Happily Godless

Genesis 49 [Jacob keeps blessing his sons, and then dies]

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 24 Oct 2015 16:48:00 +0000

So Joseph called all 12 of his sons together so he could tell them what would happen to them.

This is what he said:

"Reuben, you are my oldest son, very powerful. But you are out of control, like a flood. You fucked the slave that I was fucking, and that's really disrespectful. So you lose."

"Simeon and Levi are brothers, but they are super violent for no reason. They've killed a lot of people and cut the legs off of bulls just for fun. I hope God curses you. Your kids will be scattered around Israel."

"Judah, you win. You will control your enemies. You are like a lion who kills his victim and then sleeps. Nobody would wake you up. You will tie your donkey to a vine, and you will tie your horse to the best branch. You will wash your clothes in wine. Your eyes will be red from drinking wine, and your teeth will be white from drinking milk."

"Zebulon, you will live by the ocean and be a safe harbor for ships."

"Issachar is like a wild donkey chilling in the sheep pens. He sees how good his land is, and will work hard like a slave."

"Dan will be fair. He will be like a snake on a road that bite's a horse's heel to make the rider fall off."

"Gad will be attacked by robbers, but he will attack them as they run away."

"Asher will make awesome food; even a king would enjoy it."

"Naphtali is a female deer that gives birth to beautiful baby deer."

"Joseph is a vine that grows a lot of fruit. Haters will shoot arrows at him, but Joseph will win. God will bless you with lots of good things."

"Benjamin is a hungry wolf. In the morning he kills and eats, and in the evening he shares whatever he stole."

--

After that, Jacob told his sons that he wanted to be buried in the same cave as all his relatives, including Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah. Then he pulled his feet up into his bed and died.

Prayer is a way to pretend to do something.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 09 May 2009 15:04:00 +0000

This is both an interesting story of human devotion... and a tragic story of wasted life.

If they had only taken those 131 years of prayer and used them to do some real action in the world, instead of just pretending to take action...

It makes my heart hurt.

For Franciscan sisters, every day is prayer day - JSOnline

For Franciscan sisters, every day is prayer day
Mark Hoffman

A sister and three prayer partners rise to make way for the next group in the Adoration Chapel of the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration.

By Annysa Johnson of the Journal Sentinel

Posted: May. 6, 2009

La&enspCrosse — Every morning, about an hour and a half past midnight, Sister Marie Leone LaCroix rises in the darkness of her room at St. Rose Convent.

The Franciscan sister, 91, slides into her bathrobe and slippers, takes her cane and slowly makes her way to the dimly-lighted chapel.

There, LaCroix sits before the marble altar where, in an ornate golden vessel, rests a consecrated host Catholics believe to be the body of Christ. And there, she takes her place in an unending chain of prayer that began long before she was born.

"It's so quiet. It's such a serene time to be with God," LaCroix said.

Her order, the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, has prayed before the Holy Eucharist in shifts around the clock since 1878.

Millions of Americans will carve out a moment of their time Thursday to connect with God as part of the 59th annual National Day of Prayer. But for these sisters, who maintain what is thought to be the nation's longest-running perpetual adoration of the Eucharist - 131 years - it is a day like any other, a day devoted to prayer.

"That's our holy, sacred, wonderful privilege," LaCroix said.

Adoration of the Eucharistic, a Christian devotional practice that dates to the Middle Ages, is seeing a resurgence in some Catholic parishes and schools.

The La Crosse devotion grew out of a schism in a Franciscan order that settled in Milwaukee from Bavaria in the late 1840s to teach German immigrants.

Diverted from education to housekeeping for priests, the founders broke away, resettling first in Jefferson and later in La Crosse, where they taught in Catholic schools and cared for orphans.

In 1865, the order's superior made a two-fold promise: If God would bless their ministries with success, she vowed, the sisters would build a chapel and devote their lives to prayer in perpetual adoration of the Eucharist.

And so they have, through war and peace, through boom times and bust, through a raging fire that destroyed the original convent in the 1920s, killing one of the sisters before stopping just outside the chapel doors.

Today, 325 sisters and 120 lay partners offer their prayers for their community, the wider world and for the individual intentions of the faithful around the globe who send their petitions via e-mail or telephone or letter.

