did this get done yet?

new myth to bust

nalgene
catsup
thermite
ethanol
caffeine
hampsters
guns

pekingese dog sleds
exploding toasters
cow tipping
free energy levitation made at home
exploding pinto’s
stop, drop and roll

bloody marry
bloody marry
bloody marry

gasoline melting structural steel
deadly chicken bacteria
6 crackers in 1 minute
exploding tomato paste
soda that stains teeth and faeces
dog’s mouth cleaner
tennis ball or cellphone unlocking car
pressurised human exploding

traffic signals
free energy
fainting goats
over unity
floating beer
perpetual motion
bra burning

bologna on a car hood
reflection from the eye
man on the moon
penny from the empire state
finger in the barrel
grape in a microwave
shot in a crucifix
voices of dead on tape
soap in the sheets
cellphone on a plane on a treadmill

did this get done yet?

– a selection of questions from the MythBusters Fan Forum, where fans can post suggestions for future shows.

disposable planet

The earth we inhabit
is not a permanent planet.
It is, frankly, a disposable planet —
it is going to have a very short life.
It’s been around six thousand years
or so — that’s all —
and it may last
a few thousand more.
And then the Lord
is going to destroy it.

I’ve told environmentalists that if
they think humanity
is wrecking the planet,
wait until they see
what Jesus does to it.

This earth was never
ever intended to be
a permanent planet —
it is not eternal.
We do not have to
worry about it being around
tens of thousands, or
millions, of years from now
because God is going to create
a new heaven and a new earth.

– John McArthur: Evangelicalism and the Environmental Movement

word prospects

conflicts of interest aborted initiatives for the deployment of american democracy

thank you for the victors!

what happened in qana a crime against humanity

israel takes innocent lost comet

the implants do not derive only wind storm

allow re-deployment and use of any article on the site, provided the source is appropriate

— from today’s front page at aafaq.org. Translated from Arabic by Google Translate (beta)

ridicule the fraidy-cats

So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds,
but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it.

Lord, let your laughter ring forth.
Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats,
rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce.

And when you get through kickin’ ass
and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight,
be sure to tell those who come after
how much fun it was.

– Molly Ivins (1944-2007), Texan political commentator and author.

five minutes fast

Dear Mark,

That is a big “if”.
Economists frequently explain
eccentric behaviour with
a model of two
rational agents
in one body,
battling to
outwit each other.

To summarise:
you have a split personality,
a warped view of time and
are too lazy to do
simple sums.

Now put down this magazine:
I suspect you are
running late for
something.

— Tim Harford, Five Minutes Fast (excerpt), Dear Economist column, Financial Times Magazine, 20 Jan 2007. Response to a question about setting one’s watch five minutes fast.

honor and order in your own house

From the opportunities which fate
and my fellow citizens have given me,
as a Member of the House,
as Vice President and President of the Senate,
and as President of all the people,
I have come to understand
and place the highest value
on the checks and balances
which our founders imposed on government
through the separation of powers among co-equal
legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

This often results in difficulty and delay,
as I well know,
but it also places supreme authority
under God, beyond any one person,
any one branch, any majority great or small,
or any one party.

The Constitution is the bedrock
of all our freedoms.
Guard and cherish it,
keep honor and order in your own house,
and the Republic will endure.

— Gerald R Ford (1913-2006), from his final State of the Union address (01/1977), shortly after losing the Presidential election to Jimmy Carter.

a visual kit for the blood of jesus

Crown of Thorns

One Crucifixion Nail
Cat of Nine Tails Whip
Tabernacle Felt Set

Life-size Latex Heart Model
Kids Discover Magazine on Blood
Scarlet Cord with Tassels

Cardboard Ark of the Covenant
Cardboard Brazen Altar
Instructions to Make High Priest Costume

Instructions to Make a Temple Veil
Chef’s cap for High Priest’s Crown
Judge’s Gavel

Simplicity Patterns for Bible costumes

– contents of A Visual Kit for the Blood of Jesus, on sale at Kids In Ministry.

HIV and Bears

Nobody who has seen a baby born can believe in God for a second.

When you see your child born,
and the panic, and
the amount of technology,
that is saving the lives of the two
people you love most in the world;
when you see how much
stainless steel and money it takes,
to fight off the fact that
God wants both those people dead,
no-one can look in to the eyes
of a newborn baby
and say there is a God.

If we were squatting in the woods,
the two people I love
most would be dead;
there’s just no way around that.

If I were in charge, no way:
we need technology
to fight against Nature.
Nature so wants us dead,
Nature is trying to kill us.

The natural things
in this world
are
HIV and Bears.

– Penn Jillette, on Penn Radio, Free FM, Nov. 22 2006

purpose in life

We do not think there is a purpose of life.
If there were, that would cheapen life,
making us tools or slaves of a master.

We think there is purpose in life.
As long as there are
problems to solve,
hunger to feed,
illness to cure,
pain to lessen,
inequality to eradicate,
oppression to resist,
knowledge to gain,
and beauty to create,
there will be meaning in life.

A college student once asked Carl Sagan:
“What meaning is left, if
everything I’ve been taught
since I was a child
turns out to be untrue?”

Carl looked at him
and said,
“Do something meaningful.”

If you want to be
a good, kind person,
then . . . be
a good, kind person.

– Dan Barker (Freedom From Religion Foundation): Salvation

awe hardly tapped

How is it that
hardly any major religion
has looked at science and
concluded,

‘This is better than we thought!
The Universe is much bigger
than our prophets said,
grander,
more subtle,
more elegant’?

Instead they say,

‘No, no, no!
My god is a little god,
and I want him
to stay that way.’

A religion,
old or new,
that stressed the
magnificence of the
Universe as revealed by
modern science
might be able
to draw forth
reserves of reverence
and awe hardly tapped
by the conventional faiths.

— Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot