Athiests Notebook

2012-01-12T21:45:00.000-08:00

ok here's another god definition.Babies are said to be self aware when they distinguish between things they can manipulate and things they can't. For example movements in a mirror. They care because some actions have potential and some don't, and by extension, abstractions where some scenarios have more potential than others. A rat in a tank of water with no way out will drown long before it's

2011-12-26T18:04:00.000-08:00

Zombies in theory and in practice: A medical study of Haitian zombies (SMBC comics) Also:the worlds newest religion: Kopimism Jessica Ahlquist Has Won Her Lawsuit! .

2011-12-10T23:21:00.000-08:00

News from the intelligent design movement. The Science of Faith Healing (ScienceNow) .

2011-11-25T18:30:00.000-08:00

An excellent deconstruction of Christianity: Thomas Paine (1737-1809) on Deism: http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/paine-deism.asp though he ultimately claims God is real because of his own definition of God. I can't argue with what he believes. My own experience is that something is there, but like random neutrinos that shoot by every year or two: there's no telling where it comes from (

2011-11-13T20:11:00.000-08:00

Neanderthal hypothesis This is a hypothesis on Neanderthal society based on the apparent fact that they had no known jewelry [1]. A hypothesis is a proposition made as a basis for reasoning, without any assumption of its truth. Given that everyone has a history that influences the way they perceive the world, I admit to having one too, and that this is one of the cases where ‘anthropomorphism

2011-10-19T19:01:00.000-07:00

Another god essay: The problem w/ god is that there's no universal definition. There may be a lot of minor gods like saints and spiritual advisers, but according to Judeo-Islamic-Christians (people of the book), there's One God to rule them all. A single 3-d, invisible, objective, self-aware entity, with a built-in jack to everyone's thinking, who created everything & can only be placated by

2011-09-08T16:39:00.000-07:00

The apocalypse was supposed to happen when Babylon fell (it's been awhile). If the time scale is irrelevant, how is that different from coincidence? Joe sayeth "One day I shall be rich". Woops, that already happened & it was only relative to abject poverty. .

2011-05-21T09:49:00.000-07:00

Yaaaay! it's rapture day!

2011-04-28T13:28:00.000-07:00

2011-03-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

2010-09-23T17:30:00.000-07:00

To My ardent followers (this means you Travis):You may have noticed that I haven't posted lately, this is because I've become as fuckall bored with not-god as I have w/ god & I don't have enough enthusiasm to even be sarcastic. Therefore I refer all serious inquires as to the meaning of life to your own opinnion. Lotta attitude there, check it out.see yaBill :).

2010-08-11T00:31:00.000-07:00

what you say about other also says a lot about you Any Christians out there who have converted FROM atheism? (reddit) (probably not the best forum for a positive answer) When you stop being snarky, do you really think that Christian mythology is as silly/implausible as Greek mythology? (reddit again) How to beat a dead horse: Here's a story: Whilst serving his country diligently in the

2010-07-26T21:05:00.000-07:00

Beyond a certain minimum, wealth doesn't bring happiness. That people are driven by an irrational belief that it will, and persist in spite of all contrary evidence, is a form of madness. The definition of happiness is sometimes transposed to equal domination, power, or success. (for example Dick Cheney got a new tin heart in the belief that he would eventually find contentment) The same can be

2010-07-22T18:23:00.000-07:00

God Comics (god-comics.com). My apologies to people who feel strongly about ridicule of religion. I expect if god made the known universe he probably has a broad enough mind to allow self ridicule, so any reflection would be on the limited experience of the believer. If objections stem from the perceived damage to the belief system, then the believer must admit the beliefs are vulnerable, so why

2010-07-03T13:22:00.000-07:00

How is it that possible pathways work out? A person imagines something like space wars with ray guns and fantastic aliens. Then somehow these things work on their imagination to come about. (I think Niels Bohr said that but I can't find the quote) No they don't always come about, but that part that captures the imagination often does. Satellite relay for transcontinental communication was first a

2010-06-15T14:24:00.000-07:00

. So who is responsible for protecting the sanctity of our kids butts? Kids are people after all & just as curious as adults. Any bureaucratic remedy will only be as successful as the prejudice of it's reviewers. church, parents, police, industry(?!) all go about it differently, each has pros & cons. but the total is that there is no universal solution. They ultimately profile all adult males as

