For more than 40 years, scientists have tried to figure out what's causing large parts of Canada, particularly the Hudson Bay region, to be "missing" gravity. In other words, gravity in the Hudson Bay area and surrounding regions is lower than it is in other parts of the world, a phenomenon first identified in the 1960s when the Earth's global gravity fields were being charted.
Two theories have been proposed to account for this anomaly. But before we go over them, it's important to first consider what creates gravity. At a basic level, gravity is proportional to mass. So when the mass of an area is somehow made smaller, gravity is made smaller. Gravity can vary on different parts of the Earth. Although we usually think of it as a ball, the Earth actually bulges at the Equator and gets flatter at the poles due to its rotation. The Earth's mass is not spread out proportionally, and it can shift position over time. So scientists proposed two theories to explain how the mass of the Hudson Bay area had decreased and contributed to the area's lower gravity.
One theory centers on a process known as convection occurring in the Earth's mantle. The mantle is a layer of molten rock called magma and exists between 60 and 124 miles (100 to 200 km) below the surface of the Earth . Magma is extremely hot and constantly whirling and shifting, rising and falling, to create convection currents. Convection drags the Earth's continental plates down, which decreases the mass in that area and decreases the gravity.
A new theory to account for the Hudson Bay area's missing gravity concerns the Laurentide Ice Sheet, which covered much of present-day Canada and the northern United States. This ice sheet was almost 2 miles (3.2 km) thick in most sections, and in two areas of Hudson Bay, it was 2.3 miles (3.7 km) thick. It was also very heavy and weighed down the Earth. Over a period of 10,000 years, the Laurentide Ice Sheet melted, finally disappearing 10,000 years ago. It left a deep indentation in the Earth.
To get a better idea of what happened, think about what happens when you lightly press your finger into the surface of a cake or a piece of really springy bread. Some of it moves to the sides and there's an indentation. But when you remove your finger, it bounces back to normal. A similar thing happened with the Laurentide Ice Sheet, the theory proposes -- except the Earth isn't so much "bouncing" back as it is rebounding very slowly (less than half an inch per year). In the meantime, the area around Hudson Bay has less mass because some of the Earth has been pushed to the sides by the ice sheet. Less mass means less gravity.
So which theory is correct? It turns out that both of them are. Convection and the ice sheet's rebound effect are both causing some of the decrease in gravity around Hudson Bay. First, we'll consider the ice sheet theory.
To calculate the impact of the Laurentide Ice Sheet, scientists at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics used data gathered by the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellites between April 2002 and April 2006. The GRACE satellites are highly sophisticated machines, orbiting about 310 miles (500 km) above the Earth and 137 miles (220 km) apart. The satellites can measure distances down to a micron, so they can detect minor gravitational variations. When the lead satellite flies over the Hudson Bay area, the decrease in gravity causes the satellite to move slightly away from the Earth and from its sister satellite. This shift in distance is detected by the satellites and used to calculate the change in gravity. Any shifts detected can also be used to create maps of gravitational fields.
The GRACE data allowed scientists to create topographical maps approximating what Hudson Bay looked like during the last ice age, when it was covered by the Laurentide Ice Sheet. These maps revealed some interesting features about the area, including two bulging areas on the western and eastern sides of Hudson Bay where the ice was much thicker than the rest of the sheet. Gravity is now lower there than in other parts of the gravity-depleted bay.
Another important finding came from the GRACE data: It turns out that the ice sheet theory only accounts for 25 percent to 45 percent of the gravitational variation around Hudson Bay and the surrounding area. Subtracting the "rebound effect" from the area's gravitational signal, scientists have determined that the remaining 55 percent to 75 percent of gravitational variation is likely due to convection.
The Hudson Bay area is going to have less gravity for a long time. It's estimated that the Earth has to rebound more than 650 feet to get back to its original position, which should take about 5,000 years. But the rebound effect is still visible. Although sea levels are rising around the world, the sea level along Hudson Bay's coast is dropping as the land continues to recover from the weight of the Laurentide Ice Sheet.
