First of all, I’m quite keen to get my hands on Star Wars Battleground 2, despite it being a bit old by now. I saw an old trailer for it the other day and realised what I missed. I’m currently re-playing Uplink in my spare time - such a simple, yet engaging game. I wish there were more hacking games like this!

The Spore Creature Creator, has primed me for the release of Spore later this year - that game looks like FUN! GTA IV is coming out for the PC at the end of the year, which is also going to rock big time!

Too many cool games, not nearly enough time.

Things are starting to look up again. Work is soon going to get interesting again and planning for the wedding is going well.

I’m also busy uploading some new plugins that I hope will make the site more interesting and accessible.

Please ignore the comments below - I have installed threaded comments and need to modify the CSS a bit to fit in with this theme, so they’re staying there until I’m done

The upgrade process was not completely pain free - I lost all my categories and had to manually edit the database to reinsert them - I think I got them all right…

The current theme, while lovely may also change / be tweaked.

The content though will remain largely what you’ve come to expect from this blog — a mix of things, depending on what’s got my attention at the moment. Anything and everything from religion to gaming to books to code. It’s all good and it’s all me

Anyway I’ve got lots to say, just no time to say it Story of my life I guess. I’ll post another rant next week when I have a bit more time!

I still need to upload some of our Kruger park pics to the Dargo Gallery - I’ll try and get to that this week too, but don’t expect too much!!

I’ve also recently reinstalled Freelancer and Ibis and I are busy exploring Bretonia at the moment.

A good friend (TheGrimm) and I have been discussing the possibility of intelligent life outside of our planet. He made the argument that although most starsPulsars, Neutron stars and other exotics are generally not exactly suitable to the formation of life as we know it have Goldilocks zones around them, few of these stars would actually have planets inside that magical zone. Even fewer of those planets would be suitable to the development of life and for that life to have any appreciable chance of evolving intelligence, the solar system would need some gravitational vacuum cleaners to keep if safe from meteorsIn our own solar system, Jupiter and Saturn fill these roles for us..

All of these together, he argues, make the chances very small indeed. It is all too easy to agree, as it seems statistically almost impossible for all of the right ingredients to come together in the right time and place to form not only a suitable solar system, but for life to get started and have the opportunity to evolve far enough for intelligence to arise. That is, until you consider three counter arguments.

1) We know that as statistically improbable as it is - it has happened AT LEAST ONCE. Here on Earth. We are proof that it may be very, very unlikely but it can and has happened.

2) According to NASA estimates there are somewhere between 200 000 000 000 and 500 000 000 000That’s 200 - 500 billion GALAXIES in the universe with each galaxy having anywhere between 5 and 500 billion stars in them. Even eliminating 99.99% of all of the stars in the universe, we would still be left with BILLIONS of solar systems with the right basic ingredients for life to form and have time to evolve intelligence.

3) All of this assumes that life requires earth-like conditions to arise. Extremophiles have proven us wrong here. There are any number of human-lethal planets that may evolve radically different, but no less intelligent life forms.

Your thoughts appreciated.

ETA this

First of all, if you believe in a God, it makes would make sense to also believe that intelligent life has arisen elsewhere in the universe. What other purpose does the rest of the universe serve otherwise? I mean, what an incredible waste of time and effort for God. Why create all those billions of galaxies and stars if not to create life on many of them? So, assuming for an instant that there are other planets out there with intelligent beings on them. Did God also incarnate himself on those planets? Does Christianity exist elsewhere in the universe?

Second, getting back to earth - why did God incarnate at the time and place he did? That may sound like a silly question, but it’s not really. Why did God not incarnate in ALL cultures? Surely that would have been a much more intelligent way of spreading the word? Why did he not incarnate among the Mayans or the Egyptians or the Polynesians? Why did God choose the Hebrews as his “chosen” people? If he created all life on this planet, why is he so exclusionary? So biased against the rest of humanity? What did the Mayans do or not do that did not make them worth a visit by the one true creator of the universe?

I want people to think about these things. If God is capable of all things, why was he so terribly inefficient when it came to spreading the word of his existence? Why did he not give all people and all cultures the same choices and options? What made the Jews so special? Do you really believe that an all-loving God would be so bigoted as to choose a single nation as his “chosen” and not even let other cultures know of his existence? Why no Mayan Jesus?

