At the weekend I ordered myself a t-shirt from spreadshirt.com with the slogan:
There probable is no teapot. Stop worrying. Enjoy life!
Sastrasays
Whoa — a teapot of that magnitude circling the earth would definitely give me pause on the God question. And it would appear that God is an Englishman, after all.
E pur si muove!
Aaronsays
I can envision a Tea & Cracker Brunch, where noted philosophers and theologians gather to discuss the implications of various arguments for and against the existence of god.
No tea will be served and the crackers may not be consumed.
samuel blacksays
There’s probably no web site. At least I couldn’t connect.
That teapot looks like it’s well inside the Roche limit. I think we’re pretty much screwed.
Richard Harrissays
There probably is no teapot
Ahhhh, but you don’t understand. The Teapot is not a manifestation of your simplistic understanding of a teapot. You must understand Teapot as a metaphor for blahwahburbleblah….
tonysays
I just had a vision of the future – and there will be schisms!
Darjeeling? or Earl Grey? or perhaps you are more radical in your posture and demand a virgin green tea from the slopes of the himalayas?
We’ll soon be overrun by the teaists! (or, thé-istes as the French would say)
James Fsays
Ceci n’est pas une théière.
Tomsays
I think there is a teapot, just like The Ancients have told us. Maybe the Templeton Foundation will fund a teapot detection study?
Help! All I see is a plain white screen. And no matter how I stare at it, no teapot, coffee pot, or other beverage container manifests itself…
Am I lacking in faith? Is there a prayer I need to chant? Or am I just not one of the chosen people who will be invited for tea when the rapture comes and the sea boils?
Gregory Kusnicksays
Gotta say that doesn’t look much like Mars. Mercury, maybe, or the Lunar farside. And anyway the pot’s supposed to be in Solar orbit.
Heretics.
Charlie Foxtrotsays
I sometime stop, take a breath and tell myself:
“There is no spoon…”
but then, that’s a different reference…
unless it is a teaspoon that there is not…
ow. My brain hurt.
arekksusays
i’m still an ateaist.
mr-zerosays
Espresso is the one true drink. Tea is a blasphemy.
Lesser Wharksays
Sastra:
And it would appear that God is an Englishman, after all.
Actually, that’s the famous Utah Teapot, so the Mormons must have been right all along.
fcstansays
SHOCK HORROR
I’m offended.
Holbachsays
Lirone @ 18
Actually, you are inside the white ceramic tea pot, a sort of christian purgatory, and will not be raptured until your non-faith is cleansed. Perhaps the pot will fill up with Twinnings English Breakfast Tea, and you can bide your time with delicious caffeine and crackers. No desecration now.
Rey Foxsays
And one must really have a firm grounding in crockery before discussing the teapot.
Browniansays
Idiots.
No photo is required, as we know from the Gospel according to Tetley, “Do not pour the Lord thy Teapot.”
Further, every single time I pray to the Teapot my prayers are answered, except for the times they aren’t because the Teapot moves in mysterious ways.
I know the Teapot is there. I personally feel it.
Also, once I dropped a teacup and it didn’t break. How do you explain that with science?
Plus, how can tea come from nothing? Water can’t boil itself.
And what about all the teacup rides at Disneylands and Disneyworlds around the world? Why would so many people ride them if the Teapot didn’t exist? I mean, Walt Disney was either who he said he was, a liar, or insane.
And what if you’re wrong? Do you really want to chance an eternity without tea?
It’s well-known that Hitler and Stalin hated tea, Stalin even going so far as to call it Чай.
You all know the Teapot exists, you just don’t want to admit it so you can go on drinking coffee.
You wouldn’t say that about the coffee pan people, would you? Huh? Sure, everyone picks at the teapotists, but no-one seems to say a word against the coffeeists! C’mon! I dare you! </caffeintwa envy>
And it would appear that God is an Englishman, after all.
Indeed. And I suspect he’s actually David Attenborough.
Buzz Buzzsays
Brownian, I want to post something, but anything I would have said was said in your post perfectly. Kudos.
Gregory Kusnicksays
And I suspect he’s actually David Attenborough.
No, he’s Ralph Richardson. Didn’t you see Time Bandits?
SplendidMonkeysays
Today I watched the kettle and it did boil. This is a true miracle.
SaraJsays
The teapot does exist. If you doubt this is possible, how is it there are PYGMIES + DWARFS??
Qwertysays
Yes, and we all know this is a teaist nation as it was founded right after the Boston Tea Party.
'Tis Himselfsays
There has to be a teapot. My mother taught me that I was a teapot. I even know a song about it complete with gestures!
gruebaitsays
There is no teapot…if you don’t pray for NoScript to allow it.
Alloteuthissays
Ah, you can’t fool me. That is not a teapot. That is simply an animated web doohickey of a teapot.
Thanks, Magritte!
PlaydoPlatosays
Our teapot,
which art in orbit,
hallowed be thy brew.
Thy boiling comes, thy tea be done,
in porcelain, as it is in stoneware.
Give us our herbal infusions, our daily beverage
and forgive us our instant,
as we forgive our coffee drinkers.
And lead us not into soda, but deliver us from Starbucks.
For thine is the teapot, and the crockery, and the caffiene,
for ever, amen.
TheElkMechanicsays
Ceci n’est pas une pipe.
Charliesays
I am surprised no one has mentioned the quasi-paradox that if there probably is no teapot how could we have gotten the slogan which had to have come from the sign on the side of the improbable pot.
It appears the sign condemns itself to a state of improbable existence.
Aaronsays
gruebait @39
I prefer NoScripture, which blocks all dangerous religious execution.
Browniansays
Buzz Buzz, I really have to thank CS Lewis for converting me to Teapotism with his sound, well-reaso–what’s that? Lewis was a Christian and his arguments were for Christianity? I thought he was just being metaphorical.
Ugh, I feel so dirty.
sjburntsays
There must be a teapot, since we can readily observe the shadow of the teapot as it crests the Earth… …wait a minute! Where is Atlas? Since when do we sit upon a white surface?
Ah. That is what they meant by a firmament.
Back to your regular programming…
ennuisays
I’m no constant commenter here, but damn, Brownian, that was pure gold.
WRMartinsays
Ateaism is illogical and is a bankrupt philosophy that cannot allow for certain knowledge, logic, reason, morality, induction or science and to prove the tea worldview by the impossibility of the contrary.
Ateaism does not allow for epistemic certainty.
Tea reveals certain things to me in such a way that I can be epistemically certain of them.
Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot didn’t drink tea.
Claresays
“Heh, the site is REALLY slow to load. Either we Pharynguloids are swamping it, or it’s poorly-encoded Flash.”
It is, I am to inform you, immaculately coded. It’s just not a site (home server) that’s ever had, you know, traffic.
AnthonyKsays
I can’t see no teapot.
I’m confused. Does this mean no teapot exists, or no teapot doesn’t exist?
Where’s a teaologian when you need one?
