Ray Comfort has made a post on the swine flu. You know already what kind of idiotic tripe he's going to trot out.
The spread of the so-called 'swine flu' demonstrates yet again how useless and sometimes deadly a mutation can be. Furthermore, as the infection spreads around the world, the search for an antidote is desperately sought, but the very fact that the virus is seen as something to be opposed actually supports the Biblical view of this world. It is always good and right to oppose sickness, but in evolutionary terms, why don't humans simply resign themselves to it and allow the strong to survive? The evolutionary point of view would say the virus has a 'right' to live, so 'good luck' to it!
How wrong can he be? It's hard to imagine screwing it up more. In the evolutionary point of view, we are the children of ancestors who fought off disease and lived to procreate; those who surrender to a viruses imaginary right to live, if such imaginary beings ever existed, didn't make much of a contribution to the current gene pool.
Well, you might wonder, what will the Ray Comforts of the world do to fight the virus?
The great hope for this fallen, diseased, weatherworn world, is the return of Christ, who has promised to bring restoration, everlasting health and peace to all people.
If waiting for Jesus is his only answer, he can join his fantasy evilutionists in the graveyard. But he's lying here, because we know what will happen if Comfort feels the stirrings of the flu — he'll scurry to his nearest doctor to take advantage of the work of scientists who don't think the only hope is to cry out to Jebus.
Here's the contrast: Nick Anthis describes the molecular mechanism of the flu's resistance to some of the drugs in our arsenal. Unsurprisingly, he doesn't cite the Bible even once, nor does he beg for mercy from a merciful deity. He does cite the scientific literature, though, and explains the natural, material processes — those mutations — that have contributed to the potency of this strain.
Who contributes more to the health and happiness of the people of this world, scientists or bible-thumpin' idjits?
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My forehead is sore from all the *headdesking after reading that.
Swine flu is media hype. Ray Comfort is his own ego's hype. The bible and religion definitely kill more people than swine flu.
http://twoandahater.blogspot.com/2009/04/media-blows-out-of-proportion…
Tardorama. Unholy shit!
I am...in shock. I truly don't understand how anyone could be as cruel and heartless as Comfort. It boggles the mind.
If you're a virus it's not a useless mutation Ray - it's a belter !
I guess that's a good illustration of how Ray et al always look at this from a anthropocentric perspective, and how that distorts their ability to understand the natural world
How arrogant; this isn't a harmful mutation, it's very beneficial.
From the virus' point of view.
Wow! Really. Wow! Comfort is just jaw-droppingly stupid. It's not even ignorance, something for which there's a cure. He really is an idiot.
Re #5: Comfort takes anthropocentric perspectives a step further. Ray is Comfortpocentric.
Yeah, but what does his scientific sidekick Kirk Cameron think?
We really wanna know.
I would take extreme comfort if Ray Comfort would die of the swine flu, and as he is slowly expiring, yell out, "my god, why has thou forsaken me?" Where is your god now, moron?
"The great hope for this fallen, diseased, weatherworn world, is the return of Christ, who has promised to bring restoration, everlasting health and peace to all Evangelical Christians, after everyone else is killed off painfully by Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death."
Fixed.
http://www.tribwatch.com/revplag.htm
I'm stunned. How do these people manage dressing and feeding themselves?
Bananas!
I didn't attend the funeral, but I sent a nice letter saying I approved of it. -- Samuel Clemens
Thanks Lynna.
Note to self: Adjust level of centricity granularity when analysing creotards thought processes.
I think the motto "everything (eventually) happens for the best" -- or maybe "everything happens for a reason" -- is quite possibly the defining attitude of all religions: Christian, Muslim, Hindu, New Age, etc. They're not talking about physical cause and effects, but social and psychological reasons. The religious seem to approach reality as if it were an unfolding story, with good and evil structured in as basic themes. Wrapping one's mind around the idea that nature is neither on our side, nor against it -- it's completely indifferent -- apparently comes hard to human beings.
Thus, the strange claim that, if things evolved, then they evolve for the best. Progressive evolution, in another form.
Comfort is filtering his view of evolution through his religious story-telling attitude -- and he thinks we do the same. Believing that we think Nature -- in the form of evolution -- does what is right and good is similar to thinking that people who don't believe in God must worship themselves, or that, if we don't think the universe revolves around God, then we must think it revolves around humans. Their perspective is so fixed on their way of seeing a morally-centered cosmos they think it's the default perspective, the neutral view from nowhere, and for everyone.
How useful and life-giving a mutation can be, for the virus, of course.
Maybe more to the point, why does our immune system rely on random changes to try to fit the new virus? Why not just go for design, and so do it right in the first place?
Trouble is, there is no designer taking care of our immune systems. Random change and selection works, so that even our "designed bodies" use that to their advantage. And yes, a very intelligent immune system would likely work better, too bad no "designer" gave us one.
And, moron, if the virus has a "right to live," so do we. I said that against the animal rights nonsense, and I say it here.
Evolution is not prescriptive about these things however.
One more think, Raytard, the virus can't live without us, so our simply dying off wouldn't help it anyway--nor would a huge contraction in our numbers help its survival. Not that it has anything to do with the matter, but it only goes to your vast ignorance, yet again.
Glen D
http://electricconsciousness.tripod.com
PZ, you should make that last line into an internet poll!
Right now I don't fucking care if human civilisation is destroyed by the swine flu. Or the Vogons.
(I'll stop now, lest I go into an OT rant about how much I hate my life.)
Anyway, Ray Comfort is a fucking idiot. But we knew this.
Ray was just speaking in tongues. He doesn't have to make sense.
WOW!!! How many stupid things can Comfort get in one post.
The god smiters have already weighed in, of course. The moslem ones point out it is "swine" flu and our punishment for being infidel pig eaters. They won't get it because they don't eat pork.
FWIW, I called some friends last night. The whole family is sick. They have what seems like a bad case of flu. In fact the symptoms fit swine flu to a T.
This is May, people shouldn't be getting the flu. The peak season is usually November to February. So, is it swine flu? Could be lots of things, need to run the tests. At least they assured me that they have had it for a few days, and are getting better slowly.
Walton... calm down buddy.
COMFART: I CAN HAZ DETH FLUZ?
GOD: YEZ, NOW DIEZ IDGIT
Can he simply be dyslexic? It sounds like he thinks that he lives in the 12th century, not the 21st.
Myself, I continue to believe the swine flu is God's punishment for allowing teh gays to get married in Iowa...
rtp10 @ 2, the blog you pointed is arguing that because a small number of people have died (to-date), there isn't an issue.
That's nonsense.
The issue is not the lethality (or lack thereof) of A(H1N1). Instead, it's that it's novel (so few humans are immune), and is easily transmitted from one person to another. That's why (in part) WHO has raised its alert level to 5 (out of a possible 6).
If large numbers of people become ill (esp. more-or-less concurrently) that will overwhelm medical facilities. And due to the nature of these things, first-line medical staff could very easily be (disproportionately) sick themselves. The knock-on effects (esp. considering other services would also be hit, including such mundane but vital functions like food delivery and shopkeeping) could make things quite unpleasant.
