Religious nutters complains about swine flu

Religious nutters are funny. Rather than trying to see what they can do to help, they rather complain about the none-kosher nature of the term 'swine flu'. Perhaps sensibly, the whole world is ignoring their ridiculous plea and concentrating more on creating panic instead. Bunch of nut-jobs...

"We will call it Mexico flu. We won’t call it swine flu," Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman, a black-garbed Orthodox Jew, told a news conference Monday, assuring the Israeli public that authorities were prepared to handle any cases.

Anyway, here's a rather cute desktop wallpaper I found on the net of those poor little swines. They don't look that concern of having an alleged pandemic-capable flu named after their species. Awww...

Debaptism

Now Mr Hunt has become the pioneer in a rejuvenated campaign for a way of cancelling baptisms given to children too young to decide for themselves whether they wanted this formal initiation into Christianity. (BBC News)

This piece of news irks me as much as loony religious people. Really, how can you counter or undo something that never happened? This debaptism thing is equally as stupid and futile as baptism. By promoting such a waste of time, they are actually accepting that baptism meant squat - which it does not. These National Secular Society people are now borderline loony, almost a caricature of their religious fundamentalist enemies. The fact that they are selling a ritual to cleanse oneself of a sin (religion) is nothing more than ironic considering that is the whole basis of the faith they think they are opposing.

Jesus fucking Christ, get a grip.

Dear whining politicians

What is so spiteful of Channel 4's alternative Christmas message by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that makes it so different from, say, the Pope's message of hate delivered last Monday?

Priest 'ruins Christmas' for kids

A Catholic priest has been criticised by parents in a city in northern Italy for telling their children that Father Christmas does not really exist.

...

The priest said he had never intended to hurt anyone, but it was his duty to distinguish the reality of Jesus from the story of Father Christmas which was a fable just like Cinderella or Snow White.

Someone really ought to let Father Dino Bottino know that the story of Jesus Christ can be treated in the same respect as Santa Clause, Cinderella and Snow White, in that all are merely fairy tales. You know, like three magis following a star, virgin births etc. And it isn't like the alleged Jesus Christ's birthday is tomorrow, even in the fabled text.

Still, what kiddies actually really believed in Santa Clause these days?

From BBC News

Oh bless them

Nothing excites me more than watching religious folks squabbling with each other. But videos of orthodox Armenian and Greek trading blows with each other where Jesus Christ was supposedly buried, is reason enough to be happy that I've not bought into any of these religious crap.

Never mind that they actually believe in the same faith, the reason they decided to go for a wee bit of embarrassing themselves is they simply hate each other. Just like that in a quick moment they demonstrated the supposed virtues of religion to be false. How can you preach if you do not yourself submit to the supposed scriptures you proclaim to love?

Oh never mind, at least us sane folks had a good cheap laugh at their expense.

Barack Obama isn't a Muslim, but so what if he is?

Mr. Colin Powell said the most sane thing I have ever seen spouted from a Republican's mouth. I don't like him, but what he said makes so much sense that I am surprised that the Democrats haven't come up with it in the first place. “Mr. Obama is not a Muslim. He has always been a Christian. But the really right answer is what if he is? Is there anything wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America.”

While the upcoming election in the US of A isn't really our business, but since their foreign policy allows (well, encourages) them to meddle around the world anyway I think it is appropriate to chip in. As far as I am aware, the First Amendment specifically prohibits the establishment of a national religion or the preference of one religion over another or religion over none-religion.

Crackpots reckons T. rex were vegans

Disturbing.

More here.

Prophet teddy bear on eBay

Please help this fugitive bear. While he may not be the same bear that is being prosecuted in Sudan, he shares the same name, therefore could be charged for impersonating a prophet. If he is caught I am sure the crazy Sudanese will burn him at the stake. Such is mob mentality. And all he did wrong was a common name. The poor soft cute innocent cuddly bear...