Brain Hertzsays
Gotta say that doesn’t look much like Mars. Mercury, maybe, or the Lunar farside. And anyway the pot’s supposed to be in Solar orbit.
Heretics.
Except, as can clearly be seen from examination of the shadow, it’s the Moon/planet which doesn’t exist…
NewEnglandBobsays
I like my tea with Ginsing and artificial sweetener and a touch of honey.
I can’t help it. Although I like the intention behind the “probably”, it seems like a waste of space. I would prefer to see: “There is probably no Flying Spaghetti Monster” on all those busses. It would quantify that “probably” more.
Last Hussarsays
Dear Heretics
1) James Mason is God, as revealed by his One True Son, Eddie Izzard.
2) Of course he’s bloody English, otherwise the KJV would not be written in English.
3) Morgan Freeman is a False God, as is Allanis Morrisette and George Burns (Not English).
4)I am declaring Jihad AND a Crusade against Mr Zero.
Wowbaggersays
WRMartin, #48, gets 9/10 for his excellent facilis impersonation – he’d have gotten full marks if he added that it’s moral for the teapot to send bears to kill young men* for mocking its prophet’s baldness.
*And he’d also have a gold star if he’d pretended to argue with someone who can read Greek and Hebrew that the original scriptures say ‘young men’ and not ‘children’.
Well, now I feel really bad having gone through my entire life thinking there was no teapot. I hope the teapot doesn’t send me to an eternity burning with coffee. :(
“And we demand that there may or may not be a teapot!”
Claresays
#53 – Ah! I wouldn’t know personally – just felt I had to pass on the defence of my lad’s internetting skills since I single-handedly took his traffic from maybe 2 visits a week to five a second.
JackCsays
There is no Tea but Harney. All other pretenders to teadom are heresy. Particularly (shiver) Lipton.
May I wash my mouth in a thousand rivers for uttering that foul name.
JC
Krugesays
The noodly appendage has toucched me and told me that coffee is the only way. Tea is an abomination before th FSM.
'Tis Himselfsays
You ateaists are going to boil in Hell’s Kettles if you don’t fall on your knees and accept that a loving teapot loves each and every one of you and watches your masturbation with loving concern.
I’ll pray for you.
tonysays
This may be off topic… but is there any room for Hot Chocolate? Even without marshmallows?
Andrewsays
I think we’re killing it!
DiscoveredJoyssays
The (Original) Creed of Nice Tea (325)
We believe in one Pot, the Pot Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Pot Lid, the Lid of Pot, begotten of the China the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the China, Pot of Pot, Brew of Brew, very Mash of very Mash, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Pot;
by whom all things were made both in orbit and on earth;
who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was glazed and was made ceramic;
it suffered, and the third day it rose again, ascended into orbit;
from thence it shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
And in the Buttered Toast.
But those who say: ‘There was a time when it was not;’ and ‘It was not before it was made;’ and ‘It was made out of nothing,’ or ‘It is of another substance’ or ‘essence,’ or ‘The Lid of Pot is created,’ or ‘changeable,’ or ‘alterable’ — they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Tea Cosy.
Wowbaggersays
tony, #65 wrote:
This may be off topic… but is there any room for Hot Chocolate? Even without marshmallows?
That’s fucking blasphemy! I declare teahad on this infidel!
Porco Diosays
nice idea… but seems a little silly to me… it’s a little like saying, “there probably is no bus,” or, “there probably is not advertising poster.”
i’m a little more partial to, “there probably is no PZ,” which is bound to keep IDiots busy and out of our hair for a little while.
Briansays
There’s probably no teapot.
Now stop worrying,
and enjoy your martini.
E.V.says
That planetoid is highly reflective.
Bullet Magnetsays
@ Porco Dio, # 69
It’s Bertrand Russell’s teapot, you wonderful person :p
Let’s have the merchandise printed and sold to cafés and households around the world, now, please.
Qwertysays
I think PZ is TeaZing us. Of course, we have to be aware of the AntiOxidents!
CatBallousays
Good one, ennui.
tonysays
Wowbagger
I thought ‘fucking blasphemy’ was when the minister was ‘rogering’ the parish priest?
All I asked for was a little cocoa. some warm milk, and powdered chocolate. Just a sip. please :D
I promise to make and drink it in private. and I’ll clean up afterwards. you won’t even know!
steve_hsays
You think there’s no teapot, but then a trinitea of ’em all show up at once.
BruceJsays
But there IS a Teapot, the Utah Teapot, an icon of computer graphics.
Why would they say there is probably no teapot?
(And yes, that IS the Utah Teapot in the video…)
However, I must have missed class the day the ‘there is probably no teapot’ was added to All Internet Traditions…
Aquariasays
There must be a teapot, since we can readily observe the shadow of the teapot as it crests the Earth… …wait a minute! Where is Atlas?
Silly, the Earth sits on a saucer, and it’s saucers all the way down.
WuffenCuckoosays
I am shocked. I always think of the ‘great teapot in the sky’ as being white . . .
Wowbaggersays
Tony wrote:
All I asked for was a little cocoa. some warm milk, and powdered chocolate. Just a sip. please :D
I promise to make and drink it in private. and I’ll clean up afterwards. you won’t even know!
Oh my Teapot! Why are you persecuting me for my beliefs, Tony? Why do you have to be so militant?
MacNToshsays
And I’ve always thought of the teapot as terra cotta. Schism, schism!
kensays
Nice Teapot. Being an American: You’ll have to get my Coffee out of my COLD DEAD HAND!
Oh to the great coffeepot in orbit!
Ken
hjesays
In the beginning there was the teapot (a geometric primitive in some 3d modeling programs like 3ds max):
Excerpt: “The teapot was made by Melitta in 1974 and originally belonged to Martin Newell and his wife, Sandra – who purchased it from ZCMI, (a department store in Salt Lake City). The teapot was eventually donated to the Boston Computer Museum but now resides in the Ephemera collection of the Computer History Museum. It’s cataloged as “Teapot used for Computer Graphics rendering” and bears the catalog number X00398.1984.”
Now you know the rest of the story …
Owlmirrorsays
@#48 – you misspelled “episteamic”.
But yes. We have epsteamic certainty.
And cake.
Santokisays
Boo @ prerender + blocking loads.
Funny though :)
Aquariasays
I am shocked. I always think of the ‘great teapot in the sky’ as being white .
That’s okay. I always think of it as Wedgwood–blue, with Greek idyllic scenes. Sort of like this one.
meh1963says
Of course it’s probably not there.
The Teapot that can be known is not the eternal Teapot….
from the important text “Teapot te Ching”/i>
thetruthbehindtruthsays
Wow, what a design! It’s good to see Bertrand Russell honored in such a manner (that sagacious man is one of my favorite writers, he introduced me to all the arguments creationists propose today and destroyed everyone over 50 years ago.)
Damn Bierce-Hartman-McKean-Skitt Law of Prescriptivist Retaliation…
We have episteamic certainty and cake and *facepalm*.
