[youtube]JVRsWAjvQSg[/youtube]
This is a very interesting discussion on the subject of Intelligent Design by Brown University’s Kenneth Miller. It’s just under two hours long, and if you have the time I highly recommend watching it. There is even a mention of Pastafarianism at around 90 minutes.
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An elaborate spoof on Intelligent Design, The Gospel of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is neither too elaborate nor too spoofy to succeed in nailing the fallacies of ID. It's even wackier than Jonathan Swift's suggestion that the Irish eat their children as a way to keep them from being a burden, and it may offend just as many people, but Henderson, described elsewhere as a 25-year-old "out-of-work physics major," puts satire to the same serious use that Swift did. Oh, yes, it is very funny. -- Scientific American
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Sorry about the accidental double-post.
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Maybe we should make a textbook for the origin of life based on magic, send it to any schools planning on teaching IDiocy, there was at least one wiccan here a while ago…
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Storm Petrel – I think Jingles is Wiccan – not seen him around lately. Probably got a lot on at Uni (hahahahahaha – yeah, sure!)
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Magic is cool. Can explain anything, like a god. Wonder why anyone still believe in science or even truth. It is the hardest thing to prove!
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Hi Alchemist :)
“I think Jingles is Wiccan”
Jingles is a Wiccan? Never knew that. A Wiccan nanotechnologist! Cool :))
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@Avantar of reason
The words ‘pot’ and ‘kettle’ spring to mind when I read your hypothetical exchange between IDiots and sourceror-teachers. I like your post.
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@ Nikkiee – pretty sure he is – unless he was taking the piss – not unusual with your lot :))
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@Alchemist
“unless he was taking the piss – not unusual with your lot :))”
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National sport :))
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Just came across this article re Creationism and Canadian schools (already posted on group site). Don’t really know how much there is behind it yet.
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Creationism debate continues to evolve (Toronto Star)
Intelligent design creeping into Canadian schools, academic warns
http://www.thestar.com/Life/article/198318
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@ Avatar of Reason – Thank you for the summary! I appreciate it…and I loved your commentary on Wiccan vs. Fundie. Brilliant!
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Um… wiccan? I’m a hippy, but a secularist one… maybe you are thinking of Saucywench, I know she is ex-christian, then went to UU then I think she went wiccan.
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And alchemist… you have no idea how much I have had on… between the advanced calculus, electromag, radiation physics, analytical chem, physical chem, the committee of the physical sciences social entertainment division (PHYSSED) and work, I have struggled to fit in the quiz night, pubcrawl, beachbash, movie nights, poker nights and occasionally pestering you lot (note; struggled, not failed :p).
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Thank FSM for study break is all I can say… 2 weeks to study (*cough**cough*) for my midsemesters…
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ahhh crap… italic… does this fix it or this ? Maybe or .
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Hope this works…
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hmmm
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sorry for the post fest… :P
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@ Jingles – Good luck with the italics thing! I think it was DPG who had real trouble with the bold text a week or so ago. Wow, your list of studies makes my head hurt just thinking about it! And this from a wench that did well in school and at almost 37 is going back to get another degree and then a Masters! But wow not in stuff as difficult as what you are doing…good luck on the midsemesters!
Yes I am rather tipsy at this point! :)
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Cheers Rowdy, and there is nothing wrong with being tipsy. It keps you young (it must, all us students do it).
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Now to test the italic cures. I know one of the following worked above, but I cannot remember which…
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/i in triangle brackets
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i/
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\i
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i\
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Testing…
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No, let’s try cutting and pasting…
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or this
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Arggh!
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jingles – you’re probably right – I remember a conversation about “headology” before xmas – thought it was you – see if /em works
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nope – abandon thread!
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My post was not intended to be offensive to members of the Wiccan faith. I was only discussing Miller’s idea of magic/witchcraft based theories of the origin of human life. Sorry if I accidentally offended anyone!
