OVO

DJ Scientific [LINK-ZUM]

"Founded in 2005 by veteran DJ, Mark 'Scientific' Branch, Scientific Beats provides top quality music production for artists in the R&B and Hip-Hop genres, as well as top quality DJs for industry events. The founder, DJ Scientific, has been making people dance in clubs and at private affairs across the country for nearly 2 decades, starting in the mid '80s while in Junior High School.

"One day while talking to students about what he does outside of NASA (namely his life as a DJ on TV and in the clubs), he noticed that the students became more attentive. Once he captured their attention, they were more receptive to learn about the plethora of career possibilities in STEM [The Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Education Coalition]. After that life-changing experience, Scientific chose to utilize Hip-Hop culture as a means to capture the attention of students and direct their energies toward a focus on improving their scholastic performance. At this time, he is working on a plan to broaden his talks and get involved with 'at-risk' kids at a DC elementary school to see if his ideas will improve those students' scholastic performance and foster an attitude of furthering their education past high school and on to college and beyond! We all hope that he is successful with this endeavor."

Labels: music, rockets

Trevor Blake: Douglas Adams [LINK-ZUM]

For some reason Douglas Adams thought that I knew about the aquatic ape theory of human evolution, and sent me e-mail asking for suggested reading. I wrote back, he said thanks. This happened a few months before he died on this day seven years ago. He died before the long-awaited film version of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy came out. He died too soon. I heard once that he died while working for The Council on Ideas but maybe that's not true. Richard Dawkin's book The God Delusion is dedicated to Adams. This meager post is as well.

Labels: biographic, books

Trevor Blake: Metal Men [LINK-ZUM]

Trevor Blake, April 2008. Starting to frame some of my metal men, which I've been making for over a decade. This is the first one I made.

Labels: art, trevorblake

Trevor Blake: Flower [LINK-ZUM]

Flower, Portland Oregon USA, 12 May 2005.

Labels: art, portland, trevorblake

Carl Dinnen: Pakistan demo against Islam film [LINK-ZUM]

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of Pakistan to protest against a controversial film about Islam made by a Dutch MP. Crowds gathered in Karachi to condemn the MP, GeertWilders, some chanting "death to the blasphemer". The crowd also protested against the reprinting of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers. [...] The Dutch MP who made the film is Geert Wilders - a strident and controversial campaigner against what he describes as the Islamisation of the Netherlands. Earlier this year he spoke to More4 News; his views are deliberately provocative.

[Article continues at link. The above article claims the people who protested (whom we apparently should not openly identify as Muslims) "are angry about the film Fitna made by a right wing Dutch MP and at the reprinting of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in Danish newspapers following a plot to murder the cartoonist." So the people who protested are clearly described as angry. Fitna and its maker are described as controversial, strident, deliberately provocative. It is as if both sides were equally at fault and perhaps if they can just meet in peaceful dialog then the issue can be resolved. Except the truth is that one side made a short video that no one on planet Earth is compelled to watch, own, buy, speak of or in any way acknowledge. The other side - according to this same article - "claimed the killing of two Dutch soldiers was revenge for the release of the film." And the other side killed more than one hundred of their own to protest the publication of a few cartoons in a newspaper. And the other side is conducting a global man-hunt to kill one of the cartoonists, who must live in hiding for the rest of his life. So while some reporters like to think if we don't call them Muslims we might miss they are Muslims... if we make it seem like a simple misunderstanding we'll all laugh about soon enough... if we heap derision on the filmmakers and treat the murderers with kid gloves... then all our problems will vanish. But I don't think that is the case at all. What do you think? - Trevor Blake]

Trevor Blake: Islam in Australia [LINK-ZUM]

Natalie O'Brien: Hilali tells Christian women to wear veils. "Outspoken Muslim cleric Taj al-Din al-Hilali says the Bible 'mandates' the wearing of the veil by Christian women. Writing in a new book, Sheik Hilali, who lost his job as mufti of Australia after comparing scantily clad women to uncovered meat, argues that the Bible and the Koran make similar demands of a woman's modesty."

Sian Powell: Honour killing's Aussie link. "Mortally wounded and bleeding profusely, Pela Atroshi covered her head with her hands, pleading 'please don't shoot me, please don't shoot me'. As her sister and her mother screamed, her uncle Rezkar Atroshi raised his gun and killed her. The family's honour had been cleansed. Rezkar had already shot Pela twice in the back in the upstairs room. Helped downstairs by her mother and her younger sister, the 19-year-old Kurdish Swede was confronted by four resolute men - her father and his three brothers. The men pulled the women apart. Her youngest uncle then finished the job, shooting Pela in the head. The bullet went through one of her fingers and into her brain. The decision to kill her was made by a council of male relatives, led by Pela's grandfather, Abdulmajid Atroshi - a Kurd who lived in Australia."

