I wish there was a machine like this:

That way, I could upload in people’s minds whatever it takes to fully appreciate, say, Richard Feynman. Everything from his lectures to when he tells the story about his (hilarious) stint at Los Alamos. Once you get to know how funny, kind and brilliant this man is, then you can fully appreciate chats like these:

But then again, such a machine could just as easily corrupt many people’s minds if false information were purposely forced upon them. I think it would have more of an impact than the Atomic Bomb on our entire race.

Actually, the original Hebrew word for “day” was just a way to describe periods of time, rather than 24 hours. But then again, how did God first create light, when there was no matter for the electromagnetic waves to bounce off of?

Either way, it’s all bullshit.

I am aware that my personal experiences cannot represent the whole, but nearly every homeschooled person I know grew up in a very religious home. I’m guessing that’s why many (not all) parents pulled them out of the public system.

The New York Times reported on a recreational football league for homeschoolers: the Glory For Christ Football League. Of course, the first photo on the sideshow of the article was this:

Oh how I *wish* this was photoshoopped

I wonder how far behind #3 is from 1 and 2.

A young man from Kansas suffered a severe head injury. Here’s an outline of what happened (credit to PZ Myers):

The Catholic church is investigating to see whether or not this is a miracle. You see, hundreds prayed to Father Kapaun, who is near canonization. I say they’re a bunch of lunatics who don’t any appreciation for any bit of modern medicine that has saved this man’s life. I wonder how they would feel a doctor gave them a choice between treatment, and a few thousand prayer groups. I’d hope they’d see these miracles for what they really are.

Equally irking are when a select few people survive car/airplane crashes, where everyone else dies, and they call it a fucking miracle.

Two things have gone down recently, that have really pissed off a lot of people like me. But I think our aggression is misdirected.

First off, it seems as though there are extra perks to being a nun, like getting away with killing a 16 year old while running a red light. She slammed into a Honda Civic, carrying four teenagers.  Far from looking sorry for her actions, Sister Marie Marot sports her “million-dollar smile” walking out of the courtroom. “We just thank God, and we are happy that the truth came to light,” Mother Marie Martha, her superior said. I’m glad to see that she’s happier the case went in their favor, as opposed to mourning the death of a teen. I guess we can file this in the “Mysterious Ways” folder, as it seems He allows the justice system to exempt the negligent from manslaughter.

From what the article says, it seems apparent that she accelerated through that intersection through a red light. Actually, the full article really is gross.

Along the same lines, we’re faced with the yesterday’s murder of the late-term abortionist, George Tiller. Atheists have yet another reason to hate extremist Jesus lovers, who call it “Justifiable homicide”. When you have Bill O’ preaching against the doctor, and people applauding the killing, it’s no wonder atheists are pissed.

How about ill-conceived ad campaigns like these?

Does this mean that if I don’t believe in God, I’ll want to kill you? (Fortunately, those ads were pulled.)

Where most of us religion-haters are wrong, is in laying the blame on the religions themselves. Killers come from all walks of life. They’re atheists, Christians, Jews and Muslims. I know of some atheists who think that murdering anti-abortionist families in the US would be justifiable. On the other hand, good people come from all the same walks of life as well.

What we atheists have to differentiate is the difference between evil people, and people believing things we consider incredibly stupid. Thinking Christians or Muslims want to kill off people who believe differently, is wrong. Anyone wanting to kill someone in these circumstances needs serious psychiatric help. The fact that amoral and weak-minded people may or may not go to a church has little to do with the fact that they murder.

Sure, The Church is anything but a beacon of morality. However, we should be focusing on the root of the problem: why people do evil things, not their religious or non-religious affiliation.

One of my fave websites has been stagnant for quite some time now – Russell’s Teapot (link is to the first comic of the strip)

Cuba was nothing short of fantastic. Jon and I did the typical resort thing in Varadero for a bit, before heading to Havana for a couple of days. (You can see photos by clicking here)

Havana was the highlight of the trip. Instead of paying for the rediculously-priced hotel “expeditions”, we just hopped on a local charter bus. We had no maps, reservations or plans. Just a few phone numbers I got through Couchsurfing.org. People were friendly, save for the few who were just befrending us for money. Police were incredibly helpful. I even spoke to an army guy which turned out to be not so much of a good idea, haha. In central Havana, we walked down a street to hear very loud percussion music. We peeked through the open door to see what it was—and that’s whenthe “mom” of the house, came out and invited us in with much enthusiasm. “Venga! Venga!”.

