And they call themselves believers.....tut tut

Here is just another reason in the long list of reasons that religion is not beneficial to anyone. If you are a Mulsim you will know that Ramadan starts Sunday, then again if you are a Muslim you are probably not reading this blog.

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Ramadan however poses a problem for Muslim football players at the world cup.  These guys are faced with what in my opinion must be a very hard choice. Do you fast or do you do your job? Or to put it more eloquently, whats more important? God or job? Now there are reasons why a person does not have to fast during Ramadan but playing professional sport is not one of them. In fact these footballers can not use any excuse as they are wealthy enough to be able to observe Ramadan wherever they may be in the world.

Some players have already decided that their careers are more important than their god. I would congratulate them, but they are using dumb excuses when the only reason should be "Islam is dumb and I don't believe this bullshit written by a pedophile."

Personally, I think that it would be better just to leave all the Muslims at home and then not have to worry about them deciding at some point to stop performing at a peak level. Lets face it that you cannot perform as well as possible when you are fasting. Even if the FIFA doctors/scientists/etc. tell you otherwise.

So here we go another reason showing religion has the ability to destroy a fun worldwide event.

Burden Of Proof

I think the question of who shoulders the burden of proof is a huge problem. I believe this arises partly because people (especially atheist) do not understand the concept properly. In fact I would say the problem partly arises for atheists from a misunderstanding of Matt Dillahuntey when he tells theists they shoulder the burden of proof for the positive claim.

Now I don't mean to discredit Matt, in fact he is perfectly correct when he says "The person making the positive claim shoulders the burden of proof". However, this does not mean you can say in a debate to your opponent that they have not met the burden of proof and as such their claim is false. To elaborate, any positive claim can never be met 100 % and as such even when debating gravity as a fact, a person can claim that you have not met the burden of proof. This is simply how science works nothing is known 100%.

As such using the claim that someone did not meet the bruden of proof is a weak argument defeater. Its better to say I am not convinced by your arguments. While it means the same thing, it is a way of saying that I personally do not trust your evidence and or arguments. However to say you have not met the burden of proof is saying your argument is philisophically or scientifically unsound. While this can be the case it is not always so.

As such from now on when I debate, I will be taking the position that the burden of proof is shared. In this way I think people now have to read or listen well to decide if an argument is good or bad. Its not right just to believe the atheist position always. All arguments should be sound and justified.

Its like Noah's ark, its highly unlikely to be true as all the evidence points that it is impossible. But, it could be possible. As such even if there is no proof its better to show your opponnet why their arguments are wrong than just say "you did not meet the burden of proof". For me anyway its a get out of jail free card and I want to be able to defend my arguments not just pretend to be smart.

Idiots of the week - Mormons

This week I sighed and then sighed some more and then wondered why people can be so dumb. After which I decided to subject my loyal audience to some of the stupidity that prevails in Mormonism.

Now, like most other religions (particularly Abrahamic religions) Mormonism has an issue with women. Which is weird considering that mostly these same groups also hate homosexualtiy often as well. Are the seriously deluded that they hate both sexes or have a lot of these people had their genitals fall off as they dont know how to use them, and now they are just bitter? I mean seriously, if you hate women and men are you in love with your hand? or have you genitals fallen of?

Back on topic. The Mormons have decided to excommunicate Kate Kelley for apostasy. See Kelley did the most horrible of things by saying women should be allowed to be priests in this male dominated society. She believes that the Mormon doctrine states that women should be allowed to be ministers, yet the men who decide all these things disagree. As such they have decided to do what chauvinists do best, they decided to shut the B*&^h up.

The Mormon pimps dont take s^&* from no women.

At this point, I am not sure who are more idiotic. The women who stay in a sect that treats them unfairly, or the men who want to treat their women unfairly. Either way Mormons you are the idiots of the week. Now go put your magic underwear on and repent to your alien god.

Denial

I have a blanket statement to make, and I realise that not everyone is like this but I think it is a fundamental truth. Its a fundamental truth as I think no one wants to actually know what bad things are happening as people prefer to have a happy life with no problems. So here it is.

No one actually wants to know the truth.

Now after you have exhaled deeply or thought what you intend to comment about "how you want to know the truth" just wait and let me elaborate. There is a lot of denial in the world. For example,  everyone was shocked when Edward Snowden revealed the extent of the NSA eavesdropping. Honestly, if this shocked you then you fit the model that people don't want to know the truth.

