Just do as you're told . . .

Happy New Year! 2008!

APOD Pictures of the Year for 2007

Click on images to enlarge
APOD: 2007 January 22


The Magnificent Tail of Comet McNaught
Credit & Copyright: Robert H. McNaught

APOD: 2007 February 3

Alborz Mountains in Moonlight
Credit & Copyright: Babak Tafreshi

APOD: 2007 March 16

Eclipsing the Rings
Credit & Copyright: Pete Lawrence (Digital-Astronomy)

APOD: 2007 April 13

Seven Dusty Sisters
Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, J. Stauffer (SSC, Caltech)

APOD: 2007 April 18

Barred Spiral Galaxy NGC 1672
Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble Heritage Team (STScI / AURA) Hubble Heritage (STScI/AURA);
Acknowledgment: L. Jenkins (GSFC/U. Leicester)

APOD: 2007 May 8

A Dark Sky Over Death Valley
Credit: Dan Duriscoe, U.S. National Park Service

APOD: 2007 June 8

Markarian's Eyes
Credit & Copyright: Ken Crawford (Rancho Del Sol Observatory)

APOD: 2007 June 25

The International Space Station Expands Again
Credit: STS-117 Shuttle Crew, NASA

APOD: 2007 September 20

Northern Cygnus
Credit & Copyright: Robert Gendler

APOD: 2007 October 10

The Strange Trailing Side of Saturn's Iapetus
Credit: Cassini Imaging Team, SSI, JPL, ESA, NASA

APOD: 2007 October 22

Victoria Crater on Mars
Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Cornell, JPL, NASA

APOD: 2007 November 10

A Tale of Comet Holmes
Credit & Copyright: Ivan Eder and (inset) Paolo Berardi

Priests Scuffle, Throw Brooms, Stones Inside Bethlehem Church

It's just like I said, put a bunch of Christians together of different denominations and watch them fight with each other. Our Christians here in the USA may not get into many physical scuffles, however they get into many verbal wars as we are seeing in this current political campaign for "Pastor in Chief." Catholics against Protestants, Protestants against Catholics. Evangelical fundamentlists against moderate Christians of all sects. Evangelicals against Mormons. Mormons trying to explain their magic underwear beliefs. It's insane!

Here is the story from Yahoo News:

BETHLEHEM, West Bank —

Robed Greek Orthodox and Armenian priests went at each other with brooms and stones inside the Church of the Nativity on Thursday as long-standing rivalries erupted in violence during holiday cleaning.

The basilica, built over the grotto in Bethlehem where Christians believe Jesus was born, is administered jointly by Roman Catholic, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic authorities. Any perceived encroachment on one group's turf can set off vicious feuds.

On Thursday, dozens of priests and cleaners came to the fortress-like church to scrub and sweep the floors, walls and rafters ahead of the Armenian and Orthodox Christmas, celebrated in the first week of January. Thousands of tourists visited the church this week for Christmas celebrations.

But the cleanup turned ugly after some of the Orthodox faithful stepped inside the Armenian church's section, touching off a scuffle between about 50 Greek Orthodox and 30 Armenians.

Palestinian police, armed with batons and shields, quickly formed a human cordon to separate the two sides so the cleaning could continue, then ordered an Associated Press photographer out of the church.

Four people, some with blood running from their faces, were slightly wounded.

VIDEO

The weirdest clouds I have ever seen - Mammatus Clouds Over Mexico

I have seen some low-lying strange clouds before, but nothing like these. Have any of you ever seen this type of cloud formation?

Click on image to enlarge

Credit & Copyright: Raymundo Aguirre

Explanation: Normal cloud bottoms are flat because moist warm air that rises and cools will condense into water droplets at a very specific temperature, which usually corresponds to a very specific height. After water droplets form that air becomes an opaque cloud. Under some conditions, however, cloud pockets can develop that contain large droplets of water or ice that fall into clear air as they evaporate. Such pockets may occur in turbulent air near a thunderstorm, being seen near the top of an anvil cloud, for example. Resulting mammatus clouds can appear especially dramatic if sunlit from the side. These mammatus clouds were photographed over Monclova, Mexico.

