- Farewell to the Phoenix Mars Lander.
- Via PZ: Garden gnomes banned from church cemetery because they are ‘unnatural creatures.’
- Turns out a bunch of “dancing” dino prints are probably just potholes.
- In case you’re interested: a list of secular parenting blogs.
Also – if you’re in the central Ohio area, come join me for Drinking Skeptically Columbus this Saturday at 6 PM. Check out the details at OhioSkeptic.com.
Unlike gods, which, as everybody is aware, are natural creatures. If I remember correctly, there are three identified species in a single genus: Deus pater, D. filius and D. spiritus ssp. sanctus. The last common ancestor seems to be D. iehova, which was once found in Middle Eastern deserts but is now thought to be extinct (Nietzsche, 1883). It has been argued that they should be reclassified as Homo, since apparently they can breed with H. sapiens. But others have countered that such an occurrence has happened only in a single, poorly documented ocasion, and furthermore, there is no indication that the offspring was fertile.
I like the first comment on the Telegraph site. I don’t why the church refuses to consider Mr. Russell’s faith as valid. It seems to be just as reasonable as theirs does, at least to me.
So, gnomes are out but gargoyles are OK?
@Andrés Diplotti:
Bravo! COTW contender, for certain.
A moment of silence for a bit of NASA technology that went silent after far exceeeding expectations for longevity and data collection.
Let’s hope that when it thaws next Martian spring (~ May, 2010), it comes back to life. It just might…
non-real dinosaur footprints, that’s one up of the ID crowd, oh well, at least i have gnomes at home.
Unicorns, gargoyles, gryphons and dragons, no problem. But, gnomes? No, they’re “unnatural”.
Farewell, Phoenix lander…
I hope that in the distant future some astronaut will visit Phoenix and give it a hug. The Martian Arctic is a lonely place to be.
@QuestionAuthority: … And let’s hope that several millenia from now, when Mars becomes re-habitable, the intelligent life there doesn’t dig up up the Phoenix and start to worship it.
@TheSkepticalMale:
Actually…I’m kinda hoping it DOES. Just like I hope visitors to Earth find the Silmarillion and think it was an actual belief system.
Perhaps the gnomes looked a bit to Germanic.
The nice thing about the dino print story is that it took less than a month to work itself out. Science is good that way. Sure, there are mistakes but they get corrected relatively quickly.
Religion, not so much. A couple hundred years to straighten out that whole Earth orbiting the Sun thing, for example. Evolution? 100 years and counting…
I can see the headlines now.
“Travelocity Gnome Arrested for Picketing Churchyard!”
I always enjoy UK blogs … I get to know more and more about the English language we’ve appropriated here in the U.S. … Example: “Gnomes are naff.” … Definition of “naff” “(chiefly british slang): unstylish; lacking taste; inferior”)
While we are talking about picketing gnomes, I personally want to picket travelocity for shamelessly ripping off the idea of the traveling gnome from the excellent film “Amelie,” and I don’t believe this tripe from the ad agency one bit: http://sleepless.blogs.com/george/2004/08/travelocitys_ro.html
I wonder if you could get a bunch of people to dress up as gnomes and protest the church’s gnomophobia.
I can see a whole new form of performance art evolving from this. Now that crop circles aren’t as much fun as they used to be. You get good and nija and fill the cemeteries with tacky garden gnomes. Set them up in dioramas and then blame it on frisky angels.
Nah, gnomes wouldn’t protest. They’re famous for their bon-gnomie.
@Gabrielbrawley: Gnome footprints, gnome litter, gnome graffiti…
@Steve: gnomenclature ??
Short stories by Gnome de Plume.
Gnevermind the gnomes. The ognly thigng that really matters is that Gnod and his bible are followed to the letter by everyogne in the world.
Oh, agnd please ignore the commugnion wafers blessed by Gnod, agnd the beautiful staigned gnlass wigndowgns gnlorifyigng Gnod.
(Damn gnomes get into everything…no wonder they’re banned)
Oh gno….
My imagination boggles at frisky fairies and garden gnomes…That’s not pornographic, it’s …hysterically funny for some reason…! :-D
@Steve: Unicorns, gargoyles, gryphons and dragons are cool. Gnomes are lame. It’s a no brainer.
In fact, that explains quite a lot. God can cure the lame, and yet he won’t cure the gnomes. Therefore, God hates the gnomes. That’s why the Diocese banned them.
I’ll use this example for my prospective website, whydoesgodhategnomes.com.
Gnomes were mistakenly thought of as the progenitors of Gnosticism in the early fourth centaury and were summarily excommunicated during the council of Nicaea. They still suffer as a result of this ecclesiastical injustice. @Andrés Diplotti: Clearly it’s the church that hates the gnomes. And god, being a noneffectual imaginary participant, has no opinion in the matter.