Ethical Stem Cell Lines Approved

You probably know that an “ethical stem cell” is a stem cell that doesn’t require the destruction of a human embryo in order to have and use. This term has, of course, arisen from the fact that religious organizations have expressed their belief that a human embryo (it has to be fertilized I believe) is a living human being, and therefore destroying it for any purpose is tantamount to murder. Recently, 13 lines were approved by the Obama administration for use. U.S. approves first “ethical” human stem cell lines

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2, 2009 (Reuters) — The U.S. government approved the first 13 batches of human embryonic stem cells on Wednesday, enabling researchers using them to get millions of dollars in federal funding as promised by President Barack Obama in March.

Now, these stem cells do originate form a destroyed embryo, but that was some time ago. They are duplicates – new cells that have divided many times from that original cell that was taken from the embryo. Clones, I suppose you could call them, since they are in effect genetically identical. And that’s what makes them “ethical.” Or is it? I’m not sure. Perhaps they were extracted from an embryo that was never going to live anyway. Does anyone know? Drop me a comment if you know what criteria are used to classify a stem cell as “ethical.” It would be interesting to know.

“We have been very fortunate at Harvard to have been the beneficiaries of philanthropy but it has dried up in past years, in part because of the economy and in part because of the perception that the government was about to step in and clear everything up.”

The NIH says it has funded 30 proposals totaling more than $20 million that would use human embryonic stem cells. Now the researchers can get the cells and get going, it said.

“This group of grants includes research using human embryonic stem cells for the therapeutic regeneration of diseased or damaged heart muscle cells, developing systems for the production of neural stem cells” among others, it said.

Collins said these cells are still needed for research even though scientists have found ways to turn ordinary cells into what resemble embryonic stem cells.

What I find fascinating about all of this is that we may never have developed the technology to turn ordinary cells into stem cells if it had not been for restrictions pressed in ethical debate by religious organizations. It is ironic that it focused our efforts into turning ordinary cells into stem cells so that we could then say they didn’t originate from an embryo. In the end, the second technology may allow us to culture adult stem cells with an appropriate genetic match (and therefore surface protein structure) for use in people with nerve, organ or skin damage. I’m not so sure the embryonically-derived stem cells would ever have allowed us to do this. Even now, these experiments are taking place in animals. It is very possible that we’ll be able to cure paralysis caused by nerve damage using this technology (and within our life time).

Missing Seafloor Located

Up until reading this article: Slab Of Sunken Ocean Floor Found Deep Within Earth I had not been aware that we were missing any seafloor. Like most people, I had assumed that when the subduction of the ocean floor occurs, the resulting slabs of seafloor are melted by the mantle and effectively just become mantle. It’s pretty hot down there, so I figured, hey man, this stuff is just going to like… melt you know? But, guess what? They actually found some of it!

Here’s a quote:

“Deep within Earth, halfway to its center in an area where Earth’s core meets its mantle, lies a massive folded slab of rock that once was the ocean floor, reports a team of researchers (including one from Arizona State University) in the current issue of Nature.

The slab, which sank beneath North America some 50 million years ago, holds important clues as to the behavior and composition of the deep interior of Earth and it could help explain how surface features such as volcanos and earthquakes form, the researchers say.”

To me, this is just incredible. Sure, it doesn’t really mean anything, and it’s not going to change anyone’s life, but to think that what used to be the sea floor has oozed like melted caramel down through the mantle to pile up against the core in a folded puddle is just amazing. I’m not sure why I find it so amazing. Maybe it’s the size of the objects involved, and the fact that this material has survived being in the mantle for so long. And yes, I am aware that the article was put out in 2006 – but what’s three years compared to 50 million? Oh, it’s also 1800 miles down, so it’s not likely we’re going to be getting core samples of it anytime soon.

Ocean Vodka… WTF?

Here’s the website: http://www.oceanvodka.com/

And here’s the question: what’s so special about the water used to make this vodka? Sure, it’s been extracted from a mile down off the coast of Maui, but does that make the water any different than the water coming out of Maui’s sewer system? They’ve distilled the water, right? (that’s what they’ve said, and after that sewer comment, I really hope so). This is the same water that’s made of hydrogen that’s been flying around forever, and it’s paired up with oxygen from some supernova, right? So what’s really special about this water? Do the atoms in it remember that they were once a mile down off the coast of Maui? Are they like a postcard from the deep blue?

