Apologies for Being Christian

Rechelle over at My Sisters Farmhouse wanted to apologize for all of the jackassery she did because she was Christian. I have one I'd like to apologize for myself.

I apologize for ever having pushed my mom to go to church. This caused my mom to get into it, and bring my brother, and get him surrounded in it. I apologize for being the one who caused my brother to be absorbed into their lies.

Is There Life After Death?

I could respond like the Digg comments I saw for this article and say 'No' and leave it at that, but that would be an uninteresting post. I read that article, and right from the outset knew it was ludicrous. It was about an author and his book about near death experiences and how they prove the afterlife. The instant thought to that is that there are many explanations for how a person could be convinced of something that isn't real. His response to this is that there are many explanations for why it doesn't make sense to accept near death experiences, and thus they are wrong because they need many reasons instead of just one. He then contradicts himself by saying that awareness of near death experience has raised drastically one sentence, and in the next saying that the possibility of the increased awareness causing an increased susceptibility to having an experience by saying that since the stories weren't copycats of the ones they read, it doesn't matter.He then makes mention of how believing in an afterlife makes him feel better treating cancer patients. As warm and fuzzy as it is that it makes him feel better, it doesn't help his case.

All in all, the article was a poor argument for an afterlife(but, im sure this blog post is almost as poor, as it is late, and im burnt out from calc homework.

What Arguing About Evolution Feels Like

Best Buy Lies Again!

The Consumerist found that Best Buy's "optimization" service was useless. According to the Geek Squad blog, the service will "enable up to 100 system tweaks that improve PC performance and functionality, including optimized startup and shutdown, improved menu navigation, quick launch and taskbar cleanup and program shortcut creation."

The problem is that the PC's performance is not improved. They tested 3 laptops(6 technically, one "optimized" and one not for each model) and found that 2 had no performance change, and one had a 1/3 drop in performance after optimization. Clearly not worth $40.

In addition to this, there are their many offers they have for new computers. One is "Standard Security and Performance" for $69.99. This service is just the optimization plus installing an antivirus(and it doesn't even include the cost of the antivirus). It would actually be cheaper to just buy a year of service on one of the trialware pieces of crap that they have preinstalled (it's the same quality of crappy, virtually useless antivirus, I'd suggest uninstalling the trialware crap, and installing Microsoft Security Essentials. It's lightweight, and works great)

Some of the lies that were told about the optimization service amazed me. "One shopper was told that optimization made the computer's processor "200% faster." The same shopper was told that he could try to optimize the computer on his own, but without assistance he would not be able to increase the processor speed." This is ludicrous! One might be able to speed up the operating system by 200%(if the installed crapware slowed it down that much), but not the processor. Tho only way to get a real noticeable increase in processor speed would be to overclock it, and that is not a service Best Buy provides.

They even lied about the time optimization takes. One rep said that it would take 6 hours to just download Windows Updates! What are they basing that on, a 56k connection? That is a ridiculous overestimate. It shouldn't even take 2 hours.

Another rep said that it wasn't recommended that you go online without their optimization, as it has no antivirus. "You’ll get online, get a virus, and end up spending $200 to clean it up." That $200 is only if you go to someone who sucks, like the Geek Squad. They were going to charge a friend $250 to come to the house to fix a screen flicker issue and a printer issue. I managed to reduce the rate of flicker from once every few seconds to once every minute or 2, and got printing working on her mac, but not windows. She gave me $50 that I didn't want to accept since I didn't get it fixed. She told me what Best Buy was going to charge as justification for giving me the money, and I told her that that was no reason to overpay me. The fact that Best Buy charges 10x what they should for services, and then charges for other services that shouldn't be charged for, doesn't mean I should get paid more than I deserve.

That customer who was told that she would end up spending $200 on removing a virus was also told that installing an antivirus herself violates the warranty, and "that the manufacturer's warranty was "obsolete" and had been "replaced" with Best Buy service contracts (which she would need to pay for, of course, and that were not included in the optimization price)." This is an outright lie. the only thing that voids a warranty is if the case is opened, at least in most cases.

Best Buy angers me with shit like this. I have long refused to ever buy a computer there, and this just reinforces it.

So True!

Saw this on Indexed and had to post. Bacon is amazing!

Some Awesomeness From Assassin's Creed 2

*THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ASSASSIN'S CREED 2!*

I was browsing the Codex of Altair last night and saw some cool quotes

Attis. Dionysus. Horus. Krishna. Mithra. Jesus. Simlilar stories color their 
lives. Too similar, I think. Divine birthright. Persecution. Disciples. 
Miraculous acts. Resurrection . . .

How is it possible?

Perhaps it isn't . . . merely a single story told over the ages? Borrowed 
then changed to fit the times? Evolving as our tools and language do? Is this 
tale borne of fact or fiction? A bit of both? Could these figures be the same 
person - their life extended and transformed by a Piece of Eden?

Al Mualim spoke of Jesus as a real person - a mortal who had mastered the 
arts of manipulation. But what if he was wrong? If these men are real - and 
if they have walked amongst us many times before - does it means they'll come 
again? Perhaps they are here now? So many questions, and every day, even 
more . . .

I have always been fond of this. Attis, Dionysus, Horus, Krishna, and Mithra are all obvious myths to a Christian. Yet they are just like Jesus.

I have studied the ancient pagan faiths that came before this more recent 
obsession with a single, divine creator. They seem to have focused more on 
the fundamental forces at play in the world around us and less on arbitrary 
moral rules . . .

The sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening. The tides ebb and 
flow. Grass grows, withers, dies and then in time, emerges from the ground 
once more. The air turns warm then cools and back again. Some hidden energy 
keeps us fitted to the ground and pulls us back when we attempt to leave it.

Each of these movements was represented before by a god or goddess. Each 
force given face, but recognized as something distinct and powerful. Which 
is not to say there were not connections between these forces - a pantheon 
of individual spirits - of rules. Invisible hands guiding to progress of 
the world around us.

And so here there was an attempt to categorize, study, explain, and understand 
the way things work - even if it was flawed. But no more. Now we are asked to 
succumb to a far more simplified explanation. How naive to believe there might 
be a single answer to every question. Every mystery. That there exists a lone 
divine light which rules over all. They say it is a light that brings truth 
and love. I say it is a light that blinds us - and forces us to stumble about 
in ignorance.

I long for the day when men will turn away from invisible monsters and once 
more embrace a more rational view of the world. But these new religions are so 
convenient - and promise such terrible punishment should one reject them - I 
worry that fear shall keep us stuck to what is surely the greatest lie ever 
told.

That last paragraph sums up religion well. The Glyphs are another great source of myth and conspiracy. If any other AC players have any cool things to share, let me know.

Apparently I've Reached the Big Time

I got the "honor" of being trolled by that jackass David Mabus. If that name isn't familiar, he is the guy who rants about how evil atheists are, and mentions Nostradamus. Here is his comment, in full. It seems to be the same screed he has been copypasting on several sites.

Looks like your website is under attack from supernatural forces...

First of all: Nostradamus demolishes "atheism"

__________________________________________________ __

wait, wait...

I forgot something...

you little shits even talk about me....

GOATS ON FIRE....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssFaIhJkLsk

LIBERATION!

Sing from the rooftops:

"Atheism is dead!"

http://www.conspiracycafe.net/forum/index.php?/topic/25104-atheist-ap.

..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sK50So-yYRU

BYE BYE ATHEISM

these little insignificant fools try to use science to destroy every mystery in the universe...

but not this one! 

 Oh yay me! Im popular enough to get trolled... lol.

Is there a way to block a commenter on here?