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All Blog Posts Tagged 'movie' - Think Atheist 2017-05-01T06:41:18Z http://www.thinkatheist.com/profiles/blog/feed?tag=movie&xn_auth=no Lacerta - the lizard tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-30:1982180:BlogPost:1626015 2017-04-30T05:52:10.000Z Brad Snowder http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder

 There is a small constellation near Cassiopeia which looks like her but is a smaller "W" shape. It is Lacerta, which means lizard. It is considered part of the Perseus Group even although there is no lizard in that story. Johannes Hevelius named it in the late 1600's, I guess…

There is a small constellation near Cassiopeia which looks like her but is a smaller "W" shape. It is Lacerta, which means lizard. It is considered part of the Perseus Group even although there is no lizard in that story. Johannes Hevelius named it in the late 1600's, I guess because it just sounded cool and because the little critters are kind of adorable. Maybe the W reminded him of how the lizards wriggle along. The ancient Chinese called it the flying serpent, so you can exchange the wings for legs and there you go.

 There is a star in Lacerta named EV Lacertae which is a flare star. Flares from our own sun erupt occasionally, sending huge plumes of hot hydrogen out into space, sometimes clobbering Earth in the process. Because the various parts of the sun don't all spin at the same rate, the magnetism gets tangled up like a mistreated Slinky spring. Eventually the spring energy fights back and tries its best to uncoil. You want to be standing way back when that happens.

 The atmosphere on Earth and Venus do okay in spite of the violent outbursts, we protect ourselves by countering with our own humongous magnets. Mercury and Mars not so much. Meanwhile EV Lacertae is spinning extremely fast, tangling the magnetism to extremes, and also it's a rather young and rebellious, tantrum-prone little brat. Like a toddler in the toy aisle. I suggest we ignore it.

 Carpe Noctem
 Skywise Unlimited

 The First Lie tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-24:1982180:BlogPost:1625717 2017-04-24T16:46:47.000Z Andrew Brown http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/AndrewBrown
Hi there, everyone.

I need to tell you about the first lie.

You are not God.

Seems obvious. I am a human. I live a human life which is fragile and temporary. I have human powers which make me normal among my other humans. Some humans have more powers than others, some less, but we are all human and all humans are equal.

God is incredible! God is everything? God is love...how does that work? God is the greatest ultimate so therefore, God is. God is apart from us;…

Hi there, everyone.

I need to tell you about the first lie.

You are not God.

Seems obvious. I am a human. I live a human life which is fragile and temporary. I have human powers which make me normal among my other humans. Some humans have more powers than others, some less, but we are all human and all humans are equal.

God is incredible! God is everything? God is love...how does that work? God is the greatest ultimate so therefore, God is. God is apart from us; in another dimension; unreachable without extreme devotion; untouchable; unseeable; unknowable bladity blah.

So clearly, I am not God.

I dare you to pose a question.

What is God?

How could a God exist in the cosmos? How could a God exist and survive on Earth? How could a God function?

God is all powerful within God's own domain.
God is all knowing within God's own domain.
God is fully existent within God's own domain.
God need not deal with the minor events within God's own domain.
God cares about the most important things within God's own domain.

Now, transpose "God is" with "I am" and "God's" with "my."

I am all powerful within my own domain.
I am all knowing within my own domain.
I am fully existent within my own domain.
I need not deal with the minor events within my own domain.
I care about the most important things within my own domain.

What is God's own domain? What is my own domain?

Supposedly, God's own domain is the entire cosmos.
My own domain is my own body.

What happens when God's own domain is threatened? God defends it! The ultimate God will destroy all pretenders to the throne.

What happens when my own domain is threatened? I defend it! I will never willingly allow another to affect my domain without my consent.

I could go on, but I have faith :) this is enough to realize, Thou art God.

In other words; I am God, you are God, everything which controls its own domain is God.

Become the God you would willfully worship.
 13 April tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-24:1982180:BlogPost:1625444 2017-04-24T11:08:19.000Z Noon Alif http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/navid
On 13 April 1919 dirty tactics were used by British Raj in Subcontinent. On 13 April General Harry Dyer ordered to shoot the unarmed people in Jallianwala Bagh. On 13 April General Harry Dyer proved his lewdness & again the same day this lewdness was repeated by Muslims in Pakistan. …

On 13 April 1919 dirty tactics were used by British Raj in Subcontinent. On 13 April General Harry Dyer ordered to shoot the unarmed people in Jallianwala Bagh. On 13 April General Harry Dyer proved his lewdness & again the same day this lewdness was repeated by Muslims in Pakistan.

 On 13 April 2017 a Muslim mob attacked our humanist friend Mashal Khan in Mardan & brutally killed him. Even police was there & many people were making video of his brutal killing but nobody tried to save his life. His killing was not condemned by any politician or state authorities unless his innocence was not proved by cyber crime authorities they all waited for the facts whether he committed blasphemy or not.

We should teach our kids about morality from childhood but in Pakistan kids are taught the barbaric Arab ideology as a blessing

After reading Islam for ten years in school two years in college if the ability of questioning doesn't emerge then the a kid becomes an animal which is called a Muslim everybody can observe such animals from this incident & videos can easily be found on google.

On the killing of our humanist friend the people who call Islam a religion of peace instead feeling any shame they told us the stories of crusades & the barbaric stories of Chairman Mao.

Mashal was Marxist. At his brutal act many Muslims on social media asked me to condemn & write some words about Syria. A brain patient of a political party said that ANP (Socialist Party) is a Atheist party because their roots belong to socialism they are following the footsteps of communists & socialists he danced all night on this lie.

Muslim mob kept hitting his dead body with sticks & stones. A Muslim from his province commented on my post & said that Koran orders to kill all the infidels but our government doesn't punish such people according to the blasphemy law that's why people take law & order in their own hand.

It's a thing to think that does the Arabic Allah have the ability to order Pakistani people to take law & order in their own hand ?? It is claimed that he talks in caves with the help of angels' religious liars attach beautiful adjectives with his name but he can't say a word against any brutality which is generated by his holy shit.

A wolf named Islam has destroyed our peace in Pakistan. It's said that a bird can't fly without Allah's permission but he didn't take any action to bring peace in our country such god must be buried with his ignorant followers.

When dirty secret agencies abducted the bloggers in January they asked them to say shahada & checked their circumcise. On 13 April same thing was repeated by Muslim animals.

The video which was recorded inside Mashal's room Muslim animals were throwing stones on him & chanting Allah Hu Akbar (Allah is great) Laabaik ya Rasool Allah (O my Prophet here I am at your service (

O Muhammad of Arabia you are our General Dyer

 Leo - the lion tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-23:1982180:BlogPost:1625406 2017-04-23T05:25:55.000Z Brad Snowder http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder

 The constellation Leo shows up in the early spring, when frogs wake up, the crocuses start blooming, and pudgy old guys begin meandering around Lowes in cargo shorts and birkenstocks. These stars dominate the spring sky the way Orion dominates the winter. In the weeks before the…

The constellation Leo shows up in the early spring, when frogs wake up, the crocuses start blooming, and pudgy old guys begin meandering around Lowes in cargo shorts and birkenstocks. These stars dominate the spring sky the way Orion dominates the winter. In the weeks before the equinox Leo begins leaping up from the eastern horizon, stretching up and sniffing the zenith.

 The lion allegory goes back at least 6000 years, maybe longer. The ancient greeks associated it with the lion that Hercules killed with a mighty bear hug. That particular lion had thick skin that couldn't be pierced with swords or arrows, hence the hugging tactic. But the name pre-dates Hercules, going back to those industrious and imaginative Babylonians, and the Persians, and many others.
  The stars of the head and a front leg of the beast form a backwards question mark, a group known as The Sickle, which is basically a primitive wheat whacker. With the rest of the stars of the constellation it forms a pretty decent stick-figure of an animal. To the Chinese it was a horse.

 The bright star Regulus is the star of kings, and the lion's front paw. It's important to celestial navigation because of its brightness, and because it is visible much of the year, and it is conveniently right on the ecliptic. Basically that means it is handy for calculating how badly off course you've drifted.
  The star Denebola is the tail of the lion. The name means "tail of the lion."

 Wolf 359 is a itty bitty red dwarf star only 7.78 light years from Earth. It is about 8% of the mass of our Sun, which is as wimpy as you can be and still be a star. Any less mass and there wouldn't be enough pressure in the core to create all the light and heat that a star needs to shine and let's face it, shining is a star's job. No nucleosynthesis, no stardom. There are plenty of star wannabees out there who never got that big break, sort of like all of those waiters and waitresses in Anaheim.

 Right in the middle of the lion's thighs you'll find a two-fer, M65 and M66. These two galaxies can be had in one shot through your telescope, and they look just fine in amateur scopes. Just aim at his tail and swipe right.

 After grabbing the 65-66 two-fer, go for a three-way. The galaxies M95, M96, and M105 can be had in a shot. Put in your lowest power eyepiece and scan the belly of the beast. The light from several trillion stars will be gathered and focused onto your retina. Perhaps some humble creature out there is looking back at us and thinking the same.

 The Leonids meteor shower is famous. It's one of the very best. It is caused by a bunch of gravel left behind by a messy comet named Tempel-Tuttle. The earth starts smacking into the little buggers around November 13 and it lasts a week.

 Most years you will see 20 or so good ones per hour, which is cool. But once every 33 years the earth swims right through that dirty river of space-debris, and instead of a shower it can become a meteor storm. Sometimes there are thousands per hour and it rains meteors. In 1833 there was a Leonid storm which probably produced between 100,000 and 240,000 per hour. That's up to 67 freaking shooting stars per second, and it lasted for 9 hours.

 The next likely storm will be in 2032. Take a lawn chair, a blanket, a lovely beverage, and a warm friend.

 The second most massive known structure in the whole universe is in Leo. It's called the Huge Large Quasar Group. It's not just large, it's huge large. It's 73 quasars spread across 4 billion light-years. The only thing we see bigger is the Hercules-Corona Borealis Great Wall, which is 10 billion light-years wide. Now that's a big wall. It's not known who paid for it.

 One twelfth of the people responsible for all the atrocities in history were born under the sign of Leo.

  Carpe Noctem.
 Skywise Unlimited

 When did this happen? tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-17:1982180:BlogPost:1624623 2017-04-17T08:24:39.000Z Ron Humphrey http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/RonHumphrey
It has been so long since I went to the think atheist group that I did not know it it was back. The new one was never very satisfactory, so I stopped visiting the site. Glad to see the old format back.

Ron H.

It has been so long since I went to the think atheist group that I did not know it it was back. The new one was never very satisfactory, so I stopped visiting the site. Glad to see the old format back.

Ron H.
 Leo Minor - the smaller lion tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-16:1982180:BlogPost:1624465 2017-04-16T04:33:47.000Z Brad Snowder http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder

 There is a constellation called Leo Minor that represents a lesser lion, just north of regular Leo. Johannes Hevelius added it in 1687. He sort of squeezed it in between Leo and the Big Dipper where there was a bit of unoccupied interstitial space. It's like how Idaho was…

There is a constellation called Leo Minor that represents a lesser lion, just north of regular Leo. Johannes Hevelius added it in 1687. He sort of squeezed it in between Leo and the Big Dipper where there was a bit of unoccupied interstitial space. It's like how Idaho was formed from the leftover region created by forming the surrounding states. And like Idaho, the tourist attractions are cheaper and less crowded.

