Author Archive for Martin Wagner Page 3 of 4
They can't offer any peer-reviewed research, but they can publish indignant tirades against "Darwinism" in various forms, the latest of which is a sure-to-be-laff-a-minute diatribe entitled Darwin Day in America, written by John G. West. West's main schtick is to attack evolution by Godwinizing it; i.e., blaming it for eugenics and, in turn, the Nazis. An indication of the emotionalist,
Over at Christian website CNSNews.com, they're all in a kerfuffle over how mean the judges and host of American Idol were to poor Bruce Dickson, a 19-year-old from Bastrop (about half an hour from here) who, when asked to tell something about himself, admitted that he had never even kissed a girl."What?" Randy Jackson asked. "On purpose?""On purpose," Dickson said. "On my wedding day, that will
Shalini Sehkar, whose blog Scientia Natura is full of hilariously foul-mouthed rants against "theistards" (she certainly embraces the "bad cop" role in atheist blogging with gusto), has been locked out — see for yourself — and some commenters over at Larry Moran's Sandwalk are indicating that some theists have allegedly gone off the deep end at last and are doing things to make her life miserable
Toddling along on the intarweebs tonight, trying to find some equilibrium between this week's dose of sad (poor old Heath) and glad (looks like the HD format war is over!), I came upon this enlightening press release about a new website at Nicthus.com, which offers apparel for young Christians "with a message that it is cool to be Christian... Some of the messages on the clothing are
The immensely talented actor Heath Ledger was found dead in his apartment today of what appears to be a drug overdose.In related news, Britney Spears is reportedly still alive.
Last night I attended the meeting sponsored by the tireless folks at CFI-Austin, "Will Texas Support 21st Century Science Education?" I arrived a little early and bumped into Matt Dillahunty. Soon I was glad I hadn't walked in the door ten minutes later than I actually did. The room filled up quickly, soon swelling to SRO status and quite possibly violating fire codes. I did a quick head count
Worried that your movie is going to tank in the wake of unavoidable, relentless mockery and abuse? Just pay people to see it anyway!The latest news making the rounds of science blogs is the remarkable revelation that the producers of Expelled, the farcical ID faux-documentary soon to be released and hosted by the foolish Ben Stein, have come up with a campaign essentially to bribe Christian
Scalzi started this, damn him, so I'm now caught up in the meme. Nothing especially atheisty, but entertaining all the same. What are yours?Attended a Beduin Arab wedding in the middle of the desert in the UAE.Driven round and round Loch Ness with my family looking for the monster, to no avail. (Stupid monster.)Met XTC.Sailed first class on the QE2 from Southampton to New York.Sailed on the
From the Texas Citizens for Science website:Forthcoming Appearance: 2008 January 16 - "Will Texas Support 21st Century Science Education? A Briefing by Texas Citizens for Science"Time and Location: Wednesday evening, January 16, 7:00 p.m., Mangia Pizza-Mesa location, 8012 Mesa Drive, Austin, Texas. Maps are available here and here. There is no charge, and you can buy all the pizza you want.Texas
Today in the news:A mother who is suspected of killing her four children, whose decomposing bodies were found in her home, appeared in court Thursday.Banita Jacks, 33...told police that her daughters were possessed by demons and that each died in her sleep during a seven- to 10-day period, court documents said. Aja died first, she told police, then N'kiah, Tatianna and Brittany.Okay, I know it's
The fad of Kabbalah mysticism, that seems to have conned nearly as many Tinseltown hangers-on as Scientology, has such a transparently silly racket that, because it's so obviously stupid and fraudulent, it's no wonder some of the richest and most high-profile celebutards are falling for it. MSNBC reports that Madonna, who popularized warding off evil spirits with a few inches of red twine around
I'm a little behind the curve here, but scanning some blogs I haven't visited in a couple of weeks, I learned that Possummomma, everyone's favorite atheist in a minivan, has lupus. And it's really messing with her lately, making her so sensitive to sunlight that even walking around her house gives her a hard time due to UVs bouncing all over the place. Over at his blog, Berlzebub has taken it
Moron looks at own hand, sees what he thinks is "Mark of the Beast," freaks, slices off hand with bandsaw. For added dose of crazy, microwaves hand. As Voltaire once said, "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Even when the victim is yourself.
In this comments thread, we've been visited once again by Rhology, who says:I don't agree that God is unprovable or unproven. Not provable by naturalistic means, of course, but there's no reason to restrict ourselves to solely naturalistic means.What, exactly, are the "non-naturalistic" means that Rho proposes? How do they work? What are their methodologies? Can one use them to test a falsifiable
The only thing crazier than killing your girlfriend and cooking her flesh for supper? Calling the cops to tell them you're doing it.Obligatory non-PC Martin-remark: It occurs to me this could be a guy who'd be the ideal test subject for CNN's poll question...
