>> ^Payback:

I've had someone try to do that to me. Had a similar reaction too, only I also shoved her away.
There's a second or two of "WTF? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" that kicks in. Then afterwards you feel like such a shmuck, but in those first couple seconds, you really don't know if they are gonna, like, knife you or they have kooties or Ebola or something.
It also doesn't help if you're like me and that sort of nice, cute stuff never happens to you.

Also, if the sexes were reversed, the guy would likely be in prison by now.

I've had someone try to do that to me. Had a similar reaction too, only I also shoved her away.

There's a second or two of "WTF? WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" that kicks in. Then afterwards you feel like such a shmuck, but in those first couple seconds, you really don't know if they are gonna, like, knife you or they have kooties or Ebola or something.

It also doesn't help if you're like me and that sort of nice, cute stuff never happens to you.

>> ^shinyblurry:

God loves everyone, you included, and He does want you around. He doesn't create people He doesn't love. This video completely misses the point on both sides of the issue. The issue that God has with homosexuals is the same issue that He has with any human being. Every single one of us has sinned and have fallen short..and there is no one good, not one. I myself am personally disgusted by all of the prejudice that Christians show homosexuals. It is not what Christ taught, at all. Christ taught us to love one another, and to show that love always. If a Christian treats you like that, they are not following what He said.
>> ^FlowersInHisHair:
As a gay atheist, it doesn't matter a jot to me whether or not the desert god Yahweh "wants me around" or not.
I don't believe we were created by a god in the first place, and since it also supposedly created HIV, snakes, ebola, Uwe Boll, river blindness, periods, earthquakes and asbestos, I don't think an argument based on that god's idea of "good" and "bad" is built on solid ground. So while I appreciate what this guy's trying to do, this argument doesn't move me much.


I don't want to be impolite, because like the fellow in the video I think you mean well, so I'll just say "thanks, but no thanks".

God loves everyone, you included, and He does want you around. He doesn't create people He doesn't love. This video completely misses the point on both sides of the issue. The issue that God has with homosexuals is the same issue that He has with any human being. Every single one of us has sinned and have fallen short..and there is no one good, not one. I myself am personally disgusted by all of the prejudice that Christians show homosexuals. It is not what Christ taught, at all. Christ taught us to love one another, and to show that love always. If a Christian treats you like that, they are not following what He said.

>> ^FlowersInHisHair:
As a gay atheist, it doesn't matter a jot to me whether or not the desert god Yahweh "wants me around" or not.
I don't believe we were created by a god in the first place, and since it also supposedly created HIV, snakes, ebola, Uwe Boll, river blindness, periods, earthquakes and asbestos, I don't think an argument based on that god's idea of "good" and "bad" is built on solid ground. So while I appreciate what this guy's trying to do, this argument doesn't move me much.

As a gay atheist, it doesn't matter a jot to me whether or not the desert god Yahweh "wants me around" or not.

I don't believe we were created by a god in the first place, and since it also supposedly created HIV, snakes, ebola, Uwe Boll, river blindness, periods, earthquakes and asbestos, I don't think an argument based on that god's idea of "good" and "bad" is built on solid ground. So while I appreciate what this guy's trying to do, this argument doesn't move me much.

Preston's books are undoubtedly the most terrifying things I've read in my entire life. Primarily because they're -not- fiction...they're fact, or at worst, novels based almost purely on fact. Ebola, and the other level-5 viruses are just one little mutation away from quite possibly wiping out the human race. All it takes is for a human-infective Ebola bug to mutate into an airborne form...which has already happened with a version that infected monkeys. Thanks to our wonderful worldwide transportation system, such a bug could blanket the world in just a few days.

I like how they all took bottles of "mystery liquid" from "crazy guy" and just started spraying themselves and each other. who knows wtf could have been in there?

Yes, it cures cancer! (side effect: you die from ebola first)

All the panicy plague outbreaks I can remember. Ebola, Lhasa Fever, BSE, the list goes on. And the media stance always is "We don't want to scare anybody but BOOGIEBOOGIEBOO!". The outbreaks are clearly tragic for the people involved and the public should be informed but lets keep the alarmist panicmongering to a realistic minimum please?

Very, very nicely said.

In reply to this comment by Ornthoron:
>> ^chilaxe:
5 words should suffice for anyone who's still parroting that homosexuality isn't natural.

