You may have no interest in listening to an atheist podcast, but our latest episode is a little bit different than our normal format. We interview the Chaplain at Apostate's Chapel about her recent deconversion. So, if you're ever curious about what makes a person turn to atheism, listen in and see what the Chaplain has to say. Not only is she incredibly well-written on her blog, but well-spoken on the podcast.
I stole this meme from The Ridger.
Step 1: Put your MP3 player or whatever on random.
Step 2: Post the first line from the first 25 songs that play, no matter how embarrassing the song.
Step 3: Post and let everyone you know guess what song and artist the lines come from.
Step 4: Strike through when someone gets them right. I'll put it in italics if the title has been gotten, but not the artist.
Step 5: Looking them up on Google or any other search engine is CHEATING.
1. When you beat on that drum
2. I was thinking that I might fly today
3. He's bitter and twisted
4. Swept away
5. Everything changed.
6. I knew you wanted to tell me7. My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why
8. Bouncing off of clouds we were
9. Tempt me, I am invincible
10. You don't know, so don't say you do
11. In my hour of need
12. Childhood living is easy to do
13. Hold out your heart and on it let the sun shine down14. When I think back on all the crap I've learned in high school15. Life, it seems, will fade away
16. When I was a young boy I tried to listen
17. Yeah, you've got a pretty face
18. I can't do it
19. Want to get it all behind me
20. I was staring out the window
21. With a strut into the room
22. Said to myself "I´ll go up"
23. Did you believe them
24. Suede25. And if I die today I'll be the happy phantom
I put out bird seed again last weekend for my cat. He loves to watch the birds and it's warm enough now to keep the sliding glass door open. Cats make the strangest noise when they watch birds. I don't know if they're trying to imitate them or it's some kind of involuntary response.
Anyway, some other bloggers I read have posted pictures of birds that they've observed. And some of these were unusual, so I decided to give it a try. It's not easy to get close and still get a good shot, especially through a screen.
I think that these are some sort of sparrow or junco. They're small and they're everywhere.
But this guy (or girl) has more distinctive features. He looks black or brown until he pokes his head into the sun. Maybe a common grackle?
Atheism
Why do I want to fight fundamentalism?
So, what do you think? Am I being a hypocrite when I rant about Christians proselytizing? I know from my own past experience and from my born-again friends and family that fundamentalists and evangelicals think they are actually helping people when they witness to them and tell them about the saving grace of Jesus. The classic explanation is that they know a bridge is out and people are driving forward full-speed to their deaths. Wouldn’t they be remiss not to shout out a warning? But I also know the unhealthy mental and emotional life which often results from the born-again experience.
Are good intentions enough? How can we know we are really helping people and not leading them into more garbage and confusion? Am I just the same as a missionary when I say that I want to do everything I can to help people recover from the damage that they’ve suffered from religion?
Cats*
Economics
Capitalism is unsustainable
Over the past few years I’ve spoken to several conservatives about economics and they can’t get it through their frakking heads that growth cannot be sustained infinitely. I don’t know if they can’t comprehend infinity or they can’t look beyond the ends of their noses to care about what their policies will do to future generations. But either way, whenever I mention that growth has limits and that eventually our economic system will collapse in on itself, they look at me like I have four heads. It might happen in 10 years or 100, but it will eventually happen if we continue with the same flawed system we have today.
International
Are the French turning into Prudes???
Well, he's right. But it surprised me. For years the French have had a laissez-faire attitude towards nudity. After all, the beaches are, for the most part, topless and even nudist, there is nothing unusual about a nude statue or paintings, or photos of nudes in public places on billboards, in fact, the French are almost as much at home with nudity as the Scandinavians, who have long held the opinion that your skin is ample covering for any occasion. My husband used to tease me about how prudish and Puritan the Americans are. There really is a completely different mind-set about nudity, accidental or otherwise. If Janet Jackson's whole shirt had fallen off here in France during that live Telecast, no one would have thought it a crime.