Maybe the water molecules, having been previously smashed by the pressure of being a mile down, are now very happy to be on the surface once more. Maybe they’re so excited to be mixed in with hydroxide that they’re going to provide some extra bit of fun to your brain after they get into your blood system. Is a Maui vodka buzz better than a Russian vodka buzz? Or is it like my uncle says, “vodka is vodka, there’s only so much you can do with a potato.” (He always buys cheap vodka).

Being an expert on the assembly and consumption of martinis, I must say that there actually is a bit of a difference between expensive and cheap vodkas. I’m not sure why there’s a difference, but there seems to be. I suppose it could be an illusion, but Grey Goose really does seem smoother than Papov. Anyway, I’m not too fussy about it since I usually drink gin anyway, but it does bear pondering when you have a moment to ponder.

What is “ClimateGate?”

Global warming – the concept that the average temperature of the earth is increasing, is not a belief held by everyone. Most people are probably aware that there are fringe elements in society that believe, and have believed for some time, that the entire concept of global warming was cooked up by a collective of individuals for some purpose of their own (which is probably to gain both power and money, since those are the usual goals).

Until recently, these skeptics were low on ammunition. There was lots of scientific evidence that pointed to global warming, and not a lot of it that didn’t. However, there was/is more than one reason for this lack of evidence. As I’m sure you are aware, what comprises evidence to one person is not always evidence to another, and what is popular and right isn’t always correct. Those people concerned about climate change are frequently a volatile lot – they are the environmentalists among us. And those who believe climate change is fake are also a volatile lot – frequently the conspiracy theorists among us. These are reactionary elements of the type that scream bloody murder and throw their hands in the air whenever there is an opportunity to freak out.

Who is to be believed? Who is to be ignored? How can anyone find the truth without drinking someone’s coolaid?

Now, the battle has shifted recently due to the recent “disclosure” of a collection of emails provided by “hackers” who obtained these once private emails from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit. These emails indicate that there was massaging of the scientific data to hide a decline in temperatures, and hijacking of the peer-review system to prevent publication of opposing evidence.  Other documents indicate that potential source of funds for further scientific research would come from those companies most benefiting from “green” carbon-emission technology. In other words, some of the information in these emails makes it look like an important part of the scientific community involved in climate research has been filtering data and possibly adding incorrect data in order to benefit two things: 1. their own pocket books, and 2. the “green” agenda.

Motive? Why would otherwise legitimate scientists risk their reputations and careers in order to convince people that mankind is changing the earth in a negative way? Well, money is certainly a motive considering that the can make money by putting out the wrong data. This wouldn’t be the first time big corporate greed has been involved with the massaging of scientific data – I mean, for decades doctors were paid by tobacco companies to say that smoking was either healthy, or not dangerous. So there is precident for this type of activity. Is it really so far out there to think that fossil fuel companies might be paying scientists to promote the belief that something needs to be done about carbon emissions if it benefits the fossil fuel companies in the long run?

But, before I go convincing myself that this really is a big conspiracy, what if it’s not a “really big” conspiracy. What if it’s just a little one? What if these scientists are passionate about global warming. What if they really believe it’s a problem and that humans are heating the planet, and that we need to do something about it or we could have a runaway greenhouse effect that could end up making earth a horrible place to live within a few centuries? And then, what if there existed a group of people who thought global warming was a big scam, and didn’t believe in it. And then the scientists found evidence that they knew would cause people to leap to the wrong conclusions? So, these corrupt scientists hid that evidence. Moreover, they kept hiding the evidence and started seeking out sources of income that might assist them in their cause.

It is possible that global warming is completely legitimate. It is possible that the polar ice caps really are going to melt (regardless of what we do) and that the earth will continue to warm (regardless of what we d0). It is possible that we’ve killed off so much of the rainforest (and continue to kill it off) that the plants that lived there that we used to rely upon to filter out a significant portion of this carbon dioxide no longer exist. It is possible that glaciers in the mountains have receeded significantly, and that some no longer exist. It is possible that very soon there may be no polar ice at all in the summer months. It is possible that if this trend continues, rain fall patterns acorss the world are going to shift, hurricanes and storms are going to become more common and much stronger, and once fertile farmland is going to suffer drought.And, it is possible that millions of cars and factories and power plants all over this planet might have contributed to this by spewing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere on par with a series of continuous volcanic eruptions.