People want to be happy. People do not want to know when their neighbour is molesting their child. People don't want to know that their friends are cheating on their tax returns. People want to live a peaceful life and so people find life a lot easier when the truth is not always evident. When they find out something like the examples above it requires a lot of effort to right the problem and people don't like problems.

This is why People like the idea of Heaven/Nirvana or what ever else you want to call it. Its the easy way out rather than facing your mortality. It gives you the option to pretend that life can go on forever.

This is why you get such a violent reaction when you present this evidence to a theist. They don't want you to tell them the truth they want to live in denial as it is easier. This is one of the reasons religion is so powerful as it plays to the basic needs and desires of people. Those basic needs such as immortality.

Concerned about liberal policies going to far.

I like to consider myself a liberal in the sense of what I have defined a liberal to be. Granted this is not the label that most people would apply to liberal, but I don't know what to call it otherwise. However, it seems I do not fit the liberal label society considers liberal. So I think I will take some time on this blog in the future (when I feel the need) to  point out other things besides atheistic issues which I believe need addressing. It is my blog after all so I can do what I want.

It seems to me that multiple liberal (so called equality) policies are actually causing bigger problems than they are solving. As such I thought I would use this initial post to point out two news items that have recently got me riled up.

Recently, the NIH has decided that groups doing preclinical medical research should use both male and female cells/animal in trials. Now while this has merit as male and female cells do have difference we need to stop and think. The fact is using different cell lines costs money and as such some groups are going to have to cut projects and experiments to be able to adhere to these policies. So while this is gender equality, what it in effect is doing is hindering progress. Now, you can scream as much as you want about equality, the fact is this is a dumb policy as in the broader sense it is hurting everyone.

Whats next, skin color as well? Its completely valid as sickle cell anemia occurs in black people more predominantly. Then we can cut more experiments. Then how about sexuality differences? Cut more experiments. In essence, some policies are stupid and we need to realize that.

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The next dumb idea was implemented in Vancouver Canada and it concerns Transgender bathroom usage. This is an idiotic idea, unless they can offer a separate set of bathrooms for boys that identify as girls and girls that identify as boys.So you either need to build new toilets or allocate space appropriately..... or get rid of this completely stupid idea.

Now let me explain why. If you are not doing this you are infringing on the rights of children who identify with their sex they are born with. Imagine the straight boy that has to share the bathroom with a girl. Or the straight girls that has to share a bathroom with a boy. This is not fair even thought the transgender identifies this way there genitals do not.

While yes it may not be fair for the transgender either, the fact is most people are not transgender. As such we need to either get new bathrooms or not allow a policy that infringes on the rights of many. This is a stupid policy.

This is why I say I am not a liberal in the sense of the word that everyone applies.

Appeal to Numbers -Satire

When theists argue that so many people believe in a god they cannot be wrong. I always get this picture in my mind.

Iditos of the week - ISIS

Seems these retards of the Islamic faith continue to crop up on the blog. This time these barbaric idiots called ISIS have gone and posted execution videos/photos on line. The link is to a news article as I have no intention of actually watching the real deal. The blurred out video I had to watch was hard enough. Did I mention Islam is the religion of peace. Maybe they are only peaceful when they are in a minority? It certainly seems to be the case.

This terrorist group want to instill an Islamic state in Iraq and Syria. This actually confuses me as pretty much every country in the Middle East, besides Israel, is Islamic. It makes me wonder if they have been reading the newspapers and then it hit me. It obvious they can't read so we should not be surprised that they are fighting for something that is already there. But then I found out that they are also a group that believe their brand of Islam is the correct one. This means they are fighting to install a new Islamic state where an Islamic state exists but that is different. 

Basically, they want to install a new government and kill civilians that do not follow their retarded interpretations of the pedophile who could not write anyway. But remember the Koran has not changed ever according to the Muslims. Confused? Don't worry, so am I.


One more thing, calling them illiterate retards is not an insult. Seriously, just look at their flag. I am sure and three year old could have made this more artistic. Just another point of evidence that they are severly lacking in the brain department.

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Now, I am not one to promote violence but really these things need to get wiped off the face of the Earth. I propose a tactical nuclear strike.....your opinions?

