Can the Higgs field be proven?

This remains to be seen. But it is nevertheless impressive that they can charge those protons up to 7000 times their resting mass before colliding them. In order to put it into perspective... a uranium atom is only 235 (some times 238...) times the proton mass. Those protons that are circulating in the LHC are not like any other elements anywhere else in the (known) universe! This is the space age of alchemy.

Personally, I am in awe of that machine. It is the sexiest thing ever made by humans.

Let's be crystal clear about this: I support Jesus.

I don't support worship of Jesus, nor do I support ritual cannibalism of Jesus.

But I support his message.

He was a smart motherfucker. Smart, but also brave. He carried a message and that message was his life.

He did not worry about his social position, nor what the neighbours might think.

He did not pay any particular attention to whatever was the will of the politicians of the time.

He told his disciples to be honest and to not compromise their honesty with lies of convenience.

Jesus was a revolutionary. Possibly even a Marxist. Certainly an anarchist.

But was he the son of God? No.

Or yes. In any case, no more so that you or me. He was an example.

If, as a Christian, you live by that examole, I respect you. You get it.

However, if, as a Christian, you worship the Bible, I spit on you. You are a dog. Worthless.

All that matters is what you do. What you do. This minute, this hour; and every moment of every day.

What you do determines what you are - which is what you shall be judged by.

I think all human beings are hardwired to have religious feelings.

This means the awe and wonder of existence, the dread and paranoia of not really knowing, the urge and desire to find out what is what; and to make sense of this strange predicament that is the human condition, in this universe. I think these things are universal. We all have them.

Some of us have balls enough to admit that we don't now.

Others - the girly men - need a pacifyer. They need something to suck on. This is OK. There will always be things to suck on. Take your pick! Nature is filled with protruding phenomenons that respond to your eager sucking with some form of reward. Monkey see monkey do. Now, do! Do your national anthem! Suck on it boy! Do the president! Gag on his gonads! Then suck the house of representatives... and whatever else have you... (I'm actually feeling a little sick right now).

ANYWAY -

The question remains.

Among us hardlined atheists (and I seriously doubt that you will ever find anyone more militant than me)...

... what do we believe in? What's the creature comfort? What drives us? What makes life worthwhile?

My view?

I am not a judge of creation. I am thankful for life. I dig it. It rocks. It is magical and infinite.

I am left speechless when trying to fathom the universe. All I can do is admire it. And feel the beauty.

Who the fuck am I? Nobody. Yet I am alive... and I say... LET THERE BE ROCK!

Another message from our Scottish friend Deek Jackson of The FKN Newz...

Some things are not only counter-intuitive, they are outright counter-real and counter-sane.

I spent 10 years of my life working in theatre, so I know a thing or two about how to deliberately create an illusion in order to invoke a specific state of emotionality in the audience. A well executed production like that can pretty much "design" the emotional response of their audience - which they will do with a variety of tricks and treats, both mental and physical in nature.

But none of that is possible if the audience is fighting it. They need to sit down, relax, and suspend their disbelief.

Compare with going to the movies: What's the point if not to get carried away by the show? Nobody in their right mind would go and see films like for instance Star Wars if they were going to sit and judge the narrative all the way because it's not possible, not probable, not realistic... It's not supposed to be realistic, you fucknut. It is a fantasy tale that takes you on a ride through a series of emotions. There's a reason why they call Hollywood "The Dream Factory". Watching a movie is like going on a mental journey where you have little or no control, like a dream.

I entertain a nice, personal collection of perversions.

Among these, a fascination for conspiracy theories (CT's). What are they? Where do they come from? Why is it so important for some people that there must be a magical, or behind-the-scenes explanation to phenomenons that they themselves are too narrow minded to understand? I am not sure which is my favourite CT. I like the political one, with the reptilians from Niburu and the New World Order which will manifest as the Mayan calendar expires in 2012. That's just... awesome.

However, I have recently been looking into Zacharia Sitchkin and the Annunaki, as well as other "alien astronomer" CT's. During this study, I came across Puma Punku. Ancient stone structures hold a particular interest to me since I worked with stone masonry and concrete for 15 years. I have a very real and hands-on feel for the material. What that baby faced moron-in-a-suit in the video says is, simply put, bullshit. It seems blatantly obvious to me that the module stones of Puma Punky are made from a geopolymer concrete of sorts (see also this site). They are certainly not carved. Nor are they cut in any other way. No machinery that I am familiar with (which is just about all stone cutting machinery there is in the world) could manufacture those angles with such precision even today. A cast, however...

During the last couple of days, a space object passed the earth ever so close up, at 6 kilometers a second.

There is some debate whether it was man-made "space junk" or an asteroid, but it was estimated to be 10-15 meters across.

There's a lot of shit hurtling around out there. Sooner or later something will hit the earth.

Remember to always wear a tin foil hat in case of sudden impact! 

http://www.universetoday.com/2010/01/13/images-and-videos-of-2010-al30/

If I say "I believe in God" I have made a statement about myself.

It doesn't say anything about you, about the world; about truth, or science, or the holy fucking grail.

It says something about me. It says that I have chosen to believe something that is meaningful to me.

With my belief, I can feel peace. It makes all this shit make sense. It makes me a better person.

I personally do not believe in anything, least of all in the concept of "truth".

But I can see why people succumb to the almost irresistible pressure of terror: You are alive. You will die. You will be alone. Nobody will ever be able to understand you. Nothing really makes any sense. All people are stupid and evil. You can't trust anyone. The world is trying to break you. Love is the name for something that will rip you apart in unimaginable ways.

It hurts and it is lonesome.

And yet... I can but laugh at all this shit. Bring it on, bitch.

