left biblioblography

Friday, September 11, 2009

Always Remember, Never Forget – Black Tuesday Is A Religious Debt

It is now eight years later, since that fateful day, when Muslim extremists struck at our country, and committed an atrocity that will endure in our collective memories, an act of savage genocide struck against innocents, where rivers of people not caught in the blaze poured out of windows in a river of flesh and blood.

It is a horrid lesson: religion is not to be trusted. It gives the foam-flecked fanatics sanctuary, it forgives the bloodied hand, it shields those who would otherwise be treated as mental invalids.

Remember, remember, the 11th of September.

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Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Home Remedies For Leprosy: More Evidence That The Bible Is A Load Of Bollocks

Really, one of the more hilarious moments in that old book of fables:

Leviticus 14:

14:1 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

14:2 This shall be the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing: He shall be brought unto the priest:

14:3 And the priest shall go forth out of the camp; and the priest shall look, and, behold, if the plague of leprosy be healed in the leper;

14:4 Then shall the priest command to take for him that is to be cleansed two birds alive and clean , and cedar wood, and scarlet, and hyssop:

14:5 And the priest shall command that one of the birds be killed in an earthen vessel over running water:

14:6 As for the living bird, he shall take it , and the cedar wood, and the scarlet, and the hyssop, and shall dip them and the living bird in the blood of the bird that was killed over the running water:

14:7 And he shall sprinkle upon him that is to be cleansed from the leprosy seven times, and shall pronounce him clean, and shall let the living bird loose into the open field.

14:8 And he that is to be cleansed shall wash his clothes, and shave off all his hair, and wash himself in water, that he may be clean: and after that he shall come into the camp, and shall tarry abroad out of his tent seven days.

14:9 But it shall be on the seventh day, that he shall shave all his hair off his head and his beard and his eyebrows, even all his hair he shall shave off: and he shall wash his clothes, also he shall wash his flesh in water, and he shall be clean.

14:10 And on the eighth day he shall take two he lambs without blemish, and one ewe lamb of the first year without blemish, and three tenth deals of fine flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and one log of oil.

14:11 And the priest that maketh him clean shall present the man that is to be made clean, and those things, before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation:

14:12 And the priest shall take one he lamb, and offer him for a trespass offering , and the log of oil, and wave them for a wave offering before the LORD:

14:13 And he shall slay the lamb in the place where he shall kill the sin offering and the burnt offering, in the holy place: for as the sin offering is the priest's, so is the trespass offering: it is most holy:

14:14 And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespass offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot:

14:15 And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand:

14:16 And the priest shall dip his right finger in the oil that is in his left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the LORD:

14:17 And of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespass offering:

14:18 And the remnant of the oil that is in the priest's hand he shall pour upon the head of him that is to be cleansed: and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD.

14:19 And the priest shall offer the sin offering, and make an atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleanness; and afterward he shall kill the burnt offering:

14:20 And the priest shall offer the burnt offering and the meat offering upon the altar: and the priest shall make an atonement for him, and he shall be clean.

Note that I’ve underlined all the contextual operative sentences, such as ‘he shall be clean’, ‘he who is to be cleansed’, etc. It is very clear, that this wasn’t meant to be the equivalent of taking a shower so as to be acceptable for mixed company. This is obviously a healing ritual of some rigor. The ancient Israelites put much store in sacrifices as well as anointment. Sacrificing a bird and a lamb, as well as anointing the leper, is obviously an occult ritual of some sort.

No doubt this will be reinterpreted. ‘Leprosy wasn’t the same illness back then’ is likely the (sad) excuse, or perhaps some willful misinterpretation of the word ‘cleaning’ and ‘cleansing’. It’s fairly obvious to those of us who have a clue, what this crap was supposed to do. And of course, since it doesn’t work at all, there will no doubt be all kinds of ridiculous rationales trotted out.

Which is no surprise at all.

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Saturday, September 05, 2009

Allegories Gone Wild – The Absence Proves The Existence of – Whaaa?

lifeonmars

Cross posted @ God Is 4 Suckers!

Of all the wild variations of cultism spawned by religion, the ones that tickle me most (in between the bouts of startled laughter) are the creationists, be they Young Earth or Old Earth (at least the latter are somewhat inclined towards evidence).

And the former? Wow, talk about crazy – the upcoming tidbit of teleological rubbish stems from this particular site – try not to let teh crazy overwhelm your senses.

