Posts by funkyderek

What is so interesting is that this ‘dot matrix face’ and the strip of code next to the radio telescope are remarkably similar to the kinds of coded information we sent out into space on the Voyager spacecraft. Could this be our reply or some strange intergalactic echo?

So these aliens either intercepted one of the Voyager spacecraft just outside our solar system (and examined them and left them on their course) or received one of our (very few) radio broadcasts, decoded the message and created a reply, secretly landed a spaceship next to a radio telescope, and created a fucking crop circle? Why the hell would they do something so stupid? If they wanted to communicate with us, surely they would have used the methods they know we use, and not methods which are routinely used by pranksters. Unless the aliens are practical jokers too, in which it's either a human practical joke or an alien practical joke. My bet is that like every crop pattern ever explained, it's the work of humans.

--
Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire

36

Evolution vs Creation and spontaneous generation

by MrMoe in

jw
friends

please read it all, i know it's a bit long, but you need to read it all to see where i am coming from.

i beleive in creation in the sense that the big bang and spontaneous generation don't make logical sense to me.

i am sure funkyderek and jan will have some fun with me on this one.

funkyderek

And please remember - I respect your beliefs, please respect mine.

I will always respect your right to hold any beliefs. If those beliefs are demonstrably false, I will not respect those beliefs.

Your distinction between micro- and macro-evolution is a red herring. The accumulation of small changes can have huge effects over time, and that's exactly what evolution is about, the accumulation of small changes over time. The apparent similarities in design between different species have been considered strong circumstantial evidence of evolution since the idea was first expounded. It is only since the discovery of DNA in the 1950s that these similarities can be proven to be more than superficial. Humans don't just physically resemble chimpanzees, we share 99% of our DNA with them. The differences are all microevolution. A variation of 0.2% every million years is more than sufficient to account for such variation.

Louis Pasteur facts: He is considered to be the greatest French scientist in history and did not like the theory of evolution because he felt it was "materialistic and atheistic."

Do you see the problem with this line of argument? You seem to be trying to say that if "the greatest French scientist in history" didn't like a theory, that has any bearing on the theory's validity. It's an argument from authority and a poor one, given that Pasteur lived before the discovery of DNA, the backbone of modern evolutionary theory. His apparent reasons for disagreeing are also easily dismissed. He felt it to be "materialistic and atheistic." So he had philosophical or aesthetic reasons for dismissing it, not scientific ones. His mockery shows that he clearly only had a superficial understanding of Darwin's ideas, which is not hard to understand given that they were new ideas and Pasteur worked in a different field.

Someone's already recommended you read The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins. I strongly endorse that recommendation. It's an excellent introduction to a complex subject.

--
Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire

13

Religion makes people smart!

by Kent in

jw
friends

arkansas woman killed in mistaken rapture .

by elroy willis .

arkansas city (eap) -- a little rock woman was killed yesterday after leaping through her moving car's sun roof during an incident best described as a "mistaken rapture" by dozens of eye-witnesses.

funkyderek

Funny but not true: http://www.snopes2.com/religion/rapture.htm

--
Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire

174

get a life -- 10 facts

by joelbear in

jw
friends

i thought it would be interesting for people to just post a few things about themselves so we can get to know each other just a bit.. try posting 10 facts about your life.. joel.

1. i was born and raised in south georgia.. 2. my favorite subject in school was math.. 3. i was in the fulltime service (bethel and pioneer) for 4 years.. 4. my favorite color is blue.. 5. mitch and i have been together over 12 years.. 6. we live in a suburb of atlanta georgia.. 7. we love to eat out and have friends over for dinner and board games.. 8. the only sport i was ever any good at is tennis.. 9. my favorite tv show of all time is the simpsons.. 10. we are both naturists and wish we could lay on the beach naked every day.

funkyderek

OK, here goes:

1. I was born in Wexford, Ireland.
2. I am left-handed.
3. My parents are separated but not divorced (yet).
4. I am a vegetarian.
5. I have one brother and two sisters.
6. I have a tattoo of a spider on my left arm.
7. I have blue eyes.
8. I am an atheist.
9. I am twenty-four years old.
10.I have my tongue pierced.