Jsays
It’s up to you: Tea and cake or death?
tonysays
Wowbagger wrote
Oh my Teapot! Why are you persecuting me for my beliefs, Tony? Why do you have to be so militant?
Are you suggesting I’m a Tearorrist?
I’m shocked that you would twist words so! I’m hurt!
I need to go have some xantheose extract to help me relax!
my heart is all a-flutter!
Slugsiesays
I call POE! Look, I can see the pixels. :)
Very nice BTW, would have been better if the moon didn’t look like it was made of some form of haemetite and the teapot was somehow managing to cast a shadow – in the wrong direction and through the moon.
AnthonyKsays
Technically, the teapot casts no shadow, as any teaologian can tell you.
What a fuss over nothing. A brew-ha-ha if ever there was one.
Bob Carrollsays
Is the teapot lid the same as a Teapot Dome? It’s a scandal! I’m getting thirsty; I think I’ll Russell me up a cuppa. (Not to be confused with A. Russel Wallace.)
All of this tea talk, and no mention of tea bagging yet… I’m impressed!
Wowbaggersays
Where the hell is Facilis? Don’t we need someone telling us that the teapot has a necessary existence?
Not unless the teapot has provided a revelation that facilis can inspect. Apparently that’s the criteria for telling the difference between a ‘real god’ and ‘a crock of shit made up by people’.
Daggersays
@ 84: The cake is a lie!
Or rather, to combine two memes: the cake is probably a lie. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.
Mr Twiddlesays
My how your little teapot has grown Russell. I do believe it’s feeding off of our faith. Perhaps someday everybody will be able to see it for themselves and there’ll be no need for faith. But remember, “Bless are those who have not seen and have believed.” – John:20:29
That shadow bugs the hell out of me. The shadow is being cast upon some featureless planar surface. What is that surface? Why doesn’t the moon-teapot system “fall” toward it under the influence of gravitational attraction? Is it massless? Finite? Infinite? Spooky!
Obviously a miracle. (There is but one infinite plane and Russell is its prophet!)
Katysays
This is why I do not miss a day without my Pharyngula-kick.
Thanks to all of you for making me giggle so much!!!
BTW I really would like to have a bus sign dedicated to FSM –
all pink and invisible …
An article from today’s Canadian Broadcasting Corporation new survey indicates less than three-quarters of Canadians believe in a god: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/03/f-religion-poll.html. It would be interesting to see how that number would change if the respondents were asked if they believe in a supernatural teapot in the sky. In any event, the best part of the news story was a quote from a United Church minister who indicated that: “… his sense is that people who believe in a god increasingly imagine a nebulous but powerful force for good, rather than the traditional concept of a deity. Indeed, he likened the concept to that of the Force in the Star Wars movies.” From the mouth of a minister … I love it.
Posters have mentioned Earth and the Moon… I am surprised that no one has pointed out that Russell posited a teapot orbiting Jupiter.
debasersays
Teaology sees that each cup is poured from a pot, and it follows that one can continue further and further back, until eventually one reaches the first pot of all cups, and this we call Tea.
And what is this?? You have not found true puritea! Tea in bags?! Sloth!! Milk?? Gluttony! Sugar?!?! Lustful!! These things are all Corruptions of the original leaves of the one true Tea. Repent now before the boiling of the age, lest you sit condemned for your tepidity!
tonysays
I still think that you all are apostates. It’s a
Theobrominepot!
Correction to post #111. That link doesn’t seem to work from my post but it does work if you go to my URL.
John Moralessays
For anyone too lazy to do a search, here’s Russell’s teapot quote:
“If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.”
(my bold)
tonysays
Sorry – need MORE CAPS!!!!
TEA is the DEVIL! YOU ARE goin DIE cos YOU ASLL ain’t gopt CHOGOLIT!!!! TEH TPOT IS FER CHOCALIT AN U ALSL NOW IT! DON YOU TEL ME NO OTHIR THIGN!!!!!
Flying teapots have orbited elliptically for decades where computer graphics pioneers gather, for at least as long as the voice of ubergeek Jim Blinn has narrated the scientific visualization portion of the Electronic Theater presented annually at SIGGRAPH. The Utah Teapot is one of the six Platonic solids. Naturally, it contains a concoction that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
EagleAZ4says
No scones either? This is so sad…
Nemosays
Drop no tea
Ragutissays
No Bigelow, No Peace
Know Bigelow, Know Peace
theinquisitorsays
Ah but it’s not a teapot, it’s a picture of a teapot.
Wowbaggersays
Re: #123
Ceci n’est pas une théière?
EagleAZ4says
Twinings or Bigelow for bags…but a good loose oolong from China is tops. Every time it’s steeped it gives a different flavor. Were there a god, we’d give thanks. But, because there’s not, we’ll just thank the shit in the fertilizer and serve it with scones with jam.
pwlsays
Of course recently Richard Dawkins suggested that the advertisement should appear on the tea pot and lo and behold it was (he says it on a recent you tube video). It’s a miracle of Richard!
The shoe. No, the gourd. The shoe damn it. Gourd him! No it’s the tea pot! No coffee in the tea pot! No black tea either! No, water in the gourd, only water and only the gourd! Man, toss the shoe at the gourd and the tea pot!
Dahansays
@13,
It’s Earl Grey. That’s not even a question any more. How can you even doubt?!? Have you been hanging out with some weird cultists or something?
pwlsays
Ick, Earl Grey, what a vile substance that’s from the tea devil. What a horrific cult you are in Dahan. Now, green japanese tea that is couldy – mmmm good to worship, er, well, at least drink.
EagleAZ4says
Earl Grey is wonderful tea. Lady Grey is just a tad less strong. I drink both all the time. However, as good as English tea is, the best tea comes from China. They’ve been brewing it for 2500 years.
Don’t be afraid of loose tea – us Aericans are too used to tea bags. Find a Chinese tea shop, they sell a (usually beautiful) mug with a strainer and they are more than willing to let you taste each tea. You will not be disappointed. The process is the same..boil water…pour over the mug (strainer enclosed)… and let steep.
I still say Oolong is the best. And it’s never wasted. Pour the second cup over the first batch of leaves. You will not be disappointed.
DLCsays
Of course there’s a teapot!
You don’t need proof of the teapot’s existence!
Even calling for proof is heresy!
(add !!’s as desired)
abb3wsays
I wonder if it could be gotten as a screensaver….
Logicelsays
I feel so sorry for ateapotists. They live in a cold, brutal, uncaring world, sipping chilled Chablis as they willfully shun the warmth of tea and the all encompassing beauty and security of a well filled teapot, which is both simple and complex (AT THE SAME TIME, ISN’T MY TEAPOT AMAZING!), so they can entertain themselves with a few ill-gotten slurps of Chablis.
What a pitiful lot. We must go door to door with our warm, well filled teapots to make them see the errors of their ways, to pry their cold fingers off their glasses of Chablis. We must not ever get complacent, just because we are completely satiated in our love and worship of our Teapot. There are heartless Chablis-drinking perverts that would remove In Our Teapot We Trust from our money and our government buildings.
