Governor Chris Christie is the single greatest politician, not just New Jersey Governor, of my lifetime. This guy has more balls than any ten office holders I have ever seen. When some asshole teacher rolls her entire head when he begins to answer her question, (before he even says anything!) he teaches her to treat others with respect and shuts her up handily. He laid the smackdown on her candy ass. And then he goes on to explain in pure facts how the teachers union is to blame for the problems facing NJ teachers, not him. Best. Governor. Ever.
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Balking Hawking Part 1
Jane Hawking, former wife of world famous scientist and sore loser Stephen Hawking (he is notorious at losing bets with fellow scientists and never paying up, even after decades), has written a book, Music to Move the Stars. In it she tells of how they met, the troubles of dealing with his progressive illness, raising three children, and religious disputes that put an end to their marriage after 25 years. 25 years is a long time, and this book is suitably lengthy: at over 600 pages you could seriously hurt someone with this doorstopper. Surprisingly, every Amazon review is positive, something you just don't see very often, especially books about celebrities.
Cosmologists like to reduce everything in the universe to equations, she says, and God just gets in the way of what they percieve as mathematical harmony. She goes on to say that because the work of cosmologists is so complex that for some people it becomes a substitute for traditional religion. The cosmologists are seen as being so smart they must have all the answers, and if their answers leave no room for God (because God would mess with their perfect tick-tock system) then God must not exist, end of discussion.
She is distressed over the pseudoscience (my word, not hers) of evolutionary psychology. They try to reduce all human behaviour to natural selection, tossing out things like altruism and artistic expression that do not fit their NeoDarwinian narrative. Unable to answer why certain human faculties exist (or why something exists instead of nothing), the scientistic elite scoff and deny the general public the right to even ask why. Science forbid if one of their own rank should ask why! Such a person is denied tenure or kicked out of academia all together. Asking why the universe exists or why altruism exists is like asking "why Mount Everest exists" (here's a hint: it involves continental drift). It should be noted that none of their hypotheses are testable and therefore do not count as science. There is no way, short of building a time machine, to test what human ancestors did tens of thousands of years ago or whatever survival function their actions served. Evolutionary psychology just takes old hat psychological ideas (every revolutionary idea evo psych has ever come up with has been said by a regular psychologist at some time in the past) and puts a sexy evolutionary spin to it to make it sound science-y.
Jane says of her former husband Stephen: "on one historic occasion he actually made the startling concession that, like religion, his own science of the universe’ also required a leap of faith as did theism."
As Stephen became more famous he became more dogmatic in his atheism and surrounded himself with people who cared more about their careers and equations than about other people. Over time their equations began to replace the real world around them, and Jane couldn't handle living in that world of mathematics. As his fame grew ever higher, Stephen became cold and cruel and condescending and loveless in his vastly increasing arrogance and narcissism. Despite the fact that his wife had to take care of his every bodily function he remained an ungrateful bastard (my word). She says: "I found myself telling him that he was not God. The truth was that supercilious enigma of that smile which Stephen wore whenever the subjects of religious faith and scientific research came up was driving me to my wit’s end. It seemed that Stephen had little respect for me as a person and no respect at all for my beliefs and opinions." (p. 536) He was insulted by his wife's compassion for him, because for him compassion reeked of religion. Stephen divorced his wife in 1995 and married his nurse because he cared more about himself than anyone else. Never satisfied with anything humanity had to offer, he divorced his second wife ten years later.
Fuck you Mr. Hawking. Fuck you very much.
-Dee
Cosmologists like to reduce everything in the universe to equations, she says, and God just gets in the way of what they percieve as mathematical harmony. She goes on to say that because the work of cosmologists is so complex that for some people it becomes a substitute for traditional religion. The cosmologists are seen as being so smart they must have all the answers, and if their answers leave no room for God (because God would mess with their perfect tick-tock system) then God must not exist, end of discussion.
