WHISKEY DARWINS UNSEEN VARIABLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9SCWlEWivM

If you do not subscribe to Darwin or evolution then this article will be of no interest to you. However, if you do believe then here is a great theory that deserves some discussion. I have often marveled at the beauty of the animals great and small in our world, Siberian tigers, snow owls, macaws, horses, and deer to name only a few. But have you ever considered our species? Now before you blurt out some ridiculous remark take a moment to analyze what I am saying. In nature, selective processes have been on going since the beginning of time. Tedious and slow changes developing over millions of years give us the great contrasts we see in our world today. In our case I believe we have dropped the ball! Think for a moment about how your parents chose each other. Did they consider the outcome of dad’s feet and mom’s bottom? I sincerely doubted this was the case and would like to suggest another significant variable into the mix, whiskey. How much has sour mash contributed to the poor selection of certain breeds of humans?

If you have ever been to a party full of young adults drinking heavily you can grasp my concept easily. We have all heard the saying, “the girls get better looking at closing time” or “after a six pack.” As I am sure, the opposite sex has admitted to the same folly. Waking up beside a repulsive mate illuminated by the morning light is not an uncommon phenomenon and has horrific consequences. Becoming pregnant by a ugly mate, with no admirable qualities is surely Darwin’s unseen variable at play here, or is it? I would love to see some research on this ditty.

Our early ancestors definitely had to make some hard decisions, or should I say the mostly the females. Males could score and move on without any interruption is his ability to hunt and gather food. Females had to choose wisely, as she would be unable to obtain food later in the phases of pregnancy and the few following months after the child was born. Clearly, this is the reason women are physically more attractive than men are. This is when I believe we made our departure from our cousins. But something happened during mans discovery of agriculture and the domestication process needed to create civilization.

Civilization brought with a natural hierarchy masters and slaves. The masters had of course a bit more selection in their mates with the motivation of obtaining more wealth and social status. Now yes the masters could select the most beautiful mate, but they were the few compared to the slaves. Slaves were limited to their opportunity to mate and had to select what was available to them. Not to say that all slaves were ugly, but on ratio, I am confident they were not the cream of the crop. This pattern has continued up until the modern day though the classes are more diverse and divided in to manly levels of masters and slaves.

Incest, the original sin is prevalent throughout history. Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Europe’s Royal Elite attempted to keep the bloodlines pure a “mini me phenomenon” that had horrific consequences of birth defects. Incest also performed by the slaves and lesser peoples especially in isolated environments. Polygamy was an unknown strategy to overcome some of the detrimental effects of genetic pathologies, but as time passes in the bands the genes are duplicated and the pathologies return.

Bottom line;

We are all selfish, nasty monkeys with no real comprehension of natural selection. Our domestication has removed our innate ability to choose mates for their attributes and lead to random fornications with not so remarkable results. Our fear of the dark forces us to gather, a warm body is pleasant and sex is great! We are creatures whom seek companionship and at times can be desperate for it. Though we clearly still continue to demonstrate poor choice of mates it seems to me that whiskey has played its part as well. Think of all the illegitimate children of highly placed officials partaking in one-night stands. How many relationships were started while they were under the influence of whiskey?


John R Hill

TRAINING WHEELS

Training Wheels

I am what you might call a lost sheep. I held dear to the religious beliefs of my immediate ancestors at first just as child, totally obedient and religious. As time passed, I became more spiritual and found comfort in this position. Now that I have studied science, I am afraid the empirical evidence has swayed me once again from the flock. The flock, an interesting analogy that is given by thousands of ministers as they wield their version of the Bible, has been effective. Many believe that without religion the world would cease to exist as man would decent into oblivion with no morals or ethics. I will dispute this claim as best I can.

First, I would like to recall a familiar moral story about a dog and his prized steak. The dog has acquired a steak from the butcher shop and made a clean get away. Along his route on the way home, he crosses a bridge and out of the corner of his eye, he sees his reflection. He misinterprets the image as another dog with an even larger steak. Unable to fight back his greed he leaps into the stream. This hasty act leads to the loss of the prized steak and leaves the dog cold and hungry. Now everyone knows this story is fictional, but all can see the benefit of reciting it to children to learn the lessons it teaches. Even though we know that, the story is fiction we hold it as dear as if it were true and attempt to incorporate it into our society. This leads me to my next point of religion to create positive social norms.