Islam promotes options other than divorce

I feel I have not poked enough fun a Islam in a while, its been at least three days. To make up for this time that I have given these Allah lovers off, here is my list of three things to do instead of getting a civilized divorce if you are a Muslim. All of these things have the inevitable outcome of a divorce minus the lengthily procedures of bribes and Sharia courts. By inevitable, I mean her death.

These are all things that are acceptable when interpreted from the Koran which is completely rational. Funny how most theism needs interpretation when the god that inspires said scripture is omnipotent. Its almost as if this god is not omnipotent. So without further ado.

The divorce lawyer and time saving list as recommended by the Koran:
1. Convince your wife that female suicide bombers go to heaven and that's she will have virgins to do all the work she normally has to do....after all you are a lazy slob.
2. When out walking with your wife, trip her so that she shows her ankle to passersby. Screech "ankle" if you do not see at least 50 % of the males grabbing their crotches.
3. Pay your friends to rape her, and enjoy beer on them when she gets stoned.

Maybe too dark these options, but nonetheless no one can claim I don't pick on Islam.

Mormons and their alien friends

Mormonism...... The religion that was started by a fraudster. The religion that believes in sexy underwear. The religion that has their bike boys wearing their black pants and white shirts all around the world knocking on doors or preaching on buses to people that just do not give a crap.

Mormonism...... The religion that believes in UFOs and extraterrestrials. Surprised? Well you should be as even most Mormons deny this. Similar to most other theists, Mormons know nothing about their religion. I sometimes wonder if the reason atheists exist, is to inform theists about their religions.

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So if any Mormon you know is in doubt about aliens, send them to the following file. Here, they can see what their fraudster founder and other leading members said about the Moon men. Here is something attributed to Joseph Smith related by O.B.Huntington.
"As far back as 1837, I  know that he said the moon was inhabited by men and women the same as this earth , and that they lived to a greater age than we do that they live generally to near the age of a 1000 years."


Of course O.B.Hungtinton is discredited by the Mormon faith even though he was published by them in their Young Womens Journal. I suppose its easier to discredit when everyone knows your beliefs are dumb and you get called out on them. However, even if we discredit O.B. you still find he is not the only Mormon boss to believe in aliens. Or as Joseph Fielding Smith said:
"We are not the only people that the Lord has created. We have brothers and sisters on other earths. They look like us because they, too, are the children of God and were created in his image, for they are also his offspring."

I am sure this is why religion can be so entertaining for comedians, as every time I read this stuff it makes me laugh . Yet our Mormon friends still do not believe.

Yet another fine example of cognitive dissonance or pure ignorance.

Knowledge can save relationships

So why is knowledge important?

Let me elaborate using some examples that have to do with that thing that theists hate to do so much. That dirty word SEX, well actually STDs. Knowledge about STDs can save a marriage, however if you believe the rubbish spouted by abstinence only proponents (or priests) about STDs your marriage could in the following scenarios implode.

The first example is HPV, that virus that most men carry around without even knowing about it. That virus that is possible to get even without having sex. So if you had a sexual partner or gave someone a hand job 10 years before you got married, it is possible to get HPV and not have symptoms. Then even if you are completely faithful you can give your spouse HPV.

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The second example is the Herpes virus. Its pretty much exactly the same as the HPV virus but even worse in the not having sex department and transmission. In some people it can lay latent for their whole life yet still be infectious. Or in some cases Herpes will only present symptomatically years after infection. Hell you can even get Herpes during childbirth. Again, even if you are completely faithful you can give your spouse Herpes.


All these viruses are not great, and I am not promoting unsafe sex. I am just trying to point out possibilities that many people do not seem to know about. Possibilities that could lead to a destruction of a life and family. Imagine divorcing your spouse for a disease they got during childbirth and never knew about. Thats stupidity and why you should always search for real answers.

This is why knowledge is power.

Idiots of the week - Sudanese Islamic retards

This is an old story that I am sure has been mentioned by a lot of bloggers. However, as it fits perfectly into the idiot of the week category and so I will give my 2 cents worth.

The story of Meriam Ibrahim is a tragic story to say the least as it defies any logic and reason that one would expect in the 21st century. For those of you that don't know, Sharia law is basically giving this lady as many sentences as possible for one person as they want to makes sure she dies.

Firstly, she married a Christian and so she converted from Islam. This is apostasy and deserves the death peanalty according to the retards in Islamic law.

