OVO

Pat Condell: Islam's war on freedom [LINK-ZUM]

An especially good commentary from Pat Condell.

Trevor Blake: Natural Law [LINK-ZUM]

The following is from a letter in progress...

Some people claim that natural law exists. I have a moderate disagreement with this claim. At times the claim natural law exists seems to be the case. I am my body. My body dictates that (a) I prefer to live optimally, (b) I must eat to continue living, therefore (c) what impedes my ability to go on eating is eventually 'illegal' to me. But at times the claim natural law exists does not seem to be the case. What is the natural law that dictates my preference for just so much black pepper in the breading of fried chicken? The strongest case I can make for natural law existing is that in any contradiction one claim at minimum is false. After that it's a guessing game. These examples show that natural law exists but is not applicable to all experiences. Therefore natural law can serve as part of but not a foundation for law.

Some people claim that natural law is known. I have a strong disagreement with this claim. I am my body. My body dictates that (a) I prefer to live optimally, (b) a specific combination of nutrients will consumed today will optimize my going on living, therefore (c) I must eat a specific combination of nutrients today. There is, objectively / naturally, a specific meal I should eat today. I do not know it and can only at best approximate it. The effort to identify that exact optimal meal would take so long that conditions would change and the answer no longer apply. This example shows that natural law is sometimes knowable but unknown. Therefore natural law can serve as part of but not a foundation for law.

Some people claim that natural law is preferable. I have a strong disagreement with this claim. I am my body. My body dictates that (a) I prefer to live optimally, (b) I must eat to continue living, therefore (c) I should eat what my body needs. But it is this very same body that prefers fried chicken over steamed yams, without regard to the fact that yams are more optimal in nutrition. This example follows my previous examples but is not my best. My best example is that a virus, or crocodile, is following its own natural law were it to consume me but this is clearly not preferable for me. The naturalistic fallacy is that natural law is preferable while playing a ghostly bait-and-switch game as to who it is preferable for. On the one hand natural law is preferable to humanity (and this particular human) because humanity is of nature. On the the other hand, when I'm being eaten by a crocodile, natural law is preferable to "Nature" (as much of an anthropomorphic ghost as "God"). Law comes from humanity. It is based on what we have inherited from the past and what we invent today. It is possible to learn from our errors but not to predict our errors before subjecting them to criticism. Law should be subject to criticism; doubt scours out only error, never fact. Therefore natural law is preferable only sometimes, not always.

Some people claim that science is the accumulation of truth statements. I have a strong disagreement with this claim. I claim that science is the accumulation of falsified statements. Any scientific claim is subject to criticism, likely to be incomplete and likely to include some measure of error. When a scientific claim is made, it is a the claim "if X is not true then Y" and not "if X is true then Y." Science comes from humanity. It is based on what we have inherited from the past and what we invent today. It is possible to learn from our errors but not to predict our errors before subjecting them to criticism. Science should be subject to criticism; doubt scours out only error, never fact.

When some people claim that natural law exists, is known and is preferable I take it in a poetic sense and not a literal sense. It inspires but does not inform. To speak less in the abstract, they are a tonic against political correctness or letting oneself off the hook from the consequences of choices made. But they are not literally true. I place these claims in the same category as private ritual. My curses or blessings are not going to literally make ill or good occur in themselves but are rough mental landmarks for a path that I have to actually walk with my actual feet. Regarding the claim that science is the accumulation of truth claims, this is a claim in error but closer to the truth than the majority of theistic thinking (i.e. the majority of humanity today and throughout history). These claims are in error but the errors do not negate my decision to associate with those who speak of natural law.

Labels: philosophy

Emeka Mamah: Why [Mohammad Nureen Ashafa] passed Fatwa on Islamic preacher with 86 wives [LINK-ZUM]

This article begins by establishing that Imam Ashafa is an authority on his religion and a recognized representative of his religion...

