verywide.net » Society and Culture

Iran

Moody — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:02:50 +0000

It is my sincerest hope that the people of Iran will find a peaceful resolution to the conflict that is tearing Iran apart. It is my sincerest wish that no-one else will lose her or his life, that no more families will be doused with the gasoline of grief and set afire by the agony [...]

Day Off And So Forth

Moody — Fri, 08 May 2009 16:47:45 +0000

Woke up around 6:50 in the AM to make sure our boy made it to the bus on time. Fixed some instant coffee (-like substance) and sat in bed reading Infinite Jest for awhile. I read before work every morning, which is usually the only time I get to actually sit and read anything not [...]

The Hazards of Confronting Believers

Moody — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 21:35:17 +0000

One of the most difficult positions held by atheists—a de facto position following of course from the main proposition of atheism—is that there is no divine aid or comfort to be looked for in difficult times. Religious people are fond of saying that they are “carried through the hard times” by their beliefs, by their [...]

Where’s the line?

Moody — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 06:24:53 +0000

There are bound to be casualties on both sides in the culture wars. Try as we might to be considerate to those whose feelings and opinions matter to us, we are bound to run into some difficulty that either hurts them or us. If we speak our minds to persons close to us whose position [...]

The 33rd Humanist Symposium

Moody — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:00:25 +0000

“Many persons have no idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”—Helen Keller

Mission Statement: [The] purpose of the Humanist Symposium is not primarily to criticize religious beliefs or debunk the latest superstition, but to offer and discuss a positive alternative to belief systems based on [...]

Comment I made on StumbleUpon

Moody — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:03:06 +0000

How I wish I could claim to be surprised by the number of ignorant and stupid comments I see on “teh intarnets”–but I can’t. The ridiculously virulent form of foolishness that can reduce otherwise decent people to a manic and bellicose condition of trollishness is so widespread around here that I am more surprised when [...]

Apx. 99.9% sure I’m right about this…

Moody — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 05:55:10 +0000

Let’s try to put it as simply as possible and see if everyone can understand it, shall we?

Science has nothing to do with “God”. Science deals solely with the empirical universe as it may be observed, recorded, studied, tested, etc., utilizing whatever tools may be created to do so, as well as our innate human [...]

Hypermiling for Life

Moody — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 17:58:05 +0000

What a marvel it is, the internal combustion engine; what a wonder is the oil that, in its refined and crude states, powers such an engine. For nearly a hundred years our world — to large extent and to great effect — the world, I said, has been powered, has been driven even, by the [...]

The Broad Theater of a Culture War

Moody — Sun, 08 Apr 2007 23:28:01 +0000

They talk without being criticized nearly enough:

“When the Christian majority takes over this country, there will be no satanic churches, no more free distribution of pornography, no more talk of rights for homosexuals. After the Christian majority takes control, pluralism will be seen as immoral and evil and the state will not permit anybody the [...]

Of Noise and Data, Pt. 1: “Noise”

Moody — Thu, 25 Jan 2007 18:37:42 +0000

Merzbow: Metamorphism

Noise — true and unadulterated noise — is not the chaos from which order emerges, it is the great annihilator that devours all order. The television, the radio, the movie, the CD; the text, the word, the letters; emotions, senses, thought; in the end, noise consumes them all, consumes everything but itself. Noise is [...]