I officially hate McCain

-picture shows how not to show respect to a competitor-

After tonight's first presidential debate, I realized that I have stronger feelings against McCain than a simple dislike. Tonight made me realize that he is more dangerous than Bush.

Here are his top phrases from tonight: (next time I will keep a counter handy)

· "Senator Obama doesn't seem to understand...."
· "as Ronald Reagan said (or did/showed)..."
· "I have a long record of .... "
· "I have been to Iraq, I saw that..."
· "I was there when..."
· "In 1982 (or 93,76,99 - your call)...."

bonus track: sinical laughter and ZERO eye contact while Obama talks

You did nothing but talking down to Obama and popularism, McCain. You are worse than I think.

We can all be heroes or monsters

The thin line between becoming Jekyll or Hyde: 

(note that viewer discretion is advised -whatever that means)

Really, how much control does one have on self's actions?

Humans do not pursue the proper values automatically; we discover and choose them.  "Every proper value-judgment is the identification of a fact: a given object or action advances man’s life (it is good): or it threatens man’s life (it is bad or an evil). The good, therefore, is a species of the true; it is a form of recognizing reality. The evil is a species of the false; it is a form of contradicting reality. Or: values are a type of facts; they are facts considered in relation to the choice to live" says Ayn Rand.

And I guess sometimes there's just not enough rocks...

click for more on Phil Zimbardo

click for the freaky Milgram Experiment

or click for nice(r) thoughts

This one goes to Stephanie

I know Stephanie is expecting to see Istanbul pictures but here I am posting some shots from the black sea region of Turkey, where my family is originally from.  (Istanbul pictures will follow once I am done transfering them!)

Below is the village that my family is originally from: 

My dad's ancestors are Iran Azerbaijani and my mother's ancestors are Armenian, yeah right, a combination of two countries that hate each other.. they migrate and somehow end up in the same village up north.

This is another village on the same coast. I guess the nicest and funniest people on earth lives here.

Another view from a village in the black sea coast. These roofs belong to springs, and of course a mosque because relaxing doesn't mean forgetting the creator!

And, finally, evil eyes of Turkey for protection from "the bad". And yes, this goes for you too, Stephanie :) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Thanks to my sister, Cigdem, for the great shots.

Porn solution for endangered species

Most of you might know this already but it is totally new to me.

Today I learned that reproduction of pandas is on the hands of porn companies!

Since pandas don't like to have sex, they are showed porn movies and it turns out quiet well, as Chinese scientists report.

This might be the funniest thing I have ever heard,  besides, who would bring such an idea into a scientific discussion like that?   (must be "the" nerd) 

Very funny!

Read this.

Scientists Evolved to be Ignorant

Do scientists manage to explain what evolution really means to society? My answer is no, once again - after seeing this :

"Scientists Evolved to be Ignorant"

Here is a quote from the same blog that I newly discovered:

"Materialistic ideology has subverted the study of biological and cosmological origins so that the actual content of these sciences has become corrupted. The problem, therefore, is not merely that science is being used illegitimately to promote a materialistic worldview, but that this worldview is actively undermining scientific inquiry, leading to incorrect and unsupported conclusions about biological and cosmological origins."

Check out "Uncommon Descent" (you name it) for more.. 

Richard Dawkins on Atlas of Creation

As a reply to my previous post, a reader brought up the issue of Richard Dawkins rejecting to debate with Harun Yahya (HY), which -according to HY fans- is interpreted as "Dawkins afraids HY will prove evolution w-r-o-n-g". 

It turns out, the ideas of Dawkins on Atlas of Creation is as far as a google search bar.

Here is Dawkins' answer to HY. You see, avoiding to give time to someone is one thing, disproving is another.

Venomous Snakes Slippery Eels and Harun Yahya by Richard Dawkins

Richard Dawkins to be banned

I like to circulate censorship news, thanks to Turkey, I never run out of material.

After the thread of banning Richard Dawkins' famous book The God Delusion ,  author's website is completely banned in Turkey.

Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk was saved by the Turkish court for his Armenian Genocide comment in the last minute,  I hope same will be prevailing for Dawkins.

Turkey heart ban V2:   

Richard Dawkins website access banned in Turkey

 "Access to popular evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins' official web site was blocked temporary (time to time) in Turkey. No official explanation for the banning brought the suspicion that this may be related to a “hacking issue."

nice.

End note: Harun Yahya is suspected in this hacking -  If he did this, that would be the proof that he was incapable of disproving Dawkins' ideas.  Keep writing the Atlas, to-be-evolved H. Yahya.

What would Martin Luther King Jr do?

It turns out, being away from daily routine is being away from everything! It's either the world was waiting for my break to go crazy or vacation makes me less subjective.. Anyways, I am glad I am back to everything. (and I have pictures pending for you, Stephanie)

I want to start with Obama (for yo mama):

Yet here goes an article by Kyle-Ann Shiver comparing Obama to Martin Luther King Jr (for the obvious yet unnecessary reasons)

What would Martin Luther King Jr do? by Kyle Ann Shiver

I am still in the process of catching up with "things" -- Stay tuned!