Secondly, as her marriage does not count the fact that she got pregnant and is having a baby means that she had premarital sex. This then is another reason to flog her and murder her in the name of Allah's great love.They clearly also want this lady to renounce her Christianity, which she could do, but it still means she had sex before marriage and so she must die.

At this point in time she has given birth to her child while in jail and basically we await the execution. While the world is outraged at these stone age barbarians its not likely that anything good will happen in this situation even if she is freed. The end of the day, if she is freed, they will just use it to promote more of their hypocrisy. Their hypocrisy that comes from a pedophile and that Islam is the religion of peace.

Islam is seriously retarded, and thats why the Sudanese Muslims deserve to be idiots of the week.

No one said you can't be a bigot

Recently, I have noticed (online and offline) that people get really upset when you call them a bigot. It probably has something to do with the word bigot having such a negative connotation and that most people do not understand what the world actually means. SO before I continue lets define what a bigot is.
Bigot: a person who strongly and unfairly dislikes other people, ideas, etc.

Personally, I do not have a problem with anyone that wants to be a homophobe/racist/feminist/chauvinist etc. As long as you are not acting on these things in your mind by discriminating in the workplace or wherever else you feel the need to be an idiot. It is completely okay to hold any thought you want. Just as you can choose your friends, you can also choose to not have friends of a specific color/sexuality/race etc. All I want to see is a society where people are not discriminated against whether they be rich white males or poor Mexican cotton pickers, yes I am using stereotypes on purpose.

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Here are some examples of what I mean. Just in case you are wondering, I never got any reply.
This was on a blog where someone was saying very negative things about Koreans and the fact that they work hard (among others)........yeh apparently thats a bad thing.
"Regarding complaining. I agree it is good to complain, but this was not complaining. This was someone just saying my opinion is right, and all Koreans are wrong. I am better, I am great.
Well done you have shown you are a bigot."
Or this on Charisma news had to do with someone loving Christianity, but saying they do not discriminate they only want their religion to be allowed.
"So you do care about religion.....
You do realize you are making no sense right?
Regardless you have shown that you are a bigot. Congratulations."

Just know that if I think you are being a bigot, I will be sure to let you know. Its your opinion, and I am just giving you mine.

The Internet is a great place to say what you want to say. But when you say it, then be expected to back your claims up or at the least be called out on your claims. Sometimes things are not true just because you want them to be.

Our beautiful brains

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When I first read the article entitled "Spatially Distributed Local Fields in the Hippocampus Encode Rat Position" (link is subscription only, and I cant wait for the day of free access for everyone) I was shocked at what I was reading. In fact, I almost blogged about this earlier as the title and my first reading was telling me things that were not making sense yet still fascinating. However, I withheld and read the manuscript again a few times to try get a better comprehension.

Caveat of my idiocy: I almost thought this article was saying that position is somehow remembered in a specific part of the brain. This means that somehow the mouse was able to locate itself without ever having been in a location before. Luckily, I reread and reread.

Back to the topic, what these authors showed is that by monitoring and analyizing the brain activity of mice they were able to determine the location of the mice in a cage/box. This means that they used the spatial memory of cells to be able to determine where a rat was. In essence this means that cells are able to retain information on where a rat was, or more accurately these cells fire signals when rats are in a certain position. This means the brain is functioning as a whole to record location. This shows how complexly wonderful our brain is at processing information, and why simple injuries to the brain can cause such dramatic effects in personality.

This work opens the pathway to discover more complicated brain processes. This is wonderful as hopefully one day very soon we can discover why we as people think rationally sometimes and irrationally the next. It will help us understand why mental illness exists, and whether a person needs to be medicated or not. These are exciting times, and hopefully it will happen sooner rather than later.

Idiots of the week - Holly Huber and Mitchell Kale

This weeks idiots are Holly Huber and Mitchell Kale, both atheists who have lost their logic or something?

These two atheists based in Hawaii have been suing a group of churches for not paying the appropriate amount of rent to the state for using schools during parts of their outreach or whatever else churches do in their free time.They claim that these churches used the schools for a longer time than was paid for. Interestingly some of the churches have settled out of court while two others decided rightfully not to settle. These two churches have now been found not guilty  twice.  While this subject has been discussed by Hemant Metha over at Patheos  back in 2013, I feel one big aspect is being neglected.

The fact neglected is this, in this case these two atheists are idiots.