 Arabs called the region The Gazelle because in nearby Ursa Major you'll find three pairs of stars which are the tracks left by that critter as it went leaping by, and they are still appropriately called First Leap, Second Leap, and Third Leap.

  By the way, the word "gazelle" comes from an Arabic word that means "to flirt." Not slutty flirting, and not sexual harassment stuff, just the right sort of flirting. What does this have to do with Leo Minor you might ask? Nothing. But some older maps call this constellation Tabitha which is Aramaic for Gazelle. In the Bible a woman named Tabitha is a dressmaker that died but Peter raised her from the dead. Was she flirty? Did she leap about and have long legs? I'll leave such ecclesiastical questions for another time.

  In 2007 a Dutch school teacher named Hanny van Arkel discovered a strange object in Leo Minor. The object's name, Hanny's Voorwerp, means Hanny's Thingamajig in Dutch. It's a quasar ionization echo, which is a title you may find just as illuminating as thingamajig. Basically a giant intergalactic conglomerate of atoms were ionized by the energy of a quasar in a nearby galaxy. And it contains more than just hydrogen, there is stuff like carbon and oxygen there.

 On its own Hanny's Voorwerp shouldn't be glowing the way it is so the hypothesis is that a powerful light from the core of the galaxy is shining on it like a flashlight. The flashlight has since switched off so we don't see that, but the light itself hasn't finished bouncing off the voorwerp, hence the word "echo" in the title. We're seeing the light that bounced like an echo and is just now reaching us after the actual source is gone.

  How many more blobs of unseen junk wander between the galaxies? Who knows? But this object shows that the quasars of the early universe were up to shenanigans during their day, ionizing stuff, sanitizing things, and even contributing to the nuclear synthesis of elements like oxygen, way before stars made such things main stream. They're the cosmic hipsters of a by-gone age.

  Arp 107 is one of the 338 objects in Halton Arp's Atlas of Peculiar Galaxies. During the 1950's astronomers finally got a peek at the far-away which is the long-ago. They were trying to sort out what led to all the weird creepy crawlers in the early jungle, the galactic dinosaurs as it were. Some of those astronomers came up with some confusing ideas about it, as did Halton Arp. That's okay, that's actually a good thing. That's how science is supposed to work. Now days we think we have a better grip on it, but it's thanks in part to creative springboards like Arp challenging our more conventional theories.

 Future generations will no-doubt improve even further on our current models, assuming we win the war of the robot uprising.

 Carpe Noctem
 Skywise Unlimited

 Freedom tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-13:1982180:BlogPost:1624012 2017-04-13T19:07:25.000Z Andrew Brown http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/AndrewBrown
Understanding freedom has only come through the sum total of my entire life of learning crossed by meditation in which I can focus on a single idea and explore it from all sides.

I first learned of freedom through patriotic songs, but I didn't understand it; I had only taken the first step.

I first declared atheism during my twelfth year of life which freed me from the god concept, but I still didn't know freedom; I…

Understanding freedom has only come through the sum total of my entire life of learning crossed by meditation in which I can focus on a single idea and explore it from all sides.

I first learned of freedom through patriotic songs, but I didn't understand it; I had only taken the first step.

I first declared atheism during my twelfth year of life which freed me from the god concept, but I still didn't know freedom; I had only taken one more step.

I first declared safety during my 22nd year of life which freed me from fear, but I still didn't know freedom; I had only taken one more step.

I first declared knowledge during my 25th year of life which freed me from my parents' support, but I still didn't know freedom; I had only taken one more step.

I first declared the secret of existence during my 32nd year of life which freed me from the bonds of limitation; only after understanding limitations can one understand there are no limitations.

Now, I can declare, "I am Free."
 God of the Nudges tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-10:1982180:BlogPost:1623470 2017-04-10T21:30:00.000Z Pope Beanie http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/PaulRyan Obviously everyone's just been guessing what God must be like, and the conclusions people come up with depend 90% of the time on what the culture they grew up in tell them is true. Fortunately, enough people have enough smarts to realize how well science explains a growing number of past mysteries, which additionally leads us to better predictions of the future. Especially predictions like "if I do X, I've learned that Y happens". You know, a scientific method, or something like that.

 Now, the… Obviously everyone's just been guessing what God must be like, and the conclusions people come up with depend 90% of the time on what the culture they grew up in tell them is true. Fortunately, enough people have enough smarts to realize how well science explains a growing number of past mysteries, which additionally leads us to better predictions of the future. Especially predictions like "if I do X, I've learned that Y happens". You know, a scientific method, or something like that.

 Now, the stuff I don't understand yet, well, that's easy: Godditit!

 OK, but look, theists, we all know that the easy, Godditit answer eventually gives way to "Aha, Y happens because of what we now know happens to X... something we just could not actually know for *sure* until someone familiar with science guessed correctly, tested the guess, and finally wrote about the causitive relationships... i.e. if you will, HOW Godditit! Like seriously folks, isn't that a great way to understand God better than ever? I mean, if God set forth Natural Law, gave us brains, language, two super-dexterious hands freed up with bipedal ambulation, and what have you, and not necesssarily in that order, doesn't God want us to discover how he nudges our personal realities along using the science God created JUST FOR US!?

 I think so. And that's why I want to start a new holy book, that investigatinng just how God does everything: "God of the Nudges". I'll start (below) with an example of how I think God *might* do it, or did it. Let's bring God and science back together again, in our books and conversations, just like God intended us to! (I mean, *probably*.) gods seem to be jerks tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-09:1982180:BlogPost:1623452 2017-04-09T22:39:16.000Z Willow Richardson http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/WillowRichardson
And, so god came down and committed adultery to rape a virgin, and her name was Mary....

No wonder so many god-fearing men are so nasty to women.

Not the kind I want to hang with, thank you.

And, so god came down and committed adultery to rape a virgin, and her name was Mary....

No wonder so many god-fearing men are so nasty to women.

Not the kind I want to hang with, thank you.
 Lepus - the hare tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-08:1982180:BlogPost:1623362 2017-04-08T17:09:34.000Z Brad Snowder http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder

 Lepus is a constellation that represents a hare, which is basically a rabbit with longer legs and ears. It's located right beneath Orion, dangerously close to being stepped on, and dangerously close to his two dogs. The brightest star in Lepus…

Lepus is a constellation that represents a hare, which is basically a rabbit with longer legs and ears. It's located right beneath Orion, dangerously close to being stepped on, and dangerously close to his two dogs.  The brightest star in Lepus is named Arneb, which means "hare" (no surprise there). It's expected to explode at any moment, so let's keep an eye out for more on that.

  The second brightest star in Lepus is named Nihal, which means either "annoyingly happy camels" or "satisfying beverage" or possibly some combination of the two. I'm guessing the origin has something to do with unguarded beer.

 M79 is a globular cluster which is one we think the Milky Way probably stole from the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy along with a few other valuables. The jury is still deliberating the evidence for that crime so no clear verdict yet. Most of its stars are red giants and they are somewhat concentrated towards the center, but not overly so, not ridiculously so, just about right I'd say. On the other hand, in an amateur scope it appears shaped overall like a starfish, which is rather ridiculous.

 Another interesting attraction in Lepus is Hind's Crimson Star (R Leporis), which is ridiculously red. It's all the carbon boiling up from the core into the upper layers that makes it look like a "drop of blood" as Hind actually described it in 1845. It's also a variable star because the carbon crowds the surface and makes it hard for light to get out. That trapped energy builds up like a pressure cooker and eventually blasts through the shell sending clouds of carbon and other junk into space as part of the galactic recycling program, thus allowing the star to brighten again. The whole dim-bright-dim cycle lasts a bit more than a year. Find Hind's Crimson Star at its dimmest for the most bloodiest effect.

 Carpe Noctem
 Skywise Unlimited

 Getting Peace Instead Of Drugs tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-02:1982180:BlogPost:1622535 2017-04-02T14:02:46.000Z Dan Abshear http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/DanAbshear Today I'm homeless again by choice this time.

 For the past several months I've been working in this recycling factory West of St. Louis, MO. During that time I lived with two guys I worked with at this factory in an extended stay hotel near where we work. We all paid rent to stay in this hotel.

 The two men I lived with are very clearly drug addicts. So I ended up smoking meth with them during the day and drinking vodka with them at night. We would get up early for work. So at 5 a.m. I'd be… Today I'm homeless again by choice this time.

 For the past several months I've been working in this recycling factory West of St. Louis, MO. During that time I lived with two guys I worked with at this factory in an extended stay hotel near where we work. We all paid rent to stay in this hotel.

 The two men I lived with are very clearly drug addicts. So I ended up smoking meth with them during the day and drinking vodka with them at night. We would get up early for work. So at 5 a.m. I'd be smoking meth with them before going to work.

 And I did very well working in this recycling factory. The managers there liked all of the strength and energy I gave them, regardless if I had drugs in me or not.

 Meth by the way is an interesting drug. I never really felt high while on meth, but the drug did in fact make me feel good. The vodka I drank at night helped me sleep.

 There is only one thing I had in common with the two guys I lived with in this hotel. And that is we are all very self destructive. Illustrated by our at times massive drug intake. WE expressed our self destructive patterns differently though in regards to our dispositions.

 Last week one guy I lived with decided not to work and just smoke meth all day. So it was then I decided I had enough.

 The two men I lived with have overt anger issues- they were angry often. This is probably related to their self destructive patterns. They also both often used very bad language associated with their anger. Myself I have no anger issues and I never use bad language. So I decided to leave last week.

 I chose to move to Iowa because I always wanted to live in that state. So a few days ago I took a bus to Des Moines, IA. Once there I checked into a fairly nice shelter for a place to stay. This is the first shelter I've ever stayed in that is not run by the veterans administration.

 Many people are here with me now, including many women. Some of these women would be much more attractive if they did not use such bad language. I'll do what I can for these people while I'm here with them.

 It is my hope to get a job very soon so I can somehow get on with my life. Now I continue to speak with my mother and brother daily on email and facebook. Most importantly though is I'm very glad I no longer take drugs or drink. For the first time in a very long time I'm actually experiencing peace. True peace being with those very similiar to myself.

 I just spent several months smoking meth and drinking vodka with 2 angry drug addicts in St. Louis, MO. I had enough so I moved to Iowa to start over once again.

 To get peace. And I got peace. I love watching a long train move by slowly as I watch snow fall quietly where I live. I love going to the library near where I live to experience knowledge and kindness. I love watching rabbits play where I live.

 I now have peace. Which opens my mind, so I love this shit. My Experience With Parental Alienation tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-02:1982180:BlogPost:1622381 2017-04-02T14:01:02.000Z Dan Abshear http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/DanAbshear Never would I ever thought I would experience the severe trauma of parental alienation.