Comments welcome

I first got this game in December last year and immediately played through the Empire campaign, but I wasn’t terribly impressed. I felt the game was too easy, the units were pretty but because the game was stuck with using known military units from the movie, they lacked balance and scope. Recently I picked it up again and tried playing it from the Rebellion side and I’ve since come to appreciate the game a lot more. It’s actually very strategic and yes it IS unbalanced - but that’s kinda the point.

The Empire is supposed to be near unstoppable with powerful units and money to burn. They are the Empire with half the galaxy’s resources behind them. The Rebellion on the other hand, is an underground movement, strapped for cash and technology and this is reflected in the game quite well. Playing the Rebellion is much tougher. Your units get minced by the superior Empire technology and should you take control of an Empire planet, you can bet that sooner or later you will hear the dreaded “Fleet approaching”, meaning a Star Destroyer or two are about to hyperspace in to reclaim their planet.

In all, I’m quite happy with the game now and I really love the way it manages to mesh itself so well into the events in Episode IV - it really tells the story of what went on between the Rebellion and the Empire just before we meet Luke on Tatooine. In fact, playing as the Empire, you even get to capture Princess Leia over Tatooine and witness the destruction of her home planet.

Anyways that’s it for now. Hoping to upgrade this blog to a newer version of wordpress soon and perhaps update the skin again as well.

People have horrible, tragic events happen to them and immediately seek to find an explanation for why these things happened. It’s as if we need to put everything in neat little boxes so that we can make sense of the world. I understand this urge - I feel it myself. I believe this is one reason why people stick to their chosen religion so fiercely. To deny their religion is to render the death of millions of innocent children from leukemia completely meaningless. If you’re religious of course, you can come up with any number of reasons for why those children suffered the way they did. They are without exception disgustingly abhorrent reasons, but to the religious mind they seem completely reasonable. This is just another example of how religion can skew one’s moral compass. To honestly believe that God requires the death of a child to teach someone else a lesson (or for whatever other reason) is completely ridiculous. If you believe in an omnipotent God, surely he could have achieved His ends, without resorting to the infliction of lethal disease on innocents? Of course this sort of mental acrobatics is required if one wishes to believe in a kind and loving God. The current genocide in Darfur is not helping anyone. Why is God content to sit back and allow this to continue?

My point is that the logical problems with God are plain, yet people continue to believe (in part) because to deny God would mean those children are dying for no good reason other than they had the misfortune to develop cancer.

God undoubtedly created pain, suffering and evil. Now many apologists dispute this or get around it by invoking free will. The argument usually runs something like this: God gave humans free will so that they could genuinely choose to obey God or not. It is through our free will that atrocities are committed. However there are many kinds of suffering and pain that could easily be eliminated without removing our free will.

For instance, God could have prevented AIDS from evolving. Or SARS. Or Polio. Or Ebola. Or God could prevent birth defects. Can you come up with a reasonable explanation as to why a loving God would allow a child to be born to devout Christian parents (or otherwise) with a horrific birth defect that leaves the child in constant pain for a few short years before dying in agony? Why would a loving, caring God allow that to happen? The fact is that humans have cured Polio on our own. We have prevented untold millions from suffering permanent disabilities through the application of science… not prayer.

The next time you see a child dying of leukemia, ask yourself what they did to deserve such a fate, for surely if God exists, it is his doing. Or you could wake up and realise that in this world, things just happen. There is no “master plan” according to which nature orders itself. Life is happening to you now and you only get one shot at it, so stop wasting your time hoping JC is going to save you and enjoy the only life you have while you still have it!

Even those who do “study” the Bible, do so with the use of aids and companion books in order to “help” them “understand” the Bible. While I don’t dispute that much of the Bible is metaphor and imagery (much of Daniel and Revelation for instance), this reliance on the interpretation of others is worrying. If you are a Christian reading this, I challenge you to read the Bible as you would any other book. Start at the beginning and read it through to the end. Don’t rely on the interpretations of others, but try and discern the meaning of the words yourself. When you read it, try to remember it for what it is and put it into context. An ancient text, written by a relatively primitive and superstitious people who had absolutely no knowledge of the scientific method and were relatively ignorant about the natural world around them. This is not an attempt to demean them, it is a simple fact. I’m certain that in another 2000 years, my own meager writings will look equally ignorant and primitive.

I guarantee that at the very least, it will give you a very different outlook on your beliefs.

Given the time and the will, I hope to present some of my own Bible study here on The Ramblings of Octavo. I know I just enjoined you to read it yourself and not rely on the interpretation of others, but I need SOMETHING to post about, right? And I’m hoping that putting my own atheist perspective on the scripture may lead you to your own, new insights.

