> Oh, yes. I see the T-shirts now. Biohazard symbol with "CoV" or "Church
> of Virus" on the front and on the back:
I'd vote for "CoV"... a little but of mystery, to highten interest. And
why not put the ideohazard on it? That's what it's for, right?
> Memetic
> engineers
> RULE
Is there any chance we could also squeeze the lightening bolt symbol for
free-thought? I like the symbol very much. Here's a really cool story
behind it, as well:
from Objectivism, David King, Chapter 10
http://info-sys.home.vix.com/pub/objectivism/Writing/DavidKing/GuideToObjectivism/
Christianity vs the Lightning Rod
Of all the fatal manifestations of nature, the one which is most
clearly an
overwhelming attack of a divine being against man is the lightning bolt.
And
yet, if the lightning stroke were obviously the wrathful weapon of a
supernatural being, there are some difficult-to-explain consequences.
As it happens, high objects are more frequently struck by lightning
than
are low objects. As it also happens, the highest man-made object in the
small
European town of early modern times was the steeple of the village
church. It
followed, embarrassingly enough, that the most frequent target of the
lightning bolt, then, was the church itself.
Over a 33-year period in 18th-century Germany, no less than 400
church
towers were damaged by lightning. What's more, since church bells were
often
rung during thunderstorms in an attempt to avert the wrath of the Lord,
the
bell ringers were in unusual danger and in that same period, 120 of them
were
killed.
You will recall, in this context, the famous kite-flying experiment
in
which Ben Franklin demonstrated that lightning is nothing more than a
big dose
of electricity. Franklin had noted that an electrical discharge takes
place
more readily and quietly through a fine point than through a blunt
projection.
If a needle were attached to a Leyden jar, the charge leaked quietly
through
the needle point so readily that the jar could never be charged.
Well, then - If a sharp metal rod were placed at the top of a
structure and
if it were properly grounded, any electric charge accumulating on the
structure during a thunderstorm would be quietly discharged and the
chances of
its building up to the catastrophic loosing of a lightning bolt would be
greatly diminished.
Franklin advanced the notion of this "lightning rod" in the 1753
edition of
POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC. The notion was so simple, the principle so
clear, the
investment in time and material so small, the nature of the possible
relief so
great, that lightning rods began to rise immediately over buildings
throughout
the world.
And it worked! Where the lightning rods rose, the lightning stroke
ceased.
For the first time in the history of mankind, one of the scourges of the
Universe had been beaten, not by magic and spells and prayer, but by
science,
by an understanding of the laws of nature and by intelligent cooperation
with
them.
There was an embarrassed reluctance about putting up lightning rods
on
churches. It seemed to betray a lack of confidence in God. But it soon
became
all too noticeable to all men that the town church, unprotected by
lightning
rods, was hit, while the town brothel, if protected by lightning rods,
was
not.
Every lightning rod on a church is evidence of the victory of science
and
of the surrender of religion - and no one can be so blind as not to see
that
evidence. Even though they may choose to be so blind as to deny it.
Anyway, I'd very much like to have some T-shirts with these symbols on
them. Perhaps one here at the CoV with the the ideahazard on the front,
and on the back "CoV" and "Memetic Engineers RULE". And then another
from the Church of Freethought with The lightning bolt on the front and
"Church of Freethought" on the back.
So when do we go into production?
ERiC