September 2011
1 post
Greater Harm
@mindymayhem wrote “His scenario* was that an illegal immigrant who reports a crime should be deported. So if you cared so much about these people being “exploited” (by willingly coming here), how could you possibly condone them living in terror of reporting crime? The results would be not unlike this, if you ask me: http://bit.ly/obxJcJ *And I have to say (esp after you said...
July 2011
1 post
On #gaymarriage
I know I have posted ob this subject before, but I kind of feel like making my point again, given that the gay marriage issue isn’t really about marriage at all, but rather it is about the separation of church and state and also about protections provided under the 1st and 14th amendments of the US Constitution.
It also boils down to a lack of definition in the terms used - I.e....
March 2011
4 posts
Stupid Design in #reactor plants #Fukushima
Does anyone else think it is really stupid to pack six reactors close enough together to prevent individual mitigation of incidents?
Does anyone else think it is stupid to have your spent fuel rod pond on a top deck of a building, way above ground?
Does anyone else think it is stupid for the bulk of a reactor facility to be above ground in the first place?
Does anyone else think it is stupid...
Ten Commandments of Reactor Plant Design
I’ve made it a hobby over the last 30 or so years to learn everything I could about everything nuclear. Some collect stamps, some candles. I read and study about nuclear reactors, weapons, accidents, storage, containment, and just about every other aspect of radioactivity. As a kid, my dad was an electrician at an Oklahoma Gas & Electric PWR reactor near Ada - I’m not sure if it...
August 2010
1 post
An Entire New Class of Idiot Needed for...
Whereas KrazyJoe @JoeCienkowski defies all classification as a “normal” idiot, and;
Whereas KrazyJoe demonstrates a decided lack of knowledge on almost every single subject he has ever spoken, blogged, tweeted, and/or communicated to anyone using any method, and;
Whereas there really is no classification for the obvious shitty education Joe Cienkowski has obtained from wherever he...
July 2010
2 posts
On an individual's Right to Die #atheist...
Everyone knows that if you ask your average fundamentalist Christian about self or assisted termination (AKA euthanasia, right to die, doctor assisted suicide, etc.) they will tell you it is a sin, blah blah blah.
It seems that for some reason, a person’s highly subjective and personal reasons to want to terminate their own life of their own volition - usually due to suffering such as...
Merriam-Webster considering change to definition...
I sent the following email to the editorial department of Merriam-Webster:
Your definition of “Atheist” is “One who believes there is no deity.” However, the actual meaning is “One who lacks a belief in any deity.” It is an important distinction because Atheism isn’t a belief, it is the lack thereof.
Merriam-Webster responded with the following:...
June 2010
4 posts
A Difference of Paradigms @heidiraff
Heidi, the problem with the position of theists such as yourself and non-believers that to engage with is the vast gulf between the two paradigms in which we live.
In our estimation (and any Atheists out there who don’t agree feel free to bash me at will), belief in your God of Abraham (or any other gods for that matter) is completely irrational, and is based on a combination of human...
Watch#OilWell #Capping video produced by a friend of mine to demonstrate my oil well stopping idea. Note: Given that the casing has probably ruptured somewhere further down, this idea is even better, because the brush can be pushed down the casing past the rupture, theoretically, and the “junk shot” material can be inserted down the drill pipe itself. Please disseminate as widely as...
Quote from the sixth amendment
The Senators and Representatives before mentioned, and the Members of the several State Legislatures, and all executive and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution; but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
@heidiraff Response to your experience
Heidi,
I have to say your experience is very typical, and not entirely out of context with what I said about indoctrination and inculcation. I in no way want to belittle your experience or say you didn’t have it, because you most assuredly did have it. I have seen the same thing with my sister, with her children, and with several people in my life.
Suffice to say that that process you went...
May 2010
16 posts
#RifleBrush #OilWell #Kill Idea Experiment
Okay. So I decided to do a decidedly crude experiment of my #oilWell killing idea. I used a piece of 1/2” tubing for my “Riser Tube,” an appropriate sized brass bristled rifle cleaning brush from my cleaning kit (bristles slightly longer than the diameter of the riser tube, and a large syringe from my farm animal’s medical supplies to supply oil pressure. (The oil was...
