Fear of Death

Death. What a subject! People fear it, try to avoid it as long as they can, and who can blame them? Death is a natural part of life. You live, you die. Some say it's the only justice. Woody Alan once said that he didn't fear death, he just didn't want to be there when it happened. It think that expresses pretty much everybody's feeling about the final event in our life.

I'm at the age now where most of my life is behind me. I sometimes wish I could go back and correct a few mistakes I've made, but we all know that's just wishful thinking. But I digress.

Micro$oft doesn't Care About Its User base

A few weeks ago, I downloaded Windows 10 to try it out. I had a copy of Windows 8.1 pre-installed on my Asus laptop and I decided that I'd give Windows 10 a spin. Mostly, I'm a Linux user and I had Manjaro, an Arch-based distro, installed on my laptop and was dual-booting between the two. Actually, I hadn't used Windows in months since I had purchased the laptop. I had discovered that one could install Arch Linux without having to use the "Arch Way", so I was using that on a daily basis.

Don't get me wrong, I've installed Arch using the method recommended by the Arch wiki, and I was thrilled that I could install a Linux system almost from scratch, without ever resorting to using an installed. That was way cool. But I digress.

How Did Everything Get Started?

I sometimes wonder how everything got started; the universe, I mean. How did it all start? Scientific orthodoxy nowadays says the "Big Bang" is what started everything. The Big Bang is an expression coined by astronomer Fred Hoyle to make fun of the theory. Hoyle thought the Big Bang was pseudoscience. There are scientists who disagree with the Big Bang, even today, they have other ideas.

I have to say that when I try to imagine that infinitely small point of heat and energy required by this theory, I just can't wrap my mind around that. My common sense says "no way!" How can something be infinitely small? It's just ridiculous! How can something be nearly infinite? That doesn't make sense. How can something so unimaginably small contain what is necessary to build a universe so unimaginably huge? Again, it makes no sense.

The Feminazis Are At It Again

I've read some pretty stupid shit on the Internet, but this takes the cake. In an article at The Waterpipe, titled "Can a Fart Be Misogynist?" (no, I'm not shitting you), one Ashley Ingle would have us believe that "if a woman was to fart in the presence of a man and the man responded by farting louder than the woman, then that would be rape." Did you get that? If I fart louder than a woman, I have just raped her. There seems to be no end to the stupidity of these shit-for-brains femenazis.

Babbling About Babel

Have you ever noticed the story of the tower of Babel in Genesis 11, and how everyone spoke one language, and how the god of the bible worried that they would eventually build a tower that would reach all the way up to heaven, where he lives? No? Really, I'm serious, it's in Genesis 11, read it for yourselves.

I'm guessing the guy that wrote this one, allegedly Moses (as if!), either didn't remember that he also wrote the following verses just one chapter before--actually, I think someone else wrote the Babel story and didn't bother checking, or wasn't acquainted with what we now know as chapter 10:

Architect: An Arch Linux Installer

Many moons ago, I wrote about an Arch Installer named Evo/Lution AIS,  using the command line as well as the Openbox graphical desktop in order to install a "vanilla" Arch. As far as I know, this installer was Jeff Story's baby, but also developed by Carl Duff, a former Manjaro dev. Manjaro is a distro I have worked with for about a year and I really enjoy installing it and using it.

Just a couple of day ago, I came across a new Arch installer called "Architect". This one is Carl Duff's baby. You can find out more about on Google Plus (G+). Carl has removed the graphical parts of the installer to make it a 100% comman line installer.

Homo Stultus stultus

Anatomically modern humans are referred to as “Homo Sapiens Sapiens”, which means literally, “Human Wise Wise”, a subspecies of “Homo Sapiens”, who is thought to have lived about 200,000 years ago. We are the only surviving hominid. Some have said that the name means, intelligent self-aware human. Yes, we're supposed to be the intelligent ones. Really? Name me one other species who pollutes and poisons its habitat for fun and profit? I know of only one: Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Or should I call it Homo Stultus Stultus?

Jesus Predicts The End: He Fails Miserably.

The gospels of Mark, Matthew and Luke, tell us of a time when Jesus, having just cursed the Pharisees, tells his disciples that the Jerusalem temple will be totally destroyed. Of course, this would be a great shock to any believing Jew, since the temple was the centre of their religious lives. As Jesus climbs the Mount of Olives and finds a place to sit, one of his disciples points out the construction of these wonderful buildings, and apparently they were quite a sight to behold, but Jesus tells that that not one stone will be left upon another.

Four of his disciples, whom Mark identifies as Peter, James, John and Andrew, approach Jesus privately and ask him the following questions: “Tell us, when will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?”

Does Yahweh the Biblegod Exist?

First, let’s get one thing out of the way: there is existence as a concept, an idea in the mind. As far as that goes, every god that man has created exists, as a concept in the mind of man. Then there is existence, as in, guns exist and they can do a lot of real harm; that needs no proof, as we have had proof of that for centuries.

