Saruman’s Tree Removal Service
God dammit this is genius.
a little faith
My god is not a man or a woman.
It is a spark -
The Spark of Life.
It did not create the universe, but dwells within it as we do. The universe simply is, as it has always been.
The Spark is life, and so long as there is life, there is the Spark. Should all life perish, so shall the Spark, but the universe will remain.
The Spark’s first commandment, therefore, is to preserve life.
From this everything follows:
1. Protect and nourish yourself
If you do not live, you cannot help the Spark.
2. Protect your family, friends, and neighbors
Your community is your first line of defense, and your support network. Working together and helping others is to our mutual benefit, and therefore serves the Spark.
3. Protect the Earth and environment
Life is precious, but resources are limited and our environment is delicate. We must learn to be in balance with nature, so that the Spark can flourish.
4. Reproduce
Living things are mortal, and only through reproduction can the Spark be immortal. Be responsible about your reproduction though, so it doesn’t harm your friends, community or your environment.
5. Learn and Teach
Our universe is vast beyond our ability to visualize it, but it is knowable. There is a virtually infinite amount of knowledge waiting for us to learn. Our job is to learn what we can in the limited time that we each have, and then pass on our discoveries to the next generation. The more that we know, the better we can serve the Spark.
6. Diversify
The universe is a harsh place to live. The more varied life is, and the more places it occupies, the better chance that the Spark will continue to survive. Even our planet and sun will not last forever. We must continue to learn and use our knowledge to eventually spread the Spark to other stars and galaxies.
All hail the mighty Spark!
If you’re thinking of voting Republican because you’re pissed at Obama, remember the words of Stephen Colbert in the voting booth.
(via jessfink)
Tim Minchin vs David Cameron (Advantage Tim)
Tim Minchin, on UK Prime Minister David Cameron:
@timminchin Yay! The PM wants a return to Christian values! Canaanites, sodomites & sluts watch out… I’m dusting off my stoning stones.
(This set off a series of arguments on what constitutes “Christian values”, and prompted Tim to write…)
David Cameron appealing for Christian values is noxious because:
1. They don’t exist. Religious folk (generally) have modern values which they reverse engineer to suit the bits of the bible that match.
2. It implies that all other value systems & religions generate less good moral values. This is demonstrably untrue and basically racist.
3. A supernatural source of morality implies that we would all rape, murder & steal were it not for a punishing God. This idea upsets me.
4. It fails to recognise that morality is an ongoing discussion. Human values change & improve with time & are nuanced, not simplistic.
5. If you believe a probably fictional 2000-yr-dead bronze-aged preacher was magic & morally perfect you shouldn’t be running a country.
Australian Chris Malloy has created a working prototype of something close to a Star Wars Endor Speeder bike.
“The Hoverbike is still undergoing testing, but could theoretically reach altitudes of 10,000 feet and travel at speeds of up to 92 miles per hour for nearly 100 miles.”
Price is expected to be around $40,000. Get in line.
Amazing. Beautiful. Nightmarish. Real.
Volcanic lightning is seen over the Puyehue volcano, over 500 miles south of Santiago, Chile, Sunday June 5, 2011
Star Wars Muppets action figures coming in the Fall!
Beaker-Threepio?
R2-Honeydew?
Princess Piggy?
Kermit Skyhopper?
Hog Solo?
Obi-wan Eagle?
Fozzy the Wookie?
Darth Gonzo?
Chickentroopers!
Perspective on Pakistan
Little known, basic facts about Pakistan:
1. The official language of Pakistan is English. (Pakistan gained independence from British India just 64 years ago.)
2. Pakistan is not part of the Middle East. (Like India, it is part of South Asia)
The recent killing of Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad, Pakistan, has made the city and some of its residents famous overnight. One of them, a 33 year old programmer and coffee shop owner, gained fame for being one of the few Abbottabad residents to use Twitter and tweet about the helicopters during the raid. I’ve since started following him and found him to be intelligent, funny, and insightful.
In his latest blog, he provides some interesting perspective on a significant portion of Abbottabad residents who were ignored by the media - college students*:
http://www.reallyvirtual.com/the-abbottabad-you-dont-get-to-see/
*Prior to Operation Geronimo, Abbottabad was known as “the City of Schools”.
Re: Forwards (and why you should use Bcc:)
Re: Fwd: FW: POPCORN (This will blow your mind)
Wednesday, April 27, 2011 10:46 AM
From: gwiffon
To: gwiffon
This video was faked. Cell phones cannot cook popcorn. See:
http://www.snopes.com/science/cookegg.asp
Feel free to share the link with your friends, but please don’t include my contact information. As you can see in the quote below, I now have a list not only of all your buddies’ email addresses, but also all the addresses of the 2 other guys who forwarded it.
Every time you forward a joke or video or whatever to all your friends, you are putting all of your friends and friends’ friends out there for spammers and viruses to exploit. All it takes is one friend to receive your email on an infected computer, and without them even realizing it, the virus will harvest these email addresses and send them to spammers, or worse, forward a virus directly to you and your friends.
So how do you avoid this? Instead of putting all the addresses in the TO: line, put them in the BCC: line. (blind carbon copy) Then nobody sees who you sent it to, and if your message is forwarded, your friends addresses are not forwarded with it. Also, if you’re forwarding someone else’s message, it is easy enough to scroll down and delete or modify the contact information in the forwarded message before clicking SEND. (Like I’ve done below!)
I’ve sent this to you using BCC. You’ll notice that your email address and name are not on the TO: line, only my own address is there. I hope that if you pass this on, you’ll do me the same courtesy.
Thanks!
—- On Tue, 4/26/11, Cadillac@nospam wrote:
From: Cadillac@nospam
Subject: Fwd: FW: POPCORN (This will blow your mind)
To: (LONG LIST OF EMAIL ADDRESSES DELETED)
Date: Tuesday, April 26, 2011, 7:24 PM
From: John@nospam
To: (LONG LIST OF EMAIL ADDRESSES DELETED)
Sent: 4/26/2011 8:20:39 P.M. Central Daylight Time
Subj: FW: POPCORN (This will blow your mind)
From: DBPOSTAL@nospam
Sent: Tuesday, April 26, 2011 8:04 PM
To: (LONG LIST OF EMAIL ADDRESSES DELETED)
Subject: POPCORN (This will blow your mind)
POPCORN…This is enlightening!
This is probably what it does to our brain cells - like putting your head in a microwave…and we’re supposed to believe that cell phones are safe?
Click on the word ‘POPCORN’ below and watch.
video will start after the 7 second ad.
POPCORN (Sorry, link to fake video showing cell phones appearing to cause popcorn to pop removed. You’ll just have to Google it.)
