Parody

This is pretty good…

Google today announced that its founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, have teamed up with Richard Branson of Virgin to form “Project Virgle,” a project to form the first permanent human colony on Mars. Read more.

We’ve been watching reruns of “Millennium” on the Chiller channel, and just saw “Jose Chung’s Doomsday Defense," about the fictional religion of “Selfosophy.” This episode was written by Darin Morgan, who also wrote “The X-Files” episode, “Jose Chung’s From Outer Space," one of the best shows of that series. Fantastic. The opening sequence can be seen here. One big difference between Selfosophy and Scientology–the Selfosophists give the visiting cops copies of the Selfosophy book. Scientologists would have made them pay for it. Charles Nelson Reilly, who played Jose Chung, just died last May. I was pleased to see that they worked a clip from the crazy Sid and Marty Krofft TV series “Lidsville” into the opening story of Selfosophy. Too bad they didn’t also include a reference to “Uncle Croc’s Block," which inspired me to some childhood musical creativity.

The Onion has the story. The part about Jews for Jesus splitting into three groups is priceless.

(Thanks, Jami!) Danny Boy, FCD (2007-10-01): *blush*My, that is kinda intense. I never noticed the level of profanity in Casino before, maybe I'm too used to Joe Pesci's mobster routine. Lippard (2007-10-03): Or maybe it's the contrast with Bert and Ernie that makes it stand out...

From the Adult Swim series “Moral Orel,” a song by the Crucifolks, “Reason is the Enemy of Faith”: Reason is the enemy of faith, my friend A head that's filled with knowledge soon is too bloated with its own weight to fit through heaven's gate So think with your heart it's the only organ for salvation think with your heart don't deduce yourself to eternal damnation think with your heart 'cause you know that the almighty sees us think only with your heart whoever heard of the bleeding brain of Jesus? think only with your heartMore on Moral Orel here. UPDATE (October 4, 2007): The comments on this post got way off track from what this song is saying, with olvlzl riding his own hobbyhorses to the extent that I think he completely missed the point. When he says to me, "If you don't agree with the song lyrics, I'm glad to hear it," I can only wonder if he bothered to read them. The lyrics are parody, expressing an extreme Christian anti-intellectualism that sees not only education but reason itself as something evil and in opposition to faith that must be avoided at all costs. Of course I disagree with that, as does anyone who values reason. What makes it funny is the extreme to which it takes the view--but what makes it disturbing is that there are anti-intellectual Christians who see knowledge and attempting to seek it as evil practices. They are the sort who say that all the knowledge they need is in the Bible (and these are often the King James Version only sorts, as well), so there is no need to read anything else. olvlzl, by contrast, is looking at the reverse position, that there is no need for faith. But that's not what the song is about, or what "Moral Orel" is about. olvlzl (2007-10-03): Ok, I expect everyone here who holds this belief, and it is a belief, but more about that in a minute - anyway, I expect that all of you rigorous rationalists will hold absolutely no ideas which you have not entirely proven or demonstrated with sufficient rigor so as to be the product of reason. If you do you are guilty of the intellectual crime of faith. No idea of which you have not mastered the proof can be held without it being to a greater or lesser extent the product of faith. That include the faith that scientists, who even as a group have demonstrated their fallibility, have gotten those particular ideas right. And, most of all, I expect you will hold no ideas about which no physical evidence exists since literally any idea you accept about them will be the product of some kind of faith. Atheism is a statement of faith about something which can't be known, at least it is when it asserts as a fact that there not a God or anything supernatural instead of the entirely, rock solid and honest statement "I don't believe there is a God". There is no assertion that can be made for or against the idea of a supernatural God which is not the product of reliance on that which can't be known, faith. Every single person who has an active mind relies on ideas held on the basis of faith. If this ditty is correct, then reason doesn't exist, at least not in human beings. ...

Similar to the woman who took a picture of herself every day for three years and Noah who took a picture of himself every day for six years, Ben did something similar…

These guys are good. (Hat tip to Pharyngula.)

Websurdity asks some uncomfortable questions… (Via An Information Security Place.)