Tuesday, May 4, 2010

White House Correspondent's Dinner

How cool is it to have a gorgeous, intelligent and funny guy as President? Love him!

Monday, May 3, 2010

Scienceblogs

I've long been a ScienceBlogs reader.

My favorites include Pharyngula and ERV.

Recently, I had the pleasure of reading The Frontal Cortex. I love the blog name. I am so curious about the brain that when I see anything related to it, I just had to go ahead and read it.

Almost a month ago at work, I read his piece on Gay Animals. My favorite lines are:

In fact, Roughgarden even argues that homosexuality is a defining feature of advanced animal communities, which require communal bonds in order to function. "The more complex and sophisticated a social system is," she writes, "the more likely it is to have homosexuality intermixed with heterosexuality."

Read the comments and you'd also agree with them. Like this one:

I think one reason for 'gay' animals might be that animals are horny and stupid.
A bored dog will have a bash at humping a cat*. A dog humping another male dog is not that much different. I've seen a few human-leg-osexual dogs in my time too.
Sorry for lowering the tone :o)
*check youtube if you dont believe me.

Interesting, eh?  Yeah, thought so too.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

Skeptics Trump Cards

I've seen this at Pharyngula a few days or maybe weeks ago.

Here are some of my faves:











Love that line: "general mind fuck"... lol..














What can I say? I'm a fan. I'm a Pharyngulite. :D














 ...wishing I'm his spawn...




 









My all-time favorite Badass!!!!









Check out the rest of the cards here.

Saturday, April 10, 2010

Atheist Barbie


This should be in the market soon!

"No pants to be ready for surprise orgies"... LOL!!!

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

From Catholic to Atheist

I grew up in a Catholic household. I was raised to memorize and do the rosary every night with my grandmother. Church attendance is a must. Most of my relatives work or volunteer in church. I even won in a bible quiz when I was in elementary. (My memorization skills were very good then so I was able to put enough info from the bible into my brain). I went to retreats, camps, healings etc. I went on volunteer works with others (the trip was the catch for me).

I was told I would burn in hell, I would suffer if I don't follow the rules. We recited prayers for the souls of our loved ones. I never got that but I did my part. (Maybe the prayers for the dead are more for the living so they won't have to live with the thought that their loved ones are somewhere in hell or in-between...) I was rebelling inside but I still followed. I was questioning things already but the answers were not there for me.

The last time I was in church was 1995. I don't know why I stopped going. I just did. It was after reading The God Delusion that I finally realized and accepted I never really believed. There was always that nagging feeling that things aren't what they seem.

THE END OF FAITH: by Sam Harris made more sense to me than the Bible did. Every other thing that religion offered I found an explanation in Science books and others. When I was talking about religion with a very devout Christian, he asked me why I left the church, why I lost my faith. I said because I never got the answer to my question. His reply was that maybe I just wasn't looking hard enough. I was and I did and I found the answers. In science.

"So what's your life's purpose? What about your soul?" was the question he left me with.

My answer? To live life fully because it's the only one I've got. I like to read this one from time to time...

Evolution of Religion

I've never been more comfortable and at peace with myself ever. Isn't that what it's supposed to be about?

Pedophile Priests

Katha Pollit'st article on the Chicago Tribune
Brandan Kiley's article on The Stranger

The two links above talk about pedophilia and priesthood. I don't think the issue is gonna stop anytime soon. The more noise it generates, the more people or victims come out to talk about their horrible experience. And of course, the "victim" in all of these, the Catholic Church is being bullied. They are once again being vilified for something that also happens in other places or institutions. Well, yeah. But they get punished and brought to justice, not hidden and put in other places only to be encouraged to molest more.

Isn't it arrogant of a person or an institution if they think everyone else is just out to get them? Like, yeah, they did something wrong, but it's between them and their god? So what about the real victims? What about the real atrocities, the real sufferings of the real individuals who were put through hell just because of a doctrine those bastards can't keep?