Homosexuality is common in nature.

That is good for refuting some of the fundamentalist's arguments, but this guy cuts even deeper than that. The whole point is that whether something is "natural" or not has no place in a discussion about ethics in general and gay marriage in particular. There are a lot of things we without surround ourselves with that are completely unnatural, and there are many things that are natural that we would rather see extinguished. Ebola is natural, and so are tsunamis. Men are genetically disposed to be more violent than women. The great thing about being human is that we can step above our natural impulses. Whether we should do so or not is completely unrelated to whether the impulses are "natural" or not. The decision has to come from a rational moral discourse. And taking the concept of "natural" out of the picture, that discourse is rather simple in this case: Gay marriage doesn't harm anyone. --> It shouldn't be illegal.

>> ^chilaxe:
5 words should suffice for anyone who's still parroting that homosexuality isn't natural.

Homosexuality is common in nature.

That is good for refuting some of the fundamentalist's arguments, but this guy cuts even deeper than that. The whole point is that whether something is "natural" or not has no place in a discussion about ethics in general and gay marriage in particular. There are a lot of things we without question surround ourselves with that are completely unnatural, and there are many things that are natural that we would rather see extinguished. Ebola is natural, and so are tsunamis. Men are genetically disposed to be more violent than women. The great thing about being human is that we can step above our natural impulses. Whether we should do so or not is completely unrelated to whether the impulses are "natural" or not. The decision has to come from a rational moral discourse. And taking the concept of "natural" out of the picture, that discourse is rather simple in this case: Gay marriage doesn't harm anyone. --> It shouldn't be illegal.

Thanks for this post. I spent the last weekend getting aquainted with dubstep and listened to a lot of it during the week. My basic impression (note: I have neither 18 inch headphones nor do I live in London) is: Great mood, great rhythm, but a bit too repetetive and the soundscape is too sparesely populated for my tastes. It's great to listen to while coding, and kind of relaxing (yeah, other people's dance music is my chill music).

The bastard child of Dubstep and Breakcore does peak my interest, though. Ebola's "Painkillers" (from Mutant Dubstep Vol 1) is currently on heavy rotation in my private soundpool. Looking around for Vol2 and 3 of the mutants. I may report back unless my face is et in the meantime.

>> ^dag:
I'm curious Doc_M - what about tweaking an existing virus like Ebola, and making it more deadly?


It's still extraordinarily complicated. The world's understanding of what makes certain viruses deadly is limited. Figuring out a single detail that makes a virus more deadly than another similar one is worthy of a paper in a TOP journal for sure. Heck, you might very well get a Nobel Prize if it's a slow year. Making certain viruses more dangerous is not trivial, but it is of course possible. BUT, only a completely insane person would want to do it for any reason other than research. (BTW, people actually DO this to some viruses for research, but the safety regulations and precautions used are pretty serious and safe).

Using a "good" virus, that being one that replicates and spreads well, doesn't work well as a weapon simply because it doesn't do much in a small time frame and it would likely spread globally. Using a really deadly virus such as Ebola wouldn't work well simply because it kills so fast that it can't spread well and is EASILY contained, see Africa... every year. The bottom line is that the world has become such that no virus could ever be used as a weapon simply because you'd either kill no one or everyone, everywhere. So don't worry about viral attacks from anyone. It is just too risky and complicated. Recombinant viruses honestly make better medicine than they do weapons. Don't believe "I am Legend"-style rumors. lol.

Bacteria on the other hand... scary crap.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I'm curious Doc_M - what about tweaking an existing virus like Ebola, and making it more deadly?

The humans are curable with a nice ebola vaccine.

I intend to record the following and require in my will that it be my cell-phone voice-mail message for 5 years following my oh-so-unfortunate demise hopefully by way of ninja assassins or at least ebola.

"Thank you for calling but, I've passed on! I am no more! I have ceased to be! I've expired and gone to meet my maker! I'm a stiff! Bereft of life, I
rest in peace! I'm pushing up the daisies! My metabolic processes are now history! I'm off the twig! I've kicked the bucket, I've shuffled off this mortal coil, run down the curtain and joined the bleeding choir invisible!! I AM AN EX-PARROT... I mean, I AM AN EX-HUMAN!!"