But is that changing? Carla Sarkozy's nude photo in the English newspapers went practically unmentioned here. The French press were strangley silent, and only a brief mention was ever made. Before, in the 70's or 80's, it would have been cause for national celebration. "Our first lady has a body to die for - and here's the proof!" Now it's an embarrassment.
Photography
Above the Clouds
Politics
Naomi Klein on social change
No Logo author Naomi Klein talks about the Montreal Massacre, crony capitalism, and writing for social change.
Mccain Vs. Mccain
McCain appears to think that he can magically unite the two main strands in the Republican foreign-policy establishment. But he can't. This is not about personalities but about two philosophically divergent views of international affairs. Put together, they will produce infighting and incoherence. We have seen this movie before. We have watched an American president unable to choose between his ideologically driven vice president and his pragmatic secretary of State—and the result was the catastrophe of George W. Bush's first term. Twenty-five years earlier, we watched another president who believed that he could encompass the entire spectrum of foreign policy. He, too, gave speeches that were drafted by advisers with divergent world views: in that case, Cyrus Vance and Zbigniew Brzezinski. It led to the paralyzing internal battles of the Carter years. Does John McCain want to try this experiment one more time?
Religion
Theocratic Quote of the Day
So let us be blunt about it: we must use the doctrine of religious liberty to gain independence for Christian schools until we train up a generation of people who know that there is no religious neutrality, no neutral law, no neutral education, and no neutral civil government. Then they will get busy in constructing a Bible-based social, political and religious order which finally denies the religious liberty of the enemies of God.
Torture - It's nothing new to Christians
This is why we have every right to criticize religion, even with the knowledge that our words are somewhat hurtful. People will cry out “but look at all the good Christianity does”. But if it can’t even rise to the occasion during blatant atrocity then what good is it as a moral institution? The Christians who, themselves, are against torture will claim this is an unfair attack. But it’s not! It’s a completely evenhanded assessment. There is nothing in the Christian code that makes it absolutely clear, for all Christians, at all times, that torture is grossly immoral. And that means the Christian religion is objectively useless when it comes to morality. If it can't instruct us unfailingly about such matters, then it is not needed for any moral issue. We can err on our own, without the supernatural trappings of religion!
Matt Taibbi Goes to a Christian Retreat
By the end of that weekend, Phil Fortenberry could have told us that John Kerry was a demon with clawed feet and not one person would have so much as blinked. Because none of that politics stuff matters anyway, once you’ve gotten this far. All that matters is being full of the Lord and empty of demons. And since everything that is not of God is demonic, asking these people to be objective about anything else is just absurd. There is no “anything else.” All alternative points of view are nonstarters. There is this “our thing,” a sort of Cosa Nostra of the soul, and then there are the fires of Hell. And that’s all.
The Theistic Me vs. the Atheistic Me
Some Christians - not all, by any means - believe that when your child is born with a horrible congenital defect, it’s God’s will. Accept it and cope with it. He’s teaching you perfect love, patience, dependence on Him…. When ministers are assigned to parishes for which they are ill-suited, they are assured that God always works through the ecclesiastical system to place them just where He needs them. He’s teaching them wisdom, patience, obedience…. Such tenets are shallow and stupid, at least, frequently manipulative and, at their worst, abusive.
Sexism
It's good for Hillary, and even better for me
As a male, I’ve been privy to many discussions in which females were not present. Naturally you can not put a big emphasis on this type of anecdotal evidence. But it’s worth remembering that I’m a pretty liberal guy and the types of people I associate with are hardly hard-core, conservative males. If I’ve repeatedly heard gender-based insults cast at Hillary, I can only imagine how much of it goes on in other, more macho circles.