Woo hoo! Happy New Year!

But hopefully the American voters won't be stupid by allowing someone else to be elected again who thinks God talks to him and tells him to invade defenseless countries.

Mars and Orion Over Monument Valley

click on image to enlarge Credit & Copyright: Wally Pacholka (Astropics.com )

Explanation: Welcome to The World At Night. Sharing the night sky seen around the world, this view from Monument Valley, USA includes a picturesque foreground of famous buttes. Buttes are composed of hard volcanic rock left behind after water eroded away the surrounding soft rock. The two buttes on the image left are known as the Mittens, while Merrick Butte is on the right. Recorded just last week, planet Mars is at the left of the skyscape, a glowing beacon of orange that is the brightest object in the frame. To the right of Mars lies the constellation of Orion. Betelgeuse is the reddish star near the center and the Belt of Orion and the Orion Nebula are farther right. Finally, the bright blue star Rigel appears above Merrick Butte in this stunning view of The World At Night.

Resorting to clown tactics

Some believers are really getting desperate. Since God won’t make a personal appearance, then send in the clowns!

In the photo, Pastor Tom Rives,costumed as KoKoMo the clown, left, and Kim Fults, as Paisley, perform a skit during a Christmas show at the Carrollwood Baptist Church about what Xians believe is the real meaning of Christmas. (We all know it's all about presents and Santa Claus. Without capitalism, and all the pagan aspects, Xmas would be just another dull and boring church day for Xians.)

Now, it's hard enough to take god believers' mythology seriously, but even moreso when when they have to start resorting to calling in clowns and circus acts to manipulate their own CHURCHGOERS! There must be a whole lot of atheists/agnostics hiding in churches! And of course, we must consider ways they invent to attempt to brainwash the children…what better way than a clown (well, for those who don’t hate clowns, anyway. I am not particularly fond of clowns and they only send me running for the nearest exit.)

(I am laughing while writing this)
Clowns spread the Gospel
The irony of that statement is hilarious!

Rives believes clowning is a means to teach about Christ. “People who wouldn’t talk to a preacher will talk to a clown,” he says.

Well, at least they are being honest for once. A preacher is much more annoying and sometimes scarier than a clown.

Out of sight, Rives and 10 other clowns gather in a circle while the pastor prays.

Happy Festivus!

Hope you all have a Happy Holiday season no matter what, how or if you celebrate the Holiday Season.

Tyrrhenian Sea and Solstice Sky

Click on image to enlargeCredit & Copyright: Danilo Pivato

Explanation: Today the Solstice occurs at 0608 Universal Time, the Sun reaching its southernmost declination in planet Earth's sky. Of course, the December Solstice marks the beginning of winter in the northern hemisphere and summer in the south. When viewed from northern latitudes, the Sun will make its lowest arc through the sky along the southern horizon. So in the north, the Solstice day has the shortest length of time between sunrise and sunset and fewest hours of daylight. This striking composite image follows the Sun's path through the December Solstice day of 2005 in a beautiful blue sky, looking down the Tyrrhenian Sea coast from Santa Severa toward Fiumicino, Italy. The view covers about 115 degrees in 43 separate, well-planned exposures from sunrise to sunset.

Mike Huckabee Xmas ad parody

Watch the whole thing..."baaaaa" is right!

Robert Ingersoll's Christmas Sermon - December 19, 1891

“The good part of Christmas is not always Christian--it is generally Pagan; that is to say, human, natural.

Christianity did not come with tidings of great joy, but with a message of eternal grief. It came with the threat of everlasting torture on its lips. It meant war on earth and perdition hereafter.