"I'm so touched by the requests that come in - a young child having surgery, or a mother with complications in pregnancy," said Sister Amy Taylor, 32, a former school teacher, who has spent the last year preparing to join the novitiate this summer.

"It's really about the human story, the daily struggles and joys," she said. "We intercess on their behalf. But we also journey with them."

These days, many requests reflect the economic turmoil roiling outside the convent's doors.

"They ask, 'Please pray for the sale of our house' or 'that I get a new job,' " said Sister Constance Walton, who coordinates the adoration.

She responds to all who seek their prayers, typing up a new list of intentions each day and shredding them each night to protect the privacy of petitioners.

"It moves your heart," she said, "to know that your neighbors and friends are dealing with these things."

Inside the Adoration Chapel, stone angels flank the marble altar awash in candlelight.

Chimes ring signifying the start of a new hour, and so begins a silent and solemn changeover.

The adorers stand, then step aside as their colleagues take their place. In unison, they pray:

"O Sacrament most holy,

O Sacrament divine,

All praise and all thanksgiving be every moment Thine.

Eucharistic Heart of Jesus, furnace of divine love,

Grant peace to the world."

The first group bows, almost imperceptibly toward the altar, then leaves, and the new adorers recite the Prayer of St. Francis:

"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace ..."

But for a few specific prayers and the intentions prepared by Walton, the adorers are free to connect with the divine any way they choose. Some recite traditional prayers, some read from the Bible; some meditate or contemplate. And for some, it's changed over the years.

"I used to use more words," said Sister Mary Kathryn Fogarty, 70, who has been praying the adoration since she joined the order at the age of 20. "Now, I'm content to gaze upon Christ... to contemplate being in the presence of Christ."

Today, she prays not so much for things or specific outcomes, but for understanding and a closeness to God - not just for herself, but for those who petition for her prayers.

"I ask that that person comes to know how deep God's love for them is, how forgiven they are... and that if something is holding them back from that love and forgiveness, that they be able to let it go," Fogarty said. "I don't necessarily get what I want, but I get a deep peace."

For some, the years spent in adoration have changed even their understanding of the divine.

"You learn how to talk to Him. You find out what He's like, not as a statue, not as a stern punishing God. That has left me," said 97-year-old Sister Lucille Kleinheinz.

"You learn that he is light, and he is complete life. That's the God we worship in perpetual adoration."

Many find it hard to explain the depth of their devotion.

"You know, honey, that's awfully difficult," said LaCroix, a retired teacher at nearby Viterbo College.

"If you would ask an elderly couple who've been in love for years, 'How do you feel when you hold one another's hand?'

"You can't express that kind of love. I can't express my deep love for my God. It's something that is personal, profound and sacred."

pandemic beginning?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 12:58:00 +0000

I'm usually not the kind of guy that buys into the hype about diseases, but this swine flu has me jittery. Probably mostly because I teach in a school with many ties to Mexico, and the flu has been discovered in Kansas. Dickinson county, which is a couple of hours away, but right down the interstate from me.

It's times like this that being a teacher might not be the healthiest career choice.

I'm encouraged by the fact that so far the cases have been mild, so if I catch it soon, it will hopefully be milder than when it becomes more virulent and wipes out a third of the United States.

I love cell phones... except for talking

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 23:47:00 +0000

I have this thing about talking on the phone.

I hate it.

I always have hated talking on the phone. I don't know why. It just kind of fills me with dread. I wouldn't last 10 minutes as a telemarketer. I would rather talk to someone IRL, or email or text.

I like text. I'm one of those people waiting for texting to replace voice-mail.

But voice-mail is still better than talking to people on the phone for real. I have a paid account to slydial, and I use it often.
It's so weird.

can wires be human?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 16:10:00 +0000

I'm predicting an argument in a few minutes.

As part of a science book club, we've been reading The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil. Some people consider Kurzweil a prophet of technological superiority, and some consider him to be a crank. I'm somewhere in the middle.

Kurzweil predicts that most of us alive today will reach the point where we will modify ourselves enough to be considered "nonbiological" - we will have replaced some (or all) of our flesh and bone with synthetic and nanorobotic substitutes.

One of my friends (a biologist, natch) is horrified at the idea, saying we would lose our humanity. She thinks there is something necessary about our messy biology.