A Position statement on the Constitution and other...
Dan, you can believe this or not, but I truly do think that the constitution is worth protecting, and laws are worth following. If a law is wrong so be it - it is the right and duty of every single citizen to challenge laws they believe are unconstituitonal at every turn.
I defend constitutional principles, because the alternative (lawlessness) is much worse. I defend gun rights because of the...
An open letter to @DanVerg and @FreshElephant...
A new morning and a fresh appeal to calm discourse, I believe, is in order. Some things were said on both sides that were (perhaps) said in the heat of passionate debate over immigration - some things mean and some things untrue. So instead of burning in Tweet Jail, I decided to put it down in a somewhat broader forum.
First of all, to what my actual position is, and about what I actually said...
What does the 14th Amendment section 1 and US Code...
14th Amendment
Amendment XIV
Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property,...
Golmer's #topkill method for #oilwell #Disasters
@TheScienceGuy Bill, I understand you are taking ideas for how to kill the oil well. First of all, if my method winds up being used now or in the future, I want to claim full rights to any patents that come forth from it (even though this will probably go right in the bit bucket).
The standing riser that comes off of the blowout preventer is 22” in diameter. The drill pipe designed to fit...
A word or two about the origin of #Morality
Christians (like @JoeCienkowski, for example) love to claim that “without a belief in almighty God, there is no morality.” They claim that the bible is the wellspring of morality and that anyone who doesn’t follow the teachings of the bible is immoral. They claim that because Atheists and other non-Yahweh believers don’t follow the bible and its teachings, that they...
A Word or Two about #Hope
Converse with religionists online invariably leads to a statement similar to the following: “If you don’t believe in God or you don’t believe in the Afterlife, then you can’t have Hope.”
Such a statement would, of necessity, mean that the utterer believes that “hope” is a purely religious concept.
A simple look at a definition of the word...
A Message to #Muslims.
The year is 2010. Islam comprises approximately 1.57 billion people, or around 23% of the 6.82 billion human population of the planet.
You are ONE religion among thousands. As a member of the WORLD’s religious tapestry;
You are NOT a religion of peace. The ONLY scenario in which you COULD be considered a religion of peace is if every single person on the planet was a willing Muslim and...
Nostalgia Time for Guys over 40
Just wondering how many of you guys out there remember this warning statement from your youth?
“Warning. The following program depicts exercises, which, depending upon your physical condition, may be hazardous to your health. You are therefore warned not to attempt any of these exercises without consulting your doctor. Even with such approval, each exercise should be done in moderation, and...
Just How Ridiculous is the #greatflood fable?
Young Earth Creationists like @JoeCienkowski claim the bible is inerrant and everything in it is true beyond a doubt. He also claimed the biblical flood happened and covered the earth with water. Up to the hight of all the mountains. That means at least the height of Mount Everest, or 8,848 feet above sea level. But exactly what does that entail with respect to how much water that would take and...
Let's see if my comment on Morality makes it onto...
I submitted the following in response to the question of why our nation is losing its morality:
“There is no precipitous decline in America’s Morality. There is merely more access to information about America as a whole, and more openness about who we are and what we are. We expose (thanks largely to the media) more of our dirty laundry, both immediately and publicly. The perceived...
Is the 14th Amendment violated by the #Arizona...
It is claimed that the Arizona Immigration law is somehow violating the 14th amendment protections. Let’s take a look at the only applicable clause and see if that is true:
“Section 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any...
My opinion on the Oil Rig Fiasco
Let’s see. First of all, the oil rig that caught on fire was basically a huge, floating platform, anchored to the ocean floor but buoyed up just like any other ship. It had a mile long pipe full of oil/gas connected to it from the ocean floor.
At some point, the rigging caught on fire, catching the oil on fire like a big candle. No doubt about it - the top of that sucker was hotter than...
Who is an ideal #SupremeCourt #nominee?
This is a simple question, and all one has to do is look at the job position. Supreme Court Justices are nominated to a lifetime position. They are unassailable in their duties as long as they follow the constitution and do the job they are appointed to. It is a lifetime position because it is supposed to be Apolitical. I.e. COMPLETELY without POLITICS. The Judiciary does not work for and ought...
