"Begin at the beginning,and go on till you come to the end: then stop." (Lewis Carroll, 1832-1896)
Alice came to a fork in the road. "Which road do I take?" she asked."Where do you want to go?" responded the Cheshire cat."I don't know," Alice answered."Then," said the cat, "it doesn't matter."
"So long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation. "Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."
"All right," said the Cat; and this time it vanished quite slowly, beginning with the end of the tail, and ending with the grin, which remained some time after the rest of it had gone. "Well! I've often seen a cat without a grin," thought Alice; "but a grin without a cat! It's the most curious thing I ever saw in my life!"
I am diagonally parked in a parallel universe. Like Arthur Dent from "Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy", if you do not have a Babel Fish in your ear this blog will be completely unintelligible to you and will read something like this: "boggle, google, snoggle, slurp, slurp, dingleberry to the power of 10". Fortunately, those who have had the Babel Fish inserted in their ear, will understood this blog perfectly. If you are familiar with this technology, you will know that the Babel Fish lives on brainwave radiation. It excretes energy in the form of exactly the correct brainwaves needed by its host to understand what was just said; or in this case, what was read. The Babel Fish, thanks to scientific research, reverses the problem defined by its namesake in the Tower of Babel, where a deity was supposedly inspired to confuse the human race by making them unable to understand each other.
Beepbeepitsme has been added to The Atheist Blogroll. You can see the blogroll in my sidebar. The Atheist blogroll is a community building service provided free of charge to Atheist bloggers from around the world. If you would like to join, visit Mojoey at Deep Thoughts.
"Operationally, God is beginning to resemble not a ruler but the last fading smile of a cosmic Cheshire cat." - Sir Julian Huxley
"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing wax; Of cabbages and kings. And why the sea is boiling hot; And whether pigs have wings." - Lewis Carroll
"Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel?" Alexander Pope
"The primary function of myth is to validate an existing social order. Myth enshrines conservative social values, raising tradition on a pedestal." Ann Oakley
"Some treat their longing for God as proof of His existence." Mason Cooley
"The god of the Christians, as we have seen, is the god who makes promises only to break them; who sends them pestilence and disease in order to heal them; a god who demoralizes mankind in order to improve it. A god who created man 'after his own image', and still the origin of evil in man is not accredited to him." Johann Most
"In love, we worry more about the meaning of silences than the meaning of words." Mason Cooley
"My philosophy is such that I am not going to vote against the oppressed. I have been oppressed, and so I am always going to have a vote for the oppressed, regardless of whether that oppressed is black or white or yellow or the people of the Middle East, or what. I have that feeling." Septima Clark
"Secular humanists suspect there is something more gloriously human about resisting the religious impulse; about accepting the cold truth, even if that truth is only that the universe is as indifferent to us as we are to it." Tom Flynn
"If the question is put to me would I rather have a miserable ape for a grandfather or a man highly endowed by nature and possessed of great means of influence and yet who employs those faculties and that influence for the mere purpose of introducing ridicule into a grave scientific discussion—I unhesitatingly affirm my preference for the ape." Thomas Henry Huxley
Project Gutenberg is the oldest producer of free ebooks on the Internet. The collection was produced by hundreds of volunteers.