I totally disagree. To say that we stop being human if we become electronic, I think, assumes that there is something beyond our bodies and brains that makes us human. I think that is one of the ways supernaturalism still sneaks into our thinking. I mean, if humans are self-contained in their skin, then our humanity is also self-contained. We really just define human as "us". Then we would still be human even if we replaced it all.

Otherwise, where is the point at which we stop being human? When we replace half of our internal organs? Three-fourths? The brain?

What to do when there's a glut of atheist blogs

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:46:00 +0000

I've been wondering for awhile what to do with this blog.

There are a plethora of atheist blogs out there, most of which all discuss the same topics, and try to drum up indignant outrage or mockery at something or other the Christians are doing in the media. Or they just rehash all the arguments for and against god.

I'm over all that. That's part of why I haven't posted since January.

But I also don't want to stop the blog. I find it's useful to get my thoughts on the page. Plus I've made some friends and I don't want to break up with them, lol.

[aside: I'm distracted because I'm currently watching Be Kind Rewind - it started off pretty underwhelming, but is getting pretty good now].

So I predict tht my blog, if it is going to survive, will evolve. Not into the lame ego-driven laundry list of "things I did today". But it will probably become more random; I'll post on whatever topics are on my mind at the moment, whether a full entry or only a few sentences. I'm always fascinated with fringe culture; I'll probably muse on those things.
Of course, it will continue from the atheist/skeptical perspective.

Umm, so yeah.

overwork and tooth fairies

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 04 Jan 2009 15:35:00 +0000

I cannot kill myself with school next semester like I did last semester. I ignored too many things in my personal life that help keep me sane.

Part of the problem is that I have had a great many wonderful ideas that I can use to help teach students math from different perspectives. However, I pushed myself to develop too many of them too quickly, which not only didn't work, but made me neglect my personal life. That sucks.

-------

My niece is becoming one of my favorite people. She is five years old, and has already figured out that there is no Easter Bunny. She told her dad (my brother) that she knows the Easter Bunny isn't real because she has never seen a rabbit that big anywhere.

She also knows Santa Claus isn't real, but likes to still pretend he is.

But my favorite thing about her is her approach to the Tooth Fairy. She is very suspicious about the Tooth Fairy's existence, even though she hasn't lost a tooth yet. She has a great train of logic for a 5-year old: She knows that fairies aren't real, and she knows that the Tooth Fairy is, well, a fairy. So she has devised an experiment: her hypothesis is that the tooth fairy is really just parents. So she has given her dad instructions - when she loses her tooth, he is not allowed to put money under her pillow. Then, if money still appears, the tooth fairy is real. If money doesn't appear, then the tooth fairy doesn't exist. She is very serious about this, and has reminded her dad several times to make sure he doesn't put money under her pillow.

Her dad is torn about how to respond. He wants to respect her experiment, but he also wants her to have the experience of the Tooth Fairy.

Royalties Results

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 16:59:00 +0000

So at the end of September I got my first royalty check for my book.

I sold a grand total of 51 copies of my book. My royalty check was $61.25.
I figure I'll wait for one more check before I retire.

So after hearing the rumors online that my publisher rips people off, I have no way of telling that. I can account for about 25 copies of the book that I know family and friends (and myself) bought. And that's only half of the copies sold. There was even one person in England that ordered it.

I have a friend in Los Angeles that said he randomly saw a coworker reading my book one day, so I know it's drifting out there somewhere.

And since it has been seen in Los Angeles, I hope Will Smith sees and and wants to star in the movie.

filling the hole.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 14:08:00 +0000

damn, I sure didn't expect to be gone this long!

This school year I set myself the professional goal of going paperless, and dramatically increasing the use of technology in the classroom. I mean, we are a school district that just gave every single student Apple laptops, but students (and teachers) are really only using them to write reports and check email. I'm teaching myself how to use the various programs in iLife and iWork. Then I'm constructing my own tutorials for students.

The internet is little more than useless at school, since the content filters are positively draconian. But of course, like any censored population, we find ways around it. I'm an active member in the proxy underground with students.

So anyway, I bought a nice scanner and now scan all work by students into the computer. I grade it on the computer and then email it back to them.

I'm taking a topology course as my semester master's degree class.

And all this stuff takes up so damn much of my time that I don't do much else. Seriously, I've played video games one time since September. Those that know me will be concerned about that.

And I kept putting off blogging. Until now.

I finally gave in and got a Twitter account. If you Twitter, you can follow me @ uncertainwonder.

