Neutrinos Are God?

There's a volunteer at work I like a lot--he's a Vietnam vet named Larry who owns an old blind cat named Stinky and he does metalwork (Larry, not Stinky). Today Larry came by the office and started talking about "neutrinos" which is something I'd never heard of before. As he was talking about them, I was sort of thinking in the back of my mind, "Neutrinos sound like God!" and then Larry said, "If you were so inclined, you might see a spiritual force there." I said, "Yeah, I do!" and then Larry shared that he is an "unordained Baptist minister." He's from a small town in Missouri and apparently they trained him how to be a minister "but not necessarily a good one." He said, "I'm so liberal, I think a lot of people are surprised that I'm a Southern Baptist" but I said, "Martin Luther King Jr. was a Baptist too, so you're in good company." Then he said he liked Rastafarians because "their concept of God is really intense" but he left before explaining.

From Wikipedia: A neutrino (Italian pronunciation: [neuˈtriːno], meaning "small neutral one"; English pronunciation: /njuːˈtriːnoʊ/) is an elementary particle that usually travels close to the speed of light, is electrically neutral, and is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected. This makes neutrinos extremely difficult to detect. Neutrinos have a very small, but nonzero rest mass. They are denoted by the Greek letter ν (nu).

Neutrinos are similar to the more familiar electron, with one crucial difference: neutrinos do not carry electric charge. Because neutrinos are electrically neutral, they are not affected by the electromagnetic forces which act on electrons. Neutrinos are affected only by a "weak" sub-atomic force of much shorter range than electromagnetism, and are therefore able to pass through great distances within matter without being affected by it. Neutrinos also interact gravitationally with other particles.

Neutrinos are created as a result of certain types of radioactive decay or nuclear reactions such as those that take place in the Sun, in nuclear reactors, or when cosmic rays hit atoms. There are three types, or "flavours", of neutrinos: electron neutrinos, muon neutrinos and tau neutrinos. Each type also has a corresponding antiparticle, called an antineutrino. Electron neutrinos (or antineutrinos) are generated whenever protons change into neutrons, or vice versa—the two forms of beta decay. Interactions involving neutrinos are mediated by the weak interaction.

Most neutrinos passing through the Earth emanate from the Sun. Every second, in the region of the Earth, about 65 billion (6.5×1010
) solar neutrinos pass through every square centimeter perpendicular to the direction of the sun.^[1]

Dude You Have No Quran

This is all over the Internet but I still just had to post it. Not only is it hilarious, but it's surprisingly danceable as well!

In His Defense...

...I really can't imagine anything more entertaining!!:

From Radar:

Tom Cruise's best friend, Scientology leader David Miscavige, used secret videotapes of the actor's "confessionals" to entertain his friends, according to the man who made those videos.

Marty Rathbun, a once-powerful member of Scientology, was entrusted with the job of "auditing" Tom Cruise, RadarOnline.com has learned.

The Scientology defector writes in his widely-followed blog that the highly sensitive sessions took place in 2001 as Cruise was going through his split from Nicole Kidman.

"By order of Miscavige many of those sessions were secretly recorded by a well-concealed video camera and voice recorder system built into the VIP auditing room at Celebrity Center International," Rathbun writes.

" I was also required by Miscavige to write reports on the content of every session I delivered during that period and send them directly to Miscavige. I was told by him that he needed to know because recovering Tom to Scientology was the most important mission possible."

Rathbun says he stopped the videotaping in February, 2002, because he found it to be "unethical" and of no legitimate purpose.

Now he writes, he knows why the videos were ordered. According to Rathbun, a trusted source has told him that Miscavige used the Cruise tapes to entertain his pals.

"DM regularly held court with others in his personal lounge...while sipping scotch whiskey at the end of the night," Rathbun says. " Miscavige would read Tom's overts and withholds from my reports to others, joking and laughing about the content of Tom's confessionals."

Rathbun's allegations are the latest in a series of attacks against Scientology by former members, many of them high-powered, high-profile figures like Rathbun.

Tom Cruise has remained quiet through the recent onslaught of attacks against his church.

