Religion is to spirituality what porn is to sex

NRAMA: On a personal level, you’ve explored all types of religions and philosophies in your work. What is your take on religion and how it influences humanity, and the Christian take on Jesus Christ in particular?

Grant Morrison: I think religion per se, is a ghastly blight on the progress of the human species towards the stars. At the same time, it, or something like it, has been an undeniable source of comfort, meaning and hope for the majority of poor bastards who have ever lived on Earth, so I’m not trying to write it off completely. I just wish that more people were educated to a standard where they could understand what religion is and how it works. Yes, it got us through the night for a while, but ultimately, it’s one of those ugly, stupid arse–over–backwards things we could probably do without now, here on the Planet of the Apes.

Religion is to spirituality what porn is to sex. It’s what the Hollywood 3–act story template is to real creative writing.

Religion creates a structure which places “special,” privileged people (priests) between ordinary people and the divine, as if there could even be any separation: as if every moment, every thought, every action was not already an expression of dynamic ‘divinity” at work.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

The two biggest supporters of McCain's campaign are Christian conservatives and voters from the South. Tells you pretty much all McCain is all about isn't it. The fear of change, the fear of anything remotely liberal and the fear that the intelligent population might actually start seeing through the lies and smokescreens that the conservatives and the religious groups have managed to establish so well over the years.

Steve Strang, publisher of Charisma magazine, a Pentecostal publication, titled one of his recent weekly e-mails to readers, "Life As We Know It Will End If Obama is Elected."

Strang said gay rights and abortion rights would be strengthened in an Obama administration, taxes would rise and "people who hate Christianity will be emboldened to attack our freedoms."

God forbid(kind of an oxymoron in itself isn't it lol) women actually have the right to choose whether or not they want to go through the 9 month process of labour, and that gays have the right to live just like any one of us. Its a damn book written by people that decrees that gays are bad and abortion is bad; maybe if I wrote my own book called the Bable I could actually start my own religion heh.

Among the claims:

• A 6-3 liberal majority Supreme Court that results in rulings like one making gay marriage the law of the land and another forcing the Boy Scouts to "hire homosexual scoutmasters and allow them to sleep in tents with young boys." (In the imagined scenario, The Boy Scouts choose to disband rather than obey).

Right..as if pastors never liked little boys before the notion of Obama coming to power even vaguely existed. This rot has been present since Christianity took it upon itself to declare themselves the single faith that was going to save mankind and bestow upon its servants almighty powers to judge what is right and what is wrong.

Simply put, the world has been stuck in a rut in terms of enlightenment and the ability to discern between truths and concocted lies. Too much progress has been lost at the expense of worshipping a non-existent deity, arbitrary conventions and opinionated judgements of what is wrong and what is right. At long last there's someone with the vision of change, progress and truth, and I think its time to embrace this opportunity with wide open arms.

P.S. Palin is a last-ditch desperate attempt by the McCain campaign to salvage what remains of their pathetic campiagn. Please don't let this incompetent, albeit attractive choice affect your decision! Its not a damn popularity contest, its a decision that affects all of our futures so please make your choice wisely.

A new chapter in the ongoing controversy surrounding China's women's gymnastics team opened today, as search engine hacker stryde.hax found surviving copies of official registration documents issued by China's General Administration of Sport of China. The incriminating documents, expunged by censors from the official site and from Google's document cache, still appear in the document translation cache of Chinese search giant Baidu, here (1) and here (2), showing the age of one of China's gold medal winning gymnasts to be 14 instead of 16, the minimum age for competition presented on her government-issued passport. Now that official government documentation is available, how long will the IOC be able to keep a lid on this scandal?"

From:http://yro.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=08/08/20/1259253&from=rss
And:http://strydehax.blogspot.com/

Simply astounds me the length some people will go in order to prove their national superiority. It just reeks of the government censorship and coverups that China is so well known for. Please, keep your insecurities about your humiliations in the past to yourself. Stop misleading your citizens and resorting to petty tricks like this to gain any semblance of national pride that you already don't have.

