Troglodytes at Play
jfiore | August 31, 2007It's amazing the things you trip over while cruising the 'net. Consider this site. There's some fun stuff here, some good stuff here, and some downright crazy stuff here. For example, go to this page. You'll find the following passage:
What are angels ? According to the Bible they are Gods messengers of light. But what are they really ?
If you look up the words angles and angels you will see they connect to one another. Light comes down to the earth on an angle because of the gravitational pull of celestial bodies it passes.
These angles of light are photons which scientifically are…
jfiore | August 9, 2007A 53 year old Colorado priest faces indecent exposure charges for jogging naked at a local track according to the AP. The priest, Robert Whipkey, claims that he sweats profusely while running, and as he was running in the very early morning prior to sunrise, he didn't think anyone would be around to notice.
Why does this sound like an old Monty Python skit? I can just see Terry Jones wearing nothing but the collar and shoes running away from a Bobby (Graham Chapman or John Cleese) who surprises him with a "What's all this then?"
jfiore | August 3, 2007It's short, but mildly amusing in a dumb, almost pitiful sort of way. Behe tries to come off as a serious scientist but he may as well just put a cracker box over his head and drool conspicuously.
jfiore | July 2, 2007An earlier installment noted the large sums of cashola being used in the construction of what can nominally be described as Multimedia Entertainment Venues for Christ (MEVCs). The Gardendale First Baptist Church in Alabama dropped $110,000 for a Yamaha digital mixing console for example, let alone all of the goodies that go along with it. Seems like a lot of money that might be better used more directly in their community. But these guys are small time.
This month's issue of Pro Audio Review features a cover article on Houston's Lakewood Church. We're talking amphitheater with all the…
jfiore | June 14, 2007Yesterday, I mentioned the Fast Food Friends program at Gardendale First Baptist Church in Alabama. Here is how they describe it on their website:
It is a creative way to show people in our community the love of Christ. You ask how does it work? The next time that you go to your local fast food resturant (sic) drive thru, tell the cashier that you would like to pay the bill for the car behind you. Simply pay their bill and leave a fast food friends card for the cashier to give to them. Next, you drive off praying that God will use that act of kindness to bless the recipient of your…
jfiore | May 23, 2007I caught a portion of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing regarding the California CO2 Waiver on CSPAN last night. You can read Senator Boxer's (majority) opening comments here and Senator Inhofe's (minority) opening comments here.
It's bad enough when Inhofe says things like this:
"When it comes to the issue of whether climate fluctuations are natural or caused by man, you all know my view that the cycles we are now experiencing - and have experienced for thousands and even millions of years - are natural."
but then he compounds it with this:
"...over the last…
jfiore | May 15, 2007So by now you've probably heard that Jerry Falwell has died. What I'm going to be looking for over the next couple of days is what others are going to be saying, and what that says about them. Let's start with Senator McCain:
"Dr. Falwell was a man of distinguished accomplishment who devoted his life to serving his faith and country."
"Distinguished accomplishment"? Sure, if you consider being supremely talented as bigoted demagogue an accomplishment. As far as his service is concerned, I'd estimate that it was mostly of the self-serving variety. It certainly wasn't for anyone who disagreed…
jfiore | April 24, 2007As noted in an earlier entry, Richard Dawkins was on the BO'R show last night. There's some discussion of it by fellow sciblings here and here. I didn't expect much and thus I wasn't disappointed.
There is one item though that I would like to address and that's the line often used by the hyper-religious and duly repeated by BO'R regarding the worst butchers of the 20th century (Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot) being atheists. Dawkins started to address the issue by noting that Hitler was Christian but this line was squashed in short order. Certainly one could go on about Hitler's use of symbols…
jfiore | April 20, 2007OK, we've seen the overtly religious blame atheists and "evolutionists" for much of the evil in the world such as the recent tragedy in Virginia, but did you know that if you don't mention the glory of JC specifically when bad things happen, you're a bad person? Check out this dreck. Here's a taste:
"Our Lord, Jesus, was not mentioned one time in that convocation," Benham asserts. "I think ... every parent who has a child that's going to school at Virginia Tech needs to know that the name of Jesus is not going to be mentioned, even though He is the resurrection and the life and that no one…
bushwells | April 5, 2007Dear Mr. Luskin:
In the interest of full disclosure, I have not fully engaged in the uproarious brouhaha surrounding Michael Egnor, and have been relatively silent here at the Refuge because I have concentrated on, well, my daily life in science rather than the blog. I'm one of those scientists who buries herself at the bench, or more accurately these days, herds the scientists under my managerial umbrella to do their jobs instead of flinging scat with the likes of the Discovery Institute. I'll leave that to Kevin who can handle that task most adroitly. I will also note that with regard…
bushwells | April 2, 2007For your perusal: Christian warriors fighting immodesty one guilt-inducing erection at a time
The Feministe blog adroitly unzips, strips, and de-wingtips the Modest Survey from the "Rebelution," a Christian teenage rebellion against low expectations. The take home message of the survey is that women are expected to protect their brothers in Christ by wearing modest clothing. Although not quite venturing into burkhaville or the depeche mode of The Handmaid's Tale, it's great to know that women are still considered wicked temptresses and that men will easily "fall" because of "unguarded…
jfiore | December 29, 2006After watching doc's Friday flower porn (below), I saw a link to this. When it finished, I saw a link to this. And that led me to this.
Yes, that's Kent Hovind explaining that the Big Bang is a Big Dud, and he isn't being self-referential. Here's a link to the first part of the six part series. After all, you might as well start the insanity at the beginning.
bushwells | September 4, 2006Holy moly.
A pant-hoot and a vigorous grooming session go to Frink Tank for unearthing this pile of Christmongering termites.
jfiore | September 4, 2006Suppose you want to raise a little money for a charitable organization. Suppose you do it by spoofing the premise of a comedic Hollywood movie, having yourself be the butt of the joke. Finally, suppose that you live in the so-called moral heartland of America, say Iowa. What could possibly go wrong?
It seems that Manning, Iowa superintendent Roger Schmiedeskamp had no idea just how dumb and humorless some folks can be. Schmiedeskamp, along with other men of the community, posed for a 2007 calendar which will be sold to raise money for the Rotary Club. The twist is that the calendar features…