daily scratchpad

(5)

Which brings us from the visual aspect of sex to the sensual aspect. And by 'sensual,' I mean the ability to feel the other dermatalogically. You know all about this subject: we sense the other by touch with nerves located in the skin, including the foreskin. I want to focus on the foreskin:

The foreskin (prepuce) covers the glans, protecting it. That is its prime function. The secondary function of the foreskin is to sense the female vagina. The retracted prepuce presents the inner lining of the foreskin to the vagina, enhancing male sexual pleasure (thump) during intercourse. A third function of the (retracted) foreskin is to maintain erection by 'clamping down' (tap) on the return veins of the penis thereby increasing penis blood pressure. The human foreskin is thus a valuable part of the human penis in heterosexual congress.

But the most valuable aspect of the human foreskin is that it fascilitates masturbation, a real male human need in early sexual life beginning about age 12.

Unfortunately, God hates masturbation, especially male masturbation. God apparently has never had an orgasm. Furthermore God apparently has a low tolerance for same among the Chosen People. God therefore conned (tap) The Jews into mutilating their penises such that male masturbation needed lubrication. God then outlawed lubrication, thinking that would end masturbation. Wrong. The Jews figured out how to do it anyway. I suspect that the Jews invented cocksuckery for that very reason, but I could be wrong.

I am way too drunk at this point to relate the story in 'god is not Great' about Mayor Bloomberg (boom) concerning Jewish circumcision. Next time...

Nighty-night!

(3)

Congratulations if you survived the two previous tits. Be aware, however, that I have much stronger porn in store for you. You may want to reconsider reading this blog, butt I promise to warn you at least a week in advance, so don't evacuate prematurely. Notice that the beautiful young woman is wearing pink panties. The significance of this will be revealed in due course.

Speaking of Premature Evacuation, (ch-6) recently did a piece on NDE, the Near Death Experience. It was pretty much crap. For example, some idiot was explaining that the NDE was akin to the psychedelic experience. Nonsense. There is absolutely no similarity whatsoever. Here is the difference:

1. The NDE is the result of a brain which is experiencing the resussitating effect of blood flow, which flow brings oxygen and sugar, primary brain food. The brain interprets this 'resurrection' in terms of beautiful light, and other visual images related to memory. The most persistent memories come to light first, as the brain recovers in a dreamlike state.

2. Acid is totally different. The 'Acid Resurrection' is the brain recovering many processes in the lucid state. The state of lucidity is the basis for the real value of the Acid Resurrection. The brain actually witnesses its reconstruction and is awed by the process. Absolutely no dream state is involved. Prove me wrong if you can: Do Acid.

Fascinating. I am now writing Blogger simultaneously with both computers. I suspect that this photo is of the same three 'schoolgirls' who showed us their panty-clad butts in the first picture. (Kootch tells me that she, too, wipes with the left hand, by the way.)

Butt I digress. It was my intention to show you two tits this week, the idea being to sort of 'acclimatize' you over time for what is eventually planned. I'll get to the tits later, butt first the good news:

RF (radiation, feet) is way down since my recent 'filthy faggot' tirade. Also, there is a 'for rent' sign in the window of the apartment below (butt there are still taps from above). These are good signs. It will be difficult (bonk) for me to reconcile tenants below me with a continuance (boom) of the radiation because those tenants would be affected unless the lower apartment has been shielded in some way. So I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel. We shall see...

On the subject of 'faggots' I am well aware of the ugliness of that word, and I use it only when describing Gerash and frie(boom)nds. Ann Coulter's use of that word in a political context is grotesque: no political candidate is gassing her, irradiating her, harrassing her, and eavesdropping on her. She doesn't pass the 'anger test.'

(5)

Time for some juicy quotes from 'ginG' (god is not Great). I love this book! Lessee.. rat fuck, I didn't mark the desired quotes and now the pages are a blur. Maybe I can find something. Standby... Ok, here are some 'snips'...

'The Prophet was accidentally taking dictation from Satan instead of from God.'