 According to Wikipedia, Parental alienation is the process, and the result, of the psychological manipulation of a child into showing unwarranted fear, disrespect or hostility towards a parent or other family members.

 First of all, I raised my daughter Hayley alone the first 10 years of her life in a town west of St. Louis, Missouri where we lived. During that time her mother wanted nothing to do with her,… Never would I ever thought I would experience the severe trauma of parental alienation.

 According to Wikipedia, Parental alienation is the process, and the result, of the psychological manipulation of a child into showing unwarranted fear, disrespect or hostility towards a parent or other family members.

 First of all, I raised my daughter Hayley alone the first 10 years of her life in a town west of St. Louis, Missouri where we lived. During that time her mother wanted nothing to do with her, and that was obvious not only to myself but others as well.

 So I was the primary caregiver for Hayley the first 10 years of her life. During that time, I spent a lot of time with Hayley trying to be the best father I could be with her.

 Around the age of 10, Hayley's mother started spending time with her. Apparently Hayley's mother felt she could manipulate Hayley at that age.

 In 2009 when Hayley was 11 her mother falsely accused me of physically abusing her and as a result I lost everything and everyone really. So I left the state and moved to Georgia. After the false allegations and losing everything I began writing Hayley letters.

 At first Hayley responded to my letters and the letters I sent Hayley seemed to give her needed peace and happiness. And that was my intention when I would write Hayley these beautiful letters.

 In 2011 I got a bunch of money and mailed a thousand dollars to Hayley in these cards and letters I would mail to Hayley. Hayley later told me she shared that money with her mother.

 Then something happened and Hayley stopped responding to me, although I continued to hand write Hayley beautiful letters at least once a week until the year 2016, and I always mailed those to Hayley with a nice card to my ex in law's house because I never knew where Hayley lived. Hayley eventually told me she did read and receive all the letters I did mail to her.

 In 2015 I was living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and decided to move back to Missouri to attempt to see Hayley. There was a warrant for my arrest in Missouri for probation violation so I turned myself in once I arrived in St. Louis. Then I did 3 months in jail for that offense.

 I wrote Hayley often in jail and asked that she see me in jail. So one time Hayley did see me in jail. And I did not recognize her when she approached me in jail, as I had not seen Hayley in 4 years at that time. The visit on the phone with Hayley in jail went rather well I feel.

 Once released from jail I asked Hayley to see me at my parents house. So one evening she came to my parents house and I spent a few hours with Hayley.

 All things considered that evening went very well with Hayley. During that visit with her I learned that Hayley viewed me as violent, unstable and aggressive. None of which is true. This visit with Hayley was good I feel, but Hayley was distant with me this evening at my parent's house. At the end of that visit Hayley told me she wanted to see me on fathers day.

 So I arranged to meet Hayley at a restaurant the evening of fathers day. Once there we sat down and I got the impression that Hayley did not want to be there with me. So at the restaurant I told Hayley to leave if she wanted to and she did in fact leave me alone in that restaurant. That was the last time I saw Hayley, which was the summer of 2015.

 Since then Hayley has not responded to my attempts to contact her through handwritten letters and email. She has me blocked on facebook. Keep in mind I did absolutely nothing to cause this behavior Hayley is now demonstrating.

 Her mother falsely accused me of abusing her I believe because her mother did not like what I discovered about her. The fact that she is a lesbian in particular. This parental alienation I'm experiencing is a continuation of Hayley's mother wishing to destroy me completely. Her mother has been partially effective I'm sad to say.

 This life I created is now gone from my life due to parental alienation, which has been progressive and severe the past 6 years in particular. Hayley, my daughter, has been saturated with anger and hate so much that she will now not speak with me or contact me in any way.

 To combat this anger and hate possibly forced upon her by her mother especially I have in fact wrote Hayley beautiful letters at least once a week. And again Hayley did receive my letters but Hayley never wrote me back. This beauty I gave Hayley apparently has been ineffective, which deeply saddens me.

 I gave Hayley over 10 years of my life. At times women would cry seeing Hayley and I together wishing their own dads would of been like me.

 As a result of the separation and distance from Hayley, I have at times been suicidal and noticeably self destructive. Ironically this life I created is essentially destroying me slowly and painfully.

 Parental alienaton I believe cannot be prevented or treated effectively now. Because the etiology of parental alienation is true evil. Letters With My Aunt Evelyn tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-02:1982180:BlogPost:1622380 2017-04-02T13:58:43.000Z Dan Abshear http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/DanAbshear I have an aunt in her 80s who I saw at a hospital in a small town in Missouri where she worked when I did pharma sales some time ago.

 Now she emails me, and she sends me the most beautiful letters, full of clarity and peace considering her age.

 And thankfully, aunt Evelyn also gives me advice.

 My most recent letter from aunt Evelyn after I told her about my recent use and abuse of alcohol and meth:

 I know you like helping people who are facing difficult times. That is a wonderful feeling to… I have an aunt in her 80s who I saw at a hospital in a small town in Missouri where she worked when I did pharma sales some time ago.

 Now she emails me, and she sends me the most beautiful letters, full of clarity and peace considering her age.

 And thankfully, aunt Evelyn also gives me advice.

 My most recent letter from aunt Evelyn after I told her about my recent use and abuse of alcohol and meth:

 I know you like helping people who are facing difficult times. That is a wonderful feeling to know that you can be a positive influence on someone who is very much in need of help. I'm sure it makes you feel good to be able to accomplish this with some of your friends.

 I think the downside is to be living with people who need this help when you are trying to find a life of peace for yourself. By living with these people you never get away from it yourself, and it is a bad influence on you as well.

 Hopefully you can find some way to live outside the situation you had in St. Louis and find that peaceful time that is so important to all of us. You can still continue to offer help to those in need, just try to find a way to have some sense of peace and quiet in your own personal life.

 We all are influenced to some degree by the behavior around us. We pick up the bad habits as well as the good ones. We have to remove ourselves from that kind of situation so we are not becoming what we find to be a disruption in our struggle for peace.

 It will also help us have a healthier body as well as our soul which is the goal I believe we are trying to achieve.

 I wish you good luck in your quest for Peace instead of Drugs. And remember I'll continue to pray for you.

 This is my response to aunt Evelyn's letter to me:

 Thanks for your letter and advice to me aunt Evelyn.

 I tried to help the angry drug addicts I lived with in St. Louis, but it was difficult. Trying to help those drug addicts left me without any peace in my life, combined with my own self destructive pattern at the time.

 Here in Iowa I speak with those at the shelter with me now, and I am thankful for their companionship. The VA is getting me housing very soon.

 And I finally am getting peace from watching a long train move by slowly as I watch snow fall quietly. That and trips to the library here where I get to absorb knowledge and kindness.

 There is a girl with me now and her face is black and blue because her ex boyfriend beat her up. I treat her with extra kindness as a result.

 Most of the girls with me at this shelter are not attractive. Their use of bad language makes them even less attractive. A bunch of beautiful girls came here last Sunday and cut our hair. That I enjoyed.

 Like you, I've always been a caregiver aunt Evelyn. And I'll continue to help others when I can and avoid entering a self destructive pattern again, which makes me less of a caregiver overall.

 Today I started a new job at a tire factory, so I'll be doing heavy lifting every day at work. Thankfully I can do that kind of work at the age of 50.

 Please do write me again when you can and I continue to wish you continued peace and happiness. I also hope your children and their families are doing well. Take care,

 Love,
 Dan Libra – the scales tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-04-01:1982180:BlogPost:1622517 2017-04-01T17:08:13.000Z Brad Snowder http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder

 The constellation of Libra represents a set of scales and it is by far the newest of the zodiacal membership. It may seem odd that there is a machine for weighing stuff in the weird line-up of monsters and zoo critters. On the other hand its two brightest stars have my most favorite…

The constellation of Libra represents a set of scales and it is by far the newest of the zodiacal membership. It may seem odd that there is a machine for weighing stuff in the weird line-up of monsters and zoo critters. On the other hand its two brightest stars have my most favorite star names; Zubenelgenubi, and Zubeneschamali, aka alpha and beta Librae.

 You should definitely learn these two star names because you can impress your friends and your family. Take them outside at night, and look up, and just point to any two stars, they won't know the difference, and say "Look, there's Zubenelgenubi and Zubeneschamali." From then on they'll assume you know everything about the stars.

 The backstory on Libra starts at a time when the Romans were mucking about with the calendar. Those guys were always stealing days from February and other shenanigans. Then they started trying to divide the sky up into perfect 30 degree sections. Well that didn't work. The star groups are all different sizes and shapes. The Sun is in Virgo for 45 days. It was in the scorpion for a neat and tidy 30 days. But the Romans didn't like how Scorpius had such huge gangly claws because you see at that time, there was no Libra. The stars of Libra were the scorpion's original claws. So the Romans cut off his claws. Then they gave him some little tiny claws, and used the left over space to add the scales. The Romans actually stole the idea of the scales from some old Babylonian drawings.

  Chopping off the claws is why the Sun is now in Scorpius for only 7 days and why we have 12 birthday signs instead of 11, which is way more cool anyway because 12 can be divided easily. If you think long division sucks, just try doing it with Roman numerals. But here's the thing, Zubenelgenubi is an ancient Arabic phrase that means "the southern claw," and Zubeneschamali means "the northern claw." And now you know the rest of the story.

 Zubenelgenubi (south claw) is a member of the Castor Moving Group (Castor, Fomalhaut, Vega, α Cephei, and α Librae). These are similar stars that are all headed in a similar direction at a similar speed so for a while astronomers figured they were born together, that they are all sisters. Finer evaluation has revealed the group's association is recent and temporary so they are probably not sisters. Plus they are all getting along and never argue or steal each other's sweaters.

 Zubeneschamali (north claw) is sometimes known as the only green star. Occasionally, throughout the ages, people have reported a bit of a greenish tinge. A star's peak output of color can be pretty much anything in the rainbow but there is a good reason they never look green. The peak output of a star is rather "flat" which is geekspeak obviously and what it means is that if a star peaks in the green, it also puts out almost as much blue and red. If it peaks in the blue, it looks blue. If it peaks in the red, it looks red. But if it peaks in the green, it looks RGB, which is white. So it takes several measurements through special filters to sort it all out. Anyway, Zubenschamali doesn't look the least bit green at all to me. I don't know what all those crazy star hoppers back then were smoking, something green probably.

 For all you historians concerned with such things as what the sun was up to prior to 730 AD, it could be found in Libra on the autumnal equinox back then. Scales... Equinox. It sort of makes sense. But by 730 the earth had wobbled Virgo over to that position. Young Maiden... Equinox...? You're going to have to figure out how that one balances on your own.

 Another interesting star in Libra is HD 140283, also known as Methuselah. It's the oldest known star in the whole damn universe, 14.46 billion years old. That's weird because the Universe is only 13.77 billion years old. So the star is .69 billion years older than the universe. What this discrepancy is actually revealing is that we astrophysicists are not as good at math as we pretend to be.

 People born under the sign of Libra are descended from primitive hominids that reportedly co-mingled with Neanderthals.