Using the current fear-hyping of the media to say "evolution isn't true because it's naughty". Like he's never said that before.
"Who contributes more to the health and happiness of the people of this world, scientists or bible-thumpin' idjits?"
Sounds like a good Internet poll!
The flu is perfectly shaped for Comfort's immune system.
Ray Comfort I address you directly and formally as a complete dumb ass. The reason intelligence evolved is because those that possess it have a better chance to avoid, counter, or defeat threats, thereby increasing their chance to procreate. You really need to re-examine your ideas about what fitness means in Evolutionary terms. Grow a fucking brain dude.
Swine flu is media hype.
O RLY? Every comment on it I've seen from actual epidemiologists and public health specialists says there is a very real risk (although of course no certainty) of it turning very bad indeed. It's possible you (and other naysayers like Simon Jenkins) know better. It's possible that the people who turn up here explaining how biologists have got it all wrong and evolution is false know better than the experts too. I'm betting on the people who have learnt about what they are talking about knowing what they are talking about, though.
Now, nobody in the know (and, that I have seen, not even anyone in the MSM) is saying it might not blow over without becoming a pandemic. If, as I certainly hope, this is what happens you will not have been proved right, any more than not being run over yesterday proves you never have to worry about crossing the road (simile stolen from Ben Goldacre). It will very probably just mean we got lucky.
Gee, that is a tough one. Maybe because we humans don't want us and our friends and conspecifics to get sick and/or die. And we have the brains and technology to prevent this from happening.
http://www.caglecartoons.com/images/preview/%7B1f03c05d-cde7-4b4b-bd13-…
I wonder if Ray would go so far as to suggest that the virus was designed.
"Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight." - Thomas R. Marshall on Theodore Roosevelt's death.
"“Do not go gentle into that good night." - Dylan Thomas
Words to live by. And I emphasize "live." Apparently Ray Comfort believes in Bizarro Natural Selection, where the point is to lay down and let the strong triumph, instead of coming at them from behind with a rock, then hanging their corpse in effigy to warn off others.
Matt Heath said:
Or that the vigilance actually paid off, of course.
And speaking of Ben Goldacre, his take on swine flu scaremongering is an entertaining read.
Goddammit! I thought the evolutionary point of view led to killing people, now we're extending human rights to viruses. Can't the Creationists hold a conference or something to decide what to tell us that we believe with some consistency?
Sastra@15; I preferred the version from Dr Horrible's Singalong Blog: "everything happens". Your post is win. Also.
Zombie Revbig DumbChimp @ 14
Ah yes, an apt quote from one of my favorite people. Here is Mark from his "The Damned Human Race":
"Man is a Religious Animal. He is the only Religious animal. He is the only animal that has the True Religion-several of them. He is the only animal that loves his neighbor as himself and cuts his throat if his theology isn't straight."
And a god will not intervene in either side.
@36,
Lol! You win the intertubes.
Ray sez:
"The great hope for this fallen, diseased, weatherworn world, is the return of Christ, who has promised to bring restoration, everlasting health and peace to all people."
Yeah, 'cause, y'know that prescription worked out so well during the bubonic plague, aka "Black Death".
I remember reading somewhere that huddling together inside cathedrals probably helped the plague to spread back then. Oh, and kill off cats, agents of the devil, who would otherwise have killed off vermin that were spreading the disease...
See what happens w/o a Germ theory of disease.
"It's just a theory". Right, so exorcism should work just as well, I guess.
"The evolutionary point of view would say the virus has a 'right' to live, so 'good luck' to it!"
Where does evolution say anything has a right to live? If the virus is strong, it will survive. If we are strong, we will survive. Neither one is passive and the two are not mutually exclusive. It's that simple.
I'm not going to be snarky for a change, just let you know that you are not alone. I've been there. For a long time, maybe 5 years, starting when I was ten years older than you are now.
I decided there were three choices: live with it, change it, or end it. I seriously considered all three and chose the second one. I have no regrets about that choice and highly recommend it over the other two.
I resigned myself to exactly that years ago.
Re #13: Yes, I was envisioning a graph, with the Comfortcentric bar going off the chart. Adjusting the "level of centricity granularity" to meet the challenge seems appropriate.
Slightly OT: Dawkins website has a new article plus video up in the News section. About a minute into the video, who should pop up giving evidence for the Flood but our old friend from the Texas School Board hearings, Don Patton. Yep, there he is outing himself as a Creationist big time. And this is the "geologist" the Texas School Board chose to school them in evolution! Sheesh.
Ray sez:
"The great hope for this fallen, diseased, weatherworn world, is the return of Christ, who has promised to bring restoration, everlasting health and peace to all people."
Yeah, 'cause, y'know that prescription worked out so well during the bubonic plague, aka "Black Death".
I remember reading somewhere that huddling together inside cathedrals probably helped the plague to spread back then. Oh, and kill off cats, agents of the devil, who would otherwise have killed off vermin that were spreading the disease...
See what happens w/o a Germ theory of disease.
"It's just a theory". Right, so exorcism should work just as well, I guess.
Since disease is a judgment from God in Ray's universe, seems to me it's his fellow Xians who should be resigning themselves to their fate.
actually it's comfort's blog but richard gunther is the author of the post... and he's getting reamed good in the comments
Quick, print some bumper stickers!
"Swine Flu... Thanks a fuckin' lot, God"
"I've got Swine Flu... I must deserve it"
"Dear Jesus, Can I get an advance on that Eternal Health thing?"
Wait, what do we need hope for? Isn't this disease God's creation? God's plan? Where does this blasphemer Ray get the authority to criticize God's plan?
PS: How will the creationists counter the fact that H1N1 represents the evolution of a novel way to penetrate the human immune system, i.e. a mutation that created information?
I don't know if this has been posted on this blog or not, but Comfort once spoke about cancer in one of his books in a way that made the post that PZ is complaining about look intelligent.
Even worse, that book is still available in Canada.
Of course if Ray comfort dies from the swine flu, then his god also dies with him, and his followers would never be able to ressurect either of them. Then again, that same god lives in all those other besotted brains. What we need is a virus so sophisticated that it can select the "god gene"
and eliminate the human and transmute it into a swine. And the end result will be, more bacon.
Deen: Goldacre's article is great. They normally are. He's one of very few people writing in the papers that really gets probability and can write about different levels of risk. That column is the perfect antidote to both panicky end-of-the-world talk and simple-minded risk denial. BG = win.
Walton: Your 19; that can suck. Really it can, and I sympathise. But it's spring; you're in Oxford; get out amongst some people and things might seem a bit better.
Thanks for the shout-out, PZ. It's always nice to get to play the voice of reason every now and then....
Ugh! "You're". It's the dyslexia.
The funniest thing I see on that blog is “the number of people who have died since you opened this webpage” being given to one decimal place.
Someone needs a visit from Courage Wolf;
http://i43.tinypic.com/2iqitrc.jpg
Wow!
