GOD Versus LESBIANS

Hell yeah, I might have to get some approval from my non lesbian wife, but if I say that it is for science I don't see how she can object to me participating in that experiment ...

god.voor.dommen

Bekijk mijn pagina bij .god.voor.dommen

Just one more and then my weekend starts

Porn in the sky not a problem, f-you religinuts!

That puts AA on my list of fav airlines!
(not that I look at porn, it's for the articles :-) )

Will the world end on September 10?

This post gives some betting odds

What Will the LHC Find?

Lottery players would probably go for one of the following though in the first case there's nothing to collect, in the second case, well I hope it's not the one everyone thinks of:

Stable Black Holes That Eat Up the Earth, Destroying All Living Organisms in the Process: 10^-25%. So you're saying there's a chance?

...
God: 10^-20%. More likely than stable black holes, but still a long shot.

For normal people those 2 are obvious jokes, I hope this one will not occur:

Absolutely Nothing: 3%. It's always possible that we won't find anything really new, not even the Higgs. If that turns out to be the case — well, suffice it to say that there will be great wailing and gnashing of teeth. It's not a prospect I am especially worried about, but reality is what it is, and I'm sure we will find a way to move forward if that's the case.

For the others you'll have to visit the site.

Radical catholics

Dutch article:
Katholieke vandalen vernielen condoomautomaten

Short Translation:

"Radical catholic" vandals destroy 4 condom dispensers in protest of contraception and abortion.  4 youths have been arrested on charges of vandalism for destroying the condom vending machines. The youths come from strict catholic families.

We all know that catholics can verbally show outrage (warning, thousands of comments make that link dangerous to click!) but they alway hide behind their (current) non physical nature, well these catholics acted and destroyed property, the step to harming people is not unthinkeable
Not that I thought that catholic belief was/is immume to violence (heck look at priest abuse) but it is a common reply that catholics are "enlightened" and that they have no radicals in their mids.

Don't know what I'd do with it

But I would really like one of these
Dragonflyer X6


Too bad about the price ... I guess this is more in my league.

Never thought I would be spending my saturdays like this

Watching endless Pingu clips on Youtube ...

We saw The Magdalene Sisters

The Magdalene Sisters was on TV, we only got in when about 3/5th of the movie was already done.
That was still enough though to get an opinion of how horrible those places were and the support the catholic church had to operate them.  It peaked out interest, well it seems only mine as I went to look for some more in-depth information (ah, Wikipedia, how did we do without you, I do read the discussion pages and check the history to see how controversial an article is or what opposing views are left out, this one seems fairly accurate).
Truth again appears more brutal than fiction, I find it really striking that the catholic church took over something that was good and and turned it into something evil.
What more do people need to see that such philosophies are not beneficial?  Those nuns, those priests, those parents, those caretakers all thought they were doing good in sending those girls to those places and treating them the way they did, it was all in the name of their dogma perhaps with exception of the priest's sexual abuse (in the movie the abused girl screams the he is not a man of god, I would offer than none of the people in charge of those asylums fit the god belief that that girl had), but that part was not the central theme of the movie nor the main reason why those things were evil and had to be shut down, it added to the case of-course but it does not exonerate the catholic religious mindset nor the hierarchy's responsibility.

I said that it only peaked my interest, I sent the links to Wikipedia and what I said here to my wife and got no reaction.  In a discussion after the movie her immediate reaction was one of protection of the catholic faith, she basically gave this answer:

The catholic institutions that I know are good and they do not force labor and let people leave voluntarily and I know people that became a nun and left without problems.

And that was enough for her to dismiss this issue as something that does not involve her church. 
It is sometimes difficult to keep cool, someone not willing to separate personal experience from the real world will never change their minds, peaceful Palastines (they must exist ;-) ) growing up in Hamas controlled regions will also see them providing education and health care, they could (and do) use the same logic to keep supporting the organisation and probably dismiss the violence Hamas does in the same way ....

Yamaha VMAX

Ooooh man, I had the first edition of the V-Max, it was in fact my first bike ever, the first bike I remembered from when I was young and the bike I really wanted, I didn't wanna start with a 600CC or some other whimpy bicycle I wanted a real BIKE and the V-Max was gonna be it (you can't believe how many people said that I was crazy to start riding on a 300kg 1200CC bike ;-) )
And when I had my licence and the financial means I bought one and LOVED it, my next bike which I bought for practical and sensible reasons was a BMW R1100RT it was much too sensible and consequently not that much fun.
Then when my daughter was born I slowly stopped riding until I bought a really good new car when I stopped riding altogether and now I am about a year without bike.

