And the Plot Moistens

A little funny tidbit from the forums:

A Present from Jo…

She didn’t draw this although as someone said to me, it does sort of look like her in the face. None the less I find this drawing to be incredible and I am interested in finding out who drew it and if they have anymore stuff because I am interested in learning a style similar to this to draw small things with.

Click it to make it bigger, of course. But the thing is that the line work there is gorgeous and the coloring style, the eyes and everything about it is amazing.

Jo had the picture in her MSN avatar. When I saw it, there was just a face. When I asked to see more Jo, in her adorably classy cute fashion told me, “Okay, but there’s boobs…”

I really had to laugh at that but it didn’t matter, I don’t consider something like this porn, but it is a damn good drawing. It reminds me of someone Deviant Art, only its cleaner line wise.

Other little pieces of note, this Obi-Wan I found while hunting for a set:

Pretty nice I would have to say (click to see bigger) But it makes me wonder, how the hell do I learn to draw like this. I should have never stopped drawing as much. Gah.

It Bears Repeating

"...they'll talk about the odd, but they won't talk about the impossible, which is where I feel sorry for them, for soon as something becomes impossible it slip slides out of belief entirely, whether its true or not."

This is a quote from the book American Gods which I read a while ago, its by Neil Gaiman and I think that the quote says a lot about our scientific community and society as a whole. It needs to be posted somewhere and shown to the world.

Looks like I might have to start watching Dr. Who…

With the coming of the new Doctor (I have never watched the show but I understand this to be true) there comes a new helper apparently and this is her:

And I think we can all see what I mean here with me needing to actually start watching this show. Besides that there seems to be a good number of my friends who are hooked on it. That coupled with a gorgeous redhead is enough to get me to at least try a show.

There are still other shows out there I can’t bring myself to watch. Such as Heroes. I never got the obsession people had with it but when I saw the beginning I thought it was mundane.

Thought

There’s not a lot going on…outwardly with my right now, anyway. There are questions. What do I do now? Where do I go next? Confusion seems easily come by but that’s something that can be said almost any time you think about making big changes. It’s not just the change that keeps us from moving forward, its the fear of things going badly. After all, if we all knew that something would be better, for sure and certain. We’d jump at the chance to do it.

That’s the issue I face right now. Uncertainty is the wall that pretty much blocks change. If I could know for sure that this would turn out right, I would run with it. I would change everything to fall in line with what I can’t seem to get over and I would do it now.

After all, if I knew it would be for the best, why would I hesitate?

I thought for a second today that something was clearer. I thought I could just close my eyes and fall backwards into all of this and it would all work itself out in the end. I don’t know what was wrong with me because I know I thought wrong.

Some things just require careful consideration.

Enjoy the Silence

Just wanted to relay the message to everyone that I actually have rediscovered my love of some older songs today. Or this morning rather, it was sort of on accident that I just let a particular mix of iTunes stuff play and that it happened to be pretty much every song I missed and ever wanted to hear again.

So now I am making CDs and making plans and thinking of ways to better spend my time over the next few days. I will still be around but I really need to do something about this novel, its collecting dust on my desk and its begging me to read it.

First Time

The time had come for colds and overcoats, for big blankets on beds and long days cuddled up with loved ones. It was shocking for autumn to actually come to Houston at a time when the calendar dictated. For the first time in Colin’s relatively short life it was actually cold in November. Thanksgiving break seemed to fly by too fast and in just a few short days he would be back in school. Things would go back to normal. Normally this was the time of year when he craved the smell of summer. But this year was different.

Colin couldn’t think of anything he would trade this for. The frigid temperatures had forced them under a blanket and his small space heater seemed to show no promise. Finally she’d had to gather herself against the only other warm object in the room, him. When it had happened she’d half thrown her body across his, if only in an effort to stave off the cold. With one leg draped over his and her curled around his bicep, she nestled in against his neck.

He tried to turn his attention back to the television but there was nothing on daytime TV that could sway his interests for long. It seemed that his eyes were destined to glide back to Ashley.