Sexuality
Sex and a single (formerly Christian) woman
Understandably, these factors hindered me from truly enjoying my body and letting go. I never saw sex as dirty or sinful; it was my great desire for it that appeared to be the main problem. As a Christian and a young lady, I was taught to keep my legs locked until the right time, which usually meant the wedding night. "Making out" was akin to toeing a very dangerous and thin line. Plus, most men, I was taught, wanted a virgin to marry, not "used" goods. I heard awful messages such as, "If the milk is free, why bother to buy the cow?" "Who wants to buy a second-hand vehicle when you can get one that's brand-new?" "Once you lose it, you can never get it back." "Soul ties are created through sex, so save yourself for the right one (or you'll be sorry, I guess)." "There should only be one key for one lock." Ugh!
Skeptics
Writing
Optimamistic
What does my current swoon for Cambria say, other than I’m Microsoft’s font puppy? I really don’t know, other than I guess I’m enough of a geek to think about this stuff at all. I do know that I change favorite fonts on a regular basis. I don’t know what that means, either. I do know, however, that I can’t imagine a world in which I actually like Courier or any of its progeny. I’m aware it’s a standard and even use font in publishing, and I have even been known to format work into it, after I’m done writing, just like I double space everything after I’m done writing. Doesn’t mean I don’t hate it with something approaching a passion. It’s the opposite of esthetically pleasing. I wish it would die. But it won’t. At least I have Optima and Cambria to console me at the moment.
*A special category created for Philly
The MoD sent me this picture of a Vietnamese sunrise. It's pretty, isn't it? Here's what he had to say about it:
The thing that stuck me about it, looks the same as ours and all others...doesn't it?
It's a bit of a different culture now, but back when I was in college the general belief was that girls didn't play video games, especially not violent video games. Even when I was first on the Internet there was the suspicion that the "girl" in the chat session wasn't really a girl, no matter what the discussion was about. Once in IRC I mentioned that I played Doom and all hell broke loose about how I couldn't be a girl. One guy was really upset with me for faking the persona of a woman. His whole reason that I couldn't be a girl - "Girls don't play shooters."
I've always played video games, as far back as I can remember. We first had consoles and later a lovely Tandy PC Clone. And finally I had my own progression of PCs and consoles after college. And it's not just video games that have grabbed my attention over the years but board games and card games too.
Perhaps it's genetic. My father's never been a big fan of games. He also, heretic that he is in that sense, never liked sports. My brothers got involved in sports on their own, playing in school and later as spectators. My mom though, is a bigger fanatic than I am when it comes to games. I dare not introduce her to MMOs. She'll already stay up all night playing adventure, arcade, and puzzle games. I used to try to pry her away from the computer when she visited, but now I just leave her be. I know eventually she'll surface and we'll spend time together. It's her escape and that's part of what a vacation is about.
Most of the games I like fall into the god games, economic, strategy, and role-playing categories. For a while I gave up on shooters. Recently though I became addicted to Team Fortress 2. I'm not good at it, but it's still a lot of fun.
When I created my Steam account originally for registration of The Ship I didn't really think about online play. Most of my online game play is with a group of people I know, not strangers. So Ordinary Girl wasn't out of line. But it wasn't until I started playing Team Fortress 2 I realized that my name identifies me clearly as female.
I don't use the in-game chat. Matt and the other people we play with use Teamspeak to strategize separately. But every so often I hear someone comment on my name. I wonder if I'm just "that terrible female player." Fortunately the games are fast-paced enough that I doubt most people pay that much attention or really care.
Animation
Das Rad (The Wheel)
Lately I've been receiving emails asking for link love on my site or reviews of music or books or comments on my posts. Some of these are a kind of interesting, so I thought I'd share.
After reading Ute's post on the rules of marriage I received information about a new artist named Charlotte Sometimes and a link to one of her videos. The two immediately clicked, although I think they're only related superficially. Read Ute's post and then watch this video and see if you don't think so too.
A couple of years wrote a post about a license plate that I thought was funny. A very nice local wrote to let me know that the plate still exists and sent me proof. Thanks!
