Clipmarks | maquser's clips

Why Christianity is Bogus

Fri, 25 Sep 2009 18:07:31 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: Surprisingly good rant on Craig's list with logic and historical points to wit!

Clip Source: www.craigslist.org

In the following argument of nine premises, I will aim to convince you that Jesus of Nazareth was a fictional character, and not a real person. I do not intend to sway the beliefs of many of you, nor even budge them - I know this to be an impossibility, for if the religious mind is well-trained at anything, it is circumventing rational argument. I only intend to sew seeds of doubt, in the hopes that perhaps some of you will nurture them and let them grow.

Tags: religion, hoax, fake, false, christianity

Religious Superstition born of fear and lack of control

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:15:29 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: aha. now we know. as if we didn't already? but here's scientific proof

Clip Source: www.scientificblogging.com

Superstition, Pattern-Seeking And Loss Of Personal Control

Lacking control over one’s circumstances is a well known source of anxiety, a situation that activates the brain’s amygdala, the roots of the fear response. And it is also understood that there is a correlation between unpredictability of events and superstition

The results were stunning: people who felt little or no control over a given situation were much more prone to see patterns where there were none, make up superstitious scenarios, and invent conspiracy theories to explain their situation!

The lingering question, of course, is why would making up animaginary pattern or explanation be effective psychologically. After all, one isn’t about to gain real control over events, only an illusory one.

Tags: smoking gun, science, religion, superstition

Evolution of Religion

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:12:49 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: scientist cites studies and conclusions as well as debunks myths

Clip Source: www.scientificblogging.com

The Cultural Evolution Of Religion

So, does religion trigger altruistic behavior after all? Nope. Here’s the kicker: people that were primed with reminders of a secular moral authority were just as altruistic as the religiously primed ones! It isn’t religion, it is the presence of a moral authority that does the trick.

Does that mean that religion is, after all, necessary for the stability of human groups? Again, no, because modern secular social contract-enforcing institutions (police, courts, etc.) efficiently replace the original function of “big gods,” as plainly demonstrated by the case of most western societies, which are both highly secular and stable.

Tags: science, religion, superstition

Why does religion still exist

Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:10:05 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: good essay just to get the wheels rolling. science blog site. see also links to other tangential discussions

Clip Source: www.scientificblogging.com

Why Does Religion Still Exist?

There was a time when it was virtually impossible not to believe in God. That made sense; life had (and certainly still has) many mysteries and a divine hand made sense of an irrational world, at least in the sense that you could believe in one supernatural thing rather than many.

But over time two important things happened that should have killed religion; the world got 'smaller' in the sense that a lot more information about people and cultures became available and science was able to explain a much larger, very fundamental and far-reaching set of things about the world in terms of natural laws.

Yet religion die not die, as it was predicted it must.

With knowledge of multiple faiths, which would certainly seem to cast doubt on the supremacy, and thus the value, of any particular one, and the encroachment of science in explaining the natural world, religon should have become a quaint anachronism, yet it has not.

The "Secular Thesis" has failed

Tags: science, religion

1999: democrats warned GOP congress..

Fri, 27 Mar 2009 16:27:28 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: and were proven right just 10 wee years later

Clip Source: www.nytimes.com

CONGRESS PASSES WIDE-RANGING BILL EASING BANK LAWS

Published: Friday, November 5, 1999

The decision to repeal the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 provoked dire warnings from a handful of dissenters that the deregulation of Wall Street would someday wreak havoc on the nation's financial system. The original idea behind Glass-Steagall was that separation between bankers and brokers would reduce the potential conflicts of interest that were thought to have contributed to the speculative stock frenzy before the Depression.

''I think we will look back in 10 years' time and say we should not have done this but we did because we forgot the lessons of the past, and that that which is true in the 1930's is true in 2010,'' said Senator Byron L. Dorgan, Democrat of North Dakota

Tags: economy, republicans, crime, crooks, thieves, charlatans

8 funny baby pix

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:51:29 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: dressed in video game/sci fi fare

Clip Source: www.photobasement.com

8 Good Examples Of What Happens When Geeks Have Children

Tags: adorable, baby, cute, photo

New: Track yourself on Google Maps!

Wed, 04 Feb 2009 20:07:37 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: cool!

Clip Source: tech.yahoo.com

Do you know where your kid is? Check Google's maps

The new software to be released Wednesday will enable people with mobile phones and other wireless devices to automatically share their whereabouts with family and friends.

The feature, dubbed "Latitude," expands upon a tool introduced in 2007 to allow mobile phone users to check their own location on a Google map with the press of a button.

"This adds a social flavor to Google maps and makes it more fun," said Steve Lee, a Google product manager.

It could also raise privacy concerns, but Google is doing its best to avoid a backlash by requiring each user to manually turn on the tracking software and making it easy to turn off or limit access to the service.

Google also is promising not to retain any information about its users' movements. Only the last location picked up by the tracking service will be stored on Google's computers, Lee said.

Tags: google, map, fun, social, tech

Iraqi Shoe Tribute Statue Removed!

Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:36:31 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: OMG this is too funny - I would have thought this was a joke but it's REAL

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Iraq sculpture honoring Bush shoe-thrower removed

BAGHDAD – The director of an Iraqi orphanage says a sculpture honoring an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at former President George W. Bush has been removed.

Fatin al-Nassiri says Iraqi police told her the statue had to be removed from the orphanage in Tikrit because government property should not be used for something with a political bias.

