The Best Scam Ever!

I haven’t tossed up a good Thunderf00t vid in awhile:

I have to admit I don’t get it either. I guess my brain is not wired that way. The good news is that the number of people with no religion is on the rise.

I really don’t care if you think you are an Atheist, Agnostic or a ‘None’. If you are not giving money to any religion, you are reducing their power.

Poisoning your Mind

As we all watch in horror about the events in Boston, CNN makes a post about how the older brother became more religious over the last 4 years. Given the theme of this website, I had to touch on this.

Over the coming days, weeks, months, … We will get a clearer picture of what happened. I’m sure the govt. will get the information they want out of this 19 year old. For all that he’s done, he doesn’t strike me as a battle hardened solider. However, I’ll bet that religion will come into play here.

Religion takes you away from reason and poisons the mind with a new way of thinking. A way where logic is rejected and replaced for whatever the leaders of the religion want you to believe. Thunderf00t just posted a video on this. He goes off at Guatanamo Bay at the end (which I understand), but it seems out of place a bit for me.

It’s a shame. These kids had their whole lives ahead of them and they tossed it away while taking others with them. What did they really do for futher their goal? The US will go on and they will not.

Win Money!

OK, life is letting me get back to my blog. To start, why don’t you win some money…

The Godless are not Going Anywhere!

Some good numbers from yahoo’s news feed about the religious vote and the last election. Highlights:

• “…79 percent of white evangelicals voted for Romney on Tuesday. That’s the same percentage that Bush received in 2004, and more than Sen. John McCain received in 2008. The evangelical vote was 27 percent of the overall electorate — the highest it’s ever been for an election. Their support wasn’t enough. Not only did President Obama win soundly, but four states voted to allow same-sex marriage.”
• “…white evangelicals comprised a quarter of the electorate, … the “nones” — those who claim no religious affiliation — are now the fastest growing “religious” group, comprising one-fifth of the population and a third of adults under 30. Seven out of 10 “nones” voted for Obama.”
• “Second, evangelicals’ influence is waning. Conservative Christian ideas are failing to shape the broader culture. More than 3,500 churches close their doors every year, … The sweeping impact of globalization and the digital age has marginalized the church and its leaders.”

There is a lot of good in those points…

No religion is closing in on the religious 20% to 25%. While all those with no religion don’t ID themselves as ‘Atheist’, having 20% of the population outside of a church’s BS is a huge plus.

The non-religious is growing and churches are closing nationwide. Got to love that.

We are far from stamping out these myths that hurt our culture, but things are moving in the right direction. Religion will have adjust (and the GOP as well), I’m hoping that the Internet is really the game changer. I believe that Thunderf00t is right in his video that I’ve posted before: ‘The Internet: Where Religions Come to Die’

Let’s hope so. It will make for a better world.

Time Warp!

Man does the end of this video ring a bell.

Thunderf00t vs PZ (Part 2)

I really didn’t want to get into this topic and deeper, but since PZ posted a video, I thought it was fair to post it and comment on it.

First PZ talks about how FreeThought Blogs is not really about letting people talk about any subject. I understand that to a degree. This is an Atheist blog site, so I expect people to blog about this subject and Thunderf00t was blogging about Atheist Cons, so I would think he was in the subject matter that the website is shooting for.

Clearly PZ has a stronger take on what FreeThought Blogs is about. I would submit that the name on their website is misleading a bit, that the blog is about the Atheist movement but other causes as well.

Thunderf00t claims to have been told that he could blog about what he wanted. I see support in this claim since PZ states that they really didn’t ‘screen’ him, so it sounds like no one told Tf00t the rules. So, Thunderf00t crossed some line that he didn’t know about and got booted. Thunderf00t has a right to be ticked over that. Also, I still don’t see clear answers to what they agrued about. Some Atheist said there was a problem at Atheist Cons, Thunderf00t questioned that and I haven’t seen a good response yet supporting their claims. If Thunderf00t was booted just for his blog posts and videos, that’s lame.

Thunderf00t can appear to be a bit… heavy handed, so I’m sure he didn’t do anything to smooth things over. PZ’s rant about Tf00t’s survey is just silly and no reason to boot someone.