Ray once again confirms that he is an utter moron.
Isn't it a shame that stupidity is not painful?
Walton, Walton, Walton...
Dude, you're young and alive, and at university in a country that forbids you neither drink nor sex (nor bacon); what is there to hate?
Seriously, I don't know (and won't presume to ask) what's happening in your life to prompt such a comment, but in any case, despair is your enemy and good cheer your ally. I don't mean this as some sort of facile, greeting-card platitude: I've been in some hate-my-life situations, and my experience has been that actually hating your life in no way helps you fix it.
Walton, take a walk. Seriously man -- action can forestall the bad juju. Take Care.
Seriously, has Ray Comfort ever written anything touching on science which wasn't mind-bogglingly, jaw-droppingly, this-shit-is-bananas stoopid? Whenever I see his name, I know what to expect: writing which makes me wonder who dresses him in the morning.
I still love that he's actually right about bananas being designed.
He's just missed that it was man, not God, that designed the banana through selective breeding, taking it from what looked more like a kiwi fruit to what it is today.
Guess I should have RTFA...
LOL... After you take the long-term survival of the mutation into account, the trend is up, absolutely affirming Darwin, the accumulation of beneficial information and complexity...
The part that gets me the most is the first line. Mutations that increase virulence are certainly not "useless" to the virus. Mutations that are selected for in other organisms aren't supposed to help humans, they're selected for because they help the other organism. Comfort is trying to perpetuate the falsehood that all mutations are detrimental, when what we actually have here is another obvious case of a beneficial mutation - it's just not beneficial to humans.
Nothing about it being's god's punishment for atheism/secularism/Darwinism/legalizing gay marriage/etc.?
Ray must be getting forgetful in his old age if he didn't add that in too.
The depth of idiocy in Cumfart's babblings is simply astounding.
Another strawman version of evolution from Rayray.
Once again, Comfort delivers teh stoopid in a gloriously spastastic way. Gotta love the guy. Obviously, God created Ray Comfort as a warning to the rest of us.
could we please stop giving Walton "well meaning advice"? not that I'm not tempted myself, just that from my experience it tends to make things worse. He might need help and advice, just not from people who have no way of knowing what's really going on or actually helping.
Yes, being 19 sucks; being 19 and mentally unstable sucks worse; being 19, mentally unstable and socially awkward/introverted is the suckiest thing ever.
I'm still not sure how I survived it, so all I've got for Walton is a "good luck, I know how that shit feels"
I call on the secular community to help my dogs, who I might add, are extremely secular. They are in a national cutest dog contest, if they win we get a year free movie rentals! We could totally crash this "poll"! Please vote!
http://contest.familyvideo.com/entries/3899#3899
Here's a study in contrasts.. um sort of .. for you
2 year old gets into MENSA. Vox Day now has a playmate.
One more point:
God creates this disease, then tells us he'll cure you if you just...
Sorry, I don't negotiate with terrorists.
Walton:
There's you problem, mate! This is what's infecting your worldview. You desperately seek community and the intangible shared resources that a community provides. Every man for himself? Fuck that!
Didn't think it would take long for the Godbotherers to start taking advantage of the Credulous. Alas, some of them might believe it.
When will they start claiming that Swine Flu is Divine Judgement on us poor godless secular gay liberals? (Even though it started in Mexico, officialy pious Catholic, though with a great deal of pre-Columbian belief incorporated therein, but the Godbothers don't worry about that sort of thing)
I do think Ray Comfort is mentally challenged, and not just to dismiss his opinions, I seriously thing he has an IQ of 80. The things he screws up, both Biblically and scientifically are things a sixth grader has no trouble understanding.
That's a very cute story! Unfortunately, because of the sidebar, I now have to work the phrase "control knickers" into conversation somehow.
People, Ray did not write that post, it was his cartoonist. Ray has always been a beacon of sanity, as in writing:
(through Canterbury Atheist)
Forget gays & abortion, it's god's punishment for that whole apple thing.
http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=511152
Geez, one person makes a mistake and God's still punishing everyone. You'd think after we threw Jesus a Soap Party he'd have finally snapped and shot God, then himself so we could be done with the whole thing.
Yes, yes I did just compare the sacrifice of Christ to Full Metal Jacket.
Holy shit. Did Comfort really write and publish that insane drivel? What dangerously deluded and foolish man he is.
And let us not forget what exactly that mistake was: Going against god's the tyrant's wishes to not eat from the tree of knowledge.
Yeah, knowledge; watch out. It can fuck you up.
I hate mine too, dude. Hang in there.
Or spend some time thinking about people you don't like getting submitted to the horrors of Vogon poetry.* Or go take a walk around campus. The architecture alone should make you feel better.
*Come on--it was a little funny.
"Why don't people just resign to it and let the strong survive"
Is it the strong that survive or the most adaptable?
God will fuck you up;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA-pWKRyyG8
Eh. I'm 27 and I still hate my life. And meds are the only thing that kept me from tying a rope or driving into a lake.
"or bible-thumpin' idjits"
Well, laughter can be healing... I'll stick with the scientists and the comedy channel.
You guys won't be laughing when the Crocoduck Flu epidemic hits.
Bah, screw the Crocoduck Flu, the Raccoon Flu is where the money's at.
Depends on how one defines terms, but like most biology the answer is partially yes to both.
Silver Fox, where you been? Have you done your homework?
If Ray happens to fall ill because of infection by this particular H1N1 virus then he should be given amantadine or rimantadine. They won't work because this particular strain has evolved resistance to these drugs but since he doesn't accept that evolution is real, it shouldn't matter right? Hehe...
Nice to know that there are a great many of us with self-loathing. I personally think it's just a side effect of the "know thyself" dictum, and since we're so damn bad at getting past our past, we just stew in our personal past ugliness. I know I'm working on this - I've started a letter-writing therapy - write it out, burn it up, get past it.
Hope that helps some, Walton. I would also counsel the great American cure-all: ROAD TRIP!
And let us not forget what exactly that mistake was: Going against god's the tyrant's wishes to not eat from the tree of knowledge.
And it says right in the approved version of that story that god lied about the whole thing anyway. Just as his competitor had said.
Yeah, a little of column A, a little of column B. Physical might does not mean you're "strongest," because I can still come at you from behind with a rock and put you down, if I was smart enough to pick up a rock to hit you with, and you weren't.
AAACK! I actually followed the link... teh stoopid, it burnz!
Seriously, my school district allows that nonsense but banned Pat Condell as hate speech? /headdesk
Happy Tentacles @ # 73: When will they start claiming that Swine Flu is Divine Judgement on us poor godless secular gay liberals? (Even though it started in Mexico, officialy pious Catholic...
That's already been covered, as far back as Tuesday:
*golf clap*
I might be mistaken, but I always thought it was Ray Comfort and his fellow religious fucks who assign a right to life to something no more complex than a virus.
It would seem that the "fittest" here have developed the technology and reason to try to understanding this disease which is inflicting their species, develop a cure for it, and proceed on their merry way.
