The Jester Courts: Archive

Reblog if tattoos are a major turn on for you.

omnomnomnom

Mar 27, 2011145,119 notes

Mar 26, 20116,357 notes

Mar 25, 2011905 notes

Mar 20, 2011

randomberlinchick:

insaniyat:

Islamophobes have been popularizing the claim that “not all Muslims are terrorists, but (nearly) all terrorists are Muslims.” Despite this idea becoming axiomatic in some circles, it is quite simply not factual. In my previous article…

Mar 17, 2011615 notes

Mar 16, 20112,412 notes

Mar 16, 20112 notes

anotheratheist:

#atheist #atheism
-

It sadly appears that many devil-dodgers work off the same script when trying to prove there is a God. Many of these arguments are inane and fallacious. So, if you’re going to have a script, then so am I :)

1. The science can’t explain everything ploy. So what? I know that. So there are gaps in our scientific knowledge. A gap doesn’t constitute positive evidence for a God. All we can say is we don’t really know.

What we have worked out, is that a lot of things religious people claim to have known, have been very very wrong. The earth is 4.5bn years old, not 6-10,000. Humans evolved from a common-ape ancestor. Insects don’t have 4 legs. There was no Noachian flood. There was no Garden of Eden.

2. You must know everything to reject God ploy. Again, rubbish. Atheism is simply a lack of belief in Gods caused by insufficient evidence. You turn up with evidence that’s credible, I’ll accept there is a God. I don’t need to know everything to have the position that “insufficient evidence exists to believe in God”.

3. Some smart people accept Christianity. Again, not germane. There are many areas of life where people have been shown to act with cognitive dissonance. Smart people aren’t immune to that. It’s not evidence of God. Besides which, the vast majority of top scientists today do not have a belief in a personal God. The fact that most smart people don’t believe is a more compelling reason to think the devil-dodger is wrong.

The whole point here is that I haven’t been given sufficient evidence to believe. It’s irrelevant what other people believe.

4. The prove there is no God gambit. Hmm, you’ve got the burden of proof. I’m not making any claim. I’m just stating my lack of belief and why. There may be a divine agent that triggered the expansion of a bigbang singularity. I haven’t been given any evidence to support that claim, so I lack belief that such an agent exists. I’m not claiming this agent doesn’t exist. I’m just stating I have been given no reason to believe that such a being exists.

5. The Evolution is False ploy. Well, this tactic might work against people with weak knowledge of science who can be confused and mislead. But I’m not one of them. Lying to me about any aspect of evolution isn’t persuasive. It reinforces the perception that you’re a total shithead willing to sacrifice the shreds of integrity and honesty you have left to win an argument.

The last bit is nice. I find that most atheists aren’t “angry at God”, but they ARE angry at stupid people BADLY lying to their faces over and over AND OVER.

Not only that, but they do it so badly that anyone on the fence is more likely to be convinced of Evolution by THEIR argument.

Mar 15, 201116 notes

Mar 15, 20111,200 notes

jettavegas:

It is Tuesday, and for that, I am grateful. Just here to express some appreciation & gratitude. ((:

This post is kinda pointlessly cheerful, and I’m pretty okay with this.

As far as social media memes go, I’m fairly lazy. I’ve never GPO’d, and I rarely reblog unless it’s about something that Matters. (NoH8 often has me interested, for example)

But this one strikes me as a Good Idea, and one I’ll stick to, when I remember it of a Tuesday.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one of those people whose obnoxious cheeriness goes pouring all over your lap and pisses you off whenever you enter the room; I tend more to laugh at the stupid when I’m angry than giggle about the good things when I’m happy.

And this is not meant to minimize the doom and gloom stuff that so often gets my ire up; evolution has made us smart enough to learn how to cope with our lives, but not smart enough to keep us from turning off our brains once we’ve got our own Good Things. Apathy to others’ suffering and casual cruelty, and of course general brainhurting stupidity are wildly rampant.

But this is the thing: stuff does improve. Things ARE getting better, over the centuries. I wish I would be alive to see the end of war, hunger, theocracy, et c, but I have to be satisfied with what I get. And some of those satisfactions really are Worth It.

So for today, being a selfish and spoiled individual, I must say that every day, at least a few times, but usually many MANY times, I think of Alyssa and of Starfish, and how totally wondeful and amazing it is that two such wonderful women are in my life.

I love you ladies, more than I can express. And I want you to know that you make my world a beautiful and joyous place.

Mar 15, 20114 notes

Sendak GETS IT.

3liza:

“Once a little boy sent me a charming card with a little drawing on it. I loved it. I answer all my children’s letters — sometimes very hastily — but this one I lingered over. I sent him a card and I drew a picture of a Wild Thing on it. I wrote, “Dear Jim: I loved your card.” Then I got a letter back from his mother and she said, “Jim loved your card so much he ate it.” That to me was one of the highest compliments I’ve ever received. He didn’t care that it was an original Maurice Sendak drawing or anything. He saw it, he loved it, he ate it.”

—

Maurice Sendak, author of Where the Wild Things Are (via cyparissus)

Mar 13, 20111,956 notes

ronworkman:

1. You talk openly about how diseases are becoming stronger. You found a way to argue that disease has become more resistant to penicillin yet you also claim there isn’t solid proof of evolution. Bravo! That alone takes talent.

