I just read this really stupid(illogical, fallacious, etc.) e-mail(emphases in the original):

DID YOU KNOW THESE FACTS?

Death is certain but the Bible speaks about untimely death!

Make a personal reflection about this. Very interesting, so read on...

It is written in the Bible (Galatians 6:7):
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap".

Here are some men and women who mocked God:

1.John Lennon (singer, composer, member of the former Beatles).

Some years back , in one of his interviews with a leading American Magazine, he categorically said:

"Christianity will end, and it will disappear. And I do not have to argue about that. I'm certain, Jesus was OK but his subjects were too simple. Today, we're more famous than him" (1966).
Lennon, after saying that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ, was shot six times.

2. Tancredo Neves (President of Brazil):
During the Presidential campaign, he said if he got 500,000 votes from his party, not even God would remove him from Presidency.
Sure he got the votes, but he got sick a day before being made President, then he died.

2. Cazuza (Bi-sexual Brazilian composer, singer and a poet)
During A show in Canecio (Rio de Janeiro), while smoking his cigarette, he puffed out some smoke into the air and said: "God, that's for you."

Then he died of AIDS in a horrible manner at the prime age of 32 .

4. The man who built the Titanic
After the construction of Titanic, a reporter asked him how safe the Titanic would be.
With an ironic tone he said: "Not even God can sink it..."
The result:Of course, we all know what happened to the Titanic.

5. Marilyn Monroe (Famous & Controversial Hollywood Actress)
She was visited by an equally famous US evangelist Billy Graham during a presentation of a show. And he said to her that the Spirit of God had sent him to preach to her.

After hearing what the Preacher had to say, she said to him:
"...I don't need your Jesus".
A week later, she was found dead in her apartment.

6. Bon Scott (Singer)
The ex-vocalist of the AC/DC. On one of his 1979 songs, he sang:
"Don't stop me, I'm going down all the way, down the highway to hell".
On the 19th of February 1980, Bon Scott was found dead, he had been choked by his own vomit.

7.Campinas, Brazil (A freak vehicular accident in 2005)
A group of drunk young guys, went to pick up a lady friend...

The mother accompanied her daughter to the car and was so worried about the drunkenness of her friends and she said to her daughter while holding her one hand, who was already seated in the car:
"My daughter, go with God and may He protect you..."

She responded:
"Only If He (God) travels in the trunk, 'coz inside here... it's already full."

Hours later, news came by that they had been involved in a fatal accident, everyone had died,
the car could not be recognized what type of car it had been, but surprisingly, the trunk was intact.
The police said there was no way the trunk could have remained intact. To their surprise, inside the trunk was a crate of eggs, none were broken.

8. Christine Hewitt (a Jamaican journalist and entertainer)
She said that the Bible (Word of God) was the worst book ever written.
In June 2006, she was found burnt beyond recognition in her motor vehicle.

Many more important people have forgotten that there is no other name that was given so much authority as the name of Jesus. Many have died, but only Jesus died for our sins, rose again... and remains ALIVE until now.

---------
Fine! But I thought the Christian God was supposed to be a forgiving being and is reserving judgement for uh... Judgement Day. This is so like the fundamentalists, using faulty logic and contradicting themselves. Any way, if all those who "insult" God die a horrible horrible death, there should be no atheists and agnostics nowadays and I should be dead a month ago.

And is this really a good way to convince people to convert? Making them fearful of punishment and untimely death! That's stupid! Why should I worship a God who revels in making his or her followers stupid and afraid, assuming he or she is real?

New link... good thing I decided to visit the peyups forum.

www.atheista.net

Not that I'm really sure I'm atheist. I am agnostic and kinda leaning to the atheism side but I'm still very open to change.

Still, it's not just about atheism. Sometimes it is about education and life in general, the comments are fun to read except for the occasional hardcore fundie theist or intolerant Christian. It is slightly refreshing because the people here are generally more polite and tamer than the ones in scienceblogs.com.

FUCK!

Robert Jordan is dead!

This is so sad.