2010-05-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

Ugh it's hard to write down a flash days after it occurs, one of 2 things are gonna happen, either it's matured somehow in my subconscious, or else it's evaporated.here's the flash:either we make the world or we're it's result. I'm of the opinion that we make the world but we're always living a few steps after it happens & are trying to catch up, this makes us look for patterns that indicate

2010-04-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

2010-03-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

2010-03-27T11:44:00.000-07:00

Babies see human hand behind ordered events (sciencenews.org)Anthropologists Develop New Approach To Explain Religious Behavior (Sciencedaily.com) Check the links on the right of the Sciencedaily page.Chief exorcist says Devil is in Vatican (Telegraph)The List: The Catholic Church’s Latest Abuse Scandals (foreignpolicy.com)

2010-03-03T16:46:00.000-08:00

Intelligent People Have "Unnatural" Preferences and Values That Are Novel in Human Evolutionary History (Satoshi Kanazawa, American Sociological Association)"... religion is a byproduct of humans' tendency to perceive agency and intention as causes of events, to see "the hands of God" at work behind otherwise natural phenomena. "Humans are evolutionarily designed to be paranoid, and they believe

2010-02-25T00:32:00.000-08:00

Lobbyist on behalf of AZ. state bishops says a statute of limitation on sex crime is necessary so that churches can buy pedophile insurance.From klenow:"The writings included in the Bible were not intended as complete & definitive history books. This is evidenced by the fact that the historical portions (Chronicles, the Samuels, Kings, etc) often suggest the reader see other, more definitive

2010-02-20T03:46:00.000-08:00

Anger at Malaysia 'Jesus cartoon' (BBC) ... idiots.Indian state confiscates 'blasphemous' Jesus textbooks (BBC) wot? Would look cool on a T shirt though, like 'Comrade Jesus'. That poster looks familiar from the '70s, except then he was holding a joint & Budweiser."Any time you deal with the realm of the demonic, there are people who become uneasy." (Chris Hayward, president of

2010-02-13T12:15:00.000-08:00

Micro/macro evolution doesn't exist"War is God's way of teaching Americans geography." ( Ambrose Bierce) I'm relieved that most responses to that post on reddit have practically nothing to do w/ religion. Of course this may be a subliminal expression of my own weariness with the issue. I mean that I noticed this & found it worth posting... maybe I'm loosing my grip! OK here's some more scandal:

2010-01-23T13:29:00.001-08:00

2010-01-20T16:01:00.000-08:00

2010-01-16T23:55:00.000-08:00

The problem with god is: We don't know what we don't know until we know that we don't know it (Rumsfield's axiom). That is, to assume the unknowable exists, presumes a definition (which is contradictory), but to refer to it as a coherent self aware entity, is psychopathic (so the contradiction is beside the point).However, that same tendency (to animate a concept with anthropomorphic properties),

2010-01-03T10:42:00.000-08:00

Ireland just passed a law prohibiting blasphemy with a fine of €25,000, so Atheist Ireland publishes 25 blasphemous quotes (with salt).The attorney of a Minnesota marketer of communion-wafer dispensers, said in a telephone interview that the lawsuit “comes down to a pure business issue, even though it is the dispensing of the embodiment of Christ that we are talking about.” (Wired)Judge Not Lest

2009-12-14T20:52:00.000-08:00

More "Religious Left" propaganda:The selling idea behind right wing talk shows is mainly gossip & innuendo, but it creates a hormonal response that passes for opinion, & a sense of righteousness that seems like morality. it's cultural manipulation for political ends. In an ideal society, everyone agrees on

2009-12-10T19:34:00.000-08:00

Joe lived offshore in Sausalito for a few years on north San Francisco Bay (locally called Richardsons Bay). The offshore people there are an elite society of sociopaths. During winter storms, the offshore people get together for company in one of the houseboats while everything is rolling & pitching in the waves. Since not much can be accomplished under those conditions, a distraction is called

