September 2012
1 post
{UnWinona}: I debated whether or not to share this... →
unwinona:
And then I debated whether or not to put it on Tumblr…but I decided it was important. Because in my own way, I can (unfortunately) point out exactly what is wrong with men when they don’t realize how hard it is to be a woman. How we do not have equal opportunities and freedoms in everyday life….
June 2012
2 posts
1 tag
Prometheus
Well, I mean, it was a fun action film, but, it was stupid.
Battlefield Earth stupid.
It deserves no more of my time than to state that.
And the upswing starts.
I got a phd friend of mine who I’m doing a martial arts test with in a few weeks to help me with my linear algebra (since his phd is in mathematics). It’s true, linear algebra is beautiful.
My overworking of myself ends in 3 weeks as well. It’s not so horrible and hopeless anymore.
May 2012
1 post
Signal Or Noise
Seems these days all I want to do is watch the world burn.
I’m all out of matches though.
April 2012
3 posts
3 tags
Impossible to Know How to Feel.
So, I really hurt someone on Monday.
Physically.
Emotionally I hurt anyone stupid enough to get close to me all the time. I’m too distant and lost in my own thoughts. That’s a whole other issue.
The thing is, I damaged someone physically.
I was at training, regular class had ended and I was going to get water before doing some free practice. Someone came up behind me and tried to...
2 tags
March 2012
3 posts
4 tags
The Sleeping Mind Is Desire's Playground
I had a fun dream last night. I was hanging out with Wil Wheaton, and I was going to lend him a book. We went to my place to get it and ended up making out a bunch.
Yeah. Like you wouldn’t have too given the opportunity!
And yes, it did totally turn me on and STILL does now.
This dream brought to you by serotonin precursors taken an hour before bed (making it hyper real seeming).
Real...
3 tags
Signal < Noise
School year is almost done. As I go to higher level courses I feel less self conscious about my age.
First year is almost all kids, second year on there are a lot of mature and returning students. It’s not so bad.
Otherwise I would just like to say that Philip K Dick still wrote the original stories or inspired the best scifi and speculative fiction movies ever made. Also, his stories...
5 tags
Fandom
So, I’m not exactly hip.
Just by using that phrase I have proven my own hypothesis.
I really am not very immersed in pop culture, so, it takes a long time for me to notice something.
I’d finally figured I should find out what The Hunger Games was about, since it might be something I’d enjoy too. Looked it up, read about it, a few seconds into reading the premise it was clear...
February 2012
4 posts
4 tags
“Science is a differential equation. Religion is a boundary condition.”
– Alan Turing (1912 – 1954)
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Science is Hard Work
Science is very hard work in fact. Being a student working in a lab has eaten my life because science is such hard work.
I don’t go out and have fun anymore in general. I still train in martial arts, which I do enjoy, but I consider exercise to be obligatory to being able to work hard with my brain, so, it’s not, I don’t know, bonus fun. I work my job to pay my bills, I work...
January 2012
6 posts
9 tags
God Is Not Great
Years ago, when it first came out, I read The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins on the subway on my way to and from work. I got muttered at, sneered at and vaguely made to feel threatened.
I’m finally getting around to reading God Is Not Great by Christopher Hitchens now. Sure, it’s years old and I should have gotten to it a long time ago. Bug me about not getting to this classic...
2 tags
I Miss Posting Here
School is busy. Work is busy. Never get a chance to stop and think, so, I write nothing.
Neuroscince is stilll beautiful, math is still beautiful, so, I’m enjoying what I study.
So, yeah, just hey! How you guys doing?
1 tag
Pay Your Respects To The Vultures, For They Are...
Friend wrote me to tell me someone was dead. She didn’t include their last name. There are four people who that could be all with the same first name who we both know and we’d both care if they died.
I have no idea how to tell her I don’t know who she’s talking about.
3 tags
Salman Rushdie: Christopher Hitchens (Vanity Fair,... →
salmanrushdie1:
On June 8th, 2010, I was “in conversation” with Christopher Hitchens at the 92nd Street Y in New York in front of his customary sellout audience, to launch his memoir, Hitch-22. Christopher turned in a bravura performance that night, never sharper, never funnier, and afterwards at a small,…
2 tags
War Never Changes.
