John Loftus wrote the following quote several weeks ago. It's taken me a long time to post on this because I'm still shocked that a rational human being could actually think the following quote:
Osama Bin Laden was probably a good man; sincere, devout and God fearing. But all it takes to make good people do evil is religion. Keep that in mind. That is the lesson of his life. He was deluded in the same way as other believers. Some delusions cause more harm than others though, and he caused a great deal of it. The problem is he will never know he was deluded. Neither will any of the rest of them. What a waste of a life.
John Loftus and many atheists said much the same thing about Anders Behring Behring a few weeks ago. They blamed religion for the acts of Bin Landen and Behring. Truly facepalm worthy because the attitude is that Bin Laden would what have been a better person but his religion corrupted him as if every Muslim would do what he did. The same accusation was made about Behring. However no one can honestly say that Behring is a Christian. He has way more in common with John Loftus' fantasy Christianity than with any born-again Christian I have known. Again, David Wood more than proved this. Go back and watch his video if you missed it.
Dr Matt Flannagan has posted an article about the often touted argument that morality of an action should only be couched by the question of who that action harms and why. Unfortunately, people really think the graphic at the right is enough. Flannagan writes:
In debates over abortion, homosexual conduct, euthanasia, prostitution, drugs, those who call themselves liberals often mount the same basic argument; a socially or morally permissive stance is necessitated towards such practices because people have a right to choose do what ever they like with their own bodies.As John Stuart Mill put it in his book On Liberty:
“The only part of the conduct of anyone, for which he is amenable to society, is that which concerns others. In the part which merely concerns himself, his independence is, of right, absolute. Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.” [Emphasis added]
Ken has posted a great article summarizing quick and powerful rebuttals to Islamic Polemics. These are arguments that are often raised and it's good to have answers summarized and reference in a single place.
New discoveries are being made all the time including in Information technology. Here is a very interesting video about what's coming in the future of information transmission.
What if every light bulb in the world could also transmit data? At TEDGlobal, Harald Haas demonstrates, for the first time, a device that could do exactly that. By flickering the light from a single LED, a change too quick for the human eye to detect, he can transmit far more data than a cellular tower — and do it in a way that’s more efficient, secure and widespread.
Now here is a match up I've been waiting for: Dr Darrell Bock vs Dr. Bart Ehrman! They were on the British Radio/Podcast program Unbelievable? with Justin Brierley. They discussed Dr Ehrman's latest book "Forged". Listen to the exchange and make up your own mind.
Of course I'd expect that announcing that a new character who happens to be half-black and half-latino, named Miles Morales, to draw a lot of fire. Why? This is America. We still not over the President being half-black. Why would I expect that one of the most recognizable American icons not draw similar problems? For once, I wish I had been proven wrong. This particular article spotlights the stupidity of Glenn Beck. I don't even know where to begin about how stupid his remarks are.
I'm not even sure where he even got the idea that Miles was going to be portrayed as gay? I have not even heard of a single such report. No one deserves that kind of hate and ignorance. I see nothing wrong with Comics characters that look like the people who read them. I wonder how people like generate enough brain power to keep their autonomic nervous system working. If that isn't proof of God's mercy and power, it's hard to point to a better example.
Fortunately, Beck's stupidity isn't being ignored. Stephen Colbert mocks such "news" coverages:
To make this even more stranger is that Michael Davis who is African-American has been approached to develop television for the 11-16 age demographic for...Beck TV! Does Davis have the track record, experience, and talent to pull that job off. Yup! But he will not sell out on his principles. Davis writes the following:
IS YOU STUPID??
Now if I were a sell out Negro, I’m sure I could create some shows for Massa Beck that I’m sure he would love…
How about, Nigger-Man? It’s an animated show about a Black superhero on welfare.
Or…The Nigger Family, that’s show about a black family on welfare.
Perhaps, Name that African American would make a good show. It’s an educational game show where the kids get to name the black person.
They name them all, nigger.
I’m fully aware that there is a good chance that the company that asked me to create something for Glen Beck may see this.
So be it. If it destroys my relationship there I could care less. If by some miracle Beck sees this and wonders why I just didn’t take the money and ignore everything else I say this,
I’m not that nigger.
