Voice of reason meets buffoon and idiot tonight

The DefCon Blog has announced a horrific event tonight: Lawrence Krauss — he's the good guy — is going to be on Fox, with Ken Ham and Bill O'Reilly.

Sweet jebus.

The only reason I'd be curious to see that spectacle is to find out which side O'Reilly chooses to suck up to; my bet would be that he'll try to set himself up as superior to both.

Fortunately, I am privileged to miss it. Skatje and I are going to attend the 7:00 showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which promises to be the kind of flamboyantly ridiculous goofy story that won't leave me gagging and nauseous.

More like this

Uh oh.

Krauss got guts.

By Arnosium Upinarum (not verified) on 28 May 2007 #permalink

Arrrrrrrrrrrr, ye be in for a treat, matey!

But I was gonna draw me cutlass if they said "Nine pieces of eight" one more time!

I got the joke the furst time, don't ye see.

Be sure to stay for the post-credits scene.

One wonders if Mr. Krauss will even be allowed to speak with both O'Reilly and Ken Ham present. Likely, they'll wish they could keep him in a display case so they can point at him on occasion and say, "Look at the silly atheist that believes *insert strawman here*." I'm sure there'll be more interesting things available to watch, like grass growing or paint drying.

By uknesvuinng (not verified) on 28 May 2007 #permalink

Bill O'Reilly, hardly a paradigm of journalism excellence. I feel sorry for anyone who goes on his show that contradicts his outlandish views. No matter what valid arguemnetative material they may bring to the table, O'Reilly's screaming and fake patriotism is something that can only be silenced by a punch to the face. ugh /endrant, good luck to the guy I suppose.

By the way, I liked the 3rd Pirates movie better than the second, if that says anything. It was fun :)

Bill O'Reilly, hardly a paradigm of journalism excellence.

Truth be told, O'Reilly is hardly a journalist already, let alone anything better.

I tried to go see POTC 3 on Friday. Sold out at local multiplex in Belfast, UK. Even though it was being shown on 4 or 5 screens. Moral? Book tickets via the net!

My prediction: O'Reilly will ingratiate himself with Krauss against Ham. He'll then try to get Krauss to admit that scientists don't know everything.

O'Reilly thinks he's in the center. He'll view Ham as an extremist, but will also try to reassure his viewers that Krauss isn't so smart in anything except science.

By Christian Burnham (not verified) on 28 May 2007 #permalink

I don't know...O'Reilly is the guy who said "There's 24 hours in a day--now that's science!" I don't think Ham will try to pass off multi-million-year Genesis days, so maybe those 2 have something in common.

Well... Fox"News" is mostly staffed by ex-tabloid washouts like O'Reilly, Geraldo, et al. It's a disgrace that they even have the audacity to call what they do a "news broadcast."

I figure it'll just be O'Reilly repeating his mantra of "shut-up" at least a dozen times whenever Krauss says anything, and probably a mountain of whining by that whimpering little elf-maid Ken Ham.

Fortunately, I have something better to do than watch, but if some does, could you keep a tally of how many times Billy says shut-up?

We could get a pool going. I figure it'll be about 15. Anyone want to get in on some of this action?

Skatje and I are going to attend the 7:00 showing of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which promises to be the kind of flamboyantly ridiculous goofy story that won't leave me gagging and nauseous.

Make sure you stay through the very last of the credits, to see the final extra scene.

I have to say the movie is not very good. It is much too busy, apparently the director couldn't bear to leave anything out.

Oh, and if the director is reading this and plans a sequel: do not put important plot points into the mouths of those who are burdened with carrying a heavy fake Jamaican or Molluscan accent.

By Reginald Selkirk (not verified) on 28 May 2007 #permalink

You'll enjoy the giant squid gag

We could get a pool going. I figure it'll be about 15. Anyone want to get in on some of this action?

I'm going on the assumption that the segment won't last terribly long.

I'll pick 4.

Oh, and if the director is reading this and plans a sequel: do not put important plot points into the mouths of those who are burdened with carrying a heavy fake Jamaican or Molluscan accent.

Posted by: Reginald Selkirk | May 28, 2007 05:12 PM

There were more than a few scenes in which I decided I will have to rent the DVD when it comes out and set it for subtitles.

I thought the movie started slow, but turned out to be a bit of escapist fun. And 10 pirate captains in one room at one time. ARRR!

...carrying a heavy fake Jamaican or Molluscan accent.

you mean there's a real Molluscan accent?

Where does one go to pick that one up?

sounds like fun.

would it be written like this:

*blurp* sounds *hiss*,*spit* like *gurrrgle* fun *wheeeze*

Good to see CBS doing something about global warming.

Niucal, there's only 16 of them - probably not enough new pirates to slow down the current rates of global warming. They'll need at least a second season for that.

I just caught the puff on CNN.
This museum is nothing to worry about for the non-woo among us, it's more of an embarrassment for moderate religious types. It could be just the nudge they need to realise just what extremes they must endorse even if they don't think daily on it. As it will always be there in its, glorious, animatronic, technicolour splendour. This museum is going to be stick upon which to beat xtians in the future:
"You believe this less outrageous bullshit, well this crap comes bundled with it.... Enjoy and be blissful!"

Pirates 3 was definitely better than 2; it was darker and wrapped up the plots of 2 very well, although it dragged in spots and I wish the action scenes weren't so blurry.

I don't think it quite captured the lightning-in-a-bottle that the 1st movie did, though.

By False Prophet (not verified) on 28 May 2007 #permalink

As for the show... Meh, it's not even Papa Bear Bill O tonight.
The fireworks will be lame.

