Starbucks, Believers Don't Like It When You Provoke Thought

Starbucks should realize that in the theocratic state of America, provoking thought aint the way to go. You can only get in trouble. A couple of years ago the Christians were pissed at The Way I See It #43 which seemed to tell gays that they should come out.

A Catholic woman got pissed off because she got the following message on her Starbuck's coffee coffee cup:

"Why in moments of crisis do we ask God for strength and help? As cognitive beings, why would we ask something that may well be a figment of our imaginations for guidance? Why not search inside ourselves for the power to overcome? After all, we are strong enough to cause most of the catastrophes we need to endure."

'The quote was written by Bill Schell, a Starbucks customer from London, Ontario, Canada, and was included as part of an effort by the Seattle-based coffee giant to collect different viewpoints and spur discussion.' The series is called The Way I See It.

OK, I can see why the figment of our imaginations line was offensive, but the message was indeed something to talk about, especially amongst theists. I would even argue that many catastrophes are not man made. But that is the idea of these cups. To argue, debate, and discuss.

Here is another coffee cup in the Starbucks collection:

"Darwinism’s impact on traditional social values has not been as benign as its advocates would like us to believe. Despite the efforts of its modern defenders to distance themselves from its baleful social consequences, Darwinism’s connection with eugenics, abortion and racism is a matter of historical record. And the record is not pretty."
-- Dr. Jonathan Wells
Biologist and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Darwinism and Intelligent Design.

Anyone want to discuss what this retard Jonathan Wells says? I'll start. Darwinism is a fact. Blaming Darwin for eugenics, abortion and racism is like blaming Newton for the way bullets travel.

Brownback, Tancredo, and Huckabee uh bye bye

Thank science I'm a Canadian. But as I've stated before, I realize the USA is our great protector, so what happens in US politics has more of an affect in my world, than Canadian politics has. Unless of course, we end up with one of the three stooges mentioned in the header of this post.

This clip is only 20 seconds long. From last night's Republican debate:


It is just too embarrassing in this day and age to even consider having an anti-evolutionist as head of the Western world.

I'll forgive John McCain. My gripe isn't against theistic evolutionists as much as it is YECs, by a long shot. And McCain does have a duty to mention God, or he has no chance of getting elected in a place where 45% of the country believes in Young Earth Creation. But Brownback, Tancredo, and Huckabee can not become leader. They just buried themselves anyway because the internet will destroy them now that they exposed themselves as wilfully ignorant.

For the record, I realize ALL politicians lie. Bush has pretty much feinted agnosticism when it comes to evolution and always considers his YEC voters. My view is the reason he said creationism should be taught next in science class was simply to keep his flock happy. To my knowledge, other than saying "the jury is still out on evolution," Bush has purposely not committed to an answer. Plus, with the evolution debate being so strong during the Bush reign, my bet is Bush now knows that evolution is fact.
I'm sure he was forced into some really informative lectures by real scientists.

Thanks to the internet of today, and especially blogs, Bush was probably the last President who could have possibly been elected IF he really doesn't know evolution is fact, as the internet is completely destroying the YEC movement, and especially over the couple of years.

Some Mallards Put Their Penises In The Wrong Quack

I see lots of science stories, but I just couldn't pass up on this one: "

Some female ducks and geese have evolved complex genitalia to thwart unwelcome mating attempts, according to a new study.

"

You see, mallards are part of the 3% of birds that have penises (phalluses, dicks, shlongs, etc.) that are capable of penetrating the females love tunnel. But plenty of mallard males don't believe in dating, and do the forced sex thingy (aka rape).

More:
"

Tim Birkhead at the University of Sheffield in the UK and colleagues examined vaginas and the corresponding phalluses from 16 wildfowl species. They discovered that the longer and more elaborate the male member, the longer and more elaborate its female recipient was.
No-entry signs

Some vaginas had spiral channels that would impede sex by twisting in the opposite direction to that of the male phallus. Others had as many as eight cul-de-sac pouches en route, that could prevent fertilisation by capturing unwelcome sperm. Moreover, these features were only found in species renowned for forced sex. All other species had simple male and female genitalia.

“These structures are wonderfully devious, sending sperm down the wrong road or impeding penetration,” says Birkhead.

"

The mallard penis has evolved longer and longer, and the female has evolved a trickier and trickier vagina. Usually, only when the female is relaxed, does she let the sperm find it's way. In other words, mallard males reading this post should either get to know the female or at least get them drunk first.

