Idiots of the week - Pakistani Council of Islamic Ideology

This story is old, but as I only heard about it recently I have made the Pakistani Council of Islamic Ideology idiots of the week. They really deserve it, after all it made Nature.

Please realize that this council is not the jucidial system in Pakistan.

These idiots have decided that DNA is not to be considered primary evidence in rape cases, but rather as supporting evidence. In other words semen that is found inside a raped and traumatized women in not meant to be evidence for rape. So what would these guys consider evidence then?

Have no fear, as apparently Islam has the market cornered on rape evidence. Its easy really all you need is four witnesses to the rape.
Koran Surah 24:13 Why did they not produce four witnesses ? Since they produce not witnesses, they verily are liars in the sight of Allah.
So as you can see its reasonable that four men would stand about and watch a rape and not protect the lady been raped. I gather this is due to the way that Islam treats women, they treat them badly so they can have witnesses to rape.

These guys are idiots,so congratulations Sharia law and the Council of Islamic Ideology in all your combined stupid glory.

List of podcasts I listen too

I have been meaning to make this list for some time, but never get around to it. So without further ado a list of podcasts I listen to and why.

Atheist Podcasts

1) The Thinking Atheist
This show is remarkable in that it is a one host show,that keeps you entertained when really it should be more boring (Yes, this is a compliment). I like it for the respectful and friendly nature of the host Seth Andrews. He approaches many topics with an atheist viewpoint and has a great way of getting his point across using his storytelling and other analogies.

2) The Atheist Experience
I believe this is on most peoples lists and rightfully so. Its different to other podcasts/shows in that it is an interaction between host and theists callers. The callers are not always theists but they do try their best.

3) The Bitchspot Report
Since coming across Cephus's Blog and podcast I have been a fan. The hosts are very logical and well reasoned, and I would recommend it as its sceptical nature gives any listener food for thought. Also it has a conservative twist which is a small voice in the atheist community, and you may be surprised to learn conservative is not what you thought. I know I was.

4) Reasonable Doubts
I like to think of this show as Atheism 101, the hosts delve into any religion and explain why it is ridiculous. It is refreshing as the show gets a lot of interesting guests which gives the show a special twist. They have different segments in the show such as counter apologetics, so even if you only listen to one segment there is something to gain from it.

5) Non-Prophets
I am hesitant to put this on the list as its just back from a long hiatus, but I like them. Important to note, this podcast is not for  everyone. I like it for the banter among the hosts, although I do not agree with all of their views. Especially those regarding feminism.

Sceptic Podcasts (a list of 1)

1) Inquiring Minds
This podcast is new but old. Whatever way you look at it, its a great sceptic/science podcast which has interesting guests every week. Its more an interview show than a pure podcast, but well worth the listen.

I used to listen to the Skeptics Guide to the Universe but have dismissed it as one of the hosts is not really such a great sceptic in my opinion.

Any other Podcasts you think should make the list? Let me know and I can add them to a future edition of the list......well if I like them.

Emotion i not a good enough reason for a belief

Often you will hear theists claim they have proof for a god and this proof cannot be explained by science or logic but needs to be felt personally to understand that this god exists. To this I say no, this is unacceptable. Now, let me show you why your belief should be based on more than a feeling using an analogy.

I am part of generation X and as such when I was growing up there was some really influential music been made.In particular there was this little known band (irony intended) called Nirvana. Now in my opinion this music is the best music ever made, and I still listen to it today and love every chord. Every time I listen to Nirvana,I have a huge emotional response. This response is partially due to my growing up with this music and it defining my youth. Also, it has to do with the loss of the music when Cobain committed suicide. I mean I can remember the day he died, and where I was when I heard the news.

Now Nirvana's music is brilliant, however is it the best music ever made? To me yes, but after listening to the music I am pretty sure not everyone would agree. So I am making here an emotional plea as to why Nirvana is the greatest music, and if you don’t get it then you have not personally felt it and you cannot understand.

Now do you understand why an emotional appeal for a god don't work?

Another great tune just because it deserves to be heard.

A Pain in the William Lane Craig

I have been doing myself the service or disservice of trying to understand apologetics better. As such I having been listening to William Lane Craig's podcasts on the Doctrine Of God and am wondering whether I will continue after listening to the absurdity behind the arguments used for Gods omniscience and the lack of free will that I believe it causes.

