Sunday 30 June 2013

Cultural Snapshot Mid-2013

Being an atheist I often find it ludicrous and frustrating when people "pray" for sick people, thus for starters, regarding the poor health of Nelson Mandela, here is an amazing quote from The Onion:

"...former South African president Nelson Mandela admitted that the millions of thoughts, prayers, and well-wishes he has received have played absolutely no role in his improving health, and that his recovery has been 100 percent dependent on doctors."

On the theme of religious nonsense, here is a Tweet responding to Richard Dawkins.


Sadly Nelson Mandela will probably die before medical technology can save him, furthermore there's nothing God or prayers can do about it because God does not exist, but in the not too distant future, maybe sometime around the late 30s, body transplants will be possible. In mid-2013 Next Big Future reported on body transplants, which the following Tweet relates to.


A snapshot of mid-2013 would be severely flawed if the Snowden-PRISM affair was not mentioned. Tempora and DROPMIRE are also worth mentioning. It's worthwhile to note how the US military blocked access to parts of the Guardian website. On the issue of excessive authority note how one teen was imprisoned awaiting trial regarding a sarcastic threat in a Facebook comment. Here is a Tweet from WikiLeaks regarding Snowden-PRISM, and below that a video of Snowden.




The following video is a response to Xbox One restrictiveness, which initially entailed strict limits on sharing games. I have not followed the hoo-hah precisely thus I'm unsure of facts, but I have the vague impression of vast craziness happening regarding Xbox One, such as a microphone you cannot disable (for PRSIM monitoring?), or compulsory weekly updates lasting a few hours each update, or the need to always be online.



On a positive note technology continues to do great things, which we see in this Tweet regarding organic solar cells:


Despite positive sci-tech news, the world of 2013 is a diabolical torment. Chaos persists in Egypt, many people are obese in the USA (35.7% of adults 2009-2010), and two popes will be made saints. Perhaps the agony of existence is best illustrated by the Boston Bombings, but for me personally I have my own horrendous intellectual pain to deal with regarding my intelligence contrary to a world of stupidity, thus I feel affinity with Cassandra or the One Eyed King, so I Tweeted:


If there's a particular Tweet you want me to add, please let me know and I will probably include it. I am not however giving a complete cultural picture because some aspects are simply too depressing, thus I am not interested in anything pro-religion or pro-aliens. I may not agree with your Tweet but I 'll include it if it adds to the diversity of my snapshot. Here is one example, regarding an independent TV station, which David Icke is creating. I most certainly do not support, agree with, or follow David Icke, but someone wanted me to include the Tweet, after they responded to my request, so here it is:


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