Huperborea

Zeno and Proof Surrogate

2010-08-22T08:39:00.000-07:00

Zeno, a mathematics educator (unlike Baby Huey and others members of PZ's Sierra College audience, I know the difference between a mathematician and a mathematics educator), claimed the following on his blog:

"Today we all know that the original Obama stimulus was too small. (Paul Krugman warned us at the top of his lungs, but most of us ignored him at our continuing peril.)"

As well as:

"There are two reasons for that which most sane people are able to identify: (1) the stimulus package wasn't big enough (and Paul Krugman warned us, too!)"

The fact of the matter, however, is that we all do not know that the stimulus was too small and there are plenty of sane economists who doubt it was even a good idea.

Economists Want Policy Makers to Back Off Now

Stimulus Skeptics

Fiscal policy and the burden of proof

Is Joe Biden disingenuous or misinformed?

Today's Spiritual Thought Courtesy of Mormon Apostle Jedediah M. Grant

2010-08-21T20:39:00.000-07:00

"I would ask you if Jehovah has not in all ages tried His people by the power of Lucifer and his associates; and on the other hand, has He not tried them and proved them by His Prophets? Did the Lord actually want Abraham to kill Isaac? Did the Prophet Joseph want every man's wife he asked for? He did not, but in that thing was the grand thread of the Priesthood developed. The grand object in view was to try the people of God, to see what was in them. If such a man of God should come to me and say, 'I want your gold and silver, or your wives,' I should say, 'Here they are, I wish I had more to give you, take all I have got.' A man who has got the Spirit of God, and the light of eternity in him, has no trouble about such matters."--Elder Jedediah M. Grant, "The Power of God and the Power of Satan" (Journal of Discourses vol. 2)

How marvelous! "Praise to the man who communed with Jehovah!" Holy Joe didn't want every man's wife he asked for, just some of them!

(Like a stopped clock, "Betty Bowers" is correct every once in a while, and she was right when she said, "Being lectured on what constitutes a traditional marriage by a Mormon is a bit like being scolded for loitering by a crack whore.")

The casuistry of the man who would be Archon of California

2010-08-21T20:18:00.000-07:00

"What Judge Walker's ruling means is you can sponsor a proposition, direct it, research it, work for it, raise $40 million for it, get it on a ballot, successfully campaign for it and then have no ability to defend it independently in court," said Dale Carpenter, a University of Minnesota constitutional law professor who supports same-sex marriage. "And then a judge maybe let you be the sole defender in a full-blown trial and then says, 'by the way, you never can defend this.' It just seems very unlikely to me the higher courts will buy that."

(Excerpted from here.)

The casuistry of Vaughn Walker, who fancies himself Archon of my home state, could not be more transparent. He allowed these people to defend Prop 8 but claims they don't have standing for an appeal. Granted, they did a lousy job of defending Prop 8 but the idea that SSM is mandated by the Constitution is so ludicrous that I sympathize with Cooper's claim that Prop 8 needed no defense. Archon Walker should have dismissed it; instead, he placed his seer stone in a hat* with a copy of the Constitution and located a "right" to SSM to the left of the emanation of the penumbra, written in invisible ink.

Over at Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr asked SSM advocates when the Constitution began to require it. I love that question because SSM advocates come off as vapid no matter how they answer it. If they say it always has (or date it to the ratification of the 14th or some other amendment) then one can reply, "So, you know the Constitution better than the people who wrote and amended it?" If they give a recent date one can attack the legitimacy of judges conjuring "rights" out of thin air. For that, I don't think one can do better than Byron White's dissent in Moore v. City of East Cleveland:

The Judiciary, including this Court, is the most vulnerable and comes nearest to illegitimacy when it deals with judge-made constitutional law having little or no cognizable roots in the language or even the design of the Constitution. Realizing that the present construction of the Due Process Clause represents a major judicial gloss on its terms, as well as on the anticipation of the Framers, and that much of the underpinning for the broad, substantive application of the Clause disappeared in the conflict between the Executive and the Judiciary in the 1930's and 1940's, the Court should be extremely reluctant to breathe still further substantive content into the Due Process Clause so as to strike down legislation adopted by a State or city to promote its welfare. Whenever the Judiciary does so, it unavoidably preempts for itself another part of the governance of the country without express constitutional authority.

*This was originally posted to a forum populated by former Mormons.

My response to Jerry Coyne re: mathematics

2010-08-21T18:23:00.000-07:00

On his blog, Jerry Coyne, who is supposed to be a famous evolutionary biologist, wrote the following in response to an article by Karl Gibberson titled Mathematics and the Religious Impulse:

Mathematics is, of course, a logical system invented by humans, and so has to “work”. One could equally well ask, “Why does logic work?” But if Giberson is asking, “Why does math help us understand the world?”, that seems equivalent to asking “Why does nature obey laws?” One answer is that if it didn’t, we wouldn’t be here to ask the question. But maybe I’m missing something. Yet consider this: if nature didn‘t obey laws, would we see that as evidence for no God? Of course not! In fact, the temporary and local suspension of physical law is precisely what a miracle consists of, and miracles, of course, are evidence for God. So when physical laws are obeyed, God’s working, and when they’re broken, God’s working too. Perhaps there’s some intermediate degree of lawlessness that would convince the faithful that there is no God?

My response:

Professor Coyne,

I have no doubt that you are a giant among fruit fly ejaculate researchers but you are an ignoramus concerning mathematics (and other subjects, from what I’ve observed.) Humans did not “invent” mathematics. Not even Euler, Cauchy, Gauss, or the other greats of mathematics could have “invented” the fabulous results of complex analysis. And abstract algebra was advanced without any application in mind but it turned out to be crucial for physics.

But don’t let any of that stop you from babbling about subjects you know nothing about or spinning just so yarns.

Dunning–Kruger Award goes to FrankT

2010-02-14T00:46:00.000-08:00

Over at Pharyngula, a pseudointellectual with "just enough of learning to misquote," FrankT, attempted to criticize Gödel's Ontological Argument, a feat which is manifestly above his intellectual (I use the word loosely in reference to him) pay grade. I have copied the cognitively-impaired poser's comments and interspersed my responses below.

There are five axioms to it, and I will bold the ones that are bullshit:

1. A quality can be uniquely positive or negative.
(fails even a cursory Buddhist or Aristotelian analysis, but moving on)

This is a textbook example of pseudoargumentation. Moreover, it is positive or non-positive. Apparently, FrankT is unaware of the concept of zero.

2. If a quality is uniquely positive, then the qualities implied by having that quality are positive.
(I think this one slides, because it's basically definitional, not that it matters because I cannot name a single uniquely positive trait)

FrankT's inability to "name a single uniquely positive trait" is not my problem, nor is it Kurt Gödel's.

3. If two qualities are positive, both qualities together are positive.
(while I like "delicious" things and "intelligent" things, I would prefer that intelligent things not be delicious)

This is just as vapid a response as the tea "counterexample" offered by a guy at the Sierra Q&A. To quote Christopher Small:

In ordinary language, we might be inclined to say that one thing is greater than another if
the former has some positive attribute that the latter lacks. We might disagree with each
other as to the ranking of things or objects according to their value, but we must inevitably
make such judgements, whether we regard them as objective or not. In view of the
ambiguity of such concepts, it is important to understand what Gödel meant by a positive
attribute. In his own words he said that the operator Pos could be interpreted in a
moral-aesthetic sense, or in the sense of pure attribution. The concept of a predicate
being positive in a moral or aesthetic sense, provides no difficulty, at least initially.
Clearly, if Fx means that x is beautiful, we would be willing to accept that F is positive
in an aesthetic sense, even if we disagree in our judgements about beauty. If Fx means
that x is virtuous, we might grant the same, even if we have no idea what virtue is. But
what is meant by “pure attribution?” By “pure attribution,” Gödel states that we are to
understand that a predicate attributes some quality to an individual, and that the quality
contains no element of “privation.”

"Deliciousness" is not a positive property in either sense. Thus, FrankT's "counterexample" falls apart.

4. All properties are uniquely positive or negative and not both.
(this one is just actually laughable, so whatever)

Yet another textbook example of pseudoargumentation from intellectually-bankrupt FrankT. Moreover, as I noted above, it is positive or non-positive. Apparently, FrankT is unaware of the concept of zero.

5. Existence is a quality that is positive.
(existing would seem to have an overall degree of positiveness equal to the overall positiveness of the thing that either did or did not exist. Something baleful like a werewolf would be more negative if it existed than if it did not exist, while something awesome like the invisible pink unicorn would be more positive if it existed. And of course, something completely inconsequential like the celestial teapot would be just as meaningless if it existed as if it didn't)

Necessary existence is a positive, you damn moron. Gödel's Ontological Argument employs modal logic.

So basically it's really easy to refute, because all of the premises are wrong. Furthermore, there is a core problem with the logic, which is that just because an infinite series summation of positive traits would, given those premises, sum to the existence of an all powerful all whatever god-thing, doesn't mean that such an infinite series ever actually starts.

Achilles catches the tortoise, because Zeno's paradox is answered by Leibnitz and Newton and the infinite series of half distances does complete and total up to a whole. But Achilles does not catch every tortoise, he just catches the ones he chases. He has to start a series before he can finish it. And there is no reason to believe that anything ever started amassing an infinite series of all possible positive traits, even if there was such a thing.

Now, the Ontological Argument goes that basically by imagining the collection of all possible positive traits that you have in fact started that process - that your very own hubris is Achilles and that when you catch the tortoise it will be an omnipotent god. That is a level of solipsism and hubris that defies ready comprehension. But you can see why it might have appealed to St. Anselm, Leibnitz, and Kurt Gödel. Because they were all whack jobs who spent all their time thinking about infinity.

...

The fact that the Ontological argument is a total failure has little to do with the fact that it uses modalities. It's that both the premises and the logical chain after it are wrong. Perfectly valid attacks against it include attacking virtually any of the premises. But also the fact that infinite series summation just doesn't work that way. Convergent series reach conclusion and give real answers. But divergent ones don't. In the real universe there are no infinitely large rocks, infinitely large amounts of energy, infinitely large spaces, or infinitely powerful forces. Everything, even amongst the really stupidly large things, is finite.

So if someone has a series that includes infinite power or infinite anything else, then that series by definition never completes. So since it never finishes acquiring all the traits, there's no reason to believe it ever acquires "existence" either.

This is the most moronic part of an exceedingly moronic screed. So moronic, in fact, that it is not even wrong. (Yet, FrankT was still able to hoodwink a number of dupes over at Pharyngula, which speaks volumes.) First of all, Anselm, Leibniz, and Gödel were great thinkers, not "whack jobs," and it is offensive to see them labeled as such by FrankT, a noxious mediocrity. Moreover, an "infinite series summation" doesn't enter into it. Axiom 3 (as listed by FrankT, which follows the presentation on wikipedia) simply states that if p1, p2, ..., pn are positive then the collection, i.e.,
p1 AND p2...AND pn is positive. There is no infinite sum here.

Now, if we were talking about probability (we're not) and we looked at the probability of p1 AND p2 ... AND pn, i.e., the intersection (for the sake of argument treating the pk's as events, which they aren't), then we would have an infinite product of probabilities as n approached infinity provided the pk's were independent (again, treating the pk's as events, which is not the case). Even that stretch does not give an infinite sum, though. To arrive at an infinite sum, you would have to look at the probability of p1 OR p2...OR pn, i.e., the union of the pk's, which would be an infinite sum of probabilities as n approached infinity provided the pk's were mutually exclusive.

However, we are not dealing with probability and even if we were, the closest analog is an infinite product, not an infinite sum. (Incidentally, both the infinite product and the infinite sum I mentioned would fall in the interval [0, 1]). How this brain-dead pharyngulite came to associate Gödel's Ontological Argument with an "infinite series summation" is beyond me.

Incidentally, for those readers who do not know the difference between independent and mutually exclusive events, I recommend the following video I posted to youtube a couple of years ago.

And while Kurt Gödel ended his life of starvation because he was mortally afraid of being poisoned and would not eat unless his wife prechewed his food to assure him that it had not been poisoned, he was very good at thinking about infinity when he wasn't waiting for his wife to get out of the hospital so that he could eat again.

...

Which is why I was so surprised that our creationist friend stood up and said that his best argument for a god was Gödel's ontological proof. Because that one is a set of magic words written by a crazy man after he started wasting away into madness. That's like saying that your best argument for something is the last mad scratchings of Dr. Herbert West.

This is a low-blow but one I would associate with a mind of FrankT's caliber. Not only that, but it competes with his "infinite series" nonsense on the scale of utter stupidity. Kurt Gödel formulated his ontological argument long before he started suffering from paranoia and even if that were not the case, there is no reason to believe it would have adversely affected his mathematical work. The fact of the matter is that Gödel was far, far more intelligent and competent in his final days than FrankT could ever hope to be on his best day.

