tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-230624662024-03-07T13:36:30.071+08:00ADTCUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger169125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-35960850097214329312015-03-20T01:32:00.002+08:002015-03-20T01:32:49.457+08:00ADTC invited you to check out Dropbox<div style="background-color: white; color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue, Helvetica Neue, Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Grande, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-83121345785219701602015-03-09T01:58:00.001+08:002015-03-09T01:58:20.156+08:00Enjoy beer pong without risking pong fluThe premise of beer pong drinking game is simple. Have 10 half-filled cups of beer in a triangle, and throw ping-pong balls in them. If your opponent manages to get a ball in a cup on your side, you have to drink up the beer in it, and attempt to get a ball in one of their cups.<br />
<br />
While a popular game in college parties, bars and clubs, beer pong carries the unnecessary risk of bacterial contamination. The students of Clemson University collected several ping pong balls used in beer pong games and tested them. They found alarming levels of many germs like Salmonella, E.Coli and Staph. [<a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/beer-pong-games-carry-risk-salmonella-e-coli-germs-article-1.1317048" target="_blank">NYDailyNews.com</a>]<br />
<br />
These germs can cause serious illnesses in the players after the games. But there's a simple solution to mitigate the risk of germ infection altogether: <b>Water.</b> It's cheap, found everywhere, and can be discarded without feeling a pinch in your wallet.<br />
<br />
Next time you play beer pong, suggest an interesting twist in the game. You can easily pitch it with the bonus point of <b>"getting drunk twice as fast"</b> as the traditional version. Fill up the cups half-full with water. Keep two jugs of beer and two clean empty cups - one set for each team.<br />
<br />
Simply remove the cup of water when a ball falls in it, then pour out a *full* cup of beer into the clean cup kept with the jug and down it! You can even reset the game board and start a new game of beer pong by returning all the removed cups with the same water in them.<br />
<br />
Remember to change the beer cup to a fresh one if the ping pong ball touches it. And don't drink any of the water. Discard the water and the cups after all games. Keep drinkable water available for players in a separate jug (but keep it out of sight so they get drunk, not sober!).<br />
<br />
And if anyone is anal about the colorless liquid taking the fun out, just add a few drops of yellow food coloring to the water. Or better yet, use sparkling water or Sprite.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-72684632144449181822012-07-27T02:57:00.001+08:002012-07-27T02:57:17.088+08:00Humans - competition or co-operation? (Why are we always fighting?)<br />
<i><b>Pre-clarification:</b> In this article, a 'common enemy' does not always mean a corrupt individual or human organization. The term is used in a broader sense that includes, but is not limited to, ideas that one doesn't agree with, impending natural disasters, after-effects of recent natural disasters, and (if possible) even an invasion by aliens.</i><br />
<br />
There seems to be something strange about human beings in general - they always put aside their differences and band together to fight a common enemy. But take that common enemy away, and they will pick the differences back up and fight among themselves.<br />
<br />
And in this "fight among themselves", a new "common enemy" is created based on one difference or a set of related differences - and those on one side of this particular difference would put aside all of their other differences and band together to fight the other side of the particular difference.<br />
<br />
If you assume that in each fight one side always loses within a reasonable amount of fighting time, and a compromise will never be reached, eventually human beings would fight their way into destroying themselves. Why? Because each one of us is different from the rest - even in ever-so-slightly ways.<br />
<br />
Thankfully, we are also wired for co-operation when our survival is at stake. That's kind of the problem too: we only co-operate with other humans, putting aside our differences, if our survival - or something of such value - is at stake. Simply put, the inability to survive becomes the "common enemy" in this case, causing humans to band together and fight for their survival.<br />
<br />
The problem with large stable populations of humans is that their survival is no longer perceived to be at stake, and so they have not much need to co-operate other than what's just enough to smooth over the everyday life. This gives them no common enemy to band together - and that makes them susceptible to picking up differences among themselves and starting a competitive argument. Once such argument reaches popularity, sides are formed and a new "common enemy" is created for each side opposing the other.<br />
<br />
The most elegant solution, or perhaps the only one, to this problem - in my opinion - would be to educate human beings and make ourselves understand that the survival of our species is always at stake no matter how much stability we may perceive. Our survival is threatened by ourselves, and hence we should maintain co-operation at the highest levels to fight the real common enemy - our tendency to compete over differences.<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-68387972364656692932012-07-26T10:31:00.001+08:002012-07-26T10:31:17.805+08:00Present evidence, and faith becomes unnecessary.A question many atheists often get asked by religious is, <b>"What would it take for you to become a believer?"</b> where <i>believer</i> usually means believer in a god or a religion.<br /><br />But there is a fundamental problem with this question.<br /><br />Before I get to the problem, I wish to make it clear that what the religious mean by <i>belief</i> in this context is nothing other than <i>faith</i> - which is to believe in a given statement even if there is nothing in reality that supports the truth of that statement. In other words, <i>faith</i> is belief in a proposition not backed by evidence, and when the religious talk about <i>belief</i> they often mean <i>faith</i>.<br /><br />That should point to the problem here. Intellectual atheists, or more accurately, <b>skeptics</b> demand evidence for claims you make about reality. If you make a claim, a skeptic would ask you to present evidence for this claim. A skeptic would verify the authenticity of the evidence, and also verify whether the evidence does indeed support your claim instead of doing nothing, or worse, refuting it.<br /><br />That's where the problem lies. To ask a skeptic what it would take for him or her to become a believer, would be to ask him to put aside his skepticism and <i>make an exception</i> for whatever it is that the religious is calling him to believe in. But the dilemma is, it takes <i>evidence</i> for the skeptic to accept the claim you make - which in this instance would be to believe in god, or more specifically to believe that god is real. The claim you make here is that your version of god is real, that this god exists in reality.<br /><br />(For simplicity, I will not touch on "belief in a religion", but this can just as easily be extrapolated for that as well as beliefs in a myriad of things usually demanded of skeptics.)<br /><br />A skeptic would naturally require evidence supporting your claim as he would any other claim. Assume a hypothetical scenario where you as a believer <i>are</i> able to provide evidence supporting your claim. Contrary to what you think, this would not make the skeptic a believer.<br /><br />Instead, it would demonstrate that faith itself is not necessary.<br /><br />If you are able to present evidence to support your claim that god is real, you yourself need not be a believer - because <i>evidence speaks for itself</i>. The skeptic will continue to remain a skeptic, but he will simply accept your claim that is now backed with evidence. You on the other hand, will no longer need to be believer, and by seeking evidence you have entered the road to skepticism.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-51927013912653239242012-06-05T20:44:00.002+08:002012-06-05T20:44:43.715+08:00SingTel pulls a stunt with severely handicapped 4G data plansTo see a comic gist of my post below, <a href="http://i.imgur.com/DOksA.png" target="_blank">click here</a>! <br />
<br />
In
a stunt move, SingTel just announced new mobile plan specifications
that are taking effect from 1 July 2012. All customers re-contracting or
signing up for new 3G or 4G plans from next month onwards will have
much smaller data caps applied to them if they are paying $99.90 or
less. The data caps are announced to be three to six times smaller than
current ones.<br />
<br />
I was under the impression that the new
data caps should only be affecting 4G plans, but I was shocked to find
out that if I re-contract my current line and purchase a new phone in
September, my data cap will drop by a dramatic factor of 6 from 12 GB to
2 GB even if I stick to a 3G plan. I find this unfair and also it makes
a conversion to 4G utterly pointless. The fact that SingTel's 4G
network rollout is expected to be completed by early 2013 means there
will more than 9 months of fallback to 3G network in places where I'm
most likely to be. Not to mention, the rollouts inside MRT tunnels and
underground stations usually come very late.<br />
<br />
If I am on
a 3G network, 2 GB should be sufficient for me as in most months I
barely come close to 1 GB of usage. However, if I switch to 4G network
with up to 5 times the speed of a 3G network, my data usage habits can
change considerably. I could be watching YouTube videos with the same
responsiveness as I can on my home computer with a cable broadband
connection. (The frequent need to wait for buffering has deterred me
from watching videos on my phone.) I could surf the internet more and
enjoy higher quality content. This can easily tip my data usage over the
2 GB cap and inflate my bill (which apparently will no longer have the
"No Bill Shock" protection).<br />
<br />
iPhone users have it worse. Thanks to Apple's decision to <i>never ever</i> have an FM Radio hardware inside (just as they decided to <i>never ever</i>
have Adobe Flash), iPhone users have to depend on internet streaming
radio apps (MeRadio, etc.) to listen to their favorite radio stations.