'Catholics are dirty and have too many children. Muslims breed like rabbits and wipe their bottoms with the wrong hand. Jews have lice in their beards and seek the blood of Christian children to add flavor and zest to their Passover matzos.'

Barf. This is taking much too long. I'll be drunk as a skunk before I can dig up enough appropriate quotes for this section. Hmm...

Meanwhile I am fascinated by the charge that Catholics wipe their collective butt with 'the wrong hand.' Interesting, in view of the fact that Muslims wipe TCB with the left hand, saving the right hand for eating. But I am a right-handed (former) Catholic and I have always wiped my butt with the left hand. Is that the wrong hand? Do normal, right-handed folks wipe butt with the dominant hand? Maybe I should ask Kootch...

(4)


'Politics' is our new subject. Mike Bloomberg has followed the path of the Senator from Israel, Joseph Lieberman, and become a political Independent. Buzz is that he will run for president. Bloomberg denies it, of course, and the denial is a lie, of course, but nowadays we don't call a lie a lie any more, we call it 'politics.' Times have changed since TTC were imposed on us by a dubious god. It seemed to me in light of this cultural tendency to call a spade a heart that now was the time to reestablish communication with the Jewish god WHTZSNM. I dialed 666 on the Brown Telephone:
----------
gd: I want you to build Me an ark.
me: Screw You, build your own fucking ark.
gd: That was a test and you flunked. Furthermore I don't like your language.
me: It was butt a test?
gd: It was but a test.
me: Butt You implied a genuine desire for me to act in a certain manner.
gd: Only a test. The important thing is that you flunked.
me: No. The important thing is that You lied. I told the truth and You lied.
gd: Furthermore you used naughty language. You broke that taboo.
me: Butt You broke it first. Remember?
gd: What is the purpose of this call? I'm a very busy God...
me: I'm writing my blog tonight and I needed some copy.
gd: Tonight is only Wednesday. Got the DTs?
me: No, butt fair warning: You may not like my recent photo uploads. My advice to You is to bypass the blog for a few weeks. You'll feel much better if you do.
gd: You've piqued my interest... standby... (hangs up).
----------

(3)

The attack pattern (tap) has changed recently, so I need to do a description. Since 6-9-07 the radiation has been mostly TMTRF (Tingling, Muscle-Twitching Radiation, Feet). Today is the 20th, so today is the 11th day (night) of this new trend. The nerves in my feet are deader than ever. I am actually missing the old PSRWB (Pricking, Stinging Radiation, Whole-Body) and the old SCRS (Skin-Crawling Radiation, Scrotum). TMTRF is getting to be quite old, and I am longing for more TCR (Teeth-Chattering Radiation) like in the mornings. Unless this new trend is reversed (tap) I will be forced to take appropriate action. BTW, I got mated for the first time yesterday on Comcast Chess. I was so sleep-deprived that I didn't see it. Usually I do the mating.

In the meantime, I recently had some new insight into the grotesque little mind of the filthy Jewish faggot Walter L Gerash, which I will now share with you (much stomping above after I wrote that).

Gerash is, as I have written previously, a walking, talking, 'Reaction Formation.' Gerash was born both queer (IE failed and was successfully restarted) and intensely Jewish, an unfortunate combination. Gerash went with his 'religion' and suppressed his sexual preference. Gerash entered a very dark closet indeed, got married, had children, and eventually divorced his unfortunate wife, a Jewish psychiatrist. (Did she actually think she could 'turn' him? Sheeit.)

Gerash's obsessional mind eventually found me, an uncircumcised Irishman married to an ignorant and very inarticulate Japanese woman. Gerash judged that I was defenseless and began stalking me in the late '60s.

Gerash eventually achieved the ultimate (tap) possible (tap) relationship with me: our current state. But Gerash's RF requires him to torture me even as he satisfies his need to be near me. Gerash thereby manages to 'have his cake and eat it too.'

