An Islamic scholar in Skokie, Illinois recently found a sign from God, some are claiming. Now, if you’re a rational person, you may see nothing here but some squiggles caused by borers or some other insect. But if you have a mind to, well, you see the Arabic word for "Mohammed".
See it? No? Try squinting. Kinda maybe sorta? Still no? Well, others saw it:
“It’s crystal clear, it says Muhammad,” said Andala Mbengue, a cabdriver from Senegal who saw the wood after Friday prayers at the American Islamic College on Irving Park Road in Chicago. “Allah is always putting himself out there. Sometimes people ignore it, but he’s always showing us signs.”
Why would you doubt it? That guy says it’s crystal clear.
Maybe my crystals are really cloudy, because it’s not clear to me. And c’mon… bark? I guess something concrete — like rearranging the stars in the sky — would be too showy. Better to go with the inside of some arthropod-ingested periderm from Skokie, that’s what I always say.
I find it very interesting that a cartoon with a drawing of Mohammed can spark riots and incite people to murder innocents, but an imagined display of the writing of his name makes believers more pious.
In a related story, a woman sees Jesus on the cross due to… two french fries stuck together. Seriously. However, I must admit that if Catholics started offering french fries at communion, they’d probably see an uptick in attendance.
Tip o’ the vascular cambium to BABloggee Steve Steppe.
June 7th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
I suppose that’s the reason vampires never eat fast food…
June 7th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
I don’t get what they’re so excited about. It clearly says “Larry”.
June 7th, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Well, it’s only fair. Why should the good Lord Jesus get all the air time, wood time, window time, toast time, pancake time, Hubble Telescope Photo ops?
Speaking of clouded crystals, your good friend Richard Hoagland has been at it again. Discovery Canada aired a documentary on the Mayan Crystal skull mystery. Guess who was throwing his take on it all? Good ol’ RC. Claims that they are connected to the Face on Mars, of course. Then it just got weird after that.
Now, if you don’t mind, I’m going to check out the single Muslim girls on the Muslim dating site advertised next to the posting.
June 7th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Well, there’s is a vast difference between the name and a depiction.
Certain varieties of Islam take interpret the whole ‘graven images’ thing as strict as possible. Why do you think Alhambra has nothing but nonfigurative artwork?
On the other hand all the Abrahamic religions hold the name of god to be holy in and of itself (some sects more than others, of course).
But seeing “Mohammad” in that squiggle is reeeeeaaaaally stretching it.
June 7th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I knew mohammed was an Ent.
June 7th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Wait…the squiggle just after it…it says ‘Ali’! I guess Allah’s a boxing fan.
June 7th, 2008 at 3:17 pm
A problem I’ve had with a number of people who claim to see Allah or Muhammad (and before you ask - despite my name, I’m an atheist) is that this sort of thing comes perilously close to idol worship. Think about it: an inanimate object is being revered solely due to someone asserting that it carries the name of Muhammad.
As someone raised to be able to read Arabic script - I really don’t see anything except markings on a piece of wood. Sorry.
June 7th, 2008 at 3:19 pm
I meant to write “…who claim to see Allah or Muhammad written everywhere…”
June 7th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Haha, the final letter “written” on that bark looks much more like raa than daal, making the word ???? meaning roasted/fried. Maybe it’s describing Mr. Assad’s brain?
June 7th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
Haha, the final letter “written” on that bark looks much more like raa than daal, making the word ???? meaning roasted/fried. Maybe it’s describing Mr. Assad’s brain?
June 7th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Haha, the final letter ‘written’ on that bark looks much more like raa than daal, making the word “roasted/fried”. Maybe it’s describing Mr. Assad’s brain?
June 7th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Actually, if you squint, it kinda looks like Jesus’ signature. This must be a collector’s edition Piece of the One True Cross.
June 7th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
@# bubba
You know what this means? New Zealand is next. You heard it here first.
