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It’s the end of the world for realz and no one’s noticed. Plus: In the News! High Priests of Technology, Carl Sagan the atheist, taking photos in the UK is slightly illegal, mobile phones in Africa AND MORE!
Episode 57 of the 666cast is hosted at Archive.org.
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Yep, the Rapture didn’t happen today! Find out why I think it didn’t in episode 56 of the 666cast!
DO YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO WAS RAPTURED? Please tell me about it here: http://website666.com/ask or call: 704 297 6661 DO IT NOW!
Click here to read the “Farewell to the Rapture” essay I talk about in episode 56 of the 666cast.
And here is the, frankly stupid article from Christian Science Monitor with the “Apocalypse Not” headline I mention. So stupid, it’s “Armageddon” that you’re talking about—it’s a proper noun that refers to a giant-ass war that’s supposed to happen after Jesus returns. “Apocalypse” is a regular old noun that is actually defined as “revelation”. The article is crap, too, as it treats this story with a truly ironic level of glibness considering the news source’s name includes the word “Christian.” Typical idiocy from the mainstream media.
Episode 56 of the 666cast is hosted at Archive.org.
Please subscribe to the feed.
Don’t forget to visit webstore666!
Don’t know what the heck I’m talking about in this episode? Listen to episode 55 for your primer on the Rapture!
This is an amazing account Roseanne Barr gives of what she went through on here sitcom—couldn’t stop reading it. Here’s a cutting:
It didn’t take long for me to get a taste of the staggering sexism and class bigotry that would make the first season of Roseanne god-awful. It was at the premiere party when I learned that my stories and ideas—and the ideas of my sister and my first husband, Bill—had been stolen. The pilot was screened, and I saw the opening credits for the first time, which included this: CREATED BY MATT WILLIAMS. I was devastated and felt so betrayed that I stood up and left the party. Not one person noticed.
I confronted Marcy under the bleachers on the sound stage when we were shooting the next episode. I asked her how I could continue working for a woman who had let a man take credit for my work—who wouldn’t even share credit with me—after talking to me about sisterhood and all that bullshit. She started crying and said, “I guess I’m going to have to tell Brandon [Stoddard, then president of ABC Entertainment] that I can’t deliver this show.” I said, “Cry all you want to, but you figure out a way to put my name on the show I created, or kiss my ass good-bye.”
I think her comments put an interesting coating over the thought that we’ve made progress. She says her show is still ahead of its time and that:
Hollywood hates labor, and hates shows about labor worse than any other thing. And that’s why you won’t be seeing another Roseanne anytime soon. Instead, all over the tube, you will find enterprising, overmedicated, painted-up, capitalist whores claiming to be housewives.
This explains a lot to me after giving Hollywood a go, myself. Seems like I just wasn’t a big enough asshole.
It also suggests to me that for all the progress Hollywood has made culturally, it’s still about fear and money. Sad stuff.
The world might not really end this Saturday, but it might as well. We sure don’t seem to be going in any good direction.
thereisnogod reports:
ONLY 3 DAYS TILL THE RETURN OF MY LORD AND SAVOR!
Are you prepared? Listen to this week’s 666cast and get tips on what to do at your Rapture Party!
OK, so, ages ago, I had heard on DemocracyNow that the UK had made it illegal to photograph police officers. I mentioned this to a couple of British friends and they denied it, certain it wasn’t true. Well, thanks to a tweet from a different “the Pete”, I am now aware that it is effectively illegal to photograph a police officer or, really, anything in public.
The following comes from a FAQ at askthe.police.uk:
It is not illegal to take photographs or video footage in public places unless it is for criminal or terrorist purposes.
Uh-huh. Don’t be so sure. After they explain the civil ramifications of taking photos of individuals (you are open to a lawsuit) check out what else they say:
…it is a specific offence to elicit information (which would include photographs) about members of armed forces, police officers or the intelligence services, which is likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, or publishes or communicates information of that kind. The law does not state that the person who gets the information has to use the information for terrorism purposes, just that the information is likely to be useful to a terrorist.
I’ve emboldened the shocking bits. That keeps things pretty free for the cops to arrest pretty much whomever they damn well please, doesn’t it? As an American, I already know that cops can trump up anything in order to arrest you—I’ve been harassed by cops on many occasions just because they decided I looked suspicious. But to see it codified in this way is scary. BUT, predictably enough, there’s MORE:
Photographers need to be aware of this provision and be cautious when taking such photographs. The sort of occasion when it could cause a problem may be, for example, at an anti-war protest, when there may be a number of counter terrorism and intelligence operatives working in the area.
