A First hand report of Scripture Classes in Australian Schools

         While watching this video from Skepticamp Sydney, I had that sinking feeling. Really everyone should see this.
I hope one day Scripture classes and Chaplains will be viewed with the same distaste as we do of the Catholic Laundries, and the Christian Brothers 1940s - 1950s orphanages

Thanks again to Chrys Stevenson

http://thatsmyphilosophy.wordpress.com/2012/07/23/what-really-happens-in-your-childs-scripture-class-and-beyond/

 As people become more intelligent they care less for preachers and more for teachers - Robert G. Ingersoll

Not so erotic fiction - 15 Greys from Planet Shade

Alliance Year 3789
Dear Diary.

It would be nice to be famous for saving those ships and the occasional planet, from certain doom, but no it's The Book I'm famous for..I can't escape it...ever.

Few people remember the asteroid deflection technique I developed on the planet Skyhawk...nope...it's That BOOK...grrr.... Everywhere I go it seems everyone in the frakking Galaxy wants to conduct "trade talks" on behalf of their planet with me..

Can you believe it Diary, it was over 40 years ago, We were moving fast back then after the Alliance setbacks, and I found myself over 200 light years from the nearest human, all by myself.

After months of searching and following rumors I finally found a real "Grey" from the legends of Earth and from other planets.

I finally ran into one of their starships (not via a collision, that's just a vicious rumour ) in a station in the far Finginita system. My poor little ship "Skittles" was in dock, and the Finginita (who look like kangaroos with really funky trilobite armour), were quite happy to make repairs in exchange for the .25% gain in their FTL drives I suggested to them. So yeah..I remember wondering what to do for the next two weeks, and I was just walking around their station admiring the artwork, and avoiding being eaten by the plants .

Then suddenly!!! da de dahhhh there one was...

The Grey seemed surprised to see a Human, actually I think it totally freaked out.  I was really really keen to make proper contact between the TransHuman Alliance and those known as "The People of the Shades"....as no one had found where these people had came from, but they seem to have travelled everywhere.

I remember speaking to the Grey while looking in to his great big eyes for nearly an hour, well, I just guessed it was a him, then suggested another meeting, the computer interpreter seemed to get it right, although it tried to tell me they lived on a giant ring that goes around their sun, a Ringworld..Yeah right, who would build something that unstable!

I explained, or tried to about the Alliance war with Original Earth of 90 years ago and the Chromosomal plague they used against us that caused 1 male birth to 225 female one, (admittedly a clever weapon, but I left out the side effects) that had freaked everyone out, and how the Alliance had manged to stay together.

The word meetings and rishathra seems to have had a number of meanings and I used the "Treaty Celebrations" meaning, and I certainly did say to bring everyone on their ship along.

A bit later..I wanted to make sure I recorded everything, so set up cameras all over my room.

 They didn't turn up, so so annoyed..."Bastards" I thought..I didn't remember to turn off the cameras in my room before I went to bed,
Made sure the Computer reminds me NEVER TO MAKE THAT MISTAKE EVER AGAIN!

 Then they turned up..

One spoke and their Translator beeped out "rishathra time"


WHAT??



Now I have my Diary meta-encrypted but if by any chance there is anyone reading it, stop now and do a word search on rishathra if on the truly bizarre idea you have never heard of it, or heard of  me by now.

GO SEARCH FOR IT.

OK...got it... all rather common now, but ..right...back to the story...

Their ship was a 15 man crew, and remember, I was far from home, not having even seen another human for months..so I thought well..yeah ok, lets get it on, it's not as if I can catch anything, and no one will ever find out.

Seven hours later and we hadn't quite finished. (They had also been in space a LOOONNNGGG time, and you know ...really... so had I).. the station pressure alarm went off...nothing kills the mood like asphyxiation typical isn't it... and then, EVEN MORE TYPICAL they teleported themselves out to their ship, leaving me behind....Male Bastards!!

Oh Crap! crap! crap.. get that suit on now!

Ewwww.. how could I ever forget putting on that emergency spacesuit, the smell! owwww and I needed a shower or three or four. After squelching  making my way through the airlocks..

Diary...should I put squelching?...sounds disgusting...but it was true..just what it sounded like when I walked
ran like hell through the passageways.

 anyway...got to Skittles, had a shower..scrubbed, scrubbed, bit tricky as she was only on battery power....poor old thing..

So later the Greys radioed over a large data file with cultural and navigational information...In my official report I said I got a huge data dump..ohh how they must have laughed rereading it later....

The guest quarters were still sealed due to a radiation leak as well as an air leak, and as I left nothing there of any value, I just waited the day or so until Skittles was ready, set a new course, said goodbyes to the Finginita and left. The Grey Shadians still had a few more days left. I hope they got what they wanted while they where there.

I never did find out who found the cameras, who published that wretched book, but by Thors hammer I will stick them in a box and drop them into a neutron star!!!bastards bastards bastards...

Anyway..yeah a year or so later, after a deep space mission of months away. I get back to the homeplanet

A priority one message said that Admirals Redgrave, Nino, Krauss, and Harley wanted to see me at their earliest convenience, meaning now.

