreading hate won’t change things. I know you’re not ready to talk, but please don’t vent hatred to other people because of what we are, what we meant to each other. I’ll pray for you, perfect love casteth out all fear. Call me. Love,Joseph xxx

  232. Jams says

    I can’t stress this strongly enough. Modern politics are not stratified into a dualistic polarity. Left-wing and right-wing aren’t metaphors that can be applied usefully to the modern world. Not that they wont rise again like some incredibly annoying phoenix, but that in this odd little transitional period we call “now” the wings have been clipped.

    Mind you, some divy today’s things up according to internationalism and sovereigntism (it’s so new, I think I may have just made that word up), but it’s all very sketchy. Regardless, both Democrats and Republicans are sovereigntists, so it doesn’t really matter there – maybe Democrats a little less so.

  233. says

    The shit was already on the floor when I got here…some big dumb monkey… any way it was pretty useless.. arrogent maybe… facist… maybe one with big ears and a law degree,.

    Hard to parse that disjointed comment, but I’ll assume you’re talking about yourself (other than the big dumb monkey of course).

    Arrogant – not so much arrogance as ignorance
    fascist – not sure you know what that means
    law degree – whoop die doo! I know plenty of moron lawyers.

    No please, clean that up. It’s drawing flies.

    And thanks Patrica. Speaking of, time for another Makers.

  234. Ted Powell says

    #37: Sarah Palin reminds me of Jennifer O’Neill…

    Check the last paragraph of her Wikipedia entry. The history may not be the same, but the world outlook certainly bears a strong resemblance!

  236. Patricia says

    Oh sweet Mother of Love – #224 is the limit.
    Sangria, limes and pineapple chunks through the nose.

  237. says

    The picture that came to my mind was Ann Coulter with a strap-on doing Dnesh Desousa in the derriere.

    Cannot… scrub… brain… hard… enough… to stop… burning…

  238. Sven DIMilo says

    What about the link between body size and extinction risk, at least in some groups? I think that kind of species sorting is plausible, but I don’t think it’s a separate process with different causes than microevolution.

    Right. Species go extinct when all of their populations go extinct, populations go extinct because mortality > recruitment, and it’s still individuals surviving and reproducing, or not. It makes more sense to me to think of body size as a property of individuals, not of species.
    The only sort-of-reasonable emergent property of species that I have seen referenced as a putative mechanism of species-level selection (i.e. differential survival/reproduction of species) is the hand-wavy idea of “evolvability.” I have yet to see (and I admit I haven’t looked very hard; haven’t even read Gould’s Brick) an explanation of “evolvability” that didn’t essentially reduce to generation time, therefore (basically) age at first reproduction, therefore (largely) body size–more properties of individuals.

  240. says

    In other news, Ike is — at a remove — sending rain our way. Here’s how it works.

    Ike is pushing air west which is bending the monsoonal flow from the Gulf of California over Arizona west. This monsoonal air is then piling up over the mountains of San Diego County. Combined with the unusually — for San Diego — humid air from the Pacific means rain and thunder clouds build up leading to thunderstorms in the mountains. As you can see, a weather system can have effects a long way away from its location.

    Then you have the eastern Pacific hurricanes. Most burn out in the north-central Pacific, but a few have managed to reach the southwest U.S. Having Tropical Depression X from the Atlantic and Tropical Storm X from the eastern Pacific meet over the San Diego mountains would cause a lot of flooding damage at the very least.

  242. Sven DIMilo says

    I love it when San Diegoans whine about the weather!

    (just kidding–I know you weren’t whining)

  243. DominEditrix says

    Jessa – ldclifton apparently just likes making demeaning comments to women who disagree with his political stance. He loves McCain, hates Obama, so anything that mocks his candidate is de facto “stupid”. Amusingly, on his website he states ‘Granted, there is a lot about Sara Palin that I don’t know’ – the most obvious of which is how to spell her name.