Why would there be “counter terrorism and intelligence operatives” working in the area of an anti-war protest?!?! Does the UKG not understand the concept of “ANTI-war”?? I’d like to make a pithy comment about how this is no surprise coming from the “land of George Orwell’s birth” here, but I’ve seen American cops make the same illogical leap.
It’s truly absurd for the UKG or any other government to think they can (or should) prevent intelligence from getting to terrorists. Stopping people from taking pictures in public places in this way is quite literally an example of how the UK has become a subtle police state. How any Brit can consider themselves “free” but live in fear of being arrested simply because they happened to take a snapshot at the wrong time of the wrong person is beyond me.
I have a hard enough time feeling “free” in my own country for similar reasons and I live in the alleged land OF the free!
What is going on with this world?
Yep, that’s right, some folks think the world is ending soon. Yeah. No. Seriously. Find out more and get my take on it—listen to episode 55 of the 666cast! ALSO: get tips on how to throw your own Rapture/Going-Away Party for all of your Christian/Believer friends!
Here’s the website I mention in this week’s 666cast: http://wecanknow.com Give it a click and enjoy the craziness!
Also: read about the First Council of Nicea on Wikipedia—that’s when a bunch of rabid fanboys got together and decided, on their own, which part of the Christian fanfic Bible should be canon and which should be the “expanded universe” books rejected out of hand.
And finally, here’s a pic of a couple of the banners held by some hyper-Christians I took at the West Hollywood Halloween parade back in 2007. I’m not sure if they were those Westborough creeps or what, but who else would be stupid/crazy enough to think they’re going to save any souls in West Hollywood on Halloween?
Episode 55 of the 666cast is hosted at Archive.org.
Please subscribe to the feed.
Don’t forget to visit webstore666!
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Obi-Wan Kenobi Is Dead, Vader Says
Obi-Wan Kenobi, the mastermind of some of the most devastating attacks on the Galactic Empire and the most hunted man in the galaxy, was killed in a firefight with Imperial forces near Alderaan, Darth Vader announced on Sunday…
From the (ahem) Galactic Empire Times, the awesomest thing on the internets today. It just be RAINING New York Times reboots all up in here.
WOW… think about that dynamic for a second—Obi-Wan Kenobi Osama bin Laden, while fighting (and killing) for what he believes is right must flee to a desert planet country to lay low.
OK, it’s not a perfect comparison (Osama didn’t get caught in the middle of some American-made killing machine trying to rescue a hot princess), but it did make me think about America and its values again. :) America is kind of an empire, ya know, and our military is an awful lot like the Death Star.
Obama may not be Darth Vader, but he *does* have father-issues and *is* black. ;P
WHAT? With the ban on comparing anyone to Hitler, who ELSE are we supposed to use when we want to be critical AND put things in terms the average American schmuck will understand??
It’s the all Osama bin Laden episode! He’s dead, but he’s not gone! Why was killing him wrong? Why shouldn’t we celebrate his death? How does this change squat? Answers to all of these questions AND more in this week’s 666cast!
Oh and here’s the FBI’s Most Wanted page for ObL as of this posting:
It doesn’t mention 911. Go figure.
Episode 54 of the 666cast is hosted at Archive.org.
Please subscribe to the feed.
Don’t forget to visit webstore666!
-Ann Druyan talking about how her husband, Carl Sagan, faced his own death due to cancer—without becoming a Believer.
Ray Comfort (via wisdomfish)
The notion of Ray Comfort calling anyone else a “moron” is hilarious.
He’s the idiot who claimed the shape of bananas is a “nightmare” for atheists.
Ray Comfort is a pathological liar. His ignorance is utterly staggering.
It’s a sad day for wisdomfish if he’s turning to Ray Comfort to bolster his “faith”.
(via contrararian)
I think we get the word “moron” from the word “moros.” Just because (the probably fictional) Jesus used the word to describe people who didn’t agree with him doesn’t mean we use the word moron because of Jesus. Look up the word “moron” in the dictionary and the etymology is explained as coming from the Greek word “moros” not as coming from a word Jesus used.
I’m sick of this idea that because a word was used by some important figure they own that word. It’s just like everything else in religion, trumped up and cherry picked to look good. Every belief structure falls apart if you take a close enough look at it. I’m sick of feeling bad because I’m willing to take that closer look. :
- Tumblr is now a popularity contest, not a blog site.
- People send you anon-hate messages instead of understanding your situation.
- Followers make friends with you not because they really want to but for the sake of that effin’ follow back.
- Some of my friends have Tumblr so I can’t just blog the way I really do.
- All the blogs are the same. All the same pictures of pretty girls smoking and drinking and posing with all their hipster friends.
