Ben Stein's new movie Expelled

[Terrifel]

@Diogenes the Cynic

I think Ben Stein is one of those personalities who a lot of Americans would recocgnize by sight (or sound), but not necessarily by name. They’d know him from Ferris Bueller if nothing else.

Which raises the question, “How many different types of ways are there to recognize Ben Stein?” Could people recognize him by smell? Does he have a distinct odor? Close up, I imagine that he probably smells like a mixture of talcum powder and Henry Kissinger. Does he have any unique tactile properties? What does he taste like?

[Diogenes_the_Cynic]

@Terrifel

Which raises the question, “How many different types of ways are there to recognize Ben Stein?” Could people recognize him by smell? Does he have a distinct odor? Close up, I imagine that he probably smells like a mixture of talcum powder and Henry Kissinger. Does he have any unique tactile properties? What does he taste like?

If you take a big whiff, I think you might detect a faint odor of bullshit.

[Boyo_Jim]

@Terrifel

Which raises the question, “How many different types of ways are there to recognize Ben Stein?” Could people recognize him by smell? Does he have a distinct odor? Close up, I imagine that he probably smells like a mixture of talcum powder and Henry Kissinger. Does he have any unique tactile properties? What does he taste like?

Carp and pond scum?

[Cervaise]

@Diogenes the Cynic

I think Ben Stein is one of those personalities who a lot of Americans would recocgnize by sight (or sound), but not necessarily by name. They’d know him from Ferris Bueller if nothing else.

Maybe this explains why he’s working so hard on the bullshit creationism stuff now. Maybe he’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown from all the people constantly walking up to him and saying “Bueller, Bueller” year after year after year, and he desperately wants to give the mouthbreathing public something else to recognize him by, before he goes completely postal.

(If so, he needs some perspective; it could be worse. He could be Gedde Watanabe, who’s had people shouting “no more yanky my wanky” at him for twenty-five years.)

</only partly kidding>

[42fish]

@Cervaise

Maybe this explains why he’s working so hard on the bullshit creationism stuff now. Maybe he’s on the verge of a nervous breakdown from all the people constantly walking up to him and saying “Bueller, Bueller” year after year after year, and he desperately wants to give the mouthbreathing public something else to recognize him by, before he goes completely postal.

So in 2040, we can look forward to ‘Expelled 2: The Final Expulsion*’ narrated by Christopher Mintz-Plasse, who will have been driven over the edge by three decades of people yelling ‘McLovin!’ at him.
*Or even better, ‘Expelled 2: Expulsion Boogaloo’

[chorpler]

@Fuji

Hey, that’s what he said.

Of course it’s false, literally AND metaphorically.

Just to clarify, I didn’t think that you thought it was true, but when I read that I had a moment of “What?! Hitler was descended from Darwin?! How did I miss that?!” and a few minutes of frantic Googling and Wikipedia-ing before I satisfied myself that Stein was just rambling incoherently and making no sense, which sadly seems to be par for the course these days.

[Scylla]

@tomndebb

“bananas were created to be held in the hand”

You have to admit though that it’s a pretty compelling argument.

[Sampiro]

@Scylla

You have to admit though that it’s a pretty compelling argument.

As well as kind of sexy when 80s teen heart throb turned ferociously wacky Fundie Kirk Cameron says “And it’s even handily angled towards your mouth” prior to going down on it. So many 20 year old fantasies revisited at long last, and now with 80% more Jesus. (The reason I don’t eat liver is it’s not angled towards my mouth, but then cows aren’t as evolved as bananas.)

Speaking of EXPELLED, did anybody notice the commercials for it during last night’s Colbert Report (assuming they aired nationwide)?

[Tuckerfan]

Not surprisingly, Scientific American’s got a pretty dim view of the movie. Even less surprising, as is revealed in the podcast, is that the producers lied to the “Darwinists” that they interviewed.

[Tapioca_Dextrin]

@Scylla

You have to admit though that it’s a pretty compelling argument.

What about left handed folks? Where are their bananas? Hmmmm :dubious:

[Tuckerfan]

@Tapioca Dextrin

What about left handed folks? Where are their bananas? Hmmmm :dubious:

Well, obviously, leftie’s are the spawn of Satan, and thus undeserving of bananas.

[Icerigger]

I used to love his game show the questions were very difficult more so than Jeopardy. I remember hints of a moral character problem during the lighting round when he would miss a question, the look of shock and anger on his face and the mouthing of “fuck” on his lips. He just could not believe he got something wrong. I guess Ben simply believes he can’t be wrong despite the evidence. Intelligent people are just as susceptible to error as the rest of us.

[Martini_Enfield]

@Menocchio

It is late and I am tired.

So brilliantly rendered by G. Larson through the medium of ink & paper, if I’m not mistaken.

[Czarcasm]

@Scylla

You have to admit though that it’s a pretty compelling argument.

About as compelling as my contention that masturbation must be God’s will, because the penis fits so nicely in the hand and is always within reach.

[Hentor_the_Barbarian]

If bananas were created to fit in the hand, what were apples created to fit in? What about cherries? Gerbils?