While the mystery surrounding Canada's gravitational anomalies has been put to rest, the study has wider implications. Scientists involved in the Harvard-Smithsonian Center study were amazed that they were able to see how the Earth looked 20,000 years ago. And by isolating the influence of the ice sheet's rebound effect, researchers better understand how convection affects gravity and how continents change over time. Finally, the GRACE satellites have provided scientists with data on many ice sheets and glaciers. By examining climate change that took place thousands of years ago, scientists may gain a better understanding of how global warming and rising sea levels are affecting our planet today and what impact they will have on our future.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Great Atheist Quotes
The fact that a believer is happier than a sceptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality. - George Bernard Shaw
Faith means not wanting to know what is true. - Friedrich Nietzsche
I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. - Frank Lloyd Wright
We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes. - Gene Roddenberry
To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today. - Isaac Asimov
A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows. - Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. - Seneca the Younger
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. - Anonymous
Not only is there no god, but try getting a plumber on weekends. - Woody Allen
If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul. - Isaac Asimov
Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination. - Edward Abbey
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg
I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence. - Doug McLeod
The world holds two classes of men - intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence. - Abu’l‐Ala al Ma’arri
Since the Bible and the church are obviously mistaken in telling us where we came from, how can we trust them to tell us where we are going? - Anonymous
I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. - Susan B. Anthony
The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike. - Delos B. McKown
Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer. - Anonymous
Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men. - Francis Bacon
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. - Richard Dawkins
A God who kept tinkering with the universe was absurd; a God who interfered with human freedom and creativity was tyrant. If God is seen as a self in a world of his own, an ego that relates to a thought, a cause separate from its effect. he becomes a being, not Being itself. An omnipotent, all‐knowing tyrant is not so different from earthly dictators who make everything and everybody mere cogs in the machine which they controlled. An atheism that rejects such a God is amply justified. - Karen Armstrong
It is not as in the Bible, that God created man in his own image. But, on the contrary, man created God in his own image. - Ludwig Feuerbach
People ask me what I think about that woman priest thing. What, a woman priest? Women priests. Great, great. Now there’s priests of both sexes I don’t listen to. - Bill Hicks
All the biblical miracles will at last disappear with the progress of science. - Matthew Arnold
Blind faith is an ironic gift to return to the Creator of human intelligence. - Anonymous
Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one. - Richard Dawkins
What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. - Christopher Hitchens
In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point. - Friedrich Nietzsche
It will yet be the proud boast of women that they never contributed a line to the Bible. - George W. Foote
On the first day, man created God. - Anonymous
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. - Stephen Roberts
You do not need the Bible to justify love, but no better tool has been invented to justify hate. - Richard A. Weatherwax
What’s “God”? Well, you know, when you want something really bad and you close your eyes and you wish for it? God’s the guy that ignores you. - Steve Buscemi (From the movie “The Island”)
As far as I can tell from studying the scriptures, all you do in heaven is pretty much just sit around all day and praise the Lord. I don’t know about you, but I think that after the first, oh, I don’t know, 50,000,000 years of that I’d start to get a little bored. - Rick Reynolds
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime; give a man religion and he will die praying for a fish. - Anonymous
Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color. - Don Hirschberg
God should be executed for crimes against humanity. - Bryan Emmanuel Gutierrez
To say that atheism requires faith is as dim-witted as saying that disbelief in pixies or leprechauns takes faith. Even if Einstein himself told me there was an elf on my shoulder, I would still ask for proof and I wouldn’t be wrong to ask. - Geoff Mather