These apps can easily use a lot of data in streaming local radio
broadcasts, which Android users can get at absolutely no data usage
using their built-in FM Radio hardware. (On a sidenote, it really is a
wonder how most people go for iPhone's sex appeal, despite the sorely
lacking hardware and Apple's immense desire to dictate what the market
should get rather than give what the market desires.)<br />
<br />
A
suggestion made in HardwareZone was to continue on the current 12 GB
data plan without re-contracting, and travel to Malaysia to purchase a
new phone at a cheaper retail price. This should be possible as I know
of someone who continues to use a <i>then-expensive-now-cheap</i> plan
that had been obsolete for probably a decade or more. This is probably
what I am going to do, given that the worth and value of SingTel's plans
are going to be lost from next month onwards. What about you?<br />
<br />
Links: <a href="http://www.todayonline.com/Technology/Tech/EDC120604-0000098/SingTel-announces-4G-plans,-pricing" target="_blank">News article</a>, <a href="http://forums.hardwarezone.com.sg/eat-drink-man-woman-16/singtel-4g-plan-only-2gb-instead-12-gb-data-3757295.html" target="_blank">HardwareZone rant and rave</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-13254385848828844332012-04-23T05:30:00.000+08:002012-04-23T05:30:02.867+08:00Are desktop computers being phased out?The other day I was having a conversation with a lady with a family about some furniture stuff, and I mentioned needing a table for my computer. She assumed it's a laptop and suggested using the small night table available in my room. Then I broke it to her that it's a desktop and it's gonna need a bigger table. This was the comment she had to that (approximation only, not exact words):<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<i>"Desktop? Why are you using a desktop? Those things are for little kids to play with! You should be using laptop. Everyone is using laptop now. Only small children play with desktops."</i></blockquote>
I wasn't happy<i> </i>with her comment, and retorted that I'm a computer science student and I built the desktop myself <i>and</i> has interest in building it myself. She was like <i>"Oh OK"</i> for a while but 5-10 minutes later, she repeats the exact same comment about kids. Like <i>hello?!</i>... I just changed topic and never mentioned about the computer again.<br />
<br />
Then it got me thinking. Just about one and half years ago when I built my desktop, I went to <a href="http://www.simlimsquare.com.sg/" target="_blank">Sim Lim Square</a> for buying all the parts required. At that time the floors of the specialized tech shopping mall had been more or less teeming with desktop-related stuff along with some laptop shops and some other accessories stores. (The bottom floors however are more or less dedicated to phones and digital cameras.)<br />
<br />
But recently about a month ago I went to <a href="http://www.simlimsquare.com.sg/" target="_blank">Sim Lim Square</a> to get an upgrade for my desktop RAM. And I noticed something very peculiar. The landscape has changed a lot. Now there are a lot of shops selling laptops and mobile tablets (Android/iPad), but only a few shops on the top floors dealing with desktops and desktop parts - at least half of them being in obscure corners.<br />
<br />
Though I have no statistics to show, it seems to me that among the general public, the demand for mobile computing is going higher while that of desktop computing is dropping. Laptops had already been almost as powerful as desktops for years, but now they are having their prime-time before they make way to mobile tablets that are slowly taking over (these things are still sorely lacking in capability to replace the good ole' Windows laptop).<br />
<br />
However, I don't think desktop computers are going to be completely off the market. Though they would be much less favoured by the general public, they won't be gone for good. I would expect hardcore gamers to either buy high-end desktops or build one themselves as laptops are simply not powerful enough for them and cannot satisfy their cooling demands. High-end or mid-range desktops could (also) be purchased or assembled by those who require them for specialized applications or has interest in building them. They can also be ordered in bulk quantities by offices and businesses that only require desktop computing on their office desks.<br /><br />And of course, there will always be little children to play with the low-end ones.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-2567476070300974682011-09-10T00:07:00.003+08:002011-09-10T00:07:56.370+08:00The Apologetic AtheistIn one of the discussions on a Facebook group, it was asked whether "atheist apologetic" is a valid term. In response, I gave this short sentence: <br />
<br />
Atheists don't have anything to apologize for.<br />
<br />
The questioner asked for more details by stating the following:<br />
<blockquote>
//if there is no belief involved, it is called agnostic. Atheisn [sic] is belief. Opposite of belief is doubt. If you are caliming [sic] to be "certain" of non-existence of God, you have a "belief". If you are not sure, then you are "agnostic"//</blockquote>
<br />
My response to these claims went as follows:<br />
<br />
Atheism is the position one takes when one does <u>not</u> have a belief in a god. Now, you must not forget that "not having a belief" is <i>not</i> a belief. It does <u>not</u> mean that we "strongly believe" in the non-existence of god.<br />
<br />
For example, think about this. Here's what a unicorn looks like [roughly] in most imaginations: <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WA9qlAKyNkNt_WWMJ-RypOsak8jbYDkN8v3IoN20QYTszsqQQM4P2ZcH2mgfBAwgVavtNNhiE-89UYJRGZ4m9LTy5_K8gOtxUPsqMdvUNwTAJv4VA8ZDQpFAj2xKUvk60Iup/s1600/unicorn-royalty-free.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_WA9qlAKyNkNt_WWMJ-RypOsak8jbYDkN8v3IoN20QYTszsqQQM4P2ZcH2mgfBAwgVavtNNhiE-89UYJRGZ4m9LTy5_K8gOtxUPsqMdvUNwTAJv4VA8ZDQpFAj2xKUvk60Iup/s1600/unicorn-royalty-free.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>An artist's impression of the pink unicorn</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Now, if <i>unicornists</i> are people who <u>actively</u> believe that this mythical creature actually exists in reality. <i>Aunicornists</i> on the other hand would be people who do <u>not</u> actively believe that this creature exists.<br />
<br />
Note that aunicornists don't have to spend their time and energy maintaining a "belief" in the non-existence of unicorns, because if that was necessary, we will all be drained of our energy in maintaining beliefs about the non-existence of an <u><b>infinite</b></u> number of things! In contrast, all the aunicornists do is to <u>not</u> hold a belief about the existence of the unicorn.<br />
<br />
Now the other thing is "agnostic". Contrary to popular belief, an agnostic is <u>not</u> a fence-sitter between an atheist and a theist. A person can be an agnostic atheist, or an agnostic theist.<br />
<br />
Gnostic-Agnostic merely means whether one has knowledge or does not have knowledge about something. In the context of theism, that <i>'something'</i> defaults to the existence of god. But one can also be said as agnostic about unicorns. It merely means he does not have any knowledge about the existence of unicorns.<br />
<br />
An <i>agnostic unicornist</i> would be someone who does not have any knowledge about existence of unicorns, but continues to believe in their existence. An <i>agnostic aunicornist</i> would be someone who does not have any knowledge about existence of unicorns, and also does not believe in their existence.<br />
<br />
Now, we cannot realistically have a gnostic aunicornist, because if we have verifiable knowledge about the existence of unicorns, it would actually be absurd to not believe in their existence.<br />
<br />
The other thing is the apparent confusion between possibility and probability. Many times, theists claim that [at the very least,] it's <u>possible</u> that a god may exist, and many atheists would actually agree to that. I myself would say that it's possible that there actually is a god.<br />
<br />
But possibility does not mean it's highly probable. In fact, possibility has no bearing on probability. Even with how much our total sum of human knowledge has expanded, the <u>probability</u> of god's existence is actually remaining <i>very very very</i> low. This is because of the total lack of evidence in support of god's existence, save some holy books and some anecdotal evidence. <i>(Science does not accept anecdotal evidence as valid for good justifiable reasons.)</i><br />
<br />
It is due to this <u>extremely low</u> probability that atheists <u>reject</u> the idea of god. But no atheist is ever <u>certain</u> that there is no god. We accept that there is a possibility that besides the deafening lack of evidence, there could be a god. But, the odds of <i>that</i> being true is so very low that we are able to live our practical lives as though there is <u>no</u> god.<br />
<br />
By the way, please do not think that <i>just because</i> I'm giving a long-winded explanation here, it means I'm apologetic. I'm not any more apologetic about atheism than a physics teacher would be [<i>(about the theory of relativity)</i>] when explaining the theory of relativity to his students. Imagine him saying <i>"I'm sorry about the theory I'm teaching you..."</i> LOL!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-40658712838997695702011-09-09T02:01:00.001+08:002011-09-09T02:07:52.940+08:00What happens beyond deathThere is no need to "live beyond death" to know what happens to one beyond death. You can merely observe it from the death of others, and infer from our current knowledge of human/animal anatomy.<br />
<br />
The personality, memory and cognitive abilities of a human being (or animal), <i>that is</i> the various qualities attributed to a "soul" that supposedly survives physical death, have now been understood in medical science to merely be functions of the expansive neural network in one's brain. As such, when this brain stops functioning, these qualities immediately stop functioning as well.<br />
<br />
Science has not yet found a way to read memories stored in the brain's neural network (dead or alive) or restart the personality stored in it, and it may never find one at all. But it has already been shown with enough evidence that without a functioning brain, there would not be any functioning personality, memory or any other cognitive ability.<br />
<br />
The conclusion of this is that, a soul cannot exist as the qualities of a soul (personality, memory, both or anything else) all depend on a functioning *biological, physical* brain. Therefore, nothing survives beyond physical death except the dead body. And once a body is dead, it starts decaying.<br />
<br />
The religious are looking for life beyond death and finding vain hopes and empty dreams about an afterlife they like in the religions they pick. Everything people believe about afterlife are just that - beliefs - fueled by wishful thinking.<br />
<br />
Atheists on the other hand accept the reality that there is no afterlife and stop looking for one. Instead, they concentrate on using <i>this</i> life for the better while it still lasts. In the end, an atheist and a theist will both be dead. Nothing beyond it, except the decaying bodies of course.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-4028301193189386462011-09-06T05:02:00.002+08:002011-09-06T05:02:45.230+08:00Contact (1997)I just watched the 1997 movie called <i>Contact</i>. It is a science fiction movie about alien contact, but there were no visible alien forms onscreen in the movie.<br />
<br />
The movie plot in brief is as follows <b><i>(spoiler alert)</i></b>: An astronomer working on the SETI project manages to pick up three different alien signals from the same source. The first was a sequence of prime numbers from 2 to 101. The second was an amplified re-transmission of Hitler's welcoming address at 1936 Summer Olympics. The third was a blue-print to build an alien device called <i>The Machine</i>, which will supposedly transport one human passenger to the aliens. The government builds two such devices, and as one was destroyed during testing, the other was used, piloted by the astronomer. The movie ends with government disbelieving her story of contacting the aliens, calling it a self-delusion. The pod carrying her had dropped right through <i>The Machine</i> in a matter of seconds, effectively disproving her claim for being gone from Earth for 18 hours. Possibly the only two anomalies in the evidence against her are the electrostatic storm created by The Machine and the recording of approximately 18 hours of static in her video recording device.<br />
<br />
What's interesting about the movie is its strong references towards the debate between religion and science. Once the alien signals were received and the news made public, the reactions of the general public (in the movie) greatly varied from various forms of support to fanatic religion-motivated opposition. The astronomer, Dr. Eleanor Arroway, is herself an atheist and during the course of the movie becomes romantically close to a Christian philosopher named Palmer Joss. During their conversations, Eleanor questions how Joss can believe in God despite having no evidence or proof for His existence. Joss could only recount his own personal experience and compare his certainty that God exists to Eleanor's certainty that she loved her deceased father, despite there being no evidence for it.<br />
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Remnants of this exchange come back to her at the end of the movie, when she was questioned by the panel on how she can believe she has had contact with aliens despite having no evidence for it. In my opinion, she should have answered the same way 95% of the human race believes there's a God, because it is hypocritical that a majority of human beings can believe in something with no verifiable evidence and think it's perfectly normal to do so, but when one human being believes something different with no verifiable evidence, she could be labelled as self-deluded, an unwitting accomplice in an elaborate hoax, or even a lunatic.<br />
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The other interesting point to note was how a candidate was selected to man the pod to be dropped in <i>The Machine</i>. Although Dr. Eleanor was the perfect candidate for the job, she was declined the opportunity in favor of the less suitable David Drumlin, simply because of her lack of belief in God. It was argued that a person chosen to represent the whole of mankind should also represent what 95% of the human race believes in. This, to me would be ridiculous, as an alien civilization much more technologically advanced than our own would probably have had at least thought about the God question, if not already found the answers we're seeking. The last thing they would want is a self-deluded human being bringing the so-called "message of God" to them. The language the aliens spoke to humans in, is indeed, as Eleanor puts it, the language of science, and it is precisely the same language that humans ought to reply in. <i>(It was later revealed that Palmer Joss skewed the panel to vote against her by bringing God up, in order to keep her safe from harm, although it remains unclear if he had knowledge of the planned suicide bombing attack.)</i><br />
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The destruction of the first alien device by a religious fanatic by the name of Joseph is also not to be overlooked. It brings us to realize the fact of how religion has, in its own ways of indoctrinating people, hampered scientific progress for hundreds of centuries. It reminds me of a graph which shows we could have been exploring the stars by now, had our scientific progress not been stifled by the Christian Dark Ages. For centuries, religion has always been questioning and opposing scientific research and progress, labeling it as anything bad from heresy to immorality. The latest among such is stem cell research which has the potential to save billions of human lives, but is opposed on the grounds of morality, that destroying a microscopic blastocyst of a few human cells is the same as killing a human life. What they do not realize is that, stopping or delaying stem cell research will cause millions of real live walking breathing human beings to die, who could have otherwise be saved via the research.<br />
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But no matter what religion tries to do to stifle science, just like in the movie, science has always prevailed and will continue to prevail, eventually overtaking religion.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_%28film%29">Wikipedia</a> | <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118884/">IMDB</a> | <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRoj3jK37Vc">YouTube (trailer)</a><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-64780148845907655872011-04-04T17:40:00.001+08:002012-07-27T03:32:49.631+08:00Employee Abuse at Herbal Pharm Singapore<a href="http://www.herbalpharm.com.sg/">Herbal Pharm</a> is a company whose administrative office is situated at 433 Race Course Road, Singapore 218679. Herbal Pharm has an office which is ripe with so much employee abuse that the turnover of the company is high (which means people join and quit jobs in the company very frequently). It has a non-conducive unhealthy work environment which not only allows abusive practices, but also encourages them.<br />
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My friend experienced it first-hand and in the last few months of her employment in Herbal Pharm, the abuse inflicted on her escalated so much that <u><b>it made her depressive and suicidal</b></u>. On many occasions after work, she'd come home crying over the abuse she suffered silently everyday at work. The abuse mostly came from the new HR Manager, and sometimes from the General Manager, both of whom are ladies. The HR Manager attempted to micro-manage her instead of treating her like an adult. If your manager treats you like an adult, he or she will assign tasks and deadlines for you, but after that he will mind his own business. He doesn't stay around you peering over your shoulder to check on you like a parent checks on a child doing homework. You as an adult must have the responsibility to complete the given tasks on time without having a watchful eye above you. And your manager must respect your adulthood and sense of responsibility. As you guessed, the HR Manager treated my friend like a child, checking up on her constantly.<br />
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The HR Manager also kept looking for any kind of apparent fault in my friend's work activities. She constantly kept scolding and nagging over the smallest of things, for the lamest of reasons simply because of her intense desire to abuse her new-found power over my friend. She had also set completely unreasonable restrictions on my friend about whom she should socialize with and whom she shouldn't, and these restrictions were intentionally created to be in direct contradiction to my friend's preferences of whom to socialize with. The General Manager had been showing bias against my friend by listening to all the lies of the HR Manager, believing them letter for letter, and exaggerating them further. Last week, she issued a "First Warning Letter" (<a href="http://www.fileden.com/files/2006/12/20/534119/HerbalPharmLetter.jpg">see it here</a>) with some truth but mostly full of lies perpetrated about my friend by the HR Manager and exaggerated by the GM. And last Saturday the General Manager called my friend on the phone and literally told her to <u><b>"fuck off"</b></u> if she doesn't like working there. You must be wondering in which company does a GM say <u><b>"fuck off."</b></u> Wonder no more, it's Herbal Pharm. <br />
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The top-level management in Herbal Pharm either does not take responsibility in curbing abusive practices, or are perpetrators of abuse themselves. They do not set any anti-abuse policies for their subordinates. Because of this lack, subordinates who are abused feel helpless and victimized. The Director of Herbal Pharm takes pride in the fact that he has seen many employees join and leave the company. It seems like he keeps the number of such employees in some sort of score card, the same way single guys keep scores of how many girls they slept with. The more employees join and quit <i>(because they can't tolerate the abuse that starts from Day 1)</i> the higher his scores go. Wow, must be <i>some</i> score! He is also a very rude person who does not know how to behave like a Director should. His rudeness with a concerned partner of my friend over the phone shows his vacuous pride and his complete lack of humility. He also does not care about the physical or mental health of his employees, despite the company's tagline <i>"your health is our business"</i> that's dripping with such heavy irony.<br />
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If you're working in Herbal Pharm and experiencing abuse from your senior managers, you're not the first one or the only one. There were many before you including my friend who left the company because of the same kind of abuse. My advice to you is to resign from your job as soon as possible with a resignation letter based on <a href="http://jobsearchtech.about.com/od/resumesandletters/a/ResignCircumsta.htm">this example</a>. If you're researching about Herbal Pharm for an upcoming interview, I'd reckon you to reconsider taking the job and subjecting yourself to the risk of employee abuse. Also by joining or working for this company, you are only encouraging the growth of a company with an unhealthy work environment and abusive employers, so it's of utmost importance that you do not allow such a company to prosper.<br />
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I also expect customers or potential customers of Herbal Pharm to arrive here. It's my humble request that if you value the psychological and emotional welfare of yourself and working people, you should please refrain from supporting this company and avoid purchasing its nutritional products. If you are a regular customer, next time a Herbal Pharm salesperson calls you, decline their offer by clearly stating that you don't wish to support a company which encourages employee abuse.<br />
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Some of you may say that every office has some sort of office politics, but to pass employee abuse as "office politics" is barely acceptable, if not a career suicide. It's the infringement of basic human rights and must be in the same category as parental abuse, marital abuse and every other kind of abuse. It must be dealt with and its perpetrators must be punished severely as the perpetrators of any other abuse will be punished. Sadly and unfortunately, I found absolutely no information regarding employee abuse in Singapore's <a href="http://www.mom.gov.sg/">Ministry of Manpower</a> website, or in its sister website <a href="http://www.fairemployment.sg/">FairEmployment.sg</a>. The closest I came to it is the information regarding employee discrimination, but it's a completely different issue altogether. It's obvious that Singapore's legal system does not automatically recognise employee abuse or worker abuse as a valid form of abuse <i>(another reason why companies like Herbal Pharm can perpetrate abuse and get away with it)</i> and so employees who are abused in their workplace feel helpless with no legal protection or legal avenue for easily suing the company for the abuse.<br />
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Even without legal protection against employee abuse, we can still push employers to learn the importance of treating employees with respect. For this we need to destroy companies that form the bad image about employment in Singapore. Let us work together in ensuring justice and fair treatment of employees by bringing down companies like Herbal Pharm where employees are not taken care of and are severely abused.<br />
<br />
