Clipmarks | Oortcloud's clips

One less religious idiot in the world

Wed, 09 Dec 2009 16:11:15 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud
clipper's remarks: It's good that this nut just killed himself - although he did put his wife through hell. I guess the saddest part is that this moron had internet access and was able to spread his madness to other religious idiots.

Clip Source: www.ksn.com

Believing his faith would heal him, a Greenwood County, South Carolina man sat down in his recliner after an injury in March and never got up.

"The man totally believed in God and his healing," said Ada Webb.

In March, Webb's 550-pound husband, Tillmon, sat down in a recliner inside their trailer in Greenwood. Wearing nothing but a blanket, the 33-year-old didn't move from that recliner for the next eight months.

"He read his Bible daily, he spent his full focus on God," said Webb. "And he was literally waiting and praying for a Job miracle. If anybody knows the Bible and knows Job, he really and fully believed that God was going to heal him just like he did Job, because he said he couldn't think of a better testimony to go out and to tell people."

Greenwood County authorities say they found Tillmon covered with sores, and that he appeared to weigh about 800 pounds. They say he was stuck to his chair, and they had to saw the recliner apart.

He died at the hospital.

An HONEST Headline of water on the moon

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 20:47:55 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud
clipper's remarks: Usually the news like to exaggerate a find and use headlines stating something as a fact when its merely a supposition. Now we know for a FACT. Water is on the moon. That is important in so many ways and knowledge that we can use.

Clip Source: blogs.discovermagazine.com

NASA has found a significant amount of water ice on the Moon!

On October 9, the LCROSS spacecraft watched as a Centaur rocket booster slammed into the south pole of the Moon, hoping to determine if any water ice exists under the lunar surface.

By impacting a spacecraft into the Moon, it can eject the ice where it gets hit by raw sunlight. The water breaks down in to hydrogen and a hydroxyl molecule (OH-), which can be directly detect

The target crater, Cabeus

The Centaur slammed into it at high speed, making a new crater about 20 meters across and splashing debris over an even bigger area. A plume went up and out of the crater, and it was that tower of ejected material that had the telltale signs of water. The infrared spectrometer on LCROSS definitely detected absorption lines from water, and the ultraviolet spectrometer saw it in emission. Not only that, the emission got stronger with time, which clinches the deal! That’s exactly what you expect by a plume containing water.

Wow.

Antivaxxers, methodically putting everyone at risk.

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:02:27 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud

Clip Source: blogs.discovermagazine.com

Hey, antivaxxers! I just wanted to send you guys a quick note of thanks for all the work you do.

For example, that whole thing about getting mumps to resurge due to lower vaccinations rates in the UK? That’s very cool. We all missed mumps so much.

Also, the way you guys dupe parents is simply brilliant!

You’ve been pretty effective getting the word out, especially the way you market yourselves as just trying to be questioning, just trying to get all the facts out. It works! You’ve been able to trick inquisitive, rational people into thinking maybe you’re onto something, when of course we all know you’re using outdated ideas, twisted facts, and sometimes out-and-out lies (which, of course, appeals to people prone to conspiracy thinking anyway). I mean, taking something that almost certainly has nothing to do with vaccinations but making that a meme spreading across the media? Great stuff! And the way you viciously attack people who disagree with you? Fantastic!

The idiocy of claiming non belief is belief

Mon, 26 Oct 2009 16:32:05 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud
clipper's remarks: This is a common argument presented by the two trolls willhelm and darkeforce. In their world up is down, down is up, and after smearing poop on their own face they point at other people and call them shitheads.

It's a world of redefining terms to suit their needs, cherry picking the foundation of their religion (the bible) to shore up their beliefs, and a pathological need to project their own requirements of blind faith on other people.

It's the only way they can level the playing field when they know what irrational nuts they sound like when trying to defend their claims. Their only recourse - an ad hominem false equivalency approach in order to appear equal.

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Christopher Hitchens has been debating a Christian pastor named Douglas Wilson on the subject of whether Christianity has been a force for good in the world.

I just want to comment on one point Wilson throws out.

"It's not a question of whether we have faith, it's what we have faith in," says Wilson. "Christopher has faith in the role of scientific inquiry, rational inquiry. He has faith in that process. Christopher is as much a man of faith as I am."

I so detest that line of argument, that attempt at setting up a false equivalence, reducing all words to equal lies. If the only way you can support your beliefs is by claiming that all ideas, from Scientology and Young Earth Creationism to Ohm's Law and the theory of evolution, are equally matters of faith, then your only line of defense is to endorse ignorance and the pretense that everything we know is stupid. It is contemptible.

FOX pushing the Stoopid

Fri, 23 Oct 2009 17:21:38 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud
clipper's remarks: Will the world end in 2012? No. Will people make complete asses of themselves and some even commit suicide? Definitely.

Maybe the gene pool will at least get a little cleared.

Clip Source: twitpic.com

Personal ad Fail

Thu, 15 Oct 2009 20:25:17 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud

Clip Source: failblog.org

Personal Ad Fail

Vaccinations are not evil.

Fri, 09 Oct 2009 05:41:46 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud

Clip Source: blogs.discovermagazine.com

[Video]

If you think vaccines are an evil conspiracy, are designed to make us sick, are filled with toxins, are a bad thing, then spend 6 minutes and 53 seconds educating yourself.

