On a completely different topic, per your interest in time travel/parallel worlds, you might enjoy this if you haven't seen it:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=qU1fixMAObI

I asked my seven year old, around dimension 6 or 7, if he was following. "No, not really." There goes the scholarship to MIT!

posted by makifat at 10:26 am (EST) on Feb 25, 2008

Well, I for one appreciated your review. Having not read the book (and not intending to, bless you!), I don't know how accurate the other reviews are either, but I suspect that some may be seeing things throught their own ideological lenses. I believe that one reviewer taunts Dawkins for ignoring some sort of evidence or other. As an agnostic/atheist, I would be interested in knowing what "evidence" the other side has mustered, beyond purely subjective phenomena bearing little relevance regarding the existence of a deity.

I applaud your taking the time to read this book. Educated atheists might often avoid something like this as being akin to "scientific" accounts of the Flood or theories of creationism. And then the religious shout "bias!" because one is discounting the alternative viewpoint out of hand. But I feel, in this instance, it is worthwhile to read the other side.

If you care to know, I spent a very large part of my life examining different religious traditions, sometimes as a quasi-insider. I didn't come from an atheistic background, but neither did I come from a strong faith background. Despite what passions and beauties there are in religious mythologies, they are at base just that - mythologies. I really don't care which mythology one wishes to endorse, but the reason many (in the U.S.) fear religion, is that there is a good size number of people who wish to legislate religious beliefs into public policy. And, to utilize the reasoning that the NRA likes to follow, from there it's just a downhill slide to "The Handmaid's Tale."

Anyway, thanks for indulging me. I used to belong to Happy Heathens, but pulled myself out of talk groups because I thought it would cut down my temptation to post just any old inanity just to hear myself talk. I think I will reregister again, this time as a "lurker".

I could have just as easily posted this on the thread, but it's a lovely day in Arizona, and I'm not in the mood to have the same old argument again. So, lucky you.

Cheers!

posted by makifat at 10:17 am (EST) on Feb 25, 2008

Thanks for the contribution to the Dawkins Delusion thread. I'm glad you have the patience to read through that stuff. I'll check out your review.

posted by makifat at 11:17 am (EST) on Feb 24, 2008

Concerning TGD's "Kill This Thread" -- well done, Darrow!

posted by buchleser at 10:11 am (EST) on Oct 9, 2007

As regards that crystal thread in GD, at least it's in a fantasy thread!

I think cutting & running was the right move.

posted by littlegeek at 2:51 pm (EST) on Jul 12, 2007

No I didn’t see that movie. Not being married typically prevents me from seeing too many chick flicks. ;-)

I think the only movies of hers I’ve seen (or at least movies where she’s not a cartoon) are “Finding Neverland” (fantastic movie all the way around!), “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, and (speaking of chick flicks), “Titanic”. I have been meaning to see “Quills” though, as I’ve heard good things about it, and she looks simply lovely in the movie’s photos. Have you seen it?

posted by dodger at 2:50 am (EST) on Jul 11, 2007

Did you happen to see the episode of Ricky Gervais' Extras featuring Kate Winslet?

posted by dodger at 2:55 pm (EST) on Jul 4, 2007

Hi John,

Thanks, I thought it was a fine idea, too. ;-) I am more than surprised that we haven’t seen more “trolls”! I tried to be very specific in my group description that it was not the sort of place for such insolence. I spend more time in the heathens group than I do anywhere else on the Internet (maybe even more than I spend in any “actual” place). I live in what can only be described as the Evangelical/Fundamentalist Capital of the US (maybe even the world!), so I find it to be a nice release. As you say, all of the members give us lots to consider.

Anyway, it’s good to hear from you, and I always enjoy your posts.

Take care,

Ryan

posted by dodger at 2:43 am (EST) on May 8, 2007

Hi darrow,

Just wanted to say thanks for the topics in Happy Heathens. Man, people have jumped on those! Perhaps it’s not in spite of, but because of the typo? ;-)

I started the group almost a year ago (hmmm, perhaps we'll have a party for it) and at first we were in the most active list, but it just died for quite a while. But thanks to your topics, we’ve been back on the list consistently now. I love it, save for it’s hard to find the time to read 20+ posts everyday. Still, I’ll take that over the dead boards any day.

Cheers,

Ryan

posted by dodger at 2:14 am (EST) on Apr 14, 2007

Nice piccie!
:o)

posted by clamairy at 8:16 pm (EST) on Apr 7, 2007

I told you things were heating up in Happy Heathens!
WOW!

posted by clamairy at 8:20 am (EST) on Mar 24, 2007