<b>Further reading <i>(much of the text in these links have been found to confirm that my friend and others in Herbal Pharm have been subjected to employee abuse)</i>:</b><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://counselingoutfitters.com/vistas/vistas05/Vistas05.art62.pdf">Article 62: Employee Abuse in the Workplace - Terry L. Wynne (PDF)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.articlealley.com/article_1937756_18.html">Avoiding Employee Abuse and Discrimination Litigation -- Employee Surveys Identify and Discourage Em - Article Alley</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.ehow.com/about_6695745_employee-abuse-workplace.html">Employee Abuse in the Workplace | eHow.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.suite101.com/content/emotional-abuse-in-the-workplace-a73977">Emotional Abuse in the Workplace: Hostile Work Environments Created by Employers Causes Undue Stress - suite101.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.suite101.com/content/employee-abuse-in-the-workplace-identification-and-prevention-a257663">Employee Abuse in the Workplace: Identification and Prevention - suite101.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.suite101.com/content/recognizing-the-predictors-of-workplace-abuse-a214527">Recognizing the Predictors of Workplace Abuse: Individual, Social, and Organizational Factors - suite101.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.suite101.com/content/how-to-identify-workplace-bullying-a205992">How to Identify Workplace Bullying: Do You Suffer Humiliation at Work? - suite101.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.suite101.com/content/when-your-boss-is-the-abuser-a148264">When Your Boss is the Abuser: Workplace Violence and Bullying Ruins Careers, Companies - suite101.com</a></li>
</ul>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-80286139793307863162011-01-10T17:19:00.001+08:002011-01-10T17:20:55.932+08:00RevampedSo I thought I should revamp my blog and added this new zesty orange look to it. Not like anyone is reading it beyond the can opener post, but anyhow...<br />
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I also added the new pages feature, and you can see the pages via the tabs on the top. They primarily serve to show you the different kinds of views I have. You're welcome to post your comments on them, of course :)Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-33900351250303264712010-09-03T20:55:00.000+08:002010-09-03T20:55:22.407+08:00Worst customer service ever!I had the worst customer service ever at <b><a href="http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/sri_lukshmi_naarasimhan_restaurant/">Sri Lukshmi Naarasimhan Restaurant</a></b>, 438 Serangoon Road, Singapore 218133.<br />
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My wife and I visited this restaurant for an evening dinner. We had visited this restaurant once before, but we simply had something and left. However, today is the second time, and probably the last time I will ever set foot into this restaurant.<br />
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We went there because my wife had tried the <i>Hot & Spicy Andhra Cheese Dosai,</i> a special item which is not available in any other restaurant (that I had visited so far). She recommended that I should try it too. Hence we ordered a plate of the <i>Andhra Cheese Dosai</i> and another plate of <i>Andhra Masala Dosai.</i> It wasn't very spectacular, but something new and likable, but the overly inflated price of <b>$5.90</b> makes it too expensive for a budget-conscious customer.<br />
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We also ordered a cup of <i>Bournvita</i> and a cup of <i>Tea</i>. This is where things get ugly. As we were finishing our <i>Dosai's,</i> the drinks were served. The <i>Bournvita</i> didn't taste like Bournvita, but tasted something like Horlicks concoction mixed with Milo. Still it was bearable.<br />
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But the Tea was actually a "Masala Tea." At first I thought it was "Elaichi Tea" due to the cardamom taste in it. Whether it is Masala Tea or Elaichi Tea, this is <u>not</u> what I expected when I ordered <i>Tea</i>. The menu card clearly states the name of the item as <b>"TEA"</b>. That's right: <b>"<u>TEA</u>"</b>. It doesn't state anything beyond that. What would a new customer walking in, conclude from this? That the tea would be normal.<br />
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So I called the waiter and asked him why I'm served with this kind of weird tea, when I ordered <i>Tea</i>. He went to the kitchen, came back and told me "This is the only tea here." So I asked him, "You go to a restaurant outside and order tea, do you want them to serve you masala tea or normal tea?" He didn't even apologize or say anything but simply removed the tea from the table and struck the order off the order slip (as I later discovered).<br />
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Later, when paying for everything except the tea, I discussed with the cashier (a man, who seemed to be the boss or manager), showing him the menu card and asking him "How is the customer supposed to know whether this is normal tea or some masala tea?" Instead of apologizing, he shows me a different lunch menu, which has an item called <i>Special Tea</i> and claims that it is a printing mistake in the evening menu.<br />
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He was trying to hint that the customer is supposed to know, without being told, that <i>Tea</i> means <i>Special Tea</i>. In response I told him that if there is such a printing mistake, then it is the waiter's responsibility to inform the customer of such error, and make it known to the customer what exactly he will be served when he orders such and such items in the menu. Again, he refused to apologize and even simply ignored my conversation, proudly quoting the bill price instead. (An expensive <b>$13.80!</b>)<br />
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At this point, I was already getting very angry at this unworthy attitude of the staff in this restaurant. Even the old lady clad in saree did not care to apologize for the mistake, but simply stood behind silently, backing the cashier/manager. I simply paid getting ready to leave. I left the restaurant with my wife, but not before telling him a final word: "You have to ensure that you're providing quality service and inform the customers of mistakes and changes. How is the customer supposed to know what is what without proper menus? If you are not going to provide quality service, customers will not want to come back to your restaurant (implying that I don't wish to come back)."<br />
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With this, we just left the restaurant. I vowed to never step into this restaurant again due to such irresponsible customer service and uncaring and prideful attitude of the staff. They never seem to respect the golden rule of business: <b>"Customer is always right."</b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-8084645733987943242010-07-02T11:29:00.000+08:002011-09-06T06:02:14.864+08:00I enjoy my life.It's been a while since I blogged. Seems like blogging is going out of fashion though, on the face of facebook. The following is something I wrote on a forum in response to the question "Can atheists enjoy life?". I thought I'll share it here as well.<br />
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I definitely know that atheists and the irreligious enjoy life unless they choose not to. I certainly do enjoy mine. In fact, I was only able to enjoy life after I said goodbye to religion. I was brought up in a home that was very rarely religious, with emphasis on schooling and knowledge, rather than belief. I didn't understand the value of such upbringing until I tried my hand at christianity for 7 long years from the age of about 14.<br />
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It all started when I changed schools to a christian school in a town far away from my home. The schools I have been to before were very much secular and didn't have any religious elements. However, this new school had a small daily prayer gathering in the hostel, led by students. Out of curiosity I asked my friend who attended it and he invited me. I went, and in the room I just followed what everyone does. I got a small new testament bible and became a regular at the meeting.<br />
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Soon I learnt that they also go to church on Sundays, and apparently the church is led by our correspondent (highest authority and owner of my school). I joined that too, and once even witnessed an immersion-based baptism (or something like that). There was also a larger weekly gathering in school which I attended, which gave us opportunities to "confess sins and repent".<br />
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Anyway I stayed in that school for 3 years, being as firm a christian as I can for a good part of the time. Then I shifted to another city. The hostel here was more religious as everyone staying, regardless of personal beliefs, have to attend church. My atheistic roommates and friends scorned how they had to put up with what they called "nonsense". I on the other hand was wondering how I can "save" them by the grace of "my lord jesus christ" since I was a quiet person and was afraid to talk to people who don't agree with me.<br />
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Recalling, I had been one of the top performers in the secular schools I studied. But once I changed my education to christian schools, my performance began to drop slowly. I'm still better than the average, but not the top. Apparently the atheistic friends I had would perform better than I ever could imagine myself performing.<br />
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Anyway 2 years in the school, I continued trying to be strong in my faith. Then about a year I stayed at home before going to a different country for further education. Problems were caused at home when I revealed my belief in jesus, as my mom is atheist and my dad pretty much is too (with occasional bursts of hindu faith). I desperately wanted them to see how much my faith meant to me and to see them accepting jesus as well. (How foolish I was back then).<br />
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After going to a different country, my faith began to get its knocks as I thought about how it's affecting my life. At first I found a church and attended it. I tried to pray whenever I can remember. Then I realised slowly that it's not worth being a christian. It's like being in chains.<br />
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Being a christian is like being in chains. The bible and the church is telling you that we are all sinners, committing sins everyday, so we must pray and ask jesus to cleanse our sins from our souls. I felt guilty of sin for almost everything. It's very usual for girls to wear revealing clothing in this country, but I would feel so guilty and ashamed to set my eyes on them even without intention, that I wish I was blind. Didn't jesus say that if you look at a woman with eyes of desire, you have already committed adultery with her?<br />
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I had the guilt of not doing things also. I would hate myself for not being a good christian, not doing daily prayers, not reading bible. I would scold myself that I can't talk to my friends about jesus and save them from hell. Though I had never physically hurt myself out of guilt of sin, I had been mentally torturing myself.<br />
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Slowly I realised that I'm in pain for the sake of my religion. I want to break free of the chains. So I decided to drop everything, to stop believing in jesus, in sin, in hell and all the christian stuff. I really felt free and able to enjoy my life. I read books that helped me better understand certain aspects of human psychology. I no longer felt guilty to look at girls dressed sexily. They do so because they want me to look! As long as I don't attempt anything wrong upon the girls, I'm not guilty of anything. (The girl example is just one of the several things I became free to do).<br />
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I didn't immediately let go of the belief that there is a god. It took me a while to go from theism to pantheism to agnosticism to atheism. But I don't call myself atheist. Buddhists are atheists too. I call myself irreligious because I refuse to subscribe to any religion or belief system. I only accept what reality really is. I have learnt that I could be wrong, and I should be ready to be corrected. I have learnt that science while it may not have all the answers, those that it provides is based on the observable reality around us and not on the words of a book.<br />
