I can't complain much about this coverage: ABC plays big chunks of the talks by PZ Myers and Richard Dawkins and Peter Singer. Natasha Mitchell, the host, just lets us talk. She also has the complete and unedited recordings of the talks by Dawkins and myself on her blog.
Although, apparently, I run a cult.
They're also going to run something tonight, with Gary Bryson and Margaret Coffey. I did give an interview to Bryson, we'll have to see what he does with it.
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Oogggaaahhaa buimopaa ooggahhh whaanoiggooo balalgeeer Oook…
Thanks yous, Professional Poopyhead Little Pee Zed.
For PZ is the Light, and the Way, and the Truth of the Universe!
Ave Meyers!
Ave Meyers!
Omnis aveo, Meyers!
I think you're mocking me. Mocking ME!
At least, I'm pretty sure. I haven't received your tithing checks, or any virgins in the mail lately, anyway.
Kieranfoy..you can't be in his cult unless you spell his name correctly!
You run a cult? That's ridiculous! They're implying you exert mind control over us. Absurd. We must protest!
Please tell us what to do, PZ.
Who, little ol me? Never. The tithes are in the mail, and I can't think what a married man'd need with a virgin.
@Mk.ramm: Whoops. First post, and I mispelled the name of our Logical Savior.
I'm going to the Special Hell, where they stick child molesters and people who talk in the theater.
Anyway, it's nice to hear of a news service that can cover an atheist meeting without calling in three bishops and a rabbi to explain (with the mandatory sadly shaking heads) how ever man jack of a conference-goer is a sadly led-astray sheep who'll be deep-fried in Hades.
Frankly, interviewing a priest about an atheist convention is like asking a 'Moral Gaurdian' to attend the screening of a porn film.
The Cult of Poll Crashing?
Sorry. I mail from France and the fecking La Poste's motto is “Charge high prices but never deliver anything, and if you do, make sure it's both late and damaged.”
Oh no, you're referring to yourself in the third person now?
You’re an excellent and fluid writer, PZ, but let me suggest that you beware of a small usage error that crops up in your posts now and then. You write: “She also has the complete and unedited recordings of the talks by Dawkins and myself on her blog."
Here you want the subjective, “me,” not the reflexive, “myself.” This is a common but no less lamentable mistake (or, worse, an affectation), one that makes an English prof or an editor wince. You may consult any good English usage guide, like THE OXFORD DICTIONARY OF AMERICAN USAGE AND STYLE, for a detailed explanation. In brief, where the subjective ("I") or the objective ("me") would fit, that's the one to use.
I understand porn film showings are good places to find priests and curtain-twitchers.
A cult. Meh. Sometimes I think you're a jerk.
From the first link's comment section:
The concern trolling, it burns.
Mmmm, well, I do remember PZ performing silly rites with cookies, wearing a squid hat and also once riding a dragon. That, and the daily rants and sermons. Mmmmm. If it quacks like a duck....
@blf
Actually, that's a good point, now that I think of it.
Also, that sic was entirely uncalled for. I do find myself offended.
Maybe I'll declare a Holy War (TM). I'm sure the PZ is with me.
I have eliminated the enemies according to your commands, oh Great Leader.
I fervently await further directives, master, and wish only to do your bidding.
Only tell me that I am a faithful cult member, PZed, and I shall be eternally grateful.
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/mxaa3p
Jonathan Rothwell #13 (NB Jonathan is quoting somebody else):
I'd be more willing to believe this guy has a degree in psychology if he knew how to spell it.
I'm unsure if you're being serious or not. If you are, please accept my apologies, with an explanation: I've been editing crappy documents for too much of last week, and right now have a fairly low tolerance for the more “obvious” sorts of mistakes, such as the things spelling-checkers find. I wanted to concentrate on the content of the (should be precise and accurate) technical documents, not on loads of horseshite errors that should have never made it to my desk.
And if you're not being serious, then here's a few more: [sic] [sic] [sic] [sic] [sic] Potent. Use sparingly.
A cult? Sure, a cult of... anti-cultists! Nyah!
I'm sure I've heard some people calling you a cult, PZ, but I might have misheard them! :)
"Just lets us talk"? With a background of religious music? And some perfectly sensible comments followed by her "ok, that ought to get you going"... um, why? Was it incendiary? (no)
Still listening. Ah... finally, the music is gone.
Ok, *now* she is just letting you talk.
*urge to kill, fading*
@Blf:
I have indeed heard of the power of the [sic]. A potent weapon indeed.
Also, forgive me, Mighty Myers, for the misspelling.
Ia Myers!
Matter of fact, Lovecraftian comparisons are more apropos, given his obsession with cephalapods.
Yes, a cult with the power to destroy gods and theology with a single word: "bullshit". I'm happy to be part of it.
Iä! Ph'nglui mglw'nafh P-Zed R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn!
Oh cripes. I had no idea signing in using Yahoo would result in a big obnoxious URL as my username. Last time I make that mistake. Damn, I wish Scienceblogs would adopt some simple, sensible commenting option.
OK, everybody is talking about my cult leader status, but talk is cheap. I want money, booze, drugs, and servile nubile women on my doorstep right now, or you're all going to be afflicted with the curse of poopyheadedness.