National pride

What is national pride about?

Contrary to popular belief, its not about topping the Olympics gold medal tally or winning your first medal in 48 years. Its not about mass-producing gold medallists by putting 8 year-olds through physical training that would make a commando cry. Its not about the euphoria that courses through your veins when you see your competitor touch the finish line first. That my friends, is an adrenaline rush. Nothing more, nothing less.

Indeed, national pride is a lot more than that. Its about being able to tell the world that you're proud of your country, because whatever its leaders do they seek the best for their citizens. That their actions are more than selfish attempts to stay in power by forcing the brightest minds down pre-determined paths that will invariably result in them joining the ruling party eventually. That they offer free speech and do not attempt to blatantly censor any words that remotely reflect what the majority of the population thinks. That they are not a laughing stock in the world because when unable to win any verbal battle, they sue their way to victory.

Yes, I think thats the definition of national pride. Unfortunately at the moment neither the country that is leading the medal tally at the olympics nor the country which has just won their very first medal in 48 years seems to have achieved it. And sadly I don't think I'll be able to see it in this lifetime.

An ode to our armed forces

For our country we serve
United we stand
Confidently as one
Killer machines we are

Sweat, blood and tears
Alas! It is all worth it.
For we are defending what we love.

Politics and sports

Been reading a lot of nonsense in the media about the Steven Spielberg saga where he pulled out of the Beijing Olympics in protest over some human rights issue. Atheletes are being warned not to make any political statements, Britain's decision to let their atheletes wear face masks to protect themselves from the pollution in Beijing being read as an offensive show of disrespect..the list goes on.

Sporting events are a celebration of talent, determination and hard work displayed by the atheletes who have put in their all to excel in their sport and compete against other equally talented individuals for the recognition that they so richly deserve. Who the hell has the right to deny them this accolade/right of theirs? Not some sniffling old man in a suit going around trying to gain some political leverage for his own country; not some director who probably knows nothing much about sports in the first place, and certainly not anyone in the rest of the world who suddenly feels up to commenting about how the olympics is a good chance for political discussion.

What is a country in the very first place? A piece of land surrounded by arbitary boundaries by a group of individuals who have decided that their own cultures have them unique enough to be considered a seperate entity from the rest of the world. Rinse and repeat 200 times and you get the world in its currently ugly state : squabbling over the most trivial of things(*cough* piece of rock containing some godforsaken lighthouse), starting wars for no reason whatsoever other than selfish gains, causing the need for military organisations that are an utter waste of resources(how much fuel does a UAV aircraft flying around in the sky 24/7 consume?), and enslaving bright promising young minds in the form of conscripts under the pathetic excuse of national defense.

Hell, if I had my own way each sporting individual would represent only himself/herself and not his country. Too much of the sporting spirit is lost when politicians decide that the achievements of their sportsmen are considered bragging rights, to be used to show that their country is superior. The steroid scandals in East Germany back in the past and recently China, come to mind here.

Its just sickening nowadays when politics have to come into everything we do nowadays. It seems as if not even sport, once an arena for unbridled displays of passion and excellence can be spared by this ugly face of the world that power hungry individuals have brought upon us.

Its back!

I hereby declare the resurrection of alittleflick.blogspot.com. Never mind about those infantry officer cadets rotting away in a jungle, alittleflick is here to stay! (as long as my half-hearted commitment lasts that is)

And to start it all off..
a light hearted jibe or a damning assessment of your school?

ALL waiting for you when you arrive at our love little college. where fun comes to die. where hell does freeze over. where the squirrels are cuter than the girls. where the only thing that goes down on you are your grades. <3
(Somehow this manages to bring out a chuckle and a sorrowful shake of the head in pity afterwards lol)

this and more can be found on the daily wall-to-wall exchange on the facebook profiles of our dearest friends Oh Chin Yu and Benny Tan.

