Author Archive for Krystalline Apostate
Cross-posted @ God is for Suckers! (Hat tip to Pharyngula) So it seems there was an Xmas re-conversion recently - a well-known blogging atheist was 'born again'. I have always found this phenomenon fascinating. In fact (have I mentioned this before? If so, apologies), I've always rather fancied the personal visitation these folks have. But in the years of dropping psychotropic drugs (back in the
So it's Winterval again (see the second entry down): Winterval is a portmanteau word coined by Mike Chubb[1] (former Head of Events at Birmingham City Council) to describe all festivities taking place around the end of the year (the winter in the Northern Hemisphere). It is a fusion of the words winter and festival and was intended to be an alternative description that encompasses the Neopagan (
Cross posted @ God is for Suckers! (In which I manage to dodge/artfully evade the topic of the oncoming holiday) I just finished watching the Devil's Playground. This documentary deals with the Amish custom of Rumspringa, of which the Wiki entry says: Rumspringa (also Rumschpringe or Rumshpringa, derived from the Deitsch term for "running around or jumping") generally refers to a period of
My DSL connection has been down since Saturday evening. The Device Manager in WinXP reported that my Ethernet NIC card was working properly, which of course, was a lie. So I ended up buying a brand new DSL modem (this was prior to figuring out it was the NIC), which involved wading out into holiday traffic. Luckily, I have an old desktop computer, which I cannabilised for a card.
So I will be
So I realize that I've kinda been letting things go - I have a pile of good excuses (but I think I've used them all up by now). My blog's 2 year anniversary is coming up toot sweet, but rather than invest in a lot of narcissistic nostalgia, this time around, I'd like to give a shout out to the folks who have been consistent readers.
I have on the right-hand (if you're facing the blog) column, a
Cross posted @ God Is For Suckers! And of course, since Islam is a 'peaceful' religion: Mumbai Muslim couple arrested for burning Quran Mumbai, August 28:: A Muslim couple was arrested for allegedly burning a copy of their holy book in suburban Govandi area. Mastan Shah and his wife Noor Bano Shah told the police that they were burning the book as it was very old and tattered and they did not
Cross posted @ God Is 4 Suckers! So this has been on my mind for a few days: Can a molecule be moral? Of course not, no more than a particle can be political. Or particular - ask any carbon molecule (it bonds to just about anything...almost promiscuously, one might say). Herein lies the crux the religious folks have with evolution. It infers that besides having no guiding principle, since we
Cross posted @ God Is 4 Suckers! "If you stare into the Abyss long enough the Abyss stares back at you." - Friedrich Nietzsche The elections are over, I'm back from my trip to China. I'm thoroughly pissed off that proposition 8 went through. I'll be ranting on this soon enough, but I have some other item I wish to share. Recently, not only have I had a death in my family, but I've had some
I got back on Wednesday, and have pretty much sorted my light cycle out (those of you who have flown through that black expanse known as the International Time Line will know what I mean).
It was quite the little adventure. The people were wonderful (the Chinese have a big thing about hospitality, and they get tickled pink when you fumble with their language), the food was awesome (I keep hoping
So tomorrow I leave for China, to compete in the 3rd World Traditional Wushu Championships at WuDang. I shall be gone for 2 weeks.
I will be woefully out of my depth, and not expecting to win diddly-squat: contestant numbers are said to be in the upwards of 10,000 or more. So I'll rubber-neck, play La Tourista, network and get pointers on how to refine my art. Pick up maybe 20 more words in
Cross posted @ God Is for Suckers! When you believe in things that you don't understand, then you suffer,Superstition ain't the way - Stevie Wonder Yet another daft chapter of our species from the history books - there was a time that astrology was considered a relevant 'science'. And no, I'm not talking about the Oracle of Delphi. Much closer to our own time period, in fact. The 1640s and
Cross posted @ God Is For Suckers! The black philosopher's idea was that a man is not independent, and cannot afford views which might interfere with his bread and butter. If he would prosper, he must train with the majority; in matters of large moment, like politics and religion, he must think and feel with the bulk of his neighbors, or suffer damage in his social standing and in his business
Cross posted @ God is for Suckers! I trust it's no secret that I detest Scientology. As religions go, it lacks a great deal in cohesiveness, critical thinking, and I think it safe to say, the practitioners of it are pretty much close to rabid dogs. One of the main staples of the Xenuphiles is the anti-psychiatry movement. In fact, they even accuse psychiatry of having induced the 9/11 attack.
