And I recall what an elderly man said to me only a few weeks ago as we sat next to each other on a plane, “dignity, it is the honoring our common vulnerability, and valuing all human life, where we have a chance to go forward together.” Good night and love.
Thirteen Years Later
13 September 2014 by Leave a Comment
Land of The Free (2): Left Behind – Are you ready?
10 September 2014 by Leave a Comment
The most important event in the history of mankind is happening right now. In the blink of an eye, the biblical Rapture strikes the world. Millions of people disappear without a trace. All that remains are their clothes and belongings, and in an instant, terror and chaos spread around the world. The vanishings cause unmanned vehicles to crash and burn. Planes fall from the sky. Emergency forces everywhere are devastated. Gridlock, riots and looting overrun the cities. There is no one to help or provide answers. In a moment, the entire planet is plunged into darkness.
via Left Behind – Are you ready?.
And here’s a piece from What Would JT Do? with a video starring some redneck plugging the movie. He’s apparently convinced atheists will be converting in droves.
Land of The Free (1): Rep. Robert Pittenger R-NC defends the right to fire LGBT employees
9 September 2014 by Leave a Comment
One of North Carolina’s reps in the House thinks businesses should be able to fire gay people simply for being gay. You can probably guess his political party.
via Rep. Robert Pittenger R-NC defends the right to fire LGBT employees.
This is the first post in a new occasional series that I call Land of the Free, Home of the Brave. Each will contain a links to a US story that makes me think “WTF?”.
Talking to Trolls and Idiots
9 September 2014 by 2 Comments
I watched Best of Christopher Hitchens Arguments And Clever Comebacks Part Five on YouTube a few days ago. Hitchens was a fine speaker with a sharp mind and a ready wit that he would unleash to hitch-slap a debating oppponent or heckler. There are any number of videos on YouTube featuring Hitchens on atheism and the existence of God, why religion is bad, and so on. One thing that often strikes me is the ludicrous nature of the comments that viewers leave. Occasionally, there some semblance of a civilised argument, but by and large, the exchanges quickly degenerate into abuse and name-calling. Typically, the same thing happens for videos about evolution and creationism/intelligent design. The pattern is: Person A, a Christian/Young Earther/Creationist, will make some remark about the video. Person B will initially respond with some relevant scientific argument, which A will either completely ignore, deny or counter with some fake science. A will resist all attempts at rationality, and B (and others), at some point, exasperated will simply start name-calling. A (and others) will reciprocate in kind—indeed often they will have started the insults.
This video is no exception. The most recent comment, as I write this, is from some idiot, called Walter White, who wrote:
I wish he was still alive, so I could punch him in the face repeatedly until he begged God to stop me.
Scots, What the Heck?
8 September 2014 by Leave a Comment
I have a message for the Scots: Be afraid, be very afraid. The risks of going it alone are huge. You may think that Scotland can become another Canada, but it’s all too likely that it would end up becoming Spain without the sunshine.
via Scots, What the Heck? – NYTimes.com.
Hat-tip to Salon for highlighting this piece.
Musings on Fordidden Fruits: Science vs Religion
6 September 2014 by Leave a Comment
Chris Mooney writing for Mother Jones, the American non-profit news organisation, published an article this week, Study: Science and Religion Really Are Enemies After All discussing a recent paper, Forbidden Fruits: The Political Economy of Science, Religion, and Growth by Roland Bénabou et al.
As part of our motivating evidence, we also uncover a new fact: in both international and cross-state U.S. data, there is a signicant negative relationship between religiosity and innovativeness (patents per capita), even after controlling for the standard empirical determinants of the latter.
Play Bach
4 September 2014 by Leave a Comment
This is pretty cool, if you are a fan of Johann Sebastian Bach. The Netherlands Bach Society is adding a recording of one of Bach’s 1080 works each week. Why?
Because the Netherlands Bach Society is looking forward to celebrating its first 100 years in the 2021–2022 season, the idea emerged to perform all of Bach’s work.
There’s a new performance added every Friday. As I write the count is 23, which means according to WolframAlpha’s calculations means the last piece will be posted on 01 December 2034.
Click here to go to the All Of Bach home page.
No Jesus?
2 September 2014 by 2 Comments
I’ve never been a religious person. My father was a renegade Roman Catholic. Though we never really discussed it, I think he objected to the hypocrisy. So there was no question of church or Sunday School. My brother and I were baptised Church of England—because that’s what you did back then. Nonetheless, I’d always assumed that Jesus of the Bible was a real person. As a result of my meanderings through the web on the subjects of Creationism and Intelligent Design (and the utter stupidity of these ideas[1]), I stumbled upon the notion that Jesus wasn’t actually any such thing.
Forgive yourself
1 September 2014 by Leave a Comment
But don’t let yourself off the hook, never forgive yourself, for not caring or not trying.
via Seths Blog: Forgive yourself.
I seem to be in a motivational mood for some recent posts. But I’d add “… for whining and not taking responsibility.” I’ve done these too often.
Think for yourself
1 September 2014 by 1 Comment
I want to live my life taking the risk, all the time, that I don’t know anything like enough yet. That I haven’t understood enough. That I can’t know enough. That I’m always hungrily operating on the margins of a potentially great harvest of future knowledge and wisdom. I wouldn’t have it any other way, and I’d urge you to look at […] those people who tell you, at your age, that you’re dead until you believe as they do. What a terrible thing to be telling to children. And that you can only live by accepting an absolute authority. Don’t think of that as a gift, think of it as a poisoned chalice. Push it aside however tempting it is. Take the risk of thinking for yourself. Much more happiness, truth, beauty and wisdom will come to you that way.
— Christopher Hitchens, 2010
oddrops 