    Y’know, I think I met Osty at the market yesterday – a 20-something guy tried to shove past me in the checkout line; when I wouldn’t let him, he opined that I was a cunt, a stupid bitch, a hag, unmarried [I’m not sure why that was supposed to be an insult…] and various other imprecations until store security made him shut up. His mommy and daddy were there, trying to make excuses [‘He has back spasms.’], which appeared to be code words for ill-mannered, somewhat psychotic, woman-hating twit.

    I suspect Osty has back spasms.

  244. says

    If anyone in the US who gets the history channel wants to watch, there’s a pretty emotion jarring show on 9 people who were on Manhattan with video cameras on 9/11/2001.

    it’s pretty rough as to be expected

  245. Rey Fox says

    Wait a second…Blake got on Scienceblogs and no one told me? Congrats, Blake! No better candidate than you.

  246. clinteas says

    phoPas,No 194 :

    //At this point the Army is doing more than the Academy to prevent the spread of the demon haunted world.//

    Obama probably said it best in his acceptance speech:
    That it is a ridiculous idea to try and eradicate a terror network operating in 80 countries by invading Iraq.

  247. Patricia says

    Hallelujah for magical underpants! But in the interest of Homeland Security, in the morning I’m covering my chair seat with Depends.

    Waddah ya think Rev. BigDumbChimp, is #224 that prankster Brownian?
    I smell somebody envious of Bernard Quatermass for high crimes of hilarity this morning.

  248. «bønez_brigade» says

    Here’s my attempted contribution to an open thread:

    Matt Damon on Sarah Palin

    (on == talking about, FTR)

  249. llewelly says

    The picture that came to my mind was Ann Coulter with a strap-on doing Dnesh Desousa in the derriere.
    Cannot… scrub… brain… hard… enough… to stop… burning…

    That will teach you to bring personal relationships into political or religious discussions.

  251. says

    Posted by: clinteas | September 11, 2008 11:00 PM

    Obama probably said it best in his acceptance speech:
    That it is a ridiculous idea to try and eradicate a terror network operating in 80 countries by invading Iraq.

    Iraq was one of the few countries in the region where al Qaeda wasn’t operating. Now that Iraqis sort of have democracy, they are electing Islamists into government. This wasn’t a surprise to anyone who knew anything about Iraq. If Egypt had free elections they would probably elect an Islamist government too. Don’t get me wrong – I support the right of sovereign nations to elect the governments they want without outside interference. I’m just pointing out that the idea that the invasion of Iraq would make Islamic fundamentalists weaker was ludicrous.

  253. Wowbagger says

    Here’s another fine example of why people should be more skeptical about those who claim to be doing ‘God’s work’. But the papists can rest easy (for once); this lot were Greek Orthodox/Coptic Orthodox.

  255. says

    Patricia, 243

    The good news is, we’ve got great drainage.

    The bad news is, it means more fuel for the next set of wildfires. And in the San Diego/Tijuana area you’ve got something like 5 million people to affect.

    How is Ike screwing up your weather?

  257. reverted says

    Philippe @ 9:

    Well, who knows if the post will be allowed through or not (since they’re “moderated”), but I tried to post the following over there.
    —–

    This is like a commercial jet liner crashing, 300 people dying, 1 person surviving, and the media latching onto it and calling it “a miracle” and “God’s will”. I’m sure it would be accompanied by touching tales of how the family prayed for safe-keeping before leaving on the trip, too. Yada yada yada.

    All while completely ignoring the 300 who died (and all the crashes in which everyone died).

    Give me a break. It’s just plain stupid. This is obscene anthropomorphic apophenia. The truth is that it’s just statistics; there will be rare cases such as this.