The specific podcasts I want to address are lessons 7 and 8 from the Defenders podcast Series 1. I love the names of these podcasts by the way.

So apparently if God has omniscience it does not mean we cannot have free will,as according to WLC it is just God having knowledge of the future and not deciding our future for us. So lets look at the two examples using WLC's meanings and see if it is actually possible to get away from the no free will which omniscience affords us.

1) If God has foreknowledge.

This is the simple example. If we have a choice which leads to either A or B, then if God knows A is going to happen then B could never happen. If this is the case then free will does not exist as its obvious that only option A exists.

2) If God has foreknowledge and hypothetical knowledge.

In this example it is a little more complex but essentially the same. If we have a choice which leads to either A or B, then if God knows A is going to happen then B can exist. However, B can only exist in Gods mind and so cannot exist in reality. This brings us back to position one as only option A exists.

So in both these examples only option A exists, this means we have no free will. This means God has decided who goes to hell as you cannot choose. God is all loving right?

Apparently you can get around this in the mind of WLC by having the fact that God only puts you in the position to make the correct choice for God. But now that means that still God decides what you are going to be doing and you have no choice.

This just means that you sir are a royal pain in the William Lane Craig.

Idiots of the week - Abstinence Lecturers

Saw this story on Mother Jones about abstinence lecturers and just knew they all had to qualify as a group as idiots of the week. I mean an article with a title like " Vaginas Are Like "Little Hoover Vacuums," and Other Things Abstinence Lecturers Get Paid to Tell Teens" says a lot. Most of the idiots in this article are affiliated with churches or Christianity in some way, so I have a feeling they may have another motive for their abstinence programs. Maybe something along the lines of God says it is bad, so don't have sex.

Here let me now tell you why I think all these fools should get shut down. Firstly there is evidence that abstinence only education actually leads to a higher teen pregnancy rate than safe sex education. I mean this should be enough reason to get rid of these stupid education programs.

Then there is another important thing, and that is STD transmission. Sex happens among teenagers all the time,the problem is abstinence only teens have no condoms around. No condoms around means exchange of fluids which can lead to STD transfer. In effect these idiots are teaching teenagers to be irresponsible and not look after themselves. They are in some cases, like HIV infection, teaching children how to die. Is this responsible educational methods?

This is why abstinence lecturers from everywhere deserve to be idiots of the week.

Here is a joke, what do you call people who practise abstinence only?
Parents.

And you get celebs into it as well,or should I say celebdiots.

Death Penalty - funny

Cyanide & Happiness @ Explosm.net Read more at http://www.explosm.net/comics/3374/#7FUmTxcAWuHXE4Xs.99

Makes you wonder why some theists and atheists support the death penalty.

Deeprak Chopra - How can somone so smart be so dumb?

Deeprak Chopra is either the most intellectually dishonest person or he is an idiot.

Let me give you one example why I say so. In a recent debate/conversation with Richard Dawkins there is a discussion about consciousness. Then around the 35 minute mark this happens.Chopra say that he believes a cell has awareness, and he believes atoms have awareness. Apparently this is what Freeman Dyson believes about atoms as well,which I severely doubt. Anyway WTF Deepra, how can anyone so smart be so stupid?

I mean Deepra you have studied to be a medical doctor, and now I agree that does not mean you are an Einstein but you cant be an complete imbecile. So readers I have to ask why is he such an idiot? The only thing I can come up with, is that his beliefs have made him an idiot or more accurately it has made him forget rational thought on aspects of his life which are feel good. He wants to feel good he does not want to understand and that is a shame.

BTW, this is great if you want to hear something awesome.Skip to the 44 minute mark and wait for Dawkins response to been called on an Ad hominem attack.

Another good one is the 57- 63 minutes when Richard gets his smart phone out. Well worth the wait as he destroys Chopra's intellectual dishonesty.

Here is the discussion, and yes it is in English. It was just held in Mexico I believe, so there is a Spanish introduction but the main talk is in English.

Identical twin studies do not show homosexuality is not genetic (and it does not matter anyway)

Note: I had forgotten about this, but its still relevant

Pseudo-science is my pet peeve. Its the most horrible thing as it can get used by fundamentalists all the time to twist truth about real valid scientific studies as was done earlier this years by The American Vision in an article titled "New Twin Study: People Not Born Gay" This stems from another article on the Holland Davis Christianity website which has to do with ideas of a Dr. Neil Whitehead.