I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it. - Mark Twain
Of all religions the Christian is without doubt the one which should inspire tolerance most, although up to now the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men. - Voltaire
And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence. - Bertrand Russell
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? - Epicurus
I’m a polyatheist - there are many gods I don’t believe in. - Dan Fouts
If it turns out that there is a God, I don’t think that he’s evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he’s an underachiever. - Woody Allen
A lie is a lie even if everyone believes it. The truth is the truth even if nobody believes it. - David Stevens
Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a God superior to themselves. Most Gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child. - Robert A Heinlein
I refuse to prove that I exist,” says God, “for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing. - Douglas Adams
It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand. - Mark Twain
He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; he that dares not reason is a slave. - William Drummond
Remember, Jesus would rather constantly shame gays than let orphans have a family. - Steven Colbert
Which is it, is man one of God’s blunders or is God one of man’s? - Friedrich Nietzsche
Religion does three things quite effectively: Divides people, Controls people, Deludes people. - Carlespie Mary Alice McKinney
Religion has caused more misery to all of mankind in every stage of human history than any other single idea. - Anonymous
When a man is freed of religion, he has a better chance to live a normal and wholesome life. - Sigmund Freud
They felt that science would be corrosive to religious belief and they were worried about it. Damn it, I think they were right. It is corrosive to religious belief and it’s a good thing. - Steven Weinberg
Take from the church the miraculous, the supernatural, the incomprehensible, the unreasonable, the impossible, the unknowable, the absurd, and nothing but a vacuum remains. - Robert G. Ingersoll
History teaches us that no other cause has brought more death than the word of god. - Giulian Buzila
Atheism is a non-prophet organization. - George Carlin
We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins
A believer states everything must have a creator but fail to say how he was created. - Anonymous
“There are no atheists in foxholes” isn’t an argument against atheism, it’s an argument against foxholes. - James Morrow
People will then often say, ‘But surely it’s better to remain an Agnostic just in case?’ This, to me, suggests such a level of silliness and muddle that I usually edge out of the conversation rather than get sucked into it. (If it turns out that I’ve been wrong all along, and there is in fact a god, and if it further turned out that this kind of legalistic, cross-your-fingers-behind-your-back, Clintonian hair-splitting impressed him, then I think I would choose not to worship him anyway.) - Douglas Adams
Properly read, the bible is the most potent force for Atheism ever conceived. - Isaac Asimov
If all the Christians who have called other Christians “not really a Christian” were to vanish, there’d be no Christians left. - Anonymous
An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support. - John Buchan
Gods dont kill people. People with Gods kill people. - David Viaene
If God were suddenly condemned to live the life which He has inflicted upon men, He would kill Himself. - Alexandre Dumas
Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make when in the presence of religious dogma. - Sam Harris
I don’t believe in God because I don’t believe in Mother Goose - Clarence Darrow
No philosophy, no religion, has ever brought so glad a message to the world as this good news of Atheism. - Annie Wood Besant
I refuse to believe in a god who is the primary cause of conflict in the world, preaches racism, sexism, homophobia, and ignorance, and then sends me to hell if I’m ‘bad’. - Mike Fuhrman
Faith does not give you the answers, it just stops you asking the questions. - Frater Ravus
Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o, and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have. - Penn Jillette
Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power but absolute power is corrupt only in the hands of the absolutely faithful. - Anonymous
Gods are fragile things; they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense. - Chapman Cohen
The inspiration of the bible depends on the ignorance of the person who reads it. - Robert G. Ingersoll
When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion. - Robert Pirsig
I wonder who got the shit job of scouring the planet for the 15000 species of butterfly or the 8800 species of ant they eventually took on board Noah’s Ark. But at least we got that magical rainbow for all their trouble. - Azura Skye