    I mean, don’t get me wrong. I’m glad the kid pulled through and survived and is doing well. But, the doctors behaved the way they did (which I suspect is exaggerated by the woman) because they really DO know better—999 times out of 1000, the kid DOES die, in spite of equally sincere and desperate and faithful parents praying in earnest. The doctors witness such things every day. Just because this woman happened to be that 1 in 1000 doesn’t make it a miracle. It was going to be *someone*… or the statistic wouldn’t *be* 1 in 1000. (It would be something else.)

    (Obviously, I’m inventing that particular statistic; but the specific probabilistic number that may be associated with the rareness of this event does not matter. The reasoning is identical. That number MEANS that the event will, on average, happen that often. _Someone_ will recover, albeit rarely.)

  258. Nick Gotts says

    I’m just pointing out that the idea that the invasion of Iraq would make Islamic fundamentalists weaker was ludicrous.

    Quite so, but of course that wasn’t the aim of invading Iraq, which was planned before Bush came to office.

  259. Jeff says

    Rev. BigDumbChimp@32, freelunch@36:

    Thanks for the definitions.

    I knew what a “Troll” was, but I never heard
    of the Poe variety.

  260. shonny says

    Australian national TV station gets it right:

    Presenter referring to Palin as the Republican’s ‘Vice President toy’.
    Sums it up neatly?

  261. negentropyeater says

    This deserves a thread on itself :

    EXCERPT OF PALIN GIBSON INTERVIEW :

    GIBSON: You said recently, in your old church, “Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.” Are we fighting a holy war?

    PALIN: You know, I don’t know if that was my exact quote.

    GIBSON: Exact words.

    PALIN: But the reference there is a repeat of Abraham Lincoln’s words when he said — first, he suggested never presume to know what God’s will is, and I would never presume to know God’s will or to speak God’s words.

    But what Abraham Lincoln had said, and that’s a repeat in my comments, was let us not pray that God is on our side in a war or any other time, but let us pray that we are on God’s side.

    That’s what that comment was all about, Charlie.

    GIBSON: I take your point about Lincoln’s words, but you went on and said, “There is a plan and it is God’s plan.”

    PALIN: I believe that there is a plan for this world and that plan for this world is for good. I believe that there is great hope and great potential for every country to be able to live and be protected with inalienable rights that I believe are God-given, Charlie, and I believe that those are the rights to life and liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

    That, in my world view, is a grand — the grand plan.

    GIBSON: But then are you sending your son on a task that is from God?

    PALIN: I don’t know if the task is from God, Charlie. What I know is that my son has made a decision. I am so proud of his independent and strong decision he has made, what he decided to do and serving for the right reasons and serving something greater than himself and not choosing a real easy path where he could be more comfortable and certainly safer.

  262. The Chimp's Raging Id says

    Has anyone seen this?

    “Teachers need to be in a position to be able to discuss science theories and explain why evolution is a sound scientific theory and why creationism isn’t.”

    Now it’s obvious that the intention of the Royal Society is not to put Creationism on an equal footing with the Theory of Evolution but rather to demonstrate what is science and what is not. However, I’m sure the creotards are going to jump on the RS’s change in position as support for Creationism being something worthy of serious scientific discourse.

    Professor Reiss, a Church of England clergyman, said: “Just because something lacks scientific support doesn’t seem to me a sufficient reason to omit it from a science lesson.”

    No, having no evidence whatsoever to back up Creationism is the reason to omit it from a science lesson.

  263. Wowbagger says

    Professor Reiss, a Church of England clergyman, said: “Just because something lacks scientific support doesn’t seem to me a sufficient reason to omit it from a science lesson.”

    Someone’s had just a little too much communion wine, methinks. Perhaps someone should have asked him if he felt that it was necessary, if one wanted to become a Church of England clergyman, to believe in Jesus – and if he said ‘yes’, ask him to explain how that is any different from having unscientific views taught as science.

  264. E.V. says

    I just realized that though Sarah Palin may look like Tina Fey or Megan Mullally, but she is, in essence, the holier-than-thou spawn of Dick Cheney and Dan Quayle.
    She is also of the nukyooler pronunciation cabal.
    That anyone can take her seriously as the future VP of the US is so very sad.