Ever since he could remember she was the most perfect person he’d ever laid eyes upon. Although he’d never mention it. They had been a pair since infancy and their families each regarded the other as part of the clan. He made sure to only stare at her from just around the delicate curve of her face, so that he could stay hidden. All the while her green eyes stayed locked on the screen.

His mind drifted to thoughts of her rich full lips opened into his. Her maroon hair brushing the side of his cheek as he kissed her neck. His short fantasy played out on the small suede couch, bathed in the pale blue glow of late night television. The little day dream caused his heart’s rhythm to increase in tempo. The beats fumbled out and sped up to the point that he feared that there might not be a valley between the thumps much longer.

The fabric of his dream was torn away and she was staring into his face.

“What’s the matter?” her lips parted slightly and he could see those two big front teeth.

“Nothing,” his voice came out shaky and quick, despite his efforts to control it, “I think I’m just cold is all.”

She pushed her head back into the nape of his neck, “Me too,” she said, “You’re not allowed to get up though because your piece of shit heater will let me freeze.”

Ashley had always been affectionate towards him, it wasn’t for the same reason that he would have wished. But this time was different, her younger sister was sleeping in a room upstairs and his twin sister had gone off with some friends. For lack of a better word, they were alone.

The show they had been watching came to a commercial break and Ashley leaned down to snatch up the remote, “Ugh, this show sucks, let’s see what else is on,” she flipped frantically through the channels.

“It’s the middle of the day, nothing is on,” Colin said.

“We’ll see about that,” she said almost as if to challenge him, “your dad has like fifty-kajillion channels, there has to be something on one.” She stopped on a channel where an old black and white movie played, “Jesus, what’s this doing on, its like, older than my parents…”

Right away Colin recognized the images, a pale man in a high collared cape pressing some early twentieth century movie vixen up against a wall and clamping his jaw around the curve of her elegant neck. Before the woman in the movie could scream he grabbed for the remote, “Can we just change it?”

“What?” she yanked back on it, “Are you offended,” she snickered with a dainty hand covering her mouth. Despite his frustration with her joke, her tan skin seemed to find a new glow.

His heart sank, “Look, you’ve been around me all my life, when the Hell have you known me to wear a cape or run around sleeping in coffins?”

She slapped him on the back playfully, “It’s just a movie,” she said, “I mean calm down, damn, you act like everything on TV is supposed to be true.”

“It’s a stupid stereotype, like saying that because you’re a girl you suck at sports or that because our Dads’ are black we’re more prone to be criminals,” Colin said.

Ashley laughed, “You are really over thinking this, huh?”

“How would you feel if every other horror movie was about a bunch of half-wits slaughtering your kind or if you had to sit through reruns of that Vampire Slayer show…” Colin turned to face her as he spoke.

She sighed, “You’re hardly even like the TV vampires,” she paused to rewind the digital recorder back, “I mean have you ever done that?”

On the screen the vampire was drinking the woman’s blood again. She put up a minimal amount of struggle and then settled in as he finished his meal. Colin stared at her with a blank expression, “No. We don’t drink Human blood anymore.”

“Duh,” Ashley said, “But you hardly even drink blood because you don’t need it anyway. So how would you know how that feels? It might be the greatest things ever for Vampires—like better than sex or something.”

“I doubt it,” he countered quickly.

“It’s a figure of speech,” Ashley said, “Not that you’d know what sex was like either.”

“And neither would you.”

“I just get the feeling that you’re being dismissive of something for no reason,” Ashley said.

Colin sighed, “You know we’re forbidden to bite anyone.”

“Oh I remember the rule,” Ashley said, “but you seem to have forgotten.”

“What?”

“You’re forbidden to bite someone without their consent,” she said. He could tell what she was thinking at by the devilish look in her eyes.

“Are you crazy?” he asked.

Ashley tossed the blanket off and stood up, “We used to take baths together when we were kids all of the time and you even kissed me that once, remember.”

He tried to look away, “Sort of, yeah.”

She laughed, “Shit Colin, you sure know how to make a girl feel special.”

“Sorry.”

Continue?