Our President is Still at the Olympics

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 21:08:00 +0000

Here, our Commander in Chief is representing Christian America in classy ways by supporting the US Olympic swimming efforts:

Our president at the Olympics

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:34:00 +0000

So President Bush went to China and gave a speech the day before the opening ceremony criticizing their government for repressive rule over human rights and religious freedom. He said,

Change in China will arrive on its own terms and in keeping with its own history and its own traditions. Yet change will arrive. And it will be clear for all to see that those who aspire to speak their conscience and worship their God are no threat to the future of China.

The Chinese government got pissed off and told him to mind his own business.

Anyway, after letting the Chinese government know that Christianity is cool, he went and hung out with the Olympic women's volleyball team.

Hater's Corner: Movie Review

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 03 Aug 2008 18:17:00 +0000

(If this is the first time you've read Hater's Corner, read this)

I'm not sure how many people saw the Will Smith superhero flick Hancock this summer. The critics were split on this one, but I really liked it.

Anyway, tooling through the scummy underbelly of the web, I came across this review of Hancock from a person known charmingly as "Reaper for the Reich". Just so you know, he goes through the whole plot of the movie, so there are spoilers if you haven't seen it yet.

Um, enjoy... or something.

-----------------------------------

Hancock

What a pile of negro loving trash this film is.

I knew it as soon as I saw the trailers. Some negro superhero movie. I refused to give it a dime or my time. However the “Whites” at work were raving about how great it was so curiosity pressed me and I wanted to know what the deal was. I didn’t give it a cent but I did waste my time watching it. Anyone who knows about the net knows how to get movies for free. So that’s what I did.

The movie stars:
Will Smith (rap negro)
Charlize Theron (one of the most beautiful White actresses in Hollywood)
Jason Bateman (a no talent Hollywood jew actor)

The film starts out well enough with Hancock (Will Smith) being a drunken foul-mouthed ebonics speaking negroid with “superpowers”. He goes on a few jaunts stopping criminals and flies around town like a bum with a liquor bottle in his hand reminding me of “Handy Man” from the TV show In Living Color. Finally he rescues some jew carpetbagger (Jason Bateman) from getting hit by a train who is trying to peddle a sham heart icon to corporations in the name of charity. Jew boy sees Hancock as a new moneymaking opportunity and P.R. tool and invites him home for “meatballs”.

As soon as jew boy brings negro Hancock home his wife (Charlize Theron) immediately begins giving Hancock the “F*#k me” eyes. Which continues for the rest of the film. The sexual tension between the two is extremely blatant. This culminates with Charlize and Hancock sharing a kiss that reveals her super power, and that they were married some 80 years before. But jew boy (Jason Bateman) is cool with the love affair between his negro pet Hancock and his Aryan wife (Charlize) and takes it all in stride because he knows he would get his ass kicked if he said anything and he has profit on his mind.

However it turns out that some goofy White criminal who looks like a casting call bank robber reject from the movie Heat has it out for Hancock and when Hancock and (Charlize) are together they are no longer immortal. The bank robber and his gang attack Hancock and (Charlize) while they are together and what one suffers the other does as well. When Hancock gets shot Charlize suffers it as well and she is on the verge of dying until her husband (jew boy Jason Bateman) disposes of the bank robber ringleader. But Charlize is still on the verge of death so Hancock starts doing what he does best. He jumps over busses and cars and finally to the moon. Somehow this restarts the heart of Charlize and he saves her life.

It ends with Hancock perched atop a skyscraper with a “blue toof” on his ear letting jew boy and Charlize know that they will change the world. Charlize then longingly stares at the moon as if she misses and can’t wait for that big black Hancock to come back to her.

This is probably one of the worst movies I have ever seen. The story and content are absolutely repulsive, the cgi is terrible, and it is about the most ant-white movie I have ever seen.

A rain of "biblical proportions" for Obama

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 23:11:00 +0000

At first, I didn't believe it when I heard this mentioned. But after following the story, it really is true. Conservative Christians are praying for a torrential downpour on top of Mile High Stadium when Barack Obama gives his acceptance speech at the Democratic National Convention next month.

And not just any rain. No, they want a rain of "biblical proportions", one that will trigger flood advisories, "swamp the intersections", make conference attendees "want hip-waders", and prohibit the news cameras from seeing Obama on the podium.