What would a 2000-year-old zombie jew do? Concede and sit in a closet and pray? Fuck the fuck off, fucker. We're busy over here.
On the contrary... from the point of view of the virus, the mutation is totally useful and utterly rocks!
It's just not useful to HUMANS... which only matters if you think humans are the be-all and end-all of existence.
Wow......a xtian just recommended that we stop treating the sick and leave them to see who survives.......WOW!!!
The man is insane. And what a twisted view of evolution.
Breathtaking.
Note that the holy man suggests following the advice of health experts. I guess god can't do the damn job himself, eh?
Comfort is a poor sad sad little man.
This guy is cool though
http://weirdthings.com/archives/2232
This is what Jesus thinks of the swine flu:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090501/ap_on_re_eu/eu_swine_flu_world_drug…
God hates poor people.
Just think: this swine flu thing has been around for thousands of years -- since God created it, Adam named it, and Noah took it on the ark -- and we're only just now finding it. His will be done!
"The great hope for this fallen, diseased, weatherworn world, is the return of Christ, who has promised to bring restoration, everlasting health and peace to all people."
Sounds to me like Ray's cartoonist is advocating mass suicide.
No thank you.
It's a classic case of having it both ways, or covering all the angles. If there isn't a problem, or only a mild problem, then obviously the preyingprayers worked. If there is a major problem then it's because you didn't do as we told you to do. Oh, and by the way, you haven't paid us the tithe yet.
Yeah thanks God.
Ray Comfort is an idiot.
God forbid the Catholic Church might donate a spare billion to help produce a vaccine or distribute anti-virals.
nope... just save their money and pray.
Outstanding.
I'd like to re-purpose that to:
God creates humans and hell, and promises not to put them there forever if they will...
Sorry, I don't negotiate with terrorists, and I don't need your help being good. I already know how to do that.
It's amusing to see a title listed under both Creationism AND Molecular Biology, heh... Mr. Comfort is heavy on the one and very light on the other! Helium baloon light.
Ol' Ray has a body counter on his website. What a sick bastard.
or Engineers
.
.
.
I can't wait for the next open thread.
oh boy. Flood gates are now open.
I'n not claiming than anyone here (or across the pond) resembles this remark, but somehow I'm reminded of this:
TOH to En Tequila Es Verdad
Ray Comfort and those with similar thought patterns will be selected for extinction...by his own logic.
dboy
Ingersoll:
What has the church done?
For centuries it kept the earth flat, for centuries it made
all the hosts of heaven travel around this world -- for centuries it clung to "sacred" knowledge, and fought facts with the ferocity of a fiend. For centuries it hated the useful. It was the deadly enemy of medicine. Disease was produced by devils and could be cured only by priests, decaying bones, and holy water. Doctors were the rivals of Priests. They diverted the revenues.
The church opposed the study of anatomy -- was against the
dissection of the dead. Man had no right to cure disease --God would do that through his priests. Man had no right to prevent disease -- diseases were sent by God as judgments. The church opposed inoculation -- vaccination, and the use of chloroform and ether. It was declared to be a sin,
a crime for a woman to lessen the pangs of motherhood. The church declared that woman must bear the curse of the merciful Jehovah.
What have the worldly done?
A few years ago a few men became wicked enough to use their
senses. They began to look and listen. They began to really see and then they began to reason. They forgot heaven and hell long enough to take some interest in this world.
At last we know that the story of creation. of the beginning of things, as told in the "sacred book," is not only untrue, but utterly absurd and idiotic. Now we know that the inspired writers did not know and that the God who inspired them did not know.
We are no longer misled by myths and legends. We rely upon
facts. The world is our witness and the stars testify for us.
I thank the great scientists -- those who have reached the
foundation, the bed-rock -- who have built upon facts -- the great scientists, in whose presence theologians look silly and feel malicious.
They did not wound -- they healed. They did not kill -- they lengthened life. They did not enslave -- they broke the chains and made men free. They sowed the seeds of knowledge, and many millions have reaped, are reaping, and will reap the harvest: of joy.
Silver Fox @ 82:
Yes. And sometimes, it's the ones that just got lucky enough not to be there when it hit the fan.
Some good information on reacting to pandemics and our current state of preparedness:
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/laurie_garrett_on_lessons_from_the_1…
Nice post. A very excellent study in contrasts. Always remember though, you know what they say about casting pearls before uuummmmmmmmm... something. I forget what, but people aren't supposed to cast pearls before something. (I don't remember what.) Always remember the sage advice.
"The spread of the so-called 'swine flu' demonstrates yet again how useless and sometimes deadly a mutation can be."
----------------------
How dare Comfort claim that God designed something useless and deadly!!?? Let the smiting begin!!
It appears my daughter and I might have it, or a weak regular flu suspiciously like it, and my wife hasn't or has recovered depending on what last week's "bleah" for her really was...
Regardless of the flu identity, this is probably one of the easiest flues I've had in my life. Very mild fever. Very minor aches. Barely any sore throat. No coughing to speak of. Mild headache at times and some chills. My daughter did vomit but considering the crap she eats (being 12) who knows...
That silly counter to convince one to go to Jesus. Ahhhh!
Oh, well, a hundred people died while reading Ray Comfort's crap.
Walton, your mission for this weekend is locate the nearest, unrelated to you, cute, tight little butt on someone of either sex over the legal age in your country of residence and give that butt a nice swift, but loving, squeeze and a firm, loud smack with the palm of your hand. Then smile and wish them a happy day. You both might just enjoy it. If the butt grabbing and smacking thing is just too much then please visit your local store and buy a kite or a ball and go outside and play. And what KI wrote too. “Road trip! You have 5 minutes to pack what you think you’ll need into this 1 cubit foot space then we’re leaving.” Etc. ;)
Silver Fox:
It’s the strong. That’s why the world’s landmass is exclusively populated by lions, the skies by Harpy eagles, and the seas by killer whales. P.S. Stop thinking ‘survive’ and think ‘sex’ (Yay!) and ‘offspring’ (Turn that music down!). You aren’t going to survive. None of us gets out of here alive. It’s our offspring and theirs and theirs on down the line as it has always been and always will be. If you manage to produce offspring and they live long enough to have some of their own then everything worked. If not, then, well, there always needs to be a loser.
fastpathguru #71
Wins the thread.
It's interesting how phrases can turn associations. When I think of laying down and letting others triumph (or survive) I think of the 3rd class passengers on the Titanic.
I'm sure many people have seen that ghastly Titanic movie made in the 1990s. One of the scenes included the third-class passengers being locked in their part of the ship to die. That is, in fact, a popular canard invented decades later by the Marxists for their propaganda mill and is, in all ways, a repeated lie for the sake of drama or class-ism-struggles depending on how you view the director's politics, or lack thereof.
One of the most troubling facts of the sinking was substantial numbers of the third-class passengers, essentially, committed priest-assisted suicide. Instead of following the ships officers who were trying to lead them to the upper decks and a chance of life, they literally laid down and prayed for a miracle while waiting to die because the priests exhorted them to do so.