I love to see someone standing up for what they believe in. Someone has to draw the line somewhere. I don't really think that Beck is that stupid, but the people who are in charge of Beck TV is. Looks like someone wants to be Oprah while lambasting Barack Obama and Marvel Comics.
This past week two things happened that showed us that we have much to do in terms of race relations: The new Spider-Man is a half-black and half-latino and Lawrence Fishburne has been cast in the Superman movie as Perry White. Quite a few racist remarks has been said and being African-American myself I am highly sensitive. The truth is that in the battle of black vs white in America, we often forget that most of the people on the planet are Asian (Chinese to be exact). Also there is so much racism against people who are from that part of the world. Let's face it: whoever is freshest off the boat gets it first in America, and blacks and latinos are next. Everyone should be protected. It's always interesting to hear what Asian-Americans experience. They are in the same boat as other minorities - used, abused, and stereotyped. Why are there are almost no Asian-American superheroes? Racism. The people who control the media don't think we want to read about and watch strong Asian characters. Some people do transcend all of that: Bruce Lee, Jet Li, Jackie Chan - but they are exception. This is why the live-action Dragonball and Avatar:The Last Airbender moves had non-Asian casts for characters who clearly should have been Asian. It's sad. Look at the video below that deals with these question from a Taiwaneses point of view.
Google Earth for the Human Body. Cool Idea. Google is working on a 3D model explorer for the human body. I'm having much trouble getting it to work on a PC running Windows XP and there is
an Android Version but it only works on version 3.0 or better. Alas I don't have a device with an operating system that new. Oh well, guess I'll just have to settle for the demo videos for right now.
Google Body is a detailed 3D model of the human body. You can peel back anatomical layers, zoom in, and navigate to parts that interest you. Click to identify anatomy, or search for muscles, organs, bones and more.
You can also share the exact scene you are viewing by copying and pasting the corresponding URL.
You will need a web browser that supports WebGL, such as Google Chrome.
I've always been a Spider-Man fan. ALWAYS. When I was a young child, I wanted to be Spider-Man. The fact that Spider-Man was white didn't bother me (still doesn't). The character transcends race. Andrew Garfield, who will play Spider-Man in the next film, captured why the character is important to me even now in his speech at Comic Con 2011. In Ultimate Fallout #4, released today, a new Spider-man is introduced. It's not Peter Parker. He is Mile Morales who is half black and half Latino in a parallel universe to a comic book universewe usually read in the main Spider-man titles. Miles picks up for Peter after Peter died last June in the Ultimate Universe.
This move answers the question brought up last year when people suggested Donald Glover to be cast as Spider-Man/Peter Parker: "Why can't Spider-Man be black?" I like the way this is being handled because we get to keep Peter Parker and yet explore the Spider-Man character in a direction I never thought would happen. My son will look at Spider-Man in a total different way than I have.
Dr Claude Mariottini has pointed out a book by Susanne Scholz called Sacred Witness: Rape in the Hebrew Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2010) . I find that this subject is often brought up as an objection against God and Christianity as if the Bible condones and prescribes rape as acceptable behavior. Scholz does a better job it seems in how she studies the object and has a very good goal.
Scholz’s goal “is to provide readings of biblical rape texts that endorse a hermeneutics of meanings and present the Hebrew Bible as a ‘sacred witness’ to rape in the lives of women, children, and men” (p. 23).
This is part 2 of Elder Burnett's post regarding the ACLC. This one is even more shocking to me than the first. I never thought that the Nation of Islam could get further off from the truth. I was wrong. Turns out that there is no bottom to heresy.
I really appreciate, Elder Burnett for turning attention to the ACLC. IT brings yet another example how false prophets and teachers can mask themselves and mislead many people. It also shows that God does indeed raises a standard - a banner - showing us where we need to go. That standard is the Bible. Anything that sets it up over and/or against it must be cast down. Heresy takes all kind of forms and few of them appear ugly. Read Elder Burnett's article.
I'm not sure how to take this. Marvel has dropped the news of who the new Spider-Man is in Ultimate Spider-Man. I'll wait until I read this to comment. If you wanna know who is under that mask (Peter Parker) is dead in the Ultimate Marvel universe now, then click on the link below to read a great article on this news.
