Manticore

Manticore proves it's not too early to have a movie about the war in Iraq. Somehow the turmoil in Iraq takes a lighter tone when the greatest threat is a 2000 year old monster.

Good news

I've worked hard, and now good things will come of it. I can't say more until later, but good things are coming. Also, Zoe is the cutest cat ever, cuter then any kitten!

Shivering Isles, an expansion for Oblivion, is awesome, you play in the realm of a god of madness, play in cities of mania and dementia.

Opera rules

I need to get used to Opera. I've been at it all day, and it's speedier then Firefox, even after optimizing the browser. I'm a fan of widgets, and like that Opera has that built in. It makes a little easier to shut down all of those busy apps by closing one program, and have them appear again when I open the browser. Also, you can widgetize blogs pretty easily. I have added a new element to the page, which Opera will auto detect as a widget.

Why are geeks often atheist?

An interesting trend on sites such as Digg, Slashdot and Shuzak suggests that atheism is the "religion" of choice among geeks. Why is atheism more popular among geeks when clearly the average person is religious? Well this article might have an explanation.

This article isn't very scientific, and makes many guesses. It's sure sparked a debate, if you can call it a debate on Digg, where over 800 comments have been left regarding the issue. Part of the article seems to be too pro geek, making atheism something that only elite smarty-pants geeks can grasp, and that only stupid people are theists. By reading the huge volume of comments, you can get a good sense that this is a powerful topic, with some people feeling strongly that there is no god, and others making the case that you'd better believe in god, just in case. Still others want to make the further leap, and say that well, if there is no harm in believing in a god, then you may as well believe in the Abrahamic god, oh, and follow the bible, and believe that jesus was the son of god, oh, and you best do as he says in the bible, or else you're going to hell. I do think that there are a number of geeks who are atheists, when they actually mean non religious. They just don't care for one reason or another. I did hear the term igtheist, they just ignore theism, or aptheism, where there is an apathy toward theism. There are a number who believe there may be a god, but follow a watch maker philosophy. God snapped its cosmically magic fingers, and poof, there was the beginning of the universe. Then, god doesn't intervene. But, who or what created god then? If things become more complex over time, with an omnipotent being capable of creation of the universe being the most complex, how can god be pre-creation? Could we be one of many iterations of the universe? Is there a cycle of expansion and contraction? Even if that were the case, is there any way currently to tell one way or the other? We can make guesses that the universe is expanding, but that is as far as we can go now. Even in the fiction if Star Trek, they don't even go past our own galaxy, much less venture other galaxies. It's too fast, even for fiction. And even our own galaxy is so fast, you can make a seven year series about getting chucked into one quadrant, and needing to hoof it all the way back home.



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Pandora

The webcam was boring, and was only really useful for spying on the cats when I was at work once. I've replaced it with a link to Pandora channels.

Positive Atheism

Enough harping on the bad part of atheism. I like the diversity I see around me. I like helping people I don't know, and even helping people I do know who may not deserve it. I don't want everyone to think the way that I do. I don't think erasing religion from the world would end all war. War come form a lack of resources. Unless we can make an abundance of everything we need without cost, there will be war. The reasons for war just change. I am grateful for the religious groups who speak out against war and injustice where they notice it. It seems like one vocal minority excited to go to war against infidels, is overshadowing the respectful, peaceful, majority. Recently, we can see what happens when those voices get a little louder. That little voice spreads throughout Christian sects, and only the most intolerant ignore it.

When I read atheist forums, even Minnesota Atheists, people are afraid to join because of the name. Atheism is misunderstood, and has a negative feel to it. I'd say they are missing out on a great group of people, who are interesting, creative, nice, understanding, most of all, tolerant. The meaning won't change for them if the group is called Secular Humanists, or Agnostics, but that's a matter of semantics. The only way the opinion of atheism will change in people's minds, is if people take the time to dispel the myths. My previous post explains what people are doing to alienate atheists from believers. I'd like to see atheists do more volunteering, as they have been, under a banner of atheists, just how a church will when they help build a Habitat House. Show people that atheists care about other people, enjoy doing good just as much as anyone else, and maybe people's opinions will change.

Why I hate atheists

Ok, hate may be a strong word, but I do have serious problems with some atheists who think they are clever, or funny, by being so anti-religious. The following was posted to an atheist message board, with my responses following:

10. You hear any body say god you can't help but snicker.
9. The nearest bible is at that thing called church.
8. You think Pat Robertson and Jerry Fallwell should be put in an insane asylum and force fed prozac until they quit predicting doom and gloom all the time.
7. All churches should be taxed like any other business.
6. You know global warming is real like evolution.
5. Half your shirts have atheist or evolution sayings on them along with bumper stickers on your car.
4. Your library is mostly science, atheism and history.
3. You won't date a man or woman that if they believe in any of that holy shit.
2. You belong to an atheist organization.
1. You think the current president is some kind of devolved mutant variation gone horribly wrong.

