Prayer mural in high school ruled unconstitutional
http://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2012/01/13/prayer-mural-in-high-school-ruled-unconstitutional/
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Friday, January 13, 2012
Article: Prayer mural in high school ruled unconstitutional
Prayer mural in high school ruled unconstitutional
http://freethoughtblogs.com/singham/2012/01/13/prayer-mural-in-high-school-ruled-unconstitutional/
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Thursday, January 12, 2012
GoLocal Prov - Home - NEW: ACLU Applauds Cranston Prayer Ban
In his decision, the judge stated: "No amount of debate can make the School Prayer anything other than a prayer." While acknowledging that "the Prayer espouses values of honesty, kindness, friendship and sportsmanship…. the reliance on God's intervention as the way to achieve those goals is not consistent with a secular purpose."
Article: The Magical (and Sometimes Ridiculous) Gadgets of Tomorrow | The Wirecutter
The Magical (and Sometimes Ridiculous) Gadgets of Tomorrow | The Wirecutter
http://thewirecutter.com/2012/01/the-magical-and-sometimes-ridiculous-gadgets-of-tomorrow/
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Check out: 'See No Evil' on Slate
I thought you might find this Slate article interesting:
See No Evil
By Brandon L. Garrett
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2012/01/clarence_thomas_in_juan_smith_eyewitness_dissent_after_another_harry_connick_sr_case.html?wpisrc=sl_ipad
---SPSmith
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Being an Absolute Skeptic
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/284/5420/1625.full
But science is more than the sum of its hypotheses, its observations,
and its experiments. From the point of view of rationality, science is
above all its method—essentially the critical method of searching for
errors.
---SPSmith
Theory of justification - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In some way, each of us is responsible for what we believe. Beliefs are not typically formed completely at random, and thus we have anintellectual responsibility, or obligation, to try to believe what is true and to avoid believing what is false. An intellectually responsible act is within one's intellectual rights in believing something; performing it, one is justified in one's belief.
---SPSmith
---SPSmith
Monday, January 09, 2012
Sunday, January 08, 2012
Check out The Moral Foundations of Politics - Video
Check out this collection on iTunes U:
 | The Moral Foundations of Politics - VideoIan Shapiro Political Science |
| iTunes for Mac and Windows |
| Please note that you have not been added to any email lists. Copyright © 2012 Apple Inc. All rights reserved |
---SPSmith
Saturday, January 07, 2012
Article: Environmentalism poses a problem for libertarian ideology | MattBruenig | Politics
Environmentalism poses a problem for libertarian ideology | MattBruenig | Politics
http://mattbruenig.com/2011/12/21/environmentalism-poses-a-problem-for-libertarian-ideology/
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Friday, January 06, 2012
Bureaucracy
Bureaucracy:
Deena Weinstein in her book Bureaucratic Opposition has developed most effectively the idea of bureaucracy as a political system. She argues that bureaucracies are analogous to authoritarian states: in both cases people are expected to stay in their places, to do as they are told, to offer opinions only when asked, and to identify solely with the rulers and the official ideology. Within authoritarian states, and within bureaucracies, individual and collective oppositions exist. The opposition may be to particular policies, to corruption, to exploitation or to organisational structures. Rather than being misfits who are disturbing efficient functioning, bureaucratic oppositions should be analysed as political oppositions, that is as challenges to the use or distribution of power in the bureaucracy.
Weinstein's analogy between bureaucracies and states is particularly revealing with regard to their links with the war system. Bureaucracies and states each prop up systems of privilege and power. It is appropriate that bureaucracy, as the building block of the state, is similar in the nature of its power structure to a state, an authoritarian state no less!
One important difference between bureaucracies and states is that most bureaucracies rely only on nonviolent sanctions against dissidents, whereas states can call on police and military forces if necessary. Most bureaucracies rely not on the use of force but more on a system of rewards, including favourable feedback and promotions, and on a system of rules that legitimises the structure. Willing service to 'higher causes' within a bureaucracy or in a state provides much more stability than reliance on coercion. Antagonism is further subdued by permitting nonconformity within limits, and using various methods to buy off discontent and coopt dissident leaders. Non-coercive control is all the more effective because it is difficult to recognise and to oppose.
