Reality strikes even the godless at Christmastime : Pharyngula

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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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Reality strikes even the godless at Christmastime

Category: Godlessness
Posted on: December 9, 2009 8:03 PM, by PZ Myers

Previously, I enviously mentioned this fabulous godless variety show going on in England this year. It's Nine Lessons and Carols for Godless People, organized by Robin Ince, and featuring a host of secular personages of note.

They had a similar show last year, with many requests for recordings. The great godless minds cogitated, and realizing that Deep Thoughts alone do not pay the utility bills or generate pints of beer, they have come up with an idea: you can now buy a DVD of the 2008 Nine Lessons show, proceeds of which will go to the Rationalist Association. You should get it. It'll help keep some atheists warm.

Although…what's this? PAL? Hmmm. Don't know how well that will go over in the US. This might just be an opportunity for lucky Europeans.

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Comments

Posted by: eddie | December 9, 2009 8:21 PM

http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1612

For some, funny-shaped veg trumps cephalpods every time. They ARE metazoans too ffs.

Posted by: tap1966 | December 9, 2009 8:25 PM

Most newer DVD players will play PAL, and your computer should too since it's not region coded.

Posted by: Legolas | December 9, 2009 8:42 PM

Hi guys I've been following this blog for weeks and I thought this would be a perfect place to discuss about the bizarre phenomena that happened yesterday, 9dec:

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/981989/spiralling-sky-light-baffles-experts

Posted by: mk | December 9, 2009 8:50 PM

@Legolas...

It's a Russian missile somersaulting.

Posted by: Jack | December 9, 2009 8:57 PM

@Legolas: You don't discuss about something, you discuss something. Also, this was a single phenomenON, not several phenomeNA. They got it right in the article you linked so why the hell didn't you?

Posted by: The Science Pundit | December 9, 2009 9:04 PM

For those who may have forgotten (or n00bies who just don't know), Robin Ince is the genius behind Magic Man Done It!

Posted by: claire-chan | December 9, 2009 9:55 PM

Yep; seems to be mostly good for Europeans, unless one's got more money than wisdom.

@Jack: not everyone has a sterling grasp of Greek! This is exempli gratia for Nasty Atheism.

Posted by: MadScientist | December 9, 2009 9:57 PM

I'm shocked - they're not praying for god to provide? Damn heathens.

Posted by: Naked Bunny with a Whip | December 9, 2009 10:13 PM

So, Jack, just how many sticks do you keep up your ass?

#10

Posted by: Carlie of the lacy, gently wafting adjectives | December 9, 2009 10:16 PM

Jeez, and I thought I was a pedant. Loosen up, Jack.

#11

Posted by: Sam C | December 9, 2009 10:24 PM

Carlie, #10:

Jeez, and I thought I was a pedant. Loosen up, Jack.

Well, you're not exactly a pedant...

#12

Posted by: Smoggy Batzrubble OM4Jesus | December 9, 2009 10:27 PM

Dear Brother Jack,

Legolas is an elf. The fact that deigns to take the time to communicate with us when he could be getting down and mystical in the Grey Havens is a point in his favor. For a second-language speaker, he's not doing too bad.

If I was Legolas I'd reply: "Garich i dhôl goll o Orch".

Now, let's see you correct the grammar on that one.

Mistily yours
Smoggy

#13

Posted by: Michelle R | December 9, 2009 10:29 PM

It's OK if it's PAL... There's always a way to cheat it to NTSC if all else fails.

I'll consider the buy, that sounds FUN.

#14

Posted by: destlund | December 9, 2009 10:29 PM

Smoggy, so elves exist? I'll wager Tinkerbell will show up next. Has anyone told Dawkins?

#15

Posted by: Smoggy Batzrubble OM4Jesus | December 9, 2009 10:34 PM

Don't you know? Dawkins is an elf!

Look closely at him, note the aura of venerable ethereality he radiates. ...he's been around middle earth since Isildur copped it in the cluster

#16

Posted by: Kausik Datta | December 9, 2009 10:39 PM

PAL to NTSC conversion is a rather easy thing to do on your computer... Go forth! Do not fear your PAL!

#17

Posted by: efrique | December 10, 2009 12:38 AM

My inexpensive PAL DVD/VHS player handles NTSC at the press of a button...

it seems weird to even make one that doesn't deal with both.

#18

Posted by: jdmuys | December 10, 2009 1:56 AM

What? Do you still care about PAL vs NTSC?

#19

Posted by: Atheist Chaplain | December 10, 2009 2:15 AM

PAL is good, it works well down here in the Antipodes and anyone who has had to work with NTSC on a professional level knows it stands for "Never The Same Colour (twice)"
The biggest problem for the US would be region coding on the DVD.

#20

Posted by: https://www.google.com/accounts/o8/id?id=AItOawngrONk9mzwC93GngHJFvpqsQcpq7z8uSI | December 10, 2009 3:09 AM

I'm so happy to have two tickets to see Nine Lessons and Carols at the Hammersmith Apollo on 20 Dec :-D

#21

Posted by: Al | December 10, 2009 3:43 AM

I went to the night at the Apollo last year; going to one of the Bloomsbury Theatre nights this year. The only disappointment was a lack of protesters outside, that would have just added a little extra to the experience. A wonderful night.

