The Skeptic Next Door » media

Monkey Tool Usage: Hammer and Anvil

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 05:43:20 +0000

Do they take the lord’s name in vain when they bash their fingers?

Crash Test 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air VS. 2009 Chevrolet Malibu (Frontal Offset) IIHS 50th Anniversary

theskepticnextdoor — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 02:48:21 +0000

Catholic Churchs Moral Hierachy

theskepticnextdoor — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 06:04:33 +0000

At TAM7 Fintan Steele gave one of the more interesting talks. He is currently Director of Communications at MIT’s Broad Institute. He holds a Masters of Divinity degree from St. Meinrad School of Theology as well as a Masters of Arts in Medical Ethics/Religious Studies from Indiana University.

As part of his Masters of Divinity courses, they ordered different activities into a moral hierarchy. The example that he use during his talk was the following:

Bestiality
Contraception
Homosexual acts
Incest
Masturbation
Premarital Sex
Rape

The audience was asked to order these from least bad to worst. He presented his ordering and that from his Catholic divinity textbook “Moral Theology“. There may be some minor variations but most people would likely come up with similar lists. We tried this at the last skeptics meeting and got similar results. The biggest problem is that some of these activities were not considered immoral or “bad” so how could you order them.

Try this yourself.

Admittedly the text is somewhat dated and is no longer used. The copyright date given by Amazon is in the early 50s. There are still many in the clergy who have been trained using such texts and the Pope has been emphasising a return to traditional values.

The ordering given in his textbook is:

Premarital Sex
Rape
Incest
Contraception
Bestiality
Homosexual acts
Masturbation

In this example, things that possibly lead to conception are not as bad as things that do not. As Money Python pointed years ago every sperm is Sacred.

This goes a long way to explaining such things as the excommunication of a mother who arranged and the doctors who performed an abortion for a 9 year old Brazilian Girl. The girl was impregnated by her stepfather who remained in the church.

It may also help explain why the church has historically covered up reports of abuse. Perhaps molesting children is preferable to having priests masturbate.

Mr Deity

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 04:17:38 +0000

Mr. Deity is … um … God. And very funny.

All ex-mormons go to heaven.

Olympic Medal Counts

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 06:09:41 +0000

I found this great New York Times map of Olympic medals over the years via Strange Maps blog.

Click for interactive map

I like that there are many more countries that win medals now. It is impressive how many medals South Korea wins. It is not a country I equate with athletic prowess. For example, it only has a third of the population of Japan, yet it won more medals in 2008. It is always good to be surprised.

There Are Always Side Effects

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 04:31:43 +0000

Wired has an article about a group that is trying a large scale geoengineering project to sink carbon back into the ocean. The problem is there are always side effects to every prescription. In this case it is probably a small enough area that there will be little significant change.

On the other hand I trust that global warming is happening and large scale human activity is having an effect on the earth’s environment, so it seems reasonable to attempt to do something about it regardless of what the UN thinks.

How To Save Silicon Valley

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 03:38:55 +0000

Ummm want more brains…

Does Abstinence Only Sex Education Work

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 03:22:42 +0000

The bible belt appears to be awash in teen mothers. Barring real sex education appears to be a strategy to multiply the religious contingient in the US. From the AP story. Original CDC study

Teenage Pregnancy Rate By State

Mississippi has the highest birth rate, and the report does not indicate why. The data is for 2006, 6 months after Katrina hit. I speculate that there may be a connection. “Why not we are going to die anyway.”

Bottle Rocket Jet Pack

theskepticnextdoor — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 00:28:20 +0000

When I as a kid I had a couple of air and water powered rockets. Now I want one of these.

Yes, I know that is probably a hoax. Polpular Science’s take.

JFK on the Seperation of Church and State

theskepticnextdoor — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 07:24:14 +0000

During his campaign JFK was attacked for being a Catholic. To counter, he gave this speech.

Text from the JFK library.