Korea - First Floor Cafe - Dongtan wildlife

Now here are a few pics of the pheasant taken this winter when he would come right down to our back door looking for seed! Both pictures were taken through the window so the quality suffers a little!

Korea - First Floor Cafe - Dongtan Hwaseong city

The pheasant pair are up the hill about 20 meters from our back-door.

The male is a frequent visitor while the female, being small and very well camouflaged, we have only seen on 3 or 4 occasions over the past two years. This picture was taken on May 1, 2011. For a few mornings prior and mornings after they had both visited our side of the mountain.

Korea - First Floor Cafe - Dongtan Hwaseong city

Living on the first floor here really has its up-side...wild animals, birds, a garden and the ability to bar-b-que!

We moved here a little less than two years ago...and I started coloring the local 'mountain' ... (the first picture).These are black-eyed susans planted in early August 2009. Daylilies are in the foreground. The second and third photos were taken today- July 10, 2011.

Why I like Santa Claus....
Christmas for me these days is a time for reflection; to overcome the latest existential crisis brought on by the weakening sun and to be re-energized once again. I think I've decided this year to start supporting the Santa Claus myth.. Here's what I'm thinking:
Evolutionary biologists argue that our capacity for faith develops among young children as an efficient way of transmitting vital cultural information: parent says:"Johnny don't play in the traffic" or long ago "Johnny don't eat those berries" or even earlier "Johnny don't play with that bear".... If Johnny obediently accepts this he is more likely to contribute to the gene pool of the next generation. If he doesn't accept this advice on face value his genes are not likely to make it to the next generation. Evolution favours children who listen to their parents.
Religion perverts this innate childish capacity by attempting to extend it to adults. Unlike the Jesus, Yahweh, or Mohammad myths, the Santa myth disappears when the child reaches the age of reason and unlike the former three, one is not threatened with consequences when one drops it.

Some clarity

The human enterprise of religion attempts to convince us that we can not know all the answers. Those who accept this premise call this faith. Then, of course they turn around and tell us they have all the answers. Talk about setting up false idols?

We are all ignorant. Those with faith are willfully so.

Those without faith are moving away from ignorance. Those with faith embrace it. And that, probably, is the ultimate immorality.

Finally some pictures from Canada

Covered bridge in Wakefield

Malca and Grant in Ottawa

Malca at Hogsback

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Jou Ok, and clear blue skies above the Niagara Escarpment. July 15, 2008

On boycotts....

Let's boycott! That'll really help the Tibetans. And then when they are free from Chinese rule they'll be able to celebrate that they are priest-ridden ( in this case it should be 'monk'-ridden.) What a great leap forward!

Next we should boycott the winter games in Vancouver in 2010! Why? you ask. Well there is precedent here. Remember the 1980 games in Moscow? Western nations boycotted those games because the USSR had 'invaded' Afghanistan. Actually, they'd been invited in by the 'puppet' regime in Kabul to put down the insurgents.
If this seems familiar well it is. We weren't exactly invited in by the regime in 2002 but we went anyways. And now we have our puppets in there and we are battling the insurgents. So seriously for the same reasons that we boycotted Moscow in 1980 we should boycott Vancouver in 2010 and I expect Canada to be the first in line!

New post with comments allowed...maybe....

Teddy Bear Jesus

For those not familiar with religious iconography from the top left let me introduce these bears: Jesus Bear, Mohammad Bear, Yahweh Bear, and Buddha Bear. My apologies to the many Hindus who read my blog but there really are too many gods to represent.

Teddy Bears’ Manifesto

Teddy Bears Unite! You have nothing to lose but your names!
For too long now human chauvinists have usurped our birthright. Since the name ‘teddy bear’ first crawled out of the primordial alphabet soup of the Ideal Novelty and Toy Company (circa 1902) humans have insisted on naming us. They sought to control us through providing us with human-like names.
But now they have gone too far! Mohammad Bear! What’s next? Jesus Bear, Buddha Bear, Yahweh Bear, Shiva Bear?

Take back your right. “My name is Bear.”

http://www.teddybearbuddha.com/

http://www.teddybearmohammad.com/

http://www.teddybearshiva.com/

http://www.teddybearyahweh.com/

Gotcha....

Holy shit there is actually a site!!!! http://www.teddybearjesus.com/

Aren't we thinking people tired of religious minorities all over the world trying to sanction, persecute, torture, and otherwise disparage rational individuals? What is faith if not a set of beliefs in something essentially unknowable?

It is time for all of us to stand up for humanity, for reason, and rational discourse that excludes that which we cannot know.

Here is a cool link:

http://www.atheists.org/nogodblog/index.php/2007/11/28/the_war_on_xmas_has_begun