Stirring the hornet's nest part II

2010-01-31T13:05:00.000-08:00

In response to bogus claims from the audience that Gödel's Ontological Argument is circular, I articulated the most basic form a premise would take in modal logic (related to the topic at hand), i.e., if God exists, then he exists necessarily. The audience, in unison, shouting back "IF God exists..." to which I replied, "YES IF, that's the form mathematical arguments take. In mathematics we define an object and then seek to prove it exists." I was trying to show them that a premise of the form "If P then necessarily P" is legitimate and not "circular." The following is excerpted from this article:

"If God exists, then it is necessary that he exists."

In this example, "necessary" has narrow scope, that is, its scope is restricted to the proposition's consequent, rather than the whole proposition. The proposition claims that if God does in fact exist, then His existence is a necessary one. This is a special claim about God which is not true of other things; for instance, it is thankfully not the case that if Osama bin Laden exists then he necessarily exists. If the scope of the modality were broad, then the proposition would say that it is necessarily the case that if God exists then He exists. While this is true, it is true of everything including Osama bin Laden.

In these two examples it is clear what the scope of the modality is, but in other sentences it is not clear whether the modality has a broad or narrow scope. The modal scope fallacy occurs when this amphiboly is exploited.

The audience was hopeless, however, and accused me of being an obtuse creationist. I refer the interested reader to my previous comments on Dawkins' fan club, wherein I combat similar inanity. Also, I refer the interested reader here for what a mathematician (i.e., "Tarski") who publishes research and does not accept Gödel's Ontological Argument wrote in response to an pretentious atheist who was similarly clueless in asserting that the argument is transparently circular.

"Tarski" in brief:

There is a difference between saying that Gödel just simplemindedly begged the question and recognizing that not only do we usually take truths in axiomatic system to be based on the assumed truth of the axioms, it is also the case that the ontology of the entities derived in existential proofs must lean on the ontology of the axioms in some way also; but this seems tricky to me.

This type of thing does not interfere with the work of (most) mathematicians and scientists.

To be continued...

Stirring the hornet's nest part I

2010-01-31T11:25:00.000-08:00

The question I posed to PZ was:

"In your own words, your contributions to science are piddling. [Those are your words, not mine. I just happen to agree with them.] To that I would add that your arguments against God are just as risible as those of Dawkins and the other occupants of the new atheist clown car. Given that, why should anyone who is not already one of your chamchas pay attention to you as opposed to others who are far more accomplished and rational?"

(I added the bracketed part upon hearing a feral growl from the audience.)

PZ responded by trying to dismiss me as a creationist. Now, I don't mind being labeled a creationist, provided it is understood that I accept that the age of the earth is measured in billions of years and that I am not solicitous about the historicity of anyone before Abraham. However, my question/challenge to PZ had nothing to do with creationism, except in the broadest sense of someone who thinks God created life (somehow). I interjected that my question had nothing to do with creationism and PZ replied that his talk was about creationism. (Except the last slide was about atheism, not creationism, and that was the slide to which I was responding.) PZ then claimed I used a creationist tactic by quote-mining him in that I did not include his caveat about most (all?) individual scientific contributions being piddling. (I'll let the reader judge whether I quote-mined PZ.)

PZ then asked me which arguments for God I accepted/endorsed. I mentioned Gödel's Ontological Argument and then he adroitly turned the tables on me by asking me to defend it. Now, I was prepared to address some of PZ and others' anemic/fallacious arguments against/misrepresentations of theistic arguments but I was not prepared to defend Gödel's Ontological Argument. To adequately defend it I would needed worked out notes and access to a white board at center stage. It was essentially impossible for me to argue for it unprepared and from a seat in the audience, and I started to say as much, but I was egged on by PZ and essentially told to "put up or shut up" by a rude, corpulent chin-beard dressed in black (whose volubility was inversely proportional to his knowledge.)

Now, I'm anxious even when teaching my own class. (Although, it typically subsides as the class progresses.) However, despite my anxiety, I tried to articulate that God has every positive property necessarily and that necessary existence is a positive property.

However, at this point the audience started complaining. Zeno (a mathematics instructor at a CC in Northern CA) objected that it wasn't really a proof. I thought he was claiming that no such argument from Gödel existed, so I objected. (He later clarified that he disputed that it was a real proof, not that it existed.) Zeno and the audience made much of the fact that I described myself as a statistician, but I have a bachelors in mathematics, and even though I studied statistics in grad school, I've had graduate level mathematics courses and my advanced degree is from a mathematics department.

PZ, like his friend Dawkins, dismissed Gödel's Ontological Argument as a word game, a philosophy instructor at Sierra said "You've packed 'existence' into the very definition of God, and so your argument is circular" and some dude up front said something about thinking a certain tea was positive but that his friend did not, thereby claiming to establish the subjectivity of positivity and "refuting" the argument. This was followed up by someone in the back (sitting next to Heidi) saying "moral relativism for the win!" (The same guy also asserted that Gödel's Ontological Argument was "bullocks.")

To be continued...

What a Long Strange Trip It Has Been...

2010-01-29T00:53:00.000-08:00

My preliminary thoughts:

I did not expect to end up spending the night with PZ Myers. I also did not expect to be asked to defend Kurt Gödel's Ontological Argument, which I was unprepared to do. (Although, even if I were prepared, I do not think I could have done it justice as a critical respondent among an, umm, unsympathetic audience.) I give credit to PZ for unexpectedly turning the tables and essentially catching me flat-footed; it won't happen again.

Anyway, I met some nice people and I am glad I went to BJ's with the group afterward (PZ graciously invited me) because I met Mr. D, with whom I really enjoyed reminiscing about a high school where he taught and I was a student.

I will write more later.

God and the fundamental physical constants

2010-01-27T22:15:00.000-08:00

As far as I know, there is no reason to believe the values of the physical constants are necessary, in which case, we have the following likelihood ratio:

P(physical constants and the universe in which we exist|God)/P(physical constants and the universe in which we exist|no God) =

P(physical constants|God)P(the universe in which we exist|physical constants and God)/
P(physical constants|no God)P(the universe in which we exist|physical constants and no God)

Now, P(the universe in which we exist|physical constants and God)/P(the universe in which we exist|physical constants and no God) is essentially one since it does not seem likely that our universe depends on whether the physical constants we observe arose by design or not. Therefore, the likelihood ratio takes the form:

P(physical constants|God)/
P(physical constants|no God)

which I argue is large since it is easy to conceive of God wishing to create a particular universe and choosing the appropriate values of the physical constants whereas a random selection would be very unlikely to achieve the correct values.

Incidentally, I "borrowed" this argument from David Bartholomew's article, "Probability, Statistics and Theology." (Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. Vol. 151, No. 1
1988, pp. 137-178)

More evidence that Mormonism is a fraud

2008-12-12T20:36:00.000-08:00

As if more evidence were required.

Reassessing authorship of the Book of Mormon using delta and nearest shrunken centroid classification

I would like to perform statistical analyses on the Book of Mormon myself but I have not yet gotten around to it. Anyway, it is a good article and I recommend it.

(via Bart on Folk of the Fringe)

New scam

2008-11-30T10:06:00.000-08:00

ANTI-TERRORIST AND MONITORY CRIMES DIVISION
FBI HEADQUARTERS IN WASHINGTON, D.C.
FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION
J. EDGAR HOOVER BUILDING
935 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, NW WASHINGTON, D.C. 20535-0001

DATE: 29/11/2008

ATTENTION:

This is to Officially inform you that the FBI Investigations and Revenue Department(IR) had just come across a suspended monetary transaction file linked to your email identity from Google search and would want to know if you had such monetary commitments ongoing.

There has been a case file on my desk involving your email profile and a second party trying to execute a monetary transaction with the same email identity as yours.Initially our agency had tagged your case file as illegal and sought to invite you for further investigations until now.Our agency had also contacted the paying bank,Bank of America for questioning and they have verified the existing transaction and would disburse funds as instructed.

We advice that if the case file name registered is a familiar one or if you have had prior monetary commitments in the past,do not hesitate to email our agency promptly.

You are required to send in the following to enable our agency scan for irregularities and assist you officially to claim such funds and as you may wish:

1. Full Names:

2. Residential Address:

3. Phone Number:

4. Occupation:

5. Sex: Female

6. Nationality:

7. Age:

8. SSN:

9. Copy of Identity (Valid License):

We expect an urgent mail from you within the next 72 hours so that we can conclude our investigations.

Service To Humanity.
Agent Robert Mueller
http://www.fbi.gov/libref/directors/directmain.htm

FBI Special Agent in Charge
Investigations Department
Baltimore (Maryland).
Phone :*

This scam was sent six times for good measure. I'm pretty sure that impersonating an FBI agent is a federal offense. For some reason, the scammer goofed and filled in "female" for sex. Also, Robert Mueller is the current director of the FBI; his name was used to add the thinnest veneer of legitimacy, but it makes this already unbelievable scam even more unbelievable for those who know who he is.

My reponse to Jeffrey Hart's article

2008-11-17T21:09:00.000-08:00

The Republicans Are Now the Stupid Party

Excerpt:

In its embrace of the religious right under George W. Bush, the Republican party became the stupid party. And committing suicide along with it has been the conservative movement. The party united around god, guns and gays is finished.

My response:

The neoconservatives are responsible for driving the party into the ground, not religious/social conservatives. In fact, I would not be surprised if Mr. Hart is yet another rat who jumped the neoconservative ship of fools.

If Mr. Hart wants a party that does not care about right reason or moral order, then I suggest he join the chirping sectaries in the libertarian party. As for the rest of us who are displeased with the current state of the party but who have not voted for "progressives" in a fit of pique, I suggest tuning out men like Jeffrey Hart and instead following the admonition of Cicero (as quoted by Lactantius): "True law is right reason conformable to nature, universal, unchangeable, eternal, whose commands urge us to duty, and whose prohibitions restrain us from evil...God himself is its author, its promulgator, its enforcer."

Mr. Peter Chidi

2008-10-25T23:36:00.000-07:00

My name is Mr. Peter Chidi. I work in the credit and accounts department of a New Generation Bank in, Nigeria. We had a foreign client who deposited a huge sum of money with our bank.

Incidentally, we have not heard from this client for some years now, after a long and thorough investigation, I found out that he has passed on, and since then we have not had any body coming for the claims as the next of kin. A situation I have monitored closely with my position in the bank. Now, having managed the account over the years before his death, and nobody has showed up as the next of kin for the past six years plus, I have removed the file to my private safe.

I now solicit for your assistance to present you as the next of kin as I am only waiting for a foreign partner to enable me move the funds out.
I will need your private telephone, your full name and address, company or residential so that I can make them to tally with the next of kin column in the file on record. This does not have any risk attached to it as all the internal documentations will be handled by me.

I therefore request you to confirm your interest by a return message and I will furnish you with details. I am the only one who knows of this situation, good fortune has blessed you with a name that has planted you into the centre of relevance in our lives. Please endeavour to observe utmost discretion in all matters concerning this issue.

Lastly, for the immediate take off of this transaction you have to confirm your willingness and readiness to assist me retrieve this deposit.
Please note that for your assistance in this transaction you are entitled to a considerable percentage of the total sum, which is negotiable.
I send you this mail not without a measure of fear as to what the consequences might be should you reject my proposition, but I know that nothing ventured is nothing gained.
I look forward to hearing from you ASAP.

Respectfully yours,
Peter Chidi.

Boring scam.

EMMANUEL CHINEMEREM

2008-10-25T23:31:00.000-07:00

MR EMMANUEL CHINEMEREM
CEANTEL TRUST FINANCE & SECURITY
#3 AHMADU BELLO WAY
VICTORIA ISLAND,
LAGOS STATE -NIGERIA

Dear Sir/Madam

I am a Manager of a leading bank in Lagos, I am seeking your co-operation to present you to my bank as the next of Kin/beneficiary to my deceased client, before his death, he has a bank balance with my bank to the tune of ($15.6million)
Dr. George Brumley, an American Nationality, a businessman who works with a multinational company , who was involved in air
crash along with his family. You can confirm from the website below.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/07/20/kenya.crash/index.html

No other person knows about this fund.The deceased,deposited the fund with our bank as a photographic materials in a trunk box .The Strategy is to use our influence as staff of the bank to approve the funds to you. So if you are
interested forward to me your names, cell, Phone/fax, profession, age and country so that I can contact you and inform you how the fund will be released to you as the next of kin.I enjoin you to keep this confidential.

Yours faithfully,

Mr. Emmanuel Chinemerem

Ah, yes, the scam that tries to create a veneer of credibility by linking to an article about a plane crash. This is another favorite of mine.

From Mrs Rebecca Williams

2008-10-25T23:18:00.000-07:00

From Mrs Rebecca Williams
N�[38 Rue Des Martyrs Cocody
Abidjan, Cote d'Ivoire

ATTN:
DEAREST ONE OF GOD

I am the above named person from Kuwait . I am married to Mr Benson Williams, who worked with Kuwait embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year 2004. We were married for eleven years without a child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days.

Before his death we were both born again Christian. Since his death I decided not to remarry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of $2. 5 Million (Two Million Five Hundred U.S. Dollars) in the bank here in Abidjan in suspense account.

Presently, the fund is still with the bank. Recently, my Doctor told me that i have serious sickness which is cancer problem. The one that disturbs me most is my stroke sickness. Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to a church or individual that will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct herein. I want a church that will use this fund for orphanages, widows, propagating the word of God and to endeavour that the house of God is maintained.

