"I think the trouble with being a critical thinker or an atheist, or a humanist is that you're right. And it's quite hard being right in the face of people who are wrong without sounding like a fuckwit. People go "do you think the vast majority of the world is wrong", well yes, i don't know how to say that nicely, but yes."
I have always been fascinated by people that are incredible in some fashion. Whether it’s Einstein having amazing insights, that today seem almost obvious but in his time, or Micheal Phelps putting on one of the greatest Olympic showings in history, some people are extraordinary.
In this group that can be described as extraordinary are Savants. I have always been pretty good with math. When I was a kid I used to be able to do fairly complex math problems in my head. While I am no longer as good at this as I used to be, back in school, I could challenge people to see if I could get the answer faster (with them using a calculator and me doing the problem in my head). Now I was certainly not at the level of a Savant, but I was good enough to win some bets, and to gain a real appreciation for the abilities of true Savants.
Which leads to this video… I saw this a few months ago on the History Channel, or Discovery, or …, and was really impressed by how he described thew way he views numbers, and his process for recalling them. With that I give you… “The Boy With The Incredible Brain”.
I ran across this song in my iPod today, I’m not really sure when this was added but oh well, and for whatever reason decided to look up the video for this song. While the song itself is powerful, in my view the video adds to it immensely.
Girl of sixteen, whole life ahead of her
Slashed her wrists, bored with life
Didnt succeed, thank the lord
For small mercies
Fighting back the tears, mother reads the note again
Sixteen candles burn in her mind
She takes the blame, its always the same
She goes down on her knees and prays
I dont want to start any blasphemous rumours
But I think that gods got a sick sense of humor
And when I die I expect to find him laughing
Girl of eighteen, fell in love with everything
Found new life in jesus christ
Hit by a car, ended up
On a life support machine
Summers day, as she passed away
Birds were singing in the summer sky
Then came the rain, and once again
A tear fell from her mothers eye
I dont want to start any blasphemous rumours
But I think that gods got a sick sense of humor
And when I die I expect to find him laughing
I have come across this site (http://whatstheharm.net/) many times and finally got around to posting about it. But instead of doing a piss poor job of describing it myself, I’ll leave it up to them to describe themselves…
We are all confronted with new information daily. It comes to us via newspapers, radio, television, websites, conversation, advertising and so on. Sometimes it seems like a deluge.
Not all information is created equal. Some of it is correct. Some of it is incorrect. Some of it is carefully balanced. Some of it is heavily biased. Some of it is just plain crazy.
It is vital in the midst of this deluge that each of us be able to sort through all of this, keeping the useful information and discarding the rest. This requires the skill of critical thinking. Unfortunately, this is a skill that is often neglected in schools.
This site is designed to make a point about the danger of not thinking critically. Namely that you can easily be injured or killed by neglecting this important skill. We have collected the stories of over 225,000 people who have been injured or killed as a result of someone not thinking critically.
We do this not to make light of their plight. Quite the opposite. We want to honor their memory and learn from their stories.
We also wish to call attention to the types of misinformation which have caused this sort of harm. On the topics page you will see a number of popular topics that that are being promoted via misinformation. Many of them have no basis in truth at all. A few are based in reality, but veer off into troublesome areas. We all need to think more critically about these topics, and take great care when we encounter them.
Many proponents of these things will claim they are harmless. We aim to show that they are decidedly not.
Please check out the list of topics and read what interests you.
