The Bible is inherently anti-knowledge and anti-women

Eccentric Jennifer posts a wonderful series of thoughts on the implication of Eve's role in the Bible. I concur with her, naturally, but I would like to expand upon one point. Specifically, her final sentence:

And, if this myth is true? Well, I’d like to thank Eve on behalf of all humanity, she gave us the greatest gift ever, she gave us Knowledge.

She sure did. What does it say about Christianity, the Abrahamic God, and those who follow the Bible literally that Eve's reward for bringing enlightenment to humanity was to be cast out of paradise and tainted forever with Original Sin? Humanity is not supposed to be curious; we are supposed to obey God.

This is dangerous and foolish; this is to suggest that those who push the cause of human knowledge are nothing but sinners. We all know that the Abrahamic faiths rail against knowledge, but when you think about it, it is incredible that it is part of the entire core creation myth! That the very first statement God makes in the Bible (other than "and it was good"), is that, "Hey humans. Cavort around here in Paradise. But don't think. Thinking's dangerous, dontcha know. What did I just say! GTFO! Blame the bitches for this one, dudes, amiright?"

Yeah, God is a bro. Somehow, the image of God with a popped collar is making me laugh.

The point is simple: misogyny and ignorance are the Bible's two core values, as told in the Adam and Eve creation myth. We need to shed ourselves of these dangerous faiths and move past them.

I got to play Magic: The Gathering with @jteberhard!

I got to play Magic: The Gathering with JT Eberhard the other day! We used the Cockatrice program, and it was pretty cool. Jen has always said he's a great guy, and it was really neat to sit there and toss cards out with an icon of the modern atheist movement. We did an Avacyn Restored draft and played a couple games of Legacy format.

Here's the deck I use:

Land:
20x Plains

Artifacts:
3x Throne of Empires
3x Crown of Empires
3x Scepter of Empires

Enchantments:
1x Cathars' Crusade

Instants:
4x Disenchant
2x Enlightened Tutor

Creatures:
4x Ballyrush Banneret
4x Daru Warchief
3x Field Marshal
3x Veteran Swordsmith
2x Captain of the Watch
1x Gerrard Capashen
1x Darien, King of Kjeldor
1x Longbow Archer
2x Goldnight Commander
3x Veteran Armorer

The deck revolves around using the Empires set to general a plethora of 1/1 Soldier tokens that turn out to be 3/6 Soldier tokens with first strike and vigilance. The addition of Cathars' Crusade has made the deck very potent very quickly with the addition of counters - I may be adding a second at some point. I keep a few other enchantments in my sidedeck, just in case, as well as a couple spare creatures. I intend to get a playset of Longbow Archers soon, to replace the Veteran Armorers. This gives me the ability to defend against flying creatures, which are featured in several opposing decks here.

Anyway, if anyone ever wants to play on Cockatrice, let me know!

Going to Boston!

I am released on the world!

On June 24th, I'll be flying to Boston, Massachusetts so I can fulfil a life dream: I'll be seeing Iron fucking Maiden live. My passport came in yesterday, and it finally feels...real...that I will be going. My ticket comes from a friend of mine, Paul, better known as SinisterMinister X from the forums at www.maidenfans.com. Paul is flying to Boston from Denver, and he's also flying in my good pal Stefan (Perun) from Germany. Some other mates will be joining us, and we'll be staying at the apartment of our forum friend Natalie (Natalie).

So for four days, I'll get to meet guys and girls who I've been friends with for almost 10 years online, hang out with them, explore Boston with them, and then see the band who I have adored for my entire adult life.

Thanks Paul. You're a great friend, and this is going to be an amazing, wonderful, surely exhausting yet memorable trip.

Up the Irons!

Are the producers of Hockey Night in Canada trying to get shut down?

Recently, Hockey Night in Canada's Ron MacLean compared the heroics of hockey players to the heroics of the various first responders in 9/11. There's absolutely nothing right about this comparison, and a lot of people have critiqued MacLean as being smug, too smart, and trying to be clever. He was, in my opinion, being an idiot.

The coolest video game ever

Seriously, this is incredible.

Artemis is designed for anyone who watched Star Trek and dreamed of what it would be like to sit on the bridge of a star ship...everyone tends to snap into their role and share the information coming to them from their station while interacting with the crew and captain. The Helm station flies the Artemis. The Weapons station controls your offensive powers. Engineering moves power and handles repairs. Science can scan enemy ships and share intel. Communications allows you to interact with both enemy and friendly ships. Each station has information that must be shared with the rest of the crew to keep the ship healthy and flying.

The game costs $40 and you need 6 computers if you intend to play with all 6 stations (and why the hell wouldn't you?). Requirements are really low so you can bust out your old rigs to make the game work if needed. You also need a decent sized tv or a projector to serve as the view screen. Yes, you get a view screen.

The Penny Arcade article goes into this game in great depth, but what's really cool is that you can design your own missions and download custom mission packs. Upon realizing this game existed, I had a little geek-out session, waving my arms around with a big smile on my face. My friends very quickly called positions - science, helm, tactical, engineering, communications.

Which means I will get to be captain. This game is going to take a little setup time, but I have no doubt in my mind this will be $40 damn well spent.

Qray benefits? More like Qray bullshit.

$149.95 for this useless piece of scrap!

So I was watching the Canada-Finland game from the World Hockey Championship, and during one of the commercials there was an advertisement for the QRay bracelet. For the uninitiated, this is a piece of metal you wear around your wrist that just makes things magically better. I know this is bullshit, and you know this is bullshit, but I was surprised to see how they justify their bullshit.

The rise of the NDP

10 years ago the idea of the New Democratic Party running Canada's federal government was simply laughable. Today, it is closer to reality than ever (other than the fact that the election is 40 months away, most likely). Check it out on the Huff Po.

Mitt Romney the bully

Everyone's known a bully. And from time to time, everyone's been a bully too. Don't be afraid to admit it. We're all capable of that swing in emotion from the casually offensive to the moderately cruel. That's not the sort of bullying I'm talking about when I say Mitt Romney is a bully. I'm also not talking about the Mitt Romney that shut down American companies and outsourced their material and jobs to the lowest bidder.

I'm talking about the Mitt Romney who, by five separate accounts, held down a fellow teen accused of being gay and forcibly clipped off the hair style that Romney and his friends found offensive. They attacked another boy with a weapon, and changed his appearance. They shamed him for his perceived sexuality in public.

This is the face of a terrorist

(via the BBC)

The above is Anders Breivik. He is a Christian terrorist. He smiles slightly, smug, at his trial, that he has declared he would turn into a "circus" for his radical anti-Islam standpoints.

Breivik has admitted to murdering 77 people for the "crime" of supporting multiculturalism. He is a self-described Christian nationalist. He is a terrorist, just the same as Osama bin Laden was a terrorist. He murdered people to advance a political viewpoint. But our press won't call him a terrorist.

Fox News calls him a mass-murderer who has been charged with terrorism. So does MSNBC. CNN says he is a mass murderer, but quotes an expert on terrorism.

Why can't we call a spade a spade? Breivik is a terrorist. He's admitted his crimes were for the purpose of advancing a political agenda, even though he calls himself a patriot (as terrorists often do, see Timothy McVeigh for an example). Even if the Norwegian court finds him insane, his insanity acted in a way many sane terrorists have. Breivik wanted to frighten young people away from the political discourse he finds distasteful. Call him a fucking terrorist.

Because he is.