BEBlog

Night and music

beb — Thu, 08 May 2008 16:52:00 GMT

'Night and music. The ear, the organ of fear, could have evolved as greatly as it has only in the night and the twilight of obscure caves and woods, in accordance with the mode of life of the age of timidity, that is to say the longest human age there has ever been; in bright daylight the ear is less necessary. That is how music acquired the character of an art of night and twilight'. - Nietzsche

Two kinds of intelligence

beb — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 02:43:57 GMT

There are two kinds of intelligence; one acquired, as a child in school memorizes facts and concepts from books and from what the teacher says, collecting information from the traditional sciences as well as from the new sciences. With such intelligence you rise in the world. You get ranked ahead or behind others in regard to your competence in retaining information. You stroll with this intelligence in and out of the fields of knowledge, getting always more marks on your preserving tablets. There is another kind of tablet, one already completed and preserved inside you. A spring overflowing it's springbox. A freshness in the center of the chest. This other intelligence does not turn yellow or stagnate. It's fluid, and it doesn't move from outside to inside though the conduits of plumbing-learning. This second knowing is a fountainhead from within you, moving out. RUMI, "Two Kinds of Intelligence" translated by Coleman Barks

some great Jiddu Krishnamurti quotes

beb — Thu, 27 Sep 2007 14:12:31 GMT

"The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear." - J Krishnamurti "Truth is a pathless land. Man cannot come to it through any organization, through any creed, through any dogma, priest or ritual, nor through any philosophical knowledge or psychological technique. He has to find it through the mirror of relationship, through the understanding of the contents of his own mind, through observation, and not through intellectual analysis or introspective dissection. Man has built in himself images as a sense of security—religious, political, personal. These manifest as symbols, ideas, beliefs. The burden of these dominates man's thinking, relationships and his daily life. These are the causes of our problems for they divide man from man in every relationship." - J Krishnamurti

Bring on the Lucie (Freeda Peeple)

beb — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 07:08:25 GMT

We don't even want to know your name We don't care where you're from or where you're going All we know is that you came You're making all our decisions We have just one request of you That while you're thinking things over Here's something you just better do We don't care what flag you're waving Free the people now Do it do it do it now Well we were caught with our hands in the air Don't despair paranoia is everywhere We can shake it with love when we're scared So let's shout it aloud like a prayer We understand your paranoia But we don't want to play your game You think you're cool and know what you are doing 666 is your name So while you're jerking off each other You better bear this thought in mind Your time is up you better know it But maybe you don't read the signs Well you were caught with your hands in the kill And you still got to swallow your pill As you slip and you slide down the hill On the blood of the people you killed Stop the killing now Do it do it do it now Bring on the Lucie -- by John Lennon

more quotes on religion

beb — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 08:47:02 GMT

A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion to religion. Subjects are less apprehensive of illegal treatment from a ruler whom they consider god-fearing and pious. On the other hand, they do less easily move against him, believing that he has the gods on his side. - Aristotle "Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful" -attributed to Seneca ---- Plus more good stuff here for use in debates with the Xian family members and who always like to spout off that the USA was founded as a Christian nation: http://bmccreations.com/one_nation/nation.html