2009-12-02T16:38:00.000-08:00

I've been breathing easier since the Religious Right scaled back its plan for world domination, but now I'm feeling insecure again. I just watched a CD by PBS on The National Parks by Ken Burns, and noticed most of the theme music is 'ol timy baptist hymns played stringband, and a recurring topic is something like "communing with nature is talking to god" w/ a bunch of quotes by John Muir and

2009-11-19T14:58:00.000-08:00

I usually rant about god & the church, but it gets boring because fewer people disagree and it's like preaching to the choir (if you will). So this post is a story my daughter told me to write down concerning an incident when my friend Joe was a feral hippy.This is the famous story of how Joe came to be legend and completely bamfoogled the entire Phoenix Off Road Racing Club (I think that's who

2009-11-05T21:22:00.000-08:00

The sumptuous pattern of a peacock's tail, the bronze-green armor of a pineapple, the sensuous curves of an orchid ... No! These are not the work of blind evolution but of an intelligent gay designer. (and) If you're at a social function and a benediction is said and the God invoked is not your own, it's a good idea to mutter, roll your eyes, and smirk, so your God will know that you're not

2009-10-15T12:22:00.000-07:00

2009-10-11T08:57:00.000-07:00

Here's a tenuous connection between religion and reality based on language:We constantly describe the world, if we can't describe it, it doesn't exist. This is a big limitation on reality because then the world as we know it is a description, a symbol for whatever it actually is. When something is modeled, like for math, or computers, or even plastic cars, it's the same thing. When a voodoo

2009-09-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

Here's the links I didn't post last month:Proposal for an international Happiness Index (Independent.co)A map of the 7 deadly sins (Wired)School band shirt depicting evolution, is recalled (Sedialia Democrat)Legal case against God dismissed (BBC)Intelligent Designs irreducible complexity shot down again. (Wired)Social perils of unsubscribing to the Atheism subreddit (Reddit)More Placebo (Wired)

2009-08-13T00:06:00.000-07:00

Devils Advocate: After ranting against religion for years, this post draws on some of religion's common themes to explain personal observations. If I'd grown up in a different culture, I'd have a different set of themes.In a previous post I described a friend getting magical information which he couldn't possibly have known. A piece of the story which I didn't tell was that when the impression

2009-08-09T11:39:00.000-07:00

There’s a correlation between what a person expects and what they get, just because people only deal with stuff they recognize. Before “Science” came along and established that real stuff was (had to be) objective, the subjective world (heaven, hell, majick, fayerie & thrall) had equal potential and was the personal possession of an individual.A train of thought, following a thread of reason,

2009-07-15T23:57:00.000-07:00

Just going on the reasoning that if a person or animal's stem cell production can be reduced by causing them to despair, then stem cell production must be supported by some kind of internal mechanism (like recognition of potential, or the anticipation of some kind of gain). Otherwise, creatures would die from any insult (let alone being zapped with electric current or placed in a tank of deep

2009-07-12T10:37:00.000-07:00

Some studies on schizophrenia (they're endless) indicate almost everyone has some kind of genetic tendency. One of the more recent connects schizophrenia with psychosomatic repression of stem cell production for any reason (like social isolation, some kind of adverse personal image, etc). Just on the surface, that looks like a reverse of the placebo effect, which would make it an EVIL PLACEBO..

2009-06-27T21:56:00.000-07:00

According to this article, there's a social force that compels an individual to moral tepidity. Extreme behavior (for good or bad) requires a corresponding dip into scalding or chilly waters to regulate ones moral temperature. Is this a real effect or a result of transposed physics into a subjectively perceived situation? Like determination of implied opposites to chart a course through a maze of

2009-06-10T00:12:00.000-07:00

I'm curious about the rational of remarks about racism towards Israeli Jews & Arabs. on the one hand the there's no race issue because everyone involved is a descendant of Abraham. On the other hand, anyone can become islamic, but no one "becomes" Jewish. You can practice Judaism, but to be a Jew, you have to be a descendant of Aaron (brother of Moses). It's a really good bet that a lot of the

2009-06-04T12:35:00.000-07:00

in defense of "The Lord":Think of the lord as a stereotype of the person you can't beat (The Man). 6th grade bullies when you were in 4th. The person who has what you need (social acceptance in a new school) They're usually insecure selfish assholes.It occurs to me that most of the bible is dealing w/ just those types. Like how some king (lord) wiped out some tribe because they didn't make the