Happy Sunday

I like this sweet little song, and Sunday feels like the appropriate day to post it. I admire the direct, sincere way that Johnny Cash sings this song. But, as Guy pointed out...turns out Johnny was wrong about the Hall of Fame part!

Well, you talk about important people that you say you know.
Presidents and superstars of big television shows.
Well, I know someone personally who's bigger than 'em all,
And next to him your superstars look mighty small.
And I have a talk with him each day, and he's interested in every word I say.
No secretary ever tells me he's been called away. I talk to Jesus every day.

Well now I don't think that I'll ever be in any Hall of Fame,
And the social register of wealthy folks might drop my name.
But my name is written in the Book of Life, I'm proud to say,
And that's all that really matters anyway.
And I talk to Jesus every day, and he's interested in every word I say.
No secretary ever tells me he's been called away. I talk to Jesus every day.
I talk to Jesus every day.

Dork-Sided

In this now-classic episode of Wife Swap, an Internet star was born.

Just To Be Fair...

...and because I like to do things in three's.

Alternate Cover

Hubbard's Creek

Damn, I wish I didn't have to wait until 2018 to read this!!

Blown for Good

Ooooh, an insider formerly employed at my favorite wacky cult is publishing a tell-all exposé! This isn't as juicy as the Scientology exposé that I hope will eventually exist one day so that I can read it. (This imaginary book is/will be Katie Holmes' account of her enslavement to and eventual harrowing escape from her insane Scientologist husband. Just for fun, let's call it Hubbard's Creek.)

But, anyway, this book sounds promising too:

"Blown for Good tells the story of one man’s journey growing up inside Scientology and ultimately escaping from the Scientology International Headquarters he worked at for 15 years."

Here are some highlights (according to Radar Magazine):

Scientology employees are forced to watch video montages of Tom Cruise as part of their training.

According to a former member of the church, the eccentric star is used as inspiration to those working at the sprawling compound in Gilman Hot Springs California.

And, while they are banned from reading newspapers or watching regular television, they are gathered at random times to view Cruise' appearances.

"Everyone there thought Tom Cruise was just brilliant," said Headley, who left nearly five years ago. "Absolutely all the employees looked up to him. They think he is an exhilaration, which is very high up on what they call the 'tone scale'. People who work within the organization were not given access to newspapers or television shows. The only thing we knew was what we were told or shown.

"At the International Headquarters they would record any appearances on TV shows or even mentions of Tom Cruise, or little stories they heard about him. Then they would re-edit them and cut them together into a five or ten minute video of all the snippets of him on TV. But it was never the full interview or story.

"For example the actual footage might have said; 'Scientologist Tom Cruise, the biggest movie star in the world, acts like a crazy person on Oprah.' But what we saw was 'Tom Cruise, the biggest movie star in the world.' Then it would cut to the next thing."

It wasn't until just weeks before he left that he realized the truth. "I just knew he was a superstar who talked about Scientology everywhere he went and encouraged people to join. I thought everyone was embracing Scientology and that millions of people were joining because of him.

"But somehow just before I got out I happened to see a few episodes of Conan O'Brien and he was making fun of Tom Cruise and the church. I had only been shown the good. I had never been exposed to anything else. But it got me thinking that if jokes are being made and people are laughing at them then not everyone thinks Scientology is so great. They don't think Tom Cruise is awesome, they think he is a freak show."

He also revealed how Cruise' ex-wife, Nicole Kidman, could be banned from seeing their adopted children, Connor and Isabelle if she speaks out about her experiences with Scientology. "If you want to leave Scientology and publicly announce it, then you run a high risk of being branded a suppressant person," he said. "You will not be able to speak to your mother or your children or you family members again if they are still part of Scientology."

"If Connor or Isabella said, 'I don't want to do anything in Scientology anymore' and didn't speak out or say its crazy then they would be fine. But as soon as they say 'I don't want to do it anymore and I don't believe in it' and they make that fact known publicly then they stand a strong chance of being branded a suppressant person. If that were to happen, then they are living with Nicole."

Headley also claims that Cruise' current wife, Katie Holmes is now a Scientologist.

"Katie has had to do stuff for Scientology too," he said. "Scientology will say, 'you don't have to be with a Scientologist'. But you have to remember that their goal is to clear the planet. The underlying theme in Scientology is an effort to clear the planet and make a new civilization of all Scientologists."