So off I go, and noticed some strange looks on the way into the office. They were waiting for me, Redgrave looked like she was about to burst out laughing, Nino was flicking through some pages of a book..

I couldn't help notice the occasional raised eyebrow, and turning the book on it's side, looking carefully shaking her head,  flipped a page again. Admiral Harley seemed entranced watching her as well.

Then she threw it on the desk in front of me, she said to have a look through it.

"Yes Admiral" I said

It opened at page 20, and I looked, flicked to the next page.Hmmm..she certainly had a strange taste this girl, but does seem to be having a good time, I laughed a bit, and WOW! look at page 48, how does she do that? is that even possible..

Nino said to look at the front cover..

 Frakking Hell...you know that feeling when all the blood leaves your head, your knees go weak, and your about to fall off your stiletto heels....  (I'm about to go through it again just remembering it)..I was just going OMG OMG, OMG, flip flip flip 78 pages of pictures of me!!!and the title of the book "Shockwave Plasma and the 15 Greys from Shade".

As we are now a mostly female society, we have few sexual hangups, but this is like the meanest practical joke ever...

Harleys face is as clear to me now as it was then when she said "Congratulations, your picture book is a best seller"

OH!

She then said, this one was from the Library, and asked if I noticed the borrower comments and pointing arrows on the pictures.

!!!!!! I died...really

She then added "Departments of First Contact, Diplomatic Corps and the Rangers have taken started to use it as a text book. I'm not exactly sure of the context it's being used."

Admiral Redgrave must have bit though her glove...

I'm dismissed, and walk out and hear hysterical laughter just before I close the door..I remember running to the ship...

Diary....did I ever tell you my sister collects them?  yeah...collectors edition are out, and can you believe people send them to me to sign!!!

The messages I got!! Thousands of marriage proposals, job offers, and the occasional offers from surgeons asking if I need anything fixed, after pages 44 and 48 plus 66-69 I can see why they think I might need it... errkkkk. 

Mum just looked and me and said "You will find that porn is the only information that naturally travels faster than light" I said "Really"?   She was right. :-(

My sister had page 48 printed in 3D  "Almost as good as being a Grey"she says...bitch

I have been further from the Homeworld than anyone in the Alliance, and still, The Book is there before me and quite often someone, or something wants to make my acquaintance and waves  hands, suckers and tentacles in my direction to let me know...yeah thanks guys, girls and hirs. 

So what has she sent me?

And here we go, oh yeah....rather cheap version... same cover as always, and a few more endorsements on the back, some are probably even real.

OVER 280 MILLION!!!!!!   annnnddd That's probably about right about now Diary..

You know Diary...at one stage I had to change ships every 3 months because as soon I docked into a new spaceport I would get invites from other ships to "examine the crew"

I couldn't refuse Flash Gordon now could I? yeahhh don't bother...all over in a flash...name well justified..

So whats on the back of this edition?

So excited reading this my plunger snapped
Dalek Thay

We never though she had it in her, but pictures don't lie.
Barbarella

I can't believe how much I learned from this book.
Eccentrica Gallumbits of Eroticon Six.

She never replied to my marriage proposal.
Chewbacca

Now used at StarFleet academy on how not to do first contact
Admiral Janeway

Her reasons for my nickname "Flash" are an utter lie
Flash Gordon

A Frakking good read!
Kara Thrace

At least noone figured out I actually wrote "What to expect, when you don't know what species your expecting" and "Alien Sex and the Single Girl"

Finally...the location of the Ringworld...fake...Bastards!

Ok Diary, we are off to some place called Z'ha'dum, hopefully there will be no trouble. 

What's that screaming? A good many dramatic situations begin with screaming...— Barbarella

Next round of Deviant art picture 2012

So here are my latest commissions from Deviant Art. I still tell them to go with the Barbarella / Space Ranger theme

http://acaciathorn.deviantart.com/

http://lisemo.deviantart.com/

 

http://ahrrie.deviantart.com/

Then http://ahrrie.deviantart.com/ decided to do some clean lines on the sketch, and give me a robot :-)

These were quite inexpensive and I do like getting them done, but I'm trying to justify to myself the cost of more expensive 3D renders, and full colour pictures.  One problem with 3D renders is the face looks much the same in each picture, well at least I think so.

3D printing on the other hand.... 


“Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.” ― Edgar Degas

Holy Redundant Bishops in the Lords

          Britain has been trying reform the House of Lords for nearly a hundred years now, Tony Blair managed to clear out some of the Hereditary Lords with the House of Lords Act 1999, but since then the Governments of the day have managed to fill the upper house with life Peers.

Ever wonder why Tony Blair stopped there, just getting rid off the majority of Heredity Peers? In 1999, immediately before most hereditary peers were removed by the Act, there were 350 Conservative, 19 Labour peers and 23 Liberal Democrat peers. While the Bill was being considered, an amendment was passed which let 92 of the existing hereditary peers remain as Members until the next stage of reform.