iPhone review

beb — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 20:42:55 GMT

It's been about two weeks since I got an iPhone. I wanted to wait to post a review of it, to let some of the initial techogeeklust and "wow factor" wear off. I do admit I am a gadget geek. Many tech gadgets amuse and delight me for a short time, but the ones I am truly interested in are the ones that hold their appeal and usefulness over time. So far, I think the iPhone will be such a gadget, especially when Apple releases some updates and enhancements. Overall, I *love* the iPhone. It is leaps and bounds better than my old Kyocera 7135 PalmOS-based phone. As a web/email access tool, it is overall stellar. As a phone it is pretty good too. Would I recommend getting one? Well, if you don't mind dropping $600 for a phone, and don't mind waiting for some of the bugs to be worked out, I'd say yeah, get one! It really feels like you are holding the future in your hands when using it! --------------------------------------- What rocks about the iPhone --------------------------------------- 1) The screen! It has the most beautiful, crisp, and bright screen of any hand-held device (cell phone, PDA) I have ever used. (it is a 3.5-inch widescreen, running 480-by-320-pixel resolution at 160 dpi) Viewing emails, web pages, and videos on it is as enjoyable as such a small screen can be (of course I prefer a 21" desktop display, but that doesn't fit in my pocket!) The fact they used glass for the screen is a big plus too, as it doesn't scratch like plastic would, and it seems to hold up well. Also, while I was concerned about fingerprints and smudges from touching the screen, but you really don't notice unless in bright light. I can actually see myself watching a movie on the iPhone on a long flight. 2) The multi-touch interface. When I first saw the commercial for the iPhone, I thought "damn! the touch screen can't be that good can it?" But it really is. Unlike my old Palm-based devices, which often required me to pull out the stylus (which is easily lost), *everything* can be done on the iPhone via the touch-screen, and it works really well. Scrolling through emails, or web pages requires a mere flick of the finger. And the faster you flick, the faster it scrolls. Slow scrolling is as easy as just dragging my finger up or down. And the ""pinch" and "reverse-pinch" to zoom out/in is slick and very intuitive. Very cool!! 3) Web browsing. The version of Safari for the iPhone is overall very nice (with some caveats I list below). This is the first handheld device I have used that web browsing is actually enjoyable, especially when connected to a WiFi network. None of the crappy small WAP-based browsing of past PDAs. It allows display of real websites, in most of their glory, pictures, text formating, etc. (Abode Flash isn't supported yet, but on the way soon). The functionally is much like the desktop Safari, and eve supports multiple "tabs" (up to 8) is something that is a big plus (as I almost always have 15-20 tabs on my desktop browser as well, and any browser without them feels very restricting to me!) Of course reading an entire normal page of text on a website means some TINY text on the iPhone, but with the sharp screen it is often possible to read anyway, and for those sites it isn't, a quick double-tap on the frame or area I want to read results in the browser zooming into that area (most of the time, something this doesn't work as it should). Also the "pinch"/"reverse-pinch" works here as well for zooming out/in. Scrolling around on a zoomed page is easy as well. Oh, and I LOVE the auto-rotate screen feature in Safari, where turning the iPhone sideways results in the page smoothly rotating to landscape mode. For some pages this makes browser MUCH more enjoyable. For some news sites the vertical/portrait mode is better. It's seamless to switch back and forth as needed. I have long wanted a device I can carry around and quickly pull out to do a Google search, look up something on Wikipedia or IMDb, etc. And the iPhone fits that bill nearly perfectly. I have spent 3-4 hours a a time browsing the web from the phone, just to see how well it works, and while I prefer my desktop for serious browsing (and especially typing in data, such as for blogs, etc.), the web browsing experience on the iPhone is vastly superior to any other hand-held I have seen. 4) Google Maps: I have been a total fanboy of Google maps every since it first came out. It just keeps getting better and more full-featured. The custom interface Apple did for Google maps on the iPhone is overall really well done. If you haven't already seen the "Calamari" ad for the iPhone, it shows exactly how easy, powerful and just damn cool Google maps is: http://www.apple.com/iphone/ads/ad2/ 5) YouTube: Ok, this is TOTALLY frivolous and time-wasting, but the fact I can watch some of the zillions of YouTube videos on my phone is pretty cool. Makes for great demos for friends, and good for killing time when stuck waiting someplace. There are something like 10,000 videos that have converted to the H.264 format required for video on the iPhone, but supposedly the entire library will be available by Fall. Another bonus, when viewing YouTube videos on a WiFi connection, the video quality is GREAT. Over the slower EDGE cellular network video quality is reduced, but still watch-able. 6) SOME of the phone features: While some features are annoying and/or missing, some of the others are really slick. Visual voicemail for one, which let's you quickly view all of the voicemails you have, almost like a list of emails, and listen to whichever one you want, in any order. Very cool, and something I suspect many phones will offer as a standard feature someday. The ease of switching between two calls, and even merging two calls into a 3-way conference call is very slick. 