Due to a conversation last weekend I went to have a look what Yamaha was offering now and I landed on the NEW

Yamaha VMAX

W! O! W!
1679CC! 1679CC? One thousand six hundred seventy nine!? on a bike, a vehicle with only 2 wheels and still only about 300kg, suuuhweeeeetttttt no mention of the HP of that thing but it will probably beat the already awesome 140HP of the original V-Max
And a lot of the add-ons that tuners added seem to be there already, the exhausts are beautiful as are the scoops, there's a shiftlight, a sort of boardcomputer, ABS breaks, ...
And it is still a real V-Max, only a 4 gallon tank (about 15liters) I could get about 160km (100mi) out of one tank if, IF I managed to take it easy (the VMax is not meant to take it easy!)
And the tank is still under the seat, I wonder what the release mechanism will be like on the new one, it is good that it was such a fun system on the old one because with only 160km I had to stop at the gas station a lot ;-)

It will not be in the near future but someday I will own and ride that bike!  Someday...

Weer zo'n zever gekregen ...

For my English readers, this is about this hoax, since it is already thoroughly debunked in English I'm putting the Dutch version I received on-line so that while this kind of things will never be stopped its spread can at least be slowed a little.

Ik heb in een mail weer zo'n hoax gekregen, ik moet zeggen dat ik soms mensen zie die blikjes eerst afkuisen alvorens ze ervan drinken, waarschijnlijk slachtoffers van de mail op het einde van deze post.  Nu uiteindelijk is het niet zo'n erge hoax, het stoort niet dat mensen hun blikjes eerst even afwrijven alvorens ervan te drinken, het is niet veel tijdverlies en de mail zelf brengt ook niet veel extra internet verkeer, er zitten geen beeldjes in of zo, een goed filmpje blokkeert veel meer bandwith dan duizenden van deze mails dus waarom voel ik de noodzaak om 'm toch te ontkrachten?
Wel omdat het niet waar is, en de waarheid licht mij nauw aan het hart.

Dus hier in het Nederlands enkele punten die de hoax ontkrachten:

1. Er bestaan verschillende versies van dit verhaal, in verschillende talen, allen even vaag over de details.
2. De Spaanse studie is onbestaand (of onvindbaar)
3. Blikjes in opslagplaatsen zijn meestal wel beschermd door folie.
4. De gevallen waarvan sprake zijn onbestaand (of onvindbaar)

Dat zou genoeg moeten zijn.  Nu, ik zeg het nogmaals, ik ga niet zeggen dat je je blikje niet mag afwrijven maar ik maak mij geen zorgen als ik mijn Cola drink uit een niet gewassen blikje ;-)

De volledige mail:
---------------------------

Zeker lezen

VOLKSGEZONDHEID
NIET VERWIJDEREN ZONDER TE LEZEN - Het is in het belang van iedereen!
Artikel verschenen op 'Caducée', professionele informatiebron in de medische sector.
Onlangs is een persoon in absurde omstandigheden gestorven.  Hij was op een zondag per boot met vrienden vertrokken en had blikjes drank in de frigo
van de boot gezet.  De volgende dag werd hij opgenomen in het ziekenhuis, waar hij 's anderendaags overleed.
Een autopsie heeft uitgewezen dat het ging om een snel intredende infectie met leptospiren, veroorzaakt door een blikje waaruit hij op de boot gedronken
had, zonder de inhoud in een glas te gieten.
Het onderzoek van de blikjes heeft bevestigd dat zij besmet waren door urine van een rat, die leptospiren bevatte.  De persoon in kwestie heeft vermoedelijk
het bovenste deel van het blikje niet gereinigd vooraleer er van te drinken.
Het blikje was besmet door urine van een rat, die giftige en dodelijke stoffen bevat, waaronder leptospiren, die leptospirose veroorzaken.
Drank in blikjes, en andere voedingswaren in gelijkaardige verpakking, worden gestockeerd in magazijnen die dikwijls wemelen van knaagdieren.  Zij
worden vervoerd naar de verkooppunten, zonder eerst gereinigd te worden.
Telkens wanneer u een blikje koopt, reinig zorgvuldig het bovenste deel met water en een detergent, alvorens ze in de ijskast te zetten.
Beter nog, koop geen blikjes.
Volgens een studie van INMETRO (Spanje) zijn de deksels van drankblikjes méér besmet dan openbare toiletten.  De studie wijst uit dat de hoeveelheid
kiemen en bacteriën op de deksels van drankblikjes zo erg is, dat ze absoluut met water en een detergent moeten gereinigd worden.