June 7th, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Hmmmmm, I wonder what would have happened if the Mohammed cartoons had appeared on a piece of bark.
June 7th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Made me immediately think of this
http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1061#comic
June 7th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
[…] klebende Fritten auf Anhängsel zu untersuchen, in denen sich Gott offenbart. Bad Astronomy - Holey Bark [↩] « Säkulares Norwegen: Ende der Kirchendoktrin Dieser Eintrag wurde von […]
June 7th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
Apophenia is another version of pareidolia, having to do with seeing abnormal connections, as in conspiraqcy theories. It used to be associated with psychosis, but is now recognized as normal, if one is able to accept that what is seen may be irrelevant.
Gary 7
June 7th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
You would think that one of the 5+ millions of people who name themselves Mohammed culd have scratched his name into a tree for his girlfriend.
June 7th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
The geico lizard, reclining?
June 7th, 2008 at 4:32 pm
Yep, I’ve got nothin’. I see random markings on a piece of wood. Comparing the markings with the script, I really don’t see the similarity at all.
June 7th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
I nearly had heart-failure when I saw the google-ad to this piece, Muslima.com, which seems to be a match-making site for muslims
June 7th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Oh, you can see it quite clearly alright. You just have to switch off the parts of your brain that pick up the noise that doesn’t fit the conclusion.
June 7th, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Gee, I just see galleries indicating infestation by carpenter ants or some sort of wood-boring beetle larvae.
June 7th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Astrofys:
Hey, I clicked on there and got a date:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030923/w5.jpg
June 7th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
You would think that if a deity was gong to go to all that effort having a carving of his/her name, on a piece of wood, or toast, or whatever, would at least, do it with legible text.
June 7th, 2008 at 5:53 pm
The crystals I know refract light like crazy and produce distorted images - hence clear as crystal sounds about right in this instance.
Personally, if I were a deity and wanted to announce my presence I’d move a mountain or something. I wouldn’t waste my time squiggling around in a block of wood.
June 7th, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Sadly, they’re missing the mark to one the left side of that piece of bark, which is a depiction of the Flying Spaghetti Monster. True followers of the FSM all read left to right, and this bit of bark is to remind us the the FSM came first.
I’m still waiting to see a nice depiction of the beer volcano lovingly rendered in tree-bark and insect damage.
June 7th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
pcarini, you asked for it, (well the closest I could get was this:)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lenore-m/285224544/
June 7th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
I see a naked girl.
…Damn.
June 7th, 2008 at 7:13 pm
At least now the cartoonists will know their lives are safe if they draw with bug poop.
June 7th, 2008 at 7:52 pm
Islam is very iconoclastic, so really images of people in art are discouraged, to some radicals, even blasphemous. This is especially true in regards to those cartoons. Yet again I think it is a nut religion myself *shrugs*
Personally I cannot see it in the image, however I wonder if it would be more obvious to people who can regularly read and write in Arabic script versus use who cannot (well I don’t know, maybe you can, I can’t).
June 7th, 2008 at 8:56 pm
This makes me wonder what would happen if you made a giant orbital billboard to display “STOP FIGHTING WARS, START HAVING FUN” above the middle east for 20 minutes or so. And have it self-destruct, so no one figures out it’s actually an orbital billboard
June 7th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
To me it looks like a prescription written by a doctor. I think it says “Take two pills similar to the active ingredient in this willow bark and call me in the morning”. Of course only a registered pharmacist can truly decipher the text.
June 7th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Allah sure has crap handwriting.
Sure, bugs aren’t an optimal writing instrument, but you’re a god FFS! Like my mother said, no one’s going to take your work seriously with chickenscratch like that. Now turn off the TV and you sit right here and practice writing that 100 times. And I better be able to read each and every one of them or you’ll have to do it again.
June 7th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Michael L-
Excellent work.. I think I teared up, just a little bit.