It’s really difficult to tell, isn’t it? Who is full of shit, and who’s shit is full of holes? Which story has issues with plot problems? I’ll tell you what, if I were a Hollywood screenplay writer (which I am not) I’d certainly be looking at this conspiracy theory as the perfect plot for a fantasic movie in which the hero or heroine gets to discover how the scientific community massaged data and got paid by big business. But, at the end of the movie, I’d still lay waste to the planet due to the climate shifts. Why? Well to make a point, of course. Just because someone gets paid money to say something specific doesn’t mean the basic message they are trying to get across is completely wrong. And if there’s one thing I do believe, it’s that humans are having an affect on the planet. Whether that affect is good or bad is up for interpretation. And whether that affect should be or can be reversed is also speculative.

And that’s the way I see it.

To the Angry Bloggers

So, I’m sitting around at work waiting for my parser to get done formatting Word docs into online help, and suddenly I had an epiphany. Actually, that’s a pretty strong word. Let’s call it a revelation. No, that’s too strong too. Let’s just say I had a stupid idea and leave it at that. Since no one was here to stop me, I decided to act on that idea, and therefore started digging through the blogosphere for radical blogs and posts that are either particularly stupid (in my humble opinion) or are just plain off in la-la land.

The first one I came across was this big revelation about how global warming is nothing but a scam. I left a smart ass reply. Then I came across a Sarah Palin is FRIGGIN AWESOME blog that was all about Sarah Palin and how she walks on water and will solve the woes of mankind. Again, I left a smart ass remark. I mean, I HAD too. (Someone has been drinking some serious coolaid). Next, I came across a blog about aliens from planet X building the pyramids. Why do alien hunters always have to assume that people are too stupid to figure out how to stack really big blocks of rocks? Okay, so it’s fricken complicated, that doesn’t mean some ancient genius didn’t figure out a way. (Sure, it could be aliens, but I think the odds are pretty low).

In short, I left smart-ass remarks all over the place. It was a childish and immature thing to do, yes. I must apologize. To the people who think Al Gore and the WTO are in league to convince everyone that the average temperature of the earth is increasing while it is actually decreasing, I apologize. To the person who thinks Palin is worthy of her own personal chapter in Revelations, I apologize. To the guys who believe that Obama is a socialist pedophile out to destroy America, I… well… sorry, I can’t apologize to you, you’re fricken loopy. To the people who think peach seeds can cure cancer, I’m sorry if I got on your nerves. They really do taste awful though. To they right-winger who thinks the Democrats are going to kill old people, I’m sorry that your grandma must die. And to the guy who is convinced that the evil Decepticons really did bury their sun destroying weapon under the great pyramid of Giza, I apologize for what I said about your dog.

In short, I must be some kind of radical extremist. All this time I thought I was a moderate, and it turns out that I’m some kind of left/right wing up/down liberal conservative. I am totally screwed up. So I apologize for my logic. Please, lambaste me with your hatred. I’ll go out tomorrow and buy one of those plastic scrotums that hangs from your bumper, just so you guys can kick it.

Thanksgiving Again

Dood! It is truly that time of year again. Time to hang out with the relatives and eat large quantities of greasy bird meat while screaming at the television and talking smack. No, I say to you, not again. My cholesterol levels and blood sugar tests went totally askew last year after indulging in a combination of garlic mashed potatoes, turkey grave, and gin and tonics. This year I will be strong and resist the extra three helpings.

Right. Like that’s going to happen.

Look, man, if you’re expecting me to watch football with a bunch of people I only see twice a year, then I’m getting sloshed. First off, I hate football. It’s fricken stupid. A bunch of big dudes in plastic body armor chase each other over a field of fake plastic grass and fight over a brown ball that doesn’t even roll right. It’s not even round! For years I’ve wondered what the retard who invented this game was thinking when he made it up. It’s like he didn’t have a ball, so he used whatever he could find. Maybe all he had was a sock puppet filled with peanuts. That was probably the first football: a peanut filled sock puppet. I hope it was a monkey sock puppet, because that would be funny. Watching a bunch of guys chase a peanut filled monkey sock puppet might actually be worth watching. Maybe they should take football back to its roots, and make it more nostalgic. I can hear the old folks now:

“Hey, that’s just how we used to play it when I was a kid. Except we couldn’t afford a sock puppet, so we just used peanuts.”