Sightings of the real fugitive bear in question ought to be reported to:

Embassy of the Republic of the Sudan
3 Cleveland Row
St. James’s
London
SW1A 1DD

Telephone: +44 207 839 8080

And while you are at it kindly remind your shameless government about Darfur. And to repel any archaic blasphemy laws.

An archbishop who makes sense

Nobel peace price winner South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu has criticised the Anglican Church and particularly Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Rowan Williams as being obsessed with the issue of homosexuals.

He attacked the homophobic culture of the Anglican church and mentioned that he would be ashamed if of his church if membership is based on sexual orientation. As a man of faith, Desmond Tutu has demonstrated more rationality than any other religious or political leaders in modern time. His attitude against conservatism and bigotry is welcomed in an increasingly intolerant and hateful world. It is truly an eye opener that such a speech can come from a religious being.

Rape victim flogged

Of all the money spent by British government to turn the country into a police state because of 'terrorism fears', you have to wonder about the amount of money New Labour spends on cementing their special relationship with countries like Saudi Arabia... Of course it is all about the oil.

A woman who was gang-raped 14 times today found out that her punishment was increased to 200 lashes and six months in prison. Her seven attackers meanwhile got off lightly with jail sentences ranging from two to nine years. Her lawyer had his license revoked and will face discipline action for doing his job. Because of some misguided and twisted human love for this thing called religion.

BBC News

Mother dies because of religion

Via BBC News, a 22 year old mother died after refusing to be given blood after the birth of her twins because of her religion.

Doctors, faced with a moral dilemma, apparently begged Emma Gough's husband and family to overrule her insistent not to have blood transfusion; but the family stood their ground and rather see a love one die because of their beliefs. And this is in a country where euthanasia on the terminally ill is illegal and sinful (which is utter tosh).

The family are now grieving because of their own stupidity. The stupidity to risk a person's healthy life because of a religion - a skewed interpretation of a rule in a thousand year old best seller. The mind boggles on why human beings willingly surrender to faith and are are unable to think for themselves.

And now her twins will have to grow up without a mother. The silly selfish woman who deserves a Darwin award but disqualified.

Church of England "Digital Code of Conduct" aims to demolish creative freedom

Manchester Cathedral today issued a "digital code of conduct" for videogame developers:

1. Respect our sacred spaces as places of prayer, worship, peace, learning and heritage.
2. Do not assume that sacred space interiors are copyright free.
3. Get permission from the faith leaders who are responsible for the building interiors you want to clone.
4. Support the work of those engaged in resisting the culture of gun crime and those involved in promoting the work of conflict resolution.

This was after Sony issued another apology to Manchester Cathedral and the Church of England over the some death that they (Sony) had no involvements. And like the greedy nutjobs they are the CoE isn't accepting the (second) apology, probably still scheming on extorting a pot of money from Sony and, indirectly, from us videogaming fans.

A couple of things is obviously wrong with this so called 'code of conduct', which I hope the videogaming industry as well as the whole entertainment and media industry will ignore, which I will attempt to explain here. An old building architectural design can not be copyrighted (at least extended beyond the original expiration date) much like books by H.G. Wells is no longer copyrighted. They will pass into the public domain, as I am sure if the design of the 600 year old Manchester Cathedral probably has (if it ever was copyrighted in the first place). Even then building a replica of a building, no matter how closely it resembles, isn't 'copying'.

It is how Las Vegas (the most 'sinful' place on earth) was able to rebuild replicas of famous buildings. It was also how the aliens in Independence Day were able to blow up a replica of the White House. It is how 99% of all homes in the UK isn't unique. Do they really think that Alfred Hitchhock's North by Northwest's climatic battle at Mount Rushmore was shot at the real location? If they do then they are in for a rude awakening. What about previous videogames when we could lob grenades into mosques? I never heard them complaining before. Oh wait, they are muslims, so it doesn't matter...

