Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Well fuck...

Way to go Congress!
Now half of us won't be able to pay our bills.

I'm Phil and I support(ed) the bailout plan.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Chicago

I have a lot of mixed feelings about the Windy City. While I love the culture and diversity of the populace, it's also where I was first mugged. Which is pretty much how my Chicago experiences always go. Awe and body-blow.

I should've known something was gonna go wrong with this trip from the moment we got to the Greyhound station. It's 2 am, Lucas Oil Stadium is standing across the street being the several hundred odd million dollar waste it is. And directly outside of our gate was a deranged, homeless black man performing judo on the bus mall. Jake's stepdad really pulled through for us and got us the already cheap tickets for free.

The ride up was very uneventful. Ryan ended up asleep with a t-shirt over his head, and I ended up asleep on him. As far as I know, Jake and Tiffany just played Gameboy. We got into the station at 5:20 Chicago time and laid around on the bus for a while. After several minutes of awkward somersaulting in the seats, we decided to just start our day. Mistake number one.

We set out for Michigan Avenue and the Red line buses immediately. It's worth mentioning that I've never experienced better weather in the city than that morning, and I'm always stunned by how empty the streets in Chicago are before 7 am. Aside from the solitary jogger we didn't run into anyone walking through the financial sector. When we got closer to the Magnificent Mile homeless people started to turn up en masse, mostly glued to benches. Jake was pretty anxious to do something, so we just decided to eat at McDonald's because some of us were getting cranky.

Now after we left the McDonald's we crossed the street to look at the Rainforest Cafe and I have to say I nearly shit my pants. On the concrete in the back alley was a pool of red liquid that was the general size of a body. I'm sure it could've been someone dropping a pig or something (do they still carry whole pigs around?), but I've never been so scared of a puddle in my whole life. We quickly made it out of the alley and headed towards the buslines.

Thanks to my fantastic navigatory skills we ended up 4 blocks from where we were supposed to be, and I had fostered the ire of one of my comrades. It certainly wasn't hard to do considering the amount of sleep we all had. With all of us tucked comfortably on the bus to Chinatown the tension was expelled. There isn't a whole lot to do in any part of Chicago until at least 9 am so we just went to the Wal-green's, got some novelty candy, and hunkered down with a Chinese newspaper. I think I have retained no more than 100 characters from my Chinese classes so it was a brief read.

9 am -
We can finally do stuff! We hit pretty much every shop in Chinatown and dropped far too much money. I know that Pokemon stuff isn't Chinese but Ryan bought the cutest apron with the 1st generation family on it. I bought 2 pairs of kung-fu shoes (aka slippers), a keychain, and a bunch of haichu. I was going to bring some home to Kate, but I ate it all waiting for lunch time to come around.

Jake and Tiffany ran off at some point so I'm not really sure what they did for that period. When we all got back together we went to the mall. We grabbed some ginkco fruit from a tree hoping that we would be able to plant some back at home. However, the smell was just disarming and Jake and Ryan threw it away (I think?). We ate at the best Chinese food for lunch, I wish I could remember the name of the restaurant. They were the best rice cakes I've ever had, and I've had a lot. We remained occupied until 2 or so and headed back to the bus stop. Thanks to me and Ryan's poor judgement we ended up over at McCormick. It was the wrong direction.

We decided to just walk back to the Greyhound station. Mistake two.

It was only...oh, I don't know. 6 fucking miles to walk through winding city blocks on 1 hour of sleep in a 48 hour period! I'm going to cut this part out because it was seriously the most stressful hour and a half of my life.

So we make it to the bus station and make it onto our bus. The fucking bus breaks down on the way home! I have never had such awful luck in my entire life. End.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Atheist Blogroll and SPORE

Alright, I've been added to the Atheist Blogroll! You can see the 25 most recently updated blogs in my sidebar. It's a great community so make sure to check out them out. If you're interested in joining, the founder of the blogroll is found here. Deep Thoughts.

Also, I uploaded the SPORE creation viewer at the bottom of the page if you're interested in that.
Uh, that's about it for now. Big post coming later tonight.

Sayonara!

Saturday, September 20, 2008

ACLU

The Student and Member Conference is fast approaching!