Not Particularly Religious

Since I'm somehow on a religious kick this week on my blog, I thought I'd include this little news item. My favorite part about this story is the blasé attitude of the truck owner:

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. – Jim Stevens said he's not particularly religious and is clueless about why an image resembling Jesus Christ keeps appearing on his pickup. Stevens, of Jonesborough, said nearly every morning, an image that looks to him like the face of Jesus Christ has appeared in the condensation on the driver's side window of his Isuzu truck. A Johnson City Press photo of the truck showed a facial image.

Stevens said when he first saw the image, he figured it would evaporate and not return. But it kept reappearing for two weeks now.

Stevens said folks at the grocery store he goes to were amazed to see the image. He said he isn't going to wash the truck for a while.

Leprechaun Jesus

Yesterday in my "Insane Christmas Ornaments" post, I made a little typo that Guy immediately noticed and alerted me to--instead of "Leprechaun Santa," I had accidentally labelled that ornament as "Leprechaun Jesus." We were both laughing about it; accidentally, it was the funniest part of that post.

This morning, I thought: "Wait a second, this is the Internet! I bet there is a Leprechuan Jesus out there!" So I Googled it and, of course, there it immediately was--a Leprechaun Jesus t-shirt created by a group called Better Than Faith that sells atheist t-shirts. In addition to Let's Get Hammered, they also offer: I'm Gay for Jesus, Yahweh? No Way!, and Smile: There is no Hell.

Even though I personally am a theist, I think everyone is entitled to their own beliefs, so atheists are okay in my book. But, as their own description of the t-shirt admits, it would take some serious cojones to wear this!:

Let's Get Hammered

Men's Standard Weight T-ShirtClassic-cut standard weight t-shirt for men, 100% cotton, Brand: Fruit of the Loom

It takes a brave soul to wear a shirt like this around a bunch of drunken believers, but if you've got the guts to offend people, then BetterThanFaith.com has the shirt to cover them.

Anyway, who doesn't want to get hammered with Leprechaun Jesus!?

France Risks Incurring Wrath of Galactic Confederacy Dictator

Ooooh! Mon dieu! Zoot alors!

One of my favorite freaky-ass religions is in deep merde today. Xenu will be most angered when he hears of this!

Dumb move, frogs. Sure, you can call Scientology a "fraud" all you want...But now who's going to help you get all those alien-embedded tapes out of your head? Yeah, you didn't think of that, didja?:

Tuesday, Oct 27, 2009 01:01 PDT
Church of Scientology convicted of fraud in France
By Nicolas Vaux-Montagny

A Paris court convicted the Church of Scientology of fraud and fined it more than euro 600,000 ($900,000) on Tuesday but stopped short of banning the group as prosecutors had demanded.

The court convicted the Church of Scientology's French office, its library and six of its leaders of organized fraud. Investigators said the group pressured members into paying large sums of money for questionable financial gain and used "commercial harassment" against recruits. Four of the leaders were given suspended sentences of between 10 months and two years. The other two were given fines of euro 1,000 and euro 2,000.

However, the court did not order the Church of Scientology to shut down, ruling that it would be likely to continue its activities anyway "outside any legal framework."

The verdict is "an Inquisition of modern times," said Scientology spokeswoman Agnes Bron, referring to efforts to rout out heretics of the Roman Catholic Church in centuries past. The head of an association that helps victims of sects, Catherine Picard, called the verdict "intelligent." "Scientology can no longer hide behind freedom of conscience," she said.

The Los Angeles-based Church of Scientology, founded in 1954 by the late science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, has been active for decades in Europe, but has struggled to gain status as a religion. It is considered a sect in France and has faced prosecution and difficulties in registering its activities in many countries.

The original complaint in the case dates back more than a decade, when a young woman said she took out loans and spent the equivalent of euro 21,000 on books, courses and "purification packages" after being recruited in 1998. When she sought reimbursement and to leave the group, its leadership refused. She was among three eventual plaintiffs.