Steven Pinker introduced me to the concept of the Noble Savage, in his book “The Blank Slate”. It is how some viewed the uncivilized world tribes, composed of peace loving men. His conclusion is that we are by nature, animals with the same selfish drives. Here one can make a good argument for the need of religion to band the people together and learn reciprocity. A deity that gives a moral law is in deed necessary to build a community. This explains the different religions that emerged around the world and how location directly influences the brand you subscribe. Evolution may have not succeeded without religion, but now I believe we are ready for the next phase of growth with science to show us the way.

Enlightenment is a word, thrown around loosely, spawning images of a Merlin-like figure gazing into a large pool of water reflecting the stars from the night sky. This as we all know is how the ancients began there quests, pondering the secrets of the universe. Imagination is our greatest adaptation and has lead to our great success as a species. Before science could explain these extraordinary phenomenons, deities were readily acceptable responsible parties. To shed some light on how the Catholic Church struggled to keep science in its place, finally in the year on October 31, 1992, Pope John Paul II and the Catholic Church state their remorse in how Galileo was treated and finally recognized that the earth orbits the sun. Innocent or guilty is probably a null point for the sake of argument here. I suggest that it is a sign of the times and to me a time of enlightenment.

Bottom line;

Humans are animals that have evolved from the motherland of Africa. Holding food, weapons, and tools man stood erect. Hunting is packs encouraged the first bands and reinforced the use of reciprocal behavior. Hunters are constantly devising ways to improve their skills communication, coordination, and preplanning. Now with the groundwork laid, these bands flourished and with the discovery of agriculture, the human race exploded overnight. Agriculture allowed enough food to allow the domestication of these wild bands. With their basic needs being met men were left to discern the world around them for the first time. Warlords and Kings quickly learned the lesson of a submissive populace in order to maintain control. Religion fell into place, by either naming these leaders as gods themselves or created through a divine union. As these practices passed on, one civilization to the next, religion was imported and improved upon with the lessons learned from the conquered peoples from before. Which leads me to my point; with all the moral stories learned and science, revealing the mysteries behind the veil it may be time to remove the training wheels. Religion served its purpose, but now I fear that if we continue to cling to these beliefs we are doomed to self-fulfilled prophecy of annihilation. The Bible, Koran, and Torah, are a few of our first books of reason, but should they be our last? I should hope not as we are living in a time of exponential growth in technology, and an infinite knowledge base resource sits in living rooms around the world. Never before have had access to so much, and I am not referring to shady sites, but real legitimate research illuminating the world! A time of enlightenment has dawn, where science will become our great book of reason, which may lead us finally to world peace and harmony.



John R. Hill

INCEST A LOT

INCEST A LOT

Our story picks up as Lot seems to be over his grieving for his wife turned into a pillar of salt. Zoar, the small town that would spare his life is not to his liking and he decides to take his two daughters and move into a cave in the mountains.

Ge 19:30 Lot and his two daughters left Zoarl and settled in the mountains, for he was afraid to stay in Zoar. He and his two daughters lived in a cave.
Ge 19:31 One day the older daughter said to the younger, “Our father is old, and there is no man around here to lie with us, as is the custom all over the earth.
Ge 19:32 Let’s get our father to drink wine and then lie with him and preserve our family line through our father.”

Now I know where the Mormons get their rhetoric in order to have daughters sleeping with the old wise ones. The oldest daughter’s plan to continue the linage seems innocent enough, except for the part about there are no men around here to lie with us. The fool hearty part is the drinking of wine with the intention of intoxicating the father enough to be unaware of his actions, but able to perform.

Ge 19:33 That night they got their father to drink wine, and the older daughter went in and lay with him. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

Here again pay attention to the wording, no excuses for translation. He was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

Ge 19:34 The next day the older daughter said to the younger, “Last night I lay with my father. Let’s get him to drink wine again tonight, and you go in and lie with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.”

Again I have trouble with the logic here, as the daughter says, “ Wow you have got to try that.”

Ge 19:35 So they got their father to drink wine that night also, and the younger daughter went and lay with him. Again he was not aware of it when she lay down or when she got up.

All come on now, we all know that sex leaves behind a distinctive scent. Papa got a brand new bag. Lot has to know what that old fishy smell has come from or maybe he did know what his mischievous daughters were up to and just played dumb.

