elodieunderglass: leupagus:scrawlers:vergess:cumaeansibyl:zvaigzdelasas:And the best headl
elodieunderglass: leupagus: scrawlers: vergess: cumaeansibyl: zvaigzdelasas: And the best headline of the year goes to…. you guys I found the article and it’s fantastic they did in-depth interviews with 137 scientists and about 35% of them mentioned Dawkins unprompted, and about 80% of those were apparently just desperate to tell someone how much they hate him 28% of scientists hate Richard Dawkins so much that they just start spouting off about his bullshit unprompted. True story: Richard Dawkins ONCE tried to get me fired because I wouldn’t give him $10,000. The long version is that I worked at an organization that disburses funds according to the owner’s wishes (basically Trump Foundation without the skeeze) and by law, every recipient of donations has to be a 501(c )3 organization. If you get caught giving money to a non-charity, you get in VERY BIG TROUBLE. So my job was to ensure that every foundation we gave money to had all its paperwork properly filed and was recognized by the IRS. The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (gag) was set to get $10K from us, but since we’d never given to them before, I had to double-check the IRS filings etc. And guess what? The foundation was not accredited. This was in 2007, and the foundation had only recently been set up; oftentimes the paperwork takes a while to get through. The IRS will give a sort of provisional paper in that situation, saying it’s okay to donate, so I called up the foundation to ask them for said paper. I promptly got yelled at for the better part of 15 minutes by the most unpleasant woman I’ve ever had the misfortune to encounter, who claimed I was lying about the foundation’s IRS status, that I must immediately send her the money, that she would be taking legal action if I did not release the funds to her this instant. I managed to get off the phone after telling her that no, in fact we did need the IRS paperwork before we disbursed funds, thanks very much, let me know if you can send them, here’s the fax number! (Oh, faxes.) The next day I get a call from an irate dude with a British accent who starts the conversation with “I’m Richard Dawkins.” Now I’ll be honest, dear reader, in 2007 I didn’t have the first fucking clue who that was; all I knew is he’d named his foundation after himself. So I tried to be as soothing as possible (because rich people are the worst) but he pretty much immediately said “I’d like to speak to your supervisor—or someone more competent, at any rate,” and for the next hour my boss had to make faces at me through the window as she dealt with him. It turns out he wanted her to fire me for lying about the status of his foundation, otherwise he’d take legal action. My boss, who was an incredibly great lady, very politely told him to get bent and that if he didn’t want to supply the required paperwork, he’d have to live without our ten grand. And to the best of my knowledge, we never gave him the money. (Clasps hand over heart) the poetry -- source link