Pointless polls
pharyngula | November 25, 2009There is a Seventh Day Adventist college, La Sierra University, which has horrified church leaders because their biology department is infested with evolutionists. It just goes to show: educate an intelligent person in biology, and they can't help but accept evolutionary theory as the idea best supported by the evidence.
This has caused much anguish among the SDAs, and a website that moans about the problem is running a poll. As we all know, an internet poll is obviously the very best way to resolve scientific issues…so how about if you go help them out? They seem to be riven with dissent…
pharyngula | November 24, 2009So Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort showed up at UCLA to hand out their vandalized editions of the Origin, and Kirk got caught on video (with horrible sound and video quality, unfortunately) getting rhetorically bitch-slapped in an argument with a UCLA student. Be proud, California universities, you're doing a fine job.
This particular story has a poll attached to it. Here's the entirety of the poll and its results.
Kirk Cameron -- Master Debator?
Yes 100%
Good work.
pharyngula | November 16, 2009The New Humanist hands out a yearly slap-in-the-face to the most deserving noisy believer of the year — last year's winner was Sarah Palin — and this year they have a full slate of worthy apologists for superstition. It's an internet poll, but who should win this one isn't at all obvious — they're all contemptible. Here are the results so far:
Adnan Oktar, aka Harun Yahya
94 (8%)
Anjem Choudary
72 (6%)
Anthony Bush
22 (1%)
British Chiropractic Association
197 (16%)
Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor
51 (4%)
Dermot Aherne
84 (7%)
Damian Thompson
66 (5%)
Pope Benedict XVI
388 (33…
pharyngula | November 15, 2009An interesting twist: this poll is trying to skew the Catholic church's decision to withhold social services if Washington D.C. supports same sex marriage into a moral issue…with the church taking the high ground!
The D.C. Council is considering a law forbidding discrimination against those in gay marriages. The law would apply to all groups that have contracts with the District, including Catholic Charities, one of the city's largest social services providers. The Archdiocese of Washington says that because of the Church's opposition to same-sex marriage, it would have to suspend its social…
pharyngula | November 11, 2009Apparently still smarting from the trouncing Catholics received from Hitchens and Fry, a site called Catholic Truth Scotland is trying to recoup some dignity…by running an online poll? We could tell them that that won't work.
The Catholic Church is a force for good in the world
True [70.6%]
False [29.4%]
I fear those numbers are about to change in a way that will make them very unhappy.
pharyngula | November 9, 2009Atheists are putting up a billboard in Lakeland, Florida that says, "Don't believe in god? You aren't alone." This is, apparently, controversial, and the newspaper article has an accompanying poll.
Does an atheist group have a right to display their own billboard?
Yes 77.7%
No 22.3%
I'd say that's a really stupid poll question, except that it reveals that 22% of the respondents don't think a number of their fellow citizens don't have the same privileges they do.
pharyngula | November 6, 2009A newspaper in Rochester, Minnesota (yes, my backyard extends 250 miles to the southeast) is running dueling editorials by a pro health care local Democrat and a Satan-spawned humanity-hating Republican on the issue of the current health care reform bill. As usual, they run a poll. Please do shock&awe them, OK?
Do you support passage of the House health care reform bill?
Yes 31.59%
No 68.41%
It's not a good poll, but they never are. I want an option to say I don't support it because it is insufficiently socialist.
pharyngula | November 4, 2009It looks like justice was defeated in Maine, but we got a glimmer of success in Washington (Hooray for my home state!). I think everyone who is unhappy with Maine voters should go tromp on this Canadian poll just to get it out of your system.
Do you support same-sex marriage?
Absolutely, yes
21%
Sure, why not?
19%
Not really
11%
Absolutely, no
35%
I don't care either way
14%
What counts next, of course, is for activists in Maine to get back to work. Same for everyone in every state…like Minnesota.
pharyngula | October 27, 2009A story on NPR reports that there's a bit of a tiff between the White House and Fox News: spokespersons for the administration and media have basically stated that Fox is a conservative propaganda outlet, deeply hurting Fox's dewicate widdle feewings. And they have a poll! It looks like the right-wingers have already poisoned it for us, because no one in their right mind would actually deny that Fox is unfair and unbalanced in its reporting.
I'm supporting:
The White House on this one; Fox News isn't "fair and balanced." 14% (3,973 votes)
Fox News on this one; it asks questions others don't…
pharyngula | October 26, 2009Here's a good science blog you can help: Biofortified, a group blog on plant genetics and genetic engineering (and, by the way, Sb's recent addition, Pamela Ronald, is part of the team). They are in a contest to win a small cash grant and an interview with Michael Pollan, and this group is thoroughly deserving — Biofortified is kind of the Panda's Thumb of plant genetic engineering.