Ge 19:36 So both of Lot’s daughters became pregnant by their father.
Ge 19:37 The older daughter had a son, and she named him Moab ; he is the father of the Moabites of today.
Ge 19:38 The younger daughter also had a son, and she named him Ben-Ammi ;he is the father of the Ammonites of today.

So yes there is a Santa Claus Virginia! Lot’s omnipotent semen successfully impregnated his two daughters and they went on to allow their father to create the Moabites and Ammonites. I wonder why the scribes omitted the questioning Lot should have had when his darling daughters came of pregnant. Unless the moral rationale is that, it is okay to sleep with father when no men are around to lie with and stuff. I guess that little town of Zoar had no strapping men available to sire these hot cave babes. Maybe the real moral here is to beware of daughters bearing wine.

The Holy Bible, New International Version. :Ge 19:30-38

SODOMIZE

SODOMIZE

Here is another troubling story from Genesis in regards to how women were seen in the eyes of the Jews of the Old Testament. For those of you who really believe we need religion to teach basic morals I ask you to look for the moral here. Two angels arrive at Sodom in search of 10 righteous people. If the ten are not found the city is to be destroyed. Lot, Abraham’s brother is camped at the gates of the city; he sees the angels and pleads with them to stay with him.


Ge 19:1 The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.

Now here there is little description of the angels, so how does it that Lot knows their identity. Some would argue he was simply being a Good Samaritan warning strangers of the city’s horrific nightlife. Also, take note that he is a significant landowner, but bows burying his face in the sand as the two strangers approach.

Ge 19:2 “My lords,” he said, “please turn aside to your servant’s house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.”
Ge 19:3 But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate.

I have inferred here that the angels are attractive and dressed in a manner that may have implied they had wealth. As this wealthy landowner, insisted on having them stay the night in his home. This bread without yeast is significant, but I am not educated enough to rationalize why angels need to eat.

Ge 19:4 Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom —both young and old—surrounded the house.
Ge 19:5 They called to Lot, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them.”

Clearly, the situation is deteriorating outside as these mad horny men surround Lot’s humble home. Now I understand cities can be clannish and known for making outsiders the object for violence in order to deter unwanted populace, but clearly, these men want a little something more. In my mind, I can envision mad mobs of men with clubs, torches, and blades, but to see a bunch of intoxicated men calling out for sex is in the least disturbing.

Ge 19:6 Lot went outside to meet them and shut the door behind him
Ge 19:7 and said, “No, my friends. Don’t do this wicked thing.

Lot would clearly make a poor negotiator, as he does a terrible job here. “No my friends do no do this evil thing!” What exactly is the relationship Lot has with these people?

Ge 19:8 Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them out to you, and you can do what you like with them. But don’t do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.”

Now this part gets my blood boiling and should for you all, especially women. Being a father myself, this disturbs me and it would be a cold day in hell before I would give my daughter to a mob of sex maniacs. What makes it worse is Lot is sweetening the deal by informing the men that his two daughters have never known men and that they are more that welcome to do what they will with them! But don’t do anything to these men they have come under the protection of my roof?

Ge 19:9 “Get out of our way,” they replied. And they said, “This fellow came here as an alien, and now he wants to play the judge! We’ll treat you worse than them.” They kept bringing pressure on Lot and moved forward to break down the door.
Ge 19:10 But the men inside reached out and pulled Lot back into the house and shut the door.

The angry mob is not pleased with Lot’s offer and refers to him as an Alien. This opens a lot of questions, but for the sake of time let us stay with two. Has Lot suffered this “getting to know you” welcoming comity himself? Are Lot’s daughters so hideous that the mob considers it an insult?

Ge 19:11 Then they struck the men who were at the door of the house, young and old, with blindness so that they could not find the door.

Now I do not subscribe to miracles, but I would love to know how these strangers blinded a mob of men to the point they were unable to find the door to Lot’s home. There is no mention of a bright light, powder, or magic only the word struck.

Ge 19:12 The two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here,
Ge 19:13 because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it.”

Here the angels include Lot in God’s plan to destroy the city as it is clear there are no righteous people here. What I do find disturbing is the reference that the angels are going to destroy the city not God. Many believe these men are extraterrestrials, well I guess an angel is not of this earth.
Ge 19:14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were pledged to marry 90 his daughters. He said, “Hurry and get out of this place, because the LORD is about to destroy the city! ” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking.

