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Bob Dylan says in his interview in the current Rolling Stone magazine that Texas probably has more independent thinkers than any other state. Good for him to say it, and not just because he’s an honorary Texan. It’s a good state, and a big one.
I think it would be so cool to find a 4000 year old T Rex skeleton. Or maybe something even older that dates back to the sixth day of creation!
Speaking of myths, Texas school kids are still taught that 6,000,000 jews were killed in Germany while Hitler was alive.
woody
I woke up and found this article already with over 120 posts. I was going to read through them and got as far as #24. When I read Alfie accusing OTHER people of not being critical thinkers, I threw up in my mouth and gave up.
Yes, Alfie. Cosmology and evolution are “only” theories but theories with huge amounts of observed data backing them up. Theories that make many predictions that can be submitted to testing and be proved true or false. Religion? A group of myths with no testability and no consistency across the religions based on a set of books that may or may not have been scribed by their purported author, have been subjected to translation and reinterpretation for a couple of thousand years and for which we can find no original manuscripts to consult for guidance. Oh, poop. Why bother. Too many posts here. Alfie has probably gone out to play with his pet dinosaur.
It’s always fun to have a punching bag. Texas is big enough to take it. But y’all might want to come visit. You’d set aside your silly prejudices. 25 million people, way more diverse and less prejudiced than you can imagine. Big cities full of smart and productive people. Superb science: Nobel prize winning scientists (such as physicist Steven Weinberg who has contributed mightily in cosmology, or Joe Goldstein and Mike Brown (who discovered the relationship between cholesterol and artery disease).
Yes, the politics can be pretty bizarre, but as long as you recognize it as a lot of hot air (as nearly all politics is), and you take the Texan attitude that you know best yourself and don’t need some politician to tell you (or your kids–don’t discount how smart kids are either) how to think, it all looks pretty absurd. The key is to not let the gummint have too much influence over you. Unfortunately, the nation is taking a turn in the wrong direction on that front. The Texas state board of education gets a lot of attention because their policies set the agendas of textbook manufacturers, being the biggest market. What happens in Texas can influence education in the rest of the country. Still, if what’s being taught in your schools is important to you, get involved. Don’t look to central authorities (whether in Texas or Washington) to devise one size fits all solutions. And if you have kids, talk with them about your beliefs, while cultivating a healthy skepticism if you want them to be life-long learners.
When I took a cosmology course in college 30+ years ago, the age of the universe was quite a bit larger. So now we’ve settled on a younger age. BFD. It’s more interesting to know how the age is determined and what the limitations of the measurements are than what the number is. That’s the way to teach science! Don’t make kids memorize a meaningless number, teach them the principles behind it. Maybe I’m missing something, but I thought that was the point of the amendment described in the video. Make room for the potential for new information that might alter the number rather than setting it in stone for the next decade. But I’m often deaf to these subtle, sneaky agendas. I guess the language opens the door to “doubt” but it sure doesn’t specify 6000 years calculated from a bunch of begats. Chill. Visit. Preferably in the winter when it’s cold where you are. We’re very friendly.
I love the pic of Jesus and the baby dinosaur. I need it poster size. Can anyone help?
Man, I cant wait for Texas to succeed from the union and become a Taliban-like theocracy.
Nimby, you’re arguing with horse shit. Alfred1 thinks the universe was created ~10,000 years ago. Everyone knows that it was created 6000 years ago. He also thinks it revolves around the Sun but 1 Chronicles 16:30 clearly says “He has fixed the earth firm, immovable.”
Alfred1 will burn for his blasphemy. Just a friendly reminder from the real creationists here. We can’t stand those mamby pamby limp wristed pseudo creationists.
#127 – cmon,
I do indeed recognize that Texas is quite diverse. I’ve heard some very good things about Austin. Texas has the greatest amount of wind power in the country. Lots of good exists in Texas.
This, however, is not good for Texas or for the U.S.
I think most of the comments here, Hugh Ripper’s last excepted along with one of mine regarding God’s memo (sorry), are actually about the wackos who think this is a good idea, not at the entire state of Texas.
As for Hugh’s comment about Texas becoming a theocracy, we’re heading that way as a nation. Texas won’t have to secede for that. Check our money. Check our pledge of allegiance. Most of all, check on faith based initiatives, which Obama is continuing to increase.