"Is execution by lethal injection so likely to cause pain that it is unconstitutional?" That's the poll question today on cnn.com. It doesn't really have much to do with theism or atheism, but I think it says a lot about irrationalism in the media. There are only two answers allowed for you to choose, "yes" or "no." Seems to me that, unless you're an actual executioner and you've witnessed the
An organization here with the slightly odd sounding name of Scientific Qualitative Research and Education, Inc., has a series of little Quicktime video podcasts you can view or download here or here, designed to give teachers and students the skinny on both the creo/evo "controversy" as well as an understanding of the scientific method itself and the ramifications of what may happen if religious
Well, 2008 is looking less like a lost cause for the progressive side, with Obama's decisive and most welcome win in the Iowa caucuses. I dislike Hillary intensely, though not for the same reasons conservatives do, of course; mainly for the fact that she's a pure careerist who'll do whatever she thinks is necessary to ensure her own advancement, such as repeatedly siding with BushCo on supporting
It will be a busy one, I know. For instance, in January, the Texas State Board of Education is slated to "review" science education standards, and we already know the creos are hard at work to undermine them. The pro-science community dealt with this handily back in 2003, and now we're going to have to deal with it again. Sigh. They never learn. Such is the power of myth over minds.I'll be taking
Superdickery is a site with some of the most bizarre, offensive, propagandist, sexist, racist, innuendo-laden, or just plain hilarious comic book covers and panels from back in the day. Much of it will have you scratching your head in bewilderment, while some of the less worksafe stuff — like a whole plethora of the most unintentionally gay Batman panels imaginable — will simply have you
I've been thinking on this question in the last few days, in light of reading and responding to some comments made by a handful of inordinately ignorant creationists made here and on other blogs. We were visited here recently by a clod named Jon, whose gaseous and incoherent anti-evolution ramblings were annihilated with glorious eloquence by regular commenter Lui. Shalini, over at Scientia
There's a rumor going around that America is the most advanced nation on Earth, in terms of human rights and scientific prowess at the very least. But in reality, the majority of this nation has greeted the prospect of returning to the dark ages with open arms. Atheists only ever usually see this in the comments creationists leave on science blogs, most of which (the comments, that is) are such a
I can't resist hilarious stories like this. Seems two different groups (gangs?) of priests one Greek Orthodox, the other Armenian Apostolic were cleaning up inside Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity when some careless fellow set foot in the other group's section, setting off a bloody turf war. About 80 men of the cloth whaled away at one another with brooms until the police were called in to
Always worth reminding folks that a very special person was born on this day.
It's true. I know O'Reilly and any number of the folks running the right-wing Christian-persecution industry want to think I've declared "war" on their holiday. But I haven't. If anything, they've done so, by loudly claiming the entire holiday season as their own and not wanting anyone else to play. I thought this was a time of peace on Earth and good will to all men. Not for fearmongering
The folks at the Barna Group have done another poll on beliefs, and surprise, the majority of respondents prefer a literal belief in the Bible as opposed to believing that it consists "merely [of] stories told to communicate life's principles." Given how frought with inconsistencies and contradictions the Bible is and especially given how many alterations have been made by ecclesiastical
Ever noticed how the bobbleheads in the mainstream news media really have it in for bloggers? It's an especially virulent hatred on the part of right-wing media figures. Bill O'Reilly has called anyone associated with Daily Kos (including its readers) "devil worshipers," and raving closeted homophobe Michael Savage is driven to near-homicidal mania by the very thought of Media Matters.Perhaps the
Here's old Bill Dembski, being interviewed by Focus on the Family, one of the few remaining forums that take him seriously.I believe God created the world for a purpose. The Designer of intelligent design is, ultimately, the Christian God.Whoops. Well, so much for any more attempts to claim in courts of law that ID is purely scientific and isn't about trying to shoehorn Christianity into science
First bandits make off with a holy man's holy leg, and now, via Skeptico, I discover this delicious little story about a provincial judge in India ordering two gods, Ram and Hanuman, to appear in court to give evidence in a property dispute. The judge is not about to grant any special dispensations to them for being divine, let alone imaginary."You failed to appear in court despite notices sent
None of you is likely to forgive me for the bad joke in the headline when you read this article. But still, I think this little event shows up the practical risks of embracing irrational beliefs in magic and the occult. So the next time some wide-eyed individual calls me a closed-minded old grumpus because I can't see the "beauty" in the act of confusing fantasy with reality, I'll just reply that
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