National Geographic - Judas!

The Gospel of Judas is a recently translated and published discovery detailing a different account of the last days of Jesus.  It is an account that is in direct contrast to what is commonly considered to be the accepted stories of the crucifixion of Jesus.

In 180 A.D. Irenaeus’ Adversus haereses (Against Heresies) sought to suppress and destory all known copies of the Gospel of Judas and any other works of the Gnostics.  Ironically, Irenaeus’ written records of the search for and the destruction of the Gospel of Judas are part of the rationale that the National Geographic researchers used as evidence that this was in fact a “lost” Gospel of Judas.

Things that are strikingly different to commonly accepted beliefs of Christianity include: 

1. Judas helped fulfill Jesus’ wishes and final passage to the afterlife,

2. Judas was the only disciple, as determined by Jesus, who would reach the immortal realm beyond what humanity can comprehend.

3. The “God” worshipped by all of Christianity is actually named “Nebro”, or “Rebel” and he is a minor, petty god – which is why there is such widespread chaos and destruction in the world.

4. Most people on earth do not have souls and will just die.  The only people whose souls will survive death are those who understand and are aware of the immortal realm.

So we have a lost Gospel in which Jesus openly laughs at his disciples for their ignorance and their worship of a false god, he repeatedly tells them they are all doomed, and even the one disciple (Judas) who attempts to truly understand Jesus is forced to look away when he attempts to stand before him in strength.

It’s really no surprise that Irenaeus wanted a Gospel like this suppressed.  How could the church explain something that contradicts what they want the world to believe?  Indeed, how can the church explain anything that is contradictory to Christian beliefs?

How can one claim to belong to a religion of peace, yet support war?  How can one claim to belong to a religion that is moral and just, yet molests children?  How can a religion demand freedom of expression and protections from governments, yet suppress ideas that conflict with their “standard” teachings?

The one thing that the Gospel of Judas really teaches us is that Christianity has been suppressing contradictory religious ideologies since the days of Jesus.

Movement in Physical Space and Through Time is Shared

I just began reading the book “The Elegant Universe” by Brian Greene as suggested by E and Nikki.  I’ve really enjoyed it so far and it’s allowed me to get my head around some aspects of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity that I’ve understood only fleetingly before.  I’m still early in the book (I read many books at the same time and very slowly) and already I’ve had a really revelatory moment and I’d like to share that with everybody.

As we all know time moves more slowly the faster we move.  This has been experimentally proven and has been something I’ve always just accepted but never understood.  In his book Brian Greene does an exceptional job of explaining this phenomenon…  and it goes a little something like this, hit it:

There are three physical dimensions (up-down, left-right and forward-back).  Time represents a fourth dimension, for example if I want to meet you somewhere not only do I have to tell you where (physically) but also when (where in time).  Of course we all know what speed we travel through our physical universe 75 mph is common on a highway, but Einstein said we are also moving at a particular speed through time and that speed is the speed of light (I don’t think there is experimental evidence for this but there may be).  So as I sit here typing this and as you sit there reading this we are shooting from second to second at the speed of light.  Einstein also told us that nothing can move faster than the speed of light (there is experimental evidence for this) which means that as we sit zipping through time we are traveling at maximum speed.  If we get our heads back into our more easily understood three dimensions we know that moving in one particular dimension (left-right) at five miles an hour gives us a speed of…  five miles per hour.  If we start moving in another direction at five miles per hour (forward-back) we have to add both speeds together to get our total speed which would be ten miles an hour.  Since time is a dimension as are our other directions we need to consider the speed at which we travel in that direction (forward through time) and add that to the speed at which we are traveling through the other dimensions.  So now we’re moving five miles per hour in one dimension (left-right) and we’re moving at the speed of light in another dimension (through time).  To calculate how fast we’re moving we’d need to add the two speeds together which gives us the speed of light plus 5 miles per hour.  Here’s the rub:  We can’t move any faster than the speed of light (there is experimental evidence for this) so there is no way to add that 5 miles per hour to it.  Therefore we have to slow down a little bit from our light speed travel through time, thus we move the speed of light minus five miles per hour through time, or we could say that we are moving through time more slowly than someone not moving five miles per hour.  Of course the faster we go the more we need to subtract from our speed of travel through time all the way up to moving at the speed of light in which case we would have to subtract the speed of light from our travel through time which would mean that we would cease traveling through time and for us moving that fast time would stop.