#22

Posted by: la tricoteuse | December 10, 2009 4:55 AM

I imagine there'd be more protesters if it were happening in the US. Ho hum. I think having fewer opportunities to smirk at idiots is a small price to pay for having fewer of them about, don't you? :D

I'll be at the show at the Apollo on the 20th, too. So so very excited.

#23

Posted by: Tim_Danaher | December 10, 2009 5:17 AM

Gaahh.. things like this make me so homesick. La Tricoteuse, I envy you.

Saturnalia in Germany sucks the big one. They're still far too deferential to the church.

Still, DVD ordered for a bit of atheistic mid-winter cheer. Now all I need is a bottle of sherry, some mince pies and a box of xmas crackers.

#24

Posted by: Michelle R | December 10, 2009 6:40 AM

@jdmuys: PEople still care about PAL vs NSTC with very good reasons. Not all players are region free. For instance, I can't play a PAL DVD in my Playstation 2 or 3. And they're my DVD players.

#25

Posted by: Peter Magellan | December 10, 2009 6:40 AM

Although…what's this? PAL? Hmmm. Don't know how well that will go over in the US.

I feel your pain, PZ. Ironically, being in the UK, I can't order DVDs from Richard Dawkins' website because they're all NTSC. :-(

(Old BBC engineers' joke: NTSC = Never Twice the Same Colour; PAL = Pictures Always Lovely; SECAM = System Essentially Contrary to the American Method. Hell, does anybody still use SECAM?)

#26

Posted by: Peter Magellan | December 10, 2009 6:48 AM

Incidentally, how come the registration process doesn't think effingtheineffable.wordpress.com is a valid URL? That sucks.

#27

Posted by: Jessie | December 10, 2009 9:15 AM

Peter
Amazon in UK has some of Richard Dawkins' DVDs in PAL format, if that helps.

#28

Posted by: Peter Magellan | December 10, 2009 11:32 AM

Hi Jessie

Thanks - I have the mainstream stuff - Root, Enemies of Reason, the Darwin progs - it's the 4 horsemen, the uncut interviews etc I was referring to. Cheers.

#29

Posted by: Scary | December 10, 2009 12:40 PM

@Peter Magellan
The French and Russians still use SECAM, there's probably more people using SECAM than NTSC now the US is all digital!

Of course it being a DVD it's neither PAL nor NTSC, both of which analogue composite formats. DVDs are digital so it's more accurately 576/50 or 480/60

What, this is a science/religion blog...? :)

#30

Posted by: Scary | December 10, 2009 12:44 PM

@efrique #17
It's very common for DVD players in Europe and elsewhere to be multi-region and be able to handle 'NTSC'.... but apparently not so common in the US.

It's more common for us to want to watch an American disc then an American wanting to watch a foreign disc.. mainly because almost eevrything is released in the US

#31

Posted by: Bill Dauphin, avec fromage | December 10, 2009 12:47 PM

Brother Smoggy:

If I was Legolas I'd reply: "Garich i dhôl goll o Orch".

Cue Jack telling you that it should be "If I were Legolas...." in 5, 4, 3, ....

And we won't even get into the relationship of that closing quotation mark to the period. Mayhap they do it differently in Elvish?

<Grinning, Ducking, and Running Like Hell>

#32

Posted by: woodsong | December 10, 2009 1:19 PM

Our (cheap) DVD player handles both--it's made in China! We didn't expect it to, but my husbeast really wanted to watch a Gary Numan concert DVD that a friend sent him, so he tried it. It played just fine...

#33

Posted by: furr-a-bruin | December 10, 2009 1:52 PM

As others have mentioned, many players nowadays are PAL/NTSC agnostic, and some are very easy to convert to region-free operation. I myself just bought a Philips DVP-5990 to replace an older DVD player that died, and the process to switch it to region-free consisted of opening the drive tray and pressing some buttons on the remote. It plays my PAL DVDs (regions 2 and 4) beautifully on my NTSC television.

As an aside - Philips is the only "major name" in DVD players I'm aware of that makes it so easy to go region-free - and it seems to be related to the fact they thought the whole DVD region system was dumb from the start.

#34

Posted by: furr-a-bruin | December 10, 2009 1:55 PM

I forgot to mention - if you want to find a multi-format, easily region-free DVD player, I cannot recommend the player database and the forums at http://www.VideoHelp.com highly enough.

#35

Posted by: BurtonFrank | December 10, 2009 3:02 PM

The DVD is advertised as Region 0, which means it is not region coded, so you won't need to region free your player.

Your US NTSC Region 1 player will at least try to play it. Most DVD players have no trouble playing PAL material. If the player is NTSC and has progressive scan, it likely won't try to de-interlace it though (de-interlacers are format specific and different ones are installed in players for different markets)

Most modern televisions, even those sold in the US, will handle either NTSC or PAL signaling. If you have an HD set, it very likely will.

#36

Posted by: BBCaddict | December 10, 2009 6:04 PM

My multi-regional DVD player is one of the best purchases I've ever made.
I am a UK TV geek so let that be a guide however.

#37

Posted by: eddie | December 31, 2009 1:14 PM

Smoggy B @12:
"...getting down and mystical in the Grey Havens."

I know elves live a long time, but the majority die their hair when it goes grey, or even shave it off altogether.