Under state socialism the dominance of bureaucracy is quite overt. State bureaucracies administer all possible aspects of life. In parallel with these state bureaucracies, penetrating them, controlling them and constrained by them is another powerful bureaucracy, the communist party. In each case bureaucratic elites are in positions of state power. Hence state socialism is also sometimes called 'bureaucratic socialism.'
In capitalist societies the dominance of bureaucracy is less immediately evident, but the practice is not vastly different. In many capitalist societies, national economic and political directions are set through a system which is called corporatism. Elites from key influential sectors, typically government, corporations, state bureaucracies and trade unions, get together formally or informally to negotiate the framework for political and economic decision-making. This may occur through national planning agreements between corporations and trade unions, by creation of government departments or advisory bodies on women's affairs, the environment or science, or bipartisan agreement on military expenditures.
As I interpret it, corporatism is essentially coordination by elites, most of whom are bureaucratic elites. To have an effect on policy, one must work through a bureaucratic structure in one sector or another, whether it is a political party, a corporation, a trade union or an environmental advisory body. The appearance is that all interests are represented. The bureaucratic underpinning of corporatism ensures that power remains at the top.
Deena Weinstein in her book Bureaucratic Opposition has developed most effectively the idea of bureaucracy as a political system. She argues that bureaucracies are analogous to authoritarian states: in both cases people are expected to stay in their places, to do as they are told, to offer opinions only when asked, and to identify solely with the rulers and the official ideology. Within authoritarian states, and within bureaucracies, individual and collective oppositions exist. The opposition may be to particular policies, to corruption, to exploitation or to organisational structures. Rather than being misfits who are disturbing efficient functioning, bureaucratic oppositions should be analysed as political oppositions, that is as challenges to the use or distribution of power in the bureaucracy.
Weinstein's analogy between bureaucracies and states is particularly revealing with regard to their links with the war system. Bureaucracies and states each prop up systems of privilege and power. It is appropriate that bureaucracy, as the building block of the state, is similar in the nature of its power structure to a state, an authoritarian state no less!
One important difference between bureaucracies and states is that most bureaucracies rely only on nonviolent sanctions against dissidents, whereas states can call on police and military forces if necessary. Most bureaucracies rely not on the use of force but more on a system of rewards, including favourable feedback and promotions, and on a system of rules that legitimises the structure. Willing service to 'higher causes' within a bureaucracy or in a state provides much more stability than reliance on coercion. Antagonism is further subdued by permitting nonconformity within limits, and using various methods to buy off discontent and coopt dissident leaders. Non-coercive control is all the more effective because it is difficult to recognise and to oppose.
Under state socialism the dominance of bureaucracy is quite overt. State bureaucracies administer all possible aspects of life. In parallel with these state bureaucracies, penetrating them, controlling them and constrained by them is another powerful bureaucracy, the communist party. In each case bureaucratic elites are in positions of state power. Hence state socialism is also sometimes called 'bureaucratic socialism.'
In capitalist societies the dominance of bureaucracy is less immediately evident, but the practice is not vastly different. In many capitalist societies, national economic and political directions are set through a system which is called corporatism. Elites from key influential sectors, typically government, corporations, state bureaucracies and trade unions, get together formally or informally to negotiate the framework for political and economic decision-making. This may occur through national planning agreements between corporations and trade unions, by creation of government departments or advisory bodies on women's affairs, the environment or science, or bipartisan agreement on military expenditures.
As I interpret it, corporatism is essentially coordination by elites, most of whom are bureaucratic elites. To have an effect on policy, one must work through a bureaucratic structure in one sector or another, whether it is a political party, a corporation, a trade union or an environmental advisory body. The appearance is that all interests are represented. The bureaucratic underpinning of corporatism ensures that power remains at the top.
Rick Santorum jeered after comparing gay marriage to polygamy - latimes.com
Rick Santorum jeered after comparing gay marriage to polygamy - latimes.com:
'via Blog this'
Crazy Christian Taliban'er doesn't even recognize why is Slippery Slope argument is ridiculous.
Lets try some others:
1) if having many gods is bad, then having one leads to it. Therefore, there is no god.