It feels as if the wheel of time has encountered a bump on the road, no a pot hole.

And the really big question: What will happen to the WoT series?

Apparently, like what happened to the Dune series; it'll get published, co-authored. Still as one commenter said, "I know I'm being selfish but it won't be the same." Damn right! Damn right...

If there is such a thing as an afterlife, I hope RJ is happy there.

If there isn't, I don't know what to wish for.

Too late to say goodbye, too early to say hi.

Hey! I'm nearing my 200th post or may be I have reached it already, when I moved from bravenet to blogger I left some of my 1st posts behind. Too lazy and most of the stuff I wrote were very crappy. Anyway, this'll be quick, I have to study for a test tomorrow and I need to know by heart a lot of stuff in order to pass.

We went to Mall of Asia yesterday. I spent most of the time in the skating rink. I'm not good but at least I know now how to skate backwards. Not very fast, mind you, more like baby steps really. It's really fun watching the good skaters practice. I really liked watching this lady do practice her spins and stuff. Also, I stayed close to skater and her coach hoping to get some tips for free, too bad that she's many levels above me. Not that I want to become a real ice skater but learning how to dance on ice would be nice. During the course of my ice skating, I realized that skates really need to fit properly. Too bad that I have a very unique pair of feet, not the normal narrow one but with a bony protrusion(I forgot what it's really called) near the big toe. In the end I wore skates about a half larger than my foot length is and it really didn't help me balance better. Then again, during my first try I wore the "right" size and it really hurt. I couldn't stand skating for more than 1 hour.

UAAP cheering competition is today, at around 2 pm. I hope UP would win, it'd be a consolation for not winning any basketball matches this season.

Bakit ba ang bobo ng aking kapatid at ama? Teka, dapat siguro Ingles na lang ginamit ko, hindi ganoon kasakit marining. Hindi, ibang salita na lang. Bakit ba ang bagal at ang tigas ng ulo ng kapatid at ama ko? Ayaw nila gayahin ang ina ko, madali makaintindi. Paulit-ulit nang ipapaliwanag hindi pa rin maintindihan. Tsk tsk... Ayaw nila maniwala na walang patutunguhan ang "research project" ng kapatid ko. Paki alam ko ba kung in-approve ng research teacher nila, obviously walang alam sa analytical chem, physiology at simple biology ang teacher nila kasi kung meron sasabihin ng teacher nila na hindi kakayanin ng mga HS students isagawa ang project na iyon sa ikli nang panahon na ibinigay sa kanila.

Ganito kasi, itong kapatid ko may Research na subject sa school at isang req't ang gumawa ng isang research paper. Syempre, natural science kasi hindi naman sila tinuruan pa tungkol sa paggawa ng Sociological at Behavioral research tsaka mas mabenta iyon sa Intel-ISEF. Anyhoo, ito namang ama ko sinabi na subukan nila pag-aralan itong isang halamang gamot. Ayos lang naman sana pero sinabi niya subukan nila alamin kung gagana ba ito sa bato sa bato(as in kidney stones). Grabe!

Ayos lang naman ang topic pero ang daming problemang kailangang harapin na hindi kakayanin ng iilang HS students lalo na ang sa lebel nila(nabasa ko ang proposal nila, joke talaga!). Hindi man lang ata nila binasa kung paano gumagana ang mga bato(kidneys hindi stones), kung paano nabubuo ang bato sa bato(kidney stones) at kung anong dating research o anecdote na sumusuporta kahit kakaunti sa kanilang binabalak tapos gusto pa nila ito subukan sa tao kaagad! Sabi ko nga sa kanila ipapakulong ko sila(kasama ang guro nila) kapag tinuloy nila ang balak nila.

Tapos matapos ang ilang linggo, sabi nila hindi na sa tao. Ilulublob na lang nila ang isang kidney stone sa crude extract. Joke ba yun! Malamang mawawala iyon. Ilublob ko sa kumukulong tubig, baka malusaw(dissolve) iyon pero hindi ko naman pwede sabihin na dapat uminom ng kumukulong tubig ang isang tao para mawala ang mga kidney stones niya.