I try to avoid political posts, mostly because whereas I find swatting away religious commentators to be funny, swatting away those with odious political beliefs is just tiresome.
Still, cynical prediction time. It is an election year for the Americans. As is a tradition in the US (and to a lessor extent with the UK) Obama will probably pick his re-election war soon.
The Bushes and Clinton had...
December 2011
13 posts
4 tags
Answer me this if you think you're so smart!
If we came from god, then why is there still a god?
Checkmate, theists!
2 tags
Training
Every muscle aches when I move. That’s how you train.
3 tags
New Year's Traditions
So, some stupid set of ancestors of the dominant demographic arbitrarily set the new year that we predominantly follow to about now.
If you’re living in the Southern hemisphere, this is probably quite nice. For us in the Northern hemisphere (and especially those of us in the hellish frozen northern reaches of the Northern Hemisphere) this is a stupid time to declare one.
So, anyone in the...
2 tags
Jewmas Eve
Almost time to go get Chinese takeout and pick some movies to watch.
I may be an atheist, but this is a tradition I gladly hold.
1 tag
Heirarchy of Idiots
I cannot stand people who graduated from Google University.
Worse than them are people how graduated from Wiki-Highschool.
Worse than them are Ideologues who attended either of those fine institutions.
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You know what I did last night?
Drugs. Ahhh, it’s been so long.
Not much is more beautiful then hallucinogens and long heartfelt talks with incredibly dear friends.
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Orwell And The Deathbed Conversion
I originally started this several days ago. Upon the occasion of Christopher Hitchens’ death I have reframed a bit of it. As it’s a little long, it’s under a cut. I do hope you take the time to read it though.
I hope you will excuse the following protracted quote:
“The trumpet-call had let loose an enormous volume of noise. Already an excited voice was gabbling from...
3 tags
Rest in Peace
Goodnight Christopher Hitchens. Your loss is painful, but your words still burn bright.
You’ve inspired me repeatedly, and will do so even in memory.
Really, there are no words to express this.
5 tags
Very Likely That The Higgs Boson Has Been... →
Link for article describing the likely announcement coming tomorrow of the Higgs Boson being detected at the LHC.
So, Science - May have found, through extremely hard work by thousands of people from all cultures coming together, a very important confirmation that we understand many of the great secrets of the universe.
Religion - Divides the people of the Earth, and all their prayers combined...
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Self Awareness as an Evolutionary Side Effect
Elsewhere on the internet I’m in a long term discussion about free will. Long story short, none of us think it exists. The two dominant perspectives are between myself and one other member of the discussion. My view is that because of how our consciousness works, we live in a way that is functionally equivalent to free will existing. As a result, I don’t let it ruin my day. The...
5 tags
November 2011
24 posts
1 tag
15-Day Atheist Challenge - Day 15
“Recommend a book. :) (Doesn’t have to be relevant to atheism, just any good book.)”
This question is cruel, as it only asks for one book. So, how about…The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. It’s a damn fine book if magic realism, existentialist angst and nameless dread appeal to you in a book.
Ok, so, it was a challenge, but, only because the questions tended...
1 tag
15-Day Atheist Challenge - Day 14
“On a scale of 1-10, how happy are you with life at this moment, and why?”
At this moment I am considering my life at a small scale, not the big picture. As such, I have my health, and two people who are close to me have had great health news. At his moment, knowing that, it’s a ten, purely because people I love are no longer at death’s door. What else could I possibly...
Anonymous asked: Not only do I love your blog ( heh found it ) but I also am secretly infatuated with you. K. here we go I got this idea from a spam msg I received on Facebook lol.. I know you like me but were always way too shy to say so :3 go hit up crushmasher(dót)com (uhh it wont let me do a regular link) then make an acct there. Search for the profile 'justmeandu33' ( obv me ) I posted body...
1 tag
15-Day Atheist Challenge - Day 13
“Would you ever date/marry somebody who follows a religion? Be honest.”
I have! Dated that is. Love is a funny thing.
It is possible to have a deep and very meaningful relationship with someone you disagree with certain facts about.
Anyway, all because someone believes something that is, well, against all evidence, doesn’t mean they can’t care deeply about you and you...