I’ve been saying this over the time…
via a tweet from @escaperabbit.
What was I just posting about us all being children? Here is more about grown adults who think a 2000 year-old book is telling them Judgment Day will come on May 21, 2011.
I say I FRICKEN HOPE SO!! And if we survive God’s judgment I will have a much lower of him than I’ve ever had before.
Just throw an asteroid at us, man. Get this shit over with.
Am I being sarcastic? It’s hard to know for sure—even for me.
Extreme Weather seems to be a growing concern for those of us in the US. Between the record tornadoes in the southeast and the absurdly long winter we’ve had here in the northeast, I was already feeling pretty convinced that we are seeing the effects of Climate Change and after reading this NYT article, I’m starting to think that we will be seeing bigger changes, faster than we are expecting:
All eyes in the delta are on the Mississippi River and the bulge of water it is carrying southward, pushing back its tributaries into the towns along its banks, sending residents scattering toward higher ground and setting records all along the way.
“This is historic,” said Col. Jeffrey R. Eckstein, commander of the Vicksburg District of the Army Corps of Engineers, who became the day’s keynote speaker at the last minute. “Things that have never happened, people here have never seen before, we are going to see.”
More:
Officials have already spent days fighting back the White River in Arkansas, where there have been two deaths and hundreds of homes have flooded. Hundreds of residents are being urged to evacuate certain areas in and around Memphis, where tributaries have swelled into parts of the city as well as suburbs and mobile home parks and inundated a small airport.
And more:
The engorged river is still several days away from cresting in Memphis but has already prompted the authorities to go door to door in areas that are likely to be affected, urging hundreds of residents to move to higher ground. Bob Nations, the director of the Shelby County Office of Preparedness, estimated that 3,000 homes and businesses would eventually be affected by the floodwaters.
To explain why this is happening, the article says:
The anxiety is in the backwater, the tributaries that are carrying water from the heavy rains down to the Mississippi. The river is not only too high to take any more water, but is also pushing its own water up into the tributaries — and wherever else it can go.
That is what has happened in Arkansas, where the White River, fattened from weeks of heavy rains, has forced the evacuation of towns along its course and the closing a stretch of busy Interstate 40 between Little Rock and Memphis.
Yikes.
Essentially, it’s heavy rains that are doing this.
What other surprises will Climate Change bring us? And shouldn’t we be focusing less on terrorism and more on protecting lives and infrastructure here at home?
Joe Bageant: The Iron Cheer of Empire
Echoes of Ghost in the Shell - read the whole thing.
(via rainbowhill)
Noam Chomsky refers to this concept as “the bewildered heard.” They idea that we are so focused on our individuality that we are completely cut off from each other as humans and only care about the surface. It’s something I see happening all the time.
But my favorite part of the essay is this:
But you won’t hear anyone complaining. America doesn’t like whiners. A whiner or a cynic is about the worst thing you can be in the land of gunpoint optimism. Foreigners often remark on the upbeat American personality. I assure them that our American corpocracy has its ways of pistol whipping or sedating its human assets into the appropriate level of cheeriness.
I feel this pressure all. the. time.
I get it from everyone I know. I get it from my wife. I get it from myself. No one like someone who challenges things.
On a side note: Rule number one on getting me to read something: compare it to Ghost in the Shell. ^_^
Is the urge fro true freedom spreading from the Middle East to… Scotland? As a person of Scottish heritage, I SURE HOPE SO! So blogs underpaidgenius:
Unrest in Scotland over fiscal austerity measures have led to the Scottish National Party to capture a majority in the Scottish Parliament for the first time since it was founded. This may portend a push for greater autonomy, even separation.
Alan Cowell, Liberal Democrats Dealt Huge Blow in Britain Votes
With the final results tallied, according to the BBC, the Scottish National Party had won 69 of the 129 seats in Scotland’s regional Parliament. The result gave the nationalists a majority there for the first time since the assembly was created in 1999 — a triumph that resounded loudly some 77 years after the party was founded as a minority group promising to reverse the three-centuries-old Act of Union between England and Scotland.
The nationalists’ victory was seen by analysts partly as a reward for its track record in a regional government that, in marked contrast to the English authorities, maintained Scots’ free access to university education and to broad social benefits, even in hard economic times.
Alex Salmond, the party leader, said he would introduce a referendum on independence “to increase the powers of our Parliament.”
Mr. Cameron promised a fight against Scottish separatism, saying, “I will campaign to keep our United Kingdom together with every single fiber I have.”
Hey Cameron, didn’t your empire used to be a little BIGGER?
You might want to STFU and let Scotland take their independence if they want it.
