gdp's Comments

You Made Me Say It! : The Typical Indulger

Sat, 14 Aug 2010 21:07:50 +0000

Amusing how the problem lies in ignorance over wtf the word ignorance actually means. Ignorance is merely not knowing about something. All of us are ignorant about some subject. But what you and I -- and many other so-called rationalists -- object to is willful, even proud ignorance: a person's smug refusal to learn. That's what drives "faith." Which is why education in any subject not linked to "spirituality" is discouraged by every major religion on Earth. As the Easterners say: You must empty your mind of all thoughts to find the truth! In Christianese, that translates as: Invite Jesus into your heart.

Baby Boomer Going Like Sixty : Sale Tax Holidays at Whole Foods gives me Earworm

Sun, 8 Aug 2010 04:03:20 +0000

I want to know three things about your trip to Whole Foods: (1) Did they sell any partial items? (2) Was the tax holidy extended to include Entermann's Chocolate Donuts? (3) What potential earworms were being piped throughout the store to help get you in the mood for food shopping?

You Made Me Say It! : The binky: love it, leave it, or customize it

Sat, 7 Aug 2010 19:52:14 +0000

Shit, I hope that some idiots don't respond with a Darwin binky. Actually, if I wanted to put a saying on one of those things, my preference would be: "You suck.."

You Made Me Say It! : Why I'm Not An Atheist

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 22:38:03 +0000

Topic suggestions: * Atheists have no purpose in life * How can atheists possibly be moral? * The worst totalitarian governments have been atheistic.

You Made Me Say It! : More of Momma Chief's Religious Wisdom

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 20:04:22 +0000

For still others, like Momma Chief, it’s as simple as a wave of the hand and a “I don’t believe it.” I've been waving my hand and saying "I don't believe it," ever since I was about five years old. You've been doing that for a long time, too. So perhaps, Momma Chief is well on the road to becoming a de facto atheist. If you could only get her to stop barbecuing chicken on the afternoon of a big game, she'd probably be just like you. God forbid.

You Made Me Say It! : Damn, I'm agreeing with the ADF

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 18:43:54 +0000

All that hate stuff is not for public consumption; it's only for the faithful. Anything tending to show that a specific cult is not a religion of love is dangerous to the authorities. Hence, Howell's dismissal for pointing out that the Pope had no clothes. Most religious leaders refuse to censure, or even criticize, the hateful parts of their traditions. Instead, they try to keep that shit a secret. Howell was the theocratic equivalent of a "whistle-blower." Naturally, he had to go.

You Made Me Say It! : Pick Your Poison

Thu, 8 Jul 2010 18:17:21 +0000

Well, it they're not designed for me, then who are they designed for? I'll take a Bud Lite, thanks. Do you have any Cheez Whiz and Saltines to help wash it down?

You Made Me Say It! : Pick Your Poison

Thu, 8 Jul 2010 16:50:53 +0000

You didn't include the reason guy's corollary: I think everything happens for a reason. - I think you're an adult and don't need to play pretend any more. So you're saying that nothing ever happens for a reason?

Atheist Revolution : What Happened to the History Channel?

Tue, 6 Jul 2010 21:10:04 +0000

I suppose ratings and ad sales trump any sort of educational mission. Yes, the American public doesn't care much for history, or science, or literature, or ... oh, anything that smacks of "intellectual elitism." We're probably the only country in the history of the world in which the majority of the populace has been proud to proclaim its stupidity. But I forget the simple explanation: America is a Christian nation, right?. My recent post In What Way Do These Myths Differ

Atheist Revolution : Upcoming Books on Atheism

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:44:31 +0000

Well, given your criteria, I might well visit Amazon to check out a book that sounded quite good to you. But probably only if it had pictures. Of the supermodels, that is -- definitely not of the old, broke, balding guy. I can see him every day simply by looking in the mirror. My recent post Technology Throughout History 1

Atheist Revolution : Upcoming Books on Atheism

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 17:39:50 +0000

On what evidence do you base your opinion that those books "sound quite good" ?

mister jebs blog : Giving up on getting along.

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 00:55:07 +0000

Just accept that you don't get along with some members -- or maybe even all members -- of your family, and forget about them. Who ever said that you had to be pal-sy just because you've got some genes in common? Hell, human and chimp genomes differ by, at most, 4%. That doesn't mean you have to enjoy sharing Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of apes.

You Made Me Say It! : Real Estate Woes

Mon, 28 Jun 2010 03:55:19 +0000

Well, I guess I'll have to wrap up the house-warming gift. It's brand-new set of fine China. (Um ...OK, it's really plastic, made in China). But hey, it had just a few cracks. Oh, and did I mention that one cup handle is held in place by a wad of chewing gum?

