August 2009 archive

A Birthday Celebration for Mike!

As an atheist, I don’t celebrate religious holidays. Christmas, despite the name, has become a secular holiday for most people. Unfortunately, that leaves us with fewer days throughout the year for celebrations. I think it’s a good idea to make up for it by celebrating more heartily on other days, like birthdays. Today, for instance, …

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Humor Always Contains a Grain of Truth

Yes; sad but true.

Spanking the Biblical Literalists… Again

Another comment from zdenny has come up that is so amazingly full of misinterpretations, disinformation, irony, misinformation, foolishness, and utter bullshit that I decided to make my response into its own post rather than another reply in the comments. Dan said, “But you’re an expert on that, Denny, you believe countless things that have absolutely …

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Why Nearby Planetary Systems Could Mistake Earth for a Supernova

Yes, I think that it just might happen. You might be asking yourselves how it could be possible that the inhabitants of any planetary system nearby (relatively speaking) could ever mistake our planet for a supernova. A supernova is a stellar explosion which can occur at the end of a star’s life if triggered by …

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I’d like to welcome some people to the real world, but they aren’t here yet.

Mr. Pink and the World's Smallest Violin

I recently saw an article in the Washington Post, entitled “Squeaking by on $300,000“. Squeaking by… on $300,000… I think I could “squeak by” on that kind of money. Let me say this first: I do not begrudge anyone their earned income (provided that income is not derived from an illegal source). Let me say …

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While Bing is in Japan, there are some things he should see

Heck, there are loads of things that Bing Haubrich should see while he’s in Japan. Don’t forget that he’s still being held hostage, and needs our help to get back! I hope that Bing is taking advantage of some of the livelier aspects of Japan. Might I suggest something like what is shown in the …

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Generalizations about Japanese Culture: Help Save Bing!

Held Hostage in Versus

Bing Haubrich has made new friends in Japan, but they want to keep him there! In fact, they have threatened to hold him for ransom unless his American friends and family do two things: Answer questions about Japan/Nippon culture and cuisine. Donate money to help his mother pay the plane fare for his trip. It …

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Science Must Declare a Reality War on Religion

Mooney and Kirshenbaum are at it again. I heard about it earlier today when PZ posted “The Mooney/Kirshenbaum crusade flops again“. It seems that Chris and Sheril have written a nice little op-ed piece for the LA Times, called “Must science declare a holy war on religion?“. I find it very telling that their piece …

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Some things are wrong for all the right reasons

Moot Point - from Dueling Analogs - Copyright 2009 Steve Napierski

I wasn’t aware of what was causing the problem with Twitter late last week, only that there was a problem. Some of you just won’t get it. You might have to have some knowledge of /b/ to truly appreciate the genius of this comic. There are some details on the comic’s original page, Moot Point, …

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Need any more reasons to keep religion out of politics?

Just in case you haven’t yet been convinced that the most fervent followers of Christ in the United States, those zealots that call themselves fundamentalists or evangelicals, are doing everything within their power to move our country further toward a theocracy, Jacques Chirac drops a little inside dope about former President George W. Bush. In …

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