Swine Before Pearls

The King of All Universes comes to you in a vision. He hands you a coin. "If you throw heads, I will destroy your entire galaxy, including your planet."

"And if I throw tails?"

"Then I will promote everybody in your galaxy to paradise. Unless..."

"Unless what?" you ask.

"Unless we're playing the other game this time. In which case, the rules work the other way around."

"Which way around are we playing this time?" you ask.

"You'll find out after you toss the coin," says the King of All Universes.

—

(1) Do you hope for heads or tails?

(2) How much do you know about the ultimate nature of reality?

Cat Versus Snore

When our cat Spot gets bored
or wants some snuggles
she sometimes wakes up me
or my wife.

You are invited to copy and share
this image as long as you do not
change it in any way.

All photos by my wife Krystal.

Tags: Cat, Lolcat, Snore, Spot

The Old Testament, Abridged Edition

“Our tribes have got to settle down somewhere.”
“What, give up our nomad lifestyle?”
“There are now far too many of us for all this wandering about.”
“Maybe we could have fewer babies?”
“Don't be an idiot. We simply have to settle down.”
“Where? Every decent place is already taken.”
“Good point. We can't just go in and kill everybody.”
“True.”
“Hmm.”
“Wait, let's ask the priests if they can think of something.”

Emo Phase

A Friday evening city.
Rush-hour.
Any day of the year.
Apes in metal boxes
driving, maneuvering,
chasing after
some preferred mental state.
So many apes.

Seriously, though.
So many apes!

A Penultimate Theory of Everything

The internet is full of people writing their Theory of Everything. Here's mine!

— Yet Another Penultimate Theory of Everything —

When a man and a lady love one another, they get together and produce smaller copies of themselves; these are called babies. You were one of these.

You descended from other apes that have acquired language. This lets you interface with various collectives, including other apes, larger groupings of apes, groups of groups, and so on.

Thus, you get to learn stories that tell you Everything about reality.

Thus you, or any sentient collective, discover what the stories claim is “important.” (“Not falling apart” is a good example of something considered important, while “having the best shoes” is generally considered less important.)

Beyond the sketchy details of the story above, little is actually known for certain.

Some say we all live inside a computer, and at this particular moment it's kind of hard for you to argue that I don't.

The Ultimate Triumph Over the Replicators

Note: This article is more easily understood if you first look at the cartoon posted here.

We seem cursed by having both empathy and reluctance to act upon that empathy.
The universe has set a puzzle for humanity.
Our starting condition is mindless replication — first genetic and then memetic.
The solution is to resist the mindless with the mind.
Alas, the mind is itself infected with replicants — harmful memes.
But only the mind can see through the insane logic of replication.

Even a virus can replicate; it takes no intelligence to do so.
But to not replicate takes intelligence and understanding.
However, that intelligence must itself not be corrupted.
The ancient sages, who warned against the tricks of mind, were partially right.
They were, however, wrong if they said that mind is the problem.

The mind is not the problem.
The problem appears in the software of the mind.
The software follows the insane logic of selfish replication.

We can solve the puzzle.
We must resist the insane logic of replication.
We have the intelligence to erase suffering.

The Keyboard of Tomorrow

Every computer keyboard should have three knobs, marked 0 to 10, labeled “Anger,” “Porn” and “Propaganda.” These would let people adjust their view of the web to suit their personality.

Peace and Security

——  C L I C K   T O   E N L A R G E  ——

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America Cares!

——  C L I C K   T O   E N L A R G E  ——

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Help Not Wanted

——  C L I C K   T O   E N L A R G E  ——

Hi! Can I interest you in some salvation today?

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Tags: Civil Disobedience, Good, Henry David Thoreau, Quote, Thoreau, Walden 

A Powerful Dilemma

... with LIBERTY and JUSTICE for $OME ...

You are invited to copy and share this image as long as you do not change it in any way.

Tags: America, God, Memetic, Money, Politics, Power, Religion, USA

A Newer Testament (Poem)

I wonder: Which other memes
did that argument out-evolve?

You are invited to copy and share this image
as long as you do not change it in any way.

Includes image content from:
Boris23 / Wikimedia Commons (Squirrel_monkey.jpg)
under creative commons cc-by-sa-2.0 license.

Tags: Creationism, Evolution, Meme, Memetic, Monkey, Poem

Just Hanging Around?

“Depend on it, Sir, when a man knows
he is to be hanged in a fortnight,
it concentrates his mind wonderfully.”
(Samuel Johnson)

Why wait until the last minute
to pay attention to this one?

You are invited to copy and share this image
as long as you do not change it in any way.