2) The state executes murderers. This leads to the state executing whoever they want. Therefore, no capital punishment.
'via Blog this'
Crazy Christian Taliban'er doesn't even recognize why is Slippery Slope argument is ridiculous.
Lets try some others:
1) if having many gods is bad, then having one leads to it. Therefore, there is no god.
2) The state executes murderers. This leads to the state executing whoever they want. Therefore, no capital punishment.
Behavioral Economics: Opt out versus Opt in
Behavioral Economics: Opt out versus Opt in:
'via Blog this'
Ariely conducted a study of the subscription process of The Economist. He gave his students two different forms (see illustrations below), asking them to choose between 2 or 3 options:
(a) online only for $59
(b) print only for $125
(c) print and online for $125
It seems idiotic to include option (b), but when it was on the form more people (84%) chose option (c). And when "print only for $125" wasn't an option, more people (68%) chose option (a). In the latter case, only 32% chose "print and online for $125". It’s clear that even though no one chose option (b) on the first form, it did influence people's decisions to choose the print and online offer.
'via Blog this'
Ariely conducted a study of the subscription process of The Economist. He gave his students two different forms (see illustrations below), asking them to choose between 2 or 3 options:
(a) online only for $59
(b) print only for $125
(c) print and online for $125
It seems idiotic to include option (b), but when it was on the form more people (84%) chose option (c). And when "print only for $125" wasn't an option, more people (68%) chose option (a). In the latter case, only 32% chose "print and online for $125". It’s clear that even though no one chose option (b) on the first form, it did influence people's decisions to choose the print and online offer.
Thursday, January 05, 2012
John le Carré | The Book Haven
http://bookhaven.stanford.edu/tag/john-le-carre/
Of Tom Wolfe's novel A Man in Full, Norman Mailer wrote: "Reading the
work can even be said to resemble the act of making love to a 300lb
woman. Once she gets on top, it's over. Fall in love, or be
asphyxiated." Wolfe
---SPSmith
Ron Paul has two problems: One his, the other ours - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/01/20121475630363232.html
Paul is a distinctively American type of libertarian: one that doesn't
have a critique of the state so much as a critique of the federal
government. That's a very different kettle of fish. I think
libertarianism is problematic enough - in that it ignores the whole
realm of social domination (or thinks that realm is entirely dependent
upon or a function of the existence of the state or thinks that it can
be remedied by the persuasive and individual actions of a few good
souls) - but a states-rights-based libertarianism is a social
disaster.
---SPSmith
Article: Michele Bachmann, America's Perfect Monster
Michele Bachmann, America's Perfect Monster
http://www.theawl.com/2012/01/michele-bachmann-americas-perfect-monster
Bachmann is a national clown and a global embarrassment, an extremist so foul that she poses nearly as much of a threat to Republican legislators as to Democratic ones. She's a Republican bomb-thrower who forgets the throwing part. Both parties will certainly be glad to be rid of her. But Bachmann's repose only means the absence of the messenger, not the absence of those who paid for the message.
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
A Darwinian Approach to Moral Philosophy | Talking Philosophy
http://blog.talkingphilosophy.com/?p=4054
I am a philosophical naturalist. By this I mean (or at least my
meaning includes) being eager to accept the findings of science and to
use them in my philosophizing as far as possible. So, I start my
thinking about ethics by looking to Darwinian biology on human social
behavior and I come away with the belief that ethics – meaning by this
substantive or normative ethics ("What should I do?") – is a product
of natural selection (on individuals) to further reproductive success.
Substantive ethics is an adaptation like eyes and noses and penises
and vaginas. I should say that (and I am still at the level of
science) I don't think there is any need of external ethical
principles (Mind of God, non-natural properties, Platonic Forms) to
get this result. So ethics in a sense is different from say our
knowledge about railway engines. Without existing independent railway
engines, I don't see that you could have a science of
railway-engine-ology. I don't think you need these external referents
to get ethics. Ethics in this sense is not so much about the real
world as it is about social relationships between fellow species
members.
