The Hazards of Belief

volchitsa

Pherekydes wrote: »

The one linked? No. Tacky and tasteless.

Some are hilarious, some are brutally unfunny.

Concerning the one above, surely what is tacky is the idea that a suitable heavenly reward for a man is access to 72 virgins and an unlimited buffet?

A cartoon satirizing such a thing is not nearly as tacky as the concept itself, and even one person realizes that, then I think it will have done its job.

oscarBravo

volchitsa wrote: »

Concerning the one above, surely what is tacky is the idea that a suitable heavenly reward for a man is access to 72 virgins and an unlimited buffet?

A cartoon satirizing such a thing is not nearly as tacky as the concept itself, and even one person realizes that, then I think it will have done its job.

Fair enough, but that doesn't make it funny.

volchitsa

oscarBravo wrote: »

Fair enough, but that doesn't make it funny.

The idea that satire is meant to make people laugh is fairly new, and IMO a bit of an abuse of the word. I don't imagine people were splitting their sides at Dean Swift's suggestion of a few good recipes for the Irish to cook their babies.

oscarBravo

volchitsa wrote: »

The idea that satire is meant to make people laugh is fairly new, and IMO a bit of an abuse of the word. I don't imagine people were splitting their sides at Dean Swift's suggestion of a few good recipes for the Irish to cook their babies.

If satire isn't supposed to be funny, it's certainly supposed to be clever. The cartoon in question is neither.

silverharp

oscarBravo wrote: »

If satire isn't supposed to be funny, it's certainly supposed to be clever. The cartoon in question is neither.

it doesn't matter though does it, its the right to be able to do with without being killed, everything else is subjective

oscarBravo

silverharp wrote: »

it doesn't matter though does it, its the right to be able to do with without being killed, everything else is subjective

Oh, absolutely. Nobody is arguing that satirists - even unclever, unfunny ones - should be killed.

mikhail

oscarBravo wrote: »

Oh, absolutely. Nobody is arguing that satirists - even unclever, unfunny ones - should be killed.

Well, nobody here.

silverharp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-DDZ-FvCCE

recedite

Tempers flare at the Longford Islamic Centre.
Not sure what its all about, except its something to do with a perceived lack of democracy within the religion in the matter of appointing the clerics.
In that respect, its no different to the RCC really.

silverharp

I'd be getting those fancy Apple ear buds and have instructions feeding in

https://t.co/LYdr009AqT

mikhail

silverharp wrote: »

I'd be getting those fancy Apple ear buds and have instructions feeding in

There are metal detectors and mandatory searches at these things now. Sad, really, but there are plenty of people who've been caught with a computer or being fed moves like this. For example,
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/04/14/chess-grandmaster-caught-using-iphone-to-cheat-during-international-tournament/

Pherekydes

silverharp wrote: »

I'd be getting those fancy Apple ear buds and have instructions feeding in

https://t.co/LYdr009AqT

But, but most hijab wearers do it by choice. :rolleyes:

Can't see many of the top women going there.

Trent Houseboat

Didn't some mad cleric declare chess haram recently?

PopePalpatine

16 Da'esh members join the hallowed annals of the Darwin Awards after getting blown up...thanks to a malfunctioning bomb belt during a meeting in a town 55km southwest of Kirkuk. Link.

recedite

They were warned to stop hanging their jackets on the radiators...

Mr_A

PopePalpatine wrote: »

16 Da'esh members join the hallowed annals of the Darwin Awards after getting blown up...thanks to a malfunctioning bomb belt during a meeting in a town 55km southwest of Kirkuk. Link.

Love it when this sort of thing happens.

You wouldn't get that with the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch.

Hotblack Desiato

Pope Francis is talking bollocks about the French school system.

silverharp

I honestly cant see the appeal :pac:

robindch

silverharp wrote: »

I honestly cant see the appeal [...]