7) WiFi support. If you are in range of an open WiFi (802.11b/g) network, it's easy as pie to join it and surf the web, email, etc. at high speeds. Connecting to a WEP or WPA protected network is a few more steps, but is very annoying with my older Linksys 802.11b wireless access point, which the iPhone sometimes forgets the WEP string (a 27 digit hexadecimal number which is a royal pain to re-type in) 8) Email: While the email client isn't perfect, it works, and does what I need it to do: Access my work SSL-IMAP email. Once my 200+ emails downloaded (which took a while), scrolling through them is a breeze with the touch screen. I wish it had batch delete, and the speed could use some improvement, but overall the email client is nice. ------------------------------------------ What sucks about the iPhone: ------------------------------------------ 1) Bugs: There are still some bugs that are likely due to Apple rushing to get the iPhone to market. Many of them are minor annoyances, but things like Safari crashing (which happens somewhat frequently, and can lead to lost data if you are entering data into a web-form) are frustrating. I have also had the iPhone hang completely three times so far, requiring a hard-reset (no data was lost fortunately). Also, syncing between iCal and the iPhone calendar is still flaky. The biggest annoyance was when I accidentally called someone at 2am and the phone wouldn't let me hang up before it rang about 4 times! I have only had this happen once though. I am willing to bet Apple will be releasing an update to fix some of the bugs in the next few weeks/months. A good list of know bugs/issues can be seen here: http://www.applehound.com/node/104 2) No iChat/IM!!!!!! ARGH! Why didn't they include iChat? The text message (SMS) interface looks like iChat, but I want the real thing, to be able to keep in contact with co-workers while I am away from my office. There is a web-based IM client that works OK (http://www.beejive.com/) but it doesn't alert you to incoming IMs, and only works if you are running the browser. Rumor has it iChat is coming soon, and I hope this is the case. 3) Virtual keyboard: Well, it doesn't really suck, but it isn't all that great. I have gotten a lot faster since I started, and the auto-correct feature works pretty well, but overall I don't think anyone is going to be typing as fast on the iPhone as they can after practice on a Blackberry or Treo. Still, the fact the keyboard can change depending on context, as well as rotate 90 degrees to landscape mode (in Safari only) helps make up for the fact it is harder to type on. 4) A few usability issues: Accidentally dialing someone from the "Recent Calls" list is WAY to easy. Just click on their name. Some might consider this a feature (to make it easy to dial quickly), but I have found myself dialing people I didn't mean too far too often. I'd prefer if they required a double-click for dialing, or a confirmation box (which can be disabled for those who don't want it). Another one is if you launch a web-page from an email, there is no direct way to go back to the email, without first going to the main screen ("dock") and then to email again. This is pretty minor though. 5) EDGE. I only get around 80-120 Kbs via EDGE, whereas 3G can do upwards of 600-800 Kbs with peaks up to 2400 Kbs (from what I read). However, I also read that 3G network coverage isn't nearly as widespread as EDGE is. I'm no cellular protocol expert, I just know I want as fast as I can get. =8^) 6) NO COPY-N-PASTE!!! Why the hell didn't they offer some sort of text copy-paste function?! This is very annoying. I always was using copy-paste on my Palm-based phone to save time. I am guessing (hoping!) they offer this as a feature in an upgrade sometime soon. 7) No way to replace the battery. When the battery starts to crap out, it'll take sending the phone in for replacement. That sucks. I hear it will cost $85 as well. OUCH! I'd bet 3rd parties will start offering cheaper replacements, but you still have to wait to get the phone back in the mail (having another GSM phone around to swap out your iPhone SIM card would be handy for this). 8) Development is locked down: Other than web-based/AJAX apps (which there already are some good ones (such as MockDock, BeeJive, etc.), there is currently no way for non-Apple developers to write and deploy applications for the iPhone. Coming from my PalmOS phone, which I had dozens of freeware and shareware applications and hacks on, this is pretty annoying. I know Apple doesn't want to run the risk of phone stability issues with 3rd party apps, but let US decide if we want to run that risk Apple! I want 3rd party apps. If Apple doesn't offer them, hackers will figure out a way to allow them (they already have hacked into the iPhone and allowed adding ringtones, as well as getting SSH shell access, which means the sky may soon be the limit in terms of iPhone hacks!!)

