May 21, 2006

I'm Just A Liberal Atheist Who Hates Terrorists and Dhimmiwits



Your Political Profile:
Overall: 35% Conservative, 65% Liberal
Social Issues: 50% Conservative, 50% Liberal
Personal Responsibility: 25% Conservative, 75% Liberal
Fiscal Issues: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal
Ethics: 0% Conservative, 100% Liberal
Defense and Crime: 100% Conservative, 0% Liberal

I can't help it if I recognize terror for what it is. A true realist is not a Dhimmiwit. It would be one thing if it was just rhetoric, but certain people blow themselves up in front of innocent people. And the brothers and sisters of these suicide bombers blame the West, not their culture of hate.

Thanks Cat, for the link to the quiz. It doesn't take long to do.

May 20, 2006

These Guys Must Be Berkeley Grads


Sometimes you have to wonder if certain people take the concept of a free country and free speech a tad too far. Isn't this rally just sickening though? At least thanks to free speech, we know who the enemies are and what they look like. And this kind of stuff proves to me at least: TO BE PRO-PALESTINIAN IS TO BE ANTI-WEST

Getting back to Berkeley. I don't think there is a high level education institution that creeps me out more. Arab instructors with their blatant anti-semitism, actually get to teach "America's" young.

This guy pretty much sums up Berkeley:

"Encountering anti-Semitism and intolerance at the bastion of free speech and liberalism—UC-Berkeley—was shocking to me. Having attended a very diverse public high school in San Francisco, my friends were from all racial and socio-economic backgrounds, and being in a family of Holocaust survivors taught me the supreme importance of tolerance and respect. When I came to UC-Berkeley, I was uncomfortable because I saw self-segregation and hatred running rampant. I wanted to change this, so I ran for and won a seat on the student government senate. To my astonishment, what I found among the leaders of Berkeley was even worse; I encountered anti-Semitic rhetoric and race baiting politics. This at Berkeley?" More

Here is a first hand account of how vile Berkeley is.

Here are some nothworthy anti-semitic incidents that happened at American Colleges from 2002-2004. Notice how many happened at Berkeley.

I know Berkeley isn't completely full of anti-Western, terrorist sympathizing pieces of crap and Dhimmis, so my apologies to those who are not.

May 18, 2006

Apes Are In The News Once More



Live Science is going ape these days with stories about apes and monkeys.

Putty-nosed monkeys, who dwell in African rainforests, give out warning "hacks" when predators are around. I love the description of the goals of the monkeys by the Live Science writer: "Their three main goals in life are to reproduce, eat, and not get eaten." Aint that what evolution is all about? More here.

Now it looks like humans and chimp ancestors may have interbred. " The initial split occurred around 6.3 million years ago. Sometime after, the descendents of the earliest known human ancestor—the 6.5 to 7.5-million-year-old "Toumai," a biped that probably didn't look much different than chimpanzee ancestors—mated with ancestral chimps and created a hybrid species.

Scientists can't say how long the hybridization carried on, but the final speciation occurred around 5.3 million years ago, possibly because the two species' genetic coded were too different to mix or the animals were simply physically unappealing to each other." More here

Unappealing to each other? I don't think they are talking about married couples who have been together too long.

And now for the best story, at least to me. Apes plan ahead.
"To determine if apes can also perform this type of "mental time travel," Nicholas Mulcahy and Josep Call, researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Germany, enlisted five bonobo chimpanzees and five orangutans for an experiment.

The researchers first led the animals into a room and taught them how to use a tool to get a food reward. Then the apes were directed to a "tool shed" containing tools for reaching grapes and juice bottles. Two of the tools were well suited for the task, while six were not.

After an ape made its selection, it was not allowed access to the goodie dispenser for an hour, so the animal hauled the tool back to a waiting room for storage.

When the researchers allowed the animals to have a go at the dispenser, the apes returned with a suitable tool and retrieved their treat in less than 5 minutes about 30 percent of the time.

One orangutan, a female named Dokana, was particularly adept at planning ahead. She returned to the feeding area with the correct tool for the task nearly every time. Even when she brought back the wrong tool, she figured out how to alter it to make it work anyway.

In a second test, the researchers extended the wait time to 14 hours and ran the test with Dokana and a male bonobo named Kuno. Dokana took tools with her in all 11 trials, and returned with the proper tool seven times. Kuno did even better, returning with the right tool eight times.