---SPSmith
Christopher Hitchens: Charles Dickens’s Inner Child | Culture | Vanity Fair
"This may be fancy, though I think the memory of most of us can go farther back into such times than many of us suppose; just as I believe the power of observation in numbers of very young children to be quite wonderful for its closeness and accuracy. Indeed, I think that most grown men who are remarkable in this respect, may with greater propriety be said not to have lost the faculty, than to have acquired it; the rather, as I generally observe such men to retain a certain freshness, and gentleness, and capacity of being pleased, which are also an inheritance they have preserved from their childhood."
Charming, is it not—seductive even—the manner in which that somewhat overpunctuated Victorian sentence suddenly gives way and yields a deposit of "freshness, and gentleness, and capacity of being pleased." It is all there to emphasize the one central and polar and critical point that Dickens wishes to enjoin on us all: whatever you do—hang on to your childhood! He was true to this in his fashion, both in ways that delight me and in ways that do not. He loved the idea of a birthday celebration, being lavish about it, reminding people that they were once unborn and are now launched. This is bighearted, and we might all do a bit more of it. It would help me to forgive, perhaps just a little, the man who helped generate the Hallmark birthday industry and who, with some of his less imposing and more moistly sentimental prose scenes in A Christmas Carol, took the Greatest Birthday Ever Told and helped make it into the near Ramadan of protracted obligatory celebration now darkening our Decembers.
Wednesday, January 04, 2012
Article: Wintertime Is Reading Time
Wintertime Is Reading Time
http://therapsheet.blogspot.com/2012/01/wintertime-is-reading-time.html
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Article: Depending on ignorance
Depending on ignorance
http://freethoughtblogs.com/alethianworldview/2012/01/04/depending-on-ignorance/
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Tuesday, January 03, 2012
Article: Moral scepticism versus Sam Harris's moral realism – Opinion – ABC Religion & Ethics (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Moral scepticism versus Sam Harris's moral realism – Opinion – ABC Religion & Ethics (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2011/01/28/3123581.htm
Moral judgments are not, in that sense, objectively binding. They do not state truths of reason or facts about the world, even if they purport to. But this does not make morality just arbitrary or capable of taking any form, and it does not prevent us developing coherent, rational critiques of various systems of laws or customs or moral rules, or persuading others to adopt our critiques.
---SPSmith
Article: No, Science Really Can't Determine Human Values – Opinion – ABC Religion & Ethics (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
No, Science Really Can't Determine Human Values – Opinion – ABC Religion & Ethics (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2011/02/10/3135411.htm
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Article: Santorum Surges From Behind
Santorum Surges From Behind
http://freethoughtblogs.com/greta/2012/01/04/santorum-surges-from-behind/
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Monday, January 02, 2012
Article: The Greatness of God
The Greatness of God
http://freethoughtblogs.com/wwjtd/2012/01/02/the-greatness-of-god/
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Friday, December 30, 2011
Article: What is Scientism? : EvolutionBlog
What is Scientism? : EvolutionBlog
http://scienceblogs.com/evolutionblog/2011/12/what_is_scientism.php
Empirical facts (facts about reality) and mathematical facts are very different sorts of facts. Mathematical facts are pure abstractions. They tell us the logical consequences of a formal system. But our system of mathematics is not just an arbitrary formal system. We've adopted this particularly formal system because it's proven so useful in modelling reality. However a mathematical fact tells us nothing about reality except in conjunction with a mathematical model of reality. And those mathematical models must be based on empirical observation.
(Sent from Flipboard)
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Irony
The definition of irony: Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, the ex-nazi Pope,
decries superficial glitter of Xmas while wearing gold embroidery hat
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pope-benedict-xvi-urges-faithful-superficial-glitter-christmas-find-true-meaning-article-1.996592
decries superficial glitter of Xmas while wearing gold embroidery hat
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/pope-benedict-xvi-urges-faithful-superficial-glitter-christmas-find-true-meaning-article-1.996592
---SPSmith
Article: Remembering Christopher Hitchens - Lawrence Krauss - RDFRS
Remembering Christopher Hitchens - Lawrence Krauss - RDFRS
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/644326-remembering-christopher-hitchens
---SPSmith
Friday, December 23, 2011
USA TODAY: Fact Check: Many attacks on Gingrich are true
Check out this article that I saw in USA TODAY's iPad application.