THINK OF THE CHILDREN! (What, you say that there is a constitutional basis for the removal of those words? Here, have some more tea, obviously you are thinking too clearly, making little baby teapot cry.)
pwlsays
Ick, dark teas are evil and just like coffee they are agents of the devil. You know that don’t you? Of course it’s written in my dna.
QQsays
The Teapot couldn’t have been there long. It isn’t tidally locked.
Logicelsays
And though caffeine can be an abortionfacient, we must accept that our Teapot works in mysterious ways and that such abortions are NATURAL.
robotaholicsays
“The moment of silence has nothing to do with Tea, it’s just a moment that adds reverence.”
“I wouldn’t want to live in a world without Tea.”
“All our morals come from the Tea Bible” -(ok that one sucked)
“The Intelligent Tea Designer” – ok i’ll stop
Adamsays
hello, im the teapots creator. id like you all to know that i never intended to have you deificating all over it. i dont even read this site (or much of anything). my girlfriend made me do it.
ps: youre sucking my bandwidth. apologies for slow response times.
I dunno what the fuss is all about since that’s just a teapot, not the teapot. The real one has a fluffy white tea cosy and sits on a cloud, shooting lightning bolts out of its spout.
John Moralessays
Adam:
youre sucking my bandwidth. apologies for slow response times.
You’re welcome.
And thanks, it was a good ‘un. Kudos.
jennyxyzzysays
AnthonyK #93
What a fuss over nothing. A brew-ha-ha if ever there was one.
I would have thought that it was more of a storm in a teacup…
Adamsays
“…made me do it”
that is, *had me do it, by request rather than instruction!
…And the Teapot Created It Adam and gave him SCONE of which he was never to eat, for thus would come the knowledge of Good code and Evil code…
And so on… Oh wow… Adam. That is just too good. My son’s name is Adam.
JC
MNRiddlesays
If you freeze the tea pot as it passes behind the sphere it casts a shadow that looks like a shephard with his/her staff. spooky!
stevogvsusays
Shock!!! Horror!!!
KIsays
I have a slightly serious question for the brilliant minds to be found here. Why is it that I can drink a pot of coffee before breakfast, but a cup of tea on an empty stomach causes near-immediate barfing? Is my faith not strong enough? Should I make an offering, and what would be most appropriate? Thanks in advance for your kind concern.
Dexter Foxsays
I’ve seen the teapot. It’s at the Computer History Museum. Stopped by when visiting San Jose (though it’s in an adjacent town).
A Hermitsays
The United Church of Canada is running a counter-campaign. And there’s a poll…
Tell us what you think:
There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.
There’s probably a God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life
Rather encouraging to see that even without freeping it the “no God” option is winning 53% to 47%…;-)
BAllanJsays
@18…
lucky you!
“Blessed is he who does not see and yet believes!”
KI: Me too! I have concluded that it is early-morning lactose intolerance in my case – some parts of every religion are too hard to swallow, even for the initiated.
This counts as all six of the impossible things you must believe in before breakfast:
1. There is a teapot in orbit.
2. With a sign denying its own existence.
3. And casting a shadow on an invisible plain.
4. The shadow goes through the thing the teapot’s orbiting.
5. That thing does not cast any shadow at all.
6. The tea is not cold.
Li'l Innocentsays
If the following Issues have been raised above, forget I said anything – but as an ever-questing agnostic, I need clarification:
– Would not a truly benign Teapot have disposed Itself so that Its all-important self-negating Message always faced the home planet where (I assume) Its followers reside, as the Goddess Luna has done for us here on Earth. Surely the periodic disappearance and RE-appearance of a message proclaiming its existence/probable non-existence would cause, at the very least, unrest.
– Upon WHAT medium/substance/plasma/surface is that shadow being cast??! That causes even severer unrest, at least in me…
I can’t believe the foolishness PZ is displaying. Seriously PZ, this should be a serious debate about whether lemon or milk is required.
LOL, loved it by the way, especial after the double dose of industrial grade stupidity,… my brain still hurts,…
teammartysays
A Flying Teapot??
Must be from the Planet Gong.
Would you like a cup of tea??
And they don’t mean the kind you can but in stores (well. maybe in Amsterdam).
Die Anywaysays
Adam@137 : “my girlfriend made me do it.”
Ah, I remember the days. …until I was sore. But it was good pain.
Vadjongsays
tms
There is only one teapot, and Russel is its prophet!
People from all civilizations around the world have been making teapots for, like, forever.
What’s so different about this one?
I just go one teapot further.
Felixsays
To understand the teapot as being outside of time from within a conception of space and time that is within a frame of reference unsuitable to make such an assessment as the spatiotemporal framework we arguably occupy constitutes is an error of category and can thusly be comprehensively dismissed as fallacious.
Ergo, the teapot exists outside of time and space. By the way, spacetime does not exist.
Yes, that is seriously the answer a theist gave when confronted with the paradox of a God acting from outside to and within space and time.
Seriously, how do you answer such a person who doesn’t even recognize a paradox when doing so denies the basic fabric of reality?
Robert says
But everyone around me told me there was a teapot. So it’s a coffee pot?
Rev. BigDumbChimp says
whoa man
cosmic
Glen Davidson says
But I have faith in tea.
Do I really have to go out and buy my own tea, rather than trust that tea exists for the taking?
And can I really cancel my insurance against falling teapots?
The implications of such a claim are daunting.
Glen D
http://6mb592
Geoff says
Thanks.
I was getting worried there for a minute or two.
Holbach says
Oh crap, now how are we supposed to deal with the retards now that the damn thing can not be refuted. How about an apt substitution? A flying cracker!
Rob Clack says
At the weekend I ordered myself a t-shirt from spreadshirt.com with the slogan:
There probable is no teapot. Stop worrying. Enjoy life!
Sastra says
Whoa — a teapot of that magnitude circling the earth would definitely give me pause on the God question. And it would appear that God is an Englishman, after all.
E pur si muove!
Aaron says
I can envision a Tea & Cracker Brunch, where noted philosophers and theologians gather to discuss the implications of various arguments for and against the existence of god.
No tea will be served and the crackers may not be consumed.
samuel black says
There’s probably no web site. At least I couldn’t connect.
currie jean says
Well, of course the teapot isn’t that large! I still believe in the little teapot that I’ve always pictured – so little, it’s too small to see.
– CJ
http://www.helium.com/users/165611/show_articles
Epikt says
That teapot looks like it’s well inside the Roche limit. I think we’re pretty much screwed.
Richard Harris says
There probably is no teapot
Ahhhh, but you don’t understand. The Teapot is not a manifestation of your simplistic understanding of a teapot. You must understand Teapot as a metaphor for blahwahburbleblah….
tony says
I just had a vision of the future – and there will be schisms!