(2)

Creationist Museum photos. I'm wondering about diseases like, say, TB and Malaria: did God create those diseases after The Fall? After The Flood? Were Noah and his family carriers of all the communicable diseases? Did God even have a clue about germs? Were there only two mosquitos on the Ark? My impression of the 27 million dollar museum is that it is actually unintentional humor gone expensively wrong. I predict that It will become a 'must see' tourist attraction for that very reason and will make millions for the owners, who might well be sleeper-cell atheists (IE failed again).

Hubbles Hit Parade in case you missed it.

(3)

It looks like I can safely use both computers to access the internet, but that one of them must be operating 'offline,' otherwise I risk confusing Comcast and being cut off. I will now publish this, sign out, go offline, then attempt to reconnect to Blogger on the old computer...

No Joy. The old computer got signed into comcast, then hung up in IE. I had to physically power it down and now it won't power up. Lessee... ok, unplugging the computer, waiting a while, then plugging it back in, works. It is now powered up. I will now publish this (tap above: the faggot (boom) upstairs is very interested in these proceedings) again, exit IE, then see if I can use the old computer to access the internet.

(2)


Yep, it published. My guess is that Comcast and/or Blogger has a problem with me using two computers simultaneously - or the problem might be that my network is not set up properly. But is there an objection to my older computer? I'll test that by exiting blogger, switching the old computer to the modem, then attempting to connect and publish the results of the test...

Ok, Comcast did not recognize my old computer when it was plugged in directly to the modem. Nor did they recognize it when it alone was plugged in through the router. Only after I first made contact through the router using the normal computer was I able to get online with the old computer. I was then able to log in to Blogger and write this paragraph. Will it publish?

(5)

Acid disassembles your brain from the outside. Acid 'peels your onion,' so to say. Therefore the Brits' reaction of laughter: they were seeing themselves for the very first time and they laughed. They were seeing their social (military) hierarchy and it turned out to be ludicrous in the Acid environment. Both 'officers' and 'men' could see the artificial structure of their relationships, so they laughed. My experience confirms this.
For example, I saw myself on Acid, and I laughed. I saw the ego which sought to dominate the other over a chessboard and I laughed. I saw the ego which sought to achieve the admiration of the other (by piloting airplanes) and I laughed.
But these insights are pretty much incidental to an Acid Trip: Acid is not so much about self-discovery as it is about sheer ecstacy. Relevation happens, and revelation is important, but Acid is mostly about sheer sensual ecstacy. At least in the beginning.
After peaking, Acid is about reassembly. Revelation happens during reassembly.
And the interesting thing about the Acid Experience is that you never can quite reassemble yourself to the precise previous model. Something always changes. You are never quite the same. You come out of the Acid Experience slightly different. Not much, but enough.
Everyday experience does that to you too, of course, but rarely on the level of the Acid Experience.
There may be a 'cautionary tale' here: the Acid Experience might blunt the primary edge of your personality, affecting your entire life in some way. Whether that is a good or a bad thing can ultimately never be deduced.
I can tell you that Acid affected my love for women's panties significantly: I would always - after about 30 minutes of 'dropping' - run to the bedroom and slip into my most outrageous pink nylon panties. I would do the rest of the trip thus attired (under my shorts, of course). Acid does not clash with your sexual preferences unless you are a walking, talking, phoney son of a bitch. Never do Acid in any kind of a 'closet' environment.

(4)

Kitty on Acid. Poor thing. Nobody explained to the poor kitty that sHe was about to take a trip. This is clearly a massive overdose. The kitty has obviously lost all sense of balance as indicated by Hir spread-eagle posture. Indeed, nothing could have prepared this unfortunate kitty for such an experience. We trust that the kitty recovered soon enough (the only documented example of an experimental animal dying from an overdose of LSD is an elephant who was given a really massive overdose). We hope so, at least, but we know that the kitty's trip was ultimately in vain: the kitty could not possibly have profited from the experience.

British troops fared much better. Clearly they were not massivly overdosed, and furthermore they must have been informed beforehand that they were in for something quite bizarre. Only one of the participants seems to have needed medical intervention in the form of the usual antidote (if any), whereas the rest appeared to have had the typical reaction.

It is not possible, of course, to formulate any guesses concerning the inner life of the cat at the time of the experiment, but it seems to me that - as an LSD 'expert' - that I can make certain educated guesses about the British troops. See next.

