OVO

Unknown Life Form in North Carolina Sewer [LINK-ZUM]

Alix Rijckaert: Muslim mayor flies flag for gays in Dutch suburb [LINK-ZUM]

A harassed gay minority in a conservative suburb in otherwise tolerant Amsterdam has found a guardian angel in the local Muslim mayor. Ahmed Marcouch, 41, is on a self-appointed mission to end homophobia in Slotervaart, just a stones' throw from the capital but light-years away from its anything-goes mentality. To make his point, Mayor Marcouch recently invited Amsterdam's annual Gay Pride parade to pass through his constituency when it takes place in August. "It is necessary to confront this issue, to say that homosexuals are normal people like all of us and that we require them to be respected," Marcouch told AFP. Slotervaart's population is mainly of immigrant origin, many of the Muslim faith, like Moroccan-born Marcouch himself who came to the Netherlands in 1979 at age 10. The suburb has recently been in the news for homophobic incidents, with gays being called names, spat on and generally bothered.

[Article continues at link. Muslim oppression just a stones' throw away - get it? Sorry. A word of congratulations to Mayor Marcouch for ignoring the clear dictates of his own religion and instead acting on the better aspects of secular government. If the Muslim world can follow his lead, it should have a place in the 21st Century. Islam can retain all its commandments to kill homosexuals, just like Christianity has, but it can follow Christianity's lead and simply ignore those parts of its unignorable holy book. Slotervaart is a few thousand feet from where Theo van Gogh II was shot eight times and nearly decapitated with a knife, then had two knives stabbed in his chest. One of the knives pinned a note explaining the motives of his killer to his body. Theo van Gogh was murdered by a Muslim man for 'insulting Islam' with his film Submission. Between making Submission and being killed, van Gogh made another film called 06/05. This film was about the death of Pim Fortuyn - who was murdered for 'insulting Islam.' This is the background of Mayor Marcouch's decision, and we wish him every success in defending the West from his brothers and sisters in the Religion of Peace. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: christianity, islam, theocracy

Alisa Mullins: Obama and the Fly, Part Deux [LINK-ZUM]

As we all know, human beings often don't think before they act. We don't condemn President Obama for acting on instinct. When the media began contacting us in droves for a statement, we obliged, simply by saying that the president isn't the Buddha and shouldn't be expected to do everything right—if not for that, we would not have brought it up. It's the media who are making a big deal about the fly swat—not PETA. However, we took the opportunity, when asked, to point out that we do offer lots of ways in which to control insects of all kinds without harming them, including the humane bug catcher we sent President Obama. There is even a chapter in PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk's book The PETA Practical Guide to Animal Rights about how to rid your home of "uninvited guests." [...] We support compassion for all animals, even the most curious, smallest, and least sympathetic ones. [...] We can't stop all suffering, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't stop any. Our wish is for all people to act wisely and mercifully toward animals.

[Article continues at link. No media opportunity is too small for PETA to jump onto. Their press statements concerning President Obama killing a fly are further evidence. What PETA would prefer the media not discuss is the 95% kill rate of animals donated to PETA, or that according to the Vegan Society "B12 is the only vitamin that is not recognised as being reliably supplied from a varied wholefood, plant-based diet with plenty of fruit and vegetables, together with exposure to sun," or that flies spread diseases. What does nature offer up as evidence of its compassion for itself? There's the traumatic insemination of bedbugs in which the male pierces the female's abdomen with his penis and injects his sperm through the wound into her abdominal cavity. In Xylocaris Maculipennis the male impales and inseminate other males: the rapist's genes enter the bloodstream to be carried to females by the victim. In this way, the rapist conceives by proxy. Wasps perform roach-brain-surgery to make zombie slave-roaches... don't miss this video of the Jewel Wasp. All animals, as a species and as individuals, either consume other living things (including other animals or plants that fed on the decayed bodies of other animals) - or they perish. As part of nature, man does the same. The means to optimally reduce one's impact on the Earth is ever present, but few PETA-types carry their argument through to its necessary and inevitable end. Nature is at best indifferent to any of her children. We have short and difficult lives that can occur at all only by predation on other living things. Does PETA know what it's talking about? While PETA might support compassion for all animals, flies are not animals. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: B12

Trevor Blake: Altdroid [LINK-ZUM]

Altdroid by Trevor Blake. 19 June 2009.

