I bought a Nikon D300 a few months ago. It's only now that I'm learning to use it. I carry it with me everyplace I go. I shoot everything. My friend John here has been a subject for me many times. By now he is used to me asking if I can take his picture. The D300 allows me to shoot in black and white. The tone is amazing.
I'm learning to control the focal point. today I chose his left eye. I like the results.
Labels:
Photography
Shoot The Blog has an interesting series of photos (NSFW) containing images of waves, surfers, and underwater scenes. I'm still trying to figure out how they were put together.
"Insight has launched an impressive art installation series entitled Dopamine, from setting up underwater art installations with surf actions shots in Bali and having re-created famous skate spots in the middle of the Balinese jungle.
The surf installation was inspired by Beatnick;, Steve Gorrow embarked on a journey beneath the sea to explore the depths of the mind and creativity. Along with the help of his brother, Steve shipped out to Bali to take on the massive feat of building above and beneath the sea to give birth to the latest Insight surf spectacle, and that is Dopamine...
Read More... Riding a Wave with Dustin Humphrey (NSFW)
Some of my very first experiments with photography involved surfing and surf photography. Out of thousands of photos I took, only one was good enough to use in my high school yearbook. By today's standards it's weak.
The Huffington Post has exclusive video of Bill Maher new documentary Religulous. Drop in and watch the videos. They are so funny.
It has been my pleasure over the last decade and a half to make organized religion one of my favorite targets. I often explained to people, "I don't need to make fun of religion, it makes fun of itself." And, then I go ahead and make fun of it too, just for laughs.
Maher created the website Disbeliefnet.com to promote the film. I ordered the Pope Soap on a Rope while I was there.
Labels:
Christians,
Humor,
Religion
I do not make this stuff up.
So these Wiccans snuck into the Oak Hill Cemetery in Lebanon around midnight to perform some kind of luck ceremony. While performing this nonsensical ceremony, Katherine Gunther stabbed herself in the foot with a sword.
Ha ha...
Oak Hills is home to a historically famous murder victim, Sylvia Likens.
This cemetery holds the remains of Sylvia Likens, a sixteen year old girl who was slowly tortured and beaten to death over a period of months in 1965. Sylvia and her younger sister had been staying at the home of Gertrude Baniszewski at the time of her death. Left in the care of Gertrude by her carnie father, Sylvia became the victim of gradually worsening abuse by Gertrude, her children and other children from the neighborhood who were encouraged to harm her.
I wonder if there is a connection?
Labels:
Wicca
Rev. Carl Morello want to do the "Christian thing" by serving the needed. His solution is simple; convert an unused gymnasium to a homeless shelter one night per week. That's it. Morello suggested that just one night a week his church give homeless people a safe place to sleep. He wanted to become part of the admirable secular charity known PADS (Public Action to Deliver Shelter). PADS and Rev. Morello are the very essence of public service. It is ideas like this one that I like to celebrate. Rev. Carl Morello is trying to help. I can support that. But then again, I am not a parishioner in his 10,000-member Park Ridge congregation. The parishioners have other ideas and so do the locals townies.
What do the "real Christians" of Park Ridge do?
Denying the homeless a safe bed in the middle of January out of fears for your property value is hypocrisy or worse, just plain evil. Parishioners at St. Mary's Episcopal Church should hang their head in shame.
Never fear.... St. Mary's came to the rescue.
Labels:
Christians
Fundie snake handling pastor Gregory Coots gets a slap on the wrist. At least he is now a convicted criminal. I hold little hope that his followers will somehow come to their senses now.
Gregory Coots entered a guilty plea in a Bell County courtroom Tuesday morning to seven counts of buying, selling or transporting protected wildlife .. as well as another count of holding protected wildlife. He will have to pay $6,400 in fines and will be on probation for 2 years.
Oh well, better luck next time.
Related Post:
Sometimes it is the food. Sometimes it is the ambiance. And sometimes it is the need for a nap after a stomach packing bowl of Saimin.
Hawaiian style ramen noodles topped with char siu chicken, kamaboko, egg slivers, and green onions. Served with a side of fried wontons. $7.29.