Unfortunately, they're in second place right now, trailing an anti-genetic engineering, industry sponsored site, and they need more votes to win. You can help out!
To do so, though, is a little more cumbersome…
pharyngula | October 24, 2009Why do we even have to ask this question? And at a university?
Should Auburn University and the University of Alabama follow UAB's lead and offer domestic partner benefits?
Â
Yes
 49%
Â
No
 45%
Â
I'm not sure
 6%
Get over there. This is a question for which the answer ought to be nearly unanimous, rather than split.
pharyngula | October 23, 2009This is Ali, a six month old baby in Southern Russia.
It's a miracle! Every Monday and Thursday, fresh quotations from the Quran 'magically' appear on his legs, belly, or arms when he's home alone with his mommy and daddy, and then the pilgrims show up in the thousands to give the happy family lots and lots of attention. I simply can't imagine how red marks might appear on the delicate skin of a young baby while under the care of doting, attentive parents, or why anyone might cheat and fake a miracle…can you? The only possible explanation is that the omnipotent, omniscient master of the…
pharyngula | October 21, 2009I already sent you off to vote on this German poll that would have awarded homeopaths a prize…and you all did good, giving the good guys, SOZIALHELDEN (Social Heroes), a solid lead over the dangerous crackpots, Homöopathen ohne Grenzen (Homeopaths without borders).
Unfortunately, the poll didn't end then. It's been going on all this time, and the quacks have been creeping up, and are actually getting close to winning. So I must send you off again: go vote, or "Stimme abgeben"!
pharyngula | October 16, 2009Lately, all the polls people have been sending me are already going in the right direction — have I become superfluous? Are atheists everywhere already gleefully clicking buttons in polls without my prompting?
Oh, well, here's another one. An ambitious priest gets assigned to Brighton, which he calls "the most Godless city in Britain". He has declared that it is now his intention to transform the place into a sanctuary for unctuous old farts with their brains scrambled by nonsense (uh, those are my words, not his, if you couldn't tell.) So the local newspaper ran a poll to see what people…
pharyngula | October 14, 2009Remember that ridiculous pro-faith Alpha Course that had the transit ads that looked like a poll? Now they've actually put up an online poll. Best thing about it: look at the results already.
Does God exist?
Yes 20%No 74%Probably 6%
Heh. How about making it look even worse?
Hey, they locked out votes from Pharyngula! Try this link instead.
pharyngula | October 11, 2009It's a poll. A poll with a stupid question.
Do psychics have a role to play in criminal investigations?
Yes: 31%No: 69%
What role is that? To generate red herrings to keep the mystery alive?
Come on, New Zealanders. I have a higher opinion of you than that only 69% would find that question ludicrous.
pharyngula | October 8, 2009There is a poll in Germany that will determine who will win a "Dedication Award" for service to the community. You can vote on it! In fact, you better vote on it! Here are the top 5 leaders in the votes right now.
Elisabeth von Wedel, Homöopathen ohne Grenzen e.V.
1514 Stimmen
Raul Krauthausen, SOZIALHELDEN e.V.
1208 Stimmen
Jürgen Dangl, Hofgut Himmelreich gGmbH
634 Stimmen
Dr. Stefanie Christmann, Esel-Initiative e.V.
510 Stimmen
Margit Adamski, Zweites Leben e.V.
344 Stimmen
Notice the leader with 1514 stimmen, or votes? To translate, that's "Homeopathy without borders," a team of quacks…
pharyngula | October 7, 2009The town of Lockland, Ohio is another of those places that worships a graven idol, an ugly stone block with the ridiculous 10 commandments on it . They never read it, though, or they'd notice that Commandment #2 says they shouldn't worship graven idols…and actually, if they read them at all, they'd know that the only two that even come close to real laws in our nation are the ones that say don't kill and don't steal. The rest? Dross and superstition.
The town is being sued to have the nonsense removed, and of course the newspaper has to run a poll. Do you think that if we run this up to a…
pharyngula | September 25, 2009OK, who got to this poll before me? The answers are all going the way I want them to, and that's just unnatural.
A new survey says a quarter of all Americans will claim to have "no religion" within 20 years. How do you view the boom in Americans without a religious affiliation?
71.57% It's a good thing
20.3% It's a troubling trend
8.12% It doesn't matter
Well, I guess you can all go over there and nudge them up a little further.
pharyngula | September 23, 2009Yet another secular government wants to increase religious meddling in civic life — some Brazilians want to incorporate more religion into the public schools. I wonder if getting input from the rest of the world would be helpful?
Você é favorável ao ensino religioso facultativo nas escolas públicas? (Are you favorable to optional religious teachings in
public school?)
Sim (yes) - 73%Não (no) - 27%