Don't forget to check out Chin Yu's wall for more sordid affairs where he proudly proclaims himself to be a shy and bashful boy!

Yorke: Man of the match

Dwight Yorke was quite simply inspirational with his tireless display in Trinidad and Tobago’s 0-0 draw against Sweden in their opening match of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany™, earning him recognition as the Budweiser Man of the Match.

Known for his goalscoring prowess during his years in the English Premiership with Aston Villa and Manchester United, Yorke seemed to be everywhere on the pitch as he helped T&T, who played almost the entire second half with ten men, nullify Sweden’s attacking trio of Henrik Larsson, Freddie Ljungberg, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

“He was every bit the leader of the team on the pitch today,” said FIFA Technical Study Group member Roy Hodgson. “His vision and leadership in attack and defence was absolutely first-class and his fighting spirit all match long truly personified his team's performance.”

England 1 Paraguay 0

England lucky to come away with a victory in their opening game, other than the first 20 minutes they were pretty much outplayed by Paraguay.
England started off strongly when they scored after Beckham's free kick scraped Gamarras's hair and went into the net, and then threatened Paraguay numerous times afterwards. The poor Paraguayuan goalie got himself injured after coming out to clear a ball and apparently he wont be playing anymore in the tournament. His substitute goalie did pretty well though looking assured in goal and pulling off several good saves against Lampard.

Both teams were just scrapping it out in midfield, with strikers losing out to tight defences. Owen and Crouch especially just didnt click, with Owen looking rusty and Crouch losing lots of balls and underperforming. Even his knockdowns and flickons which are his main strengths failed to do anything cos the referee din like him and kept blowing against him.

Paraguay also din look dangerous, with Santa Cruz whos supposed to be their danger man not getting much service. Nelson Valdez tho looked super lively on the right flank, with Ashley Cole and Terry to thank for keeping him covered well.

If England keeps this form up it seems unlikely that they'll do too well, especially with their only goal coming from quite a fluke. While they had a few bright sparks especially with Joe Cole and Lampard doing well they couldnt get the killer pass, with quite a few crosses just flying over Crouch harmlessly. England will have to rely on their setpieces to score, with Beckham's deliveries looking very dangerous.

This is freaking romantic

From CtrlAltDel-online.com

[01:44] cedric you saw it first, here: i think joe cole looks cute
[01:45] cedric you saw it first, here: i found wolverine cute too

I want one

This is like the coolest clock you can ever have..too bad its US $240

PART 8

The next dungeon is one tough one. Long straights and a few gates at the end, you don't know whether you will be able to handle it.
No time to think about it though. You don't want to disappoint your fellow Ngiaps in Paignland.

PART 7: Lonely, im so lonely

Homesickness is starting to dominate your feelings. Ever since you left your home, you've only seen angry Eartakers and vicious traps. Not a single Ngiap to talk to.
You're bored. But that's not an excuse to stop your quest. You proceed on to the next dungeon. Its relatively easy, you've heard.

PART 6: Last boring part!

You've heard about the next dungeon. The first part it is easy, yet the final stretch holds a passageway so narrow that it is termed the Death Gate. You have to pass through it no matter what, so hope that you will be lucky.

PART 5: Another boring part

The dungeon ahead is supposedly rather fustrating. You're confident of your abilities. You'll pull through.

PART 4: Boring part

Yet another dungeon passed. You seem to be getting better at manoeuvering past these traps, but the thrill still hasn't diminished. The dungeons are getting tougher though.

PART 3: This is easy

So far, so good. You slump down exhausted at the side of the road. You've heard about the long passageways in the next dungeon that hold traps that a small careless touch will activate. They should be no problem for you though.

PART 2: Excitement!

As you stare at the crumbling dungeon and the diamond in your hand a sense of unfelt before excitement overcomes you. You had never thought that the thrill of avoiding dangerous traps and being so close to potential danger could be so immense. No time to think about it though. You proceed to the next dungeon.