Nor indeed, can one see the en-bagged, and presumably surplus, first wife.

recedite

I think those eyelashes may have been photo-shopped.

silverharp

robindch wrote: »

Nor indeed, can one see the en-bagged, and presumably surplus, first wife.

the gritted teeth are well hidden

Michael OBrien

silverharp wrote: »

I honestly cant see the appeal :pac:

It can be hard to tell whether its his daughters or wives. From the pic he may already have three wives.

recedite

Michael OBrien wrote: »

From the pic he may already have three wives.

Good point, but as the younger ones are still smiling, I think only one wife so far.

Cabaal

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-37576957

A Dutch man wept as he was jailed for three months with hard labour in Myanmar for unplugging a loudspeaker.

Klaas Haytema, 30, pulled the plug on the late-night broadcast, which was relaying a Buddhist sermon, because it was disturbing his sleep.

Unreal, and people believe Buddhist are lovely and peaceful and nice

Hotblack Desiato

robindch wrote: »

presumably surplus, first wife.

Still all that cooking and cleaning and childminding to be done...

Hotblack Desiato

Cabaal wrote: »

Unreal, and people believe Buddhist are lovely and peaceful and nice

Can we put the 'good religion, bad religion' thing to bed once and for all then? They're all the same and there's nothing any of them wouldn't stoop to given the chance.

oscarBravo

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Can we put the 'good religion, bad religion' thing to bed once and for all then? They're all the same and there's nothing any of them wouldn't stoop to given the chance.

Jainism?

Hotblack Desiato

Only a small minority even on its home turf, so little or no temporal power.

silverharp

I dont know what they are smoking :pac:


http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/computer-simulation-world-matrix-scientists-elon-musk-artificial-intelligence-ai-a7347526.html

Tech billionaires convinced we live in the Matrix are secretly funding scientists to help break us out of it
Many of the world's richest and most powerful people, including Elon Musk and Bank of America, think that we live in a simulation of the real world

Some of the world’s richest and most powerful people are convinced that we are living in a computer simulation. And now they’re trying to do something about it.

At least two of Silicon Valley’s tech billionaires are pouring money into efforts to break humans out of the simulation that they believe that it is living in, according to a new report.

Philosophers have long been concerned about how we can know that our world isn’t just a very believable simulation of a real one. But concern about that has become ever more active in recent years, as computers and artificial intelligence have advanced.

Peregrinus

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Can we put the 'good religion, bad religion' thing to bed once and for all then? They're all the same and there's nothing any of them wouldn't stoop to given the chance.

Up to and including imposing an $80 fine for unplugging someone else's loudspeaker.

The depravity!

smacl

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Can we put the 'good religion, bad religion' thing to bed once and for all then? They're all the same and there's nothing any of them wouldn't stoop to given the chance.

Nearest I got to religion was Taoism many moons ago. While it has its faults, it could be awhile before it tries establish a caliphate and blow the living bejaysus out of anyone that looks at it crooked. Rather than 'good' to 'bad' maybe the scale should be 'totally unobtrusive' to 'burn the infidels'

Hotblack Desiato

smacl wrote: »

Nearest I got to religion was Taoism many moons ago

Non-theistic. Me guilty of evil western running pig dog cultural oppression assuming religion = theism

Buddhists being nasty could be a special case of non-theistic religions being as bad as theistic :cool:

OR maybe people use ideology of whatever sort as an excuse to be c*nts to their fellow human beings. We in the West are just used to seeing abrahamic theistic religions doing this as a matter of course. Religion is still a bad idea. It causes otherwise rational people to cast aside their better judgment, the evidence of their own eyes, and the knowledge of those who have gone before them.

kylith

silverharp wrote: »

I dont know what they are smoking :pac:


http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/computer-simulation-world-matrix-scientists-elon-musk-artificial-intelligence-ai-a7347526.html

Haven't they precious little to be worrying about?

And have they ever thought that if the universe is a simulation then we're part of it and far from being able to 'break out' we'd simply cease to exist.

silverharp

kylith wrote: »

Haven't they precious little to be worrying about?

