Religion And Extremism

 General, Religion  No Responses »
Mar 152016
 

This post was inspired by a video of someone’s testament of why they are leaving islam, but yet it has nothing to do with islam.

There is a perfectly understandable misunderstanding within that video – the extremism commonly found in islam today has nothing to do with islam itself. The same extremism can be found in other religions too – christianity, hinduism, budhism, judaisn, etc. Yes the perception is that islam today is far more extreme than those other religions, but there are still extremism in other religions :-

It seems that irrespective of what religion someone believes in, they will take the message from their religious texts that they want to. A good person is going to take the good stuff from the good book; a bad person is going to take the bad stuff from the very same book. I would not go as far as Steven Weinburg :-

Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion.

But it is certainly along the right sort of lines. Extremists use religion as an excuse to do evil things – killing homosexuals, abortionists, atheists, “immoral” women, etc. If we could somehow cause all the extremists of the world to drink the magical cool-aid that would turn off their extremism and turn them into the kind of religious believers who “love thy neighbour”, then there wouldn’t be a problem with religion.

But the sad fact is that extremists do so much harm with their religion that it outweighs any possible benefit we get from religion. We would be better off getting rid of religion just to stop the extremists from pretending to be good.

Everyday Annoyances: Pedestrians On The Wrong Side Of The Road

 General  No Responses »
Feb 162016
 

I might sound a bit like a car driver with this one, but one of those every day annoyances is when walking on a road where there is no pavement (sidewalk for you Americans). It is perfectly reasonable to walk on the road where there is no pavement – many of the roads date back to before cars, but you have to do it right. And frankly the number of pedestrians that know the right side of the road to walk along is surprisingly small.

Not only are there rules about the right side of the road to walk on, but walking on the wrong side of the road makes it more dangerous for other pedestrians.

Walking on the right might seem wrong at first appearances because it is the left side of the road we usually use. And once you try the right, you realise just why it makes sense – you can keep an eye on the traffic flow closest to you, so you can make a quick dive into the hedge if necessary. And yes I’ve had to do that in the past.

And to quote the Highway Code :-

If there is no pavement, keep to the right-hand side of the road so that you can see oncoming traffic. You should take extra care and

  • be prepared to walk in single file, especially on narrow roads or in poor light
  • keep close to the side of the road.

It may be safer to cross the road well before a sharp right-hand bend so that oncoming traffic has a better chance of seeing you. Cross back after the bend.

So don’t be stupid, selfish, or a danger to others and walk on the right.

2015-06-18 17.10.16

Vaping and Diacetyl/Popcorn Lung …

 General  No Responses »
Dec 112015
 

There is a chemical (Diacetyl) sometimes found in the liquid that e-cigarettes use (or e-liquid for vaping), and there is a new “scare” about it’s presence in e-liquids. Which is hardly new news to serious vapers.

Nobody has demonstrated that diacetyl is dangerous in e-liquids.

What has been demonstrated is that diacetyl (which is very commonly used in the food industry as a flavouring) can potentially cause a condition called “popcorn lung” in people working with powdered diacetyl. It is obviously a very serious condition, but is also very rare.

Finding diacetyl in e-liquids is obviously not good, but it has been known about for at least a year and most respectable manufacturers are changing to alternative flavourings. What is not mentioned in the mainstream media is that smoking results in 10-100 times as much diacetyl being inhaled – if the potential for diacetyl in vaping is bad, then the certainty of diacetyl in smoke is worse.

Should e-liquid manufacturers stop using diacetyl? It is not certain that diacetyl in e-liquids is harmful, but it makes sense for manufacturers to remove it – which is what many of them have been doing!

Should vapers give up and risk going back to smoking? Well, no of course. Even ignoring all the other health risks associated with smoking, the risk associated with diacetyl is almost certainly far greater with smoking than with vaping.

Should vapers choose e-liquids that do not have diacetyl? That makes a great deal of sense, and there are plenty of choices out there.

To use a phrase used elsewhere: The safest way to vape is not to vape at all. But it doesn’t make sense to stop vaping if that puts you at risk of going back to smoking.

Bystanders? Worry about diesel pollution first.

And you don’t have to believe me; there are plenty of others suspicious of the new study :-

 

No, Muslims Are Not Terrorists

 General, Religion  No Responses »
Nov 142015
 

One of the worst examples of muddle-headed thinking you can come across on the interwebs in the wake of the latest terrorist attrocities is the notion that somehow Islam is a religion of terrorism. Now don't get me wrong; I'm no friend of any religion, and Islam has some particularly loathsome aspects (it's treatment of women amongst them). 

But to claim that Islam is all about terrorism is to ignore the mathematics of the situation; there are 1.5 billion muslims in the world yet only a miniscule minority are terrorists. If Islam really is a religion of terrorism, then there are an immense number of poor muslims out there.

The critcis of Islam will point out that the Qu'ran has phrases like :-

…slay the pagans wherever ye find them

And that is true, but it also has phrases like :-

whosoever killeth a human being for other than manslaughter or corruption in the earth, it shall be as if he had killed all mankind, and whoso saveth the life of one, it shall be as if he had saved the life of all mankind.

Most "holy" books are like this – you can pull out pretty much pull out a justification for anything you want. Any that applies to christians, hindus, sikhs, and just about anybody else. There are good and bad relgious people; bad religious people will support terrorism and good religious people will condemn it.

Yes there are some muslim terrorists and it would be helpful if moderate muslims would declare that the terrorists who commit acts in the name of Islam to be apostates. No other words are likely to have as large an effect as their co-religionists to formally kick them out of the mosque.

There are those who also claim that all terrorists are muslims which is just laughable; there have been many groups that have resorted to terrorism over the centuries. In fact if you analyse terrorist attacks in Europe up until the year 2010, the overwhelming majority were for causes other that Islam :-

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