Full disclosure, I *love* Scotland. I am of Scottish descent (though I have some German mixed in, too). I’ve been to Scotland twice and even got married there. Looking at history, I’ve always felt Scotland has been oppressed by England and have always thought Scotland should cut ties with them.
All that aside, this makes me think that perhaps the UK is inadvertently onto something—infrastructures and social systems just might work better on smaller, more diversified scales (like government, itself?). The UK used to have a massive empire, but they couldn’t maintain it. I’m sure that there are many reasons for this, but it doesn’t take a history buff to understand that smaller systems are easier to maintain. Maybe this is something America will need to consider as it faces a federal government that increasingly doesn’t seem that well equipped to save the economy or do anything but protect corporations and wage war.
Game developer David Braben creates a USB stick PC for $25
(everything set up and running)Braben has developed a tiny USB stick PC that has a HDMI port in one end and a USB port on the other. You plug it into a HDMI socket and then connect a keyboard via the USB port giving you a fully functioning machine running a version of Linux. The cost? $25.
this is really neat, and the idea/inspiration behind it is super rad, but as a friend of mine has pointed out, once you include the price of a mouse, keyboard, monitor, and maybe even network peripherals (since there doesn’t appear to be a wired connection, and wireless is doubtful), you’re basically at the price of an OLPC. =
Sorry, I should really stop harping on this. I also need to talk about the Subtle Disconnect one of these weeks. It’s like the Absurd Disconnect, only we have no way of knowing about it. Like how most folks don’t understand that billions in US tax dollars go to corporate farms to make corn no one will eat (yet many believe politicians when they say we can only cut public services). Stuff like that.
See, this dual-savagery thing, it’s a rare example of both the Absurd Disconnect (doing something that is blatantly contradictory but you ignore said contradiction) and the Subtle Disconnect (doing something contradictory without knowing all the facts, that, when known, prove you’re contradicting your values).
For instance, cheering when an enemy is vanquished while being blissfully unaware of the sheer number of atrocities one’s own government has done in it’s name (Subtle Disconnect) while simultaneously ignoring the savagery that the same government has done that have been widely publicized about.
AKA, when you cheer for a Muslim extremist’s death, you just look like you’re even more proud of your own history of torturing, violence, wedding bombings, and occupying-countries-for-Capitalism. Closure is fine, but celebratory closure, not so much.
Says CallMeMillli
How about “don’t keep spewing holier-than-thou baloney on Tumblr”. “God” isn’t speaking to you, sweetheart. It’s all delusion.
(via contrararian)
It’s not a delusion—it’s that these people really believe that the creator of this incredilbly vast universe would actually think their tiny, TINY existences were actually worth giving a shit about. In the great, cosmic scheme of things, these people think they’re SO important for the creator of all to care about them? That’s some nice, beefy ego, there.
Sebastian Junger, interviewed in the Globe and Mail about war journalism and how Tim Hetherington’s death has changed him (via thepoliticalnotebook)
Wow.
(via publicradiointernational)
I’m stunned. When Junger doesn’t want to cover war anymore, you know he’s spooked—and when a man as tough as Junger is spooked, you know it’s bad.
This is a man who was covering the strife in Afghanistan before most of us had even heard of the place. When I think of Real Men, I think of this guy.
spaceandstuffidk:For any other Sarah Jane fans who are following me.
I’ve seen these guys by the 7 Train stop at 42nd street all the time, thanks friendlyatheist for posting this since I keep forgetting their domain:
LOL!!!
Here’s a cutting from the WeCanKnow.com site:
This web site serves as an introduction and portal to four faithful ministries which are teaching that WE CAN KNOW from the Bible alone that the date of the rapture of believers will take place on May 21, 2011 and that God will destroy this world on October 21, 2011. Please take your time and browse through the teachings of Harold Camping, President of Family Radio. Visit EBible Fellowship, Bible Ministries International, and The-Latter-Rain to read and listen to many faithful teachers give scriptural insight on the doctrines that God is teaching His people. Learn about the Biblical Timeline of History, the correct method of Bible interpretation, the End of the Church Age and God’s command to believers that they must depart out of the churches. Study the proofs that God has so graciously given in His Word showing us that these dates are 100% accurate and beyond dispute. Above all, please READ THE BIBLE and prayerfully ask God to open your spiritual eyes to these truths. May it please Him to have mercy on each of our souls.
AND THEY’RE ON TWITTER!!
Wow, so this’ll be an easy one to dispute—we’ve got less than three weeks to reach Judgment Day and then until October 21 for the world to get destroyed.