Gelieve deze boodschap aan zoveel mogelijk mensen te verspreiden.
Ontvangen van de Personeelsdirectie van het kantonaal hospitaal van Genève.
J.-M. BOUQUIAUX
Premier Attaché Ministère de la Région Wallonne
Direction générale de l'Agriculture Division de la Politique Agricole
Direction de l'Analyse Economique Agricole,
Chaussée de Louvain, 14
Bureau Bd/2/08
5000 Namur
Tel : 081- 64 94 54
e-mail : jm.bouquiaux@mrw.wallonie.be

I've been interviewed

By The Atheist Spot blog so I guess my bit is coming up soon.
I must say that I haven't been looking at the Atheist Spot much (I subscribed to the RSS feed).
The atheist community seems to be in a real state of flux, all these forums and social sites are vying for members and attention the Atheist Nexus, forums on RichardDawkins.net, atheist blogs with comments and forums.
I give them all my membership and those that are easy, interesting and useful will have return visits ...

I Met The Walrus

What a 14 year old!
I'm not much for putting people on a pedestal but John Lennon is on one in my view.

okay, I guess it's funny video post day

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

via Friendly Atheist

You can trust it with your kids!

Priest off (via GiFS)

Funny pics

Bush + Gates @ the olympics

Brave woman

Already a woman at 14 years old, taking on such pressure by the most powerful organization in her country and still standing by her conviction.

http://www.federa.org.pl/?page=news&newsid=432&lang=2

The priest from Lublin keeps calling her. She also keeps receiving text messages. A psychologist recommended by the priest from Lublin comes to see her at the center.

 

-I'm tired with the pressure all these people are exerting on me. I'm not strong enough to take this – Agata tells us.

...

Yesterday Agata submitted written consent for the procedure at the hospital office for the second time. She tells us that she is sure of her decision. – I could go through with the abortion even today. I don't want this child. I'll become a mom when I'm grown up – she doesn't conceal her decision.

Also:
http://jezebel.com/5017886/14+year+old-polish-rape-victim-now-caught-in-abortion-rights-battle
http://www.neww.org/en/news/news/1,4384,3.html
and many more


It is strange how those kind of religious anti abortionists think, my proposition for them would be this:

If you force someone to have a baby you can be fairly sure the baby will not grow up with much faith in your religion so the person will be doomed to hell anyway, why not let the abortion go through and let the "sinless" child-to-be go straight to heaven (since the pope annulled purgatory for unbaptized babies anyway)

I think if a person of authority in the church said something like that it would fit right in their dogma and would be accepted by the majority of sheep euh believers.  It would also make the issue of church state separation much easier, any law that doesn't fit with their dogma is okay because it is a law for the damned :-)

no no no NO

The Jewel of Medina Censored

Instead fear of terrorism and a reticence about any kind of open discourse about Islam and its founder has caused the publisher Random House to postpone the publication of The Jewel of Medina indefinitely. Sherry Jones and her literary agent are shopping the book to other publishers.

Freedom comes with a price people, fear of violence should not be a reason to censor opinion, it should not be a reason to censor books!

This off-course will only draw more attention to the book.

Saw this DVD laying at a friends

What bleep do we know.

And indeed the house was full of angels, crystals and self-help books. 
Like the BBC review says, gullible indeed but I put it down with a smile, bit my lip a little, didn't bring it up and continued to have a good time ... is that what a "friendly atheist" does.
I must say that I never acted any other way, being an atheist doesn't have to ruin a good evening and I'm not out to pounce on every bit of fantasy that people choose to believe in, I did state my disagreement when she proclaimed that children born via caesarean section were supposed to be less assertive but only after she started it and dropped it pretty quick, I'm not entirely read up on that subject so must claim a "I don't know" but the way she stated it as a matter of fact I could not agree with.