Labels: robots, trevorblake, video

Valerie Boateng: New Beginnings loses lawsuit against Foxhole [LINK-ZUM]

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the owners of the New Beginnings Ministries near New Castle against Foxhole strip club and Sheriff Timothy Rogers, among others. The lawsuit claimed the club conducted illegal protests outside the church since at least January 2007 and the sheriff's office failed to protect the church from the illegal activity. The defendants in the case said the protest activities took place in a public right of way that were protected by the First Amendment. [...] The suit filed in August 2007 [...] claimed Foxhole members entered and refused to remove themselves from his private property, blocked the entrance to the drive, stopped patrons and employees from entering the premises, surrounded patrons' vehicles to preclude entrance, photographed patrons and employees against their will, and threatened patrons with adverse consequences as they persisted in visiting the facility.

[Article continues at link. STOP PRESS... looks like I got some facts wrong about who is getting their freedom of speech and assembly protected and who isn't. Better check the original article to make sure you get the facts on what's going on. Isn't it strange that religious groups use their rights to take away the rights of others while strip clubs and the like never do the same for religious groups. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: christianity, commerce, sex, theocracy

Ulik: Lightning by Philip Glass [LINK-ZUM]

Labels: music, transportation, video

Trevor Blake, Skitterbot 16 June 2009 [LINK-ZUM]

Trevor Blake, Skitterbot 16 June 2009. Toothbrush, motor, tape, wire, switch, screw, battery holder, battery. Fast, can find walls and irregularities in the floor, could be fitted with a pen. Also known as a vibrobot or a bristlebot.

Labels: robots, trevorblake, video

The Three Good Monkeys - Pipe Dreams (1938) [LINK-ZUM]

Labels: film, prohibition, video subgenius

William McCall: Ore. parents face charges in child's death [LINK-ZUM]

A couple charged with manslaughter claim they were within their constitutional rights when they decided to pray for their 15-month old daughter rather than take her to a doctor to treat her pneumonia. But legal experts believe that Carl and Raylene Worthington will likely have a difficult time arguing freedom of religion over the state's duty to protect children from harm. A pre-trail hearing is scheduled for Monday in the case against the Worthingtons, whose toddler Ava died in March 2008. The state medical examiner said Ava could have easily been treated with antibiotics.

The trial, scheduled to start June 23, comes about a decade after the Oregon Legislature amended state law to restrict an exemption for faith healing and to bar arguments that religious beliefs prevent seeking medical help. The revision in state law came in response to an investigation into a series of deaths of children whose parents belonged to the church and suffered from untreated illnesses that were curable. A small church cemetery is lined with the graves of dozens of children - suggesting an extraordinary increase over the average death rate for children in the United States.

[Article continues at link. McCall writes of "the church" but does not name it. The name of the church is Followers of Christ Church in Oregon City, Oregon. McCall writes of revision in state law but does not say what those changes were. The changes were that child sacrifice was made illegal in Oregon, right? That there was no exemption in murder charges if the murder occured to appease an invisible monster that lives in the sky, yes? No. No, the revision in state law retained special privileges for parents who murder their children as part of a religious service compared to those who murder their children for any other reason or for no reason. Read Oregon State Law House Bill 2494 Section 163.555 2b for yourself: "In a prosecution for failing to provide necessary and proper medical attention, it is a defense that the medical attention was provided by treatment by prayer through spiritual means alone by adherents of a bona fide religious denomination that relies exclusively on this form of treatment in lieu of medical attention." Then read my article Child Sacrifice in Oregon for details on the nearly one hundred child sacrifices that have occurred at this bona fide religious denomination. God and the law stand on these parent's side. Right and justice stand against them. Where do you stand? - Trevor Blake]

Labels: christianity, theocracy

Trevor Blake: biblemap.org [LINK-ZUM]

One of the deep roots of atheism in the West is the application of scholarship to the Bible. The more one tries to apply reason and evidence to the Bible, the more doubt about the truth of the Bible is found. There is no more swift and sure path to rejecting Christianity than reading the Bible. But this is a lesson often forgotten, and generation after generation of sincere Christians lose their faith by enriching it. New discoveries and techniques are applied to the Bible in an effort to promote the Bible, only to discredit it. What remains is either doubt or a particular kind of self-deception called faith. The meaning of the word faith in modern times is that which the claimant knows is not true but which the claimant acts and speaks as if it were true. Faith has become the opposite of hope, a shutting off instead of a keeping open.