Darjeeling? or Earl Grey? or perhaps you are more radical in your posture and demand a virgin green tea from the slopes of the himalayas?
We’ll soon be overrun by the teaists! (or, thé-istes as the French would say)
James F says
Ceci n’est pas une théière.
Tom says
I think there is a teapot, just like The Ancients have told us. Maybe the Templeton Foundation will fund a teapot detection study?
Randy says
Thank you, Richard. Exactly. It’s obvious that the problem here is that PZ is not a REAL Teapotist.
RedGreenInBlue says
O ye of little faith! Seek Teapot not with the Ctrl-F of man’s devising, but beyond the narrow confines of the <body> tags.
…What? You have dared to view the Page Source?? You shall die for your heresy!
Lirone says
Help! All I see is a plain white screen. And no matter how I stare at it, no teapot, coffee pot, or other beverage container manifests itself…
Am I lacking in faith? Is there a prayer I need to chant? Or am I just not one of the chosen people who will be invited for tea when the rapture comes and the sea boils?
Gregory Kusnick says
Gotta say that doesn’t look much like Mars. Mercury, maybe, or the Lunar farside. And anyway the pot’s supposed to be in Solar orbit.
Heretics.
Charlie Foxtrot says
I sometime stop, take a breath and tell myself:
“There is no spoon…”
but then, that’s a different reference…
unless it is a teaspoon that there is not…
ow. My brain hurt.
arekksu says
i’m still an ateaist.
mr-zero says
Espresso is the one true drink. Tea is a blasphemy.
Lesser Whark says
Sastra:
Actually, that’s the famous Utah Teapot, so the Mormons must have been right all along.
fcstan says
SHOCK HORROR
I’m offended.
Holbach says
Lirone @ 18
Actually, you are inside the white ceramic tea pot, a sort of christian purgatory, and will not be raptured until your non-faith is cleansed. Perhaps the pot will fill up with Twinnings English Breakfast Tea, and you can bide your time with delicious caffeine and crackers. No desecration now.
Rey Fox says
And one must really have a firm grounding in crockery before discussing the teapot.
Brownian says
Idiots.
No photo is required, as we know from the Gospel according to Tetley, “Do not pour the Lord thy Teapot.”
Further, every single time I pray to the Teapot my prayers are answered, except for the times they aren’t because the Teapot moves in mysterious ways.
I know the Teapot is there. I personally feel it.
Also, once I dropped a teacup and it didn’t break. How do you explain that with science?
Plus, how can tea come from nothing? Water can’t boil itself.
And what about all the teacup rides at Disneylands and Disneyworlds around the world? Why would so many people ride them if the Teapot didn’t exist? I mean, Walt Disney was either who he said he was, a liar, or insane.
And what if you’re wrong? Do you really want to chance an eternity without tea?
It’s well-known that Hitler and Stalin hated tea, Stalin even going so far as to call it Чай.
You all know the Teapot exists, you just don’t want to admit it so you can go on drinking coffee.
David Utidjian says
So the buses with the signs are gods?
-DU-
Brock says
Heh, the site is REALLY slow to load. Either we Pharynguloids are swamping it, or it’s poorly-encoded Flash.
For those stuck at a white screen: Yes, it’s a teapot animation.
Sorry my post isn’t funny like the others :p
Brock says
Here, I’ll add the requisite catchphrases just in case:
SHOCK HORROR!
Happy Monkey! :D
Masks of Eris says
You wouldn’t say that about the coffee pan people, would you? Huh? Sure, everyone picks at the teapotists, but no-one seems to say a word against the coffeeists! C’mon! I dare you! </caffeintwa envy>
Elwood Herring says
Sastra #7:
Indeed. And I suspect he’s actually David Attenborough.
Buzz Buzz says
Brownian, I want to post something, but anything I would have said was said in your post perfectly. Kudos.
Gregory Kusnick says
No, he’s Ralph Richardson. Didn’t you see Time Bandits?
SplendidMonkey says
Today I watched the kettle and it did boil. This is a true miracle.
SaraJ says
The teapot does exist. If you doubt this is possible, how is it there are PYGMIES + DWARFS??
Qwerty says
Yes, and we all know this is a teaist nation as it was founded right after the Boston Tea Party.
'Tis Himself says
There has to be a teapot. My mother taught me that I was a teapot. I even know a song about it complete with gestures!
gruebait says
There is no teapot…if you don’t pray for NoScript to allow it.
Alloteuthis says
Ah, you can’t fool me. That is not a teapot. That is simply an animated web doohickey of a teapot.
Thanks, Magritte!
PlaydoPlato says
Our teapot,
which art in orbit,
hallowed be thy brew.
Thy boiling comes, thy tea be done,
in porcelain, as it is in stoneware.
Give us our herbal infusions, our daily beverage
and forgive us our instant,
as we forgive our coffee drinkers.
And lead us not into soda, but deliver us from Starbucks.
For thine is the teapot, and the crockery, and the caffiene,
for ever, amen.
TheElkMechanic says
Ceci n’est pas une pipe.
Charlie says
I am surprised no one has mentioned the quasi-paradox that if there probably is no teapot how could we have gotten the slogan which had to have come from the sign on the side of the improbable pot.
It appears the sign condemns itself to a state of improbable existence.
Aaron says
gruebait @39
I prefer NoScripture, which blocks all dangerous religious execution.
Brownian says
Buzz Buzz, I really have to thank CS Lewis for converting me to Teapotism with his sound, well-reaso–what’s that? Lewis was a Christian and his arguments were for Christianity? I thought he was just being metaphorical.
Ugh, I feel so dirty.
sjburnt says
There must be a teapot, since we can readily observe the shadow of the teapot as it crests the Earth… …wait a minute! Where is Atlas? Since when do we sit upon a white surface?
Ah. That is what they meant by a firmament.
Back to your regular programming…
ennui says
I’m no constant commenter here, but damn, Brownian, that was pure gold.
WRMartin says
Ateaism is illogical and is a bankrupt philosophy that cannot allow for certain knowledge, logic, reason, morality, induction or science and to prove the tea worldview by the impossibility of the contrary.
Ateaism does not allow for epistemic certainty.
Tea reveals certain things to me in such a way that I can be epistemically certain of them.
Hitler, Stalin, and Pol Pot didn’t drink tea.
Clare says
“Heh, the site is REALLY slow to load. Either we Pharynguloids are swamping it, or it’s poorly-encoded Flash.”
It is, I am to inform you, immaculately coded. It’s just not a site (home server) that’s ever had, you know, traffic.
AnthonyK says
I can’t see no teapot.
I’m confused. Does this mean no teapot exists, or no teapot doesn’t exist?
Where’s a teaologian when you need one?
Brain Hertz says
Except, as can clearly be seen from examination of the shadow, it’s the Moon/planet which doesn’t exist…
NewEnglandBob says
I like my tea with Ginsing and artificial sweetener and a touch of honey.
You must convert to MY tea-ness.
I can’t stand those a-tea-ists.
