October 2009
“When I was a student at Cambridge I remember an anthropology professor holding...”
– Sandi Toksvig lists ten unsung heroines, from the inventor of the cotton gin to a queen who led her troops into battle wearing an iron leg - the world’s first known use of a prosthesis. (via bingoparaphernalia) (via gauntlet)
The niece of the great Mongol leader, Kubla Khan, Princess Khutulun was...
“Yes, reader, that’s what it really says. The Lord ordered Abraham to...”
– Jose Sarmago on the Bible, (via ipsnews.net)
“I got kicked out of the library for moving the bibles to the fiction section.”
– LOL - would have loved to have known which library!
Unknown via Daily Atheist twitter feed. (Fantastic idea. Thanks, blasphemyblog) (via sharklauncher)
(via reneehendricks) (via iamheathen)
“Christians seem to me to be the sort of people who like to create an ‘us’ so...”
– http://inastrangeland.wordpress.com/2009/04/20/heard-at-our-dinner-table/ (via iamheathen)
mabelmoments:
Kate Bush - Rocket Man
Some how...
“Vaccines save lives. It is as simple as that. And they do so most effectively...”
– Paulla Kirby, “Vaccination: the moral imperative” (via Washingtonpost.com)
Islamic countries push a global 'blasphemy' law →
The Organization of the Islamic Council (which is made up of representatives from 57 countries) wants to make the enforcement of blasphemy laws legally binding via an international convention or treaty. This would require signatories to limit religiously offensive language or speech. The OIC wants “legal prohibition of publication of material that negatively stereotypes, insults or uses...
“Muslim men usually like young girls or virgins as their additional wives, so I...”
– Ubaidah Omar,cabinet minster from norther Kelantan, Malaysia (via smh.com.au)
Ms Omar shares here his idea for helping single mothers.
Muslim men in Malaysia are allowed to marry up four women. Women of course are only allowed to marry one man.
1 tag
“[I]f we were more grateful for our own gift of life, we might spend less time...”
– Richard Holloway (via thestar.com)
2 tags
“No one moulds us again out of earth and clay,
no one conjures our dust.
No...”
– “Psalm” by Paul Celan (via thestar.com)
2 tags
“One of the things that bedevils religion, is that it develops official truth,...”
– Richard Holloway, former Bishop of Edinburgh and author of a “Godless Morality” (vis thestar.com)
I highly recommend Holloway’s book the “Godless Morality” be thou atheist or not.
Strange?
Disqus have changed their comment system slightly. Adding a comment looks OK in IE but in Firefox I have to scroll to the very bottom of the posting to see the comment entry box. Try adding a comment to this posting and please let me know how the page looks to you.
Any code moneys out there who know what is wrong?
UPDATE: I think I’ve fixed it. I stuck in the following bit of CSS.
...
French Branch of Scientology Convicted of Fraud →
A French court found the French branch of the Church of Scientology guilty of fraud and fined the cult USD$900,000. The down side of the ruling it that the court did not ban the cult as demanded by the prosecution.
“Meat is a wasteful use of water and creates a lot of greenhouse gases. It puts...”
– Lord Stern, of the 2006 Stern Review on the cost of tackling climate change (via Times Online)
Lord Stren says that to reduce methane and co2 emissions we should all become vegetarians.
Climate Change or the end of bacon. Now that is a tough choice …
UPDATE: It’s OK we can still eat...
“I consider religion the enemy of science because it short-circuits critical...”
– PZ Myers, “Karen Armstrong Weaves Bizarre Defense of Religion” (via AlterNet)
2 tags
“Some proponents of the pro-life movement argue against morning after pills,...”
– L Bovens, “The rhythm method and embryonic death” (via Journal of Medical Ethics)
catholicism:
atheistramblings:
“Regardless of their religion, Filipinos are God-fearing and family-loving. This bill will change that culture”
Father Castro’s argument against a proposed law that would provide free or low-cost reproductive health services in the Philippines. “Birth Control Bill Has Enemies in Philippines” (via NYTimes.com)
The Philippines population is increasing by more...
Britain more stupid than USA →
According to a survey by the British Council 54% of British Adults believe that creationism should be taught in schools, compared to only 51% in the USA.
For once my fingers are crossed that Australia won’t beat Britain.
Arctic Sediments Show That 20th Century Warming Is... →
Analysis of sediments retrieved from an Arctic lake, by a team from the University of Buffalo, seem to indicate that recent sediments differ from those laid down during previous warming episodes.. The conclusion draw is that the current warming is not due to natural variation.