10. Someone's belief, or disbelief in god shouldn't impact you one way or another. It's just another way to be smug and disrespectful.
9. Most people in the US have some kind of Christian upbringing, or at least exposure. It's childish to be so ignorant, so anti-religious that you wouldn't read a bible, koran, or torah. Being atheist should give you greater freedom to expose yourself to different religions. What are you afraid of, that the bible will bite you? Christians will tell atheists to read the bible, to look for the truth. I say, read the bible, and know it better then the person asking you to read the bible.
8. Robertson and Fallwell are crazy in their own right, but do you honestly think that someone else won't reach for the microphone when they are gone? There is a group of people who have this itch in the back of their mind, either through upbringing, social experience, or other times ignorance, which tells them gay sex is icky, or, Muslims sure are scary. Pat and Jerry do a good job of scratching that itch, it's a power trip that lots of people wouldn't pass up if given the chance.
7. Taxing churches is a tricky question. The idea is that churches don't provide any benefit to a community, and are actually profitable enterprises. The author may be thinking of mega churches with book stores and coffee shops inside. I do feel that a large enterprise like that should be heavily evaluated for tax exempt status. But what about the small churches in rural America who have enough trouble keeping members as it is. Not every pastor is driving a luxury car. It's difficult to separate the two, how do you determine who to tax? The thing I love most about churches is the ability to provide for a community, regardless of belief. I loved hearing stories about churches helping out during Katrina when no one else could. They didn't help to gain membership, or to be disciples, but to help people because they needed it. I'd like to see more of that. I think the homelessness problem could be helped over night if church doors were open all day and night. The hurdle is liability, and safety. I tell you if I had a church, I'd have it open as much as I could. I think there is a focus of large churches that resembles a business, complete with business plans, and marketing executives. But, how do you change that? Just like people aren't forced to give people on the street money, no one is forcing membership to mega churches.
6. I have no idea how the global warming issue became a religious matter, but again, I think there is a vocal minority who doubt global warming, and somehow think that by believing that the earth is getting warmer is a sign that god doesn't exist. That's a silly proposition. I think a lot of people are ignorant of global climate change, and maybe they were told something in church, so that's what they believe, but believers in global warming could also be guilty of the same fault, by taking an article or movie at face value. Here is my blip about global warming: We don't yet understand the human mind, or human physiology as well as we should. We have difficulty predicting weather past 30 days. We need to do much more serious work regarding global climate change. We just don't know enough yet. We don't know enough to determine which changes to make. Where should trees be planted, for example, to lower the temperature? We need a Manhattan Project for global warming. All of it may be for naught anyway, it may be a pattern in the cycle that the earth goes through. I do think that people are capable of coming up with solutions, we just need a lot of people, lots of solutions, and the ability to test them in simulation.
5. Evolution is not an atheist issue. I know so so so many Christians who firmly believe in evolution. There are Christian Apologists who will explain to themselves that to god, a day may be a million years. This is how I heard a Jew explain it at his bar mitzvah. Believers will paint atheists with a wide brush, but that does not mean the reverse should be true.
4. Science is a good field, and history. I do think that atheism books function the same as books like Dude Where's My Country to liberals. They make you happy to read them, because you'll tend to agree with what is written. At that point, they become as useful as fiction in spurring internal debate. And, where is the fiction? Let yourself be open to possibilities, life doesn't have to be all nonfiction.
3. This line expresses the same intolerance shown in many other groups through out history. Jews are pressured to marry only other Jews, and it happens at a high rate, about 75 percent. Base your opinion on a person by their character. Just because someone believes in all that, "holy shit," does not mean they are a bad person. The reverse is true, just because someone is an atheist, that doesn't mean they are bad either. But, if someone is an intolerant, smug, self convinced genius, you're better off not dating them anyway.
2. This line is just silly, and obvious. I would imagine that most people who attend a church would consider themselves Christian. The mark of an atheist should be, do you attend an atheist organization's meetings, or did you just sign up online? If you are a member, and go to meetings, do you ask questions, do you question? You shouldn't agree with everything people say, give your own twist to the situation. Of course, don't question for the sake of questioning, and don't be difficult over things like newsletter format.
1. This line is childish, and offers no solutions to the problem. Get on the phone and call the white house, explain the problems you have, how you'd like things to be done differently. Think you can't do it? Call them: 202-456-1111.

I do think there is an explosive growth of new atheists. However, the new atheists are being brought on by Richard Dawkins, and Sam Harris, who advocate the elimination of religion everywhere. That isn't realistic. Also, it ignores the good religions do. I don't like to blame the small church for priests abusing children, just as I don't blame the Somalians who live by me for terrorism. I do think that the koran and bible can advocate violence against other groups, but also offer tolerance, and peace. Sometimes I wish the bible could be edited to cut out violent parts, just focus on turning the other cheek. By leaving the rest in, it gives intolerant groups an excuse to do what they do. But, most other people just know better.

On a brighter note, the Pre-Nicene New Testament is really good. The footnotes are interesting, and add a lot of depth to the writings. You can really get a good picture for what early Christianity may have been like.