 Carpe Noctem
 Skywise Unlimited

 World War 2 tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-30:1982180:BlogPost:1622225 2017-03-30T19:30:00.000Z Andrew Brown http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/AndrewBrown
I visited the New Orleans World War 2 museum.

Tough, emotional time learning about the whole event.

As a martial artist and Tai Chi player, I have learned a great deal about combat and theories which function best in said realm. Hitler and Hirohito had the exact same flaw which allowed the allies to defeat their militaries. Both expanded quickly with their respective forces. Spread thin accross so many captured…

I visited the New Orleans World War 2 museum.

Tough, emotional time learning about the whole event.

As a martial artist and Tai Chi player, I have learned a great deal about combat and theories which function best in said realm. Hitler and Hirohito had the exact same flaw which allowed the allies to defeat their militaries. Both expanded quickly with their respective forces. Spread thin accross so many captured territories, the bubble of influence became thin and with that, easier and easier to poke holes in less than required positions. As the months dragged on, soldiers and equipment became scarce. The aggressor soldiers, armed with ordinance and false philosophies, eventually fell to the welcomed and sympathetic allies.

A perfect defense is a perfect sphere which absorbs and bends with force.

A perfect offense is a perfect line or spear which strikes true to the center of mass, piercing through any resistance.

As the armies assaulted nations, controlling cities with angry natives, the borders grew at the same rate as troop requirements. Stretched thin due to such rapid expansion, the axis spear must transform to a sphere to hold territory. Attacking and defending is one of the most difficult techniques to master. Both Hitler and Hirohito understood attacking, but failed to see their greatest weakness is exposed during expansion and were destroyed by the tight, nimble, encroachingly subtle movements of the allies.

The island chains in the Pacific fell as quickly as the soft Italian targets. Hitler's "perfect" Atlantic defensive line quickly crumbled with the loss of just a few beaches. As the border breaks down, a mad dash to transport heavy equipment from the front lines to fortify the most important rear positions in a desperate attempt to maintain stability against thousands of arrows coming from all directions which only pick up speed as they get closer and closer to the heart...maybe you see the point. A collapsing defense is the scariest feeling during a single fight and also the scariest sight to a military strategist. As Hitler realized the empire was in the process of collapsing faster than he was able to build, his frustration became pronounced as his top generals became fearful of challenging his poorly developed military skill; the critical flaw of any bully.

As the allied troops marched closer and closer, inched up from the fingers, to the shoulder then the throat, his fearful nature, the fear all fervent racists have deep inside, took him over. Just like every coward too scared to face the consequences of their decisions, Hitler, the asshole, racist, totalitarian, "perfect" human, put a bullet in his lover than himself. The fall of Hitler brought joy to the world for the exact same reason we cheer the 100lb kid when he lands a blow on the 220lb bully. I hope I am not saying anything controversial when I declare my distaste for all oppressors regardless of the reason; Fuck Hitler right in the ass with many pineapples.

Hirohito was just as high and mighty, looking down on the other: Chinese, Phillipinos, Koreans, the list goes on.

Believing himself above all others like Zeus on Olympus, he couldn't see the rage built up inside of every other person in the world declaring, "I exist and I will not allow you to take that from me."

Hirohito demanded,

One plane for One Warship.

Ten enemy death for One Japanese.

A losing strategy as it becomes a game of attrition played by an island nation fighting against the combined resources of multiple continents. Nothing could have stopped the inevitable and his goal became a favorable surrender over the unconditional surrender which Japan had resisted for 2600 years to date. As the allies constricted the small nation, a last show of force in Kyushu became the "hail Mary" for the Empire of the Rising Sun.

The combined genius of the allies generated the most terrifying weapon man has so far harnessed, the Atom bomb. A weapon so fundamental in nature that it destroys the building blocks of existence.

I am become death, the destroyer of worlds. -Oppenheimer after realizing the power of his team's creation.

If killing a single other is considered the most heinous act in society, then killing an entire city with flick of a button is...something unspeakable, unforgivable, unholy, disgusting at every level, the act of the worst possible kind, but I understand a bit of the reason.

The idea of "No Surrender" is something to greatly fear. When surrender is not an option, as the cornered rat lashes out with everything it has, the only option for the attacker is to render the defender defenseless. Cutting off a hand, displaying it for analysis, the defender should realize the peril and bow to the enemy and beg for forgiveness...Hirohito still resisted reality, the greatest mistake. Hiroshima fell to the most beautiful fire humanity has stoked. Stubbornness and pride forced Truman's hand and he had to take the other hand in the form of Nagasaki before Hirohito admitted his mistake and came to the table.

Luckily, thanks to all of the effort, the war ended quickly in relative terms.

As I know the pain of just reading the account, I am more than certain Truman died with more weight on his heart than Atlas on his back.

The great wisdom which destroyed so much also allowed the great fools a chance at redemption in the form of trade and a hand up. America's greatest and closest allies, Germany and Japan, have greatly added to our culture as we theirs.

We must love each and every other person at least as much as we love ourselves if we are to avoid such tragedy in the future.

All humans have not taken this lesson, but I can only hope this call for peace will sway one more person to seek peace with the world and do their best to never harm.

I love you.
 I am Ayaz Nizami tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-27:1982180:BlogPost:1621728 2017-03-27T14:30:00.000Z Noon Alif http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/navid
In January 2017 four social media activists went missing. After that Muslim fascists started a huge campaign of blasphemy against them. UN & many other human rights organisations issued statement against their abduction. With international pressure they were released by state intelligence authorities. After that all of them had to leave Pakistan. Nothing was proven but still they are being called traitors & blasphemers.…

In January 2017 four social media activists went missing. After that Muslim fascists started a huge campaign of blasphemy against them. UN & many other human rights organisations issued statement against their abduction. With international pressure they were released by state intelligence authorities. After that all of them had to leave Pakistan. Nothing was proven but still they are being called traitors & blasphemers.

Famous media persons made a huge campaign against them but they safely left Pakistan. They were not allowed to talk on media one of them personally told me that their families are still being threatened. Pakistani channels are not allowed to talk with them about their abduction.

Few day back two bloggers were arrested in Karachi. According to some freethinker sources more than 21 freethinkers were sent to jail. A judge of Islamabad high court has started a huge campaign against all freethinkers and people are being accused of blasphemy on a daily basis.

According to media reports two guys who were arrested in Karachi one of them is Ayaz Nizami. I know Ayaz Nizami for more than 4 years. He is the man of wisdom I have read most of his posts in my last four years. He never abused any religious personality including the prophet of Islam. He debates & criticises on the very basic issues of Islamic theology. Famous freethinkers' website www.realisticapproch.org has already been banned in Pakistan.

2 days ago famous Pakistani freethinkers group on Facebook has been banned in Pakistan. Facebook is removing freethinker pages on Pakistani pressure. Our Pakistani authorities never condemned any jihadi page or website even last month there was a suicide attack in Lahore & an Islamic organisation accepted the responsibility on Facebook last year the same Taliban issued fatwa against our pages on social media but nobody noticed.

Ayaz Nizami is the founder of Pakistani freethinkers page on Facebook & a very popular figure among the freethinker community on social media.

Two days ago Muslim extremist started hashtag on twitter #HangAyazNizami in this trend religious people are expressing their views against freethinkers Atheists in Pakistan plus calling us western agents & abusing. In past many of them openly supported Taliban & other terrorist outfits but Pakistani state never took any action against them.

Yesterday Senate chairman Raza Rabbani agreed that sectarian & religious intolerance has been supported by Pakistani establishment.

All Muslim sects are agree to kill all the Ex Muslims leaving Islam is considered a blasphemy even the jihadi judge who ordered to start crackdown against freethinkers started weeping when some posts of freethinkers were presented before him. Last week a program was telecasted about his corruption was banned for three days. He say whether his seat is taken on corruption charges or not he will not bear any criticism against Islam & prophet. This judge has become a hero. People are posting his images and showing their love for him.

People want freethinkers to be trialled under black blasphemy law. They are abusing and reporting all freethinkers. They tried to report my page after that i unpublished it on Facebook & waiting for the good time many people are deactivating their accounts. All freethinker atheist community around the globe is raising voice in the favour of Ayaz Nizami I think if UN takes notice of this state crime it would be very helpful for the safety of all free thinkers otherwise this victimisation of freethinkers would never stop in Pakistan

As Micheal Nugent says "You have rights-- you beliefs do not". We should respect each other but if somebody criticises my beliefs & my ideology compels me to kill him, then I don't think I need any prophet, I need a psychiatrist.

 Seraphims and Cherubims tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-27:1982180:BlogPost:1621531 2017-03-27T06:04:55.000Z Fred Hampton http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/FredHampton
Or, "Saran Wrap Fans and Cherry Bumbs".

Yes, and I always get so confused as to 'seraphims' and 'cherubims'(try saying that one 3 times fast, wow, what a tongue twister). 'Seraphims' have, like, Saran Wrap for wings, right, and 'cherubims' are like super chubby li'l babies with curly white hair, I think--also, with the obligatory wings. They live in the clouds, or stand on top of them or something, which begs the question,…

Or, "Saran Wrap Fans and Cherry Bumbs".

Yes, and I always get so confused as to 'seraphims' and 'cherubims'(try saying that one 3 times fast, wow, what a tongue twister). 'Seraphims' have, like, Saran Wrap for wings, right, and 'cherubims' are like super chubby li'l babies with curly white hair, I think--also, with the obligatory wings. They live in the clouds, or stand on top of them or something, which begs the question, "why do they need the wings"? But it's good that they stay in the clouds, because I wouldn't want one a them comin' on down yonder har' and taking my goddam pet angel's JAWB! That would be far worse than an invasion of the alleged, 'Alien Anchor Babies'!

It is said they they exist in a hierarchy with other angels of their stock and breed, but they themselves like to refer to it as their 'Li'l ol' Collective'. If I'm not mistaken, 'Collective' spend most or all of their time singing in a blissful choir and they perform(for free of charge of course since, like on Earth, nobody in the entire known Universe likes to pay for music) like at some Etheric Disco where they dance and dance some more , Euro-Techno style, and drink booze and laugh and partay and all in all have a ghey ol' time, which is not to say they ARE ghey, no, not ghey at all! They are putting out some MP3 singles soon, to try and make some $ to support there insatiable booze habit. They make their 'Big ol' Daddy' smile!

The reason they do so much singing is, well, they likey to sing, alot--and who wouldn't(?)--AND, they haven't much else to do as since they, and 'Dad', are omniscient, they therefore are not omnipotent: everything's already happened. That's why they basically have to ignore and/or deflect all the billions of telepathic text messages they receive from one planet earth every damn day--it can be pretty annoying when you are rehearsing...in the choir(I speculate that the reason they sing so much is to ameliorate the frustration they fell for not being able to intervene in the tragedy of human affairs). A few of them, the especially gifted and intelligent ones, also play these cra'y, twinkley toned string instruments called 'harps'. How weird is that?