MikeG

i hope this interview is soon. forcing intelligent people to listen to ann coulter is cruel and unusual.

jenni,
Tell me about it. When the hell did Rosie become news?

Did he just ask when the (Democratic) politicians would stop pandering?
My brain hurts.
I don't know if I can make it to the "museum" piece.

er....did i blink and miss it? please don't tell me i watched this crap for an hour for nothing.

what a pointless piece. all the host did was try to get both men to acknowledge HIS OWN belief, which is: " the theory of evolution is accurate, but god made it happen that way."
good job fox news.

I agree. It was terrible. They basically didn't say ANYTHING good. And if I had to say who won, I must say ham did because his claim about PhD's and other scientists being on his side wasn't challenged.

That was worthless. I wasted an hour for that? (Sorry, jenni, it was about 5 mins of blathering.)

I have to say this now, please forgive me:
There is no reason to accept a literal reading of Genesis. It was a fairy tale that a bunch of 3000 to 4000-year-dead illiterate nomads told their kids to make them stop asking so many questions.

And Ham is really creepy looking. I think the Hitler Zombie got him real good.

OK. I feel a little better.
Need more beer, I gotta make sure that doesn't make it to long term memory.

Yeah, it was totally lame, but the good thing is, Hammie got his "Bible true - Christian morality true" grunt in, and that was it. Krauss talked right over Hammie (because the nameless host in the place of O'Reilly asked the "Doctor" a question), and by the time Hammie sneered, "I'd like to get a word in," the host said, "We're out of time." LOL! Ken Ham looked like a surly, humorless, scary stick-in-the-mud. Which he is. Knauss smiled right away; Hammie looked angry for a guy who's allegedly happy about 4000 people showing up the first day.

Let's see what happens to the numbers on non-holidays.

BTW, it's "nauseated."

Lawrence Krauss is a respected Physicist. He really should never be seen within 20 metres of any of those douche bags.

I would like to share my favorite pirate joke.

A pirate walks into a bar and he has a steering wheel attached to his crouch.

The bartender asks the pirate, "Why do you have a steering wheel at your crouch?"

The pirate replies, 'Aaarrrrr! It's driving me nuts."

You have been such a lovely audience.

Lawrence Krauss is a respected Physicist. He really should never be seen within 20 metres of any of those douche bags.

I think he's involved with DefCon, and felt obligated, somehow.

Hammie looked angry for a guy who's allegedly happy about 4000 people showing up the first day.

I was thinking about the number. How many people does the American Museum of Natural History draw each day? Each of the Smithsonians? I figure it's a hell of a lot more than 4000 on weekends.

By FishyFred (not verified) on 28 May 2007 #permalink

you would have won your bet, and it really wasn't worth seeing anyway. I sat through 54 minutes of blathering (I feared for a while I'd start bleeding from the ears) to hear the 'host' ask, "can't scientists admit there may be a God and can't creationists admit that the earth is a LOT older than they say?" uh... NO.

32...dude. Crotch.
still, one of my favorite jokes too

dorid said,
"can't scientists admit there may be a God and can't creationists admit that the earth is a LOT older than they say?" uh... NO.
Speaking as a scientist I don't think there is a particular problem saying that there MAY be a God (just that there really isn't any evidence to support this hypothesis, making it appear fairly unlikely at present). To say you are 100% sure there isn't a God is (O')really not scientific.

Garth. Oops. Sorry. But check the name. Dude?

@38, isn't "dude" used interchangeably these days? I admit, my only criterion for that judgement is Hurley from Lost.

Haha, one of my female friends talks like that. Wassup, dude? It's pretty funny because she also uses the word "ghetto" a lot. I always tease her for talking like that. (It's funny because she's Japanese.) What was funnier though, was when I met her husband, she calls her "baby", he calls her "dude". "No dude..." "Dude... check this out."

Oh, I laugh and laugh, and she was teasing me for using them "college words". Haha. I mean, is there any simpler way to say "onomatopoeia"? I just made a comment that the Japanese is a very "onomatopoeic" culture.

By Oh, fishy, fis… (not verified) on 28 May 2007 #permalink

Kristine wrote:

Let's see what happens to the numbers on non-holidays.

Oh they'll make up for it on Darwin Day the same way retail makes up for the whole year during Christmas.

I do sometimes wish that pelting the crap out of Ken Ham with fossils was a legitimate form of passive resistance. I'd show up for Christmas and give him more giant cave rat coprolites than he'd know what to do with.

MartinC#37:

Excuse me? I did not see anything stating dorid#35 was "100% sure there wasn't a God" except in what you claim.

Speaking as a scientist myself, I DO think there IS a particular problem saying there MAY be a God - or fairies, or ghosts, or angels, or spirits, or whatever else is SUPERNATURAL, that is, OUTSIDE of natural (O')reality.

It's plainly NOT scientific to entertain any notion that cannot by nature be refuted, of those hypothetical objects which by definition AND the consensus of the superstitious does not exist in nature.

Scientists definitely do not know everything and are therefore well-acquainted with the mysterious, yet they remain confident that whatever does exist outside of their knowledge independently of their opinions still resides four-square within the realm of nature. Superstitious folks think that whatever is mysterious to them is evidence of existence beyond nature, a fallacy of the first order. Yeah, I'm 100% sure about it.

By Arnosium Upinarum (not verified) on 28 May 2007 #permalink

can't scientists admit there may be a God

The best response is "Sure, we could. But there is no scientific evidence for it, so it would be irresponsible to do so." IMO.

Actually, as a slight aside, I thought Krauss did very well. He had very little time, got his points across concisely and effectively, and still managed to be very reasonable and not at all hostile.

I'd have resorted to the word 'idiots' at some point, I'm sure.