Back Home in Lahaina (yelp) in Carson rocks. And the natives are friendly. Stop in and say hi. Avoid the lunch rush by eating early.
Labels:
foodgasm,
Photography
We shrink:
We change:
We grow:
Tips:
I produced a Blogger help file in response my most frequently asked question, "How do I add the blogroll doohickey?" I plan to produce more help files in the future. This little help file saves me 15 minutes a week. I could use some help in this area. If anyone has a help file they would like to contribute, please send it my way.
Hat tip:
God is Pretend for reporting dead links.
Only 10 so far! There will be many more to come.
John Picard, 40, of Springboro, has been charged with 10 counts of sexual battery, all third-degree felonies. He is accused of having sexual relations with a girl starting in 1992 when she was 13 and continuing until she reached adulthood. Picard was a youth pastor at Grace Brethren Church on Marion Avenue at the time
Source: Former Mansfield youth pastor faces 10 sex-related felonies involving girl
Now seriously, would you let this man anywhere near your teenaged daughter?
It sounds like John Picard is a real peach. He must of been a pastor for some satanic church, right? No. Try Grace Brethren Church in beautiful Mansfield, Ohio.
"That's preliminary charges until we sift through other information," Shook said. "We know of several victims. Their identities will be as protected as we can protect them."
Vandayburg said Picard might have a hold on some of the reported victims.
"He still keeps up with some of these girls as adults. They're still followers," the lieutenant said. "That's how much he's brainwashed them."
This case will be interesting.
I can see it now. Andre Allen, the 23-year pastor of a historic all-black Baptist church in Wheaton, Illinois, saunters 
up to the ladies in the local health club and offers to teach self-defense. He passes himself off as a heath club employee, his zest for life wins them over. In the process of teaching self-defense Allen cops a feel and does the bump and grind while pinning them to the floor. At his trial he pleads guilty to a lesser charge. It's obvious to everyone that Allen has a problem with the ladies. The man should not be leading a church. Church leadership rightfully calls for his resignation. He refuses. All I can say is, this man is a complete dick.
Two weeks ago, the church cabinet voted 16-3 to request his resignation, but Allen refused.
"This is not the type of activity you would expect from a minister," said Deacon Frank Jarrett. "I mean, that's the obvious. And as a congregation, we just need to address this."
Reached by phone at home Friday, Allen, 54, declined to discuss the case.
Source: Daily Herald | New allegations arise against Wheaton pastor
Every action has it consequences. Allen refused to resign and now another woman has come forward with allegation that Allen inappropriately touched her.
After learning about the pastor's recent troubles, a 44-year-old Carol Stream woman said she felt compelled to come forward with allegations Allen inappropriately touched her in 2001 at his church office. She filed a police report Friday, which was confirmed by Wheaton police.
The married mother of three said the two met by chance while both were waiting in line at a Downers Grove restaurant. Allen told her he was a motivational speaker, she said. The woman said she initiated a business relationship with him in hope of recruiting him for her company. She said they met six to 10 times in his church office during a six-month period. The final time they met, she said he repeatedly grabbed her against her objection under the guise it was to teach her self defense.
Somehow I think Andre Allen's troubles are just starting.
And this is not the first time around for Allen.
More than 10 years ago, Allen was arrested on similar misdemeanor charges after two women accused him of touching them in a provoking or insulting manner as they worked out at a Holiday Inn in Lisle. Allen was placed on court supervision after being found guilty of one of the misdemeanors. He later had it expunged from his criminal record, but three law enforcement officials involved in the case confirmed the details. A woman at Wheaton Sports Center also complained about two years ago about Allen, but she declined to pursue charges, police said.
How many more victims are there Andre Allen?
The congregation gets a chance to vote him off the island tonight. I'll post the results later.
*** Update ***
Justice is served: Wheaton's Second Baptist Church votes to oust Rev. Allen
The trial of accused murder and former youth pastor Joshua Rosa is in the hands of the jury. Deliberation will resume on Monday. I've been following the trial, but have not made a post on it yet. The whole sordid story made me sick.
