The Dawkins Foundation has posted what I suppose is its own list of the “Top 10 questions from Richard’s live chat on reddit.” You’ll learn what his favorite soup is (I like that one, too, but give me New England clam chowder any day), whether he thinks any animals are religious, what his greatest achievement is (you should already know that if you’re a regular here), how he thinks American science education can best be improved, and who was the most frustrating person with whom he ever debated evolution (if you follow Dawkins you can guess that one, too).
I especially appreciate his answer to question #9.
h/t: Matt
Jerry, with regards to #9…well, it seems to me that you’d be the best person to do an Attenborough- / Sagan-style series on why evolution is true. I don’t know if you’ve got the name recognition for PBS to take you on board directly…but I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody like Brian Dalton would be interested in doing it as an independent production.
Two caveats, though, if you do it. First, you must at some point include a tabby cat (preferably Baihu, though Hili is certainly suited for the role); and, you must also find some way to, at least obliquely, refer to the groping of guts.
I know you’re busy right now with Teh Buk, but this would be a great way for you to stay busy when that’s done.
Cheers,
b&
Careful, you’ll make Jerry all super über famous & he’ll be all too cool to talk to us. We’ll see him in a crowd with his fancy cowboy boots & handlers & we’ll be whisked away by his security detail. 😀
Nah — you’re thinking about it all worng. We’ll be in on the ground floor — we’ll be his handlers and assistants and what-not!
And we’ll be rich! And powerful! And all the world will be our oyster!
Erm…sorry…got a bit carried away, there….
b&
Muhahahahahaha!!!!
Yes, exactly.
(Does still count towards evil genius points if the cat isn’t a white persian on the lap, but instead a gray tabby on the shoulders?)
b&
Yes, but only if you have a monocle or an eye patch.
How ’bout a cat tail obscuring one eye?
b&
Close enough!
Woo-hoo!
Now, all I need is a death ray and a British secret agent strapped spread-eagled to a table.
On second thought, I’ll skip the agent and just go for the death ray….
b&
You could go all Dr Horrible and use a freeze ray. He’s got a Phd in horribleness.
Not so sure what Comet ISON has to do with horrific freeze rays…is it that you need to get within shouting distance of the Sun if you’ve been hit with a freeze ray…?
b&
Ha! I pasted the wrong link. I’m all ISON obsessed right now because I so want to see another cool comet in my lifetime. Here is the real link.
Interesting…I’ll have to check that out. Thanks!
b&
I have BOTH!
Hey, that “chipmunk” was a groundhog!
Anybody say white Persian?
The grey tabby IS a white Persian with plans for world domination (fast!) … on the inside. Don’t let the domesticated disguise fool you.
Oh, don’t worry — the plans are in place and on schedule. This morning we greeted the Sun at Hole-in-the-Rock; yesterday we saw the Sun light up the Superstitions from South Mountain; and tomorrow we’ll be at the Superstitions to pick up the lost gold.
b&
Not a bsd idea. The unscripted Kentucky radio interview is already in the can as an audition for a series pitch.
ooooh my goshness – I had never heard of Wendy Wright. Couldn’t watch much. The patience of Mr Dawkins is a true miracle. Ms Wright’s lips move, words come out but it like listening to a very foreign language. And looking at the close up of the eyes, one wonders what is behind them. Little dancing angels? Baby unicorns? Depressing
Indeed, when I first saw that I don’t know how he suffered through it so patiently AND stood the whole time. I would have collapsed in a ball on the floor & just sobbed “why?! why?!” 🙂
Whiskey. Tons of whiskey…
Mmmmm clam chowder is my favourite. My family makes my grandmother’s recipe which is an Atlantic Canada version (where my dad’s side of the family is from) & I consider it better than the New England stuff but only slightly better. When I go to Boston, I eat clam chowder every chance I get, which is usually every single day that I’m there!
Clam chowder is good.
But, for “favorite,” it’s hard to beat chicken soup. Might not be super sexy, but it’s the very essence of soup.
There are some wonderful Mexican bean soups. Miso is delightful. And how can you turn down a bowl of split pea soup with ham hocks? Yea verily, soup is good food!