(3)

Knowing in advance that this week's theme would be male sexual mutilation I did some research on the 'procedure.' It turned out that youtube had several videos on the subject and I have selected two of them (below) for your edification. There are others if you want to investigate further:
The Procedure is a video of an actual circumcision. The narrator, a female, gives us some interesting statistics concerning past and current circumcision rates. 'Not one medical association in the world recommends circumcision.' Every circumcision is a mutilation of course, but some poor souls turn out to be really mutilated. Notice that the infant is utterly alone. No lawyer is there to represent him; no parent either. He is mutilated in spite of the Hippocratic oath to 'do no wrong.'
The Jewish version. It amazes me that the prospect of this grotesque mutilation gives Jews such cause for smiles, jokes, and celebration. Everyone appears to be enjoying this 'ceremony' (except the infant of course and his daddy, who must be wondering whether, when it is all over, he will be forced to rename his son, Brenda). It has happened. But not to worry: the mohel has done 8000 of these things in 25 years and he loves his work. This video is nowhere as graphic as the one above, most of the operation having been deleted. Interestingly, the infant is passed from father to son to grandfather to mohel, and it is the grandfather who holds the child down while he is being cut.
We wonder about the mohel: he makes his living by sexually mutilating defenseless infants. Furthermore he is respected by the community for doing what he does. We suspect that what we really have here is a sadistic pervert who has found his ultimate niche in a deluded society.
It is difficult to find examples of normal penises in American national sources, but they are readily available 'offshore' so to say. Here is but one example from Japan, a country which has no history of genital mutilation. (By the way, I got this link from my old pc. Interestingly I can view the desired photograph with my old pc but not with my new one! They must remember me... The photograph is number 55 counting down from the top. The penis is obviously not circumcised but is skinned back to the max, giving the appearance of circumcision. The pink area on the shaft is the inner foreskin which has been inverted by retraction, presenting the highly ennervated area to the warm slippery vagina. The outer foreskin is piled up near the base of the penis. This link is obviously NSFW.)

(2)
At this point I must address a fascinating chapter concerning 'pork.' Hitchens titles it, 'A Short Digression on the Pig.' Hitchens intended the chapter as an explanation of the Judeo-Muslim antipathy to pork. Good try but I don't buy it. Here is the real reason why the Judeo-Muslim god hates pork: pork fat.
As you mutilates out there already know, it is difficult for you to masturbate without the aid of a lubricant. Pork fat (lard) is a suitable lubricant for that purpose. So is olive oil. There are probably other natural lubricants out there and you would know more about that than I would. But pork fat was available before olive oil, therefore the ancient Jews masturbated using the natural lubricant then available, and that pissed off the Jewish god WHTZSNM, who promptly made pig meat taboo. But then along came olive oil, and unfortunately olive oil was also used to light up the temple. Barf. Furthermore, having already outlawed lard, WHTZSNM could hardly outlaw olive oil. People might begin to suspect something...
The result was that lard was the last (and perhaps the first) natural lubricant to be outlawed by the Jewish god WHTZSNM. He gave up after that, and failing prevention, mandated retribution. Illicit orgasms eventually merited the ultimate punishment.
Hitchens claims that pigs were especially loved in the ancient world as pets. Bullshit.

(1)

Well, obviously I was wrong about sex and the gods. The old gods were definitely into sex, including sex with humans. Only the Jewish god WHTZSNM seems to have abstained. That would make the Old Bastard a Virgin! Whoa! I could have fun with this... lessee... ok, maybe later.

Here is a list of gods who were born of virgins: Jesus, Perseus, Buddha, Huitzilopochtli, attis, Ghengis Khan (was he a god?), Krishna, Horus, Mercury, and Romulus (all according to giNG).

Concerning 'the test' in (2) below I was also wrong. The 'perfect score' should be 14 or 15 or so, not 10. Certainly you noticed that. If so, then you also noticed the male genitalia on the wall of the sex-ed classroom. Question: Was the depicted penis sexually mutilated (circumcised) or only skinned-back?