[email protected] says
Umm… “It is, I am to inform you, immaculately coded. It’s just not a site (home server) that’s ever had, you know, traffic.”
‘Fraid not. A simple preloader would work wonders for the experience: right now it looks awful because the swf is loading a chunk at a time.
Apart from that it’s great: I particularly like the bump-mapping.
JackC says
I tought both my older kids to go to school (when young), place both hands on hips and sing:
I’m a little teapot
Short and stout.
Here is my handle…
Here is my…. (looks left, looks right)
Well dog gone! I’m a sugar bowl!
JC
JackC says
…. and i TAUGHT them to spell too….
JC
yakaru says
I can’t help it. Although I like the intention behind the “probably”, it seems like a waste of space. I would prefer to see: “There is probably no Flying Spaghetti Monster” on all those busses. It would quantify that “probably” more.
Last Hussar says
Dear Heretics
1) James Mason is God, as revealed by his One True Son, Eddie Izzard.
2) Of course he’s bloody English, otherwise the KJV would not be written in English.
3) Morgan Freeman is a False God, as is Allanis Morrisette and George Burns (Not English).
4)I am declaring Jihad AND a Crusade against Mr Zero.
Wowbagger says
WRMartin, #48, gets 9/10 for his excellent facilis impersonation – he’d have gotten full marks if he added that it’s moral for the teapot to send bears to kill young men* for mocking its prophet’s baldness.
*And he’d also have a gold star if he’d pretended to argue with someone who can read Greek and Hebrew that the original scriptures say ‘young men’ and not ‘children’.
Crystal D. says
Well, now I feel really bad having gone through my entire life thinking there was no teapot. I hope the teapot doesn’t send me to an eternity burning with coffee. :(
Tualha says
“I am Loonquawl!”
“And I demand that I am Phouchg!”
“And we demand that there may or may not be a teapot!”
Clare says
#53 – Ah! I wouldn’t know personally – just felt I had to pass on the defence of my lad’s internetting skills since I single-handedly took his traffic from maybe 2 visits a week to five a second.
JackC says
There is no Tea but Harney. All other pretenders to teadom are heresy. Particularly (shiver) Lipton.
May I wash my mouth in a thousand rivers for uttering that foul name.
JC
Kruge says
The noodly appendage has toucched me and told me that coffee is the only way. Tea is an abomination before th FSM.
'Tis Himself says
You ateaists are going to boil in Hell’s Kettles if you don’t fall on your knees and accept that a loving teapot loves each and every one of you and watches your masturbation with loving concern.
I’ll pray for you.
tony says
This may be off topic… but is there any room for Hot Chocolate? Even without marshmallows?
Andrew says
I think we’re killing it!
DiscoveredJoys says
The (Original) Creed of Nice Tea (325)
We believe in one Pot, the Pot Almighty, Maker of all things visible and invisible.
And in one Pot Lid, the Lid of Pot, begotten of the China the only-begotten; that is, of the essence of the China, Pot of Pot, Brew of Brew, very Mash of very Mash, begotten, not made, being of one substance with the Pot;
by whom all things were made both in orbit and on earth;
who for us men, and for our salvation, came down and was glazed and was made ceramic;
it suffered, and the third day it rose again, ascended into orbit;
from thence it shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
And in the Buttered Toast.
But those who say: ‘There was a time when it was not;’ and ‘It was not before it was made;’ and ‘It was made out of nothing,’ or ‘It is of another substance’ or ‘essence,’ or ‘The Lid of Pot is created,’ or ‘changeable,’ or ‘alterable’ — they are condemned by the holy catholic and apostolic Tea Cosy.
Wowbagger says
tony, #65 wrote:
That’s fucking blasphemy! I declare teahad on this infidel!
Porco Dio says
nice idea… but seems a little silly to me… it’s a little like saying, “there probably is no bus,” or, “there probably is not advertising poster.”
i’m a little more partial to, “there probably is no PZ,” which is bound to keep IDiots busy and out of our hair for a little while.
Brian says
There’s probably no teapot.
Now stop worrying,
and enjoy your martini.
E.V. says
That planetoid is highly reflective.
Bullet Magnet says
@ Porco Dio, # 69
It’s Bertrand Russell’s teapot, you wonderful person :p
Let’s have the merchandise printed and sold to cafés and households around the world, now, please.
Qwerty says
I think PZ is TeaZing us. Of course, we have to be aware of the AntiOxidents!
CatBallou says
Good one, ennui.
tony says
Wowbagger
I thought ‘fucking blasphemy’ was when the minister was ‘rogering’ the parish priest?
All I asked for was a little cocoa. some warm milk, and powdered chocolate. Just a sip. please :D
I promise to make and drink it in private. and I’ll clean up afterwards. you won’t even know!
steve_h says
You think there’s no teapot, but then a trinitea of ’em all show up at once.
BruceJ says
But there IS a Teapot, the Utah Teapot, an icon of computer graphics.
Why would they say there is probably no teapot?
(And yes, that IS the Utah Teapot in the video…)
However, I must have missed class the day the ‘there is probably no teapot’ was added to All Internet Traditions…
Aquaria says
There must be a teapot, since we can readily observe the shadow of the teapot as it crests the Earth… …wait a minute! Where is Atlas?
Silly, the Earth sits on a saucer, and it’s saucers all the way down.
WuffenCuckoo says
I am shocked. I always think of the ‘great teapot in the sky’ as being white . . .
Wowbagger says
Tony wrote:
Oh my Teapot! Why are you persecuting me for my beliefs, Tony? Why do you have to be so militant?
MacNTosh says
And I’ve always thought of the teapot as terra cotta. Schism, schism!
ken says
Nice Teapot. Being an American: You’ll have to get my Coffee out of my COLD DEAD HAND!
Oh to the great coffeepot in orbit!
Ken
hje says
In the beginning there was the teapot (a geometric primitive in some 3d modeling programs like 3ds max):
http://www.sjbaker.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_History_of_The_Teapot
Excerpt: “The teapot was made by Melitta in 1974 and originally belonged to Martin Newell and his wife, Sandra – who purchased it from ZCMI, (a department store in Salt Lake City). The teapot was eventually donated to the Boston Computer Museum but now resides in the Ephemera collection of the Computer History Museum. It’s cataloged as “Teapot used for Computer Graphics rendering” and bears the catalog number X00398.1984.”
Now you know the rest of the story …
Owlmirror says
@#48 – you misspelled “episteamic”.
But yes. We have epsteamic certainty.
And cake.
Santoki says
Boo @ prerender + blocking loads.
Funny though :)
Aquaria says
I am shocked. I always think of the ‘great teapot in the sky’ as being white .
That’s okay. I always think of it as Wedgwood–blue, with Greek idyllic scenes. Sort of like this one.
meh1963 says
Of course it’s probably not there.
