I don't know why, but seeing this hyper puppet saying all these things makes it infinitely more entertaining than it would be if it were some guy using his webcam to make a droning weblog saying the same thing.
I was greatly amused by the line about how if you wanted to make a parody of the ID movement and their ideas, THIS is the movie you'd make.
It's funny how often we on this site can't tell parody from sincerity regarding religion. I think it says something bad about religion these days that the parodists can't come up with things crazier to say than what they really believe.
I thought that puppets, aka people who have other people's hands up their asses controlling their every word and movement were fans of Ben-ito...
By the way Duncan, what do you have against Canadian accents? ;^)
It really does say something when even the puppets don't like Ben Stein, because such an easily manipulated demographic ought to be ideal for Expelled.
I needed this. Been doing way too much Expelled tracking, tends to make a person as crazy as they are. Those IDiots are crazy bad nuts, stoned out of their ever loving tiny little minds. God will come down and rain puss and all sorts of nasty things on you except I.D. has nothing to do with God or any god except that the designer is god but no one knows the designer is god but of course the designer is god, just ask god or the designer, which ever comes first. Then some bible verse is quoted to silence you with all its irrefutable scientific logic. What does me in is our great white father George the 2nd supports this junk. Be afraid, be very afraid.
Whenever I watch a video embedded in a blog the download is slow & it invariably stops altogether about half way through. Watch the same video on YouTube and the whole thing downloads in no time. Anyone suffer the same problem or have any idea why it is so?
I just hope my copy of "Of Pandas and People" sells while it's still worth about $25. Yeah, I'm a bad atheist. But it's like selling crack, if I didn't sell it and use it towards my purposes, some Christian would have bought it for 50 cents.
Re: #18 && #21
Ichthyic, I think bassmanpete was meaning YouTube videos embedded in blogs, such as this one. In that case, it could simply be that you're catching the video at a time when a lot of other people are also trying to watch it, meaning there's more demand at that moment for that video.
It might also be the case that YouTube videos embedded on other sites are deprioritised to some extent, with fewer resources available for them per hit. This would explain viewing the same video on YouTube directly at the same time being much smoother/quicker.
People need to stop taking this trolls bait. Its clear that all he's doing is trying to get attention and attract condemnation by say these things. Then when it comes he can point to it and call persecution. It won't work for people actually following whats being said. But it will be effective on the less than culturally literate members of the religious right.
I agree with the puppet that Expelled is doing a great job of showing I.D.'s true colors to the general population. What does he mean, though, about more people having seen the debunking of Expelled than have seen the film? Is he just saying that more people have visited the Expelled Exposed site?
[additional assertion of agreement with the general consensus here].[additional user-specific thoughts/comments on the topic here].[additional obligatory snipe at ID/Ben Stein/religion here].
Regarding youtube video performance - I do not know, but it could be that when watching from youtube users are better allocated to content distribution network servers than when watching embedded video.
Ben Stein might be a vile,despiccable morally corrupt old man,but he is not stupid ! He knows that he is talking crap,that I am convinced of,he was bought to play a role,and thats what hes doing,and he is very adept at changing his tune depending on which audience he is serving,as other commenters have demonstrated.
Dont underestimate the guy,nausea-inducing,yes,stupid,I dont think so.
But it will be effective on the less than culturally literate members of the religious right.
...who would have been equally convinced by a loaf of soggy bread.
This argument you are trying to make, that I have seen dozens of times now, simply doesn't wash.
There is no need for Stein to preach to the choir; as I said, a fucking puppet could have convinced them quite easily.
As to what Stein's motivations for his involvement are, who cares?
He hasn't said anything anybody with a rational head on their shoulders would listen to, and if he is just acting as a firebrand of the right and/or just for hard cash (I don't think he's all that wealthy, actually), then what makes him any better than Ann Coulter, or his motivations any more relevant?
It is v possible that Stein is out of touch with how the web is used. I never heard of him until about 3 years ago, when encountering his financial writings on the Web. My opinion was that he was an ahole who did not understand how discount brokerages and many excellent financial blogs have changed the way one can invest and trade. But then again, dogmatic people remain stuck in time warps.
Just checked the listings of our local multiplex: after a mere two week run, Expelled will be pulled as of May 2. You would think it should have survived longer in southwestern Virginia, where it would have a natural constituency. By the way, notice that Wednesday was the one day last week that receipts went up instead of down. Churches around here hold services on Wednesday as well as Sunday. I suspect receipts went up last Wednesday because church members attended the movie in lieu of services. That phenomenon is unlikely to repeat this week.