It was a banner day for shit to go wrong...
So the day started out pretty well. I had finally gotten the permits to start working on my basement, so I went down stairs, marked out the locations I wanted to put outlets and light switches, counted them up, and off to Home Depot I went to get the outlet boxes, outlets, and light switches. (I already have the wire, and I already put up all of the wall studs).
So anyway, In addition to having...
A simple truth about human nature and natural...
Despite all of the rhetoric, despite all of the calls for conservation, and despite the calls for viable energy alternatives, basic human nature dictates the following WILL happen:
- We (humans) WILL use every single drop of oil that we can get our hands on.
- We WILL mine every seam of coal that we can dig up and burn.
- We WILL find every bit of methane hydrates we can mine from the ocean...
April 2010
17 posts
1 tag
New Political Party #ConstitutionalRationalists
If the #teaparty movement has done anything, it has demonstrated that Americans are fed up with the current broken system, where instead of congressing and coming to mutually beneficial compromise legislation (as the founders of this nation intended), we have a bifurcated, diametrically opposed system whereby if you don’t tow the Democratic or Republican party lines, you are out. The result...
More on #teabagger #teaparty America.
So I had the occasion the other day to actually talk with some hard-core #teabaggers regarding what they wanted for America. I asked what it is that they wanted. They wanted - straight out of the Fox News talking points - to take back America. I asked what that meant. I got the vague answers of “smaller government,” Freedom, Liberty, and some references to how Obama was a socialist and...
A #physics question regarding the speed of light
Relativity has been shown to work (at least in part) because of experiments performed with atomic clocks on earth compared with synchronized clocks that are sent up in space traveling at high speeds. It works. We get that. In essence, Anything traveling faster than your frame of reference is traveling through time. We are traveling through time too relative to other systems - the planet rotates at...
On Death with Dignity and Doctor Assisted Suicide
Each individual person of sufficient age and mental capacity ought to have the right to do with their body and make life and death decisions about that body as THEY see fit. No other person ought to have the right to have any say in that, unless they are a loved one or doctor that the individual has entrusted to make such decisions should they need them to do so.
Many people call this...
A Fairy Tale? Or just reality? You decide....
Long, long ago, (actually only a couple or so years ago), the Republicals were in a real mess. See, they had elected, 8 years prior, a complete and utter putz of a president named Gollum George Bush. Why? Because he was vacuous, manipulable, white, Born Again Christian, recovering drug and alcohol addicted, rich, connected, oh, and did I mention again manipulable?
Of course Gollum er, I mean...
On the Arizona Immigration Bill and other Efforts
Let’s face it. America is chock-full of illegal immigrants. I’m a law-abiding and constitutional kind of guy. I believe whole-heartedly in the constitution and the process of application of that constitution through law.
There is a perfectly good, constitutional and lawful way to enter and remain in this country. It is through the existing legal immigration process. Sure, that...
On Satire of Muhammad (PBUH)
Okay, Muslims. Everyone knows YOU have a problem with displaying images of Muhammad محمد as is your right as Muslims. But you DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to expect the rest of us (the other 5 or so billion people on the planet) to do the same. We, in the rest of the world - largely people who have actually moved on from 600AD, have a modern concept called FREEDOM OF SPEECH.
We have the right to...
A Critique of #Travel(er) Review Sites
One would think that traveler review sites like Tripadvisor.com, for example, there to look out for the interests of the traveler - i.e. a place where travel consumers can go to not only rate their experiences, but research valid reviews of other’s experiences in the location they are planning on staying so they can make informed decisions.
On the face, that seems like a good idea - until...
On Concepts of Morality
#Christians like to claim that the Ten Commandments (supposedly written by God himself on stone tablets on a mountain) are the basis for morality - morality for everyone. Oh sure they include stuff from the bible too, but the 10 C’s are the biggies, right?
Of course the actual Ten Commandments are really an amalgam of commandments from three places in the bible - Two in Exodus and one...
I'm now the Whirlpool Repair Man.
