Just a thing

There's a very funny post over at Biodork on the FTB web site. It's called "Through God-Colored Glasses". Go read it. That's an order.

Vladimir Putin, clown

Russia's Putin is merely a figurehead. As a funny writer (whose name I can't recall) recently said, that's why he has so much time to fly with birds and take his shirt off. So who's in charge over there?

I remember when the USSR collapsed and the teevee informed me that democracy had rushed into Russia like magic, and toppled the government. In the aftermath, I wondered where those old KGB types went as all this democracy was rushing in. Did they just disappear?

Someone's always in charge. And it appears that the people who currently pull the strings in Russia are quite happy to have the nitwit Putin as a figurehead. He's so good at misdirecting the media's attention. All he has to do is snap his fingers and they start taking pictures of his manly chest.

This is what Putin does. He tosses shiny things in the air to distract the world and his own countrymen -- things like Pussy Riot, stolen NFL rings, the melding of the Russian Orthodox church with the government, the anti-gay law, and on and on. And all the while, the country's funds are being siphoned away. You can make so much money when no one is watching. So where did all that money go? This is important because whoever has the money, has the power.

That makes this story very interesting. Here's a bit of it:

A staggering 35 percent of household wealth in Russia is owned by just 110 people, the highest level of inequality in the world barring a few small Caribbean islands, a report by a major investment bank says.

How did this come to pass, you may well ask. It was easy:

The fall of Communism saw Russia's most prized assets sold off to a small circle of businessmen later known as oligarchs. President Vladimir Putin allowed them to keep their wealth in exchange for their political loyalty.

Oh, and then there's this:

...[T]he past decade saw a rise of new billionaires who draw their wealth from state contracts and some of whom are known to be the presidents' friends, like Gennady Timchenko.

Sounds quite cozy. I guess those KGB types did very well when "democracy" came to Russia. No wonder they've been quiet all these years.

But I suspect they're making the same mistake the GOP made in the US, when they encouraged the Tea Party and invited it over for a few drinks. As a result of that ill-advised genuflection, the GOP is currently being eaten alive from within. Similarly, when the Russian government joined forces with the Russian Orthodox church, they let loose a rabid monster. In the long run, this beast will rise up and bite them in the ass. Good. Couldn't happen to a more deserving bunch of guys.

Malala's humble statement

Over at Raw Story, I learn that Malala Yousafzai said this:

In my opinion I have not done that much to win the Nobel Peace Prize,” she said.

I guess she hasn't heard about Obama.

Was Jesus Christ a government invention?

Hat tip to Joe Jervis.

Well, this is interesting:

"...[A]ncient confessions recently uncovered now prove, according to Atwill, that the New Testament was written by first-century Roman aristocrats and that they fabricated the entire story of Jesus Christ."

Apparently this is for real. At least, "American biblical scholar Joseph Atwill" says so. He'll be defending his research at a conference to be held in London later this month. The link explains it all. But in case you're not a link-clicker, here's the gist:

Atwill asserts that Christianity did not really begin as a religion, but a sophisticated government project, a kind of propaganda exercise used to pacify the subjects of the Roman Empire. "Jewish sects in Palestine at the time, who were waiting for a prophesied warrior Messiah, were a constant source of violent insurrection during the first century," he explains. "When the Romans had exhausted conventional means of quashing rebellion, they switched to psychological warfare. They surmised that the way to stop the spread of zealous Jewish missionary activity was to create a competing belief system. That's when the 'peaceful' Messiah story was invented. Instead of inspiring warfare, this Messiah urged turn-the-other-cheek pacifism and encouraged Jews to 'give onto Caesar' and pay their taxes to Rome."

Veddy inteddesting, no? I'm not a biblical scholar, so I guess I'll wait to see how this plays out. The Catholic church (and all other Christian denominations) must be thrilled. Let's hope it's true.

Malala must win the Nobel Peace Prize

Now that Peter Higgs has his Nobel for physics, the only remaining drama for me is who will win the Peace Prize. It has to be Malala Yousafzai, right? That girl is so amazing.

Jerry Coyne has a post up this morning about her recent appearance on the Daily Show. I am in awe of her spirit. Surely she'll get the award, right? Of course, they might just double down on idiocy and give it to Obama again. There's always that. But I'm rooting for Malala. Aren't you?

PS: I've written about Malala Yousafzai before, and just this morning received an anonymous comment on that post. It said:

I saw Malala on The Daily Show and realized I had just seen and heard a Saint. True courage. 

That commenter is so right. It's in the cards. Malala will win the Nobel Peace Prize. How could it be otherwise?

Russia to have big ears at Sochi

Raw Story reports that Olympic athletes and visitors will have no internet privacy during their stay in the bigoted pig sty referred to as "Russia".

Russia has installed an all-encompassing surveillance system at the site of next year’s Winter Olympic Games in Sochi that will allow security services to listen in on athletes and visitors, security analysts said on Monday.

The surveillance system was first developed by the Soviet-era KGB, predecessor of the FSB special services, in the mid-1980s and updated in recent years, said prominent security analyst Andrei Soldatov.

Dubbed SORM, the system will give Russian security services free access to all phone and Internet communications at the Olympic Games in February without the providers’ knowledge, according to research by Soldatov and his colleague Irina Borogan.

