A poll for Minnesota Blogger of the Year? » « On the etymological association of atheist and scientist

Guess who caused the recent earthquake in California?

It wasn’t God, a least. It was Deepak Chopra.

Had a powerful meditation just now – caused an earthquake in Southern California.

Was meditation on Shiva mantra & earth began to shake. Sorry about that

Some people were upset at my remarks re earthquake. Sorry about that. I was actually meditating when it happenned and thougt” Whoaaa!”

What a buffoon.

I think I’ll go eat a burrito and see if I can cause a mudslide in California a little later. Followed by a typhoon. Maybe if I add extra hot sauce I can also trigger some fires.

A poll for Minnesota Blogger of the Year? » « On the etymological association of atheist and scientist

Comments

  1. startlingmoniker says

    Actually, it was my new radio show premiering. Thanks for taking the heat, Deepak– you’re a mensch!

  2. alistair.coleman says

    I really don’t know what’s stupider. Earnestly believing your woo caused a fatal earthquake, or being proud about it.

    Ah yes: Both, and posting it onto Twitter.

  3. raven says

    Oh. Another natural disaster.

    Round up the usual suspects. Atheists, gays, Moslems, Democrats, Obama, Universal Health Care, or evolutionary biologists.

    Who gets the blame or credit this time?

    These used to be called, “Acts of god”. I guess god is getting lazy in his old age and letting other groups take up the slack.

  4. Celtic_Evolution says

    I think he was trying to be cute… not sure he meant it seriously…

    Either way,your characterization is spot on… he’s a buffoon.

  5. MolBio says

    One of my more recent statuses, yet appropriate: When plans involve people, always adjust for the stupidity constant, so called because it can be variable.

  6. nigelTheBold says

    He calls it “meditation?” That’s euphemistic.

    I usually just call it a BM. That is, when I feel I have to announce it to the world.

  7. tdcourtney says

    You’d think he’d at least take credit for something good. If I had a twitter I would be tweeting right now about all the Earthquakes I had prevented by watching Arrested Development just now.

  12. bbgunn071679 says

    I’d recommend judging a chili contest if you’re interesting in lighting off a round of fire and brimstone. Works every time for me.

  13. nigelTheBold says

    I was actually meditating when it happenned and thougt” Whoaaa!”

    I can only read that in the voice of Keanu Reeves.

  15. Celtic_Evolution says

    the dude was joking, come on.

    Yes… joking about accidentally causing a deadly earthquake is hi-LARIOUS…

    As has already been stated… the guy’s a buffoon.

  16. SteveM says

    re 8

    the dude was joking, come on.

    Yes he was; as I’m sure PZ was well aware, still warrants the “buffoon” comment.

  17. phoenixwoman says

    Quick O/T — Guess who got thrown under the bus in Pope Benedict’s efforts to absolve himself of any blame in the metastasizing worldwide church sex-abuse scandal?

    Yupper — his old (and conveniently dead) boss and predecessor, JPII:

    Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger — who became Pope Benedict — had tried to investigate the abuses as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, according to Schönborn. But his efforts had been blocked by “the Vatican”, an apparent reference to John Paul.

    Asked by The Sunday Times whether John Paul’s role in the cover-up of abuse should be investigated, Schönborn said: “I have known Pope Benedict personally during 37 years of amiable acquaintance and I can say with certainty that … he made entirely clear efforts not to cover things up but to tackle and investigate them. This was not always met with approval in the Vatican.”

    The Groer affair became public in 1995 when former pupils of an elite Catholic school accused him of sexual abuse.

    After an outcry, Groer was replaced and made the prior of a convent. He was never punished and issued only a vague apology in 1998 before retreating to a nunnery where he lived until his death in 2003. Some of his victims were offered “hush money” from the church.

    Michael Tfirst, 54, one of Groer’s victims, claims to have reported the abuse to highranking church officials from the 1970s onwards. He says the church paid him £3,300 in 2004 under a contract that obliged him to keep quiet.