This wasn't, of course, all of the 3rd class. Fifty-five percent of the 3rd Class women survived. As did 15% of the men. But a substantial number died without a chance at life because of the mewlings of the religious cast that encouraged them to stand fast and pray for a miracle instead making a rational attempt to save their lives until it was too late. Much to the chagrin of the Officers of the Titanic who, from some accounts, even threaten to shoot people if they didn't get up and try for the life boats.
You can read a bit summary that is limited to debunking the "locked up" claim here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/76159.stm
I can't give you the prayer/priest part. Though if you're interested in the Titanic, there are numerous scholarly books that devote scores, sometimes hundreds, of pages to the issue that are much better than 99% of the crap you find on the Internet.
During the great age of theocracy in the West (i.e, "the Dark Ages"), the black death (bubonic plague) decimated the population. While, as usual, the faithful speculated that this was punishment for human sinning (though many faithful and innocent died, and there goes free choice). I will assert that the faithful should not have despaired, or prayed, or even flogged themselves; but just said "Get on with it Jesus. Purge and punish us until we are again sin free."
A little science could have saved millions of lives, which is sometimes what the faithful say they are about when it suits them.
Nick Antis' article Why Swine Flu Is Resistant to Adamantane Drugs is an interesting read.
Oh wait I know the answer to this. Science. It's science; right? Comfort's such a moron.
Maybe not. It may have started in California, gone to Mexico then come back up via tourists:
A picture is now emerging of how U.S. and Mexican officials, with a key assist from a Canadian government lab, first realized they faced a new type of disease and began racing to isolate its earliest origins. Until recently, Mexico was widely assumed to be ground zero. Now, however, some California doctors are questioning that.
The four earliest confirmed cases are divided evenly between California and Mexico. In fact, it appears two children in California got sick in late March, several days before the first two known Mexico cases in early April.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124113876438075685.html?mod=googlenews_…
Comfort me with bananas.
Apologies to the author of the book,"Comfort Me With Apples."
Sweet Christ in a gimp suit...Ray Comfort has to be stupidest creationist mofo I have seen since...well, since yesterday.
It is always good and right to oppose sickness, but in evolutionary terms, why don’t humans simply resign themselves to it and allow the strong to survive? The evolutionary point of view would say the virus has a ‘right’ to live, so 'good luck' to it!
Why would somebody even write something like that. Good grief...
Because he is a deceiving little shitheal who either knows he's got an army of strawmen about evolution or he doesn't have a clue and doesn't care.
For history and (sort of) humor's sake.
1976 Swine Flu Public Service announcements
Because he is a deceiving little shitheal who either knows he's got an army of strawmen about evolution or he doesn't have a clue and doesn't care.
Well we know he's not completely stupid, because he's probably making millions and millions of dollars!
If the pandemic really hits us hard, all Christians should take refuge in their churches where Jesus will protect them. Let the scoffers try to hide behind their science.
boo
Has nobody informed dear Mr. Comfort that viruses can't have a "right to live" because they're not alive?
He IS a theologist, not a scientician. You can't expect him to know EVERYTHING, people!
fixed
Pastor Billy Bob.
That may be a good idea. While the "scoffers" get Tamiflu, you guys can lock yourself up in tight little spaces that are just great for the transition of disease!
I refuse to call it Swine Flu or influenza A (H1N1).
From now on I will call it
HAMTHRAX
It's the Aporkalypse!
I've got something to announce. I think I may finally have understood the real nature of creationists. We've all seen them spout bullshit that makes your irony meter go wild, also they always refuse to hear of the opposing opinion. So the other day when I read about this creationist claiming that evolutionists are uneducated, stupid, and deluded - it suddenly struck me.
Ladies and gentlesquids, we are in fact being trolled on a global scale. Everyone are in fact atheists and they are having a great laugh behind our backs; just imagine how stupid they must think we are for falling for this. I'm going to call it the Global-Creationist-Troll Theory. Once you think of them as trolls, it all begins to make sense.
So, who do I speak to now that I've figured this out?
HA nice!
man that's good stuff
I always thought it was just an acute case of now wanting to give up their binky...so to speak.
Ray Comfort is a disturbingly stupid and/or dishonest man, for someone with so much media access. Contrary to his misinformation, it is the very evolutionary biologists who are at the heart of the science that this Creationist creep opposes who are leading the fight against this, and many other, viral diseases.
In no other field is understanding evolutionary forces more important than in virology.
If Comfort catches a sniffle, I can almost guarantee he will go running to a scientific physician who will prescribe him antivirals created through evolution-based research.
Yes. And then he will pray. And when the symptoms subside, he will thank the lord his imaginary friend.
Disgustingly delusional.
The idjit needs to shut up. It annoys me for a moment that he seems to come across as if he thinks he knows much about this scientific subject, which I know he doesn't or maybe; he really does think he does.
I know that he knows that we know that he is only saying something about the subject to give an aire of knowledge despite not having real understanding about it but maybe; he really does think he does.
fastpathguru : Remember, (most) Creationists *don't* believe God created diseases - they believe they developed from harmless organisms as part of the universal degeneration of the world (in the same way that animals became carnivorous *rolleyes*). The general Creationist worldview is that the universe is decaying and dying, society is falling apart from immorality, and only the Second Coming will restore the world.
#142, 143:
"Hamthrax" and "Aporkalypse" officially join "Snoutbreak" and "Hamdemic" as my favorites terminology to come out of this.
"The spread of the so-called 'swine flu' demonstrates yet again how useless and sometimes deadly a mutation can be."
...except that the mutations have been quite useful to the virus.
Birdmonkey Mad Swine Freakshow: Level Five Alert
I'm a Mammal and so are You - artist unknown
Cooking MonkeyBird Swine Flu with God and Jebidiah Scooter
Piggies: music by the Beatles
Blackbird: music by the Beatles
Alex the Jones: makes things up for radio
Audio from 12 Monkeys
Monty Python expecting the Spanish Inquisition
The usual bed wetting audio fear from the ever-trembling Michael the Weiner
Sucker Feat: music by Peeping Tom
I was a Communist for the FBI- vintage radio with Dana Andrews
Little Box of Magic: music by Githead
Soundbed throughout was Valvogoth by Just-John
music director this week-John K Fitzpatrick
or download from
http://acksisofevil.org/innerside.html
Good, but not as good as Ben Goldacre's "Parmageddon".
Hamthrax map
Thanks God, for creating a virus that will attempt to kill all humans.
I just made the mistake of checking in on the Comfort thread at his place. There is some weapons grade stupidity over there.
I mean I knew this, as I used to frequent the place but holy shit.
Idiocy on a new level. Worse that many of the trolls we get here.
Bah, screw the Crocoduck Flu, the Raccoon Flu is where the money's at.
Someone is a Daily Show fan.
Rev @155
Does Hamthrax not imply something that is cured?
Just wondering if you were holding back on a big announcement.