Because you’re wrong.

Destroying the argument that Einstien was a believer

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 07:05:05 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud
clipper's remarks: I think this puts THAT failed argument to rest.

Clip Source: www.lettersofnote.com

In January of 1954, just a year before his death, Albert Einstein wrote the following letter to philosopher Erik Gutkind after reading his book, 'Choose Life: The Biblical Call to Revolt'. Apparently Einstein had only read the book due to repeated recommendation by their mutual friend Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer. The letter was bought at auction in May 2008, for £170,000. Unsurprisingly, one of the unsuccessful bidders was Richard Dawkins.

The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still purely primitive, legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation no matter how subtle can (for me) change this. ... For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstition.

Asteroid collision threat further downgraded

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 00:15:55 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud
clipper's remarks: Some of you may have heard of the asteroid Apophis that is going to pass very close to the earth in 2029? The estimates were that Earth's gravity would nudge it enough that it would return a few years later and hit the Earth. Further orbital calculations have shown that the odds of this happening are even less likely than once thought.

Clip Source: blogs.discovermagazine.com

Apophis is a 250-meter-wide rock with a special designation: it’s a near-Earth asteroid, meaning it passes close to our planet. In fact, in April of 2029 it will pass so close to the Earth — just under 30,000 kilometers (18,000 miles) — that it will actually get between us and some of our geosynchronous satellites!

Because it will come so close, the Earth’s gravity will change its orbit. There is a region of space called a keyhole (it’s actually kidney-bean shaped) and if Apophis passes through it like an arrow through a bulls-eye, the Earth’s gravity will change the asteroid’s orbit enough that in seven more years, in 2036, Apophis will hit the Earth! The odds of it passing through the keyhole are low; up until recently they’ve been quoted as 1 in 45,000. Not a huge concern, but worth keeping an eye on.

However, new observations have lowered these odds even more, to only 1 in 250,000.

How can you not be amazed?

Fri, 02 Oct 2009 22:50:53 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud
clipper's remarks: The graphics and special effects used to explain massive blackholes here is the best I've seen. SImply amazing.

Clip Source: blogs.discovermagazine.com

[Video]

Man decended from fronkeys!

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:53:15 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud
clipper's remarks: Eh ... not quite.

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Richard Dawkins says we're descended from FROGS!

Not only does that quote look silly to a creationist, it looks ridiculous to a scientist.

So what did Dawkins actually say? Why, that the whole simplistic imaginary chains of descent that creationists invent are wrong.

The silliest of all these "missing link" challenges are the following…"If people came from monkeys via frogs and fish, then why does the fossil record not contain a 'fronkey'?"

If you ever wonder why scientists distrust the media, this is a nice clear example.

Adverse reactions to Cervarix

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:48:30 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Adverse reactions to Cervarix

Anti-Anti-Vaxxer

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 20:41:38 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud
clipper's remarks: Just some facts to help blow away some fluff

Clip Source: antiantivax.flurf.net

AntiAntiVax

The Truth About The Evils Of Vaccination

The information below began as a blog comment at Bad Astronomy, in an effort to address the common myths and misinformation spouted by those who are against vaccines (anti-vaxers), though the information can also be useful for some general vaccine questions that are not necessarily "anti-vax". At the urging of others and with the help of Eric TF Bat, this information now has a permanent home. It is intended as a resource for arguing the primary points made by anti-vaxers and is not offered as medical advice. I strongly encourage you to follow the links in the text and under the Additional Resources section. Finally, please feel free to send me feedback. Enjoy!

MMR
Thimerosal
Squalene
Other Vaccines Additives
Polio
Gardasil
Vaccine Court and the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP)
Vaccines in General
Population X and Vaccines/Autism
Additional Resources

Advice for Atheists

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:26:03 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud

Clip Source: scienceblogs.com

Advice for atheists?

1. Stop being so smug.

Make me.

2. Don't assume every piece of Christian evangelism is directed at you - we want the undecideds, not the decided-uns.

We love tearing up your stupidity in public for that reason.

4. Admit that the scientific method - which by its nature relies on induction rather than deduction (starting with a hypothesis and testing it rather than observing facts and forming a hypothesis) - is as open to abuse as any religious belief, and is neither objective nor infallible.

No. Wrong, wrong, wrong. We are not going to get anywhere if you expect your opponents to simply fall over and accept a bogus mischaracterization of science.

Try to deal with the actual notions of God seriously believed in by millions of people rather than inventing strawmen (or spaghetti monsters)

The sneaky trick the theological wankers pull

we didn't mean those millions of believers. They're stupid. We meant these other millions of believers.

Atheists just

call it all sewage

America leaving the dark age?

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:23:55 GMT

clipped by: Oortcloud
clipper's remarks: It's not scientific, but it does still leave one feeling a bit optimistic.

Clip Source: www.usnews.com

Friday, September 25, 2009

A new survey says a quarter of all Americans will claim to have "no religion" within 20 years. How do you view the boom in Americans without a religious affiliation?

97.74% It's a good thing
1.32% It's a troubling trend
0.94% It doesn't matter