    “There is no question that Ratzinger knew all the details of reports on abuse within the church, as there is no doubt that John Paul, his superior, took part in a massive and systematic cover-up,” Tfirst said.

    Somehow I don’t think that “I was only following orders” will work here, especially for those folks who either remember the Nuremberg trials or were taught about them in grade school.

    But setting aside that, the whole effort on Benedict’s part to pretend that the abuse scandal is all the fault of his papal predecessor falls flat when one notes that abuse scandals were being covered up in Germany in the 1960s — long before JPII ascended to the Papacy.

  18. RamblinDude says

    It doesn’t matter that he was joking; it’s the third comment that puts it over the top. It injects a note of slight authenticity to the New Age nonsense promulgated by people who really do believe that meditation is a powerful tool that must be handled with care because it can alter the flow of energy in the universe.

    Even the guy’s sense of humor is irritating.

  19. Pierce R. Butler says

    Hey, we all know it wasn’t Shiva in his incarnation as Deepak Chopra who generated that quake.

    The real cause was somewhere along the French border, when two large hardons collided. (Damn gays!)

    To the barricades, defenders of science! Are you ready for the war on physics?

  20. ThirdMonkey says

    Well, hey! Now we know who to send all of the insurance claims to.
    Oh and some people were killed? That’s a manslaughter charge for Deepak.

    So where are the cops?
    Maybe they’re just being carefull. You have to treat super-human beings who can cause lethal earthquakes by accedent with care, after all.
    Watch out Deepak! Just as soon as the police figure out how to arrest you without you destrying the world they will be coming.

  21. wscottjones.wsj says

    If he admits he caused the earthquake, can’t we just humor him and charge him with negligent homicide for the guy that died in that quake?

  22. Ray Moscow says

    Yo, Deepak — how about using some of your superpowers to cure cancer, or to avert a natural disaster instead of causing one?

  23. Sili says

    I’ll have to let this one slide. I could easily have made the same joke, if I’d been the lab while it happened for instance.

    Or dropped a hammer.

  24. caseyhov says

    PZ! Don’t do it! I tried th ebean burrito one recently, and many times before, especially when you add beer to the mixture, the mudslide is far more localized than deepak would want you to believe.

  25. Celtic_Evolution says

    Sili

    I’ll have to let this one slide. I could easily have made the same joke, if I’d been the lab while it happened for instance.

    Or dropped a hammer.

    Would you have tweeted it to millions?

  27. llewelly says

    Followed by a typhoon.

    Now that would be remarkable. Only one hurricane, and only two tropical storms, have hit California during the last 150 years.

  28. Sili says

    Point, CE. I shoulda factored in the audience.

    Though … given the chance, most likely yes.

  29. Aquaria says

    If he had anything to do with it, it was because even the earth couldn’t take anymore of having contact with this dolt. It was at best a screaming escape from the stupid, or a revolt against it.

    Take your pick.

    All kidding aside, has any scifi author written about a sentient planet–and not the inhabitants, the planet itself?

    Seems like the kind of thing someone would have done by now.

  31. neon-elf.myopenid.com says

    Keep it up Deepak. Because making a joke about an event that killed two people and injured over 100 is just sooo funny and shows what a compassionate guy you are.

  33. Quantumburrito says

    Deepak Chopra is an absolute fire hose of nonsense, and it’s appalling that he keeps on getting so much air time.

  34. Pierce R. Butler says

    Also, Midworld

    Alan Dean Foster.

    Not as good a novel as Solaris, but it hasn’t been made into two bad movies, either.

  35. caseyhov says

    There is at least one planet like that if not more in the world ofcomic books. I don’t remember the name right off hand.

    Although I still don’t see why more people aren’t discouraging PZ’s bean experiment.

  40. Sastra says

    Chopra is probably “joking” in the same sense that Greta Christina’s Wiccan friends were only taking their religion as a “metaphor.” Meaning, he is — and he isn’t.

    When people are looking — and he assumes he is being held accountable for what he’s saying — then of course it’s just a silly joke. He knows it’s a silly joke.

