Carnivalia, and an open thread

Dropping a pencil proves God's existence! Read about it on Jeffrey Shallit's Recursivity.

Comedian Pat Condell's monologue videos on religion are good. See:

http://www.youtube.com/patcondell

Anyone who prays to God - Scientists' Manifesto

Anyone who prays to God
- for whatever reasons -
and goes to a congregation
to listen to some holy man
talking nonsense on the pulpit
or doing some holy rituals;
and gives his money to the
Church, Mosque, Temple or
some pagoda of Buddha,
should be labeled a fool,
no matter who he or she is,
no matter how educated,
how rich or poor,
how low or elevated,
how holy or unholy
he or she is.

Such people are ignorant.
They propagate ignorance.
They do not use their brains
and believe in unnatural things
they call supernatural things.

Educate them.
Put sense into their heads.
And if they don't change,
ridicule them for their ignorance,
make fool of them, shun them
and label them dimwits and idiots,
no matter who they are -
Christians, Sikhs, Hindus or Jews.
Religion is the bane to civilization.
We do not need it to be ethical.
Just follow the civil laws of civilized men.

~white wings

http://whitewings.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/05/anyone-who-prays-to-god…

Do pimps not lure people to prostitution?

"There are studies that if you have a collective mass of people, a critical mass of people, who meditate and go into silence, then the Earth's turbulence will also settle down, because we are connected to those fields."

-Deepak Chopra on critical, collective nonsense talking to Larry King on CNN. Quoted by Jeff at http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2007/05/open_thread_73.html

***

Where are the studies on
the collective mass of people,
meditating in silence and
changing Earth's turbulence?

In some quantum guru's head
that pours out bucketfuls of shit
in books, videos and interviews?
Shame! he calls himself a scientist.

Publishers, radio and TV interviewers,
you're doing science a great harm, like him.
He makes money selling his holy-cow-shit.
You make money selling him.

How are you different from him?
Do pimps not lure people to prostitution?
And suckers of the holy shit, you're a queer group.
You pay money to get your head fu--ed by gurus.

http://whitewings.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/05/do-pimps-not-lure-peopl…

Do pimps not lure people to prostitution?

"There are studies that if you have a collective mass of people, a critical mass of people, who meditate and go into silence, then the Earth's turbulence will also settle down, because we are connected to those fields."

-Deepak Chopra on critical, collective nonsense talking to Larry King on CNN. Quoted by Jeff at http://www.intentblog.com/archives/2007/05/open_thread_73.html

***

Where are the studies on
the collective mass of people,
meditating in silence and
changing Earth's turbulence?

In some quantum guru's head
that pours out bucketfuls of shit
in books, videos and interviews?
Shame! he calls himself a scientist.

Publishers, radio and TV interviewers,
you're doing science a great harm, like him.
He makes money selling his holy-cow-shit.
You make money selling him.

How are you different from him?
Do pimps not lure people to prostitution?
And suckers of the holy shit, you're a queer group.
You pay money to get your head fu--ed by gurus.

http://whitewings.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/05/do-pimps-not-lure-peopl…

The quantum guru is bullshitting

"And you say, what does havoc in nature have to do with what's happening in the turbulence in my mind? Well, the fact is that your mind and the information and energy fields of your mind are part of nature's mind. And in the old days, they would say, you're doing bad things. God is punishing you, so he's going to send you an earthquake."

-Deepak Chopra talking to Larry King on CNN.

***

And you ask:
what's common in the
turbulence of nature and the
turbulence of the mind?

Earthquakes, tornadoes, tsunamis
rapes, murders, killings, shootings
all arise from the same thing:
the collective consciousness of the mind.

You have a mind.
I have a mind.
We all have minds
Nature has a mind (God's mind)
All put together is a collective mind
that makes collective consciousness
that is an energy field
that is God
that is within you
me, him, her, us all.

So God rapes women
God makes earth quakes,
tornadoes, tsunamis and tells Cho
to go on a collective killing.
Spiritually how fulfilling!

"In the old days, they would say,
you're doing bad things."
Nowadays the scientists say
the quantum guru is bullshitting.

http://whitewings.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/05/the-quantum-guru-is-bul…

To the dying old man

When the candle is
going to die out,
it flickers fast,
it lights bright.

Old man, you are
taking your last breaths.
The sky looks bluer to you
and you hear your sighs.

Get past the nonsense of
finally meeting your Beloved.
From earth you came
into earth will you lie
being eaten by maggots
till your Jesus comes from
heaven and makes you rise.
(if you so believe)

There's no heaven, no hell
no Beloved, no devil.
It's all nonsense in your head.
Your tiny-weeny spiritual brain
could never comprehend that
that what's born here is not
carried by souls elsewhere;
here it ends.

~white wings

http://whitewings.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/05/to-the-dying-old-man.htm

There's also a fresh Four Stone Hearth on at Anthropology 2.0 for us anthro/archaeo types.

Nothing stops you from bundling up and taking your papers & red pen and a couple of paperweights to the park. That's how I like to edit at least part of the time.

In my self-education I've discovered the Real Mark Twain. It sure sounds as if you and he are singing from the same song-book. On Science Notes, I've typed up some exerpts in which I can hear him simmering with truly righteous indignation.

How dare you call me a fundamentalist

Richard Dawkins
The hardback God Delusion was hailed as the surprise bestseller of 2006. While it was warmly received by most of the 1,000-plus individuals who volunteered personal reviews to Amazon, paid print reviewers gave less uniform approval. Cynics might invoke unimaginative literary editors: it has "God" in the title, so send it to a known faith-head. That would be too cynical, however. Several critics began with the ominous phrase, "I'm an atheist, BUT . . ." So here is my brief rebuttal to criticisms originating from this "belief in belief" school.
...

Includes a reference to Pharyngula and the "Courtier's Reply."

From Rose is Rose, here's the Ultimate fantasy lunch, pirate style.