If you’re like me, and you enjoy dark chocolate, then I have some studies to share with you! I think they’ll be helpful for the holidays as well as generally beneficial throughout the year. If you don’t like chocolate (WTF, just kidding), see below for swine flu info, and other linky goodness.
Dark Chocolate Helps Ease Emotional Stress: A new study found that eating about an ounce and a half of dark chocolate a day for two weeks reduced levels of stress hormones in people who felt highly stressed. The chocolate also partially corrected other stress-related biochemical imbalances. “The study provides strong evidence that a daily consumption of 40 grams [1.4 ounces] during a period of 2 weeks is sufficient to modify the metabolism of healthy human volunteers,” the scientists say.
That led me to a study from last December. It’s rather small and involves self-reporting, but it could be a promising line for further research, and could be something you experiment with yourself to see if it works for you:
Dark Chocolate Lessens Cravings: Dark chocolate is far more filling than milk chocolate, lessening our craving for sweet, salty and fatty foods. In other words, eating dark chocolate may be an efficient way to keep your weight down over the holidays (and throughout the year!) The dark chocolate gives a feeling of satiety. Read the rest of this entry »
The other day I got an email from an atheist couple who have two kids, one 9 and one 10. They asked me for information regarding websites or literature that might deal with “god pressure” for kids at school. This would be the 4th and 5th grade. Apparently kids at their school are proselytizing and mocking these 2 kids for not believing.
The parents don’t want their kids to feel like freaks and also want to help them counter the exasperated ‘you don’t believe in god!’ remarks. Sam, the father, admits that it can be lonely to not believe in god sometimes. I understand. I feel that way too, although not as much as before I belonged to Morgantown Atheists.
Diane, the mother, says they are open to ideas and suggestions. She says they have friends who aren’t religious but still believe in god. It’s not the same thing.
Seeing as how only about 10% of the population would go so far as to actually use the dreaded A-word, it can be isolating to be godless in a sea of believers. As I’ve mentioned, I still keep my atheism to myself when around Butch’s family. Some of them know we’re atheists but it’s never been brought up or mentioned. This means that a huge part of what I spend my time thinking about and being an activist over can’t be talked about when I spend time with others. It’s kind of lonely, in a way. Read the rest of this entry »
I have a MISSION for all heathens across America for November 19. Please watch the following video: (it’s 6 minutes long)
Pharyngula wrote about this the other night and noted that the giveaway is now 100,000 books at 100 universities, that Darwin’s text will remain intact, and the 50 page foreword will be rewritten to be more fair to atheists. (Does that mean it will be 50 blank pages?)
A fellow blogger, Angie the Anti-Theist is doing something very cool I want to share with you. She wants to come up with 100 great questions for christians that are creative, hypothetical and unique. They should make christians really have to think about their beliefs. Everyone knows the stale, tired old questions that have been done to death. These should be new, fresh and thoughtful.
So Angie would like us to come up with creative stump-the-fundie questions to add to her list.
You can see the first 10 questions to get you started on her blog post: Questions for christians.In her list are 2 videos you simply must watch. The first one is gay dolphin sex. I mean, come on, you really don’t want to pass that up, do you? The second one is a music video that is just awesome. I hate country AND western music, but this was so good I watched the whole thing. Highly recommended.
Here is a quick list of her questions so far (but go to her post to see more detail)
If homosexuality is a sin, are gay dolphins sinning when they have gay sex in a public aquarium? (really, go watch the video. I’ll wait. The kids watching are priceless, as is the dad recording)
Will there be jello molds with marshmallows in them in heaven? Explain.
Which is a bigger sin? (compare Noah’s naked drunkenness to Lot’s naked drunkenness plus sex with his daughters) Note: Noah and Lot were the best and holiest men in their communities and both got dead drunk and were naked in front of their kids. Lot had sex with his daughters too. Great role models, eh?
What Would Jesus Do? (go watch the video. It will crack you up. I’ll wait for you.)
If god is better than we are, how come we can think up unicorns but he can’t make them?
More from Beth today. It seems the “friendly” tone has diminished a bit, or maybe it’s just my imagination, I’m not sure. At any rate, I must confess to some frustration. I am posting this in its entirety without a reply because I have a splitting all-day headache and can’t muster proper answers.
Does anyone have any tips for how best to tackle this? Your ideas, suggestions and replies to the below email would be greatly appreciated. I’m really not a debater. So I am putting this out to you for your input.
I will never agree with you that I am “cherry picking” as I am not. In fact I was discussing it with another person of no faith and they even wondered how you drew such a conclusion. The Bible, as I stated in earlier messages, is nothing more then a compilation of documents put together by men. As we both concurred, the Holy Book is not without fault and was subject to being edited wrongly. Therefore I turn to history and science to determine what books are authentic and which are not. I do intend to look at what you suggested. I’ve honestly never come across it before. It will definetely be an asset to my research.
The Jesus Myth, as it is titled, is a contention that is absurd. I told you this is not a debate, however, so I won’t go into details as to why unless you really want to. I am convinced this man existed. Thus far, according to what I have studied, nothing points to this Jew not being real. I have read many arguments, most insisting that the documents that refer to him are forgery, but I have yet to see any of those claims to be backed by facts. Now, I realize that you did not just decide there was no Jesus without reason, so please, I encourage you to link me to any sources you may have that refute his living. Read the rest of this entry »
Some days the creative juices flow easier than others. Sometimes I just can’t think of great ideas to share with you. I’m sorry, I am a bit tapped out lately. More great stuff will come, I’m sure. I’ll just have to pray about it, I guess. “Dear Mighty Invisible Pink Unicorn….”
I’m going to share some lolcats while I take the opportunity to ask you some questions.
1. Do you have any questions or thoughts you’d like to share with HDC? You can email us at HeavingDeadCats@gmail.com
2. Do you have a deconversion story you’d like to share with us? Send us an email with your story. We’d love to publish it for you. Reading how others have unshackled themselves from religion can be helpful to people who are struggling with such a decision. Read the rest of this entry »
Hello everyone. Sometimes a whim overtakes me and I just want to do a bit of sprucing up. I updated the theme I use here at HDC and it screwed things up a bit (like my header). Then I decided to look for a new theme that might work a bit better than the one I’m using now. So bear with me. I’m going to do some fiddling around which means things might look a bit wonky while I try to make it work.
If you see errors or problems, try refreshing after a few minutes, because I might be working on it. Or if you have comments, suggestions or complaints, comment away!
If you’re like me, and you enjoy dark chocolate, then I have some studies to share with you! I think they’ll be helpful for the holidays as well as generally beneficial throughout the year. If you don’t like chocolate (WTF, just kidding), see below for swine flu info, and other linky goodness.
100 Questions for christians
So Angie would like us to come up with creative stump-the-fundie questions to add to her list.
You can see the first 10 questions to get you started on her blog post: Questions for christians.In her list are 2 videos you simply must watch. The first one is gay dolphin sex. I mean, come on, you really don’t want to pass that up, do you? The second one is a music video that is just awesome. I hate country AND western music, but this was so good I watched the whole thing. Highly recommended.
Here is a quick list of her questions so far (but go to her post to see more detail)