Mohammad Nureen Ashafa is the Imam of Ashafa Central Mosque, Tudun Wada, Kaduna; Vice President, Ashafa Mosque Foundation, as well as the Co-Executive Director of Interfaith Mediation Centre of Muslim-Christian Dialogue Forum, also in Kaduna. He spoke to some media organisations on the implications of the death sentence [fatwa] passed on octogenarian Islamic preacher, Mohammed Bello Abubakar, by the Jama'tu Nasril Islam [JNI], for marrying 86 wives contrary to Islamic injunctions.

This article includes words about women that will sound pleasing to the Western ear...

Islam took into consideration certain needs, social and emotional, sexual urge, all these are part of the things a woman needs in marriage. It is injustice if you do not provide these adequately for the woman. [...] So, how do you share 86 wives in a year? It means that you cannot meet some of the women more than once in a week. In fact, it may not even be possible because we have 52 weeks in a year. So, if you see one every week, the others have to wait till the next year to take their turns. What is the legitimacy? There is no legitimacy for that in Islam. It is an abuse on the rights and dignity of these women. It is an abuse on the sanctity of woman-hood. It is an abuse to marry 86 wives in the name of Islam. [...] Women have rights, they have dignity and honour. Islam respects the dignity of women. A woman needs emotional satisfaction. That affection is part of the rudiments of marriage. How does the man with 86 wives satisfy the sexual and emotional needs of these women?

... with all that being said a reader might accidentally gloss over the sections where Imam Ashafa condones having women as sexual slaves and stock animals...

There is room for concubine in Islam. And that is why you see some royal fathers have four wives and they have concubines. The history of concubine has to do with slavery, if you had women who are in your possession as slaves. This is because in those days, people bought slaves. It may no longer be fashionable in modern times but the law is still there. If you have women as slaves, they can have children for you but you have to protect them, and give them the same honour you give your wives, though they are not legitimate wives. [...] He can do that in the name of culture because there is no restriction on the number of women a man can marry, in most of the traditions.

... thus one is left to wonder what Imam Ashafa is talking about, what is it that Islam is really saying about women and slavery. Perhaps we should turn to the Holy Quran for answers. Answers like "All married women (are forbidden unto you) save those (captives) whom your right hands possess" or you don't have to be modest around your wives or your slave girls "that your right hand possess." If we go by what the Holy Quran says, if we go by what today's representatives of Islam say, then using women for sexual slavery and breeding stock is an acceptable practice in the 21st Century just as it was centuries ago. And then there's the question of putting someone to death because hundreds of years ago a mass murderer and a bandit said that an invisible monster that lives in the sky told us we had to.

What do you say? - Trevor Blake

Labels: islam, slavery

news.com.au: Two-headed baby boy under police guard [LINK-ZUM]

A baby boy born with two heads has been put under police protection because of the curiosity his birth has caused among locals. The 5.5kg boy, named Kiron, was born by caesarean on Monday in Keshobpur, 135km from Dhaka, Bangladesh. "He has one stomach and he is eating normally with his two mouths. He has one genital organ and a full set of limbs," gynaecologist Mohamad Abdul Bari said. [...] The clinic had been unable to determine whether the baby had one or two sets of vital organs, Dr Bari said. The baby's life was not in immediate danger [...]

[Article continues at link. A question for my readers who believe that people have souls. How many souls does Kiron have? - Trevor Blake]

Labels: religion, science

Trevor Blake: Happy Birthday [LINK-ZUM]

On August 26 2008, ovo blog turned one year old. Thank you to all my readers, thank you to the fine resources I use to gather information here. I had advertisements here at first but as far as I could tell I was making more money finding pennies on the sidewalk each month so I stopped. I've had to edit many posts for spelling and formatting but only a few for content error. I'm satisfied that the time I put into it is worth the enjoyment I and others get out of it. Thanks again.

Labels: blog, ovo, trevorblake

Science Daily: Eco-architecture Could Produce 'Grow Your Own' Homes [LINK-ZUM]

A bus stop that grows its own foliage as shade? A children's playground, made entirely from trees? A shelter made from living tree roots that could provide natural protection against earthquakes in California? "Eco-architecture" may sound like a Buck Rogers vision of an ecologically-sustainable future, but that future is now thanks to the guidance of Tel Aviv University Professors Yoav Waisel and Amram Eshel. The concept of shaping living trees into useful objects known as tree shaping, arborsculpture, living art or pooktre isn't new. But scientists are now ready to use this concept as the foundation of a new company that will roll out these structures worldwide.

