Yoo's Comments

Stochastic Scribbles : 137

Sat, 23 Oct 2010 04:02:30 +0000

For those who are interested in hydrogen spectral lines, I created the images here through an applet available at http://astro.u-strasbg.fr/~koppen/discharge/

Deep Thoughts : A small clarification on gay clergy

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 06:28:36 +0000

Gay priests: no problem. Gay priests who condemn the gay: a bit more like evil, although more like sad ...

Stochastic Scribbles : Guns versus bombs

Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:50:55 +0000

I couldn't agree more ...

Stochastic Scribbles : Massive ordnance penetrator

Thu, 7 Jan 2010 00:37:10 +0000

Crud, you're absolutely right. Converting it to "kilo-pounds" or "kilo-kilograms", I somehow only perceived the "kilo-" part and totally forgot that "kilogram" is not "ton". Mea culpa. (Tries to find a hole to hide in for a while.)

Stochastic Scribbles : Global map of Mercury

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 00:30:50 +0000

Can you please tell me what it is? Pretty please? ;) (Asking around on Universe Today, it turns out to be a lighting artifact. I'm surprised that there were uniformly no bright images to fill in the dark areas.)

Sean the Blogonaut : Extremism is uglyâ¦ but not quite as ugly as Bryan Pattersonâs jumbled thoughts on Athei

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:16:52 +0000

Reading Patterson's introduction, one would think that the problem is special privileges being granted to religions. Then he goes on complaining about atheists complaining about special privileges being granted to religions, and he's not even trying to be accurate. :/

Stochastic Scribbles : Can't have everything

Thu, 29 Oct 2009 08:35:53 +0000

Well, there is another saying: Hope springs eternal. ;)

Stochastic Scribbles : Can't have everything

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 23:52:57 +0000

Glad you liked it. :)

Stochastic Scribbles : Guns and illegal immigrants

Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:02:55 +0000

This brings to mind the hefty number of people on the government payroll who are required to carry guns. :p (OK, so soldiers aren't leeching from the government, but neither is it so clearcut that illegal immigrants are leeching: it could be argued the rest of the country is leeching off of them by paying them below-average wages, and they are almost certainly not on the government payroll.)

Stochastic Scribbles : Guns and illegal immigrants

Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:15:20 +0000

Doing a background check means having at least some gun control, and not shipping any guns is an even stricter control on guns, so obviously such solutions won't satisfy someone who hates any form of gun control. And tying the payment of taxes with gun purchases pretty much has little to do with illegal immigrants, many of whom pay both income tax and sales tax. (Do illegal immigrants often request a refund for the income tax withheld from their paychecks? I somehow doubt that, but then I don't really know how they manage their taxes ...) Obviously, I don't expect anyone's head to explode if they accept a reasonable level of gun control or are not so vehement about illegal immigrants. :p

Stochastic Scribbles : Have you seen a UFO?

Mon, 5 Oct 2009 05:30:57 +0000

This post is not a solicitation for UFO encounter stories. Anyone who does so, especially when they are identifying what they claim to be an unidentified flying object, either has not read the post or is entirely missing the point. Henceforth, any comments with such stories will be summarily deleted.

Stochastic Scribbles : Have you seen a UFO?

Mon, 5 Oct 2009 05:30:02 +0000

This is a depressingly vague claim, so you'll have to excuse me for not believing that what you saw was a "starship" or even if you actually saw anything at all. Besides, how can it be an unidentified flying object if you think you've identified it?

Stochastic Scribbles : MESSENGER's imperfect flyby

Sat, 3 Oct 2009 07:56:36 +0000

It has a highly reflective sunshade which allows the spacecraft to operate at room temperature (of the surface of the Earth, obviously, not the 350 degrees Celsius or 650 degrees Fahrenheit of Mercury ;). Not to mention good insulation and radiators. Although now that I think about it, the spacecraft going into safe mode ten minutes after going into Mercury's shadow makes me wonder if something went wrong because it cooled too rapidly ...