Rosa is alleged to have stalked his 13-year-old victim Stephen Tomlinson before strangling him in a local park. Tomlinson's body was found bloody and with his pants down below his knees. The victims blood was found on Rosa's clothing, gloves, and on his hand.
We may never know the motive.
A motive was unclear, but Pruner said there was testimony that Rosa was looking for Stephen throughout that day.
"There is one person covered in the victim's DNA who had gloves that night in the park ... who had a flashlight and who lost his keys under the victim's body," Pruner said, his voice getting louder and louder.
I've been on the fence about blogging this story. Rosa is billed as being a youth minister. In reality he was an older teen working with younger teens. It was a part time job. The only qualifications were a believe in God and willingness to serve. Rosa is hardly my typical hypocrite.
It is when I look into the face of Stephen Tomlinson that I get angry. Rosa worked in his capacity as a youth minister under the direction of his pastor. There should have been some oversight. There should have been some training standards. There should have been some understanding that a 19-year-old youth pastor might not be mature enough to handle his responsibility. We may never know the reason why Stephen Tomlinson was murdered. I'm betting it had everything to do with sex and a lack of impulse control.
We will know if Joshua Rosen is guilty or innocent Monday. I've voting guilty.
***Update***
Joshua Rosa is guilty! He will serve life in Prison.
We are one blog away from breaking the 760 mark. It seems like every day bring us new blogs. Like the Daily Taylor.
The Daily Taylor is a progressive, atheistic blog devoted primarily to discussion of political and social issues. Especially here in the United States, religion and its doctrines often become intertwined with political topics in our public discourse. I delight in pointing out the absurdities that this tendency generally results in, as well as the broader absurdities of religion in general. Stop by and have a look!
Our atheist blogging community keeps growing. One of our newest blogs is Discomforting Ignorance. Its author has been kind enough to provide an introduction.
Have you ever visited your favorite forum and seen a chimp with a mustache discussing how a banana proves God? Have you ever been flipping through the channels and seen the very same man alongside Kirk Cameron disproving evolution by demonstrating that an orangutan could not get a plane ticket? How about being sent a tract from Living Waters which shows that since evolution doesn't work for a Coke can, it can't work for biological organisms?
The man who intelligently designed the banana argument, orangutan skit, and evolution-debunking-Coke can tract is none other than Ray Comfort. He maintains a blog, recently retitled "Atheist Central," wherein he posts on various scientific issues, such as light being invisible or evolution creating gravity, and on various historical issues, such as the Bible providing an account of dinosaurs.
Hi, I'm Jonathan (JT to most on the Internet) and I am an atheist irritated by such irrationality. My blog is DisComforting Ignorance. It is a responsive blog to specifically Ray Comfort and more generally The Way of the Master; however, other ludicrous religious asininity is covered from time-to-time.
I try to keep things refreshing by breaking up the responses to Ray's posts. There is a seven-part debunk of Ray's Atheist Test (wherein I disproved sexual reproduction using Pepsi cans), a weekly segment Rational Sabbath (with article, blog, and book recommendations), and most recently a death match between a pineapple and a coconut to determine which is the theist's worst nightmare (in response to the banana argument).
Please drop in and welcome our new member.
Homologous Legs, a blog from Australia, has joined the Atheist Blogroll. The author has been kind enough to provide an introduction.
"Homologous Legs (The evidence for a common ancestor between tables and chairs) is a blog run by Naon Tiotami (aka. Jack), an Australian high school student with a passion for evolutionary biology, philosophy and trumpet playing. Many people would expect a 16 year-old male to be obsessed with fast cars and attractive women, but he feels that the steady infiltration of creationism and unscientific, faith-based thinking into people's daily lives is more important than the possibility of a road-related death or an STD. This blog regularly dismantles articles written by creationists, defuses common creationist claims, and sometimes (if you're lucky) discusses atheism openly. So, what are you waiting for? Apprehensive about his writing skill? It's fine, I promise. Come on, visit Homologous Legs: if I could, I'd make it a logical fallacy not to."
