How Well Do You Know Your Bible? – The Work of Dr. Bart Ehrman at a Glance

As a religious scholar, I’ve long been fascinated by the history of the Christian Bible – its flaws, contradictions, its turbulent history – and how most Christians came to believe that it was always one complete book, that it is “inerrant” (without errors) and somehow perfect. Many even still believe that the Bible was “written by God” or by Moses, or Paul even. Or that it was written by other men who were not only anonymous – but also “divinely inspired”. Some still view the Bible as a historical record of everything – which is how some people actually believe the entire universe is only about 6000 years old.

The Mirror, Darkly: Understanding Christianity-Created Pseudo-Satanism

To many Christians, especially evangelical Christians, anyone who is not a Christian – even an atheist – is understood to be "trapped" in some or other form of "devil worship." This absolutist, exclusionary worldview even extends to other Christians who do not share their particular radicalized religious perspective.

The "Other People" Problem: How Logic and Archaeology Demolish Genesis 4

Good morning. This time, I'd like to address the topic of Adam and Eve - and the "other people" in Genesis - because well, without "other people" being around at the same time, none of that story could make any kind of sense. 

Seemingly pointing out the flaws and plot holes in the entirety of Genesis, starting with the purported creation of the first people - aka Adam and Eve, this argument has always been a contentious one, and unpopular with the apologists, critics of evolution, science (and also common sense).

Stardust Literacy... Worth It?

I was put onto Stardust Literacy via a video promotion on Tiktok sent to me by a friend, who suggested I create an account and put up a book or two to increase my reach in the local market etc. 

I had a look at the site and it seemed legit, a quick check revealed the site had a good reputation - at least security wise, and wasn't a scam.  At least, supposedly. (I still reserve judgement on that count.)

The premise is that authors post or share their books on the site and instead of people buying the books, the authors get paid according to how many views their books get. At least, that's what the lady in the Tiktok video said. I didn't see any explanations of that on the website itself when I went there to register as an author - and not in the author dashboard either - perhaps that was a red flag?

So Long, Facebook. It's Been A Slice.

 Some of you may be wondering what happened to me on Facebook, so I'll get right down to it and tell you. Seemingly my profile, which I've maintained, grown and cultivated on that platform since at least 2009, was flagged, and I opened Facebook one morning about a month ago to be greeted with a message of extortion. What was that message, and what did they want from me in order to give me back access to my contacts, friends and social media content?

The Floccinaucinihilipilification Of Modern Society

Imagine, if you will, typing the minutes for a work meeting and then, days later, finding it returned with a red pen circle around the word "brevity" on page 4, with a comment "Use simple English". 

Is "brevity" not simple enough? 

Doubling Down On Being Wrong Only Makes You Twice As Wrong.

Here we are on 26 January 2026. It's three weeks into the new year and Trump's ICE gestapo have already murdered 9 people. Make no mistake, since ICE is not empowered to kill people at random in public streets, no matter what Trump, Vance, Miller or Noem claim. These weren't "domestic terrorists" or "highly paid protestors" - they were ordinary people, some of whom were US citizens.

I've been paying attention to the levels of public outcry to these literal state-sanctioned murders. This is what I've found.

I Know Why Trump Wants Greenland (A Reasonable Hypothesis)

Why does Trump want Greenland? Minerals? More territory to govern? More subjects to lord it over? Just because he wants it? To give NATO the finger like he did that Ford worker yesterday, who got fired for calling a spade a spade?

I think I have the gist of his idea.

THIS Is America's Problem - Or "Y'all Have Red Hands Now"

This is pretty much why we are at this point in history right now.

It's Only 3 January, And We're Already Staring At Another War

It's a lot to take in, isn't it?

As I pointed out yesterday, it's only the 3rd of January and I'm already laden with fresh anxiety.

On one hand, we have a bunch of racist neo-Nazi Afrikarens publicly expressing their hopes that Trump will do to South Africa what he's done to Venezuela, to "sort the country out" - and claiming to be "patriots" in the same breath, while totally not seeing the irony.

But then, irony is lost on the irredeemably stupid, as these people are.

Plane Sailing - Hopium & Fading Dreams of Empire

Trump wants to build a fleet of 3... 10... 20... 25 (why not 50 or 100?) new battleships for the US Navy, and although it strikes me as some sort of parody or sick joke, apparently Mango Mussolini is actually being serious.

Lemmings - or, the Great "Switch to Linux now!" Scam

With Windows 10 being "EOL" with Microsoft and every tech influencer on YouTube choreographing similar videos about switching to Linux and advocating for it like "That Vegan Teacher", with all but a song and dance, I've been considering making the switchover from Microsoft to Linux as well. 

Wait, wait, this isn't one of those articles wherein I proselytize the penguin, nor is it a fad or a phase - it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time now - practically since the first time I was introduced to Ubuntu Linux, when someone handed me a free copy through a car window at a traffic light back in the 1990s. 

Yes. It didn't work very well then either.

But don't let my preconceived irritations and irks spoil things for you, let me regail you with my latest experiences in the land of the red fedora-wearing Penguin.