The Teapot that can be known is not the eternal Teapot….
from the important text “Teapot te Ching”/i>
thetruthbehindtruth says
Wow, what a design! It’s good to see Bertrand Russell honored in such a manner (that sagacious man is one of my favorite writers, he introduced me to all the arguments creationists propose today and destroyed everyone over 50 years ago.)
http://www.cfpf.org.uk/articles/religion/br/br_god.html
Owlmirror says
Bah.
Damn Bierce-Hartman-McKean-Skitt Law of Prescriptivist Retaliation…
We have episteamic certainty and cake and *facepalm*.
J says
It’s up to you: Tea and cake or death?
tony says
Wowbagger wrote
Are you suggesting I’m a Tearorrist?
I’m shocked that you would twist words so! I’m hurt!
I need to go have some xantheose extract to help me relax!
my heart is all a-flutter!
Slugsie says
I call POE! Look, I can see the pixels. :)
Very nice BTW, would have been better if the moon didn’t look like it was made of some form of haemetite and the teapot was somehow managing to cast a shadow – in the wrong direction and through the moon.
AnthonyK says
Technically, the teapot casts no shadow, as any teaologian can tell you.
What a fuss over nothing. A brew-ha-ha if ever there was one.
Bob Carroll says
Is the teapot lid the same as a Teapot Dome? It’s a scandal! I’m getting thirsty; I think I’ll Russell me up a cuppa. (Not to be confused with A. Russel Wallace.)
Bob
AnthonyK says
It’s all a great advert for PZ tips.
Glen Davidson says
Where the hell is Facilis? Don’t we need someone telling us that the teapot has a necessary existence?
Glen D
http://tinyurl.com/6mb592
tms says
There is only one teapot, and Russel is its prophet!
Crystal D. says
All of this tea talk, and no mention of tea bagging yet… I’m impressed!
Wowbagger says
Not unless the teapot has provided a revelation that facilis can inspect. Apparently that’s the criteria for telling the difference between a ‘real god’ and ‘a crock of shit made up by people’.
Dagger says
@ 84: The cake is a lie!
Or rather, to combine two memes: the cake is probably a lie. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.
Mr Twiddle says
My how your little teapot has grown Russell. I do believe it’s feeding off of our faith. Perhaps someday everybody will be able to see it for themselves and there’ll be no need for faith. But remember, “Bless are those who have not seen and have believed.” – John:20:29
Zeno says
That shadow bugs the hell out of me. The shadow is being cast upon some featureless planar surface. What is that surface? Why doesn’t the moon-teapot system “fall” toward it under the influence of gravitational attraction? Is it massless? Finite? Infinite? Spooky!
Obviously a miracle. (There is but one infinite plane and Russell is its prophet!)
Katy says
This is why I do not miss a day without my Pharyngula-kick.
Thanks to all of you for making me giggle so much!!!
BTW I really would like to have a bus sign dedicated to FSM –
all pink and invisible …
DrNathaniel says
> GET TEA AND NO TEA
Your common sense won’t let you do that.
Dust says
Looks like this guy has stopped worrying…….
http://www.triptronix.net/ishbadiddle/sell_it.jpg
Sure hope this works
Katy says
oops! blasphemy! I mean I would love to see a sign dedicated to the Invisible Pink Unicorn (IPU)
I grovel in mortification.
Interrobang says
There may or may not be a teapot, but there are certainly tea balls out there, and this is my drug of choice.
IT says
What, no Flying Teapot? You mean the Gong Trilogy ain’t true. No Zero the Hero or Pothead Pixies…
(it’s all too much, for me to take…)
Ted H Ohio says
Was Pascal a tea drinker?
plum grenville says
The One True Tea is Red Rose, made only in Canada.
The Atheist Missionary says
An article from today’s Canadian Broadcasting Corporation new survey indicates less than three-quarters of Canadians believe in a god: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2008/06/03/f-religion-poll.html. It would be interesting to see how that number would change if the respondents were asked if they believe in a supernatural teapot in the sky. In any event, the best part of the news story was a quote from a United Church minister who indicated that: “… his sense is that people who believe in a god increasingly imagine a nebulous but powerful force for good, rather than the traditional concept of a deity. Indeed, he likened the concept to that of the Force in the Star Wars movies.” From the mouth of a minister … I love it.
Kel says
hehe, that’s cute
nick nick bobick says
/pedant mode on
Posters have mentioned Earth and the Moon… I am surprised that no one has pointed out that Russell posited a teapot orbiting Jupiter.
debaser says
Teaology sees that each cup is poured from a pot, and it follows that one can continue further and further back, until eventually one reaches the first pot of all cups, and this we call Tea.
And what is this?? You have not found true puritea! Tea in bags?! Sloth!! Milk?? Gluttony! Sugar?!?! Lustful!! These things are all Corruptions of the original leaves of the one true Tea. Repent now before the boiling of the age, lest you sit condemned for your tepidity!
tony says
I still think that you all are apostates. It’s a
Theobrominepot!
Chocolate Rules!!!!! Caffeine is the debil!
The Atheist Missionary says
Correction to post #111. That link doesn’t seem to work from my post but it does work if you go to my URL.
John Morales says
For anyone too lazy to do a search, here’s Russell’s teapot quote:
“If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.”
(my bold)
tony says
Sorry – need MORE CAPS!!!!
TEA is the DEVIL! YOU ARE goin DIE cos YOU ASLL ain’t gopt CHOGOLIT!!!! TEH TPOT IS FER CHOCALIT AN U ALSL NOW IT! DON YOU TEL ME NO OTHIR THIGN!!!!!
CHOCOLIT RULZ!
Ken Cope says
Flying teapots have orbited elliptically for decades where computer graphics pioneers gather, for at least as long as the voice of ubergeek Jim Blinn has narrated the scientific visualization portion of the Electronic Theater presented annually at SIGGRAPH. The Utah Teapot is one of the six Platonic solids. Naturally, it contains a concoction that is almost, but not quite, entirely unlike tea.
EagleAZ4 says
No scones either? This is so sad…
Nemo says
Drop no tea
Ragutis says
No Bigelow, No Peace
Know Bigelow, Know Peace
theinquisitor says
Ah but it’s not a teapot, it’s a picture of a teapot.
Wowbagger says
Re: #123
Ceci n’est pas une théière?
EagleAZ4 says
Twinings or Bigelow for bags…but a good loose oolong from China is tops. Every time it’s steeped it gives a different flavor. Were there a god, we’d give thanks. But, because there’s not, we’ll just thank the shit in the fertilizer and serve it with scones with jam.
pwl says
Of course recently Richard Dawkins suggested that the advertisement should appear on the tea pot and lo and behold it was (he says it on a recent you tube video). It’s a miracle of Richard!
The shoe. No, the gourd. The shoe damn it. Gourd him! No it’s the tea pot! No coffee in the tea pot! No black tea either! No, water in the gourd, only water and only the gourd! Man, toss the shoe at the gourd and the tea pot!