“How did you hold the peanuts together Grandpa?”

“Oh, we didn’t need to. Peanuts were much bigger back then. We just used one.”

This year, Thanksgiving is going to be slightly different than last year. This year, I’m going to my mother in laws house and hanging out with all the other in-laws. It should be fun. We’re bringing the republicans with us. The Democrats are already there. Once we get them in the same room, I’m going to turn on the health care debate and see what happens. It should be worth a laugh. First I’m getting ripped though. That Bellringer gin is some good stuff. 94.5 proof. It’s the only time I’ve ever seen a half a proof on anything. It reminds me of that Spinal Tap movie where the band member likes the speakers that go up to 11, just in case you need that little extra bit of volume. Right. I don’t think a half of a percent of alcohol is going to make a big difference, not that I’m not willing to try. Besides, the bottle looks cool. That’s what’s important.

Here’s wishing you and yours a happy Thanksgiving. May whatever God you believe in or not bless you unintentionally and cause wonderful things to happen to you even if you don’t want them to. If there’s no sunshine coming out of your ass after this holiday, then don’t blame me. You probably had a sour attitude to begin with.  Cheers!

-Dood!

Where the ‘You’ Gets Thin

Have you ever been faced with a decision that you didn’t want to have to make? I’m sure it happens to most of us a lot of the time. For example, you have a choice between getting a new set of tires for your car (because it really needs them) or buying some expensive electronic toy you’ve been saving up for. Or maybe you have a decision between buying the airlines tickets for that vacation you’ve been wanting to go on, or paying for those dental crowns you need to get before your teeth fall apart.

The worst of the worst decisions usually happen when both outcomes are undesirable. For example, paying for your kids college tuition, or having surgery to fix your shredded shoulder joint. Now you can either make your kid go looking for a student loan, or you can continue to live in pain. I’m sure you can think of a dozen or so horrible decisons right off the top of your head. They’re probably even worse than anything I can come up with, so telling you about mine is kind of pointless. I’m going to do it anyway, though, so if you don’t want to look, then stop here and cover your eyes.

Yesterday, I was feelig a little rambuncious when I got out of the car, and I ran towards the porch with the intention of jumping up on the cement steps from the side and then going through the door. As I leapt up toward the cement, however, my foot slipped and my shin started heading down towards the cement. That’s when I was presented with my decision. I had about an eighth of a second to decide whether or not it would be better to let my shin impact against the edge of the cement step (thus breaking it easily in two) or to pull up my legs and try to catch myself on my hands (thus risking a face-plant on the other side).

The decision sucked. Both outcomes looked undesirable, yet somehow my mind knew to take the gamble. I can’t say I even made the decision cognitively, because there wasn’t time to weigh all the factors. I was like a bystander, waiting for my subconcious mind to determine what to do. Fortunately it was quick about it, because my subconcious had to provide me with its decision in time for me to actually act upon it. I pulled my legs up and leaned forward, catching myself on my hands. Then, as my face was heading toward the cement, I kicked off with my legs and pushed up with my arms, basically doing a frog-hop over the cement and landing on the other side of the steps. I’m sure it looked fantastically stupid to anyone observing it. I’m lucky that that was no one.

The decision was made, and the outcome was far better than expected. Today, I am still recovering. I tore some ligaments in my right arm near the elbow, but that was it. No big deal really, it will probably take a couple of weeks to heal completely, but I can still do cardio.

What did I learn? Nothing I didn’t know before: mainly that I need to trust instincts more, because they’re what made the correct decision. (Although it doesn’t always, does it?) There is something deeper down inside of us all – that portion of our mind that is larger than what we understand of ourselves. Psychology defines it by different terms, and various understandings of it exist across many cultures, but it always comes down to that thing that you are only dimly aware of, but that supplies you with all kinds of data in the form of insights and concepts and visualizations. It is the creative part of you, and the dangerous part of you, and the part that understands you the best. It is the true self that you will never fully understand until you sit still enough to listen to it. You have to quiet the chatter in your head. Some people call it God, and other people associate it with the spirit world or mysticism. It doesn’t have to be that way though. It doesn’t require belief to exist, because it will still be there even if you don’t believe in it. You just won’t perceive it anymore.