"Give the right man a solar myth, and he'll confute the sun therewith." James Russell Lowell
"Oh let me see your beauty when the witnesses are gone. Let me feel you moving like they do in Babylon. Show me slowly what I only know the limits of. Dance me to the end of love." Leonard Cohen
"If God is male, then male is God. The divine patriarch castrates women as long as he is allowed to live on in the human imagination." Mary Daly
"If the people were a little more ignorant, astrology would flourish - if a little more enlightened, religion would perish." Robert Green Ingersoll
"In other words (so to speak): not two and also not not two." Magellan's Log V
"History is, strictly speaking, the study of questions; the study of answers belongs to anthropology and sociology." W.H. Auden
"Archaeology is the peeping Tom of the sciences. It is the sandbox of men who care not where they are going; they merely want to know where everyone else has been." Jim Bishop
"To excavate is to open a book written in the language that the centuries have spoken into the earth." Spyridon Marinatos
"Science commits suicide when it adopts a creed." Thomas Henry Huxley
"The place has changed but little since Diana received the homage of her worshippers in the sacred grove. The temple of the sylvan goddess, indeed, has vanished and the King of the Wood no longer stands sentinel over the Golden Bough." Sir James George Frazer
"Babylonian king (1792BCE–1750BCE) who made Babylon the chief Mesopotamian kingdom and codified the laws of Mesopotamia and Sumeria." The American Heritage
"We are ourselves history and share the responsibility for world history and our position in it. But we gravely lack awareness of this responsibility." Hermann Hesse
"Astrology: do we make a hullabaloo among the stars, or do they make a hullabaloo down here?" Mason Cooley
"Readers are plentiful: thinkers are rare." Harriet Martineau
"The Christian religion is a parody on the worship of the Sun, in which they put a man whom they call Christ, in the place of the Sun, and pay him the same adoration which was originally paid to the Sun." Thomas Paine
"Zoroaster was thus the first to teach the doctrines of an individual judgment, Heaven and Hell, the future resurrection of the body, the general Last Judgment, and life everlasting for the reunited soul and body. These doctrines were to become familiar articles of faith to much of mankind, through borrowings by Judaism, Christianity and Islam; yet it is in Zoroastrianism itself that they have their fullest logical coherence.†- Mary Boyce
"My esoteric doctrine, is that if you entertain any doubt, it is safest to take the unpopular side in the first instance. Transit from the unpopular, is easy ... but from the popular to the unpopular is so steep and rugged that it is impossible to maintain it." William Lamb Melbourne
"With reason one can travel the world over; without it it is hard to move an inch." Chinese proverb.
"Our earth is degenerate in these latter days. Bribery and corruption are common. Children no longer obey their parents. . . . The end of the world is evidently approaching." Sound familiar? It is, in fact, the lament of a scribe in one of the earliest inscriptions to be unearthed in Mesopotamia, where Western civilization was born. C. John Sommerville
"The sun, the moon and the stars would have disappeared long ago ... had they happened to be within the reach of predatory human hands." Havelock Ellis
"It (myth) expresses and confirms, rather than explains or questions, the sources of cultural attitudes and values... Because myth anchors the present in the past it is a sociological charter for a future society which is an exact replica of the present one." Ann Oakley
"Starry, starry night. Flaming flowers that brightly blaze, swirling clouds in violet haze, reflect in Vincent's eyes of china blue." Don McLean
"NOT from the stars do I my judgment pluck, and yet methinks I have astronomy, But not to tell of good or evil luck, Of plagues, of dearths, or seasons’ quality..." William Shakespeare
"Moreover, the universe as a whole is infinite, for whatever is limited has an outermost edge to limit it, and such an edge is defined by something beyond. Since the universe has no edge, it has no limit; and since it lacks a limit, it is infinite and unbounded. Moreover, the universe is infinite both in the number of its atoms and in the extent of its void." Epicurus
"Most people today still believe, perhaps unconsciously, in the heliocentric universe every newspaper in the land has a section on astrology, yet few have anything at all on astronomy." Hannes Alfven
At least 14 Islamic countries make conversion out of Islam illegal. The crime is punishable by death in at least eight of these states, either through explicit anti-apostasy laws or the broader offense of blasphemy. Again, this is a clear sign that Islamic law needs to change. You can't claim that yours is a religion of peace while violently opposing religious freedom. It just doesn't add up. ~ Apostasy Laws
Perhaps Cat Stevens really meant "Buddha IN the Chocolate Box", but since his conversion to an abrahamic blood cult I don't think he would approve of "Allah in the Chocolate Box" either.
If you have chocolate you might not need much of anything else. As this video suggests: ~ Chocolate Or Love
Chocolate is also known to generate increased levels of serotonin, a chemical naturally produced by the brain, which is known to reduce anxiety. Serotonin is most commonly associated with the effects of marijuana or getting ‘stoned’ (you would have to eat 25lbs of dark chocolate at once to achieve the same effect). Neither of these properties by themselves provides the connection between eating chocolates and heightened sexual pleasure. It is in fact the rush of endorphins produced by eating chocolates, particularly dark chocolates, which is most similar to the bliss associated with a healthy sexual relationship.
