Ritesh's Blaagh(!)

Watch this Daily Show clip. These dang New Yorkers are looking under the rug and uncovering the rednecks in Texas (hint: there’s a lot of them).

A regular day in Texas. Good thing I’m an atheist and not a muslim. Oh wait, they hate atheists more than they hate muslims?! Crap!

Other than being a healthy lunch-time meal, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches might be a step towards saving the world.

If DST applies to you, be advised that this year, it’ll start earlier and end later. Thanks to an energy bill passed in 2005, Daylight Savings will start on March 11th and end on November 4th. Personally, I’m all for it. I don’t get off work until 5:30 PM so it’ll be nice having some daylight when I get home.

Of course, there will be problems with computers. Most people run Windows, so you’ll want to download and install the update by installing Microsoft’s DST Patch. If you’re using Linux, take a look in /etc/localtime. If it shows the wrong DST dates for 2007, the easiest fix is to update tzdata.

I was discussing with a friend (who shall remain nameless) the finer points of the afterlife, or lack thereof. He could not grasp the idea of nonexistence. It’s important to note that he is a staunch believer in heaven and hell and has never really thought “outside the box”. Our conversation went something like this:

Friend X> So you think when we die, it’s all just black?

Me> Do I?

Friend X> That’s what you just told me, that there’s nothing.

Me> It’s not black per-se. It’s nothingness. There is no void because there is no space. It is the complete absence of everything. Furthermore, there can be no observer of the nothingness (your psyche, god, etc), because simply observing the nothingness quantifies it in some manner and gives it substance.

Friend X> So it’s black, like space? So when you die, you’ll be floating in space?

Me> No, I will not be floating in space. I will not exist. I will “feel” the same way that I did before I was born.

Friend X> I don’t remember much before I was born.

Me> Much?

Friend X> I mean I’m sure I was in heaven, but God doesn’t let us know those things because it is beyond our comprehension.

Me> …?

Me> So those Rockets are doing well, even without Yao …

If you know who this conversation was with, keep your big mouth shut

VS Ramachandran, Director for the Center of Brain and Cognition, and a renowned neuroscientist, discusses a rather rare medical case in which yet another fundamental religious paradox is discovered.

In case anyone is interested, the clip that follows is from Beyond Belief, a forum partly sponsored by The Science Network, which allows scientists to discuss the relationship and tension (or lack thereof) between Science and Religion.