In Luke 20:27 - 35 the Sadducees (a sect of Jews who didn’t believe in life after death) ask Jesus what happens to someone who has been married several times in heaven. Who exactly are they married to? In Luke 20:35 Jesus says “But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage”.

There are two ways to read this passage and although I personally feel that the language seems clear here, many disagree and point out that the translation may not be 100% accurate to the original meaning. The first interpretation (and the one I contend is clear by the language used) is that married people don’t get into heaven. The second is that in heaven there is no such thing as marriage.

Assuming the second interpretation is the correct one, doesn’t it seem strange that there is so much emphasis on marriage in this life if it is completely irrelevant in the next? One must assume that concepts like love and commitment exist in heaven (although not necessarily romantic love) and given that, it seems strange to me that there exists no mechanism in heaven (where you will spend eternity after all) to come before your God and in His presence declare an everlasting commitment to a loved one.

So if you are a Christian and you are married, there exist but two possibilities for you. 1) You will never reach heaven. 2) You may reach heaven, but you and your wife will no longer be married and there will be no possibility of you ever being married again.

Neither of those options sounds particularly appealing to me…

While the Bible can be (selectively) used to support just about any prejudice, I wish to focus on the two most obvious and glaring ones. Slavery and homosexuality. The first because it has been defeated and done away with and only the lunatic fringe Christians use the Bible to support it and the second because it is still a serious issue today.

There are several passages in the Bible that undeniably endorse slavery. If you feel like some light reading, try these out: Exodus 21:2; Exodus 21:7; Exodus 21:20-21; Exodus 22:3; Leviticus 22:11; Leviticus 25:39; Leviticus 25:44; Ephesians 6:5; Colossians 3:22. And if you thought it was all in the OT, you’d be wrong: Timothy 6:1; Titus 2:9; 1 Peter 2:18;
For an interesting read, try this http://www.religioustolerance.org/sla_bibl1.htm

Now these passages and many others were used by people to contend that slavery was a normal practice that was accepted biblically. At this point you should be asking yourself how a morally good deity could ever condone slavery, let alone set out rules for how to treat them in His holy scriptures. And before some apologist comments that God laid down these rules to protect slaves or give them more rights, I’d like to point out two things.

1) Exodus 21:20 And if a man smite his servant, or his maid, with a rod, and he die under his hand; he shall be surely punished. 21:21 Notwithstanding, if he continue a day or two, he shall not be punished: for he is his money.

In other words, if you beat your slave to death you will be punished, but if you beat him to within an inch of his life and he dies a day or two after, you’re all good.

2) Anyone that defends the concept of humans as property in any way has a SERIOUSLY warped moral compass.

And so it is clear that the Bible provides an excellent excuse to support slavery were one so inclined. Of course today, we all realise that slavery is morally repugnant and the slave trade has been (mostly) abolished.

In exactly the same way, you can find many, many passages from the Bible that condemn homosexuality as “against nature” and a sin against God, however this is just another example of bigotry. Prejudice based on sexual orientation.

Now most Christians who use the Bible to condemn homosexuality claim that sexual orientation is a choice and like to term it “sexual preference”. I challenge any honestly straight person to imagine choosing to be a homosexual. Imagine having sex with another person of the same gender. Repugnant isn’t it? Not exactly an arousing thought is it? In fact the thought probably disgusts you a little. I know it does for me. Do you still believe that homosexuals CHOOSE to be that way? Do you not realise that a homosexual probably feels EXACTLY THE SAME WAY about sex with a person of a different gender? That it is repugnant to them, is not arousing and probably even the thought disgusts them a little?

Why would a boy of 11 or 12, just entering puberty CHOOSE an orientation that he knows will make him an outcast, a villian, hated by millions? The simple fact is that he wouldn’t. He was simply born that way and he cannot deny his own nature, just as I cannot deny my own straightness. There is no doubt in my mind that homosexuality is a perfectly NATURAL orientation that a person is BORN with. It occurs naturally in all the higher animals (humans included) to varying degrees. People that claim that a homosexual must have had some trauma or abuse in their childhood or a weak father or whatever are clearly arguing from ignorance. There are literally hundreds of thousands of cases of homosexuals who have perfectly normal families with no abuse and two loving parents.

Whatever your viewpoint, any deity that will condemn a loving, committed couple to eternal damnation simply because they happen to be of the same gender DOES NOT DESERVE WORSHIP.