Chocolate also contains phenyl-ethylamine which is known to stimulate the release of dopamine into the pleasure centers commonly associated with an orgasm. In addition to this scientific evidence, a great deal of behavioral research has been done to study the sexual behavior of women who eat a lot of chocolate and those who don’t. The conclusion of this is that women who consume large quantities of chocolate have more satisfying sex lives. However the reverse correlation could also be assumed where women with satisfying sex lives tend to eat more chocolate. Despite the fact that the relationship between sex and chocolate can’t be proven with 100% certainty, the scientific evidence combined with behavioral studies provides a compelling argument for cocoa’s impact on our sexual drive - it is convincing enough for chocolate to have become a part of my daily diet! ~Can chocolate affect your sex life?
Human-fueled global warming has reached a tipping point," according to a new survey of scientific research that found warming would continue even if greenhouse gas emissions halted immediately. The report, based on research published in journals including Science and Nature, also found the effects of climate change were so severe they should spur urgent action to prevent more damage and to combat damage that has already occurred.
AN ITALIAN judge has ordered a priest to appear in court this month to prove that Jesus Christ existed.
The case against Father Enrico Righi has been brought in the town of Viterbo, north of Rome, by Luigi Cascioli, a retired agronomist who once studied for the priesthood but later became a militant atheist.
Signor Cascioli’s contention — echoed in numerous atheist books and internet sites — is that there was no reliable evidence that Jesus lived and died in 1st-century Palestine apart from the Gospel accounts, which Christians took on faith. There is therefore no basis for Christianity, he claims.
In a nutshell, atheists believe in reason alone, in those things that can be arrived at through intellect and the scientific method. Concrete evidence for God, they argue, simply doesn't exist. They don't cotton to leaps of faith or anything that involves a supernatural being reaching into human lives. They believe you can live a happy, respectable life based on human ethics that were derived not from God handing down a tablet but from a code of rules that emerged naturally through an evolutionary process in which humans learned how to live together successfully.
Atheists as a group do not believe anything as a matter of course. The only thing, by definition, that they have in common, is a lack of belief in god/gods. An atheist can assert an individual position about politics, culture, economics etc, but cannot accurately state that atheists all share the same concept. Therefore there are capitalist atheists, socialist atheists, fiscally conservative atheists, leftwing atheists and rightwing atheists etc etc. I am spelling all this out because for some reason, theists have a very inaccurate view of what an atheist is. There is no doctrine, dogma or tenets of belief associated with being an atheist. There is only the definition of what an atheist is and there are enough atheists who will argue which dictionary definition to use and which one is accurate.
~~~
Having said this, many atheists but not all, are secular humanists. Secular humanism does describe a world view, and secular humanists do believe in certain elements and principles. For example, I am atheist. My position as an atheist is that I have a lack of belief in god/gods/goddesses etc. Or, simply put, if a theist has a belief in god (normally a specific god or definition), ~~ I don't. A theist is someone WITH god belief, and an atheist is someone WITHOUT god belief. I am also an atheist who is a secular humanist, and it is as a secular humanist that I am specifically defined.
From ~ What Is Secular Humanism?Secular humanism describes a world view with the following elements and principles:
Need to test beliefs - A conviction that dogmas, ideologies and traditions, whether religious, political or social, must be weighed and tested by each individual and not simply accepted on faith.
Reason, evidence, scientific method - Commitment to the use of critical reason, factual evidence, and scientific methods of inquiry, rather than faith and mysticism, in seeking solutions to human problems and answers to important human questions.
Fulfillment, growth, creativity - A primary concern with fulfillment, growth, and creativity for both the individual and humankind in general.
Search for truth - A constant search for objective truth, with the understanding that new knowledge and experience constantly alter our imperfect perception of it.
This life - A concern for this life and a commitment to making it meaningful through better understanding of ourselves, our history, our intellectual and artistic achievements, and the outlooks of those who differ from us.
Ethics - A search for viable individual, social and political principles of ethical conduct, judging them on their ability to enhance human well-being and individual responsibility.
Building a better world - A conviction that with reason, an open marketplace of ideas, good will, and tolerance, progress can be made in building a better world for ourselves and our children.
So, it is more precise to say ~
"SECULAR HUMANISTS believe in those things that can be arrived at through intellect and the scientific method. They don't cotton to leaps of faith or anything that involves a supernatural being reaching into human lives. They believe you can live a happy, respectable life based on human ethics that were derived not from God handing down a tablet but from a code of rules that emerged naturally through an evolutionary process in which humans learned how to live together successfully."