[Article continues at link. Comapre with Paul Laffoley's 'vegetable house.' - Trevor Blake]

Labels: architecture, art

Pat Condell: Take Your Got and Shove Him [LINK-ZUM]

[See more of the same at Pat Condell's channel at youtube.com. I might emphasize more that I am not a Christian / Muslim / etc. because I don't know about it, but because I do - deeply, much more deeply than most Christians / Muslims / etc. themselves do. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: atheist, christianity, islam, video

Trevor Blake: The Synchronofile [LINK-ZUM]

The synchronofile is the private collection of printed works by and about R. Buckminster Fuller published during his lifetime owned by Trevor Blake. Over one thousand items strong, it is one of the largest private collections about Fuller in the world. The synchronofile is available for study by appointment. The synchronofile is the basis for a series of publications related to Fuller, including the Buckminster Fuller Bibliography and A Study of Shelter Logistics for Marine Corps Avaiation.

Buckminster Fuller Bibliography
by Trevor Blake

Nearly one thousand entries by and about Buckminster Fuller in print. Extensive and accurate. Traces Fuller's trajectory from outsider to globe trotting lecturer to cultural icon. Includes information found in no previous book on Fuller. 117 pages, 6" x 9", jacket-hardcover binding, cream interior paper (50# weight), black and white interior ink, white exterior paper (100# weight), black and white exterior ink. [more information] [purchase]

A Study of Shelter Logistics for Marine Aviation
by Col. Henry C. Lane

In 1954, the US Marine Corps put the geodesic domes of Buckminster Fuller to the test. The domes were declared "the first major basic improvement in mobile military shelters for the past 2,600 years." New introduction by Trevor Blake offers background information on this study and expands on its outcome. Rare and out of print for more than fifty years. 144 pages, 8.25" x 10.75", casewrap-hardcover binding, white interior paper (50# weight), black and white interior ink, white exterior paper (100# weight), black and white exterior ink. [more information] [purchase]

Labels: books, synergetics, trevorblake

Katie Thomas: For Coach, God and Archery Are a Package Deal [LINK-ZUM]

During the Olympics, [Kisik Lee, the head coach of the United States archery team] and at least three of the five United States archers who qualified to compete in Beijing met every morning to sing hymns and read from the Bible, and to attend church together in the chapel at the Olympic Village. Lee believes having a strong faith makes for better archers because it helps quiet their minds. To that end, he tailored [archer Brady Ellison]'s Olympic schedule to include spiritual and athletic objectives. "I give him six tasks a day, including reading the Bible and education," Lee said. "And he's doing it." [...] To be an effective archer, Lee said, athletes must learn to clear their heads and focus. "If you are Christian," he said, "then people can have that kind of empty mind."

[Article continues at link. God is a busy deity. He has to monitor and maintain the orbits of the electrons of 1.7 x 10^77 hydrogen atoms in the part of the Universe that is visible to humans, make sure the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and Georgia and Sri Lanka and Darfur and Somalia are going according to plan, keep up various famines and plagues, oh, there's just so much to do! But at the same time God cares very much that the right people win the archery competition in the 2008 Olympics. That is why Coach Lee had his team use time that might otherwise be wasted in training instead in the more important pursuit of talking to an invisible monster that lives in the sky. All you have to do is look at who is winning to see the effectiveness of having a mind emptied by Christianity. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: christianity

Trevor Blake: Harry Enfield [LINK-ZUM]

Comedy skits by Harry Enfield [Wikipedia].

L is for Labor
Women Know Your Limits
The Minefield of Caddishness
Frightening Diseases of the Mind
Christmas Tidings
The Conjugal Rights Guide
Mr. Hitler
The East End
Women, Don't Drive
Methods of Self Defence
Association Football
Life in 1990

Harry Enfield also did a commercial for Mercury Communications and inspired a fine imitation in an identity theft documentary. There used to be three other related clips online ('Developments in Science,' 'Animals' and 'On Death') but I can't find them now.