What does this doctor have to say, well apparently:
Eight major studies of identical twins in Australia, the U.S., and Scandinavia during the last two decades all arrive at the same conclusion: gays were not born that way.
Yet there are only two citations for these studies. The main citation to the Bearman and Bruckner study which does not suggest genetic variation as a main cause but does not eliminate it, you can read the article here. Interestingly,the Bearman study deals with opposite sex twins,so even if they are identical they have one whole chromosome that is different. The Bailey study which is also cited suggests genetic variation, read here. So I am not sure how Whitehead is doing this, I mean birth studies say that he cites by name are saying there is a genetic component. But that is irrelevant really, as the more important issue comes next.

He also says that:
“Because they have identical DNA, it ought to be 100%,” Dr. Whitehead notes. But the studies reveal something else. “If an identical twin has same-sex attraction the chances the co-twin has it are only about 11% for men and 14% for women.”
and
"Because identical twins are always genetically identical, homosexuality cannot be genetically dictated. “No-one is born gay,” he notes. “The predominant things that create homosexuality in one identical twin and not in the other have to be post-birth factors.”"
Except that this is not always the case, as minor things can cause mutations. So in effect the DNA of identical twins is not 100% as the doctor claims, as the doctor does no understand the concept of mutation. So how can any study make claims using identical twins when they have no specific gene to pinpoint? Hint: They cant. Especially when the Beraman study he likes to claim shows there is no link specifically states:
"The first model,the idea that homosexuality is a polygenetic trait cannot be tested with our data."
In fact the authors are very cautious to completely discard a genetic link. Also although this study is a big study it is important to note that only 289 of the 3,139 pairs of siblings were actually identical twins in this study. And by identical I mean that one was a girl and one was a boy but they came from the same zygote.

The problem is that this Dr Whitehead is using helpful research to support fundamentalist ideas. He is using science to support pseudo-science and it is unethical. This guy is an idiot who does not understand biology, and for that matter is not a medical doctor. His PhD is in biochemistry and statistics, so next time you comment Dr Whitehead, make sure its something you apply rational thinking to.

BTW, it does not matter if homosexuality is genetic or not. People are free to do what they want, and if you are homophobic you are an idiot. Stop using your religion to hide behind. Homophobia is wrong, stand up and show you are a bigot but stop hiding behind fairy tales.

New Twin Study: People Not Born Gay

New Twin Study: People Not Born Gay

New Twin Study: People Not Born Gay

Idiot of the week - Kevin Foley

This Idiot of the week award goes to Kevin Foley and anyone else involved in the stupidity that thinks sending balloons with bibles attached over the South Korean border into North Korea is a good idea. I was amazed when I first saw this story a I live in South Korea presently and I don’t want anyone provoking the North as they are a bunch of misbehaved children.

So back to the story, the reason this is been done is because the Christians in North Korea are been persecuted,and they are most probably right. In fact they believe that 30,000 of the 100,000 are in labour camps,and again they are probably right. But now lets get back to reality.

If someone gets caught with a bible they could get either executed or sent to a labour camp. So they are sending bibles across the border to do what exactly? Enslave others?

In North Korea Christianity is illegal, so they are sending bibles from South Korea (a nation that is still at war with the North). In effect this righteous group is showing a complete disregard for the Norths rules. They are also provoking the North, but I guess Pastor Foley can go back to the states if the shit hits the fan due to his bibles.

Oh one more thing,North Koreans are dying every day due to malnutrition. Why not send food, surely that would be better than bibles.

You Kevin Foley are an idiot.

The God confusion - funny, satire

Moderate Islam is a joke

I am in an argument with a few people nowadays regarding moderate Islam and what it actually means. It all stems from this video which was posted on Sam Harris's website.

This is amazing as it shows how screwed up moderate Islam actually is. Don’t believe me? Let us look at the following portions of the video.

3:33 The speaker asks how many of you in the audience are not radical Muslims?
90% of the people raise their hands.

3:55 How may of you believe men and women should sit separate?
Everyone raises their hand, and everyone clearly believe in discrimination.

4:35 How many of you believe the punishments (like stoning for adultery) in the Koran are good and correct?
Everyone raises their hand. These people are moderate Muslims remember, moderate means death by stoning for adultery. Sharia law is disgusting and a violation of human rights. This means moderate Islam is against basic human rights.