This blog has been going on for some time, well in some way shape or form. I started out with Live Journal and moved to Blogger and Xanga soon after that, now I just use Word Press and Blogger…

The point of all of this is that I plan to continue doing this. I don’t know why but there’s something fulfilling about just writing in one of these. And while I don’t have much to say today, I can offer you…well I can offer you a set of pictures I made for a friends RP.

And then this…

Controversy

It would seem that I have started a bit of a problem. But let me start off by saying, I am writing this post on Windows Live Writer, just downloaded this and its interesting. Seems Microsoft is stepping their game up to compete. Now on to what I wanted to write. This will be a short post.

But a friend of mine, or former friend, who will remain nameless actually claimed that we couldn’t be friends anymore because I posted a picture.

This picture:

I think that it did need to be said, and when I saw this picture I thought that it said it perfectly. She claimed I was after attention, I think that was the only comment she could make that didn’t seem like it disagreed with the inevitable truth, there’s no such thing as a Muslim-Commie-Nazi-Peace-Monger…

That’s Socialism Fuckwad!

It seems that I can’t turn on the television without some over zealous idiot running off at the mouth about socialism. You’ll know them because they’re the old ladies who stand up and shout shit at town hall meetings or the radio show hosts who believe that America is turning Red. These people are so quick to tell you about the evils of socialism and how it will ruin everything we hold dear.

These people are even starting to use religion to do this. Case in point: Believer’s Voice of Victory - its a Church show that comes on with a whole cast of old people who probably still think gays are the Great Satan. Anyway, this show was preaching about how socialism is contrary to God’s plan. These people who actually take the bible word for word and use no other sources are trying to say that Socialism, a system that was written about 1,500 years after Christ, is something against Christ.

What makes this stupider? There’s an early form of Socialism used in the Bible.

What makes all of this complaining about socialism even dumber? We already have many socialist policies in place RIGHT NOW.

Gasp! I’ll pause while you all clean the shit off your legs.

Been to the library lately? How much did it cost you? Oh that’s right we pay taxes for that so everyone can use it and that way anyone can just come in and get a card and read books for free…its to further literacy and all that good stuff and — oh my God, we don’t pay for it per use and its done through our taxes. Sounds like socialism.

Who here’s called an Ambulance or the Police or even the Fire Department…you might get charged for the Ambulance ride. But did the fire department only show up if you gave them a credit card that was valid? What if the cops only arrested someone’s murderer if the dead person had the cash on their body to cover the expense. Who all is reading this blog and doesn’t have any fucking kids in school? Did you pay your taxes? Guess what you’re paying for the school.

With all this socialism around us for so long…one would think we’d have gone to Hell or fallen into utter chaos by now. Here’s the thing, don’t believe the hype. Half the people who try and tell you how evil everything is, don’t realize how the idea of that thing can work in theory when used in conjunction with other things. In a totally capitalistic society, no one would get medical care without paying right then, no one would get a fire truck or cop unless they had the money, there would be hardly any taxes and every public building would probably need to charge a toll. The roads more than likely would too…either that or the businesses on the road would pay.

The Army? They’d be volunteer and bring your own weapons. Quick someone call the guy who owns the Stealth Jet…he’s needed over here. With the amount of stupidty running around in the media these days I’m not shocked many people don’t realize this because the news has gone out of its way to make this more about the fight and less about the policy.

Loot Only When Appropriate

Watched Knowing the other night interesting flick and pretty good. But I noticed something that I have seen a lot of in destruction films. Namely Cloverfield and one of those shitty Day of Destruction Earthquake things. In these movies people always loot when the news breaks what’s going on. Now I get the appeal of looting, there’s free shit, you’re out with friends, and you get to throw bricks through windows. Who doesn’t want to loot? And if you know that 2/3rds of the way through the film that the aliens will level the city, no one is going to miss a couple of wide screen Samsungs and that Mac Book Pro.

The problem is that people in movies seem to loot when its not a good time too. So I have decided to outline the right and wrong times to loot. Let’s break it down by the nature of the crisis.

Zombie Attack: Totally a looting occasion, Zombies are slow, they are often unable to work doors and other simple apparatus and the cops will too busy fighting off the undead to actually stop you. One thing, don’t hold up inside of the mall, this might seem like the best idea, but if you stay in the mall you’re pretty trapped and this always turns out badly in movies and video games.