Cross posted @ God Is For Suckers! I honestly admit it: I'm a Jebus Mythicist. I can say with a strong degree of certainty, that I'm utterly underwhelmed by the alleged 'evidence' that most Christians bring with them. They tend to whip out these frenzied copy 'n pastes from some website as if it were some grand salvo to sink the ship of one's atheism. One can't blame the poor dears for becoming
Cross posted @ God Is 4 Suckers! While religious folks tend to get under my skin (the word gullible needs a far more gratuitous version - "You believe in...WHAT?"), what really grinds my gears are these spiritual predators. You know who I'm talking about. People like Madame Cleo, Allison Dubois or Uri Geller - I don't much cotton to liars and thieves. When they take it a step further, you get
Cross posted @ God Is 4 Suckers! "Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it." - Santayana. The anniversary of Black Tuesday has arrived yet again. Seven years have passed. But we should not let this memory dim, this wound heal. It was an important lesson: it taught us that religion, that cheap rationale of the relusional, can be twisted like a knife into the metaphorical
Cross posted @ God Is For Suckers! I came across this little ditty at approximately the same time I was vigorously cheering Paine in his complete and utter lambasting of the Christian bible. This was a powerful article written as far back as 1924. Why I Quit Going To Church by Rupert Hughes There was a time in this country when I should have been punished for not going to church. In the good
Cross posted @ God Is 4 Suckers! I'd heard/seen these headlines about a pastor arbitrating the Obama/McCain discussion. Of course, this in and of itself is enough to curl my upper left lip into a semi-snarl. I mean, don't we just have a surfeit of these religious folks sticking their noses into the process as is? So, as the title implies, I began poking around. I am even less happy now. I am,
Cross posted @ God is 4 Suckers! I was reading about this over at PZ Myers' blog about how some claim that similarities in evolutionary pathways indicates some sort of designer's manipulation. Convergent evolution. And here I will say it: there was a designer, there still is a designer, and the design is ongoing, a work in progress. The designer that I speak of is the process of evolution. It
I was watching a Youtube clip at work (which sadly, is no longer available - boo-WEEE-ooo! The Illuminati are at it again!) of the View, which I consider pretty much a train wreck of a show anyways (any show that'd let a mental midget like Sherri Shephard on isn't worth watching). Anyways, about four minutes into the thing, Rosie O'Donnel's asked about whether she believes there was a conspiracy.
Cross posted @ God Is 4 Suckers! I stumbled across this recently - turns out that Ben Stein actually won some kind of award for that mindless movie dreck called 'Expelled'. Actually, he's won two. In this day and age of everyone getting a gold star, a trophy, or even a 'certificate of achievement' (available for a few bucks at any WalMart, OfficeMax or OfficeDepot), this hardly qualifies as more
Cross posted @ God Is For Suckers! Yes, it's been four years already. The games are being hosted in China for 2008. And time for some more negative news about religion - especially one that claims to be 'peaceful': (Snip) URUMQI, China -- Police shut down the bustling International Bazaar in the capital of China's restive Muslim region of Xinjiang on Friday amid threats from an Islamic group
Cross posted @ God Is For Suckers! I have mentioned the roots of the Ten Commandments elsewhere - but I stumbled across this excellent article by Richard Carrier recently, and he gives persuasive argument for the root of the laws by which our society actually bides by: I keep hearing this chant, variously phrased: "The Ten Commandments are the foundation of Western morality and the American
Cross posted @ God Is For Suckers! A blogversation at the NGB alerted me to this (a fanato-troll there brought this up as a challenge). Apparently, Muslims are getting special treatment - in US schools. Some public schools and universities are granting Muslim requests for prayer times, prayer rooms and ritual foot baths, prompting a debate on whether Islam is being given preferential treatment
Cross posted @ God Is For Suckers! It is perhaps, no shock to anyone who knows me, that of all the religious hooey that alternately shocks, dismays, or provokes outrage from me, Scientology is in the top three. I live in Mountain View, and right there on Castro Street, is one of their 'illustrious' churches. Usually, there's a very quiet member passing out literature in front of it, and there
Cross posted @ God Is For Suckers! It's a familiar trope, one that we've all heard at one point in time or another: that atheism is synonymous with communism. It's trotted out with such regularity, that I imagine the religious blogger (most of whom live in their own little unexplored worlds) probably physically flinches when the conversation explodes into vitriol. Hey, I myself have been
Cross posted @ God Is For Suckers! Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence. - John Adams We've all heard this particular refrain: "Why doesn't/can't evolution explain the origins of life?" The answer is yet to be found. And we can always retreat to our own canard, that the
Cross posted @ God Is For Suckers! “He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts - for support rather than illumination.” - Lang. Fresh off a discussion at the NoGodBlog about the value of life and atheism (starts right about...here), I engaged (and still am) a theist who made an incredibly brave statement: that secular countries have a HIGHER suicide rate, based on a study here, carried
Cross posted @ God Is For Suckers! Your unflappable conceptionsMoralistic viewsNever open to criticismYour overpowering rusePromises of sanctuaryIn eternal blissWith starry eyes and cash in handPledge all to the master planJust face the truth or fund the farceAt one with your godYour sole intentYour treasured place assuredFor a substantial rentGlobal lunacyDeath threats for supposed
I've pointed out how atheism is a world view here, and I've asked for some stories from my readers - so now I'm curious: am I the more bombastic amid my brethren? Okay, here's a few more (mumble, grumble, sassafras...): I sport two bumper stickers and a decal on my '91 Acura (which I'm not driving any more, having inherited my deceased mother's 98 Corolla). One reads "Freedom From Religion", the
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