The Bible made us to understand that blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I don抰 have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are not Christians and I don抰 want my husband抯 efforts to be used by unbelievers. I don抰 want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly way. This is why I am taking this decision. I am not afraid of death hence i know where I am going. I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. Exodus 14 VS 14 says that the Lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace.

I don抰 need any telephone communication in this regard because of my health hence the presence of my husband抯 relatives is around me always I don't want them to know about this development. With God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the bank here in Abidjan . I want you and the church to always pray for me because the Lord is my shepherd. My happiness is that I lived a life of a worthy Christian. Whoever that wants to serve the Lord must serve him in spirit and Truth. Please always be prayerful all through your life.

Contact me on the above e-mail address for more information抯, any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing another church or individual for this same purpose. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I Stated herein. Hoping to receive your
reply.

Remain blessed in the Lord.
Yours in Christ,
Mrs Rebecca Williams.

Hey, she lives right by Mrs. Naomi Solomon, also a Christian widow from Kuwait. I should endeavor to introduce the two before they pass on!

Hello dear one

2008-10-25T23:08:00.000-07:00

Hello dear one Pls., let this not sound strange to you. I am Mrs. Diana Smith from London, I am 64 years old, I am deaf and suffering from a long time cancer of the breast which also affected my brain, according to my doctors they have advised me that I may not live for the next two months, this is because the cancer stage has gotten to a very bad stage. I was brought up from a motherless babies home was married to my late husband for twenty years without a child, died in a fatal motor accident. I sold all my inherited belongings and deposited all the sum of $3.5million dollars with a Security Company. Presently, I'm with my laptop in a hospital where my doctors have told me that I have only a few months to live. It is my last wish to see that this money is invested to any organization of your choice and distributed each year among the charity organization, the poor and the motherless babies home where i come from. I want you use this money to fund churches, orphanages and widows; I took this decision, before I rest in peace because my time will soon be up. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the Security Company. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I Stated herein. And always get back to me through this email address mrs.dianasmith@* with your informations, such as your full name, house/office address, your direct contact telephone numbers. Hoping to hearing from you soon. Yours in Christ, Mrs. Diana Smith

Yet another ailing "Christian widow" trying desperately to find a home for her wealth. (There must be an entire ward of these women somewhere.) Of course, if I were about to join the choir invisible I, too, would seek out a random internet stranger instead of, say, a member of the clergy, in order to distribute my wealth to various charities.

INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF) OUTSTANDING REMITTANCE

2008-10-25T23:04:00.000-07:00

International Monetary Fund (IMF)
Investigation Bureau,
700 19th Street, N.W,
Washington, D.C. 20431 USA

RE: INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF) OUTSTANDING REMITTANCE

We the International Monetary Fund (IMF) investigation bureau Washington, DC in
conjunction with some other relevant Investigation Agencies here in the United
states of America have recently been informed through our Global intelligence
monitoring network that you presently having transaction going on with Bank of
Africa (CBN) as regards to Your over-due contract payment which was fully
endorsed in your favor accordingly.

Having said all this, we will further advise that you to go ahead in dealing
with their Apex Bank (STANDARD CHARTERED BANK LONDON) office accordingly, as we
will be monitoring all their services with you as well as your correspondence at
all level.

They also told us that the only problem transfer the money to you right now is
that some unscrupulous element are using this project as an avenue to scam
innocent people off their hard earned money by impersonating the Executive
Governor and the Central Bank office.

We were also made to understand that a lady with name Mrs. Joan C.Bailey from
OHIO has already contacted them and also presented to them all the necessary
documentation.s evidencing your claim purported to have been signed personally
by you prior to the release of your contract fund valued at about
US$10,000,000.00 (Ten Million United States Dollars.),but the STANDARD
CHARTERED BANK LONDON did the wise thing by insisting on hearing from you
personally before the go ahead on wiring your fund to the Bank information
which was forwarded to them by the above named Lady so that was the main
reason why they contacted us (IMF) investigation Department so as to assist
them in making the investigations.

You are to confirm if you actually sent her. Should in case you are already
dealing with anybody or office claiming to be from the STANDARD CHARTERED BANK
LONDON, you are further advised to STOP further contact with them in your best
interest and then contact immediately the real office of the STANDARD
CHARTERED BANK LONDON (SCB) only with the below information.s accordingly:

NAME: Dr.Mrs Renee Cook
STANDARD CHARTERED BANK LONDON.
England, United Kingdom, RH19 1HH

Do contact me as soon as you contact the bank so as to follow up with your
payment case and also to investigate related matters.

Best Regards,
Dav Frankies
International Monetary Fund (IMF)

The warning about scams in this scam and the lottery scam a few posts down is a nice touch.

From Mrs naomi solomon

2008-10-25T22:51:00.000-07:00

From Mrs naomi solomon,
NO 112 Rue Des Martyrs Cocody
Abidjan,Cote d'Ivoire,

Attn:
Dearest One Of God

I am the above named person from Kuwait. I am married to Mr solomon
anthony.who worked with Kuwait embassy in Ivory Coast for nine years before he died in the year 2003. We were married for many years with out child. He died after a brief illness that lasted for only four days.

Before his death we were both born again Christian. Since his death I decided not to remarry or get a child outside my matrimonial home which the Bible is against. When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of (US$2.500million dollars in a Bank in Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire west africa).Presently,the fund is still with the bank.Recently, my Doctor told me that i have serious sickness which is cancer problem.

The one that,disturbs me most is my stroke sickness.Having known my condition I decided to donate this fund to a church or individual that will utilize this money the way I am going to instruct herein. I want a church that will use this fund for orphanages, widows,propagating the word of God and to endeavor that the house of God is maintained.

The Bible made us to understand that Blessed is the hand that giveth. I took this decision because I dont have any child that will inherit this money and my husband relatives are not Christians and I dont want my husband efforts to be used by unbelievers. I dont want a situation where this money will be used in an ungodly way. This is why I am taking this decision. I am not afraid of death hence i know where I am going. I know that I am going to be in the bosom of the Lord. Exodus 14 VS 14 says that the lord will fight my case and I shall hold my peace.

I dont need any telephone communication in this regard because of my health hence the presence of my husband relatives is around me always I don't want them to know about this development.. With God all things are possible. As soon as I receive your reply I shall give you the contact of the bank here in Abidjan.I want you and the church to always pray for me because the lord is my shephard. My happiness is that I lived a life of a worthy Christian. Whoever that Wants to serve the Lord must serve him in spirit and Truth. Please always be prayerful all through your life.

Contact me on the above e_mail address for more informations, any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing another church or individual for this same purpose. Please assure me that you will act accordingly as I Stated herein. Hoping to receive your reply.

Remain blessed in the Lord.
Yours in Christ,
Mrs naomi solomon.

I think Mrs. Naomi Solomon has besought me before, but I can't keep track. Of late, there has been a pronounced increase in ailing Christian widows who need to give away the wealth of their deceased husbands before they pass on.

Latest post to Richard Dawkins' fan club

2008-07-22T16:06:00.000-07:00

468. Comment #215974 by Robert O'Brien on July 22, 2008 at 4:05 pm

And then I read 'The God Delusion.' Every argument Dawkins made resounded with perfection. He left no basic argument out of his book. I felt wholly satisfied because he had touched on everything that I wanted him to. Perhaps what was best was the realization that there are other intelligent and liberal people out there who find that religious people do not deserve respect for such ludicrous beliefs.

Dawkins' arguments in the 'God Delusion[sic]' are pedestrian at best. Like other members of the New Atheist clown car, he is woefully inadequate to the task of taking on classical theism. As for you and the other koojas, to borrow a simile from Augustus De Morgan, the lot of you are like the monkey who goes about proclaiming himself clean-shaven and the rest of the world hairy.

http://richarddawkins.net/articleComments,2881,Richard-Dawkins-slaps-creationists-into-the-primordial-soup,Kate-Muir-Times-Online,page10#215974

From Princess Helen Keita

2008-07-16T20:57:00.000-07:00

From Princess Helen Keita,
C/O: Refugee camp-Abidjan
Republic Of Cote D'Ivoire

Dearest One,
I am delighted to write to you. I am sorry if this mail will come to you as an embarrassment or a surprise, I just felt like empting myself to you, to confide in you, as am faced with total frustration and hardship. My Ernest prayer is that you find this mail in good health and blessings. My name is Princess Helen Keita, The Daughter of (Late Chief Adam keita) who lost his life in the course of the crisis here in Cote D'ivoire on the 7th of November 2005 on his way to his office. My late father was a cocoa merchant. My father willed in cash, the sum of $8 .2 Million US Dollars which he deposited in a financial institution here in Abidjan Cote D'ivoire in west Africa, I have decided to offer you $1.2m for your assistance with enabling conditions for the release of the fund which are as follows:

(1) That I must be 30 years or above.
(2) That upon request for the release of the fund,
There must be evidence of investment intentions especially outside the West Africa, I contact you therefore to confirm if you can absorb me in partnership in your company or possibly assist me on any investment opportunity in your country. When I reach agreement with you, the financial institution will release my fund you and I will come over to you to commence business partnership with you and the fund and as well complete my education.

All that I want is your sincere and genuine help in helping me to see that this fund is released to you and come to your a country were you will also help me invest this fund in a very good business as soon its released. I cannot allow the money remain here, why, because of the war here which possess a great risk to as my life and future solely lies on it. If you have heard from the news for the past few months now there has been intense fighting and bombing by the troops which I will like to live here as soon as the funds is released out of this country.

I expect your urgent response including your addresses, your mobile telephone and fax number. I wait to hear from you, thanks for expected cooperation.
My regards,
Princess Helen Keita.

This may be the first "princess" I have heard from. Certainly, it is the first "princess" who is the daughter of a deceased "cocoa merchant."

With Due respect

2008-07-16T20:52:00.000-07:00

I humbly write to solicit for your partnership and assistance in the transfer and investment of my inheritance fund USD$17.5M from my late father who died mysteriously last Dec.

It was very evident that he was poisoned to death. In my culture, when a man dies, if he does not have a male child, the brothers shares his property leaving both the wife and the daughters empty handed including the house they live in. This is the exact case with me as I am the only daughter of my father. I lost my mother when I was barely a year old and my father refused to re-marry another wife because he felt solely responsible for my mother's death.

This is so because he concentrated much on his businesses that he rarely pays attention to domestic affairs. He was always travelling taking care of his businesses that he did not
notice when my mother took ill. He thought it was a minor illness and was ignorant of this. My mother on her own resorted to self-medication. It was not until the illness degenerated that my father took my mother to hospital where she was diagnosed to find out that hypatitis had eaten deep into her blood stream. She didn't last long before she died. This happened when I was barely a year old. Based on this, my father could not forgive himself easily because of it and said he was responsible for her death as he could have saved her if only he had paid attention to the things at home rather than concentrating much on his businesses.

Despite all entreaties by friends and relatives, he refused to remarry but ensured that I had everything that I wanted. It was as a result of this that he made me the next of kin to his fund
deposit with the bank and stated that in the event of any eventuality, I should have a direct access to the fund only when I am 24 years of age otherwise, I should have a guardian/partner intercede on my behalf for the release of the funds to me. Unfortunately, he died late last year and I am 21 years of age currently. This is why I have contacted you to serve as a guardian
to me and as my foreign partner for the transfer and investment of the fund overseas My uncles does not know about the fund because they had already taken my father's houses and other properties because I am a girl and they said I do not have rights for any property. They have requested to have my father's bank papers but I simply told them that I do not know where he kept them. The younger brother took the house in the village while the houses in the town were sold out they shared the proceed they got from the sale. Right now, I am with a friend of mine and do sincerely want to travel out of my country. This can only happen when
I have secured the release and transfer of the funds in the bank.

This why it is important that we have a plan on the type of lucrative business that we can
invest the funds on.

I had at various times had discussions with the director of international remittance unit of the bank where my father deposited the funds and I was assured that once, I have someone who would be willing to receive the funds on my behalf, they shall commence all proceedings to effect the release and transfer of the funds into the person's designated account. Now, that you have signified your interest to partner with me, it would only be very necessary if you contact the bank and request for the release and transfer of my inheritance fund into your
nominated account for the purpose of investment and to further have me come over to your
country to continue with my studies.

I shall be giving you the bank's contact details as soon as I hear back from you so that you will go ahead and contact the bank.

Your urgent response will be appreciated,

Talk to you the more.
Sincerely,
Mariam Abdullah

"...hypatitis had eaten deep into her blood stream."

The phrases these scammers come up with are amusing.

My Dear Transfer Of Fund

2008-05-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

My Dear Transfer Of Fund,

I am Dr.George Konan from Ivory Coast, I need your honest assistance to transfer Usd$4.5 Million Dollars from here. Please reply with your direct phone number if interested. I await your quick reply.

Dr.George Konan

- george konnan

"My Dear Transfer Of Fund?" LOL!

