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http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=geekthing Here’s another you WILL want!

I love April 1st.

The world has not yet acknowledged the truth about muslim intolerance, but each time a story like this crops up, the excuses for ignoring it lose more ground. What will it take for the “west” to finally connect the dots?

Planned Mother Teresa statue irks Albania Muslims

SHKODER, Albania (Reuters) – Muslims in Albania’s northern city of Shkoder are opposing plans to erect a statue to Mother Teresa, the ethnic Albanian Catholic nun in line for elevation to sainthood by the Vatican.

The dispute is unusual for Albania, where religion was banned for 27 years under the regime of dictator Enver Hoxha and where religious harmony and mixed marriages are the norm.

Seventy percent of the population are liberal Muslims, the rest are Christian Orthodox and Catholic.

But Muslim groups in Shkoder rejected the local council plan for a Teresa statue, saying it “would offend the feelings of Muslims.”

[...]
But men in one Shkoder bar said they would prefer a monument to an Albanian fighter who blew himself up in order to avoid being captured by enemy Serbs, or even to two Ottoman-era pashas remembered fondly in Shkoder.

We’re talking about a statue of http://nobelprize.org/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-bio.html Mother Teresa; Nobel Peace Prize recipient, internationally recognized for her efforts – and they’d rather erect a statue of some schmuck who blew himself up? How very fitting.

I ran a little test on the folks at work today to see if they saw the same thing I did… they did, let’s see how you do.

I am going to describe a well-known organization, try figure out who I am thinking of:

Controlled by all-powerful leaders.
Maintains power through fear and ignorance.
Members are loyal and obedient (at risk of death).
Membership for life (only way out is dead).
Rival groups within the organization fight for territory (often to the death).
Possesses its own laws and hierarchy.
Governments publicly denounce them, privately support them.
Hide financial transactions behind legitimate organizations.

Are you thinking the mafia?

I was thinking of islamists.

But the similarities are sickening.

BBC NEWS | Entertainment | South Park gets revenge on Chef

South Park has exacted revenge on its former star Isaac Hayes by turning his character Chef into a paedophile and seemingly killing him off.

The opening episode of the 10th series, screened in the US on Wednesday, appeared to be a satire on Scientology.

The funny part of the article here is where they say “appeared to be a satire on Scientology”. It was OBVIOUSLY mocking the morons at CoS, and both mocking and pitying poor, stupid Isaac Hayes for falling victim to the lunacy that comes from taking the insane rantings of a bad science fiction writer and calling it a religion.

If you missed the season premiere on Wednesday, they’re replaying it tonight (Saturday 3/25 oops, the replay was last night… but you can watch at least some of it on their http://www.comedycentral.com website)(it’s on tonight, Sunday 3/26… pardon my brainfart), and since Tom Cruise, John Travolta, and Scientology are not mentioned, they should have no problem playing it over, and over again. It is truly a work of art.

If you still don’t understand the evil ignorance that is L. Ron’s little masterpiece, be sure to check out http://www.xenu.net/ this site.

This is just a reminder: the real problem is not the muslims running around with bombs strapped to their chests. The real problem is religious extremists (and extremists in general, for that matter) – regardless of the flavor.

Oddly Enough News Article | Reuters.com

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – An outbreak of deadly bird flu in Israel is God’s punishment for calls in election ads to legalize gay marriages, according to Rabbi David Basri, a prominent sage preaching Kabbalah or Jewish mysticism.

“The Bible says that God punishes depravity first through plagues against animals and then in people,” Basri said in a religious edict quoted by his son.

There will be no freedom of religion until we can be free from religion. As long as people are willing to listen to the words of assholes like David Basri and believe they are handed down from some deity, the killing will continue.

For all you religious types out there, a suggestion: Make up your own minds. Don’t blindly follow someone because he talks pretty and tells you he’s closer to god than you. If there is a god, talk to him/her/it yourself. When some asshole steps up and starts telling you to change because “god wants it”, or that the latest disaster was “punishment from god”, beat his ass and send him packing. The world will be a better place for it, I assure you.

David Basri just happens to be today’s steaming pile, he’s certainly not alone in the field.

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/donate.php Donate to SETI@home

http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/results.php?userid=58385 I’ve been a contributor to http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/sah_about.php Seti@Home for years, accumulating a decent number of results/time for a single person (IMO). Now the project coordinators are looking for monetary contributions to keep it running. http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/donate.php This page is where you can donate via credit card, check, direct debit, or paypal; and it’s tax deductible! If you don’t have a few bucks looking for a worthy cause (and even if you do!), then how about http://setiathome.berkeley.edu/index.php joining in on the search?

Thank you for considering a donation to SETI@home. SETI@home is a nonprofit educational and research organization that relies significantly on donations to continue operations. We are in the middle of our first annual funding drive, as we are embarking on several exciting new projects and we need your help. Any level of support is greatly appreciated.
[...]
Your donation is tax-deductible. The University of California is a nonprofit educational and research organization governed by the provisions of Section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The University’s Federal Identification number for reporting and tax purposes is 94-6002123.

Some very cool art to brighten your day. Proof that no matter how bad things get, there is still hope for us.

Impact Lab – Amazing 3D Sidewalk Art Photos

Julian Beever is an English artist who’s famous for his art on the pavement of England, France, Germany, USA, Australia and Belgium.

Most of his artwork it is impossible to tell whats real from what’s an illusion. Very cool stuff.

Sometimes things pop into my head that I’d forgotten for years. This morning it was actually two things, but the similarity of the titles is likely the reason. They were both children’s stories, from about the first grade:

One was http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/rtt.html “Rikki Tikki Tavi”, a dramatic piece from Rudyard Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” about an heroic mongoose and an evil cobra; the other was “Tikki Tikki Tembo”, a cute little story about an ancient Chinese custom and how it came to be changed. The latter was the one I was really thinking about, so I sat down and did a little http://www.google.com/search?q=Tikki+Tikki+Tembo google search to see if I could find the story. I found a number of references, but was fairly disturbed by the discussion and commentary accompanying references to the story.

Simply put, the story is a cute way to demonstrate how strict adherence to rules and tradition is not always the wise course. By forcing the younger son to recite his older brother’s ridiculously long name correctly (over and over again, out of breath from running for help), the adults nearly caused the death of the older son. It uses oriental characters, and a tradition that may or may not have ever actually been in practice.

The disturbing thing is that, by reading the various discussions about this story, folks are concentrating on the oriental characters and the names/traditions, assuming the story has some mean-spirited lower meaning. In this age of political enlightenment and multicultural awkwardness, people are no longer able to simply appreciate a story for it’s lesson. Society, namely ours, is in a constant struggle to find all the potential flaws in itself. When we can’t find real flaws, we overexamine the simplest of things to make flaws that we can condemn.

No wonder the rest of the world is worried about becoming more like the “enlightened” West. While we should be extolling the virtues of Democracy and Capitalism, we’re demonstrating a self-defeating knack for introspective criticism. Thanks again, you liberal bastards… you’ve stomped all over yet another childhood memory.