In the end, I still put this at 75% PZ fault. He left Tf00t in, didn’t explain the rules and then booted Tf00t after the fact when he didn’t like what he blogged about. IMO, PZ has been trying to find other reasons to add on since. I still wouldn’t want to blog there, but will still visit the site since there are other bloggers there I like.

In the end it might be for the best. Thunderf00t makes great videos, but is not the best blogger in the world or at least he doesn’t blog very often, so he might be been booted for not posting much.

Thunderf00t vs PZ

So I want to give my $.02 on this mess.

FreeThought Blogs is an Atheist blog site the host many blogs. Thunderf00t, who vids I show quite a bit on this blog, posted this following post about sexual harassment at atheist conferences.

Now I haven’t been to an atheist conference, nor am I a woman, so it’s hard for me to know if there is a problem or not. That being said, I didn’t see much wrong with Thunderf00t’s post at the first read. He doesn’t see the problem that others do. He may be right or wrong, but I didn’t see much wrong with the post. He at least seems willing to discuss the problem. I will say I agree with Tf00t that anything that happens outside of the conference (i.e. In a bar) is not the business of any atheist conference.

Youtube from Tf00t.

PZ Myers responds with what I thought was a bit over the top and reading into some of Tfoot’s posts.

At this point, Thunderf00t fires with both barrels.

And gets himself kicked off FreeThought Blogs:

Now, again, I’m not going to get into the pissing match. However, I will say that Thunderf00t getting kicked off FreeThought Blogs is BS. Of course those who run the site can do what they want. It’s funny that FreeThought Blogs doesn’t really like a free exchange of thoughts. C0nc0rdance does a good job is summing everything up.

In the end, I found that PZ was quick to take it to the next level and didn’t really think though what he was doing. Thunderf00t didn’t really try to smooth things over either. If I’m going to give blame, I’d give it 75%/25% in favor of PZ.

In the end it’s a shame that the two couldn’t get along, but I also learned something about FreeThought Blogs. I learned that I don’t think I would want to blog there either…

Putting your Hand in Large Hadron Collider!

This is WAY outside my area of knowledge. Still it’s a good vid and clearly Thunderf00t put a lot of thought in this one. Enjoy yourself some science!

Sye, Eric and a Magic Sandwich Part 2

So Thunderf00t and c0nc0rdance have stepped up with a few videos about their interview. c0nc0rdance takes the high road and takes Sye’s and Eric’s message apart:

It’s a good video, but really this video gives Sye more time then he deserves. Thunderf00t directly calls BS.

I agree with Thunderf00t that this position of Sye and Eric is directly because that if you look at the question of God from a fact and evidence point of view, there is nothing for the God agruement to stand on. All they have left to do is to appeal to your emotions that they are right, but please don’t look behind the curtain. Because if you do, then just like the Wizard of Oz, you find out very quickly that your God is false.

Sye, Eric and a Magic Sandwich

So Atheist has IMO smacked down any real discussion that God exists based on the Bible, etc. So now we have been seeing arguments like this one on the Magic Sandwich Show. The argument goes something like this:

• Assume God Exists
• You can know nothing without God
• Therefore I’m right and God exists and anything you say is wrong since you don’t ‘know’ God

Now if this seems childish, you’re right. It’s easy to prove God Exist if you assume to start with that God exist and it’s easy to shoot down anything others say since without God you know nothing.

Of course it’s easy to show that via the Scientific Method, etc. we do have knowledge of how this reality works. All this babbling double talk is just that: Babbling Double Talk.

C0nc0rdance at the end really knocks it out of the park after Thunderf00t sets him up.

Here is Part 1. You can follow the video if you want to watch the rest. I’m trying to get through it, but it’s just too much dishonestly on the part of Sye and Eric. Really, Eric Hovind seems to be a wall flower so far. I think he’s hoping that Sye can carry this battle for him, because he doesn’t seem able from the last Thunderf00t video that I posted. Thunderf00t discusses that talk with Eric Hovind on his blog. He’s a better man than I. I would need a few drinks before I engaged in this level of BS.