Despite the hype, I got an iPhone...

beb — Sat, 14 Jul 2007 07:49:07 GMT

posting this update from it . 0verall it is pretty amazing, with some bugs/issues to be fixed. I'll post a full reveiw for anyone who actually cares (are tech nerd like me)

When we deeply imagine...

beb — Sat, 23 Jun 2007 04:27:50 GMT

"When we deeply imagine we no longer imagine at all, but dive, at last, naked and alive, into the flesh or oranges, into the steaming jungle, into words that hang like orange rain, like love just before it happens...." -James Tipton, from "There Are Rivers of Oranges"

500 Years of Female Portraits in Western Art

beb — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 20:34:55 GMT

This is mesmerizing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUDIoN-_Hxs

"The brighter the sun, the darker the shadow"

beb — Sat, 26 May 2007 07:00:09 GMT

I have loved this quote (attributed to Carl Jung) ever since I first read it 15+ years ago. It continues to echo things in my life at times. I was thinking more about it recently, and I realized a key fact implicit in this quote is that the shadow just *SEEMS* darker in the bright sun, due to our eye's inability to deal with such vast ranges of light (our brains do a wonderful job of shifting around overall perception of light and darkness depending on conditions by use of our iris and variable sensitivity of our retina. (ask any photographer w/ a spot meter to prove this fact to you by measuring the level of light in a shadow on a sunny day vs. a cloudy day) This fact to me is important, as at times when we experience a metaphorical shadow in our lives, it can see so dark, especially compared to the light times. It is helpful for me to remember that our perceptions can fool us into thinking what we perceive is "real", even when it is mere illusion...

Encyclopedia of Life

beb — Wed, 09 May 2007 18:24:50 GMT

This is a very cool and ambitious project started by biologist E.O. Wilson: http://www.eol.org/ 1. What does Encyclopedia of Life seek to accomplish? What are its objectives? Ultimately, the Encyclopedia will serve as an online reference source and database for every one of the 1.8 million species that are named and known on this planet, as well as all those later discovered and described. Encyclopedia of Life will be used as both a teaching and a learning tool, helping scientists, educators, students, and the community at large gain a better understanding of this planet and all who inhabit it. An example page from the proposed design: http://www.eol.org/vision/mushroom_expert.html

quotes about "Reality"

beb — Tue, 08 May 2007 05:06:40 GMT

Thanks to Dimi3 for these: "Symbols get mistaken for reality - symbols can be manipulated hence 'reality' can be manipulated - messy situation develops. Reality is the new fiction they say, true is truer these days, truth is man-made. There are no facts, only interpretations." --Friedrich Nietzsche "Illusions commend themselves to us because they save us pain and allow us to enjoy pleasure instead. We must therefore accept it without complaint when they sometimes collide with a bit of reality against which they are dashed to pieces." --Sigmund Freud "We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are." --The Talmud "We have always sought explanations when it was only representations that we could seek to invent." --Paul Valéry "Perception is real even when it is not reality." --Edward deBono "Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one." --Albert Einstein "Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world." --Arthur Schopenhauer "Reality leaves a lot to the imagination." --John Lennon "You create your own reality... WOW!" --Timothy Leary "Your beliefs can be like fences that surround you. You must first see them or you will not even realize that you are not free, simply because you will not see beyond the fences. They will represent the boundaries of your experience." --SETH / Jane Roberts

I can breathe through my nose!

beb — Mon, 07 May 2007 23:36:36 GMT

After years of nasal congestion 90% of the time blocking most or all airflow through my nose, I had my deviated septum un-deviated and my turbinates reduced last Tuesday (May 1) and today had the nasal splints taken out. WOW. I can breathe really well through my nose. I can SMELL things too! My sense of smell has been pretty dampened due to the blockage caused by my crooked septum and swollen turbinates. All the pain from the past 6 days has been worth it! I should have had this done years ago...