Reading an ape's mind

The authors suggest that selecting a tool, which has no value in itself, is evidence that the apes are actually planning ahead, since the animal knows that the tool will come in handy later on."

OK, now I would have guessed that Great Apes could think ahead. But this leads me to ponder why can't Palestinians think ahead. Maybe some of the Palestinian leaders need brain transplants. Give the Palestinian leaders bonobos brains and maybe, just maybe, there will be peace in the middle east.

Here is an example of how Palestinians think ahead:

Palestinians have yet to show any ability to think even one move ahead. They seem to be stuck on the past. Voting for Hamas was a perfect example of this. I have a feeling that when a Palestinian gets ready for a game of chess, he just imagines suicide belts on all the pawns.

May 17, 2006

The Da Vinci Code is baloney: Why the commotion?

I know why many Christians are so upset over the movie, The Da Vinci Code. It isn't that people are going to die over this, like Jews died in the past when The Passion plays were performed, or like the people who died at cartoon protests recently. No, the Christians aren't worried about people dying because of this movie. They are worried their already flimsy belief system will be further questioned, potentially losing even more of their flock.
Science is hard enough to argue against, but now a fake but plausible story about their mythological saviour....this is too much. How dare someone add to the phoney story they already live and die by? It is like telling a Fundy to add evolution and an ancient earth to their belief system. Many Christians don't like add ons. Too much thinking is required, too many new lies must be invented to keep people believing the old lies.
It is obvious that distorting the mythological Jesus by allowing for a wife and possible kids is totally taboo, causing such an uproar. Yet the release of the movie, The God Who Wasn't There, hardly made news. Maybe Brian Flemming should have got Tom Hanks to appear in a couple of scenes:)

I know as far as my belief in the historical Jesus goes, I never questioned his existence until around the time that Mel Gibson started with his movie, The Passion.

All of a sudden, I was turned on to lots of information about the FACT that Jesus most likely didn't even exist. And everything I've read since, even from Christian Apologists, has only reinforced the non existence of Jesus Christ. It is kind of like the opposite of evolution, where everything I read reinforces evolution as fact. Us Atheists, we are such a cynical bunch, always demanding proof. How dare us!

Here are a couple of clips from The God Who Wasn't There. Definitely worth watching.
The first one runs around 6 minutes and the second one is less than 2 minutes long.

This is the movie that should upset Christians much more than The Da Vinci Code. At least the Code assumes Jesus was a living breathing person.



Yes, there was a 40 year gap from when Jesus supposedly lived, and the first words were written about the greatest myth of all times (OK, he is tied with God).



Oh, and before I get nasty comments by Christians here, please look at some of these sites and try refuting them. You can't.

http://www.jesusneverexisted.com/

http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/m_m_mangasarian/truth_about_jesus.html

http://www.luigicascioli.it/home_eng.php

http://www.i4m.com/think/bible/historical_jesus.htm

http://www.nobeliefs.com/exist.htm

http://www.bidstrup.com/bible.htm


Was Jesus mostly based on Caesar?

May 16, 2006

THE SIMPSONS AND FAMILY GUY TAKE ON CREATION/EVOLUTION

I didn't have to wait long before these great clips became available on the web. I always loved these shows, and of course the writers make the show, and the writers are not whacko creationists by the looks of these videos. Watch and laugh.

Edited: Youtube keeps deleting these so if you want to view both Family Guy and The Simpsons short videos mocking creationists go here.

The Simpsons dedicated the whole show to the evolution/creation school debate. They pulled no punches, as they didn't mention it was ID vs. evolution but creation vs. evolution. Here is a clip:


I'm always curious how YECs view things like this. Do they get it (yeah right)? Do they realize how ridiculous their beliefs really are (I think deep down they know it but are in deep denial)? Are they mad at The Simpsons and Family Guy (channel block?)? Do they laugh at themselves (I doubt it)?

It is interesting that both these episodes did a first run on the same day (coincidence, or intelligent design?).
Meanwhile all I can do is laugh.

Incidentally, my favorite TV show tackled evolution/creation earlier this year. Watch this, it is short and to the point:

I wonder if Fundies have discussions like Tony and Chris had after the Fundy left.
NOTE: Youtube removed this clip. To view it go here.