Friday, September 19, 2008

Thursday, September 18, 2008

It's Always Sunny

New season starts tonight! I rarely get this excited about TV.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

Steakhouse

I'm sitting in the car waiting for Jake to get out of work. We're going to BK for lunch. This was pointless.

God I am bored!

Boy, I tell ya hwhat.

The media is making it sound like doomsday with the financial meltdown. They're gonna scare a lot of ignorant people into thinking they all need to rush out and get guns so they can "match lead with gold." I don't need to remind anyone that gun-toting maniacs already run rampant in our society.

The fact of the matter is this has to happen for the economy to get better. A system can't exponentially improve, and for the most part it hasn't been improving for a number of years now. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who pays attention to the markets. I'm glad I don't have any money in Lynch or Lehman, but guess what!

FDIC!

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Someone still loves you Ed Hochuli...kind of.



While your call sent me into a Hulk-esque rage Ed, I can forgive you. Everyone makes mistakes. The Chargers just have to work a little harder this season. I'm sure they can still come out on top as division leaders...maybe. With a lot of luck and relying on others to fuck up.


In other news I left my brother to deal with vicious community college recruiters on his own. My time was no better spent wandering around, trying to avoid the beggars at the bus stop.

Image credit: With Leather

Martialis heureka


The newest member of the ant family! (living anyway)

The new species lives in the soil and is completely blind, as evidenced by the lack of eyes. He's also a member to his own subspecies of ant. It's only a matter of time before he nets some comrades. What a neat insect.

Original article

Monday, September 15, 2008

Application

Well, I applied to the blogroll. I hope I make it.

What the fuck?!

In a huge step back this week the UK has deemed Islamic sharia law officially binding. The sharia tribunals will handle matters ranging from divorce to domestic violence. I'm sure the government is aware that Muslim women are traditionally treated like dogs and enjoy limited civil rights. This did not stop them. The British government needs to stop worrying about political correctitude and stand up to these brutes. Women are consistently going to get the short end of the straw on many of the hearings that will happen in these courts, and at least three already have.

"In one recent inheritance dispute in Nuneaton, a Muslim man's estate was split between three daughters and two sons with each son receiving twice as much as each daughter - in keeping with sharia law."


We'll see how this plays out.

Friday, September 12, 2008

John Lennon deserved to die!

Well my new friend Anna has contacted me again, spewing the most ridiculous garbage I think I have ever read. It seems she wants me to hedge my bets and just accept Jesus Christ as my lord and saviour. I'm sure she didn't realize but Pascal's wager is just about the weakest argument in the theist book. I just wanted to share this message with everyone. It seems like a recruiting thing that all online evangelists use but it's just so damn crazy.

Death is certain but the Bible speaks about untimely death!
Make a personal reflection about this..it's very interesting, so read it until the end.....

It is written in the Bible (Galatians 6:7):
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sow, that shall he also reap."

Here are some men and women who mocked God!:

John Lennon (Singer):
Some years before, during his interview with an American Magazine, he said:
"Christianity will end, it will disappear.I do not have to argue about that. I am certain. Jesus was ok, but his subjects were too simple, today we are more famous than Him" (1966).
Lennon, after saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, was shot six times. (ha)



Tancredo Neves (President of Brazil ):

During the Presidential campaign, he said if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him from Presidency...Sure he got the votes, but he got sick a day before being made President, then he died.


Cazuza (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and poet):

During A show in Canecio ( Rio de Jan eiro ),
while smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said:"God, that's for you"

He died at the age of 32 of LUNG CANCER in a horrible manner.



The man who built the Titanic:
After the construction of Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be.
With an ironic tone he said:
"Not even God can sink it"
The result: I think you all know what happened to the Titanic

Marilyn Monroe (Actress)
She was visited by Billy Graham during a presentation of a show. He said the Spirit of God had sent him to preach to her. After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said:
"I don't need your Jesus."

A week later, she was found dead in her apartment



Bon Scott (Singer)
The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC. On one of his 1979 songs he sang:
"Don't stop me; I'm going down all the way, down the highway to hell"

On the 19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead, he had been choked by his own vomit.