BIBLICAL CREATION - Scientific Proof

MARS REPORT: No Life

Even though many thousands of scientists today do not believe that the theory of evolution has any scientific merit, our nation continues to spend many millions of dollars in searching for extraterrestrial life in deep space and within our solar system. This is because much of the scientific community is still clinging to a theory which has already been shown by the sciences of geology, thermodynamics, chemistry, microbiology and genetics to be as impossible as anything could be considered to be impossible in science. This statement is based on the numerous advances in modern technology which continuously provide evidences which discredit the evolution theory.

‘Thousands of scientists’? Are you kidding me? I raise to the power of Steve! (The illustration being obvious: the number of scientists named Steve alone outnumber the alleged ‘scientists’ who disagree with the science of evolution).

In addition, these same scientific disciplines also verify that the established laws of science prohibit the development of life from non-living chemicals.

Oy, there’s the old abiogenesis canard. This doesn’t disprove evolution at all. In fact, there’s some kind of proof how RNA got started.

It is not what we do not know about evolution, but what we do know about the confirmed laws of science, which falsify evolution.

Uh…hello? Evolution is a confirmed law of science?

During the initial Lunar landing missions, the Apollo astronauts were required to be quarantined until it could be determined that no pathogenic microbes were introduced from the Moon. As it turned out, no extraterrestrial microbes or biologic molecules of any kind were found on the astronauts or within any of the numerous Lunar samples.

Which is a big resounding, so fucking what?

In 1975, two U.S. space probes were launched for the purpose of landing on Mars. The Viking probes were designed to provide images of the terrain and analyze the Martian soil. One of the primary functions of the onboard laboratory was to test for organic molecules or any signs of life such as microbes. The rationale was that "since" life had evolved on Earth, some form of life must have also evolved on Mars. Scientists were hopeful that some evidence of life would be found to bolster the theory of evolution. However, the extremely expensive and sophisticated test apparatus did not detect any evidence to support evolution. Not a trace of a microbe could be found by either of the probes.

Wait – was that the metaphorical rumblings of the foundations of evolution I just felt? Never mind, it was just gas.

VIKING FAILS TO DETECT LIFE

Now using the same reasoning, if evolution had occurred on the Earth, one would expect that at least single-celled forms of life, whether plants, animals, or even viruses would have been detected either by the elaborate Martian experiments or from all the Lunar missions

I tell you what else fails – this, to impress. It’s one effin’ planet, people.

No verified forms of extraterrestrial life have ever been observed.

Radio telescopes have also been used for decades by the SETI project. SETI is the organization - Search For Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence. This organization is funded with millions of dollars each year and is managed by NASA. Scientists, including the late Carl Sagan, have been looking for pulsed signals from outer space. These scientists are prepared to accept any basic signal which can be interpreted as coded information as proof of the existence of extraterrestrial life (aliens). No such signals have yet been received, however, this same scientific community refuses to acknowledge the origin of the enormous encyclopedic quantity of complex information which has been found.

Of course, that analogy is seriously broken.

THE DISCOVERY OF THE DNA MOLECULE HAS UNCOVERED THE MOST ORDERED INFORMATION SEQUENCE IN THE UNIVERSE

Of course, the ‘white paper’ blathers on at length about DNA – of course, no mention of pseudogenes, or for that matter, anything that resembles the slightest lick of the tongue of science (ooh!). I’ll skip ahead to some of the funniest ‘statistics’ you’ve likely ever seen.

Bible believing Christians maintain that man was created in God’s image and likeness, therefore it is difficult to understand how this could include a transition from apes. In fact, the clear teaching of the Bible states that man was created fully mature about six thousand years ago. (Genesis 1)

Yes, despite all archeological proof to the contrary, like the Harrapan civilization.

PEOPLE OFTEN ASK HOW THE 6000 YEARS IS DETERMINED.

No one Bible scripture states this and perhaps this is because God knew that man has been known to attempt to explain away any one particular scripture. The 6000 years is determined by adding the total chronological time span of the Biblical patriarchs to the date of established historical events such as the birth of Christ.

Or maybe they made all that shit up.

Some say that the genealogy of the patriarchs contain gaps. They claim that generations might be missing because each descendent listed in Genesis may not have been a son but rather a grandson or great grandson etc. This possibility is irrelevant because the time span between these births is mathematically fixed no matter how many generations may have been missing.

Wait – a resounding WTF? These people can’t even agree on life spans. No proof that anyone can live past 150. Fixed how?