KINDLY CONTACT THE BELOW PERSON WHO IS IN POSSITION TO RELEASE YOUR ATM PAYMENT

2008-05-29T14:36:00.000-07:00

DEAR FRIEND,

WE GOT YOUR INFORMATION THROUGH MR.JAMES WILLIAMS ,AND WE HAVE ARRANGED YOUR
PAYMENT OF ($800,000.00) HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS THROUGH SWIFT
CARD PAYMENT CENTER DEPT HERE IN OUR BANK, THIS CARD CENTER WILL SEND YOU AN
ATM CARD WHICH YOU WILL USE TO WITHDRAW YOUR MONEY IN ANY ATM MACHINE IN ANY
PART OF THE WORLD,
BUT THE MAXIMUM IS ONE THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED UNITED STATES DOLLARS PER DAY.SO
IF YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE YOUR FUND IN THIS WAY,PLEASE LET ME KNOW BY CONTACTING
OCEANIC BANK ATM PAYMENT DEPARTMENT AND ALSO SEND THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION AS
LISTED BELOW.

1.FULL NAME
2.ADDRESS WERE YOU WANT THEM TO SEND THE ATM CARD
3.PHONE AND FAX NUMBER
4.YOUR AGE AND CURRENT OCCUPATION
5.ATTACH COPY OF YOUR IDENTIFICATION

HOWEVER,

REV DR.JOHN CHIKA.
ATM PAYMENT DEPARTMENT
OCEANIC BANK BENIN.
EMAIL: (oceanicbankes@*)

THE ATM CARD PAYMENT CENTER HAS BEEN MANDATED TO ISSUE OUT YOUR PAYMENT AND YOU
HAVE TO STOP ANY FURTHER COMMINUCATION WITH ANY OTHER PERSON(S) OR OFFICE(s) TO
AVOID ANY HITCHES IN RECEIVING YOUR PAYMENT.NOTE THAT BECAUSE OF IMPOSTORS, WE
HEREBY ISSUED YOU THE CODE OF CONDUCT, WHICH IS (ATM-0411) SO YOU HAVE TO
INDICATE THIS CODE WHEN CONTACTING THE ATM DEPT CENTER IN THIS OCEANIC BANK BY
USING IT AS YOUR SUBJECT.

REGARDS,

MR JAMES WILLIAMS
COTONOU-BENIN REPUBLIC.

DEAR FRIEND,

WE GOT YOUR INFORMATION THROUGH MR.JAMES WILLIAMS ,AND WE HAVE ARRANGED YOUR
PAYMENT OF ($800,000.00) HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS THROUGH SWIFT
CARD PAYMENT CENTER DEPT HERE IN OUR BANK, THIS CARD CENTER WILL SEND YOU AN
ATM CARD WHICH YOU WILL USE TO WITHDRAW YOUR MONEY IN ANY ATM MACHINE IN ANY
PART OF THE WORLD,
BUT THE MAXIMUM IS ONE THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED UNITED STATES DOLLARS PER DAY.SO
IF YOU LIKE TO RECEIVE YOUR FUND IN THIS WAY,PLEASE LET ME KNOW BY CONTACTING
OCEANIC BANK ATM PAYMENT DEPARTMENT AND ALSO SEND THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION AS
LISTED BELOW.

1.FULL NAME
2.ADDRESS WERE YOU WANT THEM TO SEND THE ATM CARD
3.PHONE AND FAX NUMBER
4.YOUR AGE AND CURRENT OCCUPATION
5.ATTACH COPY OF YOUR IDENTIFICATION

HOWEVER,

REV DR.JOHN CHIKA.
ATM PAYMENT DEPARTMENT
OCEANIC BANK BENIN.
EMAIL: (oceanicbankes@*)

THE ATM CARD PAYMENT CENTER HAS BEEN MANDATED TO ISSUE OUT YOUR PAYMENT AND YOU
HAVE TO STOP ANY FURTHER COMMINUCATION WITH ANY OTHER PERSON(S) OR OFFICE(s) TO
AVOID ANY HITCHES IN RECEIVING YOUR PAYMENT.NOTE THAT BECAUSE OF IMPOSTORS, WE
HEREBY ISSUED YOU THE CODE OF CONDUCT, WHICH IS (ATM-0411) SO YOU HAVE TO
INDICATE THIS CODE WHEN CONTACTING THE ATM DEPT CENTER IN THIS OCEANIC BANK BY
USING IT AS YOUR SUBJECT.

REGARDS,

MR JAMES WILLIAMS
COTONOU-BENIN REPUBLIC.

This is a simple appeal to greed, although I find the "Rev Dr." bit interesting. My guess is that he is trying to play on the trust many people have for members of the clergy.

One of the funniest malapropisms I've seen

2008-04-26T21:07:00.000-07:00

This is a great malapropism:

"I want to pole all of you"

My response:

Will you at least buy us dinner before you "pole" us?

Charlton Heston passes away

2008-04-05T23:55:00.000-07:00

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080406/ap_on_en_mo/obit_heston

Charlton Heston was and is one of my favorite actors. He was a fine actor and a fine man and he will be missed.

Excommunicated Mormon intellectuals: 10 years later

2008-03-27T09:19:00.000-07:00

Although, I do not agree with these folks when it comes to the value of Mormonism, I appreciate their thoughtfulness and think they are worth watching.

Lavina Anderson

Lavina Anderson seems like a neat lady. I saw her briefly at a Sunstone conference over ten years ago.

Mike Quinn

I feel badly for Mike Quinn. Apparently, he was offered a position at ASU but jackass Ira Fulton used his moneyed influence to prevent it.

The other videos are available from the same source. I also recommend the interview with Margaret Toscano; she is another neat, intelligent woman. I think her argument re: "heavenly mother" is sound within the context of Mormonism. (Of course, I reject the doctrine of "heavenly mother" and a corporeal God or Heavenly Father.)

Happy Πασχα!

2008-03-23T22:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Πασχα!

Arthur C. Clarke should have stuck with science fiction...

2008-03-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

Because his historical fiction sucks:

The famed science fiction writer, who once denigrated religion as "a necessary evil in the childhood of our particular species,"...

What a dunce.

(via Pharyngula)

Sarah Pratt and the Mormon Prophet

2008-03-21T15:50:00.000-07:00

Sarah Pratt was the wife of Mormon leader Orson Pratt. "Prophet" Smith made an amorous advance toward her while her husband was away but she rebuffed Smith and courageously exposed his lechery. Smith responded by calling her a whore.

May 21, 1886, I had a fresh interview with Mrs. Sarah M. Pratt, who had the kindness to give me the following testimony additional to the information given by her in our interviews in the spring of 1885. "I want you to have all my statements correct in your book," said the noble lady, "and put my name to them; I want the truth, the full truth, to be known, and bear the responsibility of it.

"...When Joseph had made his dastardly attempt on me, I went to Mrs. Harris to unbosom my grief to her. To my utter astonishment, she said, laughing heartily: "How foolish you are! I don't see anything so horrible in it. Why, I AM HIS MISTRESS SINCE FOUR YEARS!"
...

"Joseph Smith, the son of the prophet, and president of the re-organized Mormon church, paid me a visit, and I had a long talk with him. I saw that he was not inclined to believe the truth about his father, so I said to him: 'You pretend to have revelations from the Lord. Why don't you ask the Lord to tell you what kind of a man your father really was?' He answered: 'If my father had so many connections with women, where is the progeny?' I said to him: 'Your father had mostly intercourse with married women, and as to single ones, Dr. Bennett was always on hand, when anything happened.'

...

One day they came both, Joseph and Bennett, on horseback to my house. Bennett dismounted, Joseph remained outside. Bennett wanted me to return to him a book I had borrowed from him. It was a so-called doctor-book. I had a rapidly growing little family and wanted to inform myself about certain matters in regard to babies, etc., -- this explains my borrowing that book. While giving Bennett his book, I observed that he held something in the left sleeve of his coat. Bennett smiled and said: 'Oh, a little job for Joseph; one of his women is in trouble.' Saying this. he took the thing out of his left sleeve. It was a pretty long instrument of a kind I had never seen before. It was a pretty long instrument of a kind I had never seen before. It seemed to be of steel and was crooked at one end. I heard afterwards that the operation had been performed; that the woman was very sick, and that Joseph was very much afraid that she might die, but she recovered.
...

http://olivercowdery.com/smithhome/1886WWyl.htm

The creed of Arius

2008-01-19T13:02:00.000-08:00

The following is the creed Arius offered to Constantine at his request (you need to have installed Greek fonts to see the original Greek):

Πιστεύομεν εἰς ἕνα Θεόν,
We believe in one God,

πατέρα παντοκράτορα·
the Father Almighty;

Καὶ εἰς κύριον Ἰησοῦν Χριστόν, τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ,
And in the Lord Jesus Christ, his Son,

τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ πρὸ πάντων τῶν αἰώνων γεγεννημένον,
who was begotten of him before all ages,

θεὸν λόγον,
the Divine Logos,

δἰ οὗ τὰ πάντα ἐγένετο, τά τε ἐν τοῖς οὐρανοῖς καὶ τὰ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς,
through whom all things were made, both those in the heavens and those on the earth;

τὸν κατελθόντα καὶ σαρκωθέντα,
who came down and was made flesh;

καὶ παθόντα,
and suffered;

καὶ ἀναστάντα,
and rose again;

καὶ ἀνελθόντα εἰς τοὺς οὐρανούς,
and ascended to the heavens;

καὶ πάλιν ἐρχόμενον κρῖναι ζῶντας καὶ νεκρούς.
and shall come again to judge the quick and the dead.

Καὶ εἰς τὸ ἅγιον πνεῦμα.
And in the Holy Ghost;

καὶ εἰς σαρκὸς ἀνάστασίν,
and in the resurrection of the flesh;

καὶ εἰς ζωὴν τοῦ μέλλοντος αἰῶνος,
and in the life of the world to come;

καὶ εἰς βασιλείαν οὐρανῶν,
and in a kingdom of heaven;

καὶ εἰς μίαν καθολικὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ, τὴν ἀπὸ περάτων ἕως περάτων.
and in one Catholic Church of God which extends to the ends of the earth.

(Excerpted from Philip Schaff's Creeds of Christendom, vol. 2)

Kala Christougenna!

2007-12-25T11:52:00.000-08:00

Kala Christougenna!

Wagner's Parsifal Act I Prelude

2007-12-18T18:45:00.000-08:00

In two parts:

This is definitely one of my favorites.

In Honor of Peggy

2007-11-28T11:56:00.001-08:00

Abuse Report

1 .	Thread's URL
2 .	Comment
3 .	Your Name
4 .	E-mail

We greatly appreciate the time that you've taken to help us keep Aimoo community that everyone can enjoy." type="hidden">

Folk_of_the_Fringe→ General Discussion→In Honor of Peggy

Title: In Honor of Peggy.

Author

Comment

mommy1	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote Author
Status:offline Score: 0 topic: 1 From: Register: 04/11/2003 7:31 PM Time spent in forum: 12,795 Minutes	Nanna has posted that peggy has passed on. Words cannot express my feelings of sorrow and loss. She was such a special person. She made a huge difference in the lives of many people. She did not go out like a lamb. She lived to the fullest every minute that life granted her. May we all take take a moment to celebrate her life and give thanks that she shared a bit of it with us. -------------------------------------------------------------- Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all. God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them. Kahlil Gibran
11/21/2007 11:03 PM

Guest	Quick Quote \| Quote 1#
	RE:In Honor of Peggy I haven't been a regular poster here for a number of years, but I have looked in from time to time. I am shocked and saddened to hear of Peggy's passing. When I have dropped in I would generally look for posts from those I been familiar with--Judy, Trixie, Roger Loomis, Ed, Mahonri, Froggie, Dennis, Calculus Crusader, Joe, Private Eyes and many others from the early days of the Fringe. Some of these names I haven't seen for a very long time. But, undoubtedly I would almost always see a post or two from Peggy. I am envious of those who got to meet her in person, but I enjoyed her posts, and her views. I remember many a heated discussion on the Fringe, and while I might have expressed my dismay, disgust, or other indignation, Peggy was always able to keep a level head and open mind. I think at times I might have tossed the baby out with the bath water where Peggy gave the baby a cuddle (and probably found a way to recycle the bath water as well!). I don't know if this was Peggy was in real life, but those are my memories and impressions of her, and I think I'll keep those memories as I have them. Hamlet
11/26/2007 10:12 PM

Too	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 2#
Score:0 topic:1 From: Register: 01/23/2003 2:22 AM Time spent in forum: 9635.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy Thanks, Ann. I was going through some of Peggy's posts last night and revisited her link to the Doug Brewster gem: http://groups.google.com/group/soc.religion.mormon/msg/39516ab5a0dac89b?q=insubject:Telestial+insubject:Progression+author:Peggy+author:Rogers&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&rnum=1 -------------------------------------------------------------- She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. ~Jean-Paul Sartre
11/24/2007 10:50 PM

Guest	Quick Quote \| Quote 3#
	RE:In Honor of Peggy Here you go Pres M: http://forum.newordermormon.org/viewtopic.php?t=5626&start=24
11/24/2007 10:24 PM