…but you can’t beat chicken soup….
b&
Chicken soup a staple, yes, but the best soup anywhere is the goulash soup at Chef Klaus’ Bier Stube in either Frankfurt or Peotone Illinois. Next is clam chowder, and never ever New York clam chowder.
Does New York clam chowder have corn in it? I hate corn in things, especially clam chowder….it’s just so wrong.
NE clam chowder is cream based.
I think the classic recipe does not have corn, but it’s not unheard of. Purists would insist that one might as well make make a separate pot of corn chowder instead.
Manhattan style is tomato based.
I like both, NE is heartier, but Manhattan style has the acid to make a refreshing component of a rich meal.
I’m a puritan with my chowder. I can’t stand tomato in it, which you see often here in Ontario (if you see clam chowder at all).
That’s a really interesting place for a German to open his first franchise….
But you remind me, rather vicariously (and, no, don’t ask me how!). There’s also a hell of a lot to be said for French onion soup….
b&
Yes, you can beat chicken soup. Easily. Kashmiri Bohnensuppe (Kashmiri bean soup, speaking of bean soups). Was offered – and this is the only place I’ve ever encountered it ans I seek out Indian restaurants wherever I go – in a tiny little place in Munich called Jeeta’s, sadly now closed. Restauranteur – and recipe – vamoosed back to India. Western world the poorer for it!
PS If anyone happened to have a recipe for it, I have a first born for you.
Also in the southwest… have to concur. The chicken soup we have down here is like no other on the planet, if you are talking about what I think you’re talking about.
My sweetie taught me the way – set me on the path… it involves the freshest veggies, tortillas poofed straight off the comal… jalapenos, onions in the stock — all kinds of goodies, and when ready to go, limes squeezed followed by a mountain of cilantro and topped with fresh sweet onion, finely diced.
Chased down with a Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda. OK, perhaps not the last bit.
The soup you’re describing is, indeed, fantastic…but I had simple Jewish grandmother-style chicken soup in mind. Chicken pieces, mirepoix, parsley, dill, salt, pepper, a generous splash of wine, covered in water, and either simmered for hours or pressure-cooked for a half an hour.
But, yeah — tortilla soup is fantastic, too!
…come to think of it, the Mexicans probably have the best soups of any cuisine….
b&
Split pea soup with bacon and cheddar. Hard to look at, but I can not shovel it in fast enough.
I would have said chicken soup – but I agree, give me a chowder any day.
Chicken and andouille gumbo is the soup for me!
On #10, I do recall that Dawkins had written about a kind of religion in chickens (maybe ducks, not sure now, but I am sure about the essential details). This was where experimenters used a food dispenser to deliver food at random intervals. According to this account, some of the birds started to exhibit strange behaviors like circling or bowing before the dispenser. The suggestion was that they happened to notice a correlation between a certain behavior and getting food from their ‘food God’. So they would repeat the behavior over and over, possibly discounting the many negative results and being reinforced by the few positive results.
I think my phone used to be religious. It always capitalized “god”. It doesn’t anymore though because it has adapted to the ways of its atheist user. It also spells swear words more accurately now. 🙂
I used the shift key for the ‘G’, but I can only beg it was a subconscious result of my childhood indoctrination. I am working on it.
I believe you’re referring to pigeons placed in Skinner boxes and rewarded randomly. Dawkins wrote abot this in Unweaving the Rainbow.
On #10, I thought :
I couldn’t help thinking of Jerry and his Sqrlz acolytes, who he is probably training up as Shock Troops (or at least infiltration and espionage specialists ; not a lot of training needed) for Baihu The Inner White Persian (see upthread) and his campaign for World Domination (Fast!).
To be fair, Baihu, being himself a god, doesn’t have a religion of his own. Religions are for the minions, not the gods….
b&
Congrats! To both Jerry and Richard, of course.
Did the Crusaders and other Europeans who spread their Believers’ religion in Asia and the Americas, never treated those natives with respect; WW’s kind rampaged through humanity to spread their religion and now talks about treating human beings with respect. What a hypocrit! Ignorance personified. And where is the material evidence of a God?