Giant Monster Attack: This is a no go on the looting, giant monsters cover too much ground too quickly and while you’re carrying out that DVD collection you always wanted he could roll up on you and knock the entire street down. Also too many giant monsters attract the military and other giant monsters. Some of them have beam weapons and other stuff and it can get pretty bad.

Alien Attack: Aliens are smart and most often want to violently destroy us without reason. Thank God that Hollywood has taught us this! Since Alien weapons come in all kinds of varieties this is kind of up to you. If its the ones from War of the Worlds, the worst thing you can do is be in a crowd, they love that. So if the people are looting, don’t. But if everyone is running the other way, you are go for snatch and grab…besides it will be too busy picking them off to notice you carrying the blu ray player.

Super Volcano: What are you stupid? Have you ever seen the speed that a Volcano can erupt at? You better keep your ass at home–far from the city.

Massive Global Warming…Cooling…that thing from Day After Tomorrow: Because this movie hardly made sense, there’s not really evidence of what we should do. I would say go for the looting if you’re not north or west of Texas because that’s where the majority of the shit will go down.

Super Earthquake: Only loot in Earthquake safe buildings…possibly wearing a hard hat.

Nuclear Holocaust: You’re the last one left or one of them? Your house better look like the show room at Best Buy and there should be more cars in your yard than some small dealerships have. This goes for any last people left on Earth incidents.

Super Solar Flare: Why are you stealing, you’re going to be dead in like a matter of hours? Seriously think when you loot, don’t take stuff you won’t ever get to use and in this case you never would get to use it.

I’d like to remind everyone that you should be courteous: don’t steal more than you need. Share: if someone needs to use a cinder block, let them, and then retrieve it and use it again. Don’t forget to steal weapons and ammunition this only applies when the threat is appropriate. And most importantly AIM HIGH: what the fuck are you driving out of there? A Ford Focus? Put that shit back and find a nice Ferrari or Bentley.

Well that’s all…happy looting and if you have any other giant disaster occasions, tell me and I will get them up.

Written In Blood

If they had known what we’d done, Holly kept reminding herself, they’d never let us do this. They’d never even let us be partners.

She stood on the side of the drive watching as the fake movers wheeled “their” furniture up to the decoy house. All of it purchased on the American taxpayer’s dime. It amazed her that the government used such elaborate schemes to catch offenders.

Lewis stood beside her, alternating between a Lucky Strike and an ice cream cone. He only spoke in vowels as he tried to stave off a brain freeze, “Mm, you really should try this, it was nice of the HOA to bring it by.”

“Not hungry,” she didn’t bother to look at him. “Not sure if you noticed, hon, but it’s frigid out here.”

“It’s not that cold,” he took another quick lick. “I couldn’t have done this at home without getting bitched at,” now he was taking a drag on the cigarette.

Holly spoke in a diminished tone, “What the Hell is wrong with you, we’re supposed to be the married couple…”

Lewis glanced up and down the street, “There’s no one out here,” Lewis said, “I know you’re looking for any excuse to light that fuse on your tampon and go rocketing into some lecture.” He started up the driveway towards the garage door following behind two movers carrying an entertainment center.

She clenched her teeth, biting back anything she might say that would be out of character. Just before he entered the house she asked, “Where are you going?”

“Jacuzzi.”

“Don’t smoke that in the house,” she yelled.

The house was a small modern thing, pressed between a pair of modest two stories. Even with real estate market being in turmoil, neighborhoods like this were still flourishing all around Houston. It came as no surprise that not everyone living in them was a law abiding citizen.

Holly took a moment to regain her composure after Lewis left. She stood with her slender arms clutched around her frame in the breezy winter air admiring what would be “their” house for the next few weeks.

“Just moving in?” a shrill voice cut the air behind Holly after a few minutes. She whirled around to see a scrawny young lady in a bright red sun dress. It’s too fucking cold for sun dresses.

Holly forced a prim smile, “Oh, hello.”

The woman scratched her bushel of frizz, “You must be Carol Benedict.