Olivier Morice, lawyer for civil parties in the case, said the verdict was "historic" because it was the first time in France that the Church of Scientology has been convicted of organized fraud. Investigating judge Jean-Christophe Hullin spent years examining the group's activities, and in his indictment criticized what he called the Scientologists' "obsession" with financial gain and practices he said were aimed at plunging members into a "state of subjection."

The Church of Scientology teaches that technology can expand the mind and help solve problems. It claims 10 million members around the world, including celebrity devotees Tom Cruise and John Travolta. Belgium, Germany and other European countries have been criticized by the U.S. State Department for labeling Scientology as a cult or sect and enacting laws to restrict its operations.

Article from: http://www.salon.com/

Photos from: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~dst/pubs/sfn98/

"It's great. Just let me go."

Koan of the Day:

One day, a old master had a vision of his next life. He immediately called in his favorite disciple and begged a favor of him.

"Anything for you, master." the disciple replied.

"In my next life, I will come back as a pig. Soon after I die, our sow will give birth and I will be the fourth pig of the litter. You will recognize me by a mark on my brow. When that happens, please take a sharp knife and end my life quickly.

Within the year, the master passed away and the sow gave birth. The disciple sharpened his knife and found the small piglet. Suddenly the little pig screamed "Stop! Don't kill me!"

The disciple dropped his knife in surprise and stared at the little pig. "When I was like you I didn't know what a pig's life would be like. It's great. Just let me go."

From: http://www.nozen.com/koans.htm

Ramadan Foods

As far as I can tell, that's a real Burger King ad. And from my favorite food blog, The Kitchn, here is a list of Ramadan foods. This year, Ramadan started on August 21 and ends Saturday, September 19:

Remember that the Muslim world is large and is not only in the Middle East; there are Muslims worldwide in Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, and Australia. The types of food served vary by region. The meals are served either at home with family, or in the community mosques, or other designated places within the Muslim community.

Some foods that may be served at a Ramadan suhoor or iftar:
Dates, pistachios, other nuts, and dried fruits

Fresh seasonal fruits

Fresh seasonal vegetables

Chabbakia - a dessert made of fried dough flavored with orange blossom water and coated with sesame seeds and honey. (Morocco)

Paomo - a bread & mutton soup (China)

Ramazan Kebabi - a dish made with lamb, onions, yogurt, and pita bread. (Turkey)

Sherbet - the world's first soft drink, developed in the Ottoman Empire. Sherbets are made from fruit juices, extracts of flowers, or herbs, and combined with water and sugar. (Turkey)

Chapatis - unleavened flatbread that is rolled up with vegetables and meats. (India and Pakistan)

Lavash - a soft, thin crackerbread. (Armenia, Azerbaijan)

Fattoush - a salad made of vegetables and pita bread. (Lebanon and Arab countries)

Tabbouleh - a salad made with fresh tomatoes, parsley, garlic, and bulgur wheat. (Middle East)

Khyar Bi Laban - cucumber and yogurt salad (Middle East)

Chorba - lamb stew with tomatoes and chickpeas (Morocco)

Fasulia - stew with green beans and meat (North Africa and the Middle East)

Bamia - a stew made with meat and okra (North Africa and the Middle East)

Mujadarra - a dish made with rice and lentils (Middle East)

Konafah - a pastry made with phyllo dough and cheese (Middle East)

Qatayef - a type of Arabic pancake filled with sweet cheese and nuts (Saudi Arabia, Palestine)

Ful medammes - fava beans cooked with garlic and spread on bread (North Africa)

Kolak - a fruit dessert made with palm sugar, coconut milk, and pandanus leaf. Fruits such as jackfruit or banana are added, or mung beans. (Indonesia)

Haleem - a porridge made of meat, wheat, and lentils. (India)

Paneer cheese (Persia and India)

Jalebi - deep-fried dough batter soaked in syrup. (Pakistan)

Shabi kebab - fried patties of ground meat and chickpeas. (India and Pakistan)

www.thekitchn.com

The Wonders of Corn

Excerpt from "The Wonders of Corn," Awake! magazine:

UNTIL recent years Harlin was a corn farmer in the Finger Lakes region of New York, in the United States. He always took delight in explaining to friends and visitors some of the wonders of corn, also called maize. Awake! invited Harlin to share some of his knowledge with our readers. We will also look at other aspects of this amazing plant.

