Ancient Aliens Season Three

I just watched the new season of Ancient Aliens, which was about aliens and the old west and was brought to you by Cowboys and Aliens.  There were plenty of clips from the movie, which if you did not know has a pretty entertaining history behind it.

Pretty much everything in the episode was stuff that had been discussed before on UFO Hunters.  Especially the Aurora, Texas incident.  Everything I have read about the incident seems to point to the idea that the whole thing was a hoax by the journalist living in the town. 

They pointed to the ground-penetrating radar that seemed to show a missing grave, where the alien is supposedly buried.  I am sure old graveyards around the country have graves that are missing markers.  If people really believed it was an alien, how come no one has broken the law and went out at midnight to dig the damn thing up?  The town should want to dig it up to prove their case.  Instead they are content receiving the camera crews every few years and probably a couple of amateur alien hunters.

Then they go to the Utah petroglyphs and how they show that aliens landed there and the local people were Star People or something.  Again, this was something I have heard before from these kind of shows.  Here is the big one they like to show:

Clearly, those are helmets and that thing in the background is a garbage can.  I am not an expert in Native American glyphs, so I have no clue what they mean.  I can see where people would take what they have seen from movies and apply it to these pictures as well.  This could just be some artists attempt to draw the gods.  Or it could be some shitty artist hot girls.

Then they point to this picture and explain how it must be an alien spacecraft.  It is quite clear if you examine it.

Wanna know what it looks like to me?  The ghosts from Pac-Man.  Remember that game?  Well some of you probably do, but those of you under the age of 25 may be ignorant to Atari games.

There was also some weird stuff about Elizabeth Lake in California and how there was a monster in the lake that used to eat people.  Also, cowboys used to chase down a metallic bird and could not kill it. 

Pretty much every lake has some story about monsters (okay not all of them, but it seems like it) and maybe these cowboys just kept missing whatever they were shooting at, or maybe they were just completely full of crap.  I am going with that option, seems more viable.

They also discussed the Serpent Mound and how it was built by aliens (or for the aliens) so they could find their way back.  I had this argument with someone on twitter:  if the aliens could travel billions of light-years across the universe, why would they need some kind of mound to give them directions?  His answer:  landmarks work best.  Yeah, when I drove to North Carolina, it was easier to look for a big oak tree than a mile marker or say, use my GPS.  Ridiculous.  They can navigate the stars, yet once on a planet, they cannot find the places they have been before?  Idiotic.

Also, there was something about this slabs of dolomite that could conduct electricity and the gods must have used these to power their ships or maybe give the ancient people lights.  Or maybe their fuel source was lightning and this guides the lightning...I had no clue what they were rambling about.  Reminded me of an issue of something you would read in the Flash. 

Most of this stuff seems pretty crazy, but then you add in Joseph Smith.  The founder of the Mormon Church.  If you want your theory of ancient aliens to be taken seriously, I say keep referencing Joseph Smith.  People obviously think the Mormons are sane...

Links and Videos and Stuff

I have nothing to write about...well nothing that has not been said by better folks than me.  So whatever.

The Pirates
As everyone knows by now, the Buccos lost in a crazy game where the umpire blew the call.  If you checked all the blogs in my links section, they all had something to say about it.  None of them say it nearly as well as WHYGAVS.  That is just pure emotion...

Comic-Con
I was pretty uninterested in the happenings of SDCC this year.  It is crazy to think that I used to want to go there so bad, yet now I have no real interest in it.  I still love comics, but the idea of going there and watching movie previews seems a little insane.  I think it used to be about comics, now who knows what it is...anyways, read Filmdrunks last photo diary from SDCC, pretty cool.

Noah's Ark


This video is pretty funny, a little long though.  Brought to you by:  XKV8R.

Miss USA
Over at Sean's site, he posted this video, which is a great parody of the actual Miss USA contestants answering the question about should evolution be taught in schools.





Stupidity amazes me.

Go To Church People!

I might be inclined to go to church if there were Star Destroyers sitting above.  Or at least, I might go nearby and watch to see if they start firing on the parishioners...

Picture comes from Cory Doctorow.

Uh Oh! Don't Let It End Like This!

The world comes to an end tomorrow (or at least that is what some morons believe) and to honor this, I figured I would share some pictures of what the world will be like when the shit hits the fan.

Zombies will run amok!  Biting and tearing at your flesh.  They will be led by their fearless leader:

We are so screwed...

Our only hope comes from the men and women of the cloth.  Those who know the secrets to controlling Zombie Jesus.