Can’t WAIT. At least the last 5 months of life on Earth won’t be plagued with a bunch of loud-mouthed Christians preaching the end of the world, right? Judgment Day is the day of the Rapture, right? Then the Earth is destroyed ten days before Halloween. MAKES PERFECT SENSE TA ME!
And if they’re wrong, maybe they’ll STFU and realize that they’re just overgrown Trekkies only instead of Star Trek, their scifi franchise is the Bible.
Whatever.
A few statistics from what was arguably the most expensive manhunt in history, from MJ senior editor Dave Gilson.
They forgot to include:
1) Number of weddings blown up by accident
2) Number of football heroes killed in friendly fire incidents
3) Number of years of history ignored while planning for occupation of Afghanistan
4) Number of countries Osama was killed in called “Afghanistan” (answer: zero)
I think I could go on, but still, interesting statistics.
Martin Luther King Jr (via phederisurlesplaines)
Lots of EXACTLY going on today.
Carl Sagan (via hcdragon)
LOL
TOTALLY WORTH IT, MAN!!
#sarcasm
Wes Messamore (via hipsterlibertarian
)
This this this
(via btx91)
But seriously, it’s exactly this absurd and so few people see this.
From motherjones:
Everything you want to know about bin Laden’s death, explained. And updated.
“which speaks to “the nature of the individual.”
Not to mention the nature of the individual pulling the trigger.
I’ve read and heard some disturbing things since Obama’s announcement that bin Laden had been killed, last night. My wife read something from a Facebook status that went something like this: “3000 souls are smiling tonight.”
Ugh.
Really?
Smiling?
I would have been fine with “3000 souls can finally rest in peace” but they’re smiling?
It seems like people have forgotten just how much time, effort and blood, it’s taken to get to this point.
More Americans have died in Afghanistan and Iraq than died in the WTC and Pentagon attacks on 9/11/1. An untold number of non-American civilians have died in both countries, as well. Weddings were bombed, innocent civilians tortured by our soldiers, as well. We invaded two countries and spent over a trillion to fight the terror war that we like to say Osama bin Laden started with us on 9/11/1.
The catch is, he declared that war years earlier, we just didn’t notice. See, we’ve been viewed as an enemy by a lot of the Middle East since long before 9/11. So long that, when one looks at the history of American policy objectively, one can’t help but wonder how long our enemies will take it lying down. In fact, Chalmers Johnson, in his 2000 book “Blowback,” suggested that, if the USG continues it’s current foreign policy as is, it might see attacks on US soil.
Seeing as 9/11 was not the beginning of the war on terror, it’s a mistake to think that this is somehow the end of it. We have done much to inspire our enemies and to think that just because bin Laden is gone, there won’t be another head for this hydra is to not understand history.
Not only does this not change anything (as one friend of mine posted on Facebook last night) but it doesn’t somehow erase the atrocities the American government has committed over it’s 250 year lifespan.
Since last night, I’ve been kind of haunted by this moment imagined in my head of people cheering and shouting in celebration of bin Laden’s death when one yells, without recognizing the irony, “who’s the savage now?!?!”
The answer to that, of course, has always been: us.
The Japanese are well-known to be perfectionists in various aspects of their work. Non-Japanese who work with them, either as employees or suppliers, need to be familiar with one of the key techniques they use for pursuing perfection, “saihatsu boshi.”
Translated literally, this means “prevention of reoccurrence.” But the simplicity of this phrase belies the deep significance it has for many Japanese. Of course, people everywhere can agree that making sure problems don’t happen again is a good thing. However, the Japanese have developed a structured process for doing this. And they often express frustration when working with people from other cultures who do not take this approach and thus run the risk of the same problems cropping up again. In Japan, saihatsu boshi is simply accepted standard behavior, and anything else would suggest unprofessionalism or lack of commitment. Thus, in order to optimize their relationships with Japanese, it’s useful for non-Japanese to adopt this technique.
Lots of stuff this week, but be sure to listen until the end to hear my suggestion on how we can solve WITH 100% CERTAINTY the job crisis. Seriously. I’m not even kidding.
OK, this week, I referenced a lot of online stories, so here are the links:
Jeb Bush “consulting” with other states on their education systems (NYTimes)
Making “hidden camera” videos/photography of factory farms illegal (NYTimes)
Republicans play hypocritical games by making voting harder (NYTimes)
Obama’s in town kissing the ass of Wall Street donors because he thinks he can’t get elected again without them (NYTimes) [I may have paraphrased a bit with that headline!]
Episode 53 of the 666cast is hosted at Archive.org!
Please subscribe to the feed.
Don’t forget to visit webstore666!
Why did Congress declare war on Libya anyway?
OH WAIT…