Atheist Revolution : The Party of Selfishness: Republican Opposition to Health Care Reform

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:11:42 +0000

I look at what has been done in countries than the United States, and they're pretty convincing evidence that leaving things entirely to the private sector is a total disaster for health insurance. (Whether the actual insurance is handled by private companies or the government, the evidence indicates that a government has to be a lot more involved to reduce costs for similar healthcare outcomes.) Or maybe it's just evidence that state governments in the United States are so incompetent that they should just be abolished ... (I don't think so, but I don't know why else it seems to fail miserably with US state governments when national governments other than the US seem to be doing a lot better.)

Atheist Revolution : The Party of Selfishness: Republican Opposition to Health Care Reform

Sun, 13 Sep 2009 04:03:15 +0000

It's not any inherent desire for more government. It's the complete breakage by the private sector, cost-wise and quality-wise, coupled with the much better track record of other countries that don't leave everything to the private sector, that makes it look more attractive. Contrary to the capitalist mantra, "the free market is always better", the health insurance industry in the United States seems very inefficient. It might be arguable whether private health insurance in the United States gives better healthcare than the national healthcare in other countries, but only someone deluded would think that it is far more than twice better than what a pure cost comparison would suggest. On second thought, I take it back. Private health insurance in the United States is very efficient: efficient in collecting premiums and denying claims, that is.

Atheist Revolution : The Party of Selfishness: Republican Opposition to Health Care Reform

Thu, 10 Sep 2009 12:07:17 +0000

I wonder if I'm way off base to think that is not at all unlikely that the person in question receives healthcare subsidized by tax dollars. Not to mention that the whole point of health insurance is that a group of people pay for the healthcare of someone else ...

Stochastic Scribbles : It's all the creationists' fault

Wed, 9 Sep 2009 00:41:41 +0000

I might be lucky in more ways than one. If I hadn't become an atheist, then there is the small chance that I would have become a blind follower of a holy text, since there is not really much else supporting religions. And considering the horrible "morality" that many holy texts prescribe ...

Stochastic Scribbles : It's all the creationists' fault

Wed, 2 Sep 2009 03:01:45 +0000

I won't speak for makarios, but you didn't miss anything that I didn't.

Stochastic Scribbles : It's all the creationists' fault

Sat, 22 Aug 2009 07:18:24 +0000

It's too bad that you think that way. I do wish you a good life, though.

Deep Thoughts : Millions of tax dollars go to Catholic Charities

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:54:10 +0000

No, you won't, because all you pray for is yourself. :/

Yoo's Comments

Stochastic Scribbles : 137

Deep Thoughts : A small clarification on gay clergy

Stochastic Scribbles : Guns versus bombs

Stochastic Scribbles : Massive ordnance penetrator

Stochastic Scribbles : Global map of Mercury

Sean the Blogonaut : Extremism is uglyâ¦ but not quite as ugly as Bryan Pattersonâs jumbled thoughts on Athei

Stochastic Scribbles : Can't have everything

Stochastic Scribbles : Can't have everything

Stochastic Scribbles : Guns and illegal immigrants

Stochastic Scribbles : Guns and illegal immigrants

Stochastic Scribbles : Have you seen a UFO?

Stochastic Scribbles : Have you seen a UFO?

Stochastic Scribbles : MESSENGER's imperfect flyby

Atheist Revolution : The Party of Selfishness: Republican Opposition to Health Care Reform

Atheist Revolution : The Party of Selfishness: Republican Opposition to Health Care Reform

Atheist Revolution : The Party of Selfishness: Republican Opposition to Health Care Reform

Stochastic Scribbles : It's all the creationists' fault

Stochastic Scribbles : It's all the creationists' fault

Stochastic Scribbles : It's all the creationists' fault

Deep Thoughts : Millions of tax dollars go to Catholic Charities

Sean the Blogonaut : Extremism is uglyâ¦ but not quite as ugly as Bryan Pattersonâs jumbled thoughts on Athei