[CalMeacham]

The latest issue of Skeptical INquirer has an article on the movie, but it doesn’t seem to be up on their website.

[Revtim]

@Icerigger

I used to love his game show the questions were very difficult more so than Jeopardy. I remember hints of a moral character problem during the lighting round when he would miss a question, the look of shock and anger on his face and the mouthing of “fuck” on his lips. He just could not believe he got something wrong. I guess Ben simply believes he can’t be wrong despite the evidence. Intelligent people are just as susceptible to error as the rest of us.

I recall him not accepting that the Immaculate Conception referred to the conception of Mary, and not the conception of Christ.

[Frylock]

@Icerigger

I used to love his game show the questions were very difficult more so than Jeopardy. I remember hints of a moral character problem during the lighting round when he would miss a question, the look of shock and anger on his face and the mouthing of “fuck” on his lips. He just could not believe he got something wrong. I guess Ben simply believes he can’t be wrong despite the evidence. Intelligent people are just as susceptible to error as the rest of us.

That’s a very strong conclusion to draw from seeing someone get ticked and say “fuck” upon answering a trivia question wrong.

-FrL-

[Edward_The_Head]

@Hentor the Barbarian

If bananas were created to fit in the hand, what were apples created to fit in? What about cherries? Gerbils?

We all know where gerbils are supposed to fit, just ask Gere.

[crowmanyclouds]

@Sampiro

… The reason I don’t eat liver is it’s not angled towards my mouth, but then cows aren’t as evolved as bananas. …

Your not holding the fork right!

@Sampiro

… Speaking of EXPELLED, did anybody notice the commercials for it during last night’s Colbert Report (assuming they aired nationwide)?

Is this the one where Ben “I’m channeling Ferris Bueller” Stein asks his Satan worshiping Darwinist Nazi teacher “but how did life start?”? The stupidity of the movie’s whole premise in one sentence!

The movie big science[sup][SIZE=1]™[/sup]doesn’t want you to see.[/SIZE]
(Big Science. Hallelujah. Big Science. Yodellayheehoo. Hey Professor! Could you turn out the lights? Let’s roll the film.
Big Science. Hallelujah. Every man, every man for himself. Big Science. Hallelujah. Yodellayheehoo.
Damn you Laurie Anderson, I knew you were in on the conspiracy!)

CMC +fnord!

Originally Posted by Scylla
You have to admit though that it’s a pretty compelling argument.

Only if you know nothing about bannannannas.

This is a “wild” banana (more commonly known as a [DEL]“I.D.”[/DEL] “creationist” banana by us [DEL]Satan worshiping Darwinist Nazi’s[/DEL] evolutionists) note the not exactly hand-friendly shape and the dismal tasty fruit to seed ratio.

This is the banana we’ve all known and loved since the 60’s (despite the fact that it’s a mediocre 'nana), the Cavendish,

… The Cavendish gained popularity in the 1950s after the previously mass produced cultivar, Gros Michel, became commercially unviable due to Panama disease, a fungus which attacks the roots of the banana plant.
The most important properties making ‘Cavendish’ the main export banana are related to transport and shelf life rather than taste; major commercial cultivars rarely have a superior flavour compared to the less widespread cultivars. Export bananas are picked green, and then usually ripened in ripening rooms when they arrive in their country of destination. These are special rooms made air-tight and filled with ethylene gas to induce ripening. Bananas can be ordered by the retailer “ungassed”, however, and may show up at the supermarket still fully green. While these bananas will ripen more slowly, the flavour will be notably richer, and the banana peel can be allowed to reach a yellow/brown speckled phase, and yet retain a firm flesh inside. Thus, shelf life is somewhat extended. The flavour and texture of bananas are affected by the temperature at which they ripen. Bananas are refrigerated to between 13.5 and 15 °C (57 and 59 °F) during transportation. At lower temperatures, the ripening of bananas permanently stalls, and the bananas will eventually turn grey. …[RIGHT]CITE[/RIGHT]

and given this,

While the original bananas contained rather large seeds, triploid (and thus seedless) cultivars have been selected for human consumption. These are propagated asexually from offshoots of the plant. The plant is allowed to produce 2 shoots at a time; a larger one for fruiting immediately and a smaller “sucker” or “follower” that will produce fruit in 6–8 months time. The life of a banana plantation is 25 years or longer, during which time the individual stools or planting sites may move slightly from their original positions as lateral rhizome formation dictates.

Cultivated bananas are parthenocarpic, which makes them sterile and unable to produce viable seeds. Lacking seeds, another form of propagation is required. This involves removing and transplanting part of the underground stem (called a corm). Usually this is done by carefully removing a sucker (a vertical shoot that develops from the base of the banana pseudostem) with some roots intact. However, small sympodial corms, representing not yet elongated suckers, are easier to transplant and can be left out of the ground for up to 2 weeks; they require minimal care and can be boxed together for shipment.

In some countries, bananas are commercially propagated by means of tissue culture. This method is preferred since it ensures disease-free planting material. When using vegetative parts such as suckers for propagation, there is a risk of transmitting diseases (especially the devastating Panama disease).

their “creator” is clear.
But, we’ve done all this before.