The Plant “Talks” to You
“To me, corn is a work of both art and brilliant mathematics. From the leaves to the individual kernels on the cob, everything is arranged in an aesthetically pleasing and precise pattern. What is more, as the plant grows, it ‘talks’ to you. It tells you if it’s thirsty or malnourished. A human baby cries when it needs something. A growing corn plant, like many other plants, gives visual signals, such as leaf color and shape, to convey its needs. The secret is to understand those signs.

“Leaves with a reddish-purple color may indicate a lack of phosphate. Other symptoms may indicate a lack of magnesium, nitrogen, or potash. A farmer can also tell by sight if his corn has a disease or has been harmed by chemicals.

“Each corn plant has both male and female characteristics. The spindly growth protruding from the top of the plant is the male part, the tassel. Each tassel has about 6,000 flowering buds, or anthers. These release millions of grains of pollen per plant. Carried by the wind, the pollen fertilizes the ova, or eggs, inside the undeveloped ears of nearby plants. The eggs are safely hidden inside the husk.

“How does pollen get past the protective husk to the eggs? You might say it takes a silk road. The silks are the soft, whitish fibers that dangle from the tip of an unpeeled ear, or spike, of corn. Each ear has hundreds of them. If you trace an individual silk to its source, you will come to an ovule (ovary), which houses the egg. One silk, one egg. Each egg, in turn, produces one kernel of corn.

“Missing kernels are an indication that some silks were not pollinated, perhaps because they failed to grow in time. Dry soil can cause that. Once again, if a farmer knows the symptoms, he can usually do something to correct the problem and improve his yield—if not for the present crop, at least for the next one. Something I did to improve my crops was to plant corn one year and soybeans the next. Soybeans are a legume that adds nitrogen to the soil and that the corn borer—a destructive caterpillar—cannot eat.

“It always gives me great pleasure to see a bare field gradually turn green and then produce an abundance of food—and all this quietly, cleanly, and beautifully. I am truly convinced that corn—like all plants—is a wonder of creation. And what I have learned barely scratches the surface.”

Have Harlin’s comments piqued your curiosity about other aspects of this amazing plant?

Corn has countless uses. The grain or its derivatives can be found in anything from adhesives to mayonnaise and from beer to paper diapers. Corn has even found a niche in the fuel industry—albeit a controversial one—in the production of ethanol. To be sure, the story of this amazing and versatile plant is still being written.

Awake! magazine, August 2008

I Hate the Blue Angels

I hate the Blue Angels.

They are too loud.

There, I said it.

Stigmata

I just found out from Guy that I don't have stigmata, after all. What a relief!

"Stigmata are the wounds of Christ as reproduced in a human body. Visible stigmata are frequently located in both hands and both feet, and on the right side of the chest, replicating the sites of Christ's wounds, which he showed to the disciples in his post-resurrection appearances (Luke 24: 36-40 and John 20: 19-29). The most famous of the stigmatics, St Francis of Assisi, received the stigmata in these places. Occasionally wounds on the head, in the shape of a crown (copying the crown of thorns), and marks on either shoulder (representing the carrying of the cross and scourging) are evidence of stigmata too. Stigmata might also be invisible, marked by the pain of wounds in the classic places, or alternately invisible and visible. St Catherine of Sienna received the stigmata of the five wounds in a vision but asked God to make them disappear, after which she experienced only the pain of the wounds.

"Stigmata are often accompanied by other bodily phenomena such as pain, blood, sweats, levitations, or even lameness or blindness, and they quite often occur in people who are already ill or are voluntarily abstaining from food for religious reasons. Many of the women nuns and saints who fasted and/or existed on the host alone, in late medieval and early modern Europe, received the stigmata, such as St Catherine of Sienna, who fasted — except for eating the blessed host — for eight years. Stigmatics often receive religious visions or ecstasies, having visions of Christ and various saints, and also ‘re-living’ or seeing parts of Christ's passion and sharing in his suffering."

Painting on oak from Cologne, Germany, 1465, entitled "Christ on the Cross with Mary, John and Mary Magdalene." Artist unknown. Quotation from Wikipedia.