Monday, January 31, 2011

Monday Morning Quotes: Frank Zappa


“Remember there's a big difference between kneeling down and bending over.”

"The whole foundation of Christianity is based on the idea that intellectualism is the work of the Devil. Remember the apple on the tree? Okay, it was the Tree of Knowledge. ‘You eat this apple, you're going to be as smart as God. We can't have that.’"

“If you want to get together in any exclusive situation and have people love you, fine – but to hang all this desperate sociology on the idea of The Cloud-Guy who has The Big Book, who knows if you’ve been bad or good – and cares about any of it – to hang it all on that, folks, is the chimpanzee part of the brain working.”

"Well, I believe that those energies and processes exist. I just don't think that they've been adequately described or adequately named yet, because people are too willing to make it all into something that supports a religious theory of one flavor or another. If you start defining these things in nuts-and-bolts scientific terms, people reject it because it's not fun, y'know. It takes some of the romance out of being dead ... because of people's desires to have eternal life and to extend their influence from beyond the grave ... all that Houdini type stuff ... but basically, I think when you're dead ... you're dead. It comes with the territory."

“So, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, if you go for all these fairy tales, that "evil" woman convinced the man to eat the apple, but the apple came from the Tree of Knowledge. And the punishment that was then handed down, the woman gets to bleed and the guy's got to go to work, is the result of a man desiring, because his woman suggested that it would be a good idea, that he get all the knowledge that was supposedly the property and domain of God. So, that right away sets up Christianity as an anti-intellectual religion. You never want to be that smart. If you're a woman, it's going to be running down your leg, and if you're a guy, you're going to be in the salt mines for the rest of your life. So, just be a dumb fuck and you'll all go to heaven. That's the subtext of Christianity.”

“Get smart and I'll fuck you over -- sayeth The Lord.”

“Scientology, how about that? You hold on to the tin cans and then this guy asks you a bunch of questions, and if you pay enough money you get to join the master race. How's that for a religion?”

“If you wind up with a boring, miserable life because you listened to your mom, your dad, your teacher, your priest or some guy on TV telling you how to do your shit, then YOU DESERVE IT!”

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Friday, January 28, 2011

Friday Link Dump 1/28/11


God’s Press Conference: "TORTURE FOREVER!"   Funny.  

A Louis C.K. interview. - He may be the best stand up comedian out there right now so I wanted to bring attention to the following paragraph about Sarah Palin.  It’s delightful:

How fucking sacred is this person who's never contributed one thing to anyone's life but her own? And not even thinking about her politically or whatever she represents, it's just that she's just a coarse, selfish person who has ferocious protection and it makes no sense to me... By the way, I said something that I think is true, I wrote one Twitter that I said, please find me a picture of Sarah Palin with more than one black person because I couldn't find one. And then she went to Haiti a week later. She threw together a trip to Haiti. So I believe I made that happen. So that's positive.

Hubble Finds Granddaddy of Ancient Galaxies

The Greek engineer who invented the steam engine 2,000 years ago

Orangutan DNA offers a strange genetic mystery - The original link can be found here.  

This dude is a linebacker for the Detroit Lions - Lack of personal accountability? Check.  Egotistical?  Check.  Delusional references regarding external forces out to get him?  Check.  Yep.  He is a true Christian.  

“Mr. Follett, what you’ve just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God Flying Spaghetti Monster have mercy on your soul. “

CORAL MOVES NORTH TO BEAT THE HEAT

ONE-CLAWED DINO WAS EARLY T. REX RELATIVE

URANUS PATHFINDER: MISSION TO THE MYSTERIOUS ICE GIANT - “Quiet down back there.  Grow up.”

Watchdog: Thomas Didn’t Report Wife’s Income - Thomas and Scalia should be investigated.  They are constantly participating in things that a Justice should not be a part of.  

US university settles religious discrimination case - I don’t see the problem here.  

Gigantic runaway star blazes through the cosmos - Don't panic! Earth will still be destroyed by Planet Nibiru in 2012 long before this star gets anywhere near us.

ROBOTIC QUADCOPTERS BUILD A TOWER AUTONOMOUSLY - We are doomed.  

