Lama Yo Mama!

This weekend, His Holiness the Dalai Lama spoke in Seattle, and I was lucky enough to have Megan drag me along. I use the verb ‘drag’ because I was not initially inspired to attend this appearance when I first heard about it. Like any healthy skeptic, I regard most authority figures with extreme suspicion, especially when they derive their authority from a religious source. But, at the end I felt very differently about this particular devil. He had a lot of really thoughtful things to say, and I appreciated the opportunity to hear them.

The line outside the stadium snaked all the way around the block, which offered great opportunities for people watching. The evangelicals were out in full force with megaphones, signs, and t-shirts, warning all the attendees that Buddhism leads directly to eternal damnation.

How’s your Operating Thetan Level Today?

The feature story within this month’s Radar Magazine is about the Church of Scientology and the underground internet group that is taking them down. It’s interesting to see Scientologist opponents taking this tactical course, since the cult religion has been so clever about diverting criticism and using its massive resources to silence critics.

Here’s how the attacks on Scientology began (from the article):

On January 21, a video titled “Message to Scientology” appeared on YouTube. A brilliant work of agitprop, the video (embedded below) features a monotone, computer-generated voice speaking in staccato against a mesmerizing backdrop of gathering clouds. The message, which bears quoting at length, is ominous:

“Hello, Scientology. We are Anonymous. Over the years, we have been watching you. Your campaigns of misinformation, suppression of dissent, your litigious nature: All of these things have caught our eye. With the leakage of your latest propaganda video into mainstream circulation, the extent of your malign influence over those who have come to trust you has been made clear to us. Anonymous has therefore decided that your organization should be destroyed. … We are Anonymous. We are legion. We do not forgive. We do not forget. Expect us.”

Within hours of the video’s posting, all hell broke loose. Almost immediately, the Church’s main website, scientology.org, went down under a distributed denial of service attack, a classic hacker technique that overwhelms a target’s website with phantom user traffic until it crashes. Scientology offices worldwide were flooded with prank phone calls and so-called black faxes—pages upon pages of blank black pages—tying up their phone lines and emptying ink cartridges. Dozens of proprietary Church documents—videos, lectures, and course materials worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in Scientology’s pay-to-pray scheme—beganshowing up on YouTube, BitTorrent, and countless websites.

Here is the video in its entirety:

You can also read the full article here.

Bible + Natural History Museum = Awesome

Now, I know there are plenty of religious people who would never allow their children to be put through shit like this… but this is what you get when dogma and superstition overtake reason and evidence… Oh, and evolution is definitely a religion; I pray to Darwin and PZ Myers nightly…

In honor of the day…

A little something I think we can all agree with: from Monty Python’s Life of Brian…

Reverend Wright…

Here is a 10 minute sermon… I have to admit that everything I have seen of this man (even the things the media are saying are “controversial”) I’ve agreed with… This video was made to show how some of the media (read: FOXNEWS and others) take statements out of context to up the controversy…

Fecking brilliant…

This is a video in which god is seen offering the position of jesus to a guy in what is conceivably Heaven. It is a funny discussion and it made me laugh. Perhaps it will make you laugh. Let me know if it did! Thanks for being you!

I have a heterosexual man-crush on Daniel Dennett…

I do love TED, especially just floating around the site watching random talks… Stumbled upon these two last night from TED 2006…

So, this is Rick Warren talking about his book “A Purpose Driven Life” and the things that followed its success. I don’t wish to tinge your view of this before seeing it, but I find him… . . . well, here he is…

Here is Daniel Dennett talking about evolution then segueing into a critique of “A Purpose Driven Life”.

I’m not trying to offend anyone…

…seriously… Just as a warning, this is a clip from a weekly cable access show entitled “Atheist Experience” in which two fellows just sit and discuss Atheism/Theism… This is their response to a caller saying “…atheists have faith, just like theists.” I thought it was a particularly well argued point, which is what kept me watching (it is 11 minutes), and I would recommend watching for the entire length of the piece for the payoff at the end of it… So sit back and enjoy…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs3RKZjSzYg