Filling in for Dr. J. Plenty of prime TDG fodder about, so dig in...
- Family attacks Catholic Church over plans to exhume the body of Padre Pio. Perhaps concerned about this?
- New Zealand scientist says it is perfectly reasonable to assume we are living in a virtual reality simulation. Here's more reading on the topic by Oxford University philosopher Nick Bostrom.
- Talking about psychedelic states with Jan Kounen, director of the shamanic Western Renegade (or Blueberry, depending where you live). You can watch Kounen's documentary on shamanism, Other Worlds, right here on TDG.
- Psychedelics make a comeback - ironically, treating mental ailments.
- New book says Tom Cruise is the second most powerful Scientologist, and that some Scientologists believe that Katie Holmes was impregnated with the sperm of L. Ron Hubbard.
- Always remember what your mama told you - don't play tug-of-war with a Saturn V rocket.
- At last the truth about little green men. I don't share the writer's optimism (or was that sarcasm?)...
- Russia to search for life on Jupiter's moon Europa.
- Virgin Galactic and Scaled Composites to unveil SpaceShipTwo this month.
- Astronaut carving in 12th century church bewilders tourists. It's when you find the tiny Richard Branson that you really lose your mind...
- The hypersonic age is near - but with great advantages come great perils.
- Did a tsunami wipe out a cradle of Western civilisation?
- General Motors envisions a driverless car within 10 years.
- Ancient Finns invented bone ice skates thousands of years ago.
- Aztec pyramid find could rewrite the history of the ancient empire.
- No convincing evidence for a decline in tropical forests.
- Is brain anatomy detailed symbolically in Renaissance artworks?
- Pwnage news: US and UK rival China for government surveillance.
- A look back at the Top 20 Blasphemous Moments in recent history.
Quote of the Day:
The ultimate paradox of materialism is that the one feature of the universe which alone gives meaning to all the rest is the one feature which has to be declared redundant! Nothing can account for its emergence; nothing follows from its existence.
John Beloff
Europa
Hooray! About time someone took a closer look at Europa. NASA has been dragging its heels for years, despite scientists arguing the Saturn moon is more viable than Mars. I thought it would be China or Japan going to Europa first, but Russia is appropriate considering the moon's name.
Top 20 Blasphemous Moments...
Mmmm... I could have come up with more examples. What list about "blasphemy" is completed without mentioning "The Last Temptation of Christ" by Nikos Kazantzakis? which was banned here in Mexico for many years, and I was able to see it until fairly recently.
Other examples in film would be "Dogma" by Kevin Smith, (which has never been aired in Mexico);
AAAAaaand let's of course not forget "The Davinci Code" which owed his very moderate success at the box office precisely because it was so fervently criticized by conservative catholic groups.
And what about "The Golden Compass"? Watered down but it still received a lot of criticism by the Vatican.
Let's not forget that school teacher that had a lot of troubles for letting her class name a Teddy Bear after the prophet Mohammad.
And while we're at it, I think the destruction of the Buddhas of Bamiyan by the Taliban regime could perhaps be considered blasphemy, right?
Last, but certainly not least, Dawkin's book "The God Delusion", I'm sure he's very depressed that his name didn't make it in the list! Maybe next time Ricky ;-)
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It's not the depth of the rabbit hole that bugs me...
It's all the rabbit SH*T you stumble over on your way down!!!
Red Pill Junkie