She is distressed over the pseudoscience (my word, not hers) of evolutionary psychology. They try to reduce all human behaviour to natural selection, tossing out things like altruism and artistic expression that do not fit their NeoDarwinian narrative. Unable to answer why certain human faculties exist (or why something exists instead of nothing), the scientistic elite scoff and deny the general public the right to even ask why. Science forbid if one of their own rank should ask why! Such a person is denied tenure or kicked out of academia all together. Asking why the universe exists or why altruism exists is like asking "why Mount Everest exists" (here's a hint: it involves continental drift). It should be noted that none of their hypotheses are testable and therefore do not count as science. There is no way, short of building a time machine, to test what human ancestors did tens of thousands of years ago or whatever survival function their actions served. Evolutionary psychology just takes old hat psychological ideas (every revolutionary idea evo psych has ever come up with has been said by a regular psychologist at some time in the past) and puts a sexy evolutionary spin to it to make it sound science-y.
Jane says of her former husband Stephen: "on one historic occasion he actually made the startling concession that, like religion, his own science of the universe’ also required a leap of faith as did theism."
As Stephen became more famous he became more dogmatic in his atheism and surrounded himself with people who cared more about their careers and equations than about other people. Over time their equations began to replace the real world around them, and Jane couldn't handle living in that world of mathematics. As his fame grew ever higher, Stephen became cold and cruel and condescending and loveless in his vastly increasing arrogance and narcissism. Despite the fact that his wife had to take care of his every bodily function he remained an ungrateful bastard (my word). She says: "I found myself telling him that he was not God. The truth was that supercilious enigma of that smile which Stephen wore whenever the subjects of religious faith and scientific research came up was driving me to my wit’s end. It seemed that Stephen had little respect for me as a person and no respect at all for my beliefs and opinions." (p. 536) He was insulted by his wife's compassion for him, because for him compassion reeked of religion. Stephen divorced his wife in 1995 and married his nurse because he cared more about himself than anyone else. Never satisfied with anything humanity had to offer, he divorced his second wife ten years later.
Fuck you Mr. Hawking. Fuck you very much.
-Dee
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Forbidden Knowledge
If you're one of the two or three regular readers here you have probably read a comment made eight months ago on a post Uri Geller Bends On, in regard to a book review I made of the book The Geller Papers by Charles Panati. A man by the name of Bob Couttie, who I assume is either a magician or a maritime investigator (or both?), posted a comment saying that a permanent bend can be made in the metal nitinol using nonpsychic means. The enigmatic Couttie tells the reader to google his name plus nitinol. Then he disappeared, for eight months. About a week ago he posted another comment, on the same exact post, that was almost identical to the first one he posted. He said that he can tell anyone how to make a permanent bend in nitinol using nonpsychic means. I was a bit surprised that he returned eight months later to post a nearly identical comment, and after some thought deleted it because there was nothing really new in his comment.
He posted another comment again yesterday, in which he goaded me to approve his comment, questioned my masculinity, and called me closed minded. He also suggests that I have never met Uri Geller, though I don't know what I said in my book review which would lead him to believe that, and so I must assume he is bluffing and doesn't really know whether I met Geller or not. I did google his name and found an essay from 1988, a few references to said essay on some magic forums, and a site about maritime disasters, about 70 results in all, counting duplicates (The above linked Uri Geller Bends On being one of them). I have not had time to read the whole essay (linked here for your reading pleasure, and mine in a few days), but it seems to suggest that by tying nitinol in a knot and heating it with a match a permanent bend can be made similar to Geller's. Not having the money to spend on nitinol I leave the experiment up to you. Mr. Couttie also has a book, Forbidden Knowledge, that was published in 1988 and doesn't seem to have gone into reprint yet. There is no description of the book so I'm not sure what it's about but I'm guessing it's about Geller and other psychics of the 70s and 80s. There are nine used copies for sale for four dollars and up plus shipping. It's only 160 pages, a nice afternoon's read (maybe a weekend if you're a slow reader like me). I am personally endorsing the book, for what it's worth, and suggest all three readers buy a copy. As soon as I update my Amazon account I myself will buy a copy and read it when I get the chance (I have three books already in que), and when I am finished I will post a review like I did for The Geller Papers.