Whatever it is, you’re best served by making friends with it and listening to it, and getting it to listen to you. Because you’re stuck with it. It’s what you are. And maybe you can change it, but not without changing yourself. And maybe it can change you, but not without changing itself. No matter what you do, you’ll never be free of it, because it defines you, and you define it. So listen quietly sometime, and see what it tells you. Or you can occasionally risk death or dismemberment and see what it tells you – although I don’t advise this.

It might make the wrong decision.

Reality is Relative

In my youth, I observed that many people believed many things about the world, about other people, and about the reality they lived in. Moreover, they did not agree with each other. No one I encountered seemed to believe exactly the same thing about everything. It seemed very odd to me. Every single person was different, and unless they were all wrong about a wide variety of things upon which they held their opinions, then the only logical conclusion was that they were all correct about what they themselves believed. Ignoring the fact that this was impossible, which is something I frequently do, I had to ask myself what explanation might exist to account for this flexibility in the fabric of realty. At which point I realized that reality was quite relative, and that we all live in our own little bubble of it. Yes, reality is relative, and if you don’t like it, that’s okay, because reality doesn’t care.

Don’t freak out (yet), I’m not talking about space-time. If we all had our own little bubble of that, well, it would be cool, but there would likely be adverse effect. Gravitation distortion, that sort of thing.  No, what I’m talking about is a bubble of perception that bends the lens of our observations and conclusions so that they fit within the associative complex forming the shell of our own minds. Without this capability, the universe would seem very confusing on more levels than it already is (particularly for those lacking the ability to cognitively grasp what most of us consider obvious). For example, to a Christian and a biblical literalist, the world of an atheist might seem foolish and ridiculous (and vice-versa). Yet they both exist in the same space-time. They are clearly visible to each other, and can interact, yet one believes the universe was created ten thousand years ago by an all-powerful entity who looks like a human, and the other believes the universe was created fourteen billion years ago by a statistical fluke, and that people are a result of further statistical anomalies and chemical interactions following a set of rules governed by physical laws resulting from the first fluke. In between these two glowing philosophical extremes, there is a whole slew of middle ground that take a bit here and there and everywhere, and mixes things together in a creative stew of conceptual abstractions that explains it all in an understandable way to that particular individual.

What if they are all correct? What if the Christian will go to heaven, and the atheist will simply cease to exist? What if the deist will meet a universal God, and the Hindu will be reincarnated, and the Buddist will wake up to realize they are part of God. (Note, I’m playing fast and lose with religion here, and I’m aware there are lots of different flavors of these religions).

Of course, they can’t all be right. Right? Surely if the Christian is correct, then everyone else will go to Hell. Surely if the Hindu is right, everyone else will be coming back as something quite nasty. Surely if the deist is right, no one will remember any of this. Maybe if someone else is correct, and this is all just part of a dream being dreamt by a God who will someday awaken, we’ll all just remember our part in this drama and smile. Or maybe you are correct, and the rest of us are simply figments of your imagination.

Would it be alright if we were ALL right? Or is that impossible? Because if it’s impossible, then maybe it’s impossible because you simply can’t see how it can be so. And if it’s impossible for you, that’s okay, because it’s not going to be impossible to everyone. Believe what you want to, the rest will take care of itself.

The Medicine Dude

Over my coffee in the kitchen this morning, I was observing the coffee machine and thinking about the first individual (man or woman) to have tried coffee. They probably chewed on the beans first. That had to be pretty nasty. But, at some point, they decided to dry them out, grind them up, poor hot water over them, and then drink the hot water. I wonder what thought process was involved in the creation of that method. I’m sure some anthropologist or social psychologist has already studied the phenomenon of herbal technology and its development, but I haven’t read those studies, and frankly I don’t give a shit about them. If I want to do the research later, maybe I will, but no one’s going to force me to do it. Instead, I’m just going to make a bunch of assumptions and wild guesses and then base my understanding of this on a bunch of crazy-ass hair-brained ideas. Moreover, I’m going to write about it as if I’m a not-so-particularly intelligent teenage American surfer dude (which I am currently not, but it’s fun to do).

Here we go…

So, like, I’m this primitive dude and I like, uh… live in a jungle and stuff. So one day I was like, ah… walking around and stuff? And I like, found these beans, y’know? They were, uh… growing on a tree! Whoa! So I decided to eat them. DUDE! They sucked bigtime! Oh, yech. They were all like bitter and stuff, so I spit them out.