Mahonri Moriancumr	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 4#
Score:0 topic:0 From: Register: 01/21/2003 6:30 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy Here is the link to the obit. http://www.legacy.com/saltlaketribune/Obituaries.asp?Page=Lifestory&PersonId=98529920
11/25/2007 1:21 AM

Estump	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 5#
Score:0 topic:0 From: ireland Register: 01/28/2003 8:36 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy Oh wow. I decided to check and see if the board was somewhat working and find this out. Does anyone have an address where we can send sympathy cards? I had no idea it had gotten so rough for Peggy, as she kept her spirits up all through her illness. Peggy's Family, Please accept our condolences. -------------------------------------------------------------- Hey I decided I am going to be from Ireland, since being from the USA isn't an option. This ROCKS! Where will you all pretend to be from?
11/24/2007 9:49 AM

mommy1	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 6#
Score:0 topic:1 From: Register: 04/11/2003 7:31 PM Time spent in forum: 12795.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy erin, i was afraid you might have missed this but, with zarahemla, wild women and the temp fringe down - i did not know how to contact you. you are right about peggy - she had more courage than a lion. -------------------------------------------------------------- Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all. God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them. Kahlil Gibran
11/24/2007 12:43 PM

Joe2	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 7#
Score: topic: From: Register: 01/21/2003 8:10 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy Yes, the eggs! I may try to get a picture posted of mine. I'm glad I got to meet Peggy in SLC, too. I don't think the Rodizio Grill was her preferred restaurant to have dinner at (she would have liked a quieter place where people could talk easier), but I remember she had a good time. Look at that smile on her face! Later in the evening, I looked down the table and saw her keeping time with the music. It was a very nice night... Judy, some disapproving SLCer, and Peggy. The ladies were watching me wearing Karen's shades while drinking a Budweiser in a bottle. Joe
11/23/2007 11:13 AM

Joe2

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Reply To Zenobia

Just a few minutes later I had an intense thrill of happiness fill me from the toes up. Fleeting it was, but memorable. I'll consider that a "Hello, I'm more than fine" from Peggy, and let that live in my heart.

Peggy abides.

Well said! And I agree with your consideration....

-----------

Nanna: Yes, the ladies are all very lovely, as are you....

Joe

11/26/2007 12:08 AM

mommy1	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 9#
Score:0 topic:1 From: Register: 04/11/2003 7:31 PM Time spent in forum: 12795.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy its okay to cry m. it is also okay to be angry. you would fit right in with the rest of us. i have lost family ( my dad and nephew ) and friends to that devil cancer. it never gets easy. hopefully some progress will be made with the new breakthough in stem cell research. in the meantime , i am very greatfull for the services provided by hospice. in humility , i serve many people with cancer in my work. there has been one lady lately who has tested my soul.she has cancer of the face and is missing most of her nose and part of her cheek. i think of peggy and the patch she wore over her eye. this ladies cancer is too wide spread to hide. but, she has the warmest smile and when i meet her eyes - there is a sparkle. like peggy, she has courage and heart. she has taught me patience as it was hard to look at her face the first few times we met. she ignored my awkwardness. now i can look her straight in the face and smile because - i see her inner self. i can do this because of the courage and sensitivity peggy taught us. this lady is not her disease. she is just a wonderfull person who happens to be sick. many of peggys lessons will stay with me a lifetime. she made me a better person. -------------------------------------------------------------- Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all. God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them. Kahlil Gibran
11/24/2007 7:22 PM

Guest	Quick Quote \| Quote 10#
	RE:In Honor of Peggy What beautiful memorials. I was just talking to my husband about Peggy. She was such a great example to me about how to adjust to differences w/ in a marriage...how to take care of being a diabetic. Those are just two small things...she truly was a great person. E.Stump
11/25/2007 8:21 AM

Dennis	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 11#
Score:0 topic:1 From: Register: 02/27/2002 5:01 AM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy I was so focused on trying to fix the board that I missed this thread until Robert called and told me what had happened. What a tragic loss - my condolences to her family and all her friends, which I know includes many here. Dennis
11/24/2007 2:27 PM

Guest	Quick Quote \| Quote 12#
	RE:In Honor of Peggy I, too will miss Peggy. She always had a great book to recommend and a soft word to share, when I felt I was being bombarded by loud harsh words. Rest in Peace. I am saddened for her, and for her family. My neighbor died on Thanksgiving from that same damn disease, and like Peggy had two daughters. They are 21 and 19. The things they will miss sharing with her, and the things she will miss with them--holidays, weddings, babies, all the things a mother and daughter share, they will miss. I can't help putting myself in the place of these two wonderful women and grieving for what is lost. Thanks to all of you for the good times we have shared thru this little screen. . .and thanks especially to Joe for alerting me to this thread. mahona
11/26/2007 1:31 PM

MiguelG	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 13#
Score: topic: From: Register: 05/08/2002 6:37 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy Oh my...this is sad to read. One of the most beautiful and genuine persons I've ever met, always positive even in the face of adversity. Peggy always found a way to connect with everyone around her. May her family find peace knowing that she is truly a magnificent lady. -------------------------------------------------------------- "If at first try you don"t succeed, sky-jumping isn"t for you"
11/24/2007 3:07 PM

Nanna P	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 14#
Score:0 topic:0 From: Register: 09/20/2002 11:15 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy Keith, Aspen and Autumn Rogers 3142 S. 2750th E Salt Lake City, UT 84109 Keith said there should be an obituary in the SLTribune, but I haven't seen it yet. Maybe tomorrow. -------------------------------------------------------------- Our objective is liberation from male dominance, not the opportunity to mimic the patriarchal model of oppression. - Twisty
11/24/2007 10:26 AM

Guest	Quick Quote \| Quote 15#
	RE:In Honor of Peggy it is nice to see the smile on judys face also - i think peggy would want us all to find our smiles again. she made is seem so effortless.
11/23/2007 8:16 PM

Zenobia	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 16#
Score:0 topic:0 From: Register: 01/25/2003 3:25 AM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy Didn't we all know it would happen this way? A quiet announcement by one of us that would cut into us no matter how well we knew it was ahead? Friday night I was watching the DVD of the third season of House, the episode where Wilson explains that once a person gives his family and friends the cancer news that it is always there in every look and conversation. I thought of Peggy then and she continued to come into my thoughts. She had already made the trip and I didn't know it. Joe told me yesterday by e-mail in reply to an unrelated question. He wrote of sad news and left a link. I knew what it had to be before I clicked it, and still the tears instantly welled at Peggy's name. Just a few minutes later I had an intense thrill of happiness fill me from the toes up. Fleeting it was, but memorable. I'll consider that a "Hello, I'm more than fine" from Peggy, and let that live in my heart. I've been reading your words here and where the link took me, and crying along with you. And reminding myself to let the joy of having known her take its rightful place ahead of the sorrow. Peggy made us all better people. I've read her words over the pulpit (her Rameumptom poem), have looked with admiration at her steadfast way, and have marveled at her never flaunted intelligence. Peggy was (is) an artist in all the ways beauty is made--in writing, the visual arts (her painted eggs, her girls' costumes, her fractals . . . ) and in her never overbearing love. Peggys abides. -------------------------------------------------------------- What did the Zen Buddhist say to the hot dog vendor? "Make me one with everything."
11/25/2007 5:04 PM

Guest	Quick Quote \| Quote 17#
	RE:In Honor of Peggy Wow, I'll miss her. Peggy always had kind words for me and others. Peace, Rolland
11/26/2007 9:05 PM

Guest	Quick Quote \| Quote 18#
	RE:In Honor of Peggy I just found out. I will miss Peggy and I am pleased to have an egg she made for me as a memento of her art and friendship. I had given up hope of reading and posting here so I am glad I can do it now, even though it is in sadness.
11/23/2007 10:12 AM

Nanna P	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 19#
Score:0 topic:0 From: Register: 09/20/2002 11:15 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy Gosh, Joe, I keep staring at that picture. Look at the three of them! Aren't they beautiful? -------------------------------------------------------------- Our objective is liberation from male dominance, not the opportunity to mimic the patriarchal model of oppression. - Twisty
11/23/2007 11:18 PM

Joe2	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 20#
Score: topic: From: Register: 01/21/2003 8:10 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy "May we all take take a moment to celebrate her life and give thanks that she shared a bit of it with us." My heart sank when I heard the news. It's a very sad day. Humankind lost one of its precious jewels. My sincere condolences go out to Peggy's family and loved ones. Peggy and I didn't start out as the best of friends but we became close as the years progressed. In the beginning, we had our little battles about posting policy, and my one track mind about what I liked to contribute to the forum. But Peggy was just challenging me to be a better person and writer. She didn't like that I used to just copy and paste something without leaving any of my own comments. She cared about MY thoughts, not those of some distant third person! Thank you, Peggy! You helped me become the person I am today. You challenged me to do better and I believe that you succeeded to some extent. I will always be grateful for that. You taught the rest of us valuable lessons as well. You will be missed! May you find abundant peace and comfort.... Joe
11/22/2007 12:30 AM

Mahonri Moriancumr	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 21#
Score:0 topic:0 From: Register: 01/21/2003 6:30 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy Is it OK for me to cry? I hate CANCER! Damn it! I need to write a letter to the family... Peggy ALWAYS, ALWAYS made me feel welcome here. She chided me when I needed it but it was always with love and kindness. I'll be looking for the obit and the online guest book. She looks like my last receptionist... they could be twins! Sad news. I'm really tired of all of the suffering of folks with cancer... someday we'll know why. M
11/24/2007 6:47 PM

Nanna P	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 22#
Score:0 topic:0 From: Register: 09/20/2002 11:15 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy Y'all should go over to NOM (http://forum.newordermormon.org) and read the tribute by our friend Craig Olson. It's superb. I've printed out a copy to send to Keith. -------------------------------------------------------------- Our objective is liberation from male dominance, not the opportunity to mimic the patriarchal model of oppression. - Twisty
11/24/2007 8:53 PM

Mahonri Moriancumr	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 23#
Score:0 topic:0 From: Register: 01/21/2003 6:30 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy What a beautiful tribute. I will often remember her telling about working in the pioneer cabins at the "This is the Place" monument. She understands now more than she could ever have imagined before the importance of the time we spend during this earthly probation. I only wish I could have met her in person to see if she would still have called me "cute and funny". M
11/25/2007 1:16 AM

Fred Newman	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 24#
Score:0 topic:0 From: Register: 01/21/2003 9:08 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy I'm so sorry to hear of Peggy's death. Just catching up on things at work after being off sick for a week and checking to see if the Fringe was working again. While reading this post I was listening to a CD of Classical Christmas music and "Angels from the Realms of Glory" played on the organ by Virgil Fox was sounding in the background. Very appropriate. Surely Peggy too is now doing service in the realms of glory.... Fred
11/24/2007 2:50 PM

Too	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 25#
Score:0 topic:1 From: Register: 01/23/2003 2:22 AM Time spent in forum: 9635.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy "And Christ still sends me roses. We try to be formed and held and kept by him, but instead he offers us freedom. And now when I try to know his will, his kindness floods me, his great love overwhelms me, and I hear him whisper, Surprise me." We have been wrapped in your thoughts and so much better to have known ya, girl. God bless you, woman! Love, Deb xoxoxox -------------------------------------------------------------- She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. ~Jean-Paul Sartre
11/22/2007 12:03 AM

Judy1	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 26#
Score: topic: From: Register: 01/21/2003 4:40 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy I am so heart broken from receiving an email on Wednesday informing me of Peggy's death. After waking up Thanksgiving morning I hoped it was a terrible dream....but sadly that was not reality. I'm so glad that I was able to go to one of the Fringe gatherings and meet Peggy IRL and will always treasure those memories, the memories from here and the decorative egg that she gave to all of us from out of state. I think I joined the Fringe in Oct. 1999, so that would be 8 years that I have known Peggy, and she was awesome! She will be extremely missed. My deepest sympathies are sent to her family. Goodbye my friend.... Judy -------------------------------------------------------------- Party each day like it's your last!
11/23/2007 1:00 AM

Froggie	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 27#
Score: topic: From: Register: 03/01/2002 5:34 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy I'm sure I was disapproving of your drinking that nasty, horrible, beer Joe. ;) I have no doubt you are resting in Peace, Peggy. Everything about you was peaceful and so well-reasoned and wise. You will be missed. Big green hugs, Froggie -------------------------------------------------------------- "In the beginning the Universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move." Douglas Adams
11/23/2007 5:51 PM

Mahonri Moriancumr	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 28#
Score:0 topic:0 From: Register: 01/21/2003 6:30 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy I spent about 20 minutes over there and couldn't find it. Could you copy and paste here?
11/24/2007 9:44 PM

Joe2	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 29#
Score: topic: From: Register: 01/21/2003 8:10 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy Listen to samples Joe
11/24/2007 3:31 PM

Guest	Quick Quote \| Quote 30#
	RE:In Honor of Peggy you are right zenobia. we did all know the day was getting closer. everytime peggy went without posting for a few days, i worried. the reality of the day coming for each of us gets our attention when we lose one. thanks for the image of that feeling of happiness. it is a comfort to hang onto that. mommy1
11/25/2007 6:17 PM

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Title: In Honor of Peggy.

