Tag Archives: stupidity

Ghost in the Machine

Today, The Revealer points to this article over at the Guardian where Oxford scientists have received substantial funding to search for the "ghost in the machine." The machine in this case is us.

The scientists will apply a chilli-based gel to the skin of volunteers and ask them to try different strategies to lessen the burning sensation, including asking people with strong religious beliefs to draw on their faith to cope with the pain.

I don’t really understand what they hope to find. Some people may market religion as a way to escape from, ameliorate, or in some way "deal with" pain. But this hardly means that true religion can really provide it. Religion, at least Christianity, provides an answer, but not an escape hatch. On the contrary, a Christian understanding of pain might very well make the pain less and not more bearable. At any rate, the "pain" of having chili paste spread on your skin hardly rises to the level of pain at all–at least of the sort that religion purports to "deals with." Instead, I’d suggest that the researchers subject the volunteers to watching children be subjected to abuse, friends dragged out to sea by tsunamis, loved ones dying lengthy, "pointless" deaths. Then maybe we’ll get some useful data.

Holy Cow!

In a bizarre bid to bring about the Apocalypse, a group of over-zealous Christians are trying to breed and then sacrafice a pure red cow. I’m not sure why anyone would believe they could force the hand of God. Attempting to force the hand of someone will great power over you, however benevolent, doesn’t strike me as a good idea. Anyhow, in the meantime, the rest of us sane Christians are shaking our heads and cringing in anticipation of derisive laughter from the rest of the world. (Thanks, No Religion Now)

Seeing Red

Hundreds of thousands of people are dead or dying in the wake of the recent tsunamis.
Why then is the richest and most powerful nation in the world spending
$40 million to celebrate Bush’s second inauguration
and buzzing
Iranian airspace
? Our resources are already spread too thinly. Should we really
be partying or contemplating another costly war?

Bubble Burst

Tests reveal strongest brands of condoms

A melon-colored model [condom] distributed by Planned Parenthood performed the worst [in independent testing by Consumers Union], bursting during a test in which the latex condoms were filled with air.

Oh, the irony. 😉

Poking fun at Planned Barrenhood aside, I’m not sure the test CU used, though widely accepted for condom testing, is really representative of the repetitive stresses put on the latex during intercourse. How is inflating a condom like a balloon similar to poking it repeatedly and subjecting it to friction from rubbing?