Now surely the son’s in laws have heard about the two strangers blinding a mob of men and that something serious was about to happen. If they were laughing, it would show that they were not worthy of the two hot babes he had offered them.

Ge 19:15 With the coming of dawn, the angels urged Lot, saying, “Hurry! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away when the city is punished. ”
Ge 19:16 When he hesitated, the men grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the LORD was merciful to them.

Here again I wonder how much of a participant Lot was with the lustful men of Sodom. It seems that for him to have lived so close to sin city that he could remain without becoming involved. Maybe this is why he pleads for the angels to take mercy on the city.

Ge 19:17 As soon as they had brought them out, one of them said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back, and don’t stop anywhere in the plain! Flee to the mountains or you will be swept away!”
Ge 19:18 But Lot said to them, “No, my lords, please!
Ge 19:19 Your servant has found favor in your eyes, and you have shown great kindness to me in sparing my life. But I can’t flee to the mountains; this disaster will overtake me, and I’ll die.

Excuse me if I botch this interpretation, but Lot says your servant has found favor in your eyes, meaning that we are to serve the angels and Lord. Now that Lot is a safe distance away from the blinded mob, he relays the message that it is impossible for him to make it to the mountains in time. These details give me grief mainly because the angels and the lord should be quite aware of Lots potential mobility and would not ask him to do something he was unable to accomplish.

Ge 19:20 Look, here is a town near enough to run to, and it is small. Let me flee to it—it is very small, isn’t it? Then my life will be spared.”
Ge 19:21 He said to him, “Very well, I will grant this request too; I will not overthrow the town you speak of.
Ge 19:22 But flee there quickly, because I cannot do anything until you reach it.” (That is why the town was called Zoar. )

Again, time and time when one reads the bible and finds oneself scratching their head. It is not because we lack the knowledge to comprehend only the material itself is simply not logical. Zero hour is upon Lot and his family, as the two angels prepare to let loose the burning sulfur meanwhile Lot is fretting over a place to hide. Then miraculously Lot calls out, “Oh look there is a little town, look how small it is. If I go to the small town, my life will be spared. As the angel drags his toe in the sand and sighs heavily, “Aw all right you can go to the little town, but hurry up man, we have schedule to keep!”

Ge 19:23 By the time Lot reached Zoar, the sun had risen over the land.
Ge 19:24 Then the LORD rained down burning sulfur on Sodom and Gomorrah —from the LORD out of the heavens.
Ge 19:25 Thus he overthrew those cities and the entire plain, including all those living in the cities—and also the vegetation in the land.
Ge 19:26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

Many have cited these verses as the equivalent to a nuclear explosion, delivered by extraterrestrials. Burning sulfur is more akin to napalm, as some have theorized that maybe a volcanic eruption may have been the cause. Whatever one believes of the first two conclusions the fate of Lot’s wife should be the most ludicrous or horrific. To become a pillar of salt is truly unscientific and insane. Was she reduced to a block of salt for the sheep to lick? Could Abraham not see his brother’s wife frozen in time as he surveyed the destruction below?

Ge 19:27 Early the next morning Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD.
Ge 19:28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, toward all the land of the plain, and he saw dense smoke rising from the land, like smoke from a furnace.
Ge 19:29 So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, he remembered Abraham, and he brought Lot out of the catastrophe that overthrew the cities where Lot had lived.

The conclusion here is not very satisfactory as we are given only few details of how this extraordinary event took place. Three angels earlier in which one turned out to be the Lord visited Abraham. Abraham challenges the Lord in his decision to destroy the city and haggles a deal that if ten righteous people could be found the Lord would spare the city. Well we soon learn that the whole barrel of apples are tainted and Lot may not be all that clean either. My issue with the morals of the story are profound. When is it okay to annihilate a city, simply because they have succumb to lust. Morale rationale here is plain to see sex is for procreation!
When is just to abandon your daughters to a crowd of sex maniacs! Clearly this work was not intended for me to read, it causes me great concern and reinforces my point. Why write a book that will continuously be disproved because of its flawed logic. Philosophical use here is still null and void if one reads the scripture objectively, as many believe the book is not meant as a literal translation. The only take home lesson here is the one that in order to rule people one must use fear.



The Holy Bible, New International Version. :Ge 19:1