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Now I enjoy my life very much, a lot more than a religious person can ever imagine to. I am not restricted by anything except the law. Besides it, I set my own rules, but it doesn't mean I do whatever I want to do. An irreligious moral system is to be guided by consequences. I learnt that consequences are a better moral compass than a holy book. My actions have consequences, and I determine what I do with regards to the consequences it will bring. That's why I enjoy life.<br />
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<u><b>Update (6-Sep-2011, 6:02 am):</b></u> It has been more than a year since I originally wrote this post. While most of it continues to hold true, I now call myself an atheist and I'm not ashamed to be one. Being an atheist simply means to not have any belief in any form of "god" or gods. In that sense, I am an atheist, and denying that is not going to help me in any way. I continue to stand by my view that an irreligious or atheistic moral system is guided by the consequences and implications of my actions. An eternal reward/punishment system is not necessary to motivate me to be good, as I choose to be good for goodness' sake and to selflessly serve others.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-47530234090327397472010-05-06T13:10:00.000+08:002010-05-06T13:10:36.593+08:00Check out this video<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="293" width="400"><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true" /><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always" /><param name="movie" value="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6469419&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" /><embed src="http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=6469419&server=vimeo.com&show_title=0&show_byline=0&show_portrait=0&color=00ADEF&fullscreen=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="400" height="293"></embed></object></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-69519973943961955812010-04-15T18:36:00.001+08:002010-04-16T00:32:05.465+08:00Folding Paper in Thirds without Guessing or using Ruler<b>Update:</b> New method added: <i>"Folding any rectangular (or square) sheet of paper in thirds"</i><br />
<br />
I've been thinking about this lately. How to fold a paper in thirds? I found two separate methods. One works for the A series of papers (most popular of which is the A4 size paper). The other works for any size.<br />
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<b>Folding an A series paper (A0, A4, etc.)</b><br />
<ol><li>Fold the sheet of paper diagonally using two opposing corners (Let us call these A and B).</li>
<li>Orient the paper in such a way that the two other corners (Call these C and D) are at the bottom and a W shape is formed.</li>
<li>Fold the left flap of the W shape over such that the previous fold line is perfectly aligned on itself, and the new fold passes through one of the corners, C or D, whichever is nearer to the flap.</li>
<li>Unfold, and the do the same procedure with the right flap. The new fold must pass through the other one of the corners C and D.</li>
<li>Unfold this new fold, and also the diagonal. Now you must notice that there are two intersection points on the paper. Fold the paper into thirds by folding it through these two points.</li>
</ol><b>Tips and notes:</b><br />
<ul><li>You may want to avoid performing this procedure on your original paper as it leaves unwanted fold lines or creases on the paper. Instead you may do it on a rough sheet of paper of the exact same size, then transfer the final folds (the thirds) onto your original. Or you may follow procedure below.</li>
<li>A series paper has the unique property that two sheets of paper of a particular number in the series (e.g. A4) joined together would create a paper that is the same size as the previous number (A3). A sheet of paper of a particular number (e.g. A4) when folded or cut in equal halves across the width would give two sheets of paper of the next number (A5). Mathematically, the ratio of length to breadth is 1:√2.</li>
<li>The ability to fold the paper in thirds by the above procedure is a side effect of this property.</li>
<li>Theoretically this should perfectly fold the paper in thirds, however due to practical limitations in ensuring accurate paper size, the folds may not be perfect. </li>
<li>I figured this out on my own. I didn't find anything similar on the web.</li>
</ul><b>Folding any sheet of paper (with straight edge on the side that should be folded in thirds, such as Letter or Legal)</b><br />
<ol><li>Take another sheet of paper where the width (breadth) is at least 0.662 times the length. In the case of an A series paper, another sheet of paper of the same number in the series is sufficient.</li>
<li>Fold this other sheet in fourths. (First fold in half, then fold the two halves each in half.)</li>
<li>Unfold the paper. You will find three crease lines on the paper.</li>
<li>Now take the original sheet of paper and place it on top of the folded paper, while following the next step.</li>
<li>Place the end corners of the side you want to fold such that one corner coincides exactly with a corner of the folded sheet of paper.</li>
<li>The other corner of the original sheet's side must coincide exactly with a point on the third fold line away from the corner that coincided in step 5. When the papers are flat on a flat surface, there is only one such point.</li>
<li>You will notice that the two other folds of the folded paper divide the side of the original paper in thirds. Simply use these intersections to fold the paper in thirds.</li>
</ol><b>Tips and notes:</b><br />
<ul><li>The folded sheet of paper is simply a tool to fold the original in thirds. You can use other tools that maybe more readily available such as four parallel lines in which the distance between any two consecutive lines is always equal. You can place the corners of the side such that they coincide with line 1 and line 4.</li>
<li>I found this procedure on the internet, but the website I found only talked about square paper. However it is true for all sizes of paper as long as you can make a tool long enough (and short enough) to accommodate the length of the side to be folded.</li>
</ul><b>Folding any rectangular (or square) sheet of paper in thirds</b><br />
<ol><li>Fold (and crease) the paper into two equal halves. Unfold it.</li>
<li>Fold a diagonal between two opposing corners. You may optionally fold back to equal halves after this.</li>
<li>Fold a diagonal between two opposing corners of one half of the paper such that this diagonal intersects the original diagonal from step 2. (Only one of the two possible diagonals can intersect the original diagonal).</li>
<li>Unfold everything. The intersection point divides the length and the breadth of the paper into one-thirds and two-thirds.</li>
<li>You can continue to fold a similar diagonal on the other half of the paper, or you can simply fold through the intersection point to divide the sheet into one-thirds and two-thirds. The two-thirds part can then be folded in half, and the paper is folded in thirds.</li>
</ol><b>Tips and notes</b><br />
<ul><li>As with the first method, you may want to fold a rough paper of same size and transfer the final folds to your target paper.</li>
<li>This method gives better accuracy than the first, and also helps you avoid the hassle (in the second method) of aligning and coinciding corners and fold lines of two sheets of paper.</li>
<li>This method is universal for rectangular sheets of paper (including squares). However the previous method is universal for sheets of paper of any shape, as long as a straight edge of full length can be created, perpendicular to the desired folds.</li>
<li>This too, I found online. However the web page was only talking about square paper. But when I checked, the method works for any size of paper as long as it is rectangular. I checked with A4 and a random sized rectangular paper.</li>
</ul><ul></ul>A visual interpretation may be posted when I have the time.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-70054178732065427102010-03-20T11:30:00.002+08:002010-03-20T11:35:15.402+08:00Is religion a prerequisite for morality?John Allen Paulos think otherwise. He observes that while morality need not come from religion, religion has damaged a human's ability to behave morally without basing his reasons to do so on it. It means that once you have learnt a religion's version of moral behaviour, it becomes difficult for you to behave morally when you leave the religion for another religion or irreligion.<br />
<br />
Here is an excerpt from his book <i>"Irreligion: A mathematician explains why the arguments for God just don't add up."</i> (Undeline emphasis is mine.)<br />
<br />
<b>Page 135:</b><br />
<blockquote>[A] problem associated with assigning ][ disproportionate payoffs to God's existence and the eternal happiness to be derived from obeying Him is that this assignment itself can serve to rationalize the most hateful of actions. Contrary to Dostoyevsky's warning that "if God doesn't exist, everything is allowed," we have the fanatical believer'S threat that "if God does exist, everything is allowed." <u>Killing thousands or even millions of people might be justified in some devout believers' eyes if in doing so they violate only mundane human laws and incur only mundane human penalties while upholding higher divine laws and earning higher divine approbation.</u></blockquote><b>Page 139-141:</b><br />
<blockquote>I would like to counter ][ the claim regularly made by religious people that atheists and agnostics are somehow less moral or law-abiding than they [are]. There is absolutely no evidence for this, and I suspect whatever average difference there is along the nebulous dimension of morality has the opposite algebraic sign.<br />
<br />
[S]tudies on crime rates (and other measures of social dysfunction) showing that nonbelievers in the United States are extremely underrepresented in prison[,] suggest as much. So does Japan, one of the world's least crime-ridden countries, only a minority of whose citizens reportedly believe in God. And so, too, do those ][ monomaniacal true believers whose smiling surety often harbors a toxic intolerance. (Recall the physicist Steven Weinberg's happy quip "With or without religion, good people will do good, and evil people will do evil, but for good people to do evil, that takes religion.") Also worthy of mention are the garden-variety religious scoundrels, hypocrites, and charlatans in public life. Not quite evil, but also far from admirable, is the social opportunism that no doubt is the reason for many expressions of religious humbug. Like feigning an interest in golf to get ahead in business, mouthing the right pieties can often improve one's prospects in politics.<br />
<br />
<u>An atheist or agnostic who acts morally simply because it is the right thing to do is, in a sense, more moral than someone who is trying to avoid everlasting torment or, as is the case with martyrs, to achieve eternal bliss.</u> He or she is making the moral choice without benefit of Pascal's divine bribe. <u>This choice is all the more impressive when an atheist or agnostic sacrifices his or her life, for example, to rescue a drowning child, aware that there'll be no heavenly reward for this lifesaving valor.</u> The contrast with acts motivated by calculated expected value or uncalculated unexpected fear (or, worse, fearlessness) is stark.<br />
<br />
Still, people do often vigorously insist that religious beliefs are necessary to ensure moral behavior. Though the claim is quite clearly false of people in general, there is a sense in which it might be true if one has been brought up in a very religious environment. A classic experiment on the so-called overjustification effect by the psychologists David Greene, Betty Sternberg, and Mark Lepper is relevant. They exposed fourth- and fifth-grade students to a variety of intriguing mathematical games and measured the time the children played them. They found that the children seemed to possess a good deal of intrinsic interest in the games. The games were fun. After a few days, however, the psychologists began to reward the children for playing; those playing them more had a better chance of winning the prizes offered. The prizes did increase the time the children played the games, but when the prizes were stopped, the children lost almost all interest in the games and rarely played them. <u>The extrinsic rewards had undercut the children's intrinsic interest. Likewise, religious injunctions and rewards promised to children for being good might, if repudiated in later life, drastically reduce the time people spend playing the "being good" game. This is another reason not to base ethics on religious teachings.</u></blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-39722553078584278522010-03-10T12:12:00.004+08:002010-03-11T00:06:48.684+08:00God's existence depends on your belief<b>Update:</b> See below (after the Legend table).<br />