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mommy1	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote Author
Status:offline Score: 0 topic: 1 From: Register: 04/11/2003 7:31 PM Time spent in forum: 12,795 Minutes	Nanna has posted that peggy has passed on. Words cannot express my feelings of sorrow and loss. She was such a special person. She made a huge difference in the lives of many people. She did not go out like a lamb. She lived to the fullest every minute that life granted her. May we all take take a moment to celebrate her life and give thanks that she shared a bit of it with us. -------------------------------------------------------------- Your daily life is your temple and your religion. When you enter into it take with you your all. God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them. Kahlil Gibran
11/21/2007 11:03 PM

JuliaS	Send Message \| Quick Quote \| Quote 31#
Score: topic: From: usa Register: 01/21/2003 8:34 PM Time spent in forum: 0.00 Minutes	RE:In Honor of Peggy Dearest Peggy, May you freely soar like the Mormon butterfly you loved. May you know the full extent of the love we have for you. May you have a joyous reunion with your friends, Durant, Blase, and Patti and Jordan. Give them all a kiss for us. Our prayers go to the Rogers family. God be with you till we meet again; Ended when for you earth’s story, Israel’s chariot sweep to glory; God be with you till we meet again. Love, Julia -------------------------------------------------------------- The body of a starving horse cannot forget the size to which it was born. ~Jane Hirshfield Haiku a Day
11/22/2007 8:55 AM

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Pneumatology

2007-11-18T23:31:00.000-08:00

As I see it, God (the Father) is incorporeal and the Holy Spirit is an aspect of God (the Father), not a separate person.

Psalm 51:11

Do not cast me away from your presence, and do not take your holy spirit from me.

John 4:24

24‘...God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.’

Luke 24:39

39 “...Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.”

Fear of Girls 2

2007-11-14T18:16:00.000-08:00

This is a worthy sequel to the first episode.

"I am a portal into a realm of epic Gygaxian fantasy..."

"The power of Orsis compels you!"

"It is my spirit that speaks to you now!"

"Your hands explode!"

LOL!

Joe Smith uses fictional Nephi to aggrandize himself

2007-11-11T18:32:00.000-08:00

2 Nephi 3

6 For Joseph truly testified, saying: A seer shall the Lord my God raise up, who shall be a choice seer unto the fruit of my loins. 7 Yea, Joseph truly said: Thus saith the Lord unto me: A choice seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and he shall be esteemed highly among the fruit of thy loins. And unto him will I give commandment that he shall do a work for the fruit of thy loins, his brethren, which shall be of great worth unto them, even to the bringing of them to the knowledge of the covenants which I have made with thy fathers.

8 And I will give unto him a commandment that he shall do none other work, save the work which I shall command him. And I will make him great in mine eyes; for he shall do my work.

9 And he shall be great like unto Moses, whom I have said I would raise up unto you, to deliver my people, O house of Israel.

10 And Moses will I raise up, to deliver thy people out of the land of Egypt.

11 But a seer will I raise up out of the fruit of thy loins; and unto him will I give power to bring forth my word unto the seed of thy loins—and not to the bringing forth my word only, saith the Lord, but to the convincing them of my word, which shall have already gone forth among them.

12 Wherefore, the fruit of thy loins shall write; and the fruit of the loins of Judah shall write; and that which shall be written by the fruit of thy loins, and also that which shall be written by the fruit of the loins of Judah, shall grow together, unto the confounding of false doctrines and laying down of contentions, and establishing peace among the fruit of thy loins, and bringing them to the knowledge of their fathers in the latter days, and also to the knowledge of my covenants, saith the Lord.

13 And out of weakness he shall be made strong, in that day when my work shall commence among all my people, unto the restoring thee, O house of Israel, saith the Lord.

14 And thus prophesied Joseph, saying: Behold, that seer will the Lord bless; and they that seek to destroy him shall be confounded; for this promise, which I have obtained of the Lord, of the fruit of my loins, shall be fulfilled. Behold, I am sure of the fulfilling of this promise;

15 And his name shall be called after me; and it shall be after the name of his father. And he shall be like unto me; for the thing, which the Lord shall bring forth by his hand, by the power of the Lord shall bring my people unto salvation.

16 Yea, thus prophesied Joseph: I am sure of this thing, even as I am sure of the promise of Moses; for the Lord hath said unto me, I will preserve thy seed forever.

17 And the Lord hath said: I will raise up a Moses; and I will give power unto him in a rod; and I will give judgment unto him in writing. Yet I will not loose his tongue, that he shall speak much, for I will not make him mighty in speaking. But I will write unto him my law, by the finger of mine own hand; and I will make a spokesman for him.

18 And the Lord said unto me also: I will raise up unto the fruit of thy loins; and I will make for him a spokesman. And I, behold, I will give unto him that he shall write the writing of the fruit of thy loins, unto the fruit of thy loins; and the spokesman of thy loins shall declare it.

19 And the words which he shall write shall be the words which are expedient in my wisdom should go forth unto the fruit of thy loins. And it shall be as if the fruit of thy loins had cried unto them from the dust; for I know their faith.

20 And they shall cry from the dust; yea, even repentance unto their brethren, even after many generations have gone by them. And it shall come to pass that their cry shall go, even according to the simpleness of their words.

21 Because of their faith their words shall proceed forth out of my mouth unto their brethren who are the fruit of thy loins; and the weakness of their words will I make strong in their faith, unto the remembering of my covenant which I made unto thy fathers.

22 And now, behold, my son Joseph, after this manner did my father of old prophesy.

23 Wherefore, because of this covenant thou art blessed; for thy seed shall not be destroyed, for they shall hearken unto the words of the book.

24 And there shall rise up one mighty among them, who shall do much good, both in word and in deed, being an instrument in the hands of God, with exceeding faith, to work mighty wonders, and do that thing which is great in the sight of God, unto the bringing to pass much restoration unto the house of Israel, and unto the seed of thy brethren.

Modesty was not one of Joe Smith's virtues.

Fear of Girls

2007-11-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

This is a funny clip poking fun at roleplayers. I think my favorite part is the dueling prayers at the dinner table.

Incidentally, the guy who plays Doug Douglason, Tom Lommel, is a moderator at Monte Cook's forums.

John Denver--Country Roads

2007-11-03T09:52:00.000-07:00

At least one of my family members thinks I'm something of a square for liking John Denver, but this is one of my favorite songs.

A simple advanced calculus/real analysis exercise

2007-11-02T18:08:00.000-07:00

Okay, the following is nothing special (upper division undergrad stuff) but it is instructive:

The supremum of a nonempty set is an upper bound (not necessarily contained in the set) such that every element of the set is less than or equal to it and among all upper bounds of the set it is the least. For example, the supremum of the interval [1,5) is 5.

Now, say a set A is contained in a set B (i.e., A is a subset of B). That means if a is an element of A then a is an element of B. By definition, a is less than or equal to the supremum of A. Also, since a is an element of B, then a is less than or equal to the supremum of B. That means the supremum of B is an upper bound for the set A. (The element a is arbitrary.) However, the supremum of A is the least among the ubber bounds, so it must be that the supremum of A is less than or equal to the supremum of B.

Quod erat demonstrandum

Incidentally, another, more descriptive, name for supremum is least upper bound.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF VERY STUPID MONSTERS

2007-10-11T17:51:00.000-07:00

This post by Jared Von Hindman about stupid Dungeons & Dragons monsters is a classic.

Excerpt:

Why someone wanted to have their name attached to a "Asswere" (and not even call it a "Were-Donkey") is beyond me. In fact, I don't want to look at anything even remotely resembling an animal for a while.

This post, by another guy, is also funny.

(via ENWorld)

The Mormon Prophet And The Greek Psalter

2007-08-23T01:59:00.000-07:00

We lately heard a story, which while it may make us mourn over the depravity of Human Nature, serves to show, among many similar facts, the low artifices and cunning tricks, to which the Mormon Prophet will resort, in order to impose upon the gullibility of his followers. The story is in this wise; and can be substantiated by respectable witnesses.

Some time since, Professor Caswell, late of Kemper College, near St. Louis, an Episcopal Clergyman of reputation, being about to leave this country for England, paid a visit to Smith and the Saints, in order that he might be better able to represent the imposture to the British people. It so happened that the Professor had in his possession a Greek Psalter, of great age -- one that had been in the family for several hundred years. This book, as a relic of antiquity, was a curiosity to any one -- but to some of the Saints, who happened to see it, it was a marvel and wonder. Supposing its origin to have been as ancient, at least, as the Prophet's Egyptian Mummy, and not knowing but the Professor had dug it from the bowels of the same sacred hill in Western New York whence sprung the holy Book of Mormon, they importuned him to allow 'brother Joseph' an opportunity of translating it!

The Professor reluctantly assented to the proposal; and accompanied by a number of the anxious brethren, repaired to the residence of the Prophet. The remarkable book was handed him. Joe took it -- examined its old and worn leaves -- and turned over its musty pages. Expectation was now upon tip-toe. The brethren looked at one another -- at the book -- then at the Prophet. It was a most interesting scene!

Presently the spirit of prophecy began to arise within him; and he opened his mouth and spoke. That wonderful power, which enables him to see as far through a mill-stone as could Moses or Elijah of old, had already in the twinkling of an eye, made those rough and uncouth characters as plain to him as the nose on the face of the Professor. 'This Book,' said he, 'I pronounce to be a Dictionary of Ancient Egyptian Hieroglyphics!'

The brethren present were greatly astonished at this exhibition of their Prophet's power of revealing hidden things. After their exaltation had somewhat subsided, the Professor coolly told them that their Prophet was a base impostor! -- and that the book before them was but a plain Greek Psalter! -- Joe 'stepped out.'

Such is the manner in which this arrant knave imposes upon his followers! and such is the manner in which his knavery is sometimes exposed! Yet, strange that people continue to believe him!

Professor Caswell, since his sojourn in England, has published a work entitled 'Three Days at Nauvoo,' in which this rich scene is represented in an engraving.

(source)

This is classic Joseph Smith. I wish I could have been there to see the look on Smith's face!

Today's pithy aphorism

2007-07-30T18:09:00.000-07:00

A Finnish proverb, in honor of my great-great-grandmother Hilma Ollikainen of Turku:

parempi karvas totuus kuin makea valhe

Slavonic Josephus

2007-07-30T17:48:00.000-07:00

The Slavonic version of Josephus.

Century X or XI.

All English translations of the original Slavonic (or Old Russian) are formatted slightly from H. and K. Leeming, Josephus' Jewish War and its Slavonic Version. They apparently use the Thackeray translation. My changes are limited to punctuation and the like. All brackets [] are part of the translation.

Slavonic version of Josephus, Jewish War 2.9.3b-f §174 (English translation only; this passage is sometimes called the Testimonium Slavianum):

At that time there appeared a man, if it is proper to call him a man, whose nature and form were human but whose appearance was more than human and whose deeds were divine. And he worked wonderful and powerful miracles. Therefore it is impossible for me to call him a man. Then again, in view of his common nature, I shall not call him an angel [either].

And everything, whatever he did, he did by some unseen power, by word and command. Some said of him: Our first lawgiver has risen from the dead and has been demonstrating many cures and skills. Others thought that he was sent from God. But he was in much opposed to the law and did not observe the sabbath according to the ancestral customs, yet did nothing dirty, unclean, nor with use of hands, but worked everything by word only. And many of the people followed and listened to his teachings.

And many souls were aroused, thinking that by him the Jewish tribes would free themselves from the hands of the Romans. But it was his habit rather to remain in front of the city on the Mount of Olives; and there he also [freely] gave cures to people. And there 150 servants and a multitude of people joined him, seeing his power, how by word he did everything he wished. They bade him enter the city, kill the Roman troops and Pilate, and reign over these. But he did not care [to do so].

Later, when news of this came to the Jewish leaders, they assembled to the chief priests and said: We are powerless and [too] weak to oppose the Romans, like a slackened bow. Let us go and inform Pilate what we have heard, and we shall be free of anxiety; if at some time he shall hear [of this] from others, we shall be deprived of property, ourselves slaughtered, and [our] children exiled. And they went and informed Pilate. And he sent and killed many of the people and brought in that wonderworker. After inquiring about him Pilate understood that he was a doer of good, not of evil, [and] not a rebel, nor one desirous of kingship; and he released him. For he had cured his wife, who was dying.

And he went to the usual places and performed his usual deeds. And again, as more people gathered around him, he became renowned for his works more than all [others]. Again the lawyers were struck with envy against him. And they gave 30 talents to Pilate that they should kill him. And he took [it] and gave them liberty to carry out their wishes themselves. And they sought out a suitable time to kill him. For they had given Pilate 30 talents earlier, that he should give Jesus up to them. And they crucified him against the ancestral law, and they greatly reviled him.

This passage reflects the beginning and middle portions of the Testimonium; the next passage reflects the end. Slavonic version of Josephus, Jewish War 2.11.6c-d §220 (English translation only):

At this time there appeared many servants of the previously described wonderworker, telling the people about their master, that he was alive although he had died. And [they said]: He will free you from servitude. And many of the people listened to them and paid attention to their instructions, not because of their renown. For the apostles were from the lowly [folk]; for some were sailmakers, some were sandalmakers, some were manual workers, others fishermen. But they performed wonderful signs, in truth what[ever] they willed.