Upon thinking about it, this actually is pretty consistent for conservative Christians. Instead of compassionately letting people express their views, they want to convince God to destroy the competition. As if he wouldn't have thought about it on his own.

If you want, you can watch the video here.

Angels and Demons and Nothing, Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 23:30:00 +0000

I have decided to write down an account of my various and sundry adventures in the religious/spiritual realm, in order to make my present opinions more clear to myself and others.

This will be done in a series of posts, updated whenever.

Some readers may find some of my experiences surprising. Undoubtedly it will lead to questions on the part of anyone who is not me. Feel free to ask questions. I will do my best to answer them, either as a response, or in future chapters of the story.

I will write more-or-less in chronological order, mixed in with other topics as the need arises. At this time I do not know how many installments there will be, nor how long it will take.

-----------------------

It was the summer of my 13th year when I began having religious visions.

I had always been a religious kid, growing up in a hyper-Catholic family, going to Catholic school. But I also always have had a strong imagination, and when I was bored sitting in Church, I would imagine various monsters or demons destroying the church and killing people until I used my divine powers to save everyone.

There were times, receiving Communion in late grade school and into middle school, when I would experience a type of ecstasy. I would reflect on the idea that I had literally brought Jesus into me, and I felt a type of Greater Bond, an excited, awe-inspiring happiness. I told one of my nun teachers about it, and she considered that to be a very good thing. The parish priest suggested I think about becoming a priest. But the only reason I would have considered being a priest was if they let me perform exorcisms.

By 5th grade I had developed the habit of listening to music with my eyes closed, letting the sounds influence my daydreams. It was one of my favorite things to do - constructing my own surreal musical worlds.

When I was 13 years old, I was, like many American boys, trying to earn money by mowing lawns. One hot day I had just come back from mowing the lawn of my neighbors, two pretty college girls. I collapsed on my bed in my basement, and put on my newly favorite record (yes, record) - the soundtrack to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Closing my eyes, I submitted myself to the flow of the music, constructing and conducting soundscapes.

Towards the end of the record, however, I lost control of my daydream. It took over, and I was just along for the ride. The music led me through fantastical visions, both terrifying and exciting. The record ended and I was feeling very small and awestruck. There was an image similar to the space baby at the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey. I opened my eyes and found myself curled up in the fetal position.

Once I pulled myself together, my fear at what happened was small compared to the fascination of it. I did not feel threatened in the slightest - I felt fresh, reborn, different. Though I can't remember for sure, I'm sure I took it as a sign from God. Doors had been opened to me.

I was going to start experiencing the world in a whole new way.

I've been added to the Atheist Blogroll!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 16:52:00 +0000

Happily Godless 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 for more information.

Holy War Heats up in Florida

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 15:38:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I told you about Webster Cook, a Florida college student who went to Communion at a Catholic mass, but didn't eat the communion wafer; he stuck it in his pocket. He was later physically harassed and Catholic officials want to charge him with a hate crime.

Here's an update: Cook, who is a member of the student Senate, is being impeached. The vote was 35-2 in favor of impeachment after 15 minutes of discussion. This starts an official investigation about whether Cook violated Senate ethics rules, which is based on allegations that he represented himself as a student government official at the religious service when it happened.

If that's not bad enough, his friend Benjamin Collard, is in trouble too, just for being at the service with Cook.

Collard says that he was trying to look at his class schedule and found out that a hold had been put on his account, and he couldn't sign up for classes. When he went to find out what was wrong, he discovered that Catholic Campus Ministries had filed charges against him - the exact same charges as against Cook.

These are the charges filed against both young men:
1) misconduct
2) disruptive conduct
3) giving false identification

Collard says he never talked to anyone during the whole controversy. He didn't participate in the "wafer-napping", never lied about who he was, never talked to a university official.

If the charges stick to the two men, they can be expelled from the university.

Now, I wasn't there. I didn't witness the godnapping. I don't know if there was a big disruption or not. But come on. This modern-day witch hunt, a Christian jihad, against two college students? One just for being friends with the "criminal"?

I'm not saying Catholics shouldn't be offended. I understand their feelings towards their holy bread. But they're making themselves look like sadistic idiots. And it actually kind of scares me.

In a godless world...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 21:46:00 +0000

What happens when an armless lady and a legless man dance together?

Pure art is made.