--
Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire

161

Remote Viewing

by funkyderek in

jw
friends

following on from the anybody else had visions?

thread below ( http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=10144&site=3).

i have offered a prize of 50 american dollars or the equivalent in your currency of choice for whoever can guess (or envision or whatever) the contents of a picture i have chosen.. i will be emailing the picture, in password zip format to [email protected] along with unambiguous details of what qualifies as a correct guess.

funkyderek

I have a hard time with doing tests for sceptics. I have done so in the past and some people are just not READY to beleive that such things exhist and no amount of proof can change that.

Actually, any amount of proof could change my mind. Just one teensy little bit of real proof. Doing tests for anyone other than sceptics is a waste of time, as they're likely to be more easily convinced.

--
Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire

45

What should we name the baby?

by Eyebrow in

jw
friends

i am due in the middle of october and my husband and i cannot come up with a name.

i almost had him sold on venus, until he asked people at work what they thought and he got wierd looks.

i wanted to name the last baby sidney, but let him name her because he has never gotten a chance to name a kid before.

funkyderek

Derek for a boy,

Derekella for a girl

Or try here: http://www.babynames.com/

--
Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire

17

Does Science Prove The Existence of God?

by AngelofMuZiC in

jw
friends

first, i would like to say...... hooray for me>>>>this is my 100th post.

should i get a cake?

(hehe i know i'm corny) i plan to keep on posting, cuz i love mostly everyone here, and i have fun.. here's the real question....does science and all of these evolution theories actually prove the existence of a designer...god?

funkyderek

Derek....you don't think that the delicate balance, that has evolved on this planet, has evolved because it was designed to do this?

No, I think life evolved according to the environment. The proportion of gases in the atmosphere is as a result of life existing on earth, not a precondition of it.

And as to the eight other planets, there has been no indisputable proof that life exists anywhere else in this solar system

I think you misunderstood me. My point was that these other planets don't have life on them. Why not? Because they're in the wrong place. It's a lot less impressive that there's one planet in the habitable zone when there are eight that are not. Essentially, it cuts the odds. When you realise that there are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy (one of hundreds of billions of galaxies), many of which may have planets orbiting them the odds that at least one will be in a suitable place for life to evolve must actually be fairly high, even if you are extremely skeptical.

No criticism, just another angle to view things from

Always welcome

It really is interesting to speculate about. And what's really funny...is that most explantions could fit the bill hypothetically speaking.

Very true. Most things are possible, but relatively few are plausible. Occam's razor, the principle of parsimony, is invaluable for cutting through the bullshit.

--
Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire

17

Does Science Prove The Existence of God?

by AngelofMuZiC in

jw
friends

first, i would like to say...... hooray for me>>>>this is my 100th post.

should i get a cake?

(hehe i know i'm corny) i plan to keep on posting, cuz i love mostly everyone here, and i have fun.. here's the real question....does science and all of these evolution theories actually prove the existence of a designer...god?

funkyderek

If that delicate balance was slightly off, life as we know it would not be able to exist on this planet.

But life has evolved on this planet and caused that delicate balance. It's not such an amazing coincidence when you consider that there are eight other planets in our solar system, which vary from being slightly off to being completely inhospitable for life.
Basically, if the universe is big enough, anything that can happen will happen. The fact that we're here to observe it just means that in all of time and space, in whatever number of dimensions exist, the conditions for complex life happened at least once. God seems rather small and unnecessary.

--
Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire

161

Remote Viewing

by funkyderek in

jw
friends

following on from the anybody else had visions?

thread below ( http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.asp?id=10144&site=3).

i have offered a prize of 50 american dollars or the equivalent in your currency of choice for whoever can guess (or envision or whatever) the contents of a picture i have chosen.. i will be emailing the picture, in password zip format to [email protected] along with unambiguous details of what qualifies as a correct guess.

funkyderek

OK, here's the picture:

And here's the conditions I set on winning so there could be no arguments:

$10 for a picture of a Volkswagen beetle

$10 for the number 53

$10 for a car (any car) driving through water

$10 for a woman standing to the left of two men with her arm raised and something in it

$50 for all four above components

Nobody won, proving once and for all that remote viewing doesn't work.

--
Those who can induce you to believe absurdities can induce you to commit attrocities - Voltaire