For instance, biblemap.org writes "We hope this site will be a blessing to you and possibly help make the living book of the Bible more alive in your life." The site shows locations mentioned in the Bible on a map. Where was the home of Peter and Andrew? Mark 1:21 says Capernaum. John 1:44 says Bethsaida. biblemap.org says... both Capernaum and Bethsaida. Where was Jacob buried? Genesis 50:13 says Machpelah. Acts 7:15-16 says Shechem. biblemap.org says... both Machpelah and Sechem. During the research and data entry for biblemap.org, did the authors note these contradictions? When users search this map, will they note these contradictions? How will these contradictions be resolved, and what does that imply for the Bible?

Labels: christianity, maps

Dana Parsons: Men bedeviled in bid for sanctuary [LINK-ZUM]

When Simon Sheppard and Stephen Whittle stepped off a plane at LAX in July 2008 - a couple of jet-lagged Brits on the lam from the United Kingdom - they looked for the first uniformed U.S. official they could find. Unfortunately for them, they found one. They thought they had found safe harbor from the English court that three days earlier had convicted them of hate-related writings originating on their website. Rather than wait for sentencing - expected to range from a year or two for Whittle to perhaps five years or more for Sheppard - the men skipped bail and hopped a plane in Dublin, believing that U.S. free-speech traditions and the visa waivers they secured at an Irish airport would shield them. Sheppard says he approached a U.S. official in Los Angeles, showed him the visa waiver and said in effect, "I'm sorry to be a nuisance, but we want to claim political asylum in the United States." Eleven months later, Sheppard, 52, and Whittle, 42, remain in U.S. custody, spending their days in orange jumpsuits in the Santa Ana City Jail and awaiting a return to England and likely jail sentences. Since arriving in America, they haven't spent a single day as free men.

[Article continues at link. Their website is heretical.com, which is archived in a google cache, the wayback machine, coral content distribution network and probably elsewhere. What sort of works are published (perhaps violating copyrights) at heretical.com? Works by Isaac Asimov, R. Crumb, Roald Dahl, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Authur Conan Doyle, Sigmund Freud, Rudyard Kipling, H. P. Lovecraft, H. L. Menken, Ivan Pavlov and others. And, yes, Adolph Hitler. Fortunately for the entire planet, words and pictures can never cause harm no matter who made them or who perceives them. Private information such as diaries deserve legal protection. Government secrets can sometimes deserve legal protection. Business secrets can sometimes deserve (or at least purchase) legal protection. But outside of these exceptions, I advocate the freedom of speech guaranteed in the United States Constitution. There is mistaken information at heretical.com, but publication of mistakes should not be criminal. There are unkind remarks and images at heretical.com, but publication of the unkind should not be criminal. It would have been better if the US had given these two men asylum, even though they have published mistakes and unkindness. From heretical.com: "News just received on June 11 that Simon Sheppard and Steve Whittle are to be deported from LAX on June 16, arriving in London June 17, when they will be arrested, taken to court, and put in jail for writing on a web site in Torrance, California words protected by the First Amendment." Advocates of freedom of speech, now is the time to step forward. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: books, fascism, race

Trevor Blake: Twenty Recommended Art Links [LINK-ZUM]

Two years ago I recommended twenty art links. Here are twenty more.

Blogs of art with little or no captioning:
all things amazing, aloha friday, fabulon, happiest people ever, it is okay, loopable, monkey about, nasdaq forever, room 26 cabinet of curiosities, sexy people, ugly overload, uncertain times,

Blogs with a specialty:
Book Covers, Boxvox, Hanzi Smatter, I'm Learning to Share, Old Photos of Japan, Street Anatomy, You Thought We Wouldn't Notice.