-Dee
He posted another comment again yesterday, in which he goaded me to approve his comment, questioned my masculinity, and called me closed minded. He also suggests that I have never met Uri Geller, though I don't know what I said in my book review which would lead him to believe that, and so I must assume he is bluffing and doesn't really know whether I met Geller or not. I did google his name and found an essay from 1988, a few references to said essay on some magic forums, and a site about maritime disasters, about 70 results in all, counting duplicates (The above linked Uri Geller Bends On being one of them). I have not had time to read the whole essay (linked here for your reading pleasure, and mine in a few days), but it seems to suggest that by tying nitinol in a knot and heating it with a match a permanent bend can be made similar to Geller's. Not having the money to spend on nitinol I leave the experiment up to you. Mr. Couttie also has a book, Forbidden Knowledge, that was published in 1988 and doesn't seem to have gone into reprint yet. There is no description of the book so I'm not sure what it's about but I'm guessing it's about Geller and other psychics of the 70s and 80s. There are nine used copies for sale for four dollars and up plus shipping. It's only 160 pages, a nice afternoon's read (maybe a weekend if you're a slow reader like me). I am personally endorsing the book, for what it's worth, and suggest all three readers buy a copy. As soon as I update my Amazon account I myself will buy a copy and read it when I get the chance (I have three books already in que), and when I am finished I will post a review like I did for The Geller Papers.
-Dee
Thursday, August 26, 2010
In The Company of The Lord
Yesterday, 26 August 2010, would have been the 100th birthday of Mother Teresa, the modern age's most famous saint. Born in 1910 in Albania, she traveled to India in 1929 where she would later take her religious vows two years later. In 1946 she had a mystical experience that prompted her to embark on a life of charity in 1948. For 50 years St. Teresa (she's one miracle away from "official" sainthood as described by the Catholic church, and I've no doubt she'll be proclaimed a saint within my lifetime) worked tirelessly serving the poor and destitute of India, those suffering from horrible disease, malnutrition, and crippling poverty. Although the owner of Empire State Building, Anthony Malkin, did not light his edifice blue and white to honour her, claiming he doesn't light it for religious figures, despite lighting the building to honour the end of Ramadan (this is America, don't forget, everyone with power is deathly afraid of Muslims and has to appease them, not realizing the difference between Muslims and terrorists), and lighting the tower for completely asinine reasons like a Mariah Carey album and the Ninja Turtles, The Urban Mystic none-the-less feels the need to commemorate a shining example of selfless service and the hights to which humans can aspire to. India opened a new train line, the Mother Express, in her honour yesterday.
Let us pray that more people are inspired by Mother Teresa's example and try to live their lives with love, especially now when the world is in such dire conditions.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The End of the War
Yesterday night I heard on the radio news that the last US combat troops in Iraq left and are now in Kuwait. Everyone will be home by 31 August. The war is over.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Starchild DNA
The infamous Starchild skull has had a DNA test done, demonstrating that it possesses a long string of DNA that is not found in any known creature. This seems to indicate that it is not human. The scientist who did the test suggests that it is an alien that was implanted into a human mother who gave birth to it on the earth. Why this alien IVF experiment was conducted is anyone's guess. Lloyd Pye, owner of the skull, is now seeking funding to develop a complete sequence of the Starchild's entire genome (it's called the Starchild due to its small size despite later evidence that it was an adult at the time of its death).
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Chess Match from Beyond the Veil
Michael Tymn writes about an interesting chess match between a (then) living grand master and a deceased grand master; two of among the greatest in the world. Viktor Korchnoi played against Géza Maróczy through the help of automatic writer Robert Rollans. The match was arranged by Swiss stock broker and occasional psychical researcher Wolfgang Eisenbeiss. The match lasted seven years and eight months. I won't give away the winner.
This is a marvelous story that would make a great movie, if done right. Until a producer finds this story and decides to take it to a mass audience we'll just have to settle for the written word.
-Dee
This is a marvelous story that would make a great movie, if done right. Until a producer finds this story and decides to take it to a mass audience we'll just have to settle for the written word.
-Dee
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