I have no need for religion, I have a conscience. - Anonymous
Man has always required an explanation for all of those things in the world he did not understand. If an explanation was not available, he created one. - Jim Crawford
I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world. - Richard Dawkins
What has been Christianity’s fruits? Superstition, Bigotry and Persecution. - James Madison
The characters and events depicted in the damn bible are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. - Penn and Teller
If god is the alpha and the omega. The begining and the end, knows what has passed and what is to come, like it states in the bible, why do people pray and think it will make any difference. - Mark Fairclough
The finality of death is the coldest truth one must face. Religion makes the perfect distraction. - Anonymous
Religion is the opiate of the masses. - Karl Marx
If God created the world, then who created god? and who created whoever created god? So somewhere along the line something had to just be there. So why can’t we just skip the idea of god and go straight to earth? - Ryan Hanson
If we expect God to subscribe to one religion at the exclusion of all the others, then we should expect damnation as a matter of chance. This should give Christians pause when expounding their religious beliefs, but it does not. - Sam Harris
Atheists will celebrate life, while you’re in church celebrating death. - Anonymous
Animals do not have gods, they are smarter than that. - Ronnie Snow
I have observed that the world has suffered far less from ignorance than from pretensions to knowledge. It is not skeptics or explorers but fanatics and ideologues who menace decency and progress. No agnostic ever burned anyone at the stake or tortured a pagan, a heretic, or an unbeliever. - Daniel Boorstin
I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious ideas of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God. So far as religion of the day is concerned, it is a damned fake… Religion is all bunk. - Thomas Edison
Fundamentalism, of any type, due to its prerequisite lack of intelligent thought, could prove to be the worst weapon of mass destruction, of all. - David J. Constable
To really be free, You need to be free in the mind. - Alexander Loutsis
Most religions prophecy the end of the world and then consistently work together to ensure that these prophecies come true. - Anonymous
Jesus hardly made the greatest sacrifice. He knew he would be resurrected anyway. - Anonymous
Religion is like a virus that affects the behaviour of its host in such a way as to propagate itself further. - Jack Pritchard
Religions are like pills, which must be swallowed whole without chewing. - Anonymous
Today’s religion will be the future’s mythology. Both believed at one time by many; but proved wrong by the clever. - Steven Crocker
The Bible - A Fairytale book of rules brainwashing millions. Obliviously used to help create war, kill, hate, judge and discriminate. - Anonymous
Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too? - Douglas Adams
Faith means not wanting to know what is true. - Friedrich Nietzsche
I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. - Frank Lloyd Wright
We must question the story logic of having an all-knowing all-powerful God, who creates faulty Humans, and then blames them for his own mistakes. - Gene Roddenberry
To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today. - Isaac Asimov
A man is accepted into a church for what he believes and he is turned out for what he knows. - Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain)
Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful. - Seneca the Younger
Philosophy is questions that may never be answered. Religion is answers that may never be questioned. - Anonymous
Not only is there no god, but try getting a plumber on weekends. - Woody Allen
If I were not an atheist, I would believe in a God who would choose to save people on the basis of the totality of their lives and not the pattern of their words. I think he would prefer an honest and righteous atheist to a TV preacher whose every word is God, God, God, and whose every deed is foul, foul, foul. - Isaac Asimov
Belief in the supernatural reflects a failure of the imagination. - Edward Abbey
With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion. - Steven Weinberg
I still say a church steeple with a lightning rod on top shows a lack of confidence. - Doug McLeod
The world holds two classes of men - intelligent men without religion, and religious men without intelligence. - Abu’l‐Ala al Ma’arri
Since the Bible and the church are obviously mistaken in telling us where we came from, how can we trust them to tell us where we are going? - Anonymous
I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do because I notice it always coincides with their own desires. - Susan B. Anthony
The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike. - Delos B. McKown
