… and they want their full-length interview taken down due to concerns over the recording of Muslim prayers. I’m not kidding - just got a call, the website I work for has been hosting a full-length interview with the band, as well as the cut version for TV, as we normally do.

It turns out half way through the interview, the band call a halt to proceedings, recorded in Morocco, as it’s prayer time for the local Muslim populace. But the camera and sound guys, whom I’m pretty sure were a local crew (don’t quote me on that), didn’t stop recording.

I’m sure it’s out of respect, ’cause they’re good dudes and all that, but I’m still gonna say U2: SCARED OF THE MUSLIMS for the googles.

Mirrored from Radio Over Moscow.

It's not quite as epic a fail as the South Park Virgin Mary carry-on, but still pretty funny. Check out the Herald's article on David Duchovny's new series, Californication - in particular, this gem of a sentence:

Sister Teresa said the nuns could not participate in the boycott as they did not watch television.

I'm not sure the internet can handle this much irony, to be honest. And how about this:

Family First has called on viewers to boycott advertisers screened during the show.

If it's such a horrible piece of television, why did they force themselves to sit through it? To watch advertising? Whaaa?

I went to a WINZ meeting this morning, some kind of introduction to the dole. I don't really need an introduction to the dole, but things have changed a little it seems. Despite my insistence that I was only applying for the dole to fill in the possibility of a short gap between the end of my student allowance and full-time employment (which this late in the year, may not happenfor a couple of months), and that I'd just completed a grad-dip in order to get away from job-for-the-sake-of-it jobs, they said as soon as I have an offer, I have to take it. Even if it's an offer they've recieved from a supermarket or a factory. Hmmm. I said any min-wage robot-work style employer (the kind they're pushing people toward) is unlikely to take on anyone who'd be quitting at the first hint of a proper career-type job, and the guy said "you're not supposed to tell them you'll be quitting in a month or two,"  which I suppose is true, but I also suppose if I can prove I'm looking for proper work, they'll leave me alone. 

I don't see how making people work full-time in low-paid jobs they hate is going to stop being people unemployed anyway - won't they just quit or find a way to get fired, and end up back at intro-to-the-dole meetings?

Anyway, almost closing time. Any thoughts on the video? (See, I put my free time to creative use damnit)

I'm doing the later shift thing today, it's about half past seven at the moment, and no one has been in the store for the last hour, bar two little English girls aged about 6 and 10, who listened to Avril Lavigne, Robbie Williams and Neil Young, yes, Neil Young, and didn't buy anything.

Which means I suppose I can choose to play anything I want.

I was browsing through tariqa 's friends page and came across an entry by gettingstronger  about religion; Jehovah's Witnesses, to be exact, but it doesn't really matter what denomination of which branch of whatever Abrahamic religion is being discussed, cause there's nothing like a good religious flamewar to get me excited (and the ones on fark.com are always already godwinned by the time they hit the main page).

I once 'converted' a friend from atheism to agnosticism through pure logic, which was pretty simple really. Here it is, copy and pasted directly from my old blog.

"Athiesm is flawed because it assumes that you know with 100% certainty that a deity of any sort does not exist; the only way one could know this is if they were omniscient (all knowing). To be omniscient and knowledgeable to this degree, one would have to be in possession of some kind of supernatural power - ie, a deity. Being a deity to prove atheism is a paradox. Therefore, to be an athiest is to believe in a paradoxical situation, and illogical".

Hehe. So that's atheism out of the way. As for organised religion, most people who believe a particular way do so because their parents do, or the society they were brought up in does; they then refuse to change, much in the same way people who grew up in the 1970s often refuse to believe any band could be better than Zeppelin. Now, Zeppelin may be gods of rock and and the creators of heavy metal, but they're not gods in the sense of being omnipotent creators of the universe. It's okay by most Zeppelin fans for other people to like different groups, like Duran Duran or Rammstein. They're not gonna go to hell for being into Nickelback (unfortunate as that may be), just as they themselves aren't going to Heaven simply by liking Zeppelin above all others; by stairway or otherwise (couldn't help it).