And have they ever thought that if the universe is a simulation then we're part of it and far from being able to 'break out' we'd simply cease to exist.

billionaire geeks with grant money, a pity they didnt keep to their area of expertise

smacl

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Non-theistic. Me guilty of evil western running pig dog cultural oppression assuming religion = theism

Buddhists being nasty could be a special case of non-theistic religions being as bad as theistic :cool:

OR maybe people use ideology of whatever sort as an excuse to be c*nts to their fellow human beings. We in the West are just used to seeing abrahamic theistic religions doing this as a matter of course. Religion is still a bad idea. It causes otherwise rational people to cast aside their better judgment, the evidence of their own eyes, and the knowledge of those who have gone before them.

I think some c*nts will be c*nts regardless of whether they find their niche in religion, politics, big business, education, the BBC or wherever else. My take on organised religion is that it is the type of institution where these people can prosper unchecked, in that it lacks transparency and prefers to cover up its problems where possible rather than owning up to them. It is certainly not unique in that regard, but seems considerably slower and less willing than most other large institutions to reform.

robindch

God takes his eye off the ball briefly and causes a modern-day Noah to drive his boat into a Norwegian Coast Guard vessel

http://gcaptain.com/noahs-ark-crashes-into-coast-guard-vessel-you-read-that-right/

With video goodness.

Michael OBrien

robindch wrote: »

God takes his eye off the ball briefly and causes a modern-day Noah to drive his boat into a Norwegian Coast Guard vessel

http://gcaptain.com/noahs-ark-crashes-into-coast-guard-vessel-you-read-that-right/

With video goodness.

The 'ark' also seems to have a metal base with just wooden sides. Another cheat. But at least it floats. No animals inside either. Also not that big compared to the big ship in the background of the video. Hardly room for even a 1000 species of animal let alone 12 million of them.

oscarBravo

While watching the video, YouTube overlaid an ad for disaster recovery. A little on the nose, I thought.

silverharp

a very slow process of closing down an Islamist school in the UK after a 2014 whistleblower reported it

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3834054/Islamist-girls-school-faces-closure-pupil-blew-whistle.html

Islamist girls' school which taught that gay people could be killed and men could beat women faces closure two years after pupil exposed its sharia-style regime
Islamist girls' boarding school Jamia Al Hudaa in Nottingham faces closure
Former pupil Aliyah Saleem first blew the whistle on the school in 2014
But it is only now, following another Ofsted inspection, that it could close
Ordered it shut down residential area - but boarders make up 85% of pupils

An Islamist girls' boarding school which taught that men could beat women and that gay men could be killed faces closure after a student whistleblower exposed its worrying practices.

Aliyah Saleem was expelled in front of the entire school in 2011 just for owning a disposable camera.

Following her expulsion Ms Saleem spoke out about her treatment at Jamia Al Hudaa girls’ school in Nottingham, saying she was not taught geography, history, art or music.

Instead, she was taught that death sentence could be given to gay men; that Jews and Christians make Allah angry; and that men should be allowed to beat their wives.


Despite reporting the school's inadequacies to both Ofsted and doing an expose interview in a national newspaper, it is only now that the school finally faces closure.

Parents have now been told to pick up their daughters from the school on October 18 after an Ofsted inspection in April found that there were 'inadequacies' in safeguarding pupils, including insufficiently trained staff and bullying, and ordered the school close its residential operations.


The Times reports that since 85 per cent of pupils board at the school, this means it will effectively have to close.

The inspection also found that the school does not promote balanced views or British values, and pupils can access ‘books that have been written by controversial authors, for example by one who is not allowed to enter this country’.

robindch

Michael OBrien wrote: »

The 'ark' also seems to have a metal base with just wooden sides. Another cheat.

Yes, it seems to be a barge with a very lightly-built wooden shed on top - must have been fun trying to acquire a seaworthiness certificate, if it did have one.