Two hands working can do more than a thousand clasped in prayer. - Anonymous
Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation; all of which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, even if religion vanished; but religious superstition dismounts all these and erects an absolute monarchy in the minds of men. - Francis Bacon
The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully. - Richard Dawkins
A God who kept tinkering with the universe was absurd; a God who interfered with human freedom and creativity was tyrant. If God is seen as a self in a world of his own, an ego that relates to a thought, a cause separate from its effect. he becomes a being, not Being itself. An omnipotent, all‐knowing tyrant is not so different from earthly dictators who make everything and everybody mere cogs in the machine which they controlled. An atheism that rejects such a God is amply justified. - Karen Armstrong
It is not as in the Bible, that God created man in his own image. But, on the contrary, man created God in his own image. - Ludwig Feuerbach
People ask me what I think about that woman priest thing. What, a woman priest? Women priests. Great, great. Now there’s priests of both sexes I don’t listen to. - Bill Hicks
All the biblical miracles will at last disappear with the progress of science. - Matthew Arnold
Blind faith is an ironic gift to return to the Creator of human intelligence. - Anonymous
Be thankful that you have a life, and forsake your vain and presumptuous desire for a second one. - Richard Dawkins
What can be asserted without proof can be dismissed without proof. - Christopher Hitchens
In Christianity neither morality nor religion come into contact with reality at any point. - Friedrich Nietzsche
It will yet be the proud boast of women that they never contributed a line to the Bible. - George W. Foote
On the first day, man created God. - Anonymous
I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours. - Stephen Roberts
You do not need the Bible to justify love, but no better tool has been invented to justify hate. - Richard A. Weatherwax
What’s “God”? Well, you know, when you want something really bad and you close your eyes and you wish for it? God’s the guy that ignores you. - Steve Buscemi (From the movie “The Island”)
As far as I can tell from studying the scriptures, all you do in heaven is pretty much just sit around all day and praise the Lord. I don’t know about you, but I think that after the first, oh, I don’t know, 50,000,000 years of that I’d start to get a little bored. - Rick Reynolds
Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he will eat for a lifetime; give a man religion and he will die praying for a fish. - Anonymous
Calling Atheism a religion is like calling bald a hair color. - Don Hirschberg
God should be executed for crimes against humanity. - Bryan Emmanuel Gutierrez
To say that atheism requires faith is as dim-witted as saying that disbelief in pixies or leprechauns takes faith. Even if Einstein himself told me there was an elf on my shoulder, I would still ask for proof and I wouldn’t be wrong to ask. - Geoff Mather
I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it. - Mark Twain
Of all religions the Christian is without doubt the one which should inspire tolerance most, although up to now the Christians have been the most intolerant of all men. - Voltaire
And if there were a God, I think it very unlikely that He would have such an uneasy vanity as to be offended by those who doubt His existence. - Bertrand Russell
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him God? - Epicurus
I’m a polyatheist - there are many gods I don’t believe in. - Dan Fouts
If it turns out that there is a God, I don’t think that he’s evil. But the worst that you can say about him is that basically he’s an underachiever. - Woody Allen
A lie is a lie even if everyone believes it. The truth is the truth even if nobody believes it. - David Stevens
Men rarely (if ever) manage to dream up a God superior to themselves. Most Gods have the manners and morals of a spoiled child. - Robert A Heinlein
I refuse to prove that I exist,” says God, “for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing. - Douglas Adams
It ain’t the parts of the Bible that I can’t understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand. - Mark Twain
He that will not reason is a bigot; he that cannot reason is a fool; he that dares not reason is a slave. - William Drummond
Remember, Jesus would rather constantly shame gays than let orphans have a family. - Steven Colbert
Which is it, is man one of God’s blunders or is God one of man’s? - Friedrich Nietzsche
Religion does three things quite effectively: Divides people, Controls people, Deludes people. - Carlespie Mary Alice McKinney
Religion has caused more misery to all of mankind in every stage of human history than any other single idea. - Anonymous
When a man is freed of religion, he has a better chance to live a normal and wholesome life. - Sigmund Freud