The number of Lords is now about 886 while in 1999 there were 1,330, then 666 after the hereditary Peers left.There was a recent flood thanks to David Cameron creating over 100 last year.

 To put it plainly, the Lords is a club for friends of  the political parties. Have you been a Judge, a senior politician, a Banker, a Party donor or climbed to the top of the Anglican church  in England? Then there may be a spot for you in the Lords.

See, it's open to anyone..oh...wait..Anglican Bishops, the Lords Spiritual...looks like they are men only. Awkward....better get rid of them in the name of equality, and there is no real reason than anyone could think of to keep them is there?

So why are they there and why does it matter?

26 Senior Bishops and Archbishops of the Anglican Church (Church of England) get an automatic right to sit the Lords. No elections for them!

On the British Humanists site Holy Redundant they list the common arguments for the continued presence of the Lords Spiritual

1. The Bishops bring a unique ethical and spiritual insight to the affairs of Parliament.  
2. The Bishops speak for all religious opinion.  
3. There are Christians in Britain, so there should be Christians in Parliament. 
4.  The removal of the Bishops would mean the disestablishment of the Church of England. 
5.  Religious representation in Parliament is a good thing, we should widen representation to all faiths
6.  It is only humanists and other non-religious people who are opposed to the Lords Spiritual.

The BHA have given some rather polite answers here on this PDF (because the are nice and polite people)

I have a few different answers 

1) Then Bishop of Carlisle, the Right Reverend Graham Dow said that the July 2007 North Yorkshire floods were punishment for homosexual marriage laws to the Muslim fundamentalist who drove a truckload of explosives into Glasgow airport.

Floods are a Judgement on Society

2) I'm sure the Muslims and the Hindus and the Pastafarians are pleased about this. I would have thought they would have been so pleased to ask the Bishops to lead prayers in their local Mosque/Temple/Pirate Ship? No....

3) I'm quite sure there are lots of Christians in Parliament. David Cameron for example, at least he thinks there should be a Christian Fightback  and he is quite happy to "do God" at Number 10. I'm sure no one forgets Tony Blair deciding to become a Catholic and setting up his Faith Foundation.

4) This is the wrong way around, The Church of England is the State Church, meaning it has a privileged position in the role of the state. I would hope it does get disestablished but you need to do that first, then the Bishops will be removed for certain.

5) The  British Social Attitudes survey is taken every year, with 3000 people being questions on various aspects of living in Britain. The 26th Survey quotes 

There has been a sharp decline in religious faith in Britain, while in America people are much less likely to be atheist or agnostic. Despite this difference, people in Britain and America hold similar views about the place of religion in society. Most people are pragmatic: religion has personal and social benefits, but faith should not be taken too far. From politics to private life, many domains are seen as off limits to clerical involvement.

The 2011 Ipsos MORI poll on behalf the Richard Dawkins Foundation  is given the BRIN (British religion in Numbers) treatment and a relevant quote:

        Only 26% favoured the continuing presence of Anglican bishops in the House of Lords (32% against) and 32% the cost of hospital chaplains being met from NHS budgets (39% opposed)

  BRIN also have a page on the YouGov@Cambridge census of British life and attitudes

 16% agreed and 70% disagreed that Christians and the Church should have more influence over politics in the country – only among the over-55s did the proportion in favour of the proposition scrape above one-fifth.

 Who will represent the 390,000 Jedi? in the UK, the Lords Spiritual? I don't think so. Oddly there are more Jedi than Sikhs or Jewish people in the UK at least according to the Office of National Statistics

So it seems the answer is not to add more people to represent a section of society that is slowly dieing.

6) ICM Research among a representative sample of 1,007 Britons aged 18 and over, contacted by telephone on 10-11 March 2010.

‘Six out of ten Brits think bishops should be booted out of the House of Lords after defeating plans to cap benefits at £26,000 a year.’  (Hmmmm)

Poll from YouGov on the Bishops

So lots to think and read about in the matter of Lords Reform. Britain is not overly good at reforming politics, as we saw with the case for the Proportional vote.


 Different viewpoints on Lords Reform can be found here http://www.lordsreform.org/ , number 53 in interesting, as unsurprisingly the Muslim Council wants a place for minor religions in the Lords (funny that!).
The History of the House of Lords actually is quite interesting and can be read on Wikipedia

More information on Lord Reform can be found on these links:-


http://holyredundant.org.uk/

http://unlockdemocracy.org.uk/pages/elect-the-lords

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2012/jun/27/lords-reform-elected-peers-bill

http://unlockdemocracy.org.uk/media/news/entry/lords-reform-new-research-reveals-the-price-of-patronage

Bishops collecting their £27,000 a year.

I have also heard it said the Bishops bring a moral viewpoint to the Lords. If I was in the Lords, I think I would be insulted. 

‘Representatives of the Church of England will retain the right to sit in the House of Lords by virtue of their faith, denomination, gender and vocation. In a Britain which is not only religiously plural, but also increasingly non-religious, there is absolutely no justification for maintaining the Church of England preferred status. It is an affront to the principles of democracy and equal citizenship.’  BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson