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Weekend's finished.
Sep. 3rd, 2006 11:59 pmHappy Labour Day tomorrow to all the working stiffs (like me this summer). Today, I crossed the border into Canada with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
annaonthemoon, pseudowolf, and greenhornline... Canadian customs took interest in Pseudowolf, asking as to whether he was carrying weapons or firearms or had a permit to do so because of where he was from. I guess he looks like a terrist, maybe? Or someone who's going to shoot up the town. Anyway, we managed to go into Windsor without incident, where we lost a little money at the slot machines and card tables. Then we walked through horticultural and statue gardens. Which was probably at least a mile, if not two, and then back again. Needless to say, annaonthemoon's foot did not take kindly to things, and so on her return trip, her speed was slowed significantly. We managed to find somewehre to eat without too much incident, and then took the tunnel back because I made a bad turn in trying to get back to the bridge. D'oh! U.S. immigration was a breeze, though, and we found our way home safely. So I've finally actually been outside the United States, even if only for a few hours.
We then played a round of Chez Geek back home. I drew the highest Slack Goal, but I managed to be victorious (althoughannaonthemoon had by far the most things/people in her room). House plant and magic brownies put my Slack over the top. Yay! I also appear to have inherited a digital camera from annaonthemoon, as well. So there might be pictures of things that I see... eventually. Or something. There was some reason I wanted a camera to take pictures with other than just having a riot of a time taking pictures of cosplayers. Perhaps, if it reappears, I'll remember what it is...
On the "d00d!" front, there's someone building a 13th-century style castle using 13th-century methods. It's be done in 2023, if all goes well, and I suspect it will have cost a significant boatload of money. There's 50 people working on it now - might move the timetable up if there are more craftsmen that can be hired.
I'm not familiar with this particular Internet exercise, but apparently, there's a bit of a Truman Show-style sequence going on YouTube. Chronicling the adventures of someone screentitled LonelyGirl15 and her supporting cast, one of the questions that's floating around about her is - Is She or Isn't She an actor? Is it all staged for the benefit of the camera, or is it really something spontaneous?
I'm feeling some deja vu on these next articles, like I've linked to them before. Occasionally, my sources do duplicate themselves, but generally they do it on the same day. Although this timestamp is for a while ago... The Militarization of the American Language,
Also, in the religious side of things, I'm feeling a slight deja vu, but it all fits together rather nicely. First, Newsweek tells us that being an atheist in America is tough. Following that, there are the state constitutions that prohibit atheists in office. From here, all the links contained at American Samizdat's Religion in the News page - we'll get to the end comment after the parade of articles. Voodoo claimed as a cause of a man killing himself and his children, a church compound where sexual abuse of children may have occurred over many years, an earlier article about boys being trafficked in for human sacrificing, another pedophile claiming his own religion protects him from the law, a broken link, but it's more about using MySpace and the Internet to lure teens into sex. There's a Christian bookstore owner and a part-time police officer involed on that one, and rape under the guise of casting out lesbian demons. All of these are nasty, bad things. Most of them use religion, in one way or another, as a justification for nasty acts. I suspect, though, that most people would look at these and say, "These people aren't practicing my religion. They're practicing something of their own/the satan." (Aside: Saw a shirt today that said "Keep rock evil.") So it's not really fair to tar the sane ones with the same brush as these particular wackies. Although they probably have about the same extremism as the people who will cheerily kill other people in the name of their God and promise heaven to those who do so.
So we'll get to the last line, that is meant either as a summation or a throwaway pithy comment: "Religion is a public mental health health crisis and it's time we started addressing it as such." I can't agree with that statement. It's true that religion will be used as a justification for heinous acts. Even in these enlightened times, though, science cannot explain all things yet. Science, at some point, should be able to explain all things within the mechanics of its theories, without the requirement of an unprovable deity or First Mover. At that point, one can begin to phase out religion as a viable way of explaining the universe and such. Even then, though, I don't expect the world to become complete atheists. God will still be around, just as something to believe in. Or even as a matter of study for anthropologists, who might find it useful. Historically speaking, though, scientific achievement happens both through people who have no belief in a divinity and people who do believe in a divinity. Sometimes that belief in the divinity is what drives them to discover the science they have.
Where things go wrong, in my opinion, is when religion is not tempered by science. The things that can be explained by science are wonderous and great, and may be the blueprint of the Intelligent Faller, for all I know. When given the choice between "trust that God will save you from dashing yourself on these sharp rocks" and "use the parachute to float away from the rocks", though, let the parachute out! Just because you have faith does not give you licence to be stupid! If you want to prove that you came from an intelligent designer, use the intelligence you got from him/her. Science gaining ground should be hailed, not reviled, because it adds to the grandeur of $DEITY by making such complex things work under deducible and understandable rules. Anyone who can make all the simple things work together in harmonious and complex ways, and manages to get the bugs out, deserves praise as a master of their craft. "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and render unto G-d what is G-d's." If it can be explained by science, give it to science and begin working on the things that are yet in G-d's domain. If, at the end, there is nothing left that is G-d's, then perhaps the greatest achievement of G-d is making a universe that does not require him to tend it. Science is relatively unconcerned with G-d, because G-d is not a testable hypothesis as defined. Science is ignostic, in my opinion. So why are people so worried that the progress of science is going to destroy religion? If many denominations of Christianity already freely admit that they don't follow all of Torah's prohibitions, what's stopping them from being further able to modify their views to fit in with the currently accepted scientific cosmology? Other than it doesn't mesh with their pet interpretation... and aren't there consequences for hubris and puffing oneself up in the Christian Foundational Writings anyway?