Well, they did an impressive box office of $150 per theater on Monday.
Now let's see, at 9$ a ticket, 3 screenings on Monday on average, that's about 6 (SIX !) spectators in the theater each time.
hmmmm, people must of felt lonely in there, kind of, "are we in the wrong movie ?"
I mean, the mere fact that you go to see a movie that has just opened a week ago and there are only 5 other spectators in the room kind of says it all, even if you are a "true believer", doesn't it ?
I think they made a HUGE mistake of going that wide in their distribution, amongst all other mistakes, but anyway...
I was disappointed to hear the puppet say that the theory of evolution by natural selection wasn't claimed to explain "...gravity, astrology, physics..." (sic). Astrology! I gave up listening at that point.
HEY! I call copyright infringement! I pointed out on this very blog weeks ago that the entire Discovery Institute was a hoax. I'm just mad at myself for not getting it when Ben Stein was chosen as their spokesdrone...
What's this puppet's name? He, uh, she, uh, they, will be hearing from my attorney marionette, who assures me I'll get 50% of the revenue from this clip. Money which will go straight for that new doorstop I've been needing, yeah...
[Stein] is very adept at changing his tune depending on which audience he is serving
I have to disagree. I saw him speak at my school about 6 years ago and he was a huge disappointment. Insipid, slow-witted, hypocritical, and droning on stock conservative positions. He was on this road half a decade ago and he hasn't deviated one bit.
Hehehe, my brother and I have been sending emails to Ben Stein and he actually briefly responds occasionally. Here's a recap. If anyone else wants to email Ben Stein, send them to benstein99@aol.com
He (or one of his lackeys) actually seem to respond if you are nice, but he mostly just plugs his film.
That puppet has a lot more stage presence than Ben Stein, he's more animated, his voice doesn't put people to sleep, he's smarter, and he's more grounded in reality to boot. All in a puppet. They should have hired him for Ben's part in Expelled.
I liked that the humor in this obviously comes out, but if you listen closely, you can also hear the anger.
This guy is pissed (for many excellent reasons).
My favorite part was the upward glance after talking about physics... Sort of a humorous CYA... "Well, this part about the planets falling out of orbit is wrong, too!", and the upward glance has a sort of "I hope" feel to it.
This is the best way to do a rant, though. Puppets. It really is a lot better than someone obviously reading from a script, in some sterile home-office somewhere.
Hey, did anyone else hear this story?
Ryan Schallenberger, the South Carolina teenager accused of plotting to blow up his high school, told investigators he wanted to die, go to heaven and kill Jesus, a federal agent said in court today.
Very bizarre. Does anyone else think Jesus (given that he exists) would have figured out the plot and just sent the kid to the firey-lake place? Sort of a spiritual restraining order, if you will.
Anyway, the kid is getting a psychological evaluation (badly needed, in my opinion).
Sharing a couple ideas I saw on badastronomy.com comments:
1- We need to redefine "Darwinism" to refer to people who blame all of societies flaws on evolution, and who think all science stems from Darwin's theory of evolution.
2- With Stein running his mouth as much as he is, it's about time someone throws up a simple webpage for hosting Stein quotes.
Yes, Ben, evolution kills people. During this century alone, the results of evolution will be responsible for the death of about six billion humans. Wouldn't you think your omnipotent, omnibenevolent god might have chosen to designed things more to your liking? Oh, waite - you've got Heaven! You lucky guy, you.
1- We need to redefine "Darwinism" to refer to people who blame all of societies flaws on evolution, and who think all science stems from Darwin's theory of evolution.
by jove, that's a very simple idea that I see expressed all too rarely.
there are enough IDiots out there now that you really could more logically apply "Darwinisim" to those unnaturally attracted to dissing the man.
Indeed, calling Stein a "darwinist" would be quite appropriate.
OTOH, it seems way to late to redefine the term for the current struggle.
@#55: I saw that story and read it aloud to my friends. The kid's a "straight-A student," tho, which leads me to think one of two things: either he's clever enough to tell a crazy-ass story in order to head down the incompetent for trial road, or...it's not too tough to be a straight-A student in South Carolina. All apologies to hard-working South Carolinians who may be on this site, natch.
Something tells me it'd be pretty tough to carry out his plans as described. To hear their story, Jesus is like the Weeble punching bag; he would just keep popping back up. That is, if he could be found.
I agree with this, but... Wikipedia? People can look things up on Wikipedia to check Stein's facts? Yes, of course, Wikipedia is great for science because most people on the internet are nerds and so it will be *mostly* accurate, but... I wouldn't use Wikipedia for fact checking. That's just dumb.