Gerard Mercator (1512-1594) was a publisher of maps and atlases, but he is only known to have produced one pair of globes: a terrestrial globe in 1541 and a matching celestial globe in 1551. You can pick a constellation from any of the three drop-down lists. Mercator depicted 50 constellations on his celestial globe. This includes the 48 traditional (Ptolemaic) constellations plus two others which, though still from classical times, are later additions to the standard set.
When FOX's Bill O'Reilly turns out to be the most rational person in a discussion about religion, you know his guests must be even bigger wingnuts that he is. Via Media Matters (video included), O'Reilly interviewed R. Albert Mohler Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and host of the daily Christian radio show The Albert Mohler Program.
"Obscure metaphysical explanation to cover a phenomenon, reasons dredged out of the shadows to explain away that which cannot be explained. Call it parallel planes or just insanity. Whatever it is, you find it in the Twilight Zone."
THE hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true.
UNTRUE: Genesis ii, 21-22 "So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh; and the rib which the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man."
UNTRUE: Genesis iii, 16 God said to the woman [after she was beguiled by the serpent]: “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children, yet your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you."
UNTRUE: Matthew xxvii, 25 The words of the crowd: “His blood be on us and on our children.”
UNTRUE: Revelation xix,20 "And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had worked the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshipped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with brimstone."
“Jesus Dress-Up” is a magnetic crucifix with a variety of clothes and accessories. Many people are outraged by the product, but Smith says he doesn’t see anything wrong with it. “I don't think there's anything wrong with religious satire,” said Smith. “People have got to learn to laugh at themselves, it's part of human nature.” Smith, who claims to be an atheist, says he's making money the same way Mel Gibson is with the "The Passion of the Christ."
Belief in creation science seems to be largely a U.S. phenomenon. A British survey of 103 Roman Catholic priests, Anglican bishops and Protestant ministers/pastors showed that: 97% do not believe the world was created in six days. 80% do not believe in the existence of Adam and Eve.
55% of scientists in 1997 believed that man had developed over millions of years from less advanced forms of life and that god had no part in this process. Only 5% of scientists had a creationist view.
Just as when these questions were first asked 15 years ago, creationists continue to be older, less educated, Southern, politically conservative, and biblically literal (among other things). Women and African-Americans were more likely to be creationists than whites and men.
'Let the jury consider their verdict,' the King said, for about the twentieth time that day. 'No, no!' said the Queen. 'Sentence first--verdict afterwards.' 'Stuff and nonsense!' said Alice loudly. 'The idea of having the sentence first!' 'Hold your tongue!' said the Queen, turning purple. 'I won't!' said Alice. 'Off with her head!' the Queen shouted at the top of her voice.
Nobody moved. 'Who cares for you?' said Alice, (she had grown to her full size by this time.) 'You're nothing but a pack of cards!' At this the whole pack rose up into the air, and came flying down upon her: she gave a little scream, half of fright and half of anger, and tried to beat them off, and found herself lying on the bank, with her head in the lap of her sister, who was gently brushing away some dead leaves that had fluttered down from the trees upon her face.
'Wake up, Alice dear!' said her sister; 'Why, what a long sleep you've had!'
Nineteen conservative groups will reinstate a boycott of Ford Motor because, the groups charge, the auto maker went back on an agreement it had with the American Family Assn. to stop advertising in media aimed at gay consumers.
Four brothers left home for college, and they became successful doctors and lawyers and prospered. Some years later, they chatted after having dinner together. They discussed the gifts they were able to give their elderly mother who lived far away in another city. The first said, "I had a big house built for Mama." The second said, "I had a hundred thousand dollar theatre built in the house." The third said, "I had my Mercedes dealer deliver an SL600 to her."
The fourth said, "You know how Mama loved reading the Bible and you know she can't read anymore because she can't see very well. I met this preacher who told me about a parrot that can recite the entire Bible. It took twenty preachers 12 years to teach him. I had to pledge to contribute $100,000 a year for twenty years to the church, but it was worth it. Mama just has to name the chapter and verse and the parrot will recite it." The other brothers were impressed.
