Is This the Curmudgeon’s Last Free Fire Zone?

As you know, your Curmudgeon has been struggling with the new editor here at WordPress, and we’ve also been struggling to restore the old classic editor.  Nothing works.  Oh, we can write — as we’re doing now, but we can’t do links, and we can’t correctly format excerpts from other blogs and articles.

So where does that leave us? Well, we can’t keep blogging as we used to.  That’s not much of a catastrophe.  We’ve mentioned before that creationism isn’t what it used to be.  In recent years, there haven’t been many creationist laws introduced into state legislatures — and those that do get introduced never become law.  Also there hasn’t been any litigation about creationism.  Since Kitzmiller (no link, but you can find it at Wikipedia), lawyers haven’t been interested in the subject.  Also, we don’t encounter many creationists running for public office with creationism as part of their campaign.

So we don’t have hard-core creationist news like we did in the early days of this blog.  We still have creationist organizations, and we probably always will, but other than appealing to (and soliciting funds from) hard-core droolers, outfits like the Discoveroids and Hambo’s tourist attractions don’t mean too much.

It won’t be a catastrophe if this humble blog goes out of business. We’ll miss it, because it’s been a load of fun,  and some of our commenters have been with us from the beginning.  But we don’t have to shut down completely.  We can still post occasional essays — as we’re doing now — which don’t require any special formatting. Maybe we’ll do some of that. But the principal function of this blog — ridiculing creationist websites and activities — can’t be done without links and formatting.

Anyway, that’s the situation. This blog, as we’ve known it, won’t be around any more.  We’ll miss it, and we’ll miss you. But we may have things to say from time to time, and If we do, we’ll say it here, at the same website.  Until then, your Curmudgeon is signing off.

Copyright © 2024. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

Hambo Tells You Where Meet a Good Christian Girl

This one isn’t very thrilling, but it’s the best we can find.  It’s at the website of Ken Ham (ol’ Hambo) — the ayatollah of Appalachia, the world’s holiest man who knows more about religion and science than everyone else. His website appears to be totally re-arranged, and it’s a bit difficult finding our way around there.  Anyway, his post from January 1 is titled:  Is Ark Encounter One of the “Best Places to Meet a Good Christian Girl”?

 Because of the glorious new software here at WordPress, we’re not even going to try giving you a link to Hambo’s article. If you want to see it just as it appears at Hambo’s website, you’ll have to find it for yourself.  Anyway, here are some excerpts, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]. Here we go!

 After reading the title for today’s blog, you might be wondering what such a headline could be all about! You might be alarmed we are starting a dating service! But you’ll be less confused when I tell you who claims the Ark Encounter is one of the top “10 Best Places To Meet A Good Christian Girl”—it’s a headline from The Babylon Bee!

We always assumed that Hambo’s place was good for meeting drooling people, but girls? Ah well, here’s another excerpt:

Finding a good, Christian girl has never been harder. That’s why The Babylon Bee is here to help out by offering you this tried and tested list of the absolute best places to look.

It’s great of ol’ Hambo to help us out. He continues:

What’s number three on the list?

Ark Encounter: If she refers to the Ark as a ship and not a “boat,” marry her on the spot.

What? Hambo explains:

  Now, while you can’t actually marry a girl on the spot at the Ark Encounter, I love this joke because it goes back to our Answers for Women conference in 2021 when Kyle Mann of The Babylon Bee spoke to the hundreds of women in attendance. He called the life-size Noah’s Ark a “boat,” and I had already in my talk told the women not to call it a boat, as it’s a massive ship not a boat (“boat” makes people think of something small; ship emphasizes the size the ark truly was). Kyle didn’t know this, so when he called the Ark a boat, 2,000 women yelled out at him, “It’s a ship.” He was quite perplexed at first but soon understood. He’s used this to harass me (and AiG) ever since!

That’s really funny stuff — in Hambo’s world. Here’s the rest of it:

  I thought you’d enjoy their joke as a fun way to start out the New Year. (You can discover the other nine places to meet “a good Christian girl” in the full article.)

That’s it, dear reader — it’s all we could find today.  And it’s the best we can do with the new editor.  If things don’t improve, we’re seriously thinking of giving up.  We shall see.

Copyright © 2024. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

The Discoveroids’ Greatest Success of the Year

 

[30-second sound clip] You are about to leave reality and travel into another dimension — a dimension of the mind, a dimension that exists beyond the laws of nature, unknowable by evidence and reason — a wondrous land of Oogity Boogity! You have embarked on a journey into the realm of miracles and mysticism, where your only guide is faith. There’s a signpost up ahead: Next stop — The Drool Zone.