<ol><li>p → q (means, if <i>p</i> then <i>q</i>)</li>
<li>¬ q</li>
<li>¬ q → ¬ p (contrapositive of 1)</li>
<li>∴ ¬ p</li>
</ol>Mathematicians here will agree that this propositional argument is valid.<br />
<br />
Let <i>p</i> denote the proposition "God exists"<br />
Let <i>q</i> denote the proposition "I believe in God"<br />
<ol><li>If God exists, then I believe in God. (means, <i>"God exists"</i> implies <i>"I believe in God"</i>)</li>
<li>I do not believe in God.</li>
<li>If I do not believe in God, then God does not exist. (contrapositive of 1)</li>
<li>Therefore, God does not exist. </li>
</ol><b>Legend for non-mathematicians:</b><br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="0"><tbody>
<tr> <td align="center" valign="middle">→</td> <td align="center" valign="middle">implies</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="center" valign="middle">p → q</td> <td align="center" valign="middle">p implies q <br />
meaning, if p is true, then q is true. <br />
if p is false, the truth of q is unknown.</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="center" valign="middle">¬</td> <td align="center" valign="middle">not</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="center" valign="middle">¬ p</td> <td align="center" valign="middle">not p <br />
negative of p <br />
meaning, p is false. <br />
in other words, the negative of p is true.</td> </tr>
<tr> <td align="center" valign="middle">∴</td> <td align="center" valign="middle">therefore</td> </tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<b>Update:</b> For anyone who may misunderstand what I'm trying to show you here, let me give you an explanation.<br />
<br />
When I say that "If God exists, then I believe in God." I am talking about myself. It is true that if I happen to have irrefutable proof that God exists, then I would happily believe in God. Currently, it is also true that I do not believe in God. By contrapositive in propositional logic, you (as a logic mathematician, not a linguistic scholar<b>*</b>) can derive that if I don't believe in God, then God doesn't exist. And since it is true that I don't believe in God, it implies that it is also true that God does not exist.<br />
<blockquote><b>*</b> Alas, propositional logic often creates confusion when it is attempted to be expressed in the language I'm trying to explain (which is English). Hence you may misunderstand.</blockquote>By the way, the above argument is a thought I had since I studied propositional logic and read <b>"Irreligion"</b> by <i>John Allen Paulos</i>, in which he uses propositional logic as well.<br />
<br />
A religious person can easily rewrite it this way (conforming to propositional logic rules):<br />
<ol><li>q → p --- If I believe in God, then God exists.</li>
<li>q --- I believe in God.</li>
<li>∴ p --- Therefore, God exists.</li>
</ol>Both ways, you can easily see that God's existence depends your belief. In the case of non-believer like me, since I don't believe in God, my absence of belief causes God to not exist (within my realm of belief<b>*</b>). In the case of a believer, since he believes in God, he claims that God exists (within his realm of belief).<br />
<blockquote><b>*</b> Belief is after all a personal thing, isn't it? </blockquote>Supernatural beings' existence depends on your belief in them. A believer has no doubt that the supernatural entity (including imaginary friends) exists. But the moment he doubts, the existence of the supernatural entity is undermined. The more he doubts, the more it ceases to exist. Basically, God exists to and only to those who believe in him.<br />
<br />
This is unlike natural entities and scientific concepts. Take the example of evolution. Not one scientist has claimed that you have to believe in evolution. Even Darwin did not. What scientists do is to prove or disprove theories. Evolution maybe a theory, but there's a substantial amount of proof supporting this theory, with more being discovered. However, the existence of evolution is not jeopardized by creationists not believing in it. This is because evolution depends on proofs and discoveries (such as fossils), not on the scientists' belief in it.<b>*</b><br />
<br />
In fact, a scientist can believe very religiously in a theory he has created, but unless he can show proof, the theory remains a unproven theory. And if he discovers or someone else shows him something that contradicts his theory, it becomes a disproven theory. In other words, no matter how much a scientist believes in the theory he formulated, it will not become true by virtue of his belief.<br />
<blockquote><b>*</b> The same can be said of natural entities such as celestial bodies, human beings, supercomputers, to name a few. No matter how strongly you believe a human being exists in the empty corner of your room, one doesn't suddenly begin to exist there. And I am yet to know of a murder case where a man killed another simply by disbelieving in his existence.</blockquote>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-64438669384874646802010-02-01T12:07:00.001+08:002010-02-01T12:22:31.912+08:00Orphaned, Raped and IgnoredThink about this. When earthquake strikes, everyone is quick to pour in money and manpower to help those affected. But oppression and suppression of human rights can go on for centuries and even millenia, and still go totally unnoticed. Even when people from the inside are finding ways to cry out for help from the free world. Why do those who talk so much about human rights simply turn a blind eye towards political and religious suppression of human rights in the name of political correctness?<br />
<br />
<strong><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/opinion/31kristof.html">Orphaned, Raped and Ignored</a></span></strong><br />
<i>By <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/nicholasdkristof/index.html?inline=nyt-per">NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF</a><br />
Published: January 30, 2010 <br />
<b>KALEHE, Congo</b></i><br />
<br />
Sometimes I wish eastern Congo could suffer an earthquake or a tsunami, so that it might finally get the attention it needs. The barbaric civil war being waged here is the most lethal conflict since World War II and has claimed at least 30 times as many lives as the Haiti earthquake. <br />
<br />
Yet no humanitarian crisis generates so little attention per million corpses, or such a pathetic international response.<br />
<br />
That’s why I’m here in the lovely, lush and threatening hills west of Lake Kivu, where militias rape, mutilate and kill civilians with a savagery that is almost incomprehensible. I’m talking to a 9-year-old girl, Chance Tombola, an orphan whose eyes are luminous with fear. <br />
<br />
For Chance, the war arrived one evening last May when armed soldiers from an extremist Hutu militia — remnants of those who committed the Rwandan genocide — burst into her home. They killed her parents in front of her. Chance ran away, but the soldiers seized her two sisters, ages 6 and 12, and carried them away into the forest, presumably to be turned into “wives” of soldiers. No one has seen Chance’s sisters since.<br />
<br />
<i><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/31/opinion/31kristof.html">Read more and watch video...</a></i><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
Chance moved in with her aunt and uncle and their two teenage daughters. Two months later, the same militia invaded the aunt’s house and held everyone at gunpoint. Chance says she recognized some of the soldiers as the same ones who had killed her parents.<br />
<br />
This time, no one could escape. The soldiers first shot her uncle, and then, as the terrified family members sobbed, they pulled out a large knife.<br />
<br />
“They sliced his belly so that the intestines fell out,” said his widow, Jeanne Birengenyi, 34, Chance’s aunt. “Then they cut his heart out and showed it to me.” The soldiers continued to mutilate the body, while others began to rape Jeanne.<br />
<br />
“One takes a leg, one takes the other leg,” Jeanne said dully. “Others grab the arms while one just starts raping. They don’t care if children are watching.”<br />
<br />
Chance added softly: “There were six who raped her. One raped me, too.” <br />
<br />
The soldiers left Jeanne and Chance, tightly tied up, and marched off into the forest with Jeanne’s two daughters as prisoners. One daughter is 14, the other 16, and they have not been heard from since.<br />
<br />
“They kill, they rape, burn houses and take people’s belongings,” Jeanne said. “When they come with their guns, it’s as if they have a project to eliminate the local population.”<br />
<br />
A <a href="http://www.theirc.org/special-reports/congo-forgotten-crisis">peer-reviewed study</a> found that 5.4 million people had already died in this war as of April 2007, and hundreds of thousands more have died as the situation has deteriorated since then. A catastrophically planned military offensive last year, backed by the governments of Congo and Rwanda as well as the United Nations force here, made some headway against Hutu militias but also led to increased predation on civilians from all sides.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/drc1209webwcover_1.pdf">Human Rights Watch estimates</a> that for every Hutu fighter sent back to Rwanda last year, at least seven women were raped and 900 people forced to flee for their lives. “From a human rights perspective, the operation has been catastrophic,” concluded Philip Alston, a senior United Nations investigator.<br />
<br />
This is a pointless war — now a dozen years old — driven by warlords, greed for minerals, ethnic tensions and complete impunity. While there is plenty of fault to go around, Rwanda has long played <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/world/africa/04congo.html?_r=2&pagewanted=1">a particularly troubling role</a> in many ways, including support for one of the militias. Rwanda’s government is dazzlingly successful at home, but next door in Congo, it appears complicit in war crimes. <br />
<br />
Jeanne and Chance contracted sexually transmitted diseases. Like other survivors in areas that are accessible, they receive help from the International Rescue Committee, but Chance still suffers pain when she urinates.<br />
<br />
Counselors say that most raped women are rejected by their husbands, and raped girls like Chance have difficulty marrying. In an area west of Lake Kivu where attacks are continuing, I met Saleh Bulondo, a newly homeless young man who was educated and spoke a little English. I asked him if he would still marry his girlfriend if she were raped.<br />
<br />
“Never,” he said. “I will abandon her.”<br />
<br />
A girl here normally fetches a bride price (a reverse dowry, paid by the husband’s family) when she marries. A village chief told me that a typical price would be 20 goats — but if the girl has been raped, two goats. At most.<br />
<br />
Thus it takes astonishing courage for Jeanne and Chance to tell their stories (including in a video posted with the on-line version of this column). I’ll be reporting more from eastern Congo in the coming days, hoping that the fortitude of survivors like them can inspire world leaders to step forward to stop this slaughter. It’s time to show the same compassion toward Congo that we have toward Haiti.<br />
<br />
<i>I invite you to visit my blog, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/ontheground">On the Ground</a>. Please also join me on <a href="http://www.facebook.com/kristof">Facebook</a>, watch my <a href="http://www.youtube.com/nicholaskristof">YouTube videos</a> and follow me on <a href="http://twitter.com/nickkristof">Twitter</a>. -Nicholas D. Kristof</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-9535686244938482622010-01-13T13:22:00.002+08:002010-02-09T04:28:24.122+08:00So it's okay to offend the Chinese<b>Update:</b> McDonald's Singapore subsequently posted a "We're sorry, and we're grateful" (grateful for what?) notice in all its restaurants, and introduced an online poll for customers to indicate interest in a pig doraemon. The notice says that the pig toy is scheduled for production and will be made available in April (that's two long months after CNY!) for those aspiring to complete their collection. But... the damage has already been done, especially for those who decided not to continue collecting once they learnt the pig to be missing!<br />