All the time lines of the stated genealogies link together to form an accurate continuous chronology.

Too risible.

Several textual discrepancies have arisen between the Greek Septuagint and the Hebrew Masoretic texts. These only amount to several hundred years therefore, the 6000 years+ recorded history of man stands. There is no rational way to stretch this figure to millions of years!

Christlation: “I don’t want to believe the evidence, ergo, the evidence doesn’t prove it!”

Evolutionists, including those who teach at many Christian colleges, believe that man is simply a higher form of ape who evolved by chance. According to this popular theory, the genus "Homo" has been evolving for about 2,500,000 years.

Well, only if reality is ‘popular’…

Now this hypothesis can be mathematically tested and compared with the account of creation to establish which is more plausible. We need only compare the quantity of physical remains of man found on the planet Earth with the expected numbers which should remain as fossils or unfossilized bones. After all, the evolutionists have assured us that fossils, in general, have been preserved for hundreds of millions of years.

Let the stupidity begin:

The equation for human population growth is:

P= poert

P = present human population
po = initial human population of 2 people
e = natural logarithm base (2.718)
r = annual growth rate
t = time in years

The current annual growth rate is 1.7%. However, examination of population figures throughout recorded history, which takes into account plagues and wars, indicate that the average growth rate is closer to .5%. Now let's be extremely conservative and not even consider all the expected remains which would have accumulated from Homo erectus and Homo habilis which supposedly have been reproducing for several million years. We are also going to severely limit the calculation to the expected number of graves which modern man would have left, and then for ONLY 100,000 years instead of the 200,000 years proposed by many evolutionists. Going further, the population growth rate will be reduced to .1%.

Using these extremely conservative numbers in the above equation yields the Earth’s total population of Homo sapiens which would have lived and died : 5.3(10)43

This number is 5 with 43 zeros after it. This population is a whopping incomprehensible astronomical number! Let me boil this down to the expected number of graves (remains/fossils) per acre.

NUMBER OF ACRES ON THE EARTH
3.7(10)10

Each acre of ground should contain 1.44(10)33 bodies per acre

If the evolutionary scenario is even remotely true then:

Every time and every where a spade is put in the ground, it should come up filled with modern human bones!

This would be most impressive – if I were a drooling moron, that is. The variables that intersect this are just staggering. Akaline soil that eats away at bone matter, for one. Prevalence of scavengers cracking open the bones for marrow. Erosion. Extreme weather variations pounding away at the remains. Some tribes (the Parsees for one) practice air burials. Cannibalism. Let’s not even calculate SIDS among the ‘noble savages’, the tolls wars take on bodies, burials at sea or drowning (how much you wanna bet corpses don’t settle into the silt like they claim in the movies, huh?), tectonic plate shifts, lava/magma, I mean, all the variables that aren’t factored into this alleged ‘equation’.

PZ Meyers at Pharyngula pharyangulates this fairly easily via this post.

As a matter of fact, no matter how deep the excavation or how many miles you probed the Earth with a test boring--you would come up with human remains. Remember this does not even include the entire genus "Homo" whose remains could not be contained in the entire globe of the Earth even if it were hollow.

(My eyes are rolling up so high, I can see the bottom of my brain!)

BIBLICAL SCENARIO:

We are now in a position to compare this unrealistic situation with the clear teaching of the Bible.

Initial Population after the flood: 8 people
Growth rate : .428%
Time: 4750 years (since the Flood)

EXPECTED EARTH’S POPULATION:
5.38(10)9

As you can see, this figure agrees with the current population of our planet (see graph). It is clear that the population growth figures are undeniably in accord with the Biblical account of Noah’s flood as opposed to the utter foolishness of evolution theory.

So, to nutshell:

No life on Mars disproves evolution, and so does the fact that we’re not tripping over human bones when we pull weeds. So the planet isn’t a vast graveyard, this proves what? Nothing, except these people don’t seem to be living in the same world as we are.

(Do note, I provide this for us all as a flashcard: because someday, some way, one of us may encounter these ridiculous ‘theories’, and better to be prepared, than to stand there ‘tasered by the devil’ as Lewis Black puts it.)

This has been the Apostate, finding crazy shit on the web so you don’t have to.

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Friday, September 04, 2009

Science Fiction Where The Fiction Outweighs The Science – Eureka!