“Heh, yeah,” Holly said. The sound of her pseudonym caught her off guard. “And you are?”

“Annemarie Thyne,” she said. “It’s one word,” she added tilting her head to the side as she clasped Holly’s hand.

“Huh?” Holly played the part of the unassuming housewife well, even if she wasn’t playing.

“Annemarie is one word,” she said

“Oh,” Holly laughed. “Sorry, it’s just—I’m utterly shattered.” She drew her arms about herself again, “Haven’t had good sleep in a while.”

“I see, I see—well I just stopped by to welcome you to the neighborhood,” she brought her hands together at the conclusion of her sentence. “I live right over there,” Annemarie pointed to a house on the opposite side of the street at the corner. “If you have any questions or need anything, just come over!”

Holly nodded, “Will do.”

A moment later Holly watched as she returned across the street to her own home. Her husband came out to get the mail. They kissed on the front lawn. It made Holly cringe, not in disgust. But it caused desires to well within her.

Holly had to go inside.

She slipped her heels off inside of the door. The marble tile was cold against her feet and she rushed for the carpet. The spectral aroma of roasted tobacco dominated the air. I told him to stop smoking those Goddamn things in here.

The movers were working upstairs, but she could hear a toilet flush in the bedroom. Holly turned, walking the short hall with her hands clenched at her sides, “Lewis!” she said.

She entered the room to find him shirtless and flicking his cigarette back into the toilet.

“Lewis!”

“It’s Dan.”

“We’ve got to lay out some ground rules,” she said.

“Like?”

Holly glanced into the bathroom, “You’ve left the seat up, balled your knickers up on the floor, and tossed your cigarette in the loo after flushing…”

“Wow, we’re already doing this?” he brushed past her.

“Did you wash your hands?” she asked.

He placed his phone and wallet in a neat stack atop the shelf and began fiddling with the string of his swim trunks. “I squat, like a girl.”

Holly sighed, “Why are you acting like this?”

“I talked to the SAC and I protested this case,” Lewis said. “I’m not thrilled about this.”

“Why?”

“We’re expected to show affection in public,” Lewis said. He slammed the bedroom door, “And we already fucked.”

“That wasn’t our fault,” she shifted her eyes to escape his gaze. “We were shot up with narcotics and—“

“This was a bad idea.”

“It’s just a case,” Holly said, “And we can work it like any other.” He leaned against the wall and his muscles flexed. She couldn’t admit it, but right then she wished he’d been wearing a shirt.

He rifled through his pockets. “If we fuck this up, it could get us both killed,” he said. “Can’t just carry my gun like normal.”

“I know,” Holly said, “but I’m keeping a cool head, so it’s not like you can’t.” Liar. She tried not to picture his hands on her hips and prayed he didn’t touch her.

For a moment he stared at her. Then he opened the door. That bedroom door was their curtain going up.

“I’m going to try out the hot tub, Honey. You want to come?”

Holly exhaled, “I better start dinner. We’ll be eating take-out if I don’t get the kitchenware unpacked.”

“Want any help?” he paused at the end of the short hall.

She smiled, a faux, forced smile, “I want you out of my hair,” her tone was playful. “Go relax.” When he was gone from sight she walked into the bathroom and shut the door, locking it behind her. She took a seat on the edge of the tub and rested her head in her hands.

…I’m keeping a cool head, so it’s not like you can’t.

It would actually be easier for him. He was getting a divorce. He’d been with a woman on at least a regular basis. Before him, Holly hadn’t touched a man in two years. Now she was trapped with the only man she could think about and the only one she couldn’t have. I’m so, so fucked.

Law & Order Yemen

I didn’t catch the lead in or second act…but it ends like this:

This is criminal justice, Yemen style. A man accused of raping and murdering an 11-year-old boy is paraded through his home town before being shot dead by an executioner.

Hundreds of onlookers lined the streets to watch the gruesome scene, cheering and shouting abuse at Yehya Hussein al-Raghwah.

The boy, Hamdi al-Kabas, had reportedly come into his shop for a haircut last December during the Muslim festival of Eid. After brutally attacking him, the barber cut his body into pieces and dumped them outside the capital Sana’a. He was given the death penalty by a Yemeni court a month later after apparently admitting his crime.