2 tags
“Regardless of their religion, Filipinos are God-fearing and family-loving. This...”
–
Father Castro’s argument against a proposed law that would provide free or low-cost reproductive health services in the Philippines. “Birth Control Bill Has Enemies in Philippines” (via NYTimes.com)
The Philippines population is increasing by more that 2% per year, one of the highest in...
WORLDCHANGING.com →
What they calim: “We cover the world’s most innovative solutions to the planet’s problems, and inspire readers around the world with stories of new tools, models and ideas for building a bright green future. We have brought awareness to issues like refugee aid, renewable energy and innovative solutions for improving building, transportation, communication and quality of life. Our readers are...
“Assertions made without evidence can be dismissed without evidence.”
– Christopher Hitchens (via savagemike)
“You see, the religious people — most of them — really think this planet is an...”
– Sol Hadden | Contact (via retropolitics) (via brizzvicious)
Free At Last!
savagemike:
atheistramblings:
see previous post for context
I attempted to add a comment to this post to see how the transition went but it’s not working for some reason.. So anyways how did it go? I’ve been thinking about installing Linux, too…
Yep the Disqus comments seem stuffed.
The move so far is fine, couple of minor issues came up and I expect more. Had a problem connecting to the...
“Believing there is no God means the suffering I’ve seen in my family, and indeed...”
– excerpt from Penn’s (of Penn & Teller) 2005 “This I Believe” essay for NPR, titled There Is No God. (via auditinprogress)
Is it just me?
Or are Disqus comments broken on Tumblr?
Free At Last!
see previous post for context
Here goes nothing ...
Since I’m already using Thunderbird, Firefox and OpenOffice I’ve decided to blow away Windows XP (32-bit) on my main PC and replace it with Ubuntu 9.04 (64-bit). So here goes …
Watchasprettyasasong:
makenosound:
If you missed John Safran’s Race Relations last night, you can watch episodes online (or vodcast them). Absolute. Gold.
And if you liked that you might like another ABC production, Hungry Beast. Check out the video on this page.
A 360 degree view of the Universe →
danielholter:
michaelmcgee:
solitudegirl:
fuckyeahspace:
The result of the two-year long, worldwide Gigagalaxy Zoom Project, this website shows a 360 degree view of the Universe as seen from our solar system.
Oh shit.
Ho. Ly. Wow.
Oz Needle Exchange: $4 for every $1 →
Every year needle exchange programs in Australia hand out about 30 million clean needles. A new report has found that for every $1 spent on the program the Australian tax payers save $4 in health care costs.
The cost of Windows 7 Professional Upgrade
On the US Microsoft web site US$199 = AUD$215
On the British Microsoft web site GBP189 = AUD$338
On the Australian Microsoft web site AUD$399
And before you ask, yes I live in Australia, and MS won’t let me buy the software from the US web site (Amazon won’t let me buy it from them either).
Update: News.com article on how Microsoft is ripping off Australian consumers.
Father runs over daughter for becoming... →
Police in Phoenix, Arizona are looking for a man suspected of using his car to run over his daughter because she was not living according to their traditional Iraqi values and had become to “westernised”. One wonders why he moved to the west, if he likes the old ways so much.
The daughter remains in hospital with life-threatening injuries.
Good News: Humans Are Still Evolving →
A recent analysis by Stephen Stearns and his colleagues at Yale University has shown that natural selection is still at work driving Human evolution.
Apparently future generations of people in North America will be slightly shorter and heavier, will have lower blood pressure and cholesterol and woman will reach menopause later in life.
“The nine-year-old boy lay on a bloodstained hospital sheet crawling with ants,...”
– Katharine Houreld in her article “Churches involved in torture, murder of thousands of African children denounced as witches” (via latimes.com)
Scientists Watch Evolution Unfold In 21 Year Long... →
Researchers at Michigan University have been conducting an experiment for 21 years. In it they bottled up some E. coli bacteria in 1988 and watched what happened.
By the 20,000 generation researches counted 45 mutations. Darwin’s theory predicted that these mutations should have conferred some advantage, and this is exactly what the researchers found.
Around the 26,000 generation a...
Australian Atheist websites under attack →
The websites of both the Atheist Foundation of Australia and the Global Atheist Convention web site are being targeted by denial of service attacks. Both web sites have being offline since yesterday afternoon (Sydney time).
As yet nobody has claimed responsibility, but given the nature of the sites attacked it is thought that Christians are responsible especially given their history of not...