They felt that science would be corrosive to religious belief and they were worried about it. Damn it, I think they were right. It is corrosive to religious belief and it’s a good thing. - Steven Weinberg
Take from the church the miraculous, the supernatural, the incomprehensible, the unreasonable, the impossible, the unknowable, the absurd, and nothing but a vacuum remains. - Robert G. Ingersoll
History teaches us that no other cause has brought more death than the word of god. - Giulian Buzila
Atheism is a non-prophet organization. - George Carlin
We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further. - Richard Dawkins
A believer states everything must have a creator but fail to say how he was created. - Anonymous
“There are no atheists in foxholes” isn’t an argument against atheism, it’s an argument against foxholes. - James Morrow
People will then often say, ‘But surely it’s better to remain an Agnostic just in case?’ This, to me, suggests such a level of silliness and muddle that I usually edge out of the conversation rather than get sucked into it. (If it turns out that I’ve been wrong all along, and there is in fact a god, and if it further turned out that this kind of legalistic, cross-your-fingers-behind-your-back, Clintonian hair-splitting impressed him, then I think I would choose not to worship him anyway.) - Douglas Adams
Properly read, the bible is the most potent force for Atheism ever conceived. - Isaac Asimov
If all the Christians who have called other Christians “not really a Christian” were to vanish, there’d be no Christians left. - Anonymous
An atheist is a man who has no invisible means of support. - John Buchan
Gods dont kill people. People with Gods kill people. - David Viaene
If God were suddenly condemned to live the life which He has inflicted upon men, He would kill Himself. - Alexandre Dumas
Atheism is nothing more than the noises reasonable people make when in the presence of religious dogma. - Sam Harris
I don’t believe in God because I don’t believe in Mother Goose - Clarence Darrow
No philosophy, no religion, has ever brought so glad a message to the world as this good news of Atheism. - Annie Wood Besant
I refuse to believe in a god who is the primary cause of conflict in the world, preaches racism, sexism, homophobia, and ignorance, and then sends me to hell if I’m ‘bad’. - Mike Fuhrman
Faith does not give you the answers, it just stops you asking the questions. - Frater Ravus
Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o, and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have. - Penn Jillette
Absolute faith corrupts as absolutely as absolute power but absolute power is corrupt only in the hands of the absolutely faithful. - Anonymous
Gods are fragile things; they may be killed by a whiff of science or a dose of common sense. - Chapman Cohen
The inspiration of the bible depends on the ignorance of the person who reads it. - Robert G. Ingersoll
When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called religion. - Robert Pirsig
I wonder who got the shit job of scouring the planet for the 15000 species of butterfly or the 8800 species of ant they eventually took on board Noah’s Ark. But at least we got that magical rainbow for all their trouble. - Azura Skye
I have no need for religion, I have a conscience. - Anonymous
Man has always required an explanation for all of those things in the world he did not understand. If an explanation was not available, he created one. - Jim Crawford
I am against religion because it teaches us to be satisfied with not understanding the world. - Richard Dawkins
What has been Christianity’s fruits? Superstition, Bigotry and Persecution. - James Madison
The characters and events depicted in the damn bible are fictitious. Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. - Penn and Teller
If god is the alpha and the omega. The begining and the end, knows what has passed and what is to come, like it states in the bible, why do people pray and think it will make any difference. - Mark Fairclough
The finality of death is the coldest truth one must face. Religion makes the perfect distraction. - Anonymous
Religion is the opiate of the masses. - Karl Marx
If God created the world, then who created god? and who created whoever created god? So somewhere along the line something had to just be there. So why can’t we just skip the idea of god and go straight to earth? - Ryan Hanson
If we expect God to subscribe to one religion at the exclusion of all the others, then we should expect damnation as a matter of chance. This should give Christians pause when expounding their religious beliefs, but it does not. - Sam Harris
Atheists will celebrate life, while you’re in church celebrating death. - Anonymous
Animals do not have gods, they are smarter than that. - Ronnie Snow