Eureka! is actually a TV show that I enjoy immensely. As the entry states:

Eureka takes place in a high tech community of the same name, located somewhere in Oregon—an address from the pilot indicated Washington, but all details since (state flags, maps, etc.) agree on Oregon—and inhabited entirely by brilliant scientists working on new scientific advancements that frequently go disastrously awry. Town is operated by mysterious private corporation called Global Dynamics, that supposedly is funded by United States government. The town's existence and location are closely guarded secrets.

U.S. Marshal Jack Carter stumbles upon Eureka while transporting a fugitive prisoner (his own rebellious teenage daughter Zoe) back to her mother's home in Los Angeles. When a faulty experiment cripples the sheriff of Eureka, Carter finds himself quickly chosen to fill the vacancy. Despite not being a genius like most members of the town, Jack Carter's ability to connect to others, his simple but effective ideas, and his steadfast dedication to his work repeatedly saves Eureka, and sometimes the entire world, from one would-be disaster after another.

It’s basically a good show – I rather like all the characters (including the exceptionally yummy Salli Richardson-Whitfield as Dr. Allison Blake and Erica Cerra as Deputy Jo Lupo), it’s got some semi-decent plots, and the writing isn’t all bad.

What IS bad, is the alleged ‘science’ writing. For instance, in the episode ‘Invincible’ an agoraphobic scientist becomes mysteriously imbued with supranormal (read superhero-ish) powers – as the explanation-exposition is fleshed out, one of the main scientists cites the ‘we-only-use-ten-percent-of-our brains’ rubbish. In ‘Blink’, an SUV is totaled by a scientist…who as it turns out, had some sort of formula for speeding up the metabolism in order to move faster than the human eye can follow – e.g., somewhere in the vicinity of 588 MPH. Uh, hello? The human body can’t do this sort of craziness – a good likelihood that the individual’s heart would explode long prior, and even if said individual could get up to that speed, the body in question would probably blow out all the joints, eyeballs, eardrums, and other sundry items not designed for that sort of duress. And of course, the tired old impossible canard of time travel. Jack Carter discovers the timeline has been tampered with, and goes back in time to stop it being tampered with – and anybody with the slightest knowledge of quantum physics knows that A. Time travel is impossible, and B. even if someone COULD do this, it would negate itself, becoming something of a quantum Zen koan on Quaaludes.

And, yeah, I get it that it’s a TV show. It’s actually a fun watch. I get it that it’s fiction. I just wish they would put just a teeny tiny bit more effort into researching the ‘science’ part, instead of just using stale formulas. It’s supposed to be about science, after all.

Just sayin’.

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Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Ageism In America

So I was at a Resume Facts seminar about 2 weeks ago (one of those free classes they provide for the taxpayer), and the lady, who’d been a recruiter for many years, stated that a job-seeker should never, NEVER go over the decade line, I.E, “Candidate has 11 years of experience in X industry”. Needless to say, I furrowed my eyebrows at this. A little later in the class, we were discussing cover letters, and I mentioned that my byline reads “I have been in industry X since 1993”. Surprise! I was told not to go over 10 years.

She tossed this shit out in the class – that ageism is a fact, there’s nothing to be done about it, everyone has to work around it.

When I was laid off in February, I signed a waiver stating that I hadn’t been laid off due to my age. It was a first, I tell ya. Since I’m 50, it has gone from invisible to palpable. And I’m not happy.

And I got this crap in my email too:

12 words you can never say in the office
These outdated tech terms really show your age; we’ve put together a list of alternatives. Welcome to the world of cloud computing, the smartphones and the virtual desktop

1. Intranet

Popular in the mid-'90s, the term "intranet" was eclipsed by portal not too long ago, and even that name seems to be waning. [Editor’s Note: This paragraph has been corrected in response to readers’ comments.]

Never used it much, so no big loss

2. Extranet

An "extranet" referred to private network connections based on Internet standards such as IP and HTTP that extended outside an organization, such as between business partners. Extranets often replaced point-to-point electronic data interchange (EDI) connections that used standards such as X12. Today, companies provide suppliers, resellers and other members of their supply chain with access to their VPNs.

Never even heard this word before, so again, no big whoop.

3. Web Surfing

When is the last time you heard someone talk about surfing the Web? You know the term is out of date when your kids don’t know what it means. To teens and tweens, the Internet and the World Wide Web are one and the same thing. So it’s better to use the term "browsing" the Web if you want to be understood. Or you can just say "Google" since everyone uses that term as a verb.