Without their magical powers (and giant boobs), we will never be able to see such marvelous sites as these wonderful ladies.

Can you imagine a world without boobs?  It would be horrible.  It would be a barren, desolate land.  There would be nothing to look forward to and nothing to love for.  I can only hope that this disaster can be averted before the world ends up looking like this.

Or more accurately, like this:

AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Easter Part Two

I could not resist to post some more Easter stuff.  I will be out at my grandparents all day playing cards and eating ham (I am sure this is the entire reason Jesus rose from the dead...it had nothing to do with wanting to eat brains).  Enjoy some of these funny pictures.

I love the last one.  He looks so serious and yet Jesus holding a rifle, it looks so damn right.  Hmm, maybe in the next Dark Tower book, Roland and Jake can meet the Man Jesus and teach him their saying...

"I do not aim with my hand; I aim with my eye.
He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.

I do not shoot with my hand; I shoot with my mind.
He who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.

I do not kill with my gun; I kill with my heart.
He who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father."

~Roland of Gilead~

 Oh, and Oy would definitely kick the Easter Bunny's ass. 

Happy Easter Folks!

Keep waiting everyone...

More Crazy Religious People

I had an amusing encounter with a crazy religious person yesterday.  Sadly it was at work and I could not answer him truthfully without getting into trouble.  Also, he was about 80 years old and had a bit of a slobbering problem.  Here is our conversation:

Me:  How was everything today?
Nutjob:  Good, now can I ask you a question?
Me:  Sure.
Nutjob:  Where will you go when you die?
Me:  Umm, most likely in the ground.  (At this point, I know where this is going.)
Nutjob:  The choices are heaven and hell.
Me:  Hmm, well I don't know sir.
Nutjob:  Do you accept Jesus Christ as your personal savior?
Me:  Uhhh, I don't know.  I'll do my best to try.
Nutjob:  Your best is not good enough and you cannot try.  Jesus died for yours and my sins.  Only when we repent completely can we enter the kingdom of heaven.
Me:  Well that sounds nice.  Ummmmm, well have a nice day sir.

Honestly, the whole thing was quite awkward.  I really wanted to tell him I was an atheist, but I thought it might cause him to have a heart attack.  Also, I could picture him calling our corporate headquarters and complaining about them having an evil atheist manager working for them.  My luck I would get fired over it.  At least he was not nearly as bad as the guy from two years ago...

Why is it that Christians (and other religions) can get away with saying things like this?  I hope that when Zombie Jesus returns, he eats these assholes first.

Religious Stuff

After work on Friday, I came home and spent a good chunk of time reading the skepticblog and this article about Scientology on the skeptoid podcast.  Quick aside, can you download podcasts and play them on a Droid X or do I need a special app for that?  Or are podcasts just recorded in mp3 form?  I know nothing about the topic.  Anyways, as I read the comments I came across a bunch of people saying about a link to an article over at the New Yorker.  I went over and read the article, which was pretty long.  I highly recommend everyone reading it.

The article is written by Lawrence Wright and is an examination of Scientology mixed with an interview with Paul Haggis.  I will not lie, I loved the movie Crash.  Seriously, that movie was very good.  I definitely recommend it.  Here are a few of my favorite things from the article:

Recruits had a sense of boundless possibility. Mystical powers were forecast; out-of-body experiences were to be expected; fundamental secrets were to be revealed. Hubbard had boasted that Scientology had raised some people’s I.Q. one point for every hour of auditing. “Our most spectacular feat was raising a boy from 83 I.Q. to 212,” he told the Saturday Evening Post, in 1964.

Did Hubbard realize he was pretty much just stealing the idea behind the short story Flowers for Algernon?  I loved that short-story, which we read my freshman year of high school (or was it sophomore year?).  If his magical auditing and following Dianetics actually worked, why wouldn't the government start using it to train super-soldiers.

The stories Haggis found on the Internet of children drafted into the Sea Org appalled him. “They were ten years old, twelve years old, signing billion-year contracts—and their parents go along with this?” Haggis told me. “Scrubbing pots, manual labor—that so deeply touched me. My God, it horrified me!” The stories of the Sea Org children reminded Haggis of child slaves he had seen in Haiti.
Many Sea Org volunteers find themselves with no viable options for adulthood. If they try to leave, the church presents them with a “freeloader tab” for all the coursework and counselling they have received; the bill can amount to more than a hundred thousand dollars. Payment is required in order to leave in good standing. “Many of them actually pay it,” Haggis said. “They leave, they’re ashamed of what they’ve done, they’ve got no money, no job history, they’re lost, they just disappear.” In what seemed like a very unguarded comment, he said, “I would gladly take down the church for that one thing.”