Stop sitting there reading the blog — I see you there with my all-seeing eye. Jump up and take action! All I've got here is a cup of decaf and the Trophy Wife™…who does look pretty hot. Hmm. Never mind. Maybe I don't need the strange nubile women. But money and booze are always welcome!
sounds oddly like a complaint.
austinfilm @25: Ditto. I tried to use openID but it resulted in Scienceblogs and ClaimID redirecting to each other in an endless loop; my browser finally had to intervene and say "Enough!" and present me with an error message.
Okay, your Myer-ness. I'll get my boys to send you up a shipment of the bet booze we got: ambrosia, water from the fountain of youth, all that good stuff.
"Although, apparently, I run a cult."
HAIL MEYERS!
..I mean... HAIL MYERS! HEAD HONCHO OF ATHEISM! Praise his tentacled name!
PZ:
We're going to sacrifice like the old pagans did. Put the meat over a fire and eat it. Talk the nubile people into dancing around a PZ pole and then having an orgy afterward. The worshiped consume the pleasures of this life through us, through our spiritual connection as worshipers.
Cheques?!!
So we aren't supposed to send you stuffed cephalopods?!
I'm sorry! I'm sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry!! Please don't hurt me, Master! Please! I'll be a good ilk now!
austinfilm | March 27, 2010 2:20 PM:
The strange gibberish for a username went well with cultish madness of your comment.
Sorry, Don, but "myself" is perfectly ordinary in English as an emphatic subsitute for "me" (I'm sure David can give you the parallels to French "moi").
I'd link you to LanguageLog, but "myself" is a pretty hard word to search for.
Misspelling my name is part of the sacred covenant — it's kind of like writing G_d instead of God out of respect for the potency of the deity. Those of you who followed talk.origins or read Wilkins' blog have seen this in action -- the truly devout follow the ritual of never spelling my name the same way twice, just to be sure.
It's amazing how many creationists tremble in fear at the thought of invoking the True Name.
That explains why I just sneezed whilst eating dinner. The pepper had nothing to do with it.
All hail the intercontinental powerful sneezing of the poopyheadity's giant red flaming eye!
please don''t consult any good English usage guides. They are all pompous and sterile.
You are practically perfect, anyway.
Oh goody!
I've been missing my cult fix since I left the Catholic church many years ago. I guess that's why I feels so comfortable here, or something.
I hear there's Kool-Aid. And baby-eating. And I saw a puppy recipe recently, IIRC.
/eyerolling
Even Fowler ?
Perhaps not "sterile", but certainly idiosuncratic and arbitrary.
Merriam-Websters (Concise) Dictionary of Modern Usage seem to be the gold standards. There are a coupla recommendations for style books on LanguageLog - after many many requests - but I don't recall them.
Anyone suggesting Frankenstrunk and Whanker will be eaten last, and that'll be too good a fate for them.
Sili,
For British English, Fowler is pretty good.
How can anyone who can't even pronouce the initial of his middle name properly lead a cult?
My understanding is the original edition by Strunk, and the first of the Strunk & White editions (which I think is the one I have, but I cannot find it now), are Ok if read as suggestions rather than proscriptions. Looking at the Wikipedia article, the book seems to have grown much larger (ironic: “Make every word tell!”) and gone downhill?
Natasha Mitchell has a very nice voice and tone, and a neutral approach, - much like Geraldine Dougue.
And thanks blf #11 for curtain-twitchers!
What is the initiation process to join this cult? Sacrificing a virgin squid?
Did we forget to send you the confirmation of membership for your fifth post? Dang, things get truly messed up every time PZ is out of town. ;)
PZ is Sauron!
Awesome, thanks for the link PZ !
They go into the collection, as a nice souvenir from the GAC, Dawkins goosenumps moment and all.
PZ, in order to receive your tithes promptly, and in full, I suggest you hire some mormon Bishops to wring the dough out of your minions. The Bishops come with backup, sort of like mormon fuzz, who will hound the minions mercilessly until they pay up or die of guilt and leave their estates to you, the Head Poopyhead (whichever comes first). Hire the experts.
Do your virgins have to be anally virginal as well? Or can they just be standard vaginal virgins?
mormon fuzz
Now there's a sequel idea to Hot Fuzz!
Pure and unsullied. Not even nose-raped.
Lets face it, with regard to English usage the best you can realistically hope to do is to conform with whatever's considered to be appropriate usage in whichever social group you (aspire to) belong to. Any usage you are unsure about is unlikely to have only one correct answer otherwise you wouldn't be unsure!
That's why it's so easy to tell the difference between non-native speakers and those who are merely using the language in unfamiliar ways. Non-natives make genuine errors, natives simply speak different dialects.
I'm particularly glad about the link to the Dawkins talk, because by the time he got on the stage to speak I was so utterly tired that I had trouble following, so it's good to be able to listen to it again !
A certain person who shall not be named even managed to fall asleep during his talk, and I had to wake that person up because the snoring was starting to become too noisy for the punters sitting next to us...:D
@KieranFoy:
Don't worry about the misspelling. You have to type Meyers three times in a single thread before the Cyberpistol emerges from the screen of your computer and blows you away.
Before that, you will only be mercilessly hazed by the other cultistsposters.
I want money, booze, drugs, and servile nubile women on my doorstep right now
I want tickets to the Trophy Wife's response to the nubile women.