It’s funny. Usually, whenever Andrew Schlafly or one of his minions release their crazy ramblings into the wild, I can at least decode the reasoning and the assumptions behind it, even if I don’t agree with it or can otherwise relate to it. But the most recent one of Schlafly’s “Insights” concerning the “secular concept of the ‘past'” really has me puzzled. It may be true that Jesus doesn’t speak much about the past, since he’s generally more interested in the future, but he does refer e.g. to the Law of the Fathers and all that.
And indeed, one of the important differences between Christianity and other religions of the time is actually exactly its emphasis on a linear rather than a cyclical time: That there is a natural progression from the creation of the universe, through the various ages of the world, until the end of everything in the Judgement Day.
So I don’t get it. Apparently, Schlafly has decided to deny one of the central aspects of Christianity as being “secular”, and I don’t understand why. After all this time, he finally has me stumped. So… props to him for once, I guess.
———
Also, this is the official “talk about whatever until RationalWiki comes back online”-thread. So feel free to talk about whatever until… yeah, you get the idea.
The Conservapedia Column 
Need… my… fix…
Hi!
I will be checking in here periodically during the move to keep everyone informed or to answer any questions/comments anyone might have about the move.
The bugs, man, they’re under my skin!
And Conservative decides this would be the best time to upload his masterpiece. BEHOLD: http://www.conservapedia.com/Image:Hitler_and_Darwin.jpg
Oh dear. Conservative learned how to use Photoshop now?
Yep, that one’s got to be one of the most random and senseless “insights” EVER.
The best match (which is still quite a stretch) with my internal database of odd CP statements would be the part where they say that it’s impossible “to apply the scientific method to past events such as evolution, as those events are no longer available for observation, measurement, and testing.” You know, the whole “That’s history, not science!” deal.
There’s an 80% chance that RationalWiki going down is just another case of liberal deceit. They are taking down the websites we like so we have to rely on government websites.
As a more random comment: Whose great idea was it to slap up the pic of Tolstoy and his wife for the “Literature” Featured Article?
Holy crap, that Hitwin image is now leading the Evolution article, and it’s huuuuuge. MOAR HITLER, approved by Andy!
JoaquĆn’s.
That Hitler picture is awesome! Make sure we have a copy!
Anyway, all the database dumps are complete and I am just transferring them to the new server. Big files=long download time so I am off to get dinner.
Check back after that.
“Oh dear. Conservative learned how to use Photoshop now?”
Obviously not…
My only consolation is that RationalWikiWiki is still up. Anyone care to join us there, and debate endlessly exciting things?
Moar Magritte!
You can never have too much Magritte.
By the way, what is this:
as seen on RW’s placeholder page, supposed to mean?
Blood Alcohol Content?
Would’ve been my guess, too, Nx. š
Substantial alchohol intake is an essential part of any server move!
(Or so I hear.)
Where would you have heard that, Andreas? I thought the Dutch didn’t drink alcohol? : )
It’s true, folks. Files transfer faster when you’re drunk. Open your mind to this fascinating insight, and you will realize that logic and Jesus agree.
Oh, I can assure you they do, RA. Both Danes and Dutch consume significant amounts of alcohol – I believe it’s around 10 liters/person/year in Denmark, and I can’t imagine the Dutch being far behind.
Hey guys. I saw the intercom note about the site going down and the link to the chatroom details, and thought “I’ll sort that out in just a minute”. And then I didn’t. Would somebody kind mind giving me the necessary info?
irc://freenode/rationalwiki
Is about as much help as I can be… you’ll need an IRC client to access it I guess.
You can use the online client on http://mibbit.com/chat/ if you’re lazy
Hope this works… š
http://209.85.229.132/search?q=cache:cMX171A9OdAJ:rationalwiki.com/wiki/Internet_relay_chat+http://rationalwiki.com/wiki/Internet_relay_chat&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk
Cheers. š
I’ve got a theory that the “secular past” thing is his defense against atheists and liberals suggesting that a book written 2000 years ago may not have that much relevance today. To Andy, the Crucifixion (the only relevant part until you get to Revelations) is a current event. Besides, people criticizing him takes place in the past too, so as soon as he pushes it away, it’s gone forever.
In other news, the gravy train has left the station.
I’ve got a theory that the āsecular pastā thing is his defense against aging. It’s just a weird kind of mid-life crisis thing. Actually, that’s just a thought: it’s still completely baffling. Is this the first time we’ve seen “insight of the day” or has he been doing that for a while?
RW down? Why was I not informed of this??
Moreimportantly: Why does the “RW is gone” notice say “Oh no” instead of “Oh noes”? This is a serious breach of protocol, gentlemen.
Is that Pink as in Jellyfish/Chaos? Long time no see.
Oh noe?
