Journal Entries
Eclipse? What Eclipse?
Posted Aug 11, 1999
Wettest day of the year here in the south of Ireland. This is conclusive proof that god has a sense of humour.
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Latest reply: Aug 11, 1999
Ho Hum
Posted Aug 4, 1999
All is well. Work is a bit slow though. My sister is off to Australia for a year. Baby is there already I think. He is sleeping during the day and singing German Operas for us during the night. You know the KinderBrauchMilch sonata? The one that goes "Waaah Waaaah grunt grunt grunt WAAAAAAAAH WAAAAAAAAAAAAHH"? Wouldn't change it for the world though. Nappies? Now that's something else I could go on at length about.
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Latest reply: Aug 4, 1999
Humanism
Posted Jul 30, 1999
I think I am becoming a humanist. I went to a wedding recently and I really don't understand all this religion thing any more. As I was going through the little booklet they give you at Irish masses, I discovered that I was silently disputing almost every line in the book! Irish people are very angry with the Church at the moment because of all the scandals and abuse cases that have happened. It's not anger I feel however. More like apathy and a strong feeling that it's just not relevant to me anymore. I think humanism however is far better because it deals with realities of life on earth rather than unprovable conjectures many of which are pure acts of blind faith. A criticism of humanistic philosophy is that it is materialistic and selfish, but I disagree. Common sense dictates that humans must work together in order to improve the world, and that things like environment, humanitarian aid, relief of suffering are important, god or no god. And the fact that we only have a limited time on this planet forces us to make the most of it. So humanism it is.
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Latest reply: Jul 30, 1999
Science
Posted Apr 29, 1999
As far as I see it, we live on a piece of rock, circling around a small-sized star, in a medium sized galaxy in a very very very big universe filled with loads of galaxies like ours. We are decended from apes (or put it another way, if you go back far enough our decendants are the same decendants as every living creature on this earth). Matter is composed of atoms which is made up of loads of weird stuff. The DNA molecule is the foundation stone of living things.
Weird? Well at least it has stood up to extensive testing, has been formulated with the idea that it may actually be wrong, has enabled technology and medicine to develop by and large for the common good, and has discovered things about our world that no poet or philosopher could ever previously have dreamed possible.
So what is it with these people who spend so much mental energy on anti-science rot like UFO's, homeopathy, astrology, creationism etc? What is it with a society and culture that gives so much credence to these views? When anti-science and science are put on an equal footing in the popular media, I think we are in for some trouble in the future.
Any thoughts?
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Latest reply: Apr 29, 1999
Woodpigeon
Researcher U30129
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