Gun crimes are a local issue. How they expect a multinational company like Sony, which is primarily based in Japan, to take issue on local Manchester gun crimes is beyond me. If Manchester Cathedral and the CoE wanted to tackle the issue head on then they have to do it through their local community - and the parents. At most they can take it on a national level by lobbying the government to tighten gun control and what not. But to blame Sony and the gaming community for the deaths of people they have zero responsibility for?

Last of all let us not forget the content of the game in question itself. The game, Resistance: Fall of Man, involves mankind battling some kind of alien humanoids to save the planet earth. Now, I have never played the game (nor has the church I believe, but at least they can afford a PS3 with all the begging for money stuff they do), but from what I garnered from my more trustful gaming buddies, the Manchester Cathedral was being used as a field hospital (a very noble gesture by Insomniacs, the game's developers) and actually involved alien humanoids attacking the Cathedral and killing sickly patients. Quite how protecting a hospital is bad I can't imagine. Maybe it is because the old farts do not believe in fictional aliens, but then again their bible made up of mythical content.

Or maybe they just want us to shoot gays. They are after all responsible for the miserable weather.

Eagerly awaiting a map mod of Manchester Cathedral for Unreal Tournament 2007 when it is released.

UK floods are god's judgement on society, says religious nutter

The recent floodings in this little island are caused by god's wrath due to increased homosexual acceptance in this country, says a senior Church of England bishop.

Never mind blaming a six month old videogame over a couple of murders that happened years ago, Rt Rev Graham Dow, Bishop of Carlisle decided to go further, beating his fellow CoE colleagues for insanity drivel, by arguing that part of the reason that people here are drowning is because god is pretty pissed off with us.

God, you see, is one moody bloke, granting us much summer warmth back in Springy April but has now decided that maybe it would be better to punish us folks because the sensible parliament here has giving greater rights to gays. Pro-gay rights are the cause of the Atlantic's high-pressure and Britain's low-pressure, thus causing me to cancel my Wimbledon plans (and pissing me off stupid evening hailstorm) - that was what loony Dow meant. Really.

I can already picture the headline for tomorrow's Daily Mail:

Muslims, homos and socialists: responsible for flooding!

The only way to escape death (at least for now) is easy folks. Read that bible of yours and repent. Then you do not have to worry about any natural disasters, like ever.

Oh, wait.

Via Richard and Anorax

Manhunt 2: BAN THIS SICK FILTH!

The year is 2007, but somehow it feels like 1973. Why? Because the BBFC has rejected to classify Manhunt 2, effectively making it illegal to sell the PS2 and Wii ported game in this country. This would be the first video game to be banned since Carmageddon (Later overturned. Remember that game? It was awesome). I did not like the first Manhunt, so this isn't a huge loss to me. Though it scares me to think that Suda 51's No More Heroes might get banned because apparently it contain more violent content than Manhunt 2.

The reason I didn't like the first game was the gameplay, and not the violent content (although the sadistic content is pretty nauseating) itself, so I think for a game like Manhunt 2 to be banned based on the content is irrational thinking - something akin to book burning days of yore. Which is shocking because I tend to respect the BBFC's more liberal approach (I still do, the BBFC are one of the few organisations who actually play the games rather than view a video of it) when it comes to classifying games compared to other countries, like Germany's USK - where knee jerk reaction by idiot politicians can have affect the process.

This wouldn't be the first time that video games are to be used as scapegoats. "Ban this sick filth" is already a common hysterical theme among right wing tabloids like the Daily Mail. The first Manhunt game didn't escape criticism either when some shops removed it from the shelves due to tabloid hysteria. Then there was the Rule of Rose scandal, a game that none of the MPs played, but still wanting to create a teacup storm over nothing. This and the mad demands by the Church of England over Resistance: Fall of Man is making me sick.

If you want to ban something, ban something which is rubbish, like Dan Brown's new book or the new Fantastic Four. Oh well, the game is probably rubbish anyway, like most of Rockstar's post GTA III games. But still...

via Eurogamer

More Church of England rant

I see that the Church of Henry VIII is seeking its old habit again of attempting to extend its influence over places it does not belong. The Anglican church today pleaded with the Japanese people to join with them in their fight against Sony. They argued that any religious building such as a mosque should not be included in games of violent content, which I find amusing as many US war games contains maps of mosques where we can blow people up inside. I never heard the church coming to their defence before.