Teleport the whole planet!

beb — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:58:30 GMT

"the music is different here, the vibrations are different... not like planet earth... planet earth sound of guns, anger, frustration... there is no one to talk to on planet earth to understand... it would affect their vibrations, for the better of course... equation wise, the first thing to do is consider time as officially ended... we'll work on the other side of time... we'll bring them here through either isotope, teleportation, transmolecularzation... or better still, teleport the whole planet here through music..." - Sun Ra

nonexistence is a feeble excuse...

beb — Wed, 28 Mar 2007 14:58:15 GMT

Mere nonexistence is a feeble excuse for declaring a thing unseeable. You *can* see dragons. You just have to look in the right direction. -- John Hasler

The "rules" for being human (more like guidelines)

beb — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 15:50:00 GMT

THE "RULES" FOR BEING HUMAN When you were born, you didn't come with an owner's manual; these guidelines make life work better. 1. You will receive a body. You may like it or hate it, but it's the only thing you are sure to keep for the rest of your life. 2. You will learn lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "Life on Planet Earth". Every person or incident is the Universal Teacher. 3. There are no mistakes, only lessons. Growth is a process of experimentation. "Failures" are as much a part of the process as "success." 4. A lesson is repeated until learned. It is presented to you in various forms until you learn it -- then you can go on to the next lesson. 5. If you don't learn easy lessons, they get harder. External problems are a precise reflection of your internal state. When you clear inner obstructions, your outside world changes. Pain is how the universe gets your attention. 6. You will know you've learned a lesson when your actions change. Wisdom is practice. A little of something is better than a lot of nothing. 7. "There" is no better than "here". When your "there" becomes a "here" you will simply obtain another "there" that again looks better than "here." 8. Others are only mirrors of you. You cannot love or hate something about another unless it reflects something you love or hate in yourself. (the only one I disagree with, you can dislike something while not carrying it but maybe "hate" is the operative word) 9. Your life is up to you. Life provides the canvas; you do the painting. Take charge of your life --or someone else will. 10. You always get what you want. Your subconscious rightfully determines what energies, experiences, and people you attract -- therefore, the only foolproof way to know what you want is to see what you have. There are no victims, only students. 11. There is no right or wrong, but there are consequences. Moralizing doesn't help. Judgments only hold the patterns in place. Just do your best. 12. Your answers lie inside you. Children need guidance from others; as we mature, we trust our hearts, where the Laws of Spirit are written. You know more than you have heard or read or been told. All you need to do is to look, listen, and trust. 13. You will forget all this. 14. You can remember any time you wish. ------- (Found on a blog)

cynic or romantic dreamer?

beb — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 06:53:04 GMT

It's funny, over the years I have been told by some people that I am very cynical. And yet others have told me I am one of the biggest dreamers & romantics they knew. One boss told me once that "you are so cynical for your age". For my age? Not 100% sure what he meant, either I was too young or too old. (I was around 30 at the time). A few years later I was told "you never stop dreaming and always see the good in everything". So which I am?? LOL... Both, very much both. I have come to see both of these aspects of myself, as well as many others. I used to revel in my elitist cynicism as a teenager. Teen angst? I had it in spades baby! I really reveled in it, while at the same time wallowing it it. I started catching glimpses of why I felt like that, and how it made me feel in general (pretty lonely and depressed). And then on other other hand, I had my manic moments of total bliss and joy, which sometimes filled me with amazing power and energy, but often left me and those around me exhausted (damn I can TALK when I get like this!) I still struggle with these antipodes of my personality. I seek a balance between the two....

