Quotes from My Favorite Atheist - Issac Asimov

To surrender to ignorance and call it God has always been premature, and it remains premature today.

I don't believe in an afterlife, so I don't have to spend my whole life fearing hell, or fearing heaven even more. For whatever the tortures of hell, I think the boredom of heaven would be even worse.

Humanity has the stars in its future, and that future is too important to be lost under the burden of juvenile folly and ignorant superstition.

Creationists make it sound as though a 'theory' is something you dreamt up after being drunk all night.

Taking Atheism to a Whole New Level

While religion and faith intrigue me, I am an atheist at heart around 90% of the time.

This week I watched an interesting story on CNN..... An atheist Italian man is suing his local parish for fraud, claiming that it has benefited financially from promoting false stories about Jesus. According to him, the four Gospels provide conflicting and inaccurate stories about Jesus and he has even published a pamphlet which dispels Jesus as a myth. If his arguement holds in court, this would imply that religious figures are akin to con artists.

World Cup Frenzy

Football was the topic of discussion at work the other day. As expected, the number of South Asian countries that made it to the World Cup was "zero". So Sana, has decided to root for our Muslim brothers from Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Kim's google search revealed some interesting facts. Saudi Arabia had banned women from attending football matches. That makes sense...... Can you imagine what might happen if those wayward and immoral women were to catch sight of the scantily clad football players with with their hairy legs!!!! Absolutely sinful..... Unfortunately the Saudi officials had to back down when Sweden threatened to boycott a match in January.

I'm betting on Brazil.

Virtual Reality

Nowadays you can do EVERYTHING on the web - pay your bills, communicate with loved ones, take classes, find a soulmate, look up naked pics of your favorite celebs, get directions etc etc. Until recently my job was to manage online communities of practice for development professionals. When I bought my tiny birdcage-like condo, I sold my mish mash furniture on Craigslist (make sure you add the "s". Otherwise you will land on a porn site called criaglist) and bought brand new ones from Overstock. I also love blogging and keeping in touch with friends half the way across the world via Friendster or MSN messenger. I thought we had reached the edge of the cyber world when Pizza Hut started accepting online orders (I tried it just for kicks and it works!!!). But wait..... There's more.....

Now you can get a divorce at the click of a button. Here's what I found:

"Divorce doesn't have to be difficult. Begin your divorce online. CompleteCase.com™ is North America's premier affordable divorce service center. Our simple and inexpensive process will enable you to complete your divorce documents from the comfort of your home, without incurring the cost of an attorney, or dealing with lengthy completion and delivery periods. The total cost is $249.00."

Well, I guess it is "normal" afterall. If you can file taxes online, you should be able to file for a divorce over the Internet as well.

Douglas Adams Quote

"Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws."

Living in Oz

The international development community perpetually suffers from the "Oz Syndrome". The Tin Man in the Wizard of Oz had no heart while the Scarecrow was missing a brain. Similarly a lot of development practitioners seem to be lacking in either "empathy/compassion" or "critical thinking".

compassion + critical thinking = common sense

and common sense is uncommon......

Overworked

The first step to overcoming addiction is "acceptance". So here goes - "Hi, my name is Nadia and I am a workoholic". Last night I was working away - barefoot and oblivious to the lateness of the hour. Finally I reached my breaking point at 2 am and trudged out of the office. As I waited outside to hail a cab, a "latino-lover"-looking guy steps out of the building and decides to try a pick-up line on me (that too in Spanish). All I had to offer at that hour was a cold, don't-mess-with-me look, which didn't seem to thwart his advances...... There's a time and place for everything but I don't expect people to have "common sense" anymore.

Reached home and had a HUGE meal at 2:30 am...... Life is great :-)

If you are a workoholic and want to "reclaim your life, health, family and sanity" visit the Work to Live website. You can also bond with other workoholics on your road to recovery by joining Workoholics Anonymous. Apparently, "workoholism" is a form of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

Set in Stone

Apparently this has been thrown around in the media for a while but I completely missed it. Long-faced presidential candidate, John Kerry, has been compared to an Easter Island statue because of his stiff demeanor and expressionless countenance. But in the eyes of his supporters Kerry still “rocks”.

New York New York

I woke up at 3 am last night gasping for breath - a combination of springtime asthma and claustrophobia. I imagined New York closing in on me. Too much concrete and too little sky…..

Healing a Broken Heart

What do you do with the relics of a relationship that turned sour? Donate them to the Museum of Broken Relationships in Croatia. The Founder of the museum claims that it helps people to let go of the past but preserves the precious memories. Each item is accompanied by a note from the owner and the sentiment ranges from wistful and melancholy to bitter and sarcastic. They have an eclectic collection - love letters, rings, a vespa and even an artificial leg. An ex-soldier, who was in love with his therapist, sent the prosthetic limb and the note read - "The prostheses lasted longer than our love. Better material," Read the full story in Reuters.