  265. The Chimp's Raging Id says

    Looks like another quality bit of science reporting from the mainstream media. From the Royal Society itself:

    The Royal Society is opposed to creationism being taught as science. Some media reports have misrepresented the views of Professor Michael Reiss, Director of Education at the Society expressed in a speech yesterday.

    Professor Reiss has issued the following clarification. “Some of my comments about the teaching of creationism have been misinterpreted as suggesting that creationism should be taught in science classes. Creationism has no scientific basis. However, when young people ask questions about creationism in science classes, teachers need to be able to explain to them why evolution and the Big Bang are scientific theories but they should also take the time to explain how science works and why creationism has no scientific basis. I have referred to science teachers discussing creationism as a worldview’; this is not the same as lending it any scientific credibility.”

    Panic over.

  266. negentropyeater says

    Palin’s prayer :

    PALIN:
    Dear God, I hope Georgie and Dick’s war on terror thing is part of your plan. I mean I hope invading Iraq and causing the death of a few hundred thousand innocent civilians is a task that was given to our leaders by you, that’s part of your plan for Good, isn’t it ?

    GOD:
    Mute

    PALIN: Ok, so now, we’ll continue with that job, I really hope you agree ?

    GOD:
    Mute

    PALIN: I’m not sure, but as you are not replying, I’ll assume you approve. Thanks.

    Pointless poll:Pharyngulites and the election (I : Sept.11-18 2008)

  267. The Chimp's Raging Id says

    That anyone can take [Palin] seriously as the future VP of the US is so very sad.

    Indeed.

  268. says

    I didn’t know I needed a license. PZ liked my review of Denyse O’Leary’s book and my Michael Behe vs. the Mousetraps video game, but I don’t think that counts as a “fishing license”. Where do I apply? :)

  269. Forrest says

    Hey getting back to the guys at beginning of the chain citing Pascal’s Wager…the first time I ever heard of its notion was from my best friend, when I was about 10 years old. Even then my little-kid mind’s immediate reaction was…how candy-ass a way of thinking that was…how utterly “defensive” a stance about reality and one’s place in it. I couldn’t have thought or used those exact words then, but the concepts I did so think at 10. I still feel that way, it is surely a God with a little bit of invective and spite in Him that would have his subjects reason thusly, based on fear, regardless of evidence or experience or… Who in their right minds can live that way?

  272. negentropyeater says

    #223

    Looks like there is a real chance that the Dem gaff-machine Biden is going to be replaced by Hillary.

    Any evidence ?

  275. SteveM says

    Re Pascal’s Wager:

    Someone here commented quite a while ago that Pascal’s wager was not his argument for believing in God, but simply an example of “expected value”, that is, a very low probability event may be worth betting on if the payout is big enough. He was just creating the most extreme example he could think of. At the time, the whole mathematics of probability was still being invented and so puts his wager in a different context than when we read it today.

    Whether that commentor was correct about Pasacal’s intention, I don’t know, but I do like to think he is.

  277. Bill Dauphin says

    Someone here commented quite a while ago that Pascal’s wager was not his argument for believing in God, but simply an example of “expected value”, that is, a very low probability event may be worth betting on if the payout is big enough.

    At the risk of repeating what many here must have heard or thought a squintillion times before, the “expected value” approach is fallacious: If the Christian god exists, and if Christian salvation is by faith alone, then a decision to “believe” in god based on an expected-value calculation would be insufficient to secure one’s salvation. Thus, the expected value of that decision would be precisely the same as the expected value of disbelief: zero.

    Or, looked at another way, the mere fact of treating the existence of god as an expected-value problem inherently presumes the nonexistence of god… or at least, the nonexistence of the salvation-by-faith Christian version of god.

    The only god for which Pascal’s Wager would be a useful analysis would be one that cared whether you believed in it but didn’t care whether your belief was sincere. That strikes me as a pretty unlikely god… and not one that any religion I know anything about posits.

