Monthly Archives: November 2006

iTunes Podcast Problem Solved

Posted on November 26, 2006 by arensb

I’d been having an annoying problem in iTunes 7.0.2: although I’d set the podcast preferences to “Keep: Last 5 episodes”, it was still keeping old episodes around, long after they should have been deleted. After rooting around in Apple’s discussion … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellaneous, Things I've Learned | 6 Comments

Hovind Prison Update

Posted on November 26, 2006 by arensb

On Monday, a new post appeared on Kent Hovind’s weblog, describing life in jail. As you might expect, he plays the Christian persecution card. He also has a list of reasons God allowed him to be sent to jail. Oddly … Continue reading →

Posted in Creationism, Miscellaneous | 78 Comments

Pascal’s Condom

Posted on November 20, 2006 by arensb

Consider: Either God exists, or he doesn’t. If God exists, and you have a child, then that child will wind up either in Heaven or in Hell. If God doesn’t exist, then your children won’t go to either. Therefore, if … Continue reading →

Posted in :-), Religion | 2 Comments

The Evolutionary Basis of Religion and Consciousness

Posted on November 19, 2006 by arensb

Daniel Dennett has proposed what he calls the intentional stance, which is basically the way that when we interact with other people or animals (and sometimes things), we act as if there’s a mind there that intends to behave in … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Miscellaneous | Leave a comment

Well, Crap

Posted on November 19, 2006 by arensb

The Baltimore Sun reports that after the vote-counting was completed, right-wing homophobic religious nutjob assclown and reanimated corpse Don Dwyer was reelected to the state legislature by 28 votes. I don’t live in Anne Arundel county, so I couldn’t make … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Those Who Do Not Remember the Dictionary Definition Are Condemned to Mangle It

Posted on November 18, 2006 by arensb

I’ve started hearing the phrase “actionable intelligence” being used as a five-dollar synonym for “useful information”, particularly in the context of the debate on how to rebrand torture to make it seem acceptable. Am I the only one to have … Continue reading →

Posted in Miscellaneous, Politics | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Two Story Ideas

Posted on November 16, 2006 by arensb

Feel free to steal, though if anything comes of it I’d be interested in hearing about it: Neurobiologists investigate the biological causes behind religious ecstasy, and geneticists and developmental biologists identify the genes involved in building this phenomenon and the … Continue reading →

Posted in :-), Miscellaneous | Leave a comment

Churches Dig In, Refuse to Be Dragged Into 20th Century

Posted on November 15, 2006 by arensb

Today’s Washington Post has an article about three Christian groups who’ve come out and taken a courageous stand against equality, tolerance, and understanding: The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops, meeting in Baltimore, declared Tuesday that Catholics who minister to gays must … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Another Refutation of the Ontological Argument

Posted on November 13, 2006 by arensb

Let’s define the Ultimate Plague as the deadliest plague imaginable. You can no doubt imagine some terrible bacterium that can kill the entire population of the earth, humans and animals, in a matter of hours. Now, if two diseases are … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion | Leave a comment

Dinosaur Pr0n!

Posted on November 9, 2006 by arensb

Someone on talk.origins asked how dinosaurs had sex. One of the replies pointed to this Straight Dope column, which mentions a painting by Luis Rey of carnotaurs having sex, which I’ve reproduced here for your enjoyment and edification. (See also … Continue reading →

Posted in :-), Science | 8 Comments