Atheism

Welcome to another week of What Not to Talk About Over Dinner from KUCI Irvine 88.9FM and kuci.org! The show airs every Saturday 12-1pm on KUCI in Irvine 88.9FM, kuci.org and podcasts are up by Sundays on http://talkradio889wnttod.podbean.com. This blog is "Dinner Supplements," which is more about the topic of each week.

This week's Dinner Supplements focuses on Atheism. It is a touchy topic in most circles because it inherently challenges deeply held beliefs and the existence of invisible deities, which many people see as the cornerstone of their values, if not their entire lifestyles. Yet, the common misconception about many Atheists is that they have abandoned ethics and a sense of values. To the contrary, Atheists usually adhere to moral values of their own, which include, but are not limited to, humanism, charity, individuality, critical thinking, hard work and equality. In fact, from what I have researched through interviews and texts, Atheists feel that religion provides people with a more selfish excuse to only do good in order to save themselves in the end rather than out of pure ethical reasoning.

As always, I encourage my readers and listeners to decide for themselves. There are a great number of links on arguments for religion in my previous posts, so I am mainly going to provide pro-Atheist arguments in this post. Thanks for reading, and have a great dinner conversation tonight - maybe even over some Thanksgiving leftovers, yum!

New York Times magazine - Sigmund Freud and Religion

Atheistic Writings All in One Place

Ayn Rand and Objectivism

Global Zero

Hey everyone! Welcome again to my blog for my radio show What Not to Talk about Over Dinner broadcast on KUCI Irvine, 88.9FM every Saturday 12-1pm and podcasted at http://talkradio889wnttod.podbean.com.

This Saturday, we will be discussing the Global Zero movement to urge nuclear countries to rid their nations of all nuclear weaponry. Since the end of World War II and Hiroshima built its peace memorial museum to the victims of the atom bomb, people around the globe have campaigned to wipe nuclear weapons from the planet.

After visiting the Hiroshima museum and memorial myself this past March, I feel deeply connected to the movement and compelled to perpetuate its mission as best I can. Nuclear weaponry should not be a worry for future generations. People should be able to live in peace and not with the fear that they could be evaporated in a moment.

Now, at UC Irvine and other campuses and in communities around the world, chapters of the Global Zero Movement have begun to crop up after a 2008 declaration was signed by 100 leaders to get the nuclear weapon count down to 0. The website includes Global Zero's mission statement, information on the world summit to be held in Paris January 30-February 4, how you can get involved and an interactive map of all the locations of the nuclear weapons in the world.

Francoise Genard and Nahian Taha, the founders of the Global Zero chapter at UC Irvine, went through a rigorous application and interview process to get their chapter as leaders of the movement want their first heads to be well-versed in the subject and evaluated for their teaching and organizing abilities so that the movement can spread with vigor and intelligibility. To email them on how you can get involved, email globalzero.uci@gmail.com.

I hope you take a look and see the movement for yourself!

Vagina Monologues 2010

Welcome to another week of What Not to Talk About Over Dinner's blog from KUCI Irvine 88.9FM and kuci.org. If you missed any of the most recent podcasts, please check out http://talkradio889wnttod.podbean.com to get your latest fix.

This week, the topic is V-Day and the Vagina Monologues. You know you've heard of them, and you might have even seen them once or twice, but I've found that there are very few people who actually know that V-Day is more than just a stage where women talk about their "down there's." V-Day is a movement.

Created by Eve Ensler in 1998 in New York, the show began as a way to express the sexual experiences, both negative and positive, that women go through from youth to adulthood. The money raised from the first production and every single one since then goes to domestic abuse shelters, university sexual education, international safe houses (for women escaping genital mutilation and other forms of tradition that abuse women), and many other organizations that fight the violence against women.

Since 1998, the movement had traveled the world. Now in 95 countries and performed in over 120 languages, the V-Day movement is widespread, dynamic and pulsating with passionate voices.

The show is one that many women have contributed to or made their own in some way. Each woman, even if she uses the same script, brings something special to their own production and a fire that you see in their eyes and bodies. Just view the YouTube videos below for some great footage of different Vagina Monologues performances around the world. Also, for show information, check your local papers or type in V-Day with your city's name into Google. UC Irvine holds one every year near Valentine's Day weekend, and I highly recommend it if you live in the area!

If you'd like to audition for the Vagina Monologues at UC Irvine, check out http://www.vdayuci.com/ and audition next week November 17th or 18th. No need to be a student and no acting experience necessary.

Angry Vagina Latina Style

Vagina Workshop
Vagina Monologues in Florence, Italy
The Moans

Laughin' With

Hungry? Why wait for dinner when you can have a few supplements to whet your appetite? This week's What Not to Talk About Over Dinner supplements are all about the hilarious, comical and satisfyingly humorous.

Why is play and laughing so important? There are a part of being human, and help us to develop our characters and cope in a world that can often get us down.

Even though we're going to focus on the National Institute for Play with a clip from Speaking of Faith and comedians, here, I wanted to give you some funny stuff to read and watch to pick up your spirit or keep it going.

David Sedaris on NPR


The Onion

Polar Bear and Husky at Play

Kittens! Inspired by...Kittens!

David After the Dentist


Evil Eye Baby

National Institute for Play

Post your favorite links and comic strips for the benefit of all other readers!