Yes, dear reader, the annual drama (which we’ve ignored this year — until now) has reached its climax.  The Discoveroids have arrived at the summit of the list of their Top Ten stories for the year that just ended. It’s a list of the momentous events that have thrilled the Discoveroids and their generous patrons for the past year. We’ve been ignoring everything they’ve been tooting about so far, but we can’t ignore the final item in this year’s list.

The title of today’s post at the Discoveroids’ website is:  https://evolutionnews.org/2024/01/happy-new-year-1-story-of-2023-joe-rogan-and-stephen-meyer-talk-science-and-faith/

Happy New Year! No. 1 Story of 2023: Joe Rogan and Stephen Meyer Talk Science and Faith.

It’s a copy of something they posted on 13 July, but like all their other Top Ten stories for the year, we ignored it at the time.  Their author is Andrew Mc Diarmid, Director of Podcasting and a Discoveroid Senior Fellow.  Impressive!  Here are some excerpts from Andy’s exciting post, with bold font added by us for emphasis,  and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look look [like this]. Here we go!

On his way to teach at this year’s CSC Summer Seminar program in Colorado, Stephen Meyer made a stop in Austin, Texas, to do an interview with none other than Mr. Joe Rogan, comedian, MMA enthusiast, and host of America’s biggest podcast, the Joe Rogan Experience.

We never heard of him, but that’s irrelevant. The exciting tale continues:

According to a report from Time Magazine, Rogan’s show boasts a daily audience of 11 million, making it Spotify’s most popular offering and a unique opportunity that Meyer was delighted to accept. 

Obviously, this is a big deal.  Here’s more:

In a conversation lasting almost three and a half hours [<font color=”red”><em>Gasp!</em></font>] , Rogan asked probing questions about Meyer’s reasons for doubting neo-Darwinism, his scientific arguments for intelligent design, and his latest book, Return of the God Hypothesis. But he also asked about the problem of evil, the latest findings of the James Webb Space Telescope, the multiverse concept, the origin of language, free will and determinism, the possibility of miracles, the possible existence of alien life forms, the use of psychedelics as a way of experiencing transcendence, and Meyer’s own personal religious experience as well his reasons for affirming the reliability of the Bible.

Exciting, isn’t it? The thrilling tale continues:

“Now I know why they call it the Joe Rogan Experience!” Meyer said. “Joe is insatiably curious and he asked many probing questions in an interview that flowed naturally from one deep subject to another.  He definitely put me through my paces, but all in his trademark spirit of open inquiry. The discussion was a ton of fun and the time flew by. I was shocked to look up at the clock afterward and to find out that we’d been talking for three hours and twenty minutes. Oh, and he’s also even more ripped than he appears on camera!”

Okay, one final paragraph:

It’s free to watch or listen to the interview, but you’ll need a free Spotify account to do so. Here’s the link to the Joe Rogan Experience page on Spotify.

That’s it, dear reader — the biggest, most spectacular, most successful event of the year — for the Discoveroids. You’re impressed, aren’t you? Tell us all about it.

Copyright © 2024. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.

What Did Klinghoffer Step In?

Once again, we visit the website of the Discovery Institute. Their latest, written by Klinghoffer, is titled  <a href=”https://evolutionnews.org/2023/12/stepping-in-it-an-alternative-to-the-academic-wasteland/”><strong>Stepping in It: An Alternative to the Academic Wasteland</strong></a>.

As you can see, we’re struggling with the WordPress new editor, so bear with us. That link is amazingly ugly, but it works. Here are some excerpts from the Discoveroid blog article, with bold font added by us for emphasis, and occasional Curmudgeonly interjections that look [like this]:

This actually happened. At Discovery Institute’s Christmas lunch, colleagues shared highlights of 2023. After this uplifting event at Ivar’s by the waterfront in Seattle, I walked out onto the sidewalk, enjoying the salty mist and the majestic Olympic Mountains. Then I looked down — and saw I’d stepped into something that really, really, REALLY doesn’t belong on a sidewalk. [BWAHAHAHAHAHA!] Residents of Seattle, San Francisco, and similar cities will know too well what I’m talking about.

We know exactly what he’s talking about — he stepped in a steaming hot pile of creationism! Then he says:

[I]it struck me that providence had delivered a reminder of the choice Americans face. There it was: the dichotomy between majesty and inspiration, and downfall and degradation. Are humans imperfect reflections of a sublime purpose behind the cosmos, or are we the mere outcomes of chance happenings long ago, fated to do nothing more than decay?

Do you know what he’s talking about there? We don’t either. Then he babbles for a few paragraphs about the wonderful work the Discoveroids are doing. He ends with a request for  contributions, so they can continue their work, and he wishes you a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

So there you have it — a great Discoveroid post.

Copyright © 2023. The Sensuous Curmudgeon. All rights reserved.