I'm just wondering what is the evolutionary advantage of this particular genitalia arms race. I'm not sure if rapist ducks pair off if they are successful with the female. The male does pair off, but only stays until the eggs are laid.

I'm thinking out loud, maybe the female knows what duck will make the best mate or she doesn't want the father to a duck that needs to rape to get laid.

Another interesting finding from Wikipedia:
"

Mallards also have rates of male-male sexual activity that are unusually high for birds. In some cases, as many as 19% of pairs in a Mallard population are male-male homosexual.

"

I wonder if the 19% that are gay have evolved a butt hole that is contoured in a way that is perfect for the cork screw penises of the mallard ducks. Of course Fundies will brush off the homosexuality on female rejection.

Some ducks do make a few good points though:


I have a feeling AngloAmerican will be commenting on this post.

Stupid Pet Tricks By Daisy & Laugh With Pat Condell

This is very short. The cookie trick is pretty cool:


There are quite a few good Atheist comics. Pat Condell, from the UK, is probably the best. Logical and extremely witty. Here are a couple of his best Youtube videos:

You can't argue with, but you sure as heck can smile and laugh a lot with him.

Here is his newest video:


For all of his videos, and I suggest you watch them all if you liked the above two: go here.

Check out his website too.

And here is a cause he is helping to promote: The World's Greatest Lawsuit

Reddit and Digg Buttons For The New Blogger

You may ask, what does this post have to do with being an Atheist Jew? The answer is nothing. I just wanted to share a few blogging ideas to my readers.
If you look at the top right hand corner of this post, you will see a Digg Button. If you are using the new blogger (or blogger beta format) and you want this button, click "template", then "edit html," check the "expand widget box," and follow these instructions:

Find this code in your template:

<p><data:post.body/></p>

and replace with this code:

<p>
<!-- DIGG -->
<div style='float:right; margin-left:10px;'>
<script type='text/javascript'>
digg_url = '<data:post.url/>';
</script>
<script src='http://digg.com/tools/diggthis.js' type='text/javascript'/>
</div>
<data:post.body/>
</p>

H/T
Ajaxcold

Now, if you want the Reddit, Digg, and Del.icio.us buttons you see at the bottom of all my posts:
Enter Dashboard, select "Template" or "Layout" and "Edit HTML". Select checkbox "Expand Widget Templates". Follow these instructions:

Find the following code in your template:

<p class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'/>

And replace it with the following code and save:

<p class='post-footer-line post-footer-line-3'>
<a expr:href='"http://digg.com/submit?phase=2&amp;url=" + data:post.url + "&amp;title=" + data:post.title'>
<img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1785/2897/1600/digg.gif" /> digg</a>
<a expr:href='"http://reddit.com/submit?url=" + data:post.url + "&amp;title=" + data:post.title'>
<img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1785/2897/1600/reddit.png" /> reddit</a>
<a expr:href='"http://del.icio.us/post?url=" + data:post.url + "&amp;title=" + data:post.title'>
<img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/1785/2897/1600/delicious.gif" /> del.icio.us</a>
</p>

H/T
Taw's Blog

Note: If you have something in the "p class....line-3'" part of your template, then do what I did, and make a new "line-4" which I pasted right after the "/p" for line-3.

Now you may ask, why bother? Well, you want your blog to be read by as many people as possible, don't you? I do. If you have an appealing enough title for your post, and then you submit your story to Reddit or Digg, you will be amazed at how many new hits your blog gets.

CoComment

Another useful free blog tool I use is coComment.
CoComment allows you to automatically follow any posts in the blogosphere that you commented on. I have an add-on for it from Mozilla, but I'm not sure if it is needed or not, because I'm really just winging it. I'm not sure how coComment works with other browsers.

Who says atheists, don't help out their fellow man (bloggers)?


Finally, I don't usually participate in internet related "things to do" that are emailed to me, but I couldn't resist this one:

Seven year old Shane Bernier is a brave cancer patient at CHEO and he is asking people to send him a card for his birthday on May 30th. Shane wants to set a world record for the most number of cards received!

I bought the card yesterday and I will mail it on Monday. Here is a link to get Shane's address: http://shanebernier.ca/

Of course, being the skeptic that I am, I had to check out if his story was true or not. Snopes says it is real. If Snopes says it is real, then it must be true.