Four hours later we’re still in this house, it’s a Santeria ritual. Booze is flowing, 50 people are crammed in the room. People in trances were dancing wildly. It’s getting dark and we stil have no idea where we were staying the night. Jon was getting hungry. Our kind hosts found us a restaurant and a legal casa particulare in which we could both stay the night for only 25 CUC. We chatted it up with them till late before going to bed. I had never has so much appreciation for being able to speak Spanish. I realized how much I missed it and how many doors it opened, even though it’s only intermediate.

We wandered the city more the next day. There are so many stories I could tell, but I’ll save it for when we go out for a beer.

The remainder of the week at the all-inclusive resort was nothing short of blissful. Jon was an amazing travel partner, and I look forward to our next adventure.

Oh, and by the way, I did it!

One of the latest bills introduced in the Alberta legislature in Edmonton: Evolution classes should be optional.

It’s too bad, because while the rest of the world is teaching their kids about hard science, subsequently creating a more informed workforce. I thought Alberta was the patriotic priovince that wanted Canada to lead like we did over half a century ago: So they decided to make optional what they do not understand. I thought education was about challenging yourself, and learning things outside of your scope—to broaden your limited horizons. I wonder how they’ll go on about teaching geography to the class with a mix of students who have or have not taken evolution.

“The Appalachians, many millions of years ago, was the tallest mountain chain in the world. Much moreso than the Rockies and the Himilayas.”

“Well I was taught that the world was created in 6 days about 6000 years ago. That’s what I’m going to put on my test answer sheet. Deal with my parents and the press. I like to have an open mind.”

Great, now Canada will have a bunch of voters who’s environment lead them to believe that human history is actually significant in the universe. Of course Genesis takes 6 days. Do you really think they’re going to write 14 billion years of history before they get to the couple of thousand years of ancient human history? Isaac Asimov put it quite well

“In the beginning,” he said, “exactly fifteen point two billion years ago, there was a big bang and the Universe–”

But I had stopped writing. “Fifteen billion years ago?” I said incredulously.

“Absolutely,” he said. “I’m inspired.”

“I don’t question your inspiration,” I said. (I had better not. He’s three years younger than I am, but I don’t try questioning his inspiration. Neither does anyone else or there’s hell to pay.) “But are you going to tell the story of the Creation over a period of fifteen billion years?”

“I have to,” said my brother. “That’s how long it took. I have it all in here,” he tapped his forehead, “and it’s on the very highest authority.”

By now I had put down my stylus. “Do you know the price of papyrus?” I said.

“What?” (He may be inspired but I frequently noticed that the inspiration didn’t include such sordid matters as the price of papyrus.)

I said, “Suppose you describe one million years of events to each roll of papyrus. That means you’ll have to fill fifteen thousand rolls. You’ll have to talk long enough to fill them and you know that you begin to stammer after a while. I’ll have to write enough to fill them and my fingers will fall off. And even if we can afford all that papyrus and you have the voice and I have the strength, who’s going to copy it? We’ve got to have a guarantee of a hundred copies before we can publish and without that where will we get royalties from?”

My brother thought awhile. He said, “You think I ought to cut it down?”

“Way down,” I said, “if you expect to reach the public.”

“How about a hundred years?” he said.

“How about six days?” I said.

He said horrified, “You can’t squeeze Creation into six days.”

I said, “This is all the papyrus I have. What do you think?”

“Oh, well,” he said, and began to dictate again, “In the beginning– Does it have to be six days, Aaron?”

I said, firmly, “Six days, Moses.”

I apologize for all these video spams.

My fave part : what he says from 5:00 to 5:15

This guy killed himself after killing another young woman (his girlfriend?) on Good Friday.

That sucks, because I know this does not represent Christians in general. Anthony Powell was in dire need of psychological help, and I don’t know why it didn’t come to him sooner.