October 2008
8-year old boy kills himself with an Uzi →
8-year old boy accidentally shoots himself when he lost control of an Uzi he was firing at a gun fair. Of course where talking about the good old USA where you can’t drive until your 16, vote until your 18 or drink until your 21 but you can blow your brains out at 8-years of age.
Stoned to death for adultery →
Thousands turn out in the Somali town of Kismayo to watch a woman, buried up to her neck in sand, be stoned to death by a group of 50 men. This was the punishment for the crime of “adulterous sexual intercourse” which she admitted to in the Sharia court.
No news as to what happened to the male participant(s).
Average delusion
Me: It looks very dry around here
Stockman: yep, we only get six inches of water a year on average.
Me: doesn't sound much
Stockman: it's enough we can run 12,000 sheep when we have the average rain fail.
Me: I haven't seen any sheep.
Stockman: Well you wouldn't we've de-stocked. We currently only have 450 ewes and their lambs
Me: Why have you de-stocked?
Stockman: Not enough rain.
Me: so six inches of rain isn't enough?
Stockman: Yes it is but we haven't had it for a few years.
Me: So when was the last time you had your "average" six inches of rain?
Stockman: About 10 years ago.
Me: shouldn't you review the average?
Stockman: no six inches is the average, it's just being a bit unusual the past 10 years.
Me: nice sunset
Stockman: yep, when the wind picks up all the sand like that it makes for a beautiful sunset.
Children need to be sprinkled with fairy dust →
Libby Purves seems upset by Richard Dawkins. Apparently Dawkins is off to warn parents over fairy tales and teach kids about evidence based reasoning.
I agree with Purves in that children do need their fantasies and magic stories. And that myths are useful to point out the occasional “truth”. Not to mention their entertainment value.
But there comes a point in the development of a...
Understanding why people are religious isn't hard. →
This article by David Shariatmadari is sort of a review of Dorothy Rowe’s new book “What Should I Believe?”.
In the book Rowe looks at why people believe what they do. Apparently we are all motivated by our fear of annihilation. Some of us seek solace from this unpleasant fact through religion and dreams of an imagined after life. While others are content with the thought that...
“I’m a polyatheist - there are many gods I don’t believe in.”
– Dan Fouts. Found in 101 Atheist Quotes - The Atheist Blogger
Atheism Slogans to go in British Buses →
cat-go-boom:
(via phlogiston)
Aussies create first silicon solar cell to achieve... →
Palin gets policy advice from Starbucks Mocha cups →
An Australian in-depth journalist team, The Chaser, have discovered that since Palin has gone rouge she now gets all her policy advice from the “Quote of the Day” on Starbucks Mocha cups.
This discovery was announced on the team’s new radio show “Race Race” which is dedicated to covering the current American Presidential election. The podcast of the first episode,...
Welcome Back, AtheistRamblings.net →
cat-go-boom:
I was wondering where you went.
Why thank you! Family and I had a great time. Seven weeks on the road, covered just over 10,000km inlcluding the Oodnadatta track, the Rock, Kings Canyon, Alice, Gammon Ranges, Flinders Ranges, and Kangaroo Island and points in between