The correct answer is that the drawing was too ambiguous to make a definitive conclusion. Ten points if you got that one. But on the other hand it is unlikely that such an illustration would depict the unusual penile state of foreskin retraction over the normal state, leading to the speculation that the illustration was actually designed to 'cover up' the sorry, mutilated state of the National Penis. In fact, most American boys and girls would think the illustration of a normal penis quite odd. No doubt many boys would point that out to the teacher, which would quickly lead to further questions quite outside the intended curriculum. So I think we can conclude that the illustration was intended to depict not a penis skinned back but a penis mutililated in the Judeo-Muslim manner, which is to say, a normal American dick. This artistic maneuver saved everybody concerned: the mutilates (circumcates) could feel 'normal' and the normals could relate. Furthermore the teacher would not be forced into unfortunate explanations.

(6)

Which brings us to my current notes. One note refers to the ancient preference of virginity. It seems that insofar as the gods were concerned, normal everyday sex was repugnant. Gods appeared (were born) outside of sex. Few if any gods entered our world as a result of normal sex.
Jesus was born of a virgin. The details of Jesus' birth remain obscure, but it is clear that Jesus was born of a virgin, which is to say that Jesus was not conceived in the usual manner.
Most Christians think that Mary (the mother of Jesus) was impregnated by the Holy Ghost. Such a scenerio does not seem to be of much interest among the faithful and few clerics seem to address the question, but the question is interesting: how exactly did supernatural sperm meet human egg? We wonder. Was a penis involved? And how exactly did Natural Cunt and Supernatural Dick interact? What about supernatural sperm?
Ancient history suggests that the story of Jesus' 'virgin birth' was borrowed from previous scenerios. (Stomping above me for the first time tonight. Is the faggot above offended by my interpretation? Oh goodie!) That is to say that human sex has historically been denied to the gods. The old gods were above sex. The Virgin Birth of Christianity is an old idea, taken from previous myths.
Virgin Birth is an old idea, much older than Christianity. Christianity inherited the idea of 'virgin birth' from previous ancient ideas.
I write this as an introduction to a recent chapter of the book, giNG. This glorious book lists various examples of ancient religion's infatuation with the concept of god's conception.

Unfortunately I am now drunk as a skunk, but it was my intention to list all the examples of Virgin Births throughout history, and to thereby show that modern religion - dating back three thousand years or more - is pretty much crap.

(5)

That recent diversion aside, I would like to return to the theme that Western Civilization was fortunate back in the last half of the 20th century: our opponent was an Atheist opponent, the best possible opponent. Our generals did not have to take into consideration the possibility that the opposition might actually seek death as a path to paradise. We knew that they knew that death was the end. It was this mutual understanding which prevented mutual destruction, and which allowed for an eventual reconcilliation. Indeed, it was this particular aspect of our opponent's psychology, combined with our own secret beliefs, which saved us all: everybody concerned understood that Science was the path forward. We all secretly knew that religion was bullshit.

We may still know that. Our problem nowadays is that we do not know whether 'the enemy' knows that. We suspect 'the enemy' does not know that. 'The enemy' is 800 years behind us. We face the prospect of an ancient culture able to use the most modern weapons against us. Science and religion do not mix, and this brings us closer to an appreciation of Humanism.

(4)

Blogger sucks. What a piece of shit. You would think that a bunch of overpaid dumbass programmers would be able to get a text editor right, but you would be wrong. For example, in the previous post I colored 'pussy' hot pink and I colored 'god' brown (which is as close to the color of shit as blogger allows). Then I 'emboldened' both words. The result was that both words were depicted in bold black and white - no color. Pussy was not pink. God was not the color of a typical turd.

But in reality pussy is pink. In reality God is the color of shit.

What does Blogger have against these natural colors?

Am I dealing with a Jewish 'Blogger?' A Muslim 'Blogger?' A Christian 'Blogger?'

I don't know. But I do know this: I created a text editor from scratch using 6502 Assembly Language (a mid-eighties product) more than twenty years ago. I know that 'text editor programming' is easy.