Particles can be quantum entangled through time as well as space

WILD CHIMPS OUTWIT HUNTERS

'God's Army': Louisiana Locals Train To Protect Their Churches With Guns - "A church is really no safe haven..."

No relief for Catholic Church’s moral bankruptcy

Pope: Marriage is not an absolute right - 1) the Pope has no real authority if you think about it.  2) this is just the Vatican’s attempt at creating a loophole to discriminate against homosexuals.  

MAN-MADE OASIS WILL TRANSFORM THE DESERT

Seymour Hersh: Military Branch Being Run By 'Crusaders' - Honestly, I dislike the HuffPo, but they really do say things other “news” outlets just won’t.

Yellowstone Has Bulged as Magma Pocket Swells - If this ever blows: extinction event.  

Civil War site is now a battlefield for Wal-Mart - Good News.  Wal-Mart withdraws their plans.  

Superstars Team Up in the Southern Cross

Mama Pterosaur Discovered in China

The center of the Milky Way revealed in its full glory across the entire spectrum

Woman Hanged, Killed Dog For Chewing Bible

Stuff Fundies Like - Ask CMG: Strong Drink and Heavy Hearts

Glenn Beck flashback: “I want to kill Charlie Rangel with a shovel.” - We want to compile a list of videos where Beck says violent things like this.  I know there are more.  I have seen them, but I didn't think to save them.  If anyone knows of video clip, please email us.  

Monday, January 24, 2011

Monday Morning Quotes: Michio Kaku

“There are many examples of old, incorrect theories that stubbornly persisted, sustained only by the prestige of foolish but well-connected scientists. Many of these theories have been killed off only when some decisive experiment exposed their incorrectness.”

“When scientists use the word God, they usually mean the God of Order. For example, one of the most important revelations in Einstein's early childhood took place when he read his first books on science. He immediately realized that most of what he had been taught about religion could not possibly be true. Throughout his career, however, he clung to the belief that a mysterious, divine Order existed in the universe. His life's calling, he would say, was to ferret out his thoughts, to determine whether he had any choice in creating the universe. Einstein repeatedly referred to this God in his writings, fondly calling him ‘the Old Man.’ When stumped with an intractable mathematical problem, he would often say, ‘God is subtle, but not malicious."

“‘Did God have a mother?’ Children, when told that God made the heavens and the earth, innocently ask whether God had a mother. This deceptively simple question has stumped the elders of the church and embarrassed the finest theologians, precipitating some of the thorniest theological debates over the centuries. All the great religions have elaborate mythologies surrounding the divine act of Creation, but none of them adequately confronts the logical paradoxes inherent in the question that even children ask.”

“A hundred years ago, Auguste Compte, … a great philosopher, said that humans will never be able to visit the stars, that we will never know what stars are made out of, that that's the one thing that science will never ever understand, because they're so far away. And then, just a few years later, scientists took starlight, ran it through a prism, looked at the rainbow coming from the starlight, and said: 'Hydrogen!' Just a few years after this very rational, very reasonable, very scientific prediction was made, that we'll never know what stars are made of. “

"It's humbling to realise that the developmental gulf between a minuscule ant colony and our modern human civilisation is only a tiny fraction of the distance between a Type 0 and a Type III civilisation – a factor of 100 billion billion, in fact. Yet we have such a highly regarded view of ourselves, we believe a Type III civilisation would find us irresistible and would rush to make contact with us. The truth is, however, they may be as interested in communicating with humans as we are keen to communicate with ants"



Sunday, January 23, 2011

Sunday Morning Hate: Cardinal Juan Sandoval Iniguez (again)

Hateful rhetoric from religious leaders


“To be a protestant, one cannot have any shame."
"Women should not go around being so provoking; because of thiese (sic) there are so many rapes."

via Aguachile

On same sex marriage:
"Such immoral activity can never be the equivalent of the sexual expression of conjugal love, because it endangers the dignity and the rights of the family that constitute the common good of the society,"

via LifeSiteNews.com

Again, on same sex marriage:
"[Marcelo Ebrard] and his government has created laws that are destructive to the family, that cause worse damage than narcotrafficking.  Marcelo Ebrard and his party, the PRD, have endeavored to destroy us."