It taught some good things--the beauty of love and kindness in man. But as a torch-bearer, as a bringer of joy, it has been a failure. It has given infinite consequences to the acts of finite beings, crushing the soul with a responsibility too great for mortals to bear. It has filled the future with fear and flame, and made God the keeper of an eternal penitentiary, destined to be the home of nearly all the sons of men. Not satisfied with that, it has deprived God of the pardoning power.

And yet it may have done some good by borrowing from the Pagan world the old festival called Christmas.

Long before Christ was born the Sun-God triumphed over the powers of Darkness. About the time that we call Christmas the days begin perceptibly to lengthen. Our barbarian ancestors were worshippers of the sun, and they celebrated his victory over the hosts of night. Such a festival was natural and beautiful. The most natural of all religions is the worship of the sun. Christianity adopted this festival. It borrowed from the Pagans the best it has.

I believe in Christmas and in every day that has been set apart for joy. We in America have too much work and not enough play. We are too much like the English.

I think it was Heinrich Heine who said that he thought a blaspheming Frenchman was a more pleasant object to God than a praying Englishman. We take our joys too sadly. I am in favor of all the good days--the more the better.

Christmas is a good day to forgive and forget--a good day to throw away prejudices and hatreds--a good day to fill your heart and your house, and the hearts and houses of others, with sunshine.”

-- "The Great Agnostic" Robert G. Ingersoll (1833-1899), "A Christmas Sermon," Evening Telegram, Dec. 19, 1891

Troubletown

Click on cartoon to enlarge

Good question

Bible thumping for votes

This is satire from The Spoof! but sadly it is not much of an exaggeration.

BRIMSTONE, SOUTH CAROLINA - Hoping to prove that lemmings have nothing over most Americans, Presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee is working out all the kinks in his Bible thumping routine.

Baptist preacher Mike Huckabee has perfected the art of Bible thumping to the point where he doesn't even wave a copy of the Bible as he skillfully lines up voters for his bid for the Republican nomination. "I'm thumping my invisible Bible," says Huckabee, "because I know that all the same people who voted for George Bush will vote for me!" Christian Conservatives are praying that Mike Huckabee will be an even better president than George Bush.

Sales of the Holy Bible are up in America. Offsetting downward Bible sales trends in countries like Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan, American Bible publishers are having a record year.

According to a leading Bible publishing trade group, Bible sales tend to rise and fall on a four-year cycle. "We have noticed that Bible sales increase during the year before each presidential election. The Republican National Committee purchases about 97% of all the Bibles; the Bull Moose Party accounts for about 2%; and all the other political parties, churches, and motel chains account for the remaining Bible sales."

Republican National Committee Chairman Mike Duncan has called upon all Republicans running for office to downplay economic policy, education, Social Security, and foreign policy, and instead focus on belief in the Bible. "As long as Republican candidates keep thumping their Bibles, those heathen Democrats won't stand a chance," says Duncan. "It worked for us in the 2000 and 2004 elections when Americans voted for George Bush because he thumped his Bible better and harder than anyone else. Our current crop of Republican candidates are taking the lead of Mike Huckabee, and are trying their best not to be out-thumped. Republicans know that Jesus is on their side and will register as a Republican just as soon as he comes back. Jesus would never vote for any non-Bible-thumping Democrat who is more interested in feeding poor people and offering godless universal health care. Jesus would want even larger tax cuts for the rich."

"It's all right there in the Bible," says Duncan. "Read your Bible, and vote Republican. Jesus will love you!"

In the following video, Huckabee gets phone call from god. Typical fundamentalist theatrics. The audience members all giggle and laugh with each other over his "wittiness" while the rational among us and those who respect the Constitution and the separation of church and state shake our heads in disgust. Again I ask, is this an application for church pastor, or a Presidential election of a supposedly secular nation?

Pat Condell - Election 2008 "Pimping for Jesus"

Love this quote:
“I’ve always found it quite odd that we revere the ancient Greeks for their discoveries in science and philosophy and yet we dismiss their religion as fantasy while embracing the religion of a culture that could barely rub two sticks together to make fire.”