The media as usual has been up to its usual sleeve, reporting the church's propaganda by referring to the game where 'hundreds of people' are killed in the church, which as far as I know (speaking to other gamers online, is bull). As much as I dislike Sony's PlayStation department nowadays (SCEI), as a gamer I have to side with Sony (and other games developers who seek artistic freedom). Did Westminster Abbey sue Dan Brown when he wrote that superbly average blockbuster known as Da Vinci Code? No. BTW, You can read my original opinion here which has not change.

If they are so concern about gun crime, perhaps it is time for the dying institution to look at themselves as community and what they can do to fix it, rather than shifting blame to a company thousands of miles away.

via Yahoo! News

Mythical fairytale god hates games...

But Londoners definitely loves portable video games.

On National Express coach:
- One adult male with black DS Lite
- One adult male with black PSP (SEGA Mega Drive Collection)

On Tube (in my 45 minutes worth of journey today)
- One adult male with black DS Lite
- One adult male with white DS Lite
- One adult female with white DS Lite
- One adult male with enamel navy DS Lite
- One adult male with white PSP
- Zero Blackberries!

It was great to finally see more adults willing to whip out their DS Lite consoles to play in public. Yay London!

In other news an old insignificant relic known as the Church of England is threatening legal action against Sony Computer Entertainment over Insomniac's PS3 game Resistance: Fall of Man. This was because of the inclusion of a Manchester cathedral in the game where men had to battle aliens (sounds pretty cool, maybe I will get a PS3 after all - make that 50% price drop happen SCEE!).

The Beeb has even created four separate articles on this subject (that is an average of TWO a day, for a none-news! Must be a slow news day yesterday), even giving it top bill BBC News website for much of Saturday. I guess they are not interested in 'Maddy' now (thank you German reporter).


Spiffy. Too bad you can't WASD+mouse'd the game.

Now I don't know about you (and my law knowledge is at best consigned to consumer law) but last I heard you can't 'renew' the copyright of old buildings, especially old relics like cathedrals and such (which at 800 years old, probably/should be in the public domain anyway). Now, any lawsuit based on copyrights would likely be thrown out by a sensible judge, so me thinks the CoE is doing this as part of their 'morale crusade' on video games (you don't see churches complaining when films or books use them in fiction) or probably for some kind of money related intent.

I mean they are asking Sony to 'donate' a 'substantial' amount of profit from the game to their coffers (What? Weekly church driven donations isn't enough?). That and a bunch of old irrelevant codgers trying to pin the blame someone else other than themselves because no one here goes to church any more, apart from coffin dodgers. I really can't understand the CoE's logic on how is it Sony's fault that Manchester is riddled with gun crimes. Damn, it really is about money and shifting blames...

Religious monkeys

In recent weeks a mate of mine has been trying to coax me into troublesome religious debates. He knows where I stand regarding religion but he just can't stop pointing out the apparent ridiculousness of my (lack-of) beliefs. I usually counter that there isn't any proof that anything in the bible is true. It is after all a book written by dead men. When I demanded proof of Jesus's apparent divinity his counter is simply that because it is written in the bible, it is proof enough. Saddest thing is no matter how much he tries to preach about god and Jesus, he regularly fails to acknowledge other religions like Islam, often citing said religion as a 'violent' one - which I find very ironic considering how the history of his religion is riddled with blood and death, not to mention how similar the two religions are.

FFS, I don't care if you love Jesus, just stop bugging me about it.

Killerspiele

Ah those pesky Germans. Love to blame video games for all their misbehaving criminals. German tabloid Bild-Zeitung (equals to Murdoch's The Sun) is putting the blame squarely (no pun intended) on Square's horrid Final Fantasy VII, dubbing it a killer game, after police arrested two teenagers who killed a mother and father.

