Why hello there my pretties. So, this is not quite the blog post i’d intended, in fac there are two that I have mentally queued up, but this is one that is current and having an effect.
So what’s going on? Well once again we have the Streisand effect bouncing around on you tube as a young woman unhappy with her Golden Crocoduck nomination decides to DMCA Potholer54. This use of the DMCA constitutes a false DMCA as nothing in Potholers video was used without acknowledging the source (otherwise who could he have nominated her) and it was done as comment and critisism, and also in an attempt to redress the balance of the so far male dominated awards.
Continue reading The Good, The Bad, The Ugly and THE STREISAND EFFECT!
I made this video because in a discussion with some theists in the past, I almost always hear, “If I didn’t believe in God, I would have no reason to be a good person. I would be out raping women and killing babies” or something along those lines.
Personally, I don’t believe anyone who says this. It is obvious that they are just trying to make a point, but it still brings up something that pisses me off and that is this notion that only the religious have any kind of moral compass.
I’m not often jealous of religious people. I mean, yes, they have a faith community that’s sometimes nice, and they have the whole “consolation of the afterlife” thing, but almost all of the time I’m fine accepting the reality with which I’m presented and not having to invent more of it in the form of fanfic. However, one area in which I really do think that religious people have it figured out is that of saints, or specifically patron saints.
A patron saint in a religion like Christianity, and especially in its business wing the Catholic church is a figure who embodies entirely a particular place or a particular virtue, to the point where instead of praying to God about that thing you pray to the saint. I think of them as being God’s cabinet, or maybe his collection of regional vice presidents. A form of heavenly middle management. So, if you’re having a problem getting online, you drop a quick prayer to Saint Isidore, patron saint of the Internet, and… well, let’s be honest, bugger all will happen but you might feel better about the bugger all that’s happening.
Continue reading Hypatia – The Secular Patron Saint of Librarians
This is just a little quick one from me, I know I’m over due a rant for your entertainment and I will cook one up for you, probably over the weekend now. But anyways, this isn’t about that it’s about this handy little quiz that you can do online to work out what your political compass is. And oddly enough…
I was working at the Cornish Maize Maze about a week ago. I got there for a summer job in order to earn myself a little extra money. The person in charge of the daily running of the maze also decides what goes on the radio that plays in the cafe, and because it is a Cornish Maze she plays Pirate FM because it is the local station. So when I’m working nearer to the cafe I have to put up with listening to the radio, which shouldn’t be much of a problem because, as you probably know by now, I’m a great fan of music.
However, after listening to the radio for 6-7 hours each working day, I have realised something. Yes, the radio plays music, but always the same music, by the same artists, in the same genre. If I were to summarise the regular playlist, it would go something like this:
Adele – Rihanna – JLS – Adele – Lady Gaga – Rihanna – Adele – JLS – Lady Gaga – Rihanna
Now that most of the dust has settled over the recent YouTube drama surround HeyRuka, I thought it was time I carefully picked over the wreckage and try to give a more balanced view on things. Failing that, I’d like to stir up trouble again.
It was disappointing as someone who was very keen to have Ruka on the show to see that she’s not the skeptic that we had her down to be. It was doubly disappointing given that we’d planned to have her on our show about morality, as Ruka has found herself at the centre of a racism charge.
For those who haven’t seen her videos, Ruka has made several videos (now deleted) concerning the differences that separate the different human races. Some of this content is her attempts to defend her initial arguments, and doing nothing to make her side seem more acceptable. She has stated that the difference between races is “not skin-deep”, and I agree; any geneticist can tell you that a person’s DNA can shed light upon their ethnicity. But that’s about as good as it gets. Of course, the races aren’t as genetically distinct as to be different species. At the end of the day there’s no denying that we’re all human beings. But what I really want to address here is Ruka’s claim that the black races are genetically predisposed to be less intelligent than the other races.
On September 22, the Republican candidates will meet in Orlando, Florida for the Fox News/Google Debate, and they’ll be answering questions that you ask.
This is a perfect moment to ask your politicians why they deny the science of climate change or why they are so opposed to protecting the environment in general. Submit your question now in video or text and vote on other questions you’d like to hear asked.
Continue reading Make Your Voice Heard During The Fox News Republican Debate
So here I am sat recovering from a very full on weekend…..lots of running around and rolling in the mud and then I pulled a Falchion49, although no where near to the same extent. So I’m checking my subs box on youtube and I come across this video by the absolutly brilliant RationalWarrior, he makes lots of these sorts of…
What about him you might ask. A 7 part documentary made by PBS NOVA called Evolution tries to answer this question in the very last part. Among others famous creationist Ken Ham gets to spout his usual dishonesty and ignorance:
Ham: “So what do you say when they tell you it was millions of years ago? Huh? Were you there?”
This famous tactic has been used by our good friend the Arc builder many times. PZ Myers explains to a little girl why this is a very dishonest question.
The primary topic is of course the teaching of Evolution in school and how people of faith deal with it. You’ll hear students, teachers and parents talk about the subject. We discuss these things regularly via youtube comments and good intentions turn into ridicule sooner rather than later. I think the struggle religious people go through is unimaginable for an atheist from birth like me. It shows how strong religious indoctrination actually is. “Evolution is from Satan himself“, “you’ll die unhappy when you want to proof we came from monkeys” are just some of the (non verbatim) quotes I remember well from this documentary.
I find Glenn Beck one of the looniest persons that ever made it on Fox News. So he doesn’t exactly surprise me with the strange conspiracy theories he touts or the mangling of science. Case in point, the lovely “evolution is just a theory” rant that he had recently: BECK: Darwin’s what is it called again – GRAY: The theory – BECK:…