Some Willie for ya all...

beb — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 06:39:52 GMT

In the twilight glow i see her Blue eyes crying in the rain When we kissed goodbye and parted I knew we'd never meet again Love is like a dying ember And only memories remain And through the ages i'll remember Blue eyes crying in the rain. Someday when we meet up yonder We'll stroll hand in hand again In the land that knows no parting For blue eyes crying in the rain.

"Oh Comely" by Neutral Milk Hotel

beb — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 16:04:19 GMT

Oh comely I will be with you when you lose your breath Chasing the only meaningful memory you thought you had left With some pretty bright and bubbly terrible scene That was doing her thing on your chest But oh comely It isn't as pretty as you'd like to guess In your memory you're drunk on your awe to me It doesn't mean anything at all Oh comely All of your friends are all letting you blow Bristling and ugly Bursting with fruits falling out from the holes Of some pretty bright and bubbly friend You could need to say comforting things in your ear But oh comely There isn't such one friend that you could find here Standing next to me He's only my enemy I'll crush him with everything I own Say what you want to say Hang for your hollow ways Moving your mouth to pull out all your miracles aimed for me Your father made fetuses With flesh licking ladies While you and your mother Were asleep in the trailer park Thunderous sparks from the dark of the stadiums The music and medicine you needed for comforting So make all your fat fleshy fingers to moving And pluck all your silly strings And bend all your notes for me Soft silly music is meaningful magical The movements were beautiful All in your ovaries All of them milking with green fleshy flowers While powerful pistons were sugary sweet machines Smelling of semen all under the garden Was all you were needing when you still believed in me Say what your want to say Hang for your hollow ways Moving your mouth to pull out all your miracles aimed for me And I know they buried her body with others Her sister and mother and 500 families And will she remember me 50 years later I wished I could save her in some sort of time machine Know all your enemies We know who our enemies are Goldaline my dear We will fold and freeze together Far away from here There is sun and spring and green forever But now we move to feel For ourselves inside some stranger's stomach Place your body here Let your skin begin to blend itself with mine

Flying Spaghetti Monster spotted in Germany!!

beb — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 16:26:40 GMT

rAmen!! I was touched by his noodly appendage via video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vL7FcvEydqg

Heartbeats, by Jose Gonzalez

beb — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 22:48:52 GMT

one night to be confused one night to speed up truth we had a promise made four hands and then away both under influense we had devine scent to know what to say mind is a razorblade to call for hands of above to lean on wouldn't be good enough for me, no one night of magic rush the start a simple touch one night to push and scream and then releaf ten days of perfect tunes the colors red and blue we had a promise made we were in love to call for hands of above to lean on wouldn't be good enough for me, no to call for hands of above to lean on wouldn't be good enough and you, you knew the hands of the devil and you, kept us awake with wolf teeths sharing different heartbeats in one night to call for hands of above to lean on wouldn't be good enough for me, no to call for hands of above to lean on wouldn't be good enough for me, no

USA founded as a "Christian Nation"? Think again...