[Articles continue at link. Credit to Dhimmi Watch for links. Islam could be a welcome neighbor to the West, should it secularize as Christianity has. Until such time, I find it a bully and a bore. Individual Muslims are always to be judged as individuals. The religion as a whole is loathesome. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: islam

AP: Divorce, unwed parenting costs billions [LINK-ZUM]

Divorce and out-of-wedlock childbearing cost U.S. taxpayers more than $112 billion a year, according to a study commissioned by four groups advocating more government action to bolster marriages. Sponsors say the study is the first of its kind and hope it will prompt lawmakers to invest more money in programs aimed at strengthening marriages.

[Article continues at link. Full state and federal recognition of same-sex marriages would increase the number of families. Full state and federal support for same-sex couples to adopt would increase the number of families. Science-based sex education would decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies. Increased access to contraception and abortion and sterilization would decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies. I'm not all that smart or educated, but I'm quite sure the above four-point plan would work very well and cost very little. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: science, sex

Gemma O'Doherty: "Why I'd let my daughter die before allowing her to have a blood transfusion" [LINK-ZUM]

Rebecca Whelan adores her 13-month-old baby daughter Reese - but she would let her die before giving permission for her to have a blood transfusion. "One day when she's older she might look at me and ask 'would you have done that to me?' I would have to tell her yes. If she chooses not to take up my beliefs and is upset with me for that, it would be very sad - but I have to stand by my faith." [...]

"In our religion, we have very clear standards about blood, which God asks us to abstain from using. In Scripture, blood is described as a very sacred thing that should not be shared. Even if I was told by doctors that my refusal to take it would result in death, it would still not be an option for me. I would stick to that belief even if they told me Reese's life was in jeopardy." [...]

"To us, it is about nothing more than being loyal to God. It is not an emotional decision. If the crunch came and my child ended up dying because she needed a blood transfusion, at least I would feel I had done everything according to my faith. I am also reassured that I would see her again."

[Article continues at link. If I were to have a child, then give an interview in the newspaper that I was willing to cause them to die through neglect as part of my service to Battlecat, I am quite sure that the law and society would be against me. Battlecat is an imaginary being. Only religion makes child sacrifice socially acceptable. But not just any religion. I couldn't get away with causing my child to die through neglect as part of my service to Geb the Great Cackler. Geb is a real God, just like all the other real Gods. But no one worships Geb any more. To get away with child sacrifice I would have to cause them to die through neglect as part of my service to a contemporary superstition. That gods aren't real doesn't matter. That today's gods are just as imaginary as the thousands and thousands of yesterday's gods doesn't matter. But heavens above, if I cause a child to die through neglect as part of my service to a contemporary imaginary invisible monster that lives in the sky - that's a private affair. It just barely matters that the lovely young mother shown above doesn't even have her own superstition right. Sometimes the Jehovah's Witnesses forbid blood transfusions (Watchtower 1961 Sept 15; 1964 Feb 15) and sometimes they don't (Watchtower 1964 Nov 15; 2000 June 15). Why would this woman pick the superstition that kills her child over the superstition that lets her child live? Maybe because her religion demands child sacrifice (Genesis 22:2; Exodus 22:29-30; Leviticus 27:28-29; Numbers 31:25-29; Deuteronomy 28:53-62; Judges 11:29-40; 2 Samuel 21:1,8-9, 14; 1 Kings 13:2; 2 Kings 23:20; Ezekiel 20:25-26; Mark 5:18-19; Luke 16:17). Maybe because religion softens minds and hardens hearts. As always, I advocate a reasoned critique of religion seasoned with scorn and contempt as the most peaceful and effective means to help children survive their religious parents. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: christianity, watchtower

Joe Bavier: Lynchings in Congo as penis theft panic hits capital [LINK-ZUM]

Police in Congo have arrested 13 suspected sorcerers accused of using black magic to steal or shrink men's penises after a wave of panic and attempted lynchings triggered by the alleged witchcraft. Reports of so-called penis snatching are not uncommon in West Africa, where belief in traditional religions and witchcraft remains widespread, and where ritual killings to obtain blood or body parts still occur. [...] Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

[Article continues at link. I don't have any respect for such murderous nonsense. - Trevor Blake]

Labels: magick

Trevor Blake: Thinking of the Children [LINK-ZUM]

The recent impoundment of illegal children in Texas (they had too many mommies) is like the Waco siege, except this time conducted with social workers instead of tanks.

Labels: fascism, mormon

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