  278. E.V. says

    James Mc:
    No fishing license needed but be aware these fish know all about stink bait and they tend to eat naive fishermen alive. It’s all about what you fish with; few things are worse than a pissed off shark that has been lured into a flimsy trap with cheap bait.

  279. bernard quatermass says

    “Reality does not conform to wishful thinking.”

    That is correct: there is no God.

    Oh, and you aren’t barred from using a computer. I forgot to mention that.

    And your acne is still pretty bad.

    QED.

  281. SteveM says

    the “expected value” approach is fallacious: If the Christian god exists, and if Christian salvation is by faith alone, then a decision to “believe” in god based on an expected-value calculation would be insufficient to secure one’s salvation. Thus, the expected value of that decision would be precisely the same as the expected value of disbelief: zero.

    Just to be clear, I completely agree. The point I was trying to make is that it is possible that PAscal himself also agrees. Or at least that the “wager” was never meant to be interpreted that way (as an argument for faith). It is just a simple word problem that he couched in terms of faith in order to postulate an essentially infinite reward from an infitesimally small probability event. So, for the sake of illustration, he assumes a god that doesn’t care about faith, only worship, doesn’t care why you worship, only that you do. What is the probability that such a god exists? There is no reason to say it is exactly zero, but it is likely very very small. If worshipping such a god guarantees you an afterlife of eternal happiness (whatever happiness may mean to you), is it reasonable to worship it even though it is most likely to not exist?

    It is just a math problem and not an argument for faith (or belief, or worship, whatever) for all the other reasons presented.

  282. Bill Dauphin says

    The point I was trying to make is that it is possible that Pascal himself also agrees. Or at least that the “wager” was never meant to be interpreted that way (as an argument for faith). It is just a simple word problem that he couched in terms of faith in order to postulate an essentially infinite reward from an infitesimally small probability event.

    Understood. Let me propose Pascal’s Lesson Learned:

    Using the existence of god as part of a hypothetical illustration of any argument other than one about the existence of god invariably obscures the intended point.

    ;^)

  286. E.V. says

    I’ll leave you with an open thread. Go ahead, fill it up, I can always make more

    blink blink
    Denver, evidently, put a spring in certain biologist’s step. Was PZ feeling magnanimous or is this an example of applied reverse psychology? We’re only near the 300 mark (disregarding Osteomilitis’ remarks) and we’ve run out of steam.

  287. Rickroll says

    What is “won” by believing in god? eternal life? that is the worst prize i could ever imagine, it’s a simple economic principle: diminishing marginal utility. In infinity, or any existance past 500 million years, all possible events become dreadfully boring and pointless. THAT’S RIGHT, Heaven and Hell are POINTLESS.
    I hate to change the subject, but consider the ontological argument. for simplicities sake, i’ll take Anselm:
    >There is nothing more perfect than the most wonderful thing you can imagine (referring to god)
    >if it existed then it would necessarily be better than if it didn’t
    >therefore God exists
    I love this not only because it is question begging and vacuous, but because it can be completely turned the other way:
    >there is nothing more terrible than the most horrible thing you can imagine (referring, to thiests, or Pascal’s wager, as god not existing)
    >if it existed it would most certainly be a lot more terrible than if it didn’t
    >Therefore reality has no god, and there is nothing after life
    >OR< therefore God is evil (pascal's 'winnings' become infinite debt) Interesting result if the latter--You could combine the two arguments and posit that evil is perfect. but no one want's to agree to this (though many see necessary perfection, necessary imperfection is something not widely regarded unless imperfection=functional perfection)

  288. Patricia says

    Yeah, the secret handshake sort of put a stone in my shoe too.
    Oh well, maybe PZ will start a new open thread. :o)

  289. says

    EV @ 287
    Yeah we’re going to ride it out. We’re about 70 miles inland, so there is no threat of storm surge, however there will be EXTREME flooding, we get that just from mild tropical storms.