It blows my mind that more people do not check into this stuff. Hell, people get all upset about baseball players signing ridiculous contracts, but at least those ones are only for like seven years...not a billion. Also, the whole being in debt a hundred thousand dollars and not having any job history, doesn't that sound like pretty much every college graduate? HAHA, I hope I get a writing job for Jay Leno soon!

Whitehill and Venegas worked on a special task force devoted to human trafficking. The laws regarding trafficking were built largely around forced prostitution, but they also pertain to slave labor. Under federal law, slavery is defined, in part, by the use of coercion, torture, starvation, imprisonment, threats, and psychological abuse. The California penal code lists several indicators that someone may be a victim of human trafficking: signs of trauma or fatigue; being afraid or unable to talk, because of censorship by others or security measures that prevent communication with others; working in one place without the freedom to move about; owing a debt to one’s employer; and not having control over identification documents. Those conditions echo the testimony of many former Sea Org members who lived at the Gold Base.

It would seriously make my day if Scientology officials went to jail for human trafficking. It is an idiotic religion and it really is run more like a business than anything. At least the Catholic church just molests the kids. No point in making them work after all the ass-pounding.  

Former Sea Org members report that Miscavige receives elaborate birthday and Christmas gifts from Scientology groups around the world. One year, he was given a Vyrus 985 C3 4V, a motorcycle with a retail price of seventy thousand dollars. “These gifts are tokens of love and respect for Mr. Miscavige,” Davis informed me.

By contrast, Sea Org members typically receive fifty dollars a week. Often, this stipend is docked for small infractions, such as failing to meet production quotas or skipping scripture-study sessions. According to Janela Webster, who was in the Sea Org for nineteen years before defecting, in 2006, it wasn’t unusual for a member to be paid as little as thirteen dollars a week.

Look, I will give a kid $50 a week to stay at my place and be like my own person assistant. They get to live here and eat whatever food I do not have and in return, they do the laundry and dishes. I doubt that Lindsey would have a problem with this, we both work, hell, we could probably bump it up to $75 per week. And we will not dock you pay if you fail to get the socks folded by the time I get home. I get it, you started doing the laundry and then got sucked into watching a House marathon on USA. It happens all the time.

The church won’t release official membership figures, but it informally claims eight million members worldwide. Davis says that the figure comes from the number of people throughout the world who have donated to the church. “There is no process of conversion, there is no baptism,” Davis told me. It was a simple decision: “Either you are or you aren’t.” A survey of American religious affiliations, compiled in the Statistical Abstract of the United States, estimates that only twenty-five thousand Americans actually call themselves Scientologists. That’s less than half the number who identify themselves as Rastafarians.

 RASTAFARIANS KILLED MY BROTHER!!

I once asked Haggis about the future of his relationship with Scientology. “These people have long memories,” he told me. “My bet is that, within two years, you’re going to read something about me in a scandal that looks like it has nothing to do with the church.” He thought for a moment, then said, “I was in a cult for thirty-four years. Everyone else could see it. I don’t know why I couldn’t.”

There is so much more in the article. I am not kidding when I say you should read it. If you ever wondered about Scientology or at least wanted to get an idea about what it is, this is a great article to start.

And do not worry, I did not want the Christians to feel like I forgot about them...

I hope someone makes this into a shirt.

Buncha Bullshit

tell me how fair this is?  i just found out that i did not get paid holiday pay for january 7th!  yeah, that is christmas for most of us real christians!  i am a proud ethiopian orthadox man.  i am a 47 year old temp workin at shitty blog that does nothing but post pictures of girls and random videos.  all i asked the boss was if jan 7 was going to count for a time and a half day and the bossman tells me NO!  BULLSHIT!

well jokes on him, i sat around here all day doin nothin.  i made this pretty sweet self portrait on microsoft paint.  it is damn near perfect.

well before i leave here i just wanted to let all you peoples know it was alotta fun workin here at ngewosworld.  i hope i get a chance to do it again.  the bossman is better and he should be back to work on monday.  he swears that he has all sorts of fun and exciting things in store for everyone.  i doubt it though, the dude seems like a douchebag. 

i guess ill just go back to the temp agency and wait for another job to open up.

