Dear religious extremists: SHUT UP!

Seriously, extremists in general should take a coffee break because it might just clear their mind. There is the issue of the teacher in Sudan who got arrested because she complied with a vote in her class to have a teddy bear named Muhammad. There is also the man in India who married, and impregnated his daughter, because he claimed that Allah told him. It's people like these, at least the most high profile of them, that make Islam, and religion in general, a terrible thing.

This case is so crazy that I'm not sure where to start from. The Unity school in Sudan is a school where teachers from all over teach there. The teacher in this case did a unit on animals, and the class had a vote on what to name the bear. The kids all voted to name the bear Muhammad. The extremists got pissed. Knee jerk reaction.

If anything, these children are receiving religious education, right? I would assume that some of the religious educators are the same extremists who wanted this woman jailed, and now killed, right? If it should be anyone that's prisoned, it should be the religious institution of Sudan who hasn't taught these children their Iconoclastic ways before. The same people who are calling for the death of this teacher should be the ones that should be sent to prison and lashed.

As well, extremists of any kind are uneducated, to say the least. They use religion to over-emphasize their intelligence, which is sadly moot. If anyone is going to get a religious education, they should also have a general understanding of the world and take a relativistic approach to other cultures and religions. Religious education should be about understanding of not just your own religion, but the other major ones too, and only that way will there be some harmony to both religion and culture.

Santa Claus is coming to town...

... and what a way to welcome him than to call him Kimi Räikkönen! That's right, I believe that Kimi Räikkönen is Santa, and here are the top 10 reasons why Kimi Räikkönen is the real Santa:

1. Santa is apparently from Finland – Kimi is Finnish
2. Santa doesn’t mind a drink, especially not on Christmas Eve – Well, we all know Kimi doesn’t mind a drink
3. You never see Kimi just before Christmas, the time when Santa is getting ready for Christmas
4. Kimi is one of the fastest drivers in the world, and we all know Santa has to be speedy getting round the whole world – surely a poignant factor.
5. Red overalls a problem for you? Kimi has his own set, as does Santa.
6. But wait I hear you say… ‘Kimi is too toned to be Santa’. Well, as you don’t see him just before Christmas, it is possible he could ‘bulk up’ but there’s also things known as ‘fat suits’…
7. However, you never seem to see Kimi without his personal trainer for the rest of the year… it’s all a conspiracy!
8. According to In Gear magazine, Santa has an interest in cars, as does Kimi.
9. Children like Kimi as well as Santa
10. Finally, lots of people still believe in Santa, and lots believe in Kimi too.

So, that's why I think that Santa is indeed the Kimster. He was finally confirmed as 2007 World Driver's Champion, and I'm happy and looking forward to 2008. Maybe a double finish for him?

Between "Tomorrow Never Dies" and "Die Another Day" , was there another Bond story?

This has been racking my mind for the last while, but I heard in the few days after September 11th, 2001, the writers of the next James Bond film had to change their story because the story of the next film (what would become Die Another Day) had a story that was similar to the events of 9/11.

I remember reading something like that on one of the major news sites (I think it was ABC) and the film would be delayed by something like 6 months. Does anyone know about that? I have been investigoogling and I haven't found anything like that, apart from Conspiracy sites talking about how James Bond must have made 9/11 conspiracies popular because there was talk about someone making a huge payoff in "Casino Royale" after 9/11.

So anyways, anyone know anything about this or is this just going to be another thing that was reported in the media frenzy after 9/11?