Larry Jackson was a pastor in Gladewater, Texas. Life was simple for Larry. The work was good and he had ample unsupervised access to young girls. I mean, good old Larry was pastor of the 45 member, Gladewater Church of Christ. Everyone knows a pastor is a man of God. Everyone knows that a man of God would not rape young girls. Right?
Testimony in the sentencing trial of Larry Jackson, 55, of Kilgore will continue today in a Gregg County court. He could be sentenced up to life for each charge.
....The oldest sister, who was 9 years old at the time of the abuse, said the girls would stay at Jackson's home while their mother was working, and they would occasionally stay overnight. She said Jackson twice removed her from her sofa bed in the living room, placed her on the floor and attempted to penetrate her.
She said he stopped when she began to cry.
The younger sister, who was 7 years old at the time of the abuse, said Jackson performed oral sex on her three times and tried penetrating her once.
Yep. A man of God.
No word yet if the mother will be prosecuted for placing her daughters in harms way.
It is not that I hate graffiti. I'm a fan. But not on my firehydrant!
Labels:
Photography
GrrlScientist was kind enough to write an introduction to her outstanding science blog. She also provided an outstanding introductory announcement on her blog. Please join me in welcoming Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) to the Atheist Blogroll.
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) is written by GrrlScientist, an evolutionary biologist, ornithologist, aviculturist, and writer. She is a native of the Pacific Northwest but relocated with her parrots from Seattle to NYC after earning her PhD in Zoology/Ornithology. GrrlScientist worked as a postdoctoral fellow for two years in NYC, reconstructing a molecular phylogeny of the parrots endemic to the islands in the south Pacific Ocean. On her blog, GrrlScientist typically writes about evolution (especially at the molecular level), behavioral ecology, the environment, parrots and other birds, horses, bipolar disorder, politics, atheism and life in NYC. She also is an avid photographer and has a lot of friends who are, too, as you will realize when reading her graphics-rich blog. The fourth "blogiversary" of Living the Scientific Life is 4 August, which is just a few weeks away, so plan to pop in soon to wish her blog a happy birthday.
The photography on her blog is outstanding. She has a picture of a Numenius americanus that I want for my wall.
Drop in and say hi.
These are old cases. I'm sure knowing these horrible men are in jail give some comfort to their victims.
Angel Toro was a pastor in Rice Lake, Wisconsin. His victim waited 21 years for justice. Toro will serve 18 months.
According to the criminal complaint, in 1987 Toro, a pastor at First United Methodist Church in Rice Lake recruited 17-year-old Doug Guillen to help him fix a fence. That's when Guillen says Toro sexually assaulted him.
Dale Soppe was a catholic seminarian. He abused Richard Hinde when he was 13 in 1969. Hinde's abuse lasted a year. Soppe will serve 60 days plus two years probation.
In an interesting twist, both man were sent to prison because of a loophole in the Wisconsin statute of limitations law.
...the only reason Soppe and Angel Toro were sent to jail Tuesday is because they both left Wisconsin. He says that stopped the six year statute of limitation on their crimes. He says a new bill in Wisconsin could eliminate that time limit.
That's two more Hypocrites off the streets. It should be a cause for celebration.
Come August 18 Pastor Louis Lamonica will find out he has no friends. His only hope is that the jury will see video taped interviews from his young victims and not send him to jail for the rest of his life. He does not need to worry about fair. He's going to jail. He needs to worry about for how long.
The attorney for former Hosanna Church Pastor Louis Lamonica argued in court Monday that his client can’t receive a fair trial in Tangipahoa Parish.I need to do some research on this one. I do not know the case well enough to make my normal snarky comments.
Lamonica is charged with four counts of aggravated rape of a juvenile.
Attorney Michael Thiel made several references to a story on Eyewitness News, which aired in February and featured an extensive interview with Nicole Bernard, the former wife of a man already convicted of three counts of rape of a juvenile in connection with Hosanna Church. Trey Bernard is currently serving three life sentences in Angola.