But the grateful governors, seeing the subversion of the people, planned with the scribes to take them and destroy them, lest a small [thing] be not small when in its fullness it becomes great. But they were ashamed and terrified by the signs and said: Such great wonders do not happen by magic; if they do not come by the forethought of God, they will be soon unmasked. And they gave them authority to go about freely. Later, being pestered by them, they released them, some to Caesar, some to Antioch, others in distant lands, for an investigation of the matter.

Slavonic version of Josephus, Jewish War 5.5.2 §195 (English translation only):

And above these inscriptions a fourth inscription hung, in those letters,* declaring Jesus, [a] king who had not reigned, crucified by [the] Jews, because he foretold the destruction of the city and the devastation of the temple.

* Id est, Greek, Roman, and Jewish letters.

Slavonic version of Josephus, Jewish War 5.5.4a-d §214 (English translation only):

Until this generation this veil was intact, for the people were pious. But now it was pitiful to look at it, for it had been suddenly rent from top to bottom when [the] benefactor, man and by his actions not man, was for reward handed over to be killed.

And they tell of many other signs that happened then; they said that after his killing and burial he was not found in the tomb. For some claimed he had risen, but others that he was stolen away by his friends.

I do not know who speaks more correctly. For a dead man cannot rise by himself unless aided by the prayer of another righteous man. Except he be an angel or one of the heavenly powers, or God himself appear as man and do what he wants, and go among people, and fall and lie and rise as is his will.

And others said that it could not be possible to steal him away; for they posted guards around his tomb, one thousand Romans and one thousand Jews. Such is what is said about this veil and as to the reason for it being torn.

Slavonic version of Josephus, Jewish War 6.5.3 §312-313 (English translation only):

But they were impelled to [make] war by an ambiguous prediction found in the sacred books, saying that in those times someone from the Judean land would be reigning over the whole world. For this there are various explanations.

For some thought it [meant] Herod, others the crucified miracle-worker Jesus, others Vespasian.

(source)

I do not think Slavonic Josephus is an accurate representation of what Josephus wrote (listen to my debate with Bob Price if you want to know what the original probably contained) but I think it makes for fine literature quite apart from its overall lack of accuracy.

The Bible vs. The Book of Mormon

2007-07-29T12:08:00.000-07:00

I think this video by Living Hope Ministries is well done and I definitely recommend it.

Debate podcast

2007-07-11T17:47:00.000-07:00

The podcast of my debate with Bob Price is finally available here.

The Wicker Man

2007-07-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

I saw the original Wicker Man movie (1973) last night and it was great. Edward Woodward's performance as Sergeant Howie was excellent; I definitely identified with the character.

My debate with Bob Price re: historicity of Jesus

2007-06-29T19:51:00.000-07:00

I debated Bob Price re: the historicity of Jesus on Reginald Finley's debate hour. It should be available as a podcast soon.

The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch

2007-06-17T15:22:00.000-07:00

The best scene from the movie!

I think my great-grandparents were from Piedmont

2007-06-02T02:10:00.000-07:00

After talking to my Italian friend Livio and doing some investigative googling, I think my great-grandparents were from Piedmont. (Which was one of my previous guesses along with Lombardy.)

I think I will visit the Italian cemetery where they are buried to pay my respects this summer.

Snow Patrol - Chasing Cars

2007-06-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

Noah's Ark -- The Untold Story

2007-05-28T05:15:00.000-07:00

ROFL

(via Steve Story)

Today's deep thought by Jack Handy

2007-05-19T22:04:00.000-07:00

Instead of trying to build newer and bigger weapons of destruction, we should be thinking about getting more use out of the ones we already have.

Views of Hell

2007-05-19T19:06:00.000-07:00

[This post is indebted to an article by C. A. Patrides, published in Harvard Theological Review in 1964.*]

There are two punishments associated with hell, poena damni, pain of loss, and poena sensus, pain of sense. The latter is the one most people associate with hell, i.e., torment in a lake of fire, but the former also has an ancient pedigree.

Despite my love of Dante, I will be surveying thoughts on poena damni, since I do not conceive of hell as a "literal" lake of fire. Although, before I begin, I quote Bishop Thomas Bilson, who brought a smile to my face with his admonition that:

They that go thither shall find it [i.e., hell] no metaphor.

Origen wrote:

...it seems to be indicated that every sinner kindles for himself the flame of his own fire...Of this fire the fuel and food are our sins, which are called by the Apostle Paul "wood, and hay, and stubble."

...when the soul shall be found to be beyond the order, and connection, and harmony in which it was created by God for the purposes of good and useful action and observation, and not to harmonize with itself in the connection of its rational movements, it must be deemed to bear the chastisement and torture of its own dissension, and to feel the punishments of its own disordered condition.

Robert Bolton, a Puritan, described poena damni as follows:

I. The Pain of loss. Privation of GOD’S glorious presence, and eternal separation from those everlasting joys, felicities and bliss above, is the more horrible part of hell, as Divines affirm. There are two parts (say they) of hellish torments; I. Pain of loss; and 2. Pain of sense: but a sensible and serious contemplation of that inestimable and unrecoverable loss, doth incomparably more afflict an understanding soul indeed, than all those punishments, tortures, and extremest sufferings of sense.
It is the constant and concurrent judgment of the ancient Fathers, that the torments and miseries of many hells, come far short, are nothing, to the kingdom of heaven, and unhappy banishment from the beatific vision of the most sovereign, only, and chiefest Good...The far greatest, and (indeed) unconceivable grief would be, to be severed for ever from the highest and supreme Good…

John Donne, a priest and poet, wrote:

when all is done, the hell of hells, the torment of torments, is the everlasting absence of God, and the everlasting impossibility of returning to his presence; Horrendum est, says the Apostle, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God...but to fall out of the hands of the living God, is a horror beyond our expression, beyond our imagination...What Tophet is not Paradise, what Brimstone is not Amber, what mashing is not a comfort, what gnawing of the worm is not a tickling, what torment is not a marriage bed to this damnation, to be secluded eternally, eternally, eternally from the sight of God?

Richard Sibbes, another Puritan, wrote:

when God the Fountain of all good shall hide his face altogether
from the creature, that is Hell: The place where God shines not
outwardly with comforts nor inwardly, nor there shall be no hope of
neither, but a place of horror and despair, that is hell, as the hell of this life is when God shines not on our souls.

Ralph Cudworth, one of the Cambridge Platonists, wrote:

We have dreadful apprehensions, of the Flames of Hell without us; we tremble and are afraid, when we hear of Fire and Brimstone, whilst in the mean time, we securely nourish within our own hearts,
a true and living Hell,

---Et caeco carpimur igni:

the dark fire of our Lusts, consumeth our bowels within, and miserably scorcheth our souls, and we are not troubled at it. We do not perceive, how Hell steals upon us, whilest we live here. And as for Heaven, we only gaze abroad, expecting that it should come in to us from without, but never look for the beginning of it to arise within, in our own hearts.**

The preceding excerpts describe the sort of hell I envision, i.e., privation of God's presence and everlasting despair. I guess you can say I occupy the middle ground between "atavistic" literalists and namby-pamby liberals. (Although, I identify more with the former than the latter.)

*All the quotations, with the exception of Origen, are taken from Patrides article.

**Although I agree with this statement, I also agree with Alexander Ross, who wrote:

Though it be true, that where God’s presence is, there is Heaven; yet we must not therefore think, that there is not a peculiar ubi of bliss and happiness beyond the tenth Sphere, wherein God doth more manifestly shew his glory and presence, than anywhere else.

Al Sharpton and Mormonism

2007-05-11T15:21:00.000-07:00

I do not care for Al Sharpton, and I do not think it is fair to say Mormons do not believe in God. However, it is entirely fair to say that they espouse a false conception of God. The correct conception of God entails the following:

God has no material parts.
God is not distinct from his essential attributes.
God's essential attributes are not distinct from one another.
God is not distinct from His existence.

(The list is not exhaustive.)

The Mormon conception of God fails on these points.

Cameron-Comfort-Rational [sic] Responders debate

2007-05-08T22:13:00.000-07:00

Comfort and Cameron mean well but they fared poorly, as I expected. However, the Rational [sic] Responders were also inept. They advanced several false claims, such as conservation of mass-energy being the 3rd law of thermodynamics (it is related to the 1st law) and that it implies matter is eternal; quite to the contrary, it is likely that at the big bang the gravitational field and its fluctuations introduced more energy into the system (ex nihilo).

I would have mopped the floor with the Rational [sic] Responders, of course. :)

(via Peezee)

More Cicero

2007-05-05T16:44:00.000-07:00

Early Christians rightly judged Cicero a righteous pagan. The following excerpt is from his De natura deorum (translation by Francis Brooks):

V.

Now Cleanthes, who belongs to our own school, said that [idea] of [God] had been formed in men’s minds owing to four causes...As the fourth and most important cause of all he names the uniformity of motion, the revolutions of the heavens, the grouping of the sun, and moon, and all the stars, their serviceableness, beauty, and order, the mere appearance of which things would be a sufficient indication that they were not the result of chance. Just as a man going into a house, or gymnasium, or market-place, would find it impossible, when he saw the plan, and scale, and arrangement of everything, to suppose that these things came into being uncaused, but would understand that there was some one who superintended and was obeyed, so in the case of such vast movements and alternations, in the orderly succession of phenomena so numerous and so mighty, in which the measureless and infinite extent of past time has never deceived expectation, it is much more inevitable that he should conclude that such great operations of nature are directed by some intelligence.
VI.

Chrysippus, again, speaks in a way which, though his own mind is a very keen one, he seems to have learnt direct from nature, rather than to have discovered himself. “For if,” he says, “there is something in nature which the mind, the reason, the strength, and the power of man would be unable to produce, surely that which does produce it is higher than man; now the heavenly bodies, and all those phenomena which observe an everlasting order, cannot be created by man; consequently that by which they are created is higher than man. And what could you say this was rather than God? For if there [is] no [God], there can be nothing higher in nature than man, since he alone possesses reason, and nothing can surpass reason in excellence. But that there should be a man who thinks that in the whole universe there is nothing higher than himself shows senseless arrogance. There is, then, something higher, and therefore there is assuredly a God.” Is it the fact that if you saw a large and beautiful house, you could not be persuaded, even if you did not see the master, that it had been built for the sake of mice and weasels, and would you not present the appearance of downright imbecility if you supposed that all this adornment of the world, all this diversity and beauty of the heavenly bodies, all this might and amplitude of sea and land, were a dwelling-place belonging to you and not to the immortal [God]?...And yet, on the ground even of man’s intelligence, we ought to consider that there exists some mind of the universe, one that is keener than his and divine. “For whence,” as Socrates says in Xenophon, “did man get hold of the mind he has?”...
VII.

And the element which surpasses all these, I mean reason, and if we care to express it by a variety of terms, intelligence, design, reflection, foresight, where did we find, whence did we secure it? Shall the universe possess all other qualities, and not this one which is of most importance? Yet surely in all creation there is nothing nobler than the universe, nothing more excellent and more beautiful. There not only is not, but there cannot even be imagined anything nobler, and if reason and wisdom are the noblest of qualities, it is inevitable that they should exist in that which we acknowledge to be supremely noble. Again, who can help assenting to what I say when he considers the harmonious, concordant, and unbroken connection which there is in things? Would the earth be able to have one and the same time for flowering, and then again one and the same time in which it lies rough? Or could the approach and departure of the sun be known, at the time of the summer and winter solstice, by so many objects spontaneously changing? Or the tides of the sea, and of narrow straits, be affected by the rising or setting of the moon? Or the dissimilar movements of the planets be maintained by the one revolution of the whole sky? It would be certainly impossible for these things to come to pass in this way, with such mutual harmony amongst all parts of the universe, if they were not held together by one divine and all-pervading spirit...

Excerpt from Paradise Lost

2007-04-27T21:36:00.000-07:00

I think the following verses are among the most well known of John Milton's great poem:

What in me is dark
Illumin, what is low raise and support;
That to the highth of this great Argument
I may assert Eternal Providence,
And justifie the wayes of God to men.

Paradise Lost

Excerpt from Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed

2007-04-26T23:29:00.000-07:00

Moses Maimonides is among the greatest of Jewish thinkers.

(M. FRIEDLÄNDER translation)

Book III, Chapter LI

My son, so long as you are engaged in studying the Mathematical Sciences and Logic, you belong to those who go round about the palace in search of the gate. Thus our Sages figuratively use the phrase: “Ben-zoma is still outside.” When you understand Physics, you have entered the hall; and when, after completing the study of Natural Philosophy, you master Metaphysics, you have entered the innermost court, and are with the king in the same palace. You have attained the degree of the wise men, who include men of different grades of perfection. There are some who direct all their mind toward the attainment of perfection in Metaphysics, devote themselves entirely to God, exclude from their thought every other thing, and employ all their intellectual faculties in the study of the Universe, in order to derive therefrom a proof for the existence of God, and to learn in every possible way how God rules all things; they form the class of those who have entered the palace, namely, the class of prophets.