--lance the temp

Ancient Aliens Again

This season of Ancient Aliens has been pretty lackluster, I mean they keep spouting off insanity, but nothing that was remarkable or really all that new from last season of from the original show that spawned this unholy series.  I keep watching though, hoping for something to make fun of and I believe this punishment has paid off.  I recorded a bunch of episodes the other day and it looks like this one is going to be all about the Greek gods and how they were aliens.

Their Stupidity

-Zeus and Poseidon both used energy weapons.  Zeus could fire lightning bolts at his enemies.  He was said to have carried a lightning bolt.  Poseidon could use his trident to start typhoons, monsoons, tsunamis, and earthquakes.

-Apollo, since he has the same name in Greek and Roman mythology, must have been an ancient alien.  He flew in a chariot of fire!  He used to go visit the Hyperboreans up north.  That is why French stone-age people put up rock formations.  They form triangles!!!  Apollo must have used them as a directional tool.

-Zeus and Odin are pretty much the same god!  Think about it.  Both have beards, both have weapons, both are sky gods.  The resemblances are uncanny.  Thor carries a hammer, and it is quite scary how close that weapon is to the lightning bolt that Zeus carries.

-Mount Olympus must have had a spaceship on top, that is where Zeus and the gods lived.  It would rumble at times and their palace could even lift off the top of the mountain.  Must be aliens.

-Zeus once banged Leda by becoming a swan, she gave birth to demigods.  These aliens were creating a super-race of humans.  Look at Herakles and Achilles, they were much better than humans.  They must have been alien-human hybrids.  You can have babies nowadays from artificial insemination, aliens did that back then to create super-soldiers.  They must have also created some half-humans too.  Genetic engineering at it's finest.  Look at Medusa, Cyclops, centaurs, or the minotaur.

-Skeletons found in the Lovelock cave were over seven feet tall and they had read hair.  The Paiute Indians claimed to have trapped them in the cave and then shot them with arrows and lit them on fire.  These giants must have been related to Goliath and since they just found pottery with the name Goliath at a Philistine site, these must have been the children of these aliens. 

-The human brain tripled in size in a very short period of time, which baffles evolutionary scientists.  This must mean that aliens took an early ape and genetically engineered them to be smarter.  That is why the aliens end up looking like us, they made us in their image.  Hell, the Bible even tells us that God made us in his image!

My Response
-Zeus was the god of thunder.  Of course his weapon would be a lightning bolt.  If you asked ancient people they would probably tell you that he was the lightning bolt.  I think Neil Gaiman does a great job of explaining this in Sandman, Morpheus is not the ruler of the dreamworld, he is just the embodiment of dream.  Just as his sister is Death.  Hell, some ancient sculptor may have decided to use his boyfriend as a model for Zeus and that is why people always get that image of Zeus standing there holding a lightning bolt. 

-If I remember correctly, Apollo in some myths pulled the sun and his sister pulled the moon.  In one myth, he let one of his kids fly his chariot and he ends up scorching the earth.  And, if he were an alien, why the hell would he need to build some stones in France to tell him how to get to Hyperborea?  He can fly hundreds of millions of miles across galaxies, yet he needs some standing stones to find his way from Greece to north of France.  Sounds stupid to me.  Also, if you have a bunch of standing stones and you connect any three of them that are not in a straight line, guess what you get?  A TRIANGLE!  Amazing.

-Guess who else were sky gods?  Yahweh, Horus, Teshub, and Anu.  They were also the leaders of their gods well minus Yahweh.  Except that Odin is quite different, he is not the god of thunder (that is Thor) and he is a little more out there than Zeus.  He takes the dead.  He is a wanderer.

-I will not dignify the whole spaceship thing.  I do not even know where ol' crazy hair got that idea.  He gave no reference, he probably just made the whole thing up.  He is insane.

-I purposely made the genetic engineering thing a little jumbled because this was how they presented their argument.  The whole segment made no sense.  Did aliens turn into swans to have sex?  Or do swans represent artificial insemination?  Most myths came about from stories being told to explain why something was the way it was.  I read somewhere that archaeologists believe that the cyclops myths come from ancient Greek farmers finding skulls of mammoths and the trunk hole would look like a giant eye socket. 

-The whole giant thing is crazy.  Have scientists actually studied these skeletons?  Does anyone know if the Goliath inscription is real?  Or was Goliath just a common Philistine name?  You can read a crazy website about how the Nephalim are real and they are coming back to kill us all if you want, it is just as crazy as I just described.