    We live in a subdivision and the lower 25% of it goes under 8 feet of water about every 15 years, so we’ll be rescuing people in bass boats tomorrow. I work at a grocery store, so I brought home a bunch of produce we were liquidating, as the power will likely be out for a couple of days, so we’ll be able to keep the refugees fed.

    We are well stocked on beer and gin here at scooterHouse, and new mantels for the Colemans

    Galveston will likely be completely wiped out, probably worse than New Orleans, their sea walls make it a big bathtub.

    It will get interesting here in about 12 hours.

    Houston may actually be getting winds gusting up to 100mph, which has never happened since they built all those glass box skyscrapers downtown.

    It’s a good time to be a renter, that’s for sure.

    The question is: ONE day after the 9-11 attacks!!! Coincidence?? More chicanery from the Bilderburger Fremasons and their H.A.A.R.P. project????

    Somebody call Alex Jones, we need answers!!

  291. says

    I just saw a film produced in 1998 called Dogma and my brane fell out. How did I miss that?

    It rivals South Park for contempt and lewdness. All star cast, Carlin and Mat Damon are brilliant. It was, of course, heavily protested by the Catholic League

    Did everybody know about this film but me?

    Five star funny as shit.

  293. SteveM says

    Re 284:

    Let me propose Pascal’s Lesson Learned:…

    Agreed!

    Re 289:

    What is “won” by believing in god? eternal life? that is the worst prize i could ever imagine…

    If “eternal life” is, to you, the worst possible reward, then that is NOT what the reward would be. Sheesh. the point is that you get an infinite reward, whatever that may mean to you.

  294. SteveM says

    It was, of course, heavily protested by the Catholic League…

    And Kevin Smith also! (see An Evening with Kevin Smith for the whole story, hilarious)

  296. E.V. says

    Scooter:
    It’s the sustained winds over 55mph that are going to wreak havoc all the way up into Arkansas. Power crews have taken up motel rooms up and down I45 to Dallas. Trees are gonna blow over taking power lines with them.
    Anything below the old Bishops Palacio in Galveston is gonna be wet, wet, wet. All those idiots who refuse to evacuate from the coast (Freeport, Galveston, et al) because they say the reporters are always wrong or that God will protect them will sure be surprised by this big-ass storm. The dance-baaaand on the Tiiiitanic played “Nearer my God to theeeeee… Glug, glug, glug.

  297. Nick Gotts says

    In other news from the UK (that is, other than Reiss’s reported comments, and “clarification”), a jury has acquited 6 Greenpeace protestors who admitted causing £30000 worth of damage to a coal-fired power-station while climbing its stack, but argued that their act was justified because carried out to prevent a greater wrong – uncontrolled CO2 emissions. The government and E.on, a big energy company, have been trying to push through a new tranche of coal-fired stations with the flimsy excuse that they will be “CCS-ready”. The Grauniad suggests the verdict will seriously hamper this push. Prolonged and stormy applause please, comrades, for the protestors and the jurors!

  298. Patricia says

    Scooter – Hey thanks for the movie tip. I’ve got #25 stuck in my craw, so I think I’ll do something else today rather than make slutty comments. Dogma sounds like just the ticket.
    Please be careful. That storm looks horrible. Better keep your kickstand down!

  299. SteveM says

    The question is: ONE day after the 9-11 attacks!!! Coincidence?? More chicanery from the Bilderburger Fremasons and their H.A.A.R.P. project????

    Yes, sorry, we were shooting for the anniversary but there are still some bugs in the system to work out.

  300. says

    Did anyone see (Prof., Lord whatever) Robert Winston taking the “Dawkins-types hurt science by mixing it with atheism” line today.
    As stridently Godly scientists go, I always thought he he is one of the least bad. I quite liked him fighting back against the “playing God” meme by basically saying “of course I do, or at least aim to, and so I should; we LIKE God, right”. He does seem to be pretty much saying STFU to uppity atheist now though, which is disappointing.