June 7th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
pcarini:
He touched me, he touched me, and Oh the Pasta that floods my mouth…
His noodly appendages always make me weep
June 8th, 2008 at 12:31 am
You know, at least bleeding statues show evidence of someone who has put a lot of work into something, this is just being lazy.
June 8th, 2008 at 12:35 am
They are bark beetle larva galleries. Borer beetles make tunnels directly into the truck.
June 8th, 2008 at 1:06 am
Phil,
I don’t understand why you chose to write this blog. I have a great deal of respect for you. You have a very rational and scientific mind, but stick to debunking SCIENTIFIC fallacies. I, myself am an atheist, but I would never intentionally insult anyone’s religious beliefs like this.
The claim may be absurd, but why not let it go?
It may be annoying to see someone blame natural events on a deity, but I know that you are secure enough in your knowledge of science that you are not threatened by this.
You, more than Mr. Busool, are guilty of crossing the line between science and superstition. He, at least, doesn’t know any better. You do.
June 8th, 2008 at 1:08 am
P.S.
Shame on you =(
June 8th, 2008 at 1:36 am
Can’t wait for BA’s response to Mat… Eeek
June 8th, 2008 at 1:40 am
Vashta Narada are spawning in the tree and eating their way out! Count the shadows…. and……RUN!
June 8th, 2008 at 2:03 am
Oh dear, Phil. You managed to annoy another lurker who won’t be back. Nor missed.
June 8th, 2008 at 2:28 am
You meanie Phil, you’ve upset another faux atheist, shame on you
June 8th, 2008 at 2:59 am
To quote Caesar:
“Man sees what man wishes to see.“
June 8th, 2008 at 3:08 am
If it had been the face of Mohammed, would they have burnt down the forest?
June 8th, 2008 at 3:09 am
So why then do they freak out, if an ice cream lid promulgates their favourite deity?
June 8th, 2008 at 3:42 am
lurker.. I suppose, but I’ve been reading for a long time. And I will continue.
John Phillips, you call me a faux atheist, like you expect it would hurt my feelings. Are you bored or something? is this what you do for fun?
I’m open to argument, but please, but spare me the childish internet banter. I was not offended by this blog, but i know people who would be.
My point is that Phil Plait should stick to what he knows; science. I am all for debunking sudo science, but I believe in a sense of propriety.
In the interest of others feelings, religion should not be made light of.
unless of course, you don’t care about others feelings. its up to you
June 8th, 2008 at 4:09 am
“unless of course, you don’t care about others feelings.”
Then what about the feelings of those, who’s faulty “science” he debunks? Should he also care about them, and refrain from debunking them. This is Phil’s personal blog, so he can (and probably will) insult who ever he choses - and I’m all for it.
June 8th, 2008 at 4:42 am
Well the first thing I saw when I looked at it was a jesus-like figure on all fours taking something up the you know where. Then I noticed it looked more like he was on his hands with really long squiggly legs, nothing in his you know where. Then I compared the squiggles with the writing pictured below and found zero resemblance.
Look at the way the writing is between the left side to the left-most circle, and compare that with the image above. It’s not even close. To the right of that is even further off.
June 8th, 2008 at 4:47 am
Arabic calligraphy is very, very diverse and so the chances for experiencing pareidolia with arabic phrases are pretty good, if not better than the chance of seeing a certain bearded man on food items.
When I was a teen I remember seeing a pattern of lichen on one of the rocks in Stone Henge that suspiciously resembled the word “Allah” in Arabic. Now, as a rationalist, when I look at the photo of that lichen, can I see why I thought so: the font that I associated with the pattern was Kufic, and had I restricted to looking out for “normal” font I wouldn’t have noticed it.
That said, even as an Arab speaker I agree with Adnan. I find it hard to recognize the name; the last letter (”D”) is way too elongated and be construed as an “L”, the “H” is barely there and the “M” is just a joke, it looks like a splotch. If this is God’s work he had better take up some more writing classes because I’m noticing some half finished letters and can easily read this as “Sememel.” Who is Sememel?
