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The Origin of Chess

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:41:06 -0800

An interesting argument about the origin of chess. Horribly annoying music loop--sorry--can be turned off at the bottom before reading.

Bobby Fischer Radio Interviews

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 17:58:34 -0700

This site has all of Bobby Fischer's radio interviews from 1999-2006. Awesome.

God is not the Creator, claims academic

Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:51:21 -0700

From the page: "(Prof Van Wold) said she eventually concluded the Hebrew verb 'bara', which is used in the first sentence of the book of Genesis, does not mean 'to create' but to 'spatially separate'...The first sentence should now read 'in the beginning God separated the Heaven and the Earth'."

List of female chess players - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 15:08:23 -0700

A list of the best women chess players.

The MasterCard Commercial I'd Like To See - The Seminal :: Independent Media and Politics

Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:23:36 -0700

Nice thought. Poor calculation.

10 Morals Atheism Gives Me - The Godless Heathen

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:06:52 -0700

Only two of this author's points are reasonable (5 & 8, respectively). The rest are inaccurate and in many cases have nothing at all to do with the claims he is making. In short, he did not derive these morals merely because he lacks a belief in God, and such belief is not the only way to derive a flawed moral code. The longer, point-by-point reply follows.

1. Gay people were persecuted in the USSR for reasons unrelated to religion. Same in Nazi Germany, communist Vietnam, and to this day in China.

2. "Reason," not faith, held that women were inferior to men in the mind of Plato. Not all interpretations of the bible or the koran affirm that sentiment. And simply holding enough conversations ought to show that it doesn't take faith to think women inferior; I've met thoroughly unreligious guys who thought men were simply better at everything except sex and childbearing.

3. Plenty of people hate the doctor. They don't need religion to hate the doctor. I put off going as long as possible, and it has nothing to do with my belief or lack of belief in God. It has to do with the doctor's office really sucking.

4. The author claims he doesn't hate people for following certain religions. How 'bout religions that approve of cannibalism? How about straight-up "satanism"? If one truly doesn't hate anyone for their religion, then what about terrorists who act for the sake of their religion? They wouldn't accept the notion that their religion doesn't necessitate that they do what they do. So their religion (their twisted form of religion) is a part of them, and though it may bear the same name of a religion that you don't hate, most people probably hate the religion of extremist terrorists.

5. I must admit I do not see how to argue that frank sex education isn't superior in the prevention of STDs and unwanted pregnancies. But too-early sex is unavoidable. The actual figures show that abstinence-only programs are neither more nor less effective at convincing teens not to have sex. And though I am unaware of many reasons outside of religiosity that someone might not want to educate their children about sex, I can imagine some exist. It might be argued, for instance, that such education only makes them more curious when they are not yet ready.

6. Once again, racism does not depend on religion. Other justifications exist. The Bell Curve is bad science. So is Eugenics. See countries in item 1.

7. He opposes needless death and destruction? Good for him! So do lots of religious people. Lots of irreligious people, for that matter, DO approve of death and destruction.

8. Admittedly, Religion probably constitutes the only reason that anyone would do such a thing.

9. I've never heard this particular religious justification, so I tend to think this is a strawman.

10. Is it not the case that many individuals who don't believe in an afterlife fail to cherish this life? Is it not the case that many people who do believe in an afterlife also appreciate their life immensely? I suggest that in many if not most cases the two things have nothing to do with each other.

I find many elements of religion to be scary too, but immoderate atheists and atheists whose hatred of religion brings them to making horrible arguments are on their way to becoming no better.

Amazing Juggling Finale

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:10:02 -0700

This reminds me of synchronized swimming and choreographed dancing except I really enjoy it.

http://web.archive.org/web/19960101-re_/http://xkcd.com/date/top.html

Wed, 13 May 2009 19:31:08 -0700

These do sound pretty fun.

My $23/month iPhone (updated)

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 02:26:33 -0700

I'm no Apple fan, but I recently saw a chess clock app that nearly converted me. And this unlocked-skype deal is amazing.

Americans are NOT stupid - WITH SUBTITLES

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 21:28:36 -0700

Big effing surprise: Random people on the street who have nothing better to do but to answer survey questions aren't very bright. Try this anywhere and then clip together the dumbest answers, and you'd get a comparably worthless product. Furthermore, the interviewer mispronounces Kofi Anan, Hiroshima, and Nagasaki, and there are numerous errors in the subtitling. None of that would bother me, but, when you go so far out of your way to call an entire nation stupid, you might want to doublecheck these things.