Religious people are different though. They do believe they're going to a better place once they die - why else would they go for it in the first place? However, the vast majority of them also reckon non-believers are NOT going this fabled better place. Now lets say I was born somewhere in Jordan/Palestine in the 12th century, or thereabouts. I'm gonna be a muslim, right? I mean, the only christians I'm ever going to meet are going to be sword-carrying knights here to reclaim 'their' land by force, which isn't a particularly good image in 12th century Islamic Palestine. Now lets say I die when I'm about 25, kicked to death by an angry camel or something.

So, I get to the pearly gates, and it turns out Rastafarianism is the one true religion. I'm all like, what the hell? How was I supposed to be a Rastafarian? Haile Salassie isn't even born till the 19th century. As a result, I'm not allowed into Heaven. Or the Mormons had it right. Once again, I'd never heard of Joseph Smith... Or even Christianity, which I'd heard of - unfortunately, I was born in 12th century Palestine, raised Muslim, all my friends are Muslim, everyone I know is Muslim... the Christians were these white assholes who came and killed people and pillaged the land, and didn't follow Mohammad, like EVERY SINGLE OTHER PERSON I'd ever met. Why would I be Christian? So instead, I go to hell. Thanks for giving me a chance, Jesus H. Christ

Why else would most of the Muslims in the world live approximately in the same area? Most of the Christian societies together? It's not out of fear; people do intermingle, particularly nowadays. But chances are, you meet a white American, if they're religious they're gonna be Christian. If they're Arab, there's a good chance they'll be Muslim. Meet an Indian, they'll be Hindu, most likely. If religion was something people actually chose for themselves independently and without outside influence, based only on the 'facts' and beliefs of each, you wouldn't see so many families and societies consisting so predominantly of a singular religion and/or belief system. In other words, people, on the whole, believe what they are taught, and find it hard to admit what they've believed all this time, what everyone around them has told them could be wrong.

BUT... due to the argument above in blue text, at the same time I can't discount any of the religions as being false. Just cause it's popular/bigoted/unlikely, doesn't mean it's wrong. Perhaps I'd have been lucky to be born in 12th century Palestine, cause if Islam is the correct religion, chances are I would've been pretty devout. But I wasn't, so I'm instantly condemned to wherever it is infidels end up.

Lets say one day a scientist proves a particular religion to be the correct one. Would everyone convert? No. There are people out there who still believe the Earth is flat, you know. Would this discovery strengthen the church/heirarchy of the particular lucky faith? No. Suddenly everyone would know exactly what it is they had to do in order to ensure their lives are lived correctly. There would be no need for the church/religious leaders at all. This sounds logical, no? Science would be able to tell us exactly how to live our lives. So, if we were 100% certain our particular faith was true, we wouldn't need to be told what to do. If this is the case, then why do people go to churches/mosques/temples at all?! Churchgoers I assume are 100% sure they're believing in the right thing, in which case they shouldn't need to be told by a pastor about their beliefs. They should already know.</font>

I can only gather from this that not even people who go to church are 100% sure they've chosen the right religion, in which case, the one true god is gonna be pretty pissed off. I, the agnostic, would probably have a better chance of getting into heaven. This leads me to my next piece of logistic deduction:

You don't need to have faith in something that is true; it just is, faith is not required. Churchgoers are told they need to have faith in Jesus; this can only lead to the conclusion not even church leaders are entirely sure what they teach is correct. And if church leaders aren't sure, then why the hell should anyone trust them? And if church leaders can be wrong about one thing, how can anyone know they've got anything right at all?

Cause it's what people have been brought up to believe, and they're too afraid to admit everything they've been taught might be wrong.

This entry got a lot ramblier than I expected, cause it's been truly dead here at work. Three people have been in here in the last hour and half, and no one has bought anything. I've got another half an hour in here, so I think I'll just go read Star Wars stuff on wikipedia. Did you know New Zealand has the highest number of Jedi per capita in the world, according to the latest census?