-The next part was just sloppy.  I guess you could say cranial capacity tripled in a short period of time if you just ignore a bunch of discoveries.  If you jump from Homo Habilis right to Homo Neanderthalenis then yes you can say it was almost three times in a short period 510 to 1200 cc in under 800,000 years.  That would seem like a huge jump, but during that time we have a bunch of other examples and they fit right in the middle.  How crazy is that?

I will watch a few more episodes and I am sure that I will laugh some more.  It is a shame that the History Channel no longer has anything about real history, instead just making up stuff like this or pawn shops.

It's the End of the World...

It was bad enough when everyone thought that the world was going to end in 2012, but leave it to a Christian group to up the ante on the Mayans.  These idiots think the Rapture will occur on 21 May 2011 and then world will end on the 21st of October.

Apparently this Harold Camping fellow tried this before back in 1994 (in case you were wondering, he was wrong back then).  He came up with his own dating system or something.  I would do more research into it, but I cannot get past all the Biblical quotes which are taken out of context. 

These people have spent money to put up signs to warn people about the coming Rapture.  Luckily there are some brilliant atheists out there who have challenged all this.  It makes me laugh that Christian groups spend so much money trying to get their message out there (it's already out there, no need to keep pushing it on us), and these people would have a fit if an atheist organization put up a billboard somewhere.

Is there anything better than sitting on a park bench telling you that you will die soon?  I like how it says save the date, like you should pencil it into your date book.  May 20th:   Haircut.  May 21st:  Rapture.

Ariel Sharon - Israel's Lost & Forgotten Saviour?

I read in today's Independent of a sculpture of former Israeli PM Ariel Sharon, lying in a coma, which has been unveiled in Israel.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/israel-divided-over-sculpture-of-sharon-in-a-coma-2110301.html

I can't quite believe that it has now almost been 5 years since he had the stroke that brought on this coma in January 2006. Time flies but in the middle east, sadly, some things never change.

For a fierce old right-winger, he had really raised eyebrows during his time as Prime Minister when he withdrew the Israeli military and some 8,000 Israeli settlers from Gaza. He even left his right-wing Likud Party, and boldly set-up his own Kadima Party, whilst at the top.

I recall thinking that maybe, here was a battle-scarred old leader from the Israeli right who, similar to Ian Paisley Snr in Northern Ireland, could see that a new policy of engagement with the enemy was required to benefit his own hand.

Of course, we'll never know what would've happened had Sharon have continued as Prime Minister. Would he have led Israel into the disastrous war that his successor Ehud Olmert did with the Lebanon? How would he have reacted to Hamas in Gaza?

We can't answer these questions, but under Olmert, the peace process failed to move forward. Indeed, accusations of corruption against him did nothing for his authority and Tzipi Livni took over as head of the Kadima Party at the end of 2008. She lost out to Benjamin Netanyahu in the elections in the spring of '09 and so did the hope of taking forward a Sharon-like policy in the middle east.

Benjamin Netanyahu - the new Ian Paisley?
I wondered during that closely fought Israeli election last year whether, against my better inclination, a Netanyahu victory may better focus middle eastern minds. In Northern Ireland, it took the extreme two wings of the debate to come together before a stable peace could be found. The 1998 Good Friday Agreement, brokered by the more moderate UUP and SDLP, stalled entirely within 5 years. But now, the 2007 accord agreed by bitterest rivals the DUP and Sinn Fein has ironically set Northern Ireland onto a true path for peace.

Could the Likud Party, back in goverment under a 2nd Netanyahu administration, provide a similar miracle with Fatah, and even Hamas?

Well, after 18 months, no it hasn't. Could it still? I very much doubt it.

Just days away from the 15th anniversary of Yitzhak Rabin's assassination in November 1995, middle east peace looks no closer to coming to fruition than it has since those heady days of the Oslo Accords of 1993.

Would we be any closer now to a lasting peace had Sharon not had his stroke whilst at the height of his powers? Well, we wouldn't have been any further away from it, that's for sure.

The Pope and Me

I'm watching the Pope give mass in Glasgow. I must admit, it's quite a moving experience.

Now, on blogs and on twitter, on Facebook and on the news, all we have had heard in recent days is the coming of Pope Benedict XVI to the UK. It is after all, only the second visit to the UK of a Holy See since the Reformation in the 16th century following Pope John Paul II's visit in the year of my birth, 1982.