Includes image content from:
Chris 73 / Wikimedia Commons (Hangmans_Noose.jpg) and
Jessie Eastland aka Robert DeMeo (High_Desert_Summer_Sunset.jpg);
both under creative commons cc-by-sa 3.0 license.

Tags: Boswell, Mind, Noose, Now, Presence, Present, Samuel Johnson

A Prayer for Atheists

I became an atheist in 1980.  I wrote this “prayer” in 1991.

Some atheists will take strong and vocal exception to my using
the word “prayer” in the same sentence as “atheist.”  Perhaps
they have not yet let go of a belief they say they don't have.

You are invited to copy and share this image
as long as you do not change it in any way.

(Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

Tags: Agnostic, Agnosticism, Atheist, Atheism, Theism, Philosophy, Prayer, Religion, Truth

Legal Notice (Wikimedia Commons)

Boring But Serious and Important Legal Notice

All images in this blog and distributed therefrom are created by Timothy Campbell (hereinafter Timothy) unless otherwise noted here in this blog. If the note specifies the source of the images as Wikimedia Commons then the applicable license may have restrictions, as in the "Attribution-ShareAlike Unported” or similar.

In all such cases, the following applies:

• The licensing provisions of the original author or licensor of the image continue to apply.
• It is not in any way suggested that they endorse Timothy or his work.
• The derived image is bound the same license as the original image.

It is not claimed that any person appearing in any image holds the views that the image might suggest they hold. All opinions expressed in and by the images are those of Timothy unless otherwise specified.

Category Error

——  C L I C K   T O   E N L A R G E  ——

How about some sunglasses?

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Tags: Cat, Category Error, Category Mistake, Funny, Light, Lolcat, Spot, Tan, Tanning

Is It Luck?

Is it luck?  Well, is it?

Images source: Wikimedia Commons
Title inspiration: Primus

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as long as you do not change it in any way.

Tags: Charity, Luck, One Percent, Perspective, Poverty,
Primus, Success, Wealth, Welfare, Work 

Tao of the Web

——  C L I C K   T O   E N L A R G E  ——

If looking at pictures is the worst thing you do all day ... congratulations!

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as long as you do not change it in any way.

(Includes image content from Wikimedia Commons.)

Tags: Cartoon, Fumetti, Life, Internet, Tao, Taoism, Violence, Web, WWW

Apes with Explosives

This isn't a toy, is it?

Why does part of me think it'd be fun to play with a crate of these?

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(Includes image content from Wikimedia Commons.)

Tags: Conditioning, Evolution, Grenades, Nature, Nurture, Memetics, Violence, War

Your Very Own Lazer Cat!

Batteries and catnip not included.

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Tags: Camera, Cat, Firing, Flash, Imma Firin Mah Lazer, Laser, Lazar, Red Eye, Spot

Amazement is Where You Find It

Cat is amazed ... by ramen! Behold the awesome power of inexpensive noodles!

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Tags: Amazed, Cat, Flying Spaghetti, Food, Lolcat, Noodles, Ramen, Spongebob, Spot

Getting to Okay

——  C L I C K   T O   E N L A R G E  ——

Most people search for truth ... but only until their pain stops.

No criticism is intended toward the philosophy depicted in the image.

You are invited to copy and share this image as long as you do not change it in any way.

Includes image content from Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: Depression, Enlightenment, Happiness, Liberation, Meditation, Memetics, Peace, Philosophy, Religion

One of Life's Secrets

——  C L I C K   T O   E N L A R G E  ——

Cheer up! Some of the things your brain says just aren't true!

Painting of Emma by her husband Ford Maddox Brown.

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Includes image content from Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: Sadness, Depression, Brain, Mind, Thought, Thinking, Delusion, Memetics, Enlightenment, Psychology, Cheer Up

Lost in Thought

We don't always know when we're all alone.

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Includes image content from Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: Alone, Couples, Distraction, Thought, Thinking, Isolation, Separation, Loneliness, Lonely, Ice Cream

Guns! Knives! Big Rocks!

——  C L I C K   T O   E N L A R G E  ——

Dear Anti-Gun People:
Guns are not the problem.

Dear Pro-Gun People:
Guns are not the solution.

The problem is ... what we've become.
The solution starts with discovering why.


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Includes image content from Wikimedia Commons.

Tags: Antigun, Progun, Guns, Poppies, Remembrance, Memetics, Violence, War

The Internet, Explained

——  C L I C K   T O   E N L A R G E  ——


Half the people you meet are below average intelligence.

If you doubt this is true then I have some bad news for you...

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Tags: Average, Bad News, Bell Curve, Gaussian Distribution, Intelligence, IQ, Median