But then, like, not long afterward? I was like, doin stuff? And that’s when I started to notice that I was feeling kind of, uh… like hyper and stuff? Dude, have you ever been hyper? It’s, like, so cool to be all hyper and stuff, cause then you can like, uh… talk really fast! Oh, and my Mom, like, uh… she wanted me to like plant a bunch of potatoes like she always wants me to do, cause like the pigs eat them and stuff? And usually, I like, uh… hate planting potatoes cause it’s boring, but after chewing on those beans?

I didn’t mind doing it at all!

That’s when I realized that, like, chewing on these beans made life cooler than it was before, cause then, like, uh… when your Mom wants you to like, plant potatoes, or chase pigs, or kill a monkey? It’s not so boring. So, I decided that maybe I better go and get a bunch more of these beans. Cause, like, sometimes you can’t find them when you want them, you know? And besides, my buddy Yazapoof might like trying some of these beans too, cause, like… uh… Yazapoof will try anything you give him.

Anyway, so uh, I like go in the jungle? And I look for more of these plants? I you’ll never guess what happened. I found them! So, uh… I get a bunch more of these beans, and some of them I chew up, but the other ones I take back home and put under my pillow (which is, like, this rock?) And then, uh… I forgot about them cause Yazapoof showed me how to breath the smoke from this plant that you can like, uh… throw on the fire? And that’s when I like, uh… forgot about the beans, cause the smoke was really really good. Man, did we get smoky! I had so much resin in my beard, the flies would just stick to it and die!

Uh… what was I talking about? Dude! The beans! Yeah, so like, uh… a couple of years later, I started chewing these beans again, and they were really nasty and bitter. Yuck! So, like, I had this idea. I mashed up the beans and boiled them in water, and like, uh… the water was bitter. Yuck! But I still got all hyper and stuff, which was good cause inhaling the smoke from those plants? uh… sometimes it makes me sleepy, and when I get sleepy I don’t want to plant potatoes, or chase pigs, or kill monkeys at all. And then Mom will, uh… like, get pissed at me, which makes her, like, yell at Dad. And then, like, uh… Dad gets mad and kicks me out of the hut. Dood! And then I have to, uh… like live under a big leaf and stuff, which isn’t very fun cause the bugs bite my ass when I do that. So, uh… like, drinking the bitter water from the boiled bean juice really helps me a lot. Without it, I’d just be really, like, sleepy and my ass would be covered with bug bites and stuff.

Dood! I love the bitter bean juice! If you, like, need to kill a monkey, or chase a pig, then, like, uh… you should drink some!

Online Worship and Web Churches

Recently the following article came to my attention:

Online churches draw believers, critics

After reading this, it occurred to me that this is more than just a passing fancy. This is a trend toward online worship that will only increase. That made me wonder what the ultimate effect of this technology might have on society. What is the next level for the fusion of faith with machine? (What is the next level for the fusion of faith and science for that matter)?

The nexus of religous worship is logically the internet, just as it was with the “mega churches” that grew out of television. The difference between the two is that the internet provides a mechanism for feedback, whereas television had only the phone. Dial in prayer services will be replaced by chat rooms. Text based chat rooms at first, although certainly they’ll rapidly be replaced by VOIP chatrooms using technology like Skype and Google Wave to actually communicate in real time face to face.

Will this increase or decrease religious diversity, I wonder? Will it allow those who wish to create their own religions to obtain followers and grow cults easier? You can imagine that for a beginning cult leader looking to find those willing to be his or her followers, the internet is the perfect tool for the dissemination of radical doctrine. Hi Ho! it’s off to work we go. Let’s set up a server and make ourselves a flying spaghetti monster that everyone can love. But is it so easy?

Do not be fooled. Creating your own religion is probably just as difficult as getting published without having an “in” in the publishing industry. You have to get people to actually read your ideas, and to correspond with you. For the Charles Manson and David Koresh crowd, it’s also going to mean convincing people of your own divinity. For most people, that’s going to be difficult to do. You’ve got to have the charisma to dish it out, and the ego to believe it yourself. And the internet isn’t the best place to present those things. It really needs to be done in person – face to face.

Online worship probably works best for already established religions. But, hey, don’t take my word for it, if you’ve got a desire to dominate others, and a solid belief in your own divinity, then give it a try. You never know, you could get lucky.

Damn but I’m a sarcastic bastard today.