He has raised – my higher power sheep has risen:

Re-posted from The Dyslectic Atheist    

Awhile back I wrote a post about my higher-power stuffed sheep, (sheep-us) and how as a joke, how I sometimes pray to my higher-power sheep (my higher power stuffed sheep’s ass) and how I invoke the name of my higher power sheep’s-ass, when I purchase lottery tickets and pull-tabs and the likes. I explained about how my higher-power stuffed sheep’s-ass and I had won a $500 pull-tab at a bar, and about the hot streak that we had with the winning scratch lottery tickets months earlier. Then about 3 months ago, I decided to put my higher power stuffed sheep’s-ass to the test again, after the release of 2 new scratch tickets that I found most interesting. One of the tickets costs 5 dollars, and has an 80,000 dollar top prize, and the other ticket costs 20 dollars, and has a top prize of 1 million dollars, and I decided to start playing the games just for fun.



I have known about the inherent problems associated with gambling every since I was a teenager; and I personally believe, that there are far more people addicted to gambling, than there are people who are addicted to drugs – so back when I was a teenager, I had developed a simple strategy for managing the inherent risks of gambling (quit when I’m still ahead). So I started with 100 dollars, and after I had blessed the money in the name of my higher power stuffed sheep’s-ass, I purchased my first 60 dollars worth of tickets, and I won over 400 dollars - by the end of my first week, me and my higher power sheep’s-ass, had really racked up some big bucks. Our hot streak then continued for about the next 5 weeks, but then it got cold, and I had even resigned to the thought that maybe I had been a little too greedy, and my overworked higher power sheep’s-ass had now disowned me, or my higher power stuffed sheep’s-ass, had died or something.


Still having about 70% of the total prizes that I had won while on our hot streak, I simply decided to quit playing the lottery tickets while I was still ahead, and way ahead!


I hadn’t played the lottery tickets in over 3 weeks; however, I always retain all of the tickets that I buy so I can check them again – having dyslexia, I sometimes over look the winning tickets. Numbers like 32, I will see as 23 and 13 as 31 and so on. Then about a week ago, as I was going through a pile of about 50 tickets looking for winners that I might have overlooked, I found 2 five dollar winners, and 1 fifty dollar winning ticket that I had purchased weeks earlier – as I sat there looking at this big pile of worthless lottery tickets, I cried out loud (LOL): “Oh my higher power stuffed sheep’s-ass, why have thou forsaken me?”


Then about 2 hours later, I had went on a planed shopping trip to the store for food and other stuff – and as I was pushing my shopping cart past the lottery vending machine as I was exiting the store, one of the wheels on the shopping cart, started spinning around in circles, and making a sound like a sheep barking – I heard: “Baaaaa, Baaaaa, Baaaaa” so I stopped pushing the cart, and when I looked to my right, staring me right in my face, was my favorite lottery ticket – so without even a second thought, I pulled two 20s out of my wallet, and said out loud (LOL): “in the name of my higher power stuffed sheep’s-ass, I’m going to win money today.”


I then returned home, and about 2 hours later, I scratched the first ticket (020) and discovered that it was a 50 dollar winner, so I had won 10 dollars – I then looked at my higher power stuffed sheep’s-ass, and said out loud (LOL): “only 10 dollars, you cheap fucking sheep.” Then I scratched the other one (021), and found two 500 dollar winners on that ticket – I then spent the next few hours (LOL), praising and repenting to my sheep -- my higher-power stuffed sheep’s-ass moves in mysterious ways!

Re-posted from The Dyslectic Atheist    

Life the Universe and reality:

Re-posted from The Dyslectic Atheist    

This is one of my favorite images taken by the Hubble of columns of old, cool interstellar hydrogen, and other gases, that are giving birth to new stars. The longest being about 4 light years from top to bottom – it is believed that our own sun, and all life here on earth, all got its start in much the way.



By the time that I had first seen this eerie image of a part of the Eagle Nebula, I had already developed an understanding of the process from which all of the elements within the universe were formed – the creation of all the known elements in the universe, began with the fusion of hydrogen within stars. The fact is that everything here on earth, was all manufacture in the birth, life and death of stars – and there is not one single credible scientist who would dispute this fact. Our current understanding of the universe is derived from the countless observations, experimentation and critical thinking; we then develop theories which are based on the most logical explanations of our observations at the time. These theories are then tested and retested, and subjected to even more meticulous observation and experimentation; however, our current scientific methods, are not about proving anything as absolute truth – it’s more about removing information which is absolutely false – science is simply a tool used to help us understand reality.


Our current understanding of the age of the universe dates it at about 14.5 billion years old, and the age of the planet that we live on, at about 4.5 billion years old. And through meticulous observations, and scientific research, we are now developing a greater understanding of how life began here on earth, and how it evolved into what we observe today. Through science, we are now just beginning understand, just how that all of the elements of which comprise all life here on our planet, were all forged over billions and billions of years within stars.