Excerpt from Augustine's Confessions

2007-04-26T23:21:00.000-07:00

(Edward Pusey translation)

Book V, Chapter II

On the Vanity of Those Who Wished to Escape the Omnipotent God.

They discourse many things truly concerning the creature; but Truth, Artificer of the creature, they seek not piously, and therefore find Him not; or if they find Him, knowing Him to be God, they glorify Him not as God, neither are thankful, but become vain in their imaginations, and profess themselves to be wise...

Skorokhod on determinism and chaos

2007-04-23T19:10:00.000-07:00

A. Skorokhod is a big name in probability. The following is excerpted from one of his books:

1.1.1 Determinism and Chaos

In a deterministic world, randomness must be absent -- it is absolutely subject to laws that specify its state uniquely at each moment of time. This idea of the world (setting aside philosophical and theological considerations) existed among mathematicians and physicists in the 18th and 19th centuries (Newton, Laplace, etc.). However, such a world was all the same unpredictable because of its complex arrangement. In order to determine a future state, it is necessary to know its present state absolutely precisely and that is impossible. It is more promising to apply determinism to individual phenomena or aggregates of them. There is a determinate relationship between occurrences if one entails the other necessarily. The heating of water to 100°C under standard atmospheric pressure, let us say, implies that the water will boil. Thus, in a determinate situation, there is complete order in a system of phenomena or the objects to which these phenomena pertain. People have observed that kind of order in the motion of the planets (and also the Moon and Sun) and this order has made it possible to predict celestial occurrences like lunar and solar eclipses. Such order can be observed in the disposition of molecules in a crystal (it is easy to give other examples of complete order). The most precise idea of complete order is expressed by a collection of absolutely indistinguishable objects.

In contrast to a deterministic world would be a chaotic world in which no relationships are present. The ancient Greeks had some notion of such a chaotic world. According to their conception, the existing world arose out of a primary chaos. Again, if we confine ourselves just to some group of objects, then we may regard this system to be completely chaotic if the things are entirely distinct. We are excluding the possibility of comparing the objects and ascertaining relationships among them (including even causal relationships). Both of these cases are similar: the selection of one (or several objects) from the collection yields no information. In the first case, we know right away that all of the objects are identical and in the second, the heterogeneity of the objects makes it impossible to draw any conclusions about the remaining ones. Observe that this is not the only way in which these two contrasting situations resemble one another. As might be expected, according to Hegel's laws of logic, these totally contrasting situations describe the exact same situation. If the objects in a chaotic system are impossible to compare, then one cannot distinguish between them so that instead of complete disorder, we have complete order.

Amazing but true!

2007-04-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

Amanda Marcotte offers a false dichotomy:

...how a supposedly good god allows so much evil on his watch is only a rude question because it’s basically a philosophical dead end. Either god is capricious and allows evil for the hell of it or he doesn’t exist.

Either Amanda is willfully ignorant or she has exceeded her intellectual capacity.

Reasonable Faith

2007-04-20T17:05:00.000-07:00

Reasonable Faith with William Lane Craig

(via Right Reason)

Christian Turks fear more attacks

2007-04-20T13:01:00.000-07:00

MALATYA, Turkey (AP) -- The killings of three Christians in eastern Turkey highlight the country's uneasy relationship with its minorities, and Christians expressed fear that growing nationalism and intolerance could lead to more violence against them.

link

No surprise here. Islamic Turks are barbarians.

Happy Πασχα!

2007-04-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

(no text)

Natural Law in Cicero

2007-04-03T22:27:00.000-07:00

True Law is right reason in agreement with nature; it is of universal application, unchanging and everlasting; it summons to duty by its commands, and averts from wrongdoing by its prohibitions. And there will not be different laws at Rome and at Athens, or different laws now and in the future, but one law, both eternal and unchangeable, will be valid for all nations and all times, and there will be one master and ruler of all, God, for of this law he is the founder, judge, and lawgiver.

(De republica 3.33, as cited by Richard Horsley.)

Funeral marches to the grave

2007-03-25T13:30:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite professors from my undergrad days passed away on 3/17 of cancer. Frank was a very civic-minded man who cared about his students and his community. (He certainly helped me on many occasions.) He will be missed.

Contra vim mortis non est medicamen in hortis

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

2007-03-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

(no text)

Requiem

2007-03-02T06:28:00.000-08:00

I just learned my favorite New Testament scholar, Bruce Metzger, died a couple of weeks ago.

Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine; In memoria æterna erit justus, ab auditione mala non timebit.

Estrella Viaje!

2007-02-26T13:46:00.000-08:00

LOL. I love how they have Scotty speak Spanish with a Scottish accent.

5 MB hard disk

2007-02-26T13:26:00.000-08:00

In September 1956 IBM launched the 305 RAMAC, the first computer with a hard disk drive (HDD).

The HDD weighed over a ton and stored 5MB of data.

(via Peter Foss)

Stop Sylvia Browne

2007-02-11T14:03:00.000-08:00

Stop Sylvia Browne

Sylvia Browne is a "psychic" fraud who preys on vulnerable people. Not only has she avoided James Randi's million dollar challenge, despite previously agreeing to it, but she told Shawn Hornbeck's parents he was dead.

I hope she is put out of business eventually, but I do not place too much hope in that outcome, seeing as how discredited frauds like Peter Popoff are still fleecing the credulous.

Rick Moran writes what I have been thinking

2007-02-10T23:58:00.000-08:00

Rick Moran of Rightwing Nuthouse wrote:

This brings up a point that has puzzled me since the entire imbroglio
began; how can you “smear” someone with their own words?

My thoughts exactly. On her blog, Lindsay Beyerstein, who is more reasonable than her friend Amanda Marcotte, nevertheless attempted to defend Amanda Marcotte's histrionics concerning New Orleans by suggesting Amanda was in the thick of things, helping the refugees.

However, Austin, where Amanda Marcotte resided at the time, is over 500 miles distant from New Orleans. Consequently, I have some trouble accepting the image of Amanda Marcotte as Texas' own Florence Nightingale. (If, by contrast, Amanda had lived in Houston, I might harbor less incredulity.)

Plato's Gorgias, part 1

2007-02-10T23:39:00.000-08:00

In Gorgias, Plato argues (via Socrates) that it is better to suffer than to inflict suffering on another. I agree with his thesis, although I have not always acted in accordance with that high ideal.

Gödel's Ontological Proof of God

2007-02-06T20:59:00.000-08:00

I admire Kurt Gödel's Ontological Proof of God. (Just as I admire Gödel himself.) Dr. Christopher Small has a good discussion of Gödel's proof here.

Turtle update

2007-02-06T18:11:00.000-08:00

I figured my turtle was hibernating since I had not seen her moving about for some time, so I finally decided to check on her today and she was exactly where I thought she would be (i.e., under the desk) doing exactly what I thought (i.e., sleeping).

The Cat Came Back

2007-01-27T22:06:00.000-08:00

This is one of my favorite short films of all time. I first saw it about twenty years ago and had not seen it since until I found it on youtube.

Math Education: An Inconvenient Truth

2007-01-27T20:48:00.000-08:00

I recommend this excellent video about elementary mathematics education presented by M.J. McDermott. In the video she addresses some of the many problems with mathematics education in this country. (Although, she is specifically talking about Washington's mathematics curriculum these problems are not endemic to Washington.)

(via Telic Thoughts)

Felix Hausdorff

2007-01-26T13:31:00.000-08:00

John Lynch made me aware that today is the sixty-fifth anniversary of the tragic death of mathematician Felix Hausdorff. As I commented on his blog, I wish someone would have found Hausdorff a position elsewhere so that he did not feel compelled to remain in Germany.

Dawkins dismisses William Lane Craig

2007-01-26T12:06:00.000-08:00

Victor Reppert reports that self-important Richard Dawkins, a man completely intoxicated with his own ideas, claimed that a debate with William Lane Craig, "might look good on [Craig's] resume, but it wouldn't look good on mine!"

You are correct, Mr. Dawkins; it would not look good on your resume because he would mop the floor with you.

Hayseed pays $20,000 more than book is worth

2007-01-15T23:18:00.000-08:00

The God Delusion [sic] Purchased for $20,000

Merry Christmas!

2006-12-25T18:25:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas everyone!

Classic take down of a fraud

2006-12-24T14:36:00.000-08:00

In this clip James Randi exposes charlatan James Hydrick, who claimed he learned telekinesis from an "old Chinese master." (Who else?)

Too bad James Randi was not around to expose Joe Smith back in the day. (Actually, he was exposed by Lucy Harris, but Mormons choose to believe the whopper of an excuse Joe Smith gave as to why he could not reproduce what he had already "translated.")

(By the way, I do not endorse the Rational [sic] Responders' other videos.)

My comment to Richard Dawkins

2006-12-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

Mr. Dawkins:

Do Oxford professors publish pulp science books instead of research? I noted the last time you published was during the Thatcher Administration.

Robert O'Brien

PS I was disappointed that I did not get to ask you questions when you were at hand at the Salk Institute; they would have been good questions.

(Posted here)

White & Nerdy by Weird Al

2006-12-16T13:02:00.000-08:00

Fularious! Donny Osmond and the Segway are my favorite parts.

Mathematical Idealism

2006-12-12T19:51:00.000-08:00

Quote: mathematical analysis is a language for learning the internal harmony of the world, the only true objective reality

Quote: mathematical analysis is primarily the study of temporal and spatial frames

Quote: objective reality is that which is common to many thinking beings; it can only be the harmony expressed by mathematical laws [»poinH_1905, OK]

Quote: mathematics is an objective, ideal reality that is neither subjective nor physical [»daviPJ_1981]

Quote: mathematics is independent of the existence of material objects; mathematical existence means free from contradiction [»poinH_1908, OK]

Quote: mathematical concepts have absolute truth and a Platonic existence; e.g., the Mandelbrot set [»penrR_1989]

Quote: arithmetic laws are the laws of the laws of nature

Quote: although the senses can be confused, corporeal things contain what is clearly understand; at least as the objects of pure mathematics [»descR_1641]

Source

I am a Platonic Idealist, and I see Mathematics as a triumph of Idealism.

DM of the Rings by Shamus Young

2006-12-08T17:54:00.000-08:00

Very funny (For those who are familiar with Dungeons & Dragons.)

AWARD NOTIFICATION

2006-12-08T17:21:00.000-08:00

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Wow! I can't believe a company with a Nigerian phone number picked me completely at random! But it must be true because Nigeria is known for its immense wealth. (Maybe the lottery was funded by the late father of "Duke Guei.")

URGENT!!!!

2006-12-08T17:13:00.000-08:00

Attn:Dearest one,

My name is Master Duke Guei, son of the former military ruler of Ivory
coast who was murdered by agents of this present government.After my
fathers death,all of our properties were seized by the goverment,and
we are still being hunted by agents of this government.

Since I am the only surviving member of my family, I have decieded to
confide in a reliable person that can help me out of my present
situation, based on
what my late father told me before he died. I am presently seeking
political asylum in the Netherlands, and since the law does not permit
me on money transaction in such amount, decided to seek for your
assistance.

Before my late father died, he told me about a trunk box that he
deposited in a security company in the Netherlands Europe in my name,
inside
this trunk box is US$25,000,000.00(Twenty-five million United States
Dollars Only) and I am the beneficiary of this fortune. This is where
I need your help to move this money out for safe keeping in your
country where I can invest and continue with my education. I have
contacted
the security company and they have acknowledged that the box is in
there possession and that I can claim it whenever I am ready.My
late-father deposited and registered the box as containing family
valuables as not to attract the attention of the company's staff or
more dummurage bills.

I am willing to give 20% to you for your efforts, if you can help me
claim this box, 5% will be set aside for what ever expenses that may be
incured in claiming the box. As soon as you agreed to help, the
security will forward an a goodwill agreement between you and I through
the
Legal department. And all other valid documents as the time of deposit
will be forwarded to you as soon as you agree to talk with the
security company who are the custodian of the consignment.

I sincerely hope that you can be kind enough to help me, i will also
appeal to you that because of who I am, I will like for this
information to be kept stictly CONFIDENTIAL because of my safety,as
soon as you
retrieve the box , I will come over to your country , while you will be
incharge of the investment.

I pray that God will give you the wisdom to help Me,
Thank you very much,
Duke Guei (master)

This sure does happen a lot.

PlayStation 3 mania

2006-11-17T12:37:00.000-08:00

Armed Thugs Shoot 1 Person Waiting in Wal-Mart PlayStation Line

That's bad but from further along in the article:

In West Bend, Wis., a 19-year-old man was injured when he ran into a pole racing with 50 others for one of 10 spots outside a Wal-Mart.

LOL! What a dumb cracker.

Poisoned cookies sent to Supreme Court Justices (and others)

2006-11-17T12:24:00.000-08:00

Half-baked attempt to kill Supreme Court crumbles

Apparently, the cookies contained enough poison to kill but the sender was kind enough to include a note stating they were poisoned. What a looney tune.