You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. So we’re doing it because the kids do it?!?!? Vice versa if they’re not? Talk about language snobbery.

4. Push Technology

The debate over the merits of "push" versus "pull" technology came to a head in 1996 with the release of the PointCast Network, a Web service that sent a steady stream of news to subscribers. However, PointCast and other push technology services required too much network bandwidth. Eventually, push technology evolved into RSS feeds, which remain the preferred method for publishing information to subscribers of the Internet. RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication.

Huh. Again didn’t know it, don’t care.

5. Application Service Provider (ASP)

During this decade, the term "Application Service Provider" evolved into "Software-as-a-Service." Both terms refer to a vendor hosting a software application and providing access to it over the Web. Customers buy the software on a subscription basis, rather than having to own and operate it themselves. ASP was a hot term prior to the dot-com bust. Then it was replaced by "SaaS." Now it’s cool to talk about "cloud computing."

Give me an hour to work up a concern.

6. Personal Digital Assistant (PDA)

Coined by former Apple CEO John Sculley back in 1992 when he unveiled the Apple Newton, the term "personal digital assistant" referred to a handheld computer. PDA was still in use in 1996, when the Palm Pilot was the hottest handheld in corporate America. Today, the preferred generic term for a handheld like a Blackberry or an iPhone is a "smartphone".

Another YGBFKM (You Gotta Be Fucking Kidding Me). Perfectly fine acronym. Oh wait, the teeny-bopper zitface set ain’t using it any more, so it isn’t ‘hip’. Oh, oops, Mr. Outdated Word Nazi, sorry. Didn’t mean to say ‘hip’. I’d use the current word for ‘cool’, but that changes on a fucking hourly basis.

7. Internet Telephony

You need to purge the term "Internet telephony" from your vocabulary and switch to VoIP, for Voice over IP. Even the term VoIP is getting old-fashioned because pretty soon all telephone calls will be routed over the Internet rather than the Public Switched Telephone Network. It’s probably time to stop referring to the PSTN, too, because it is headed for the history books as all voice, data and video traffic is carried on the Internet.

I remember when VoIP first came out, and ‘Internet Telephony’ was pretty much the descriptor phrase, i.e., when somebody asked you what that was.

8. Weblog

A blog is a shortened version of "Weblog," a term that emerged in the late 1990s to describe commentary that an individual publishes online. It spawned many words still in use such as "blogger" and "blogosphere." Nowadays, few people have time to blog so they are "microblogging," which is another word that’s heading out the door as people turn Twitter into a generic term for blasting out 140-character observations or opinions.

Again, Weblog was a descriptor phrase, when inquired about.

9. Thin Client

You have to give Larry Ellison credit for seeing many of the flaws in the client/server computing architecture and for popularizing the term "thin client" to refer to Oracle’s alternative terminal-like approach. In 1993, Ellison was touting thin clients as a way for large organizations to improve network security and manageability. Although thin clients never replaced PCs, the concept is similar to "virtual desktops" that are gaining popularity today as a way of supporting mobile workers.

Really, this word fascism is getting pretty damn ripe pretty damn fast. If the guy interviewing me doesn’t know the historical pre-terminology, likelihood is that he’s been victimized by the Peter Principle.

10. RBOC

In 1984, the U.S. government forced AT&T to split up into seven Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) also known as Baby Bells. Customers bought local service from RBOCs and long-distance service from carriers such as AT&T. Telecom industry mergers over the last 15 years have formed integrated local- and long-distance carriers such as AT&T, Verizon and Qwest. This makes not only the term RBOC obsolete, but also the terms ILEC for Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier (i.e., GTE) and CLEC for Competitive Local Exchange Carrier (i.e., MFS).

Uh, HELLO! I took a 2 week training course for AT&T (didn’t make the grade, they practice a form of social Darwinism there that’s survival of the fittest, baby), and they teach you all about this. Why? Because a lot of their customers aren’t upgraded to a centralized company like we are out here on the West Coast.

11. Long-Distance Call

Thanks to flat-rate calling plans available from carriers for at least five years, nobody needs to distinguish between local and long-distance calls anymore. Similarly, you don’t need to distinguish between terrestrial and wireless calls because so many people use only wireless services. Like pay phones, long-distance calls—and their premium prices—are relics of a past without national and unlimited calling plans.

Hey, anyone who can’t figure out what that means, is a moron.