Funny Stuff!
*Raises a beer to the squid dissection.* I knows your online now!
I don't know why, but seeing this hyper puppet saying all these things makes it infinitely more entertaining than it would be if it were some guy using his webcam to make a droning weblog saying the same thing.
re: my #2...meant "droning vlog", not weblog...I can't type...
I liked the intentions, but boy, that voice gets grating after a while.
I love this.
I was greatly amused by the line about how if you wanted to make a parody of the ID movement and their ideas, THIS is the movie you'd make.
It's funny how often we on this site can't tell parody from sincerity regarding religion. I think it says something bad about religion these days that the parodists can't come up with things crazier to say than what they really believe.
I thought that puppets, aka people who have other people's hands up their asses controlling their every word and movement were fans of Ben-ito...
By the way Duncan, what do you have against Canadian accents? ;^)
I love it. It's funny and totally right. I kind of want a frog puppet now though...
HAHAHAHA
It really does say something when even the puppets don't like Ben Stein, because such an easily manipulated demographic ought to be ideal for Expelled.
Puppets in the classroom next semester?
I think the puppet might be on to something. This is one more example of Big Science stamping out ID.
Brilliant.
Creo-the-frog!
I needed this. Been doing way too much Expelled tracking, tends to make a person as crazy as they are. Those IDiots are crazy bad nuts, stoned out of their ever loving tiny little minds. God will come down and rain puss and all sorts of nasty things on you except I.D. has nothing to do with God or any god except that the designer is god but no one knows the designer is god but of course the designer is god, just ask god or the designer, which ever comes first. Then some bible verse is quoted to silence you with all its irrefutable scientific logic. What does me in is our great white father George the 2nd supports this junk. Be afraid, be very afraid.
http://www.drama.uconn.edu/Puppetry/Puppet_home.htm
That puppet r0xorzs! He uses Mac.
Maybe it was saying things I agree with, but the voice made me want to jam pencils in my ears..
The last line is particularly good methinks ;-)
Whenever I watch a video embedded in a blog the download is slow & it invariably stops altogether about half way through. Watch the same video on YouTube and the whole thing downloads in no time. Anyone suffer the same problem or have any idea why it is so?
ROFL!!!!!11!!! The last line alone was worth the price of admission!
I just hope my copy of "Of Pandas and People" sells while it's still worth about $25. Yeah, I'm a bad atheist. But it's like selling crack, if I didn't sell it and use it towards my purposes, some Christian would have bought it for 50 cents.
Watch the same video on YouTube and the whole thing downloads in no time. Anyone suffer the same problem or have any idea why it is so?
several things I can think of:
different levels of compression - most of the vids on youtube have very high levels of compression, making them much smaller.
better streaming servers - it's possible local servers used to host some vids don't do a good job of streaming the content.
bandwidth - local servers vary widely on what bandwidth they allow incoming connections to have.
All rants should be delivered by puppets.
Re: #18 && #21
Ichthyic, I think bassmanpete was meaning YouTube videos embedded in blogs, such as this one. In that case, it could simply be that you're catching the video at a time when a lot of other people are also trying to watch it, meaning there's more demand at that moment for that video.
It might also be the case that YouTube videos embedded on other sites are deprioritised to some extent, with fewer resources available for them per hit. This would explain viewing the same video on YouTube directly at the same time being much smoother/quicker.
People need to stop taking this trolls bait. Its clear that all he's doing is trying to get attention and attract condemnation by say these things. Then when it comes he can point to it and call persecution. It won't work for people actually following whats being said. But it will be effective on the less than culturally literate members of the religious right.
I agree with the puppet that Expelled is doing a great job of showing I.D.'s true colors to the general population. What does he mean, though, about more people having seen the debunking of Expelled than have seen the film? Is he just saying that more people have visited the Expelled Exposed site?
[additional assertion of agreement with the general consensus here].[additional user-specific thoughts/comments on the topic here].[additional obligatory snipe at ID/Ben Stein/religion here].
Regarding youtube video performance - I do not know, but it could be that when watching from youtube users are better allocated to content distribution network servers than when watching embedded video.
Ben Stein might be a vile,despiccable morally corrupt old man,but he is not stupid ! He knows that he is talking crap,that I am convinced of,he was bought to play a role,and thats what hes doing,and he is very adept at changing his tune depending on which audience he is serving,as other commenters have demonstrated.
Dont underestimate the guy,nausea-inducing,yes,stupid,I dont think so.