After the holidays Mom sent out her Thank You notes. She wrote: "Milton, the house you built is so huge. I live in only one room, but I have to clean the whole house. Thanks anyway." "Marvin, I am too old to travel. I stay home and I have my groceries delivered, so I never use the Mercedes. The thought was good. Thanks." "Michael, you gave me an expensive theatre with Dolby sound. It could hold 50 people, but all of my friends are dead, I've lost my hearing and I'm nearly blind. I'll never use it. Thank you for the gesture just the same."
"Dearest Melvin, you were the only son to have the good sense to give a little thought to your gift. The chicken was delicious. Thank you." Love Mama
(oh great, not only am I middle aged, I am a eunuch....)
"I'm sick of the Powder Room. I'm sick of pretending that some fatuous male's self-important pronouncements are the objects of my undivided attention, I'm sick of going to films and plays when someone else wants to, and sick of having no opinions of my own about either. I'm sick of being a transvestite. I refuse to be a female impersonator. I am a woman, not a castrate."
Germaine Greer(b. 1939), Australian feminist, writer. "The Stereotype," The Female Eunuch (1970)
Image used with kind permission by ~Sweatshop Productions. Visit their website for other great designs. Even Wil Anderson from "The Glasshouse" wears their t-shirts.
Yes, this is an oldie but a goodie, so for your viewing pleasure, may I present Mrs Benny Hinn! ~ Mrs. Benny Hinn's Moment of Zen
Televangelist Benny Hinn is threatening to sue the religious satire magazine The Door for the video clip it is distributing that shows Hinn's wife, Suzanne, preaching at their former church in Orlando, Florida. She says if you're a lifeless, blackslidden Christian, you need a "Holy Ghost enema... right up your rear end." Uh, we'd like chapter and verse on that, please, ma'am. The piece on Mrs. Benny Hinn and her plea for a "Holy Ghost enema" is something that must be seen to be fully appreciated. Personally, my favourite part is at the end of the clip, where having run up and down the stage like a demented harpie screaming "run with the clouds", she finally trips over and falls flat on her face. No matter how bad my day has been, I can always get a smile out of that :)
According to the US Biblical scholar,Morton Smith, of Columbia University, a fragment of manuscript he found at the Mar Saba monastery near Jerusalem in 1958, showed that the full text of St. Mark chapter 10 (between verses 34 and 35 in the standard version of the Bible) includes the passage: "And the youth, looking upon him (Jesus), loved him and beseeched that he might remain with him. And going out of the tomb, they went into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days, Jesus instructed him and, at evening, the youth came to him wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of God".
Today, when religion is emerging as the wellspring of murderous violence around the world, assurances that Christian or Muslim or Hindu fundamentalists are only abusing and perverting the noble spiritual messages of their creeds ring increasingly hollow. What about restoring the dignity of atheism, one of Europe's greatest legacies and perhaps our only chance for peace? Read the complete article here:~ Defenders of the Faith By SLAVOJ ZIZEK Published: March 12, 2006
WARNING ~ SATIRE AHEAD "Brokeback Lego" the heart warming story of two pieces of lego who realised how perfectly they were designed to fit each other. Brought to you by "The Intelligent Design Discovery Institute" and George Bush's faith-based initiatives.
The wizards of early Europe wore hats of gold intricately embellished with astrological symbols that helped them to predict the movement of the sun and stars. This is the conclusion of German archaeologistsand historians who claim to have solved the mystery behind a series of strange yet beautiful golden cone-shaped objects discovered at Bronze Age sites across Europe.
You scored as Moya (Farscape). You are surrounded by muppets. But that is okay because they are your friends and have shown many times that they can be trusted. Now if only you could stop being bothered about wormholes.Link
"For my own part I would as soon be descended from that heroic little monkey, who braved his dreaded enemy in order to save the life of his keeper, or from that old baboon, who descending from the mountains, carried away in triumph his young comrade from a crowd of astonished dogs - as from a savage who delights to torture his enemies, offers up bloody sacrifices, practises infanticide without remorse, treats his wives like slaves, knows no decency, and is haunted by the grossest superstitions." ~Charles Darwin 'The Descent of Man, 1871, excerpts on Sexual Selection'
Cat Video from Metacafe "I myself think that to have a cat is more important than to have a Bible." - R.H. Blyth
Yes, I am easily amused. There is something about this video especially the last cat in it that cracks me up. I am just relieved that I am too old to view this video while stoned as I think I would burst a blood vessel laughing.