Another perspective

Heart and Soul Nebula

This is a beautiful work of astrophotography.
Check out the collection at this link:
Catching the Light
by Jerry Lodriguss

The week before Solstice

Twas the week before Solstice, when all through the city,
Not a planet was shining, now isn't that a pity.
The telescope was stored in the garage with despair,
In hopes that the weather would soon turn to fair.

The astronomers were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of nebulae danced in their heads.
And Mojo with his laptop and  I with my starmap,
Had just settled down for a cloudy night nap.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew with a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon shone brightly, no clouds hid the glow,
The full moonlit lustre to objects below.
When what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But Pleiades, Orion, and Ursa Major, the bear.

With our trusty old telescope, the setup was quick,
I knew in a moment we had objects to pick.
More rapid than eagles, the targets they came,
We aimed and we pointed and called them by name.

"Now, Procyon, now Pollux, now Castor and Capella!
On Aldebaran, on Rigel, on Sirius, and Betelgeuse, the red fella :-)
To the top and around the winter circle of stars,
Now a quick look at Saturn, Jupiter, Venus and Mars.

As fireflies that before the dawns morning light,
Brilliantly flicker and soon are a memory bright,
A new wonder would paint the dark sky to pale blue,
The sunrise was nearing and morning twilight was too.

And then in a twinkling, I heard on the roof,
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I stepped from the telescope and was turning around,
Down the chimney the stranger came with a bound.

He looked like an astronomer, bundled from head to his foot,
Like a stargazer his clothes were tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
Looked just like our telescope accessory pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry
He looked like we do after a cold winter starshow
Freezing but happy from the Milky Way glow

The stump of a flashlight held tight in his teeth
Its soft red glow encircled his head like a wreath
We asked him if he'd ever looked closely at Mars
"I'm working at night, I have no time for the stars".

He stepped up to the eyepiece, a right jolly old elf,
And I smiled as he gasped, in spite of myself.
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.

He spoke not a word, but took in view after view,
Then he spoke with a sigh he had more work to do.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose.

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
Happy stargazing to all and to all a dark night.


[a]pologies to Major Henry Livingston Jr. 1748 - 1828, author of "Twas the
Night before Christmas" or Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas.
Previously believed to be the written by Clement Clarke Moore.

Found at Hypography Science for Everyone: Christmas Science

War on Xmas fun!

I'm so sick and tired of this Christian-invented "war on Christmas" baloney over a celebration that is actually of pagan origins. The Christmas celebration was created by the early Church in order to entice pagan Romans to convert to Christianity without losing their own winter celebrations. Most of the most important gods in the religions of Ishtar and Mithra had their birthdays on December 25.

Link: Pagan origins of Christmas

Campaign for church pastor or President ?

Where was the "hand of God" to protect his own?

If we say god does exist, either this god cannot protect his loyal followers or doesn't want to. One of the reasons some Xians have given me for this that "god allowed it because it was their time to go to Him." I have said this before, and sorry to be redundant, but if this god prefers his creations to be in heaven, why would this god create, and continue to create all his little creatures on an "evil" Earth to begin with? For his own amusement? It doesn't make sense. But what about religion does?

Link: Gunman kills 2 in missionary center

ARVADA, Colo. - A gunman walked into a training center dormitory for young Christian missionaries early Sunday and opened fire, killing two of the center's staff members and wounding two others.

Where was the "hand of God" to protect his own?

No arrests had been made by late morning.

The shooting happened at about 12:30 a.m. at the Youth With a Mission center, police spokeswoman Susan Medina said. About 45 people were evacuated from the dormitory in this Denver suburb and moved to an undisclosed location.

A man and a woman in their mid-20s died, and two men ages 22 and 23 were wounded, Medina said. One of the injured men was in critical condition, said Paul Filidis, a Colorado Springs-based spokesman with Youth With a Mission.

All four of the victims were staff members, Filidis said.