Then note the sheer number of these stupid anti-science bills around the country. We’re heading for the American Inquisition if we’re not careful. Bring on the Dark Ages. Eleventh century solutions for the twenty-first century. Woo Hoo!!
#130 Thank Cthulhu that I live in a country that’s too diverse, cynical and apathetic to adopt a single religion as ‘The Truth’. God botherers are still well in the minority here, although there is a passive and unthinking understanding of Australia as a Christian country, its just that were generally too arrogant and lazy to bother worshipping God.
Widescreen TVs and football teams are much more tangible things to worship.
#131 I think you’ll find that Hitler, who is generally accepted as not a nice guy, was a Christian.
I stand corrected. It appears that Adolph rejected Christianity.
Ho hum, back under my rock I go…
If Texas does secede they have to give back the space center and the Rangers. They can keep the Cowboys and Mavericks, and whatever that hockey team is. We might want the Spurs, too.
Oh, and the Boy Scout HQ has to move north.
Otherwise, good luck patrolling the Louisiana border.
@And Now for Something Completely Different
Great Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy reference in #66. Maybe Alfie is one of those useless telephone sanitizers. It all makes sense now.
Loved the reasoned and specific responses in #72 regarding the Newly Independent Theocratic nation of Texastan. You should post that everywhere these idiot secessionist post their moronic drivel.
As for educating Alfie the Ignorant, you’d be better off trying to teach an evolved pig to sing. You’d probably get the pig to hum the tune before you’d ever get Alfie to change his un-evolved mind or ever admit his invisible friend isn’t actually in charge of life, the universe and everything.
Keep up the good work!
#134 – Hugh Ripper,
Since we gave up on Godwin’s Law long ago on this thread, I’ll just state that Hitler’s beliefs were rather complex. He stated somewhere along the way that he would be a Catholic ’til the day he died. The Catholic Church still treated him as if he were very definitely still a Catholic in good standing (way to go Vatican).
However, he did have problems with the Jewish influence in the bible and began to write his own bible in which he attempted to expunge the Jewish influence.
http://tinyurl.com/o43zgv
http://tinyurl.com/phx2wk
Whatever else he was though, Hitler was certainly no atheist.
Holy moley this is a long one!
Before Alfie’s insanity hijacked this thread, # 31 Benjamin said, in part:
“Explain how the theory of how the universe was formed contributed to any profitable scientific invention. Seriously, name one.”
Depends on how you define “profitable.” To me, such things as the COBE and WMAP instruments, because of what they were able to tell us about the cosmic microwave background, were _extremely_ profitable — in knowledge.
– – – – –
# 118 Mr. Fusion said:
“The best thing about wing nuts like Alphie, Cow-Patty, and others is that they wake people up to the kind of party the Republicans are.”
“Thanks guys, it looks like the Democrats will be picking up even more seats in 2010.”
Ooh! What a great idea: archive all their posts and scare reasonable people with them! (“See? _This_ is how those crazy Re-Publicans _think_!”)
– – – – –
# 123 B.Dog said:
“Bob Dylan says in his interview in the current Rolling Stone magazine that Texas probably has more independent thinkers than any other state. Good for him to say it, and not just because he’s an honorary Texan. It’s a good state, and a big one.”
Bob is right; Texas probably _does_ have more independent thinkers than most places. I should know; I lived there a long time and I met a lot of them. But, Holy Cannoli! and Jesus on a JuJuBe! there are a lot of assholes, too. A whole, whole lot! For example, in a recent poll, 48% of Texas Re-Publicans said they would be in favor of secession. There are, even today, not a few (way WAY WAY more than a few) who would be just pleased as punch to “keep all those darkies and wetbacks and poor people in general in their place.” (Feel free to substitute your favorite straw men/racial or other slurs.)
In short, I have conflicting feelings about the place. A whole lot of the dearest people on Earth live there, or are from there, but I’m not sure they’re in the majority — just look at who gets on the Board of Education…
#136 – m.c. in l.v.,
As for educating Alfie the Ignorant, you’d be better off trying to teach an evolved pig to sing. You’d probably get the pig to hum the tune before you’d ever get Alfie to change his un-evolved mind or ever admit his invisible friend isn’t actually in charge of life, the universe and everything.