Amazingly, dogs are mentioned 14 times in the Bible, and lions 55 times, but domestic cats are not mentioned at all. But what really intrigues me is the amount of times cattle, sheep and goats are mentioned in the bible. Not one word about nuclear technology, refrigerators, cell phones, computers or the internet, but 133 references to cattle in the King James Version. Sadly, not one mention of Mac Donald's or Kentucky Fried Chicken.
My own cat has informed me that "The Great Sky Cat" who created cats in its image, will smite humans who disrupt the required 23 hours of "meditation" in which a devout cat must engage each day. So fellow travellers, be duly warned and mock not the cat, though as it look peaceful, harmless and cuddly, cats are sneaky, evil, and cruel.
And they have many other fine qualities as well. :)
I was quite disappointed by my score though. I have had a lifetime to practise how to be evil and the best I can do is 48%. I am ashamed of myself. How can I consider myself to be an atheist and not even get a passing score in evil?
1. William Gates III, Washington, 50, $50, Microsoft 2. Warren Buffett, Nebraska, 75, $42, Berkshire Hathaway 3. Carlos Slim, Mexico, 66, $30, Telecommunications 4. Ingvar Kamprad, Sweden, 79, $28, Ikea 5. Lakshmi Mittal, India, 55, $23.5, steel 6. Paul Allen, Washington, 53, $22, Microsoft, investments 7. Bernard Arnault, France, 57, $21.5, LVMH 8. Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Alsaud, Saudi Arabia, 49, $20, investments 9. Ken Thomson, Canada, $19.6, Bell Globe Media 10. Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong, 77, $18.8, diversified
UK Among Most Secular Nations Levels of religious belief and activity in the UK are among the lowest around the world, according to a BBC poll carried out in 10 countries.
1. How many men did God kill because someone decided to peek into the ark of the Lord? A. 50,070(“And he smote the men of Bethshemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, even he smote of the people fifty thousand and threescore and ten men: and the people lamented, because the Lord had smitten many of the people with a great slaughter”~1 Samuel 6:19) 2. How many men did Moses kill in one day because they failed to say they supported God? A. 3,000(“Then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, Who is on the Lord's side? Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Put every man his sword by his side, and go in and out from gate to gate throughout the camp, and slay every man his brother, and every man his companion, and every man his neighbor. And the children of Levi did according to the word of Moses: and there fell of the people that day about three thousand men”~Exodus 32:26-28). 3. How many people did God kill in a plague before someone pleased God by ending a mixed marriage with the murder of the couple? A. 24,000(“And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand; And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel. And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand”~Numbers 25:6-9). 4. How many animals did Solomon kill in a sacrifice to please the Lord? A. 120,000 sheep and 22,000 oxen(“And Solomon offered a sacrifice of peace offering, which he offered unto the Lord, two and twenty thousand oxen, and an hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the children of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord”~1 Kings 8:63). 5. How many Israelites did God deliver to the people of Judah to slaughter? A. 500,000(“Then the men of Judah gave a shout: and as the men of Judah shouted, it came to pass, that God smote Jeroboam and all Israel before Abijah and Judah. And the children of Israel fled before Judah: and God delivered them into their hand. And Abijah and his people slew them with a great slaughter: so there fell down slain of Israel five hundred thousand chosen men. Thus the children of Israel were brought under at that time, and the children of Judah prevailed, because they relied upon the Lord God of their fathers”~ 2 Chronicles 13:15-18). 6. Notwithstanding the above, how many people of Judah were once killed or enslaved because they didn’t give God his due? A. 120,000 men, 200,000 women and children were taken as slaves(“For Pekah the son of Remaliah slew in Judah an hundred and twenty thousand in one day, which were all valiant men; because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. . . . And the children of Israel carried away captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and took also away much spoil from them” ~ 2 Chronicles 28:6-8). 7. How many Ethiopians did God kill for His chosen people? A. 1,000,000(“And Asa had an army of men . . . And there came out against them Zera the Ethiopian with an host of a thousand thousand . . . Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said Lord, it is nothing with thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power, help us, O Lord our God . . . So the Lord smote the Ethiopians” ~2 Chronicles 14:8-12). 8. Speaking of God’s chosen people, how many kings were maimed in God’s name? A. 70 had their thumbs and big toes cut off(“And they found Abonibezek in Bezek: and they fought against him, and they slew the Canaanites and Perizzites. But Abonibezek fled; and they pursued after him and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes. And Abonibezek said, Threescore and ten kings, having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table: as I have done, so God hath requited me” ~Judges 1:5-7). 9. How many soldiers did God burn to death with fire from Heaven because they confronted Elijah? A. 150(“And Elijah answered and said to the captain of fifty, If I be a man of God, then let fire come down from heaven, and consume thee and thy fifty. And there came down fire from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty. Again also he sent unto him another captain . . . And Elijah answered and said unto them, If I be a man of God, let fire come down from heaven and consume thee and thy fifty. And the fire of God came from heaven, and consumed him and his fifty . . . And he sent again a captain of the third fifty . . . Behold, there came fire down from heaven, and burnt up the two captains of the former fifties with their fifties”~ 2 Chronicles 1:10-14). 10. By the time God gets through with his killing spree, how many dead will there be? A. Enough to cover the entire surface of the Earth(“And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried, they shall be dung upon the ground”~ Jeremiah 25:33).