Dont underestimate the guy,nausea-inducing,yes,stupid,I dont think so.
true (he didn't get to be Nixon's speech writer for nothing, and anyone who saw his "game show" knows he isn't exactly stupid), but OTOH:
"Stupid is as stupid does."
Frankly, I have no problem calling him stupid as long as he continues to do really stupid shit.
Let HIM defend his stupid actions. I see no reason to try and do it myself.
But it will be effective on the less than culturally literate members of the religious right.
...who would have been equally convinced by a loaf of soggy bread.
This argument you are trying to make, that I have seen dozens of times now, simply doesn't wash.
There is no need for Stein to preach to the choir; as I said, a fucking puppet could have convinced them quite easily.
As to what Stein's motivations for his involvement are, who cares?
He hasn't said anything anybody with a rational head on their shoulders would listen to, and if he is just acting as a firebrand of the right and/or just for hard cash (I don't think he's all that wealthy, actually), then what makes him any better than Ann Coulter, or his motivations any more relevant?
Ichthyic,at least Ann Coulter makes a great Dominatrix ! Billy Maher was positivly drooling at his last interview with her.LOL
Delightful vid.
It is v possible that Stein is out of touch with how the web is used. I never heard of him until about 3 years ago, when encountering his financial writings on the Web. My opinion was that he was an ahole who did not understand how discount brokerages and many excellent financial blogs have changed the way one can invest and trade. But then again, dogmatic people remain stuck in time warps.
Ichthyic,at least Ann Coulter makes a great Dominatrix ! Billy Maher was positivly drooling at his last interview with her.LOL
it's almost as if you just made a special request...
http://ifuckedanncoulterintheasshard.blogspot.com/
>I went back to punishing her a****le, giving no thought whatsoever to >compassionate conservatism as her chocolate socket gnawed on my pork >pipe
Oh man,why ddid you show me that,Im crying like a baby,mwahahahahahaha
Oh man,why ddid you show me that,Im crying like a baby,mwahahahahahaha
? why did I show you? I think you answered your own question.
:p
(don't forget to check out "chapter two")
MWAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
This tops the expelled from expelled post,man.......
Where were we,Ben Stein? Now imagine those two,ohhhhhhhh no,not going there,no,no,no.....
This seems rather appropriate:
http://graphjam.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/funny-graphs-judging-web-si…
Just checked the listings of our local multiplex: after a mere two week run, Expelled will be pulled as of May 2. You would think it should have survived longer in southwestern Virginia, where it would have a natural constituency. By the way, notice that Wednesday was the one day last week that receipts went up instead of down. Churches around here hold services on Wednesday as well as Sunday. I suspect receipts went up last Wednesday because church members attended the movie in lieu of services. That phenomenon is unlikely to repeat this week.
'Astrology'?! And these guys are on our side? There is no hope.
Had these guys read Darwin?
http://ddickerson.igc.org/cliffords-tower.html
Or was this just some old fashioned Christian anti-semitic behaviour?
Once and for all proves that "Darwinism" was necessary for the Holocaust to occur.
LOL
Well, they did an impressive box office of $150 per theater on Monday.
Now let's see, at 9$ a ticket, 3 screenings on Monday on average, that's about 6 (SIX !) spectators in the theater each time.
hmmmm, people must of felt lonely in there, kind of, "are we in the wrong movie ?"
I mean, the mere fact that you go to see a movie that has just opened a week ago and there are only 5 other spectators in the room kind of says it all, even if you are a "true believer", doesn't it ?
I think they made a HUGE mistake of going that wide in their distribution, amongst all other mistakes, but anyway...
That movie is dead.
I was disappointed to hear the puppet say that the theory of evolution by natural selection wasn't claimed to explain "...gravity, astrology, physics..." (sic). Astrology! I gave up listening at that point.
ROFL. Thanks. I needed that. It always helps to start the workday off with a good laugh.
"Thanks for not staring at my adam's apple."
- Ann Coulter
HEY! I call copyright infringement! I pointed out on this very blog weeks ago that the entire Discovery Institute was a hoax. I'm just mad at myself for not getting it when Ben Stein was chosen as their spokesdrone...
What's this puppet's name? He, uh, she, uh, they, will be hearing from my attorney marionette, who assures me I'll get 50% of the revenue from this clip. Money which will go straight for that new doorstop I've been needing, yeah...
[Stein] is very adept at changing his tune depending on which audience he is serving
I have to disagree. I saw him speak at my school about 6 years ago and he was a huge disappointment. Insipid, slow-witted, hypocritical, and droning on stock conservative positions. He was on this road half a decade ago and he hasn't deviated one bit.
