• Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination. - Edward Abbey
• With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg
• I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence. - Doug McLeod
• The world holds two classes of men - intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence. - Abu�??l-Ala al Ma�??arri
• Since the Bible and the church are obviously mistaken in telling us where we came from, how can we trust them to tell us where we are going? - Anonymous
• I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. - Susan B. Anthony
• The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike. - Delos B. McKown
• Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer. - Anonymous
• Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men. - Francis Bacon
• The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. - Richard Dawkins
• A God who kept tinkering with the universe was absurd; a God who interfered with human freedom and creativity was tyrant. If God is seen as a self in a world of his own, an ego that relates to a thought, a cause separate from its effect. he becomes a being, not Being itself. An omnipotent, all-knowing tyrant is not so different from earthly dictators who make everything and everybody mere cogs in the machine which they controlled. An atheism that rejects such a God is amply justified. - Karen Armstrong
• It is not as in the Bible, that God created man in his own image. But, on the contrary, man created God in his own image. - Ludwig Feuerbach
• People ask me what I think about that woman priest thing. What, a woman priest? Women priests. Great, great. Now there�??s priests of both sexes I don�??t listen to. - Bill Hicks
• All the biblical miracles will at last disappear with the progress of science. - Matthew Arnold
• Blind faith is an ironic gift to return to the Creator of human intelligence. - Anonymous
• Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one. - Richard Dawkins
• What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. - Christopher Hitchens
• In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point. - Friedrich Nietzsche
• It will yet be the proud boast of women that they never contributed a line to the Bible. - George W. Foote
• On the first day, man created God. - Anonymous
• I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. - Stephen Roberts
• You do not need the Bible to justify love, but no better tool has been invented to justify hate. - Richard A. Weatherwax
• What�??s �??God�??? Well, you know, when you want something really bad and you close your eyes and you wish for it? God�??s the guy that ignores you. - Steve Buscemi (From the movie �??The Island�??)
• As far as I can tell from studying the scriptures, all you do in heaven is pretty much just sit around all day and praise the Lord. I don�??t know about you, but I think that after the first, oh, I don�??t know, 50,000,000 years of that I�??d start to get a little bored. - Rick Reynolds
• Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime; give a man religion and he will die praying for a fish. - Anonymous
• Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color. - Don Hirschberg
• God should be executed for crimes against humanity. - Bryan Emmanuel Gutierrez
• To say that atheism requires faith is as dim-witted as saying that disbelief in pixies or leprechauns takes faith. Even if Einstein himself told me there was an elf on my shoulder, I would still ask for proof and I wouldn�??t be wrong to ask. - Geoff Mather
• I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it. - Mark Twain
• Of all religions the Christian is without doubt the one which should inspire tolerance most, although up to now the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men. - Voltaire
• And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence. - Bertrand Russell
• Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? - Epicurus
• I�??m a polyatheist - there are many gods I don�??t believe in. - Dan Fouts
• If it turns out that there is a God, I don�??t think that he�??s evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he�??s an underachiever. - Woody Allen
• A lie is a lie even if everyone believes it. The truth is the truth even if nobody believes it. - David Stevens
• Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a God superior to themselves. Most Gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child. - Robert A Heinlein
• I refuse to prove that I exist,�?? says God, �??for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing. - Douglas Adams
• It ain�??t the parts of the Bible that I can�??t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand. - Mark Twain
• He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; he that dares not reason is a slave. - William Drummond
• Remember, Jesus would rather constantly shame gays than let orphans have a family. - Steven Colbert
• Which is it, is man one of God�??s blunders or is God one of man�??s? - Friedrich Nietzsche
• Religion does three things quite effectively: Divides people, Controls people, Deludes people. - Carlespie Mary Alice McKinney
• Religion has caused more misery to all of mankind in every stage of human history than any other single idea. - Anonymous
• When a man is freed of religion, he has a better chance to live a normal and wholesome life. - Sigmund Freud
• They felt that science would be corrosive to religious belief and they were worried about it. Damn it, I think they were right. It is corrosive to religious belief and it�??s a good thing. - Steven Weinberg
• Take from the church the miraculous, the supernatural, the incomprehensible, the unreasonable, the impossible, the unknowable, the absurd, and nothing but a vacuum remains. - Robert G. Ingersoll
• History teaches us that no other cause has brought more death than the word of god. - Giulian Buzila
• Atheism is a non-prophet organization. - George Carlin