Atheist Revolution : Idiots of the Week: Americans

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 08:17:33 +0000

Malachi: Sorry about the word-limit thing. I was under the impression that we were all engaging in a dialogue here -- and that you were responding to my comment that immediately preceded yours. It was arrogrant of me to think that you would have read others' comments, particularly mine, before writing your own. For making that assumption, I apologize. But perhaps you could define "conciseness." What is "as concise as possible"? Who decides on just the right amount of words needed to say something? In general, I agree with you that wordy sentences are unacceptable. But I don't think sentences are stretched out by politicians because of their laziness. Politicians often use a long stream of words and/or pretentious language to hide the fact that they're essentially saying nothing. That's not lazy; that's foxy and deceitful. But just for our information, could you look again at Obama's Oval Office speech and single out a few sentences in which he wasn't concise? (Use your own definition, of course,) Perhaps you could then supply your own edited versions of those sentences to show how they should have been worded. My recent post Happy Boopday (Or Maybe Not)

Atheist Revolution : Idiots of the Week: Americans

Sun, 20 Jun 2010 02:03:22 +0000

Malachi: So every single thought and idea can be reduced to a simple 25 words or less? You've never come across any concept that's too complex to express in a simple sentence? You'd consign Shakespeare and Dickens and Austen and Faulkner and Thomas Jefferson and the Framers of the Constitution and ... oh, hundreds of great writers to the junk heap, just because your pea-brain is too small to comprehend what they're saying? Is that the position you're taking? My recent post Happy Boopday (Or Maybe Not)

Atheist Revolution : Idiots of the Week: Americans

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 20:40:48 +0000

When I worked for a mid-size newspaper nearly 20 years ago, I was told that that the press should shoot for a reading level of 4th or 5th grade, and that the majority of readers in the country wouldn't stick with a sentence that had more than 25 words. I thought that was bullshit, and so I wrote a humorous column in grade-school primer style, about why I wouldn't be able to use more than 25 words per sentence any more. I received a lot of mail, almost all of it telling me that I should continue to disobey the arbitrary rules. I did, and never heard about them again. On the other hand, I do think that Obama sometimes resorts to sesquipedalianism, excess verbiage, and pedantic bloviation.

You Made Me Say It! : "I don't look like that!"

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:19:38 +0000

I think the touchdown Jesus once again saved everyone. God gave his only son's statue to deliver Mankind from being struck down by lightning. "Forgive me father, for I know not what the fuck you're doing." Actually, if you look at the top photo, and combine the statue with its reflection, it looks like a whirling dervish Jesus with the back flap of his Dr. Denton's unsnapped. I'm sure that must have offended his dad.

You Made Me Say It! : Arguing with the religious and other loons

Sun, 6 Jun 2010 21:10:22 +0000

I think a large part of the self satisfaction for the religious is in the bolstering of their faith. I agree. Perhaps some of our loudest challengers are actually teetering on the brink of doubt. Debating is a way for them to pull themselves back into the fold, if they can work up enough animosity against "secularism."

You Made Me Say It! : Arguing with the religious and other loons

Sun, 6 Jun 2010 20:05:15 +0000

But why do they do it? Probably for exactly the same reasons as you listed: (1) to help atheists get rid of some of their most effective means of sending others to Hell; (2) to demonstrate to onlookers how evil atheists are and how insidious secularism is; and (3) to gain satisfaction by believing they're killing our logic with their faith. Obviously, there are some debates we must have. When theocrats and god-pushing educators try to impose their collective Christian will on everyone, we have to stand up and fight. But here in BlogWorld, when we debate with the religious, we partly do it to gain "props" from other non-theists. Having fought a successful "bout" feeds our egos. There's also a lot to be said for creating an atmosphere of solidarity, for giving other freethinkers a temporary cause around which to rally. We atheists find some level of commonality in rooting for Dawkins, for Hitchens, for Harris, and for one another when we're confronted by ignorance. That's why most of us can't resist "feeding the trolls." But mostly, debating with the moronically smug is great intellectual amusement. Some people enjoy solving equations. Others get a kick out of tinkering with inventions. We atheists, many of us, experience great joy in deflating stupidity. That's why, outside the political arena, overly serious atheists can be as tiresome as the most zealous religious fanatics. They don't seem to be having any fun. On a completely unrelated subject: Is that first photo an old picture of you and your wife having an argument?

Atheist Revolution : I Get E-Mail From a 12 Year-Old

Sat, 5 Jun 2010 18:12:19 +0000

I'll give you just a few points. I'm not going to go into full detail here, because there are a lot. Point 1: The well-organized, point-by-point flow of the writing is unusually sophisticated for a 12-year-old. Most children of that age are far clumsier in their argumentative writing. Point 2: The poetically emphatic reiterations of certain words -- check out, for example, the words "look," "created," and "helps" -- is much more indicative of an adult's writing (or speaking) style than a child's. Point 3: For the most part, the sentence structure is sound. Even in what I believe is a lame attempt to create a run-on effect (the sentence beginning "We have very different views ...), the writer has correctly used conjunctions ("but," "and," "as") to join one idea to the next. That's not the way most kids write run-on sentences. Point 4: The use of "as" in its conjunctional sense of "because" is rather old-fashioned. Point 5: The "if ... then" constructions are a little too neat. In addition, many kids have difficulty distinguishing "then" from "than." Point 6: The final misspelling of "veiw" may be a typo, but if not, it's an artless attempt to make the email look childish. Point 7: The oh-so-innocent parenthetical at the end -- baiting vjack to include this email on his blog -- is awfully clever. It looks to me as if it's a manipulative tool of a knowing writer. No single one of these points is indicative of anything. Even in total (with some other points I didn't mention), they may not conclusively "prove" that the writing wasn't done by a child. But it seems unlikely to me that a 12-year-old chugged out this note. Don't bother responding to say, "Well, when I was 12 ..." or "It sounds like you're making a lot out of a little ..." or any other refutation of these points. The writer might indeed be a very talented Middle Schooler. But I thought it was important to warn vjack that, in my experienced opinion, there were a number of indications that the email was not what it pretended to be.