Okay fine, tinigil na nila ata iyon, gusto naman nila ipa-analyze na lang ang halaman at ang crude extract mula dito. Okay, sabi ko para saan? Ano gusto nila makita? Sabi nila iyong makikita? PI! Tubig makikita nila, okay ba iyon? Malamang hindi. Siguro kulang pa ang nababasa nila dahil walang lab sa mundo ang papayag sa ipagagawa nila o kung meron man tiyak na milyon ang ibabayad nila tapos hindi pa nila masasabi na research paper nila iyon kasi ala naman silang ginawa bukod sa magpakulo ng tubig at maglublob ng dahon doon.

hay... ayos! Aral na uli!

Unang beses ko mag-turo kahapon. Hindi naman sa totoong klase, limang tao lang naman ang tinuruan ko. Tungkol sa Chem ang aking tinuro, ang pinaka-ayaw ko pa ang topic: Thermodynamics. Napatunayan ko pa lalo na upang malaman mo kung gaano ka kagaling sa isang bagay, dapat subukan mo itong ituro sa ibang tao.

Kumusta naman? Maayos naman. Naliwanagan naman ata sila tungkol sa kanilang inaaral. Tinanong pa ako kung pwede raw akong pumalit sa teacher nila. Aw... shucks... willikers... Na-plattned naman ako. At, malaki-laki rin ang bayad sa akin. Hehe, pwedeng-pwede na gawing raket ito!

Pero next time aayusin ko na talaga, tsaka nakalimutan ko sagutin iyong tanong ng isa kong tinuturuan sa 1st batch(dalawang batch ang tinuruan ko). Natulog naman siya sa akin kaya ayos lang. Hindi ko naman kasalanan na makatulog siya; lima na lang sila tapos natulog pa siya. Tsk tsk... any way. Ayos naman. Kaya lang, babay Sabado na ata ito.

Ano ang nangyari sa aking unang "sweldo"? Pinambili ko nang Havianas para kay Madie! Ang aking birthday at going-away gift para sa kanya. Ayos lang naman na naubos ito kasi madali ko namang mababawi iyong nawala sa susunod ko na sesyon.

------
Parang gusto ko panoorin ang Avenue Q kaya lang wala akong libreng oras. Malapit na matapos ang sem at naiipon na ang mga gawain. Naglalabasan na nga muli ang mga exam eh pero ang pinakaproblema ko lang ngayon ay kung paano ko papalitan ang nawala naming susi ng locker sa micro lab. Kailangan i-interrogate pa si Mang Lab tech kung saan talaga napapa-duplicate ang susi na iyon.

Denialists... They come in many forms: HIV-AIDS deniers, Global Warming deniers, Germ Theory deniers, Gravity deniers, Evolution deniers(usu called I[ntelligent]D[esign]iots or Creationists), name any scientific concept and you'll find one who doubts its validity.

It's a wonder why, despite overwhelming contrary evidence, that they manage to hold on to their beliefs. I blame the neglect of history. These denialists usually claim that this certain study done before gave results that are contrary to mainstream belief or that in the past, this theory was believed to be true and the reason we don't consider it now is because of politics. They also believe in things that were already disproved and seem to be really ignorant about the fact that is was disproved already. Atleast, nobody denies that we have hearts...

I think if they just studied their history and read about all those experiments that scientists performed to prove or disprove something, maybe, they'll be a bit more quiet. IF they really read about how scientists(especially during the late 1800's and early 1900's) are trying very hard to not lose face and gain eternal glory just to prove their hypothesis and how heated these series of debates and experiments became, they'd probably understand why the scientific method works and why we have these facts and scientific truths. Maybe they'll even pick up why they are wrong in believing these forgotten theories and realize that politics played a very small role in science.