@Weaseloid: He’s had various insights, maybe even on the main page, but as far as i can remember, this ways the first explicit Insight Of The Day.
Yes, I am me. Hi, Weaseloid ^_^
…
(Wait, aren’t I supposed to be “Medusa” on blogs…?)
That’s what I thought. It’s quite ominous. Apparently it’s not enough that most of their “news” is just blog links. Soon it will just be mindless “insights” and Andy sermons.
Hi Pink, good to see you. Hope you’ll come back to RW too. Nice Wikipedia name btw. It looks like Trent has now corrected the “oh noes” thing, presumably in response to your complaint.
But the page title is Oh noe!
I wouldn’t worry about that (re: “News” section) – Dean copy-pastes those blog posts faster than Andy can keep thinking of new Insights. š And by now, TK and others also realized that they can edit Mainpageright…
Also I see there are numerous exclamation marks in a row without a single 11. Surely this is a severe lapse in standards. ;~)
Nah, the 11’s in exclamation marks thing is just so 2008.
It seems to me that the site is back up.
Nevermind. I must have gone there at a weird moment when everything showed up fine.
Not for me. It still shows the “oh noes!” message when I try to access it.
2009 is the new 2008
Never mind my comment above. For some reason I didn’t see Radioactive afikomen’s January 7, 2009 at 1:37 comment.
Waiting for new DNS information to propagate and we will see what is broken….
It’s up, but it looks thoroughly hideous.
It’s up?
Are you quite sure? It doesn’t seem to be.
It could take a little while before we can see it this side of the Atlantic. Different networks and all that.
Then would one of you take a screenshot of the “Oh noes!” placeholder screen while it’s still up? I’d like to commemorate it.
The site itself is now updated, but as Trent said (2:01 AM post), the DNS information needs to propagate.
If you don’t know what that means, a forgivable lapse of knowledge, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domain_name_system. Basically whenever you submit a http request it goes to you ISP’s hub which translates the url into an IP and then routs you to that IP. Right now your ISP has yet to update its registry of url’s and so is still sending requests for rationalwiki.com to the IP of our old host, as opposed to our shiny new dedicated server in Trent’s house.
Any chance we can get the new IP so we can bypass the DNS?
The IP is 72.38.25.242 but it is setup to to host multiple sites so probably wont work with ip only
Thanks to Trent for pretty much getting it up and running in one drunked fell swoop.
And thanks to AK for letting us play in this sandbox while our beloved RW was “on the table”.
oh, “strike” tags don’t work here? “drunken” was supposed to be jokingly stuck out. Dang.
I’m still getting the “oh noes” page. If I enter the IP address in my browser, I just get “It works!” How long can I expect it to be before I get in & is there any other way round it?
Try adding /wiki to the end of the IP. That seemed to work for me – though it’s taking a long time to load pages, and they aren’t displaying…prettily.
Thank you Mr Sublunar(?) – that’s got me back in. Pretty weird-looking though.
& I can’t edit or comment yet. š„
Or even block anybody. X-(
Some assembly is required, it seems.
Also, continuing our coverage of the ongoing elimination of “the past”, it seems that the lack of Gospel references to the past in fact “casts doubt on whether one’s personal past exists in any meaningful way.”
That’s funny, because taken to its logical conclusion, that line of thought would seem to inevitably lead to a denial of any sort of responsibility for one’s actions. I must say that does not strike me as a particularly conservative or Christian way of thought.
Careful, Lanfranc. You’re getting dangerously close to moral relativism there š
And apparently ed has decided to start doing articles closer to his education level.
http://www.conservapedia.com/Merrie_Melodies
Oh, I embraced moral relativism a long time ago. Makes everything much more interesting.
And palatable.
I still can’t access RW, so I’ll express my snark here. This comment by Andy:
“Merck rakes in $1.6 billion a year from its harmful HPV Vaccine, and now it wants its allies in government to recommend use by boys. Abstinence is much cheaper and healthier, folks.”
is ridiculous for two reasons. First, it’s a great idea to inoculate boys, seeing as how it is generally boys who give girls HPV. They are half of the herd, if you will. Secondly, abstinence is certainly free and has no side effects, but ask any AIDS epidemiologist about how effective it is to tell people not to have sex.
http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Template:Mainpageright&diff=next&oldid=604457
Corry
I’m telling you, each day I’m getting more convinced that Andy is destined to end up on a fortified ranch besieged by the authorities. Apparently, the CIA Factbook is now a “liberal government statistic” and “the government is filled with liberal bureaucrats” because “the president is prohibited from firing or replacing most civil servants”. Yessir.
http://www.conservapedia.com/index.php?title=Talk%3AMain_Page&diff=604489&oldid=604386
DNS propagation sounds… dirty…