I have observed that the world has suffered far less from ignorance than from pretensions to knowledge. It is not skeptics or explorers but fanatics and ideologues who menace decency and progress. No agnostic ever burned anyone at the stake or tortured a pagan, a heretic, or an unbeliever. - Daniel Boorstin
I have never seen the slightest scientific proof of the religious ideas of heaven and hell, of future life for individuals, or of a personal God. So far as religion of the day is concerned, it is a damned fake… Religion is all bunk. - Thomas Edison
Fundamentalism, of any type, due to its prerequisite lack of intelligent thought, could prove to be the worst weapon of mass destruction, of all. - David J. Constable
To really be free, You need to be free in the mind. - Alexander Loutsis
Most religions prophecy the end of the world and then consistently work together to ensure that these prophecies come true. - Anonymous
Jesus hardly made the greatest sacrifice. He knew he would be resurrected anyway. - Anonymous
Religion is like a virus that affects the behaviour of its host in such a way as to propagate itself further. - Jack Pritchard
Religions are like pills, which must be swallowed whole without chewing. - Anonymous
Today’s religion will be the future’s mythology. Both believed at one time by many; but proved wrong by the clever. - Steven Crocker
The Bible - A Fairytale book of rules brainwashing millions. Obliviously used to help create war, kill, hate, judge and discriminate. - Anonymous
Isn’t it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too? - Douglas Adams
Coconut Banana Macadamia Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 cup milk (non-fat is fine)
1 large egg
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1/4 cup mashed banana (about 1/2 large banana)
1/4 cup chopped macadamia nuts (optional)
Method:
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
In a medium bowl, beat together milk, egg, melted butter and almond extract. Stir in coconut and banana, then pour into flour mixture. Add the macadamia nuts and stir until almost smooth.
Heat a lightly greased griddle (or frying pan), over medium-high heat until a drop of water will dance around when dropped on the surface. Drop batter by heaping spoonfulls and cook about 2-3 minutes, until browned, before flipping to brown the other side. Continue until all pancakes are made and serve hot.
Saturday, July 05, 2008
The Witch's Boat
This is a traditional Slavonian Gypsy tale that tells of a gypsy girl who was extremely inquisitive about the world around her. One day she came up with an idea to eat an egg and to leave the shell on the riverbank to see what would happen.
She sat and waited until dark by the riverbank. At nightfall her curiosity was answered. A witch came and whispered a magic word, and magically the shell of the egg turned into a beautiful boat. the witch got into the boat and took the witch down river and across the ocean to a foreign land. The girl wondered at what she saw and decided she would do the same. Remembering the magic word and went away. The next time the girl ate another egg she went down to the riverbank and whispered the magic word. Just as before a magic boat appeared. In she climbed and sailed off down the river and across the ocean to strange new lands.
Time passed but soon the girl returned with many exotic flowers and strange new fruits from travels which she sold to her neighbours. Many times the girl would travel away and return with fantastic flowers and fruit. The gypsy girl did not know that one of her neighbours was extremely jealous of her success and was a very wicked woman. She had watched the girl return from her travels by hiding down by the riverbank in the bushes. Deciding that she too wanted riches the woman watched the girl climb out of the boat and go away. As quickly as she could she climbed into the gypsy girl's boat and instructed the boat to take her away to lands where there was much gold and silk. Unfortunately the woman did not know the magic word so as soon as she had told the boat what to do the boat began to sink. Panicking in case she would drown the woman exclaimed 'In God's name get on with you!'. As soon as the woman said this the boat turned back into an eggshell. The spell had been broken and the woman sank into the water. The sea began to turn and roll, and the woman drowned.
The moral of the story : that no amount of riches are worth dieing for and that negative energies are extremely dangerous
She sat and waited until dark by the riverbank. At nightfall her curiosity was answered. A witch came and whispered a magic word, and magically the shell of the egg turned into a beautiful boat. the witch got into the boat and took the witch down river and across the ocean to a foreign land. The girl wondered at what she saw and decided she would do the same. Remembering the magic word and went away. The next time the girl ate another egg she went down to the riverbank and whispered the magic word. Just as before a magic boat appeared. In she climbed and sailed off down the river and across the ocean to strange new lands.