What in the fuck is wrong with Blogger??!

(3)

Recent-events-wise, I sampled the debates and was impressed by how much attention was devoted to 'faith matters.' The candidates were stumbling all over themselves trying to prove their religious bona fides to a nation full of religious nutcakes! The whole scenerio brings to mind the saying that, 'Politics is a series of meaningless poses' (concept borrowed from the previous short video). Clearly, America does not yet understand the gruesome possibilities ahead in a modern scientific world full of people who think that there is yet another life beyond the grave!

It seems to me that western civilization was very fortunate to have an atheist adversary (the USSR) at the dawn of the Nuclear Age. The Soviets had no religious delusions at all and were therefore not anxious to enter the next world - overflowing with pussy though it might be. The Soviets were realists, therefore they were humanists. We were very fortunate to have them as our initial adversaries in the atomic age. Thank god we did not have to contend with, say, Iran, back in those days.

So I was not at all impressed with the various absurd protestations of 'faith' which permeated the recent Democratic and Republican debates. In fact, I was horrified. What crap!

(2)

As promised in post number (1) here is the test:

1. What was the color of the razor's handle?
2. When was the new issue on sale?
3. What was the name of his friend?
4. Quote all 'Zen-isms.' (one point each)
5. Name the color of the tie.
6. How long did they wait for a reply?
7. In what issue does the 'speech balloon' become blank?
8. Who sold copies of his older sister's diary?
9. What was the name on the tombstone?
10. Quote the last Zen-ism.

Ten is perfect.

(1)

Journey of Mankind. This elegant visual history ends before the creation of Adam and Eve about six thousand years ago. By the way, the History Channel had an interesting piece (two or three weeks ago) on the possible location of the Garden of Eden: the Persian Gulf. According to the theory, global warming caused 'the garden' to be flooded at the end of the most recent Ice Age, and it now rests underwater. Theoretically, the remains of The Tree of Knowlege - and more importantly the remains of The Tree of Life, could still exist in those waters. If the remains of those two trees are ever found at the bottom of the Persian Gulf then modern science might be able to recreate those two trees in the labratory. Hmm!

The Raftman's Razor. If that link doesn't work try this. This short video is best viewed after a shot of booze transports you out of 'economic mode.' Caution: It's a bit 'Zen-ish' and you might not be able to forget it. If you do choose to view the video be forewarned that there is a test in the next post, so pay close attention lest you flunk.

(5)

Clearly, after the recent news I needed to talk to God. Possible nuculer war with a Muslim nation demanded that folks like me who have access to the brown telephone dial god up. I felt guilty. I dialed 666. I expected the Jewish god WHTZSNM to answer.
Busy signal. Barf.
I stalled, waiting for an interview. I dialed again and again. My call was finally answered:
---------
gd: What was that 'I Love You' shit? We both know the magic words, and they are not, 'I love you.'
me: Light. The subject was light.
gd: Exactly. So what's this crap about 'love?'
me: A myth. I invented a myth.
gd: Be careful what you invent.
me: Point taken. I trust that you speak from experience?
gd: Ask a question or hang up.
me: Earth hangs in the balance...
gd: I know...
me: ...between the rational and the irrational...
gd: I know, I know. Go on.
me: Do You have a suggestion?
gd: Do you mind a brutally honest answer?
me: No.
gd: Suck up.
me Suck?
gd: Up.
----------

(4)

Today is the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper! Alright! The Beatles were into Acid (lysergic acid diethylamide tartrate-25) as you may well know, and this album reflected the resulting 'Acid Consciousness' of the group (Mozart PC#21 at 1922L). Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, for example, is most certainly a reference to LSD, a glorious drug which The Beatles did on a regular basis back in those days. (I repeat: you must do Acid before you die! But beware: you need 'to be worthy.' See previous recent posts on this idea.)

