Inquisitive ramblings

God is a criminal?

2008-10-22T18:32:11+02:00

This has got to be the most baffling and incredible bit of news I've read in a long while:

"Legal case against God dismissed"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7673591.stm

Basically, a guy in Nebraska (US) sues god over the recent global calamities in the world, and the case is dismissed since god doesnt have an address. I really didnt know whether to laugh, cry, roll over, or what to do when I read this. One thing seems sure (and you can call me prejudiced) - it could only have happened in the US!

Quote:
"Mr Chambers sued God last year. He said God had threatened him and the people of Nebraska and had inflicted "widespread death, destruction and terrorisation of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants"."

Yes, well maybe god indeed has threatened the population of Nebraska. Or could it be possible that god as organised religion views it, doesnt exist?! Or could it be possible that god doesnt exist at all, that any spirituality we have might be far different to the simplistic heaven/hell/judgement day view of the world?! (Im mostly talking to the Christians here)

When religious people say 'god works in mysterious ways' and 'god surely has a deeper meaning when bad things happen, that something good will come out of it', is it not more likely that there is no such omnipotent creature? Surely if there was such a creature, it would have prevented things like WWII and the holocaust, the crusades, and every other similar human calamity in the world, because there is no way you could argue that they were all for the 'greater good'.

Could it be that organised religion was created at some point as a human organisation with very human goals (e.g. keeping people under control, gaining political power, invading foreign countries, etc)? Surely every self-ascribing Christian that is devoted has researched how the whole religion came into mainstream existence through Constantine, and without him we probably wouldnt even know about it these days.

Now, dont get me wrong, I think religion has also done a lot of good in helping people out and indeed giving people meaning whereas otherwise they might find their lives quite meaningless.

So, I think religion has provided society with some useful tools to deal with our existence, but Im hoping that within my lifetime I can see a time when we move on from that into something that has more to do with the self and less to do with some god in the clouds deciding on everyones fates.

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Security Academics - worse than criminals?

2008-10-21T14:09:28+02:00

Some guys in a Swiss University came up with a way to discover what you're typing on your keyboard, up to 20 meters away:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7681534.stm

The idea behind this sort of 'research' of course is that 'we are the good guys, and we are warning society against potential threats to IT security that the bad guys might be able to come up with'.

To be honest, if a person is able to come up with such clever stuff, I doubt they'd be stupid enough to create their career in crime. I think its quite unlikely that 'criminals' would be smart enough to come up with this sort of stuff - SO CAN YOU DAMN ACADEMICS PLEASE STOP FEEDING THEM WITH IDEAS!!!!

Its one thing if you discover these things in your bedroom, its another when you publish it in a renowned journal. Soon every 15 year old will be down the street figuring out what Im typing here. You get my drift!!!

So a message to: Martin Vuagnoux, Sylvain Pasini, Prof Bart Jacobs (and any other geeks in this area) if you're really concerned about public safety/etc, why dont you form your own security company that helps secure peoples IT systems, or develop these techniques in a way that doesnt allow every other person to do it for themselves.

Thank you.

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Facebook addiction

2008-10-16T11:00:27+02:00

Its terrible. I think I have to confess to having become somewhat addicted to facebook. When Im working Im constantly checking for any status updates to my friends or for any comments on my posts. Its really become a nuisance, and checking for updates has become a complete reflex, to which resistance is becoming increasingly futile. The mere shadow of a thought will get me logging in!! The resulting feeling of lack of self control has told me to do something about it.

Perhaps I should set myself a rule of only checking facebook during lunch. I'd never survive a total ban during work hours, so I feel like thats a good line in between.

Buhahaa!!

Anyone else with similar symptoms?

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Someone rips off Hitlers head. Bravo!

2008-07-05T14:31:09+02:00

So, the Madame Tussauds opening in Germany had the great idea of putting in a statue of Hitler, sitting in his bunker on the last days of WWII. Hmmmm.... I wonder if there are any cultural conflicts with doing that? Anyone?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7491280.stm

So some peed-off chap has the brave idea of going in, dodging a couple of security guards, and ripping off the head.

Well well, I'd like to personally congratulate this brave man, for doing what so many of us in our thoughts would love to have the guts to do.

The question here of course is, should something like a statue of Hitler (deeply offensive to lots of people and as pure an icon of evil as you can get) be allowed to be exhibited in a public space just because there are lots of people who 'dont mind' and will be attracted to it simply because of the infamy of his 'legacy' of starting WWII and killing lots of people.

Hmmm.... maybe not. This is just another cheap ploy from a commercial organisation that cares more about money than about peoples feelings, and that just pisses me off. Is Madame Tussauds really doing so poorly that they need a statue of Hitler to draw in crowds?!? I dont think so.

It was important that that head was ripped off, because the ripping off of that head represents the feelings of a lot of people out there, and when the head gets ripped off it sends a message to other companies like Madame T (who think they can get away with it), that you cant just think about making a quick buck, and you do have to think about the implications of your actions beyond the money.

There you have it.

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Undecided

2007-03-05T21:22:36+01:00

I am still undecided as to whether I will use blog.co.uk. I dont like the fact that it implies a geographical proximity. As if it was only meant for people in the uk..

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