She says the sofa-sized statue of a shoe was taken down on Saturday after being unveiled on Thursday.

Iraqi journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi threw his shoes during a Dec. 14 news conference in Baghdad. Throwing shoes at someone is a sign of extreme contempt in Arab culture.

Tags: iraq, humor, statue, art, politics, satire

Video Cell Phone WATCH WANT

Wed, 07 Jan 2009 22:06:40 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: cool. the future's getting closer every.. second!

Clip Source: tech.yahoo.com

3G watch phone

LG crows that the 13.9mm-thick GD910 boasts a curved tempered glass face and "high quality" metal casing—so no, we're not talking a black plastic calculator watch with a zillion buttons.

The 1.43-inch touch display is icon-based and Flash-powered, and under the hood is quad-band GSM for world calling and 7.2Mbps HSDPA for—wait for it—video telephony over the built-in camera.

Other features: Voice commands, either with or without a Bluetooth headset; text-to-speech for reading text messages to you aloud; a music player (I'm guessing video wouldn't be too satisfying on the 1.43-inch screen), a built-in speaker, and stereo Bluetooth support.

Tags: watch, cell phone, cool, wow, fun, toy, future

Media Misinformation Awards

Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:00:22 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: Learn about the winning flimflammers of '08 and hope they all get jail time too

Clip Source: www.prwatch.org

Center for Media and Democracy's (CMD's) fifth annual Falsies Awards. The Falsies are our attempt to shine an unflattering light on those responsible for polluting the information environment over the past year.

You could call it General (ret.) Misinformation -- the Pentagon's successful effort to turn retired military officers into the Bush Administration's "message force multipliers," mostly on broadcast and cable television. "You could see that they were messaging," one former Defense Department official explained to New York Times journalist David Barstow, who first reported on the covert program. "You could see they were taking verbatim what the [Defense] secretary was saying ... and they were saying it over and over."

putting your words into someone else's mouth is known as the third party technique. When it's secretly carried out with taxpayer funds to influence domestic public opinion, it's illegal propaganda.

Tags: democracy, freedom, misinformation, lies, misleading

WSJ: Why US Automakers Suck Cock so Hard

Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:50:57 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: anti-union, and out of touch management. more things change, the more they stayed the same

Clip Source: online.wsj.com

How Detroit Drove Into a Ditch

With little fanfare, a new car factory opened in America earlier this month. The new Honda assembly plant in Greensburg, Ind., will produce 200,000 compact Civic models annually after reaching full capacity late next year. The contrast couldn't be starker between Detroit's woes and the continuing U.S. expansion of Japanese, German and Korean car companies -- in both market share and manufacturing capacity. There are two American auto industries, one generally thriving and the other drastically shrinking.

Detroit, meanwhile, has remained mired in mutual mistrust with the United Auto Workers union. While the suspicion has abated somewhat in recent years, it never has disappeared -- which is why Detroit's factories remain vastly more cumbersome to manage than the factories of foreign car companies in the U.S.

Tags: gm, chrysler, ford, bwahaha, fail, losers

Speed Racer Mach 5 Toy Car with all the kit!

Thu, 20 Nov 2008 17:35:58 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: rofl that mattel tagged it with a 6!! good eye from the comment people! more info/fotoz

Clip Source: gizmodo.com

Tags: speed racer, car, lol

iPod Speakers made from Paper Cups

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 21:56:31 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: as the readers already exposed, he's using earbuds, but still this would be a good trick to fuck with your friends!

Clip Source: blog.wired.com

IPod Speakers Made From Paper Cups and Sticks

"His minimalist speaker design consists four paper cups, a couple of toothpicks and an iPod."
.
Methinks he also used a pair of earphones, which means he didn't build "speakers" at all. He just built sound funnels for the speakers he already had.

Tags: ipod, gadget, gimmick

Presidents' Disapproval Ratings (Nixon-Now)

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:23:14 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: Clinton was the least disliked! Unless you count Ford who nobody even noticed was ever in power lol.

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

CNN released a chart showing presidential "disapproval" ratings in CNN or Gallup polls for each president dating back to Harry Truman. This list shows the percentage of Americans who disapproved of the way each president was handling his job.

% Disapprove/Date

G.W. Bush - 76%/ Nov. 2008

Clinton - 54%/ Sept. 1994

G.H.W. Bush - 60%/ July 1992

Reagan - 56%/ Jan. 1983

Carter - 59%/ June 1979

Ford - 46%/ April, Nov., Dec. 1975

Nixon - 66%/ Aug. 1974

Tags: presidents, history, approval, usa

Obama Acceptance Speech in video & text

Wed, 05 Nov 2008 16:39:04 GMT

clipped by: maquser
clipper's remarks: God Bless America!

Clip Source: news.yahoo.com

Obama's acceptance speech

The transcript of the full speech follows.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

Tags: obama, election, victory, hope, democracy

Clipmarks | maquser's clips

Why Christianity is Bogus

Religious Superstition born of fear and lack of control

Evolution of Religion

Why does religion still exist

1999: democrats warned GOP congress..

8 funny baby pix

New: Track yourself on Google Maps!

Iraqi Shoe Tribute Statue Removed!

Video Cell Phone WATCH *WANT*

Media Misinformation Awards

WSJ: Why US Automakers Suck Cock so Hard

Speed Racer Mach 5 Toy Car with all the kit!

iPod Speakers made from Paper Cups

Presidents' Disapproval Ratings (Nixon-Now)

Obama Acceptance Speech in video & text

Video Cell Phone WATCH WANT