http://exdoctrinate.com langauge: human or computer; education: formal or hard knocks; design: definitely not intelligent Sun, 09 Nov 2008 22:12:31 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en FMF pointed me to this piece about an atheist church.  From the article: The "atheist church" draws a variety of freethinkers, who identify themselves as skeptics, atheists, agnostics or doubters. In lieu of theology, these churchgoers cherish rationalism, and the motto of their church is "think". The NTCOF [North Texas Church ... http://exdoctrinate.com/skepticism/atheist-church/ Sylvia BrowneShareThis http://exdoctrinate.com/personal/this-is-why-i-love-the-inty-net/ UPDATE: This has been overturned. Good job YouTube! Pat Condell has the most subscriptions of any comic on YouTube. He has been making candid, no-holds-barred critiques of British society, Muslim theocracy and religion in general for quite some time. Recently YouTube threatened to suspend his account, and pulled his latest ... http://exdoctrinate.com/cultural/shame-on-youtube/ Simple.  Channel Hillary. He can't seem condescending.  He can't really sell his record (yawn -- especially next to a sexy librarian with great guns). He definitely can't attack her (meanie!). But Hillary can! Imagine him spending the entire debate responding as though he were Hillary's advocate.  No matter what you think of her compared ... http://exdoctrinate.com/personal/how-biden-beats-palin/ Previously, I asked if there was anything better than Kiva.org. Kiva allows lenders to organize themselves into groups, or "lending teams."  When I saw the Atheists, Agnostics, Skeptics, Freethinkers, Secular Humanists and the Non-Religious lending team, I was sold.  (There are other groups organized on a full range of interests/issues.) I am ... http://exdoctrinate.com/personal/more-on-kivaorg/ Recently, I saw Peter Mansbridge interview Muhammad Yunus.  I think I had heard about him a few years ago when his idea of micro-finance was first reported on the news, or maybe when he won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. The whole idea of lending very small amounts of money ... http://exdoctrinate.com/personal/is-there-anything-in-the-world-better-than-this/ The problem with trusting your perceptions without testing them is outlined nicely by Michael Shermer (yet again) here. At least we're able to figure out that our perceptive powers are suspect!  Of course, you could always argue that if we can't trust our percpetive powers, then how do we know we're ... http://exdoctrinate.com/skepticism/it-just-feels-better-the-other-way/ This one ... ? ...or this one? ShareThis http://exdoctrinate.com/fun/can-you-tell-which-one-is-real/ I'd hate dogs too. What a great line! Here's more YouTube goodness recently discovered... Anyone who can work the line "all you goddamn dirty catholics can cath-o-lick my balls" in while making fun of the KKK isn't all bad! Seriously, this kid has loads of talent, and has thankfully returned with ... http://exdoctrinate.com/skepticism/if-i-was-dyslexic/ Pat Condell has never let us down! His latest is particularly good: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPG3-1gogXU Sam Harris is also pretty much always spot on: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sam-harris/losing-our-spines-to-save_b_100132.html My favourite quote: Muslims appear to be far more concerned about perceived slights to their religion than about the atrocities committed daily in its name. Our accommodation ... http://exdoctrinate.com/skepticism/two-great-pieces/