June 8th, 2008 at 4:50 am
Sheesh. Looks nothing like Arabic.
It’s obviously Klingon!
June 8th, 2008 at 5:16 am
Allah’s handwriting is worse than mine.
June 8th, 2008 at 6:42 am
@Mat
The clue is in the intro (see above right) Phil describes himself as an astronomer, writer and SKEPTIC. Skepticism is used in ALL fields of life, politics, religion, advertising, the TV we watch, the books we read, the people we meet. It is not just confined to science.
June 8th, 2008 at 6:43 am
French fry cross: Look at the tail - it’s obviously King Trident from the Little Mermaid - http://kingdomhearts.wikia.com/wiki/King_Triton
June 8th, 2008 at 7:46 am
So lemme get this straight - According to Islam :
Woodbark saying Mohammad = good.
Naming a child Mohammad = good.
Naming a teddy bear after a child named Mohammad = BLASHPHEMY!! Kill the idolater! Kill the idolater!
Huh?
… &
Making pictures of Mohammad = BLASHPHEMY!! Kill the idolater! Kill the idolater!
But
Writing Mohammads name = good …
Huh? How does that figure then? Scratches head ..
.. & again
Worshipping idols = BLASHPHEMY!! Kill the idolater! Kill the idolater! & blow up their holy statutes too however revered and beautiful and historic eg. the Bamiyan Buddhas & Taliban …
But
Worshipping a meteorite = One of the biggest things and most scared duties of being Moslem …(the Ka’abah (Spelling?) prob’ly a fragment of the asteroid Kalliope - according to Carl Sagan?)
Huh?
& now my favourites - Pakistan was a country specially created for Moslems with a name meaning “Land of the Pure ” (ie. Pure Moslems only, Hindu’s & others not welcome!) yet in English its major cities are saying :
1. “Islam-is-bad!”
2. “Allah-is-bad!”
&
3. “La (w)hore” or, in French, the Prostitute!
———————–
Hmmm ….
Oh frak! I think I’ve just had a jihad declared on me…! :-0
rant mode on
I like to see the media pick a certain day - say the 9th of September - every year on which every media outlet, newspaper and broadcaster simultaneously republishes those “offensive” Danish Mo-ham-mad cartoons … & excerpts from the Satanic verses .. & Dawkin’s chapters on islam and … whatever else will really, really cheese off those Moslems nutters as a big SOD YOU* to them! & esp. to their attempts to tell everyone else on the planet what we can and can’t write & say & read & see & be! & we keep doing this until every last jihad has been caleld off & every last terrorist killed or captured.
rant mode off
Hmm … If that jihad wasn’t declared on me before I’m guessing it is now ..
———————————
* Okay I can’t say what I really want to say here because of the swearing policy but surely BA saying “Sod” is acceptable here isn’t it..?
June 8th, 2008 at 7:58 am
Lazze on 08 Jun 2008 at 4:09 am
“unless of course, you don’t care about others feelings.”
Then what about the feelings of those, who’s faulty “science” he debunks? Should he also care about them, and refrain from debunking them. This is Phil’s personal blog, so he can (and probably will) insult who ever he choses - and I’m all for it.”
Well said & seconded by me!
Do I care about the feelings of Moslem whackjobs like Osama bin laden or Ayatollah Ahmadinhejad?
NO!! I most emphatically do NOT!
Quite frankly, some people and some groups deserve to be ridiculed and offended and laughed at because their beliefs really are just dumb!
Hitler had feelings, Stalin & Mao have feelings - should we treat their beliefs with respect? Hell NO!
I don’t believe anyone or anything should be exempt from having the P taken .. If a beleif system cannot cope with a bit of humour .. it can’t be worth believing.
Sod this Politically Correct rubbish. Let’s say what we think .. & allow others to do likewise.
I’m happy for people to laugh at me - I’m happy to laugh at them.