Fact Check: Many attacks on Gingrich are true
http://usat.ly/rUfgbp
To view the story, click the link or paste it into your browser.
To learn more about USA TODAY for iPad and download, visit:
http://usatoday.com/ipad/
---SPSmith
Article: Does Airport Security Really Make Us Safer? | Culture | Vanity Fair
Does Airport Security Really Make Us Safer? | Culture | Vanity Fair
http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2011/12/tsa-insanity-201112
It's infuriating," he said, waving my fraudulent boarding pass to indicate the mass of waiting passengers, the humming X-ray machines, the piles of unloaded computers and cell phones on the conveyor belts, the uniformed T.S.A. officers instructing people to remove their shoes and take loose change from their pockets. "We're spending billions upon billions of dollars doing this—and it is almost entirely pointless. Not only is it not done right, but even if it was done right it would be the wrong thing to do."
---SPSmith
Thursday, December 22, 2011
How atheists celebrate Dec. 25 – USATODAY.com
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/story/2011-12-16/atheist-christmas-newton/52013908/1
"25 December is the birthday of one of the truly great men ever to
walk the earth," Dawkins wrote. "His achievements might justly be
celebrated wherever his truths hold sway. And that means from one end
of the universe to the other. Happy Newton Day!"
---SPSmith
Article: The Cambrian Conundrum: Fossils vs Genes
The Cambrian Conundrum: Fossils vs Genes
http://sandwalk.blogspot.com/2011/12/cambrian-conundrum-fossils-vs-genes.html
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
On Christopher Hitchens’ Jewishness – Tablet Magazine
Hitch-22 has at its heart almost something of a mystery plot, and it goes like this: How can Hitchens absolutely believe in the wrongness of absolute beliefs—chiefly theism and totalitarianism? How does he square that circle? Like any good mystery, a clue is under the reader's nose all along (the title), and the answer is not revealed until the final page. There, Hitchens explains:
It's quite a task to combat the absolutists and the relativists at the same time: to maintain that there is no totalitarian solution while also insisting that, yes, we on our side also have unalterable convictions and are willing to fight for them. After various past allegiances, I have come to believe that Karl Marx was rightest of all when he recommended continual doubt and self-criticism. … To be an unbeliever is not to be merely "open-minded." It is, rather, a decisive admission of uncertainty that is dialectically connected to the repudiation of the totalitarian principle, in the mind as well as in politics. But that's my Hitch-22.
The dialectic—the ability of opposites to feed off of each other and eventually produce a synthesis that assimilates the best aspects of both into an overpowering Truth—is the answer to the riddle of Hitchens' career, particularly of what many saw as his rightward turn later in life. If he did not quite add up, perhaps that is because Marx is not "right" but rather "rightest," and Hitchens achieved not "synthesis" but rather "Hitch-22," his personal variation on Joseph Heller's famed construct wherein two mutually exclusive premises are bound to co-exist. Belief in unbelief, certainty in uncertainty: These are the Scylla and Charybdis through which Hitchens skillfully steered his ship.
---SPSmith
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Article: 7 Free eBooks Neil deGrasse Tyson Thinks Every Intelligent Person Should Read
7 Free eBooks Neil deGrasse Tyson Thinks Every Intelligent Person Should Read
http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/neil-degrasse-tyson-lists-books-every-intelligent-person-on-earth-should-read_b44212
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Egyptian Ideas of the Future Life: Chapter VI: The Judgment of the Dead
Introduction to Chapter CXXV., mentions less than forty sins. Incidentally we may notice that the forty-two gods are subservient to Osiris, and that they only occupy a subordinate position in the Hall of Judgment, for it is the result of the weighing of the heart of the deceased in the balance that decides his future. Before passing to the description of the Hall of Judgment where the balance is set, it is necessary to give a rendering of the Negative Confession which, presumably, the deceased recites before his heart is weighed in the balance; it is made from the Papyrus of Nu. 1
1. "Hail Usekh-nemtet (i.e., Long of strides), who comest forth from Annu (Heliopolis), I have not done iniquity.
2. "Hail Hept-seshet (i.e., Embraced by flame), who comest forth from Kher-âba, 2 I have not robbed with violence.