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The italics curse has hit the entire thread! It’s very strange, and not altogether pleasant!
@ Avatar of Reason – you certainly didn’t offend me! I’ve known a couple of Wiccans and they are entertaining, decent people who seemed difficult to offend…no worries best I can tell!
@ Jingles – Thanks and I’m glad there’s nothing wrong with being tipsy because I am again and dang it if my keyboard has quit cooperating with me tonight! :)
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One of my best friends is wiccan, and knowing her, given half the chance she’d go to a school in person with a magic theory of the origins of life
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@Jingles Apr 3rd, 2007 at 10:16 pm
“Thank FSM for study break is all I can say… 2 weeks to study (*cough**cough*) for my midsemesters…”
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Hi Jingles :)
I really do feel for you…I know how it is.
However I’ve just pulled out of my uni commitments for the semester to take up an offer to put some of what I’ve learnt (hopefully!) into practice for the next few months. Still haven’t quite eliminated the feeling of study pressure yet! It’s only been a few days since I decided. After seven years tough this new found freedom feels weird :))
Good luck with your mid semesters. If your posts are anything to go by, I reckon you’ll cruise through them. :)))
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@Nikkiee
Cheers, I hope so too… yet, at the same time, I am defeated by a blasted italic font.
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Die font, die!!!!
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Argghhh!
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I will defeat you whatever it takes.
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Score! I found the secret! For future reference, to close italics it’s /i in triangle brackets, spammed multiple times.
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Because every time you write it incorrectly, (ie i/ or i\ etc, it opens a new italic thingumajig, so you have to close each one.
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I feel special! :)
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Brilliant Jingles! Brilliant :))
So many have tried and failed previously. That does make you special.
RAmen
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Hahaha! Maybe it is a sign from the FSM that your exams will go well :)
On my ‘puter at home it was in bold too, but not on this one at work – I wonder why?
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@Jingles
Let me try if I can do this
gone yet?
gone yet?
gone yet?
gone yet?
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@jingles,
I follow your reasoning, but alas it doesn’t work for me. Was your recipe supposed to fix threads that had been mucked up (like this one) or was it only a precaution to ensure future ones are not messed up due to typos? I would still find the latter of some use btw, so thanks in either case.
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@DPG
Hello…slightly messy wabbit here…honestly…you’ve got to admit…Jingles is a pretty righteous animal…and frankly you’re a pretty righteous animal yourself…hell…we’re all righteous animals…
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Hellooooo!!!! *insert wabbit echo*….this bites!!!…just when I’m in the mood to chat no one is here….HELLOOOOO!!!!….shouting doesn’t help….HELLOOOOOOO!!!!…
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@Wench Thumper
Jingles is great. I rather liked Jingles recent post on the book discussion thread to the student.
And how are you doing yourself as a wench lately, Thumpy?
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Uh, Thumper, doing the fundie impersonation with capitalisation and exclamation marks is unlikely to get the wench talk going that you were looking for recently.
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@DPG
I’m rather well…in the future it’s neally midnight on Thursday of a long weekend…typing is tough at present…twas an excellent post by Jingles on Book Discussion and I must say yours was pretty fine as well…have always considered ole Jingles a “good egg”…how’s tricks DPG what are you going to do once you get that PHd???…use it for good or evil???
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tHAT’S pHd…or is it PhD…*insert confused wabbit…*
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@Thumper
I got my PhD some years ago and since then I’ve been studying FeCr alloys with a possible eye towards applications in fusion energy reactors, But that ’s still decades off, if it will ever work at all. See website for more detail (althouh boring to most probably). So mostly good purposes I guess.
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Lately I’ve been shifting gears though. Jingles, Navigator Spider, Nikkiee and a few others on board the pirate fleet science vessel have been secretly working on mind control. We’re developing a secret weapon that will make people crave for pasta all day. We’re going to deploy it against the evil rice eaters of this world soon.