Well technically the ham is just the rear upper leg of a pig, so not necessarily cured.
But stay tuned in..
Is Comfort that stupid? The mutation is not useless or deadly for the virus...
.
that or just that devious.
If you haven't and you feel like inducing the urge to jam a meat fork in your ear, go read his commenters on the thread linked to above.
Could Comfort be a terrorist attack????
I like the idea of keeping my ears free of meat forks, what was quoted was enough stupidity for one day.
Any chance for some examples so we can get a peek? I don't have a meat fork handy.
#139
Many virologists and biologists would disagree with you and say that viruses are absolutely alive, or at least fall along the life spectrum. That's all life is anyway, a spectrum. Viruses without question fall along that.
Yeah, better that you don't go there then. But just because i can, here's a sample
Those damn dirty jews
circa 1250
He must think being a blowhard = blowing holes in "our theory".
And since it is my theory, how can i make money off of it because I've been missing out.
What the fuck is the point of Rays death counter(in the sidebar of his site)? What a morbid little prick he is ,more proof, the religitards love misery.
Measures the brains that he's killed with this inanity.
For fucks sake!
On reason, intelligence, scientific rigor and honesty yes.
this is terry. He posts under many names and frequently his posts come off like he has a serious man crush on ray.
He's one of the biggest idiots. I mean, he puts Hovind up as an expert.
A verse from "Primarily Secular Thoughts" by Klaas Jan Runia, The Netherlands
(Please feel free to point out any language errors, since English is not my first language and I wish to improve my English!)
Evilutionary Swine Flu
Mister Comfort once wrote on his blog
evolutionist’s view does nothing but cog:
’t would say Swine Flu has a ‘right’ to exist,
to evolve, to be strong, and to stay in our midst.
He states, further on, the answer to this:
believers escape the coming abyss,
which evolutionists will never outrun,
while thy be saved by the return of His Son.
Biologist Myers then, rightfully so,
wrote mister Comfort does not really know
what he is actually talking about,
in taking comfort in Jesus devout.
Myers points out that science will bring
the answer to actually stopping this thing.
And that if Comfort contracts any flu
he will then turn to our science too.
I also think Comfort then wrongfully thought
evolutionists say that ‘is’ equals ‘ought’,
and still learns from faith evolution is fake,
while he avows there’s a god and a snake.
A misunderstanding, unlikely naive,
which in this century, I barely believe
to be true to some persons, believing a myth -
a level of intellect
I’m not so comfortable with.
Must live in Alberta ( Texas North )
As a biology student and theist I must say, this guy is an insufferable asshole. We look for cures because the person to catch it might be your child, parent, friend, or a person someone cares about. Hell, the one to cure world hunger might be saved by a vaccine! Evolution might be indifferent, but its products better not be if they expect to see another generation. Why can't he see that? Stupid, dishonest, or stubborn?
Where does Ray Comfort come up with the "fact" that "God did not create viruses" -- I mean, he created Satan, why not the humble virus? Maybe a virus created god.
Technically that was a commenter there, and not Ray.
All three, plus more if you read past threads.
With his inept inane following, there is no motivation or capability to do so.
His following expects a certain message. Going off message would be disastrous for him. So while it is possible he knows he's lying his ass off, there is no reason for him to stop.
If I see a virus, it must have been made by a virus maker.
Didn't God design the virus? Isn't the virus just another example of intelligent design by an intelligent creator?
So, how can it possibly be "good and right" to "oppose" the virus?! Are we going to be so arrogant that we're going to "oppose" the virus designed by the Intelligent Virus Designer?!
I knew it.
God is a biochemist working for the US Army biological warfare division.
PZ asked:
Hmm.
This question seems waaaay too easy.
When a college professor asks a question to which the answer seems oh-so-obvious, it must be a trick question of some kind.
Must ponder this some more...what's the booby trap I'm failing to see? I hope it isn't really obvious, 'cause then I'll feel really dumb.
Same way they oppose Satan, all of God's Little Children born of original sin, having not yet been baptized, etc.
There was none, sorry
Lynna - Thou art not a true christian. You are not doing the work of the lord.
Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Mark 16:15
And jezus further said: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.
And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name they shall cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Mark 16:16-18
This disease is the lords way of testing us. All that is needed to heal the sick is the laying on of christian hands.
Does Reiki only work if you are xian?
More chilling news: http://www.metafilter.com/81332/No-critical-thought-allowed#comment
@55:
Decimal portions of people? Hmm,I've already experienced 1/2- ass logic from the xtians, maybe there's something to that.
Oh, I hope Ray Comfort or his buddy go to the Source and kiss a hog on teh nose. I think that that might kill faster than bacon.
He didn't specify if the contribution had to be positive!
Is that Comic Sans?
Patricia @184: If I repent I'll be safe from the swine flu, right?
I've been laying hands on my guy, per the Lord's instructions -- so I'm on the right track, I'm sure.
I always liked that "preach the gospel" to every creature bit. It brings to mind a picture of Ray Comfort clones preaching to bunnies and so forth. Well, it does say "every creature."
Also, I was baptized when I was eight years old. According to the some clergy doofuses that changed by DNA permanently. I can never be anything but saved. But I show every sign of needing to be dipped again. Something went wrong the first time. I postulate too much chlorine in the water, which killed all the god cooties. I wasn't properly infected.
On the other hand, I did drink some deadly Jack Daniels, and recovered nicely, thank you.
Dear gods, help me. I am so confused. Your signs do send me in several directions and I am dizzy...or is that ditzy.
why is it that these people will talk about brainwashing in schools yet show they don't know the first thing about where the science is really at?
And yes that question is rhetorical!
Spoke too soon about recovering from drinking deadly spirits. My ability to proofread and to spell correctly are both below par.
They talk about brainwashing because that's what they're used to. That's what they do, and that's what they expect. I have trouble understanding how they can put up with the boredom. So much repetition. And no new ideas allowed.
and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Mark 16:16-18
So what went wrong at "Jones Town"???
not true believers
Jones Town? Wrong God, obviously. duh.
And if thou drinkest of the koolaid blessed by sleazebags that look like Vegas lounge lizards, thou shalt die.
Read an article recently about the 3rd class passengers that died on the Titanic. The myth is that the Head Honchos kept some of the 3rd class passengers from escaping, held them in the lower decks, and so they perished. Turns out that a lot of them lay down to die, sort of. A bunch of priestly types, clerics, instructed them to stay where they were and pray like mad. So they did. Ship's officers even threatened some of them with guns if they wouldn't get up and head for the life rafts. Some did, but a lot didn't.
So much for prayer. They took the least effective action possible. Christians did what Ray Comfort described, just lay down to die.
This thread is missing Hitler. Doesn't he have to appear in every discussion? "Hitler's Private Library" by Timothy Ryback notes that Hitler had several books about horse breeding. He went through them and marked out with a red pen the mares in pictures that showed both stallions and mares. Females being inferior in all species apparently.