Blowing for Jesus

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 23:15:00 +0000

Do you know what a shofar is? I learned today that it is a horn made from a ram and used as a trumpet for religious purposes, traditionally Jewish.

I also learned of Pastor Mark Biltz, who runs a Christian church in the Hebraic roots movement (which basically means taking Christianity and mixing it with Jewish traditions).

And I learned that Sept. 29 is known as a biblical holiday, the Feast of Trumpets.

What do those three things have in common with a large sporting event? Well, let me Pastor Biltz explain his global "Day of Shouting":

You know how at sporting events they have "the wave" where one group starts it and then it cycles all the way around back to the beginning? Do you remember how at the year 2000 they showed on television all the New Year celebrations going on around the world as the new millennium began? ...

Let's have an around the world shofar assembly in every time zone on the Feast of Trumpets at sunset announcing to Messiah we are awake and anxiously anticipating His return. What a dress rehearsal! Won't that stir His heart?

What this means is that he's organizing a world-wide "wave" of shofar trumpets. People and organizations are going to his website and committing to blow a shofar at the time of their sunset and then shout some version of God's name. This is done to let God know that they are ready for Jesus to return to earth.

Biltz asks everyone, "Will we show Abba a Tsunami or a Splash?"

You can see the list of people around the world who have committed to doing this here. Maybe you can find the people in your state doing it, and go ask them what the hell they're doing.

My biggest question is, if God can see into people's hearts, why is this even necessary? Does God need people blowing into animal horns and shouting to get His attention? This is such a literal interpretation of a supernatural deity, almost like the "primitive" gods that lived on mountains and stuff.

Why would God...

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:46:00 +0000

... come up with Harlequin Ichthyosis?

It's been awhile since I did a post like this. I stumbled upon this stunningly cruel birth defect by accident through YouTube (more on that in a minute). You can read the Wikipedia entry, but here is a general description of the condition:

Babies born with this condition have skin that basically consists of large reddish scales, diamond shaped. The skin doesn't bend or fold, it cracks. The eyelids are turned inside out. Ears, nose, and mouth and genitals may be malformed.

This was almost always fatal within a few days, either due to infection of the skin, overheating because the thick skin prevents heat loss, or breathing failure due to the skin restricting the chest from expanding enough to draw air. In recent years, some success has been had in helping the afflicted child live longer.

Here is a drawing of a fetus with the condition.

Normally, I include actual photos or videos of the topics I'm talking about. However, the drawing above is as far as I'm comfortable going with this topic on this page. For those who want to see more of the disease in real life, I offer the following two links.

PLEASE, BEFORE YOU CLICK ON THE LINKS, be certain you want to see them. These images are distressing beyond what you are probably imagining. I myself was not prepared for them when I saw them, and I can handle a lot. People who know me know I don't exaggerate things like this.

You don't have to see the images to understand the rest of the post.

Here's a link to a single photo: PHOTO

Here's a link to a YouTube video: VIDEO. It's heartbreaking and extremely difficult to watch all 3 minutes of it.

It's the video I want to discuss for a minute. For those who have decided not to watch the video, it is filmed by what I'm assuming are the parents of a child with this condition in the hospital. A man (the father?) is holding the child and singing a prayer to Allah while someone (I think the mother) is moving the camera all around the child's body.

I understand the man's prayer. However, what kind of god would create a situation like this? It's helpful to no-one, child or parents. A comment on the video says the man is saying that Allah is merciful and that everything has a reason. But possible reason could torturing a baby and its parents like this have?

Theists often report visceral reasons to believe in God - rainbows, beauty, etc.
For me, this is another visceral reason to say God couldn't exist - it's a product of blind genetic malfunction.

World Wide Weird - conjoined twin birds

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 00:11:00 +0000

A farmer in Arkansas found a pair of birds that fell out of their nest last Thursday.

They were joined at the hip. Which means that they had to have come from a double-yolk egg. This is extremely rare.

By the time a wildlife official came to get them, they refused to eat. One bird died Friday morning, and a vet later euthanized the other.

Natural history museums are reportedly interested in displaying them.

A note on "Hater's Corner"

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:29:00 +0000

Today's Hater's Corner brings us a young Hispanic man, "PleaseDontKillMe", posting on a White Nationalist forum:

Hopefully you guys will not ban me, I was hoping to speak to intelligent white people, not just someone who's going to call me names like spic or whatever. But please feel free to call me a spic, I will nod my head and agree with you .