Regardless, to bed I go, sunburnt badly but having enjoyed the day today. Happy Labour Day.
annaonthemoon, pseudowolf, and greenhornline... Canadian customs took interest in Pseudowolf, asking as to whether he was carrying weapons or firearms or had a permit to do so because of where he was from. I guess he looks like a terrist, maybe? Or someone who's going to shoot up the town. Anyway, we managed to go into Windsor without incident, where we lost a little money at the slot machines and card tables. Then we walked through horticultural and statue gardens. Which was probably at least a mile, if not two, and then back again. Needless to say, annaonthemoon's foot did not take kindly to things, and so on her return trip, her speed was slowed significantly. We managed to find somewehre to eat without too much incident, and then took the tunnel back because I made a bad turn in trying to get back to the bridge. D'oh! U.S. immigration was a breeze, though, and we found our way home safely. So I've finally actually been outside the United States, even if only for a few hours.We then played a round of Chez Geek back home. I drew the highest Slack Goal, but I managed to be victorious (although
annaonthemoon had by far the most things/people in her room). House plant and magic brownies put my Slack over the top. Yay! I also appear to have inherited a digital camera from annaonthemoon, as well. So there might be pictures of things that I see... eventually. Or something. There was some reason I wanted a camera to take pictures with other than just having a riot of a time taking pictures of cosplayers. Perhaps, if it reappears, I'll remember what it is...On the "d00d!" front, there's someone building a 13th-century style castle using 13th-century methods. It's be done in 2023, if all goes well, and I suspect it will have cost a significant boatload of money. There's 50 people working on it now - might move the timetable up if there are more craftsmen that can be hired.
I'm not familiar with this particular Internet exercise, but apparently, there's a bit of a Truman Show-style sequence going on YouTube. Chronicling the adventures of someone screentitled LonelyGirl15 and her supporting cast, one of the questions that's floating around about her is - Is She or Isn't She an actor? Is it all staged for the benefit of the camera, or is it really something spontaneous?
I'm feeling some deja vu on these next articles, like I've linked to them before. Occasionally, my sources do duplicate themselves, but generally they do it on the same day. Although this timestamp is for a while ago... The Militarization of the American Language,
Also, in the religious side of things, I'm feeling a slight deja vu, but it all fits together rather nicely. First, Newsweek tells us that being an atheist in America is tough. Following that, there are the state constitutions that prohibit atheists in office. From here, all the links contained at American Samizdat's Religion in the News page - we'll get to the end comment after the parade of articles. Voodoo claimed as a cause of a man killing himself and his children, a church compound where sexual abuse of children may have occurred over many years, an earlier article about boys being trafficked in for human sacrificing, another pedophile claiming his own religion protects him from the law, a broken link, but it's more about using MySpace and the Internet to lure teens into sex. There's a Christian bookstore owner and a part-time police officer involed on that one, and rape under the guise of casting out lesbian demons. All of these are nasty, bad things. Most of them use religion, in one way or another, as a justification for nasty acts. I suspect, though, that most people would look at these and say, "These people aren't practicing my religion. They're practicing something of their own/the satan." (Aside: Saw a shirt today that said "Keep rock evil.") So it's not really fair to tar the sane ones with the same brush as these particular wackies. Although they probably have about the same extremism as the people who will cheerily kill other people in the name of their God and promise heaven to those who do so.
So we'll get to the last line, that is meant either as a summation or a throwaway pithy comment: "Religion is a public mental health health crisis and it's time we started addressing it as such." I can't agree with that statement. It's true that religion will be used as a justification for heinous acts. Even in these enlightened times, though, science cannot explain all things yet. Science, at some point, should be able to explain all things within the mechanics of its theories, without the requirement of an unprovable deity or First Mover. At that point, one can begin to phase out religion as a viable way of explaining the universe and such. Even then, though, I don't expect the world to become complete atheists. God will still be around, just as something to believe in. Or even as a matter of study for anthropologists, who might find it useful. Historically speaking, though, scientific achievement happens both through people who have no belief in a divinity and people who do believe in a divinity. Sometimes that belief in the divinity is what drives them to discover the science they have.
Where things go wrong, in my opinion, is when religion is not tempered by science. The things that can be explained by science are wonderous and great, and may be the blueprint of the Intelligent Faller, for all I know. When given the choice between "trust that God will save you from dashing yourself on these sharp rocks" and "use the parachute to float away from the rocks", though, let the parachute out! Just because you have faith does not give you licence to be stupid! If you want to prove that you came from an intelligent designer, use the intelligence you got from him/her. Science gaining ground should be hailed, not reviled, because it adds to the grandeur of $DEITY by making such complex things work under deducible and understandable rules. Anyone who can make all the simple things work together in harmonious and complex ways, and manages to get the bugs out, deserves praise as a master of their craft. "Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, and render unto G-d what is G-d's." If it can be explained by science, give it to science and begin working on the things that are yet in G-d's domain. If, at the end, there is nothing left that is G-d's, then perhaps the greatest achievement of G-d is making a universe that does not require him to tend it. Science is relatively unconcerned with G-d, because G-d is not a testable hypothesis as defined. Science is ignostic, in my opinion. So why are people so worried that the progress of science is going to destroy religion? If many denominations of Christianity already freely admit that they don't follow all of Torah's prohibitions, what's stopping them from being further able to modify their views to fit in with the currently accepted scientific cosmology? Other than it doesn't mesh with their pet interpretation... and aren't there consequences for hubris and puffing oneself up in the Christian Foundational Writings anyway?
Regardless, to bed I go, sunburnt badly but having enjoyed the day today. Happy Labour Day.