• We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins
• A believer states everything must have a creator but fail to say how he was created. - Anonymous
• �??There are no atheists in foxholes�?? isn�??t an argument against atheism, it�??s an argument against foxholes. - James Morrow
• People will then often say, �??But surely it�??s better to remain an Agnostic just in case?�?? This, to me, suggests such a level of silliness and muddle that I usually edge out of the conversation rather than get sucked into it. (If it turns out that I�??ve been wrong all along, and there is in fact a god, and if it further turned out that this kind of legalistic, cross-your-fingers-behind-your-back, Clintonian hair-splitting impressed him, then I think I would choose not to worship him anyway.) - Douglas Adams
• Properly read, the bible is the most potent force for Atheism ever conceived. - Isaac Asimov
• If all the Christians who have called other Christians �??not really a Christian�?? were to vanish, there�??d be no Christians left. - Anonymous
• An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support. - John Buchan
• Gods dont kill people. People with Gods kill people. - David Viaene
• If God were suddenly condemned to live the life which He has inflicted upon men, He would kill Himself. - Alexandre Dumas
• Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make when in the presence of religious dogma. - Sam Harris
• I don�??t believe in God because I don�??t believe in Mother Goose - Clarence Darrow
• No philosophy, no religion, has ever brought so glad a message to the world as this good news of Atheism. - Annie Wood Besant
• I refuse to believe in a god who is the primary cause of conflict in the world, preaches racism, sexism, homophobia, and ignorance, and then sends me to hell if I�??m �??bad�??. - Mike Fuhrman
• Faith does not give you the answers, it just stops you asking the questions. - Frater Ravus
• Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o, and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have. - Penn Jillette
• Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power but absolute power is corrupt only in the hands of the absolutely faithful. - Anonymous
• Gods are fragile things; they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense. - Chapman Cohen
• The inspiration of the bible depends on the ignorance of the person who reads it. - Robert G. Ingersoll
• When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion. - Robert Pirsig
• I wonder who got the shit job of scouring the planet for the 15000 species of butterfly or the 8800 species of ant they eventually took on board Noah�??s Ark. But at least we got that magical rainbow for all their trouble. - Azura Skye
• I have no need for religion, I have a conscience. - Anonymous
• Man has always required an explanation for all of those things in the world he did not understand. If an explanation was not available, he created one. - Jim Crawford
• I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world. - Richard Dawkins
• What has been Christianity�??s fruits? Superstition, Bigotry and Persecution. - James Madison
• The characters and events depicted in the damn bible are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. - Penn and Teller
• If god is the alpha and the omega. The begining and the end, knows what has passed and what is to come, like it states in the bible, why do people pray and think it will make any difference. - Mark Fairclough
• The finality of death is the coldest truth one must face. Religion makes the perfect distraction. - Anonymous
• Religion is the opiate of the masses. - Karl Marx
• If God created the world, then who created god? and who created whoever created god? So somewhere along the line something had to just be there. So why can�??t we just skip the idea of god and go straight to earth? - Ryan Hanson
• If we expect God to subscribe to one religion at the exclusion of all the others, then we should expect damnation as a matter of chance. This should give Christians pause when expounding their religious beliefs, but it does not. - Sam Harris
• Atheists will celebrate life, while you�??re in church celebrating death. - Anonymous
• Animals do not have gods, they are smarter than that. - Ronnie Snow
• I have observed that the world has suffered far less from ignorance than from pretensions to knowledge. It is not skeptics or explorers but fanatics and ideologues who menace decency and progress. No agnostic ever burned anyone at the stake or tortured a pagan, a heretic, or an unbeliever. - Daniel Boorstin
• I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious ideas of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God. So far as religion of the day is concerned, it is a damned fake�?� Religion is all bunk. - Thomas Edison
• Fundamentalism, of any type, due to its prerequisite lack of intelligent thought, could prove to be the worst weapon of mass destruction, of all. - David J. Constable
• To really be free, You need to be free in the mind. - Alexander Loutsis
• Most religions prophecy the end of the world and then consistently work together to ensure that these prophecies come true. - Anonymous
• Jesus hardly made the greatest sacrifice. He knew he would be resurrected anyway. - Anonymous
• Religion is like a virus that affects the behaviour of its host in such a way as to propagate itself further. - Jack Pritchard
• Religions are like pills, which must be swallowed whole without chewing. - Anonymous
• Today�??s religion will be the future�??s mythology. Both believed at one time by many; but proved wrong by the clever. - Steven Crocker
• The Bible - A Fairytale book of rules brainwashing millions. Obliviously used to help create war, kill, hate, judge and discriminate. - Anonymous
• Isn�??t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too? - Douglas Adams