One day, 'Dad's' fav seraphim accidentally got tangled up in her/his plastic wings and smothered her/himself to death and the entire choir almost lost it, so sadface! :( And they say the rivers of tears raining down from their collective eyes pretty much flooded out the entire Noah's Ark Theme Park in Southern Kentucky(USA)--and took out a bunch of tourists and their kids and PET DOGS! How could 'Dad' let this happen, who kills DOGS, for god's sake?!  But, as explained above, 'Dad' saw it coming but could do absolutely nothing to stop it(well, 'Dad', hasn't stopped anything on earth for, like, EVAR!)

But those incredibly cute and normally cheerful li'l angels just kept keeping on, 'soldiering' thru the pain and loss--even though they have no evolved nervous system--and sang SO HARD for the longest time over there fallen angel buddy that they say, if you go out into the wee hours of the night, and close your eyes and listen with great intent, you can almost hear those 'heavenly' tones....

 School Asked My Child If I Molested Her tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-26:1982180:BlogPost:1617830 2017-03-26T19:00:00.000Z Dan Abshear http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/DanAbshear

"I think the school staff were man-haters, and resented me because, as a doting father, I upset their prejudices. They thought incest was the only possible explanation for a father's love."

by Dan Abshear

(henrymakow.com)

In January 2007, staff at my eight-year-old daughter's public school in Missouri interrogated her for an hour to determine if I had molested her.…

"I think the school staff were man-haters, and resented me because, as a doting father, I upset their prejudices. They thought incest was the only possible explanation for a father's love."

by Dan Abshear
(henrymakow.com)

In January 2007, staff at my eight-year-old daughter's public school in Missouri interrogated her for an hour to determine if I had molested her. There was absolutely no reason for them to do this.

I worked out of my home at the time and largely raised my daughter, while my now ex-wife worked. I had established rituals during her school days.
These included taking her to our favorite local doughnut shop in the morning and often bringing lunch to her at school.

During my visits to my daughter's school. I always found the teachers to be very warm and kind people.

However, the administrative staff were rather distant judging by their body language, and their unwillingness to interact with me. They were mostly middle-aged women.

On one unforgettable day, they interrogated my daughter for about an hour. When I picked her up, she was crying.

She said she was asked leading questions such as, "did your daddy ever touch you there? Do you think your daddy likes touching you there?" The answer to such questions was 'no,' of course.

I spoke with her for hours that night, which was difficult for me. In the days that followed, she did not appear permanently scared by that interrogation.

My daughter was completely unaware that parents were even capable of such acts described in graphic detail by school staff.

There was no evidence for these allegations. My daughter was and is a straight "A" student, and an incredibly balanced individual. What caused my daughter's school to make these outrageous charges and traumatize my daughter remains unknown to me this this day.

WIFE BRUSHES IT OFF

Her mother was unresponsive regarding these false allegations.

An expected reaction might have been one of shock and disbelief.
Instead she displayed apathy.

My then wife, who was in fact a radical feminist lesbian, and likely a psychopath, became good friends with the rather attractive female principal of this school in the following weeks.

Her behavior was the first red flag that she posed a danger to myself and my family.

I started to research the legalities and learned that schools get a lot of money from the government for prosecuting fathers like myself, regardless if he is guilty or innocent. I realized that I might go to prison if this situation were not resolved.

So I sent some legally threatening emails to the principal including a threat to sue the school district and contact the media. They dropped it and I continued to have lunch with my daughter at her school.

On one occasion, I returned home to find a police officer waiting for me.

The police officer told me to stop going to my daughter's school, because school staff told the police I had a 'threatening disposition'.

I stopped going. I think the school staff were man-haters, and resented me because, as a doting father, I upset their prejudices. They thought incest was the only possible explanation for a father's love.

UPDATE

Due to her mother implementing parental alienation, I've not see or spoken to my now 13-year-old daughter in almost two years now. On Father's Day, she sent me an email. (Excerpt:"My braces r off and my hairs long. I'm also 5'8 now!!!")

All things considered, she sounded really good. I continue to hand write Hayley once a week, and send her money when I can. Rarely does she write back, but I still continue to write her.

The email absolutely made my day, and decreased my sadness about the absence of my daughter, greatly. I suffer from chronic depression due to my daughter being gone from my life right now. - See more at: https://www.henrymakow.com/schoolaskedmychild.html#sthash.UtoT0Sgp.dpuf
 Hitting Bottom: A Personal Story tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-26:1982180:BlogPost:1617748 2017-03-26T19:00:00.000Z Dan Abshear http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/DanAbshear
"We were train wrecks for different reasons, so we were perfect for each other."

by Dan Abshear

(for henrymakow.com)

About two years ago, my then wife of 20 years decided to falsely accuse me of violently abusing her. A restraining order was issued against me by her as well, so I was evicted out of my own home. Soon after that, I was arrested related to these false accusations and wrongfully…

"We were train wrecks for different reasons, so we were perfect for each other."

by Dan Abshear
(for henrymakow.com)

About two years ago, my then wife of 20 years decided to falsely accuse me of violently abusing her. A restraining order was issued against me by her as well, so I was evicted out of my own home. Soon after that, I was arrested related to these false accusations and wrongfully incarcerated for over a month.

While in jail, I spoke with quite a few men who were abused by the family law system. Most shocking to me at the time were those men on their way to prison for failure to pay child support. Most of these men were without income, yet they were convicted of this 'crime."

In April of last year, I spent a week on the mental health ward of the veterans administration hospital in Atlanta, for suicidal ideation, among other mental issues. They determined I was a drug addict, so I checked myself into the veterans administration substance abuse treatment program in May of last year.

After completing the VA substance abuse treatment program, I was homeless once again. The VA has a homeless program for veterans, so I entered this program. They placed me in an apartment with 5 other men, whose lives had been wrecked, as mine had been only two years ago.

Most of the men I encountered and became friends within the VA system were very poor, and older black men. It's a subculture I was completely unaware of, until this program. Many had spent a great deal of their lives incarcerated, and many were drug addicts. However, most of these men are very intelligent, and kinder than your average American citizen.

In less than a year, three of these friends I acquired took their own lives. Their pain quite obviously was equal or greater than the pain I continue to experience due to being destroyed by my ex wife. I continue to miss these friends.

Last Summer, while in this VA homeless program, I met a veteran girl going through the program with me. We were train wrecks for different reasons and therefore perfect for each other. Like me, she is not very attractive, physically, and is homeless, like me, but for different reasons.

This girl, like many of us, has been abused, physically and otherwise, for most of her life. She never had a decent lover/boyfriend, she tells me. I care for her unintentionally in various ways, and she thinks the world of such acts I may do for her. That does it for me- loving and caring for another girl authentically. That completes me. Most men have been programmed to view women, and their roles in our lives potentially, unrealistically.

The VA also has a program for unemployed veterans to work at their hospital for a period of 6 months, tax free. It's under the table money, which this girl and I both desperately needed. So throughout last winter, she and I both worked in this program, and saved a few thousand dollars between us.

During that time, a man I met online in Indiana offered his farm house to us there. Since our time in the homeless program with the VA was soon ending, we took him up on his offer. This is now were we currently live, with this man in Indiana.

We have no idea what tomorrow will bring us. We live day by day here, as we did with the VA homeless program in Atlanta. But we have greater peace now. We have greater freedom. And most importantly, we have each other. It makes each day worthwhile. Without each other, our lives were vacant, I believe. Our live our void of any desirable future- without each other. It's that way with most homeless people, I've discovered. They are alone. Completely alone. This girl and I- we have hope. And hope is a very good thing in the human life always.
---

The veteran's administration was very good for me in a number of ways. Their hospital was top notch, I felt, as a patient there. I continued to receive mental health therapy from them once discharged from their hospital. As a former patient caregiver myself, I found the caregivers associated with that hospital exceptionable.

I found the substance abuse treatment I received from them quite interesting, which lasted several weeks. My undergrad from college is in behavioral sciences, so I was only aware of such programs from that knowledge only, before entering this program.

They spoke of free will frequently during our daily group sessions- virtually ignoring the biological basis for addiction. That would be the only complaint I have of such a program. Well, that and their insistence that some God can replace our addictions. PLEASE.............

I'm also thankful for the VA homeless program, which gave me a roof over my head for several months. They never really helped me get a job, however. Yet, they insisted I somehow find a job immediately, or they would soon discharge me from the homeless program. These threats were tacit and frequent. This is why it's more comfortable here, with my friend in Indiana, with a place to live.

But the people I met in the homeless program often relieved my pain by providing a unique relationship with each of them. Such friends were African American males, mostly. I'm clearly white, yet they fully accepted me, as I did them.

Our backgrounds were overtly different from vocational and domestic paradigms, but our similarities, aside from being veterans, such as kindness and intelligence, is what drew us to each other during our daily lives in this program, with these men.

My girlfriend, who most have ignored throughout her life, I feel, is one of the most intelligent and righteous humans that exist. After the nightmares I have with past relationships women, my ex wife in particular, this girlfriend is quite refreshing for me.

Like me, she's a bit socially awkward. But then again, those few people that have existed that have been remotely like her have usually been ostracized by society for such reasons.

We've known each other for about a year, my girlfriend and I, but we made love for the first time only recently.

It was amazing, making love with her- and during a thunderstorm that was occurring at the same time. I felt something during this night I can only describe as spiritual with her, which I had never felt with a woman, before making love with her this night.

It's my firm belief that people enter our lives for rather clear reasons, once examined. My girlfriend illustrates this belief.
 Lupus - the wolf tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-25:1982180:BlogPost:1621208 2017-03-25T18:34:28.000Z Brad Snowder http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder

 The constellation Lupus is way down south. It was even recognized as the wolf by Claudius Ptolemy a couple of thousand years ago, which is notable because Ptolemy was mostly concerned with the stuff more to the north. On the other hand the stars in this area are near Centaurus…

The constellation Lupus is way down south. It was even recognized as the wolf by Claudius Ptolemy a couple of thousand years ago, which is notable because Ptolemy was mostly concerned with the stuff more to the north. On the other hand the stars in this area are near Centaurus and they do in fact easily connect to look like some sort of critter, if you're clever. So it's only natural to add it to a map, that way the Centaur has something fun to shoot at with his arrows.

 There was a supernova in Lupus in the year 1006 and I have to assume that it freaked folks out back then. Those medieval types were easily freaked and stuff in the sky tended to be associated with whatever bad thing was happening. Let's face it, medieval times sucked. If you weren't being attacked by neighboring armies you were probably being attacked by your own, or getting a plague, or being accused of witchcraft or of being left-handed or something. Meanwhile the sky was supposed to be reliably stable, the firmament. So I'm guessing in 1006 when a new star appeared in the wolf sixteen times brighter than Venus, a lot of folks sacrificed a sheep, or a calf, or a Jew.

 There is a planet named Lupus-TR-3b which is orbiting one of the stars in Lupus, the star Lupus-TR-3 (see how that works). It's just a bit smaller than Jupiter but it is very close to the star, so close that it is orbiting around it about every 4 days, or bit less. That means on that planet a year is only 4 days long. If I lived on Lupus-TR-3b I would be 5475 years old and be complaining about the weather full time.