Ok to start off I am a Puerto Rican. DON'T SHOOT ME YET!, I respect your opinion on wanting to preserve your own race and culture. I kind of believe in something similar without wanting to hate other races . I have always been intrigued by the kkk and Nazis and just racist people in general. Not because I agree just because It's fun to know people believe in different things. Now heres my questions:

He asks several questions, but the most interesting, I think was this one:

If your daughter was dying or getting raped or mugged or something (god forbid) and I saved her, would you still hate me for being a spic? lol

And here are some of the interesting answers he got:

* Yes. One kind action is not going to make up for you or your entire race.

* I don't hate people just because they are "spics". I would thank you, reward you even for saving my daughter, but that doesn't make up for the mistakes of others within your same racial group. Your redeeming act does not redeem the entire race, but you personally, I would be thankful for having save a beautiful white girl from torture or death. Of course, I'd still want you to have sovereignty of your own - just because you helped me out wouldn't make me see you as an exception for removal from America, assuming you were in America.

* go back to puerto spico.

* I don't hate you for being a "spic", but I don't want you in my nation.

* Ya, LOL. I don't hate you now, why would I hate you after saving one of my family members. The only question might be how long before you visa runs out?

* if you stick the races together racial hate will become the norm. As the races have a natural apathy towards each other. But crammed together develop hostility. It's a natural law that exists to help stop the races from mixing and killing their diversity and hindering their evolution.

As you can see, the amount of hate is varied, but all responses share a common theme among White Nationalists - keeping America pure from any non-white influence.

Those poor deluded souls.

A note on "Hater's Corner"

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 15:08:00 +0000

Some people wonder why I decide to sometimes give a little blog space to what the racist Neo-Nazis, KKK members, anti-gay bigots, etc. are up to.

Other people wonder where I get this stuff from.

Let me answer the first question first. It's easy for most of us to assume that racism, homophobia, etc. are just rare blots on the face of an increasingly compassionate, educated, and reasonable world. And I do think that things are getting better every day, with every generation.

However, those haters are still there, still thriving. They tend not to advertise their opinions to those of us in the mainstream, because they know they're not appreciated. But that doesn't mean that they've all "learned their lesson". In fact, with Obama as the nation's first real African-American candidate for president, issues of race are pushing closer to the surface than they have in awhile.

So I put examples of this dark ignorance up for examination, to expose it, to remind myself (and by extension, you) that the world is not all warm and fuzzy, that we still need to fight for human rights for all people. Besides which, religion is often an underpinning for these beliefs. The technical term for activities like this is "opposition research".

As for where I get this stuff, well, I'll just say that it's not too hard to find these websites and forums if you really want to find them. I generally will not give out web addresses just because I don't want to help publicize them. I do this research and report on it so you don't have to.

It's all part of my atheistic belief that we can't rely on supernatural beings to take care of us - we need to do it ourselves.

Christians are gunning for kids

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:36:00 +0000

So there's this Baptist church in Oklahoma that puts on a yearly summer youth camp to encourage teens to connect more with God. Last year the camp included a shooting competition. Well apparently a local news channel reported that the church wanted to really encourage turnout this year, so they spent $800 to buy an AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle to give away to some lucky camp goer.

Yes, an AR-15 semiautomatic assault rifle:

To give to a Christian teen summer camper. Or at least to a teen who puts up with the camp in order to get a free assault rifle

Controversy ensued and the giveaway was suddenly canceled because the guy that ran the competition, Jim Vineyard "injured his foot", and wasn't able to come. The church then denied that they had bought a gun for $800.

However, God intervened, because according to the camp website, someone donated a shotgun to the church camp so that the shooting competition/giveaway could continue.

God works in mysterious ways.

Reflections on getting published by Publish America

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:56:00 +0000

As many readers know, I had a book published about six months ago, entitled Happily Godless: A Young Adult's Guide to Atheism. It can be ordered from most bookstores, or online at places like Amazon, Barnes and Noble, or at a discounted price directly from the publisher.

Speaking of the publisher, some people are curious to hear about my experiences because of past controversies regarding them.

The publisher of my book is Publish America. After I signed with them, I began hearing stories that they are kind of scammers. If you google, you'll find several stories of lawsuits against them. At first I thought I had screwed myself. But then I did further research. Here's what I found:

There were several complaints against the company:
1. It was an author mill that took any manuscript and approved it without looking at it. There were several hoaxes perpetrated to prove this.

