The Walk Of Hell

Note that this was in reply to someone's MSN status saying that there was plenty of evidence for evolution. So, I responded in my MSN status as to what it implied.

The basic theory of evolution is perfectly valid, and yes, there is evidence for it. However, to distinguish between the valid part and the excessive extrapolation, we refer to the valid part as natural selection. Yes, cells mutate, animals crossbreed, and other interesting things happen. But the full theory of evolution is a naturalistic extrapolation of this. And that part is out of despertation. And one would have to go all the way back to the Big Bang. So far, most of the evolutionists I've met don't believe in the Big Bang. But what also strikes me is the fact that they believe it will be replaced with something which works.

Try putting God in that void. It would break some of the theory of evolution, but you'll cope... Oh wait, you don't want to; that would then mean that you have a purpose and therefore a responsibility in life.

If you have any doubts about evolution, you have every right to. Remember that everyone involved in the theory is human, and therefore it is prone to human error. Remember that it is also supposed to be scientific, and scientific theories have changed many, many times through history.

When one believes they have no purpose, their life goes downhill as they look for things which give them fixes of pleasure. Money, fame, intellect, sex, and drugs. I can't list everything, but that's the main part. You try, you can't get enough, you get hooked. And you still can't get enough. I call this the Walk Of Hell.

If you think atheism is so great and amazing, you've obviously never been down the Walk Of Hell. It's what happens when you try to do everything by yourself. I know somebody who used to be a staunch atheist. Then he went through the Walk Of Hell. He could list about 10 drugs he took. He chain-smoked. He drank lots. He was into porn. And, by the end of it, he wanted out.

The fundamental problem with the full theory of evolution is not the validity of it. It's what it implies, but most importantly what people think it implies. People think it's great and whatnot because you are not held accountable for by God. But what it really implies is that you are responsible for anything and everything that comes your way and you have no help. Sure, you may have a few friends but when it comes to the deeply personal, you're on your own.

Have you ever been down the Walk Of Hell? If so, you know what it feels like. Are you still going down the Walk Of Hell? If so, you know how hard it is to get off it. Do neither of those apply to you? Then you obviously haven't lived long enough.

QND-zero: A zero-knowledge password proof scheme

This is my zero-knowledge password proof, QND-zero. QND is short for quick 'n' dirty: it works, and not much else.

Pick a random 32-bit seed. Set h (32-bit) to the seed. For each character in the password, from the first character to the last character, set c (clamped at 32-bit) to the character. Three times, you should square c, then add the seed to it plus one, then xor c with the seed. After that, add c to h, then rotate h left one spot, then xor h with the seed. After all that, h should contain your hash.

For languages which don't support rotate, but support left + right shift, try this for rotate left:

a = (a>>31) ^ (a<<1);>char is clamped to 32-bit and so is seed, and so is hash
pick a random seed
set hash to seed
for each char in the password (from the first to the last) {
do three times {
multiply the char by itself
add the seed plus one to the char
xor the char with the seed
}
add the char to the hash
rotate the hash left by one
xor the hash with the seed
}

Nice and simple, quick and dirty, zero-knowledge password proof scheme. Enjoy.

A quick test to see if you've done it right:
Seed = 0xDEADBEEF
"ab" -> 0x0D62D890
"ba" -> 0x91E6462F

This post and the algorithm are put into the public domain. I, Ben Russell, would like you to respect that.

EDIT: Whoops, my reference implementation was wrong. I've fixed the values.

EDIT 2: Apparently the pseudocode missed something vital. Fixed.

Gods of atheism: Power

Quite frankly I can't come up with a witty pun to do with hate, so, uh, yeah, if you haven't read the last post, then please do. And now we continue.

If it weren't for a lust for power, atheists wouldn't need to avoid God. They would be happy to let him be in control. But because they're too afraid to, for fear of losing their power and having to follow rules. And so instead they are deluded into thinking they have power all the while their lives are controlled by the evil voice in the back of their head. That thing seems to have power over them. It's called The Devil.

Isaiah 14:12-18 (KJV) reads:

¹²How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
¹³For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
¹⁴I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
¹⁵Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
¹⁶They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
¹⁷That made the world as a wilderness, and destroyed the cities thereof; that opened not the house of his prisoners
¹⁸All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

Lucifer had a lust for power, and attempted to overthrow God. Is this what you are trying to do? If you're trying to deny God's existance, you are pretty much trying to put yourself above God. Which cannot be done. Ray Comfort's analogy of a blind person not believing in colour is quite suitable here. Just because you can't see it, that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

God works in mysterious ways. Some things we can't exactly comprehend, and we definitely can't predict what he'll do next. Nevertheless, God does have a personality, and there are things he won't do because it disgusts him.

The Bible is a collection of God-inspired books which are considerably older than this blog. So sometimes we can't understand parts of the Bible due to its divine nature. Sometimes it's blaringly obvious. Sometimes it makes no sense, then suddenly does.

OK, here's a chance for you to show your power. How many grains of sand are on the Gold Coast of Australia? I invite you to give me a figure accurate within one million. Even a British billion (American trillion - I use the American figures generally when it comes to -illions, even though it's a bit incorrect) isn't generous enough for you.

In the movie Bruce Almighty, a guy named Bruce gets given power from God and he can use it in the Buffalo area. And yet he can't truly cope with the millions of prayers he gets every few minutes from this area. Guess what happens when he answers "YES" to all those prayers? Two opposing teams both win a match in their sport. So many people win the lottery that they get $17 each. Chaos ensues.

With great power comes great responsibility. They say that you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you have no responsibility, then chances are you have no power, either.

Time for a truth table. (This is probably the best I can do with the "Compose" option. I could also try using HTML, but this demonstrates the point.)

P(ower) => R(esponsibility)

P=F R=F: T
P=F R=T: T
P=T R=F: F
P=T R=T: T

So, if you believe the saying, and you're irresponsibile, don't bother with power. And I've probably said enough here. I shall go back to writing my book.