Recently, Israel did something smart regarding organ donation: Until now, Israel ranked at the bottom of Western countries on organ donation. Jewish law proscribes desecration of the dead, which has been interpreted by many to mean that Judaism prohibits organ donation. Additionally, there were rabbinic issues surrounding the concept of brain death, the state in which organs are typically harvested. As a result, many patients died waiting for organs. So Israel has decided to try a new system that would… Read more
Thunderf00t points out that YouTube appears to be banning videos that are “religiously offensive”… which means atheist videos (his included) are being taken down in spades. … I got four videos taken down in half an hour, and a ‘privacy notifications’ against a further two… … The following videos were taken down, according to YT after review by their dedicated members who determined these videos violated terms of use. This can only make sense if its ‘Youtube-Malaysia: Theocratic Chapter’. Malaysia… Read more
From PostSecret: It’s easier said than done — and I know I say this as someone who still has a relationship with his parents despite disappointing them with my atheism — but if your family can’t handle your newfound logical beliefs, you may be better off without them. You would hope, in time, they could at least accept your beliefs, but religion has a way of warping peoples’ minds so that they can’t just deal with issues like this in… Read more
On Thursday, news broke that Krystal Myers, a high school student from Tennessee, had her opinion piece about discrimination against atheists banned from her school’s newspaper. Two updates: Today, the Knoxville News Sentinel (the paper that broke the story in the first place) published the article that the school banned. The editors are thereby giving it more exposure than her high-school paper would’ve offered and that benefits everybody. Thanks, Streisand Effect! Also, yesterday, the Freedom From Religion Foundation found a… Read more
This is what happens when atheists in the military become more aware of their rights and aren’t afraid to speak up. Air Force Lt. Gen. Ronnie Hawkins, also the head of the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), recently gave a talk to all employees in the DISA department and he included the following slides in his presentation: Why #1 and #18 are on the list, I don’t know. Even if they’re personal “rules” he uses, they don’t belong in a… Read more
I’ll admit this parody of Purity Bear (as if the originals weren’t already a parody of themselves) had me cracking up. Mostly because JT makes a lot of sense: (via WWJTD) Read more
My high school students know that I rely very little on our textbooks. I hand them out at the beginning of the school year because I have to, but other than as a last-resort reference, most of my classes use them minimally throughout the year. Why do this? They’re boring. They can add to the confusion and dislike students already have towards math. They rely too heavily on plug-and-chug methods. They don’t encourage outside-the-box thinking. The list goes on for… Read more
In case you don’t watch the show “Shark Tank,” it’s a reality show in which a panel of rich business tycoons judge someone’s “great idea” and have a chance to invest in it. The “contestants” have to pitch their idea to the panel and face a barrage of questions about their business plan, previous sales, concerns, etc. Last night, one of the contestants was Ryan Naylor, the founder of Esso Watches, a product that deals with the “problem of positive… Read more