3. "Hail Fenti (i.e., Nose), who comest forth from Khemennu (Hermopolis), I have not done violence to any man.
4. "Hail Âm-khaibitu (i.e., Eater of shades), who comest forth from the Qereret (i.e., the cavern where the Nile rises), I have not committed theft.
5. "Hail Neha-hra (i.e., Stinking face), who comest forth from Restau, I have slain neither man nor woman.
6. "Hail Rereti (i.e., Double Lion-god), who comest forth from heaven, I have not made light the bushel.
7. "Hail Maata-f-em-seshet (i.e., Fiery eyes), who comest forth from Sekhem (Letopolis), I have not acted deceitfully.
8. "Hail Neba (i.e., Flame), who comest forth and retreatest, I have not purloined the things which belong unto God.
9. "Hail Set-qesu (i.e., Crusher of bones), who comest forth from Suten-henen (Heracleopolis), I have not uttered falsehood.
10. "Hail Khemi (i.e., Overthrower), who comest forth from Shetait (i.e., the hidden place), I have not carried off goods by force.
11. "Hail Uatch-nesert (i.e., Vigorous of Flame), who comest forth from Het-ka-Ptah. (Memphis), I have not uttered vile (or evil) words.
12. "Hail Hra-f-ha-f (i.e., He whose face is behind him), who comest forth from the cavern and the deep, I have not carried off food by force.
13. "Hail Qerti (i.e., the double Nile source), who comest forth from the Underworld, I have not acted deceitfully.
14. "Hail Ta-ret (i.e., Fiery-foot), who comest forth out of the darkness, I have not eaten my heart (i.e. lost my temper and become angry).
15. "Hail Hetch-abehu (i.e., Shining teeth), who comest forth from Ta-she (i.e., the Fayyûm), I have invaded no [man's land].
16. "Hail, Âm-senef (i.e., Eater of blood), who comest
forth from the house of the block, I have not slaughtered animals which are the possessions of God.
17. "Hail Âm-besek (i.e., Eater of entrails), who comest forth from Mâbet, I have not laid waste the lands which have been ploughed.
18. "Hail Neb-Maât (i.e., Lord of Maât), who comest forth from the city of the two Maâti, I have not pried into matters to make mischief.
19. "Hail Thenemi (i.e., Retreater), who comest forth from Bast (i.e., Bubastis), I have not set my mouth in motion against any man.
20. "Hail Anti, who comest forth from Annu (Heliopolis), I have not given way to wrath without due cause.
21. "Hail Tututef, who comest forth from the nome of Ati, I have not committed fornication, and I have not committed sodomy.
22. "Hail Uamemti, who comest forth from the house of slaughter, I have not polluted myself.
23. "Hail Maa-ant-f (i.e., Seer of what is brought to him), who comest forth from the house of the god Amsu, I have not lain with the wife of a man.
24. "Hail Her-seru, who comest forth from Nehatu, I have not made any man to be afraid.
25. "Hail Neb-Sekhem, who comest forth from the Lake of Kaui, I have not made my speech to burn with anger. 1
26. "Hail Seshet-kheru (i.e., Orderer of speech), who comest forth from Urit, I have not made myself deaf unto the words of right and truth.
27. "Hail Nekhen (i.e., Babe), who comest forth from the Lake of Heqât, I have not made another person to weep.
28. "Hail Kenemti, who comest forth from Kenemet, I have not uttered blasphemies.
29. "Hail An-hetep-f (i.e., Bringer of his offering), who comest forth from Sau, I have not acted with violence.
30. "Hail Ser-kheru (i.e., Disposer of Speech), who comest forth from Unsi, I have not hastened my heart. 1
31. "Hail Neb-hrau (i.e., Lord of Faces), who comest forth from Netchefet, I have not pierced (?) my skin (?) and I have not taken vengeance on the god.
32. "Hail Serekhi, who comest forth from Uthent, I have not multiplied my speech beyond what should be said.
33. "Hail Neb-âbui (i.e., Lord of horns), who comest forth from Sauti, I have not committed fraud, [and I have not] looked upon evil.
34. "Hail Nefer-Tem, who comest forth from Ptah-het-ka (Memphis), I have never uttered curses against the king.