How many times does the Church need to be told that the cover-up is worse than the crime itself? Doing nothing and protecting the perpetrators instead of the flock is insulting and disheartening.

When one priest or bishop called the rape, pedophilia and the cover-up petty gossip, it kinda makes you think how long this has been going on for them to be so immune to this kind of "gossip".

Evil in Us

I saw this link in Pharyngula, a science blog that is always included in my daily readings. A co-teacher who sat next to me noticed it so I played the video (without sound - I was at work)...

I don't know how it feels like to be a soldier in a war but this is just wrong! They said AK-47's and RPG's which I don't see. I saw cameras and tiny faces in the van. There were children! OMFG!

Monday, April 5, 2010

Lost Symbol and Dan Brown

(written 2009)

I just finished reading the new book “The Lost Symbol” and watching the movie “Angels and Demons”. Major Dan Brown overload huh? Yeah.

Let’s begin with the book; it starts off slow, like any other Brown books. It then picks up speed and excitement in the mid part and suddenly you cant put the book down. Then when you get to the ending you’ll wonder why you even bothered to read at all.

So I’ll start with the things I liked first. Brown’s style of shifting from the lead to the villain then to the-one-you-think-is-the-villain then back to the lead will keep you hooked. You’ll want to read fast but slow enough to understand what was going on. He has the gift of storytelling.

For the in-between; the part I liked and hated at the same time. I knew right away who Malak’h, the villain in the story is. You get it sooner than you wish you would. It kinda takes away the suspense in the climax. I was still moved by the confrontation scene they had, especially when he asked the same question that was bugging me throughout my reading.

Now, to the parts I did not like. Where should I start? If you have read about Freemasons and watched Nicholas Cage’s “National Treasure”, Brown’s lecturing style would be a bore. Freemasonry wasn’t a topic that aroused my interest.

The other topic in the book, Noetic sciences, caught my eye. I wasn’t aware of the term and I had to google it; only to be disappointed yet again. Quackwatch considers noetic science as pseudoscience. It’s basically all about the power of the mind and meditation etc. It isn’t considered part of mainstream science. I mean if you’re gonna use science against religion or whatever, at least make the science you’re using believable in the first place. More on that later.

Dan Brown’s running theme in his Robert Langdon series is that science and religion can be compatible. In the Da Vinci Code, you get a taste of that near the end of the book. In this book, you could read right away that that is his theme. In an interview he did with James Kaplan for Parade, he mentioned he isn’t religious and that he gravitated away from religion. He then finished off with saying that the farther he goes into science, the more he sees the spiritual side of it. Say what again?? Yeah, that’s confusing even for me, kinda like the themes in his series. He keeps saying or preaching that science and religion need not fight, that the two can be compatible. Tell that to scientists.

I never liked the endings in his Robert Langdon series. He always sounds like he’s trying to reconcile with the readers that he might have offended in the process. He always ends up in an apologetic tone. It’s like saying “Sorry I bashed your religion, I can make up with this”.

Now for the movie; It’s way better than “The Da Vinci Code” - that’s for certain. With the lessons learned in the first movie, the makers of the film found a way to incorporate history and lectures effectively into the scenes. It was chaos in TDVC. Tom Hanks looked better too, which kinda helps a lot, I guess. So many years has passed since I’ve read the book but I could still see the difference. I hate it when they change a lot. But then, maybe it was for the better since the book’s ending was really bad, in a sense.

I learned in a writing workshop that however hard you try to distance yourself from the characters you create, you’ll always have “you” in there. Dan Brown’s obvious struggle with the dogma of religion and his so called “spirituality” are spilling all over his work. The more I read, the more I can hear his inner struggles with religion.

Or maybe I’ve just had too much of him today…

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Bill Maher (3-26) New Rules

"The last time a democrat showed balls like that, John Edward's girlfriend was filming it."
'Nuff said....


link

Should've been working

I have a worksheet (for the writing class I'm supposed to start teaching this month) to finish, a lesson plan to write and a grammar worksheet to prepare and I'm here laughing my ass off watching these...