I recently saw a brief reference on the evening news to 'new crazies' who want to attack Iran before they can acquire nuclear weapons. What a fun idea. The choice of whether we should attack now or whether we should wait while that ancient culture civilizes itself is an interesting one. I come down on the side of patience. We need to allow Modernity to replace ancient Muslim Crap in Iran. I think that we need to fight yet another Cold War... with Islam. We need to make it very clear to Iran that the only alternative to coexistence with The West is National Gasification. They will either get it or they won't. If they get it, fine. If they don't get it then we need to proceed with the process of multitudinous gasification. Certainly that eventuality will contribute to Global Warming, but the alternative is even more alarming.

(3)

Bringing us to the immediate: tonight's music began with Beethoven's Choral Fantasy for Piano, Choir and Orchestra (Brendel). It will soon morph to Mozart. Naturally I will keep you informed.

In chapter one H mentions a sort of 'epiphany' when his bible teacher (a 'pious old trout') outraged his epistemological sensibilities at the tender age of nine, presumably causing him to doubt religion. That's pretty young. I'm not sure I can top that, but I have a clear recollection to the effect that after my first communion (about age six) I concluded that this 'religion thing' might well be bullshit. It would take me another 19 years to reach the definitive conclusion to that effect, and that only after reading (about) the British Empiricists (Locke, Berkley, and Hume). I also liked Mill, of course. I later graduated to Russell's more accessible works like, 'Why I am not a Christian.' Needless to say, I heartily concur with Dobbs' recommendation so far.
(Current (1711) music is Mozart PC#16. Good stuff.)
(time out for the news)
1804 and I am back. Big news is that Kevorkian (Doctor Death) is now out of prison. What a delicious subject! Death. We must all do it. We all hate it, hence religion. Even folks like Billy Graham (for example) and Pat Robertson (for example) hate it. We hate it intuitively. It's in our genes to hate it. It's an evolutionary thing. But the effects of evolution end at death. The processes of evolution end at death. Therefore there are no 'inherited' attitudes concerning the actual state of death. All such attitudes are cultural. We know nothing about 'after-death.' The more rational among us suppose that there is nothing to know in that regard. The rest of us hope for more life, after death, and speculate.

(2)

god is not Great arrived wednesday. I have finished chapter one so far. My first impression was that Hitchens is less readable than either Harris or Dawkins because he sometimes writes in a sort of stilted 'British' style reminiscent of John Stuart Mill (for example). That is to say that the text can be alternatively clear and cloudy, depending on how 'american' you are. Even so, I know I'm gonna like this book. By the way, reading up on Hitchens I noticed that he and I share a liking for booze (him more than I) and for much the same reasons: being high makes other people more interesting. The same article pointed out that H sometimes likes to write more or less drunk (another shared trait) which fact may explain my impression of a somewhat uneven first chapter. Nevertheless I liked the way he ended chapter one:

'As I write these words, and as you read them, people of faith are in their different ways planning your and my destruction, and the destruction of all the hard-won human attainments that I have touched upon. Religion poisons everything.'

(1)

The links below represent, more or less in order, my web activity since Monday. Enjoy.

Women in art. Awesome. This will have you smiling. (via walkthisway)

The God Business is booming in Kentucky nowadays, a very counter-intuitive cultural development given the rise of Science and Technology in the 20th century, and a scary one.

I like this lecture by Neil deGrasse Tyson which points to the end of the golden age of Arab Science (and its resulting technology) back in the late 11th century. Seems the culprit in that debacle was a religious nutcake named Al Ghazali. Arab science never recovered. The lesson for modern America is obvious of course, and interestingly, one of our greatest fears seems to be the revival of Arab Science, especially in Iran: Science and religion do not mix well either over here or over there.

Other good stuff by Tyson: The Cosmic Perspective, and The Perimeter of Ignorance (which is the subject of the above video).

An excerpt from Al Gore's The Assault on Reason.

I would replace one of the c-words with 'circumcision.' In fact I would rate 'circumcision' as one of the top ten 'must know' words. And at the risk of TMI, I knew the definitions of 74, didn't have a clue about 9, and 'sorta knew' the definitions of 17. ('sorta' means that I would recognize the definitions - more or less - in the context of a sentence.)

Very funny, especially considering that 'they' really do zap me day and night! Barf.