2. You eat corn. This may be hard for many of you to believe but corn is completely man-made. It DOES NOT occur in nature and never has. Without humans, corn would cease to exist in only a few years. Even the smartest of you might not even be aware that corn isn’t a “Natural” food. Please look this up.

3. You own a dog or at least acknowledge that dogs exist. I know you might not be aware of this, but dogs were also created by man. They do not occur in nature. Wolves, foxes, jackals, coyotes do but they aren’t the same thing as a household pet. I know you like to imagine little herds of teacup poodles roaming the lands in packs but it just never happened.

Mar 13, 2011184 notes

Mar 12, 2011568 notes

CATHAIRTUMBLEWEEDS WINS THIS MEME.

cathairtumbleweeds:

thatguyles:

terminalsingles:

sinxo:

dramaindc:

myfinestdefenses:

Tipsy.

Horny.

It’s amazing how these two tend to come in pairs.

*High

Horny.

Sick.

Horny.

Horny

Horny

Conscious?

Horny.

Mar 12, 201141 notes

Mar 12, 201136 notes

“Why is NPR biased to the left? Because it simply doesn’t accept as truth the numerous conspiracy theories that modern conservatives believe in. NPR doesn’t show support for discrimination against gay people and muslims. NPR is factual in saying that death panels don’t exist. NPR is right to dismiss the conspiracy theories regarding climate change. NPR doesn’t agree that Obama is not a US citizen. Being factual has now become liberal because mainstream conservatives have moved into a paranoid reality where facts don’t apply in the face of conspiracy theories.” —Ziyu Ziyu (via technipol)

Mar 10, 20111,656 notes

“Never mind that the 1950s-style “traditional family” that they so wholly exhort isn’t actually all that “traditional” in the long history of marriage, where women were given away as property from fathers to husbands. Back then, women in many states couldn’t open their own bank accounts. Until recently, there were no laws against marital rape, and domestic violence was viewed as a private matter and not one for legal intervention. People who fell outside of rigid gender roles or were poor, non-white or disabled didn’t live in Leave It To Beaver fantasyland. Women who had children outside of marriage were whisked away to private homes where their babies were taken from them and put up for adoption; children with disabilities were institutionalised; non-white citizens were routinely barred from political participation and discriminated against with impunity; significantly more children and elderly people lived in poverty than today; and physical and sexual abuse of children was rarely investigated.” —

Traditional marriage is dead. Let’s celebrate
(via stfuconservatives)

None of which is news to me, but people constantly seem surprised at the patently obvious.

Mar 9, 2011278 notes

“In a 2002 study led by the psychologist Paul Davies, two groups of male and female undergrads were shown three minutes of television commercials. Students in the first group were shown a variety of “gender stereotyping” ads, such as a woman gleefully touting the benefits of a skin product, or a “slender female” talking about the deliciousness of diet soda. (All of the ads were real.) Students in the second group, in contrast, were shown a mix of gender-neutral ads, such as a pitch for an insurance company and a commercial about cell-phones. Then, the women were quizzed about their interest in pursuing a career in math or science. Once again, the results were depressingly clear: Women exposed to the gender stereotyping ads were far less interested in anything quantitative. Instead, they were more than twice as likely to choose careers in the verbal and service industry, such as retail, sales and communication. The pattern was reversed, however, in the women who saw neutral ads. They were actually more interested in pursuing quantitative careers. All it took was the absence of a blatant stereotype to increase their interest in math.” —

The Scientific Gender Gap | Wired Science | Wired.com (via robot-heart-politics)

I don’t find this depressing at all; to me it seems like it points to a clear solution for the problem we see. It is also suggestive of solutions for things like Global warming deniers, Jesus-freaks, and “No, really, I’m not a racist! I have that one black friend-I invite him along when we go out for ribs!”

Now all I need is a 9-iron and Glenn Beck’s address…

Mar 9, 2011192 notes

pressxtomilena:

jaded16india:

stuffsickpeoplehavetoputupwith:

N.H. Republicans introduce bill that will block college students from voting.

New Hampshire’s new Republican state House speaker is pretty clear about what he thinks of college kids and how they vote. They’re “foolish,” Speaker William O’Brien said in a recent speech to a tea party group.

“Voting as a liberal. That’s what kids do,” he added, his comments taped by a state Democratic Party staffer and posted on YouTube. Students lack “life experience,” and “they just vote their feelings.”

New Hampshire House Republicans are pushing for new laws that would prohibit many college students from voting in the state - and effectively keep some from voting at all.

The picture emerging nationally is crystal clear:

1. Kill unions to cut off a significant source of funding for the Democratic party

2. Block demographics known for voting Democratic from voting

Both of these strategies are very obviously designed to further Republicans’ goal of creating a one-party state.

Now will you fight for your rights?

Signal boost. This is vile. Thanks for letting me know about this, it got lost on my dash.

Um, wow. Signal boost.

Voter disenfranchising at its finest.

“One bill would permit students to vote in their college towns only if they or their parents had previously established permanent residency there - requiring all others to vote in the states or other New Hampshire towns they come from. Another bill would end Election Day registration, which O’Brien said unleashes swarms of students on polling places, creating opportunities for fraud.”

This isn’t paranoia folks. The original poster was the WASHINGTON POST.

Mar 7, 2011672 notes

Mar 7, 2011161 notes

The Jester Courts

March 2011

28 posts