Why do many religions have such a problem with sex? Orwell gives us some insight. From 1984, Part 2, Chapter 3. Winston’s affair, Julia tells us how “The Party” views sex.
Unlike Winston, she had grasped the inner meaning of the Party's sexual Puritanism. It was not merely that the sex instinct created a world of its own which was outside the Party's control and which therefore had to be destroyed if possible. What was more important was that sexual privation induced hysteria, which was desirable because it could be transformed into war-fever and leader-worship. The way she put it was: 'When you make love you're using up energy; and afterwards you feel happy and don't give a damn for anything. They can't bear you to feel like that. They want you to be bursting with energy all the time. All this marching up and down and cheering and waving flags is simply sex gone sour. If you're happy inside yourself, why should you get excited about Big Brother and the Three-Year Plans and the Two Minutes Hate and all the rest of their bloody rot?'
Athletes have known this for years. The Pittsburgh Steelers abstained from sex during the run-up to the Super Bowl. Olympic athletes did the same. It would appear that Christians and Muslims have known it for centuries.
CNNNN (Chaser NoN-Stop News Network) is an Australiantelevision show, satirisingAmericannews channels CNN and Fox News. It is produced and hosted by the same team that publishes The Chaser newspaper. CNNNN's slogan is "We Report, You Believe.", a parody of Fox News' slogan ("We Report, You Decide.").
Difference between humans and apes? A matter of expression... "What sort of changes in the environment or lifestyle would drive such a rapid shift in the expression of genes -- in this case the liver -- in humans and no other primate?" Gilad speculates that the answer could lie in the acquisition of fire, one of the fundamental differences between humans and animals.
Field Museum Exhibit Tells Evolution Story "Evolving Planet," which opens to the public on Friday, uses 27,000 square feet to examine how life has unfolded on Earth over the course of 4 billion years through the process of evolution. A permanent exhibit, it replaces "Life Over Time," which opened in 1994.
Creepy Crawlies May Bug You, But We Can't Survive Without Them It is pernicious stuff. Kill the invertebrates and you kill the fish that live on them. Kill the fish and you kill the bigger fish, the birds and mammals that live off them. It is estimated that at least 1,000 miles of river are ecologically destroyed by sheep dip every year.
"MAGIC THEATER ENTRANCE NOT FOR EVERYBODY. I tried to open the door, but the heavy old latch would not stir. The display too was over. It had suddenly ceased, sadly convinced of its uselessness. I took a few steps back, landing deep into the mud, but no more letters came. The display was over. For a long time I stood waiting in the mud, but in vain. Then, when I had given up and gone back to the alley, a few colored letters were dropped here and there, reflected on the asphalt in front of me. I read: FOR MADMEN ONLY! "
Chimps Prove Altruistic and Cooperative Felix Warneken was in a tough spot. While hanging laundry, he had "accidentally" dropped a clothespin out of reach. Stretch as he might, he couldn’t grab it. He even cried out, "My pin!" A young chimpanzee sitting nearby picked up on Warneken’s distress and retrieved the clothespin for him. Since the chimp received no reward, or even a "thank you," this experiment indicates chimps can be altruistic, a quality many scientists thought only humans possessed.
Copernicus Universe from Harmonia Macrocosmica 
