Well, I'm thinking that it's about time to return to the grind here. Sorry, I was suffering from massive drama overload both in my real life and online. Anyway, Vox Day has been on my mind so expect the next installment within a few days. I assume his cronies have already declared victory due to my extended absence, but rest assured that whether anybody likes it or not, I will complete this project if only because I have committed to it and abandoning it would be a concession of defeat in the eyes of his fanboys. That and the fact that there's an incredible amount of material waiting for a refutation. So, if anybody missed me--I'm back. If you didn't miss me, .

Also, I semi-announced this on the boards, but the magazine SheVibe, which is totally NSFW, is currently working on a full-size poster of me which I expect to be totally hawt, so when I have more info on it, I'll be letting you people know. For an idea of what it will be like, check out their Eye Candi or magazine covers sections of their site. (Although, going by what they're saying about it, it should be infinitely cooler. )

St. Anselm of Canterbury once tried to show, through an ontological argument, the existence of god from reason alone. He said, "Thus even the fool is compelled to grant that something greater than which cannot be thought exists in thought, because he understands what he hears, and whatever is understood exists in thought. And certainly that greater than which cannot be understood cannot exist only in thought, for if it exists only in thought it could also be thought of as existing in reality as well, which is greater. If, therefore, that than which greater cannot be thought exists in thought alone, then that than which greater cannot be thought turns out to be that than which something greater actually can be thought, but that is obviously impossible. Therefore something than which greater cannot be thought undoubtedly exists both in thought and in reality.... And you, Lord God, are this being." His argument can be reformulated, in English, as:

Many people interpret the tale of Sodom in Genesis 19 as condemning homosexuality. I read and analyzed the text of the story and concluded: the story condemns the inhabitants of Sodom for extreme inhospitality, not homosexuality. Below, I offer my reasoning.

In Genesis 18, around noon, Abraham had a vision of God. Then, three men approached his tent. When Abraham saw them, he hurried toward them and bowed, then offered them food to fill their stomach and water to clean their feet. At Abraham's prompting, Sarah prepared leavened bread for their guests. Abraham's hospitality and concern for their welfare had pleased God, so one man told Sarah that she would bear a child. Sarah giggled because she thought he jested. Once the visitors had finished resting and decided to leave Canaan to go to Sodom, Abraham walked with them and showed them the way.

My dad killed himself over money, and I have since concluded that it's not that big of a deal. Debt is an imaginary number. For example, when I walked into the emergency room and they turned me away because I didn't have insurance, then sent me $1,000 bill for the evaluation, all I could do was laugh. I don't have $1,000 and I don't feel bad for not paying when it's obviously an arbitrary debt for no good reason at all.

I am sorry to hear about your dad. Money can be terrifying, and I realize that your main point is not to make money the center point of life. Indeed. But money is a part of life, and a huge one, no matter how you slice it.


I think if you call the Hospital and are patient enough to climb the management ladder you could get that bill dismissed, or significantly reduced. I used to work at a costumer service call center, and my roomate currently does. You would be surprised how much a bill decreases if you are polite, patient, and use the phrase "I need to speak to your supervisor."


The costumer service ladder is also suggested by Chris J. Richards, in his book "Debt Control."

Student loans with MONTHLY interest of $100+ dollars when I was making $50 payments. What can I do but laugh?

I have had a personal awakening. No, I did not find Jesus, get born-again, attain Nirvana, or any other transcendental awakening. But I would wager that my resent awakening is more valuable than any transcendental experience. What has happened to me is that I have become aware of money, most acutely; I have become aware of my own money.

For most of my life I have disregarded my money as a necessary evil, with emphasis on the word evil.

I began my first job at the age of 16 as a telemarketer and was disillusioned with the whole affair before I took the time to learn to properly manage my checkbook. This disregard for money escalated to a full-blown hatred for money, which was fueled first by my religious faith, which taught me:

“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.”
- 1 Timothy 6:10 KJV

While many Christians are avaricious as can be observed in their obsession with electing the political candidates, who are most unapologetically beholden to corporate America, there is still plenty there to justify a young man’s hatred of money.

My hatred of money later found itself well served by anarchist philosophy and activism, and later more so by my communist beliefs and activism. In essence I have hated money for 12 years.

Every week I am going to share ideas and thoughts on a campaign to spread kindness. I do this as a validation that you don't have to believe in a god to be 'nice' and 'friendly' not to mention make a positive impact in peoples lives. Beyond sharing ideas, I will be following each kindness focus through journal entries and sharing a recap of my experience once complete. I have extended my focus from a length of one week to a length of two to four weeks. I feel that in some situations I can have a bigger impact on those involved if I dedicate more time (example: volunteer work)

Here is the focus for the week of 6-15 through the week of 6-30

Dedicate 4-8 hours per week to a local animal shelter.

Many of you already know that I have quit my Full Time job and taken a Part Time job that more closely fits my career goals. Doing this has put me in a position to dedicate time to volunteering!

I have decided to spend some time in 2 local shelters (shelters that we adopted our current pets from) In the past this type of volunteering has built a great connection to other volunteer opportunities so I am excited to start this newest act of kindness!

Until my next post!

-Renee

(Undergoing revisions)

Computer trained to "read" mind images of words

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor Thu May 29, 4:32 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A computer has been trained to "read" people's minds by looking at scans of their brains as they thought about specific words, researchers said on Thursday.

They hope their study, published in the journal Science, might lead to better understanding of how and where the brain stores information.

This might lead to better treatments for language disorders and learning disabilities, said Tom Mitchell of the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, who helped lead the study.

"The question we are trying to get at is one people have been thinking about for centuries, which is: How does the brain organize knowledge?" Mitchell said in a telephone interview.

"It is only in the last 10 or 15 years that we have this way that we can study this question."

Please check it out:

http://apologia-podcast.blogspot.com/2008/05/mind-body-problem.html

I discuss the mind-body problem.

Remember banana man?


 

According to Phil Plait, he has a blog! It's only a little stupider than the banana video, which leads me to wonder if Ray Comfort is actually an actor who's a closet evolutionist making creationists look stupider than they actually are. Creationists can't be that stupid, can they? Oh… I am so tempted to invoke Poe's law on Ray Comfort.

Right then, from his latest blog post on the Phoenix lander…

Pasadena scientists rejoiced recently when their robot landed on Mars. Their expedition cost $420 million, took years to plan, and required an amazing ten months for the flight. The robot will collect soil samples and look for evidence that Mars could support life. Does the red planet have the "building blocks of life"?