<br />
I guess it's not a problem to offend the Chinese by rewriting their culture, but you must be very careful not to offend the Muslims by being insensitive to their culture. Why the big difference? Can anyone tell me?<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>McDonald’s pulls pig toy</b></span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvEGzIaS0BM3f5q2bLxWGLwKU5WFLAT74O_QEveT1XgEcSz6HnYLBNtGWigKjIduiSlq2uq8yrZznctWQs0a_gB1HBUU75Fu8t8JBvS5tHbhM9lQmw_FPl3VIn4R0ZZth7iAjC/s1600-h/pig-lost-in-mac.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvEGzIaS0BM3f5q2bLxWGLwKU5WFLAT74O_QEveT1XgEcSz6HnYLBNtGWigKjIduiSlq2uq8yrZznctWQs0a_gB1HBUU75Fu8t8JBvS5tHbhM9lQmw_FPl3VIn4R0ZZth7iAjC/s320/pig-lost-in-mac.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Instead of a pig, a Cupid (third from right) completes the line-up of 12 soft toys in the McDonald's Doraemon collection for Chinese New Year. -- ST PHOTO: ALPHONSUS CHERN</i></span></div><br />
<i>SINGAPORE, Jan 9</i> — Fast-food giant McDonald’s has stirred up a controversy in Singapore by omitting pig characters from its latest toy promotions.<br />
<br />
The pig soft toy was expected to have been part of a 12-character Doraemon set depicting the animals of the Chinese zodiac calendar. Customers wanting the toy would have to pay US$2 (RM4.8) on top of making a food purchase.<br />
<br />
But McDonald’s decided not to include the pig toy to avoid offending Muslim customers, and had a Doraemon Cupid toy in its place instead.<br />
<br />
<u>The move has upset Chinese customers keen on collecting all 12 toys in the series.</u> One of them, staff nurse Daphne Koh, 26, said: “I was born in the Year of the Pig and would have collected the whole set. <u>But without the pig, it makes no sense for me to do so.</u>”<br />
<br />
Retiree May Liaw, 55, who had wanted to buy a set to decorate her home for Chinese New Year, said: “<u>It is strange to have Cupid in place of the pig.</u> The set is incomplete and I am not interested in individual pieces.”<br />
<br />
Various online forums are also abuzz with discussions on whether the fast-food chain has overreacted.<br />
<br />
When contacted, McDonald’s Restaurants communications director Linda Ming said the chain excluded the pig toy out of sensitivity for its Muslim customers.<br />
<br />
It chose Cupid instead to commemorate Valentine’s Day, which coincides with the first day of the Chinese New Year this year, on Feb 14.<br />
<br />
Said Ming: “We seek our customers’ understanding that it has never been our intention to be disrespectful towards any religion or culture.”<br />
<br />
She added that the restaurant would continue to sell the Doraemon collectibles which she said have been otherwise well received.<br />
<br />
Experts contacted said the decision by McDonald’s showed a lack of cross-cultural understanding.<br />
<br />
Sociologist Daniel Goh said that if McDonald’s did not consult Muslim opinions before making the decision to exclude the pig toy, the company had then presumed Muslim sensibilities. He added that it amounted to a form of self-censorship.<br />
<br />
Indeed, Muslim teachers and scholars said they saw nothing wrong with a halal restaurant giving out pig toys.<br />
<br />
Said religious teacher Mohammed Suhaimi Fauzi: “For Muslims who mind the pig doll, they can choose not to buy it. But even if they buy it for their children to play with or to learn about animals, there is no problem.”<br />
<br />
Dr Mohamad Maznah, a visiting senior research fellow with the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS), said she felt the restaurant was just being cautious, although she doubted the Muslim community here would have been upset if the pig toy had been included.<br />
<br />
Dr Syed Muhd Khairudin Aljunied, an assistant professor of Malay Studies at NUS, said: “Pigs and dogs are not non- halal, except when they are consumed.”<br />
<br />
The Islamic Religious Council of Singapore, Muis, declined comment when contacted.<br />
<br />
Muslim patrons of the restaurant also said they did not see the pig toys as a problem.<br />
<br />
Curator Ithnine Atan, 42, said: “<u>The pig is quite important to the whole collection.</u> Even if they put a big picture of a pig there, as long as they comply with the proper halal regulations, it’s okay.”<br />
<br />
Administrative assistant Masturah Salim, 26, added: “I think McDonald’s just wanted to consider the Muslim population. Personally, I am fine with the inclusion of the pig because I won’t be buying a set of the Chinese zodiac signs anyway.<br />
<br />
“It is understandable for the Chinese to be upset about the pig being excluded from the set if they want to collect all 12 animals.” — <i>Straits Times</i><br />
<br />
<b>Sources:</b><br />
<a href="http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/index.php/world/48998-mcdonalds-pulls-pig-toy-">The Malaysian Insider - McDonald’s pulls pig toy</a><br />
<a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/ST+Forum/Story/STIStory_474368.html">The Straits Times - McDonalds takes the charm out of Doraemon series</a> <br />
<a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_475296.html">The Straits Times - McDonalds pulls pig toy</a><br />
<br />
<b>Reactions:</b><br />
<a href="http://vladtepesblog.com/?p=17970" rel="nofollow">Plush pig toy pulled from McDonald’s happy meal in Singapore</a><br />
<a href="http://blog.dk.sg/2010/01/12/mcdonalds-singapore-remove-pig-from-the-chinese-zodiac/" rel="nofollow">McDonalds Singapore remove pig from the Chinese zodiac</a><br />
<a href="http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?171976-Mc-Donalds-Singapore-replaces-Pig-with-Cupid-in-Chinese-Zodiac-sign" rel="nofollow">Mc Donalds Singapore replaces Pig with Cupid in Chinese Zodiac sign</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-46728520411324980102010-01-05T19:00:00.000+08:002010-01-05T19:00:12.014+08:00Jingle Bombs<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="344" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/i5kcdKMIQ3I&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/i5kcdKMIQ3I&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object><br />
</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><i>[With Jeff Dunham]</i></b><br />
</div><br />
Dashing through the sand<br />
With a bomb strapped to my back<br />
I have a nasty plan<br />
For Christmas in Iraq<br />
<br />
I got through checkpoint A<br />
But not through checkpoint B<br />
That's when I got shot in the ass by the U.S. military<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><i>It's not funny!</i><br />
</div><br />
Ooo, Jingle bombs, jingle bombs mine blew up you see<br />
Where are all the virgins that Bin Laden promised me<br />
Jingle bombs, jingle bombs your soldiers shot me dead<br />
The only thing that I have left is this towel upon my head<br />
<br />
I used to be a man, but every time I cough<br />
Thanks to uncle Sam my nuts keep falling off<br />
My bombing days are done, I need to find some work<br />
Perhaps it would be much safer as a convenient store night clerk,<br />
Ooo, Jingle bombs, jingle bombs I think I got screwed<br />
Don't laugh at me because I'm dead or I kill you<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><i>I kill you</i><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-89998574162372678532009-12-21T03:00:00.000+08:002009-12-21T03:00:53.198+08:00Do you believe in God?Often times when one is asked this question he or she replies "Yes, of course! Don't you?" or "No. God doesn't exist." But have you ever pondered whether the definition of <i>'God'</i> as we have in our dictionaries is even correct?<br />
<br />
I believe in God. But I don't believe in God. "How can you believe and not believe at the same time?" you may ask. Well, you should define 'God' and then I'll tell you if I believe (or not believe) in the <i>'God'</i> you have defined. I can take the most common definitions and give you an explanation.<br />
<br />
Do I believe in God in the traditional sense of the word? You know, like those churches, temples and the M places teach you? If you mean <i>God</i> as people normally define it, in a traditional or religious sense, the answer of my belief is a strict NO.<br />
<br />
The reason? To think that a blatantly self-proclaimed 'messenger' of God would have all the answers we ever need to live our lives is simply a clear insult to our own <i>(religious people claim God-given)</i> intelligence. I would rather listen to <i>Symantec</i> than to a 'messenger' of God about cyber security.<br />
<br />
Does <i>'not believing in a religious God'</i> make me an atheist or an agnostic? Neither! You see, an atheist you meet on the street is as arrogant as a 'messenger' of God. He is a messenger of "no God," if you will. He says, "Look, there is no God. You better believe me." While atheist thinkers like Richard Dawkins present credible evidence and acknowledge that the existence of God is very very very extremely highly improbable <i>(that would be an exaggeration, for all you know),</i> your everyday atheist simply says existence of God is impossible. I'd rather be on the humbler side of atheists and stick with the improbability, because the impossibility of it is not proven.<br />
<br />
So then if impossibility of God's existence can't be proven, does that mean I doubt its existence? Does that make me an agnostic? I don't doubt God's existence. (Absence of doubt does not mean belief.) The thing I doubt is what you thought the word <i>'God'</i> means in the last sentence you just read. As you already know, if you thought of a bearded man in the sky, I'm an atheist. If you thought of someone <i>'great'</i> watching over you with invisible surveillance cameras, recording your every move, I'm an atheist.<br />
<br />
OK so, I'm not an atheist, I'm not an agnostic, and I don't believe in 'God' as the word is commonly defined. Where does that put me?<br />
<br />
Perhaps I'm an Einsteinian. I believe Einstein was the messenger of God. His holy book is, well, he has not been inspired by God to write any holy book. But his religion involves doubting, testing, learning and inventing (among other related things). There was never any element of faith or believing in his religion. <i>(I chuckle at the term 'blind faith' because all faith is blind anyway. Faith means to believe in things you don't see. Right?)</i><br />
<br />
There is a name for the religion of Einstein. It's called SCIENCE. And Einstein was not the founder of this religion. If we will ever reach the true God (assuming he/she/it exists), it is going to be through Science.<br />
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Finally I'd like to remind you that if we can ever accurately and completely define what the word 'God' means, we would be greater than 'God'. This is what Science tries to achieve and other religions try to prevent.<br />
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<i>PS: This has nothing to do with Scientology, which is a bad joke or a beefed-up version of Christianity.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-44689093214631758132009-12-18T01:23:00.003+08:002009-12-18T01:47:03.040+08:00Is this insanity or religion?<div style="text-align: center;"><b>“Clearly there is sanity in numbers.”</b><br />
<b><i>- Sam Harris, author and philosopher.</i></b><br />
<a href="http://www.scottklarr.com/topic/420/great-quotes-sam-harris-sanity-in-numbers-2004/"><i>[Read full quote]</i></a><br />
</div>Sam Harris says, and many other philosophers agree, that when one or a few people commit insane acts, we call them insane. When enough number of people commit the same insane acts, we term the group as a cult. When a large number of people commit the same insane acts (specifically as justified by their group leaders' so-called 'holy' books), we call it a religion. And religion automatically bestows a clearly undeserved sanity upon its followers. Clearly, there is sanity in numbers. Check out the following news article. Ponder over how a man can endanger the life of a toddler simply in the name of his own beliefs. Does a cult or a religion have any true morality?<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">Man confesses to impaling toddler with 40 needles</span></b><br />
<b><i>Mother tells newspaper she suspected ex-husband had been involved in ‘black magic'</i></b><br />