12. World Wide Web

Nobody talks about the "World Wide Web" anymore, or the "Information Superhighway," for that matter. It’s just the Internet. It’s a distinction that Steve Czaban, the popular Fox Sports Radio talk show host, likes to mock when he refers to the "Worldwide Interweb." Nothing dates you more than pulling out one of those old-fashioned ways of referring to the Internet such as "infobahn" or "electronic highway."

These are all valid, colorful terms. Again, flatline braindeath if you can’t puzzle out the meaning in the first few seconds. But hey – we need to pander to the younger mindset, because…because why, exactly? Who runs the country? Not the young folks. Most people in a position of actual power (like politicians) are in their fucking forties. In fact, the majority of famous movie stars are WELL over 30. This worship of the kiddie culture is just…well, it’s just wrong. The Asians have an idea of actual maturity: you’re not past puberty until you’re twenty-five. At the age of 24, I’d have cussed out that idea roundly, but past 30, you think, “Hey, that makes a helluva lotta sense.”

And of course, Santayana’s oft-quoted but lightly applied adage: “Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” You pick up an A+ Certification book, and it goes on about all KINDS of legacy hardware. That two-week AT&T course went over all sorts of legacy hardware, because people are prone to stick with what works, instead of running out to buy the latest state-of-the-art gadget (at least, us old, smarter geezers, who found out as youths, the more money you spend on gadgets, the poorer you are, especially when they’re outdated in less than six months).

Anyways, that’s something else that grinds my gears.

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Saturday, August 29, 2009

Because Some Madness Transcends Barriers…

Cross posted @ God Is 4 Suckers!

Shamil_Basaev_crop

On the heels of horror, the poisonous concept of the afterlife taints the healing:

The children of Beslan five years on

Russian teenager Chermen has his own assessment of why he survived the attack on School Number One in Beslan in which 326 people, 186 of them children, died.

"God wanted to save everyone but He saved only those who had the highest purpose in life. So I know that when I grow up I will become someone great," he said.

On the morning of 1 September 2004 Chermen was just eight years old and running late for the Day of Knowledge, as the traditional start of the school year is known in Russia.

Chermen made it to the commencement celebrations in time, but in doing so was in the school when a group of Chechen gunmen attacked, taking more than 1,000 people hostage.

The militants herded the hostages into the school gym, and there they held them for three days.

Inside the sweltering gym the terrorists refused to give hostages food or water, forcing them to take drastic measures.

"I drank pee. It was tasteless. I also found a piece of pear skin on a floor. It was really good," Chermen told me when we first met. "But mostly I slept."

At one point he was woken by the sound of an explosion inside the gym. Chermen saw how one of the militants had blown himself up with a grenade attached to his body:

"A terrorist grenade was hit by a bullet. He blew up and his brains hit me in the face. It was horrible. It was fatty and slippery," he said.

The explosion triggered a fierce gun battle between the hostage takers and the Russian Special Forces, who stormed the school in a desperate rescue bid.

[…]

"I can't forget how the terrorists were killing children, mothers and fathers right in front of us," she said. "They caused us so much pain. I am so angry with them I could kill them. They took the most precious things in my life, my brother and my father."

Laima, another survivor who is also now 14, has made a ritual of her visits to the grave of her best friend who was killed.

"I go to visit Zayka at the cemetery. I sit by her grave and talk to her. I ask her 'how is life over there? How are you doing?' I believe she is still near me. For me she isn't dead."

But others, like Christina, are still troubled by thoughts of those who died.

"I am scared of my dead friends. They come to me in my dreams. They have changed. They are dressed in black. They are angry and say 'Why us? We wanted to live too!'"

Is the belief in ghosts an aliment to the scars of survivor guilt? No, it is not. And just who was responsible for this act of terrorism? Surprise! A religious extremist by name of Basayev:

Chechen warlord Shamil Basayev has claimed responsibility for the Russian school hostage siege in which at least 320 people were killed. He blamed the Russian authorities for the deaths in Beslan. He further claimed recent bomb attacks on two Russian airliners and a Moscow metro station.  

And sure enough, who does he thank for this bullshit? Yep, you guessed it:

In the name of God the Merciful, the Compassionate... Who is responsible for the attacks on Rusnya [derogatory word for Russia]? By the Grace of Allah, the Shakhid [martyr] battalion, Riyad us-Saliheen [Gardens of the Righteous] has carried out several successful operations on the territory of Rusnya.