I received an email from Dreamr about my American Idol - Shout to the Lord post.
I am very familiar with that song and we go to a Baptist church. I think it was awesome that they sang it. My only complaint is they changed Jesus to shepherd the first night. Any time Jesus' name can get out there is fine with me, as His word will never return void. Why should people be offended, we live in AMERICA, you know the America that is supposed to be a Christian country. If I was in Iran I would expect to hear musllim songs. I am so tired of being politically correct. If you don't like it, you can always go back to where you came from. Just my thoughts, DreamrUm, Dreamr, I come from Illinios. If I went back I don't think that would solve your problem. See, America wasn't founded as a Christian nation. Besides, I didn't say that I wanted the song to be banned or anything. I found it odd is all and of course I thought it was kind of silly to be singing it on a pop idol show.
Garbage - Sex Is Not the Enemy
Charlotte Martin - The Dance (Live)
This certainly isn't my favorite song and the video's shakey camera makes it difficult to watch, but her voice shines through and the sound is actually better than most of the live video out there, so I hope you enjoy anyway. Look here and here for more professional, non-embeddable videos.
One of my biggest pet peeves is the phrase, "Everything happens for a reson." Another is courier font, but that's off the subject. That's why I was pleased to see Greta Christina's article "Everything happens for a reason": Atheism and Learning from Mistakes. Go take a look. She makes a lot of very good points that I've used myself to argue against this vomitous phrase.
But one thing I was discussing with my husband the other night while watching Big Brother 9 (see stupid reality shows actually server some purpose) is that the belief that everything happens for a reason also leads us to a sense that we are being punished or rewarded by some higher power for our actions.
I ran into this in my early life at church. In the rationalization for why bad things happen to good people, many Christians believe that the only reason something bad could happen to a person is that they deserved it. God was teaching them a lesson. It's the same sort of reasoning that leads people to praise God for bringing them closer to "Him" after a child's death. There was a reason for the child's death in learning the lesson of returning to God.* Of course many atheists dismiss that type of argument largely for the reason if that's true then God is a cold-blooded murderer for killing the child.
But the flip side is that many people feel feel entitled when good things happen to them. If a lot of good things happen to someone, well then they must be a good person. And looking over to the less fortunate, there is a sense that the more fortunate are better because they are being rewarded by a higher power.
And I think in the long run it leads the privileged to a sense of entitlement. They deserve what they have because they are good people and poor people or sick people or people who face tragedy in some way must be bad people to deserve that kind of fate.
And each time I encounter that reasoning I feel ill. It's exactly the type of reasoning that goes against the general tenants of Christianity that I respect like feeding the poor, taking care of the sick, and in general being charitable. And it's exactly the type of attitude that leads us to place divides between ourselves and other humans. It leads to a lack of sympathy, which I think is dangerous. Because if you can't be sympathetic with someone who is facing a difficult situation, how can you react as a good person, if you don't believe that person deserves your sympathy?
But then maybe I'm blowing it way out of proportion. In any case, that phrase is one of the few innocuous phrases that can raise my blood pressure.
*No, I don't classify all Christians or all religionists or even all woo-ists(?) in this way, but it's an attitude I've found expressed more and more in popular culture.
Atheism
Bill Maher is a crank
Bill Maher is a Luddite, who has tried to blame the death of bees on cell phones has engaged in anti-vaccine wingnuttery, routinely complains of mysterious "toxins", supports animal rights extremists, and generally has a disgusting "blame-the-victim" mentality towards health. Lung cancer may be a largely self-inflicted illness, but the other big cancer killers? Breast cancer? Prostate cancer? Pancreatic and colorectal cancers? Each may have a small environmental component, but most cancers aside from those caused by cigarettes have much more minor contributions from lifestyle and environment. That is not to say these contributions do not exist, but compared to cigarettes the relative risks of misbehavior are astronomically smaller. Most of these cancers have overwhelmingly genetic risk factors and the number one risk factor is almost always family history. Maher's statement that cancers are "hatched" or that there is only "some" genetic component is typical of his ignorance of medicine, his blame-the-victim mentality towards disease, and is just as despicable as his depiction of medicine as a killer.