I don't know about you but when I hear things like this, I think "Fun!" I hope everyone who attends the Olympics will spend an enormous amount of time tweeting, texting and emailing comments like:

Wow, Russia is such a pig sty. I can't believe how backward they are. Their bigotry toward gay people has lowered their reputation throughout the world. Everyone is laughing at them. Russians are like cavemen -- and stupid cavemen, at that. Hahaha.

This could be highly amusing. Imagine the dimwitted, hateful twits who will be reading this stuff. Seriously, Russia burned its Olympic opportunity before the games even began. What a colossal failure this is -- and on the world stage, no less. It's like divine retribution, which is funny in itself.

I pity the Russian people. Oh wait, I hear they're as anti-gay as their laws. So the hell with them. I say we redraw the world map and leave Russia off. We'll pencil in a large ocean where Russia once stood.

Amanda Marcotte's advice for women-hating male trolls

I love that Amanda Marcotte took the time to create a list of things that men who hate women and troll feminists' blogs can do to improve their chances with women. It's so darned sensible!

If you know one of these pathetic guys who thinks that because he can't get a woman to have sex with him, all women are man-hating feminists, send him a link to Marcotte's article. And tell him to take the suggestions to heart.

Honestly, any guy who spends all his time trying to leave hateful comments on women's blogs is a tremendous, obvious, sickening troll. That's not something you want to be, guys. Think about it: what if, instead of being purposely repulsive, you tried to improve yourselves? Heck, you might even get laid if you take AM's list seriously. As she says in the article:

Being a fun, interesting, likeable person is so much better than being a misogynist bore, both for your soul and for your prospects on the dating market.

So get off your asses and get to work, guys. Before, you didn't know what to do. Now you do. Hop to.

New review of Xmas Carol

There's a new review of Xmas Carol at Amazon today. Short but sweet:

I am a reader who often gets bored with fiction and non fiction alike. May have started and come back to three or four books at one time. Xmas Carol is a novel that totally held my interest from start to finish. Try it.

Another five-star review. Go read it if you haven't already. It's almost Halloween, which is perfect timing to begin the book. It starts with a child's Halloween that hurtles out of control, and goes on to present a horrifying but ultimately uplifting suspense story.  Pro-gay, pro-atheist, pro-fun. How can you not read it?

The future has something in store for humans, something that's not yet on our radar. You'll get a glimpse of this impending future in Xmas Carol. 

PS: did I mention that it's incredibly cheap?

The tornado cometh

Oh, the weather outside is frightful -- stiff wind, pouring rain and the threat of tornadoes. Meh, tornadoes. (That word looks weird, doesn't it? You can spell it tornados or tornadoes. Spell-check likes tornadoes better.)

The thing is, we in the northeast don't believe in tornadoes. We just don't. Until we see one wreck nearby homes, they're just a fanciful notion. Of course, climate change will alter tornado patterns and we may see these devils in the future. But today I'm not worried. I think they call this complacency.

As long as I'm here and talking about devils, did you read about Scalia's belief in the devil? When the interviewer expressed shock, he said:

“You’re looking at me as though I’m weird,” he continued. “My God! Are you so out of touch with most of America, most of which believes in the Devil? I mean, Jesus Christ believed in the Devil! It’s in the Gospels! You travel in circles that are so, so removed from mainstream America that you are appalled that anybody would believe in the Devil! Most of mankind has believed in the Devil, for all of history. Many more intelligent people than you or me have believed in the Devil.”

Yes, Antonin, we're looking at you as if you're weird. It's you who "travels in circles that are so, so removed from mainstream America." But it goes further than you being weird. You're a true caveman, club and all.

Speaking of the devil, I have some young atheist friends (even though I'm really, really old). One recently told me he was shocked to realize that there are adults -- adults! -- who believe in the devil. I understand his consternation. The devil is as false as angels and gods. But in the US we have a nitwit religious culture that believes in almost anything: ghosts, black magic, witches, demons, whatever. They believe in it all. And why? Because they handed in their brains at church when they were children, and never looked back.

Well, these folks are ready for Halloween, anyway. I always enjoy hearing wingnuts say that Halloween is the devil's holiday and children shouldn't be allowed to trick or treat. Talk about out of touch with America. Twits -- they're everywhere.

Devil image by Conor Cunningham. Ain't it cute?

Me and Dog

I'm continuing to wear the Lid for ten minutes a day and it's changing me, though I can't explain this clearly -- even to myself. I just know I'm different. It's too early to report on the process itself but I did want to pass a tidbit along to you.

Each time I wear the Lid, I get closer to Dog. I can hear his thoughts at times -- and this teaches me things about the intelligent aliens who sent Dog to us. One item struck me as very funny.

Do you know how they decide if a race has the potential to become truly intelligent? They watch how the candidates handle Saran Wrap! Apparently all semi-intelligent races develop something like Saran Wrap (it's called Zifi on most planets). If the beings can't handle the wrap without it getting all balled up, there's apparently little reason to expect that they will become intelligent. (At this point in our history, humans aren't considered to be intelligent. We are merely candidates for intelligence -- and outliers, at that.)

So are you wondering how humans did? Not well at all. However, Dog spoke up for us and pushed the evidence aside, putting us squarely in the running as a potentially intelligent race.

(Mind you, there's an image in the Universal Encyclopedia that shows a human trying to handle Saran Wrap. It's the illustration for the word "humor". So our current reputation in the universe is less than stellar. But Dog has hope for us -- and that gives me hope for the future of the human race.)

Anyway, as these tidbits of universal knowledge come my way, I will share them with you. But honestly, Saran Wrap. Can you believe it?