Having said that, I would then say that no, Yahweh, the god of the Bible, doesn't exist. That was the short answer, the long answer is why I'm writing this essay. I will demonstrate why I think it is impossible for the biblegod to exist. If this deity is described in a self-contradictory manner, then it follows that it is non-existent, according to the law of contradiction; and biblegod most certainly falls into this category.

Biblegod The Good & His Chosen People

Have you ever read how biblegod treats his so-called chosen people? It's a learning experience. One would think that he would have all kinds of patience with them and accord them mercies galore. After all, he's supposed to be good and merciful, isn't he? At least That's what we're told.

The Bible doesn't read that way though. No, not at all. In this installment of "Biblegod The Good" we'll be looking at how YHWH, god of the Bible, really treats his chosen people and why being YHWH's chosen doesn't necessarily mean it's a good thing. We'll look at a few examples of YHWH's "goodness" toward his chosen. We'll look at two examples of YHWH's "goodness" toward those he "loves".

Be Ye Therefore Perfect...

Matthew 5
43 Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? 47 And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

An inspiring sermon, some would say, but a surprising one considering the "Father" to which Jesus was referring. This text, attributed to Jesus and supposedly written by one of his disciples, tells us that, as the old adage goes, "to err is human, to forgive divine." But is this really the case? Does "our Father in heaven" forgive the way Jesus taught we should forgive?

Linux 20+ Years Later

Well, it's been a while (1991) since Linus Torvalds asked for help on his new project, i.e., creating an OS he could use which wasn't too expensive for him. He was a student then, with limited funds. Now, 24 years later, Linux has come a long long way.

Not many people know this, but the Linux OS runs on every supercomputer on this planet. It runs on every Android phone on the planet, as well as every Chromebook and every Chromebox, not to mention a shitload of servers. One company surveyed businesses around the world and found that 78% of them run free software, like Linux.

Slower Than The Second Coming

We're all familiar with the expression "slower than the second coming," but where does it come from? It comes from the claim made in the Bible that Jesus would soon return and that even after 2000 years, or there about, he still hasn't made good on his promise. 2000 years may be but a blink in cosmic time, but to us humans it's a long time.

Eat His Flesh And Drink His Blood... WTF?!?!

There's an ongoing debate between Christians and Sceptics concerning the Eucharist, sometimes referred to as Communion, or The Lord’s Supper. Some Sceptics charge that it's cannibalism and, of course, Christians argue that it's not. 

My opinion in this matter is twofold: As far as Roman Catholicism is concerned, I maintain that it's a form of cannibalism, because of the literal way they interpret the passages in the gospels that recount the Jesus’ last supper with the twelve. But a lot of Christians believe that Jesus' words were to be taken symbolically, ergo, I maintain that these last are practicing symbolic cannibalism. Either way, it’s cannibalism.

The most often quoted passage, where this doctrine is concerned, is found in John 6 and the passages in the gospels which recount Jesus’ last supper with his disciples: Matthew 26; Mark 14; Luke 22 & John 13.

The Bible: Clear As Mud

I don't know how many times I've heard the statement, "the Bible is as clear as crystal", but I've heard it innumerable times. In fact, I've said the same thing myself on a great many occasions during my eighteen years as an Evangelical Christian. Those who believe the Bible to be the inerrant, inspired and sufficient "Word of God", will defend this book with whatever means are available to them; even lies are fair game.

Is the Bible that clear? Is it so clear that even child, as we are so often told by Inerrantists1, could understand its so-called "salvific message?" Well, that must be some brilliant child, because the so-called clarity of the "gospel of Jesus Christ" has caused Christians to deluge formerly blank page with untold gallons of ink, just arguing about it for centuries. So much for clarity and so much for the unity of the church!

The gods Of The Sheeple

Humanity unfortunately is still plagued with superstitious nonsense. Not a day goes by that we don't hear about some religious nutcase(s) wanting to take away our liberties by imposing some backward religious belief, usually coming from the Bible. I'm speaking here of course about North America, where Christian nutcases abound and where that psychopathic baby-killer, Yahweh, is still worshipped by a good percentage of the sheeple.

Jesus, Yet Another Sun God Myth.

Worship of the sun, under it's myriad forms, has been around since neolothic times. Neolithic times (new stone ages) lasted from about 10,000 BCE to about 2,000 BCE (BCE=Before the Common Era, i.e., before the alleged Jesus was born. CE=Common Era).

Some of the best known sun worshippers were the Sumerians, the Egyptians and the Babylonians. They had all kinds of imaginative myths surrounding their worship. One of the common stories was that at the winter solstice (21st of December), as seen from the Middle East or thereabouts, the sun would stay low in the sky for three days and then start rising. It was said to "die" for three days and then resurrect, or rise from death.

Is There Really Freedom in Linux Land?

Recently, I wrote a blog titled "One Desktop To Rule Them All", in which I advocated making GNOME KDE the desktop of choice for Linux. One desktop for Linux is not a new idea; in fact, many people have advocated that for Linux in order to better compete with bloated Windows, and OSX which you almost have to be rich to run, because their computers are so terribly over-priced.