Saturday, April 3, 2010

Guilty Pleasure

so damn funny!!!!

Joel Mchale and Craig Ferguson on my fave of faves "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson"
laughin' at the sexual connotation of "mayonnaise on your lobster and how to train your dragon"


"you need a robot to find boobs for you? what happened to you man?!"

Friday, April 2, 2010

Keith and the single lady

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy


I'm a big Keith Olbermann fan and I thought he was doing the awkward pause from The Late Late show with Craig Ferguson, then the video..... Hilarious!

Obama in Maine



sarcasm at its finest...

Monday, March 29, 2010

Hitchens on Real Time



He always have that unapologetic and arrogant quality about him and that's what makes him hot!. Talking about Hitchens, of course. I love Bill Maher too. ;)

link

Saturday, March 27, 2010

FOTC Overload

OCD'S kicking in and the obssession for the day is obviously...



link



LINK



LINK



LINK

Flight of the Conchords


The always hilariously funny NZ duo...

Friday, March 26, 2010

I was looking for news on Pinoy politics....

and this is the headline: Anne Curtis felt disrespected.

First of all, Really??? That's what's in the news now? That's what people are interested to read and find out?

Secondly, are you fucking kidding me? So she had a "wardrobe malfunction", people took photos and it went viral. She's crying on national TV and expecting people to "respect" her privacy? Why dance and shake your ass with just a tiny thingy to cover what you don't want to be seen?

She's saying things like she should have been respected more and people should have not made the photo viral. Here comes the "entitlement" complex most of these people have. "I should have been treated better, they should have not done this to me, blah blah blah..."

Woman, you shouldn't have been dancing with just a bikini!! 'nuff said!!!

WTF again???



WTF? What the hell is wrong with these people? When's the cover-up gonna stop? When are they gonna accept that celibacy is evolutionary and naturally wrong? They tell the priests that they should not be having sex with a woman but it is ok when those goddammed priests molest children? Woman -bad, kids -not so much??? That is just fucked up.

Quantum State, Parallel Universe

I finished watching FlashForward and the next day there's this article about quantum state.

In the series, when Dominic Monaghan's character first came out, he was explaining quantum state to a lady (they ended up sleeping together, of course). It reminded me of Michael Crichton's Timeline. I first learned about the topic (Quantum Mechanics, Parallel Universe) there and after reading I did what I always do when I don't understand something -I researched it. For some reason, I was aware of the concept but if you ask me to explain then, I wouldn't be able to.

So now, the quantum state (simply put -to be in two places at the same time) is in the news again. Being in state of "existing" and "not existing".. I'm here and I'm also not here. Mind-boggling, eh? But it really, really sounds so exciting.

FlashForward mentioned something about MWI - Many World Interpretations or Parallel Universe. According to this article in addition to the world we are aware of directly, there are many other similar worlds which exist in parallel at the same space and time. Since every possible outcome of every event defines or exists in its own "history" or "world". In layman's terms, there is a very large—perhaps infinite[9]—number of universes, and everything that could possibly have happened in our past, but didn't, has occurred in the past of some other universe or universes.

It's tempting to say and think that every other decisions we didn't choose to make, we have already taken in some other "worlds" and has now had a different outcome. It's an interesting and a very seductive idea to think about especially if you're having a very crappy day in "this world".

Should we really forget?

Rounding my usual reading lists, I found this post.

I keep thinking that I've already read about this before, even seen it. After a few google searches to confirm my thought, alas I was wrong. I was thinking about another drug, Propanolol. I remembered it because I was kinda torn about the issue.

Should you forget the bad memories or should you hold on to it to make you stronger?

The article mentioned about traumatic experiences which can impede a person's day-to-day activities. If I've been in a car accident or a rape victim and it had left me emotionally disabled or something, maybe I can consider taking the drug.