Then again, a huge part is their distrust of people or at least those in/with power or the knowledge. Not that it's such a bad thing, many important scientific discoveries were made due to this distrust(Galileo for instance) but it distrust can only be up to a certain degree. Distrust of something many have proved to be true and trustworthy without explaining why you distrust it(like those who distrust the scientific method) is crazy. Many of these denialists like to think themselves as those who branch off from the thought of the mainstream, as a certain kind of noble rebel and probably aspire to be the next Galileo, unfortunately, most of them are just full of hot air and are miseducated about the things they "rebel" against.

Nawawala na ang aking barbero. Naaasar ako sa gupit ko. Ginawa ba naman akong HS student uli? Tsk tsk... Sumpa ata talagang maging maliit at payat sa mundong ito. At least napigilian ko siya gawing "white-side wall" ang gupit. Kaya lang dahil atat siyang matapos nasagad na niya ang razor sa aking anit kaya ayun, mukha na naman akong kabute: Ahit ang gilid tapos may masa ng buhok sa tuktok. Hmp!

Kunwari na lang new punk ang trip ko. Bala na, buhok lang iyan, tutubo rin. Nakakaasar nga lang dahil ang pangit ng gupit pero babalik pa rin ako doon. As if naman may choice ako; dun lang ang mura sa amin na malapit. Karamihan kasi parlour shop, wala naman akong galit sa mga parlour shop(o sa mga bading) pero ang mahal kasi ng singil nila at hindi ko gusto ang gupit nila. Kasi naman lumayas-layas pa ang dati kong barbero na may fungal infection sa braso(so talagang, napansin ko iyon!)! Hay... lalo akong nagmukhang mataray at parang humababa lalo ang mukha ko.

Pero medyo nag-o-oa lang ako, maayos naman itsura niya kapag mamasa-masa ang buhok ko problema lang hindi ako nag-ge-gel(isang luhong sumisira ng maraming gubat) at lalong hindi ako magpupunta sa CR para basain ang buhok ko oras na matuyo ito(sayang ang tubig!)! Tsaka at least, kakaiba ang gupit ko(mabuti ba iyon?).

You Are 96% Feminist

You are a total feminist. This doesn't mean you're a man hater (in fact, you may be a man). You just think that men and women should be treated equally. It's a simple idea but is somehow too complicated for the world to put into action.

Are You a Feminist?

-----
What do you do when you feel like you're outgrowing your old friends? Do you become some kind of preacher and tell them that the things they believe in are wrong? How can you teach something to them without losing their friendship? I guess, if the thing to be learned is easy, it's okay but what if it is something more serious? And what do you do if they think you're just joking? Example, I always say to my friends that in the LRT(anywhere and in any situation actually) there are only two kinds of passengers(people) able and unable(elderly, disabled, pregnant and, obviously sick) but they seem to think I'm just joking and seem to think I'm going bonkers again.

Related to this, I hate that the LRT management allows female passengers have first dibs on seats(of an empty train). It'd be alright if they have stored value tickets but no, even those who buy single ride tickets can avail of this advantage. As if they pay double the amount we pay! And the argument that female have a disadvantage because they're physically weaker than males is just wrong. I'm physically weaker than most males(due to my small build) but I manage to get a seat most of the time, it's not brawn, it's brains!

Then again most male passengers have the wrong attitude also. They give their seats to female passengers for no apparent reason except maybe chivalry. Pfft! I actually took advantage of this. Last night, I was riding the LRT with a female friend. She gets off at Doroteo Jose Station. One station before that(Carriedo), a seat became available. Usually, I'd take the seat(since my friend is getting off anyway) but a man was standing in front of it and seems to be offering it to my friend. Cunningly, I let her have the seat to avoid any conflict(hey, I'll even appear like a gentleman, hah!). At the next station, she stands up and I take the seat before the man recovers his senses(and inside, I was laughing). A previous incident with the same female friend is even funnier. A man offered his seat(he stood up) to my friend. Instead of sitting down, she gave it to me and I took it(she's getting off at the next station). We ended up clutching our stomachs and biting our lips. We couldn't bear to look at the man's face, I just sensed that he moved to another part of the train, far away from the two of us. Hah!