If this is moderate Islam,then it shows just how evil Islam really is. This is why countries like Saudi Arabia allow rape victims to get lashed, this is why the Taliban will never back down. This is just another reason why the world does not need belief in imaginary things.

Quantum misuderstood theism

What is an electron? Is it a particle or is it a wave? Does it go through one hole or does it go through both? Surely this depends whether you view it from the particle or the wave point of view, but then if you view it from one point of view then the result of the experiment will change. So can we then determine what an electron is without not knowing what an electron is? Or does it even go through one of the holes? and if it does go through the hole does it go straight ahead? Or does it follow so many twists and turns that it first travels from Earth to Jupiter to Saturn and then back again to be detected?

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I hope the previous paragraph confused you. The reason I tried to confuse you, even if I didn’t, is actually not confusing. It goes something like this Quantum Mechanics (QM) is a field of science that is understood in its totality by a handful of people worldwide. The implications are beyond most of our comprehension and this is why I have to wonder how any theist can say that QM proves a deity.

I do not understand all QM, but I do understand some ‎of it. It is for this reason that I refuse to entertain any argument from a theist that uses QM as a proof for the existence of God.I think if you honestly understand QM and then are using it as proof for the existence, then you are very dishonest. The implications of QM have nothing to do with God, so please don’t use it as an argument. In fact if you go look you will most probably find that the people in the world that do understand QM are all atheists.

So this begs the question, why would you assert that QM does prove God? It is my belief it is any easy way to get honest people to back down, as most people will say I don’t understand QM and will not get into the subject as it is beyond their comprehension.It is like the silver bullet of apologetics, it stops an argument dead in its tracks as most people are not comfortable debating it. The problem is often the person making the assertion has no idea what they are talking about, and have found the phrase "QM proves God" on pseudo science sites like  answersingenesis or scienceislam.

So next time a theist brings this up don’t debate them, ask them for the publication proof in Nature or Science. Trust me it will be published in either of those journals.

Homophobia or Racism

Here is my attempt to show you that their is no difference between racism and homophobia.

Racism

It's the 1950's and Mary has found the true love of her life, unforunatally its happens to be Bob the African American. What should she do should she tell her father, head of the church in the town she lives in? He regulary preaches that African's are lesser people and will go to hell for their sinful ways. Should she live in denial and fear and reject the true love of her life? Should she express her love openly for Bob, and accept the ridicule and hate from others, that would go hand in hand with been in a meaningful loving relationship. Or should she pray and god will liberate her from the feelings she has for this African American man.

Fast forward to the new millenium

Homophobia

It's the 1999 and Mary has found the true love of her life, unforunatally its happens to be Lisa the home coming queen. What should she do should she tell her father, head of the church in the town she lives in? He regulary preaches that gays are lesser people and will go to hell for their sinful ways. Should she live in denial and fear and reject the true love of her life? Should she express her love openly for Lisa, and accept the ridicule and hate from others, that would go hand in hand with been in a meaningful loving relationship. Or should she pray and god will liberate her from the feelings she has for this same sex partner.

So what is the difference?

The denial of basic human rights to gay people is the same as denying basic human rights to any other race group. The issue I believe is that people just don't understand what the words BASIC HUMAN RIGHTS mean.

Idiot of the week - Imran Khan

I love cricket, and so it is with a little sadness that I have to give this weeks idiot award to Imran Kahn. Basically Imran has said he and his followers will block the NATO roads into Afghanistan if the USA does not stop drone strikes against the Taliban in Pakistan.

This story has been a huge bone of contention between Pakistan, the USA and the Taliban. But everything boils down to one fact and that is the drone strike that killed Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud.The day after the drone strike was meant to be the day that the Taliban and Pakistan governments were meant to meet to discuss a peace treaty. However, with the death of Mehsud the peace talks have fallen through while the Taliban finds a new chief. So yes this is bad in that sense but maybe we need to remember who these people really are, and why I say Imran Khan is an idiot. (Edit: Apparently the Taliban has a new leader.)

The Taliban has never agreed to peace, all other attempts at a peace process in Pakistan with the Taliban have failed.
These are the people that have conducted multiple terror attacks in Pakistan and along the Afghanistan/Pakistan border in the name of Allah. Something for which there is no proof, so we can ascertain they are mentally deluded.
The Taliban does not want women to go to school. Actually they don't want real education for anyone, they want you to read the Koran and just obey like sheep.
The Taliban are a bunch of idiotic terrorists, and are not to be trusted. Lest we forget what else they are guilty off, here is a small list of resources.
State report on terror attacks in 2012
Factmonster.com
Wikipedia

So Imran I am sorry to say, you are an idiot if you have any trust in these people. The only time they will learn is when they are backed into a corner and the hot lead is flying at them, and then it will be too late.