35. "Hail Tem-sep, who comest forth from Tattu, I have not fouled running water.
36. "Hail Ari-em-ab-f, Who comest forth from Tebti, I have not exalted my speech.
37. "Hail Ahi, who comest forth from Nu, I have not uttered curses against God.
38. "Hail Uatch-rekhit [who comest forth from his shrine (?)], I have not behaved with insolence.
39. "Hail Neheb-nefert, who comest forth from his temple, I have not made distinctions. 1
40. "Hail Neheb-kau, who comest forth from thy cavern, I have not increased my wealth except by means of such things as are mine own possessions.
41. "Hail Tcheser-tep, who comest forth from thy shrine, I have not uttered curses against that which belongeth to God and is with me.
42. "Hail An-â-f (i.e., Bringer of his arm), [who comest forth from Aukert], I have not thought scorn of the god of the city."
Monday, December 19, 2011
The Story of the Bible, by Frederic G. Kenyon
http://www.bible-researcher.com/kenyon/sotb3.html
If therefore we look back over the earliest generations of
Christianity, from the time of our Lord to the date (somewhere about
A.D. 325) when Christianity became the accepted religion of the Roman
Empire, we see first of all a period of some forty years when the
narrative of our Lord's life and teaching circulated orally, in the
preaching of His disciples, or in written records which have not come
down to us; and when St. Paul was writing his letters to various
Christian churches which he and his companions had founded. Then,
about the years 65 to 75, we have the composition of what are known as
the three Synoptic Gospels, Mark, Luke and Matthew, Mark's being the
earliest, and Matthew and Luke using him and also other narratives and
collections of sayings. The Book of Acts belongs to the same period,
being the second part of Luke's history. Revelation is now generally
assigned to the time of the persecution of Domitian, about A.D. 95;
and St. John's Gospel also must be late in the century. Then we have a
period of rather over two hundred years, when the various books
circulated, either singly in separate papyrus rolls or combined into
small groups in papyrus codi
---SPSmith
Death Quotes - Literary Quotes About Death and Practically Everything Else
For those who believe in God, most of the big questions are answered. But for those of us who can't readily accept the God formula, the big answers don't remain stone-written. We adjust to new conditions and discoveries. We are pliable. Love need not be a command or faith a dictum. I am my own God. We are here to unlearn the teachings of the church, state, and our educational system. We are here to drink beer. We are here to kill war. We are here to laugh at the odds and live our lives so well that Death will tremble to take us.
Article: What Christians Owe Hitch
What Christians Owe Hitch
http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2011/12/what-christians-owe-hitch.html
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
USA TODAY: Editorial: What Hitchens and Tebow shared
Check out this article that I saw in USA TODAY's iPad application.
Editorial: What Hitchens and Tebow shared
http://usat.ly/vDKKZK
To view the story, click the link or paste it into your browser.
To learn more about USA TODAY for iPad and download, visit:
http://usatoday.com/ipad/
---SPSmith
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Why men like Larry Craig continue to court danger in public places. - Slate Magazine
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/fighting_words/2007/09/so_many_mens_rooms_so_little_time.html?onswipe_redirect=no
Next time you hear some particularly moralizing speech, set your
watch. You won't have to wait long before the man who made it is
found, crouched awkwardly yet ecstatically while the cistern drips and
the roar of the flush maddens him like wine.
---SPSmith
Laurence Hope's Poem: Deserted Gipsy's Song: Hillside Camp
http://www.readbookonline.net/readOnLine/34384/
Beauty maddens the soul like Wine
Compare to hitch's line
---SPSmith
The Blog : Hitch : Sam Harris
http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/hitch/
One of the joys of living in a world filled with stupidity and
hypocrisy was to see Hitch respond. That pleasure is now denied us.
---SPSmith
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Friday, December 16, 2011
Drink is the feast of reason and the flow of soul.