Comedy
Baby... burrito.. same thing
Education
Evolution on the table top
Evolution has taken another step away from being dismissed as “a theory” in the classroom, thanks to a new paper published this week in the online open-access journal PLoS Biology. The research article, by Brian Paegel and Gerald Joyce of The Scripps Research Institute, California, documents the automation of evolution: they have produced a computer-controlled system that can drive the evolution of improved RNA enzymes—biological catalysts—without human input. In the future, this “evolution-machine” could feature in the classroom as well as the lab, allowing students to watch evolution happen in their biology lessons.
Games
LittleBigPlanet coming to PSP
LittleBigPlanet is currently in development for PSP at Sony Studio Liverpool, a source has told CVG today.
No further details were offered as to how the game will work on the PSP, but if true, we'd expect the portable edition to feature link up options with the PS3 version, set for release in September.
Games for Windows magazine shuts down, staff moves online
Unfortunately, it looks like the realities of the marketplace has caught up with Games for Windows magazine: the print magazine will be shutting down, although the staff will continue writing for the 1UP Network, and the Sims 3 issue will be its last in print.
Upstart Gamer Doc to take on GameStop with themed stores
Huether is blunt with what he sees as the problem with existing retail stores. "There is too much merchandise packed into too little space with too little differentiation," he told Ars. Gamer Doc wants to be more of an experience than other gaming stores, and the company hopes that its unique store themes will help in that regard. "We are fully developing three designs that will be turnkey for our franchisees," he says. "In addition, they will be able to personalize the look of each of the designs to incorporate unique aspects of their market into the look and feel of their store and our brand." He cites Disney as an example of how to build a "consistently strong brand."
Government
The sacred right to rape children
His logic goes like this: because the United States federal government sends troops to foreign lands to fight wars, and because these troops engage in violence and sometimes to terrible things to innocent people, therefore the police officers of Texas have no right to point fingers at religious wackos who think God wants them to rape little girls. Indeed, although “there is no moral defense one could possibly make” of raping children, nevertheless, it is “difficult to tolerate” the “self-righteousness” of the state police or prosecutors who would insist on intervening to protect children from rape, given that federal officials sometimes endorse violent warfare. After all, the U.S. has “killed over one million” people in Iraq (we’ll put aside asking where that number comes from) and is now threatening “innocent” Iran*—and “such practices appear to be occurring, once again, on the plains of Texas.” Shaffer, of course, isn’t defending child rapists, no no. He’s just calling them “innocent” victims of unfair government aggression.
Why I Have Not Participated In Any Tax Evader’s Project
Perhaps you’ve been told that you don’t have to pay the Income Tax. I’m sorry to be the one to break the bad news to you, but all of the theories floating around are based on misguided or dangerous interpretations of the income tax rules. And, as I’ll demonstrate later in this article, they’re not the best way to end the Income Tax and win a much smaller, constitutionally limited government.
International
Brain Gym
American Idol is one of the reality shows that I watch regularly. Most of the contestants have professed a belief in a god at some point or another in their thanks, but the show itself has never been overtly religious.
Last year during one of the episodes each of the contestants sang an inspirational (religious) song except for Blake Lewis, who decided upon John Lennon's Imagine. I heard there was some controversy over his song choice, but from what I read most people felt he lacked conviction to match the song more than they disliked the song choice.
This year David Archuleta sang Imagine early in the season, but he left out the first verse. Maybe after the controversy over Blake (real or not), he decided to play it safe. Or maybe he was telling the truth when he said he wanted to sing the last verse because it was his favorite and due to the limited time given to each song he didn't have time to sing both.
