The Pagan origins of the Christian Myth

[Before] Dionysis turned water to wine.
[After] Jesus turned water into wine.

[Before] Vespatian healed a blind man.
[After] Jesus healed a blind man.

[Before] The good go to the Elysian Fields, the bad to Hades.
[After] The good go to Heaven, the bad to Hell.

[Before] Romulus was the son of God, born of a virgin.{There are at least 4 others like this}
[After] Jesus was the son of God, born of a virgin.

[Before] Every group (Egyptians, Minoans, Spartans, Arians, etc) gets their holy laws from "god."
[After] Christians get their holy laws from "god."

[Before] The Roman god Liber had his flesh eaten by his followers.
[After] Jesus had his flesh eaten by his followers.

[Before] Glycon was the son of the God Apollo, who:
... came to Earth through a miraculous birth,
... was the Earthly manifestation of divinity,
... came to earth in fulfillment of divine prophecy,
... gave his chief believer the power of prophecy,
... gave believers the power to speak in tongues,
... performed miracles,
... healed the sick,
... raised the dead.
[After] Same as above except cross out Glycon/Apollo and replace with Jesus/God.



You see....Christians are not special, they follow the same myths that have been around for thousands of years. I get tired of hearing this 'god is special/jesus is our savior/jesus loves you/the bible is the word of god/REPENT!' crap over and over again. Religion is just a pair of mental shackles to keep people in their place, to keep them sedated. Study after study has shown that religion and intelligence are correlated (with an increase in intelligence = decrease in religion). [Keep in mind that IQ is only one measure of intelligence, but similar studies have seen the same thing in GPA, ACE, SAT, college education, income, and status in their field of work.]

The greatest threat to religion is reason.

Brain Drain

So I have been reading on the brain drain in the central valley. Link: Valley Notebook

It is quite sad just how pronounced it is. In the San Joaquin Valley only 14% of people over 25 have at least a bachelor's degree compared to the rest of the state of California at 28%.

So what does the San Joaquin Valley have to offer, Fresno in particular (since it is the 'big city'):
~~Well, it is in the middle of the state. Four hours to LA, four hours to Sac and San Fran. Two hours to the ocean, two hours to the mountains. In the middle of everything. The problem with this is that you have to go somewhere else to do something. Why should you be in the middle of everything when you can pick one thing that will have most of what you want anyways? With gas at $4.50 a gallon, who is going to drive that far?
~~The housing is the cheapest in the state. This is a positive, especially if you want to own a house. However, who wants to own a house that has nothing of value around it? Do we have lots of culture? No. Do we have major universities? No. Do we have a good public transportation system? No. Is there a thriving job market to support a family on? No. Then what is the point of owning a house, if there is nothing of value around it? It is like having a 3 story mansion, but it is located in the middle of the city dump. Pointless.
~~Lower crime rate? Not exactly. Both Fresno and Kern counties had a similar or higher rate of crime per 100k people than Los Angeles in all categories (2005). Where is the incentive to stay? Why not pick a county like Orange, Santa Clara, or Santa Barbara to raise your kids? They have lower crime rates, more cultural and job opportunities, and major universities nearby.

So how do we keep people here? How do we bring people in? How do we stop the tide of people leaving?

My fish has eaten your fish?

This is utter bullshit. It seems that the Discovery Institute has released another psuedo-science paper. It never ends with them does it?

Anyways, a quick summary of the paper. They took protein structures and compared them to Han (Chinese) characters with a computer program. That is it, that is the whole paper. They couldn't even account for 3D folding, they changed the topology of the proteins to make them fit the characters. An example of their bullshit work is below. At least there is an upside, they were able to write out (in 'Chinese') "My fish has eaten your fish" [the image below is not it] using proteins.


What is wrong with these people?!? Why is this ignorance allowed to continue?

Techno?

This is the reason why I listen to rock and metal...it has purpose. First of all, who buys techno? Second of all, who listens to techno enough to want to buy it? Thirdly, who listens to techno?

Spoon Genetics

Genius, pure genius. This shows the dangers of genetically modified utensils. Lets just stick with our GM crops and we should be fine. For those non-science people who are scared....utensils do not reproduce, so you are safe.

Slurpee goodness

So I had my first slurpee in about a year....which means that summer is officially here. No one can resist the perfection that is slurpee. It is nice and cold, and makes your tongue the color of happiness. Today I had the razberry flavor, next time I am going for the classic coke unless the banana flavor comes back. :-)

House sitting

So I have now been house sitting for a week. I must say that it is quite boring here as it is far too quiet. There is no one to talk to as well. I am kind of getting a feeling for what it is going to be like living completely on my own with no roommates. I am not sure that I like it, it is just too lonely.

Maybe when I have my own place, I will have to get a pet that loves me back...the gecko is not into cuddling, and the plants are not exactly sane friends.

Well, five more weeks of house sitting....perhaps it will grow on me.