Much of the chatter has been negative. The cost to the taxpayer, the media faux pax's of his entourage and of course, the moralistic stand that he himself takes on behalf of his global family on some very controversial issues.

My Faith
I'm not a Catholic. I never will be. But I respect those who wish to be. Indeed, my sister and also one of my sisters-in-law's family are Catholics. Indeed, a nephew and niece of mine have been Christened in that faith. As a liberal, I'm happy for them to make their decision and to allow them to follow that chosen path.

I went to a Baptist Sunday School and was given my Bible on leaving at the age of 15. I have not yet been Baptised whereas some of my elder brother have been. I may well decide to go through the ritual of Baptism in the future - I may not. That decision is for the future and one I will keep my mind open too.

Above everything, I have always looked to keep an open mind on the issue of faith and to respect the views of others - even when I don't agree with those views. I believe that if everyone respected the right of others to hold their own views, it would be to the benefit of us all.

We should respect those who are in Glasgow right now. We should also respect those of other Christian faiths and also those of other faiths. As I mentioned in an earlier blog entry, we need to respect those of faiths that may appear different from the traditional ones of our own.

http://johnmarkcole.blogspot.com/2010/09/no1-un-american-american-sees-light.html

We must also repsect those who have no faith.

I keep my faith to myself. I don't believe that I should burden others with my beliefs and I don't believe that others should push their beliefs onto others either.

It's about respect, understanding and tolerance of one another and our views and beliefs.

Pope Benedict XVI
I therefore object to what his Holiness said this morning in Edinburgh when he compared atheists with the Nazis when he spoke of 'atheist extremism'.

I'm sorry, but I can not agree with him. Freedom to worship? Absolutely. But freedom to not worship? Absolutely again. There are plenty of people of faith down the ages who have done evil things. Likewise there have been plenty of people down the ages of no faith who have done good things.

I also can not agree with the Catholic stance against contraception and against the LGBT community.

For these reasons and others, I could never join with some of my kin in taking up this creed. It's not for me. But I will respect those who decide differently to myself.

Who Should Pay?
Should we be paying £12m of tax-payers money to help pay for this trip? Those who vitriolically oppose the choice of those who wish to preach the Catholic faith to do so, are screaming no. Those who do practise and follow the words of the Holy See, will say yes and point to the fact that he is in fact, like Elizabeth II both the Head of State and Head of their respective Churches.

I take a rather more practical view. I have no problem with the Pope coming to the UK. Indeed, it is a moving sight here right now to watch thousands in his company. For these who follow his words, he is central to their world. Who am I to say to them that he shouldn't be here? This is a free country with freedom to worship. But maybe, in the middle of a great economic downturn and in a time of great uncertainty for our nation, it may have been wiser for the Vatican to have paid that extra amount themselves on top of the remaining cost which they are paying anyway.

At a time when the Vatican have struggled with badly misfiring public relations gaffes, but particularly, have been under great scrutiny with the child abuse scandal, maybe here was an opportunity for them to win over sceptical public opinion in the UK by offering to pay for the entirety of the cost of the visit.

Let Me Live
Above all though, let's just live with each other and accept that we shall all be different. Let's make our views clear when we disagree and do our best, through the force of our arguement, to change views and opinions. But when the day draws to a close, whether those views have been changed through argument or not, let's remember that we all decide how we live our lives and should be allowed to do so.

Good luck to his Holiness. I hope he sees the light of the errors of his ways. But in the meantime, good luck to those who wish to celebrate their faith with him over the coming days.

The No.1 Un-American American Sees the Light

On this sombre day for the western world, but for Americans in particular, I was pleased to read that the now infamous Reverend Terry Jones has stated that he will not, now or ever, burn a copy of the Koran.

The way that this back-water Pastor from Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida has managed to grab the headlines is incredible but it sadly demonstrates how ill at ease America is with itself. The furore around the proposed site of an Islamic Cultural Centre on Manhattan Island near the site of Ground Zero has heightened tensions at a particularly sensitive time.

This threat of an actual burning of the Koran however just belied incredulity. What did Terry Jones think would be the result of such an act? Is he stupid? Did he honestly think that everyone would thank him for this right and reasonable act? As President Obama put it, there are troops in Afghanistan fighting at this moment. How would such an act go down in the Islamic world? They're not exactly going to greet it with joy now are they. As Obama said "This is a way of endangering our troops, our sons and daughters... you don't play games with that". There are extremists who would jump on such a foolish act and feed the anti-western sentiments that many already hold. American lives would've been put at even greater risk than they already are at present.