  Carpe Noctem
 Skywise Unlimited

 The road to Beersheba. tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-22:1982180:BlogPost:1620619 2017-03-22T20:00:00.000Z Reg The Fronkey Farmer http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/RegPerry
There are regular "God told me to do it" stories in the news. For the purposes of this discussion I am creating a fictional one. It may seem too long to read but I think it is necessary as the points raised by it are important.

Richard is an Evangelical pastor who comes home from Sunday services to dinner with his wife and 12-year old son. They live an idyllic life in a small rural Christian…

There are regular "God told me to do it" stories in the news. For the purposes of this discussion I am creating a fictional one. It may seem too long to read but I think it is necessary as the points raised by it are important.

Richard is an Evangelical pastor who comes home from Sunday services to dinner with his wife and 12-year old son. They live an idyllic life in a small rural Christian community. They are financially well off and loved by their family, friends and neighbors who all hold Richard in high regard.

After dinner he decides to walk along the river bank to the town hall where he will conduct the choir in preparation for the upcoming Easter celebrations. His son begs to come along and Richard is delighted to see the keen interest he takes in the affairs of the Church. They grin to each other knowing this means that they can bring the fishing tackle along and stop on the way back for an hour or two. His wife pretends not to understand their secret smile. She is happy as it means a few hours to herself so she can get ready for the weekly Bible study class which she loves to host.

An hour later Richard walks into the town hall and announces that God had appeared to him and demanded that he sacrifice his son to prove his love and dedication to Him. He seems very calm, even serene, as he relates the story to his parishioners.

As he walked along the banks of the river the early spring sun reflected a face upon the water.

"It is I. Richard, your Lord and Master" boomed a voice that seemed to sound from all directions. The face rose from the water and started to rise up towards the sky. "I command you to sacrifice your son so that he can join me in Heaven this very day. Do this for me and the riches of the next life will be assured for you too."

The police soon found the smouldering wooden pyre and the burnt remains of the boy. The autopsy revealed he had been stabbed once through the heart with a fishing knife. Richard cooperated fully with their investigation. He seemed not to grasp the reality of what he had done. At least not as they expected he should have. Richard maintained his serenity throughout and never denied what he had done. He even said he was privileged to be visited in person by the God he so loved and was happy that his son was now in Heaven.

He is sent for psychiatric evaluation but "passes" the tests that three experienced professional doctors carry out. He seems completely sane and rational to them. He has no criminal record, no history of mental illness and none ever reported in his extend family. He seems to be the same "Richard" to all that know him, expect that he seems even happier than normal to them. He is also given two independently supervised lie detector tests and all his answers are reported as being truthfully answered.

I would say that Richard may indeed genuinely believe that he was actually visited by his God. He is devoid of any signs of remorse which leads many of those that know him to consider that he is speaking the truth. But I would say that Richard suffered a violent psychotic delusional episode. I think many Christians would agree with me.

However I would suggest his breakdown was induced by years of continuous fundamentalist religious indoctrination. His mental breakdown and irrational actions were a direct result of his faith in God. Christians cannot agree with me on this point. They must allow for the possibility that Richard is telling the truth.

If you are a Christian then please tell me why I am wrong to say that you must make such an allowance. You must agree that it could be possible that God really did appear to Richard and command him to kill his son.
 Lynx - the lynx tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-19:1982180:BlogPost:1620481 2017-03-19T03:17:16.000Z Brad Snowder http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder

 The constellation Lynx is one of a few that is its own translation. It means "lynx" so no fancy steps are required to explain it. In the late 1600's Johannes Hevelius named it after the wild cat because those animals have eyesight good enough to see the stars here and humans don't…

The constellation Lynx is one of a few that is its own translation. It means "lynx" so no fancy steps are required to explain it. In the late 1600's Johannes Hevelius named it after the wild cat because those animals have eyesight good enough to see the stars here and humans don't (true story).

 I've never heard the expression "eyes like a lynx" but Hevelius apparently did. The main reason for creating this region of sky is for mapping, something was needed to fill the dim gap here.

 The brightest star in Lynx is still pretty dim. It's name is Alvashak which has an obscure meaning but probably translates roughly to "Brightest star in Lynx but still pretty dim." This is one of those giant orange stars that has retired from the main sequence and spends its days dabbling in advanced alchemy. Right now the dabbling is just a hobby but when it dies the galaxy will hold an estate sale so we'll see what it's been hoarding.

 There is an interesting object in Lynx, assuming you own the Hubble Space Telescope. It's called APM 08279+5255 and it's a quasar whose image is currently being warped by the gravitational lensing of an intervening galaxy.

  A quasar as you may recall is what happens in the early days of a universe, when super-massive blackholes in the cores of proto-galaxies are gobbling up stars like popcorn. And I mean like the right way to eat popcorn, cramming it in your mouth by handfuls, so fast that bits of popcorn are flying outwards at terminal velocity. Not all of it makes it in the hole.

  Anyway, there is a big galaxy in the way of our view and the gravity is making space and time look like a vinyl record that has been left in the back window of a car on a hot day. So our images of APM 08279+5255 are pretty messed up, even before the superfluous Instagram filters.

 Carpe Noctem
 Skywise Unlimited

 Ghosts and Stuff tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-12:1982180:BlogPost:1618978 2017-03-12T15:14:49.000Z Beth http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/Beth863
This isn't really a call for advice--I kind of just need to vent--although of course any opinions and insights are welcome!

 So, I recently just figured out that I am aromantic (this essentially means that I have no interest in being in a romantic relationship). I came out to my mom, and it went really well. We had a great, affirming conversation about it and I finally feel more like myself.

 One of the things that came up in our conversation was how I wished that I could talk to my…

This isn't really a call for advice--I kind of just need to vent--although of course any opinions and insights are welcome!
 So, I recently just figured out that I am aromantic (this essentially means that I have no interest in being in a romantic relationship). I came out to my mom, and it went really well. We had a great, affirming conversation about it and I finally feel more like myself.
 One of the things that came up in our conversation was how I wished that I could talk to my uncle about what I was going through with this new discovery. My uncle, who was gay, died when I was very young, so I never got to know him. And in recent years I've been wishing that I could have gotten to know him more, and I especially want to know what he went through when he found out he was gay, or growing up as a gay boy in the Midwest in the 70s, etc.
 Now, my mom believes in psychics and ghosts. And a psychic told her that my uncle was with his nieces and nephews, but he was especially looking out for her youngest daughter (that would be me).
 I know that psychics and ghosts are not real. I know that people who claim to feel or see their dead loved ones are just practicing wishful thinking. But part of me SO wants this to be true; I WANT to believe that my uncle is here and looking out for me.
 Is it harmful to partake in this fantasy? Is it wrong to pretend that my uncle is with me even though deep down I know he isn't? I'm just filled with so much sadness sometimes that he was never part of my life, so it'd be nice to think that he is.
 So, that's my vent, thanks for listening (well, reading). :)
 Lyra - the lyre tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-11:1982180:BlogPost:1618859 2017-03-11T14:19:42.000Z Brad Snowder http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder

 High in the summer sky you'll find Lyra, the lyre, which is a small harp-like musical instrument. On some old-timey maps it is depicted as a eagle, or sometimes a vulture, with a small lyre in its mouth. Clearly this one was designed by an astronomy club committee.…

High in the summer sky you'll find Lyra, the lyre, which is a small harp-like musical instrument. On some old-timey maps it is depicted as a eagle, or sometimes a vulture, with a small lyre in its mouth. Clearly this one was designed by an astronomy club committee.

 Orpheus is the mythical guy who started it all. He was the best rock star of all time. His music was so good, he could literally charm rocks. Like if you threw rocks at him while he was playing, the rocks would just go around him. When his wife died he wrote a song so sad that the gods cried and told him he could have her back but then she immediately died again because greek myths are not allowed to turn out happy. He tried to make the best of it, you know, carry on, meet a new girl and all. But then he went to a party where a bunch of angry drunk feminists tore him into little pieces and threw his harp in the river. An eagle (some say vulture) fetched the instrument from the river and placed it in the sky where it turned into several giant glowing balls of nuclear fusion.

 Vega (Alpha Lyrae) is the bright star of the summer sky. It has always been a favorite for astronomers to study. Many astronomers say it is the most important star other than the sun. It's only about 26 light years away which is next-door in galactic terms. It's only a few hundred million years old, and it's around 10,000 degrees. It's basically our young hot neighbor. What's not to like?

  About 12,000 years ago Vega was the north star, so it was probably even more of a favorite back when we were chasing woolly mammoths around.

 Another thing about Vega, it's the star that Jodie Foster goes to in the movie Contact. Spoiler: that's when we find out that aliens look like Jodie Foster's dad. Billions of dollars and trillions of miles to find that out. So if aliens land in your back yard and come knocking on your door, don't be surprised.
  RR Lyrae is another famous star, at least to astronomers concerned with figuring out how close is close and how far is far. The star is a "standard candle" which means we feel pretty good about estimating how much light it's actually cranking out. We compare that to how difficult it is to read by, and we thus know precisely how far away it must be. There are other stars that are like it and just to be extra confusing we call them all RR Lyrae stars. What we really mean is that they are "RR Lyrae-ish" stars.

  When we find a standard candle in a cluster of stars we pretty much know the distance to the whole cluster. That's what Harlow Shapley did when he figured out the shape of the Milky Way in 1920. He's shown here holding some sort of precursor to the iPad. He used RR Lyrae stars to find the distance to the globular clusters, such as M56 in Lyra. The globulars turned out to be closer on one side of us, and farther away on the other, thus confidently removing us from the center of the Universe. Except Shapley confusedly thought RR Lyrae stars were Cepheid Variables, which seems rather silly now.

  In those days the Universe was not known to contain galaxies so Shapley assumed the center of everything was just over the next hill in Sagittarius. Now days we think the center is everywhere. So that's all cleared up.

 Epsilon Lyrae is a famous double star. If your scope has enough resolution you'll find that each of the two stars is itself a double star. So it's technically a double-double star and that's what a lot of folks call it. There's one star to the naked eye (usually), and two stars in binoculars. You get four stars in a telescope unless your scope has some serious collimation issues. There are probably even more stars involved but you need warp drive to see those.
  The Ring Nebula (M57) is an awesome example of a planetary nebula, which is the thrown-off outer layers from an aging dying star. In an amateur telescope it looks like a spooky ghostly Cheerio.

 It's very easy to find M57 because it's half-way between two bright stars, gamma and beta, on the south end of the constellation Lyra. Just find one of the stars in the scope, and then swing back and forth between them and settle in the middle. In a telescope's field of view it takes up about as much room as Jupiter does, so ramp up the magnification the way you would for a planet.

 With a proper filter, part of the ring looks slightly green which reveals that it is rich with oxygen, that is to say "rich" depending on how well oxygen is doing on the stock exchange I guess.

  Oxygen is actually rather plentiful in the Universe thanks to events like planetary nebulae. Older stars fabricate oxygen in their bellies then blast it out into the galaxy so that beings like us can come along later and breath it in. Just look around you at all human-kind has done. It's all possible thanks to an elderly star passing gas.