4 tags
The Trials of Research Science.
Had my first research subjects in for testing tonight. The other experimenter was a woman I find so beautiful that I’m somewhere between a nervous wreck and a blob of dopamine when I speak to her. There are far worse difficulties to be subjected to.
For science!
1 tag
15-Day Atheist Challenge - Day 12
“What happens when we die? Do you fear death?”
Actually the first part is nicely open ended. I’ve written about the physical cascade of events before, and how all the potential energy we store is accounted for and that right there is pretty solid evidence against mind body dualism (though how anyone can still believe in mind body dualism since Phineas Gage...
1 tag
15-Day Atheist Challenge - Day 11
“Do you have/plan on having a career in the sciences? Alternatively: which branch of science intrigues you most?”
I’m trying to transition to a career in science, and am working at a lab as well as my regular job and school.
You know, the questions I consider good, I have lame answers for. That wasn’t exciting to read at all. I guess the most interesting aspect of me is...
1 tag
15-Day Atheist Challenge - Day 10
“Are you spiritual, or are your feet always on the ground?”
Day 10 brings us a false dichotomy.
So, the word “spiritual” is like the word “queer”, it’s meaning is so completely subjective that it communicates absolutely nothing whatsoever and should just be abandoned.
I can claim that I’m not spiritual, but someone else can point out my...
3 tags
Dr. Who > Jebus
For all the Whovians, Atheists and combinations of the two.
http://unholyoffice.blogspot.com/2011/06/jesus-vs-dr-who.html?spref=fb
You’re welcome.
1 tag
15-Day Atheist Challenge - Day 9
“Even though you’re an atheist, have you ever experienced a moment that could be called “religious?” Like an epiphany about the world or complete peace?”
I have taken heroic doses of hallucinogenic drugs and have had pleanty of classical religious experiences of ineffable beauty and glory, accompanied with seemingly powerful revelations. Not being an idiot, I didn’t take...
1 tag
15-Day Atheist Challenge - Day 8
“What’s your political alignment? Does your atheism influence how you vote and how you feel on issues?”
Economically centrist, socially very liberal.
Atheism is the stance that you don’t believe in a god or gods are there is no evidence. I fail to understand how that could influence how I feel on issues, but it does mean I’m very unlikely to vote for a theocratic party. ...
1 tag
15-Day Atheist Challenge - Day 7
“Except for God, do you believe in anything supernatural or pseudoscientific? (Ghosts, alien abductions, spirits, souls, demons, psychics, magic, Harry Potter, etc.)”
And we’re back to questions so stupid that I’m embarrassed for whomever wrote these.
The question presupposes that I believe in god. I know what the asker is trying to say, but their grammar is so bad...
1 tag
15-Day Atheist Challenge - Day 6
“How do you feel about so-called “militant atheists” such as Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, and Sam Harris?”
I’d do them. And if I’m not being clear, I mean in the pants.
Tell them to call me.
1 tag
“This, to me, is the ultimately heroic trait of ordinary people; they say no to...”
– Philip K. Dick (1928 – 1982)
1 tag
15-Day Atheist Challenge - Day 5
“Did you lose any friends because you decided to be an atheist? Did your family flip out?”
A far less deeply flawed set of questions today. I have some deep criticisms still, but they don’t make me angry.
First part, I have to agree with several who have said that atheism is the null hypothesis. No one is born a theist, that nonsense is taught. Therefore you don’t...
1 tag
15-Day Atheist Challenge - Day 4
“Do you think religion is obsolete and should be wiped completely off the face of the Earth, or does some good come out of it?”
Ok, this is a shit question. It’s actually 3 questions, at least one of which is trying to solicit a normative statement from me.
As such, I’ll answer it as three questions, and try to change it from normative to positive.
Is religion...
1 tag
15-Day Atheist Challenge - Day 3
“Are you a more outspoken or more apathetic atheist? Why?”
Outspoken. Because truth matters.
Call it a function of Judaic background, but if a lie is spoken, and you have real evidence that contradicts the lie but you stay silent, you are complicit in the propogation of that lie. If the lie can cause damage or suffering due to it’s propagation and integration into...