Well, it may not be much … but this singing pig is closer to singing than Alfie is to understanding any branch of science, or even the basic notion of what science is.
http://tinyurl.com/ppbx3w
I hope he checks back on this thread at least once. I’d hate to be talking about him in front of his back … or behind his front. (Behind his back would technically be in front of his face, just to be clear.)
# 137 MS
mmmmm the Hitler bible. I think you can definitely say you have a bad case of megalomania when you start to write your own version of the bible.
He seems to have used Christianity to support his own weird agenda, not unlike some people who post on DU *coughalfred1cough*
Thanks for the links.
#121 – Yeah me and thousands of others…who happen to be real climatologists, physicists, and atmospheric scientists rather than ex-politician gasbags with an agenda.
If the greenies could propose a single solution to anything that didn’t actively harm America, I could at least roll my eyes and play along.
Stupid Texan politicians, wasting time and tax payers money to decide the age of the earth…
#20, Well said. But I’ll reinforce my children education at home, teaching them the fact of evolution and that the science has real proofs about evolution, earth age and, of couse, the non existance of god.
Creatonists, you can keep saying I’ll burn for blablabla, I DON’T CARE!!!
#135
Of the Cowboys, Rangers, Mavericks and Spurs, and as much as it pains me to say this, the Cowboys probably pull in more than the other three combined. A high school women’s lacrosse team pulls in more than the Rangers. Baseball is dying so let the Texans have the Rangers. Therefore, if we had to choose, (much as I hate the Cowboys), the best choices would be the Cowboys, Spurs, Texans and Mavericks in that order. Course that still leaves a bunch great college football teams (which probably also pull in more than the Rangers) and that would be a loss.
All kidding aside, Texas is quite a nice place. But like all states, they have their collection of loons and much like CA, they elect them.
Don’t they understand the Bible was written by J.K. Rowling. Although some contend the Old Testament was written by Jules Verne.
Thomas…Ryan has to sell the Rangers to get them out, and that will make them better.
How much is Texas really like King of the Hill?
just as soon as the Christians start teaching that their god is only a theory and that it’s entirely possible that Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva are actually responsible for all creation, then i will take seriously their claims that they are interested in seeing more than one side of an issue.
until then, they are just pushing one-sided religious dogma in my face.
#146 – grog,
Nice slam dunk you’ve got there!
How about leaving a few copies of The Origin of the Species around in every church. They should want to be aware of that viewpoint as well, right?
#146. That is fantastic! I’m stealing that from you.
Not only is there no right menu posting history but the search function in Firefox 3.0 doesn’t work on this site, so:
Sea Lawyer said above he thought this universe was just one “interation” of a cycle of bang and collapse.
It came to me that “the evidence” is that our universe is accelerating its expansion and will “never” collapse. That being our “best” explanation, the thought occurred to me that “assuming” we aren’t uniquely THE FIRST UNIVERSE EVER that as a matter of probability, or maybe even cause and effect??, the universe takes a bunch of time to expand and expand to the point where it is all just cold and dead matter continuing to expand forever and from any one speck of matter, it would appear to a sophisticated observer that that little speck of matter was the only thing in the universe. Then, somewhere, there is another creation event in the “real” universe, another big bang, and the process is ever CONTINUING–a constantly repeating wave upon wave of creation lost in the immensity of infinity.
I tells ya, its the only thing that makes sense. Either that, or some other theory but I like the boundlessness of mine.
#149 – bobbo,
I did not say that there are no other universes, though there is no evidence to support the hypothesis, as yet. So, until there is, there is no reason to believe in more universes.
What I did say is that this universe will not contract back on itself and thus will not recreate the next one from the stuff of this one.
Reminds me of a Jerry Clowers story about a good old boy that got elected to state office and wanted to move January to the middle of the summer to give folks a break from hot weather and a chance to kill hogs in the middle of the summer.
Some things have already been voted on and people weren’t allowed to vote.
I’m in education, now, and it drives teachers crazy that Texas sets the standards for nationwide textbooks.
But they are big and insanely stubborn, so the publishers give-in to them.
The solution is for a coalition of states, twice as large as Texas, to set their own high standard and be every bit as stubborn as Texas.
The point is, NO ONE knows. Whatever is taught is pretty much guaranteed to be false unless there is a big disclaimer that it is all a guess.