Source: The Atheist Blogger

Currently Reading

• Violets are Blue (James Patterson)
• The God Delusion (Amz, Richard Dawkins)
• I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell (Amz, Tucker Max)

Upcoming Titles

• London Bridges (Patterson)
• Mary Mary (Patterson)
• Velocity (Dean Koontz)
• Duma Key (Stephen King)
• The Shining (King)

Previously Completed

• Roses are Red (Patterson)
• Cat & Mouse (Patterson)

For some reason I’m usually aware of surprises before I have a chance to be surprised by them. The most memorable time that this has happened was when I went to go see the first Saw film (IMDb). My brother didn’t realize that I wanted to see the movie so he spouted off the shocking ending… had I not expected the shocking twist through the entire movie, the ending would’ve blown my mind.

The reason why I bring this up is the mini-series in the Alex Cross Novels (Roses are Red (Amz), Violets are Blue (Amz)) has a character by the name of Mastermind whose identity is unknown by the reader until the last line of the first book. I started the Cross series quiet akwardly, starting off with the second to last book first and sporadically jumping between books in the timeline. Naturally the books, in an attempt to remind the reader of past events and characters, the identity of the Mastermind is revealed, thus spoiling yet another surprise.

On another subject, I started reading The Shining (Amz) a month or two ago and had to stop because of the excessive amount of nightmares and bad dreams after reading merely the first few chapters. I can’t possibly imagine why I would have nightmares, especially in regard to the seemingly harmless chapters that I struggled through, outside of my foreshadowing upcoming events, as well as the slightly creepy font in my very early edition of the novel.

On the other hand, The God Delusion is quite an interesting book, as well as quite a hard read. The book is one of the first that I’ve read that is geared towards a very intellectual crowd. I normally read fiction books, allowing the author to take my mind away and involve it into a deep story. Also, the book is centered around turning theists to atheism, which sort of leaves me on the sidelines only able to cheer Dawkins on his crusade. I’ll be sure to write a review once I finish it.

I’m still surprised today of what I’ve been missing by not including reading into my daily/weekly activities. I’ve actually started gaining an interest in writing quite a lot, which has sparked my interest to periodically update my otherwise dull blog with things that I enjoy. I’ve also gained a slight interest in possibly writing a book or two on the side for my own amusement and to see what a non-English major could produce. I’ve never been the kind of person that goes to school to learn a specific task in order to get ahead in life.

If I have a passion in life, I intend to do what I can to obtain the ability to do that. I’ve done it with my professional life (learning web development and becoming relatively successful at it), so why not attempt it with other interests?

This song is from the upcoming film Pineapple Express (IMDb)

DJ Shadow - Midnight In A Perfect World

So the Professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the
jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas
between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was
full. They agreed it was.

The Professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of
course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar
was full. The students responded with an unanimous “Yes.”

The Professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and
poured the entire contents into the jar, effectively filling the empty
space between the sand. The students laughed.

“Now,” said the Professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to
recognize that this jar represents your life.