Hitler was also into woo, astrology, and had four hundred plus books on the Catholic Church. Once you're set on a course of gullibility it seems to extend to all areas.
No word on what he thought of bananas. He did keep hundreds of photos of stellar constellations, photos that were taken on days he considered important to his rise to über power.
Sounds like the Titanic 3rd class passengers were also "not true believers"
Too bad , that was a nice ship.
h/t to Rev. Big Dumb Chimp
Surely nobody can be this mind-numbingly stupid? Aside from the fact that the ToE has nothing to say about stellar evolution, the sun has been steadily increasing in luminosity--about 30% since it settled down on the main sequence 4.5 billion years ago.
Did this gomer learn his astronomy from The Time Machine?
WRMartin:
Your mission this weekend is to get anally raped by a company of hairy-backed sailors. You just might enjoy it. Unwanted sexual contact rulz!!!
The correct God is Nergal, god of the underworld, as identified on artifacts from northern Mesopotamia -- dated to third millennium BC. I'm sure that's right, I've had a revelation. If only the Titanic's passengers had known! I should get Patricia to help me spread this gospel.
To continue the theme of related quotes from Mark Twain that appeared earlier in the thread, here's one from Twain's "War Prayer" that applies well to Ray Comfort:
"It was believed afterward that the man was a lunatic, because there was no sense in what he said."
This thread is missing Jerry Garcia.
There.
I said it.
Bacon.
Thick cut.
With a thick, sticky maple glaze.
naked midget porn
ooops
wrong thread
Re #205: May I add Hickory Smoked.
bacon > all
Here's my latest post on Ray Cumfart's blog. Since his comments are moderated, I don't know if it will pass muster:
I would like to know if Ray Comfort is an expert on economics. Can anyone tell me if Ray Comfort has an expertise on the worldwide recession happening right now?
Does he have a PhD in economics? Can he advise us properly?
No?
Really?
Then what makes Ray Comfort an expert in another field that he hasn't studied... science (and in particular evolutionary/biological science)?
I dunno, I guess my master's degree from Columbia makes me less of an expert on biological sciences than Ray Comfort, but.... his criticism just seem like... opinion and not... scientific fact backed up by testable, observable, repeatable, falsifiable fact. IMO.
thunderf00t has a good take down of Ray Comfort in this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpKal3toyNA
Self-delusion takes practice. Re #209: Comfort is an expert in self-delusion.
It sank. Ship's are supposed to do that. I'd say it was a baaaaadd ship. Naughty, naughty ship. Wicked, bad, naughty ship. There is but one punishment for sinking: You must tie her down on the seabed and spank her.
Ship's are → Ships aren't
I need more coffee. Breakfast, actually. Bacon!
blf@213: if you think about Ray Comfort for too long, you will lose your ability to write.
Ray Comfort sometimes makes me wonder whether there is indeed something wrong with the ToE.
Tiktaalik had more intelligence,for fuck's sake.
Lynna@214, Testing, testing, tsu8 3^^>…—@godog dog dogheadesks a few times…Yup! True. Think about Ray Comfort and's able wriztes burgub[1lheadesks some more…writing goes down the drain.
It reminds me of that Awful Truth episode where Michael Moore ran a ficus for congress.
Submarines are ships that are supposed to sink. They're specifically designed to do that. Even more important, at least from the viewpoint of people in the submarines, they're capable of unsinking, i.e., coming back up again. This is known in submarining circles as "surfacing."
LOL! A fig tree as a congresscritterplant? That's brilliant!—especially, perhaps, since it was during the era when there was a bush in the White House.
(A quick check suggests votes for the ficus weren't counted, but also that the meme has apparently taken off with other ficus being running/standing for office since then….) If a ficus ever is elected, it'd be a particularly easy target, I assume, for a shoe, albeit being more intelligent than the usually-elected monkeys, less probably deserving of having shoes thrown at it.
I've usually heard submarines referred to as boats, not ships. Which is why I didn't add a caveat in my original snark. And yes, submarines did occur to me when I wrote it; correct grammar, however, did not. ;-(
Submarines are called boats for purely historical reasons. The difference between a boat and a ship is that boats are small enough to be carried on ships. The first submarine in the US Navy, USS Holland* (SS1) was 53'10" long and displaced 74 tons. If the early submarines were to travel any distance, it was usual for them to be hoisted on board a ship and transported to their destination. So Holland and her contemporaries were technically boats.
Modern submarines are a bit bigger than Holland. The Ohio (SSBN 726) class Trident missile submarines are 560' long and displace 18,750 tons. The first "all big gun" battleship, HMS Dreadnought (built in 1906) was 527' long and displaced 18,420 tons. A submarine that's larger than a battleship can reasonably be called a ship.
*USS Holland was named, with becoming modesty, by its designer and builder, John P. Holland.
And 'Tis flexes his hardcore Navy cred.
*nods approvingly*
An admittedly rather quick bit of checking suggests the definitions of both boat and ship (or at least the distinction between the two) has varied considerably over time and also by country; and is still fairly different depending on one's perspective. For instance, the (British) Historic Ships Committee say vessels below 40 tons and less than 40 feet in length are boats, with two specific exceptions: Submarines and fishing vessels.
Submarines-are-boats is a historical anomaly, yes. (This appears to be widely agreed, and I don't disagree.) But one could also argue modern ships should not be called ships. Older definitions of ship were along the lines of vessels with so many masts/sails and whatnots.
The size and/or carrying-the-other ability is a fairly common (modern?) rule-of-thumb. Another rule-of-thumb seems to be whether the vessel is intended(? designed? used?) for local/inland/coastal sailing or not. But neither is an (agreed) technical definition (as far as I can find). Another counterexample (potentially to both rules-of-thumb), besides submarines and fishing boats, would be a sailing yacht with its dingy.
The things people can learn with these asides...
giggles… Yea. There's probably a paper in here somewhere about meandering comments starting from the obvious (Ray Comfort's an evil twit) and winding up, at the present time, with comments about the comments. In-between there were a variety of digressions with the last one being a discussion about boats and ships. Interestingly, I don't think anyone mentioned or discussed Nick Anthis' paper?
I did mention it in my post #128. However, points should be deducted since I misspelled his name.
What? Typos and misspellings? Sounds like a typical post here by those of us whose flying phalanges and brain aren't in sync.
"The spread of the so-called 'swine flu' demonstrates yet again how useless and sometimes deadly a god can be."
The corrected quote makes more sense. I like the big about finding an antidote for a virus; for Ray I'd prescribe 3 tablespoons of potassium cyanide; not only would it end any illness he may have, but he'd never get sick again.
Back in the bad old days, when ships were made out of wood and men were made out of steel, ship was a specific, technical term describing a vessel with three masts and square-rigged on all masts. For those who have been to Mystic Seaport and seen the Charles W. Morgan, a glance at her mizzen mast will show she's not a ship but rather a bark (sometimes spelled barque), since while the fore and main masts are square-rigged, the mizzen is fore-and-aft rigged.