beb — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 15:42:05 GMT

"This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it." -John Adams "Ecclesiastical establishments tend to great ignorance and corruption, all of which facilitate the execution of mischievous projects." -James Madison "Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced an inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites. To support roguery and error all over the earth." -Thomas Jefferson "I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature." -Thomas Jefferson "When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself so that its professors are obliged to call for the help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one." -Benjamin Franklin "I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church. Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all." -Thomas Paine The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity. -John Adams, U.S. President This would be the best of all possible worlds, if there were no religion in it. -John Adams, U.S. President The government of the United States is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion. -John Adams, U.S. President Let the human mind loose. It must be loose. It will be loose. Superstition and dogmatism cannot confine it. -John Adams, U.S. President But how has it happened that millions of fables, tales, legends, have been blended with both Jewish and Christian revelation that have made them the most bloody religion that ever existed. -John Adams, U.S. President Have you considered that system of holy lies and pious frauds that has raged and triumphed for 1500 years. -John Adams, U.S. President The question before the human race is, whether the God of nature shall govern the world by his own laws, or whether priests and kings shall rule it by fictitious miracles. -John Adams, U.S. President I have found Christian dogma unintelligible. Early in life, I absenteed myself from Christian assemblies. -Benjamin Franklin Lighthouses are more helpful then churches. -Benjamin Franklin Revelation indeed had no weight with me. -Benjamin Franklin The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason. -Benjamin Franklin When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad one. -Benjamin Franklin Question with boldness even the existance of a god; because, if there be one, he must more approve of the homage of reason than that of blindfolded fear. -Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President Religions are all alike; founded upon fables and mythologies. -Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President I do not find in orthodox Christianity one redeeming feature. -Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President Christianity is the most perverted system that ever shone on man. -Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President The Christian God can be easily pictured as virtually the same as the many ancient gods of past civilizations. The Christian god is a three headed monster; cruel, evil and capricious. If one wishes to know more of this raging, three headed, beast-like god, one only needs to look at the caliber of the people who say they serve him. The are always of two classes: fools and hypocrites. -Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President On the dogmas of religion, as distinguished from moral principles, all mankind, from the beginning of the world to this day, have been quarreling, fighting, burning and torturing one another for abstractions unintelligible to themselves and to all others, and absolutely beyond the comprehension of the human mind. -Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President We discover in the gospels a groundwork of vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, of superstition, fanaticism and fabrication. -Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President The day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the Supreme Being of His Father, in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. -Thomas Jefferson, U.S. President The Bible is not my book nor Christianity my profession. I could never give assent to the long, complicated statements of Christian dogma. -Abraham Lincoln, U.S. President During almost fifteen centuries has the legal establishment of Christianity been on trial. What has been its fruits? More or less, in all places, pride and indolence in the clergy; ignorance and servility in the laity; in both, superstition, bigotry, and persecution. -James Madison, U.S. President In no instance have . . . the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people. -James Madison, U.S. President Religious bondage shackles and debilitates the mind and unfits it for every noble enterprise. -James Madison, U.S. President Whenever we read the obscene stores, the voluptuous debaucheries, the cruel and tortuous executions, the unrelenting vindictiveness with which more than half the Bible is filled, it would be more consistent that we call it the word of a demon than the word of God. It is a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize mankind. -Thomas Paine, American revolutionary All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit. -Thomas Paine, American revolutionary The age of ignorance commenced with the Christian system. -Thomas Paine, American revolutionary The United States of America should have a foundation free from the influence of clergy.". -George Washington, Revolutionary War General and U.S. President Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause. -George Washington, Revolutionary War General and U.S. President

Dr. Wm. Beebe, 1930, 1,426 feet down off Burmuda

beb — Sat, 24 Feb 2007 17:39:50 GMT

From a pioneer in deep-sea exploration: "Soon after this there came a moment which stands out clearly, unpunctuated by any word of ours, with no fish or other creature visible outside. I sat crouched with mouth and nose wrapped in a handkerchief and my forehead pressed close to the cold glass - that transparent bit of old earth which so sturdily held back nine tons of water from my face. There came to me at that instant a tremendous wave of emotion, a real appreciation of what was momentarily almost superhuman, cosmic, of the whole situation: our barge slowly rolling high overhead in the blazing sunlight, like the merest chip in the midst of ocean, the long cobweb of cable leading down through the spectrum to our lonely sphere, where, sealed tight, two conscious human beings sat and peered into the abyssal darkness as we dangled in mid-water, isolated as a lost planet in outermost space." - Dr. William Beebe http://hometown.aol.com/chines6930/mw1/sphere.htm

What do vegan zombies say??

beb — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 01:43:21 GMT

GRAINS... GRAINS.... GRAINS!!!!!

Imagining the Tenth Dimension

beb — Tue, 20 Feb 2007 21:51:18 GMT

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkxieS-6WuA Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ySBaYMESb8o