 Carpe Noctem.
 Skywise Unlimited

 Mensa - the table tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-10:1982180:BlogPost:1618996 2017-03-10T13:41:42.000Z Brad Snowder http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/BradSnowder

 Mensa means "table." It is also the name of a southern constellation mapped out by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille.

 Originally Lacaille meant for this area of the sky to be named "Table Mountain" after a place in Africa near Cape Town. People casually shortened the name…

Mensa means "table." It is also the name of a southern constellation mapped out by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille.

 Originally Lacaille meant for this area of the sky to be named "Table Mountain" after a place in Africa near Cape Town. People casually shortened the name to just Table and also shortened Nicolas Louis de Lacaille to just Lacaille.

 Don't expect to find this constellation easily. In terms of stars it is the dimmest of all 88 constellations.

 There is not a lot here in terms of deep sky stuff either, but part of the Large Magellanic Cloud (NGC 2070) edges across the cartographic boundary with Dorado. This has led to some to remark that Mensa resembles the real Table Mountain which is often capped by a cloud. That shows you just how desperate people can be to make some shred of meaning out of arbitrary maps and names etc.

 There are no cute little stories about a table to go with the Mensa constellation, but there are several to go with the actual mountain. Table mountain is typically portrayed as kind of an asshat who summons storms to sink passing ships.

  It's apparent to me that Table Mountain must seek such mischief just for kicks because, unless I'm missing something here, I see no personal benefit for a mountain to sink a ship.

 Carpe Noctem
 Skywise Unlimited

 Blasphemers are Terrorists tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-08:1982180:BlogPost:1618914 2017-03-08T14:55:32.000Z Noon Alif http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/navid

 Last year Saudi Arabia defined atheists as terrorists …

Last year Saudi Arabia defined atheists as terrorists

http://iheu.org/saudi-arabias-new-law-defines-atheism-as-terrorism-bans-all-criticism-of-government/

Now in Pakistan Atheist & secular groups have become a headache for religious authorities people are posting lot of material about Islam & questioning it. As we know the one who questions & criticises islam on its basics is considered a blasphamer.

I believe that black blasphemy law must be abolished from the constitution because its been misused many times & if somebody talks & debate on it is also considered a blasphemer.

In Pakistan nobody is allowed to question the Islamic history. Its considered a sin & Religious authorities know very well that if it is exposed their bread & butter on the name of Allah would stop.

TODAY Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiquie of Islamabad High Court has remarked that those involved in uploading blasphemous content on social media are terrorist. When women are killed kids are raped in madrasas such people never issue any statement.

 During that he got into tears. He said If government can't block such blasphemous pages then Pakistan Tele Communication authority should be shut down. Then He ordered Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar to appear before the court in person.

 He also said that If we need to close the entire social media on this count then we will do so Before we were surviving without it & we can survive in future as well.

This judge considers Mumtaz Qadri (the killer of late Salman Taseer) as a hero he also issued a statement against valentines Day.

On September 17, 2012, the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority blocked youtube in Pakistan because the trailer of Sam Bacile'sInnocence of Muslims was not removed then in January 2016 this ban was lifted.

I think if Government of Pakistan bans social media on religious pressure it would be a attack on freedom of expression.

Pakistan is a country where we cant openly discuss our societal issues. A Garrison State where nobody is allowed to criticize the state policies & religion. In this case social media is the light of hope which allows people to exchange & debate new ideas & thoughts.

The People who criticize the Islamic jihadi worm they are bullied online even such people are abducted by the state as we know 5 bloggers were abducted in January 2017 then on international pressure they were released one of them is still missing.

Mostly Muslims clerics in Pakistan never respect any other idea & belief but they always demand respect for the ideology of seventh century & State provides shelter to them.

Religious Madrasas are spreading ignorance but criticizing such things is considered a sin. Only digital space allows us to debate on it .

http://ummat.net/2017/02/26/news.php?p=story4.gif

https://t.co/DjWL2fO1oP

Few days back a newspaper named Ummat discussed about Pakistani atheists , freethinkers & requested authorities to take action my name is also mentioned in this news & the new pain is coming from the same nerve.

 How To Really Conquer Homelessness tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-05:1982180:BlogPost:1618411 2017-03-05T15:03:40.000Z Dan Abshear http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/DanAbshear

A True Life Story by Dan Abshear - Before my life was wrecked about 3 years ago, I was involved in pharmaceutical sales with very large corporations. I did this for about a decade. Before that career, I did patient care for about a dozen years. Lately, I've been writing about subjects that I have personal experience with, and these include homelessness and false…

A True Life Story by Dan Abshear - Before my life was wrecked about 3 years ago, I was involved in pharmaceutical sales with very large corporations. I did this for about a decade. Before that career, I did patient care for about a dozen years. Lately, I've been writing about subjects that I have personal experience with, and these include homelessness and false accusations.

Dr. Carlton Young shares his story of Homelessness in his novel, and would like to thank Dan Abshear for sharing his story on HOMELESSNESS as being Homeless is painful, but is TRUE to everyday life.

Dan Abshear says that after three and a half years, he is no longer homeless.

Last September, someone finally hired me for a part time job. I'm now an installer with American Greetings. Me and my team disassemble and build greeting card displays in various stores. the job involves a lot of physical labor, so i'm thankful I'm able to do this kind of work. Also, I'm the youngest member of my team. This allows me to contribute greatly to what is required when we we work together. And I also enjoy the travel with this job.

Because I now have income, I'm eligible for government assisted low income housing. The government determined I'm chronically homeless, and this allowed me to move into a one bedroom apartment a few months ago. Because I'm a military veteran, the process was accelerated with getting this housing. I'm not disabled in any way, so my job is my only source of income.

My apartment is very quiet and comfortable. My neighbors here are nice people, and are in similar situations as my own. After living with several men in various crowded homeless shelters over the past few years, my apartment is totally awesome. And very affordable, thanks to the government paying most of my rent. My girlfriend and I now have a place to spend time together. I'm also now able to cook my own meals. I still thankfully received food stamps, which I need since I only make eight dollars an hour with my part time job.

Before becoming homeless, I was living in my 250,000 house and was never concerned with receiving help in order to exist. So I'm very grateful there is help out there for those who find themselves with nothing suddenly. And I still strive to progress in some way to improve my situation. But the process is very slow when you are starting from the very bottom.

Progressing in some way I feel is necessary when you are homeless and often broke. Many I stayed with in homeless shelters had some sort of income. Usually their source of income was some percentage of a disability they are determined to have. Yet their income is not enough to be self sufficient, which should be the ultimate goal of a homeless person. Which is why various government homeless programs should be accessed and acquired by those living on the streets are in homeless shelters somehow.

Then again, some seemed to enjoy living in homeless shelters. Some at these places would just sleep and watch T.V. all day- treating their stay in a homeless shelter as if it is a jail sentence. In fact, some I met staying in homeless shelters would actually find ways to go to jail so they would have a place to stay. Many I met at these places have been homeless for a very long time. Their souls appear to be dead or dying. You can feel this atrophy of their essence when with them at times. At least I can, I believe.

However, also at the homeless shelters where I lived, I met some rather inspiring people at such places. Quite a few somehow had jovial dispositions, and were a pleasure to know. I suppose when you find yourself with nothing, one way you can react is with expressing happiness. This is possibly due to the fact you are amazingly still alive. Such people also had an energy and kindness about them. They conquered their despair and sadness by striving to make others happy. This is very cool.

So I believe that to live through the hell of homelessness you might find yourself in for whatever reason, you need to find a way to set your soul on fire a bit. Once that happens, you are able to focus on what needs to be done. And you also increase your efficacy to progress with your life. You are then alive once again after being destroyed in some way. Make that the ultimate goal you strive for if you find yourself homeless.

Written by Dan Abshear

 Living Life At Rock Bottom- A Homeless Veterans Story tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-03-05:1982180:BlogPost:1618517 2017-03-05T15:00:00.000Z Dan Abshear http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/DanAbshear
As of today, I've been homeless for a bit over two and a half years.

Right after becoming homeless, I tried to stay with friends. But that never seemed to be a comfortable situation for me. Such friends did not understand how I became homeless, so my relationship with such friends was often fractured, I'm sad to say. Such friends also included former lovers. No situation staying with such friends ever worked. My stay with such friends was often brief and unpleasant for me.

So I…

As of today, I've been homeless for a bit over two and a half years.

Right after becoming homeless, I tried to stay with friends. But that never seemed to be a comfortable situation for me. Such friends did not understand how I became homeless, so my relationship with such friends was often fractured, I'm sad to say. Such friends also included former lovers. No situation staying with such friends ever worked. My stay with such friends was often brief and unpleasant for me.

So I began staying at a homeless shelter--specifically, a shelter contracted by the veterans administration because, by definition, I am a homeless veteran. This meant I was living with several other people at the same location. It's community living, and this is something I had not experienced since my days in the military.

For the past several months, I've been staying at a Salvation Army. The VA contracted a floor at this Salvation Army for homeless veterans who are recovering drug addicts. In addition to being homeless, I am also a recovering drug addict. This floor holds about 40 homeless veterans. It is a comfortable place to stay. At this location, the homeless veterans have three TVs, four refrigerators, two microwaves, two phones, and two computers.

In addition to the Salvation Army providing meals for us, we, as homeless veterans, also often have food stamps. We would often buy additional food for us to have where we lived to supplement the meals provided to us where we stayed with these food stamps. So with many homeless veterans at this location, obesity was a problem.

This obesity experienced by many other veterans staying with me at the Salvation Army was not only due to the additional food available to these now overweight homeless veterans, but also due to the medication these veterans would often take, as prescribed to them by their VA psychiatrists, often. Such medications would often cause them to gain weight.

Many veterans I stay with at this Salvation Army were trying to get disability benefits for mental illnesses. So they would be diagnosed with various mental health disease states by their VA psychiatrists and take these often toxic mediations as prescribed to them. Whether or not such veterans actually had such mental illnesses is a topic of debate. Regardless, because they wanted mental health disability benefits, they would be diagnosed with a variety of mental health illnesses and take often many drugs for these illnesses.

Usually, the TVs at the Salvation Army where we stayed were designated for specific topics by the veterans. One TV would be for those who wish to watch sports. Another TV would be dedicated to those veterans who wished to watch the news or TV shows. And another TV would be dedicated for those who wish to watch movies.

Often, the homeless veterans would get bootleg DVD movies. These would be movies currently playing in theatres acquired by some veterans on DVD disks. Don't ask me how certain veterans acquired these movies, but it was nice watching current movies where I stayed.

Myself, I never watched much TV, so I was on the computers at this location often. Many I stayed with at this Salvation Army were not very literate, so they did not utilize the computers available to us. During the long days at the Salvation Army, I would look for jobs on these computers, and often help many other homeless veterans write whatever they may want written. This would include letters such veterans wanted to receive additional VA benefits, cover letters they wanted me to create for certain jobs they wanted, or letters to lawyers, often. I did not mind helping my fellow veterans in this way.

