No, I don't think that's accurate. I'm not intolerant of your religious beliefs. It doesn't matter to me if you're Catholic or not. I'm intolerant of people who make the mistake of thinking that their religious belief is a valid argument in the context of a scientific discussion, and I think (based on your original…

And it's annoying to be told that I'm sub-human or that I'm going to hell by religious folk. It's worse than annoying when they try to put that crap into law. But yeah, being a science-related blog, the people that are interested in the science articles are not going to be tolerant of people trying to make arguments…

Then what exactly did you mean when you said you were waiting to get shot down by atheists? I don't care what you believe. I do care when beliefs are dressed up and called "science", or when they're codified into public law to enforce religious standards.

To me, it depends on the beliefs and how eager they are to force them on other people, or into government. You can believe that you were personally shaped from clay by a pin-stripe suited orangutan - I don't care. But the minute you try to present that as a valid scientific theory and get it into public school…

Believe whatever you want. Just don't expect me to believe it, or to force religious standards on me, either.

Really? Most creationists only disagree with interspecies evolution? Is that why they believe that the Earth is only 6,000 years old?

"Science" doesn't offer a full, definitive picture of what the universe is. It is a means of offering plausible explanations based on observable data. It's also acceptable, when looking at the world through a scientific lens, to say "I don't know, but I really want to find out" and have that be an acceptable answer.

Everything needs cats.

I wish more comic book art was like this. I was especially pleased to hear that you draw from models - there is some art out there that I find hard to believe is intended to depict actual human beings.

That was my feeling as well. Poor little cactus!

Paving the way through

For Ray Bradbury

That was a rush! Let's do it again!

Sure thing! Here it is - I saw it when Serenada linked it on the ODeck.

Celia, did you happen to hear about Readercon's recent harassment mishandling? Their apology for that whole thing was really good, too. Surprisingly good, thorough, and full of plans for improvements.

It reminds me of the 8-bit video game episode of Community, where the study group is rendered into 8-bit avatars in the game. They're all testing out the controls, and Britta asks "Which one am I? I assume nothing because I'm not racist."

No, actually - I'd read the book when I was 14. The movie was out but my parents wouldn't let me see it, so I read the book. Even at 14, I was thinking to myself, "Whoa - okay, this can't be what he really thinks, so it must be an over-the-top satire to show the negative effects of this type of thinking." It's hard…

You know, I read Heinlein's Starship Troopers as a brilliant take-down of glorying in the excesses of war, and the effect that would have on the soldiers and the citizenry involved.

I think you left part of your sentence unfinished. It should probably read "feeding orphans to sharks" or something similar.