Shocking images of his final moments were released following the execution yesterday.

First he leaves the city’s central prison, handcuffed and dressed in white robes. Fear etched on his face, he is surrounded by soldiers as he is led towards a ceremonial red carpet.

He is allowed to say a final prayer, his shirt is then ripped open before he is laid face down.

As a police official reads out his sentence for the last time, a doctor oversees his treatment and crowds – which appear to include children – jeer and punch the air, some filming his final moment on their mobile phones.

I think that we need to go this route more often, call it cruel, call it barbaric. But if someone saw this happen in their street, they’d think twice about diddling kids or hurting them.

Article Link

Atheist Summer Camps?

Is it just me is it getting hard to tell the atheists from the religious? Yet more proof that atheism is just a religion for the godless and with science as its doctrine. Before you go getting all butt hurt just read this definition:

Religion - a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

It’s not a far jump to make that the way its practiced by some, atheism could fall under that umbrella. Ah well, here is the article that I saw passed along on another site.

Prof Richard Dawkins, the prominent atheist, has helped set up an atheist summer camp where children will be taught rational skepticism and sing John Lennon’s Imagine alongside the more traditional activities of canoeing and swimming.

The evolutionary biologist and author of The God Delusion, who stepped down from his post at Oxford University last year, has subsidised the five-day camp in Somerset.

Camp-goers will be given lessons in rational scepticism, as well as sessions in moral philosophy and evolutionary biology.

There will be more familiar camp activities such as trekking, tug-of-war, canoeing and swimming but children will also be taught to disprove phenomena such as crop circles and telepathy.

The retreat is for children aged eight to 17 and will rival traditional faith-based breaks run by the Scouts and church groups. It will teach that religious belief and doctrines can prevent ethical and moral behaviour.

The camp is part of a campaign, backed by Dawkins and Professor AC Grayling, the philosopher and writer, designed to challenge Christian societies, collective worship and religious education.

Prof Dawkins said it was designed to “teach children to think for themselves, sceptically and rationally”. All 24 places at the camp, which runs from July 27-31, have been taken.

Crispian Jago, an IT consultant, is hoping the experience will enrich his two children.

“I’m very keen on not indoctrinating them with religion or creeds,” he said. “I would rather equip them with the tools to learn how to think, not what to think.”

The emphasis on critical thinking is epitomised by a test called the Invisible Unicorn Challenge. Children will be told by camp leaders that the area around their tents is inhabited by two unicorns.

The activities of these creatures, of which there will be no physical evidence, will be regularly discussed by organisers, yet the children will be asked to prove that the unicorns do not exist.

Anyone who manages to prove this will win a £10 note – which features an image of Charles Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory – signed by Dawkins, a former professor of the public understanding of science at Oxford University.

“The unicorns are not necessarily a metaphor for God, they are to show kids that you can’t prove a negative,” said Samantha Stein, who is leading next month’s camp at the Mill on the Brue outdoor activity centre close to Bruton, Somerset.

“We are not trying to bash religion, but it encourages people to believe in a lot of things for which there is no evidence.”

A spokesman for the Church of England questioned Dawkins’ decision to stage a summer camp for atheists.

“We would defend the right for anyone to set up an event like this, as long as the young people are happy to attend,” he said.

“But in his imitation of the type of youth events that religious groups have been running for years, Dawkins makes atheism look even more like the thing he is rallying against.”

Atheist Summer Camps?

Is it just me is it getting hard to tell the atheists from the religious? Yet more proof that atheism is just a religion for the godless and with science as its doctrine. Before you go getting all butt hurt just read this definition:

Religion - a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe, esp. when considered as the creation of a superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.

It's not a far jump to make that the way its practiced by some, atheism could fall under that umbrella. Ah well, here is the article that I saw passed along on another site.

Prof Richard Dawkins, the prominent atheist, has helped set up an atheist summer camp where children will be taught rational scepticism and sing John Lennon's Imagine alongside the more traditional activities of canoeing and swimming.

The evolutionary biologist and author of The God Delusion, who stepped down from his post at Oxford University last year, has subsidised the five-day camp in Somerset.