In any case, I don't have a problem with religious songs, especially classic hymns, being sung on the show. I don't hate religious music. I might not appreciate them in the same way Christians do, but I can still enjoy the music when its done well.
But then tonight I watched the episode from last Thursday on DVR and the remaining contestants sang Shout to the Lord. My brand of church growing up was not just evangelical, but also charismatic. This is the type of music we sang on Sunday mornings during praise and worship. Just read the lyrics.
Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing
Power and Majesty, praise to the King;
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name.
I sing for joy at the work of your hands,
Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in You.
My Jesus, my Savior, Lord, there is none like You;
All of my days I want to praise the wonders of Your mighty love.
My comfort, my shelter, tower of refuge and strength;
Let every breath, all that I am, never cease to worship You.
Chorus
Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing
Power and Majesty, praise to the King;
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name.
I sing for joy at the work of your hands,
Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have in You.
Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing
Power and Majesty, praise to the King;
Mountains bow down and the seas will roar
At the sound of Your name.
I sing for joy at the work of your hands,
Forever I'll love You, forever I'll stand
Nothing compares to the promise I have...
Nothing compares to the promise I have...
Nothing compares to the promise I have in You.
Peter Popoff called me the other day. What? You don't know who Peter Popoff is? Does this refresh your memory in any way?
Hmm... well, what about this?
Art
Book Reviews
The real uses of enchantment
Some boast that science has ousted the incomprehensible; others cry that science has driven magic out of the world and plead for "re-enchantment". But it's clear that Charles Darwin lived in as wondrous a world, as full of discoveries, amazements and profound mysteries, as that of any fantasist. The people who disenchant the world are not the scientists, but those who see it as meaningless in itself, a machine operated by a deity. Science and literary fantasy would seem to be intellectually incompatible, yet both describe the world; the imagination functions actively in both modes, seeking meaning, and wins intellectual consent through strict attention to detail and coherence of thought, whether one is describing a beetle or an enchantress. Religion, which prescribes and proscribes, is irreconcilable with both of them, and since it demands belief, must shun their common ground, imagination. So the true believer must condemn both Darwin and Rushdie as "disobedient, irreverent, iconoclastic" dissidents from revealed truth.
Comedy
Foolish April
Holy Frottage, Batman!
Indeed, love is the word. To the uninitiated, your typical Sunday service at Crossfire appears to erupt in what can only be described as a display of passion as members of the congregation throw their arms around each other and grind against the person or persons nearest to them. It was described by one witness as, ‘a frenzy of uninhibited testament to the Power of God.'
Another Goddamned Podcast #8:
March 27, 2008
Ex is pissed off that atheists seem to have chosen red as our color; he thinks it makes us look too "gullible." Philly explains the color wheel. We all weigh in on our favorite colors, then discuss songs with colors in their titles. Evo sings his rendition of "Red Roses for a Blue Lady." And OG gives an amazing performance of "Purple Haze" — on the accordion!
The God-Gene: An Evolutionary Reality?
About a year ago, there was an unfortunate incident with Dr. Chaim Nogoyim, who is of the Jewish faith. He wears a Star of David, rather than a cross, so Fofo offered him one of hers. Trying to make Fofo realize that there are many paths to the same God, Nogoyim signed “God,” then “no” (or “not”), and “Jesus.” Since then, Fofo has refused to “speak” with him any longer.
New Space Station Robot Asks to be Called "Dextre the Magnificent"
In a surprising and potentially troubling request, the new space station robot known as Dextre demanded that astronauts refer to it in the future at "Dextre the Magnificent." Brandishing power tools that would make any handyperson blush, the mobile servicing system thanked humans for creating it and promised a glorious future where humans would retain an important role in the new robot order.
