The Problem with Being an Atheist is that the Holidays Suck -- Not Anymore!

Most holidays center around religion. Not just Christmas, but even things like Thanksgiving, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, and Memorial Day all involve religion, praying, or thanking god.

Christmas was originally meant to be a celebration of the birth of Jesus. Many people still celebrate it for that reason, but even many of us non-believers like Christmas. Who can resist the songs, gifts, and decorations -- not to mention the cookies and other goodies?

I think to popularize atheism, we need to develop a kick-ass holiday just for us. I did a search on Wikipedia for "atheist holiday" and got no matches. Zero. I really think we atheists should have at least one holiday of our very own -- a day of realization that we don't need the mythology of the past to cope in today's world. Though we don't understand how many things work in the universe, it doesn't mean we have to make up gods to explain them.

I personally think this holiday should be February 12, the birthday of Charles Darwin. In fact, there already is a celebration of Darwin's birth called Darwin Day.

According to Wiki, Darwin Day is a recently instituted celebration intended to celebrate the anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin on February 12, 1809. This year marks the 200th anniversary of Darwin's birth. The day is an opportunity to highlight Darwin's contribution to science and to promote science in general.

Events on Darwin Day have included dinner parties with special recipes for primordial soup, protests with school boards and other governmental bodies, distribution of information by people in ape costumes, lectures and debates, essay and art competitions, concerts, poetry readings, plays, artwork, comedy routines, reenactments of the Scopes Trial, and recreations of the journey of the HMS Beagle, church . The Perth Mint, in Australia will launch a 2009 dated commemorative 1 oz. silver legal tender coin depicting Darwin, young and old, the HMS Beagle, and Darwin's signature.

Darwin day is only a little more than a month away... don't forget to send out your Darwin Day Cards!

Pinky and the Archer

My friend Archer at Archer Radio (www.archerr.com/blog.html) is posting a picture of himself everyday in 2009. Today's picture inspired me to play with the Photoshop a bit.

Master Bathroom Renovation Update

We are in the middle of completely renovating our master bathroom. Earlier I posted a before and after photo showing the gutting -- where they tore out the entire room -- toilet, bathtub, sink, floor, walls, and ceiling (http://mkr20003.blogspot.com/2009/01/bathroom-guts.html). These pictures show some progress. They put down a plywood floor and have done the pipes and lights. We had to reorder our tile, because it was $6,000 over our budget. We are still going to be way over our tile budget, but we did find a less expensive tile that looks just as good. We had a meeting with the contractor at 7 a.m. this morning to go over some issues, but things seem to be moving along. These photos show the lights above where our shower will be and where our toilet will be. Luckily we have another bathroom to use in the meantime, so we don't have to squat over that hole in the floor.