All this over-preciousness & Oh wecan say this or that … or whatever .. Well stuff that!
Let’s be honest.
Let’s call a spade a spade and be willing to speak up for what we believ in - & also be willing for all other people to do the same.
Phil feel free to cut loose and offend whoever thehell youwant -its your blog!
Not that you don’t already know this or need anyone’s permission anyhow.
June 8th, 2008 at 8:06 am
Was meant to be :
All this over-preciousness PC & “Oh we can’t say this or that … or whatever ..” guff. Well stuff that!
& BA feel free to drop that prissy, gorsh-darned, dad-blamed, billpickled, do-diddly-doo-dah’d no frickin swearing rule anytime you like too!
You dang-nabbed varmint!
(Joking! Great blog really but that is a silly law that makes things sound .. well silly.)
June 8th, 2008 at 8:13 am
Oh & sod “Godwin’s law” too.
June 8th, 2008 at 8:23 am
Oh wow, Joker - never heard that one about Lahore (where my parents were born) before. *Rolls eyes*
The history behind Pakistan is somewhat hazy, and due to convoluted colonial politics, but one of the things that Jinnah -himself fairly secular- mentioned in his address to the assembly in 1947 was that:
“…you are free- you are free to go to your temples mosques or any other place of worship in this state of Pakistan. You may belong to any religion, caste or creed that has nothing to do with the business of the state… in due course of time Hindus will cease to be Hindus and Muslims will cease to be Muslims- not in a religious sense for that is the personal faith of an individual- but in a political sense as citizens of one state…”
Ok, so going by current events, that didn’t exactly work out.
I know this is rather off-topic, but Pakistan isn’t entirely made up of fundamentalists, Joker. Some have pointed Ak-47s at me, true (you try explaining Sex-Ed to cranky types in the NWFP), but not all.
Also, I think you meant ‘fatwa’ not ‘jihad’ as the latter’s generally interpreted as ’struggle’ in English. And it’s Muslim, not Moslem. Also, the Satanic Verses let me down - just a boring book that got lucky in terms of promotion. Trust me, I was reading through it trying to figured out what was so bad ass about it, and got really disappointed.
As for the Kaaba? Even after reading about it, it still doesn’t make sense in regards to the “do not worship idols” stance that Islam takes, and it’s fun making scholars - I’ve a number of them in my family - squirm. Even better, ask a scholar about the Wahabis smashing a mosaic that was on the side of the Kaaba, that Mo had approved. Yep, an image on the Kaaba was Ok’ed by the big kahuna himself, and the Wahabis smashed it. For some reason, The Saudis don’t talk about it…
June 8th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Side note: I’m not attacking you by the way, Joker. Just a couple of corrections, is all.
June 8th, 2008 at 8:53 am
Turn it at an angle and you have a map of the New Jersey Turnpike from Trenton to East Brunswick, clearly a well-traveled road.
June 8th, 2008 at 9:29 am
GoP, I think you will find that most people here have quite sophisticated views on the Isreali-Palestine conflict.
“Then to add insults to injuries you have ignorant loud-mouthed morons insulting and abusing everything you believe in and treating your deepest held beliefs as a joke…”
Well, that’s freedom of speech for you. And you just made liberal use of it yourself.
And for the record, most of the anti-religion sentiments here are directed to Christianity, not Islam or Judaism, precisely because the average commenter here is more familiar with it.
June 8th, 2008 at 9:32 am
“Who is Sememel?”
Samael’s younger brother? Or the god of semolina?
Also, I can’t believe I’m the first one to say:
Something’s hokey in Skokie!
…
I’m sorry, I had to.
*Sits in the corner*
June 8th, 2008 at 9:47 am
GoP, there might be things which I find a wee off colour (see my response to the Lahore comment above), but I hardly think that people are being bigoted.
