Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Is it Greek to you?
Any linguists well versed in ancient Greek hanging out here? Or anybody know one?
At another site, somebody pointed out a distateful piece of apologia to me that claims that according to ancient Greek grammar and contemporary usage, the greek “atheos” has always meant an explicit denial of god instead of simly godless. I believe this to be wrong, but perhaps it isn’t.
The author of this “analysis” also claims that there is no semantic difference between “I do not believe that god exists” and “I believe that god does not exist”. You’ll have to excuse me, but I won’t take his word for anything that I cannot independently verify.
Since I hate being mistaken about facts, I looked up an online Greek grammar and at the point I had to stop to prevent my head from exploding, I couldn’t find evidence in support of the author’s claim (the particle a- conveys a sense of without, unless it’s used in a compound noun, in which case it’s supposed to convey an explicit negation).
By the way, the author uses this linguistic claim, the claim that the ancient Greek meaning should determine the meaning of the English atheism, and some plain wrong Semantics 101 to boldy declare that all atheists, particularly including what we call the weak atheists, are in fact what we call strong atheists and must therefore bear the burden of proof. I won’t grace the text with a link, but once you get past the guffaws, it’s a good text to practice exposing fallacious reasoning.
Contemporary usage is way beyond me to research. The author claims that it was used in the sense of an explicit negation, but since the examples he mentions refer to the cnflict between early Christians and the older religions, that it is perhaps not surprising. According to another source, the original meaning was ‘godless’ and it wasn’t until a centuries(?) into Christianity that the no-god interpretation became more common.
As somebody else in a much older thread on the same topic mentioned, the very fact that two large groups fight over the definition of atheism simply means that there is no single true definition.
Anyway, what gives? Does anybody have a reference to a linguistic resource that can answer this question?
demeaning dualism?
Something I came across elsewhere. Looks like they don’t want to play with me, so let’s float this here.
A: There is a mind-body dualism and to deny it degrades our existence.
B: There is no mind-body dualism and to deny it degrades our existence.
If you excuse the sloppy wording and missing definitions, what’s your take on the two? Mine:
I can’t quite follow either.
In scenario A, a materialist would be mistaken, but his perception of whatever reality there is matches that of everybody else. There is nothing that we know and not dogmatically assume about the ramifications of that dualism that would be degraded.
I can morely easily buy into scenario B, but my judgement is predicated on the motivation behind postulating such a dualism to begin with. I’m too tired right now to give a more coherent explanation, but perhaps such an explanation is not required.
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Things that make you go ‘hmmmm’ ....
I was looking at the cover of a blank journal that was purchased today .... the kind with just a hard cover and several blank lined pages inside.
On the cover, there’s a copyright statement.
Does that mean that if I pull out a piece of lined paper and don’t write on it that I am violating copyright? 
Monday, August 22, 2005
Pope warns against ‘DIY’ religion
As reported by the BBC.
The Pope told the crowds there were dangers in people finding their own religious routes.
“If it is pushed too far, religion becomes almost a consumer product,” he said.
“People choose what they like, and some are even able to make a profit from it.
“But religion constructed on a ‘do-it-yourself’ basis cannot ultimately help us,” he said.
Now, it is entirely obvious why a Pope considers DIY religion as a threat to an established church - such a group of religions is free to poach believers at will by offering them more of what they are looking for than the Catholic Church does. Obviously, this applies to both the liberal and the orthodox ends of the spectrum and just about anything in between.
The cynical side in me prompts me to venture this: My experience in the US is that religion is already a consumer product, where everybody can find a product that they like or failing that, roll their own. In Europe, religion belief in the historical perspective strikes me not so much as a customer/vendor relationship, but that of a rate payer and a utility company. Further, the CC has a reputation for turning a tidy profit and it seems hypocritical for the Pope not wanting to share pieces of the pie. Unless, of course, we are talking about cults and sects that are exclusively designed as a cash cow.
The last quoted paragraph is open to interpretation, depending on what ‘help us’ refers to. If it is the CC, then I’d say he’s stating the obvious. If ‘us’ refers to people in general, then I’m not sure whether to agree or disagree. Is a Balkanized religious landscape superior to a monoculture?
hand in the cookie jar
Feds Push Flier Background Checks
Just weeks after congressional investigators found that officials in charge of a new airline passenger-screening system violated a federal privacy law, the Department of Homeland Security is pushing Congress to reduce oversight of the program and to allow it to use commercial databases to screen for terrorists.