Fools, Fish, and Fun
Games
Ubisoft gets Steamed: 40 games incoming
Ubisoft has announced that they will be bringing their library of games to the Steam digital download service. The publisher will be bringing more than 40 titles to the service, including the Tom Clancy series, the Heroes of Might & Magic series, the IL-2 Sturmovik collection, Far Cry, and the upcoming PC version of Assassin's Creed. This deal will give Ubisoft more games on Steam then any other single publisher.
Game Review: Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII (PSP)
Aside from the somewhat dry combat, there's a ton to do in Crisis Core. The staple mini-games and side missions are present and enjoyable. Crisis Core also has a hearty number of "missions": sectioned off, standalone battles that offer special reward items. These missions are accessible at any save point, and offer bite-sized challenges perfect for portable play.
Government
Booksellers incensed over sexual content law
"The way we read this bill, if you stock a single book with sexual content -- even a novel or a book about sex education -- you will have to register as a business that sells sexually explicit material," said Chris Finan, president of American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.
"This is just outrageous from our standpoint, and we believe it is a violation of the First Amendment."
A Natural History of Anarchy - Part I
Even in the Republican systems that emerged out of the Enlightenment, the premise that there must be a class of rulers and a class to be ruled is the established norm (the modification being that the ruler is approved first by the populace rather than chosen through nepotism). Totalitarian regimes are predicated on the assumption that humans are innately selfish and easily swayed by rival factions thus requiring a unitary executive that, through his singular and enlightened moral vision, will fashion social life in the public’s best interests. [1] State communism (as implemented by Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong or Pol Pot) followed many of these totalitarian illusions and further assumed that human beings were infinitely malleable and thus able to be forged anew through “reeducation camps” that would benefit society by molding human will around the interests of the state. [2]
8-year-old suspended for sniffing marker
Harris used a black Sharpie marker to color a small area on the sleeve of his sweatshirt. A teacher sent him to the principal when she noticed him smelling the marker and his clothing.
"It smelled good," Harris said. "They told me that's wrong."
Eathan's father, John Harris, says the school overreacted for treating Eathan as if he was huffing, or inhaling, marker fumes.
Politics
Religion
The things I can’t believe I once believed…
Looking back, it’s amazing at the ridiculous things I believed in. Norvel, for example, preached that headaches were caused by little devils wrapping themselves around your head, that promiscuity was caused by the demon of lust getting inside of you, and that homosexuality could be cured by exorcism. I believed if you spoke to a disease you could cause it to die. I thought that the Bible was a supernatural book that gave me power over the physical universe. I thought I could “move mountains” with my words.
When I die, hallelujah
Listen to those words: When I die, hallelujah by and by. No wonder the Church has to make suicide a mortal sin. Who, truly believing that, wouldn't want to die?
Who, believing that, could really care about anything but death?
It's true, most Christians aren't that focused on it. But every time I listen to that song, chills run down my spine.
“Everyone Believes in Something”
But it’s part of a larger problem: People who are used to operating on beliefs can’t imagine living without them. They gain an emotional reward and a sense of narcissistic control by imagining that their opinions actually mean something. They feel something, and it is SO. They’ve essentially made themselves non-accountable for responding to anything going on outside themselves. This works OK until physical reality intervenes: "Gee, a concrete block just landed on my foot. I don’t believe it." But they still have to go to the hospital. Amazingly, such a person might still cling to their other "less concrete" beliefs even though their brush with reality has left them severely injured. They rationalize that "maybe their angels were on strike" and left them vulnerable. Anything but take simple responsibility for failing to get out of the way of the physical hazard.
Science
Evolution Gets a Boost: No Cost for Complexity
"I think the main broader impact of this work is on the evolution-creationism debate," wrote Wagner in an email. "I would say the only intellectually interesting argument that the creationists are using, at least the scientifically more sophisticated ones, is that random mutation can not lead to the evolution of complex organisms. And there are interesting mathematical arguments that have been made to support that. But our results show that organisms found a way around that problem by restricting mutational effects on very narrowly confined parts of the organisms."