  301. E.V. says

    Patricia:
    *SPOILER*
    Alanis Morisette is God. And Salma Hayek is “OMG”! (drools)
    (Not a favorite film of mine, even though the brilliant Alan Rickman and the afore mentioned Salma Hayek are in it. Way too much obscure catholic woo for this former evangelical)

  302. says

    Steve M @ 296

    And Kevin Smith also! (see An Evening with Kevin Smith for the whole story, hilarious)

    In my religion we have something called the ShorDurPerSav which sounds Tibetan for Short Duration Personal Savior.

    After seeing that movie, I fucked off at work for half a day watching his talks on You Tube about dealing with Hollywood, the long bit he did about writing a Superman script made me laugh so hard, I nearly blew my cover.

    He’s definitely my ShorDurPerSav , I keep them for about a week, typically.

    How he got that cast to do something that blasphemous scored one point for Hollywood in my pointless scoring

  304. Bill Dauphin says

    Scooter:

    It’s been a long time since I last lived in Houston, and I’m sure my few remaining friends there are taking good care of themselves… but even so, I watch the approach of Ike with terror and sadness. The Friendswood house I grew up in (and which my mother had designed) is long since gone, the victim of too many floods, starting with TS Claudette, which dropped 42 in. of rain on neighboring Alvin.

    I know how bad the flash flooding and street flooding can be in Houston, and I especially fear for the low-lying suburban towns out toward the NASA area: not only my old hometown and Alvin, but Pearland, Clear Lake, Clear Creek, League City, Seabrook, Nassau Bay, Webster, and on out the Gulf Freeway toward Galveston. I’m very glad they’ve ordered the evacuation of Galveston; I hope it doesn’t become this year’s New Orleans (I know it’s not built below sea-level, but a city built on a barrier island has its own geographical vulnerabilities).

    In any case, be careful, stay safe, and let us know how you fare. This crowd can’t really offer you our prayers, but my thoughts, at least, are with you.

  305. scooter says

    Patrica I’ll do something else today rather than make slutty comments. Dogma sounds like just the ticket.

    That movie is plenty slutty, you’ll love it.

    Selma Hayeck as a biblical stripper, awesome.

  306. Sui Generis says

    He does seem to be pretty much saying STFU to uppity atheist now though, which is disappointing.

    I pointied out the Uncle Tom/Jim Crow tone of the placators on Matt Nisbet’s blog. So Nisbet’s Framing lying by omission is the only way to approach the problem of theists rejecting science and reason?
    So you want us to say that science and religion are not irreconcilable so as not to offend their sensibilities so that they don’t rise up and smite all atheists for the transgressions of the outspoken (and honest) few? You want us to give them a handjob while we’re at it?

  307. says

    Bill @ 306

    be careful, stay safe, and let us know how you fare.

    Thanks, Bill, if you know Houston, you know it’ll be awhile.

    I was working the towboats and was at the fleet in Channelview during the ’94 flood when the Colonial gasoline pipeline ruptured and exploded, engulfing the I-10 bridge, and the ship Channel in flames to the fucking sky.

    I was half a mile away, standing on chemical barges that were trying to break loose. The inferno went by us, because the current was running so hard, it couldn’t drift into the slip.

    What a fucking rush. I got a sunburn and crinkled hair, and my ears were blown out for a couple of days

    Fire and Brimstone ain’t shit compared to that.

    Man’s FAIL beats SkyDaddy wrath anyday.

    I’ve had lot’s of run ins with with this recurring Gulph Coast shit, I’m a bit of a disaster freak.