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@DPG
“Uh, Thumper, doing the fundie impersonation with capitalisation and exclamation marks is unlikely to get the wench talk going that you were looking for recently.”…hahaha!!!…I’ve always been a misunderstood wabbit Pete…Fundie talk???…jesus will punish you for being that mean to the wabbit…
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@Dr DPG
“fusion energy reactors, But that ’s still decades off, if it will ever work at all.”…are we talking “cold fusion”….”laboratory sun”…I’m a science dumb ass but I was under the impression that containment was the problem…years ago there was report that scientists in the UK managed containment within magnetic fields???…did I totally misunderstand the 7.00pm news???
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@Dr DPG…I hope you haven’t gone anywhere…FeCr???…a “fellowship”???…of what???
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No it’s not cold fusion. That canard has died a couple of times because results that reported it could not be reproduced by others. It may come back some day and work, but not for now.
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So it would be a labratory sun. And as you say, strong magnetic fields are used to contain a super-hot plasma in a toroidal ring. If you’re interested, look up ‘Lorentz force’ in e. g. wikipedia. Charged particles will make a circular motion in a magnetic field. The stronger the field, the smaller the radius of the circle. That is actually a gross simplification, but it helps to understand the principle. So a magnetic field can be used to contain a plasma, because plasma if made up of all charged particles and in a strong magnetic field they can’t run away. They can run as many circles as they like, but they’ll remain confined to the same limited volume.
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@Thumper
‘fellow’ is just a scientific grade in the UK. It’s a fancy way of saying that I didn’t get a permanent job, but a fixed-term postdoc contract intead.
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Oh, and FeCr is iron-chromium, an alloy that is reasonably well-resistant to radiation damage. Good thing too, because components of a fusion reactor will suffer horrendous doses of radiation damage.
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@Dr DPG
Can you dumb it down…as I understand it a laser can produce the fusion effect of the sun but for a split second…(hydrogen to helium???)…bear with me…the magnetic feild allowed the “sun” to remain longer then a split second…is this totally off the mark???…again dumb it down…
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@Dr DPG…how the fuck can someone with a PhD in nuclear physics have trouble finding employment???…honestly…all I know how to do is draw up a divorce and perhaps speak enough shit to wrangle another couple of $1,000 out of the former spouse…our society has some pretty fucked up priorities…
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You’re doing well. A laser can heat some hydrogen to such a temperature that it will fuse into helium, just like in the sun. You’re fully correct there. But without a magnetic field, the energy that the fusion process will produce, will blow the other hydrogen fuel apart into a diluted cloud. It needs to remain concentrated for the fusion process to continue. The picture is about the same as when you’d throw a hand grenade into a wood fire. The wood would scatter and the fire would die. So the plasma is placed in a magnetic field. In that (see Lorentz forces bit earlier), the particles will make circular motions and therefore not ‘run away altogeher’. They’ll be kept in a confined volume. That allows to the fusion process to contunue. At least in theory. Sofar, the maximum life time of a fusion plasma is still very short, but slowly scientists and engineers manage to make it last longer.
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@Dr DPG
“‘fellow’ is just a scientific grade in the UK. It’s a fancy way of saying that I didn’t get a permanent job, but a fixed-term postdoc contract instead.”…but surely you’d choose whether to be an academic or pursue a career in private enterprise???…there must be heaps of opportunity???
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@W Thumper
I’m not a nuclear physicist, but a materials scientist. That’s considerably easier. Still, the lack of permanent jobs in (academic) science is something that deters many people from seeking a career in science, true enough.
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And without getting personal, yes, many academic scientists have the usual prejudice against lawyers (why do you probably earn more than double of what I earn?). But then most scientists I know do like the academic freedoms and possibility to follow your curiosity as far as you like. Everything has plusses and minusses I guess.
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@Dr DPG
I don’t entirely understand so I’m going to look up “Lorentz forces: and get back to you…don’t go anywhere…how do you theorise that the process can be made too last longer???
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