The scene that i will remember from the movie:
July 30, 2009
Love of Siam Whining
July 24, 2009
The Atheists’ Billboard Commenting
Love this campaign! I know this will never pass in Sg but, in a secularist state, it should. Kudos to Richard Dawkins who made me think deeply about this issue with his (in my view) revolutionary book, "The God Delusion".
A controversial advertising campaign featuring the slogan ‘There’s probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life’ was launched today on Britain’s trains and buses.
But despite its gloomy undertones the advert creators said it had a positive message which encouraged people to enjoy life instead of worrying about what happened afterwards.
The £140,000 atheist advertising campaign will be plastered across 200 bendy buses in London and 600 others across England, Scotland and Wales.
Comedy writer Ariane Sherine, (left) Professor Richard Dawkins and Polly Toynbee stand beside a London bus displaying the advertising campaign
The money will also pay for 1,000 advertisements on London Underground from Monday.
Comedy writer Ariane Sherine, who received support from the British Humanist Association (BHA) and atheist campaigner Richard Dawkins, is the brains behind the campaign.
Ms Sherine said she became angry after noticing a set of Christian advertisements carrying a website address which warned that people who reject God are condemned to spend all eternity to ‘torment in Hell.’
She said she wanted to promote her own message that people can believe whatever they wanted.
Speaking at the launch of the campaign in central London, Ms Sherine said the sheer number of donations received had demonstrated the strength of feeling in the UK.
She said: ‘This is a great day for freedom of speech in Britain and I’m really excited and thrilled that the adverts have been approved and I hope that they will make people smile on their way to work.
‘I am very glad that we live in a country where people have the freedom to believe in whatever they want.’
Buses will carry the slogan in London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Edinburgh, York, Leeds, Newcastle, Dundee, Sheffield, Coventry, Devon, Liverpool, Wolverhampton, Swansea, Newport, Rhondda, Bristol, Southampton, and Aberdeen for four weeks.
The creators behind the campaign, which will feature on Britain’s buses and trains, insist its message is positive
Professor Dawkins unveiled one of the London Underground advertisements at today’s launch.
He said: ‘Across Britain we are used to being bombarded by religious interests, not just Christians but other religions as well who seem to think that they have got a God given right to propagandise and to take over things like Thought for the Day.
‘In the House of Lords we have bishops sitting as of right, and we are still very much dominated by religious interests.’
Other supporters at the launch including philosopher A C Grayling, Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, and Graham Linehan co-writer of the Father Ted comedy series.
Mr Linehan said he was supporting the campaign because it was ’such a positive one’.
‘I think it gives the lie to the idea that atheists believe in nothing,’he said.
‘Atheists just believe that we all have a capacity to be good to one another without having the threat of eternal torture hanging over us.’
Hanne Stinson, chief executive of the BHA, said the campaign had an ‘overwhelmingly positive message.
She said: ‘It is designed to reassure people that it is okay not to be religious. People can live a happy, enjoyable and rewarding life without religion.’
Andrew Copson, spokesman for the BHA, said a further £20,000 had been raised for the BHA’s campaign against faith schools.
The campaign was welcomed by Theos, the public theology think tank and even various religious figures.
Paul Woolley, director of Theos, said: ‘We think that the campaign is a great way to get people thinking about God.
‘The posters will encourage people to consider the most important question we will ever face in our lives.’
The Methodist Church also welcomed the campaign.
The Rev Jenny Ellis, spirituality and discipleship officer, said: ‘We welcome the atheist bus campaign as an opportunity to talk about the deepest questions of life.
‘The God many atheists have rejected is not the God we recognise and this campaign has opened up a dialogue between Christians and atheists which allows these types of misconceptions to be challenged.’
July 19, 2009
Spring cleaning Whining
As August approaches, i am getting jittery cos it is not in the mail yet.
Yes, am referring to the Ikea catalogue! It is almost end-Jul and yet i havent had a chance to feast on the latest options. Not that i am seriously gonna purchase anything, since i already had the overhaul done last year. But still … so little else to look forward to right? Lying in bed with dim lighting in my room looking at those dreamy rooms and happy people is contentment for me.
(now that you know what din arrive, guess what did? My bloody income tax charge! Nabey! My tax just about doubled!)
So, when people say spring cleaning, you think of … Dusting the shelves, clearing the closets, housekeeping of random stuff under the bed etc.
Me?
I went through this toiletry bag in a drawer to check the expiry date of my … condoms and lube. Surprise surprise! Had stuff that expired in 2005! After clearing all the expired stuff, found i had 104 condoms left. All of which were from the freebies given out at AfA events (i stopped buying condoms over 2 years ago once i noticed i din have opportunities to use them). Not that i was actively collecting them, one of the give-outers/distributors just dumped a whole bunch in my bag once. Was on the verge of just throwing all away as a symbolic gesture but felt that would be wasteful. So, back in the bag they went, till i get a chance to use them or they expire. Based on recent experience, we know which will be sooner right?
How do i ‘donate’ new condoms to the ‘needy’? I cant just walk along Geylang and hand them out right? Any space where i can deposit them so they get put to better use, or for that matter, any use?
That aside, why the long absence, you ask? Well, let’s leave that for another time, shall we?