2009-05-25T23:32:00.000-07:00

Patronage rant continued:The church is also an hierarchy of patronage. Jesus, in this case, is a mechanism to allow or restrict access to membership. Since it all takes place in ones head, belief is a key feature. If you really believe in eternal security, you'll get the security part as long as you believe, if you stop believing, naturally, you forfeit any accrued benefits (& you burn forever in

2009-05-19T11:32:00.000-07:00

History reveals that there is very little correlation between religion and morality and some may even argue that the converse is true. (journeymanphilosopher.blogspot.com)Today's Rant:A young mans brush with power, or A plausibly universal tale of sodomy and unrequited love:Joe's dad worked his way up from a bank teller to a loan specialist, it took 35 years. There was however, a glass ceiling to

2009-05-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

New research shows young Americans are dramatically less likely to go to church -- or to participate in any form of organized religion -- than their parents and grandparents. (abcnews)A congressional resolution to recognize the religious foundation of America? (action)Definition of Insane delusion under California law either does or doesn't include religious beliefs. (Reddit)Survey: Support for

2009-04-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

Liabilities are a curse, assets are blessings. The unknown is either an asset or a liability, but is uncontrollable either way. Most of the world is unknown to an individual. Collectively we have a lot of information that can be converted to assets, but require a trusted source. Confidence in the source is no different from faith, so essentially one needs faith to be blessed, but the same is true

2009-04-04T22:50:00.000-07:00

How to be Unremarkable:Strife exists. To respond with strife creates more strife, one needs an authority to grant & bestow peace, so one creates an authority from a known model (like a parent or lover), who can say "it's ok" and make it stick. If the model creates strife, it's the wrong model.To say that George Bush should be accountable for the model he created is an understatement, but also

2009-03-29T23:48:00.000-07:00

Humans behave like individual heard animals. Superorganisms, like termites, ants & bees, function as one entity (Eurekalert). But humans know the difference, so they have the capability for altruistic sacrifice. The problem is probably lack of identity with the society that claims to represent them. i.e. Soldiers don't usually fight for political ideals, they fight for the friends in their

2009-03-20T11:22:00.000-07:00

That the church doesn't present a community that's acceptable to everyone could be expected, there's a lot of variation among people. That it doesn't address reality is a side effect of faith. If my friend, call him Joe (story posted below: Thursday, February 26, 2009), had consulted the church about his experience, he could have been admonished about the hubris of bragging about miracles, or

2009-03-11T00:08:00.000-07:00

The church has pretty much failed to do what it claimed, which is to provide shelter and comfort to people in need. Instead they get indoctrinated. There's not much comfort in that unless you're really desperate, it's more like a community of idiots w/ patronizing jailers. The whole thrust of the church is business and indoctrination with fixed forms. "Of course we're open to all suggestions, but

2009-02-26T09:31:00.000-08:00

Alas, I must bail on my promise to list my unexplainable personal coincidences. As a member of the psychedelic generation, I cannot exceed certain social mores which prescribe the endless detailing of marvelous trips. If you've ever been buttonholed by a gibbering panhandler, you'll know why. I can assure you however that the stories were more fantastic then the fever dreams of the entire Bush

2009-02-21T01:03:00.000-08:00

Ok, Ok, so god doesn't ignore you because he answered your secret longing. I can't argue specifics if someone wants to hang gods name on the cause, but there are other possibilities. The framework of expectation determines the probable cause, ask a cop, even an objective one. Unreasonable faith is not a credible aspiration. Yaaaah! Awaken oh religious people, you're not gullible enough, you

2009-02-10T23:49:00.000-08:00

Not enough Jihad lately? Islam makes the offer of 72 virgins, like it's an incentive. Most men have enough trouble with only one. It's true girls can be sweet, but 2 or more can also be remorselessly catty & vindictive. With just one person's attention to compete for, I imagine all those martyrs will about now be hiding out in heavens tractor shed, speaking in whispers. No wonder it's part of the