Labels: art, blog

Trevor Blake: Alan Turing (23 June 1912 - 7 June 1954) [LINK-ZUM]

Today is the seventh of June, the anniversary of the death of Alan Turing.

Wikipedia: Alan Mathison Turing, OBE, FRS was a British mathematician, logician, cryptanalyst and computer scientist. Turing is often considered to be the father of modern computer science. He provided an influential formalisation of the concept of the algorithm and computation with the Turing machine. Of his role in the modern computer, Time Magazine in naming Turing one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, states: "The fact remains that everyone who taps at a keyboard, opening a spreadsheet or a word-processing program, is working on an incarnation of a Turing machine." [...] During the Second World War, Turing worked at Bletchley Park, Britain's codebreaking centre, and was for a time head of Hut 8, the section responsible for German naval cryptanalysis. He devised a number of techniques for breaking German ciphers, including the method of the bombe, an electromechanical machine that could find settings for the Enigma machine. Near the end of his life Turing became interested in chemistry. He wrote a paper on the chemical basis of morphogenesis[2] and he predicted oscillating chemical reactions such as the Belousov-Zhabotinsky reaction, which were first observed in the 1960s. [...]

Homosexual acts were illegal in the United Kingdom and regarded as a mental illness and subject to criminal sanctions. In 1952, Arnold Murray, a 19-year-old recent acquaintance of Turing's, helped an accomplice to break into Turing's house, and Turing reported the crime to the police. As a result of the police investigation, Turing acknowledged a sexual relationship with Murray, and Turing and Murray were charged with gross indecency under Section 11 of the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, the same crime Oscar Wilde had been convicted of more than fifty years before. Turing was given a choice between imprisonment and probation, conditional on his undergoing hormonal treatment designed to reduce libido. To avoid jail, he accepted chemical castration via estrogen hormone injections which lasted for a year. His conviction led to a removal of his security clearance and prevented him from continuing consultancy for GCHQ on cryptographic matters. At the time, there was acute public anxiety about spies and homosexual entrapment by Soviet agents, possibly due to the recent exposure of the first two members of the Cambridge Five, Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean, as KGB double agents. Turing was never accused of espionage but, as with all who had worked at Bletchley Park, could not discuss his war work.

On 8 June 1954, Turing's cleaner found him dead; the previous day, he had died of cyanide poisoning, apparently from a cyanide-laced apple he left half-eaten beside his bed. The apple itself was never tested for contamination with cyanide, but a post-mortem established that the cause of death was cyanide poisoning. Most believe that his death was intentional, and the death was ruled a suicide. His mother, however, strenuously argued that the ingestion was accidental due to his careless storage of laboratory chemicals. Biographer Andrew Hodges suggests that Turing may have killed himself in this ambiguous way quite deliberately, to give his mother some plausible deniability. Others suggest that Turing was re-enacting a scene from Snow White, his favourite fairy tale.

Turing was also a world-class runner.

Alan Turing Scrapbook: His best time [for a Marathon] of 2 hours, 46 minutes, 3 seconds, was only 11 minutes slower than the winner in the 1948 Olympic Games. In a 1948 cross-country race he finished ahead of Tom Richards who was to win the silver medal in the Olympics. [...] I asked him one day why he punished himself so much in training. He told me, " I have such a stressful job that the only way I can get it out of my mind is by running hard." '

I recommend the book Alan Turing: the Enigma by Andrew Hodges to learn more about this hero of the modern age. He saved England and chose death over becoming less of a man. - Trevor.

Labels: biographic, books

M. Charemnich: The Atheist at His Bench [LINK-ZUM]

Defiance of Youth. Members of the Communist Youth League are still paying very little attention to the anti-religious front - such is the common news from where our correspondents are. Member of the Communist Youth League: "We shall climb up to heaven, and chase away all the gods!" Editor: "It would be much better, comrade, if you looked at what is going on in the world, and how on earth, under your very nose, priests, protestant preachers, mullahs and rabbis are trying to attract the youth into their dens. We must struggle with religion with deeds, not with loud words." - 15 February 1931.

[Art and translation from a collection of anti-religious Soviet posters at Bryn Mawr college.]

Labels: atheist, christianity, islam, judaism, socialism

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