Wishing everybody a “happy my wife’s birthday”. And to all those who are curious as to why I am postinmg this particular song, pay close attention to the lyrics, it’ll bring a tear to your eye (or make you piss yourself laughing)…
Just one word of advice, whatever you do, please do not look directly at Shane MacGowan’s teeth…
It was christmas eve babe
In the drunk tank
An old man said to me, wont see another one
And then he sang a song
The rare old mountain dew
I turned my face away
And dreamed about you
Got on a lucky one
Came in eighteen to one
Ive got a feeling
This years for me and you
So happy christmas
I love you baby
I can see a better time
When all our dreams come true
Theyve got cars big as bars
Theyve got rivers of gold
But the wind goes right through you
Its no place for the old
When you first took my hand
On a cold christmas eve
You promised me
Broadway was waiting for me
You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of new york city
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging,
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night
The boys of the nypd choir
Were singing galway bay
And the bells were ringing out
For christmas day
Youre a bum
Youre a punk
Youre an old slut on junk
Lying there almost dead on a drip in that bed
You scumbag, you maggot
You cheap lousy faggot
Happy christmas your arse
I pray God its our last
The boys of the nypd choir
Were singing galway bay
And the bells were ringing out
For christmas day
I could have been someone
Well so could anyone
You took my dreams from me
When I first found you
I kept them with me babe
I put them with my own
Cant make it all alone
I’ve built my dreams around you
This kid is just amazing… I’d suggest that you click through to YouTube and check out as many of his songs as you can find the time for. He does a lot of ’80s and ’90s music, which is obviously well before he was born, but he does a great job of all of the songs I’ve checked out… I would not be suprised to hear much more from this kid in another 10-15 years, but until then we’ve got YouTube.
And since I am incapable of posting a Dylan song without a Dylan version of that song…
The reason I chose this particular version is not because it’s the best one available on YouTube (it’s not), but because it’s a fair representation of his concerts over the last decade or so. Dylan is spending more time on keyboards and less on guitar (in fact in some concerts he may not even pick up a guitar during the whole show). Also this shows a bit of Dylan’s “dancing” that he engages in at times during his shows, although not quite as much as I’ve seen at some shows.
And for those who wanted to see the Hendrix version, I agree he did amazing things with this song, and if you click through to YouTube on either of these you’ll find it, but I just wanted to quote Bob taking about Jimi’s version:
It overwhelmed me, really. He had such talent, he could find things inside a song and vigorously develop them. He found things that other people wouldn’t think of finding in there. He probably improved upon it by the spaces he was using. I took license with the song from his version, actually, and continue to do it to this day.
I’d also highly recommend checking out bobdylan.com to see the kick-ass way you’re able to listen to multiple versions of the song streaming in your browser.
“There must be some way out of here,” said the joker to the thief,
“There’s too much confusion, I can’t get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth.”
“No reason to get excited,” the thief, he kindly spoke,
“There are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.
But you and I, we’ve been through that, and this is not our fate,
So let us not talk falsely now, the hour is getting late.”
All along the watchtower, princes kept the view
While all the women came and went, barefoot servants, too.
Outside in the distance a wildcat did growl,
Two riders were approaching, the wind began to howl.
I don’t recall where I came across this (although I’m thinking it was from the Ellen page on facebook). This is a 5 part video about Ellen coming out on her old sitcom (and even more importantly for her personally, she came out personally to the public at the same time).
While I typically believe that somebody’s sexual preference is their own personal thing, I believe that for somebody to come out is probably one of the hardest things a person could do. One of the few people in the world that I REALLY care for is a gay woman, and even though she was “out” before we met, I have a fairly good understanding of her struggle, and I think it at least gives me an idea of how frightening coming out can be for somebody. And for a celebrity, where it could take away your career, it might even be a bigger deal than typical.
And yet, even with that, I likely would not have posted these videos (and links) if not for two things. First of all Ellen is, IMO, one of the 5 funniest stand-up comedians of all time, and I’m a huge fan of her comedy. Because of this, I was more inclined to watch these videos myself, since they are about somebody I am “in to”. And secondly, and even more importantly, I found the story compelling. and well done.
As a small aside, I tend to equate the homosexual fight for acceptance with the current struggles of atheists to be open out their belief (or lack there of) in a society where the most hated minority (according to most polls) are non-believers. So this may be yet another reason that I so strongly identify with stories like this one.
And while, at least so far, I have not posted twice on any person, blog, singer, etc, I felt I could break that unofficial rule(?) in this case (to check out my previous post on Molly: SweetAfton23’s “My Hope”). And my reason for this is simple. Robert Allen Zimmerman.
To say I am a fan of Dylan would be like saying sharks are fans of meat. Sure perhaps sharks can live vegetarians lives (in theory), but their lives would be drastically different, and the purpose of their life would change drastically. With that in mind, perhaps my ratings are skewed. And perhaps “it’s all right“.
It ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe
It don’t matter, anyhow
An’ it ain’t no use to sit and wonder why, babe
If you don’t know by now
When your rooster crows at the break of dawn
Look out your window and I’ll be gone
You’re the reason I’m trav’lin’ on
Don’t think twice, it’s all right
It ain’t no use in turnin’ on your light, babe
That light I never knowed
An’ it ain’t no use in turnin’ on your light, babe
I’m on the dark side of the road
Still I wish there was somethin’ you would do or say
To try and make me change my mind and stay
We never did too much talkin’ anyway
So don’t think twice, it’s all right
It ain’t no use in callin’ out my name, gal
Like you never did before
It ain’t no use in callin’ out my name, gal
I can’t hear you any more
I’m a-thinkin’ and a-wond’rin’ all the way down the road
I once loved a woman, a child I’m told
I give her my heart but she wanted my soul
But don’t think twice, it’s all right
I’m walkin’ down that long, lonesome road, babe
Where I’m bound, I can’t tell
But goodbye’s too good a word, gal
So I’ll just say fare thee well
I ain’t sayin’ you treated me unkind
You could have done better but I don’t mind
You just kinda wasted my precious time
But don’t think twice, it’s all right
It’s not the greatest performance of this song; but the song is so powerful, than even a slightly off performance is still amazing.
It’s been years since they told her about it
The darkness her body possessed
And the scars are still there in the mirror
Everyday that she gets herself dressed
Though the pain is miles and miles behind her
And the fear is now a docile beast
If you ask her why she is still running
She’ll tell you it makes her complete
[Chorus:]
I run for hope
I run to feel
I run for the truth
For all that is real
I run for your mother, your sister, your wife
I run for you and me, my friend
I run for life
It’s a blur since they told me about it
How the darkness had taken its toll
And they cut into my skin and they cut into my body
But they will never get a piece of my soul
And now I’m still learning the lesson
To awake when I hear the call
And if you ask me why I am still running
I’ll tell you I run for us all
[Chorus:]
I run for hope
I run to feel
I run for the truth
For all that is real
I run for your mother your sister your wife
I run for you and me my friend
I run for life
And someday if they tell you about it
If the darkness knocks on your door
Remember her remember me
We will be running as we have before
Running for answers
Running for more
I run for hope
I run to feel
I run for the truth
For all that is real
I run for your mother, your sister, your wife
I run for you and me my friend
I run for hope
I run to feel
I run for the truth
For all that is real
I run for your mother your sister, your daughter, your wife
For you and me my friend
I run for life
Ohohohoh
I run for your mother your sister your wife
I run for you and me my friend
I run for life
I have looked for a video of this song online, and been unable to find one as of yet. However I really wanted to share this song, and instead of waiting until I found a video, so instead I am posting a link to an MP3 of the song. I hope you’ll enjoy this song enough to buy some of their music, as they are still an unknown band, trying to make it.
Midday light, the earth jump started
lying in a bed
No burning arms, no shivering back
there’s nothing in my head
The world revolves so fast around
don’t let it in the way
The gift that morning light has brought mi is
just another day
Judas died upon a tree
before the Christ was slain
And all I’ve ever asked of you
is give me back my name
You’ve got everything
Praise the bridge that brought me here
and curse the one ahead
If only I could see you
I’d retrace the path you led
But you’re not flesh and you’ve no face
and now you’ve left me blind
No strength to find the way ahead
and you’ve burnt all that’s behind
Judas died upon a tree
before the Christ was slain
And all I’ve ever asked of you
is give me back my name
You’ve got everything
God lives on a tree lined street
in a better part of town
He touches those who help him
and he turns the others down
My midday morning profit
he rises every day
He takes all God’s good helpers
and pushes them my way
Judas died upon a tree
before the Christ was slain
And all I’ve ever asked of you
is give me back my name
You’ve got everything
For the third time in recent weeks, I’ve had something Carlin related stuck in my head. The video I am including is much longer than the piece I’ve had in my mind, but it’s where the bit in my head comes from, so…
Shit, Piss, Fuck, Cunt, Cock-Sucker, Mother-Fucker and Tits!
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