Camp-goers will be given lessons in rational scepticism, as well as sessions in moral philosophy and evolutionary biology.

There will be more familiar camp activities such as trekking, tug-of-war, canoeing and swimming but children will also be taught to disprove phenomena such as crop circles and telepathy.

The retreat is for children aged eight to 17 and will rival traditional faith-based breaks run by the Scouts and church groups. It will teach that religious belief and doctrines can prevent ethical and moral behaviour.

The camp is part of a campaign, backed by Dawkins and Professor AC Grayling, the philosopher and writer, designed to challenge Christian societies, collective worship and religious education.

Prof Dawkins said it was designed to "teach children to think for themselves, sceptically and rationally". All 24 places at the camp, which runs from July 27-31, have been taken.

Crispian Jago, an IT consultant, is hoping the experience will enrich his two children.

"I'm very keen on not indoctrinating them with religion or creeds," he said. "I would rather equip them with the tools to learn how to think, not what to think."

The emphasis on critical thinking is epitomised by a test called the Invisible Unicorn Challenge. Children will be told by camp leaders that the area around their tents is inhabited by two unicorns.

The activities of these creatures, of which there will be no physical evidence, will be regularly discussed by organisers, yet the children will be asked to prove that the unicorns do not exist.

Anyone who manages to prove this will win a £10 note - which features an image of Charles Darwin, the father of evolutionary theory - signed by Dawkins, a former professor of the public understanding of science at Oxford University.

"The unicorns are not necessarily a metaphor for God, they are to show kids that you can't prove a negative," said Samantha Stein, who is leading next month's camp at the Mill on the Brue outdoor activity centre close to Bruton, Somerset.

"We are not trying to bash religion, but it encourages people to believe in a lot of things for which there is no evidence."

A spokesman for the Church of England questioned Dawkins' decision to stage a summer camp for atheists.

"We would defend the right for anyone to set up an event like this, as long as the young people are happy to attend," he said.

"But in his imitation of the type of youth events that religious groups have been running for years, Dawkins makes atheism look even more like the thing he is rallying against."

Action

Things have kind of been in a rut lately and I think I need to go ahead and work on getting out of it. For real this time. It's been hard for me to sit here and just ignore what's happening but at the same time things aren't going to get any better if I just don't do anything eithe.

In leaving a message for someone, I was forced to come to terms with some of the things that have happened in the past few months. I went from thinking I could never feel as good as I had a few months ago to really far down in the dumps over some stuff. Needless to say I don't feel the need to retell them here not because this isn't a private place but because I don't think they need to be repeated or discussed anymore. I have talked them out, I have rolled them over and over in my head lately and when I left the message...I came to the conclusion that what I needed to say--what I had to say is what I always had.

And that's really, all I can say about it.

Heaven Forbid

The story I wrote a little over a year ago that basically changed the take I had on a lot of my characters. So now I am facing doing a rewrite of it, or at least of part of the actions from it. Only this time I plan to give the fights purpose and other things they did not have before.

On a side note, I was looking for badass Bible quotes and came up with something off a cracked article:

From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the the youths - II Kings 2:23-24

I don't think I ever remember reading this part.

Writing Quotes

I have been taking a bit of a forced break from my writing lately, mostly because of the fact that I am trying to just kill some time and not write. Well I have been looking over some of my favorite quotes from different books and things on writing. I might be posting some of these from time to time:

"2nd draft = 1st Draft - 10%"

This first one is from Stephen King, I like it because I take it to mean that we can always trim a little off that first draft. I am one for brevity and I like the idea that I can really get down to it and shave off a lot of unnecessary words.

"When you write a story, you're telling yourself a story. When you rewrite, you're taking out all of the things that are not the story."

This is just a cute little saying, it comes again from King and closely precedes his advice to write with the door closed and edit with the door open. I don't really agree with this because I am constantly showing my writing, going back and chipping away at little things as I am writing and coming back to write more, but I think that it could work for some people.

Remember, these are not facts or rules that everyone will agree with. Nor will they work for everyone. But I think that for some, at least one of these things might help them or give them that extra little boost or even just inspire them to do the opposite.