 Drink is the feast of reason and the flow of soul.  Alexander Pope quotes |
---SPSmith
New Statesman - Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011
http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2011/12/hitchens-cancer-war-religion
To a Christian who insisted that God had given him "throat" cancer in
order to punish the "one part of his body he used for blasphemy", he
replied: "My so-far uncancerous throat . . . is not at all the only
organ with which I have blasphemed." And to those who insultingly
suggested that he should embrace religion, Hitchens's flawless
riposte: "Suppose there were groups of secularists at hospitals who
went round the terminally ill and urged them to adopt atheism: 'Don't
be a mug all your life. Make your last days the best ones.' People
might suppose this was in poor taste."
---SPSmith
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Thai Floodwaters Sink Intel Chip Orders | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com
The hard disk drive shortage has boosted prices for solid-state drives (SSDs), but hasn't increased orders for Intel's SSD products. "So far we haven't seen a big uptick in demand for SSDs," said Smith. But the company expects demand to rise, especially for SSDs for the new thin, lightweight ultrabook laptop computers, he said.
---SPSmithSunday, December 11, 2011
Thursday, December 08, 2011
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Article: A Club of Liars, Demagogues, and Fools—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine)
A Club of Liars, Demagogues, and Fools—By Scott Horton (Harper's Magazine)
http://www.harpers.org/archive/2011/11/hbc-90008328
"Africa is a country. The Taliban rule in Libya. Muslims are terrorists. Immigrants are mostly criminals, Occupy Wall Street protesters are always dirty. And women who claim to have been sexually molested should kindly keep quiet."
Welcome to the wonderful world of the Republican Party. Or rather: to the distorted world of its presidential campaign. For months it has coiled through the country like a traveling circus, from debate to debate, from scandal to scandal, contesting the mightiest office in the world — and nothing is ever too unfathomable for them… These eight presidential wannabes are happy enough not only to demolish their own reputations but also that of their party, the once worthy party of Abraham Lincoln. They are also ruining the reputation of the United States.
They lie, deceive, scuffle and speak every manner of idiocy. And they expose a political, economic, geographic and historical ignorance compared to which George W. Bush sounds like a scholar. Even the party's boosters are horrified by the spectacle…
---SPSmithArticle: Astonishing accident involving eight Ferraris 'world's most expensive car crash' - Telegraph
Astonishing accident involving eight Ferraris 'world's most expensive car crash' - Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/motoring/news/8934718/Astonishing-accident-involving-eight-Ferraris-worlds-most-expensive-car-crash.html
...
and a Toyota Prius
and a Toyota Prius
---SPSmith
Sunday, December 04, 2011
Saturday, December 03, 2011
Shocking News Cast
Check out this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9MGOckIzlU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
---SPSmith
Article: Oracle Says HP Lied to Customers About Itanium
Oracle Says HP Lied to Customers About Itanium
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2011/12/oracle-hp/
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Newt Gingrich: Serial Hypocrisy
Check out this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CWKTOCP45zY&feature=youtube_gdata_player
---SPSmith
Friday, December 02, 2011
Thursday, December 01, 2011
Article: topbrewerfeatures - Scanomat
topbrewerfeatures - Scanomat
http://www.scanomat.com/coffee-brewers/topbrewer-features/#a1
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Article: Final Indicator, if You Needed One, of a Looming China Crash
Final Indicator, if You Needed One, of a Looming China Crash
http://www.coyoteblog.com/coyote_blog/2011/12/final-indicator-if-you-needed-one-of-a-looming-china-crash.html
(Sent from Flipboard)
---SPSmith
Andy Stern: China's Superior Economic Model - WSJ.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204630904577056490023451980.html
Andy Grove, the founder and chairman of Intel, provocatively wrote in
Businessweek last year that, "Our fundamental economic beliefs, which
we have elevated from a conviction based on observation to an
unquestioned truism, is that the free market is the best of all
economic systems—the freer the better. Our generation has seen the
decisive victory of free-market principles over planned economies. So
we stick with this belief largely oblivious to emerging evidence that
while free markets beat planned economies, there may be room for a
modification that is even better."
---SPSmith
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Santorum exquisitely deomonstrates a typicial ideological ploy (common to both radical far left liberals as well as the reactionary far right conservatives) – when unable to provide rational reasons to support a claim or belief, resort to logical fallacies. In his case Santorum went straight to an appeal to tradition before he kept resorting to a red herring and slippery slope to desperately avoid answering the questions or provide a cogent explanation for his position.