We interview Mary Roach, author of the bestselling science-humor book Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. She’s also the author of Stiff (about human cadavers), Spook (the scientific inquest on life after death), and Bonk (the science of human sexuality). Packing for Mars is both educational and laugh-out-loud funny. It’s available in hardcover, audiobook, and for Kindle.
If you can’t get enough of Mary Roach (and let’s face it, who can?), John interviewed her back in 2005 at SciFiDimensions.com, and reviewed both Stiffand Spook.
We talk with Michael Largo, author of the entertaining, enlightening, encyclopedic tome God’s Lunatics: Lost Souls, False Prophets, Martyred Saints, Murderous Cults, Demonic Nuns, and Other Victims of Man’s Eternal Search for the Divine. His previous nonfiction works include Genius and Heroin, The Portable Obituary, and the award-winning Final Exits: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of How We Die. For more about Michael and his books visit FinalExits.com.
Well now. A 20-year-old woman driver struck a pedestrian whose actual name turns out to be…Lord Jesus Christ. Although the article doesn’t say, I’m assuming this is the result of a legal name change. Presumably his birth name was something hideous like, say, Hieronymus Fortesque Lickspittle. Or something.
I always thought video games were a soul-sucking waste of time, but I had no idea it could get this bad.
GameStation has announced that they own the souls of 7,500 online shoppers who failed to read the company’s Terms and Agreements on April Fool’s Day. While I think it’s pretty funny, methinks certain elements of our society will have no sense of humor about it. That said, I have not yet heard of complaints from any religious authorities.
The contract gives GameStation the right to claim customers’ souls “for now and for ever more.” Heck, even the Scientologists only want your soul for a billion years.
Now, this a freethought initiative I can get behind; or rather, in front of.
This Monday, April 26th, freethinking women around the world are encouraged to sport their decolletage in order to trigger…an earthquake.
SRSLY.
“Boobquake” is the brainchild of Jennifer McCreight (rhymes with “right”), an atheist and genetics/evolution double-major (no pun intended) at Purdue University who blogs at the popular Blag Hag. Bookquake is a response to this recent comment made by Iranian cleric dumbass Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi: “Many women who do not dress modestly… lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which (consequently) increases earthquakes.”
Even if you’ve never heard of monologist Mike Daisey, you owe it to yourself to see him perform at the first opportunity. Daisey (who hails from the same county in Maine as AF’s David Driscoll), is a one-man-show whose storytelling is comparable to that of Julia Sweeney or the late Spalding Gray. (Incidentally, Daisey is also an atheist and was the victim of a notorious “mass walk-out” by a Christian group protesting his show “Invincible Summer.”)
In “The Last Cargo Cult”–playing at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta through April 11th–Daisey fuses an account of his trip to celebrate John Frum Day on a tiny island in the South Pacific to the recent near-meltdown of the American financial system. (The photo I snapped with my iPhone isn’t really representative of the show, although it does look pretty dramatic. At no time during the monologue did Mike Daisey set himself on fire.)
Earthquake-devastated Haiti has become a magnet for kooky, misguided (but perhaps well-intentioned) religious groups. Scientologist John Travolta (disguised, apparently, as L. Ron Hubbard–see photo at right) has personally flown his private 707 to Haiti, delivering food, medical supplies, and “volunteer ministers” who claim the ability to heal through therapeutic touch. Meanwhile, a Christian group called Faith Comes By Hearing has sent 600 solar-powered audiobook Bibles. Finally, a group of Idaho Baptists were arrested trying to transport Haitian orphans (some of whom weren’t actually orphans) across the border into the Dominican Republic.
We look at three recent TV programs that have attracted the attention of the Eye of Sauron, a.k.a. Catholic League president Bill Donohue, whose job it is to manufacture outrage anytime anyone makes fun of the Church or offers sharp criticism of it. Sarah Silverman’s video “Sell the Vatican, Feed the World” appeared on the season finale of Real Time with Bill Maher. The Simpsons mock the Eucharist in their annual “Treehouse of Horror” special with the segment “Don’t Have a Cow, Mankind.” And Curb Your Enthusiasm auteur Larry David accidentally splashes urine on a portrait of Jesus in the episode “Dealing with the Midriff.” Bottom line: if it makes the Eye apoplectic, it warms our hearts.
Speaking of TV, Muslims have yet to riot or issue any fatwas over a controversial commercial by German lingerie company Liaisons Dangereuse.
We interview Mary Roach, author of the bestselling science-humor book Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void. She’s also the author of Stiff (about human cadavers), Spook (the scientific inquest on life after death), and Bonk (the science of human sexuality). Packing for Mars is both educational and laugh-out-loud funny. It’s available in hardcover, audiobook, and for Kindle.
Even if you’ve never heard of monologist Mike Daisey, you owe it to yourself to see him perform at the first opportunity. Daisey (who hails from the same county in Maine as AF’s David Driscoll), is a one-man-show whose storytelling is comparable to that of Julia Sweeney or the late Spalding Gray. (Incidentally, Daisey is also an atheist and was the victim of a notorious “
Earthquake-devastated Haiti has become a magnet for kooky, misguided (but perhaps well-intentioned) religious groups. Scientologist John Travolta (disguised, apparently, as L. Ron Hubbard–see photo at right) 
We look at three recent TV programs that have attracted the attention of the Eye of Sauron, a.k.a. Catholic League president Bill Donohue, whose job it is to manufacture outrage anytime anyone makes fun of the Church or offers sharp criticism of it. Sarah Silverman’s video “