That’s the big thing that I’ve learned from this book so far.  I’m curious to know if any more sciencey-minded people than me find this to be a solid characterization of what occurs.  Also, I’d like to know if there is any experimental evidence for the speed in which we move through time or if that’s something Einstein deduced and we just accept.

For a good time read…

There’s a new craze sweeping the reading world…romantica. These aren’t your mother’s romance novels. They’re romance novels with a naughty twist, namely numerous and explicit sex scenes. The language is straightforward, with none of the usual romance novel euphemisms for body parts. You won’t find any “pearl”, or “flower” or “manhood” here-it’s cunt and cock in these books, with no apologies. And it’s not just plain-old vanilla sex either. Ellora’s Cave, one of the most popular romantica publishers, has these genres and themes listed, among others: Capture/Bondage, Menage a Trois or More, Gay/Lesbian and Ruebenesque. But unlike erotica, which generally consists of short stories that are often just porn, romantica novels are full-length, with attention paid as closely to plot and characterization as it is to the sex.

At the moment, romantica is mostly available online. Ellora’s Cave does publish some of their books, but the large majority of publishers use e-books. I don’t know if this due to the hesitancy of bookstores or book buyers. I’ve heard a few stories from people who work at bookstores that their managers, corporation, etc., don’t like the idea of having them for sale. Outright porn is fine, apparently, because it can be placed in the “sex and relationships” section, but something the hovers in a gray area between fiction and romance is a little too…risky. I personally think it has something to do with the fact that it isn’t “okay” for women to enjoy reading about sex. But my thoughts on our patriarchal society and it’s disdain for sexually liberated women are best left for another post. Needless to say, it doesn’t seem to matter how the books are presented, because people are definitely buying.

I am such a person.

Imagine this scenario: you pick up a romance novel. You’re honest with yourself-you’re not expecting Pulitzer Prize-winning work here. You’re just looking for an easy read, something nice to slip into like flannel pajamas. But the romances you’ve read in the past are so…dated. It’d be nice to read a story where the heroine wasn’t a complete idiot, who spends half her time quivering over how Lord Cucumberinhispants brushes against her sleeve while they dine with 95 other couples. And for once, OH GOD FOR ONCE, it would be nice to read a book where the heroine wasn’t an innocent and naïve virgin, or a widow whose husband was evil or abusive or gay or an evil, abusive gay. That’s where romantica comes in. It’s refreshing. It’s blunt. It’s fun in a way that traditional romance novels aren’t.

There are some really fabulous authors out there, one of which I’ll recommend for you. I also have these books, so if anyone wants to borrow one, let me know.

My favorite author is Shelly Laurenston. I love her writing. She writes about shape shifters (werewolves, vampires, dragons, tigers….just think of an animal and someone’s written a book about it, I guarantee it), which is super popular right now in the romance novel world. But the best part about her books are the main female characters. They’re awesome and ass-kicking, and they always always always have great female friends.

Here’s a little excerpt from Pack Challenge:

It was Angelina’s innocent “I had so much fun tonight” while they were driving home that Sara couldn’t take the pressure anymore.

“I’M A WHORE!” she screeched.

Miki hit the brakes of the white pickup, causing the vehicle to fishtail. It stopped in the middle of the deserted highway.

The three friends sat in the vehicle, not moving, not speaking. They stared out at the big star-filled Texas sky.

Miki, her hands still gripping the steering wheel, glanced over at Sara. “You’re not wearing any underwear, are you?“

Sara let out a strangled squeal and buried her hand in her hands.

Angelina and Miki burst out laughing.

“Bitches”, Sara muttered.

Shelly’s books Pack Challenge, Go Fetch! and Here Kitty, Kitty! are three in a series and I love each one of them. I also love To Challenge A Dragon, which has a sequel coming out May 16^th. Seriously. Read these.

I think everyone who has ever loved romance novels but found themselves looking for something…more, should check out romantica.

Ivy League Scam-Artist

Kaavya Viswanathan cheated.

Is competition to get into an Ivy-League school fierce? Yes. Should it be? Maybe…but maybe not. This teen “prodigy” who signed her book deal for over six figures now is being dragged through the mud for publishing plaigerized work.

I believe she should be punished severely.

She should get tossed out of Harvard. If Harvard cared at all about academic integrity and ethics, they would expel her.