Dahan says
@13,
It’s Earl Grey. That’s not even a question any more. How can you even doubt?!? Have you been hanging out with some weird cultists or something?
pwl says
Ick, Earl Grey, what a vile substance that’s from the tea devil. What a horrific cult you are in Dahan. Now, green japanese tea that is couldy – mmmm good to worship, er, well, at least drink.
EagleAZ4 says
Earl Grey is wonderful tea. Lady Grey is just a tad less strong. I drink both all the time. However, as good as English tea is, the best tea comes from China. They’ve been brewing it for 2500 years.
Don’t be afraid of loose tea – us Aericans are too used to tea bags. Find a Chinese tea shop, they sell a (usually beautiful) mug with a strainer and they are more than willing to let you taste each tea. You will not be disappointed. The process is the same..boil water…pour over the mug (strainer enclosed)… and let steep.
I still say Oolong is the best. And it’s never wasted. Pour the second cup over the first batch of leaves. You will not be disappointed.
DLC says
Of course there’s a teapot!
You don’t need proof of the teapot’s existence!
Even calling for proof is heresy!
(add !!’s as desired)
abb3w says
I wonder if it could be gotten as a screensaver….
Logicel says
I feel so sorry for ateapotists. They live in a cold, brutal, uncaring world, sipping chilled Chablis as they willfully shun the warmth of tea and the all encompassing beauty and security of a well filled teapot, which is both simple and complex (AT THE SAME TIME, ISN’T MY TEAPOT AMAZING!), so they can entertain themselves with a few ill-gotten slurps of Chablis.
What a pitiful lot. We must go door to door with our warm, well filled teapots to make them see the errors of their ways, to pry their cold fingers off their glasses of Chablis. We must not ever get complacent, just because we are completely satiated in our love and worship of our Teapot. There are heartless Chablis-drinking perverts that would remove In Our Teapot We Trust from our money and our government buildings.
THINK OF THE CHILDREN! (What, you say that there is a constitutional basis for the removal of those words? Here, have some more tea, obviously you are thinking too clearly, making little baby teapot cry.)
pwl says
Ick, dark teas are evil and just like coffee they are agents of the devil. You know that don’t you? Of course it’s written in my dna.
QQ says
The Teapot couldn’t have been there long. It isn’t tidally locked.
Logicel says
And though caffeine can be an abortionfacient, we must accept that our Teapot works in mysterious ways and that such abortions are NATURAL.
robotaholic says
“The moment of silence has nothing to do with Tea, it’s just a moment that adds reverence.”
“I wouldn’t want to live in a world without Tea.”
“All our morals come from the Tea Bible” -(ok that one sucked)
“The Intelligent Tea Designer” – ok i’ll stop
Adam says
hello, im the teapots creator. id like you all to know that i never intended to have you deificating all over it. i dont even read this site (or much of anything). my girlfriend made me do it.
ps: youre sucking my bandwidth. apologies for slow response times.
Cannonball Jones says
I dunno what the fuss is all about since that’s just a teapot, not the teapot. The real one has a fluffy white tea cosy and sits on a cloud, shooting lightning bolts out of its spout.
John Morales says
Adam:
You’re welcome.
And thanks, it was a good ‘un. Kudos.
jennyxyzzy says
AnthonyK #93
I would have thought that it was more of a storm in a teacup…
Adam says
“…made me do it”
that is, *had me do it, by request rather than instruction!
CosmicTeapot says
Rev @2
You called!
Martin_z says
Why did Karl Marx drink Earl Grey?
Because he didn’t approve of proper tea.
Boletus says
…so does this mean that god is a double-decker?
I’m so confused.
JackC says
…And the Teapot Created It Adam and gave him SCONE of which he was never to eat, for thus would come the knowledge of Good code and Evil code…
And so on… Oh wow… Adam. That is just too good. My son’s name is Adam.
JC
MNRiddle says
If you freeze the tea pot as it passes behind the sphere it casts a shadow that looks like a shephard with his/her staff. spooky!
stevogvsu says
Shock!!! Horror!!!
KI says
I have a slightly serious question for the brilliant minds to be found here. Why is it that I can drink a pot of coffee before breakfast, but a cup of tea on an empty stomach causes near-immediate barfing? Is my faith not strong enough? Should I make an offering, and what would be most appropriate? Thanks in advance for your kind concern.
Dexter Fox says
I’ve seen the teapot. It’s at the Computer History Museum. Stopped by when visiting San Jose (though it’s in an adjacent town).
A Hermit says
The United Church of Canada is running a counter-campaign. And there’s a poll…
Tell us what you think:
There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life.
There’s probably a God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life
Rather encouraging to see that even without freeping it the “no God” option is winning 53% to 47%…;-)
BAllanJ says
@18…
lucky you!
“Blessed is he who does not see and yet believes!”
j h woodyatt says
Shorter hje@83: “It’s only an OpenGL model.”
Clare says
KI: Me too! I have concluded that it is early-morning lactose intolerance in my case – some parts of every religion are too hard to swallow, even for the initiated.
blf says
This counts as all six of the impossible things you must believe in before breakfast:
1. There is a teapot in orbit.
2. With a sign denying its own existence.
3. And casting a shadow on an invisible plain.
4. The shadow goes through the thing the teapot’s orbiting.
5. That thing does not cast any shadow at all.
6. The tea is not cold.
Li'l Innocent says
If the following Issues have been raised above, forget I said anything – but as an ever-questing agnostic, I need clarification:
– Would not a truly benign Teapot have disposed Itself so that Its all-important self-negating Message always faced the home planet where (I assume) Its followers reside, as the Goddess Luna has done for us here on Earth. Surely the periodic disappearance and RE-appearance of a message proclaiming its existence/probable non-existence would cause, at the very least, unrest.
– Upon WHAT medium/substance/plasma/surface is that shadow being cast??! That causes even severer unrest, at least in me…
Zorpheous says
I can’t believe the foolishness PZ is displaying. Seriously PZ, this should be a serious debate about whether lemon or milk is required.
LOL, loved it by the way, especial after the double dose of industrial grade stupidity,… my brain still hurts,…
teammarty says
A Flying Teapot??
Must be from the Planet Gong.
Would you like a cup of tea??
And they don’t mean the kind you can but in stores (well. maybe in Amsterdam).
Die Anyway says
Adam@137 : “my girlfriend made me do it.”
Ah, I remember the days. …until I was sore. But it was good pain.
Vadjong says
People from all civilizations around the world have been making teapots for, like, forever.
What’s so different about this one?
I just go one teapot further.
Felix says
To understand the teapot as being outside of time from within a conception of space and time that is within a frame of reference unsuitable to make such an assessment as the spatiotemporal framework we arguably occupy constitutes is an error of category and can thusly be comprehensively dismissed as fallacious.
Ergo, the teapot exists outside of time and space. By the way, spacetime does not exist.
Yes, that is seriously the answer a theist gave when confronted with the paradox of a God acting from outside to and within space and time.
Seriously, how do you answer such a person who doesn’t even recognize a paradox when doing so denies the basic fabric of reality?