Brady White, who attends Faith Bible Chapel, where the center is located, said he had spoken to some students there. They are unhurt but called the experience "terrifying," he said.

*snip*

"They're just wonderful people," White said of the center's students. "Their mission is to know God and to make him known."

*snip"

Cheril Morrison, wife of chapel pastor George Morrison, said the man who was killed had just hung up Christmas lights at her home and described the young woman who was killed as "an amazingly beautiful person."

Nice how this god came to rescue these "wonderful people" who are working to "make this god known." This should be evidence to all that missionaries and those working for their gods are just working for figments of human imagination (or a powerless or indifferent god who really has no control over anything). And to say it is "evil" that causes these awful people to kill others just raises the question, why did this god create evil in the first place? God believers say their god created everything, and if this god created, including the choice of "evil" then for what reason was evil created? To just play games with his creations? This is what most of the gods of mythologies that humans have invented do -- these gods make little creations out of boredom or because they are lonely, or for whatever reasons. These mythological stories are an attempt to explain shitty incidents like this shooting that happened in this news story.

"There's no blueprint for this, we're just going to be honest and pray for one another, cry with one another," center director Peter Warren told KUSA-TV. "Who knows what was going on in this young man's life."

Pray, cry? Lot of good that is going to do. Should be obvious since this even happened that praying is going to do absolutely nothing.

"Why would anybody want to hurt those kids?" Martin said. "I just pray for their families."

Again, if this god didn't protect these praying godly kids before, why do they think he is going to help their grieving families?

"We never doubted that we would have a service," said Cheril Morrison. "We felt like our church faithful all needed to be together."

PEOPLE TURNING TO OTHER PEOPLE...THIS GOD IS NOWHERE AROUND.

Update: Another incident happened today and this god of the Christians was powerless to prevent it, or chose to let it happen because it was this god's way, as Elizabeth commented below said "to bring something good out of it". That is just absurd reasoning. (Thanks to Andrea for pointing to this second news item.)

LINK: At least four people were shot at church in 2nd Colorado attack

Christianity was born of the myths of sun worship.

Horus of Egypt born December 25th, performed miracles called the Lamb of light, performed miracles was resurrected in three days like many other avatars; Mithra, Krishna, Attis, Dionysus, king of kings, alpha omega crucified. All had 12 disciples and the sacred day of worship was sunday. Scientific explanations... The Solar Messiah. from

http://zeitgeistmovie.com/

Part 1



Part 2

Evangelical Christians acknowledge the Pagan origins of Christmas!

Many Evangelical Christians are joining in the war on Christmas and saying that "Christmas is unBiblical" and finally acknowledging what we atheists have been pointing out for so long...Christmas is of PAGAN origins!

So, "True Believers"...get rid of that tree! Stop telling your kids Santa Claus is real! Down with presents!

Thanks for bernarda at GifS for pointing to this one:


The funniest quote from this is:

“People need to stop lying to their children, telling them that Santa Claus exists”

But an invisible puppetmaster who controls billions of people, billions of people's souls -- knowing every thought, word and deed, knows who is naughty and who is nice while controlling Heaven, Hell and all of the happenings in the Cosmos is real. hmmmm.

rant time

One thing that really continues to bug me is how self-righteous many religious people are. Self-righteous folks are like the obnoxious kid in the class who loves being teacher's pet and is always sucking up to the one in charge (in this case, the one they believe is in charge) and showing off to everyone how "favored" they are by the one in charge. They wear their religion on their sleeves (and emails and letters), and without even realizing it give the impression they think they are better than everyone else who doesn't hold the same beliefs as they do, when in fact, they are no better than anyone else -- believer or non believer.

Many of these self-righteous people who wear their religion on their sleeves, and who are constantly judging others are in reality no better than the average "heathen" or atheist. I know people who say their "faith has never been stronger", yet treat the store clerks and even family members like crap. I have known people who say "god is the most important thing in my life" and profess to be "walking with god" but they do all the stuff every other average human does in the society they live in. They watch the same evil television and films, they tell the same crude jokes they condemn others for doing, and many I know have a sort of "outhouse" sense of humor. (They have justified this with "god has a sense of humor" reasoning).