    But if and when he is surrounded by other supportive, credulous, committed people who believe that reality is a giant field of consciousness and our thoughts change the fabric of experience, then this ‘coincidence’ is very suggestive, a synchronicity which hints of the powerful connection between meditation and the physical world. He knows, that this is significant.

    So this little tweet’s probably another example of the inherent confusion of basic “spiritual” doublethink.

  42. amphiox says

    #29

    I believe there is one (two?) mentioned in the Star Wars EU.

    Also Orson Scott Card’s “Homecoming” series has the earth being sentient (at least by one interpretation, anyways).

    I also vaguely recall a short story by JMS set in the Babylon 5 universe with a sentient planet in it (though it might have been the biosphere rather than the planet in this case).

  44. ereador says

    That’s absolutely hilarious! It’s just like those TV shows where the generation-blech guys with the vandykes walk around in a dark house and say, “Woo! Did you hear/feel/smell that!!!1111!11?”

    I’m feeling very (epi-)centered today. Pass me that bag of woo, and I’ll roll you one.

  45. caseyhov says

    #44
    No, i smoke ‘woo’ everyday, and I don’t think up ridiculous stuff like this.

  46. Caine, Fleur du mal says

    I was actually meditating when it happenned and thougt” Whoaaa!”

    Sounds like a line straight out of Dude, Where’s My Car?

  47. John M says

    When a computer programmer discovers a career shift into buffoonery, which multiplies his income by several orders of magnitude, what would he care if people think he really is a buffoon. Pile it on and watch the bank balance rocket.

  50. hillary.meyer.1 says

    What an ass. A few of my ex-coworkers and I had a bad habit of mocking people (or putting their books on clearance) right before they died, and we joked about “killing” them, but we KNEW it was just a coincidence because a) it never worked on the people we wanted it to, and b) we weren’t complete morons!! I especially like that he seemed confused as to why that might have upset people. Really, dumbass?

  51. caseyhov says

    #49
    Thanks! That was very helpful, although I’d like to point out that a few of those are planets controlled by a single being or organism, not necessarily a sentient plantet in and of itself, although the context for most of those was probably limited in their stories and didn’t expand much on the organism itself.

    Although I will say this, if it turns out Depak has any ability to control anything outside of himself and people he can get to believe him, then this planet is pretty doomed.

  52. https://me.yahoo.com/a/HkDYJChzyPvSy6c5XPlOxCgVRw--#2df55 says

    I had a powerful meditation this morning, but all it did was annoy the dog. I told her “You’re the one that followed me in here.”

  53. tsg says

    When a computer programmer discovers a career shift into buffoonery, which multiplies his income by several orders of magnitude, what would he care if people think he really is a buffoon. Pile it on and watch the bank balance rocket.

    His bank balance is only rocketing because there are a significant number of people who don’t think he’s a buffoon.

  54. https://me.yahoo.com/a/r7kAmRt814xGiYGiGP.4Dge.PCMaPdaz#eefdb says

    You know who else claimed to cause earthquakes?

    Charles Manson.

    There was a medium-sized quake during his murder trial, and all his followers went around telling reporters that Charlie had caused it.

    That’s some nice company you’re keeping there, Deepak.

    –Nurse Ingrid

  55. DominEditrix says

    So it was you, PZ, who caused the rainstorm last night that scared one of my cats into climbing to the top of a bookcase, then launching herself at my computer desk, causing my telephone, a Jonathan Coulton CD, a roll of packing tape, a Decemberist CD, a pair of glasses and this week’s grocery store advert to end up under the treadmill?

    For FSM’s sake, PZ, lay off the damn burritos. Or aim the results at Texas.

  56. David L says

    Well, PZ, if you can’t produce fires with the hot sauce, your method at least ought to produce a methane event.

  59. Icefog says

    Well that’s just stupid. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit that I caused it. I was working at my computer; I hit the escape key and everything started to shake. No more escape key for me. It’s just too damn dangerous.