'Tis Himself @226: I'll double the mentions for Anthis's paper in this thread. I read it, but it was a humbling experience. My reading that paper was a poignant illustration of the central role that science education and dynamic research should have played in my college days. The concepts that were simpler (all those pores and whatnot) I sorta got. And Anthis kindly summarized the main point(s). Still, I might as well have been a ficus for all the good it did me.
'Tis Himself @223 re the Navy stats: How many of those monster submarines would we have to launch in order to raise the sea level a foot or so? Ever see the film Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead? Good scene in there demonstrating displacement by volume.
About Ray Comfort: If you turn off the sound and suspend your disbelief, he looks like a normal, nice guy. Friendly smile behind which real friendliness lies, and all that. So whence cometh the depth of his misinformation?
For those that didn't read the paper by Anthis, this phrase @#230, "poignant illustration of the central role..." was lifted from the paper, which will give you some idea of Nick's felicitous writing style.
"Measures the brains that he's killed with this inanity."
ROFLCOPTER
A bazillion, give or take a whole bunch.
Ship's displacement is rather complicated. Although the word ton is used with reference to both merchant ships and warships, it has a very different meaning in each case. And that meaning is not necessarily related to the familiar ton.
Consider the definition of a ton. There's the short ton, 2000 English pounds. There's the long ton or English ton or shipping ton, different names for a weight of 2,240 pounds. And, of course, there's the metric tonne, 1,000 kg or 2,204.6 pounds. Americans use the short ton, British use the long ton, and the rest of the world uses the metric tonne. So when dealing with particularly large figures, knowing which ton is meant can be important.
Merchant ships are measured in three different sorts of tonnage. Gross registered tonnage (GRT) is a measure of the internal volume of the ship in notional "tons" of 100 cubic feet or 2.8 cubic meters, a measurement that includes all interior spaces of the ship. GRT is not a particularly good guide to the cargo capacity of a ship. For example, passenger liners can be over 80,000 tons GRT but actually carry very little cargo.
Cargo is measured in freight tons or measurement tons. These are also units of volume rather than weight, amounting to 40 cubic feet of cargo stowage capacity. One long ton of general cargo (say, wheat or other bulk cargo) runs about 2.1 measurement tons. Deadweight tons (dwt) measure the actual weight of everything carried in the ship, including supplies, miscellaneous equipment, fuel, and even crew, expressed in long tons. As a rule, for every 1.5 dwt a cargo ship could carry about 1.775 measurement tons.
Warship tonnage is measured differently, in terms of displacement tons. Each 35 cubic feet of seawater displaced by the vessel is a displacement ton. As the volume of seawater actually weighs about one long ton, displacement gives a rough indication of the actual weight of the vessel.
However, as established by various international treaties (particularly the Naval Disarmament Treaties of the 1920s and 1930s), there are several different ways to measure the displacement of a warship, depending on the amount of stores, ammunition, fuel and crew carried. "Light displacement" is the bare ship, without moveables such as stores, ammunition, fuel and crew. "Standard displacement" is measured with normal stores, ammunition, etc. necessary for peacetime operations. "Full load displacement" measures the ship when fully loaded with all possible stores, ammunition, fuel and crew ready for a wartime mission. The differences in the three can be considerable. The World War II German battleship Bismarck was approximately 39,000 tons light displacement, 44,000 tons standard displacement and 49,600 tons full load.
Aren't you glad you asked?
Bacon is a left-over contaminant. Discard it. It's the grease in all its glorious purity that has all the essential properties we want. We want the part that slides down without fuss. If you need teeth to chew it, get rid of it. The bacon is but a means to an end.
Speaking of "useless"...Ray Comfort. Man. Shoe-leather soup is more nutritious.
My bacon(god) is better than your bacon(god):
The best bacon is thin sliced with evenly distributed meat and fat. Then it should be cooked slowly, drained constantly, and flipped more than once. (You should even press down on the fatty ends to render them fully). The result will be crispy and done to perfection, so much so that chewing will not be necessary. Just suck on it and it will melt in your mouth. This technique can be used to introduce children as young as six months its addictive properties. Just ask the spawn.
I agree, you did mention it. I only searched for "nick" and for "anthis" before making the claim no-one mentioned it. That was a bit sloppy of me, since I overlooked the possibility of a quote from (or other reference to) the paper without mentioning Nick's name, but in this case that seems to be essentially accurate.
I rarely deduce points for speling since I'm a horrible speller meself, but perhaps more often grammer mistooks mak. I'm particularity bad at leaving out the critical in sentences.†
N.b. Some mistooks in this post is not intentional. I've just retuenrd from a fine french dinner with some of the local fine French vins—and a few brillant Belgium beers beforehand…
† That was deliberate. It should have read: I'm particularity bad at leaving out the critical not in sentences.
I wish I could say i was surprised that none of the regular commenters at Ray's ever showed up over here but I'm not.
Rev BDC,
They probably have no interest in knowing how ships' displacement is figured.
Well now sure
no comment
I'd just like to say that after reading and posting on Ray Comfort's blog for awhile, coming over here and reading your blog is like dying and NOT going to heaven. Whew! The difference is refreshing to say the least. I am bloodied by the bible being bashed against my brain. I need to recuperate and your blog seems the perfect place to do it.
But what if she's guilty of some other sin? Say she failed to show proper deference to her husband or even <whispers> voted for a liberal? Would she still be safe from dirty water induced sickness?
That brings up another thought. If she was guilty of adultery, then she'll get sick from water mixed with floor dirt. What if we tested her with homeopathic dirty water? Say we take the dirty water and dilute it 60 times (which is the dilution advocated by the inventor of homeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann), making sure to succuss it after each dilution, and then have our possible adultress drink it. Would she still get sick?
'Tis, be careful. Trying to parse their logical gymnastics can cause serious injury.
'Tis Himself @233: Holy Buckets, man! That was a long ton of exegesis.
Yes, I am glad I asked. Loved the detail. Didn't know what I was letting myself in for, did I?
Also appreciated the accuracy of a "bazzillion" huge submarines needed to raise the level of the sea a foot or more.
Why is it always the woman who is drinking the dirty water off the floor?
And if she gets sick, it proves she is a sinner? How is this different from weighting suspected witches down with rocks and throwing them in the river to see if they sink or not?
Give that woman a banana untouched by Ray Comfort and a book by the likes of Sam Harris, Dawkins or Hitchens. She needs compensation.
Some of the comments on the Comfort blog read like dishwater.
I'd ask "more weight."
Or rather, "more mutations."
As Bill Maher so aptly put it, “if you creationists don’t believe that the flu virus evolves, then when you get sick with it, pray it away”.
"The great hope for this fallen, diseased, weatherworn world, is the return of Christ, who has promised to bring restoration, everlasting health and peace to all people"
Yeah, and I see that the Catholic church is now restricting drinking from the communion chalice and asking parishioners to not shake hands.
FAIL
not a "useless" mutation for the virus now is it?
Verandoug is possibly the most idiotic and arrogantly ignorant commentor at Ray's House of bumbling sycophants.
Get this