Freedom
Americans such as Terry Jones can not have their cake and eat it. America was born with the inalienable right of religious freedoms indelibly marked in the founding paperwork of the late 18th century.

You can not preach to be American and then publish a book named Islam is of the Devil. Tolerance is the absolutely essential ingrediant to a future where we live with each other. Without understanding, without consideration of others and without respect for the views and beliefs of neighbours, no-one, let alone Americans, will ever be able to live in peace from terrorism.

The very notion of burning the Koran, particularly when US Army personnel are on the front line in Afghanistan is the most unpatriotic of un-American acts conceivable. Terry Jones has done himself and his country no favours at all during this past week.

He has at least backed down and stated that the burning will not go ahead. In a Python-esque kind of way, you could almost laugh at this ridiculous, very sad episode. Except you can't. It would've been much better for the man himself, for America and for relations with the Islamic world, if he never opened his mouth in the first place.

Crystal Meth and Football

Crystal Meth
When you picture a meth dealer, what do you see in your mind?  I see these kind of people:

T.C. from the Preacher comics.  Fish rape is always funny.

Calvin Norris from True Blood

But does anyone ever picture this?  A figure skating champion?  Seriously, does she look like the type of person that is running a meth lab?  Trying to destroy people's lives?  Not to me.  Sadly though, Nicole Bobek was arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine. 

It is good to see that kids who are yanked out of school in order to fulfill a dream of figure skating, could fall down a dark path.  She grew up without friends and then went a bit broke, so she decided to turn to dealing meth as a way to support herself.  Great call. 

Penn State Quarterback Issue
Apparently the QB situation at PSU is not the greatest.  From what I am hearing (mainly from radio shows and the local papers), neither Kevin Newsome or Matt McGloin look all that spectacular.

Fortunately, the one who has looked good so far is true freshman Robert Bolden.  He is big, strong, and quite mobile.  According to BleacherReport, he would probably be the most appropriate to take over the HD Spread Offense.

The Nittany Lions are not going undefeated this year, heck they could possibly lose as many as five games this year (which would really suck).  Why not start Bolden?  Give him the shot.  Look at what other freshman QBs have done.  Yes, he will have his moments of failure, but those moments will be better than moments of failure during huge games in the future.  That is what always seems to happen with PSU, the quarterback gets little chances and then is thrown into a situation they are not ready for...

Christ
"Live a life worth imitating by imitating Christ."
That is the newest sign the crazy church has up on the way to work.  It made me laugh for a solid five minutes because all I could picture was a bunch of 30-somethings being nailed to a cross.  Yeah, that would be a life worth imitating.

Always look on the bright side of life...

Or even better, maybe I will start going around to funerals and try to raise the dead guy.  When the mourning ask what the hell I am doing, I will just blame Christ.  "Hey man, he could raise the dead, right?  I am just imitating my hero JC."

Never mind, the Lutheran's already beat me to it.

The Neutronium Alchemist

The second book in The Night's Dawn Trilogy, The Neutronium Alchemist picks up right where The Reality Dysfunction left off.  Fortunately, it does not have the slow beginning of having to explain who the characters are and where they came from.

Without getting into too much of a synopsis of the book, allow me to explain one of the best parts of the book.  The knowledge of the possessed has caused people to rethink their belief in the afterlife.  Religious folks (the Adamists) are starting to panic.  The afterlife means going to the beyond and suffering in purgatory.  The atheists (Edenists) see the possessed and wonder if they made the right decision.  They transfer their memories into their habitats, but now they have to wonder if that is the right choice, since they also have a soul.

As I read this I realized that this is how it would be here if somehow a god was proven to exist.  Atheists would look at the data and go "oh, I guess we were wrong."  Religious people though, would probably go to war with each other trying to prove which denomination was correct.  Just something I enjoyed.

Anyways, I am excited to see what this Sleeping God will end up being.  Also, I loved Syrinx's visit with the Kiint.  They are this super brilliant race, who have already survived their own Reality Dysfunction, yet they explain to us that they cannot help because every species must face this crisis on their own.

I think that after I finish the third book, I will do a casting call for some of the main characters...that is always fun.

Ancient Aliens

Remember when I wrote about the History Channel program called Ancient Astronauts?  I figured this would be the end of such a discussion, but unfortunately I was wrong.  There is now a show called Ancient Aliens and it is pretty idiotic.