The golf balls are the important things - your family, your children, your
health, your friends, your favorite passions - things that if everything
else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house,
your car. The sand is everything else - the small stuff.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first”, he continued, “there is no room
for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all
your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the
things that are important to you. Pay attention to the things that are
critical to your happiness. Play with your children. Take time to get
medical checkups. Take your partner out to dinner. Play another 18. There
will always be time to clean the house, and fix the disposal. Take care of
the golf balls first, the things that really matter. Set your priorities.
The rest is just sand.”

When he had finished, there was a profound silence. Then one of the
students raised her hand and with a puzzled expression, inquired what the
beer represented.

The Professor smiled. “I’m glad you asked. It just goes to show you that no
matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of
beers.”

Now that that is out of the way, allow me to preface this review with a small statement: Dark Knight is the best movie I’ve seen in a number of years and likely will see in the foreseeable future. It is the best comic-based movie ever made. The summer is done as far as movies are concerned (and it’s only mid-July!). Now that’s out of the way, back to the review -

As a fan of basically any movie ever made, I’ve seen hundreds of films in recent years and none of them has had the amount of hype and desperate urge to be watched as The Dark Knight. The first thing I wondered when Heath Ledger died was: “Wait… he’s in Batman, did he finish filming his role as Joker?” Not too sentimental of a statement about one of the most promising could’ve-beens (especially after this film) but I think it speaks volumes about the level of secrecy surrounding the movie.

Before last night the public had access to a nil amount of media: a few trailers, one minute of Joker in the dining hall, and the first 5 minutes of the film, all of which pale in comparison to the epic nature of the movie. The last 45 minutes hasn’t seen the light of day and I couldn’t have been happier to not spoil the entire movie. First, I’ll talk about the characters themselves.

Batman is starting to have an effect on the city’s minor crime (drug deals, robberies, etc) and the media struggles to figure out if he’s good for the city. He has a new costume in this sequel to Batman Begins, largely because he wants to be able to turn his neck - go figure. Agile as it might be, the new suit is more prone to bullets and knives, providing a natural opening for Joker’s knives.

I know this has been said a lot in reviews but it has to have it’s place: Ledger’s acting and style is the opitome of Joker’s character. I would’ve been glad to see Joker replace Two-Face’s entire screen time (mostly because Two-Face has been turned into a very small character, compared to the great Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever). An hour or two after watching his acting I couldn’t help but wonder how the media and fans of the movie would react to the acting by Ledger had he still been alive. Would we have taken his acting as seriously? I don’t know the answer to that question and glad that I never will. Pondering aside, “make the pencil…DISAPPEAR” will be one of the most memborable moments in movie history; if you’ve seen the movie, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Joker (eventually) is a natural ally to Harvey Dent, post-scorching, of course.

Harvey Dent is a lot like Batman, except his face is very public knowledge. Batman decides that Dent is the face Gotham needs and will eventually replace Batman. Harvey is now dating Rachel, Bruce Wayne’s long-time friend and overall love interest. Being held captive in a soon-to-blow oil storage facility, Harvey is strapped to a chair and falls over after spilling a drum of oil, leaking all over the floor. You see Harvey in a very visual manner, half of his face is resting in an extremely flammable liquid. Batman, instead of saving Rachel (who dies the same death Harvey should’ve, thus causing the emotional anger in Dent’s soon-to-be character) rushes in, carries him outside just as the place implodes, catching Dent’s entire right side of his head on fire. Minutes later we see the aftermath - Two-Face. Joker, dressed as a woman (jokingly, of course), convinces Harvey to go into a murdering rampage, killing those that started the mess.

The story is the really interesting part of this movie. Nearly every character reevaluates his future: Batman struggles to continue fighting crime, Dent loses his mind after half of his head is burned off, Rachel can’t decide who she wants to love; however, Joker remains absolutely psychotic and unstoppable through the entire film, as is his nature. Bruce Wayne has billions and shows it off through the entire two and a half hours, driving around in a Lamborghini, flying in on a helicopter with three models on his arm, and doing business deals with other insanely rich.

The setting of Gotham is exactly as one would remember it from any other Batman movie in the past: kind of like New York but still no recognizable buildings and tons of people. The city is a huge playground for plenty of chases, killings, sharpshooters etc.

As you can see, the most important part of this movie when seeing it or the first time is enjoying the characters, mainly Joker and his psychopathic ways. There were flaws in the storyline and the development of some of the characters but they have absolutely no weight in bring down this movie in the least. This is a pure action film (both love interests even die near the end) and definitely the highest quality comic book-based movie ever made. After seeing the second appearance of Joker roughly 10 minutes in, you’ll immediately understand this movie is much darker than any Batman before.

Runtime: 2 hr. 32 min.

Everything’s Eventual

Autopsy Room Four
King has the skill to be extremely detailed when describing visual and audible happenings in a story, and this couldn’t ring any more true in the story of a man who is alive during his autopsy.

The Man in the Black Suit
The story is set back in the 20s/30s of a kid, while trying to fish, comes across a man in a dark suit: the Devil.

All That You Love Will Be Carried Away
Typical Stephen King, a story that can be told in 2-3 ends up lasting 40+ pages. A traveling salesman tries to commit suicide in a rented hotel after dreaming of what his life should be like.

The Death of Jack Hamilton
Extremely visual and pleasing story of three mob characters, one of whom is shot and dying a slow (read: excruciatingly slow) death. Typical under dog, slow-thinking character shows likability and smarts kind of story.

In the Deathroom
A quick read about a reporter that outwits and overpowers his captors in a remote country, finally coming up for fresh air: his first cigarette in years.

The Little Sisters of Eluria
Unread

Everything’s Eventual
A long story about a young adult male with a quirky attitude and a gifted ability to write coded messages and, upon reading, produces a believable accident/suicide.

L. T.’s Theory of Pets
Sad story of a man dealing with the loss of his wife leaving him, only to find out she was murdered, along with the dog he bought her, on the way to her mom’s house.

The Road Virus Heads North
This is the absolute best story out of the 14 in the book, mostly because of one line in the entire 40 or so pages. I won’t give it away, but suffice to say it made my heart drop out of sheer terror for the protagonist.

Lunch at the Gotham Café
Funny and very enjoyable read about a man going through a divorce, upon meeting his soon to be ex-wife and her lawyer for lunch, runs into a maniac waitor whom insists on killing our protagonist.

That Feeling, You Can Only Say What It Is in French
I didn’t really like the way this story was written. Perhaps it might be because I was half asleep when I was reading it but I think the story of a woman who is in a constant state of deja vu could easily be written in a more logical manner. One part that I liked about it was that when she started the cycle of memory again, she was waking up and felt as if she’s reliving the dream but the dream fades from her memory (as dreams normally do) and doesn’t necessarily realize what she’s actually experiencing.

1408
Unread (movie was good enough for me not to read it)

Riding the Bullet
Fantastic story about a broke college student, hitchhiking across state, who runs across a dead teenager and gives him a choice: either he dies or his mom dies.

Luckey Quarter
I could easily see this story being prepended to ‘The Death of Jack Hamilton’ as it has the same kind of mob-like story to it. Upon a buddy’s death, a man goes to the three other bank robbers to forcefully recover the map quarter pieces to buried bank loot.

I intend to write about: book reviews, movie reviews, web development stuff, news, and (interesting) thoughts.

There are a few minor problems, however, that I’ve run across thus far.

1. The green gradient for comments that have been rated up/down by my friends is utterly ugly. Please add an option inside your Settings page to allow us to disable the green background. It’s extremely distracting. By all means, you guys can leave the friend usernames but the green background is such a harsh change from the other user comments.
2. When you toggle the rating score for the comments (from ‘+5 digs’ to ‘+7/-2′) and digg down a comment, that comment’s rating score goes back to the ‘+5 diggs’ format, leaving all other comments with the controversial score rating. Click the rating score again and all comments are toggled back to the ‘+5 diggs’ and your dugg down comment is toggled to the ‘+7/-2′ format. Refresh the page and it’s back to normal.

I’m sure there are a few other oddities with the new system that are overshadowed by the new design. If you see anything else, please leave it in the comments below.

Whether or not they’re real is unknown, but damn these are awesome.