From Altars to Outrage: The Strange South African Devotion to Bigotry and Moral Panic

It really has me beat why so many South African Christians worship at the altar of Charlie Kirk. Yes, I know it's been two months, and he's been the most well-behaved he's ever been - but still it seems some people can't help but bring him up in conversations with me, for some weird reason. Perhaps they know it will result in some sort of confrontation, as it inevitably did.

And so I just had an interesting "debate" with one such individual who denied insistently that the guy was "so full of love" and wasn't a racist transphobic scumbag who wanted people like me - for all intents and purposes, dead.

Seems that even when you can show verbatim quotes of his own words, they say you're "mistaken" and "taking that out of context". You just didn't understand him, apparently, even when he was saying the most incredibly offensive racist, misogynistic, homophobic and transphobic things - the fault was yours, not his. Sound familiar?

We Can Do Without Religion

The West has a habit of looking down on anyone else, doesn't it? Its self-appraisal almost always tends towards elitism and the perception that the West is the most advanced and superior in all aspects above others. Of course, might makes right, doesn't it? Historically speaking - for the past 800 years or so, more or less, the countries of Europe combined with the new kid on the block (the USA) have, as "the West" embodied that concept.

Taking that into consideration, I think that fundamental view or belief is what underlies white supremacy, at its very core, as can be seen from resultant ideologies that today we call "right wing". 

The tendency for one group to view itself as superior to others for whatever reason, as if we are all involved in some sort of competition with an invisible goal and invisible prizes.

Linux - Still Not The Life Raft It Thinks It Is

A lot of people have been talking about Windows 10 reaching so-called "end of life" by its creator, Microsoft - and a lot of them have been encouraging Windows users to migrate to Linux. Like many out there, I've had my fill of corporate bullies and fascist technocrats presuming to lay claim to my data and own and profit off my productivity, and especially the advertizing spy and bloatware crap that Uncle Bill has stuck into recent offerings of Windows - made worse by so-called "security updates".

Given the passing of time, I've oft considered alternatives. I would never in my wildest nightmares even consider moving on to Windows 11 (or 12, if or whenever that comes out one day), for example. But I have considered numerous other offerings from other sources, preferably open ones.

In the meantime, I've watched dozens of videos by Linux pundits singing its praises and saying enticing things like "you almost never have to even use the terminal if you don't want to" and comparing various versions and flavors of the open-source OS with regards to how easily Windows users could switch over to it in order to wean themselves off their nasty, self-harming Windows habit.

I'm Done With Warnings

Holy fuck. The trans community. Or at least, portions of it.

Try to warn some people that their house is on fire, and not only will they throw stones at you for being an annoyance, for pointing out the obvious, or for misunderstanding your motives for warning them, but they will then launch into personal attacks, character assassinations and even issue threats.

Like, what are you going to do to me from the USA, dahling? Throw a ballistic handbag at me? Call me names? Send me some sternly worded hate mail?

Some people don't like to hear the truth, and can't handle it when they do hear it. Why should I have to sugar-coat the warning "y'all are going to end up in concentration camps if you don't pack up and move somewhere else that's safe"?

Lines In The Sand

Dear Americans, I've lost count of the number of times Trump has committed "impeachable offenses" in the past 8 months (not to mention during the fiasco that was his first tenure) - and the number of times outraged opponents and social activists have said "imagine if Obama/Clinton/Biden did this?!"

As if that somehow constitues some form of "red line" that others dared not cross previously. However, that analogy has become useless - because it's increasingly evident to me that the so-called line is simply one drawn in the sand, as on a beach... and every time Trump and his backing party takes up the challenge and steps across it, all the opposition seems to do is simply redraw another equally facetious line in the sand.

The Western Lie Unraveled: Why I Condemn Israel, Not Hamas

If you've been following my social media posts, you will know that I've been an ardent critic of Israel's genocide in Gaza. Even so, there's something I need to get off my chest, and it's something I've been carrying with me for a while now. Please bear with me a minute.

I wish to state for the public record, that back in 2023 when Oct 7 happened and Israel began it's open bloody genocide in Gaza, I was still very much under the influence of most Western media and the narrative that Hamas were "terrorists", an "illegitimate" wannabe government pushing for an independent state in the middle of Israel, and essentially just a band of troublemakers and malcontents - as Israel had spent the last 80 years telling everyone. At the start, I was somewhat horrified by the publicized attacks by Hamas on "innocent Israelis".

But something was very "off" about the whole thing. 

Checkers’ Smart Trolley: Convenience or Corporate Callousness?

Checkers - our prime South African retailer - is trialing a new "smart trolley" that does the check-out as you put stuff in it. This means that thousands of people will very likely lose their jobs as check-out clerks and baggers. As always, it is the corporate types wearing fancy suits who think poor folk would make it on their small salaries if they just spent less, who really seem to think this sort of batshit crazy scheme is a good thing.

Because of course they do.

Our Nature, Our Burden

That "Star Trek" future? It'll never happen. Humans don't have it in us. 

Why do I say so?

Let me start at the beginning of the thought that led me down this path:

Humans want to believe they're ready to meet alien civilizations, and they can't even countenance each other, or domestic species that don't look like them... or have more then 4 appendages, or think they're better than.

Imagine the UFO door opens and a human sized spider emerges to greet the representatives of Earth... who run away screaming, shouting "kill it with fire!"

I think it's better that any alien nations watching our combative uncivilized species, keep on doing it from a safe distance.