Editorial note: the content below is unedited. Only format changes have been made to the content to improve readability. This post does not necessarily reflect my own personal views, but those of the credited author. Normally I write everything posted here, but on rare occasions, I've seen fit to make an exception and publish the (properly credited) work of another writer. This happens to be one of those rare occasions...a very pleasant surprise, written and submitted for your consideration by a friend. My friend (and fellow author) Frank Boccia is a very interesting man. His book The Crouching Beast was firsthand account of the Battle in the AShau Valley for Dong Ap Bia -- more popularly known as "Hamburger Hill". Frank's work received rave reviews from the most important critics one can possibly encounter -- people who "have been there" and lived through the experience the writer has attempted to describe. His critics unanimously agreed -- Frank is a great writer with the uncanny ability of being able to put the reader in his shoes. And now without further ado, these are Frank's thoughts on rationalism. I am a rationalist. I was born that way; it's the way my brain is wired. Being a rationalist does not imply that one necessarily has one belief system rather than another. It is simply how we see and evaluate the world. We see cause and effect, in linear paths. But that is all: My father was a thorough rationalist; a man whose occupation involved the formulation of the theories of statistical economics. He was also a devout Roman Catholic to the end … [Read more...]
Dan Barker’s miracle
Dan Barker is one of the world's most famous atheists, but he hasn't always been so well known. In fact, for over seventeen years he toiled in relative anonymity as a Christian evangelist, receiving virtually no fame or fortune in compensation for his efforts. Now today Dan runs the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF), one of the most zealous and successful special interest groups dedicated to opposing religion in the United States. He now has millions of dollars at his disposal -- the FFRF currently boasts of holding $11.5 million dollars in assets on their balance sheet. Obviously, atheism pays a lot better than honest evangelism. Dishonest evangelism is something else entirely -- those "prosperity pimps" really know how to rake in the dough, but that's another story. At any rate, shortly after declaring himself an atheist, Dan was invited as a guest on Oprah Winfrey's television show AM Chicago to speak about what led from preaching to atheism. On the show Dan met future wife (and co-founding partner of the FFRF) Annie Laurie Gaylor, and soon they started on their journey down the road leading to fame and fortune. I've been familiar with the FFRF and Mr. Barker for quite a while now -- once upon a time, he was even a "virtual" friend of mine on Facebook. But I got dumped once Dan figured out that I wasn't an atheist. Only a few years ago, I took and then self-graded Dan's open Bible test -- a clever ploy of his obviously designed to create doubt and confusion in the minds of Christians. The "test" wants the Christian to focus on the relatively minor … [Read more...]
Begging for money
Richard Carrier holds a PhD from Columbia University in ancient history. He is a prolific author -- his work includes books with provocative titles such as On the Historicity of Jesus, Proving History, Sense and Goodness without God, Not the Impossible Faith, Why I Am Not a Christian, and Hitler Homer Bible Christ. According to his website, Dr. Carrier is also a very busy and highly sought "world-renowned author and speaker." So naturally I became curious: why is this guy practically panhandling for money on his website that has not one or two, but six different ways you can "Help Support Dr. Carrier?" Seriously? Exactly how many mouths does this man have to feed? Admittedly, the first option we're offered seems reasonable enough -- Dr. Carrier wants you to buy one of his books. As a fellow author with my own books and novels promoted here on this very website, it would be rather hypocritical of me to criticize another author for trying to market his own work. So no problems with option #1. Visitors to his website are also offered a second option, which is buying a book recommended by Dr. Carrier through a link provided. He apparently earns a small percentage of the sale. That also sounds like a fairly decent way to bolster one's income -- something I admit that I wouldn't mind learning how to do myself. The third option we're offered is where things begin to get sketchy -- we are invited to send "Dr. Carrier" a donation via Paypal, ostensibly just because he's a swell guy and needs the money more than we do. But why? For what? Apparently, as we'll … [Read more...]
An experiment in wealth redistribution
Dan Price apparently had the best of intentions. He wanted his employees to stop worrying about petty problems like their mortgages and car payments, so Dan one day called a company meeting and announced that going forward, everyone would receive the same pay. Even his own salary would be slashed from seven figures all the way down to $70,000 -- the arbitrary "minimum" (and maximum) wage for every employee of Gravity Payments. Now everyone should be happy, right? What could possibly go wrong? Well...everything. First, Dan's two best employees quit. “He gave raises to people who have the least skills and are the least equipped to do the job, and the ones who were taking on the most didn’t get much of a bump,” said former Gravity financial manager Maisey McMaster. When she complained, Price called her selfish and naturally, she resigned. Web designer Grant Moran observed, "Now the people who were just clocking in and out were making the same as me,” and he also quit. Then Dan's big brother filed a lawsuit against him that may bankrupt the company. However, "We don't have the margin of error to pay those legal fees," Dan told the New York Times. Well, Shazam! Apparently it never occurred to Mr. Price that there might be some blowback to his plan to redistribute the wealth of the company's investors by ludicrously increasing their salary expenses. This story should become the classic case study that illustrates the value of capitalism and a free market system. It would be easier to feel sorry for Mr. Price -- he's renting out his house, no longer … [Read more...]
Jon Snow and Game of Thrones
The HBO series Game of Thrones is famous for brutal, gory sword fights mixed in with dire wolves, dragons, and quite a bit of kinky sex. Based on the A Song of Ice and Fire series of novels written by George R. R. Martin, the television adaptation has largely remained faithful to the books thus far. And for the most part, the television shows have been dazzling. Martin has published five novels. The television series has now run for five complete seasons. However, the novels and "seasons" of the show haven't matched up perfectly -- events occurred in the most recent novel that have not happened onscreen, and not everything in the books made it onscreen. In the final episode of season 5,, one of the few remaining heroes in the broad saga, Jon Snow, was murdered, which (according to my wife and son, who read them) also happened in the most recent novel. Readers of the books will remember that Jon was brought back from the dead in that same novel in which he was killed, because he's become an essential character in the overall story. Clearly, the word "ice" in the title for the series refers to Jon Snow, just as "fire" refers to the dragon queen Daenerys Targaryen. Yet in response to speculation coming from fans of the books, HBO president of programming Michael Lombardo has been quoted by Deadline Hollywood as saying, "Dead is dead as dead as dead. He be (SIC) dead. Yes. From everything I’ve seen, heard, read, Jon Snow is indeed dead." The problem is that the show really won't make any sense or have much of a future without Jon Snow. Therefore, I … [Read more...]