Source: Change of venue argued for in former pastor's trial
Technorati Tags: Child Rape, Pedophiles, Pedophilia, Clergy Sexual Abuse, Sex offenders, Rape
I've been trying to find out how long it would take a asteroid to travel from the main asteroid belt to earth. Call it a useless fun intellectual exercise. In the process I found the Solar System Simulator
Technorati Tags: science
Labels:
science
Well here is something I've never heard of before. If you get busted for trying to buy sex from an undercover male police office, you can go to "john school" to learn of the dangers of prostitution. D.C. Baptist Pastor and District Heights Mayor James L. Walls Jr. is a graduate of this distinguish program.
District Heights Mayor James L. Walls Jr. told a D.C. Superior Court judge yesterday that he completed the court's "john school," in which speakers warn about the risks of prostitution. In return, prosecutors agreed not to pursue a solicitation charge, and Judge Rafael Diaz dismissed the case.
Walls, 30, was arrested April 24 at Sixth and F streets NW after allegedly offering an undercover male police officer $40 for a sexual act. Walls, who is also an ordained minister, declined to comment after yesterday's court hearing.
Move along people. There's nothing to see here.
Related posts:
This help file will walk you through how to add the Atheist Blogroll to your sidebar on Blogger.
Use this script. Choose to download the file. It is a text file (.txt) Open it using Notepad. The java script you need is the text contained in the .txt file. Select the text and choose copy from the edit menu.
This script needs to be inserted into the sidebar of your blog. On Blogger, this procedure is easy:
Log into blogger. Choose the Settings option from the dashboard. Select the Layout tab, and then select the Page Elements sub tab. Choose Add Page Element from the template above the sidebar. Choose HTML/JavaScript from the list of possible options. Once the window opens, paste the java scrip into the space provided. Give the entry a title - like "The Atheist Blogroll", and the press the Save option.
Of course, on the sidebar you will need to move the newly added blogroll down on the menu by dragging it downward. Otherwise, the blogroll will appear at the top of your sidebar.
You are not finished yet! Press the Orange save button at the top of the form to finalize the procedure.
And so the Crusades continue...
At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure that he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.
Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. "Where will you spend eternity?" it asked.
He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."
Source: Iraqis claim Marines are pushing Christianity in Fallujah
How is this even possible? How utterly stupid are the people running the war? We don't win the hearts and minds of a nation by trying to convert its people. We make them enemies instead. What's next? Convert or Die?
Proselytizing like this should be an illegal act. Marines are agent of the state. Their actions spread religion in the name of the United States of America. It would be like getting a visit from the FBI while they carried a bibles. It's not supposed to happen like this. Our government is secular. Our armed services should be neutral on the subject. And when we invade and occupy a nation, our armed services should be not be allowed to proselytize, even when off duty. This is a human rights issue. It's coercive conversion with an implied threat of violence. A Marine holds a gun with one hand and gives you John 3:16 with the other... Convert of die Muslim scum. What have we become?
Geez - this is just dumb. Please tell me this is a hoax.
How long until Obama is president?
Labels:
Christians,
Islam
vjack has a nice post up on the unbiblical habit some Christians have of praying in public. It makes me wonder if they read their bibles or just use them to beat others into submission.
Christians may squabble endlessly over what it means to be a Christian, and many are fond of claiming that only those who believe exactly as they do deserve to be called "real Christians." However, it seems fairly obvious to this author that there must be some common doctrine shared by all Christian. One of these is the belief that the Christian bible is central to the religion. Granted, fundamentalists are going to take their bible far more seriously than so-called liberal or moderate Christians, but all must agree that the Christian bible provides an important source of guidance. So why is it that so many self-identified Christians ignore what their bible says about prayer?
I think he's right on the mark with this one.
Labels:
Atheism,
Christians
I can already hear it. I like big butts and I cannot lie... It's not about the butts, it's about symmetry. I cannot pass up a shot like this. Two woman reading in the park on a sunny day with their asses pointing toward the passing crowd. Both posed together at the same angle. It's beautiful in some strange way that I cannot explain.
Take this photo (NSFW) of a disgraced Columbian congresswoman Yidis Medina. She posed nude in a cheesy men's magazine for reasons all her own. Most of the blogs posting on this subject focus on her being fat, ugly, or fat + ugly (fugly). When I look at her picture (this one only mind you, I've yet to see the others), I see beautiful symmetry.