Time passed but soon the girl returned with many exotic flowers and strange new fruits from travels which she sold to her neighbours. Many times the girl would travel away and return with fantastic flowers and fruit. The gypsy girl did not know that one of her neighbours was extremely jealous of her success and was a very wicked woman. She had watched the girl return from her travels by hiding down by the riverbank in the bushes. Deciding that she too wanted riches the woman watched the girl climb out of the boat and go away. As quickly as she could she climbed into the gypsy girl's boat and instructed the boat to take her away to lands where there was much gold and silk. Unfortunately the woman did not know the magic word so as soon as she had told the boat what to do the boat began to sink. Panicking in case she would drown the woman exclaimed 'In God's name get on with you!'. As soon as the woman said this the boat turned back into an eggshell. The spell had been broken and the woman sank into the water. The sea began to turn and roll, and the woman drowned.
The moral of the story : that no amount of riches are worth dieing for and that negative energies are extremely dangerous
Vegetable Myths
Myth #1: White potatoes make you fat. Nope. The truth is – one medium baked potato is only 161 calories, but has four grams of stomach-filling fiber. Cooked, then chilled potatoes are packed with resistant starch, which can help you lose weight – because they pass right through you. Studies also show that the chemicals in potatoes improve heart health, boost immunity, lower blood pressure, and protect against cancer. Just leave off the high-fat toppings, like butter, sour cream, and bacon bits - and eat your potato – skin and all - with salsa instead.
Myth #2: Carrots are full of sugar. Not exactly. One cup of chopped raw carrots contains just 52 calories, and 12 grams of carbs - fewer than you’d get from a cup of milk, or a medium size piece of fruit. Half of the “carrot carbs” are complex carbs, which help you feel full longer. The other half come from natural sugar, which is better than the processed sugar in candy bars. Carrots are also packed with fiber and vitamins, which boost blood sugar control and colon health.
Myth #3: Iceberg lettuce has zero nutrients. Not true. Iceberg has lots of good-for-you chemicals, like vision-boosting vitamin A, and bone-healthy vitamin K. In fact, studies show that adults who eat one serving a day of any type of lettuce have the lowest rates of hip fracture.
Myth #4: Corn is nothing more than carbs. Yes, corn’s got carbs, but they’re the best kind: high-quality complex carbs. The plant also has little in common with high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener made from corn that has all the nutrition and fiber processed out of it. In fact, corn does double-duty as both a veggie and a whole grain, so it’s loaded with fiber. Corn also helps your heart, and helps prevent age-related macular degeneration.
Myth #2: Carrots are full of sugar. Not exactly. One cup of chopped raw carrots contains just 52 calories, and 12 grams of carbs - fewer than you’d get from a cup of milk, or a medium size piece of fruit. Half of the “carrot carbs” are complex carbs, which help you feel full longer. The other half come from natural sugar, which is better than the processed sugar in candy bars. Carrots are also packed with fiber and vitamins, which boost blood sugar control and colon health.
Myth #3: Iceberg lettuce has zero nutrients. Not true. Iceberg has lots of good-for-you chemicals, like vision-boosting vitamin A, and bone-healthy vitamin K. In fact, studies show that adults who eat one serving a day of any type of lettuce have the lowest rates of hip fracture.
Myth #4: Corn is nothing more than carbs. Yes, corn’s got carbs, but they’re the best kind: high-quality complex carbs. The plant also has little in common with high fructose corn syrup, a sweetener made from corn that has all the nutrition and fiber processed out of it. In fact, corn does double-duty as both a veggie and a whole grain, so it’s loaded with fiber. Corn also helps your heart, and helps prevent age-related macular degeneration.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