Hehehe, my brother and I have been sending emails to Ben Stein and he actually briefly responds occasionally. Here's a recap. If anyone else wants to email Ben Stein, send them to benstein99@aol.com
He (or one of his lackeys) actually seem to respond if you are nice, but he mostly just plugs his film.
People who grow corn support Nazis. LOVE it!
That puppet has a lot more stage presence than Ben Stein, he's more animated, his voice doesn't put people to sleep, he's smarter, and he's more grounded in reality to boot. All in a puppet. They should have hired him for Ben's part in Expelled.
This is beauty.
In fact, this is genuinely holy.
Do forget to check out Chapter Two. Unless you have a heavily keratinized gizzard.
youtube vid is on digg if anyone feels like trying to get it bumped up there:
http://digg.com/comedy/The_Truth_about_Ben_Stein
http://digg.com/comedy/The_Truth_about_Ben_Stein_2
(Its in 2 places, neither of which were submitted by me)
I liked that the humor in this obviously comes out, but if you listen closely, you can also hear the anger.
This guy is pissed (for many excellent reasons).
My favorite part was the upward glance after talking about physics... Sort of a humorous CYA... "Well, this part about the planets falling out of orbit is wrong, too!", and the upward glance has a sort of "I hope" feel to it.
This is the best way to do a rant, though. Puppets. It really is a lot better than someone obviously reading from a script, in some sterile home-office somewhere.
Hey, did anyone else hear this story?
http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/04/teen-in-sc-bomb.html
Very bizarre. Does anyone else think Jesus (given that he exists) would have figured out the plot and just sent the kid to the firey-lake place? Sort of a spiritual restraining order, if you will.
Anyway, the kid is getting a psychological evaluation (badly needed, in my opinion).
Sharing a couple ideas I saw on badastronomy.com comments:
1- We need to redefine "Darwinism" to refer to people who blame all of societies flaws on evolution, and who think all science stems from Darwin's theory of evolution.
2- With Stein running his mouth as much as he is, it's about time someone throws up a simple webpage for hosting Stein quotes.
bensteinlies.com? it's available..
Fantastic! Puppets rule,maybe we should campaign for this one to be president!
@ #56: BenSteinLies.com is a great idea, but until someone gets that put together, there is WikiQuote.
Etha Williams put up a bunch of priceless Stein quotes at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Ben_Stein
Yes, Ben, evolution kills people. During this century alone, the results of evolution will be responsible for the death of about six billion humans. Wouldn't you think your omnipotent, omnibenevolent god might have chosen to designed things more to your liking? Oh, waite - you've got Heaven! You lucky guy, you.
1- We need to redefine "Darwinism" to refer to people who blame all of societies flaws on evolution, and who think all science stems from Darwin's theory of evolution.
by jove, that's a very simple idea that I see expressed all too rarely.
there are enough IDiots out there now that you really could more logically apply "Darwinisim" to those unnaturally attracted to dissing the man.
Indeed, calling Stein a "darwinist" would be quite appropriate.
OTOH, it seems way to late to redefine the term for the current struggle.
maybe for the next iteration?
bensteinlies.com? it's available..
hmm, I think that's more accusatory than as if you were just listing the fact that he does lie.
how about:
bensteinslies.org as in:
Ben Stein's Lies
which would simply list and describe each and every obvious lie he has told since this whole fracas started.
that way, it's not directly accusatory (though it's obviously indirectly so), it's just statements of record.
that's also available (for 9.95):
http://www.whois.net/dnr/index.php?d=bensteinslies&tld=org
@#55: I saw that story and read it aloud to my friends. The kid's a "straight-A student," tho, which leads me to think one of two things: either he's clever enough to tell a crazy-ass story in order to head down the incompetent for trial road, or...it's not too tough to be a straight-A student in South Carolina. All apologies to hard-working South Carolinians who may be on this site, natch.
Something tells me it'd be pretty tough to carry out his plans as described. To hear their story, Jesus is like the Weeble punching bag; he would just keep popping back up. That is, if he could be found.
I agree with this, but... Wikipedia? People can look things up on Wikipedia to check Stein's facts? Yes, of course, Wikipedia is great for science because most people on the internet are nerds and so it will be *mostly* accurate, but... I wouldn't use Wikipedia for fact checking. That's just dumb.
Yes, Ben, evolution kills people. During this century alone, the results of evolution will be responsible for the death of about six billion humans.