    Here’s some pics and stuff

    http://acksisofevil.org/treehouse.html
    http://acksisofevil.org/hurricaneshow.html
    http://acksisofevil.org/rita.html

  308. Sui Generis says

    PERHAPS THE VIEW ISN’T TOTAL DRECK AFTER ALL…

    (referring to today’s show clips) Joy Behar says right to McCain’s face that his ads are “lies”. Check out McCain’s face right then. In the second clip McCain says that Roe V. Wade was “very bad decision” and he’d appoint Supreme Court justices who will strictly interpret the constitution. That’s when Whoopi wonders, “Should I be worried about being a returned to being a slave?

    Quel dommage pour McCain.

  313. Pablo says

    I want a hamburger

    no i want a cheeseburger

    no i want a hotdog

    I want a milkshake

    You’ll get nothing and like it!!!!

  316. scooter says

    We are READY for IKE at the scooterCamp !!
    http://acksisofevil.org/images/ready.jpg

    BDC @ 316
    I was beginning to wonder if anyone got that.

    I want a fucking dead meat on a stick Jesus Jerky bar that doesn’t spoil when the power goes, and I want it now and don’t even THINK about handing me a cracker.

    If Xians can worship dead meat on a stick, and it’s real, then it’s good enough to eat.

    Just for a few days, we’ll talk about eternity later, preferably after I’m dead.

  318. Bill Dauphin says

    Looks like Galveston is getting hammered pretty sufficiently right now.

    Hell, Rev, Ike is so big that even N’awluns is getting TS force winds, if the wind speed map at the NOAA website can be believed.

    I greatly fear for the land of my youth. We had some bad rains fall while I lived there (1962-1987, minus a few years in the mid-880s), and some near misses, but we never got hit head-on by a major hurricane. I can only guess what it’s gonna be like, but none of my guesses are pretty.

  319. E.V. says

    Tyler is a 200 miles away from Houston and it will be hammered since it is in the direct track of the storm. We here in the DFW region (if you look on a map, it looks like male genitalia in the supine position, with western Ft. Worth as the glans and DFW airport in the middle of the shaft. I’m somewhere within the scrotal sac. Balls!) are bracing for sustained gale-force winds and flash flooding starting @ noonish tomorrow. By Sunday morning, we’ll know what’s left of Galveston and the Houston area. Wouldn’t you hate to be an insurance underwriter right now?

  324. E.V. says

    Ah, Rev. You and MAJeff are such epicurians. I’m envious. I’m sure there are more of your ilk here (would that be sub-ilk?), I have my suspicions about Patricia as well with her late night pie escapades. Eat, drink and be merry…

  325. Patricia says

    Tonight BBQ ribs, roasted corn, fried apples and fresh blueberry pie.

    At campouts when I make scrambled eggs, bacon and fried apples I always end up with lots of ‘guests’ that smelled their way into camp.

  326. windy, OM says

    I have yet to see (and I admit I haven’t looked very hard; haven’t even read Gould’s Brick) an explanation of “evolvability” that didn’t essentially reduce to generation time, therefore (basically) age at first reproduction, therefore (largely) body size–more properties of individuals.

    Gould sez that evolvability is an exaptive pool of franklins, miltons, spandrels, manumissions and insinuations. Does that help? ;)

  328. Geral says

    This just in, the leader of the Catholic Church “condemns ‘pagan’ love of money, power”.

    Love of money and power…

    Irony alert!

  330. SC says

    The pope urged the faithful to “shun the worship of idols”…

    …The late-morning Mass ended peacefully, with followers pressing for a chance to touch the pontiff’s robes or clutch his hand as he left the field. Security officers surrounded the pope, and about a dozen sharpshooters watched over the crowd from the roof of a stately 19th century building overlooking the Esplanade.

    It was Benedict’s only public appearance Saturday before he flies to Lourdes on a pilgrimage to the shrine there, which draws millions of pilgrims each year, many of them hoping for miracle cures of physical or psychic ills.

  331. SC says

    Benedict and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, who held talks on Friday, spoke publicly of the contribution religion can make to forging an ethical society.