Friday, January 21, 2011

Friday Link Dump 1/21/11



New governor: Non-Christians 'not my brother,' 'not my sister' - The new governor has First Amendment rights to exercise his personal religion and the stated comments, but you really have to stop and think about how ignorant those comments are coming from the governor of a state.  He represents everyone that is a citizen of Alabama, or at least he supposed to. His statements illustrate the divisiveness of religion in America and Evangelical Christianity in particular.  

I lived in Alabama for nearly three years.  There are a lot of good people there and it is only slightly more backwards than anywhere else in America, but I was very glad when I moved back to PA (which has it’s fair share of religious nuts).  






30 Most Offensive Church Signs - “A Freethinker is Satan’s Slave.”  /faceplam

This is a friend of a friend. Good people by all accounts. Throw a few bucks in if you can.

Top 10 Racist Rush Limbaugh Quotes - What? Only ten?

34,000-Year-Old Organisms Found Buried Alive! - I still think an organism can survive space within a rock.  

The Milky Way might be surrounded by invisible dark matter galaxies

Friends feel like family? You may be genetically tied - I like beer. My friends like beer.  Now there is genetic evidence as to why.  SCIENCE!

The first mammoth cloning experiment is officially underway - It’s only a matter of time before Iceman is a real thing.  Oops.  I meant this Iceman.  Soooo, inaccurate.  

PTEROSAURS 10 TIMES HEAVIER THAN BIGGEST BIRDS

The national media is typically overreacting to Ricky Gervais stint at hosting the Golden Globes.  Two things: 1) they are wrong.  It was funny and any actor who can’t take the jokes is a self-serious prick.  2) who the hell watches these awards shows?  Anyway, here is every joke that Gervais told during the Golden Globes telecast.  Not really that bad, I thought.  Also, wait for the last 5 seconds of the show.  “And thank you to god.  For making me an atheist.”

On the plus side the Golden Globes and the Gervais controversy have given us this “Deal With It” gif.  

Earth may soon have a second sun - I really want this to happen soon.  It would likely cause mass chaos and upheaval since people are generally stupid, superstitious fools but I still kind of want it to happen.


'GREAT GRANDMOTHER OF CROCODILES' UNEARTHED

PINT-SIZED, RUNNING DINOSAUR GAVE RISE TO CARNIVORES - “Holtz believes the new findings help ‘to reinforce that the oldest dinosaurs were little, bipedal animals with grasping hands and most likely an omnivorous diet: sort of reptilian raccoons.’"  My wife instantly wants one.  

CLIMATE CHANGES LINKED TO FALL OF ROMAN EMPIRE

Spiritually Unfit Soldiers FORCED to see Chaplains, to get “born again” - Still waiting on that second guestpost regarding life in the military as an atheist, Nick.  

I’m subtle.

Just discovered: A 2,500-year-old recipe for Celtic beer - Archaeology of Booze (again).  

Fake Science - Thanks to Jack for this one.  

OLDEST KNOWN DOMESTICATED AMERICAN DOG UNEARTHED

Mike Huckabee responds to evolution question - It is important, Mr. Huckabee, because your view is completely irrational and you were (are?), as you say, running for President of the United States of America.  It’s kind of important.  

Life's asymmetry may come from space

Sarah Palin on the hunt

Thousands of Egyptian Muslims Show Up As “Human Shields” To Defend Coptic Christians From Terrorism - Just going to give credit where credit is due.  I thought that was pretty cool.  

PLANCK STARES THROUGH OUR DUSTY MILKY WAY

Caligula's tomb found after police arrest man trying to smuggle statue

Watch Him Roll! Baby Edward's Amazing Brain

Vatican Warned Irish Bishops Not To Report Abuse - The smoking gun.  I am beginning to have hope the Vatican will be gone in a century.  

Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity Dropped From Philadelphia Radio Station - Slowly, but surely people are waking up.  

Jared Loughner, Mental Illness and How Budget Cuts Have Slashed Behavioral Health Services in Arizona

Dick Feynman — The Uncertainty of Knowledge

Palin’s Breath - Well...this creeps me out.  Love the end though.