List of Famous Atheists

Bruce Lee

Not just an actor. Lee was easily the greatest martial artist of the last hundred years. He invented his very own form of martial arts, Jeet Kun Do, when he was only 27. He could perform two-finger pushups, throw grains of rice in the air and catch them with chop sticks, and his striking speed from three feet away with his hands down was five hundredths of a second. He had well over 2,500 books in his personal library. When asked in 1972 if he believed in God, Bruce responded, "To be perfectly frank, I really do not."



Joss Whedon

This guy is the creator of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Dollhouse. Most people would say his fanbase is loyal, but I prefer to use the word "cult."



Douglas Adams

Author of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and writer for many television shows throughout the years, including Dr. Who.



Gene Roddenberry

Creator of Star Trek, he viewed his imaginary universe as the perfect humanist society.



Kurt Vonnegut

One of the 20th century's greatest writers. Author of Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions, and Cat's Cradle.



David Cross

Co-Creator of HBO's Mr. Show and starred as Tobias Fünke on Arrested Development. Easily one of my favorite comedians.



Ricky Gervais

Comedian and star of the highly underrated Extras and the British version of The Office.



Ian McKellen

Gandalf and Magneto. Here he is on Extras.



Patton Oswalt

Probably my favorite living comedian.



Adam Savage

Mythbusters.



Henry Rollins

Jack of all trades. Henry Rollins started off as a punk rocker in the 80s as the frontman for Black Flag, and since then has been a comedian, actor, social commentator, and star of his own Henry Rollins Show on IFC. He played Weston on the last season of Sons of Anarchy, and he will probably go down as the coolest bad guy that show will ever see.

Followup to yesterday's entry. Sort of.

Are You Ready for the 21st Century ? from Michel Cartier on Vimeo.

The Death of a Free Media

Media, as far as I see it, is splitting into two groups. There is 'mainstream media' - the cable news channels that benefit more from telling you what your opinion is than reporting news. Then there's the internet. For me, it's mostly Reddit, particularly, the /r/politics subreddit. Reddit operates because of its community. People submit stories, and other people upvote the stories based on their importance. I guess you could say its community is liberal, but I prefer to think that facts have a liberal bias. I'm slightly ashamed to say it, but I get most of my news from reddit. When you get your news from community-driven internet sources, there is no filter. You are cutting out the middle man. And in an America where news organizations can legally lie to its audience, it is our responsibility to cut out the middle man.

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security shut down 82 websites for piracy with no court order. In terms of free distribution of information that's actually important, this isn't all that notable. But it sets two crucial precedents: that matters of copyright are now matters of security, and that the government can shut down web sites whenever it chooses. This is terrifying.

Media worldwide is currently going on a jihad against Wikileaks. A U.S. Representative wants to label wikileaks as a terrorist organization, completely unaware that terrorism is the use of violence and intimidation. Whether or not you agree with what Wikileaks is doing, using language like this is irresponsible and downright dangerous. What's even more dangerous is that mainstream media has thrown objectivity out the window and is once again asking "how high?" after the government says to jump.





The world has just entered the digital age. The digital age, by easily distributing information to people, will give more power to people. Think about the last time something like this happened: the printing press. The printing press was catastrophic for the power structure. The masses became smart enough to begin questioning religion, and so we get the Age of Enlightenment. That was followed by an age of worldwide revolution throughout the 19th century led almost entirely by an educated populace. Whenever people gain knowledge, the status quo loses power. What we're seeing now is the status quo catching on, and so it's trying to stamp it out before it can gain a foothold. Their goal is to control the digital age. I'm not saying it's some worldwide conspiracy, they're not doing it consciously. It's just what people will naturally do when they're at risk of losing power. I honestly believe that humanity is standing on crossroads right now. This is where we decide whether we'll be the humanistic utopia of Star Trek, or the braindead phantasm of Brave New World.

Sunday Youtube Post

This guy is Mumia Abu-Jamal. In 1981 he was convicted of murdering a police officer. He was an activist, journalist, and until 1970, he was a member of the Black Panther Party. He's extremely controversial. People debate about whether or not he received a fair trial, or whether or not he's even guilty. Personally, I'm on the fence. You can do some google research about the whole thing if you want, but as far as I'm concerned, it's all a matter of someone's word over someone else's, and I don't think we can ever know. He's a pretty bright guy regardless, and he's been doing this "Prison Radio" thing for a number of years.







Saïd from Oz, anyone?

CHUGGA CHUGGA CHOO CHOO WAR ON CHRISTMAS

All aboard the self-victimization train! Thanksgiving has come and gone, and you know what that means! It's my favorite time of year! It's when the religious right make shit up about what atheists and agnostics believe, and vastly overestimate the tiny influence they have to boost ratings! It's officially CHRISTMAS TIME!



I'm tired of political correctness telling me what I can and can't say, that's why atheists should shut the fuck up. THE MAJORITY IS ALWAYS RIGHT NO MATTER WHAT.



An opinion I don't agree with? FREE SPEECH MY ASS, THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. ONLY YEAR ROUND CHRISTIAN BILLBOARDS ARE ACCEPTABLE. TAKE IT DOWN MISTER GRINCH 9/11 CHOO CHOOOOO

[Day of the Week] Music Post - The Ascent of Everest

The Ascent of Everest formed in 2005 in Nashville. That is literally all the information I can find on them. They're a post-rock band who have found a way to combine soothing ambience with a swelling, unrelenting barrage of strings. I probably now consider them my favorite post-rock band after Explosions in the Sky, but in fairness, EITS can never be topped by anything ever.

Their first CD, How Lonely Sits The City is the better of the two in my opinion. The songs are much longer, giving them more time to build up and explode, while the songs on their second CD, From This Vantage, have a harder time standing on their own; the CD is better listened to in its entirety. What few vocals there are in How Lonely seem more like obscure background noise, while in their second CD they're brought forward a little more. The Ascent of Everest's sound isn't necessarily sad, as much as it's filled with a sort of beautiful melancholy, and yes, there is a difference. The first song here is from How Lonely Sits The City and the next two are on From This Vantage. Molotov definitely makes it into my top five favorite songs of all time.

Sunday Youtube Post

Sam Harris comes out strongly against Islam