Do these self-righteous who say they are so "faithful" and trusting in their god trust him enough for healing or the solving of other problems? NO...they turn to doctors, pharmacists, lawyers, therapists, -- the science they condemn. When confronted with the fact that they behave no better than the heathen, that they trust in the same things the atheist does, they will say that they are "only human", and they will say that the difference is that they can hate their fellow humans, tell nasty jokes, do all the things their fellow humans do...but they believe they have a "get out of Hell FREE" card to go along with the right to judge others card they carry around in their minds.

Egg Rescue Squad

Click on cartoon to enlarge

It's all magic!

All this time, money and effort to try to figure out magic and fairy tales. This story is from Yahoo news today:


Santa Claus is coming to town -- for 34 microseconds

Between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Santa Claus's route around the planet includes stops at 2.5 billion homes, assuming that children of all religions receive a present from the jolly man in the red suit, Anders Larsson of the engineering consultancy Sweco told AFP.

"We estimated that there are 48 people per square kilometer (120 per square mile) on Earth, and 20 metres (66 feet) between each home. So if Santa leaves from Kyrgyzstan and travels against the Earth's rotation he has 48 hours to deliver all the presents," he said.

Father Christmas has long been believed to reside at the North Pole, although a number of northern towns, including Finnish Rovaniemi, claim to be his true home.

But Sweco's report on Santa's most efficient route -- which takes into account factors like geographic density and the fewest detours -- shows that he wouldn't be able to make his round-the-world trip from there in time.

"He has 34 microseconds at each stop" to slide down the chimney, drop off the presents, nibble on his cookies and milk and hop back on his sleigh, Larsson said.

Santa's reindeer must travel at a speed of 5,800 kilometers (3,604 miles) per second to make the trip on time.

Humans are indeed silly. Most of the people who "worship" Santa Claus (or at least promote the belief of Santa Claus) do a lot of dreaming up fictitious "facts" to delude their little ones into 'keeping the faith" (or outright threats that if they don't believe or are bad they don't get anything...same concept as most religions). It's fun to make-believe and imagination is a good thing for children, but one day they come to the realization that it is all just that...make believe and imagination.

BUT it's not the same for religion. Children are taught god beliefs and fairy tales generation after generation after generation. The concept is the same as Santa Claus. Benevolent supernatural being who rewards good and bad, can see you when you are sleeping, knows when you're awake, etc. The same people who eventually must explain that Santa is just make believe are the same people who never stop to question how their one god can know the hearts and minds of billions and billions of people...past, present and future and how this one god can know what is going on and control every living thing that "creepeth and crawleth upon the earth"...AND controls the universe and heaven and hell all at the same time. And when really pressed for evidence of this god, or proof of a god that can do all this...the reasons are just as endless and fictitious and varied as the Santa "evidence" adults make up to tell their children to keep them believing.

Religion is just Santa beliefs that adults don't want to let go of.

A Complete Solar Cycle from SOHO

Click on image to enlargeCredit: SOHO - EIT Consortium, ESA, NASA

Explanation: Every eleven years, our Sun goes through a solar cycle. A complete solar cycle has now been imaged by the sun-orbiting SOHO spacecraft, celebrating the 12th anniversary of its launch yesterday. A solar cycle is caused by the changing magnetic field of the Sun, and varies from solar maximum, when sunspot, coronal mass ejection, and flare phenomena are most frequent, to solar minimum, when such activity is relatively infrequent. Solar minimums occurred in 1996 and 2007, while the last solar maximum occurred in 2001 Pictured above is a SOHO image of the Sun in extreme ultraviolet light for each year of the last solar cycle, with images picked to illustrate the relative activity of the Sun.

South Park The Movie, Hell & Music

The South Park "Satan" cracks me up!