2. They did no editing of manuscripts before printing them.

3. They did no publicizing or special effort to get books on actual bookstore shelves.

4. They cheated on paying royalties.

5. Authors must buy copies of their own book.

6. The books are priced higher than they should be.

The first thing I noticed about these claims that the most recent of them was from 2005. There have been no new allegations or news in at least 3 years. Also, despite looking like a widespread problem, I kept noticing the same names (or forum posters) over and over again.

Here is my experience of the four allegations above:
1. I have no idea. My book was a real book, and they approved it. That's what's most important for me.

2. This one seems to be true. They said they edited it and sent it back for my approval, where I found a good number of additional typos.

3. This one is true. However, they said that before I signed with them. They did not promise to do any ad campaigns, did not promise that my book would be on physical shelves. They emphasized the online presence of my book and said that it would be listed on all major book websites. This happened like they said.

4. I don't know about this one yet. They pay royalties twice a year. I will receive my first royalty check in September. There doesn't seem to be any way for me to check their numbers - I'm going to have to trust them. This makes me a little uncomfortable, but I'll wait and see how it plays out.

5. This is basically true. I got two free copies of my book upon publication. After that I must buy additional copies. However, I do get a discount of up to 50%. And there is no pressure to buy copies. I can buy or not.

6. This one is true. They priced my book at $19.95, where I think it should be something like $12.95-$14.95. They have probably priced it out of the reach of some young people, who I wrote the book for.

I have also found the publisher to be very communicative. The people I've spoken with on the phone are friendly. They respond to my questions promptly.

So, on the whole, so far I'm happy with them. It didn't cost one penny to get published. No matter what my royalties are, they're basically pure profit. I've bought copies of my book, but that was my decision. I've never felt any pressure to buy anything.

So do I recommend using Publish America to get published? Yes, with reservations. You need to be sure on your own that your manuscript is in good shape, and find your own editor if you're not. You need to be ok with the fact that it's an independent publisher and will not do your advertising for you.

Of course, Publish America is not as good as the big guys. But it was much easier to get my book in print, to get my message out. That's what's most important. And in 7 years, my contract with Publish America expires. Perhaps I can use this experience to get noticed and picked up by the bigger guys after that.

Perhaps Publish America really was bad, and did some cleaning up of it's act over the past 3 years. But personally speaking, a lot of the complaints against Publish America have more than a little smell of sour grapes. These may be people that are pissed off that their books didn't turn into instant best-sellers and want something to blame other than the fact that their writing was probably pretty terrible (I've read some other books from the publisher, and they do seem to have pretty low standards for acceptance. A lot of the writing is crap).

I hope I'm not deluding myself into thinking that my writing is better than most of those other books.

Communion wafer hate crime!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 14:31:00 +0000

As an ex-Catholic, I find this story really funny.

College student Webster Cook goes to school in Florida. He went to mass, and as people do, went to communion.

Now, let me pause for some explanation so this story will make a little more sense to non-Catholics. The Catholic church believes very strongly in the doctrine of transubstantiation, which means that once the priest does his hocus-pocus over the communion bread wafer, the bread actually turns into the body of Jesus. Not physically - the bread doesn't turn into human flesh - but spiritually. When you eat the communion wafer, you are eating Jesus. A sort of holy spiritiual cannibalism.

Anyway, back to the story. Webster Cook went up to communion, took the wafer, but didn't eat it. Instead he took it out of the church and walked around with it.

As people found out, they became furious. He took the communion wafer back, but apparently that wasn't enough. He says he's getting death threats for messing with someting sacred.

The University says that Webster Cook is not in any trouble. This really pisses off the Catholic League, which is a national organization concerned with Catholic rights. The Catholic League expects the University to take this seriously, to send a message that "this kind of really complete sacrilege will not be tolerated". They also believe that "if anything were to qualify as a hate crime, to us this seems like it might be it."

So let me get this straight. Eating Jesus is fine. But taking him for a walk is a hate crime. If it were all that serious, why didn't Jesus make an escape from the godnapper? Why didn't God strike him dead or paralyze him or something? No, Jesus just sat there in the guy's hand.

Kind of like a plain old piece of bread would do.