I seem to constantly run into studies and figures which suggest that Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is now the most commonly diagnosed of all diseases in the typical Western-Industrialised Nations; such as the Eurozone, Scandianavia, the UK and North America. It is tempting to draw a direct correlation between the kind of 'civilization' that we have developed - since these phenomenons are also manifesting in other highly industrialised and organised societies in South-East Asia and Japan - but this is at best a nebulous field of study and it is hard to establish any clear and irrefutable evidence.

Contrary to what many seem to believe, MDD is not about 'feeling blue' or being moody and uninspired, nor is it a question of ordinary lazyness, stubborn mindedness or antisocial unwillingness to participate in social activities; it is a consistent 'state of mind' which by the singular individual is often even perceived as 'normal': This is it. This is what life is about. Nothing has any meaning and death is where it all ends.

According to an American governmental website [1], these are the typical symptoms:

I am a long-time user of Yahoo! Answers.  In fact, I started early in the beta testing period.  For the last three years or so, I have concentrated on the Religion & Spirituality category.  Rational Response Squad is seriously needed there.  I do my best, but since my knowledge is limited, it would help a great deal if there were more of us.  Check it out, and if you can stand the adolescent trolls, please add your voice of reason to the mix. 

Hey clever chaps,

What would you say the Cliff Notes version of Smolin's theory on Time-Space, Big Bang etc would be?

The basis for the theory is the apparent need for the twenty or so parameters of the standard model to be fine-tuned to an incredible degree of accuracy over a huge range of magnitudes, so that life, the Galaxy and the Universe can exist at all. It is widely believed that our Universe contains a huge number of black holes whose interiors correspond to unobservable regions. According to general relativity, all matter inside the black hole collapses to a point singularity. Smolin argues that quantum effects may come into play to remove this singularity and the collapsing black hole "bounces" back into an expansion. Smolin suggests that inside each black hole is a new expanding Universe with black holes. He then assumes that the twenty-odd parameters of the standard model change a little bit at each bounce and, as in Darwinian evolution, the "fitness landscape" of all possible universes evolves until universes in which the parameters correspond to a state of maximal black hole production predominate.

I stole this from a website, anyone have anything better for debating theists and their need to debunk Big Bang?

If they can make Avatar

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 20 — Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad today claimed the 9/11 attacks in the United States, that killed nearly 3,000, was staged as an excuse to “mount attacks on the Muslim world”, saying killing as an excuse for war is not new to the US.

The former prime minister also argued that Israel was created to solve the “Jewish problem” in Europe, saying the Holocaust had failed as a final solution against the community.

“In September 2001, the World Trade Centre was attacked allegedly by terrorists. I am not sure now that Muslim terrorists carried out these attacks. There is strong evidence that the attacks were staged. If they can make Avatar, they can make anything,” said Dr Mahathir during his speech at the General Conference for the Support of Al-Quds here. Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.

“Killing innocent people to provide an excuse for war is not new to the US. But whether the real or staged 9/11 attacks have served the United States and Western countries well. They have an excuse to mount attacks on the Muslim world,” he added.

Alrighty then......

More Bias In US Against Muslims Than Other Faiths

Americans are more than twice as likely to express prejudice against Muslims than they are against Christians, Jews or Buddhists, a new survey found. Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they have little or no knowledge of Islam. Still, a majority dislike the faith.

The analysis, for release Thursday, is from the Gallup World Religion Survey and is part of a project on finding ways to increase understanding between Americans and Muslims.

President Barack Obama and his administration want to improve America's image in the Muslim world. Many analysts who study extremism also say that U.S. Muslims who feel alienated from broader society resist integrating, potentially becoming more vulnerable to radical ideas.

In the poll, just over half of Americans said they felt no prejudice against Muslims. However, 43 percent acknowledged at least "a little" prejudice against Muslims, a significantly higher percentage than for the other four faiths in the survey.

About 18 percent of respondents said they had some level of prejudice against Christians, while the figure was 15 percent toward Jews and 14 percent toward Buddhists.

foundationbeyondbelief.org/

Cos godless bastards care too.

www.pjtv.com/v/2930

Bill Whittle:

“Can you tell us how these radical Islamic organizations interface directly with the Federal Government in terms of the Defense Department, in terms of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, uh, local law enforcement, how exactly do these radical Muslim groups use their connections to suppress the defenses of the United States against these types of activities?”

Former Special Agent FBI:

“That’s a great question. At the National level, with the FBI and DHS, they actually, they are invited in by General Counsel’s office of the FBI and DHS to sit in on brain storming about investigative techniques that our FBI agents are using out in the field."

Bill Whittle:

As far as I can see, that which they call religious faith is little but sexual submission gone terribly wrong; as in, it has become an all-permeating obsession. The worshipping on an idol of the mind. The psychopathology of this phenomenon can, however, be rationally explained in terms of biological mechanics: The human being is a social animal which relies heavily on an instinct we call the obedience reflex in order to survive childhood. That is to say; children who are too daring will get themselves killed, whereas children who are subordinate to the principle of adult authority will survive to come of age and spread this instinct to the next generation(s). Seen in context, religious faith becomes an expression of infantile regression, a refusal to grow up and take personal responsibility for your life.

The most important part of attaining adulthood is to become your own boss, form your own mind, and make your own decisions. Those who can't (or won't) do that are refusing to leave behind the sense of security that adult authority supplied them with during the childhood years. So they seek a substitute. "There must be an authority out there, somewhere, that can liberate me from this terrible anxiety of adulthood" they say to themselves. They are lost at sea, floating and bobbing around without a clue, terrified by the ominous ambiguity of life, desperately seeking something solid to hang on to.