Killing Kids for Luck, Money … and the Word of God

There are times I wonder “How does anybody even GET such ideas?”

From the BBC, a report from Uganda:

Schoolchildren are closely watched by teachers and parents as they make their way home from school. In playgrounds and on the roadside are posters warning of the danger of abduction by witch doctors for the purpose of child sacrifice.

The ritual, which some believe brings wealth and good health, was almost unheard of in the country until about three years ago, but it has re-emerged, seemingly alongside a boom in the country’s economy. Continue reading “Killing Kids for Luck, Money … and the Word of God”

Book Burning 2011

This Cracked article leaves me … well, ALMOST speechless.

For the past year or so, part of my job has been to walk through library warehouses and destroy tens of thousands of often old and irreplaceable books.

Gah.

Imagine holding a beautiful, dusty, illustrated volume of Shakespeare printed in the 1700s, a calligraphic message from its long-dead owner inscribed on the inside cover, and throwing it straight in the trash. I’ve been there, more than once. I could have kept it and maybe gotten a few hundred dollars for it on eBay, if my supervisor wasn’t watching with specific orders to prevent me from doing that.

Um …

Sure, it’s one thing that libraries are forced to shred their collections because of an implosion in the economy. That’s depressing, but understandable. But what about when thousands of turn-of-the-last-century books and newspapers become landfill because the library wants to install a coffee shop?

Ack.

Fanboy Says Yes! to Avengers Trailer

I hope I’m not the last person on Earth to see THIS.

Oh man, I’m soooo looking forward to the movie.

Since about the second Spider-Man movie, I’ve noticed a sharp uptick in the hits in the superhero genre.

Iron Man was just about the best action movie I think I’ve ever seen, and Captain America was awesomely well done.

Letters to the Future: Hank Fox

Hello to the people of the year 3011!

Hank Fox here, writing in the year 2011 – whew! A thousand years in your past.

I’m an unaltered Homo sapiens, the original version of human, with exactly zero enhancements either electronic or genetic. (Well, I do wear glasses – those are optical plastic lenses held in wire frames in front of my eyes, to correct my aging vision.)

I’m on Planet Earth, the North American continent, living within the geographical-political unit referred to as the United States, on its east coast in the smaller subdivision referred to as New York State, in the somewhat historic small city of Schenectady.

I was thinking about my life a few days ago, the things I’ve lived through, and I’m writing to tell you some small part of it. Continue reading “Letters to the Future: Hank Fox”

Hello, Clarice.

I realized some years back that the reason we have heroes in movies is really that there are so few of them. We truly do want unbending honesty, and heroic defenders, and powerful people who fight for truth and justice.

But they’re next to impossible to get in real life. Instead we get … George W. Bush. Jesse Jackson. Britney Spears. People who can’t even aspire to be flawed heroes, because though they possess flaws in abundance, they don’t have the required heroism. They’re just people — famous ones, but not very good ones. Continue reading “Hello, Clarice.”

Your Voice, Their Ears — A Thousand Years From Now

Something I think we forget occasionally is that those of us reading here at FTB (and here amidst this fantastic array of writers and thinkers, I’m just as much part of the audience as you) are a community.

Yeah, we sit in our separate offices or computer dens, generally in solitude, and some of us are perpetual lurkers (and nothing wrong with that) whereas others gush with  comments. But there’s something real here, something very much “us,” in that we’re gathered for the sharing of ideas and experiences. The outpourings of love for PZ Myers (stop blushing, PZ, you know it’s true) or Christopher Hitchens, the audiences that gather for the freethinker events across the country and around the world – and also, I hope, a rising political consciousness (see the National Atheist Party, for instance) – are evidence of this community.

Bearing that in mind, I’d like to try something — an appeal to our community to participate in a little project. Continue reading “Your Voice, Their Ears — A Thousand Years From Now”

Patriotism, As Understood by Christians

I guess I missed this when it came out in 2005.

The Statue of Liberation Through Christ “combines Christianity with patriotism to showcase the origins of God’s design for America.”

Taking 5 years to build, at a cost of $260,000, and 72 feet tall, this little beauty stands out front of “World Overcomers” church on the corner of Winchester and Kirby Roads in Memphis, TN, cheek-by-jowl with a dry cleaner, jeweler, convenience store, auto service center and auto glass shop.

“Lady Liberation” rather than Lady Liberty … Continue reading “Patriotism, As Understood by Christians”

Short Stack #2

Do you think Jesus’ healing hands work only when he exerts his holy will? Or just anytime he touches something?

Because, man, if it’s the second one, that would suck. Say you invite Jesus over for a barbecue, and serve him up a nice juicy breast or leg off the grill — the instant he touches it, bam! You’ve got a live chicken at the party. And then what?   Continue reading “Short Stack #2”