  60. SteveM says

    re 53:

    His bank balance is only rocketing because there are a significant number of people who don’t think he’s a buffoon.

    Which, of course, does not necessarily make him any less of a buffoon.

  61. Aquaria says

    Thanks, everyone for the answers about the sentient planets. I don’t read much sci-fi, but I thought there had to be somebody who’d come up with that.

    Now to weed out the entries for RPGs & comic books (sorry, not my thing).

  63. tsg says

    Which, of course, does not necessarily make him any less of a buffoon.

    Yes. What I meant was Chopra should care if people really think he’s a buffoon because his income will plummet when those who believe he’s not full of shit realize he is.

    Nope, my fault, I had a bug in my program that resulted in a divide-by-zero

    I thought that caused black holes, not earthquakes.

  65. Andyo says

    Very likely the dumbass didn’t realize that the epicenter could have been somewhere else, cause here in LA the quake was felt very low-frequency, like a rocking boat, but no damage whatsoever. Hey, it was even kind of fun. The water in the pool at my workplaces tsunami-ed out! Hence, he thought he might just joke about it.

    tsg, #63

    Yes. What I meant was Chopra should care if people really think he’s a buffoon because his income will plummet when those who believe he’s not full of shit realize he is.

    Have you listened to the guy? I don’t know how more ridiculous he would have to be for his followers to finally call bullshit on him.

  67. chicagomolly.myopenid.com says

    #17:

    “There is no question that Ratzinger knew all the details of reports on abuse within the church, as there is no doubt that John Paul, his superior, took part in a massive and systematic cover-up,”

    In tonight’s X-Files Benny XVI plays Mulder and JP II plays the Cigarette Smoking Pope.

  68. pcarini says

    If he understood humor, Deepak’s second tweet would’ve been “What? Too soon?” and he’d have left it at that.

  69. paulmurray says

    This is why they used to burn witches, of course. If you honestly believe that some people are capable of this kind of mischief, then it’s only prudent to put them to death.

  71. atomjack says

    PZ, the Del Taco Del Meat burrito with two packs of their hottest salsa makes for the best mudslide ever! Please don’t aim for California, though, you might reach it, and there’s enough shit to slide on around here already- it’s an election year.

  72. Shala says

    Incidentally, Paul Zachary Myers as an anagram translates to “Purchase lazy army” while Richard Dawkins comes out as “Dishrack Darwin.” Deepak Chopra can also come out as “Cheap poke Dr.”

    I wonder if there’s some sort of cosmic significance to these anagrams? Fuck that’s creepy.

  73. Caine, Fleur du mal says

    Shala:

    Incidentally, Paul Zachary Myers as an anagram translates to “Purchase lazy army”

    PZ doesn’t need an army, lazy or otherwise. He has the horde.

    ;p

  74. wspweasel says

    We should have a religious dipshit of the year award for people who claim they caused the quake.

    Newsflash: Earthquake hits California as atheism fails again

    I am sure Pat Robertson will have some blinding insights any day now.

  75. https://me.yahoo.com/a/49fcb1VygYPMq_HqhrvKqU4GyNQZOvu2B9I-#2bdd5 says

    I knew Chopra was crazy, but until now I didn’t think he was Count Chocula crazy.

  76. deriamis says

    Well, Deepak Chopra is a natural disaster, so maybe there’s something to what he’s saying. Like, maybe a diagnosis of schizophrenia.

  79. woodsong says

    I enjoyed McCaffrey’s “Powers That Be” series (“Powers That Be”, “Power Lines”, “Power Play”). Petaybee sounds like a cool place to live!

    The best earthquake story (no significant injuries to my knowledge) I’ve heard was from my husbeast. He was sitting on the toilet when he heard the five-note theme from “Close Encounters” from the TV in the next room, and then everything started to shake! Quickest cure for constipation he’d every found…

  80. tomfassbender.myopenid.com says

    I think I’ll go eat a burrito and see if I can cause a mudslide in California …

    Okay, so mudslides aren’t funny. But that was. Well played.