Most homeless people, including homeless veterans, smoke. We call cigarettes squares, and acquiring cigarettes is often a main goal for us smokers, since most of us do not have any money on us at all. As a general rule, I'll ask for cigarettes from those homeless veterans who do have some sort of income, and smoke. And, if I happen to get some money and have cigarettes, I'll share these cigarettes with others. I've been known to find cigarette butts on the ground, and smoke those.

Making money as a homeless person is often difficult, because we, as homeless people, are often unemployable for a variety of reasons. Any money I've made as a homeless person has been untraceable, which is money paid to me under the table. Such jobs may include cleaning an athletic stadium, or helping a political candidate get elected.

Such opportunities to work are rare, I'm sorry to say. With whatever money I may make doing such jobs, I often buy cigarettes, and cards and stamps, to write my girlfriend and daughter. Other homeless people use such small amounts of money to buy alcohol or other often illegal drugs. I choose to remain free from such substances, myself.

Many I stayed with at this Salvation Army were African American people. This was not a concern with me, because historically, I've gotten along with a wide variety of people of different races. Most of these men I stayed with at this Salvation Army accepted me living with them there. I became friends with a few of these African American men. Some, however, seemed to dislike me due to my race. I understand this, in a way, especially with some of the older African American men I stay with at this location. I imagine they were not treated so well by those of my race, especially in their youth.

Many homeless veterans I stayed with at this salvation army spent a great deal of their lives incarcerated, often for drug offenses. By the way, if you are incarcerated for a felony drug offense, you do not receive food stamps. I still do not understand why those trying to recover are not entitled to food stamps.

With those imprisoned often for long periods of time especially, it appears this has a negative effect on their social functioning, I believe. Many former inmates do not trust others easily. In time, such ex convicts learned to trust me. But initially, such people did not trust me or any others at all, at the Salvation Army. This is understandable, considering living often for years behind bars with, I imagine, some very mean and evil people.

Some I stay with at the Salvation Army who have been locked up also seem to be very impatient, with a few having clear anger issues. Others talk all the time, and they are very loud. And then there are others who barely talk at all. They keep to themselves, always, those who rarely speak. Personally, I don't think isolation is very healthy for anyone.

However, and often, such ex convicts that I stayed with at this Salvation Army were very intelligent and kind people. Many ex convicts who are now my room mates were helpful to me, and I became friends with them, where we stayed. They fully realize, as I do, how they f***** up their lives in the past, and are, as I am, trying to improve their lives today.

I find some men I stay with to be very unique and amazing people. Some have a few college degrees, with one I know having a PhD. How they ended up here with me remains a mystery. Often, we as homeless people do not discuss how we actually became homelesss with other homeless people. Often, it takes just one event to make a person homeless. And for those of us who are homeless now who actually use to have many tangible possessions, it is in fact a very short distance from the limousine to the ditch.

It is my belief that people are people. They are not black or white, nor are they free or imprisoned. Rather, they are human, and I treat them as such. I, as with many others I stayed with at this Salvation Army, do not judge others based on their past, because I was not them in their past, and I do not know the path they have walked in their past. We are just trying to get back on our feet, in some way, after losing everything we may have had, often.

Each of us are on our own unique journey in life. Myself, I try and facilitate the journey of another whenever I'm allowed to do so by such an individual. It is my belief that we are all in this thing we call life together.
 21 century & Vultures tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-02-27:1982180:BlogPost:1617774 2017-02-27T15:00:00.000Z Noon Alif http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/navid

In our society Muhammad's tribal life is presented in an exaggerated way. In Hadith…

In our society Muhammad's tribal life is presented in an exaggerated way. In Hadith & Islamic history his life is available like an open book & more than 70% of Muslims completely agree with these books. On the basis of this history clerics want to bring Pakistani people back to the dark ages. Those who criticize these notions fatwas are issued & they are considered blasphemers.

If Muhammad's life style & his tribal traditions were perfect then it was only for that time today a society where sex slaves are sold child marriage is not a crime where tribal chief is having marriage with his daughter in law where the main business is war & looting the neighbor tribes. Where all other beliefs & notions are sin except your own one. how can we call such man a perfect personality who is attach with all such things? How can desert tribal culture be a beacon of light for us in the twenty-first century.

Now a days its not a rocket science to understand the desert culture internet has made it very easy. Just read three to four history books of Islam which were written from 7th to 9th century read Koran in your mother language. Watch some movies which were made about desert tribes like Parched، Black Gold, Khartoum etc. Many other documentaries are available on you tube which discuss the Arabs desert culture.

 In India many movies are made which discuss a lot about those Indian tribes who are still practicing the thousand years old laws such situation can also be observed in the remote areas of Pakistan where people consider it a sin to adopt the modern ways of life.

In deserts people still talk about witch & fairy tales. People still believe in magical personalities they love the stories of miracles. There sky is considered as a solid roof in the day which is decorated with sun & at night with moon and other stars. They think this roof is controlled by mythical creatures.

Religious scholars and clerics who advise us to live under the rules & laws of seventh century at least they should stay in desert for minimum five years without clean water, medicine , electricity & modern vehicles so that they may practice the original Islam once in their life & earn some reward in heavens. I hope in this way religious vultures would understand about the real Islam otherwise they would keep killing humanity for the ideas of seventh century.
 How To Be Homeless tag:www.thinkatheist.com,2017-02-26:1982180:BlogPost:1617829 2017-02-26T20:10:59.000Z Dan Abshear http://www.thinkatheist.com/profile/DanAbshear
"With food stamps, in most states you can acquire a free cell phone. I did this in Atlanta. It's 250 free minutes a month, for a year or longer. As a homeless person, it's likely you will not have many friends calling you on your free cell phone. But such a phone is necessary often, for potential job interviews, and potential crisis situations."

by Dan Abshear

(henrymakow.com)

What would you do, if…

"With food stamps, in most states you can acquire a free cell phone. I did this in Atlanta. It's 250 free minutes a month, for a year or longer. As a homeless person, it's likely you will not have many friends calling you on your free cell phone. But such a phone is necessary often, for potential job interviews, and potential crisis situations."

by Dan Abshear
(henrymakow.com)

What would you do, if you had everything, and then suddenly lost all of that in a matter of seconds?

That is what happened to me two years ago. My now ex-wife of two decades got a restraining order against me, and I was evicted from my $250,000 home.

Ten police officers arrived and I was given two minutes to leave my own home. I grabbed some clothes, and got in my car. I had no idea what to do next. I had to somehow live out of my car.

Sleeping out of your own car is not easy. You can't exactly park anywhere. Initially, I parked in the parking lot of a library in a town in Missouri. Eventually, a police officer woke me one night, and informed me this was illegal. Fortunately, the police officer was gentle with me, and told me to go sleep at a truck stop. This was an excellent idea- not many bother you at a truck stop. I slept at truck stops for months.

"URBAN CAMPING"

You see, you can't sleep anywhere you want, when you are homeless. Even without a car, you can't simply decide to sleep in a field. Likely, that field belongs to someone else. You can get arrested. Those in the homeless world call this 'urban camping'. People go to jail for this. Many decide to sleep in abandoned buildings, behind abandoned buildings, or on top of buildings. All such acts are illegal. It's just a matter of time before you're caught.

Then you have weather issues. It gets rather cold in winter in most parts of the United States. I know of people who have frozen to death sleeping under bridges. It's also dangerous. In many cases, such people who die sleeping outside do so by choice. Suicide rates are extremely high among the homeless for obvious reasons.

(Dan Abshear, left)

I'm active online. I have many friends on Facebook. I also have girls who have unrealistic affinities for me on Facebook. One girl was from Atlanta, Georgia. She and I spoke online and on the phone for a couple of years, even before my ex wife decided to destroy me. She was infatuated with me, quite clearly. She was aware of my homeless situation, and invited me to live with her in Atlanta. Much to my opposition, she left her husband of 12 years, for me. I made the trip down to Atlanta, and decided to live with this girl.

We lived together for about 6 months. It's never a good idea, I think, to move on relationships you may form online. Quite understandably, I was not the man she perceived me to be. Her emotions for me where quite stronger than any feelings I had for her.

She got pregnant with our child towards the end of our 6 months together, so I decided to check myself into drug rehabilitation with the veterans administration, since I'm a military veteran, and I had had a rather significant addiction to drugs and alcohol for many years. While recovering in drug rehabilitation, this girl decided to abort our child without my consent. This of course ended our relationship, and my place to stay.

The VA has a homeless program for veterans, and I entered this program. It was a very good program. They provided a roof over my head, an apartment, for several months. But you must be recovering from substance use, in order to be in the program. So, it's always a good idea to at least say you have a problem with drugs and alcohol, even if you don't, while homeless, and in need of a place to stay. This not only involves the VA but other programs that often exist in large cities within the United States, for homeless people with substance issues.

HOMELESS SHELTERS

Homeless shelters themselves in larges US cities often suck They are unclean, and do not allow you to stay there for long periods of time. They are also unsafe, since security is virtually non-existent. Any possessions you may have are likely to be gone in a short period of time. Always seek drug rehabilitation facilities. They are much safer and you, as a homeless person, can stay at such facilities much longer.

At such locations, there is often a Christan element. Learn to accept this religious dimension if you are not Christian.

Homeless people panhandle- ask strangers for money. I've never done this, but it does happen- especially in large cities in the United States. There are laws involving this activity. If you are homeless, learn these laws. Don't go to jail trying to survive.

Also, when you become homeless, get food stamps. They are easy to get. Most counties have locations to get food stamps. It's $200 dollars a month that enables you to eat. The food you are allow to get has to be cold, and cannot include alcohol purchases.

Many homeless decide to sell their food stamps, in order to have money, unfortunately for drugs. The going rate is 50 cents for every food stamp dollar you sell to another. You can go several days, in fact weeks, without eating. This is why you see homeless drug addicts very skinny and malnourished.

With food stamps, in most states, you can acquire a free cell phone. I did this in Atlanta. It's 250 free minutes a month, for a year or longer. As a homeless person, it's likely you will not have many friends calling you on your free cell phone. But such a phone is necessary often, for potential job interviews, and potential crisis situations.

Presently, I'm staying at the Salvation Army, through the VA homeless program, at a different location In St. Louis, Missouri. I moved here because this is where I'm from, and all those I care about live. I have no idea what tomorrow will bring me, but I'm glad I have a place to stay. When you are homeless, it's all about acquiring resources. Even if you are not presently homeless, learn to do this. Do not find yourself in a situation where you feel you have the inability to survive. Learn to exist.
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I would like to add that there are social stigmas associated with being homeless. Most ignore us.

I helped homeless often with cash normally back when I was making money, but I never got involved in their situations. And I did judge them, and I regret that now.

Because I used to make a lot of money, I have taste in quality clothes. So I bought some 500 dollar sport coats at a goodwill store recently. I now wear those at various places in the city, and people treat me as if I'm not homeless. They have no idea. I

I really wonder how many homeless people are out there have disguised themselves in such ways.  - See more at: https://www.henrymakow.com/how_to_be_homeless.html#sthash.qXAc8ZXM.dpuf