Campinas (IN 2005)
In Campinas , Brazil a group of friends, drunk, went to pick up a friend.....
The mother accompanied her to the car and was so worried about the drunkenness of her friends and she said to the daughter holding her hand, who was already seated in the car:
"My Daughter, Go With God And May He Protect You."

She responded: "Only If He (God) Travels In The Trunk, Cause Inside Here.....It's Already Full"
Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a fatal accident, everyone had died, the car could not be recognized what type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the trunk was intact.
The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact. To their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, none was broken


Christine Hewitt (Jamaican Journalist and entertainer)
said the Bible (Word of God) was the worst book ever written.

n June 2006 she was found burnt beyond recognition in her motor vehicle.

***Many more important people have forgotten that there is no other name that was given so much authority as the name of Jesus.

Many have died, but only Jesus died and rose again, and he is still alive.****



Seriously. If this isn't the most offensive thing you've ever read I don't know what will be (excluding the Talmud/Bible/Koran). I have made fun of god and the idea of him everyday for easily the last 6 years. I am not dead. In fact in you take into consideration all the people who are atheists and the percentage that don't die after blaspheming! Well this argument would look as strong as a kid with MS who just ran 3 miles.

Anna, thank you for validating everything I hold dear.






Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Evangelized!

I couldn't really count how many times a year a stranger would walk up to me, and ask me "How do you know you're going to heaven?" It's usually pretty hard for them to wrap their head around the idea that I don't think there is a heaven. So, street proselytizers are commonplace in any American city, but something I've really started to notice lately is online witnessing. Not the regular Christian intertrolls, but people who seem to actually care (doesn't make it okay either way). I'm talking about people who take however many minutes out of their life to try to personally save you. Noble, eh? I've known people who have had this happen to them but I got my first message from a girl named Anna the other day. Here it is.



When you die, nothing happens(?) life is really not about disproving others beliefs, but living by your own personal faith and having a positive outlook in life. no matter how much you try to tell Christians there "is no God", they will not listen to you, merely because Christians are just as hard headed as atheists.So you are wasting your time, giving yourself headaches day by day, trying not to believe something that could exist lol Fact is, Jesus made history, and he did not make it easy for us to trust in Him. The Bible is hard to understand because it's supposed to challenge us in ways where it will strengthen our faith. I suppose maybe you were a huge science geek in high school? You look like it, but anyway, if you read the new international version, I suppose you'd understand the Bible better..for real.I think I would like to see your pretty face in heaven someday


xoxoanna



Thank you Anna, so much, for your concern. You really know how to get me on your team. First underhandedly insult me, then call me pretty. In any case, last time I checked you didn't have to be a science "geek" to subscribe to rational thought. Let's just discount all the philospohers, artists, and not to mention oridnary fucking people(!) who are also atheists.



First of all, I don't sit around "giving myself headaches" everyday. I don't have existential meltdowns every three seconds because I get anxious that my intergalactic babysitter isn't watching. It's hard to believe that so many religious folk think that atheists are miserable. I shouldn't speak for everyone, but I know I'm certainly happy. As a matter of fact I'm so happy some might say I have a positive outlook on life. That couldn't be though because I don't believe in god.



You know that saying, "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink." THAT is why I write about my atheism. I was lucky enough to stumble upon Richard Dawkin's The Blind Watchmaker, and it opened my eyes to a world that theists cut themselves off from. So while the assertion is made that no matter how many times I say "there is no god" I can tell you that it has worked on at least one person.



On the matter of Jesus making history. We don't know if he even existed. The only evidence we have to suggest he did comes from religious archaeologists with an agenda, interpretting history as they see fit to give creedence to their lord and saviour. People who cite the Bible as a work of historical fact are seriously confused about it's origins. Google council of Nicaea. I have some news and don't take it the wrong way, but...it's not the infallible word of god. Also, Anna. The fact that you're reading a version of the Bible rewritten means you're getting a watered down, filtered piece of shit. You'd probably be stoned for interpretation like that in Jesus' day.



If you feel like challenging my views that's fine. I feel pretty sure that gods don't exist, but I can't say for certain that they don't. I can however assure that you are going to have a hell of a time shaking my unbelief. And I hate to beat a dead horse, but you know what else might exist Anna?



The Flying Spaghetti Monster. Zeus. Kthulu.