And like any good apologist – the blood is on someone else’s hands, not his own, or his contemptible genie:

What happened in Beslan is a terrible tragedy: the bloodsucker from the Kremlin killed or wounded 1,000 children and adults by ordering the storming of the school to satisfy his imperial ambitions and to keep his job. In the most impudent manner Putin is now trying to blame us for that, accusing us also of international terrorism and appealing to the world for help.

And of course, his demands were reasonable (that is, for a blood-soaked, froth-flecked zealot):

There are facts to prove that:

The mujaheddin made clear-cut and precise demands:

- We demand that the war in Chechnya be stopped immediately and that the withdrawal of forces be carried out;

- We insist that Putin immediately resigns from his post as president of the Russian Federation;

- We insist that all hostages, be it children or adults, go on hunger strike in support of our demands;

Also, the mojahedin set the following conditions:

- We will give water to everyone provided Putin immediately stops the war, sends all his troops to the barracks and begins the withdrawal of his troops;

- We will give food to everyone provided Putin begins the withdrawal of his troops in reality;

- We will release children under 10 as soon as they start withdrawing the troops from mountainous areas;

- We will set others free after they complete the withdrawal of the troops;

- If Putin submits a letter of resignation, we will release all the children and go back to Chechnya with others...

It is blaringly obvious to these crazed monsters (if they had the slightest bit of a brain cell between any of them) that none of these demands would be met.

And all of it palls in contrast to the ridiculous concept that some sort of justice will be meted out by a higher power, that all debts incurred in this life will be settled in the life after, that life unprovable, unsupported by any evidence outside of fuzzy feelings.

It is to weep.

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Thursday, August 27, 2009

Is There A Gullibility Gene That Gets Activated By Religion?

Recently I got on Facebook. And of course, one of the ‘friends’ I seem to have is religious, and she’s posting her Christian nonsense under ‘causes’. So I answered this poll, and said that “There is no god, JC never existed, and the bible is a load of crap.” The results were predictable. I was threatened with gawd’s wrath, damnation, asked if I’d read the bible, accused of being a psychopath (and everything else up to being a pedophile), and told that if America is 90% Christian, I should pack my shit up and move to Iran or Iraq. Oh, and some guy offered the crazy lady (same one who told me I should pack up and leave, who also accused me of being a perv) my home address.

Religion. Ain’t it wonderful? How it brings out the best in people.

The video above showed up. I threw this in the ring (so to speak, I provided the link to it, not a full quote):

Summary of Rumor
A notorious atheist professor at the University of Southern California is known for challenging students about their faith.  He dramatically drops a piece of chalk to the floor saying that if God existed, he could prevent the chalk from breaking.  This happens year after year until a particular Christian student becomes a part of the class.  This time, when the professor drops the chalk, it bounces off his clothing and ends up harmlessly on the floor.  The stunned professor runs from the room in shame and the student preaches the Gospel to the remaining class members.

The Truth
This has been one of the most commonly circulated inspirational stories on the Internet and one of the most commonly asked-about at TruthOrFiction.com.
We've never found any evidence that an incident of this nature has taken place involving a piece of chalk, but there is a first-hand source of a similar, older story, which the chalk tale may be based upon.
First, the University of Southern California has officially denied that this ever happened there.  Dr. Dallas Willard, a philosophy professor at USC, has told TruthOrFiction.com that he's never heard of it happening in his more than 30 years at the school.
There is a related story, however, told by author Richard H. Harvey in his book 70 YEARS OF MIRACLES.  It's a first-hand account of his experience in a Chemistry class at Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania in the 1920's.  Harvey says the professor, a Dr. Lee, was a deist who annually lectured against prayer.   In one of the class sessions, Dr. Lee said he was going to drop a glass flask on the floor and asked if anyone would like to pray first that the flask would not break, therefore demonstrating the reality of prayer.  Richard Harvey volunteered and prayed.  The professor dropped the flask and it rolled off his shoe to the floor without damage.  The class cheered and the professor stopped his annual lectures against prayer.  TruthOrFiction.com has confirmed with Allegheny college that Richard Harvey was a student there and that Dr. Lee was a professor.  Richard Harvey's son, Rev. John Harvey, a minister in Toccoa, Georgia, says this all happened before he was born, but confirms that the story was told by his father.

USC confirms it.

I’m thinking there has to be a gullibility gene. Maybe it helps the species propagate. How many women have gotten pregnant by believing some crazy story a guy told, anyway?

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