Place yourself in the background. Write in a way that draws the reader's attention to the sense and substance of the writing, rather than the mood and temper of the author. If the writing is solid and good, the mood and temper of the writer wil eventually be revealed and not at the expense of the work. Therefore, the first piece of advice is this: to achieve style, begin by affecting none--that is, place yourself in thebackground. A careful and honest writer does not need to worry about style. As you become proficient in the use of language, your style will emerge, because you yourself will emerge, and when this happens you will find it increasingly easy to break through the barriers that separate you from other minds, other hearts--which is of course, the purpose of writing, as well as it principal reward. Fortunately, the act of composition, or creation, disciplines the mind; writing is one way to go about thinking, and the practice and habit of writing not only drain the mind but supply it, too.

This final quote comes from The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White. The book is in its 4th edition and has come to be regarded as pretty high up the chain of books on writing. It's very brief and very affordable. Well that's all for now I think I might post some more later.

Novel

At a certain word count, a book turns into a novel or rather a book is considered a novel. I don't think I even knew that until very recently but when does a book feel like a novel? When, while writing it, do you get the true sensation that you are writing a novel? This experience with Four Winds has been fun, its been very different from what I expected and when I started out I didn't ever think I would go in half of the directions it has. A book and characters growing and learning and growing outside of what you expected isn't bad but as I sit here on the cusp of 80,000 words I look back and know that this isn't it. I've started a series, I've got a long road of editing and rewriting and added ahead of me and I still have to find a publisher for the damn thing.

Even then, this is really exciting.

Racism in Houston

Th internet affords one a lot of opportunities to make an ass of themselves. Stupidity is the cancer that infests the information super highway and it seems to come in many forms. Bigotry has found a new home in cyberspace and I was shocked to see some of the things posted in my own city on the site Topix which is like a large forumor some such shit. Basically, from what I can tell, its a place where some people go to discuss things and some cyber degenerates go to beg for online sex. But to each his own.

Anyway, these comments were posted in a thread about racism that made me take notice. The basic idea is that the commenter used an unregistered guest account to make a stereotypical ethnic name and troll (for those who don't know, trolling is fueling the argument in a bad way) the site. The first one is as follows.

Written by "Eboneesha"

My name be Eboneesha Li Herenandez, an African Hispanic Asiatic-American Girl who just got an award for being the bess speler in class. I got 67% on the speling test and 30 points being black, 5 points for not bringin drugs into class, 5 points for not bringin guns into class, and 5 points for not gettin pregnut during the cemester. It be hard to beat a score of 120%. White dude who sit nex to me is McGee . He got a 94% on the test but no etstra points on acount of he have the same skin color as the opressirs of 150 years ago. Granny ax me to thank all Dimocrafts and Liberuls for suportin Afermative action. You be showin da way to true eqwallity. I be gittin in medical skool nex an mabe I be yo doctor when Barrac take over da healtcare in dis cuntry.

The second post is probably the same person and equally ignorant to the facts.

Written by "Papi"

My son took a test for the fire department in a large city here in Texas. He got a 72 on the test but got 30 points added for being Hispanic. That 102 total put him in the academy and some anglos who might have scored 100, left out. He felt bad but I told him what the heck! If they're giving out benefits for free, what the heck!

I'm sorry, people who write stuff like this and believe this kind of shit should be told better...wait no they should be drug from their cars and hit with a pipe wrench. I know we're not supposed to advocate violence--but just call it going back to my Crusader roots. While I don't neeccessarily agree with affirmitive action, it doesn't work like that and on that small a level. In fact it should be done away with, because it might have been needed for a short time, but I think that time has passed--black president and all, kind of hard to say a black man can't get anywhere in this country.

Even then, these people are obviously sick, degenerate KKK members or something like that. Because while the average racist person has a small level of innocent racism to one subject (like interracial dating) these mongoloid dick heads seem to think that a fifty year old stereotype represents an entire set of ethnic groups. I've got one thing to say to people like this, if you have to use the internet to say something that you feel because you're too scared to say it to the face of someone do us a favor and leave--and take your white hood when you go.