Yes, they’re mocking aspects of modern Islam (and some classic aspects, too), but they do it to other faiths as well. I also agree that Israel has quite a lot to answer for in terms of its policies towards the Palestinians amongst others (I’ve been to a number of protests against the Israeli occupation) but this isn’t the thread for it. As Mr Pieter Kok implies, what Joker et al are doing is practicing freedom of speech, which is what you’ve done as well.
On a side note: I see from your page that you’re Uni of Sheff (represent!) Faculty. As a recent (Archaeology) Masters alumni, can I please urge you to get the Uni to change the colour of the Information Commons? It haunts me.
June 8th, 2008 at 10:15 am
@GoP:
“The nasty side of Islam is an ant-hill compared to the skyscraper of evil that is the Jewish faith / ethnicity-racial cult.”
Yeah well… Tell that to the eight workers at the Danish Embassy in Islamabad most recently victims of an muslim extremist suicide bomber.
And why? Because of some drawings.. Get over yourselves already.
June 8th, 2008 at 10:45 am
Mat, there is a difference in some cases between religion and outright silliness. Maybe others will be more harsh about this difference or lack thereof, but in my case I don’t have a problem with people choosing to believe in Islam.
But pareidolia is just downright silly. Trying to find signs of faith in the twisted interpretations of the brain demeans any potential significance religion may hold. You may note I don’t mock the religion.
If a claim is absurd, why should I let it go? The very prevalence of this sort of nonsense is the very reason I attack it. If it were one person somewhere making one ridiculous claim of a deity in one rotten potato, then that’s no worry. But when the media feel the need to write about this stuff every time it happens, time and time again, then we obviously have a problem. One solution is to shed light on it.
Just because someone believes something doesn’t give them a “get out of jail” free card, releasing them from rebuttal or discerning reason. There have been countless times I have calmly and rationally discussed why this or that belief isn’t true. And in general I try to be somewhat polite (unless the attacks on rationality have the force of what I call evil behind them — see any post I have made about teaching creationism, for example). In this case again you may note I didn’t call the cab driver a fool, or an idiot, or a religious nutcase. I mocked him, but only on his attitude (that this was “crystal clear “proof).
Some things are crying out for a little sarcasm, a little snark. Pareidolia is one of them.
I am someone who thinks that this sort of thing is creeping irrationality, apt to grow — and the riots in Denmark, Syria, India, Somalia, Indonesia, and Afghanistan over cartoons — cartoons — bear me out. The more we do to stamp it out, the more rational, reason-based, and simply better this world will be. If you want to let things like this go, then by all means do so. I myself will not.
June 8th, 2008 at 10:50 am
Pieter (and everyone else here): Ghosts of Palestine has stepped way over the line of my commenting policy — which simply states “don’t be a jerk” — in his last comment. I marked it as spam, and will continue to mark all his comments as spam as he posts them.
In other words, don’t bother replying to him. But do let me know if he posts again.
June 8th, 2008 at 10:59 am
@Joker:
Cue Star Wars “Darth Vader music & breathing”
I sense the Jihad is strong on this one…
June 8th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
The Uni of Shef comment was for Mr. Kok. Sorry.
June 8th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
Allah: please write out the entire Qur’an in *clear* handwriting in sand dunes in the Sahara Desert. Or better yet, rearrange the stars into some pattern that clearly spells out “Islam is the true religion.” And why have you been writing in Arabic? Most Arabic speakers already believe in you. Next time try English, Spanish or Chinese.
June 8th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
If I am an omnipotent, allknowing entity, who wants to reveal its existance to the world, I would consider as well to influence a beetle to engrave my name to the inside of a bark in some place 99% of the world’s population has never heard of and to be discovered by a religious loony. Mmh.. yes, makes perfect sense.
Several holy books have shown that there is a great likelyhood for success in that approach.
June 8th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Of course, if it was clearly written, then no one would think it was miraculous — it would be too obviously the work of human hands. Tricky things, these miracles.
June 8th, 2008 at 7:26 pm
But we are threatened when these people organize and try to get laws passed based on their religious beliefs. The EU is seeing a similar metastasizing of their little Islamic problem.
This stuff needs to be opposed on all fronts. The experience of history demands it. Toxic memes thousands of years old are not just going to go away on their own.
June 8th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
@Michele,
Thanks. Now all I can “see” in the bark is two naked women, reclining back with their feet touching. That’s not the problem.
The problem now is the Arabic lettering looks to me like two people… um… well, enjoying each other.
I’m sure some deity will smite me or something soon.
June 8th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
I don’t understand why you chose to write this blog. I have a great deal of respect for you. You have a very rational and scientific mind, but stick to debunking SCIENTIFIC fallacies. I, myself am an atheist, but I would never intentionally insult anyone’s religious beliefs like this.
Just a thought — long before he started poking fun at religious paredolia, Phil was poking fun at the Face on Mars and associated silliness. You evidently had no objection there. Should this particular sort of silliness get a free pass if it is associated with a large monotheistic religion but not if it is associated with a fringe NASA-conspiracy-ET-is-real crowd?
This isn’t insulting Islam, in my opinion, though given that people can be offended at practically anything, odds are, someone, somewhere is offended. But science should not be circumscribed by the limits of what someone, somewhere will find offensive. Should he similarly avoid discussing evolution or the age of the universe, since that offends the religious sensibilities of young-earth creationists?
June 9th, 2008 at 5:11 am
LOL, Adnan! I love the Information Commons rusty copper colour!
June 9th, 2008 at 7:39 am
@Pieter Kok: o_O
I’d only ever seen it at night - joy for dissertation writing - so seeing it in the day time was traumatic. And that’s not rusty copper - it’s aquamarine. The horror. The horror.
June 9th, 2008 at 8:04 am
Islam seem to me a religion that is mostly occupied with being offended at things.
They’re begging for something real nasty. No, I’m not talking about this innocent fun at BABlog, rather something that will make them declare jihad on their own noses and hopefully self-destruct.
(The rest of my comment is self censored, as it contained all too much hate.)
June 9th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Joker said:
> & BA feel free to drop that prissy, gorsh-darned, dad-blamed, billpickled, do-diddly-doo-dah’d no frickin swearing rule anytime you like too!
>(Joking! Great blog really but that is a silly law that makes things sound .. well silly.)
No, it’s not the rule that makes things sound silly, it’s your inability to express yourself without colorful emphatics.
June 9th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Skokie is well known for its citizens being predominantly Jewish - Allah clearly has chosen to manifest himself in an odd place.
June 9th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
A buddy just gave me a potato yesterday shaped like a heart. He thought it would be a great photo for my blog when I write about healthy recipes.
Any 2 lines intersecting produce a cross, duh! And folks usually aren’t too picky about the angle of intersection or whether they are just a Y and not an X.
I just finished reading “Angels and Demons” by Dan Brown, the pre-quel to “Da Vinci Code.” Movie filming just started on it last week. Anyhew, the protagonists is Amazed! Astonished! that churches in Rome have lots of triangles and ellipses, OBVIOUSLY meaning that the architects were Illuminati. Or that any 3 points not in a straight line produce a triangle when connected…not a right triangle, mind you, any old triangle. Sigh. Choose some of the most common geometric patterns and say they have “meaning” and you will have enough evidence to prove any conspiracy theory.
I’m going to take my heart-shaped potato as a sign that I should eat potatoes that have NOT been french-fried or potato-chipped.
June 9th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
The best Mohammad can do is come back in the form of a bug!?!?! At least our Jesus can take the form of a waffle.
June 9th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
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June 10th, 2008 at 8:16 am
[…] Inspirado neste post. […]
June 16th, 2008 at 5:35 am
I get what you are saying Mat. I don’t entirely agree but I have felt similarly at times.
July 22nd, 2008 at 2:17 pm
[…] Muslims see them too. We knew this already, but I think this one is marginally better, if by better you mean "you don’t have to […]