In any case, whoever wanted to drive that shed to Rio de Janeiro must have had a death-wish.

silverharp

lol


http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/religion-and-beliefs/scientology-in-ireland-a-spy-network-setting-honey-traps-1.2827288

The Church of Scientology opens a national affairs office at 4 Merrion Square today, making Dublin only the second city in the world, after Washington, DC, to have such a presence....members of the Office of Special Affairs, which manages several of the church’s front groups but is perhaps best known for managing its intelligence-gathering and lobbying operations.
The Merrion Square premises was bought in June 2015 for a price believed to be close to €2 million. It will serve as “a PR base to host VIPs and government officials”...
In Atack’s opinion the Church of Scientology probably “considers Ireland an easy, safe place to be in. Although they’ve experienced some pressure here, it pales in comparison to the bad news they’ve had in other European countries, like France, Belgium, Germany and Russia.”
...Duignan likens the new national affairs office on Merrion Square to “a Russian embassy in London or Washington during the cold war. Ostensibly it’s a social co-ordination office. That’s what they want to appear as.” But the Office of Special Affairs, according to Duignan, is “no stranger to underhand techniques, spy networking, setting honey traps – that kind of stuff, subverting enemies or government officials to achieve political goals”.

robindch

A 19-year old Saudi guy video-chats with a 21-year old American girl. Things go viral. The Saudi authorities get to hear about it. Things don't go well.

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-37683947

silverharp

Michael OBrien

silverharp wrote: »

Some people simply don't grasp gravity, space, why the earth MUST be spherical. They simply cannot comprehend it.
Maybe if someone took them by the hand and painstakingly spoke to them using simple short words in a simple point scheme like:
1. There is no down in space.
2. The oceans ARE already as far down as they can be, as they are on the earth. Its called gravity. It holds things to the earth.
3. A sphere is the most efficient shape for pressure from all sides to be equal.
4. Stop asking questions on twitter, instead research the answer first.

robindch

Michael OBrien wrote: »

They simply cannot comprehend it.

Reminds me of an old one from Douglas Adams:

Douglas Adams wrote:

A man didn't understand how televisions work, and was convinced that there must be lots of little men inside the box, manipulating images at high speed. An engineer explained about high-frequency modulations of the electromagnetic spectrum, transmitters and receivers, amplifiers and cathode ray tubes, scan lines moving across and down a phosphorescent screen. The man listened to the engineer with careful attention, nodding his head at every step of the argument. At the end he pronounced himself satisfied. He really did now understand how televisions work. "But I expect there are just a few little men in there, aren't there?"

Hotblack Desiato

That reminds me of this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahLADrh8hSI

Which reminds me of this

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_in_The_Hitchhiker's_Guide_to_the_Galaxy

Earth's population are described in the first novel as "so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea."

Of course nowadays those of us who still wear watches mostly prefer analogue outputs for our quartz movements - kind of like sticking a DAB and Internet radio in a retro wooden cabinet.

mikhail

Hotblack Desiato wrote: »

Of course nowadays those of us who still wear watches mostly prefer analogue outputs for our quartz movements - kind of like sticking a DAB and Internet radio in a retro wooden cabinet.

Relevant username alert.

It's not quite a fair comparison. A wooden cabinet is entirely an aesthetic consideration. Analogue outputs on watches are functional. To quote Adams further:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0keUhMiZ44

silverharp

looksee

silverharp wrote: »

That is really sad. Sad as in pathetic.

volchitsa

looksee wrote: »

That is really sad. Sad as in pathetic.

As for the idea that seeing bananas makes women more likely to think of sex than men seeing them would, well, can we not assume that the imam who came up with this nutty idea is himself, umm, male? (Or maybe he got jealous when he saw how his wife was eyeing up those cucumbers?)

More seriously though, these people who constantly try to remove temptation from other people's way all appear to be completely and utterly obsessed with sex themselves.