It does feel good to have a lot more knowledge about such things, makes me more confident for when my child(ren?) will come with "The Questions" :-)

Survey on Evolution

http://www.evolutionsurvey.com/

Not an easy one this, no simple boxes to tick, you have to actually answer 2 questions with words.
But after that it's back to selecting from a list or ticking boxes between "Not at all" and "Very much" ;-)

Hey, we're not dead yet!

The Large Hadron Collider apparently passed its first tests

There must be some cover up happening already because the countdown site is down ...

This is all a sign off course, prophecies are being fulfilled catastrophes are coming, you can run but you can't hide ....

I'm not sure if the tests are done already, this BBC report says the first particles will be piped through for the first time tomorrow so the earth may still be engulfed in a big black hole ... ;-)

Religion Free DVD player

And it's good news too!!!

This is beautiful

PZ at Pharyngula has done it again again, no other blog has me dropping my jaw so frequently.
Look at this post:

So this is what a witchunt looks like…as a target

I began reading it, and things move around in my brain, at some point for myself I concede to thinking that the poor sap PZ is talking about has some little teeny weeny point that the physical destruction of something is a teeny tiny step further than merely discussing things:

It is one thing to say that belief in God is foolish and wicked and that Catholicism and Islam deserve scorn. It is quite another to physically desecrate the artifacts believers hold sacred.

(ooh I wish I could put the crazy Monty Python background like PZ, it really is soo appropriate)
Anyway, like I said, in my opinion there is a tiny bit of truth in that, PZ accurately and correctly dismisses it in saying that it is an enormous hyperbole to bring up that defense against what he has done.
But then comes the clincher, the point at which I'm really happy that my morning coffee is safely in my stomach and not my mouth.
You see the poor sap, Dreher, had already commented on Wafergate and his message was quite different:

If P.Z. Myers had any guts, he would put out a call for someone to send him a Koran so he could blow his nose and wrap fish in it. After all, it's nothing but frackin' ink on paper, right? So what's stopping you, Big Man? It's easy to shit on what Catholics regard as sacred. But just try doing the same thing to what Muslims regard as sacred. Let's see what you're made of.

That is just so brilliant, so eloquent, do those people not have memories?
Most likely they do not think about what they say.

Children books

Hmmmm, during my "vacation" in Poland I came across something like this
The Usborne Book of World History you can get a glimps inside here note the "new testament" chapter.

Now that book may actually not be so bad as the one I saw, it was most certainly not that book, the illustrations were different and it actually started with the beginning of the universe.
From what I understand of Polish and of the matter at hand all those parts were accurate enough for children, talking about billions of years, evolution, dinosaurs (without humans!), cavemen, Egyptians, Greeks etc.
But about in the middle of the book there was a chapter called "The Bible" and I kid you not it started straight from the beginning again with Genesis, Adam & Eve, the flood, Jesus... with illustrations similar to the ones in the "real" part and with from what I could see just as much authority as any other chapter, no hint that this was the fantasy part of the book.
After those 5 or 6 pages the book continues with the middle ages, renaissance, French revolution, America ... again accurate as far as I can see.

How can someone hold such views together, it really is a mystery to me, compartmentalization like that should be studied, it is what keeps religion in its place, both the creator of the book and it's readers seem to be living in for them 2 very distinct but very real realities.

As an added bonus, have a look at the comments on Amazon for the book I mention in the beginning, for example:

The drawings and illustrations are fantastic except for a few pages with women without tops (shirts). We don't feel that is appropriate for our grade school boys so we returned the book.

Some even say that it's a pornography book, amazing, so little Billy, you're not gonna learn about those cavemen unless they start putting on some clothes !!! ;-)  I guess they skipped over the good parts of the bible ....

Devendra Banhart - Carmensita

Is that really Natalie Portman? Really?
Of course PZ loved the ending ...
Catchy tune anyway.

Who knows Flew?

The media keeps going on that Flew was supposed to have been this well know atheist but I never heard from him before he converted to deism or theism (not even sure about that) and wrote (or let someone write) a book about it.
Well here's a poll, I'm posting the poll at several locations but it is all the same poll.

Online Surveys & Market Research