Anyway, what I wanted to say is that the first commandment of the dark lord Moron is to think of yourself as smart.

A.k.a. pride.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2111174/Intelligent-people-less-likely-to-believe-in-God.html

Not exactly the most shocking news of the week.

It seems that the critics have a point, however, when they say the test methods are flawed.

But that's not what's funny here. The reader's comments is.

It just goes on and on with that-which-you-can-expect-from-this-kind-of-discussion.....

Frankie Boyle says in a comment...

Also known as "us and them" thinking.

Out of all the irrational beliefs people hold, this is arguably the single most dangerous one.

It violates the principle of individual integrity and it is prejudice incarnated. It is also a clever way of escaping personal responsibility and the burden of owning up to all your choices, all the time, in their full and whole consequence, at all levels. There are two main groups of people who are attracted to group identities. The first and by far the largest group consists of stupid and weak people who seek "membeship" out of fear. The second one is made up from the evil, manipulative power-seekers, who see their opportunity for personal gain in assuming leadership over the weak and stupid ones.

Individual thinkers of integrity and character will intuitively seek to avoid group identities.

I am personally of the opinion that this is where human evolution stops. Unless we are able to somehow eradicate the very common tendency to think of ourselves and others in terms of tribal categories, genders, races, nationalities, sexual preferences, faith based affiliations, etc., we are not going anywhere; any of us. Unless we are able to really really fathom that we are all individuals, but at the same time we are all the same, this is as good as it gets. That is to say, this world as it is right now, with all its war and pestilence, exploitation and misery.

This is a little Satanic, I suppose.

But I confess that I really really like Prog Rock. (Like hippies with a fuzz pedal!)

So.... post your prog rock favourites here.

I will start with Atomic Rooster...

Fuck the soldiers. Really.

Most of all 20th century misery can be blamed on the common human willingness to believe in bullshit. WTF is the glory of the Swastika today? Where is the historical importance of the Hammer and the Sicle? Just where do you think your Stars and Stripes are heading? Get off the train. Life is about living it, as it is, wherever you are, free from the interference of lords and royals, right?

Who are your masters? What lord are you serving? There are no nations anymore, there are only ideas now. Only old habits of regional conflicts and stubborn refusal of accepting that your age of glory has passed. You are no more. Your strength and beauty has vanished... without anyone being sorry... and without the world reacting in any significant way. Like... who cares?

Man equals man. This is the pinnacle of all wisdom that you'll ever learn. Reap what you sow.

You have all heard of Sci-Fi; science fiction.

I want to hereby introduce Sci-Go; science gossip.

Whereas Sci-Fi obviously is a narrative trick of the trade if for instance you are writing stories or creating films, Sci-Go is a bit of a different animal. It is the act of talking and spreading rumours about science - and, in particular, what this or that scientific discovery "means". Y'all know how gossip works. It is often quite malicious and hardly ever related to the facts of the matter, but is rather a reflection of the opinions of the one who's telling the story, and cleverly twisting it into being "evidence" for what he or she for a long time has been saying about this or that.

Case in point, religious delusions. Creationism. That sort of thing.

But not only that! Sci-Go is real food for apocalyptic visionaries of all kinds. Like for instance all the fucking nutters who believe that the world will end just because the fucking Mayas - who were sinister medieval death-cult indian primitives - couldn't be arsed to carry on their calendar beyond a certain point. Then you have all crystal ladies and suburban shamans of the new age. They may not understand diddely squat of what the science is about, but they sure as shit know how to extract quotes and references that, taken out of context and twisted to measure, seem to lend some academic credence to their paranoid schizophrenic claims.

What do you think?

Is Science-Gossip (Sci-Go) a word you might be tempted to use?

Is this a paranoid idea?

Some times, I get the feeling that debating a Christian (or other person of the religious persuation) is not only futile but also directly harmful. What I mean is that they get some kind of twisted "validation" out of this. As in, they are taken more seriously than they deserve. Their ideas get indulged and fortified through what to them must seem like a conspiracy against their special relation with God. Compare this to how other paranoid delusions are being treated in the psychiatric field of medicine. Do you indulge and validate for instance schizophreniacs who are conviced that they are having and holding the full attention of both the CIA, the NSA, an army of undercover space aliens, and god-only-knows what else?

The core of the problem is the delusion of being a "chosen one". In the case of Christians, "saved".

Got any? Like the immortal kind?

I will start the show with "Airport" by The Motors (1978)...

As we speak, Tony Blair, former Prime Minister of the UK, is being questioned.

A strong general consensus feels that he's a war criminal who lead his country astray; causing the unnecessary death of many British soldiers out on the battlefields of a war that should have never been started. It wasn't justified. It wasn't right. It was an illegal war - on all levels. It seems likely that Mr. Blair will get some sort of reprimande... but he was of course clever enough to secure the support of the Parliament before actually going to war, so he can't be blamed all on his own.

We shall see where this goes.

The question is: Is it realistic to hope that the US of A will finally gather their amorphous coward jello enough together so that they form the actual balls needed to deal with this issue and prosecute former President Bush, and the real power behind the throne, former VP "Dick the Great"? I think not.

I am of the mind that the name of the planet Uranus should be pronounced "yooranoos".

Or else, the question "When did they discover rings around Uranus?" can be misunderstood.

I distinctly heard "When did they discover rings around your anus?"...

To which I promptly replied "WTF do you mean? Rings around my anus?"

And she laughed...

http://www.cassiopeiaproject.com/index.php

Highly recommended site that aims to make high end science available to the public.

A very good resource for reference; if, for instance, you are confronted with someone whose debate techniques include throwing scientific concepts around in an unscientific manner (which has been know to happen every now and then).