2009-01-31T21:19:00.000-08:00

Please check out the following links, especially Jesus and Mo (NOTE: The depiction of Mohammed is actually a look-alike stand in, but Jesus isn't). Also Russell's TeapotNov. 25: NY Post Reports that due to a broken Jaw, Ann Coulter's mouth has been wired shut. Atheists everywhere are given momentary pause. From Tom TomorrowGod's a name for the object of a person judging themselves. It's probably

2009-01-03T12:03:00.000-08:00

ok here we are again in Faerie: I have beneath this satin cloth, a small box (whoosh) pretty isn't it? it was made that way to elicit curiosity, and given by Jupiter to the first woman (not Eve) to illustrate the complications of knowledge. So like once you know something, it becomes an indelible point of reference in your intellect. Even though the discovered thingie may only be an unprovable

2008-12-20T13:34:00.000-08:00

I saw on reddit that Christians wonder why Atheists feel they have to put Christians down, indeed atheists wonder why Christians put Atheists down. It's probably the same thing, like each community has it's own team, whatever the topic. My own experience is that Christians are mostly ok & only those who try to talk about faith (or lack if it) require repression. The missionary spirit is obnoxious

2008-12-15T18:35:00.000-08:00

It's the writers opinion that we owe our existence to god thusly:Without the ingratiating influence of religious manipulators, we'd all be murdering yetis, and our civilization could have never evolved.Of course, we're not done yet, and the most probable scenario for global nuclear war seems to be about religion.However the most powerful decision makers don't necessarily benefit from organized

2008-11-20T22:14:00.000-08:00

Everything we conceptualize is in relation to other people. so we're at odds w/ parts of the world that don't show things we can either represent to or as people. there's just no way to grasp it. justify anything: it comes down to it's social value.Krill for example: obscure little shrimp like bug thingies that live in the open ocean and form the major part of baleen whale diets. Their value as

2008-08-09T20:53:00.000-07:00

Here's 2 dozen versions of the bible and comments. I admire this guy because he allows comments. I don't allow them because bible thumpers (to me) are irrational and it depresses me that the god of natural selection hasn't struck them all dead. So ok, you exist, you win, evolution works.Dated and droll as it may be, the carnage, treachery, incest and obscenity in the Bible only represents the

2008-06-03T00:08:00.000-07:00

This is just a guess: If I were god (which of course I am), I'd develop an alter ego so there'd be some kind of feedback. Then I'd get into heated debates about irrelevant crap, based on whomever had the idea first & is thus the original. Then I'd jump on the bastard & beat the shit out of him for being so disrespectful, and place him in some kind of parallel continuum like heaven, or hell where

2008-04-24T23:09:00.000-07:00

Stuff concerning the Texas branch of the new polygamist church of the latter day saints:This post is more than atheistic & antisocial, it's probably tacky & I apologize for that, but it describes stuff that's simply not questioned, or acknowledged, stuff fundamental (if you will) to our own, and many other species lives. Stuff that should be referenced somehow before undertaking anything which

2007-12-10T17:41:00.000-08:00

Here's some idly interesting linksmega-preacher scandals and pentecostal meltdownand Wauism I used to belong to Bokonon but it turned out to be a scam that wrecked the world.But this one explains a lot: “If you fail to read (the Bible) properly, then you begin your just damnation. If you are unresponsive … God will scourge you, and everything will fail you until you are at utter defiance with

2007-08-21T10:21:00.000-07:00

Real IN YOUR FACE Athiests will appreciate this link: Maggot Punks. I just discovered them by following links through my website stats & Myspace, wondering why I had so many hits to this photo (so I put an ad at the bottom): They warms th' cockles o'me heart, but let me qualify that a little, I totally agree that hypocrites should be called out, on the other hand though, it's a waste of time to

2007-08-02T01:07:00.000-07:00

Here's a question, what's ubiquitous, every culture claims it defines them as a people (it's religion, duh, but): What is it? Here's an answer: people talk to themselves internally, they read cereal boxes & online blogs so that their "consciousness" will have something to do. Internal talking reinforces the personal world. "I shot 15 hoops straight today!" not bad y'know, but so what? It's

2006-09-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

Here's a good post from the BBCs' Newsnight: The God Delusion.

