I absolutely love this clip and was recently reminded of it while listening to the audio book, “The Stuff Of Thought” by Stephen Pinker on using language as a window into human nature.
Monty Python – Spam Sketch, posted with vodpod
25
Jun
10
Star Stuff
“The knowledge that the atoms that comprise life on earth – the atoms that make up the human body, are traceable to the crucibles that cooked light elements into heavy elements in their core under extreme temperatures and pressures. These stars- the high mass ones among them- went unstable in their later years- they collapsed and then exploded- scattering their enriched guts across the galaxy- guts made of carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and all the fundamental ingredients of life itself. These ingredients become part of gas clouds that condense, collapse, form the next generation of solar systems- stars with orbiting planets. And those planets now have the ingredients for life itself. So that when I look up at the night sky, and I know that yes we are part of this universe, we are in this universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up- many people feel small, cause their small and the universe is big. But I feel big because my atoms came from those stars. “
— Neil deGrasse Tyson
I recently stumbled upon a site while searching for audiobooks from some of my favorite authors, it offers a database interesting titles for free download in audio form.
The site is: Audiobook Corner (Your one-stop blog for sci-fi, fantasy, literature, philosophy, Star Trek, and other obscurio audiobooks.)
I own the hard copy books from many science/skeptical/atheist writers such as Carl Sagan, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennet, Neil DeGrasse Tyson and many others. While I love having the paperback or hardcover versions of such tomes to use as reference or to take a lazy day to re-read, I have much, much more time to listen to audiobooks while doing other things and still focus on the information being narrated. The site referenced is a great repository for audio recordings of some of my favorites so I can put them on my ‘pod and listen anytime (especially while working).
I still suggest purchasing a physical copy of your favorites because as many of you know, there will often be times one wants to refer back to certain passages without having to fast-forward through hours of audio or give your ears a rest and absorb the info in text form. The site is a great supplemental repository and I thought you might find it a useful addition.
Cheers!
14
Jun
10
Help!
Readers… (like any of you are left), I have so neglected this blog. I don’t know if an apology is warranted but if there was anyone out there who truly looked forward to reading my inanities, then I am sincerely sorry for my absenteeism if you are still out there.
Now, onto the title of the post. I need your help, assistance in giving me direction with my ramblings. When most people have read this blog it was comprised mostly of rants and raves in a political, science or atheist nature. While these things still greatly interest me, I sometimes read newer posts (unpublished ones) back to myself and I feel that they seem somewhat repetitive and akin to the crazy person on a street corner, standing on a soapbox and shouting at the world. I find myself more increasingly inclined to post rants about daily life, work, short quips and personal venting, all mixed in with the other ‘usual’ posts you commonly have read here in the past.
My question to you is, would you be interested in reading that garbage as well my usual banal, political, science or atheist ravings? If not, I shall let this blog linger and continue to search for a new muse (oh, George W., where have you gone? Our time was so short…), and if I can comprise something intelligible I will post it.
What say ye?
Just as with any other sub-category of the human race, those who call themselves ‘Christian’ come in a wide spectrum of variation.
I have the fortune and misfortune 
(depending on the day) of working with a disperse group of coworkers who fall all along this spectrum. Most peculiar of the species are those who never indicate one ounce of religiosity… until it is ultimately convenient for them to use the statement ‘I am a Christian’ in order to demean or criticize others. They are ‘nominal Christians’. These characters are ‘Christian’ in name only, and it appears, solely because it is the particular prevailing faith in the country of their birth (the United States).
Such individuals possess entirely non-religious tendencies until the very moment they would like to argue why ‘gays shouldn’t marry’, ‘atheism is stupid’ or any plethora of discussions where they might use declarations such as “the bible says”, “what if you’re wrong” or “I just have faith we didn’t come from monkeys”. The coworkers I speak of are partying, cheating, cussing, and scamming scoundrels until it behooves them to state, “I am a believer”. At that very moment, a transformation takes place in which they turn into completely devout, adherent members of the faith. This theological flip-flopping hypocrisy is surely worth the punishment of any hell they believe exists. Denying their ‘lord’ until it is a benefit to claim belief must certainly be an offense of great magnitude to a vengeful deity.
Within the persons I speak of, there apparently exists a bigotry that must be coated with a thick layer of a ‘Christian’ label in order to have justification. But to me, they will always just be… assholes!
