Greetings, J.P.M.! I'd like to invite you to a group where we talk about anything on our minds, Hang With Friends. :D

All the 'Islamophobia' in the news these days is quite amusing to me - especially since it is all being pushed by right-wing Christian nut-jobs. After all, is their any meaningful difference between Islam and Christianity? They're both ridiculous mythologies multiply translated from the oral traditions of a bunch of illiterate, stone-age peasants that lived somewhere in the Middle East 2000 years ago. Principles shared: monotheism, homophobia, evolution denial, mistrust of science, afterlife myths (including preposterous reward scenarios for the faithful), blood sacrifice, countless ridiculous ceremonies and rituals. I could go on, but you get the idea...

oh dear. i am curious, being from NY and all, and never having lived that central in the US (although close enough for much discomfort for too long!)

do you think it is the education (or lack thereof) which makes the bible belt mentality so strong? what do you think makes the prevailing beliefs prevail? peer pressure to conform? or do you think it is too complicated to defy simple description? i am just curious.
i never thought of americans as particularly stupid people (maybe i am just being unreasonably patriotic[?]), but since i am well traveled, and have met many people from non-religious dominated cultures, i'm trying to find an explanation for what on URN makes the religious right so popular. =whew= was that a run-on or whut. LOL!
well anyway, just wanted to know what you thought.
cheers mate.
jillian =)

Hallo JPM,
how do you find living in KS? is it tolerable? i am only curious, thank you,
Peace,
- jillian

Entomologist have had to do a lot more explaining of job titles since the Lord of the Rings movie came out. It could be worse--a friend of mine married a micro-biologist, and now people keep asking him exactly how small his wife is...
Thanks for the NYT link on Pakistan's Facebook ban. I'm collecting them for an article elsewhere on the web.

Thanks, but I prefer single-malt scotch to barbiturates!

"Religious education is an oxymoron"

There's an "oxycodone" joke in there SOMEWHERE....

Hey J.P.M.,

Thanks for the comment but . . . my avatar is not Photoshopped -- that guy really has a snake going in and out of his face!

Sure! I'll take a AN friend in Kansas.

Thanks :) That was pretty hilarious! Unintelligent design indeed.

Oh that is so cool! I never thought of that. I bet this would be very difficult to do, but you could track backwards in clonal populations and determine when/how far back the somatic mutations occurred and perhaps what correlating environmental changes triggered them. Of course, that is just being theoretical :P That would require some serious sequencing of the genomes. You could just as easily go forward with it though and determine if certain environmental stresses cause a subset of mutations. Not sure what use that would have, but it would be interesting!

Lol, I think just reading about that was rather traumatic actually.

But that's what I am saying. It couldn't possibly be intelligent design because it's imperfect and thus unintelligent. Not to mention, we don't need to look to bed bugs to see the flaws, what about human bodies? Having a waste disposal system in the middle of a pleasure center, what a terrible idea :P

I just thought of this so it might sound silly: I have heard that patterns in nature, such as Fibonacci numbers, are evidence of "design". In my opinion, we see those kinds of patterns everywhere in the universe, and if there was a "design" they would come out perfect. However, the patterns are not perfect and even clones, though genetically similar, usually turn out phenotypically different in nature. Any thoughts?

Though tenure is something to be happy about, it sounds like you can't enjoy it to the fullest because of the area you live in. Sorry to hear that :(

This site does make me feel at home. Free-thinkers are what I am missing in my immediate surroundings. I moved here for my PhD and didn't realize how much I was going to miss living in Denver and Boulder, CO where nearly everyone I met was godless. My doctoral proposal has to do with measuring bacterial activity in cold polar oceans. I am just starting to write it now. Do you find that a lot of the scientists you work with are religious? I find a lot of the students here got god and it really bothers me. In a few years I will get the heck out of this place!

I'm with you J. I think sometimes it all works out for the best. I think I'm going to be happier knowing that I don't have to hide who I am anymore. To bad I can't generate money off of that alone though, lol.

I don't really know why I stay. I kind of just fell into a life here. As far as transferring my skills..it depends on the state. Texas uses Med Techs in nursing homes, prisons and state schools. I don't know where else they use them. I would love to finish school and get the hell out :)

Haha. Re: your comment on whackos ... I know what you mean but you can't possibly be missing cold here :-).

Although TO is having its second warmest winter in recorded history and I'm feeling the balminess at 2C. Lol.

Eep..you interviewed here? My condolences. I think most of us should just migrate out of the hinterlands...

I meant to click the friend request and forgot! Thanks for sending one to me! Absolutely you cant have too many!!