Hrrm … I seem to have stretched myself a little too thin this weekend. Early this morning I drove off to Minneapolis and Minicon to pick up Skatje and catch a few panels at the con, and then I drove back — I just got back a half hour ago — and despite the fact that there are a great many interesting things to talk about, this day has been a bit too much. Minneapolis really must pick itself up and move about 150 miles further west — I'll appreciate it, and St Paul will be eternally grateful.
I will address Wilkins/Rosenhouse, Grayling, Klinghoffer (grrr), Mooney, Laden, etc., but right now my brain demands a total shutdown for a little bit.
If you really need a good Easter anti-religion rant to tide you over, read Skatje's. She got to sleep in the car while I was dodging semis on I94 for most of the day.
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No need to address Wilkins. Just concede and all will be well...
I've already taken on Klinghoffer some already, if that helps. Though I'm sure there are testes that still need mounting on a wall somewhere anyway.
I think you may have missed a good program on PBS during all that travel - an entire hour was devoted to cephalopods: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/seamonsters/
Breaking news (to me): Johnny Hart, creator of the creationst caveman comic strip B.C., died at 76 of a stroke.
http://www.salon.com/wire/ap/archive.html?wire=D8OCMMEO0.html
Should I feel bad that my first thought on reading that was "WAIT, the creator of B.C. died from a condition caused by loss of blood to the BRAIN? Something's not right here..." x.x
I50 miles west with mid-atlantic seafloor spreading should
take place within a reasonably geologic span of time, at
5-7 cm/year?
PS: PZ: you DO realize that cretinists and IDiots are going to quote-mine the title of this post, right?
Klinghoffer's article is far to ridiculous to rate a "grr", IMHO. I was wondering at it's silliness and then when I got to the "where I work" line the tension was released in out-loud laughter.
Brilliant, I say! Highly recommended. Proof positive that our fantastic BC weed makes it as far south as Mercer Island.
Has Skatje ever nailed you on being off topic on her blog?
I think Klinghoffer's pretty well taken care of. I just posted about his article, and I just saw that John Pieret did also...so you can cross that idiocy off your list. That is, unless you feel the need to expose his tripe for the BS it is to the wider audience you have. Then by all means! I'd like to read the PZ-caliber beat down on him anyway.
Klinghoffer, E.J. Dionne, all kinds of people are opining about hardline atheists, including the dead.
Albert Einstein, from a letter quoted in the latest Time Magazine:
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1607298-3,00.html
"The fanatical atheists are like slaves who are still feeling the weight of their chains which they have thrown off after hard struggle. They are creatures who--in their grudge against traditional religion as the 'opium of the masses'-- cannot hear the music of the spheres."
A Deist would say that. I think that's a little unfair. Even the most militant atheist has moments of ... well, something. Some like to call it spirituality. I don't, but I'm not rankled by those who do.
Personally, I'm fairly indifferent about what Einstein believed except as intellectual history. Does anyone look up to Newton as some kind of role model or wise man?
"I'll appreciate it, and St Paul will be eternally grateful."
You mean you two are not the same?
Kai:
Uh, just in case you're not up on Minnesota geography, St. Paul is the state capital and one half of the Twin Cities. Minneapolis, of course, is the other half.
Heather Kuhn:
Uh, presumably Kai was making a joke. You know: Saint. Paul.
Now that I think about it, perhaps PZ actually spoke of himself in the third person singular. The heading of the post should have warned us.
The following can, I think, be enjoyed by both atheist and Christian alike (even if he does get a little close to faith at the end). The first time I heard David Sedaris do this routine, I was laughing so hard, with tears streaming down my face, that I almost had a wreck on the Indiana Toll Road.
http://quandmeme.net/blog/000019.html
Just my peace offering to you on Easter Monday, after taking up too much space in the comments section on one post over the weekend.
Klinghoffer's article in a nutshell: "People will always be frightened and dumb, which will lead them to the supernatural. Let's just accept this--no, celebrate it." Only with more feel-good froth about "faiths".
In other news, tobacco executive insists on importance of smoking.
Perhaps you're on to something. I guess in the days before blogging, all one could do was write letters.
Bob
One important bit of local knowledge that might help outsiders understand my comment: there is a fair amount of rivalry going on between Minneapolis and St Paul that sometimes verges on mutual detestation.
Noted atheeist P.Z. Meyers recongizes the insanity of his positron on his deathbead in "I Am Insane" http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2007/04/i_am_insane.php -- Add him ot the ranks of deathbed confessors like all recanting Darwinists.
/joke
Thought this might amuse Pharyngula readers: evolution by biscuits:
Off-topic a bit, but since PZ has declined to critique the vomit that is Godless by Anne Coulter, I have found a scientist who has reviewed Godless, and reviewed it with a fine and subtle contempt. I suggest you all retire to http://www.livescience.com/othernews/070407_coulter_hoax.html for a few minutes' reading.
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