Our current understanding of the information which is absolutely false, are that the earth only being 6,000 – 10,000 years old, and that the universe and humans, along with all of the other plant life and animals here on earth, all magically appeared, and all in their current forms, and all within the first 6 days of “creation.”


I can understand why at a time, when humans had absolutely no real understanding of life and the universe, just why they simply made up stories, in an attempt to explain the things which they had little or no understanding of – today, however, holding on to such stories as absolute truth, simply verges on insanity – and as a parent, I felt no more obligation for allowing our children, to even being exposed to religious insanity, as I felt obligated in allowing them to be exposed to thieves, liars or pedophiles.


I clearly remember the day, when I first seen this image. A long time friend of mine, and a friend of our family (he is also a physicist and an avid astronomer), who was staying in our home while on his vacation. He had brought with him a few gifts for our children, one of which were large posters of this image. Our children then place the posters on their bedroom walls next to their other posters of space images and other stuff – with the exception of our 5 year old son, who was frightened of the poster, he said because he thought that the image on the poster, looked like monsters – our 2 older children simply loved the posters.


Our house guest spent most of the week, talking with me and the children about cosmology and other science. About 3 weeks after our friend’s visit, our oldest son and I, were looking at the poster of this image, and talking about the origins of life here on earth. That day, he told me that he had realized for the first time – that the universe simply was not made just for us, and that we are not at the center of the universe, or even at the center of our own galaxy either – and we exist, simply of a consequence of the universe existing, and not the other way around. And that he believed that everywhere in the universe where life can possibly exist, that it probably does – I thought, not bad for a 14 year old atheist!

Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year to all my friends and family!!!

Posted via email from irreligious

Life and the Universe – the never ending story?

When Christians start asking me, if I don’t believe in Jesus and heaven, then just what do I live for? I start thinking about the day in early May, when I told our 4 year old son, that we would be taking him and his brothers on a trip to Disney land in about a month in the second week in June – he had become so excited over this trip, that he could hardly even contain himself – he awoke the next morning, and asked me if we were going to Disney land today, and I told him not today, and it was not even June yet – then after almost a week of him asking me this same question every day, I finally told him that if he didn’t start being a good boy, and if he didn’t stop asking me this same question every day, that he just might not be going to Disney Land ever – from that day forward, he was on his best behavior, and he never asked me that question again either – he then simply started asking his mom, who then placed a calendar on the wall in his bedroom, and then she started marking off the days until our trip – I thought to myself, why in the hell, couldn’t I have simply thought of doing that myself? And no, I wasn’t being mean to our son.



I believe that it’s always nice; to have something happening to look forward to, but just as long as that something, is in fact real. When Christians ask me (what I perceive as a very hateful question) why if I don’t believe in Jesus and heaven, then just what do I look forward to doing after I die – I then often ask them, if they believe that they’re going to heaven, when they die, and if that’s all that they live for, then why in the hell, don’t they just pick up a gun, and then simply expedite their journey , and I tell them, that I don’t even believe, that Jesus would even mind at all, if they did. Most devout Christian, have about the same level of understanding reality, as most 4 year old children have – Christians await the day, when a loud trumpet will sound, and a supersized Jesus descends from the clouds, and with a big gold sword sticking out of his mouth – and they just can’t seem to understand, just how anyone without something like that to look forward to, could possibly live a happy life at all. Most of the atheists who I know, do in fact live extremely happy lives, simply living within the constructs of reality, and by making the best out of the only life that we know – but, what if this just wasn’t, the only life that we have to live – what if we did in fact discover, that we will all be back someday, and would this change the way we all look at life today?


So just what in the hell am I talking about? Years ago, my physics professor explained a mathematical theory of the cosmos to me, one which is based on a model of the universe that postulates, that the universe is only, in its true natural state, when it’s in the complete state of zero energy, and that the state of zero energy, is the only primacy for its existing – we are all currently, simply living in one of its infinite cyclic states, between our current state of energy, and the natural state of zero energy – and the universe is forever locked into these cycles. In short; the current state of our universe, is not the reason for it excisting, and therefore, there is no first cause – the universe exists, simply because it does. What this says in effect, is that at a fixed point, sometime in the future, that all of the matter in the universe, will return to the natural state of zero energy, (where it is most happy) and then sometime after that, the opposite of the big bang will occur (all of the particles, of which comprised the former universe, will then coalesce and create the next singularity, and then, bang again – and the universe is off and running again – after which, all of the stars will form again, including our own sun and solar system, and our planet earth). Then, about a billion years after the earth has formed again, the same minor planet will collide with the earth again, and then form our moon again – and then in about 3 billion years after that, you’ll be back here reading this post again as well. And the real crazy things about this theory are, that even if this theory was in fact reality, and you knew it, you still wouldn’t be able to change one single thing in life from one cycle to the next – and even if we did discover that this theory was true, this same discovery would have had to happened in every other cycle also, including the next ones to come.


How would this change your view of life, and how would this effect religion – with all of its silly beliefs