<i>RIO DE JANEIRO — Reuters Published on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2009 9:23AM EST</i><br />
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A Brazilian man confessed to putting more than 40 metal sewing needles into the body of a 2-year-old boy in what may have been a cult or religious act, media reported on Thursday.<br />
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The boy, whose condition is serious but stable, was being transferred on Thursday to a specialist medical centre in Salvador, the state capital of northeastern Bahia state, after doctors found two needles were dangerously close to his heart.<br />
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The boy was brought to a hospital in the remote town of Ibotirama by his mother last week after he complained of pain.<br />
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X-rays taken by doctors, and shown on Brazil's Globo news network's website, clearly show dozens of needles deep in his body, some clustered near his lungs and others in his abdomen, neck and legs.<br />
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According to Globo television, police in Ibotirama said that the boy's ex-stepfather, 30-year-old Roberto Carlos Magalhaes, had been arrested and confessed to putting the needles into the boy's body. They reportedly said he was helped by two women, one of whom was involved in a religious group.<br />
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Surgeons had planned to operate on the boy but cancelled the surgery after deciding it was too dangerous, Dr Fabio Contelle at the hospital in Barreiras town said in an interview with Globo TV. The boy was moved to Barreiras from the smaller hospital in Ibotirama after doctors realized the seriousness of his condition.<br />
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The A Tarde newspaper in Bahia quoted the boy's mother, Maria Souza Santos, as saying she suspected Mr. Magalhaes had been involved in some kind of “black magic.”<br />
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“My son didn't like to go out with Roberto. I didn't think he was capable of doing something bad to him,” she was quoted as saying.<br />
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Police in Ibotirama could not be immediately reached.<br />
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Bahia is the heart of African influence in Brazil, where many people practice Afro-Brazilian religions that combine spiritism, indigenous and African beliefs.<br />
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<i><b>Source:</b> <a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/man-confesses-to-impaling-toddler-with-40-needles/article1403693/">Man confesses to impaling toddler with 40 needles - The Globe and Mail</a></i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-46214647581061004372009-12-01T04:45:00.000+08:002009-12-01T04:52:29.805+08:00I'm glad we have good Muslims :-)<b>Disclaimer:</b> To the best of my belief, this post is not in violation of any act. I am merely relaying what an Islamic cleric is teaching his Muslim viewers through an Islamic channel. Anyone who believes this to be a violation, please contact me and describe exactly how it is a violation.<br />
<br />
<b>Watch this</b> (or read transcript below)<b>:</b><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><object height="332" width="410"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/PNkZVsLIwQo&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/PNkZVsLIwQo&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="410" height="332"></embed></object><br />
</div><br />
<b>Youtube video link:</b> <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PNkZVsLIwQo">YouTube - Trick Jews into becoming Mohammedans</a><br />
<b>Original video at MEMRI:</b> <a href="http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/2268.htm">MEMRI: Egyptian Cleric Mahmoud Al-Masri Recommends Tricking Jews into Becoming Muslims</a><br />
<b>Original transcript at MEMRI:</b> <a href="http://www.memritv.org/clip_transcript/en/2268.htm">Clip Transcript</a><br />
<br />
<i>Following are excerpts from a sermon delivered by <b>Egyptian cleric Mahmoud Al-Masri</b>, which aired on Al-Nas TV on August 10, 2009. </i><br />
<br />
<b>Mahmoud Al-Masri:</b> My dear brothers, we want to repent, and we want to take by the hand those people who have not yet repented. We should feel pity for them. By Allah, we should not be tough with them. These people are sick. They are sinners. We should feel pity for them, we should care for them. We should act like doctors who care for the sick. You should care for them and feel great pity for them, and seek any ingenious way to make a person repent. <br />
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I’d like to tell you a very nice story. Once there was a Muslim who lived next to a Jew. The Muslim saw in the Jew a measure of goodheartedness – however small – and he wanted to find any way to make him convert to Islam. So he went to him and asked: “Don’t you feel the need for Islam? Why don’t you become a Muslim?” The Jew said: “The only thing preventing me from becoming a Muslim is that I love drinking alcohol. I would have become a Muslim ages ago, but the only thing stopping me is that I am an alcoholic.” <br />
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The Muslim devised a plan. He said: “No problem – become a Muslim, and continue to drink.” The Muslim didn’t meant this, of course, but he said to him: “Become a Muslim, and continue to drink.” The Jews said: “Fine.” He said: “I proclaim that there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” The Muslim said to him: “Now you have become a Muslim. If you drink alcohol, we will carry out the punishment for drinking alcohol on you, and if you renounce Islam, we will kill you.” So the man remained a Muslim and never drank alcohol again. This was a nice trick by this good Muslim.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><i>End of Transcript </i><br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-9008082907624335902009-11-30T08:46:00.046+08:002009-11-30T08:46:02.200+08:00Happy Logically Designed Birthday!Well yes, it's a Logically Designed birthday today. I'm going to have my "Logic Design" exam in about four hours, and it is, sad to say, my birthday. That one day in a year, that one dreaded day, those 24 hours out of the 8760 hours of a (non-leap) year -- my birthday. Well, I shall not go on blabbering any further. Let me show you some posts from the dusty archives of my blog:<br />
<ul><li><span style="font-size: large;">Thursday, November 30, 2006</span></li>
<ul><li><a href="http://boringadtc.blogspot.com/2006/11/most-dreaded-day-of-year.html" target="_blank">Most Dreaded Day of the Year</a></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Friday, November 30, 2007</span></li>
<ul><li><a href="http://boringadtc.blogspot.com/2007/11/even-my-birthday-is-turning-out-to-be.html" target="_blank">Even my birthday is turning out to be a bad day...</a></li>
<li><a href="http://boringadtc.blogspot.com/2007/11/ok-maybe-day-is-not-so-bad-after-all.html" target="_blank">Ok, maybe the day is not so bad after all...</a></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Saturday, November 29, 2008</span></li>
<ul><li><a href="http://boringadtc.blogspot.com/2008/11/53-minutes-more.html" target="_blank">53 minutes more...</a></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Monday, December 1, 2008</span></li>
<ul><li><a href="http://boringadtc.blogspot.com/2008/12/need-new-place-to-stay.html" target="_blank">Need a new place to stay</a></li>
</ul>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Thursday, January 8, 2009</span></li>
<ul><li><a href="http://boringadtc.blogspot.com/2009/01/nightmares-i-live-every-day-birthday.html" target="_blank">Nightmares I live every Day – Birthday Slip</a></li>
</ul>
</ul>I hope that this year at least my birthday or the days following it won't be too bad. Let's see how it goes. Happy Logically Designed... <i>never mind.</i>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23062466.post-27354951842020407242009-11-27T11:12:00.001+08:002009-11-27T12:12:27.454+08:00Einsteinism - My religion<div style="text-align: center;">The following is a hypothetical conversation between a receptionist of a company, and a person who wants to submit an application form.<br />
</div><br />
<i>Sir you have not filled in your religion in the application form.</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Yes, I know.<br />
</div><i>What's your religion?</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Perhaps I should not tell you my religion, lest I offend you or anyone processing this application form.<br />
</div><i>I'm sorry, but unfortunately, incomplete forms won't be accepted.</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Well then, my religion is Einsteinism.<br />
</div><i>Ein.. what?</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Einsteinism.<br />
</div><i>What kind of a religion is that? Do you believe Einstein is God?</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Thankfully, Einstein himself didn't believe he's God. Moreover, he didn't believe there is one.<br />
</div><i>So you're more like a free thinker.</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">That's not what I am. That's what the supernatural religionists say I am.<br />
</div><i>Ok, but I have to write you as a free thinker.</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Then I am forced to withdraw my application. You should also be aware that I can sue your company for not allowing me my right to religious freedom.<br />
</div><i>But you're a free thinker! What makes you think we're taking away your religious freedom?</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Exactly what you just said. You are forcing "free thinking" on me. I'm not a free thinker. I'm an Einsteinist. I have my right to be an Einsteinist and not a free thinker.<br />
</div><i>What's the bloody difference?</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">What's the similarity?<br />
</div><i>[That] You don't believe in God?</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Sorry, it may surprise you, but I do. Just that my God doesn't bother with me, doesn't punish me for sins or reward me for "good" deeds, nor does he answer prayers.<br />
</div><i>So you're a deist then.</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Ah yes, the classic argument. Unfortunately you're wrong again. my God didn't bother with the universe, didn't bother with how humans must be shaped, and certainly didn't bother with the chemistry of how water is formed. Tell me, is the law of gravity a human being or a spirit?<br />
</div><i>Neither, everyone knows it's a law.</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Then my God is a law, or I shall say it is a bunch of laws. There is no "God" but there are simply laws of nature, laws of physics, laws of chemistry and any other law that is irrefutable.<br />
</div><i>You contradict yourself.</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">I expected to hear that. And I'm going to prove you wrong. Does God have control over our lives?<br />
</div><i>Yes. We can't decide when we will die.</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Do laws of physics have control over our lives?<br />
</div><i>Meaning?</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Meaning, if you jump down a building, does the law of gravity have total control over your life or can you break it and save yourself?<br />
</div><i>Certainly I can't. I'm sure to die.</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Hence, God is equal to the laws of physics. Which brings me to another point.<br />
</div><i>What?</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">Did the "God" of Bible tell you "Do not murder."?<br />
</div><i>Yes, but people do murder, if that's what you're coming to.</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">You're right. And you contradict yourself. If "God" has control over our lives, why is it that people still break his laws? My God has set for me the law of gravity, and I have tried breaking it. I can't! My God is the true God.<br />
</div><i>Makes sense. Anyway here's your application form, since you wish to withdraw it.</i><br />
<div style="margin-left: 40px;">My pleasure.<br />
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1