I said I'm torn.. I haven't had any traumatic experience- yet. But I've had pain that just won't stop to the point where I considered stopping the pain -physically (why is it so hard for me to say 'suicide'?)... So if the pill can help me forget the experience, hence the pain, why not take it? But in my case there's no particular experience to forget, it's a collection of bad memories (I think).. So I should target those memories and forget? (sounds a bit like "Paycheck")

Then again, I believe we are all but the sum of our experiences. It makes us who we are. So why erase a memory?

I am not making any sense and if I'm trying to convince myself, it's not working...

Sunday, March 21, 2010

The Church and its Affairs

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The Pope issued an "apology" for all the abuse their priests have done. "Truly Sorry" that's the caption MSNBC used. Really?? It's been happening for decades in most parts of the Catholic world and only now do they apologize?

Friday, February 26, 2010

Darkness Visible

Darkness Visible by William Styron


I just finished reading the book I bought more than a year ago. I started writing about it, then stopped -for some reason that I can't remember now.

The book is about the author's struggle with depression. When I first started reading it, I was a bit skeptical. I wasn't hoping to connect or understand what he was saying. I didn't think I would, but I did.

Maybe I've had the depression longer than I thought, I really wouldn't know. I've never been clinically diagnosed, until I finally realized something was wrong with me. Early 2003, I had days when I really did not want to get up. I would make up excuses so I could stay in bed all day. I didn't want to go out. My migraine got worse partly because of that, which then made the whole ordeal more unbearable. Then one night while I was watching Sandra Bullock's Yaya Sisterhood (or something), I began crying nonstop. It's supposed to be a comedy but something that was said in that movie made me cry and I couldn't stop. Then I started to try cutting myself. I didn't even realize I was doing it until I felt the blade. Silly cuz I realized I have this aversion to it. I stopped then I thought if I really want to kill myself I'd use pills.

After a few days, I had an appointment with a neurologist for my migraine. He seemed confused with the severity of it, he asked me if I was depressed. I said maybe. With that he gave me an anti-depressant. I couldn't remember the name of the drug because I stopped taking it after two days. I got worse. My lows got really really low to the point where I was thinking of different ways of how to kill myself. So I stopped taking it and started writing. It kinda helped so I continued doing it.

I still have days where for some reason I just feel really really down. When I read about that part in the book, it was kind of an eye-opener. Like, there really are days like that and it's not because of something I did or doing. When he said " the pain of severe depression is unimaginable to those who have not suffered it, and it kills in many instances because its anguish can no longer be borne", I was nodding my head. I've been trying to say that for so long and people would just say that I'm being overly dramatic, that whatever I was feeling I can just make it go away by not thinking about it.

It doesn't work that way. I don't want to feel depressed or sad. I want that feeling to go away because you cannot imagine how hard it is. It's better to feel physical pain than suffer from that. Which is, I think, how my body sometimes handles it. I'd be sick for no apparent reason. Bleeding, severe migraine, abdominal pain ~ all of which the doctors here could not find a reason for. There are physical signs yet all other diagnoses doesn't fit.

All in all, It was an interesting read. It was good to know about someone else's experience. I just hope it gave me an insight on how to deal with mine when the time comes...

Facebook Status

Ever had someone who views your profile or status everyday and thinks that everything is about them?
Damn annoying!!!

Keith Olbermann

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy



Direct to the point, right from the beginning. There's always gonna be people who like to tell everybody else how to live and do their lives. This reminded me of someone who commented of how helping the poor is not really helping and that they should be left to find resources for themselves otherwise they will always wait for help and not fend for themselves. My reaction was quick and only this- If you've never been poor, never been hungry, never been desperate enough to sell even your soul for there is no other way, then you cannot and should not be allowed to say something about it.

Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Planet Earth










Link

Narrated by David Attenborough. Awesome voice!