Muhammed lego set - funny,satire

Saw this a while back,and decided to share. This is not my work, although I wish it was.

How do you solve a problem like Noah?

How do you solve a problem like Noah? According to the people at Answersingenesis you don’t need to as the ark and the Noah story make perfect sense. Let me show you how.

According to Genesis the ark was 300 X 50 X 30 cubits = 450000 cubits^3. This translates to 158.7 X 26.45 X 15.87 = 66616.15 m^3 as 1 cubit = 0,529 m on the high side of the scale.

Next is an assumption you need to make. That is only vertebrates were allowed on the ark. And there were only 16000 animals on the ark, which means 8000 kinds. This translates into the following space for the animals.
66616 / 16000 = 4.16 m^3 which is 1.6 m X 1.6 m area and you must also not be taller than 1.60m.

See no problem :)

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However...............

Previously, I used the fact that only 8000 kinds were on the ark. This presents a problem for creationists as it leads to super evolution within the last 6000 years to bring us to the accepted amount of vertebrates in the world today which is 29811 (excluding fish). So creationism leads to evolution beyond what scientists accept today.

So what about if we work out the amount of space and get rid of the evolution that the creationists hate so much. If we only consider all the vertebrates. we would have 59622 animals on board. So each animal had 1.12m^3 or 1.03 m X 1.03 m area and had to be shorter than 1.03 m.  Sticking to vertebrates. What if we also consider all the extinct vertebrates like dinosaurs, an others like dodos, Bali tiger, wild ass, etc etc etc. I would need to make assumptions so lets forget this for now, but I am pretty sure the space will decrease.

How about we ignore the fact that God is a dick and only put insects on the ark. After all there are 950 000 (which is 1.9 million insects) of them so they would already fill the ark in a buzzing swarm of chaos. Each insect has 0.035m^3 which is a lot for an insect, but hey at least there is now some space left for all the small animals that need to fit on. All those small animals like two baby elephants,or two baby T-Rex.

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Importantly, at this moment this calculation above was have been done using the space provided using the biblical citations. We have not calculated anything in like space taken by lumber used to construct the ark. Also, we have also not calculated space to breathe.

So what happens when we consider space, food, water, feces and lumber requirements? Turns out that the ark would never work as it was just too darn small.


Got to love simple math, so powerful that it shows creation to be as idiotic as it sounds.

A novel solution to a big problem

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Problem:

The war in Afghanistan has not been won. It more than likely will never be won, as religion is the problem. So here I am to present a novel solution to the problem in Afghanistan.

Solution:
Use Jehovah's witnesses from any country that wants to send them. Think about it, they can go knock on doors around Afghanistan and try convert all the Muslims. If these conversions happen then the Islamic fanaticism will go away. Additionally, Jehovah's witnesses are pacifists so they will not take over as new fundamentalists with an axe to grind. If it does not work we get rid of one problem.

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In summary:

The Jehovah's witnesses win as they get sent to a new country to witness and its free for them. It will cost way less than the governements around the world currently use to fund war.

The countries win as they get rid of their early morning door knockers. This is clearly better for public health and stress levels.

Afghanistan wins as they will hopefully eventually have peace after years of violence.

What do you think?

Dividing by zero - funny

Idiot of the week - Dave Daubenmire

Sometimes you have to sit back and wonder how people say what they say. You ask the question, "do they ever actually think before they open there mouth?" This is certainly the case for Dave Daubenmire as I don’t think this guy ever thinks. If he does think then he is even worse than what I currently think about him. Here is why Daubenmire is the idiot of the week for his simple endorsement of bullying. Thats right endorsement!

He seems to think that because Christians are not allowed to bully gays that this is leading to the destruction of the American society. Small leap from bullying to the ruin of a country, kind of like the leap of faith you need to believe in God. Actually he thinks so little of himself that he refers to his fathers generation as the greatest generation. Dave you are a caveman if you believe anti-bullying laws started due to gay rights. Dave you are an idiot if you want to get rid of anti-bullying laws, especially when you say Christians are been bullied. Like I say some people just don’t think.