A god is born 14 Oct 2009 In 1502, an indigenous princess was born named in Spanish María de la Onza, or “Mary of the Jaguar”. She has become a mythological figure, and her name contracted to María Lionza, and she is the senior deity of a trinity of gods worshipped in rural regions near Caracas in Venezuela. As Wikipedia says, The other two figures in this trinity are Guaicaipuro, an Indian chief murdered by the Spanish colonists, and Negro Felipe, a black slave that was also murdered by the colonists. These three saints are the leading figures of the pantheon and lead several “courts” of lesser deities. This is a beautiful example of actual historical figures starting religions in which they are the gods. There is a pilgrimage each year that is presently underway. Religion
Rant My feet, my neck, my head 20 Aug 201120 Aug 2011 No, this isn’t a list of my better features or my autapomorphies. It is a list of the things that really, really, hurt. For those who do not know, I am without employment, and so I have taken up a factory job that involves me walking for eight hours a… Read More
Chocosophy Chocolate causes Nobel Laureates 12 Oct 20126 Feb 2013 My research associate, Dr Malte Ebach, has brought to my attention an inadvertent proof of the truth of chocoholism. The New England Journal of Medicine, a most prestigious and scientific journal, has published a paper by Franz H. Messerli, M.D, which shows a strong correlation between the annualised national consumption of chocolate… Read More
Epistemology Doxastic biases and arguments for religion (and other things) 18 Feb 201218 Feb 2012 Helen De Cruz has the results of a fascinating survey on how various arguments for and against the existence of God are treated by philosophers… according to their general stance – atheist, agnostic, or theist. Basically it considers not whether people think the arguments are right (a common mistake scientists… Read More