Labels: television, video

Unknown: Religion and Reason Map [LINK-ZUM]

Labels: buddhism, christianity, hindu, islam, judaism, maps, religion

Trevor Blake: 258 Phantom Churches [LINK-ZUM]

Sam Hodges, Pastor sues Baptist General Convention of Texas: The Baptist General Convention of Texas has been sued for libel and slander by a pastor involved in starting churches in the Rio Grande Valley. The Rev. Otto Arango claims he was defamed by the Dallas-based BGCT as it dealt with allegations of "phantom churches" and misspent money in a scandal that came to be known in Baptist circles as "Valleygate."

An independent investigation commissioned by the BGCT noted that Dr. Arango and two other pastors sponsored a reported 258 new churches, which together received more than $1.3 million in BGCT funds. But many of those new churches failed, others were mere "extension units" of existing churches, and some never existed at all, the investigators found in a report sharply critical of the BGCT for lax oversight.

Vicki Brown, Former Texas church planter files libel suit against BGCT, others: Arango's legal action stems from allegations that he and two other church planters, Aaron de la Torre and Armando Vera, misused BGCT church-start funds. The trio claimed 258 churches had been started in Texas between 1999 and 2005 through a training system Arango had devised. The system was based on the house-church approach.

Questions about Arango's reportedly lavish lifestyle and suspicions about the use of some funds prompted BGCT officials to ask an independent counsel, Diane Dillard of Brownsville, to investigate. [...] Investigators [...] noted that 98 percent of the congregations they claimed to have planted via the program either no longer existed or existed only on paper.

[Articles continue at links. I suggest that if religious groups were held to the same standards as secular groups when it comes to tax-exempt status, improprieties such as this might be easier to control. Secular groups must demonstrate that they relieve the State of providing a needed service to get their tax-exempt status. Money is tracked, and when it is mis-spent the culprit can be identified. Religious groups merely need to say they are religious groups to get tax-exempt status. No service need be rendered. A religious group can offer emergency shelter to war refugees or they can buy lavish mansions for themselves and either way they remain tax-exempt. Why more corporations don't become religions I do not know. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: christianity

National Banana: Priest Off [LINK-ZUM]

Labels: christianity, subgenius, video

[LINK-ZUM]

Labels: biographic, blog, fight

Kenneth Snelson: Tensegrity Sculpture Self Assemble [LINK-ZUM]

Labels: art, video

Trevor Blake: Isetta [LINK-ZUM]

Isetta. Portland, Oregon USA. 12 August 2008. I am fond of these cars.

Labels: art, portland, transportation, trevorblake

Josh Donlan: Killing One Owl To Save Another [LINK-ZUM]

In this month's issue of High Country News, journalist Kim Todd writes about northern spotted and barred owls. A new arrival to the Pacific Northwest, barred owls appear to be outcompeting the spotted owl. Managers are in a conundrum and are considering lethal control of barred owls in order to halt a decline of spotted owls.

[Article continues at link. A fine reminder of the limits of our knowledge and abilities. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: science

Trevor Blake on Books: Papillon by Henri Charriere [LINK-ZUM]

Autobiography. Henri Charriere was wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. This average man was placed in a situation far more dangerous than he was ready for, but through acts of cunning and physical strength he survived. Every attempt to imprison his body or crush his will failed. He never gave up. This average man wrote a book of his life experiences that became popular and which served as the subject of a popular film. I recommend both the book and the film.

The possibility that life for the average person could suddenly become much more difficult than anything that person has known before is always with us. Only by making ourselves strong in times of peace can we have a chance of turning adversities into opportunities. What Charriere survived gives me a healthy sense of perspective when I start to get wound up about the minor difficulties in my day-to-day life.

Wikipedia on Papillon.
Nine minutes from the film Papillon.

Labels: biographic, books, film, prison

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