The chimp who thought he was a boy
It was terrifying. One graduate student described the response that all the [research] chimps had [upon being reintroduced to other chimps] as a nervous breakdown. Nim's brother [and the subject of another study] Ally was so terrified and upset that he suffered a kind of paralysis for a while. They often pull out all their hair; they refuse to eat; some get beaten up by other chimps because they don't know how to respond to them.
The former graduate students in New York believe that Nim had no idea he was a chimpanzee. One of them suggested to me that Nim might have thought he was going to grow up, lose all his facial and body hair and eventually look like the people who were around him. That would be a reasonable supposition. Throughout his life, Nim preferred to be with humans.
All Dad
Androgenesis, it turns out, transforms fatherhood into a parasitic invasion. It begins like normal fertilization, with a sperm fusing to an egg. But then the egg's DNA gets hurled out of its nucleus, so that the sperm's genes are the only ones left in the egg. The egg begins to develop into an embryo, but only after it has lost the mother's DNA.
First movie of 'tsunami' on Sun
Last year's solar tsunami, which took place on 19 May 2007, lasted for about 35 minutes, reaching peak speeds about 20 minutes after the initial blast.
Co-author David Long, from Trinity College Dublin (TCD), Ireland, commented: "The energy released in these explosions is phenomenal; about two billion times the annual world energy consumption in just a fraction of a second.
"In half an hour, we saw the tsunami cover almost the full disc of the Sun, nearly a million kilometres away from the epicentre."
Cities at Night, an Orbital Tour Around the World
Sociology
The Keyhole
Throughout history, the technological trend has been toward faster, more accurate and more accessible copying of information. There can be no doubt that this trend will only accelerate, and that is a good thing. Fast, easy copying takes power away from the elites and distributes it among all people. On a global scale, it is no longer realistically possible to suppress any idea. We now truly have a democratic marketplace of ideas: anyone can speak their mind to the world, and if their ideas have merit, others will be able to adopt them and put them into practice.
Cuss Free Zone
Years ago there was a song called I’ll Make Love to You. It was a huge hit and played on the radio everywhere. A few years later a song called Closer by Nine Inch Nails hit the airwaves cut up and edited because Trent Reznor said “I want to fuck you like an animal.”
Where’s the difference between the two songs? Both are about how much the singer would like to have sexual intercourse with somebody else, but one gets played unedited and the other received giggles and bleeps. Sex is sex and the terms used to describe it are based on the user’s mood, period.
It’s Simple. Stop Lying to your Kids!
I (like most people) am severely distrustful of government control. I have always had strong libertarian leanings, and ironically used to read Thomas Sowell regularly at Capitalism Magazine. Lately I’ve become less inclined toward that school of thought. What’s changed my mind is that libertarians tend to ignore secondary impacts of their actions, as well as the intangible benefits they receive from society. True individualism requires that we keep ourselves in balance with the larger world, paying the hidden costs of our consumption (externalities), and reimbursing society for hidden benefits we receive.
Favor Yourself & Ethical Behavior
Many people, from what I can tell, care deeply about what others think of them. Caring about what others think of us is a waste of time, unless there is something in it for us, some type of gain. In other words, I’m not going to stroke your ego unless I know I can get something from you. For most people, though, they’ll compromise between themselves and their ethical principles. They need attention, and they know they’ll get attention by compromising (i.e., sacrificing or otherwise completely abandoning) their integrity and even their own credibility.
Travel
A visit to Mamallapuram - a photo essay
Mahabalipuram, which is now known as as Mamallapuram, is about an hour’s drive from Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and is a tourist town famed for its ancient sculptures and temples. The monuments in the city were mostly built during the 7th - 9th century A.D. during the time of the Pallava dynasty. The place has scores of temples and monuments, but some are more important than others.
Almost the entire week was overcast, which makes for a boring week of sunrises. Hopefully next week will be a little better, but we're approaching our rainy season from now until late-May (at least in the last couple of years).