But I also think that her Publisher should be punished. In their zeal for profiteering, they rushed to market a book by an unknown.

How did she even land a book deal? I find it hard to believe that she randomly landed a book deal for over six-figures. I doubt she went and bought Writer’s Market 2005 and sent off letters and samples and just got lucky.

It’s too bad. Now book publishers will be less likely to take risks on young, unkown authors. All they really needed to do was proof-read her book before rushing it to market.

Now, everyone loses.

Gmail Users: Unwitting Google Talk Spammers?

I use Google. I use Gmail. I use Froogle. I use Google Images. I use Google’s homepage thingy (which doesn’t seem to have a name). I use Google Talk. Overall, I love the Google, but somehow the Gmail + Google Talk combo has left me with a bad taste in my mouth over the past couple of days. Allow me to explain…

Apparently, I have been spamming contacts from Gmail to start using Google Talk. It’s not that I wouldn’t recommend Google Talk, but somehow friends of mine are receiving fake emails from my Gmail account trumpeting the greatness of Google Talk. Here’s the message that I supposedly sent to my friend Jaime:

Hey Jaime, this is the fakest message you ever got. I use Google Talk.
You should too.

That seems like something that I might write, if I was going to suggest Google Talk. I’ll admit, I will email people while blindly drunk, so I thought that maybe I actually wrote that message. But then here’s the message I supposedly sent my friend Justine:

hey j.
I dunno why you’re still old schoolin’ with the msn, but the cool kids are over on gmail. I have a million invites, and I’m givin them out left and right (but not tonight—elp!! I”m being tortured! My punctuation points are being1!*%#^&)

There is no way in hell that I would write that shit. I only found out about this whole thing by chatting with Justine last week, and she randomly mentioned that she downloaded Google Talk after my last email message on said topic. I had no idea what she was talking about, so I dismissed it at the time, but this morning I was doing some serious Gmail message sorting and came across this supposed missive IN MY SENT MAIL! Google is inviting people to Google Talk on my behalf, pretending to be me, and is giving me the luxury of perusing the fake emails that I’ve sent.

I don’t know what the hell is going on here. This is so un-Google. If anyone has any information on this practice, I’d love to hear it. This is a wonderful example of the type of unauthorized access that the Gmail Privacy Policy says they’re protecting us against.

Edit: I cannot prove or disprove anything that I mention in the text above. As you’ll see in the comments below, I cannot prove that this is a real issue. I think it is, but that does not matter. Readers will notice that I added a ? to the end of the original article.

Any Bad Books Lately?

I am currently reading The President’s Assassin by Brian Haig. This is a book loaned to me by my boss and while it is almost interesting in a Beltway-Insider sort of perspective, I find the machismo and the general attitude of the lead character to be trite and predictable.

It’s too bad, because the book has a pretty exciting premise - sort of a challenge for wackos and the author creates a forty-eight hour window that the investigators have to prevent the title of the book from coming to fruition.

I just don’t like the book much due to the general sexism and arrogance of the lead character. I am sure I will find a defining moment where the REAL kinder, gentler nature of this edgy investigator is revealed. When I find it in the book, I will be sure to vomit accordingly.

On another note…I was too young to pay attention to the assassination of John Lennon, but I distincly recall John Hinckley’s attempt on the President in 1981. As an up-and-coming 10-year old, I remember thinking how weird it was that they would use two swear words followed by a third word to describe someone who kills someone else for any reason. You can even make it a question followed by a command: Ass? Ass? In!

*urf*

How to: get Free Audiobooks Illegally!

Yes we all know that you can get lots of audio books legally from sites like iTunes and Audible.com, but it can be expensive and dealing with DRM can be a real problem if you use Linux or other equally awesome operating systems. Until there is a way for Linux users to download audio books, there is only one good way to get them, and so I feel no guilt (maybe a little) about posting a quick how-to for all those who enjoy curling up an listening to a good audio book on their iPod.
The key to getting audio books painlessly is to use one of the oldest Internet traditions, the newsgroup. Long ago news groups were really cool, and many of the great Internet sites got their starts their (including cool sites like imdb.com). Now-a-days they are plagued by huge amounts of crap and Spam, some of which is very, very work “unsafe”. But as news groups have become a thing of the past many use them to anonymously post all sorts of good stuff, from video games to full length moves. The best thing in my opinion is the audio books, which have a very lively community of posters. Here is what you need to start bookin’ it…
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