I know I should not really care too much about these kind of shows, but what upsets me is that people watch this crap and believe it.  Guess what?  They never use actual archaeologists to explain the so called evidence.  Fortunately they discussed one thing that I definitely studied, ancient Sumerian.  I actually took a graduate level course where we learned how to read Sumerian texts.  Needless to say, when they started using the Sumerian creation myth as evidence for ancient aliens, my interest was piqued.

Basically, their idea is that Anunnaki came to earth from space in order to mine gold.  Unfortunately they did not like doing the manual labor, so they created a race of people to do the heavy lifting and that is where humans came from.

The one guy points out that the term Anunnaki means "those who came from the heavens."  That is a bit incorrect though, Sumerian text is broken down where Anu means heaven, ni (or na) means and, ki means earth.  Really it just means heaven and earth.  The Sumerians believed that their gods were not from these places, but instead they were these things.  Anu was not a guy who lived in the sky, he was the sky.  Ki is the mother goddess, but she is not just some lady, she is the actual earth.

Look, you can take almost any creation myth and change it around to aliens.  Seriously, let us look at the Finnish creation myth.  You need to scroll down to read it.  I will take the same kind of liberties that these nutjobs take.

Ilmatar (meaning female sky being), lands on earth and directs her spaceship to drop down multiple pods containing all the things that make up the earth.  From these pods terra-forming the land starts and eventually she is able to create humans as part of a science project.

See how ridiculous this seems?  Imagine a Finnish scholar read that, he would be informing me how I am a complete moron.  I expect History Channel to call by Friday.

Nations of the World

Last week I posted something called Nations of the World:  Albania.  I figured I should explain what my plan is for this.  Since two of the shows I write about will be over soon and I will have nothing to write about (not true, but whatever), I figured I would write about every nation of the world (not a bloody chance). 

So each week or so (whenever I feel like it), I will choose a country at random and write about it.  Sometimes I will just make crap up and post pictures of hot girls.  Other times I will post real things about the country.  You will never know which it will be (depending on my mood, neither will I).

I would appreciate any thoughts or feedback the rest of you have out there.  I could continue to write sextails, but that means I will some more material.  So ladies, feel free to volunteer for research material.  And no, this does not mean I have only had sex like six times or something.  Just that the majority of them were not that funny.

Anyways for your enjoyment here is a nice article from Arrogant Atheist about arresting the Pope.  Sounds like a great idea to me...

Easter Time

Happy Easter for all of you Christians.  Remember, this is the day that Jesus rose from the dead and came back as a ferocious zombie, only to be stopped by a giant bunny.  Or something like that.

I saw some guy carrying a giant cross the other day, I guess it was Friday.  It was pretty funny to me because I can guarantee the cross was not that heavy.  I say this because it was pretty hot out and the guy was not struggling with it or even sweating.  Everyone seemed to be having a grand time.  I bet the crucifixion was exactly like that.

Funny how ridiculous the entire story comes across when you think of it in terms of other mythologies.  I mean, Athena was born out Zeus' head.  Jesus comes from a virgin who got knocked up by god, unfortunately Jesus and his father are really one and the same, which is basically incest.  Hey though, Zeus did that kind of stuff all the time.

Here is a fantastic quote from Thomas Jefferson:

"The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being as His father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter."

Even though I do not believe in the whole silliness, I still go out and visit my family.  Just like last year, I will be out at my grandparents' house playing cards for most of the day.  Later though, I must drive to Pittsburgh.  Why?  I have tickets to Opening Day.  Last year was the home opener, but this year I get to be there for opening day...I am very excited.

I may not get around to posting for a few days.  I will try to get some good pictures of all the insanity that ensues on Monday...

Oh, the picture is the image from the shirt I am wearing for Easter.  I got it from Arrogant Atheist, which I highly recommend.

Girlfriend of the Week

This week's GOTW is Death of the Endless.

Let me guess, you never heard of her?  Well allow me to educate you folks.  She is the brother of Dream and she is exactly what her name says, she is death.

Fortunately she is not the scary Grim Reaper kind of death figure everyone is used to.  Instead she is a pretty sweet girl.  For example, she visit's a friend of Dream and says that if he wants to, he can die whenever he wants (way too long to explain).

He asks what happens when you die, she asks what he thinks happens.  He then says he believes that it is like some poet (I cannot remember which poet).  She then says that is exactly what happens.

Interesting, the afterlife is whatever you envision.  People who go to hell, that is what the truly believe should happen to them. 

Also, she is pretty damn cute.  I would not mind having her come pay me a visit when my time is up.