The Hovind Scale

I created an online calculator to help work out the Hovind Factor of Creationist statements.

The Hovind Scale was created by the forumites of RichardDawkins.net and described by one of them here. Today it received a mention on PZ Myers legendary blog Pharyngula.

As you can see from Google, it's rapidly become an internationally accepted measurement:

Google results for The Hovind Scale
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Check it out here and calculate the Hovind Factor of any Creationist utterances you hear!

The Hovind Scale is used to rate Creationist statements about the nature of reality and assign a value to how ignorant, scientifically illiterate and / or outright dishonest they are.

It is named after the convicted fraudster and Young Earth Creationist Kent Hovind. He is currently serving time because of his "overly flexible" attitude to the truth, and before his incarceration was regularly lying for Jesus.

Honesty is the main factor in determining the Hovind Factor - a truly honest Creationist cannot get a Hovind Factor of more than 20. Creationists who knowingly seek to deceive will score highly.



Once you have ascertained the Hovind Factor, you can get a general idea of what level of Creationist you are dealing with by checking their score against the descriptions below:


100 - Utter Hovind - the person might actually BE Hovind (if he has net access from his cell), but if they're not they are certainly talking complete and utter Hovind! Lies and ignorance knowingly combined and asserted as fact! The state of the art of Lying for Jesus.

90-99 - Positively Hovindian - while not managing to be quite as ignorant or mendacious as the master himself, this person still displays positively Hovindian levels of scientific illiteracy and dishonesty

60-89 - VenomFangTastic - not quite up in the fully Kentian levels, as there may be some slightly mitigating circumstances (youth or inexperience for example), but still a person who can be relied on to produce long winded and scientifically illiterate or self-contradictory arguments ex recto at a moment's notice

30-59 - Profoundly Creotarded - This person likely has little or no scientific knowledge, and they are actively Lying for Jesus at every opportunity.

21-30 - Creotarded - A run of the mill Creotard, with a balance of ignorance, illogic and mendacity

12-20 - Partially Creotarded - Some very serious misunderstandings about reality, and a hint of zealotry beginning to rear its ugly head

6-11 - Pushing The Limits of Decency - starting to go beyond what is reasonable, but dishonesty or scientific illiteracy are becoming too obvious to ignore.

1-5 - Surprisingly Decent - a pretty good effort, with a combined honesty / scientific understanding far beyond the typical Creationist zealot. You might well be able to have a sensible discussion with this person. Educated laymen with a genuine desire to explore the issues may well turn up in this category.

0 - The Blue Butterfly Effect - a well constructed and intellectually honest argument, informed by a comprehensive general scientific understanding and in-depth knowledge of the specifics of any relevant scientific work. If you want to debate this person, you'd better know what you're talking about!

Election Pledge - An end to unwanted teenage pregnancy

I've just been watching a program called Britain's Youngest Grannies. One of them has been a grandma since the age of 32.

Most of them wish they had not got pregnant during their teenage years.

But fear not - should I win the election and become Prime Minister I'll get this problem solved immediately.

Here's my solution:

Force manufacturers to put this:

into this:

...problem solved!

I take it I can count on your vote at the next election? ;-)

-Alltruism
Leader of the All True Party - the only party that offers simple and effective solutions to all society's problems!

Darth Cormac

Amazingly, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, Archbishop of Westminster, has , in the same speech in which he conceded Christians should "respect atheists", has suggested that he thinks it is dangerous to be governed by reason alone.

He was saying that societies ruled only by reason "were like those created by Hitler and Stalin".

It is hard to believe that someone who spouts such nonsense is permitted to hold a position of such power and influence. Using reason to govern our behaviour is a far cry from what Hitler and Stalin did. They were both distinctly unreasonable.

Darth Cormac seems to think that reason is a path to the dark side, yet being a Catholic he believes he literally consumes human flesh and blood.

Only someone who believes in an all-knowing sky-faerie could think that reason leads to being unreasonable. Go Darth!