So we have a nice Whirlpool front-end loading washing machine. Works like a champ - even though my spousal unit repeatedly overloads it with a few metric tons of towels. Oh it complains and walks around a bit, but gets the job done.
Until now…
So my son calls me at work and says the washing machine was making a lot of racket and walked a couple of feet across the floor. He had to wrestle...
Logical Argument Against #Christian Primacy in...
Christians claim that morality is ingrained in every single person, everywhere by God, and that they choose to either follow the moral path (by accepting God and Jesus, yada yada yada). In essence, they claim that morality is defined by the god of Ibrahim - exclusively and in everyone.
Of course logically, this claim falls short, for to make said claim it would have to be argued that every...
A Challenge to #tcot #teaparty Supporters
#tcot and #teaparty conservatives (actually conservatives in general) rant over and over against liberals, destruction of our nation, big government, etc. The charge is that “liberals” are destroying the nation and that they are creating a nanny state, and moving towards socialism, etc.
I happen to agree with part of that sentiment, but I charge that it is not liberalism that is...
More Information on Chain Gangs
Post Emancipation Proclamation and Post Civil war, White, Predominantly Anglo-Saxon Protestant slave holders, politicians, and rich people wanted a mechanism by which they could, in essence, continue slavery post-war. The primary mechanism for keeping blacks enslaved was through the use of what became known as “chain gangs.”
Of course that necessitated a way to separate white crime...
On what #teabaggers really want.
Ask a #teabagger (if you dare) what America they want us to be “restored” to, and you usually get an answer like “smaller government” or “returning to our Christian heritage” or some other such nonsense that the majority of them really don’t understand. They merely know the talking points generated by intolerant fomenters like #glenbeck #rushlimbaugh...
On Celebrating the Confederacy
People in the Southern states celebrate and reenact the US civil war, and raise the Confederate flag up as their symbol - their symbol of being “Southern” and to continue to differentiate themselves from the “North” which is really just a proxy symbol for the Federal Government.
But let’s make no mistake here. Despite apologists trying to differentiate the...
On Lack of Belief in God(s)
Christians like to delude themselves into believing that there are no Atheists - just people that KNOW God (their god mind you) exists and just hate him or reject him for some reason. Let’s get something straight. (speaking for myself here, but most likely also speaking for most atheists)
I do not believe your god or any other gods exist or have ever existed. I firmly reject the concept of...
On Morality
Ask any Christian, and they will tell you that the source of morality, not only for them, but for everyone, is instilled in each and every human by God. If it weren’t so, they argue, then people would be free to do whatever they want whenever they want, including running around raping, killing, pillaging, and plundering at will. Morality exists because God exists and HE put it in everyone.
...
March 2010
14 posts
Sarah Palin and Teabaggers Want a Return To...
But just what the fuck does that mean? Right wingnuts would have us believe that there was a time in American History when things were ideal from their point of view. I’d really love to know at just what point in our history that time was.
Was it colonial times, when there was no religious freedom and you had to belong to the right SECT of Christianity? When they burned witches (well...
My Thoughts on Don't Ask, Don't Tell
When Don’t ask Don’t Tell was passed, I was in the military. I was in a relative position of authority, so I wound up having to outprocess a few people based on the policy. I thought it was a stupid, bigoted policy then, and I think it is a stupid, bigoted policy now.
Much like the military has ALWAYS had Atheists and Wiccans and other non-Christians serving, there have also ALWAYS...
Great condemnation of Religious fucktardary. ...
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/johann-hari/johann-hari-the-pope-the-prophet-and-the-religious-support-for-evil-1923656.html I really don’t feel the need to add much to the posting by Johann Hari. He does an excellent job of condemning the automatic pass that religions get for heinous crimes simply because they feel they are above everything and everyone else.
How long before we see "NAME" v. Texas BOE in...
Hopefully not all that long. Just where the fuck to Christians get off revising history? Revising Jefferson out of history? Revising separation of church and state out of history? I realize fundamentalist christians live in a mental and religious vacuum, but COME ON.
There needs to be some oversight on the Texas Board of Education besides the WASP governor, right? Checks and Balances in...