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7:48 AM yesterday

theophrastus commented on A Pope at Peace With Atheists?.

Pope Francis said yesterday, and perhaps more relevant to yesterday's news: "To say that you can kill in the name of God is blasphemy."

so do all those souls sipping ambrosia in heaven who massively killed "in the name of god" during the crusades (for example) and told to do so in no uncertain terms "in the name of god" by pope Urban II (and successors) get immediately transferred to hell by this declaration?

May 22

theophrastus commented on Portland Voters Are Stoopid.

@29, ok i read that article. it's an interesting article - thank you for the link. however it never touches on flourine, (nor the notion of dosis facit venenum), and supports my argument about chemistry education being lacking.

furthermore, if you think for moment about your curious statement "biological/medical scientists have proven that the scientists who came before them were entirely ignorant..." you should eventually realize that's tautologically silly in terms of how science progresses. ...oh well.

May 22

theophrastus commented on Portland Voters Are Stoopid.

there's a great want for proper education about chemicals in our society. we are chemicals and we live in a sea of chemicals. the only thing that makes one chemical "bad" and another useful is how much and what kind of exposure we've evolved to tolerate. fluorine (compounds), it so happens, is something we're pretty good at dealing with in low concentrations - and as we all know, has very useful dental effects. "the dosage makes poison" should be taught in place of some oddball homeopathic delusion (....ok, "Frink out")

May 21

theophrastus commented on Amazon Wants to Build Biodomes in the Denny Triangle.

look at that artist's rendering (just look at it!) ...more like the testiculadomes

May 21

theophrastus commented on Spoiled Rotten: Star Trek Into Darkness.

@1 although not a usual fan of io9 reviews, that one was a riot. and convinced me to not waste my money on this one. (was j.j.abrams traumatized by the image of a gorn in his childhood??)

May 21

theophrastus commented on McGinn and Harrell Garner Barbs, then Dual Endorsement from 37th LD.

@7 hnh, ok. thank you. not sure how NIMBYism plays to a elected-at-large city government, but i really think in terms of a 'Portlandia' point of view, one couldn't do better than (native son) Steinbrueck.

May 21

theophrastus commented on McGinn and Harrell Garner Barbs, then Dual Endorsement from 37th LD.

don't get it, why would The Stranger be so obviously dead set against Steinbrueck? he's as socio-progressive lefty as they come. is it his anti-big-sports thing? ah well.

May 21

theophrastus commented on The Geography Hate.

this analysis suffers greatly from this nicely explained demonstrated failure: http://xkcd.com/1138/

which can be tediously summarized as: rates of X human behavior on a map will tend (unless specifically corrected for) to just be a map of population density.

May 20

theophrastus commented on Obama Administration Described a Reporter Just Doing His Job as Probable "Aider, Abettor, and/or Co-Conspirator" in a Crime.

holycrap. could we get our senators' statements on this? and then could we establish a proper progressive party?

May 20

theophrastus commented on McGinn Leads in New KING-5 Poll.

yes yes, the incumbent leads. but why does Steinbrueck do so much better in this poll than with the Slog's own? cell-phones! sun-spots! that must be it.

(hint: the number to really focus on is "Undecided")