Enough said.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Isn’t it amazing…
Well, now we know - for legal purposes, atheism is now considered a religion.
“Atheism is [the inmate’s] religion, and the group that he wanted to start was religious in nature even though it expressly rejects a belief in a supreme being,” the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals said.
Does this mean that secular, non-theist organizations can get in line to receive funds earmarked for faith-based organizations?
Friday, August 19, 2005
Working for a tyrant
I came in late today and I really don’t feel much like working, so I popped upstairs to talk to the office manager.
And she tells me: Why don’t you just bugger off and go home?
(bugger off is not an insult in this context ... kind of means ‘goof off’)
I don’t know if I can deal with somebody that tough! 
Friday, August 12, 2005
musings ....
It’s been four years already. Wow!
It’s not often that I sit and think about the four little words that I heard around 4 years ago. Even so, I kind of wish I kept some sort of record of the date that it happened. I know it was in August 2001, but I don’t know exactly when. Not that it really matters. What matters is that it happened at all. Four little words: You can come closer.
Some days I do wonder who they came from and what they meant. It could have been my subconscious. Just something that popped into my head. Or it could have been from an external source. God Himself? An angel? I have an idea, but I really don’t know. And I’ll probably never know. What I do know is that those words prodded me on to do and experience things that I never thought possible.
They definitely seem to be directed at me from elsewhere. And on that first day, what they meant seemed pretty simple. Just get up and wander over to the Tabernacle. I was sitting farther away, now I was closer. And my presence there was welcome.
But what next? “You can come closer” is actually pretty vague. The words don’t provide an awful lot of direction. They are addressed to me. They offer possibilities, but leave the choice up to me. They are inviting. They’ve changed my life from looking at things as being absurd, to looking at them as being awesome
So, whoever they’re from. Thanks.
Whispers
The words that were whispered
such a long time ago
Offered only a hint of
what might be in store
A hint of your presence each day as I rise
A hint of your glory in blue morning skies
A hint of your strength in the sun’s blazing light
A hint of your love in the quiet of night
The words you still whisper
each day in my ears
They fill me with joy
and calm all my fears
aaaarrrrggghhhhh! $#*&
If you guessed that this post has something to go with Microsoft, BINGO ... you’re a winner!!!!
After installing updates on my work computer this morning, the stupid ‘do you want to restart your computer?’ box popped up for the umpteenth time a couple of minutes ago. Well, if I wanted to restart the frigging machine, I would have done so on my own.
Not paying enough attention to what I’m doing, instead of clicking on ‘restart later’ I must have clicked on ‘restart now’. I was in the middle of writing up a bunch of results .. and all was shut down in front of me without being able to do a thing about it. Sheesh.
End of rant. 
We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.
Saturday, August 06, 2005
another one for Consi
I couldn’t resist these ...
From: Jim Schindler
Date: August 4, 2005 7:46:49 PM EST
Men strike back! ! ! ! ! ! !
How many men does it take to open a beer?
None. It should be opened when she brings it.
—————————————————————————————————-
Why is a Laundromat a really bad place to pick up a woman?
Because a woman who can’t even afford a washing machine will probably never be able to support you.
——————————————————————————————————
Why do women have smaller feet than men?
It’s one of those “evolutionary things” that allows
them to stand closer to the kitchen sink.
—————————————————————————————————-
How do you know when a woman is about to say something smart?
When she starts a sentence with “A man once told me…”
—————————————————————————————————-
How do you fix a woman’s watch?
You don’t. There is a clock on the oven.
————————————————————————————————————
———————-
If your dog is barking at the back door and your wife is yelling at the front door, who do you let in first?
The dog, of course. He’ll shut up once you let him in.
—————————————————————————————————-
What’s worse than a Male Chauvinist Pig?
A woman who won’t do what she’s told.
—————————————————————————————————-
I married a Miss Right.
I just didn’t know her first name was Always.
—————————————————————————————————-
Scientists have discovered a food that diminishes
a woman’s sex drive by 90%.
It’s called a Wedding Cake.
—————————————————————————————————-
Why do men die before their wives?
They want to.
—————————————————————————————————-
Women will never be equal to men until they can
walk down the street with a bald head and a beer
gut, and still think they are sexy.
—————————————————————————————————-
In the beginning, God created the earth and rested.
Then God created Man and rested.
Then God created Woman.
Since then, neither God nor Man has rested.
—————————————————————————————————-
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