Video gaming persecution seems to be on the rise, isn't it? Quite a nice coincidence too. EU lawmakers in Brussels has recently agreed on a set of rules limiting the sale of 'violent' video games to minors, which is all fine and dandy, except that they are also planning for more stringent banning orders.

Do take comfort in knowing that while Germany is keen on imposing bans, they realised that each member state will be able to decide which games are violent and so on. Or so insists Franco Frattini, the EU Justice and Security Commissioner. If I remember correctly this guy (whom I dubbed EU twit) insisted on a blanket ban on Rule of Rose.

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I wrote a nice article that some how relates Final Fantasy last night before I had the chance to read about the EU debacle. I will probably post it later. I am not a FF freak, but with the release of Final Fantasy XII next month, you can forgive me if I appear to be. Ta.

Technorati tags: Final Fantasy Final Fantasy VII Killerspiele Germany Video Games

Christmas controversy

India nuclear export okay according to US.

Bloody fucking hypocrite!

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Ooo... about 15 days to Christmas and we already have a Christian vs Seculars, Muslims Vs Christians, believers Vs non-believers etc. war of words going on through the mass media. With nothing like Jerry Springer: The Opera planned on the BBC, I thought we would have a boring December. But no... Let me say this, this Christmas will be a lively one.

First up, Muslim Association of Britain has decided that after the way the right wing media managed to kill of any possible release of Rule of Rose video game, they thought that they could do the same - this time on a crap game based on crap Christian books, titled Left Behind: Eternal Forces. In this RTS title you command a Christian army, out and about killing non-believers (apparently modeled after the UN). Wow. The Times reported (wrongly) that the game could be heading for the best seller chart (didn't they know how un-Christian Britain is?). They also failed to mention that progressive Christians in the US has already condemned the game. Even seculars are joining in, but fortunately stop short of calling a ban, instead respecting our rights to make decisions on our own.

Next up, Channel 4 has decided to drum up some kind of controversy, by inviting a veiled Muslim lady to deliver the 'alternative Christmas message' - which is kind of stupid, even by C4's standard. But it brings in the kind of irrelevant religious debate that we are hoping for. First strike by Christian Voice UK's Stephen Green: "The niqab is a veil of separation between Muslims and the indigenous Christian community. This will expose multi-culturalism for what it is – a bias against the indigenous Christian population". But nobody takes him seriously so nobody bothered to reply.

Tabloid victory over Rule of Rose

Just had the misfortune to watch a couple of minutes of the gross Madonna Confessions Tour on Channel 4. Ugh. Didn't even bother to wait for the hypocritical religious critique.

Am getting my arse pwned in Final Fantasy III by entering the Forbidden Land Eureka before I was ready. It is a great place to level up and earn some gils though.

Sticking with gaming, thanks to several right wing tabloids, a Japanese game titled Rule of Rose has been shelved for any UK release. Although not banned by the government (it received a PEGI rating of '16' after all), publisher 505 Games (the same publisher of that bible 'game') has decided to pander to media pressure and canned the UK release, which means until some other brave publisher picks it up, the UK gamers has to import to play it.

Reviews of the game has been mixed but when I showed the clips to Jenni a couple of weeks ago, we found that we were interested in a game that allows us to play as an underage British school girl, hacking away at her peers. The game must be good then, and the macabre style reminds me a lot of American McGee's Alice - a game that I enjoyed.

For some time we gamers this side of the Atlantic, has been pretty lucky to be spared the moralistic crusade by politicians attempting to blame violence on video games, much like what has been happening in the US for a number of years. I think the BBFC and PEGI has been doing an outstanding job in rating games effectivel. Obviously some EU twit down in Brussels thought otherwise, calling for changes in the way PEGI issues rating, evoking a sense of deja-vu to those who follows the US gaming scene, where Hillary Clinton et al. is attempting to pursue changes to the ESRB rating system.

Technorati tags: Madonna Final Fantasy III Rule of Rose