They are suing the churches for renting the property, however the churches have paid for rent. Now while the churches may or may not have overused the time allocated for the rent agreement is not the issue. This is something that needs to be addressed by the  person renting the property i.e. the schools. If these idiots want to sue someone, they should in fact be suing the schools for not managing the rental agreement correctly.

This is why a loss of reason (and basically what looks to me like any reason to be angry at the church) makes Holly Huber and Mitchell Kale idiots of the week.

These type of cases do not help atheism in anyway.

Honor Killings get a bigger WTF moment than normal.

The recent honor killing (read murder by misogynist Allah worshipping Muhammad loving blockheads) by 20 male relatives of Farzana Parveen by 20 of her male relatives. That's right her family murdered her, as usually these honor killings are done by those people that hate love you most. This killing has brought the honor killings that happen in Pakistan and other countries onto the international stage yet again. It was shocking to read that last year alone there were an estimated 900 women killed in honor killings. At this point you must be thinking, why did this fool (i.e. me) put WTF in the title.

SO, here is your WTF moment.

This dickhead husband of this dead lady who is "grieving" the loss of his beloved wife. The other day admitted to strangling his first wife to death so that he could marry his now deceased wife. Can anyone say psychopath?

In case you are wondering why he was not in jail? Well he is a male, and according to the Islamic Provisions in the Pakistani law he could get off free of the crime. You know forgiveness goes a long way when you murder someone, its like bang, oops, sorry. Ironically this is the exact law he does not want these 20 relatives to be able to be acquitted with.

What a wanker, seriously this is a disgusting case and another reason why belief in a god is just about the dumbest thing you can do to your brain.

Blame Satan and let the killer go

The recent shooting in Isla Vista California was terrible to say the least. After seeing this mans rant before he went on the spree makes you realise that he is seriously delusional. Yet, I will put my neck out and say that he was aware of what he was doing and there is no reason that he should end up in an asylum as he just needs hard time and lots of it. Preferably forever.

However, it was to my surprise that the people at WND seem to think that Satan is to blame for this. In fact they believe this human thing was channelling Satan himself, and this got me to thinking about this situation and how it applies to theists. If theists are blaming this on Satan, as that is in effect what channelling Satan means, then there are some conclusions that are horrific but need to be looked at seriously.

How can we prosecute this person and send them to jail. It was after all not them that committed this atrocity. If they were channelling Satan then it is completely wrong to send this person to jail. This is just an uncomfortable fact that you have to deal with. Otherwise you are saying that this person in fact did not channel Satan and they are culpable. In this case then Satan does not exist, and surely to most Christians then it throws doubt on if that other guy exists. You know the one with the white robe and flowing grey hair.

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Maybe this explains why the Catholics are so fond of when covering up their crimes. It was after all not the priests fault for raping the alter boy. It was the fleshy temptation of the alter boy that made him rape. This is screwed up beyond belief, but this is the conclusion that you have to reach if you believe demons or Satan are behind these acts.

This is why theism is ridiculous.

Creationist non-Trump Card: Evolutionary stasis

Sometime back I read an interesting article on the fossilized nuclei and chromosomes of a 180 million year old Royal Fern. (Subscription link) What makes this remarkable is that the authors of this research showed that the nuclei and chromosome size indicate genomic stasis for at least 180 million years.

Naturally, the creationists were happy to hear this as it gave them another chance to trot out their well evolution clearly is not correct as the Royal Fern has not changed in 180 million years. Or evolutionary stasis proves that evolution does not work. However, there are multiple explanations which show that evolutionary stasis is completely plausible, such as separation and rejoining of populations which then get overrun by a dominant gene.(To understand dominant versus recessive genes, click here) These theories have actually been seen to occur and these explanations fit in with the scientific data.

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Also, the creationists reading this article are forgetting one very critical factor and that is something I have always wanted to say in my blog.

"Size is not everything". That is, even if the genome is the same size. The genome itself has not been analyzed as it is fossilized. That means we do not know what kind of mutations have occurred on the DNA. Or evolution in the DNA could have occurred, but we can never know as the DNA is not accessible to study. Only if we could actually sequence the DNA and compare it to a modern day fern and show that they are the same can we say that their has been stasis. However, as I said above this stasis has many other explanations.

So when creationists say "no change has taken place for 180 million years" they are telling you only the parts that they want to believe or the only parts that they understand. Thats why most biologists  (and me included) sometimes refer to these pseudo-scientists as IDiots.