Magic thinking in action...

For kicks I watch Ancient Aliens for laughs sometimes, and only for brief periods. That amount of weapon-grade bullshit is nauseating and I can only take so much.

In one episode,  Giorgio A. Tsoukalos (pictured) states that religious people engage in magical thinking (which they do) and after stating that magic isn't real, goes on to assert that the only possible answer must be extra-terrestial aliens.

Because his personal credulity is impugned, Tsoukalos substitutes one form of magical thinking for another...

... totally oblivious of course.


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Freethought Festival 2012. Madison, WI

Start of Saturday's talks

JT Eberhardt

Saturday evening discussion on church and state with Annie Laurie Gaylor, Andrew Siedel, Ellery Schmep, and Sean Faircloth.

Phil Ferguson

Map of all the attendees

PZ Myers

Dr. Richard Carrier

Dale McGowan

Matt Dillahunty

Books and other things being sold in the hallway outside of the lecture room.

These are a few sample pictures I took at the first ever Freethought Festival in Madison, April 2012. I loved seeing all the speakers. PZ Myers and JT Eberhardt didn't dissapoint and I loved Dale McGown's talk being a new father and all. Phil Ferguson of Skepticmoney was a real treat too. I really enjoyed everyone talks.

I was a little surprised that there was not Christians there protesting the event telling us the error of our ways. On the University of Madison square there is a Catholic Church and outreach center with coffee shop less than half a block away. Nothing. Which was cool, because I wasn't there for confrontation or to be belittled. I went to hang out with interesting and like-minded people.

You can see more photo's on the blog's Facebook page.

I can't wait to go next year!

Free Thought Festival Update

Wouldn't you know it... I get all shy at this event. I had the chance to say hi to Matt Dillahuntly, JT Eberhardt, and PZ Myers and I shut the hell up. 12 oz. of courage should would have helped. Ugh... Anyway... I have loved the speakers so far. JT's talk was great, PZ was fun and Dillahunty's was too.

I'm eating now and drinking a Pacifico and this is the first time I've used this iPad to type a post.

When I get home I'll try to post some photos. Next on the agenda is the Resonate show with Greydon Square. It starts at 9. I'm usually in bed by 10 pm because I'm old.

This Coming weekend: Freethought Festival - Madison

I really wanted to go to the Reason Rally last March in DC, but had other commitments.

That's why, as a small consultation, I will be attending the Freethought Festival in Madison this coming weekend all day Saturday and part of Sunday.

I will be taking photos too. Once I have these photos processed and ready to go, I'll be posting them in a group on Flickr. (Watch for a notification of the group on this blog.) Also, I will be attending the Resonate show afterwards. I got a hotel close so I can cab it back safely.

All the speakers have something to offer, but I am really looking forward to the talks by JT Eberhard, PZ Myers, Hemant Mehta, Matt Dillahunty, Richard Carrier, Ellery Schempp, Sean Faircloth, and Dale McGowan.

And I am looking forward to meeting other skeptics, atheists, agnostics, freethinkers that live in the state and the surrounding areas.

Hope to see some of you there!

God is always consistent - except when it comes to incest

Remember what we are told by the religious: God is unchanging and his morality is fixed for which human morality is grounded in. Otherwise, humans could change their minds and decide something good one day, and then bad the next day. God can never do that. And choosing for ourselves would be bad because we have freewill. We just couldn't choose for ourselves and be responsible for our decisions. Nope this is why we need God.

"Who was Cain's wife?
Answered within the Christian worldview by Timothy McCabe

According to the Bible, Adam and Eve, the two first people (Genesis 2), initially had two sons, Cain and Abel (Genesis 4:1-2). Cain murdered his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8), took off into the Land of Nod (Genesis 4:16), and had many descendants (Genesis 4:17-24). We aren't told specifically who his wife was.

We are told, however, that Adam (and probably Eve also) lived for approximately one thousand years (Genesis 5:5), and that after Cain and Abel they had several sons and daughters (Genesis 5:4). It seems most likely, therefore, that Cain married one of his sisters.

It seems possible that incest was not formally outlawed by God until the time of Moses (Leviticus 18:9), approximately 2,500 years after creation. Initially, with the entire human race descending from two parents and a command given by God to go forth and multiply (Genesis 1:28, 9:1), incest would not only have been permitted, but necessary."

Yeah, because God could only create two people in the beginning. Creating more than one "family" would have been totally beyond his power. Sure, creating a man out of dirt and a woman from his rib, he could do, but more people. NO.Yep, only two people should populate the Earth, because that makes lots of sense if you want your human playthings to "go forth and multiple." As God, you possess unlimited power and created billions of planets and suns in billions and billions of galaxies, but create multiple first people, no. Incest is probably the best way to populate the Earth because a few millennium later you'll outlaw it anyway.

Boy-howdy is religion brilliant. Sign me the fuck up!

This just supports my earlier post that Christians (creationists in particular) believe in incest. Not that they approve in it, but they can't really condemn it either if they sincerely believe the bullshit that is preached that humanity is descended from a dirt-man and a rib-woman.

God knows how to pick a winner!

As of writing this, Über right-wing theocrat Republican presidential candidate, Rick Santorum is announcing that he is "suspending" his campaign. In March, Santorum's wife Karen stated that "...when God asks something – you do it" for why her husband is running for office.

Yet, God has also asked Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, and Rick Perry to run as well.

All have dropped out.

As far as I can tell, the Paul, Gingrich and frontrunner Romney campaigns have not stated that God asked their respective candidates to run.

For those keeping track at home the score is like this:

Summoned by God: 0-4

Not summoned by God: 3-0

Santorum is dropping out of the race because of his daughter's hospitalization. I'm a father of a young daughter too so I can understand Santorum's decision. Commendable. Santorum stated that he made this decision to drop out over "prayer." From this we can surmise that God probably told Santorum to cease his campaign.

So what to make of this? God tells Santorum and the others to run, and then later God tells Santorum to stop running because his daughter is sick. I thought God cared most for children. God does nothing to help Santorum's daughter. Nothing. Yet through all this, he asks Santorum to run anyway.

Of course, christbots will see no problem with this. God asks them to run and God fails to deliver. Obviously, it's all part of God's plan. And if God can't bat .500, who will notice? The easy answer here is there is no God to tell these candidates what to do and they are individually determining for themselves what they want to do and ego-stroking themselves that its all God's idea. However, every time they state that God told  them to run reminds me of children who need permission. Grow up! You want be leaders and yet you can't make a decision for yourself without appealing to god. You act like child. Act like an adult for once.

Perhaps these republicans should have consulted with Pat Robertson before running. Apparently, God has already revealed to him who will be president -- but Robertson is not telling.

Facebook Meme of the Day: Water into Wine

Been awhile since I done these. Today's meme is this:

Or imagine if Jesus had turned water into antibiotics or vaccines instead?

So much misery and human suffering would have been spared in the past two-thousand years if Jesus would have. But water into wine? As a modern person I would have been much more impressed with a contribution of antibiotics or vaccines which have added to people's health and longevity rather than such a showy display of "power" that only convinces the credulous today. Turning water into wine helps no one.

Yet people are still impressed by this New Testament hokum.

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