2006-05-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

For the benefit of all my devoted and desperate readers, who've been hanging on the edge of their seats for months to learn the result of how discovering god has reflected on my overall well being, I send my blessings and good news: I lied. The thing I thought was god in the back of my sock drawer turned out to be a mouse nest. When I attempted to communicate with the mouse, she ignored me. At

2005-12-16T23:18:00.000-08:00

Pop died today at about 1:40 pm. He was 97. He broke his hip about a month or 5 weeks ago & got pneumonia. I could have kept him in the hospital but he would have been on life support and he didn't want that. So I let them move him into a convalescent hospital. His hip healed but he stopped eating. The pneumonia came back. When I came in, he was breathing hard, the nurse said "he's dying, this is

2005-11-03T23:29:00.000-08:00

Ok I'm sorry to bum everybody, but I just found God, (in the back of the sock drawer). I was just imagining what it would take to get away with all the stuff that gets blamed on God. (wouldn't be the devil because that's still the same thing). It has to include both, not good, not evil, not even indifference because god's not aware, (at least there's no evidence that God has awareness, that

2005-08-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

Here's another post copied off the web (NY Times). It describes an old religious scam that has been honed & refined by the republican right, and fed back with more "authority" than ever. At the bottom I placed a link to one of the groups who want to impeach Bush, please sign their petition.Op-Ed ColumnistDesign for ConfusionBy PAUL KRUGMANPublished: August 5, 2005I'd like to nominate Irving

2005-05-08T20:17:00.000-07:00

It may be that this particular argument (see below: 1/15/2005) was just poorly presented, that another description would offer another conclusion, but this one presents the crucial dilemma: Why is it necessary to describe the indescribable? Well that's the question. The old 60s' Twilight Zone TV series (in B/W eh?) did a story about a neighborhood that went bonkers & started shooting each other

2005-04-29T17:23:00.000-07:00

Here's a post I had to copy because it'll be replaced with other topics shortly on his site at The SchwartzreportGenital Theology and the Quest for Pelvic Orthodoxy Stephan A. Schwartz, EditorUnless you live in some very remote portion of the earth over these past weeks the death of one Pope and the coronation of another, has exposed you to a seemingly endless discussion about the Roman Catholic

2005-01-15T20:42:00.001-08:00

The concept of god as an evolutionary dead end. Some say god created us because he was lonesome, like he needed company ok here's God. he's either us or not, whatever. Let's assume He created us and not vice versa. God existed first so He has to be perceived on a scale of time, which may be called His Great Plan. Plans require a purpose/goal. The rapture perhaps, but then what?. The rapture

2005-01-10T13:10:00.000-08:00

Here's an interesting link: http://www.psywww.com/psyrelig/. It's interesting the way god is taken for granted in 99.9% of societies. I think there's a hormonal thing that happens when a social creature is ex cluded from it's herd.They become prone to diseases & stress that changes their scent which makes them into food for predators. Us at the top of the food chain have our own predators in the

2004-12-12T16:07:00.000-08:00

I got this in an email given to be an actual chemistry mid-term exam question from the University of Washington: Bonus Question: Is Hell exothermic (gives off heat) or endothermic (absorbs heat)? The only A paper for this class contained this answer: First, we need to know how the mass of Hell is changing in time. So we need to know the rate at which souls are moving into Hell and the rate

2004-06-30T19:09:00.000-07:00

Responsibility:The trick about responsibility is: who owes. All kinds of authorities claim the debt: the Govt., the church, the military, the mafia, school heavies, a lover, family, your goldfish, anyone who can get between yourself and some ideal state of contentment. I don't specifically owe you this description, because maybe you suck. It's all done for the hormonal rush of self congratulation

2002-11-28T20:41:00.000-08:00

There's probably more written justifying gods existence than anyone could read in a lifetime, & there's still nothing to get a grip on. A lot of concepts with special names. This notebook offers a hold on the default definition of deities in general. There's much hype concerning god, and there are many authorities with outspoken opinions, but I would of course never presume to tell those people

2002-02-01T13:36:00.000-08:00

Todays flash: synchronicity! This is my view: synchronicity is a real thing and depends on the viewer. For it to occur, the following chain of events needs to take place: 1) People or whatever need to share a common association to something in the environment, say an object or the juxtaposition of objects. These things are used by the brain as a memnemonic device, it's an extension of the