Monday, April 16, 2007

A Breif History of Disbelief (Part 1)


The first time I read or saw Johnathan Miller was from his work "The Body Human" which was subsequent to and concamatent with the television series of the same name as shown on PBS when I was in college. I found if fascinating. But, and this should not be surprising, I was not taken aback that Johnathan Miller is also an atheist like I am. I find it almost an inevitability that the free inquiry into the physical universe will leave one to the conclusion that the notion of 'God' is ludicrous. A few years ago, Johnathan Miller then came out with a set of programs on the beginnings of atheism for the BBC. They are outstanding and very much in the vane of his earlier work. And so, for those who may have an atheistic streak such as I, listen and learn:



A Breif History of Disbelief (Part 1):





Online Videos by Veoh.com

Labels: ,

Sunday, April 15, 2007

George Carlin on Religion (Cover your ears!)


George Carlin remains one of my favorite stand-up comedians. I remember being in college in engineering going to Cal State Long Beach and going to see him in the fairly new Universal Amphitheater at Universal Studios. It was 1982 (OK, I admit, I just dated myself) and I was never so hard up for air and the ability to breath as I was the night I saw George Carlin for the laughing I just couldn't stop. Here he takes on the notion of religion. His logis is witty, scatalogical at times, utterly profane and exactly the way that most atheists I know tend to see the world. The second video is his take on the Ten Commandments (and here I remind my readers that a previous blog of mine has a list of the New Ten Commandments that I tend to follow). So, here we go... enjoy:

[Warning: Plenty of profanity here.... you have been warned!]

George Carlin on Religion



George Carlin on the Ten Commandments

Labels:

The Selfish Green

In 2004, an annual convention of wildlife photographers and videographers termed "Wildscreen" met in Bristol in the UK. Before too many of the participants got into the viewing of the films, a discussion pannel was assembled by the BBC Channel 4 with one of theier journalists as moderator. The pannel consisted of Richard Dawkins, Sir David Attenborough, Jane Goodall, and Richard Leakey. The first clip starts off with the introduction of the participants and their respective achievments in their fields of study and carreers then moves on to the discussion itself. The entire set of clips is near an hour in length but portends some of the news that has lead us to the notions of global warming and the politics that go along with it today. It is a great discussion to watch and I encourage all of you to listen intently to these learned people if only to inspire you to become involved in the world of which we are all a part:

Part 1




Part 2



Part 3



Part 4



Part 5



Part 6



Part 7

Labels: , ,