Monthly men’s magazine SoHo showed a curvaceous Medina posing nude while in jail, her hands covering her breasts in one shot as she looks peacefully into the distance. The 12-page photo spread is titled “Body of Crime”
There are more photo's. I'm betting some are not so artistic. Is the photo of Yidis Medina art or pornography? I say art. You?
Labels:
Photography
A few posts back I mentioned reading When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris. I finished reading it last night. It was worth my time. You see, Sedaris is a wickedly funny man. Reading his stories makes me laugh at myself as-well-as the absurd things that rattle around in his head. I tend to read him slowly, a story at a time. I tote his books around to parties, restaurants, and the park. I read a few paragraphs and laugh, read a few more paragraphs and chuckle. Unlike other books I read, I don't want to finish this one. For me, this is the mark of a good read and a good writer.
WHEN YOU ARE ENGULFED IN FLAMES
By David Sedaris.
323 pp. Little, Brown & Company. $25.99.
This collection of stories is different. Sedaris seems older and a tad slower. He writes of his fascination with death and the macabre with the same verve and sickly sweet humor as before, only something is different. Sedaris seems to be coming to terms with middle age. It's a painfully funny process. Take Memento Mori - Where Sedaris tells the story of buying a human skeleton for his boyfriend Hugh.
..."you are going to die"
I'd always thought that I understood this, but lately I realize that what I call "understanding" is basically just fantasizing. I think about death all the time, but only in a romatic, self'-serving way, beginning, most often, with my tragic illness and ending with my funeral. I see my brother squatting beside my grave, so racked by guilt that he's unable to stand. "If only I'd paid him back the twenty-five thousand dollars I borrowed," he says. I see Hugh, drying his eyes on the sleeve of his suit jacket, then crying even harder when he remembers I bought if for him. What I didn't see were all the people who might celebrate my death, but tht's all changed with the skeleton, who assumes features at will.
He goes on to describe how the skeleton morphs into the everyday people in his life. How each person reminds him of his own mortality, and his own shortcomings. I laugh. I cry. I say, "how true," to passing strangers.
I'll pass along this excellent read to my wife. Knowing her, she will read it in one sitting. When she's done, I'll add it to my library where it will sit next to Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim, another outstanding book.
Vanessa Grigoriadis wrote a nice book review for the NY Times. Her commentary on the chapter "Smoking Section" is perfect.
With Sedaris in this state of mind, the centerpiece of the book should have been an obvious gimme: a diary of his quest to quit smoking. Even in a more frivolous mood, Sedaris on kicking the habit — he smoked Kool Milds for about 30 years, and his mother died of lung cancer — should be pretty much the best thing ever, like Evelyn Waugh returning to tell us his thoughts on MySpace. Sixteen of the 22 stories in this volume were previously published in The New Yorker, which doesn’t detract from the overall experience since Sedaris is better on a second reading. But in the case of “The Smoking Section,” the deft abridgment in the magazine last month was almost more satisfying than the original. Here the 83-page story is cut into three parts — before, during and after — and while the first section zooms off the page, once Sedaris stops smoking it’s as if he has lost his muse. He travels to Tokyo for a couple of months, for reasons that are murky, and the alienating setting isn’t right for the narrative. Virtue proves less interesting than vice, as he casts around for a sustainable joke — signing up for another language class, reading labels at the supermarket and, naturally, having a random encounter with feces.
The funny thing is that I don't normally agree with NY Times book reviews. I read them after I've read the book so as not to pollute my opinion. In this case "The Smoking Section" was excruciating. It started well, but ended in a tedious and seemingly endless series of small stories, none of which were particularly interesting. I put the book down and said, "Dang. I'm glad that is over". It was only later that I realized that his story painful and lengthy story was brilliant. It captured how it feels to quit smoking perfectly. Quitting takes months. It's boring and life looses its meaning during the process.
For a taste of this book, read the first chapter, It's Catching, at the NY Times. Or, you can listen to David Sedaris read Cry Baby at Authors on Tour.
